Introduction:
Hypnosis, like meditation, has a dubious image. Many people over many years have made their living by overlaying this practical and useful technique with unwarranted mystical and magical rituals. In fact, it is a useful tool for achieving deep relaxation.
Hypnosis, like meditation, has a dubious image. Many people over many years have made their living by overlaying this practical and useful technique with unwarranted mystical and magical rituals. In fact, it is a useful tool for achieving deep relaxation.
Self-hypnosis is when you hypnotize yourself. This is often more practical as a stress management tool than normal hypnosis, as you do not need to have a hypnotist present.
Drawing on the same "relaxation response" that drives meditation, self-hypnosis helps you to relax your body, lets stress hormones subside, and distracts your mind from unpleasant thoughts. The relaxation achieved with self-hypnosis can be intense. Unlike meditation, we often use affirmations as part of self-hypnosis to manage stress and build self-confidence. Affirmations are the positive statements (based on rational thinking) that we make to ourselves to counter stress and unpleasant thoughts - see our article on Rational and Positive Thinking for more information on this.
Drawing on the same "relaxation response" that drives meditation, self-hypnosis helps you to relax your body, lets stress hormones subside, and distracts your mind from unpleasant thoughts. The relaxation achieved with self-hypnosis can be intense. Unlike meditation, we often use affirmations as part of self-hypnosis to manage stress and build self-confidence. Affirmations are the positive statements (based on rational thinking) that we make to ourselves to counter stress and unpleasant thoughts - see our article on Rational and Positive Thinking for more information on this.
Along with meditation and imagery, self-hypnosis can usefully be used as a part of a daily stress management routine.
Using the Tool:
First, decide if you want to use affirmations as part of your self-hypnosis session (you will still be able to relax deeply if you do not use them). If you do, then prepare the affirmations you want to use before you start the session, as you will not want to think about them once you have reached a state of deep relaxation!