Self
Hypnosis
These are Ben's words on self hypnosis. I LOVE it
when he walks me through it but it is much more powerful to be able to do it
alone. Ben uses the technique often. Besides as an aid for
fighting nausea, Ben has used it for uncomfortable procedures like PICC line
and catheter insertion. To quote Dr. Phil, 'don't substitute my judgment
for your own.' Please be sure to seek medical advice for medical problems then
consider self hypnosis as a secondary treatment.
Unless you are trying to go to sleep, do self-hypnosis
away from bedtime so you will be awake to do the visualizations. Once
you start the process, keep your eyes closed until the end.
Progressive Relaxation:
The idea is to start at your toes and work toward your
head. All the while make sure all of the previously relaxed parts remain
relaxed. Keep your eyes closed the entire time. You will
tense each muscle group, hold it five seconds, then release. That
muscle group should feel warm, heavy and relaxed. Start at your
toes and tense them. Curl them and squeeze until it feels almost like a
charley horse. Hold them five seconds then release. Keeping your
toes relaxed moved to your calves and repeat. Next relax your thighs,
abdomen, hands, arms, shoulders, neck and face. The more you practice
progressive relaxation the faster you will be able to relax. If you find
it easy to relax, eventually you might be able to skip this step.
Keep your eyes closed after the progressive relaxation.
Choose your favorite color and your least favorite color. Inhale
and imagine your favorite color. Exhale imagining your least favorite
color. Empty your brain concentrating only on the colors while breathing
in and out. Breath naturally, slowly, in and out, without stopping in
between. At first it might help to think of your breathing as a wave
(up, down, up, down) or a circle. Breath at a steady pace imagining the
colors for about two minutes. Just guess about the time. Don't
worry if it doesn't feel like you are doing it right. As long as you are
emptying your mind it will work and it gets easier with practice.
You know the behavior or problem that you want improved.
Now choose a place that you love. You are going to imagine going to that
place on a magical cloud. For about 5 minutes you will visualize yourself without
the problem. You can do this sitting or laying down as long as you
can relax and concentrate.
Now picture yourself in the room that you are in right
now. A magical cloud will appear in front of you. This cloud you
can either steer by mind power, with a steering wheel or by leaning. You
choose. You hop on the cloud and start to head outside. Since it is
a magical cloud you can go right through the wall. Start by visualizing
the room you are in and then float outside and head up to tree level or
the top of the power poles.
Hover there and visualize everything below.
Use all of your senses. (Example: When I am home, I see the details
of our orchard, our shop, my chicken and duck pens, the field, my motorcycle
track, driveway, dog pen, house...like an aerial photograph. I
smell fresh clean air, chicken poop, grass, wet mud. I hear birds, my
ducks and chickens, the dog barking, an airplane going by.)
Once you visualize all of that stuff you start heading to
your special place. (I like to go elk hunting, my sister goes kayaking,
my mom watches sunsets at the beach.) On the way there you feel the
warm sun beating down on your back, head and hands. The sun fills your
body up with so much good energy that all of your bad energy is forced out.
The warm sun gives you the power to choose who you want to be. Travel in
the sun until you feel bursting with positive energy.
Once you spot the place you are headed, circle it three
times and then land in an open spot. My journey on my magical cloud
takes less than 2 minutes to get to my special place that is actually 200
miles away. The traveling is on fast forward but it is important to take
the time to notice the tiny details.
Once you land in your special place notice everything
like what you are wearing, what the area around you looks like and what smells
are around. You also want to notice all of the details about any other
people that are with you at your special place. Go do the activity you
like at your special place imagining with all of your senses. (To show
how powerful this is just imagine all the details about sucking on a lemon and
see if your mouth will water right now.)
Now imagine yourself as the new improved you.
Picture yourself looking how you want to look, feeling how you want to feel,
without difficulties or problems. The more realistically you can imagine
the improved self the better self hypnosis will work. Your subconscious
will remember these images. Imagine this self in the special place for
about 5 minutes.
When it is time to go, you can snap your fingers and your
cloud will come to you. Get on it and circle the special place three
times and then head back to your bed at home. Even if you are actually
in the passenger seat of the car, visualize yourself heading to your bed.
On the way back home the sun is still beating down on you so no bad
feelings can get in. Visualize yourself in your bed noticing everything
in your room for a minutes.
