Want to lose weight or quit smoking? Hypnosis is an effective tool that you may want to put to use, although it isn’t for everybody. Through the development of Stanfard Hypnotic Susceptibility Scales, which measure the ease with which you could be hypnotized on a scale from 0 (not at all susceptible) to 12 (responds to all suggestions), scientists have found that five percent of the population cannot be hypnotized. Still, that leaves 95 percent of the population open to hypnosis and most of us fall somewhere between five and seven on the scale. If you are interested in giving this technique a try, this article will teach you step-by-step how to do self hypnosis.

Relax

The key to successfully inducing hypnosis—a state of hyper-attention and hyper-awareness—is to be mentally relaxed and absolutely absorbed in the task at end. It should feel as if it would take little or no effort to make a decision or perform any action, like lifting your hand or throwing your cigarettes in the garbage. For many of us, learning to relax is the most difficult part of learning how to do self hypnosis. At the beginning, it could take you half-an-hour or longer to fully relax. With practice, it may take just a few seconds.

When learning how to do self hypnosis, you may find it easier to follow the Jacobsen Progressive Relaxation procedure. To do this, sit or lie down in a comfortable position. Find an environment with few distractions. Slowly, tense each major muscle group. Hold it for a few seconds. Then, relax. Begin with your feet and progress all the way to the top of your head.

Enter into a deeper state

The next stage in learning how to do self hypnosis is learning how to relax more deeply, which will bring about a hypnotic state. Too often, we try to watch for that magic moment when we are hypnotized. “Aha,” we say, proud that we could pinpoint the moment when we achieved this sought-after state. Unfortunately, we cannot enter into hypnosis unless we are completely relaxed, which requires us to let our guard down and just engage with the practice. This, admittedly, makes it hard to say for certain whether or not we’ve actually been hypnotized. Continue practicing, however, and soon you will begin to recognize what it feels when you have entered a hypnotic state.

Hollywood likes to show hypnotists counting down. In truth, this is an effective way to deepen your relaxation. Begin counting down from 100. With each number, feel yourself falling more deeply into a trance. As distracting thoughts arise, brush them aside. (This will be familiar to anyone who has ever tried meditation.) As you practice more frequently, you can try counting for a lower number like 20 to see what works best for you. When learning how to do self hypnosis you may also wish to explore other techniques for deepening your relaxation, including the use of a swinging metronome.

Auto Suggestion

At this point in learning how to do self hypnosis, your conscious mind should be in a hyper-responsive state, with your subconscious mind more open to suggestion than usual. Prior to beginning the session, you should develop a short, powerful statement that reflects what you wish to achieve. For example,  “I no longer desire or enjoy cigarettes”. You may also rely on an image, instead of a statement. For example, picture yourself in peak physical fitness, climbing a mountain or lounging on the beach in a bikini. The key to making this work is practicing regularly. You cannot expect immediate results.

Ending the session

Although it may be tempting to do so, don’t fall asleep or leap right up from your session. Set a clear boundary between hypnosis and the next activity, especially when you are first learning how to do self hypnosis. This can be easily achieved by telling yourself that you will be fully alert and awake on the count of three: one-two-three!

Despite popular (and completely wrong) opinion, the hypnotic state is not a form of mind control. It is not a dangerous, trance inducing ability that will strip an individual of his or her free will and cause them to act against their moral code. If that description sounded a bit dramatic, we apologize but, the truth is, people tend to have an exaggerated view about the hypnotic mind. They believe what films and television have presented and, rather than knowing the history and science behind this method, they see it as something bordering on the supernatural. This is a mistake.

The hypnotic mental state is a scientifically proven form of consciousness. It is not a form of mind control, as so many think it. It has been around for ages, being recorded as far back as ancient Egyptian times, and has been used for every imaginable purpose. While some, of course, were failed attempts, that was less the fault of the hypnotic state and more so of the times. Today's misconceptions are also those of the past. The idea of being mesmerized into some unholy state has plagued this science since it was used enough to become known to the public. Again, we apologize for the dramatic wording but that is the unfortunate stereotype.

In reality, reaching the hypnotic mind state can be as simple as falling asleep (the two are actually quite similar and the very origin of the name came from James Braid when he incorrectly dubbed the procedure neuro-hypnosis, and thought it to be a nervous sleep). This is a level of relaxation and awareness that allows the individual to examine themselves without dealing with distraction. Some have compared the hypnotic mental state to the practice of yoga but, again, that is not quite correct. You do not fall asleep and you do not try to push out all thoughts entirely. Instead, the hypnotic state allows for suggestions to appear.

Don't start protesting the "mind control" issue now; this is not the same thing. By suggestion, we simply mean that you are more apt to hear suggestions and implement them. You will not change into a completely different person and you will not lose your established morality. But perhaps you could learn to give up smoking? Reaching a hypnotic state could easily help you become more aware of the dangers of smoking, without other thoughts to keep you from really hearing it.

If that sounds impossible, it isn't. People have used this idea to help solve a wide range of issues and problems. They all say that reaching this state of mind helps them think and get past what they need. And, while some may say this is merely a form of relaxation, there is a medical precedent behind it. You can be hypnotized, if you are willing enough. You just can't buy into the massive misconceptions that surround the idea.

This is not the occult; it is merely a way to block out everything unnecessary and think about what you need to.