The benefits of Self Hypnosis

Firstly, it is important to make clear what hypnosis, whether self-induced or under the guidance of a hypnotherapist, is not. A great many people believe it to be brain-washing, by which they mean one loses the ability to control one's own mind.

So, it is necessary to understand that brain-washing is only ever achieved by torture, hardly something that one submits to willingly, and utilises many deprivation techniques which are the polar opposite of the relaxation techniques used in hypnosis. Hypnosis, on the other hand, is only ever beneficial and I have never had a client that doesn't love the sensation of being hypnotised, whatever natural apprehensions they may have had before their first session.

In my eyes the word hypnosis is really only a fancy term for deep relaxation but the obvious drawback here is that today many of us have lost the ability to relax properly due to the fast pace demanded by this modern age. But with a little application self-hypnosis, whilst perhaps not as powerful as therapist-induced hypnosis, is still a technique that can be learnt and practised for everyday health and personal development. Think of it as a useful tool in your skills box.

When we are relaxed, either asleep or daydreaming, it is thought that the subconscious mind recognises that we are not sharply aware of our surroundings, we are not keeping a lookout for danger, so it keeps watch, if you like. It's probably a throwback to our days as cave dwellers when it had to keep an eye out for sabre-toothed tigers whilst we were sleeping off our mammoth steaks.

This meant that whilst our dominating, and verbal, conscious mind is lying idle, the much more powerful, but non-verbal, subconscious mind comes to the forefront of awareness to protect us. When we are in this state it is much easier either to access information from the limitless knowledge stored in the subconscious or, possibly more usefully, to re-programme it with suggestions to bring about beneficial changes in behaviour by removing unhelpful beliefs about ourselves.

Why should I want to change my behaviour?

Sometimes, somewhere in our early lives, and usually when we are in an emotional state, we take in a negative notion, from some hurtful event or inaccurate comment maybe, and because we are emotionally hurt by it we dwell on it until we have programmed our subconscious mind with this unhelpful belief. From then on we believe it to be true. Even though it is false we take it in as the truth and build up our behaviour around this erroneous belief.

In time this belief may well engender behaviour or character traits that we know are unhelpful or unpleasant but which we seem powerless to change. Or we may even be unaware of them until someone tells us just what a pain we are being. Of course there will always be some of us have no ambitions to be the best we can possibly be but there are many more of us who see our own faults all too clearly and constantly strive to make improvements.

I would advise you not to try to do this when you are about to go to sleep as although you will achieve relaxation you will simply go to sleep and not give yourself any beneficial suggestions.

1) Get comfortable somewhere quiet where you won't be interrupted by a telephone or callers. If you think you may nod off, get into a comfortable sitting position. It is not necessary to lie down.

2) Close your eyes and bring all of your attention to bear on your body. How does it feel? Focus on any specific areas of tightness or discomfort and concentrate on relaxing them. Stay with this process until your body becomes warm and heavy. For those of you who don't know, this is what true relaxation feels like.

3) Now you are going to leave your body and inhabit your mind; you are going to use your imagination. This may seem difficult for many of you at first. All you have to remember is that the imagination is like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger and more streamlined it becomes. Patient practice will hone your imagination until you can access it quickly and effectively.

4) Now I would like you to imagine a downward staircase and see yourself moving slowly down it. It can be helpful at this stage to actually focus on your feet and see them step down one step at a time. (For some reason my feet are always bare). Do it as slowly as you like, there is no need to rush and every stage is valuable to you.

You can even do an interesting check when you reach the bottom. Ask yourself in your mind how deep your relaxation/trance is and see what comes up. Take the first figure you are shown, it may be a number from 1 to 10, a percentage, or I have even had it shown as the measurement on a ruler. The more you practice getting into trance the greater the figure shown. So you may start of with 5 out of 10 and get up to 9.

There are just two things to remember here: a) all trance is useful, you do not have to be in a deep trance to effect useful changes and b) always take the first figure you are shown as this is your super-efficient subconscious giving you the information before your lumbering conscious mind has time to filter it through its own biased thought processes. It can be quite a battle between the two of them sometimes, just think of it as being like the difference between broadband and dial-up.

5) Now you have a choice and this is only limited by your imagination. Take your imagined self to a safe place. I usually use a well-loved garden, but you may find yourself on a deserted beach. It could be an actual place or a fantasy place. Try to use all of your senses to experience this place even to the point of trying to smell the sea salt on the air if it's a beach.

At this point I will be honest, I am not really sure which part of your mind is directing operations here. It would seem like the conscious mind but the pictures in your mind are definitely from the imagination, but it is of no consequence. It all works well. Once you have familiarised yourself with this place, take yourself somewhere to lie down in it. See yourself becoming comfortable, maybe even drowsy.

6) This is the time to give yourself beneficial suggestions; easy sentences that describe the change you would like to effect in your behaviour or performance. Just one important thing to remember here and that is to phrase it positively and in the present tense.

So, to improve learning ability perhaps. you would say, internally, 'I learn quickly and retain information easily' rather than 'I want to learn easily ...' which would appear to set up a 'want' rather than an actual. Always keep your message simple and make sure there are no negatives in it which might confuse.

The subconscious is very literal and has been known to interpret 'keeping an eye' on something as just that ... a physical eyeball sitting all alone on a parcel. Funny, but inaccurate, and gruesome to boot.

And that is all there is to it. Your mind will tell you when it feels the session is finished and you can just allow yourself to come out of trance gradually. Always 'listen for the whispers', allow yourself to be led by instinct as that is how the subconscious guides. It may help you to bring yourself back up the staircase but don't worry if you have to snap back into reality quickly for any reason, nothing bad will happen to you or your mind.

You can, of course, use today's technology by recording your mind journey onto a CD to make it easier, though it may be as well to write your own script before recording so as to make it as smooth and professional as possible.

You will not relax if you find your own voice grating or hesitant and you could also find yourself becoming distracted by an accent you never realised you had. On the plus side however, recording your own 'treatment' can lead to a more effective uptake of the suggestions being offered due to the fact that you tend to trust yourself andwith regular practice you will become aware that the change you were working for has happened. It's an inspiring moment.

One of the other things you may notice is how this sort of mind work makes you feel much more peaceful and balanced in your everyday life. It enables you to develop a better sense of perspective and this in turn helps you cope much more effectively with the everyday stresses we all encounter in our lives and that can only be a good thing.