Self Compassion is different than Self Esteem:

While Self Esteem compares ourselves with others, Self Compassion is intrinsic; it comes from within ourselves.

By now, most of us know that taking good care of ourselves involves eating whole, unprocessed foods, maintaining an awesome exercise routine, staying hydrated, meditating and doing whatever other self-care rituals feel good to each of us on a regular basis.

But self-care and happiness actually involve a lot more than just the physical stuff. We need to be nice to ourselves, plain and simple. There is increasing scientific research on the importance of self-compassion for health and well-being. Fortunately, our friends at Happifycame up with this neat infographic to explain just how important self-compassion really is.

http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mindbodygreen.com%2F0-17390%2Fscience-says-you-should-be-nicer-to-yourself-infographic.html&h=-AQFqbtLZAQFbqNF-TDTE0KwcEHATnI1H8SLR4d1bzsC9Pg&enc=AZP7y8ZNL4F6qyzM_oXWGbjdBhAJiq_1DG45MHnPxcG5Z3kGpRvGX40M2JJW95OCHLyLz86pnUPl-YJY2L5gxi_IHEdI-ArvIxImvGH-Em4YtiEvG_eN-5SpN8Imxl8otdZdVREWNktRWdzzsHkNha_R8lNom_U7YTUakYSQyC1BNg&s=1

What is Hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy is an educational communication that flows from your conscious mind to your unconscious mind and allows them both to believe the same message.

This is valuable communication, because in order to attain our goals, our conscious and unconscious mind must agree. For instance, if consciously you are saying to yourself, "I want to lose 30 lbs.", and your subconscious is saying, "I like this extra padding, it keeps people from approaching me and I feel less vulnerable and threatened", you are going to hang on to that weight, or you may lose it for a while and gain it right back. Your subconscious must be in agreement with your conscious desires and goals to be successful.

How is Hypnotherapy different from Hypnosis ? They are one and the same. They are interchangeable terms. However, I use Hypnotherapy because I am a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and utilize my counseling skills when I work with my clients to help solve their difficulties and reach their goals.
Hypnosis is a very quick, easy and effective counseling tool.  It helps my clients reach their goals faster, with less struggle. It reinforces their strengths and assists them to focus on Positive Thoughts.

What about Stage Hypnosis? Stage hypnosis is the most common impression of hypnosis. This is the entertainment where a Hypnotist leads people into doing things on stage such as clucking like a chicken, or dancing, etc. Keep in mind that these people volunteer for this and they secretly want to be on stage, and perform for the audience. You have to be willing to be hypnotized. You cannot be hypnotized against your will.

Hypnosis takes you to the same level of relaxation and focus as does deep Meditation. You are in the same brain wave length when in deep meditation as when you are in Hypnosis. Both are deeply relaxing and pleasant. Hypnotherapy utilizes this relaxation state to focus and commit your mind more deeply to your goals by means of positive suggestions. You are always in control when you are in hypnosis. Hypnosis does not change your morals, ethics, or religious beliefs, only the ideas you are wanting to change such as being a Nonsmoker, getting rid of a bad habit, finding and appreciating  your strengths, letting go of unwanted pounds, feeling more confident in your abilities, etc.

It is a Healthy and relaxing experience that you are participating in for your own Self Improvement.

Harvard Study 0n Hypnosis & Healing

Harvard Study on Hypnosis & Healing

The Harvard Gazette had an article regarding the use of hypnosis to help surgical wounds mend faster. A portion of the article is below. The whole article can be found at http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2003/05.08/01-hypnosis.html

Marie McBrown was invited to test whether or not hypnosis would help heal the scars from her breast surgery. Marie (not her real name) and 17 other women underwent surgery to reduce their breast size.
It's a common operation for women whose breasts are large enough to cause back and shoulder strain, interfere with routine tasks, or prompt social and psychological problems. The pain and course of healing from such surgery is well-known, and a team of researchers headed by Carol Ginandes of Harvard Medical School and Patricia Brooks of the Union Institute in Cincinnati wanted to determine if hypnosis could speed wound healing and recovery.
"Hypnosis has been used in Western medicine for more than 150 years to treat everything from anxiety to pain, from easing the nausea of cancer chemotherapy to enhancing sports performance," Ginandes says.
A list of applications she provides includes treatment of phobias, panic, low self-esteem, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, stress, smoking, colitis, warts, headaches, and high blood pressure.

"All these functional uses may help a person feel better," Ginandes continues. "I am also interested in using hypnosis to help people get better physically. That means using the mind to make structural changes in the body, to accelerate healing at the tissue level."
Four years ago, Ginandes and Daniel Rosenthal, professor of radiology at the Harvard Medical School, published a report on their study of hypnosis to speed up the mending of broken bones. They recruited 12 people with broken ankles who did not require surgery and who received the usual treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. In addition, Ginandes hypnotized half of them once a week for 12 weeks, while the other half received only normal treatment. The same doctor applied the casts and other care, and the same radiologists took regular X-rays to monitor how well they healed. A radiologist who evaluated the X-rays did not know which patients underwent hypnosis.The result stood out like a sore ankle.

Those who were hypnotized healed faster