Tips On How To Use Self Hypnosis.

 

You may be new to self hypnosis, though I met many people who said they are not sure they’d try it, yet the conversation revealed they have done self hypnosis and had a success with it. They thought there were doing a guided meditation! Well, ladies and gents, it is the same thing.

Self hypnosis can be what you do all the time: you are having an inner dialogue, like this:

“I can do this,  I can do this” when you were on the threshold of quitting a marathon, or maybe during a dentist visit, you use your imagination to take your mind to more pleasant place to ease the discomfort.

But most often when we think of self hypnosis we think of recorded guided visualization / guided meditation, which are designed to help you program your mind to achieve something you desire.  The most popular are guided meditations for weight loss, smoking cessation, insomnia, stress release, chakra balancing.

Tips to have a better experience with a guided visualization aka self hypnosis. 

How to prepare.

1. It is very important to never listen while driving.
2. It is preferable that you choose a place where nobody can disturb you, and where you are completely safe.
3. Turn off the phone. Make sure there is nothing cooking on the stove.
4. Lie down or better: sit relaxed in a soft chair where your head has a support.
5. Uncross arms and legs, make sure nothing bothers you.

Usually the beginning of a recording will bring your attention to breath, to relax muscles. You can also start doing so before you press ‘play.’

Timing.

1. Being aware of something you need to do afterwards will keep you more on the edge.
2. Know upfront how long is the recording – and make sure you have additional 10 minutes after it’s done to get back to the full speed. 
3. It really helps the visualizations to be more effective when you can be fully relaxed.
4. Doing it just before sleep, though, will make you fall asleep and you will miss a lot.  Hypnosis, alpha state are not sleep.

How does it work.

1. Most recordings start from body relaxation, which helps your brain to slow down from beta to alpha state – state of increased awareness and relaxation. Since majority of us are stressed out all the time, doctors say that even if the relaxation was the only benefit of hypnosis – it was worth it. Relaxation -and stress- affects the whole body and over 80% of diseases are stress related. 
2. Some sources state that 1 hour of hypnosis equals 4 hours of sleep.  ( in the sense we are restored as if after sleep, but hypnosis is not sleep. Some people, in optimal conditions may even go deeper than Alpha state, to Theta level,  state of light sleep and deep meditation) 
3. But we want more: so in the alpha state where brain waves slow down, the subconscious mind is more open to suggestions. Professional recordings always have positive suggestions and the words are chosen in a particularly careful way.

Be cautious when…

When you do medical hypnosis then it is strongly recommended that you get a personalized recording by someone who has education in medical hypnosis / someone who knows how body works. 

How often should you listen to them?

1. If they are addressing an issue you want to change, listen daily, every few days, for a week or two, until you see the changes and the suggestions are still relevant. 
2. When you are working to transform a specific problem some things may be cleared and some still may require work. For example when you are working on weight loss, a general recording may address motivation to exercise and eat healthier foods. With time you may realize you already choose  healthier food /but eat too much, or you have one craving hard to overcome – a new recording may be useful.
3. With some meditations – you can listen to them as often as you want as long as you enjoy them.
4. There are visualizations people like to use over and over. In my case it’s a creativity visualization, morning energizer or a sleep visualization.

Surprises

1. When you are truly relaxed during self hypnosis, you will think that only few minutes passed, when in reality more time passed.
2. In rare cases people get headaches. That should pass shortly.

When I’m working with a client one on one they very often say “I have not been so relaxed in years.”  I hope that you can also achieve this state with recorded guided meditations….

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Do you need to relax more throughout the day but don’t have time for those 45 min recordings? I made 3 that last from 5 to 13 minutes. They are intended for daily use, for anyone, for morning, midday or evening. More here.