Self-Hypnosis 1.0
Our western society is becoming more aware of something that the eastern area of the world has known for eons. Every day, more scientific studies are showing that the benefits of both meditation and self-hypnosis are incomparable. There are some similarities between the two, but in my humble opinion and for ease of explanation of this technique, let us say that self-hypnosis has a “goal” or a “purpose”. Sometimes with meditation, the goal is just to “be”.
If you want to access an effective state for visualizations, or affirmations, or some other technique for change, reaching a nice state of self-hypnosis can make your work quicker and more effective. Even if your goal is to just relax, or relieve yourself of unwanted stress, self-hypnosis is a great little tool for your personal toolkit! As promised, I want to explain a fast and easy way of utilizing self-hypnosis. One of the problems that folks complain about with meditation and self hypnosis is that they are too busy, or when they sit down or lie down to do it their minds wander hither and yon. It is true, our minds were made to think, and think they shall. There is very little use in getting frustrated by this….so instead, I want you to release any self-judgement and just roll with it!
Here is my favorite self-hypnosis technique. You can dip in and out of this state in 2 minutes. So easy and so effective, I have called it Self Hypnosis 1.0. Play around with it. Practice at different times of the day, at night in bed, etc. As always, if you need clarification please don’t hesitate to write or call. Chatting via phone or e mail is always on the house!
1) Find a quiet space where you will not be disturbed for a few minutes. For those of you that are joined at the hip with your cell phones or smart phones, do yourselves a favor and turn them off for two minutes. I promise you the world will still be there when you return.
2) This technique consists of three different things occurring at the same time.
3) The first thing I would like you to do is begin to breathe, slowly, gently, and comfortably. If you are a shallow or rapid breather, focus on slowing your breath down. The key is to keep it comfortable. All of us can learn to breathe more optimally, and our minds and health will be better for it, but it is a learned technique on its own, believe it or not. Think of someone learning to scuba dive and how important breath -work is to them. As a HypnoBirthing practitioner, I have seen time and time again how breathing affects pain levels. When you are frightened, take note of how rapid and shallow your breathing is.
4) So…back to the technique. What we are going to do is take 10 nice slow comfortable breaths. That is the first of the 3 things I am having you do.
5) The second thing is while you are breathing, I want you to count backwards in your mind from 10 down to 1. You can do this on the inhale or the exhale, whatever you prefer. I tend to count in my mind as I am exhaling, but you do what works for you. So far, so easy, right?
6) The third and last thing I want you to do is between each breath (in other words in that “space” between when your lungs empty and you begin the next inhalation, I want you to gently and slowly open, then close your eyes. Slower than a blink. The eye opener/closure is called a hypnotic deepener, and it is the icing on the cake with this easy technique. You may find as you get down into the lower region of numbers that you are so relaxed that you feel you really can’t be bothered to open and close your eyes, but please press on. Each time you do the eye opener and closure, you will go deeper, and that is the whole point.
7) When you reach the count of 1, you can consider yourself to be in that nice state of self-hypnosis, and can do whatever work you want to do, i.e. your affirmations or your visualizations, or even just stay in this place, relax and enjoy the state.
That’s it! Easy, right? A few more points about this technique. If you find that your mind still wanders, even while you are counting from 10 down to 1, don’t worry, just bring your mind back to a number a few numbers higher, and continue on. Be easy on yourself. Even if you have to start right back at the number 10, that’s fine. Learning to breathe, learning to be aware, learning to control your mind all takes time and practice, but it is one of the very best things you can do for yourself and is the foundation for so much other great work! You will find as you do practice, you will in a short time experience some very nice states. One of the things that you will experience when you really have a handle on this process is you will get those tingles in your body, that really tell you something wonderful is happening!
**As always, call me if you have questions. It bears mentioning that this little technique has turned out to be so relaxing that is a pretty good cure for insomnia in many cases. That was not the intent of the technique, but it is a little side benefit. If you know of anyone who suffers from insomnia, teach them this technique.
Play and enjoy!
