Doctor Bob Jones Healthy Care Site

Posts Tagged ‘self help’

If you are carrying around a few (I use that term loosely) extra pounds like most of us are, you all know all the reasons why we should take the weight off. It will reduce stress on our heart, reducing the chance of heart disease, cancer, possibility of diabetes; feel better, look more attractive, etc.

There are 101 reasons why, but it can be a real pain to finally get that weight off. You push really hard, make a little progress, get side tracked, and bam you are heavier then you started.

It’s maddening. Enough with that hassle, I have put together 5 simple steps to actually losing weight and keeping it off. These steps can be applied to anything, but we are focusing on weight loss here.

1. Know What You Want
2. Know Where You Are
3. Track Your Results
4. Make Course Corrections
5. Being held Accountable

Now all your extra weight will effortlessly melt off. Yeah right! A simple list of 5 items is not going to do it, so let me explain the intricacies of the 5 items and where the hang up normally occurs when applied to losing weight.

1. Know What You Want

This one is dead simple. Most people that want to lose weight have an idea of how many pounds they would like to lose or how they would like their body to look.

I think we can safely say if your body started looking the way you wanted it, you would know, even if you didn’t have it completely mapped out and detailed.

2. Know Where You Are

This is the big trip up. It is almost always overlooked and is the number one reason for the up and down Yo Yo effect we experience with losing weight. We are unhappy with how our body feels and how it looks and it is painful to zoom in and get an accurate picture of where we are. Unfortunately, we have to know where we are, to be able to accurately judge the results we are getting.

You are on a trip to San Diego, California. You would like to start your trip from Phoenix, Arizona, but you really don’t know where you are. No problem. You get an Arizona/California map and find that a simple 6 hours trip west on interstate 8 will get you to San Diego.

6 hours later, you have no clue where you are and it is definitely not warm San Diego. You feel defeated and you want to give up! Do you blame the car? The stupid maps? San Diego? Yourself?

Now what if I told you, you were actually in New Your City, not Phoenix, Arizona. A 6 hour car ride west from New York City will never get you to San Diego.

If you took the time to accurately find out where you were, you would have been able to choose the appropriate means to get to San Diego and have an expectation as to how long it would take.

This is the same with weight loss and our personal physical condition. In our minds, we think we are starting in a different physical condition then we really are. When the results don’t follow the illusion in your mind, we get upset.

3. Track Your Results

This is conceptually simple. If we have no clue as to WHAT we are doing, how do we know what is working? It might be a simple to do, but is also simple not to do. In the end, most people never track their results.

4. Make Course Corrections

We love to do this one. We have it hands down. It is like step 1 of knowing what you want. We try the new food diet, the super sit up machine, and the cardio hip hop power energy yoga fat burner class.

We might be great at switching it up, but without knowing where we are starting from and a history of tracked results, we have no clue as to what we should change or even which direction we should go.

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Binaural bests were first discovered in 1839 by Heinrich Wilhelm Dove. However, Dove didn‘t realise the full potential of this technology, he merely observed that it occurred. It was another 134 years before Gerald Oster penned an article called “Auditory Beats in the Brain” which was published in Scientific American in 1973.

It was proposed that a binaural beat occurs in the brain if you apply slightly different frequency sine waves independently but simultaneously to each ear. This beat affect is created by the brain itself and is largely due to the structure of the brain’s internal wiring.

These binaural beats are auditory brainstem responses, originating in the superior olivary nucleus of each hemisphere of the brain due to the interaction of the two different impulses.

The frequency of the two tones is between one and 30 Hz. Lets take the example that the difference between the two tones is 10 Hz. This 10 Hz difference is experienced within the superior olivary nuclei as a beat . The brain has a tendency, through the frequency following response, to resonate at the same frequency as the auditory stimuli being presented. In our example this would be 10 Hz, which is that frequency of the Alpha state. If we offer a binaural frequency of 5 Hz, the brain will begin to resonate with that and produce Theta brainwaves. If we present a binaural beat of 3 Hz, Delta brainwaves are detected. Alpha, Theta and Delta brainwaves are connected to altered states of consciousness that can be used to reprogram the subconscious mind, eliminate negative thought schemas and release emotional connection to memories.

In layman’s terms all this means is that you can relax, put on some stereo headphones and let your mind synchronize with the binaural beat frequency to create real measurable changes in your mind and body.
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Optimizing your brain with just your set of headphones!

Binaural beats are unique sounds recorded in such a way that they re-adjust the brain wave frequencies of the listener automatically. Through a technological technique that has been named brain entrainment, binaural beats can change the mental and physical state of anyone who listens.

Analysis has shown that some brainwaves, like intense relaxation, are ideal for learning and retaining new information while delta brainwave states promote relaxed healthy sleep. Until the adaptation of binaural beats tapes, CDs and MP3s, the only technique to create deliberate changes in your brainwave patterns was with deep meditation. For thousands of years this type of meditation has only been possible for practitioners of meditation with over 20 years experience, such as Zen Buddhist Monks.

However, by using binaural beats it is now possible for every person to enter these kind of meditative states within minutes only by using good headphones and a specifically recorded pre-made binuaral beats recording.

Although the science consists of brain entrainment is a bit complex to explore the basic premise is easy to comprehend. Binaural beats were discovered by Heinrich Wilhelm Dove when he was an Assosiate Professor at the University in Berlin. Prof Dove discovered that when 2 similar sounds, that differ only slightly in frequency, are presented separately to left and right ear (Binaural) they will cause a pulsation or beat type effect to occur in the brain.

It was in the late ’70s when Scientific American published the research paper by Dr. Gerald Oster called “Auditory Beats in the Brain”. This paper showed how Dr. Oster took Prof. Dove’s discovery and through research found that by utilizing these binaural beats he could direct the brain processes of the listener to match the internal beat created by the binaural beats. When this occurred the brainwaves of the listener began to resonate with the same frequency as the binaural beats. Thus Oster found that through this technology he was able to change the brainwave frequencies of the listener and bring about deliberate mental states.
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Meditation has been practiced around the world for thousands of years. It is a techiniqe used to quiet the mind and body, and release stress. It can also bring focus and clarity, and often, after meditating, problems that you have been struggling with, miraculously become solved. Meditation has also been known to inspire people to write, and to spur lucrative business ideas, as your subconscious comes to light.

One simple form of meditation, requires you to sit in a quiet room, either on a pillow, or cross-legged on the floor, or in a comfortable chair, making sure your spine is straight. It is advised that you use the same place every day. It is also suggested that you personalize your spot, by beautifying it with candles, flowers, and pictures of the people that you love.

The idea is to sit quietly, with your eyes closed, and focus on a point inside of your forehead. Try not to think of anything in particular, but don’t try ‘not’ to think either, allowing your mind to become calm, and peaceful. If you find that your mind is ‘chattering’, don’t try to control it, just let it finish what it is that it is working on, it will eventually quiet down. It is also recommended for beginners to begin with ten to twenty minute sessions, each day. After awhile of doing this, you will start to feel deep relaxation and joy during these sessions.

The first step to this self-hypnosis is to sit in a quiet, comfortable spot, making sure you are facing a wall about eight feet away from you. Pick a spot or object on that wall, and make that spot or object your focal point. Looking at your focal point, begin counting backwards from 100, one number for each breath you exhale. As you do this, imagine yourself floating, and feeling very relaxed. You will begin to feel your eyelids getting heavy, and may begin to blink. Let your eyes slowly close, and as you continue to count backwards, imagine yourself as limp as a ragdoll, totally relaxed, and floating in a safe and comfprtable place. Stop counting, and just float in your space. If any disturbing thoughts should come while in your space, just let them flow out again, and allow yourself to continue to feel safe and relaxed. This technique can help you to cope with stress, and discharge the tension that accumulates during stressful situations.
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