As you are reading this, allow your attention to drift down to your left foot. Focus all of your attention on your left foot. Just your left foot. Imagine that your left foot is becoming heavy. Very heavy. Notice every sensation that you feel in your left foot. Your left foot continues to become heavier and heavier. Read slowly and pause between sentences to increase your attention on your left foot. It is becoming very heavy. Eventually you won’t even be able to lift it.

What did you notice as you read the above paragraph? Were you hypnotized into experiencing your left foot as growing heavy? Did you resist the suggestions? Either way, you were thinking of your left foot. Even if you say to yourself, "I will not think of my left foot," guess what? Try this: Don't think of a purple elephant. Don’t think of the color green.

You may not think so, but people are easily hypnotized. And Ed is a master hypnotist. He hypnotizes you into thinking that you are fat. Just as the previous paragraph had you thinking of your left foot, feeling it become heavier, Ed focuses your attention to all the various aspects of your body that make you feel uncomfortable. "Feel the waist line of your pants," is one of his favorites. He makes you believe that you are larger than you really are. He makes you feel it, and he makes you see it when you look in the mirror --- just like the master hypnotist that he is.

Your left foot did not really become heavier in this exercise, and you are really not as large as Ed makes you feel. (And it is Ed who is objecting to this idea right now. Do you hear him?) Write down the hypnotic suggestions that Ed repeats to you over and over again. Keep the list around; add to it as you become more aware of Ed's hypnotic suggestions. The list in your pocket or purse can serve as a reminder that you have been in Ed's trance.