Anxiety disorders affect millions of people and they can include things like post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias, and even panic attacks.There are some wonderful hypnotic techniques that can be combined to help you with anxiety and stress including techniques like systematic desensitization, hypnotic suggestions, guided imagery, and many more.
Self-hypnosis can help those who suffer from anxiety by helping them rethink and reframe problems. Positive suggestions can also help you focus on things in your life that are going well, which helps you refocus your energy and shift it from the negative to the positive.
Many studies have shown that hypnosis actually reduces anxiety and lowers blood pressure in patients before surgery while enhancing their recovery afterward. If hypnosis can do that, it can certainly help you overcome anxiety.
The first thing you need to know about hypnosis is that ALL hypnosis is essentially self-hypnosis because no one can be forced to go into a trance against his or her will.
Hypnosis can help you train your mind so that stress and anxiety do not bother you as much and anyone can be taught how to relax with self-hypnosis.
In many ways, happiness may just be a state of mind because someone who is anxious tends to focus on the negative and hypnosis can help them focus on the positive. For many of us, our thought processes can be self-defeating and it is often difficult to break out of the cycle, especially when stress or anxiety have become a way of life.
Using a tool like self-hypnosis for anxiety works on subtle levels of the mind, helping you reset the negative self-limiting thoughts to positive, uplifting ones. Anyone can relax using these methods and using a simple induction technique like a progressive relaxation induction allows you to be gently lulled into a beautiful state of relaxation and peace.
Self-Hypnosis and the Subconscious Mind
The subconscious mind is incredibly powerful. It can make your life joyful or it can make you miserable. Your subconscious mind just might be the key to helping you manage anxiety in a healthier manner.
The fact of the matter is that your subconscious mind is always at play in your life, whether you are asleep or active. Your beautiful mind is always hard at work, and it manifests in your life whatever it is that you happen to focus on.
It’s easy to get caught up in the stress and strain of life because many of us tend to focus on the problems and the chaos instead of the joy. What we don’t often realize is that ALL of our thoughts, essentially become things.
Self-hypnosis uses the focusing power of your mind to help you alleviate stress and anxiety.
Using self-hypnosis for anxiety has many benefits from helping you focus on the positive to helping you live your life with a greater sense of peace and happiness.
While many people are familiar with different ways in which they can reduce anxiety, some don’t think of self-hypnosis as a tool that can be used for this purpose.
Everyone uses some kind of self-hypnosis every day whether they realize it or not. If you want to find a way to better manage your stress and anxiety, self-hypnosis is a great place to start.
Self-hypnosis is nothing more than relaxation and concentration, and it doesn’t have to be a complicated process. Learning how to use self-hypnosis can help you better manage the stress you do have so that it doesn’t take over your life.
Using a tool like self-hypnosis can also help you can tap into your subconscious mind, where changes are more easily made. Hypnosis has been around for hundreds of years so it is not a new technique. Your life is a direct reflection of your subconscious thoughts so in many ways changing your thoughts helps you change your life.
In light of this, you might be wondering how you can use self-hypnosis for anxiety. Although there are obviously many techniques, the simpler ones are sometimes the better ones.
Using Self-Hypnosis for Anxiety
- Get into a comfortable position and take three long, deep breaths to center and focus your energy.
- Focus your eyes on a spot on the wall until your eyes become strained and you cannot hold them open any longer.
- Try counting back from 50 to 1, or as long as you have a desire to count. Your eyes may water and want to close. Hold them open as long as you can. If you lose the desire to stop counting, you can then close them and relax. You will already be in a light state of hypnosis the moment you close your eyes.
- Try and imagine yourself in some kind of soothing environment. You can imagine yourself on a beautiful beach, sitting on a mountain cliff or even walking in the woods, whatever works for you.
- Once you feel that you are relaxed and calm, you can then give yourself some positive suggestions such as:
- I am calm and relaxed.
- My thoughts create my life.
- I peaceful and balanced.
Self-hypnosis is a great tool for managing stress and anxiety and it really only requires three things to be successful:
- Motivation
- Relaxation
- Positive Suggestions
The only difference between hypnosis and self-hypnosis is that in hypnosis, someone “permits” the hypnotist to bring about a state of relaxation while in self-hypnosis the relaxation portion is self-induced.
One technique that works great for stress and anxiety is to literally visualize yourself floating on a cloud. This kind of visualization can be done anywhere, anytime. Once you learn to use the power of your imagination, there is no limit to what you can achieve.
Floating on a Cloud Technique
Begin by taking three deep and cleansing breaths. Breathe out any stress and anxiety. The breath is very healing and cleansing, so deep breathing is a great way to start any self-hypnosis exercise.
Now try and imagine yourself literally floating on a beautiful white and fluffy cloud. If any thoughts come into your consciousness, give yourself permission to let them go for the moment.
Notice how peaceful and calm it feels to be in this place. Allow the warmth and relaxation to take over. Imagine that you can reach out and literally touch this cloud, sensing what it feels like.
Try and take a large handful of the cloud and see if you can imagine what it would feel like to be immersed inside of it. Take a few moments to just relax and enjoy these peaceful feelings, and let your mind drift.
If you sense any anxiety, use this time to monitor your thoughts. Ask your mind to bring to the surface any issues that are troublesome. As these issues float to the surface, acknowledge them, but don’t get caught up in them. Keep acknowledging your thoughts or your anxiety, by identifying the feelings and then gently releasing them.
After a brief period, you may even choose to literally push any remaining thoughts away so that you can enjoy this peaceful time. Keep doing this until your mind is free and clear of any anxious or stressful thoughts.
The point of this exercise is to clear your mind until it is a blank slate. The cloud is a protective mechanism that can help absorb your problems.
Using a tool like self-hypnosis for anxiety is a great tool to learn because you can close your eyes and take 10 or 15 minutes anytime you need to.
The more you do self-hypnosis, the easier it will be for you to enter into a state of peace and relaxation whenever you need it.
You don’t have to spend hours doing these types of exercises because 10-15 minutes should be plenty. Once you get into a regular habit of doing some kind of self-hypnosis exercise you will begin to see how beneficial it really is. This technique can also be combined with positive affirmations for a greater effect.
Stress and anxiety can offer valuable clues that something in your life needs to be addressed and acknowledged. Taking this time is a great way to manage the stress you feel on a day-to-day basis.
