Here’s a good technique for practising relaxation.  If you would like some support in achieving hypnotic relaxation, Help Myself Hypnosis should do the trick. Its available worldwide as either a CD or instant MP3 download - more details here. 

Self-determined relaxation is brought about by establishing what is termed a conditioned response - that is an automatic response in a person’s physical and mental being initiated by a cue, which is usually a word.  I generally use the word RELAX as a cue, although almost any other word would suffice so long as it gives strong reference to a calm or relaxed state. 

The first step in achieving this type of relaxation is to assume a comfortable position.  This can be done easily in any straight-backed chair high enough to support your back and shoulder.  Or you may use a reclining position, either on a bed or in a reclining chair.  In the beginning it is best to practice in a quiet place, where you will not be disturbed.  If sitting, be sure that your feet are flat on the floor and that your arms are resting, untensed on the arms of the chair or in your lap.  It is not advisable to cross your arms or legs because as you become more relaxed you may find yourself acutely aware of your body and the weight of your limbs supporting each other may be disturbing.  Also crossing arms and legs tends to limit good circulation!

The next step is the eye-rolling exercise.  Simply do this:  roll you eyes upward as high as possible.  Try to get them high up into your forehead.  While holding your eyes in this position, lower your eyelids and relax your eye muscles.  Now, take a deep breath and hold it for five or six seconds.  Then let it out slowly - all the way out until you must gasp for another breath.  Now, think of the cue word RELAX.  Let it float through your mind.  By this time your feelings of relaxation will begin to be recognisable to you.  You should have entered the light, or beginning stage of relaxation.

Now you must deepen this relaxed state.  Count backward from Ten to One, allowing the cue word RELAX to continue to float through your mind.

TEN -Take a deep breath, hold it for five or six seconds, release it slowly , think of the cue word, RELAX.

NINE - Breathe, hold, release, RELAX

EIGHT -  Breathe, hold, release, RELAX

and so on until you get to ‘One’.  By the time you have reached the count of one in this exercise, you should be completely relaxed.  If you are not, begin again, repeat the process until you do feel totally relaxed.

Now you can give yourself suggestions.  Keep them short and simple and confine them to a single idea.  BE SURE THEY ARE POSITIVE.  After a suggestion has been repeated two or three times whilst in this state of self-determined relaxation, you can simply suggest to yourself that you are going to count to five, open your eyes and feel good.  Do so and the state will be broken.  This entire exercise, kept purposely short, should take you about two minutes to complete.  With practice however, you may be able to eliminate the counting down portion of the exercise and use your cue word to enter a relaxed state instantly.

Good luck.  Keep practising!

Control your breathing; control your stress!

Deep, slow breathing aids relaxation, reduces tension and gives a much greater sense of control over yourself as well as increased feelings of physical and mental well-being!  Experiment with my free self hypnosis download to experience the ‘feel good factor’ for yourself - you can access it here.

When you breathe in you take in oxygen to your lungs and the haemoglobin in the blood carries it to the tissues.  The body cells use the oxygen in their various functions producing carbon dioxide as a by-product.

If you breathe in excess oxygen by taking short, shallow breaths, the excess is exhaled along with any available carbon dioxide from the arteries.  This can cause an imbalance leading to a rise in the PH level of the blood.  This in turn can lead to vascular constriction resulting in diminished blood flow to the brain and other parts of the body.  Over time the kidneys may compensate by lowering the PH level but the person remains in a precarious balance, which in the presence of even a mild stressor can easily become symptomatic again.

About 60% of panic attacks are accompanied by acute hyperventilation, whilst about 30% of panic-ers chronically hyperventilate (18 or more breaths per minute while relaxed against a norm of between 12 and 16 breaths per minute).

Light headiness, giddiness, dizziness, shortness of breath and heart palpitations are all common symptoms of hyperventilation.  These in turn can lead to a vicious cycle in which anxiety and levels of stress are increased, causing further symptoms such as numbness, chest pain (from the muscles between the ribs going into painful spasm so that some people fear they are on the verge of a heart attack), dry mouth, clammy hands, difficulty in swallowing, tremors, sweating, weakness and fatigue.

In contrast, slow, deep breathing is more efficient.  The whole of the lung capacity is used and the lower part of the lungs, which are rich in blood vessels, are adequately ventilated.  Deep breathing also helps to maintain the correct balance between the gases in the blood whilst stimulating the body to produce mood-boosting endorphins.

Endorphins are morphine-like substances produced naturally in the body.  They have a wide range of functions - such as in the perception of pain and in helping to regulate the action of the heart.  It is probable that they are involved in controlling emotions, mood and motivation.

4 ways to stop hyperventilation 

1. Hold your breath.  Holding your breath for a long as you comfortably can will prevent the dissipation of carbon dioxide.  A period of 10-15 seconds, repeated a few times, is sufficient.

2.  Breathe in and out of a paper bag - you will be inhaling the carbon dioxide that you exhaled.  This will quickly restore the normal blood PH level.  However, there are many situations when it is not appropriate to use a paper bag - you could try breathing into your cupped hands instead!

3. Vigorous exercise - while breathing in and out through your nose.  Running, brisk walking, going up and down stairs will help.

4. Deep diaphragmatic breathing - slow deep breathing to the bottom of the lungs.  Breathing should be through the nose with the out-breath taking longer than the in-breath. 

Your brain has a natural cycle of sleep and wakefulness.  It knows how to sleep, just as it knows how to breathe and pump your heart at the correct speed.

There are six golden rules of sleep which you must follow until they become automatic habits.  As you do that, the mind exercises will work to re-calibrate the settings of your unconscious mind to release your capacity for deep, comfortable, refreshing sleep.  You have to be patient for a few days only and your sleep will improve.  Many years of research in sleep laboratories have proved that these are the most effective behavioural changes to improve your sleep.

(1)  Set a new, earlier wake-up time and stick to it!

Wake up and get out of bed every day 20 minutes earlier than your current wake-up time.  Clinical research at sleep laboratories has demonstrated that its the singe most effective strategy for insomnia.  Sleep is a natural cycle and falling asleep is something that happens to you  - you don’t do it deliberately - but you can control when you get up. This re-adjusts your body clock and the rest of the cycle moves with you.

(2)  Go to bed only when you are sleepy

This might seem strange, but far too many people think they ought to go to bed at a certain time, or believe that going to bed early will help them “catch up” on their sleep.  But you can’t force yourself to sleep.  In fact, you must take a cue from your body.

When you feel tired and ready for sleep, your brain releases melatonin.  It makes you feel it is so warm inside and so cold outside, all you want to do is cuddle up and let your mind wander.  As sleep begins, your mind wanders more and more, your breathing becomes slower and deeper and gradually your brain-waves change.  Feeling sleepy is the body’s signal of readiness for sleep.  Once your new sleep-cycle is established, this will tend to happen at a regular time.

(3)  Limit what you do in bed

There are only three things you are allowed to do in bed: make love, read these words and sleep.  Don’t eat, read books, watch TV, chat on the phone or socialise.  As you follow this rule, you make sure that bed is associated with sleep, not with being alert and active. Your bed should be a quiet, comfortable place dedicated to sleep.

(4)  Get up if you’ve been awake for 40 minutes

If, after getting into bed and trying to get to sleep, you are awake for more than 40 minutes, get up and do something boring.  The mind needs to learn that it will not be rewarded with anything interesting if it keeps you awake. Get up and do your accounts or clean the floor!

If you wake in the middle of the night, the same rule applies:  if you are not asleep again within 40 minutes, get up and do something boring, Then, when you are drowsy, tired and sleepy, go back to bed.

(5)  Don’t rest during the day

Sleep researchers have identified four distinct phases of sleep.  Stage one occurs as we are just falling asleep when our thoughts continue from our waking state but are not longer under conscious control.  Researchers have discovered that many people who are awoken in stage one sleep do not realise they have been asleep.  That’s why napping during the day is disruptive.  Resting with your eyes closed, you could drift into stage one sleep without realising it.  That would upset your sleep pattern and reduce the impact of the urge to sleep at bedtime.

Most of your sleep at night is spent in stage two.  The brainwaves show a pattern called sleep spindles and muscle tension decreases.  In deep sleep, stages three and four, slower brainwaves, delta waves, appear.  We normally get all the deep sleep we need, less than two hours, early in the night.

Later, we spend more time dreaming, most of it in what’s known as REM sleep, named after the rapid eye movement that can be observed beneath the eyelids.  The best way to make sure stage one sleep at night leads into stages three and four, is to make sure you are awake all day, so you are ready for sleep at night.

(6)  Sort out your worries during the day

Sometimes our unconscious mind waits until we have stopped the “busy-ness” of the day to get us to think things over.  If you find yourself worrying about something at night, follow this procedure: -

First, find the positive side of the worry.  For every worry we don’t want, there is a corresponding solution that we do want.  For example, if you worry about your overdraft, what you do want is more money.  Now think of at least one step, however small, that you can consciously take the very next day to move towards your solution.  Make a note and promise yourself to take that step tomorrow.

As you think, you will hear your inner voice speaking the thoughts.  The voice might sound stressed, alert or excited.  But you need to change that voice to make it sound tired and sleepy.  Whatever you think, it must be in a relaxed voice that sounds as if it is about to yawn.  That way, your mind will start to feel as if all it wants to do is snuggle up and be comfortable and warm and asleep.

There are four further points that research has shown will provide the optimum state for a good night’s sleep

(1)  Make sure you have a warm bed in a cooler room.  Your bedding should be snug and the air around you slightly cooler.

(2)  Take some exercise early in the evening, such as a brisk walk. This stimulates your muscles and heightens your alertness, which increases the need for rest later on.  The sleepiness of your natural cycle is reinforced by physical tiredness when you go to bed.

(3)  Make sure you eat in the evening, preferably a light meal.

(4)  Cut down on alcohol and caffeine.  It is not true that alcohol helps us sleep.  It does emphasise tiredness at first, but it can wake many people later in the night.  And even one cup of coffee during the day can affect your sleep at night if you are sensitive to it.

Adapted from Paul McKenna “Mindpower”

Help Myself Sleep is available worldwide as an audio CD or MP3 download.  Click here to end insomnia NOW!

I wrote my self-hypnosis audio CD, Hypnosis for Horseriders to help horse riders make the most of their human potential to overcome difficulties.  Self-hypnosis is the ultimate self-help tool. It’s versatile, safe, fast, simple, pleasant, effective, non-invasive and non-addictive. Nearly everyone can do it and it’s stood the test of time - humans have been doing it for thousands of years! Best of all, it encourages self-sufficiency because it empowers us to use our own resources to help ourselves.

Hypnosis for Horseriders will help you manage your horse riding experiences positively by better managing yourself and your emotions.  It utilises the advantages of our natural trance state in two ways  

1.     It will help you to access your creative ability to find solutions to problems so that ideas, insights and constructive information become more readily available.

2.     It will create an environment where you are able to accept positive and helpful suggestions without the restrictions ordinarily imposed by your conscious abilities and responses (as in “yeah but - it won’t work for me, I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to …” for example!).

The effect is compounded because as you transform your cycle of negative thinking into a positive cycle

·   Your positive beliefs give birth to a more positive attitude that in turn leads to more positive expectations.

·   This expectation means that you start noticing when you behave differently and more positively and so you start to notice the small improvements

·   The positive cycle continues because as you notice these improvements, so more positive beliefs will grow.

Hypnosis for Horseriders is available worldwide as either a CD or MP3 download.  You can buy Hypnosis for Horseriders NOW via my online shop

Humans have an entirely natural ability to use hypnosis.  Like the flight, fight or freeze response it’s part of our human inheritance. Although we must have always utilised trance states, the first records of humans deliberately using hypnotic phenomena date back about 4000 years to the Egyptian priest, Imhotep who used hypnosis in his ‘Sleep Temples’ and to the ancient Greeks who dedicated their ‘Sleep Temples’ to the healing god Æsclepius.

In spite of its early associations with sleep, hypnosis is not sleep -it’s a natural suspension of awareness somewhere on a continuum between wide-awake and fast asleep.  Modern biofeedback methods show that when we use hypnosis, we slow our brainwaves from mostly beta to alpha and theta.  The advantage of this, as the ancient civilisations discovered, is that the slower brainwaves create physiological and psychological changes that enhance our natural human resources.  Alpha brain patterns for example are associated with an increase in the production of serotonin (the ‘molecule of happiness’) and theta brainwaves offer us potential for behavioural change along with heightened levels of learning, memory and creativity. 

Hypnosis for Horseriders is available worldwide as either a CD or MP3 download.  You can buy Hypnosis for Horseriders NOW via my online shop

Humans - Our Struggle to be Extra-Ordinary

Human beings have not survived so long by giving up easily.  Most riders struggle with nerves and conflicts, sometimes unsure if we want to continue riding but not quite bringing ourselves to hang up our hats either.  We optimistically enter ourselves into dressage or jumping classes when they’re several weeks away and then on the morning of the event wonder what on earth possessed us.  Even if we do manage to get ourselves into the arena or jumping ring, only part of us wants to be there while the other part wishes we were somewhere (anywhere!) else.  We’d love to be in the ribbons but deep down we’re afraid that it might affect our relationships with our friends or our family (or even with ourselves and our riding]).

Conflicts like these waste a lot of energy and result in a loss of motivation and commitment.  They can also cause a lot of damage to our confidence and self-esteem because we focus on the miss-match between what we (or others) think we ought to be able to do and what we find we actually can do.  We begin to value ourselves for what we can (or cannot!) do, rather than for who we are and then get caught up in a cycle of negative thinking, negative self-talk and anxieties.

Hypnosis for Horseriders is available worldwide as either a CD or MP3 download.  You can buy Hypnosis for Horseriders NOW via my online shop.

Last week a client told me

“Just a horse” is the thing that keeps me from being “just a human”

 

and I’ve been thinking about that ever since!  

What is so seductive about horses that we happily invest our time, money, energy and emotions to a level that non-horsey humans often find difficult to comprehend? I’d guess that perhaps it’s because they offer us an opportunity to reach out, to extend and challenge ourselves; to be more than ‘just a human’ to be extra-ordinary in fact.

Humans and Horses -  The Nervous Rider

Our basic human instinct to be at least wary of something that has the potential to hurt us is quite normal and has ensured our survival as a species. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with being nervous on (or around) horses except that it can be unpleasant and unhelpful if you want to ride.  The first challenge for horse riding humans then, is to overcome the conflicts caused by our natural human instincts.

A primitive human survival mechanism means that when fear alerts us to potential danger, we respond with our own particular version of ”fight, flight, freeze or foetal crouch’.  Whilst this was crucial for our caveman ancestors, it doesn’t do much for us when our nerves cause us to 

‘fight’ our horse (and ourselves) resulting in a cycle of tension and anxiety.  We exert even more willpower and determination but a bit like getting to sleep, the harder we try the harder it is!  Horse and rider  get frustrated and annoyed.  Our horse becomes resistant and ’spooks’, ’shies’ or ‘refuses’.  We each lose confidence in the other and the rider loses the ability to respond rather than react to challenges.

‘freeze’ so that parts of our body just won’t do what they’re supposed to do!  We simply can’t seem to ‘give’ the rein or release our back or our shoulders for example.  Even worse, our mind ‘freezes’ too and we forget to breathe, or forget which jump comes next or what’s supposed to happen after we’ve entered the arena at ‘A’

‘foetal crouch’ - curling up our body to protect the chest and stomach, which as our ape-ancestors knew, are our most vulnerable parts.  Unfortunately in the crazy process of attempting to adopt this position on horseback, we lean forward, pulling our hands and elbows in to our chest and raising our knees and heels in a direct contradiction of everything our riding instructors ever taught us.

‘flight’ - as in wanting to give up and run away.  We make excuses to avoid riding (its too wet or windy) and pretend that competitions and fun rides just don’t do it for us anymore.  Our rides get slower and shorter and the routes get more and more restricted.

Hypnosis for Horseriders is available worldwide as either a CD or MP3 download.  You can buy Hypnosis for Horseriders online NOW via my online shop. 

To the very best of my knowledge there is no single, magic solution to all the vast and myriad challenges that arise in the sport of horse riding.  I’ve spent quite a lot of time presenting seminars to riders over the past few years and in common with many of the clients who I see in my private practice, lots of them hope for nothing short of a miracle. And they think that perhaps I have the answer. So that’s the bad news for us both! I don’t. The good news is that you DO have the answer. Somewhere, tucked away in the depths of your knowledge, creativity, experiences and understandings is the perfect solution to your particular (and often unique) problem.

More good news - you don’t have to make big changes to generate big results.  People are very often surprised to discover that a relatively small shift can manifest in huge differences. That’s because we’re pre-programmed to look for evidence to support our beliefs. A process called ’selective observation’ means for example, that if you get a new red car, you’ll suddenly notice all the other people who have that car, even though this information had completely escaped your attention previously. Similarly if you start with a positive belief you will consciously or subconsciously use the same process to verify that belief. 

It will become a self-fulfilling prophecy because a positive belief will build a more positive attitude that in turn leads to more positive expectations. This expectation means that you will start noticing when you behave differently and more positively and so you start to notice the little improvements in performance. And the positive circle continues because as you notice these improvements, so more positive beliefs will grow.

Great! But unfortunately (as we all know), it works the other way round too. Which is why, I suspect, that if I fall off once I seem to fall off (or nearly fall off) again quite soon afterwards. I sort of come to expect it having been reminded that unfortunately these things do sometimes happen and then - I do it again! Its almost as if some perverse part is looking for an opportunity or excuse to do it. Again.

I guess that riders enjoying life in the positive circle do their very best to stay there and may not be interested in reading about how to escape from the negative circle. The reality of course is that wherever you are now, you could end up somewhere different very soon! Confidence is not a stable commodity (and yes, I do know it’s a dreadful pun!).

Which circle you are in will depend to some extent on the chemicals released into the body during the so-called ‘Fight, Flight or Freeze’ response. This, as you may well know, is a primitive survival mechanism that allowed our ancestors to speed up their reactions in the face of threat or danger. In order to keep the process as fast as possible, information is taken into the brain from the five senses and bypassing our conscious, critical facilities is matched directly against our store of emotional memories to assess, amongst other things, whether or not something is a threat. Consequently, and most importantly for riders I think, our response will depend very much on our perception of the threat. Doctor Paul Martin in his book “The Sickening Mind” defines psychological stress as

“the state arising when the individual perceives the demands placed on them exceed (or threaten to exceed) their capacity to cope”

It is psychological stress that gives rise to the ‘Fight, Flight or Freeze’ response and so this definition already offers us an opportunity - we can reduce the demands, increase the capacity to cope (maybe even both!) and we can work on an individual basis to change our perception of the threat. It has to be on an individual basis because everyone perceives threats differently because everyone has a different store of emotional memories to match them against.

It would be a very strange rider indeed who didn’t experience some arousal of the ‘Fight, Flight or Freeze’ response at some time or another. In fact, don’t most of us enjoy at least an element of the challenge it presents for us - most of the time? Liz Morrison writing about the NLP Approach to Confident Riding suggests that

“Perhaps one of the gifts a horse offers is a chance to explore constructive ways to meet danger and manage our private fears. Horses can give us confidence in our own innate resourcefulness, reminding us that we have the ability, intuition and flexibility to pass through challenging events”.   

 

It is our perception of the challenge that determines the cocktail of chemicals released into the body and these in turn determine our emotional response. Contrary to popular belief, it is noradrenaline (not adrenaline) which gives rise to those lovely feelings of excitement and drive as well as physical strength. For this reason noradrenaline has been named the ‘kick’ or high performance hormone which in large amounts stimulates special areas in the brain that produce a feeling of pleasure. In contrast, the feelings and sensations associated with high levels of adrenaline are not pleasant - these are the ones generating the need to flee, leaving us overwhelmed, inadequate and afraid.

So if there is a secret, I think it has to be to intervene at the thin end of the wedge where its much easier to get a handle on our thoughts and emotions before they run riot with us. A good place to start would be to begin to explore, re-evaluate and if necessary modify our perceptions.  Hypnosis for Horseriders offers you that opportunity - but the magic is YOU!

Hypnosis for Horseriders is available worldwide as either a CD or MP3 download.  You can buy Hypnosis for Horseriders online NOW via my online shop

Here are some thoughts on weight control that you may find helpful -

The Four Means of Weight Control 

1.  Motivation (desire to change)

2.  Meditation (i.e.using Weight Control CD or MP3 download)

3.  Moderation (eat less!)

4.  Movement (exercise)

Ten Commandments for Weight Loss

1.  I will not eat more than three times daily

2   I will eat nutritionally balanced meals

3.  I will put less food on my plate

4.  I will eat slowly

5.  I will replace my fork on the table between mouthfuls

6.  I will chew my food until it becomes soft

7.  I will sit at the table while eating

8.  I will stop eating before I become satisfied

9.  I will take nothing except water between meals

10.  I will practice self-hypnosis at least once a day

Help Myself Lose Weight and Weight Control is available worldwide as either a CD or MP3 download.  You can BUY IT NOW via my online shop. 

Alistair Darling’s budget combined with the Government ban on smoking in enclosed public places (effective in England from 1 July 2007) has given even greater emphasis to the National No Smoking campaign.  For anyone wishing to stop smoking, there are now numerous resources available. However, did you know that an extensive research project published in the Journal of Applied Psychology has shown that hypnosis is the most effective way of giving up smoking? 

Hypnosis can enhance the responsiveness of the subconscious mind to positive and helpful suggestions, give access to subconscious resources and facilitate the remarkably rapid treatment of redundant habits, conflicts and fears.  Many of my customers change the habit of a lifetime in just one 50 minute session!

One of the most popular and widely accepted uses for hypnosis is as an aid to those who wish to stop smoking. It is also one of the areas in which it is easiest to measure success - after all, it really comes down to whether you stop or whether you continue to smoke. For most smokers, with their oral-compulsive personality traits, there is no middle ground - it’s a question of either black or white, good or bad, liking it or hating it and smoking or not. The person able to enjoy the odd social cigarette and keep it at that level is rare.

To find the most effective method to stop smoking Frank Schmidt and research student Chockalingham Viswesvaran from the university of Iowa used a meta-analysis, utilising the results of more than 600 studies totalling nearly 72,000 people.  The results were published in the Journal of Applied Psychology and reported in the New Scientist (Robert Matthews). They included 48 studies of hypnosis covering 6000 smokers, showing that hypnosis was (for example) three times more effective than Nicotine Replacement Therapy. In fact compared with the success rates of smoke aversion therapy, acupuncture, G.P. advice, sheer willpower, self-help (books or mail-order advice) or nicotine replacement, the research concluded

“Hypnosis is the most effective way of giving up smoking” 

I believe that one of the reasons for this is because simplistically, there are two parts to the mind - conscious mind and sub-conscious mind. The conscious mind situated on the left side of the brain, deals with logical, rational thought and sophisticated language. The sub-conscious mind, on the right side of the brain, deals with all the rest - for example memories, intuitions, habits and learned responses (like braking when someone runs in front of your car). The sub-conscious mind understands language visually in images and I gather that its language capability is limited to that of around a six year old (I wonder how they tested that!).

Most customers who purchase my Stop Smoking CD or self-hypnosis MP3 download usually know the rational reasons as to why they should give up (these are well documented elsewhere) but they find themselves smoking anyway. They are also often aware of the internal conflict between the part that wants to smoke and the part that wants to stop. Since the part that wants to stop usually has logical reasons for doing so, it seems likely that the problem lies with the sub-conscious mind.

Self-hypnosis allows better access to the sub-conscious mind and my Stop Smoking CD/MP3 download creates visual images and language forms that the sub-conscious mind easily understands. Once the subconscious mind realises what needs to happen, the conflict is usually resolved and both parts work together for the general good of the whole person. Common side effects of smoking cessation such as ‘grumpiness’ and weight gain (caused by substituting one oral compulsion for another!) are minimised. Customers report  feeling more focussed, happier and of course, healthier 

Help Myself Stop Smoking is available worldwide as either a CD or MP3 download.  You can buy it NOW via my Online Shop