Most of us experience stress at times in our lives and often this is a perfectly healthy reaction to external factors such as having a new job or moving house. Sometimes, there are no major events going on in your life, you are just very busy and have begun to notice that you feel anxious more often or there have been some changes in bodily sensations such as an increased heart rate or shoulder tension.

I am a hypnotherapist, Herts and when clients present at my hypnotherapy practice in Hertfordshire, stressed out, one of the first things we do is to take a look at their routine. Usually we find that the client has little or no time built into their routine to relax. Commonly clients that are feeling stressed, will report that even when they try to sit down and relax they find this incredibly difficult and only feel comfortable when doing something. Often the time set aside to chill out, gets pushed aside and housework or some other chore takes over. When you are used to rushing aroud it can be really hard to switch off and change pace. This is where hypnotherapy, Herts, can help you ensure you experience a specific period of regular ring-fenced time out. In this article, I will provide tips for self-hypnosis, a valuable relaxation tool.

Self-hypnosis is easy to learn and can really make a difference to your quality of life. The benefits of a good hypnosis relaxation session roll over into your everyday life and you could find yourself feeling much calmer generally. Heres how you do it:

1. Find somewhere comfortable to relax and sit or lay down, ensuring that your arms and legs are uncrossed and relaxed.

2. Begin to focus on your breathing, taking relaxing deep breaths in and slowly releasing. As you are breathing in, imagine to yourself that you are drawing in positive resources and as you breath out you are releasing any tension and worries. Soemtimes, if you tune in to the sound of your breath in and breath out, this can help you to get relaxed.

3. You may want to close your eyes now or before this, either way is fine. The next step is to get your body to relax. This is important as we know that you cant have a relaxed body and an anxious mind at the same time. There are various body relaxation techniques to try. One that I like, is to imagine a small ball of warm light (perhaps it's the sun) hovering just in front of your forehead. You can then guide this warm light, around your body from your head to the tips of your toes, imagine how it massages, soothes and releases tension in each body part, down to every tiny cell as it moves. The more specific you are the more relaxed you will become. For example, imagine how even your finger nails become more relaxed. If you find that any worries pop into your mind during throughout your relaxation time, just acknowledge them and then let them float away.

4. Next you can imagine yourself at the top of ten steps. You may already have planned what will greet you at the bottom of the steps. Make sure its somewhere lovely that you will become so relaxed just by being there. Take your time to move down each step in your imagination. For each step, say a positive statement to yourself, such as I am becoming so deeply relaxed now. Use your imagination to make this experience as vivid as possible. Fully engage your five senses.

5. Once you reach the bottom step, you can spend time just relaxing in your chosen place in your imagination. Perhaps it may be a lovely garden, a forest or a beautiful beach. Again use your senses to fully appreciate the sounds, feelings, smells and sights unique to your chosen place.

6.Finally, once your have relaxed for your chosen period of time, or you feel good and want to go about your day, reverse the process, imagine yourself walking back up each step, becoming more alert and awake, with each step, telling yourself you will be ready to open your eyes and go on with your day, feeling great, when you reach the top step.

That is how simple self-hypnosis is and with practice you can really let your imagination run wild, and try different relaxation methods to see what works for you. Sometimes it can be useful to visit a hypnotherapist for a few sessions first to deveoping an understanding of what the hypnotic experience feels like and to discuss how you can begin to develop your self-hypnosis skills.