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Mark Watkins
Hypnotherapy Life Coaching
Coventry
Sleep Well
Not being able to fall asleep and waking up in the middle of the
night are problems that nearly all of us have had at some point in
our lives. At best this can be annoying and at worst if can affect
your whole life.
If you suffer from this problem you will know how it affects you. Not
only can you feel tired all the time, you may drop off to sleep during
the day, your performance and energy levels can be low, your
emotions might be frayed, you could make silly mistakes, become
forgetful, and your metabolism can even slow down leading to
weight gain. If that wasn’t enough, your lack of sleep can even lead
to depression and all kinds of other problems.
WELL HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS…This problem can be resolved!
Let’s face it. Sleeping is one of the most natural things in the world.
If you get yourself comfortable and do absolutely nothing, the
chances are that you will fall asleep quickly and soundly. The trick is
in how you do that.
Well, as this letter is supposed to be short and sweet, I’m going to
tell you about one simple and easy technique that hypnotists and
people who naturally fall asleep easily use. On its own this
technique works well, used together with other techniques that you
can learn on the Infinite Mind Sleep Well course, the results can be
even better.
Most people who fall asleep easily do so by thinking of nothing or by
leading their thoughts in the direction that they want to go, i.e. to
sleep. There are several ways this can be done with one of the
easiest methods being guided visualisation.
Guided visualisation (GV) is a process where you lead yourself (or
somebody else) to access various psychological and physiological
states by imagining certain things. It’s a bit like good story telling
where the storyteller uses language to paint a picture in your mind.
As you hear what is being read to you, you create pictures in your
mind and access feelings that may go with the story.
For example, a story that involves sitting comfortably…. breathing
calmly…and… relaxing the muscles of your neck and shoulders will
have a similar, relaxing effect on you. You may think it wouldn’t,
but to understand the words you have just read, you have to go
within your own mind to work out what the words mean to you. As
you do this, your body responds. In this case it does so by relaxing.
Can you see how beneficial this can be for you?
There are many ways to do guided visualisation, so to get you
started, I’m going to share with you a simple method that I use
when needed. It involves thinking into various body parts and just
noticing how relaxed they become. When I do this I tell myself
(internally) what I’m doing and at the same time I visualise and feel
the beneficial changes. As with many things, the more you practice
this technique the better you will become at it and the easier you
will fall asleep.
Something to try…
When you feel tired and are ready for bed, snuggle in comfortably
and allow yourself a minute or two before starting this technique.
Just follow the below…
“Relax my scalp.”
As I gently say the words in my mind, I visualise my scalp relaxing
and at the same time, I feel how relaxed my scalp becomes. You
can keep your focus on the relaxation for as long as you want
before moving on.
“Relax all the muscles on my face.”
Again, as I say what I want to happen, I see and feel the beneficial
changes.
(You can be as specific as you want with your visualisation of body
parts. Instead of “muscles on my face,” you could use, “the muscles
around my eyes, around my mouth, my jaw etc.”)
“Relax my neck.”
Say the words to yourself in a relaxed, comfortable tone. See how
relaxed you look in your mind and feel the gentle softening of the
muscles in your neck.
Simply continue down your body to the body parts you wish to
relax. The idea is to lead your body and mind into sleep, not to
recall all you know about anatomy and physiology! As a guide, the
main body parts will work well; relax your shoulders, arms,
fingers, chest, back, hips, thighs, knees, feet and toes. If at
the end of this you are still awake, go back to the beginning and do
it again.
More ways…
It sometimes helps to visualise someone else who relaxes easily
and comfortably. As you go to bed, do the same as above however
this time imagine you are someone else who you believe falls asleep
easily. How do they say “Relax,” how does it look and feel for them?
This person could be someone famous, your spouse or partner, a
baby or a dog! The only thing that’s important is that you can
imagine what it is like for them to relax and drift off to sleep.
When I do these techniques I’m normally asleep in a couple of
minutes. I can’t remember a time when I’ve reached thinking about
my feet! If however, after an hour of trying this technique there is
no difference for you, call me for an appointment. There are many
things that we can do and if past experience is anything to go by,
you could be sleeping well within a session or two.
At times, sleep difficulties may be a sign of medical problems. To be
certain all is well, please consult with your doctor. If your doctor
recommends medication to help you to sleep, please remember that
it is a suggestion not an order. It is up to you to make an informed
decision.
Standing Tall
Although confidence is a feeling, I find it incredible how other
people can read how you feel just by looking at you.
Phrases such as, “He looks confident” are used all the time but what
specifically are people seeing to make such assumptions and how
can you benefit from it?
To answer these questions why not try this little experiment. Go on,
it will only take a minute:-)
• If I asked you to behave like a person who was experiencing
sadness, what would you do? Have a go now, pretend you are
an actor/actress and notice what you do to get into the role.
• Do you hunch your shoulders, frown and look down towards
the floor? These are just some of the things you might do.
How do you feel doing this? Chances are that you will feel
sad.
• OK, stop that and start to behave like a person who is
experiencing happiness. As an actor/actress, how do you
portray happiness?
• Do you stand up tall with a smile on your face and look
straight ahead? Many people who experience happiness do a
similar thing. Do you feel happier now?
The point of this experiment is to prove something to you. How you
hold yourself (your physiology) has a direct effect on how you feel.
So just as when you feel happy you will tend to hold yourself in a
certain way, when you are feeling sad, by changing how you hold
yourself, you can feel better!
So what feelings do you want to experience more of?
One of the main requests I receive from clients is that they want to
feel more confident. Now there are many ways that this can be
achieved however by adapting the experiment above, you can learn
a quick and easy way to feel more confident whenever you need to.
• When it is safe to do so, close your eyes and imagine
someone who personifies confidence to you. They could be a
movie star, sportsperson or anyone you know. Notice
everything you can about this person and see how they sit,
stand and move. What qualities do you notice about how they
hold themselves, their facial expressions and their breathing
etc?
• As you get a good impression of how your confidence model
holds her/himself, in your mind, float up out of your body and
into theirs. What does it feel like to be in their body, how does
their confidence feel? Start to move your body exactly the
same way as your model does and copy everything that you
believe they do confidently.
• As you do this become aware of any differences in how you
feel. Do you feel as confident as your model? If not keep
looking for what they do that you may not have noticed yet.
As you become aware of anything new, add it to how you are
already holding and moving yourself.
• When your model is feeling really confident, become aware of
what they say to themselves and how they say it. Is it
encouraging, supportive, and warm? Does this increase their
confidence further? How confident do you feel as you do this?
• Anchor this feeling. (If you know how)
This can be a fantastic exercise to boost how you feel about yourself
quickly and effectively because your mind and body are intrinsically
linked. Your mind can effect your body and your body can effect
your mind. As you practice exercises like this not only do you feel
more confident in the present, your mind and body will start to
learn new ways to act helping you to become a more confident
person for the rest of your life.
Do not underestimate what can be achieved from an exercise like
this. Allow yourself to do this for 5 minutes a day and you may soon
notice beneficial changes take place in how you feel.
Like many of the things I mention in these newsletters, this
technique can be adapted in lots of ways. When you can do the
above exercise easily why not experiment for yourself and discover
what works best for you.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions. |
