Weight Loss Self Hypnosis.

Can you be hypnotised into losing weight?

That’s what I tried to find out when I began researching this article.

Hypnosis is a trance state characterized by suggestibility, in which the subject can be persuaded to act in ways they never would if fully conscious. It’s not sleep. It’s often compared to daydreaming, or the informal trance state we all experience when engrossed in a book or a film. In a sense, we all hypnotize ourselves every day.

One school of thought on hypnosis is that it’s a way to access a person’s subconscious mind directly. Which is why – and this is pertinent to us and to our topic – it’s such a powerful tool for change in our lives. Your subconscious handles all the things you do automatically. You don’t have to think about breathing, because your subconscious mind takes care of it. Once you’ve learned how to drive, you don’t have to think through every little thing you do while driving – because your subconscious handles it.

It also processes the physical information your body receives, filtering out what doesn’t matter, while bringing your attention to whatever needs to be dealt with.

Your subconscious, in fact, is the mastermind behind the scenes.

It runs more of your life than you’d probably feel comfortable knowing about, and dictates most of what you do.

When you enter the deep relaxation and focused attention of the hypnotic state, they subdue your conscious mind so that it takes a less active role in your thinking process. You’re still aware of everything around you, but your waking self takes a back seat. It’s as if being hypnotized opens an access panel in your head, letting you and the hypnotist tinker with your subconscious. You don’t need a hypnotist to get hypnotized. Knowing the relaxation and focusing techniques, most of us can enter a hypnotic state ourselves and make our own suggestions to our unconscious minds. Which has an obvious connection to what this website is all about – healthy weight loss through eating well and working out.

It’s a recognised problem that the whole business of weight loss and dieting somehow persuades people who need to lose weight to adopt two very strong beliefs. First, they come to believe that they are going to have to make themselves do precisely what they don’t want to do – eat unappetizing food and do exhausting and boring exercise routines. Second, they come to believe that losing weight and getting fit is really difficult to do and even harder to maintain.

WHICH IS REALLY NOT THE CASE.

Sorry for shouting, but I have to get that point across. Over the years I’ve come to learn that getting in good shape is really easy, once you know how. When you make the necessary changes, the process is automatic. The real battle is in fixing the beliefs in your head that make you think otherwise. And that’s where self- hypnosis can come in very useful indeed.

Easy to say; but is it really so easy to do?

I have to admit that I fixed a personal problem with self-hypnosis, so I can tell you yes, hypnosis does work. My problem, however, wasn’t weight-related. It was dentist-related.

I used to dread dental treatment.

It wasn’t a full blown phobia, or something that would see me cowering under the furniture, but it made me uncomfortable and cost me some nights’ sleep before routine dental check ups. So I decided to do something about it. I’d always had an interest in psychology and how the mind works, so I’d read about hypnotic inductions. Knowing how to to use them to reach a really relaxed state, all I had to do was add a short statement I could repeat while I visualised a calm and pain-free outcome for my dental appointment.

Did it work? I turned up for my next appointment, sat in the chair, and immediately relaxed into a calm and happy state that lasted all the way through the examination and the treatment that came after it. Scraping, probing, drilling: no problem at all. I was calm and relaxed throughout. No pain, very little discomfort, and a complete absence of stress. It worked perfectly. And that’s been the case ever since, over years of regular check ups. I sit in the dentist’s chair and immediately I’m happy and calm. All from that one self-administered treatment. Because hypnosis works. Hypnosis is a useful and powerful tool for change in your life. And it’s a tool that any one of us can use for ourselves.

So how do you put yourself in a suggestible state? Is it dangerous?

Well, with a little practice, getting relaxed enough to change your mental programming is easy. Don’t confuse the process with the sometimes creepy, sometimes sleazy image that stage hypnotism has for most of us. We’ve all seen shows where audience members who should perhaps know better are made to act like idiots on stage by a Machiavellian stage hypnotist. In the past there have been cases of people in the audience being inadvertently hypnotized, of subjects leaving theatres still subject to post-hypnotic suggestions, of sudden and unexpected reactions including depression, panic attacks, or even psychotic breaks.

The risks are mostly related to the practices of unscrupulous or incompetent practitioners. If you have no history of mental health problems or epilepsy, you’re probably safe to explore the therapeutic benefits of the light trance states achievable through self hypnosis. Kindly note this is the unproven opinion of a layman, and not a medical professional. Your health is your responsibility, and it is your duty to ascertain for yourself the truth of that statement. In other words, don’t sue me. I have zero assets.

Here’s a method I use.

Lie down in a warm room where you can be assured of peace and quiet and privacy for a half hour or more.

Relax. Starting with your scalp, focus your attention on each body part and as you name each part, working your way down your body, feel it become warm and heavy and relaxed. If your mind wanders, just gently bring it back to the task in hand. Keep your attention on your body and feel it relax until you’re quite calm.

When you’re ready, count backwards in your head from a hundred. Take your time. There’s no rush. Tell yourself that you’re counting your way down a flight of steps, and visualize yourself doing it as you count down to zero. Pause along the way to remind yourself that with each step down you become more and more relaxed. Remind yourself that if you have to – in case of any unforeseen emergency, say – you can wake up immediately without harm.

When you reach zero, look around. Imagine yourself in a pleasant place; perhaps a garden, or woodland in Spring. You’re in charge; you choose your own pleasant place. Take the time to enjoy it. When you’re ready, repeat the programming instructions to yourself that you prepared earlier. These can be anything you like, but I suggest you keep them simple, achievable, and not too ambitious at first.

You might tell yourself, ‘When I wake, I will no longer crave sugary foods. I won’t dislike them, but I will have no real interest in them, preferring healthier choices.’

That would be a workable instruction for your subconscious mind to take on board. On the other hand, ‘I will lose twenty pounds of unwanted body fat over the next week,’ would be a bad instruction, mainly because it’s not really achievable.

When you’ve repeated your instructions to your relaxed self, and you feel ready, start counting back up from one to one hundred, and visualize yourself climbing back up the stairs. Pause occasionally on the way, to remind yourself to become fully conscious, feeling warm and happy and relaxed, on the count of one hundred. Don’t worry about getting stuck, or not waking up. The worst that can happen is that you might fall asleep, have a nice nap, and wake up a little later than you expected. Is that so bad?

Over the next few days, keep an eye on the way you behave and feel. Did your new programming have any effect? Did it change the way you behaved or felt? Do you feel better for having tried it?

If you have any negative reaction to this, stop doing it.

If, on the other hand, you think you might be on to something, take it slow. There’s no rush.

Take note that self-hypnosis should never be practiced while driving, operating machinery or doing anything that needs your full attention. Always make your programming instructions clear and specific, and write them down before you begin your hypnosis.

Writing down what you want to achieve or change really helps you to get things straight in your mind. Your goals, whatever they are, can suddenly look more realistic, specific and focused. Keep them short and achievable. Keep them simple, too; stick to just one or two goals in a session.

You could make your own self-hypnosis tapes from your programming instructions, by writing down your affirmations and recording them. That way you could concentrate on reaching the trance state without having to recall all the instructions you want to pass on to your subconscious.

There. Now you have another tool at your disposal. And it works.

Will it help you lose excess weight? Well, you never know until you’ve tried. If you’d like even more information, take a look at The Unexplainable Store, which sells products – CDs and MP3 downloads – that cover the whole topic area. If you’d like hypnosis help with weight loss, take a look at this sales page on their site to see if they have what you want. These are affiliate links.

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