Creating a Favourable Environment
To begin with, its best to do self- hypnosis in a quiet place where you can be comfortable. Later, after your skill has increased through practice, you will be able to go into a trance in other more varied settings. Some people suggest that laying down can result in you falling asleep, but in my opinion set yourself up in the most comfortable position you can, free from noises and bright light. Also inform others not to disturb you. Twenty to thirty minutes is a good time to allow for practice and then several brief 3-5 min sessions spaced throughout the day. The amount of time of course will depend on the complexity of your goals.
Schedule Practice Time
Establish the habit of using self- hypnosis daily. Its often beneficial to make a regular event ( Lunch, coffee break etc ) For instance, a businessman may decide to not have dinner until he has done self- hypnosis to decompress and make a transition from the office to his family.
Hypnosis is not a magical substitute for making conscious efforts to change. My philosophy is to use all of your conscious resources and work at changing yourself. Then also discipline yourself to use hypnosis regularly to marshal your unconscious resources to bring about change. Don't fall into the trap of expecting that your unconscious mind will do all the work of promoting painless change, while you make no effort. Use the resources of both your conscious and unconscious mind.
Write Down Your Goals
Before starting your twenty to thirty-minute session, identify what your goal is for the session. It's better to concentrate on one or two goals for each hypnotic experience. In the beginning, you may find it helpful to write down your goal in very specific terms. Rather than just thinking about changing traits (for instance, to be more caring or confident), it is usually more valuable to think specifically about what behaviours need to change and what new feeling you want to have. If you were the new person you want to be, how would you act differently, and in what specific situations? How would you feel, and sound, and look?
PREPARING HYPNOTIC SUGGESTIONS
Verbal (conscious) thinking impedes and lightens a hypnotic state. Therefore, it's helpful to write out suggestions ahead of time so that you don't have to be mentally creating them in trance. Then, before inducing, a hypnotic state, you can briefly review the suggestions that you wish to give yourself.
It may be even more helpful to record your suggestions prior to entering self-hypnosis. You can then play the suggestions back to yourself at the appropriate time in self-hypnosis. In this way, you don't have to lighten your hypnotic state by trying to remember the suggestions that you prepared.
Record the suggestions at a casual, slower pace, with occasional brief pauses. Use a relaxed, but confident tone of voice. In preparing recorded suggestions, experiment to determine whether you prefer hearing suggestions made in the first person ("I am...") or in the second person ("You are..."), as if you were speaking to someone else who was hypnotized.
Phrase Suggestions Positively
Suggestions seem to be most effective when they are phrased positively rather than negatively. Therefore, as you write your suggestions, avoid words such as "don't," "won't," "can't," "shouldn't," “try,” “no,” and "not." Instead, use phrases such as: "I am," "I can, "I will," I'm going to," "I will find," and "I am free from.”
Be Flexible Regarding Time
In preparing your suggestions, be permissive with regard to the time required for success. Don't magically expect instant and complete change. It isn't helpful or realistic to expect ourselves to "leap tall buildings in a single bound." It's more valuable to think in terms of intermediate goals and of taking several steps to reach your final goal. Magical expectations of immediate and complete change can breed discouragement and a sense of failure. Consider, for instance, how the following suggestions contain unrealistic expectations that can set someone up for failure: "I will never eat deserts again." "From now on I will always be relaxed in all situations."
In contrast, consider how much more helpful it is to phrase your suggestions in a more permissive and flexible manner. "I am becoming more and more calm, and I have the skills to make myself more relaxed whenever I need to." "I am increasingly showing more respect for myself by eating with respect for my body."
What is wrong with the following suggestion? "When my head touches the pillow, I immediately fall deep asleep and sleep completely undisturbed until morning." The preceding suggestion expects magic-- immediately and totally. Most people would find it more beneficial to suggest: "As my head touches the pillow, I can find myself feeling sleepy and like yawning, and this is the time for my body to become very peacefully relaxed."
Notice the demand and time pressure in the following suggestion. "My headache will be gone by the time I awaken from hypnosis." This suggestion is negative because it focuses attention on the problem. It is also perfectionistic in the expectations conveyed. It seems more helpful to phrase a suggestion in this manner: "My comfort is increasing more and more, and soon [non demanding and not perfectionistic] I will be very comfortable [a positive suggestion]."
Words like "soon" and "before long" don't set unrealistic time limits which make us feel like failures if instant, 100% complete success doesn't occur. Be cautious about developing magical expectations about hypnosis. Occasionally we'll take some aspirin, but only part of the headache will go away. Does this mean that aspirin is completely ineffective? Should we stop using aspirin in the future because it wasn't totally and immediately successful? Most of us have realistic expectations of aspirin. We realize that it is often quite helpful, but not necessarily immediately and totally so. Nonetheless, aspirin is beneficial in bringing about change.
Be Specific
It is also best to be specific as you phrase your suggestions. Consider exactly how you want to act and feel in specific situations. Here is an example: "When I sit down at my desk to study, I will become so intensely focused on what I'm reading, that other sounds and events will seem distant and unimportant." The preceding suggestion is positive, specific, and much more helpful than saying: "I will never again be distracted and will totally concentrate.”