What is Self Hypnosis?
Self-hypnosis is a self induced intentional trance. It is a way to empower yourself and improve control of your thoughts and emotions.
Self hypnosis involves becoming highly focused and releasing control, becoming absorbed in the experience. Once you have achieved this state you are able to give yourself positive suggestions about reaching and achieving your goals.
Self hypnosis is empowering and promotes relaxation, allowing you to develop a relationship with and understanding of your feelings and emotions, using your focus to achieve goals.
Benefits of Self Hypnosis
Self hypnosis allows us to address a wide range of issues that we face in day to day life.
Common themes that people address with self hypnosis include:
Weight loss: adjusting your attitude toward food, managing emotional eating and reducing cravings
Anxiety: reducing stressors in your life and quieting negative thoughts
Quitting smoking: changing your attitude toward common addictions and curbing the intensity of your cravings
Sleep: may help you relax allowing you to enter a restful state and reduce the negative thoughts that consume us while we try to rest
Self confidence: promotes changing negative talk and negative thought patterns, silencing our inner critic
Pain management: chronic pain can be debilitating, you may be able to reduce your perception of pain and the negative thoughts and emotions that are associated with it
Performance enhancement: you may be able to achieve a higher level of performance by promoting self confidence and motivation to achieve your goals.
Quick Start Guide
Hypnosis is safe and you will be in control; it is your experience. To end the hypnosis session at any time simply begin to feel yourself coming back to the room and to the present state, wiggling your toes, moving your fingers and feeling the surface beneath you.
1. Find a comfortable place to relax and get comfortable
2. Relax using a hypnotic induction like progressive muscle relaxation
3. Introduce a suggestion
4. Return to your usual level of alertness.
Helpful Tips
1. Set a goal. Before beginning make sure you have a goal in mind, make it true to you, keep it concise and attainable. What do you want to achieve? Use present tense language and refrain from using negative words i.e. I am confident now, I choose to be a non-smoker.
2. Say it with confidence. When you begin to say your goal make sure you are confident, believe that it is already the case, affirm that it is so.
3. Schedule a time to practice. Set aside a time each day for self hypnosis and write it in your calendar. Self hypnosis can be practiced at any time, make it right for you.
4. Keep practicing: Just like all new things, it takes time to learn and consistently practicing will help you learn to more quickly enter this state of mind. You will become more comfortable achieving this state and will learn to refine your suggestions, ultimately improving the outcome.
5. Visualize. Making the experience realistic is key to success. Feel the steps under your feet, does it lead to a sandy beach with waves splashing and the smell of salt water? Do your steps have plush carpet that comforts you?
Does the goal you are achieving bring you happiness or happiness to those around you? Can you see the reactions of loved ones and feel their support?
In Conclusion
Hypnosis lets you imagine different situations as if they were real.
Your mind doesn’t know that what you are imagining is not reality. It believes that it is happening now and that the words you speak to yourself are true.
This is what makes hypnosis so powerful.
Hypnosis allows you to practice situations before you live them in real life, or relive past experiences and give them a new resolution. Self hypnosis is a coping mechanism. You can be the person, achieve the goal, and feel different emotions. When you can do this in hypnosis you can do it in real life. You have created the path and the memory.
Check out our next post for a step by step guide to self hypnosis. You can also check out our Self Hypnosis Journal and our eBook.
Disclaimer: Self-hypnosis can be a useful tool for self-improvement and well-being, but it is best to consult a licensed practitioner before trying it and to use it in conjunction with other healthy habits and therapies. This guidebook is intended for entertainment purposes only.