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Most of us experience stress at times in
our lives and often this is a perfectly
healthy reaction to external factors such as
having a new job or moving house. Sometimes,
there are no major events going on in your
life, you are just very busy and have begun
to notice that you feel anxious more often
or there have been some changes in bodily
sensations such as an increased heart rate
or shoulder tension.
I am a hypnotherapist, Herts and when
clients present at my hypnotherapy practice
in Hertfordshire, stressed out, one of the
first things we do is to take a look at
their routine. Usually we find that the
client
has little or no time built into
their routine to relax. Commonly clients
that are feeling stressed, will report that
even when they try to sit down and relax
they find this incredibly difficult and only
feel comfortable when doing something. Often
the time set aside to chill out, gets pushed
aside and housework or some other chore
takes over. When you are used to rushing
aroud it can be really hard to switch off
and change pace. This is where hypnotherapy,
Herts, can help you ensure you experience a
specific period of regular ring-fenced time
out. In this article, I will provide tips
for self-hypnosis, a valuable relaxation
tool.
Self-hypnosis is easy to learn and can
really make a difference to your quality of
life. The benefits of a good hypnosis
relaxation session roll over into your
everyday life and you could find yourself
feeling much calmer generally. Heres how you
do it:
1. Find somewhere comfortable to relax
and sit or lay down, ensuring that your arms
and legs are uncrossed and relaxed.
2. Begin to focus on your breathing,
taking relaxing deep breaths in and slowly
releasing. As you are breathing in, imagine
to yourself that you are drawing in positive
resources and as you breath out you are
releasing any tension and worries. Soemtimes,
if you tune in to the sound of your breath
in and breath out, this can help you to get
relaxed.
3. You may want to close your eyes now or
before this, either way is fine. The next
step is to get your body to relax. This is
important as we know that you cant have a
relaxed body and an anxious mind at the same
time. There are various body relaxation
techniques to try. One that I like, is to
imagine a small ball of warm light (perhaps
it’s the sun) hovering just in front of
your forehead. You can then guide this warm
light, around your body from your head to
the tips of your toes, imagine how it
massages, soothes and releases tension in
each body part, down to every tiny cell as
it moves. The more specific you are the more
relaxed you will become. For example,
imagine how even your finger nails become
more relaxed. If you find that any worries
pop into your mind during throughout your
relaxation time, just acknowledge them and
then let them float away.
4. Next you can imagine yourself at the
top of ten steps. You may already have
planned what will greet you at the bottom of
the steps. Make sure its somewhere lovely
that you will become so relaxed just by
being there. Take your time to move down
each step in your imagination. For each
step, say a positive statement to yourself,
such as I am becoming so deeply relaxed now.
Use your imagination to make this experience
as vivid as possible. Fully engage your five
senses.
5. Once you reach the bottom step, you
can spend time just relaxing in your chosen
place in your imagination. Perhaps it may be
a lovely garden, a forest or a beautiful
beach. Again use your senses to fully
appreciate the sounds, feelings, smells and
sights unique to your chosen place.
6.Finally, once your have relaxed for
your chosen period of time, or you feel good
and want to go about your day, reverse the
process, imagine yourself walking back up
each step, becoming more alert and awake,
with each step, telling yourself you will be
ready to open your eyes and go on with your
day, feeling great, when you reach the top
step.
That is how simple self-hypnosis is and
with practice you can really let your
imagination run wild, and try different
relaxation methods to see what works for
you. Sometimes it can be useful to visit a
hypnotherapist for a few sessions first to
developing an understanding of what the
hypnotic experience feels like and to
discuss how you can begin to develop your
self-hypnosis skills.
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