Self-hypnosis for positive change

Mindfulness

By Chris Akins / 15 years ago

Did you know that you can hypnotize yourself? That’s right; you don’t need anybody else’s help to go into a trance. Self hypnosis is relatively easy to do, and there are a lot of reasons why you would want to do it. Here are just a few.

Here are five things you can use self-hypnosis for:

1. Stress relief. If you are like most people today there is some stress in your life. The economy is bad, the boss always wants more and may even want to pay you less for it. And the uncertainty of when things are going to get better just adds to the pressure. You may also be juggling a lot of other things as well. All of this stress is bad for you. It can make you ill… in the body, mind and soul. It’s important to find ways to get rid of stress in a positive way. With self-hypnosis you learn to think about the things that cause you stress differently and either solve them or accept them (we call this “reframing”). You also learn to relax deeply which helps remove the physical and mental symptoms of stress.

2. Relaxation. Relaxing is good! And there never seems to be enough time to do it. Why is relaxation so important? When you are relaxed you think more clearly, making it easier to solve or reframe problems. You are also more friendly and approachable, so you can make relationships better. And when you are relaxed you don’t build up stress, which means you will be healthier.

3. Get rid of limiting self beliefs. Sometimes we have deeply held beliefs that hold us back. For instance, we may think things like “ I can’t do math,” or “I’ll always be fat,” or other negative things. The thing about these types of beliefs is that they are true… as long as you believe them! Self-hypnosis is great for removing limiting beliefs and replacing them with new, positive beliefs like “I can do really well at math if I try,” or “I’m carrying a few extra pounds, but I’m not fat… if I want to I could lose the weight.” And just as limiting beliefs limit you, positive or affirming beliefs set you up for success.

4. Help make important decisions. Sometimes we are faced with important decisions that may change our lives, and we may not know what to do. Even thinking about them may make give us a headache, or confuse us even more. The good news is that your subconscious mind is really good at figuring out tough problems. By using self-hypnosis to access your subconscious mind and help you make tough decisions, you are actually using the most powerful part of your mind. Your subconscious can process much, much more information much faster than your conscious mind. Sometimes after pondering a decision or problem during your self-hypnosis sessions, you may be surprised to find that the answer “just appears” to you. And most of the time the decision you make using this method will be aligned with your most deeply held values, which is a huge plus.

5. Get rid of bad habits. Are you a smoker who has tried everything to quit? Or do you find it impossible to pass up a jelly donut? Self-hypnosis can help you break the habit by changing how you think about these habits. For example, you may absolutely love and need that jelly donut. But using self-hypnosis you can program your mind to be indifferent to it… or even to hate it. You can literally change the way you think about it.

Here is one way to do it

1. Decide on a goal. What would you like to accomplish during your session? Be specific. Is there a presentation at work you need to prepare for? Are you training for a marathon? Do you just want to relax? Break a bad habit? Lose weight? Is there something else you want to achieve? Here is a great one: are there any questions you would like to ask your subconscious mind?

2. Find a quite place where you will not be disturbed, and where you can relax for 15-30 minutes.

3. Sit comfortably. You don’t need to be in the lotus position or anything like that. You can even lie down if you want… just don’t fall asleep! Whatever is comfortable and keeps you awake works. Play around with it and see what works for you.

4. Begin by breathing deeply. In through the nose, out through the mouth. This part is sometimes called the relaxing stage of self-hypnosis. The goal here is to let your body and mind relax. The tenseness in your muscles should leave, and your mind should become calmer. Sometimes I count my breaths, or visualize them as mist or even light as the come in and go out. During this stage, you will almost certainly find, at least at the beginning, that your mind is very active. You shouldn’t try to stop thoughts from coming into your mind. Just try not to dwell on them. I sometimes imagine the thoughts as floats in a parade going by…

5. When you are relaxed and feeling comfortable then its time to start the deepening stage of self-hypnosis. This is where you will really go deeper into the trance state. There are a lot of ways to deepen your trance, I usually imagine myself at the bottom of a long spiral staircase, and visualize myself climbing up and up and up…. until I find a magic beach. The beach is magic because on this beach I can be whatever I want to be, achieve whatever I want to achieve, know whatever I want to know… Anything and everything is possible on this beach… Once I am in this place I can move on to the final stage of the self-hypnosis.

6. I call this stage the working stage. Here I actually visualize myself accomplishing whatever goal it is that I have decided to work on during the self-hypnosis session. For instance, if I want to loose weight, I imagine the new, slimmer me. Not only do I see myself how I would like to look, but I also feel how it is to be slimmer. I feel healthier, more agile, more energetic, more attractive, happier… I even see and feel how people relate to the new me.

The key here is to experience every aspect of the new you once you have achieved the goal.

7. The final step, what I like to call the terminal stage is when I come back to the conscious world. It’s important to ease your way back, as you will be extremely relaxed after a good self-hypnosis session. When I am finished with my work I usually visualize myself leaving my magic beach as my new self, and walking back down the spiral staircase. When I am finished with my trip I slowly open my eyes and gently stretch. I always feel great because I know that I have done what I set out to do. After I’ve stretched I slowly get up and go about my day feeling totally refreshed and positive.