She has a big job organizing events, lots of events, and she also has an exceptionally cool demeanor. The kind of person you would happily hand over your “to do” list to and then just not worry.

Underneath her exceptional poise, she was having panic attacks at inopportune times, and having trouble staying asleep at night.

The attacks subsided after her first session. She listened to her recordings at night and was pleased with the positive change in sleeping patterns.

Things were going better, much better, and then she had a panic attack while watching TV.  WHAT?

Her Mom had mental breakdown and been hospitalized when my client was in grade school.

She doesn’t consciously remember much, but she did remember watching TV to pass the time after school, waiting for her Dad to come home.

We brainstormed about what that precious little girl was going through as we did EFT and then followed it up with some powerfully mind-shifting hypnosis.

That was last year. She is still sleeping well and the outside cool demeanor remains true on the inside too.

The combination of EFT and hypnosis is incredibly effective.

Did you know that you can work with me on SKYPE?

E mail me at Lisa @ Lisa Crunick .com  no spaces, and set up a free twenty-minute, no pressure consultation.

A part of me does not want to know, write, or admit, the downside of anything that creates the joy of SWEETNESS in my mouth!

I start every Sugar Workshop with these words, “I really do not want any of what I am about to share with you to be true. I love sugar! and while I eat a LOT LESS than I used to…….. completely give it up! yea, that’s probably not going to happen!”

Another part of me knows what she knows: the habit of jacking up your energy with sugar  can be disastrous.

My battle with sugar was established by my late twenties when I announced that I didn’t want a wedding cake.

The words, “NO wedding cake, MA,” fell into my mother’s right ear and came out her left like a challenge that I was not going to win. She could accept that I wasn’t a virgin, but a wedding without a cake? No Way!

The caterers forgot to serve that cake, and most of it ended up at my mother’s house where YOURS TRULY ate most of it!

My Mother’s Grandfather was a merchant, and when having sugar meant status, he had plenty of it. She says that he even sprinkled sugar on his vegetables, lived to be ninety and that I should just get over myself.

Well, I have. I no longer feel that I come with a warning, “Please do not leave your cake unattended in my presence.”

My own mom used to hide truffles in the china. She knew all about sweet-mouth joy! She would savor the sweet chocolate in her mouth and then spit it out!

We are not alone!

I know of a diabetic who crashes retirement parties as an excuse to have some cake.

I have heard of babies crawling out of their cribs to empty the sugar bowl.

I have worked with people who have days,even whole weeks, when they only eat sweets.

I have seen eczema, aches, fat, and cravings go away when people give up eating too much sugar.

What is it about sweet substances that can be so problematic and what exactly is sugar?
As I explore these questions, and write about them, I would really love to hear your story. (Please write to me: Lisa @ Lisa Crunick. com no spaces with Sugar in the headline).

Have you struggled? Are you struggling?  If you are waiting for a study to prove anything about the negative effects of sugar, please do not hold your breath.

How many times have you heard, read or seen what might be a recommended daily sugar allowance? Exactly!

The  World Health Organization recommends 10 teaspoons of sugar a day.

If you are consuming less than that, you can stop reading.

Everyone else should click here to get  Sweet Wisdom: a free hypnosis and bi-weekly tips to keep you on track.

One of my favorite fairy tales is The Crescent Moon Bear.

A woman is  distraught because her husband has returned from war a different man. He is distant, and grouchy, and she sorely misses the sweetness of the companionship she remembers.

She goes to a healer and is told to journey to the top of the mountain and to get a  white hair from the neck of a black bear.

It is no small quest. She must climb the mountain, find the bear, and coax him with food. Oh, and then get close enough to a bear to pull out a hair.

She succeeds and runs down the mountain only to have the healer  throw her precious prize into the fire.

The woman is told to go home and practice everything she learned from the bear on her husband.

This is really a tale about taking one’s own pain and anger and learning love and trust. Everything she needed to know she learned within her journey.

For people who are ashamed for being overweight, the journey to love and trust oneself, can feel as dangerous as getting a bear’s neck hair.

But ultimately, it is the path to inner peace.

Pick the right journey for you.

My client opened her eyes from hypnosis and said, “That was great.”

She had a list of things she wanted to change, and rather than list them, I had her create a colorful image of cilia on the outside of a cell.

Cilia are amazing little buggers: they get things done.

If you are looking for some change in some part of your life, you will want to give your subconscious mind a healthy dose of this image.

For the first few seconds, this recording has a  little noise in the background.

You know how to ignore what isn’t important, right?

At the very end I can hear the drumming of a Shaman in the background.

Like music, captured live, this hypnosis has a wonderful feel, as it gently lulls you into thinking about what you really want.

I have added this recording to my Hypnosis Listening Library. Click here to get access.

With poor body image,the directions to eat better can feel like they are outside of the ring you are in, and you are forever trying to escape the fencing, to a freer way of being.

As long as you are focused on breaking the fence, three things are at play.

1) You are reinforcing a disconnection from your real feelings and hunger.

2) You are easily distracted from feeling centered.

3) You have no mental space for the necessary inner work.

These repetitive experiences create neurology that  make the fencing stronger.

Women Food and God, author, Geneen Roth writes, “The most challenging part of any system that addresses weight-related issues is that unless it also addresses the part of you that wants something you can’t name – the heart of your heart, not the size of your thighs – it won’t work.“

Being raised to believe you are the greatest thing since the discovery of macaroni and cheese is helpful.

If you weren’t, you will need guidance to move past your sabotaging thought patterns to begin loving the real you.

You can totally change how you see yourself.

The deepest self-esteem is knowing you are a spiritual being having an experience in a body suit.

You are totally lovable whether your bags are Gucci or a little extra on your hips.

Get a free hypnosis to start celebrating you as a work of art, Love the Skin You Are In

However, I do mumble more than is necessary about people who take two parking places,  especially when I need one of them.

I joke about offering FREE parallel parking lessons.
So I am downtown, where parking is precious, to meet a friend for lunch, and I am feeling so lucky to have found a spot right in front of the restaurant.

As  I start to back in, I hear something drop next to the curb. There is a man standing on the sidewalk, but I can only see his feet.

I park very carefully and leave room where I think “the thing that has no name” has dropped.

I open the car door and this very, wobbly drunk guy yells at the top of this lungs, “You can’t paark fur sheeet!”

I start to laugh..because THAT IS MY LINE!

Well, it used to be my line. I have changed my mind. I am going to stop complaining!

And no free parallel parking lesson comments.

Click here to download my free hypnosis, Cloud of Love, for Stress Reduction:

Can you remember a fall in love with food moment?

I fell in love with Minestrone soup in Italy.

I was pregnant, DRAMATICALLY exhausted, and starving. Even now, I can feel the love steaming from the bowl. With the first bite, I felt so much better.

Lisa Crunick loves Marcel Hazan’s Classics of Italian Cooking.

Years later, Marcel Hazan took me into her kitchen, via her book, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, one of my favorite cookbooks.

Now I want you to fall head over heels with how easy this is to make, how delicious it tastes, and how amazing you are to make something teeming with flavor, nutrition, and love.

The vegetables are ones we take for granted. Cooked together they are Mama Mia.

Minestrone Soup

1/4 to 1/2 olive oil
1 yellow onion
You are going to into a nice little relaxing trance as you chop or dice, to please yourself, the following vegetables:
3-4 carrots, 2-3 potatoes, 1 c. inner part of the celery, 2 med zucchini, 2 c.green beans
about a half of a medium size head of cabbage to equal about four cups shredded
1  28 oz can of quality pureed tomatoes
1  15 oz can of rinsed cannellini beans
Beef stock if you happen to have some, and are not vegetarian…. otherwise, water is perfect.
If you have an old and dry end piece of Parmesan or Romano cheese, you could put it to good use here, but it is not necessary

However, you will want freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese at serving time. I also recommend you have some crusty white bread on hand and more olive oil. The more olive oil you eat, the happier you will be. yayaya!

You need a place to chop the vegetables, close to the pot, at least a four quart one and a big spoon.

Dice the onion and saute it in 1/4 cup olive oil until soft and slightly golden.

I like to begin with the carrots. I find the short stubby ones to be the sweetest, and no not the pre-cut ones in the bag, but go ahead if that is all you have. Ahem..Think of the vegetables in regard to your spoon. Do you want a big slice of carrot or do you want itsy-bitsy pieces?

Add the cut carrots to the onions and stir. While this cooks on low heat, chop the celery. The sweetest part of the celery is the inner stalks which are almost white. Use the leaves if you have them. If you are using outer, greener stalks, I would dice them into very small pieces because they can be tough.

Toss in the celery and stir. Let everything continue to cook as you dice the potatoes. Add the potatoes and stir again.

While that is cooking, dice the zucchini, and then add and stir.

Look at all the colors of the vegetables, glistening with olive oil. Your soup is going to be so delicious! I like to add a little salt now.

I also love David Kessler’s book, The End of Overeating

In David Kessler’s excellent book, The End of Overeating, he talks about how restaurants strive to get the fat, salt, and sweet to bliss points. Here, you are in control of your own bliss point!

I confess I rarely use fresh green beans. Frozen work fine. Add the green beans.

Add the can of tomatoes. Add the shredded cabbage. Cabbage is very sweet and like celery, the closer you get to the center, the sweeter it is.
I even grate the core for this reason. Some of will us take sweet however we can get it!!

Add the cannelloni beans and the cheese rind if you have it.

Add water or beef broth. How much? Leave a couple inches from the top of your pot. You want to cook this until the vegetables are soft.
The liquid is going to cook down and you can always add more water if you need it.

You are going to let this simmer until everything is soft and lovely. You won’t eat it until tomorrow because you want all of the flavors to relax into one big happy mouth party!

Add some pepper. Refrigerate overnight.

While you are reheating the soup, pour some olive oil into a frying pan. Add thick pieces of bread. Day old is better, but whatever you have is going to work. Slightly brown the bread on both sides. You can put this in the bottom of the bowls or cut up like croutons and add to the top.
Yes, this is good fat. It adds to your bliss. Enjoy!

Live in Seattle, WA?  Interested in becoming one of Lisa Crunick’s Hypnotherapy clients?

I have two weight loss slots left for the year.  If you are thinking it is your time to mind your magnificence, now is a good time.

Do you eat organic, play soccer, and smoke on your back deck? or something like that?  I am offering a very small group session for people are ready to ditch their habit. Click here.

Image courtesy of  flickr.pointykitty.org

Her comments were offensive and when I read it, I thought, this woman has her own body issues. And sure enough, in her apology, she admitted that she was a former anorexic.

I tell my clients to practice looking at people without commenting on their bodies. We are spiritual beings.

Every one of us is going to pass on and not one of us will take our bodies with us. It is a trap to over identify with something  impermanent, and designed to age.

Have fun in your body? Yes. Enjoy it? Yes. Appreciate it?  Yes.  Take care of it?  Yes Yes.  Be a star athlete, sex goddess whatever,  just remember, you are having an experience in it.  It is not who you are.

I have heard clients say that they feel that thin people assume they are some how superior.

We are bombarded with before and after images of people who have made it. Whether they are starving, living on drinking shakes, or taking drugs is secondary. They are not fat.

On Tweet Deck, you can search a word, and when anyone  uses that word, it will come up in your feed. After following the word obese for a few months, there are two kinds of tweets. People make rude remarks about strangers they see in public places, and young girls talk about how much they ate, and how they are going to be obese. (That is a whole other subject for another article.)

Interestingly, when the blog with the offensive comments surfaced, this tweet stream totally changed. The author was called pricelessly insensitive, a body  Nazi, insane, and she should be fired immediately. Wow!

The tweets may go back to the former trend.

You, however, CAN CHANGE YOUR MIND!

Practice seeing people for who they really are.

You will find that they are kinder to you and you will feel more peaceful thoughts about yourself.

If you waste your precious thoughts on feeling bad about your body, please stop that!

Get my free hypnosis:

Love the Skin You Are In

Click here for Free Resources

I offer an initial discounted session. Sometimes my clients change their minds in one session.

A very nice man came in because he was addicted to candy bars. He works out, has a good life, loving wife, likes his work, and so on.

Slamming candy bars into his mouth, as a diabetic, wasn’t doing his health, belt size or self-esteem any favors.

When I understood I said to him, “We can go into your past and figure out why you need to feel bad about yourself, because from everything you have told me, that is the only reason I can see you are doing this. Or, we can give you a way to interrupt your behavior and make different choices.”

No surprise, he chose choices. A few days later, he proudly sent me his glucometer numbers.

Today he wrote me:

“Have not had a drop of candy since I saw you. I barely ever do the circuit interruption either. It’s been over a month. Please write away on how you saved a candy addicted-diabetics life. You are awesome Lisa, Thank you so much for my future.”

Love it. Love it!  Oh, by the way, this was a ten-year habit.

One EFT Session Takes Care of  Vertigo

The second example is a co-practitioner I found in the waiting room. She had a worried look on her face and had a few too many tarot cards spread out on the table.

She had been hit by a car,and was trying to decide whether to settle with her insurance company. The problem was she still had vertigo. She was able to work, but WTH, this was no way to live or work.

We figured out the exact moment the vertigo began by going through the accident moment by moment. As we worked, it began to lessen and then it went away completely and it has never come back. That was over a year ago.

Whether you need to stop smoking, or are afraid to sleep, are heartbroken, or just have a pesky habit you need to break, come in for an introductory session.  Changing your mind can be easier, and faster, than you imagined.

November is National Smoke Out Month

Know Someone who needs to quit smoking?
I am offering an amazing opportunity to quit smoking.

Click here to check it out.

Seven Practical Steps to Reduce Sugar Cravings

Go ahead and try to stop me!

When I was the size of the little girl in the photo, my dad tried to get me to hand over my chewing gum before I went to sleep.

I refused.

His argument that I was going to wake up with gum in my hair was reasonable.

I swallowed MY GUM.

I feel the same about my food. Don’t even try to tell me I can’t have a candy bar.

So what about you?  Who is running your food show?  Is your inner rebel  a stubborn two year old? a snarky teen?

As long as you and your rebel are happy, stop reading.

If you would like to change, and could use some help, keep reading!

You have probably heard that the most lasting change is from the inside out.

That may seem like a lot of work. And EVERYONE wants a magic pill.

There is no magic pill.

Science now backs up what hypnotist, healers, and shamans have accepted for years.

Think of your brain as malleable plastic. You could create neurology for twenty years by reacting the same way every time you see a dog, a spider, or a candy bar.  You may believe that your brain is hardwired and that you cannot change it, but you can.   Your thoughts actually change your brain.

By negotiating with that little girl in the picture, I can have a candy bar any time I want, but now I only  occasionally want one.