Suggestions for
Self-Hypnosis
The following is a sample induction talk, which you can use as is, or adapt to your own personality style. If you wish, you can tape record this talk as an aid in learning self-hypnosis. You could record your own voice, or have someone with a soft, pleasant voice record it for you.
Now that you are completely comfortable with your eyes closed, just listen to the sound of my voice, which will help relax you even further, and follow all the suggestions given.
I want you to imagine that you are going into the lobby of a large hotel, and walking up to the elevators. Press the button marked “down.” When your elevator arrives, this will be your own private elevator, perfectly safe in every way, that’s going to help carry you down closer to the depths of your subconscious mind.
Now the elevator is arriving, the doors are opening, and you step inside. As you look upward above the doors, you will see a panel of buttons marked from 1 to 10, and the light is now on at the button marked 1. In a moment at my count, your elevator will begin descending, going all the way down to the tenth floor, just like going into a department store and going down to the basement. When you arrive at the tenth floor, you will get off into a room that has a big, soft, comfortable bed that you can go over to, and lie down on, and have a wonderful rest.
1. Relaxation is settling over your forehead and eyelids.
2. Relax your shoulder and neck muscles.
3. Relaxing the muscles in your arms and hands. Deeper and deeper with each breath. The more thoroughly you can relax, the deeper you will be able to go into hypnosis.
4. Now you are relaxing the muscles in your entire back, all the way down your shoulders; limp and relaxed. You are so relaxed and comfortable.
5. You are beginning to drift deeper and deeper as you relax the muscles of your abdomen and let go. Let go still more. Notice your breathing. You are now breathing slowly and deeply, and with every breath you take you allow yourself to drift even deeper into self-hypnosis.
6. Now you are relaxing your hips, thighs, and buttocks, and this wonderful relaxed feeling is traveling down your legs. Every muscle, nerve, and fiber of your body is now completely, deeply, relaxed.
7. You are drifting down more rapidly now, and going even deeper.
8. Now your legs and feet are completely relaxed, and you are in a state of deep relaxation from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.
9. Now you have released all the tension from your entire body, and these tensions will not disturb you again. More and more relaxed.
10. Now your elevator has arrived, and the doors are opening, and you step into this room and see this big, soft, comfortable bed, all made up for you. And you can just go right over there and stretch out on that bed, and go now into a very pleasant hypnotic sleep.
Total relaxation is now over your entire body. Your mind is completely at ease. Your mind is very quiet. You are now in a very pleasant, deep hypnotic sleep. And your subconscious mind is very aware of what I am saying and wants to obey all of my instructions, because you consciously desire to do so.
While you are in hypnosis, if any emergency should arise, you will immediately return to your normal, waking state, and be wide awake and fully alert.
11. Whenever you are ready to awaken all you need to do is count from 1 to 5 and, at the count of 5, you will return to your normal, outer consciousness, feeling completely refreshed and rejuvenated in every way.
At this point insert your positive suggestions.
If you do not succeed in achieving total relaxation, use another method to deepen the relaxation, such as imagining yourself walking through the woods, and lying down on the soft, green grass, and relaxing even further.
The following are some sample suggestions that can be used for particular concerns.
To Lose Weight
From now on you are going to eat smaller meals. When you eat your regular meals each day, each meal will consist of much less food than you have been eating in the past. Your appetite is decreasing. Your appetite is now decreasing, and you are going to want much less food than you normally eat. It will be very easy for you to do this. You find that you simply do not require as much food as you have been eating, and you will not be hungry. You will be perfectly satisfied with smaller quantities of food, and you will not feel deprived of food in any way.
From now on you are going to stick to your diet rigidly, and you will enjoy it. You are going to have all the willpower and self-discipline you need to stick to this diet and it will not be a sacrifice. You will enjoy doing it, as you watch the pounds melt away every day.
From this day forward you will eat smaller, nutritionally beneficial, nonfattening meals, and you will have absolutely no desire to eat between meals. You will be able to go longer from one mealtime to another, and you will not have the need to have any snacks. When you finish your dinner you will have absolutely no desire for second helpings or for dessert, and you will easily be able to go until the next mealtime without eating anything else.
Fattening foods no longer appeal to you. In fact, the thought of eating them is repellent to you. You will no longer desire to eat fattening foods such as ice cream, candy, cakes, and pies (or whatever your particular favorite is).
At this point begin visualizing yourself stepping on the scale and seeing your desired weight. See yourself wearing clothes you could not get into before, and see others telling you how nice you look. (Take at least three minutes to do this.)
You are not going to allow anything to prevent you from reaching your desired goal of ___ pounds. And your subconscious mind is now helping you to achieve this goal, and when you reach it, you will easily be able to maintain it. This is coming true for you now.
To Stop Smoking
Your subconscious mind is now completely and totally erasing the habit of smoking from its records. It has erased all your reasons and causes for smoking. From now on you have absolutely no reason to smoke, you do not enjoy smoking. So I want you to say to yourself mentally now: “This is the end of my smoking habit. I am now a nonsmoker.” As you say this, you feel very pleased about it. You are very happy that you no longer need this crutch in your life. Your habit of smoking has been entirely and completely eliminated from your life. It is completely erased from the records of your subconscious mind, which now recognizes you as a nonsmoker. You do not need to smoke, you do not want to smoke, and you do not like to smoke. You have no desire, craving, or temptation to smoke ever again. Smoking does not exist in your life. You will always think of yourself as a nonsmoker.
(At this point visualize yourself in various scenes in which you habitually smoked in the past. See yourself in these situations as a nonsmoker, feeling calm and relaxed.)
You will never feel any nervousness or irritability or any other side effects or withdrawal symptoms as a result of stopping smoking. You will not feel any discomfort from this. Instead you will feel totally healthy and energetic. You will not replace the habit of smoking with eating or any other undesirable habit. You are now a nonsmoker. Your subconscious mind now sees and accepts you as a nonsmoker. Smoking no longer exists in your life, and you feel very pleased about this. You are very proud of yourself that you are no longer addicted to smoking.
To Gain Self-Confidence
Your subconscious mind is now erasing any memory of ever having been programmed to the idea of not having sufficient confidence. Your subconscious mind is now accepting the image of your total self-confidence. From this moment on you will have no difficulty in accomplishing whatever you wish to accomplish. You have all the confidence you need to handle your life successfully. Your confidence is increasing daily. You will have no difficulty whatsoever in being completely confident in every situation. You are seeing yourself this way now.
(At this point begin visualizing yourself in situations in which formerly you had lacked sufficient confidence. See yourself smiling, happy, and confident, totally self-assured.)
As each day passes you are gaining more confidence in yourself as a person of worth and value and you are developing a true inner strength that will be of great help to you as you go about your daily life. You now have a new confident image of yourself as a person of worth and value and all of your activities will be carried out with perfect confidence, easily and effortlessly. You are now in touch with your true inner self-confidence, and you will be able to express this outwardly.