Why do I believe it is important to learn self-hypnosis?

With self-hypnosis you can program yourself for better habits, confidence, high performance and learn to alleviate stress and anxiety. With self-hypnosis you can author your life, instead of having people, culture, society or events of your past author you.

How does self-hypnosis work?

It is very simple. You speak to yourself in the state of hypnosis. You can make your own recordings with relaxations techniques and affirmations. You can also use a relaxation technique to induce hypnosis and then silently speak to yourself, by repeating specific affirmations within your mind, silently. The key is knowing how to use these relaxation techniques effectively and more importantly having correctly designed suggestions in the form of positive affirmations.

Why is it important to use your voice in self-hypnosis, or hypnotize yourself, for that matter?

You can see a hypnotherapist or listen to self-hypnosis audio sessions designed by others. In fact, a good hypnotherapist will help you design a specific mindset for a specific behavior change or habit, using their skills and experience. However, having additional skills in self-hypnosis can help you take charge of your own change. With self-hypnosis, you deliberately direct your life. This is autonomy or I like to use this word: self-sovereignty. Your hypnotherapist can give you a push, guidance and encouragement. Your inner voice will empower you further in self-authorship.

Let’s talk about the power of self-instruction, an essential part of self-hypnosis. Self-instruction has been known in education, cognitive behavior therapy and hypnotherapy to enhance learning, promote growth and promote healing. Self-instruction simply means giving yourself a specific verbal instruction in your own voice, either out-loud or internally.

In a study conducted at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, which involved having children in kindergarten and first grade do wood-form board puzzles, they found that self-instructive systematic thinking was one of the keys to success in performance. They looked at two groups of kids: normally achieving children and at children with early and fairly severe language and learning problems. They found very large differences between the way these groups of children approached the puzzle task. The normally achieving children usually began by organizing the task by turning the pieces right side up, orienting them,

while talking to themselves out loud.

They would say things to themselves like, “I need to figure out what this puzzle’s going to be. I need a square shape. I need a green piece.” They would also often reward themselves: “I’m getting it! I’m going to get this.” Or they would also say, “Oh, this isn’t really all that hard. This is an easy puzzle.”

On the contrary, when the researchers worked with the young children with learning difficulties, they found a very different pattern of behavior. These children almost never approached the puzzle systematically. They left pieces upside down. The number one step, taken by almost every child in this group was to grab a piece at random and just use trial and error to try and stick it in the puzzle. There were no signs of system thinking or self-instruction. Their speech was off-task and not related to the puzzle or dealing with the challenge of doing the puzzle whatsoever. One boy sang a song through the whole puzzle, another girl talked to herself about making brownies. From this study, we can see how system thinking and self-instruction are the cornerstone of successful approach to problem solving.

This type of system thinking and self-instruction can be taught and used to enhance adult learning and change in one’s behavior.

Similar methods are known to be used in cognitive behavior therapy. In the theory, called a Self-Regulated Learning Model, Dr. Donald Michenbaum, a cognitive behavior therapist and psychologist, emphasizes the function of self-instruction as one of the guiding principles for enhanced learning as well as behavior control and modification. In one of the experiments, students in classroom would be encouraged to model a teacher’s cognitive processes using a step by step instruction for problem solving. They would do the same thing out loud together and finally individually, whispering the sequence of instructions while asking a new question and finding an answer. This would later translate into an internal system approach to problem solving of a new problem. This learning model would help especially those students who have not been raised in academically rigorous homes. Later, Dr. Michenbaum had used the elements of self-instruction in his self-instruction training manual working with post traumatic stress disorder patients helping them reflect, objectify and ultimately rationalize their feelings and behaviors. Once again, the principle of the model is to think about thinking (meta-cognition), reflect and develop an unconscious new system in approaching a problem or changing one’s behavior. And to do so in your own voice, as if teaching and guiding yourself, as opposed to having someone else tell you what to do.

This form of self-instruction fosters autonomy, independence and boosts self-efficacy.

You can create an algorithmic-like program consisting of 5-10 affirmation statements to overcome a fear, build a new habit or create a new mindset and behavior. But you must dissect your new desired behavior into an intelligent systematic pattern with the set of specific self-instruction and then “download” it into your mind. This can be done with self-hypnosis. For example, you want to hypnotize yourself to become more present in your life. What could be the 5 steps to achieve that?

I choose to focus on my breath and relax my body

I expand my peripheral vision and focus outward

I pull out of my head and let go of all the thoughts

I allow myself to experience the moment as it is

I become more aware of every passing moment

Maybe you want to overcome a fear of public speaking. So, your goal is to become a confident speaker. Then you can use affirmations like these:

I feel connected with my audience and see them as my ally

I naturally feel confidence speaking and expressing myself

I am able to tap into a relaxed and calm source of energy within

I have access to all parts of my personality, when I speak publicly

I choose to let go of all inner judgment and criticism

I fully accept myself

You can design your own affirmations as you wish. Have five or ten affirmations - your self-instructions and use them with self-hypnosis.

So, instead of being in a fog-like state derived from doubt, insecurity, fear and lack of useful data, you can create clarity and confidence by having a new system in your unconscious mind with regards to a specific subject and behavior.

I want to teach you how to use your own voice, your own custom designed affirmations in the state of hypnosis, to help you create change in how you feel and behave.

Why self-hypnosis and not meditation apps or seeing a hypnotherapist one-on-one?

Meditation in itself is great, so are the meditation retreats, teachers and apps. I meditate and you should do it as well, if you want. I highly recommend the meditation app called Waking Up by Sam Harris. You can use it to meditate at least 10 minutes a day, fostering a peace of mind and overall mindfulness in your life.

Self-hypnosis, as you already understand is about programming the mind. Meditation is about training your mind to calm down, shut off from thinking, analyzing and processing. In part, self-hypnosis process uses a meditative state of mind in order to program the mind with new ideas.

Seeing a hypnotherapist is a great idea, as I mentioned above. You can learn self-hypnosis from them, get hypnotized to build a new habit or overcome a fear. Some hypnotherapists, like myself, often have their clients repeat their suggestions internally in a from of self-instruction while in a hypnosis state. As you already understand, this form of self-instruction secures further change in mindset and behavior.

A good qualified hypnotherapist can cost you anywhere from $200 to $700 per hour. Self-hypnosis is free or at a minimum you would pay for a training or subscription plan of a self-hypnosis app, if you want more guidance.

You can also practice self-hypnosis anywhere at anytime, independent of anyone.

How do I program myself through self-hypnosis?

Make an audio, use a tape, voice memos, garage band, AlphaMind app - whatever works for you. Simply combine a relaxation technique with a hypnotic script, consisting of about ten good affirmations.

How do I use self-hypnosis to alleviate stress and anxiety?

Learn a few good self-hypnosis relaxation techniques to help you trigger a relaxation response (the opposite of fight-or-flight response), when you feel tense, nervous and anxious. Yes, self-hypnosis can be used as a process, which I mentioned above, that is to program the mind with scripts. Also, self-hypnosis techniques can be used to elicit a special state with no need for programming, kind of like meditation. Some self-hypnosis techniques can get you to relax really fast, alleviating stress and anxiety of the moment.

How do I design those scripts and where do I learn these self-hypnosis techniques?

You can sign up for my 1- hour free self-hypnosis tutorial, where I will teach you some self-hypnosis techniques and how to design affirmations, acting as powerful self-instructions for the mind. You will get both sample scripts and sample affirmations scripts. This is a great way to begin learning self-hypnosis. Please visit my blog post here dedicated to 10 self-hypnosis techniques.

You can also download my self-hypnosis app AlphaMind and use it to create customized self-hypnosis audios. There is a free trial there for you to get a taste of it.

Finally, you can try my online self-hypnosis program “Your New Chapter”, a comprehensive guide in hypnotic story-telling and self-hypnosis. I recommend this program only for those who are ready to commit to 7-14 days of collaborative work with exercises and some assignments. By the end of the program you will have your customized self-hypnosis audio session crated by you, ready to take you onto your new journey, into a new life chapter.

You may also schedule one-on-one hypnotherapy sessions with me online or in person, depending on my and your location, and my current availability.

Choose your option(s) below