Stress and Hypnosis Part 4 - Self Hypnosis for Stress

Welcome to the fourth blog in my 'Stress and Hypnosis' series. In the last blog I talked about how you can use a technique called 'mindfulness' to help control your thoughts and emotions. In this blog I will be discussing another powerful technique - 'self-hypnosis' and how it can help you to manage stress. It has been stated many times that 'all hypnosis is self-hypnosis'. It is a great way to program your mind and body in so many helpful and beneficial ways. I am going to describe how you can literally hypnotize yourself and I will also be instructing you how to form your own suggestions and use as part of your own self-hypnosis routine. Read on, because self-hypnosis has proven to be a major stress remover.

So what is self-hypnosis? Self-hypnosis enables an individual to clear their minds, physically relax their body and enter into a creative state in which positive suggestions can be made to the subconscious mind. I teach self-hypnosis as part of all the programs that I offer. The reason for this is that, once a client leaves my office, they know how to continue the hypnotic work after the session. Self-hypnosis goes right back to the 1920s, when pharmacist Emile Coue, published his book 'Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion'. His technique was to have a person focus on the conscious task of moving the fingers along a piece of string with 20 knots in it, while repeating the suggestion: "Every day in every way I am getting better and better". Since then countless methods of self-hypnosis have been developed including the one described here.

Here is a simple version of the self-hypnosis that you can practice:

1. The first step is to develop the suggestion you want to say to yourself. An example of suggestions that might work for you are: "I deserve health and happiness" or "I am calm, I am relaxed, I am in Control". Whatever the suggestion, it must be written in a positive way, be simple, believable and stated in the present tense. It is very important that you really believe what you are saying to yourself.

2. The second step actually involves placing yourself into hypnosis. To do this, sit in a comfortable chair, with your hands on your lap and your feet flat on the floor. Just be sure that your legs are not crossed. Then take 3 nice deep breaths and exhale and allow yourself to relax. Pick a spot on the wall and gaze at that spot in a vague, dreamy way, for approx., 10 seconds. Then close your eyes and mentally count back from 10 down to 1. Each time you count, imagine the number been written on a blackboard and then wiped off or dissolving into the next lowest number, until you have reached the count of 1. Then say the suggestion (sometimes referred so as 'auto-suggestion') you have chosen three times. Imagine, pretend and visualize that you are accomplishing the suggestion. See yourself as you know you will be! Remember 'what the mind conceives, the body achieves'. Each time you say the suggestion, press your finger and thumb together. Finally, silently and mentally count upward from 1 to 3 and open your eyes and go about your business feeling refreshed and relaxed. This should only take a few minutes in total, it's that simple.

It is very important to make self hypnosis part of your life - like brushing your teeth. With persistent use, self-hypnosis will condition you to think and behave positively. The best times to give suggestions to yourself are when you mind is most relaxed, such as just before you go to bed at night, when you are daydreaming or even when you are engaging in your favourite activity. Those are the time when your subconscious mind is most open to receive the suggestions. If you use self-hypnosis each evening as you are falling asleep, you will be effectively clearing out any 'mind junk' that you have collected during the day. You will also be able to remove the junk from the previous days or even years. If you happen to fall asleep while saying the suggestions, that's okay as when you go to sleep at night, you open the door naturally to your subconscious mind. The next day you'll find yourself reacting very positively to the suggestions.

I would recommend making sure you are sitting in a comfortable chair (or lying on your bed) and will not be disturbed for the 5 minutes or so it takes to do the self-hypnosis. However feel free to give yourself the 'auto-suggestion' as often as you like throughout the day. Anytime something happens which is unexpected and temporarily throws you out of the 'homeostatic balance' described in part 2 of the series, take a deep breath, press your finger and thumb together, repeat your suggestion and be calm and tranquil, just like a lake without a ripple.

It can take up to three weeks for the suggestions to start working, so be patient with it and you will be amazed at the results. You will find that as your continue your self-hypnosis routine, you steadily improve in every way in which you want to improve. Using self-hypnosis will generate a state of mind that is most productive to good mental health and well being. In fact both mindfulness and self-hypnosis are two very powerful ways of managing our inbuilt 'flight or fight' stress response described in the first couple of blogs in this series. With persistent use, these techniques will help you to be more resourceful and able to cope with any situation or challenge that may arise. 

I hope you enjoyed part 4 of this series on 'Stress and Hypnosis', and that you enjoy practicing the self-hypnosis method described within. Join me next time for the final part, where I will be giving loads of tips for stress reduction and summarizing the important points of the series.

© Trevor Eivers 2014

My name is Trevor Eivers and I am based in Waterford, Ireland. I am a Certified Consulting Hypnotist (since 2010) with the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH), which is the largest hypnosis body in the world with over 14,000 members in 83 different countries worldwide. I am also a Certified NLP practitioner. I love my job in which I help everyday people with everyday issues. Contact me at 086-8211677 or check me out online at waterford-hypnosis.com or Facebook at : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Trevor-Eivers-Hypnosis/177881245578285