How To Hypnosis...Top 10 Self Hypnosis Tips

I have posted previously my guide into how to get started with self hypnosis (Part One, Part Two, Part Three plus Recording Your Own Hypnosis) as well as different tips / experiments that can help to ease yourself into the practice (here and here). Fullhypnosis.com have produced this great Top 10 list that I really liked the look of and puts things in a very concise order. Just remember practice really does make perfect, and if you want to reap the full benefits of self hypnosis it is going to take some time and consistency...


1. Try to do your self hypnosis exercises consistently at the same time each day (as much possible anyway) for 15-30 minutes per session.

2. For the first few times that you practice self hypnosis, it's recommended to only practice when you are in a somewhat relaxed condition to start with. So you may want to take a warm bath beforehand.

3. Do not force your mind when it is feeling fatigued or sleepy after a nerve-racking day. If you are very tired, then you'll have trouble concentrating. If you need to take some time out, then just have put your feet up and get back to doing self hypnosis another time.

4. Formulate suggestions properly. No matter how effectively you practice a bad idea, it is still a bad idea. Give yourself specific commands, and phrase your hypnotic suggestions carefully, so as to form them correctly or once again, you will only act surprised when you fail. Remember, your subconscious needs the right cues, if it's going to change your behaviours. Read more on formulating suggestions here

5. Ensure you're prepared. Ahead of your session know what suggestions you'll be using. Don't try to make them up on the fly. You want your conscious mind to relax and if you have to think too much, then your session won't be very effective.

6. Find a quiet spot to practice. It's best to minimise distractions while you are in the process of learning self hypnosis. Remember to turn off your phone and if anyone is in the area, ask them not to disrupt you.

7. Find a position where your body will be comfortable and you will find it a lot easier to enter the hypnotic state. If you have a recliner, that would be perfect. Then again, make certain that you're not so comfortable that you fall asleep - that defeats the purpose. A good position is to be sitting in a chair with your spine straight and your feet firmly planted on the floor.

8. Be patient. When learning a skill such as self-hypnosis, a lack of experience coupled with impatience equals all but guaranteed failure. So take your time, when dealing with your most potent and difficult-to-reach issues.

9. Make or buy a recording that guides you into hypnosis before you begin to apply suggestions. If you're making it yourself you can either just record an induction or you may want to record your whole session, including the positive suggestions that you'll be working with. If you would like a personalised recording Email me for details.

10. Practice putting yourself into a relaxed state as often as possible. Even if it's just a couple of minutes here and there throughout the day, you will be able to get into hypnosis more effortlessly when you do your self hypnosis work.

Hypnotising yourself...(Part Three)

To hypnotize yourself you will need to use imagination, creativity, concentration and the idea of suggestion to be fully successful. In hypnosis a strong imagination and creativity helps greatly in reaching trance state by bringing to life your subconscious mind, while concentration is necessary in keeping you in trance while suggestion is the focal point for the whole exercise. You must be able to relax and free your mind from thoughts regarding pessimism or over analysing things as the whole concept of Hypnosis succeeds by shutting down the conscious, analysing mind to a bare minimum so that the subconscious aspect of mind can come to the fore. A relaxed state of mind is simply crucial to success.

In Hypnotic terms, suggestion is merely an idea implanted toward the subconscious mind. In regular Hypnotherapy the therapist will induce the client into a trance before delivering the positive suggestions into the client’s mind, for example to quit smoking or to become more productive. In self hypnosis you do not have someone guiding you and therefore must do this work by yourself. There are different ways to plant hypnotic suggestions into your own mind, either you can buy CD’s or recordings with a certified hypnotherapist’s suggestions on it, or you can pre-record a message (constructed using the guidelines at: http://www.healnowtherapyhypnosis.blogspot.com/) that you can play back to yourself via a suitable audio player. It is possible to do self hypnosis without the aid of an audio, but once in the trance state it can be very difficult to guide yourself in the direction you want to go. If you want to simply enjoy trance state and its relaxing properties then by all means go without the audio, but if you want a clear direction to your hypnosis and want results to directly improve yourself then using some kind of audio is clearly the best option.

Before listening to any recording it is essential to make yourself as comfortable as possible with no tight fitting shoes or clothes, and to be in a place where you feel safe and secure and will be free from distractions such as ringing phones or door bells where possible. When comfortable it is far easier to remain still and become relaxed, paving the way for a successful session of hypnosis. In that comfortable place focus first on controlling your breathing, aiming for steady deep breaths that calm your body further still, until you feel relaxed enough to close your eyes and take yourself to the next level.

In the primary relaxed state your brain will be open to an induction into hypnosis. I outlined in a previous post the 'fractional relaxation' method which is a very good starting point, but it is only one of numerous others, some of which I will detail at another time. In self hypnosis you can go through a method such as fractional relaxation in your own mind or go through the induction provided in the audio you are listening to. Once into hypnosis your subconscious mind is open and free, and is exactly the time to have the suggestions implanted (again, either in the provided audio or the one you have recorded yourself). After allowing a short time for this to be absorbed an 'awakening' would come next (that you would also include in your audio) to slowly bring you back around from trance state and into normality. 

With every session of Hypnosis it is first advisable to suggest to yourself these four points;

1.        You shall come out of Hypnosis comfortably and quickly in any circumstance that you should need to.

2.        You are in control of when you enter hypnosis and when you chose to exit hypnosis.

3.        The state of hypnosis will be easier to reach on the next occasion.

4.        You decide the time when you will come out of Hypnosis, allowing you to dictate how long you wish to remain in a trance state of mind.

Note:

It can be very easy for some to fall asleep during a hypnosis audio session while at other times a very deep hypnosis will be reached that will appear very much like sleep. One way of determining whether it was sleep or deep hypnosis is the manner in which you awoke. If you woke up at some random time after hypnosis (perhaps the next morning) then it is very likely you were asleep, but if you awoke at the end of the hypnosis during the ‘awakening section’ the chances are that you experienced a deep hypnotic state. If you find sleeping is a problem in hypnosis then sessions should be attempted upright in a chair as oppose to lying flat. On the other hand if you are finding it difficult to reach an adequate level of hypnosis do not panic yet, deeper and more consistent levels of hypnosis are brought about by practice and nothing more. Some people also work better with different inductions, and the only way to find one that suits you is to keep trying different styles.

Not only is the right ‘type’ of hypnosis important for the individual, how the hypnosis is delivered has to be the most important factor of all. When recording your own hypnotic suggestion there are many things to consider, none more important than how the recording is delivered and on what subject. In the next post we will be exploring this in a greater depth, as well as discussing how to go about recording your own personal audio for self hypnosis.

For more information on self-hypnosis try http://instantselfhypnosissecrets.com/self-hypnosis-guide/

Suggesting Self Hypnosis...PART 2

Hypnosis is a method of systematically shutting down the conscious mind leaving the subconscious open and susceptible to new ideas. First the body is made to be still and calm, then the eyes are fixated and closed. Breathing is slowed and controlled as the body slips into relaxation, the mind urged into the subconscious realm. The senses have been nullified one by one leaving the client relaxed but at the same time focused only on the sounds reaching their ear, the sounds connecting directly into their subconscious mind. Once into the state of hypnosis the mind is perfectly poised to have changes made to its long held belief system, changes made by something known as hypnotic suggestion.

So what exactly is hypnotic suggestion?

A suggestion can be simply defined as an act of offering a thought or an action to another person, but while a suggestion is given when that other person is in a state of hypnosis this becomes a hypnotic suggestion. In regular waking state someone might tell you ‘your eyelids are feeling heavier and heavier with each moment that passes, as though they are longing to close’ but your critical conscious mind would consider the idea and most likely reject it out of hand. However under hypnosis this critical aspect of mind is subdued leaving the whole mind more responsive to suggestions, and given the exact same command as above the eyes will typically close almost immediately. Auto-suggestions are suggestions that you apply to yourself when in self hypnosis.

Hypnotic suggestions are designed to have positive effects on the mind and body in numerous different ways, and are basically a series of instructions aimed at making the mind realise it’s own potential. As humans we fail the majority of the time because we fundamentally believe we will fail, and is the core reason highly confident people tend to achieve far more than persons with low confidence and self esteem. A saying goes that if anyone could bottle confidence they would instantly become a millionaire. Hypnosis does not come ‘bottled’ but with due time and thought hypnotic suggestions are a great tool for bringing personal success through many different means, including boosting confidence and maximising the potential of the mind, and could very well be worth an absolute fortune to anyone willing to learn it’s secrets. In trance state suggestions can be used to alter perceptions, attitudes and behaviours to either STOP unwanted traits such as negative addictions or habits, or to START wanted changes such as weight loss or stop smoking.

Hypnotic suggestions come in a variety of different forms that fall into some easily defined categories:

·         Direct Suggestion (aka Primary/Authoritative): A simple straight suggestion that tells you exactly what to do. ‘You will notice your eyelids feeling heavier and heavier until eventually they will close and you will feel relaxed’ This is the traditional style of suggestion pioneered by James Braid, deemed authoritarian as it is worded and spoken just like a command.

·         Indirect Suggestion (aka Secondary/Permissive): was made famous by Milton Erikson and is the opposite of direct suggestion. Indirect suggestions are insinuations or the rhetorical, anything that has a concealed meaning in the same way a metaphor would work. Indirect suggestions are used a lot in TV adverts, music and images combining to produce a scene that will translate to the viewer’s subconscious in a way perhaps not so obvious straight away. For example it is not just a video of a Land Rover moving through the countryside to opera music, subliminally it is representing the power and prestige owning such a vehicle would represent…

·         Verbal Suggestions: are spoken instructions as in the examples above.

·         Non Verbal Suggestions: are any suggestions that are unspoken. These can include physical manipulations of the body (physically swaying the body gently), mental imagery (as shown via pictures or video) or tone of voice (sounds rather than words e.g. breathing) used to promote relaxation and trance.  These suggestions can be very helpful in hypnotising those with a language barrier or those that have strange associations with certain words that are best avoided. Non Verbal suggestions are the most ancient of suggestions and can still be seen in ‘shaman’ rituals of indigenous tribes based on dance, movement, images and rhythm to induce trance.

·         Post Hypnotic Suggestion: these suggestions are designed to trigger an effect AFTER coming out of Hypnosis, e.g. ‘every time I close my eyes and think the word ‘RELAX’ I will be brought back to my visualisation of lying on a beach watching the sunset’. The time frame can range anywhere from minutes, days, weeks or even years after the suggestion was planted, depending entirely on how the suggestion is worded. In the example the word ‘RELAX’ would be the ‘post-hypnotic cue’…the trigger for the suggestion to kick in.

·         Relaxation Suggestions: ‘My whole body begins to feel calm, and as it does so I notice my mind relaxing in the same way’. These suggestions ease the mind and body in preparation for deeper levels of hypnosis and further suggestions. They are frequently used most at the onset of hypnosis.

·         Deepening Suggestions: make the trance state more enhanced often by focusing on a single task. e.g. ‘My hands are locked together so tight the harder I try to pull them apart the tighter they will lock together and the deeper into hypnosis I will go’

·         Imagery Suggestions: create mental scenes or pictures to work directly or indirectly in producing a mental environment where alterations can be made to attitudes or connections made to one’s experiences. A common use of imagery in self hypnosis is to find your mental ‘paradise’ or ‘happy place’ where every aspect of your surroundings is as you want it to be and where they are totally comfortable and relaxed.

Many suggestions will combine aspects from the different categories to form one single set of instructions, the content of which is dependant largely on the goal of the suggestion as well as the personal choice of the individual constructing it. What will your auto-suggestion be?

COMING SOON...

You know the basic rules of self hypnosis, but how to actually apply them to YOU and YOUR OWN situation?

For more info on self hypnosis, try http://www.hypnos.info/self/selfhypnosis.htm

The Rules of Suggestion in Hypnosis

No matter what kind of hypnotic suggestions you decide to include in your self hypnosis script there are a set of rules that must be applied when structuring and delivering those suggestion, with a certain method of speaking to the subconscious in order that the messages be understood as intended. Get this methodology learned right and you will be able to use an immensely powerful tool to your advantage without even having to give it much conscious effort. The power of self hypnosis:

1. MOTIVATING FACTOR must be strong. Your conscious mind will not be fooled into doing something without a core reason behind it. If you decide to learn to fly using only the power of your arms you will have a hard time making yourself accept such a duty as it has no reasonable sense. However if you wish to spend your day working in an unpleasant office but get paid well at the end of it you will stand much better chance of convincing yourself it is the right thing to do. What ever your motivating desire is it must counter any opposing desire, E.g. desire for health and wellbeing must outweigh desire to smoke cigarettes if you are to successfully quit.

2. ALWAYS BE POSITIVE! The law of reverse effect means that whatever you are trying not to think about you will invariably think about E.g. try not thinking about pink elephants… In the same way you cannot wish simply ‘to stop smoking’ as it will suggest to the subconscious the act of smoking once more as the mind does not understand ‘No’ or ‘Don’t’. What you must instead do is frame each suggestion positively and leave the negative components behind. ‘I am feeling healthy with clean lungs as I breathe freely and happily’.

3. USE THE PRESENT TENSE. Never say ‘I will do this’ or ‘I am going to do that’ because your subconscious mind only works in the present moment. ‘I am a healthy person’ must be the message, as though you are already doing whatever it is you wish to achieve. When you construct your suggestion do not merely read it; feel it, imagine yourself doing it and live it; the subconscious is linked in this way and it is the only method to truly connect it with what you are trying to achieve. Do not give the subconscious any excuse to delay!

4. SET A TIME LIMIT.  We have just said that the subconscious needs to always be in the present, but the conscious reasoning side of the brain still has its limits. Some things cannot be done overnight, such as learning a particularly difficult new skill, and will take time to develop, so a realistic time frame must be set. Find out how long it would typically take to learn a set skill and then set your time to half that amount. Once programmed towards a goal your subconscious will never stop working and will achieve the target far quicker than you could imagine. Don’t set a limit and the subconscious will wander less purposefully…

5. SUGGEST ACTION, NOT AN ABILITY FOR AN ACTION. Do not say ‘I have the ability to ride a bicycle’ but instead ‘I ride a bicycle with incredible skill’. This is for similar reasons as stated above in using present tense; it is the kind of language that works best for the subconscious mind.

6. BE SPECIFIC. You stand a far better chance of success if you focus on one single aspect at a time instead of multi-tasking on several different things. The more focused and specific the suggestion is the more likely it is to succeed with the all-important subconscious aspect of mind.

7. USE SIMPLE LANGUAGE. Suggestions should be tailored as if speaking with a bright ten year old child. Longer words are useless extravagances that expend energy needlessly in deciphering their meaning. Simple and direct commands translate best with the subconscious mind as they can only be interpreted one way.

8. EXAGGERATE AND EMOTIONALISE. The subconscious is the foundation of all our emotions, so stirring words and powerful images excite and influence it into following your commands all the more strongly.

9. REPETITION. The subconscious mind is heavily influenced by repetition. Repeat anything enough times and the message will be engraved into our memories. Use a suggestion on yourself as many times as you can and results will come to you; daily repetition is certainly recommended. Just think of that TV advert you hate with the all too catchy jingle that has stuck in your head…maybe you don’t like it but the message has certainly rung home! 

For even more information about hypnotherapy, why not visit http://bogcopper.com/