I was admittedly pretty skeptical when I heard that one of my favorite actresses, Jenny Slate, claimed that she conquered her anxiety and low self-esteem issues with hypnosis. Then I thought that maybe if it worked for her, it could do the same for me. I decided to give it a try and it changed my life.
- It’s a re-programming of the subconscious mind. The same way your overall state of mind and self-perception can suffer by experiencing some kind of trauma like bullying or abuse, you can also reprogram your state of mind with regular positive feedback. The brain is a lot more flexible than we give it credit for and if you give your brain good things to think about, it’ll start to do so on auto-pilot. It’s crazy how it works, but it’s totally a real thing!
- It really started to stick after a few sessions. Repetition was key here. Unlike smoking or nail-biting, hypnosis for general confidence and anxiety is a lot trickier and doesn’t follow any particular pattern or timeline. Since low-confidence usually stems from a lot of different sources from career to health to financial status, it’s not going to be a one-shot wonder. It’ll take a few sessions to cover everything and change all the stuff that’s been building up over the years.
- It was actually really relaxing. The minute the hypnotist started whispering the suggestions in my ear, I felt a wash of calm come over me like I was being put into a trance. Being in a calm and receptive state is apparently really important for hypnosis to stick. That’s why people do it before bed when their minds are in that state of being somewhat awake and conscious but also relaxed and not as alert.
- It wasn’t weird or creepy at all. One of the things that kinda sketched me out about hypnosis before trying it was the fact that I was letting someone else overwrite my brain and tell me how to think. In reality, it didn’t feel like that because I actually wanted to change and whatever weird stuff the hypnotist was spewing couldn’t be possibly any weirder than the messed up thoughts already in my head.
- I felt more… spacious after it was over, if that makes sense. I felt like I was more open and receptive to the world around me. It was like I finally had room in my brain to actually think new thoughts that were more positive and inspired. I also felt more open in my body. I didn’t feel constantly under threat as I had in the past. I can’t explain how it worked but it definitely did.
- It made me realize how I hypnotize myself all day with the words I use. If a few sessions of positive reinforcement can make me happier, imagine how depressed I’m making myself just with the words I choose to use and the thoughts that circulate in my mind all day? I made the decision to put positive thoughts in my brain through hypnosis. It wasn’t a fluke or something that just happened, it was a conscious choice and to me, that’s a very cool concept.
- It was so simple and I don’t know why I didn’t try it sooner. There weren’t any dangling watches or alpha waves being pumped through headphones—it was just the hypnotist and me. It’s crazy to think how another human simply suggesting things to you can totally change your perspective. It’s kind of like how when a person compliments you, it makes you actually believe that you look truly awesome for a few minutes.
- It’s worth it to do it in person. You can absolutely find those hypnosis tapes on YouTube for free, but I found that having a live hypnotist inspired the highest level of focus. I could choose to avert my focus when I’m listening to a tape, but when a real human is right in front of me, I couldn’t help but listen. Plus, there’s an energetic thing that happens face to face that’s too hard to even explain.
- I was actually doing most of the work. It takes two to hypnotize. Since I was open to it and followed the directions, it worked. It wouldn’t have worked any other way. In other words, I basically hypnotized myself—I just had a little help from a qualified practitioner.
- I started seeing situations that were previously scary as just neutral. The craziest thing that resulted from this was the way I reacted to situations that seemed beyond scary before. Talking in front of people felt fine instead of making my heart pound and my words come stumbling out of my mouth. I felt fine about strangers looking at me instead of paranoid. It was pretty cool how big of a change hypnosis made, and I’d definitely recommend it to everyone who wants to feel a bit more confident about themselves.
