#64 Relaxation Hypnosis for Stress, Anxiety & Panic Attacks (Jason Newland) (11th November 2019)

Hello and welcome to jasonnewland.com. My name is Jason Newland. This is Relaxation Hypnosis for Stress, Anxiety and Panic Attacks. Please only listen when you can safely close your eyes.

If you like what I do, please visit my website and you can, if you want to, leave a testimonial and just to tell others how listening to me has been useful to you. Right, I'm constantly looking for different ideas and ways, you know, I read books and I look at different techniques for calming down in a stressful situation. There's a lot of breathing techniques that are offered.

And there's a few issues with some of the breathing techniques, especially when it comes to having, you know, in the midst of an anxiety attack. Because I found, when I was really going through it, that the last thing I wanted to focus on was my breath. Because I'd become too conscious, too self-conscious of my breathing and almost felt like I was, you know, over-breathing.

Maybe I was hyperventilating. And at times felt like I was struggling to breathe. So it's, you know, the idea of actually focusing on my breath didn't really feel like the right thing to do at certain times.

I found it useful outside of those times when I was stressed. For example, doing mindfulness meditation, counting the breaths. But again, when you count the breaths during mindfulness meditation or, you know, those kinds of things, you're not controlling the breath.

You're just counting the breathing, how it is. So it's not like one, two, you know, it's just breathing in whatever way that you are at that time. So that's one thing I've been thinking about.

And when it comes to counting, because it's the old thing, isn't it? If you get an angry count to 10 before you respond or react or say something or whatever, or act upon how you're feeling. And I've been playing around with this. But instead of counting to 10, counting down from 10 down to one.

Just in a stressful feeling, you know, when I'm feeling a little bit, maybe a lot tense, stressed, anxious. And I've only ever done this when I've been at home. And perhaps on a bus, but I've never, never done it in a workplace or anything like that.

So, but I have done it when I've been here at home. And what I do, when I first started trying to do this, I was almost trying to force the counting, you know, like 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And then I was trying to like do it slowly 10, 9, 8, 7, like that. And it felt wrong.

Because I was trying to force it. But I kind of felt I shouldn't be doing it quickly. I should be counting down quickly.

That's wrong. In my mind, I was thinking, yes, I'm counting down quickly, then how's that going to relax me? However, what I discovered is, if you count down, it doesn't have to be 10 to 1, it could be 20 down to 1. But I just go for 10 to 1. And then just repeat it. If you count down from 10 to 1, what I do is I sit in a chair, close my eyes.

And I just count down, count at the speed that's comfortable for you right now. So not trying to force it. I'm not even trying to change the speed at all.

Just counting down from 10 to 1 at the speed that feels right for you in the moment. So it might be 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And what I noticed is it slowed down on its own. This may be due to the focusing on the counting rather than focusing on how you were feeling before.

So, you know, you could put it down to a distraction technique. It's almost like you're building rapport with yourself by counting. And by starting counting at the speed that your mind is currently traveling, you know, I say traveling, but you know, moving around the thoughts, maybe very quick.

So you're counting 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Because if your mind's very quick and you start going 10, 9, 8, it can calm you down. That's one way of doing it. But if you go with the speed that it is already, and then your mind calms and slows down naturally on its own.

And then you just naturally, you're tuned in and you start, we continue to count from 10 down to 1. And you notice how the counting slows down. But you're not forcing anything. You're not, there's no manipulation at all.

It is literally just counting from 10 down to 1. You can do it out loud if you choose. If there's no one else around, ideally, you can do it in your head. You can just count in your head if you choose.

It is completely up to you. But as you count from 10 down to 1, at whatever speed feels correct for you in the moment that you're counting, you can also notice that sense of relaxation. But it's almost like a release, like a bike tyre being released, the valve and the air being let out of the tyre, or a car tyre, whatever, a wheel tyre with air in it.

And it's just gently releasing the air. And you're not pushing on the tyre to try and get more air out of it. Just allowing the air to leave in its own time.

So the whole process really is fairly relaxing. Perhaps the first few seconds, you know, when you're counting, if you're, especially if, if, you know, if the stress level is a little bit high, and you are counting 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. So the first few times might not be hugely relaxing.

It's fairly boring in some ways.

And counting down from 10 to 1 isn't the most exciting thing to do. Which is why we do it to relax. You wouldn't do it if it was exciting.

But it has, it's almost like we've got this inbuilt thing in our brain that recognises that counting down from 10 to 1 is a signal, a trigger for your body and mind to slow down and relax. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And with the breathing, we're not focusing on the breathing. We're not breathing in between each number.

We're not breathing after each number. We're not saying three numbers and then breathing in and then three numbers and breathing out. There is no rule.

We're just breathing however you breathe. So when I was counting down then from 10 to 1, I noticed that my breathing changed. When I was doing it quickly, it was almost like I was trying to get from 10 to 1 without breathing.

I wasn't purposely trying to do that, but my breathing was quicker. And the ironic thing, I don't know if that's the right word, but when you actually say, if you count down from 10 to 1 really quickly, it automatically decreases your relaxation. It increases tension a little bit.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. So if speeding it up, saying it quickly increases tension, then when it slows down, it would reduce the tension and increase relaxation. Of course, you can go straight to the slow counting, but for this exercise, I'm just going to go with what comes naturally. It's almost like we're accepting and recognizing that this is how we're feeling at the moment.

We're not dismissing it. We're not saying, I don't want this feeling. I want to feel different.

And this is what I'm going to do, and I'm going to do something to make myself feel different. It can be a bit more gentler than that. It can be, this is how I'm feeling.

It's not pleasant, but let's acknowledge that that's how I'm feeling at the moment. And let's see how the feelings change as I count down from 10 to 1 at the speed that feels correct with how you're actually feeling in the moment. Which means you're not focusing on your breathing.

You may notice the breathing changing, but you're not focusing on the breathing. You may notice your body relaxing, but you're not focusing on your body relaxing. You just accept whatever happens.

You accept the relaxation of your body, just like you accepted the tension that was there before you began counting down from 10 to 1 at the speed that feels right with how you're feeling in that moment. And then as you continue to count down from 10 to 1, the speed of the counting naturally slows down. And there's no effort involved from your part.

You don't have, there's nothing to do. You don't have to do anything. You don't purposely slow it down for this exercise.

You just count down from 10 to 1. There is a chance you could fall asleep doing this because the relaxation that occurs could lead to falling asleep. So, of course, only ever do it if it's safe to close your eyes and it's safe to fall asleep. But chances are you won't fall asleep if you're doing it during the day and you're doing it for a specific set of time.

So maybe set your alarm. So you might say, I'm going to do this for 10 minutes, set my alarm for 10 minutes time and make sure the alarm is soft, not some big loud alarm that's going to startle you, just gentle. So that's the process.

That is it. So, if you notice that you need to relax, that you're, the feelings that you've been having were uncomfortable, sit down in a comfortable chair, make sure it's safe to close your eyes and then just start counting down from 10 to 1 at the speed that feels exactly how you feel. Whatever speed is right.

Don't try and control the speed. Don't try and make it slower. Don't try and make it faster.

Just count down at the speed that your mind is moving. And you acknowledge how you're feeling. You accept how you're feeling and you do something to change it.

And just continue to count down from 10 to 1. Observe it. So observe how you feel differently. Notice how the counting slows down, but without really giving it too much attention.

Just going with how you feel. Counting at the speed that your mind is moving. You can notice you're breathing, but we're not focusing on that.

The only thing we're focusing on is the counting. From 10 down to 1 at the speed that feels correct in that moment. The speed that your mind is moving in, in that moment.

And then just continue. Repeat. 10 down to 1. 10 down to 1. And then keep doing it until you're feeling how you want to feel.

And that level of comfort and relaxation that feels right for you can only be judged by you. Only you know when you feel comfortable enough. Relaxed enough.

Calm enough. But your mind is slowed down enough for you to just move on with the rest of your day. So that's the end of this recording.

Let me know how you get on and I wish you lots of luck with this. And please remember to be kind to yourself because you deserve to be happy. Lots of love.

Bye.