A very simple meditation
Posted by hannah on January 29th, 2010
Clients often ask me about self-hypnosis. This can be very easy to learn indeed, and a lot of the techniques I use in sessions are ones that clients can easily repeat and continue using alone. In this blog and the next one, I’ll give you some ideas about meditation and self-hypnosis, which you can safely do at your leisure!
I’m starting simple today. This very straightforward technique was described by Dr Herbert Benson in his book, Timeless Healing. Dr Benson is an Associate Professor of Medicine with the Harvard Medical School. He is one of many clinicians who promote the view that regular relaxation – which can take the form of meditation or prayer, or any mundane activity in which the mind is focused and relaxed – dramatically improves physical health. When we meditate, we create neurological responses which naturally cause the body to start healing itself.
This is all you need to do:
1.Choose a focus word or short phrase. This could be something like ‘relax,’ or anything practical that has a calming effect. Or you might choose something with a spiritual significance, a prayer or mantra – it doesn’t matter what, if any, religion you follow. Pick whatever word or phrase resonates for you and your personal belief system.
2. Sit quietly in a place you can comfortably relax. Close your eyes and relax your muscles.
3. Breathe slowly but naturally, and as you breathe out, say to yourself the word you have chosen. You can say it out loud or in your head.
4.The point of this is not to test how ‘well’ you can do. It is totally normal to have other thoughts buzzing round your mind. Whenever thoughts come to mind, just say to yourself ‘oh well,’ and quietly come back to the phrase you’re repeating. It really doesn’t matter whether you have seconds, minutes, or no time at all in which other thoughts don’t pop up. Stay with it.
5.Do this for about ten to twenty minutes.
6.When you’re ready to finish, stay sitting quietly for a few long moments. Open your eyes in your own time and sit for another minute or two before you stand up and start moving around.
If you can do this every day, great. Twice a day – great! But every single time you do this, however often, you’ll be getting benefits. The effect on your body is that your blood pressure, metabolism, breathing and heart rate all slow down. Muscle tension decreases, and blood flow around the body becomes more stable. Your brain begins to produce more of the slow brain waves associated with deep relaxation, hypnosis and sleep – which naturally combats the mental effects of exhaustion and stress.
Next time I’m going to be writing about the importance of ’self-talk’ – the negative or positive beliefs we hold about ourselves, and how these affect our experiences of life. I’ll outline a simple hypnotic induction and deepener – the kind I typically use in sessions with clients – and (probably) give a brief script on confidence and self-belief which you can use for a simple session of self-hypnosis.
April 9th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Terrific post, many fascinating points. I discovered a similar article about a week ago.
April 13th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Thanks Marinda, glad you enjoyed it. Yes, you’ll probably find this approach, or others like it, in a lot of self-hypnosis / self-help articles, which is good. These kinds of relaxation techniques can be so simple to use, and the more people who learn to use them, the better!