How To Do Self Hypnosis

September 2, 2009

By Jon Rhodes-www.yourhypotistblog.mobi

Although it has been used for centuries, hypnotherapy is now rapidly gaining a reputation for being a powerful yet safe tool for therapeutic change. It can help with almost any aspect of our lives. It can help with issues such as fears and phobias, addictions, losing weight, gaining confidence, and even many relationship issues.
Hypnosis can be expensive, and a good hypnotherapist can be difficult to find for people in some areas. However this is not a problem as it is possible to hypnotise yourself. With repeated practice your skills should increase as will your ability to go deeper and deeper into a hypnotic trance. With a little patience and persistence you should soon be able to go into a hypnotic trance quickly and effortlessly.
Here are some tips on how to hypnotise yourself.
It is important to make sure that you will not be disturbed for about an hour. Turn off all phones, and tell family and friends not to bother you. If you don't do this, then the possibility of you being disturbed may prey on your mind. Find a comfortable place. Subdue the lighting if this helps. You can be seated, or led down, whichever you prefer. Make sure that your legs are not crossed, as you could end up going numb after some time.
Now take your time, and follow these 5 simple steps.
1) Close your eyes and take 10 slow deep breaths - in through the nose, and out through the mouth. Say to yourself the word 'Relax' on each out breath.
2) Imagine yourself at the top of 10 steps with a door at the bottom. With every slow step you take down, feel yourself becoming deeper and deeper relaxed, until you finally reach the door.
3) When you get to the bottom open the door to your ideal place of relaxation. It could be a beach, a garden, anywhere you want. It could be somewhere real, or imagined - your own unique special relaxing haven.
4) Use as many of the senses as you can. Take a good look around. Pause and listen to any sounds. Perhaps you can hear the call of a bird, or the breeze gently blowing. Perhaps you can smell the sweet scent of flowers, or the salt in the sea? Touch objects and make the experience as real as you can.
5) Explore your relaxing haven, and enjoy it for as long as you wish.
This is a great technique to aid relaxation, and your ability to relax will improve the more you do this. Most of us do not relax anywhere near enough, and this can damage our health in many ways.
Lack of relaxation can weaken our immune systems, causing us to become more prone to illness. Inadequate relaxation may also increase irritability, anxiety, and unhappiness. These problems can affect our behaviour, increasing our likelihood to overeat, smoke, drink, takes drugs etc. Even if you just do this relaxation work, you will massively improve your overall health in almost every area.
If you are struggling with this technique, persevere. Getting into a hypnotic state is a skill that will improve over time. Don't expect too much. Hypnosis is not the 'magical state' that the media often portrays at as being. You will probably still be aware of what is going on around you, and may well think 'is this it?'. However you will notice the difference when you wake up. It may be worthwhile visiting a clinical hypnotherapist, or buying a recording at least once, in order to experience the feeling of a trance. When you have experienced a trance a few times, you will be more informed as to what the state of mind is that you are seeking.
You can also take this self hypnosis a little further if you wish. You can learn to give yourself specific therapy as you become more accomplished. Here are a few further techniques you can employ.
What the mind clearly imagines, it believes has really happened. If you imagine something bad happening to you, you will feel the emotions as if it has really happened. Success breeds success, so if you visualise yourself achieving something, then it will help you to do just that. You may wish to visualise yourself slimmer, healthier or wealthier for example. Or you may wish to visualise yourself having achieved something, such as a promotion or a new job, or winning a sporting event. Make the image as real as you can, use as many of your senses as you can, and do this as often as you can.
You are only limited by your imagination. In fact you should notice that your creative powers increase the more that you use self hypnosis, as your mind becomes more accustomed to using its creative abilities. Stick with it. Set a specific time to do self hypnosis, even if it is only once or twice a week. Find what works for you. You may for example discover that you are much more able to relax in the evenings than in the morning. It is quite normal for people may soon start noticing differences in you, and they may even begin to comment. The choice is your. You may wish to tell them your secret of self hypnosis, or keep it to yourself! You will find that your life will improve in almost every area after just a few weeks of regular self hypnosis, so go ahead and give it a try.
Jon Rhodes is one of the UK's leading clinical hypnotherapists.

Free Ways to Learn More About Hypnosis

September 1, 2009, 8:14 pm EDT
OK, the credit crunch has taken hold and every penny is spent before you have earned it. So here are my suggestions on free ways you can learn more about hypnosis.
Join a library. In the UK it's free of charge and borrowing books from the branch is also free.
Don't just join a hypnosis social community like hypnothoughts.com and Tranced Out Free Hypnosis Community, interact with the members. Ask for opinions, recommendations, advice. and share your knowledge. Without realising it you soon build up a support network. From my experience my fellow hypnotist are not too frightening, well they don't bite at least.
Sign-up for free hypnosis courses. I typed into Google "free hypnosis course" and received 2,090,000 results. A few words of advice though, check their privacy policy and that the course is really free. Quality cannot be guaranteed!
Join a hypnosis learning group. You will able share knowledge and practice with people who have a similar interest. Checkout the hypnosis social communities to see if there are any groups in your area. If you can not find one then consider setting one up.
Read hypnosis blogs and hypnosis association websites and subscribe to them. Many blogs are written by hypnotists and hypnotherapists. There is a lot of hypnosis information available in the big web world.
Contact hypnotists and hypnotherapists in your area and "pick their brains" about this fascinating art.
You may think this all sounds like common sense, but I reckon that not many people are doing this. Remember hypnosis is about learning and it doesn't have to cost the earth to learn more about it. If you have any ideas about free ways of learning more about hypnosis and want to share it, leave your suggestion in the comments box.