One of the most amazing tools you can use to help yourself is self-hypnosis because you can influence your thinking and behaviour and take control of your life.
Self-hypnosis is a simple, natural mind-body approach to help you change and heal yourself.
Over the years, I have taught many people how to hypnotise themselves as there is lots of evidence that it can help with various issues.
A meta-analysis by Eason and Parris (2019) showed that self-hypnosis has been effectively used in clinical applications for pain, childbirth, paediatric applications, stress and anxiety.
But there are many ways to hypnotise yourself.
Knowing what you want to achieve and persevering with the technique is key.
You need to tell yourself something positive and be concise. For example, I am confident when I speak in public, not a sentence like I don’t want to show myself up when speaking in public. Also, refrain from using the word ‘don’t’.
Self-hypnosis should always be practised in a safe place. So do not attempt to do this if you are looking after children or doing things that require your attention. You can be sitting in a comfy armchair or lying on the bed.
One easy way to get yourself into a light trance-like state is to take a few deep breaths in and out to get more relaxed and then gaze at something on the ceiling or ahead of you. (Don’t strain your neck by looking up; roll your eyes up and stop if you feel discomfort or look ahead).
You can then count down slowly from ten to zero in your mind. If you want to, you can also use your imagination and imagine going downstairs one step at a time. When you get to zero, you can say the positive sentences to yourself.
To come back, you reverse the procedure, count yourself back to ten and open your eyes. Tell yourself that you are alert and refreshed.
A hypnotherapist can show you easy ways to suit you as there are many variations on the technique.
However, it is worth mentioning that not everyone has the same capacity for trance, and different people respond differently. Many people do not get this relaxed feeling of ‘going under’, but that doesn’t mean you won’t experience the benefits of self-hypnosis. It’s just not what you expected.
Let’s consider some amazing ways self-hypnosis can help.
Self-hypnosis to prepare for surgery
Many people feel anxious when they are preparing for surgery. Self-hypnosis can help by increasing relaxation, and it can also help with the healing process after surgery.
All you have to do is tell your body how you want it to behave before, during and after surgery.
You can’t overdose on self-hypnosis, so that you can do it several times daily.
Self-hypnosis to help make decisions
We must make choices every day, but they aren’t always beneficial. We make choices about habits and addictions. We give in to the urge and reinforce our negative beliefs that we want or need something. Although sometimes there is an unconscious behaviour going on.
For example, you might choose to buy a packet of cigarettes and then feel that you need to smoke them. You know that it’s a bad habit. You know that smoking can damage your health and cost much money, but you continue to make the wrong decisions.
You make decisions about your mood. For example, you can choose to get angry at someone, or you can choose to walk away and laugh at the situation.
Some people are very stressed, but they choose not to let go of the stressors that are causing the problems. This is because they may believe they must work all hours or can’t change. Self-hypnosis helps people to relax and communicate that self-respect because there are always other choices.
Self-hypnosis to reduce pain
Pain is important to tell us if we are injured or if something is wrong.
Self-hypnosis can help acute pain like childbirth by helping the woman relax and allow her body to work as it should. This can be taught to the woman and partner before the birth so that she is prepared and feels more in control.
Chronic pain can be reduced with self-hypnosis. It’s about the belief that you can take control of your body. Have you ever wondered why people have back pain years after an injury when the damage has healed?
The mind tells us we have pain, which can continue to do that for a long time after the event. This is chronic pain. So why not use your mind with hypnosis to switch off the pain?
Finally, there are many ways self-hypnosis can be used. Doing self-hypnosis can become part of your daily routine, like meditation, mindfulness or any sporting activity. It can aid your health and well-being.
If you want to learn more about self-hypnosis, contact me.
I’m Linda at Awaken the Change, focusing minds for positive results.
