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.

The Woman Who Can SEE and TASTE Music: Synaesthesia Video

The UK Synaesthesia Association describes this remarkable and rare condition like this:

Synaesthesia is a truly fascinating condition. In its simplest form it is best described as a “union of the senses” whereby two or more of the five senses that are normally experienced separately are involuntarily and automatically joined together. Some synaesthetes experience colour when they hear sounds or read words. Others experience tastes, smells, shapes or touches in almost any combination. These sensations are automatic and cannot be turned on or off. Synaesthesia isn’t a disease or illness and is not at all harmful. In fact, the vast majority of synaesthetes couldn’t imagine life without it.

For more information click here

YouTube Link

The Psychology Behind Christmas

There is considerable debate surrounding the topic of Christmas and why the 25th December is celebrated. Christians would say it was the celebration of Jesus' birth and without disputing this, mid-winter festivals go back considerably earlier in time than Christianity in celebrating the winter solstice; the time of year when day is shortest and night longest. The celebration is not for the night, but instead for the turning point in winter, where the days would only get longer from that point on, and new life could be looked forward to. In bygone times this was obviously important as without electricity the sun was all the more important and completely dictated how we once lived. Read more here.

The Romans celebrated the winter solstice in a festival known as 'Saturnalia' between the 17th and 24th December, with the following day known as 'Juvenalia', an occasion where children were entertained through food and presents. The old darkness replaced by light and rebirth, and what better way to worship new beginnings than by celebrating children? Differing types of mid winter festivals are also associated with the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Pagans and Persians to name just a few; many of those celebrations based around the 'sun gods' and rebirth, in line with the winter solstice.

But is the turn of winter the only reason humans celebrate this widespread festival? It is known in countries that experience significant darkness in winter that levels of depression increase in line with death and suicide rate. One reason for this is that the lack of sunlight causes less serotonin to be released in the brain, causing depression. This is commonly known as Seasonal Affective Disorder, or fittingly SAD, and can cause a variety of depressive problems.

Winter traditionally represents sparsity as little can grow and to a large part supplies from a successful summer harvest would have to be relied upon to survive. People both in those times, as well as now, would be less active especially in the outdoors with sleep time also increasing, making socialising less frequent and increasing the feeling of isolation and loneliness.With little natural light or warmth to count on the winter months would be a tough and unenjoyable time to live through even without SAD affecting the body's hormones.

It seems to me as though there is no better time to lift spirits throughout a community than in the middle of winter. A festival reverses many of the effects listed above by bringing people together to socialise and share, even for a short space of time. Presents are exchanged giving another sure fire reason to be happy, both in giving and receiving. The festival also has the effect of giving people something to plan and look forward to in advance, giving the community a united occasion where everyone is involved and everyone has an event they can discuss and share together, both before, during and after.

To counter the darkness light is brought into the family home traditionally through special candles or fires, with a new atmosphere being brought about through song and dance. Today everything is lit up by extravagant lights both inside and outside the house, lifting the so called gloom and darkness of winter throughout the month of December. Songs are still sung throughout with a strong emphasis on music and parties, both in the workplace and in the family setting.

While food may have been scarce in olden times, the winter Xmas festival is traditionally one of gluttony, epitomised by a fat Santa Claus, where food and drink are taken in abundance meaning feelings of deprivation can be completely forgotten. The modern day Xmas is not far different, even poor families shower one another with gifts and food, forgetting any economic problems they might have for at least a few days of the year.

These attitudes of expenditure are naturally very good for the economy. Food and drink are sold in abundance everywhere while businesses prosper as the stock from the year is sold with sales happening between Xmas and January making room for the new lines to appear. It is another parallel of the death and rebirth celebration originally set aside for the sun and our natural environment, but is certainly applicable to modern day customs as well. The new year comes in only a week later and again represents a time of renewal and new beginnings with 'new years resolutions' a common theme; people wishing to improve themselves for the year ahead.

Quick and Easy Self Hypnosis Methods

Hypnosis can be a hard mental process to break into, and to some it is too daunting to learn and try. Luckily there are some very simple practices that can be carried out in only a couple of minutes to experience how beneficial self hypnosis can be. Selfgrowth.com lists these 3 techniques to use for relaxation and stress relief: 

Self Hypnosis Technique #1: The Waterfall

This hypnosis technique takes only a minute or less and is a powerful stress reliever. Take a deep breath. Imagine a relaxing waterfall of energy either in front or behind you (whichever feels best to you). Imagine this waterfall is flowing with healing, relaxing energy. You might imagine it as cool or warm water, as a stream of air, or simply soft, relaxing energy. However you want to imagine it is perfect. You might see it in your mind's eye, or feel it, or simply know that it is there. Now imagine that you step into this beautiful flowing waterfall of relaxing energy and it flows from the top of your head all the way down your body, flowing over your shoulders, your back, your stomach, your legs, all the way down to the bottoms of your feet, and down to the center of the earth.

The Waterfall Technique is powerful and helpful if you need a quick pick-me-up. You can flesh out the background, too. For ultimate stress relief, maybe you imagine you're in a tropical forest or on a gorgeous beach. You can imagine lush surroundings that are relaxing and comforting to you to round out your refreshing hypnosis experience.

Self Hypnosis Technique #2: Breathing

Another super quick and easy hypnosis technique is (yes, you guessed it!) breathing. Simple deep breathing is one of the best starting points for any hypnosis technique (see technique #1). Begin by suggesting to yourself to just breathe. As soon as you give yourself this suggestion, you might notice that you take a deeper breath than your last one. Imagine that you can fill both lungs all the way to capacity, letting the air reach even the bottom region of your lungs. You can also imagine that you can breathe into remote body parts, like your feet or your hands. Imagine that you can breathe into a sore spot in your body and revitalize that spot with the cleansing fresh oxygen. This is the easiest hypnosis technique of them all, and the best stress buster in you only have a few seconds.

Self Hypnosis Technique #3: The Mini Power Nap

This hypnosis technique takes about 5 minutes or less, but the power in it is amazing. If you're feeling tired, run down, or generally lethargic, this is the technique for you! You'll need a quiet place to sit or lie down for just five minutes. If you're very tired, sitting might be better so that you don't fall asleep (hypnosis is so very relaxing!).

Start by taking a deep, cleansing breath, and notice any tension in your body. Give yourself the suggestion that any and all tension can simply let go, and in it's place, direct a relaxing flow of energy to ease and relax your body. Bring you attention to your breathing, and imagine that you can bring yourself to the center of your being. You might imagine a beautiful garden or a powerful guide at your side or a safe cave at the center of your being. Anything that makes you feel good, safe, and centered is perfect hypnosis setting.

Now give yourself the simple suggestion that you have five (or four or three) minutes for a super-charged hypnosis power nap. You might say to yourself, "I have this time here and now to allow myself a relaxing power nap to recharge and energize my mind, body, and spirit." Let your eyes close and keep following your breath down to the center of your being. Allow this self hypnosis technique to relax your eyes and your mind. Tell yourself that it's OK to let go and allow relaxation to flow through you for this short hypnosis power nap. Keep suggesting that this is a hypnosis power nap, and that when you are ready to open your eyes, you will feel refreshed, recharged and energized.

Read the full article here

8 Things Everybody Should Know About Concentration

People all over the world struggle consistently with concentration and is a huge cause for frustration whether it be in school, at home or in the workplace. Just how can we put our minds into gear and make ourselves concentrate better to be more productive with our time? The 8 points below are taken from an excellent article written Scott Scheper, and can be read in full here.

1. You can’t start concentrating until you've stopped getting distracted

The phrase above is self-explanatory. Yet, it’s amazing how most people look for some crazy, obtuse solution for the reason why they can’t concentrate. They reason, “I just have ADD. I can’t concentrate.”  In the late 80′s, two researchers asked themselves a chicken-egg question. (“What came first the chicken or the egg?”). Their version centers on distraction and boredom. They asked themselves, “What came first, distraction or boredom.” What they found is rather subtle, yet it’s profoundly significant. They found that distraction leads to boredom (not the other way around). This displays that we must cut out distraction in order to get focused; or else, we’ll get bored.

2. Just do one important thing per day

Scientists also found that we can only focus on one thing at once. Nobody does that. We’ve always got something going on in the background of whatever we’re doing. We’ve always got two-dozen tasks on our to-do list. On top of this, we’ve got a handful of projects that we try and finish simultaneously. When you've got a mountain of paperwork on your desk, the best thing to do is clear it all off. Pick it all up and place it in a drawer. Do anything required to get it out of your sight. After this, kick your feet up and daydream. Yes, I'm serious. Daydream and ask yourself the following question: “What’s the most important thing I can do right now?” Once you've identified the item that will actually make a difference, do it. Try and make it a goal to do just one critical thing per day. This habit proves much more effective than living the routine everyone else lives: doing many insignificant things a day. They live on fooling themselves into thinking they've added value.

3. Chunk into three’s

Most of the time your one important thing that you can do per day takes more than just one action. Oftentimes it takes a series of smaller steps to accomplish. For this reason, it’s very helpful to chunk activities into sets of three. If you set out to accomplish one important item without a plan, you’ll be just as ineffective as the crack-berry work-a-holic running around the office making copies. Outline your three-step to-do list using an offline to-do planner (which we outline in another chapter); or if you’re working online, use a three-item FocusList to keep you focused on the task at hand. Click here for a simple, effective, downloadable To-Do List.

4. Questions that kill procrastination

The brain processes meaning before detail. This is where procrastination stems from. Your boss, professor or co-worker tells you that the task on your desk is important, but your brain doesn’t yet agree. If you push forth anyways, and embark on the task before understanding its meaning, you’ll end up frustrating yourself and wasting time because you may have to do it all over. For this reason ask yourself the following questions: 1. Does this really need to be done? 2. Can I delegate this?

5. Be Smart With Your Time

The Pareto principle is founded on a theory that 80% of effectiveness is driven by 20% of our activity (or causes). I argue that it’s more like 99%:1%. It’s amazing how many insignificant tasks we’re constantly filling our lives with. Don’t make it your goal to involve yourself with 20% of meaningful items during the day. It gets too confusing, and your untrained mind will still end up taking-on too much. As stated above, just do one important task per day. Say no to everything else–even your boss. Be humble, but be logical.

6. Mind Maps

Whenever you’re feeling overwhelmed, it’s critical to allow the mind to disentangle itself by mapping out your thoughts on paper.

There’s two types of mind maps: (i) PS Map, and (ii) Fear Map

7. Blame something

Other times, sitting down to concentrate is as simple as blaming a simple object for your inability to concentrate. As we discussed above, lazy people are those that blame almost everything on their environment. You don’t want to do this, as it’s not a long-term, sustainable solution. However, in instances where you can’t get excited to actually pump blood to your prefrontal cortex (phase 1 of concentrating), a simple object can help you out. Such an object would be coffee, a drink, a Bonsai tree or a walk. You can reward your mind for concentrating by saying, “OK, mind, here’s the deal–it’s hard to concentrate on this right now, but I’ll pick up a bonsai tree, which will create a more compelling environment to concentrate.” You’ll find that this object-based motivator actually works.


8. Interest

Researchers found that concentration is not a gift. It’s not about intelligence. It’s not about being a prodigy with a gifted memory. It’s not about possessing the ability to recall an insane amount of facts (That’s what Google’s for). Researchers found that concentration is driven by interest, and interest is driven by attitude. If your attitude towards a specific project swells with interest, intrigue and passion, concentration is astonishingly easy.