Step 1. Think of a symbol, word or object that represents what it is you want to achieve. For example, for more confidence a symbol may be a lion, or for relaxed and energized, running water.

Step 2. Say to yourself. ” I want to achieve(insert) and become fully alert after(5,10,15 minutes) opening my eyes and feeling great.

Step 3. To enter hypnosis, sit or lie down comfortably and allow your gaze to become a little fuzzy like it’s looking everywhere at once, and not on one thing in particular. Then notice one at a time three things you see. Then three things you hear. Then three things you feel.  Then repeat, but this time 2 things you see, hear and feel. And then one thing you see, hear and feel.

Step 4. Next close your eyes and notice one thing you can imagine seeing, one thing you can imagine hearing and one thing you can imagine feeling.  If you are not sure you are doing it right, it’s okay, just pretend you are doing it right. That is all that is needed. Then repeat, two things you can imagine, seeing, hearing, and feeling.

Step 5. Continue increasing the number of times you imagine seeing, hearing feeling sensations, and at a point in time your mind will simply give up and relax completely.

This may take a little practice but is a great way to introduce yourself to hypnosis.

Begin by concentrating on external sensations and steadily decreasing them. Then move onto internal sensations continually increasing the number. At some point you will slip into hypnosis.

START on the left side and work across.

Quit smoking with hypnosis

So if you were to double your chances of quitting smoking by nicotine replacement therapies what does ‘double’ really mean?

To make this claim pharmaceutical companies have to conduct controlled trials and they go something like this. You get 200 smokers, and divide them into two groups, A and B. You tell group A they all have to try and give up smoking today. Then you tell group B they too have to try and give up smoking today, and here, you can also use these nicotine patches to help you do it. After one year they then ask both groups into the lab, give them a blood test for cigarette chemicals, and then total the results of who are free of these chemicals.

If you did the above your results will likely be something like this. For group A you will find about 7 people would have quit at one year. For group B using the nicotine patches you will find about 14 would have quit. There you go, so you have doubled your chances of quitting. From 7% to 14% Sounds okay, doesn’t it?

Except there is a catch no one has told you about. There is also a group C. And group C were given patches too. Except their patches had no nicotine in them. Group C just thought the patches contained nicotine. Instead they were something like everyday sticking plasters. And with just the thought that they were using something that helped them, 12 people in group C quit. (This is called the placebo affect). So lets look at the results after one year
Non smokers after  1 year.  Group A -  No patches  7 Group B – Nicotine Patches – 14 Group  C – Pretend Patches -  12

But there is more. If you use a nicotine patch often the nicotine, will cause a skin irritation, or a tingling sensation. That is, in group B, people will feel like something is happening. Group C doesn’t get this same affect. However if you were to give group C patches that didn’t contain nicotine but still contained something that caused the skin to tingle, (Chilli powder maybe) it is very probably their results would then match that of Group B.

If you used nicotine patches and still find yourself smoking. Don’t worry. Plenty of other people are in the same situation as you.

So if you are looking to quit. there are a range of options to go about. Nicotine replacement products are one. There are quit smoking programs, there is doing it yourself cold turkey and of course there is hypnosis. For more information on using hypnosis to quit smoking contact Paul at Lifestyle Hypnosis.

Flammer, E.,Bongartz, W (2003). on the efficacy of hypnosis: A met-analytic study. Contemporary hypnosis, 179-197.

Viswesvaran C, Schmidt FL. (1992). ‘A meta-analytic comparison of the effectiveness of smoking cessation methods.’ J Appl Psychol.1992 Aug:77(4):554-61

The path from consciousness to sleep is like a highway running through your mind. It is huge. Your entire physiological structure is designed to gain benefit from sleep. It is why people spend so much of their lifetime doing it. So if you are not sleeping it isn’t because you can’t, instead it is like you have a road block on that highway. Your unconscious mind has decided it is not the appropriate time, or place, or perhaps  safe for you to move from consciousness to sleep. Exactly why is different for everyone. Hypnosis is about moving that block, teaching your mind that sleep isn’t a time for worrying, stressing or thinking, and resetting the naturally process we call sleep.

Case examples of the types of people who can benefit with hypnosis for sleep issues.

1. A person who has slept well and now suddenly isn’t sleeping. Generally what we have here is a stressful event that has come into the person’s life.  The brain is going “we have to sort this issue out.”  Using hypnotherapy, the event is worked through and sleep returns to its normal pattern
2. The constant worrier. This isn’t a single issue that keeps a person awake but rather a habitual way of thinking. Always finding something to ponder, the mind always in high gear. Hypnotherapy can be used to help slow though process down and by doing this sleep can then occur.
3. Nightmares, night terrors. This person gets to sleep but has nightmares that wake them, or keep them awake because they don’t want to experience them again. Hypnotherapy is a an effective way to  bring about a more contented pattern of sleep with out the dreams.
4. Scared to sleep when on their own. Children and adults fall into this category, when anxiety occurs if sleeping alone. Often this has occurred because a change in a childs sleeping habits such as sleeping with parents. For adults a number of factors can be evolved. However once the anxiety is resolved, sleep occurs easily.
5. Constantly Disrupted. A person who sleeps is constantly disrupted and never forms a sleeping pattern.
6. Night shift workers. People who constantly fly. Hypnosis in this instance is all about re-establishing a sleeping pattern.

Sleeping is the most natural thing a person can do. If it is time for you to get back in the habit of good sleeping, perhaps hypnotherapy is for you.