Work Life Tips

Deepening – Hypnosis The Process Tips

After the relaxation procedure, you will feel totally relaxed, but you can go even deeper into the trance-like state, which will help reach your subconscious. This part is called deepening. The staircase is a common approach to deepening.

See yourself standing at the top of a staircase. As you descend the staircase, you will relax even more. Let’s count backward. You are standing on the top, or tenth, step and step down to the ninth. Nine, relaxing more and more. Eight, every muscle and nerve is completely relaxed. Seven, you go deeper and deeper into this wonderful state of relaxation. Six, your mind is clear and calm. Five, deeper and deeper. Four, you are feeling wonderfully calm and serene. Three, you relax more and more. Two, nearing the bottom, you are totally relaxed. One, you have finished descending the staircase. You find yourself in a beautiful meadow with your body fully relaxed and your mind calm and open to beneficial suggestions. You can enjoy yourself knowing you can return to this wonderful state of relaxation whenever you wish.

If you don’t want to use the imagery of a staircase, there are many other ways to do the deepening. You can see yourself slowly descending to a landing in a hot air balloon. A good one is to use a sky writer. Imagine the sky writer writing the numbers 10, 9, 8, etc., and see each one fade away as you go deeper into the hypnotic trance.

Here’s another option. See yourself walking deeper and deeper into a beautiful forest. This can also be used as an induction, and is given in more detail in the induction section.

Steps to Hypnosis – Hypnosis The Process Tips

There are several parts to a self-hypnosis session. When you become good at self-hypnosis, that is when you are confident and successful, you can experiment with changing the procedure. While you are learning, stick with these steps.

Here are the parts of a self-hypnosis session in order: preparation, induction, relaxation, deepening, suggestion, visualization, termination.

In this section, we will go through a session without the suggestion and visualization, so you can practice the basic procedure, which is the same regardless of your goal. You will find that this procedure, by itself, is great for stress reduction.

The induction, which is what puts you into hypnosis, is given its own section, so you will have to go there to get that part of this session. The other parts are in this section.

Take your time learning and practicing this process. You will enjoy it the first time through, but it becomes more effective with practice. Don’t try to force it.

Try this. Work with a partner. Put your right arm straight out in front of you. Clench your fist and tense your muscles as hard as you can, using your will power. Have your partner press down on your hand. Now extend the same arm, relax and imaagine it being like an iron bar extending beyond your fingertips as far as you can see. Have your partner press on your hand again. (Nod when you’re ready.) Are you stronger when you relax? So much for will power. Relaxation and self-hypnosis work better.

Preparation – Hypnosis The Process Tips

After a while, you may be able to do a form of self-hypnosis in a busy place. Waiting at the airport is a good time to do self-hypnosis. So is the actual flight. While you are learning, practice in a quiet place.

Set aside 10 or 15 minutes a day to practice self-hypnosis. You can do this any time that is convenient, but it’s best not to do it at bedtime or you may fall asleep before you finish.

Find a place where you can be quiet and undisturbed. You should be warm and confortable, but not too hot and not in a draft. Many people like to lie down for their self-hypnosis sessions, but you can do it sitting in a chair if you prefer. It’s best not to practice within an hour after eating. You can do anything you want after your self-hypnosis session.

Ask your family not to disturb you, unless one of them is practicing with you. Keep the pets out, unless you are sure they will spend the time napping. Unplug the phone, and turn off the cell. You may not be able to avoid all traffic noise, but do the best you can.

Loosen any tight clothing and made yourself comfortable. You may want to take off your shoes, especially if you are lying down. You can sit in a chair or on a comfortable bench. Don’t sit on the bed or on a very soft sofa. You don’t have to sit on the floor or in a lotus position, unless that is relaxing for you. Put your feet flat on the floor if you are in a chair. Put your hands in your lap, or next to you if you are lying down.

Relaxation – Hypnosis The Process Tips

After you are prepared, do the induction, as given in the induction section. You will feel pretty relaxed after the induction, but it’s best to go further. Next, you totally relax your body. You will use a type of progressive relaxation, but without tensing the muscles before relaxing them. This will be a total system relaxation that is cumulative. Here is your relaxation routine. You can record it, have someone read it to you, or just read it over a few times and then go through the routine on your own, without worrying about the exact words.

Start at your toes. Feel your feet relax as you wiggle your toes, Now let the relaxation come into your ankles and your lower legs, and feel yourself letting go of all the tension in your feet and legs. The wave of relaxation next comes up to your knees, lets the large muscles in your thighs relax, and moves into your hips and up to your waist. Now pause for a moment and feel all the tension leave your lower body, just melting away. It seems as though even your internal organs are relaxed and renewed. Your muscles are warm and loose, and your tendons and nerves are flexible and relaxed. Now let the relaxation move through your chest to your shoulders. The relaxation spreads to your lower back and on up into the broad muscles of your upper back. Your arms are loose and the relaxation goes into your fingers. Your hands feel warm and tingly. Now let all the tension in your shoulders just drift away. See the tension leaving your body and vanishing. The relaxation now moves up into your neck and on to your head. The surface of your scalp wants to relax too, so just let it go. Finally, let all the small muscles of your face just let go. Let the tension drain from your forehead, your cheeks, and your chin. Let your jaw relax and your teeth part. Breathe easily and let go of any remaining tension in your body. You are now totally relaxed, warm and comfortable. Every muscle and nerve is totally relaxed and you are calm and content. Take a moment to enjoy this wonderful total relaxation.

Trance Termination – Hypnosis The Process Tips

Yes, you have been in a trance when you finish the deepening. Trance is the traditional term for the state of hypnosis. It is also used at other times, with a similar connotation. Do not worry about being in a hypnotic trance. You are still in control.

It’s a little jarring to go from a hypnotic trance directly to full awareness, although it can be done, and certainly would be done if someone yelled “fire.”

Using a gentle trance termination when you have finished a self-hypnosis session makes the session more effective and helps you feel good for the rest of the day. Here is a simple trance termination.

I am going to count from 1 to 5, and you will slowly return to full awareness. Two, you are feeling relaxed and content. Three, you are feeling wonderful in every way as you proceed to your normal state of awareness. Four, your eyes feel bright and clear. On the next count you will open your eyelids and be fully aware, relaxed, and invigorated. Five, open your eyes, take a deep breath, and stretch. You’re feeling great!

Just go through the routine without saying it to yourself. It’s easy to remember. You can practice the trance termination with your partner, if you are working with someone else. Or just practice it yourself and let it become automatic when you want to end your self-hypnosis session.

Using Pieces of the Puzzle – Hypnosis The Process Tips

Use all of the steps when you are first learning self-hypnosis. When you master it, or when you are comfortable with it, you can use pieces alone or with other pieces.

You can use the relaxation part alone, for instance, or relaxation and deepening.

When you learn visualization, that can come in handy in many instances, and can be used by itself.

You will learn to do rapid inductions, from which you can go to relaxation or focused awareness.

Read the rest of the book if you wish, then come back and practice the procedure in this section. To review, start with the preparation phase, where you move to a quiet, comfortable place. Then, in order, go through the induction, relaxation, deepening, and trance termination. When you’re comfortable with this, go on to learn about suggestions and visualization.

Progressive Relaxation -Hypnosis The Induction Tips

You can use relaxation as an induction. Instead of just using your mind to relax various body parts, this time we will use the technique called progressive relaxation. The theory is that you can relax deeper if you first tense the muscle involved and then relax it, so that is what we will do.

Most people like to go from foot to head, but you can go from head to foot if you prefer. They both work.

Use as many increments as you can. For instance, tense your toes first, then your feet, then your ankles, rather than tensing them all as one unit.

This takes a little practice, as it is easier to separately control some muscles than others. You may be able to tense each finger separately, or you may choose to tense them all together. It’s hard to tense your scalp, but you can tense your forehead and your jaw. Wiggle your ears if you can.

You may decide you’re bored with this and want to get though it more quickly by tensing groups of muscles.

Don’t forget to breathe! Breathe in when you tense your muscles. Breathe out when you relax. Take at least one breath between tensings to let the relaxation sink in.

When you finish this induction, survey your body and relax any area that seems tight. Then go on to the deepening and continue your session.

About the Induction -Hypnosis The Induction Tips

The induction is what gets you into the state of hypnosis, that is, the trance. There are many different inductions. Some are very quick. In fact, there are so many potential inductions, it’s not possible to list them all.

Remember, in hypnosis we want to divert the conscious mind so that we can get through to the subconscious, which is where change will be made. One way to do this is through shock or surprise. This is, of course, difficult to do if you are hypnotizing yourself.

The preferred type of induction for self-hypnosis is relaxation and repetition. We are going to get around the conscious mind by fatiguing it so it lets down its vigilance.

Our standard hypnotic induction, used here, centers on relaxation and is rather lengthy. When you are more experienced, you will be able to put yourself into a hypnotic trance quickly, using a method of your choice. Or you can continue to use the longer routine we present next.

Remember, we are going to divert the conscious mind. One way to do that is to bore it, so it’s not necessary to do anything clever or novel as an induction.

Standard Induction -Hypnosis The Induction Tips

Here is a standard induction we use for self-hypnosis, which you can use or revise or replace with another induction. This is a good one to use when you are learning, and even later. You can record the script or have someone read it to you. Most likely, you will just run through it in your mind. Read it over several times. Just go through the routine. You don’t have to repeat the exact words. Note that you are not asleep. It is just traditional to use the word “sleep” for entering the state of hypnosis, and it works nicely in an induction.

Fix your eyes on a spot on the ceiling or high on the wall. Pick one that doesn’t require you to tilt your head back. Look at that spot and nothing else. Now take a deep breath, let it out slowly, and say to yourself silently: Sleep now. Take a second deep breath, let it out, and repeat: Sleep now. Now take a third deep breath. Sleep now. As you finish breathing out for the third time, let your eyelids close and breathe quietly and feel your eyelids growing heavy. Your facial muscles are relaxing and your eyelids grow so heavy that you don’t know if you could open them if you tried. But you don’t want to try. You are so comfortable and relaxed, sitting there with your eyelids closed and heavy.

Eye Fixation -Hypnosis The Induction Tips

Eye fixation is part of many inductions. In our standard induction, we fix our eyes on a spot on the ceiling.

You can choose anything that works for you for eye fixation. A candle works very well. Just make sure it’s set up safely and is not going to burn out or tip over while you’re watching it. The stereotypical pendulum or pocket watch you see in pictures works too. You will have to suspend it yourself, as you will not have the mysterious literary hypnotist there to swing it for you.

Think about an interesting, intricate design you might have on a picture or poster. Something that has different facets or colors can be sufficient to be used for an induction itself.

If you have trouble concentrating, it will be helpful to just sit for a few minutes and stare at something. Choose something natural, like an orange or a flower, so you can look at the different planes and shades of color. Add another minute or so each time. You will improve your concentration and powers of observation. You will probably slip into a light trance, but you can come out of it easily.

You can use one of these eye fixation techniques as an induction when you get more comfortable with self-hypnosis. If you are a beginner, use it as part of our standard induction, as the spot on the ceiling.