Medical Relaxation

as a treatment of a variety of illnesses,and for the improving of the Memory and the concentration. Dr. Mendelson is living and working in Jerusalem,and has published some books in the subject of practical Hypnosis.for details you can Email or call +972-2-586-1265.The Principles of Medical Hypnosis The explanations which follow are quite simple. They are based on the common ques-tions which were asked by those patients who have tried to comprehend the basics of our method. Amongst the general public, including many in the medical world who are not fa-miliar with the theory and practice of medical hypnosis, there exist biased and wrong opin-ions about hypnosis. The public which has gained most of its' information or rather disin-formation from public shows of "magicians" who perform various "tricks" on films and television shows whose main aim is to impress and stun the viewer and to thereby force the viewer to come to the next show. What I am going to discuss now has nothing to do with these type of things. I shall dis-cuss hypnosis as a medical method which is able to heal and act as a painkiller, to improve both the physical and mental state of the patient and also to optimize a healthy person's per-formance in the fields of concentration, memory, mental development and optimizing a per-son's usage of his energies. I repeat that there are no tricks involved and that hypnosis is part of general medicine which is already studied as a matter of course at the medical faculties of the leading universities, both in Israel and abroad.

According to Israeli Law, the practice of medical hypnosis is limited to doctors, dentists and psychologists all of whom must first have undergone the required training and have the appropriate permits. I would not advise anyone to undergo treatment by a "specialist" who is not licensed to practice: In untrained hands hypnosis can do more harm than good. There is no shortage in Israel of trained doctors who are familiar with the subject and are members of the Association of Medical and Experimental Hypnosis. Some doctors are also members of the International Society of Medical and Experimental Hypnosis. Every doctor who so wishes can undergo appropriate training at Haifa University or private courses and then continue studying under the auspices of the Na-tional Hypnosis Society and also in the clinics of approved medical professionals. Every practitioner has his own specific attitude and method although all are based on the same theories and principles which are accepted in the medical profession. I shall discuss specifi-cally my own method.

In one sentence I would describe my method as follows: During the hypnotic session I teach the patient how to relax all the muscles in the body. The obvious question is, why go to a hypnotherapist in order to learn relaxation? Would it not be more obvious to go to a gym, to yoga or meditation? It is true that all of these deal in relaxation. Additionally, in yoga and mediation there is a lot of hypnotic principle involved although many in those fields will refuse to admit so. At a certain stage of learning the art of relaxation it becomes possible to relax and let go not only the general muscles but also the many internal ones such as the lungs or veins and arteries. The last two as we shall soon explain are particularly important in our method.

And so, we relax the skeleton's muscles. The relaxation process is felt in many different ways amongst which are a pleasant tiredness, a feeling of warmth or coolness in various or-gans, a feeling of pleasant heaviness in various organs and more). As result of relaxing all the muscles many different aches and pains can disappear, particularly those which are caused by muscle strain or spasm such as a "jammed" neck, back pain, arthritic pains, re-petitive strain injury pain etc. It must be pointed out that the more physical the symptom and pain rather than psychological, the greater the effect and pain relief through hypnosis and relaxation. Additionally I must emphasize that almost every pain that exists can be relived through hypnosis including pain during a woman’s' labor, dental pain, pain as result of can-cer and even pain during surgery. A good number of surgeons operate using hypnosis in-stead of sedation in tooth extraction, gall bladder surgery and cesarean procedures. This is fully documented in many publications dealing with hypnosis.

All our feelings and reactions involve the contraction and release of groups of muscles. For example, whilst feeling happiness the facial muscles extend and the lips widen into a smile. Whilst sad, the ends of the lips fall and the forehead tenses. Whilst angry the hands form fists etc. etc. The change in the muscles is not necessarily done consciously and usu-ally happens automatically whilst one is upset or thinks of past and current problems. When the muscles are relaxed, the troubling feeling lightens because without the tensing of mus-cles we are unable to fully sense the particular feeling. The person becomes quieter, less strained and more relaxed.

Relaxed muscles do not exert pressure on the blood vessels (veins and arteries and NIMIM) which are spread like a net throughout the body - even at the roots of hairs.

Relaxing the muscles which are part of the walls of the blood vessels is important too and this can be confirmed with an ECG test and other tests. When the blood system is re-laxed, the blood flow is perfected and therefore supplied to each area of the body. This re-sults in three changes which are non existent with other methods: a) The blood pressure cor-rects itself. If it was too high it will drop and low blood pressure will rise. This can be checked with a blood pressure monitor before and after a relaxation "exercise". There are certain pains which result from the contraction or over-expansion of the blood vessels in the brain. This then results in a shortage of oxygen and can cause migraines or pain in the knees which does not permit walking more than a few steps at a time (a frequent symptom with heavy smokers). It can also cause stomach pains or period pains to the extent that the suffer-ers are unable to work or function normally during the period. It also causes pain in the chest. The sufferer presumes he has heart trouble and will go to his doctor who performs an ECG and assures the patient that there is no problem. The patient concluded that either he is imagining things or the doctor is mistaken and will therefore continue going to doctor after doctor until someone gives his illness a name and then patient and doctor are happy. The explanation is simple. Pain has several causes most of which are related to the central nerv-ous system. The heart is driven by the symatic and parasympatic nervous system and through the heart muscle system. It is very difficult to monitor by ECG the contractions of the heart muscles which are the main cause of pain as the ECG must be performed whilst the contraction is taking place.. This type of pain is greatly relieved by hypnotic relaxation as is angina which results from inadequate blood supply to the heart muscles. Similarly the treatment will improve the state of a patient on the verge of or following a heart attack. The same principle applies with bronchitis, asthma and the contraction of the urinary system. I shall not elaborate further especilly as not all the causes are scientifically clear yet. We still do not understand what exactly metabolism is although we do know that it is a series of chemical reactions which are encouraged by chemical substances which various glands in the body produce and which are supplied to the whole body via the blood and lymphatic systems.

We have the ability and knowledge to measure metabolism. Through blood tests we are able to determine the metabolism of proteins, carbohydrates and fats and also the secretion levels of the various glands in the body. Take for example an overweight person whose metabolic system misfunctions and as a result fat is stored rather visibly. Or worse still, when the fat is stored in the areas of the heart, liver or intestines. Sometimes the fat is gath-ered without correlation to the volume or type of food ingested. The opposite can be seen by a thin person. He can eat as much as he likes and still remain underweight. Through relaxing the blood system we are able to alter and correct the patient's metabolism. This can be veri-fied through blood tests before, during and after the period of treatment.

As result of relaxing the blood system the metabolism improves, the glucose content changes, the cholesterol level and thriglycerides change and the thyroid function changes. This basically is the difference between our method and other forms of weight loss. All the other methods are based on the use of force. Eat what you dislike or do not eat what you do like. There are also cases where appetite suppressing drugs are given. When these are stopped, the hunger simply returns. There are even more violent methods whereby the stom-ach is sewn up during surgery permitting the patient to ingest no more than several spoons of food at a time. Any more is simply vomited resulting in the patient being an invalid for life. Further complications can also arise from such procedures and experience shows that after two years or so the patient will begin gaining weight again effectively having gained nothing.

With our method however, no force is involved. The metabolism is corrected and the organism learns agin how to burn off all excess calories and this is the major difference. This can be proven t/through tests. Besides this, our treatment is simple and pleasant. If any unpleasantness is involved - then our treatment is not being used.

I shall return to the relaxation of the muscles. The relaxed muscles no longer exert any pressure on the nervous system (the whole body is full of nerves). The nervous system therefore relaxes and is free. Feelings that are not exacerbated by any pressure or strain of muscles are not felt so strongly. The patient becomes more patient with himself, his family, friends and society. Self-esteem (which is lacking in many psycho-somatic illnesses) re-turns. Infections which are based in the nerve system will disappear (NERVUS TRIGEMI-NUS). Whistling or the hearing of other sounds in the ear also disappears. This problem usually gives no respite, day or night and can cause deep depression. The volume will either decrease drastically or totally disappear.

I shall end off with an explanation of my method. I teach the patient to relax muscles. We relax all the skeletal muscles and the internal muscles simultaneously. We relax the whole blood system. We relax the central nervous system, the brain and the spinal system. Through this relaxation process the metabolism rights itself and the immune system strengthens tremendously. Even a critically ill patient can get better if his immune system functions fully.

I would like to add that my method includes work which the patient has to do himself. During the first session I train the patient how to perform "relaxation exercises" himself. It is difficult to explain, but after the first session each and every patient has it built in. These "exercises" (non physical) are performed several times a day whilst sitting or lying down, whilst at home or whilst at work or even whilst traveling (as long as the patient is not driv-ing). The chronic patient is therefore continuously enjoying the effect of the relaxation. Sev-eral other things must also be done which lower the stress and fear levels and boost the im-mune system.

The treatment will bring full success only with the use of all the means as has been proven in many cases. I hope that I have managed to explain the basics of my method. In the next chapter I will discuss which illnesses can be treated with this method.