How Self-Hypnosis Works

People frequently laugh off the usefulness of hypnosis, even when they believe it can be done. Others simply attribute its results to impressionable people. But the fact is, hypnosis can be a valuable tool to overcoming a variety of problems, and learning self hypnosis is not some kind of mysterious, mind-bending ritual, but simply a technique for teaching yourself focus and response to produce a certain end result

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Self-hypnosis can help people to achieve personal goals. But they should be realistic ones, and preferably something that can be measured in stages of success. The most popular are quitting smoking, or losing weight, where positive progress can be measured in the pounds lost or reduction of cigarettes smoked.

The first step, is relaxation. You should put yourself in a place where you can be physically and mentally relaxed, with no chance of interruption. If there is some kind of unavoidable background sound, try tuning it out with "white noise" or a sound that absorbs all others and turns it into an even auditory level in the background of your consciousness. The Jacobsen technique of tensing and relaxing each part of the body, is quite popular for this stage.

Once you are relaxed, you must focus on letting your mind go blank, and sinking down through your layers of consciousness. The worst problem people have at this stage, is that they are always waiting for something to happen, so that if they experience the sudden sensation of floating, their body and mind jumps to attention and notes it, thus canceling out all the relaxation and focusing work. Counting down is a way to direct your mind to the goal of reaching your subconscious. Start at 50 or 100, or whatever works for you.

When you reach the bottom of the countdown, allow your mind to be open to your different levels of consciousness. This is where you will apply suggestions to your subconscious, and yes, you will be able to remember whatever goals you set, and how you wanted to direct yourself to achieve them. Suggestions work best when kept short, for example "I weigh less each day", or "I no longer like the taste of cigarettes." Sometimes visual images work as well as the unspoken verbal suggestion, and you can substitute the image of a scale marking fewer pounds, or a cigarette being crushed out in an ashtray.

When you have finished giving yourself directions, it is time to return to the fully conscious state. Not that you are asleep or incapacitated in any way. But it helps to delineate this state from the normal, by establishing a "return" path, e.g. "I am now done. I am rising back to the top. I will now open my eyes. I have returned."