Self-hypnosis

[piercehawkeye45]

Does anyone practice or have tried self-hypnosis? I have looked up articles on how to do it but I would like some personal experiences if possible.

[DanaC]

I have tried it. Years ago, it was a way of coping with the constant itch/pain of severe eczema. I used to manage it quite well, get myself into a state of near-hypnosis, I think. I don't know if it was truly a hypnotic state. I had nothing to measure it against, except my own expectations of hypnosis.

I tried it again recently but I haven't' managed it. Can't quite find that depth of relaxation now.

What particular kind of self-hypnosis are you looking into? (methodology, purpose etc))

[piercehawkeye45]

There are some small problems that I am hoping to solve through hypnosis that I haven't managed to get around to yet. When you get into hypnosis and you repeat a phrase like "I will be more efficient with my time", it should ingrain into your subconscious and help solve that problem. I am also hoping it will help refresh me since I don't get a lot of sleep.

I can get myself into a physical state of complete relaxation pretty easily but I haven't gotten into a mental hypnosis so hopefully I can breach that sometime.

[glatt]

My mom had/has this thing where when she gets a little stressed out, her throat feels like it's closing up and on fire, and she needs to cough. So she coughs a lot. Really kind of weird. When I grew up she was always coughing. It's just what she did.

So at some point she figured out that stress was a trigger. She went to a hypnotherapist and worked with him. He taught her an exercise where if she felt stressed out and a coughing spell was coming on, she would think of a safe relaxing place. She chose a mental image of a nice cool shaded mountain stream as her special place. So when she feels like coughing she thinks of a nice cool shaded mountain stream, the stress is reduced, and the need to cough goes away.

Well, it had an unintended side effect. She travels a fair amount, and I've been with her where we were standing near a cool mountain stream, and she's just standing there coughing for no reason. Now, pretty much any time she's near one, she'll be coughing.

[smurfalicious]

For most of my life I was horribly, horribly shy. A couple years ago I got tired of being a grown adult with such terrible shyness issues, and a friend gave me a cd with some sort of self-hypnosis for overcoming shyness. I was skeptical but kept an open mind.

I can never remember anything more than the first few minutes of the cd - I honestly can't say whether it's teaching me to get over shyness or hop on one leg and bark like a dog at the full moon. Eventually I wake up, I feel refreshed, and that's it.

Perhaps the self-hypnosis worked, or perhaps it's the power of positive thinking, or maybe I just finally got tired of always being the wallflower too shy to speak, but I've experienced such drastic changes since then. I very often speak my mind and initiate conversations, thinks that were previously out of character for me.

I still struggle with some self esteem issues and occasionally feel unwarranted intimidation and shyness , thought it isn't nearly as bad as it was.

Originally Posted by glatt

Now, pretty much any time she's near one, she'll be coughing.

And Glatt - that's crazy!!!