In the ongoing effort to find a permanent weight loss solution, many people are turning to the gastric band. Surgery of any kind implies risk, and the long term follow up studies after gastric banding show less than stellar results.
- What if you could get all the benefits of a gastric band without any of the risk?
- Can a person be hypnotized into thinking they have a gastric band?
- The answer, not surprisingly, is yes.
What is a gastric band?
A gastric band is a small, round tube, kind of like a hollow Lifesaver candy, that is placed around a portion of the stomach. This creates a small pouch and a restricted opening to the rest of the stomach, like the small center of an hourglass. The tube-like band is filled with fluid from a reservoir placed near the surface of the skin.
Adding more fluid tightens the band; withdrawing fluid loosens it, so that the rate of weight loss can be adjusted.
Because of the smaller upper stomach pouch, the patient feels full with less food. Also, since the opening to the rest of the stomach is smaller, food moves more slowly and the feeling of fullness lasts longer.
The gastric band may help people to lose weight; however, it only addresses the physical part of the problem.
Anybody who has ever dieted knows that it isn’t just about the food, right? With gastric band surgery weight is often regained after only two years.
Okay…so how does hypnosis fit in?
Hypnosis can help here in a couple of ways:
- Hypnosis helps install new thinking and behavior patterns - new habits.
- Hypnosis can help identify any mental or emotional blocks to healthy eating and exercise, and then explore solutions for them. Your weight no longer fluctuates based on your mood and you see consistent, permanent results.
- Hypnotically simulated, or virtual gastric banding can be as effective as surgical gastric banding yet has none of the risks of surgery or unwanted after-effects (nausea, indigestion, “dumping syndrome.”)
Wait a minute…did you say hypnotically simulated gastric banding?
- Yes! We already know that a person under hypnosis will respond to suggestions that create changes in the body.
- Suggest a hot day at the beach and someone might start fanning him or herself.
- Suggest a hand is stuck to the wall and the person won’t be able to move it.
This is because the subconscious mind, the part of the mind that is in constant communication with the body and tells it what to do, can’t distinguish between what is real and what is realistically imagined.
So suggesting surgery really can work! The body responds to virtual gastric banding because the subconscious mind believes the surgical process actually happened.
What’s really fun, and sometimes hard to completely grasp, is that to the subconscious mind there is no difference between believing you’ve had surgery and believing your hand it stuck to the wall.
Both things are equally possible. While the conscious mind can think whatever it wants, it’s the subconscious belief that makes change happen.
Gastric Band Hypnosis is not a process to enter into lightly, though. It still takes a firm commitment of your time and your desire to permanently release weight.
If you’ve got that desire and commitment, then hypnosis could be a cost-effective, risk-free way to explore what your body is capable of when your mind’s full power is activated for your benefit. Enjoy the journey.