Building Confidence With Self Hypnosis, Building Self Esteem

Hypnosis is a very powerful tool for re-programming your unconscious beliefs about what you are capable of and what is possible in your life. This in turn will cause you to feel more confident about yourself and lead to your taking more positive action in your life.

As a Hypnotherapist practicing in Los Angeles, I have worked with people from all walks of life on issues ranging from health to career to relationships to athletic and entertainment performance, etc. In virtually every case what the client perceived as a challenge in their life was the result of a lack of confidence in themselves.

In order to change, or cause the subconscious mind to release the limiting beliefs that result in a lack of confidence, you need a way to access and communicate directly with the subconscious mind. Hypnosis is one of the most powerful tools available to accomplish this.

Many people have misconceptions about what hypnosis really is, mostly as a result of seeing a stage hypnosis show, or an inaccurate presentation on tv or film. What hypnosis is from a therapeutic standpoint is giving the subconscious mind positive suggestions for change while it is in a relaxed, receptive, yet heightened state of awareness.

These positive suggestions for change can come from a hypnotherapist, a hypnosis recording, or they can come from you. If you are facing a serious challenge you will be best served by seeking professional assistance. However, as in the case of building confidence and increasing self esteem, you can safely and successfully use the power of self hypnosis to make positive changes in your life.

The key to self hypnosis is ensuring that your subconscious is in a receptive state to receive your positive suggestions. Often this can be accomplished by sitting in a comfortable and relaxed position while focusing on your breathing for 2-3 minutes. Once in this receptive state you can then proceed to give yourself your positive suggestions for confidence and positive change.

Below I have outlined the basic steps for an effective self hypnosis session.

1. Get Into A Comfortable & Relaxed Position. You can either sit in a chair or on the floor, or perhaps lye on the floor. You will discover which position works best for you. Be sure your clothing isn’t restrictive in any way, and be sure you have chosen a time when you will not be interrupted.

2. Become Aware And Focus On Your Breathing. With your eyes closed simply become aware of your breathing as you breathe in and breathe out. Notice if your breathing changes in anyway. Most likely you will notice it slowing down and becoming deeper. Continue this for two to three minutes allowing yourself to release any stress, tension or anxiety with every breathe and relaxing even more as your mind becomes mentally calm.

3. Give Yourself Your Positive Suggestions For Confidence. Like affirmations all of your suggestions will be more powerful when stated in the present tense. For example, “I am confident in myself and my abilities” rather than “I will be confident in myself and my abilities”.

You can choose to either say your suggestions out loud to yourself, record them and play them back while you are ina receptive state, or put them on cards, and look at them one at time. You would do this by looking at the first suggestion for confidence, then close your eyes for a moment taking a deep breathe, and then opening your eyes to read the next suggestion. Again with practice you will discover which method works best for you.

4. Anchor The Relaxed And Confident Feeling. After you have given yourself positive suggestions for 5-10 minutes, you will want to “anchor” your positive experience, and especially the feeling of confidence and relaxation. You can do this by thinking of a word or phrase that describes the feeling you are experiencing. Once you have this word or phrase, touch the thumb and middle finger of your left hand together, take in a slow deep, gentle breathe, and slowly exhale as you say your word or phrase to yourself.

You may want to repeat this a couple more time to strengthen the anchor. Once you have set this anchor, you will be able to re-experience that relaxed feeling anytime you desire by touching your thumb and middle finger of your left hand together taking in a slow deep gentle breathe, and exhaling as you say your word or phrase to yourself.

5. Count Yourself Out Of Hypnosis. After you have set your anchor, its time to bring yourself full back to the present and the here and now. You will do this by making a fist with your right hand, and counting up slowly the first time from one to five, becoming more aware and alert with every count. Open your eyes on “five”. then repeat the count a couple more times quickly.

6. Drink A Glass Of Water. This is the final important step. Drinking the water will ground you more firmly in the present and will reinforce all the positive suggestions your subconscious mind received during the session.

So go ahead and give it a try. You just might surprise yourself with your skyrocketing confidence and belief in yourself.