#63 Relaxation Hypnosis for Stress, Anxiety & Panic Attacks (Jason Newland) (3rd November 2019)

Hello, welcome to jasonnewland.com. My name is Jason Newland and this is Relaxation Hypnosis for Stress, Anxiety and Panic Attacks. Please only listen when you can safely close your eyes. It may be the odd background sound but that's because I'm in my living room kind of walking around rather than just sitting in a chair and there's a helicopter outside.

It's not actually outside, there's a helicopter in the air going overhead for some reason. Andre is in the bedroom up to something. I can hear him moving around so he might make an appearance.

Check out the website. I did have a timetable and I've kind of got rid of it because I just I'm not good at timetables. A little bit too much like being at school.

So I'm just going to be producing new recordings when I can and rather than on any specific days. But this is the second one within a week so that's pretty good I think. Now this recording is going to be based on something that I read.

I've been reading this book on anxiety and stress and there's been two books I've been reading actually. One's been on sleep because I do I've got a few podcasts based on sleep and I've got a couple that I've been reading on anxiety and stress. And there's this book that has an approach called Dare.

It's the Dare Approach. And I can't remember what it stands for because it's on my Kindle. My Kindle's being charged up right now so I can't even bother to open it up and look.

However it's interesting because well the reason being is it mentions something that I used to get annoyed with when I was reading books on anxiety back in the early days of experiencing it in 2003 time. And I read quite a few books. I also went online and you know did a bit of research.

At the same time I was learning to meditate which was really really useful. So some mindfulness walking meditation which is what I mentioned in the last recording. And it's something that they used to say in some of these books with an anxiety attack.

And that is to... I know it's reassuring and I realise that's what they were saying. But it was very much repeated that an anxiety attack or panic attack won't... it won't kill you. It's not going to kill you.

Chances are you may feel you're going to faint but probably you're not going to faint. And on some level it's brilliant to hear you know. It's good to hear that I'm not going to die from this thing.

So you know there's a big positive from that. However, on the other side it seemed a little bit dismissive or a lot dismissive maybe to me at the time. Because I had been to the hospital thinking that I was dying and I wasn't.

But that's how I felt. And so there's a fine line isn't there I think when you dismiss somebody's feelings. Even if you're not meaning it in that way.

You know it's not meant in a dismissive way. It's meant in a caring, compassionate, empathic way. A reassuring way.

But it can still almost feel dismissive. And I don't think anyone likes to be dismissed. So I struggled a little bit with that.

Struggled a little bit with the idea that you know just it's almost like being told don't worry about it. When actually that kind of is exactly what's happening. Don't worry about worrying.

It's an almost a paradoxical thing isn't it. Stop worrying about worrying. It's like don't think about feeling hungry.

Just carry on preparing the food for other people. Don't think about your own tummy. No I'm hungry.

So that idea used to annoy me. But on another level I understood. I understood it but I didn't like it.

I didn't like what they were saying. Which was basically it's about acceptance. And acceptance is really important.

And it's not like I was really young either. I was in my 30s. I was 32 when this all started happening.

So you know I wasn't completely oblivious to psychology or therapy or anything like that because I had been studying it. But just this was out of my, very much out of my comfort zone. So I realised I need to get to the point really.

I was reading this book recently. It was a few days ago. And again about acceptance.

And you know I agree with that. And I probably talked about it myself. Accepting how things are doesn't mean that it's okay.

Acceptance is the first step maybe the second step is to do something about it. To make changes. And this book was saying going a step further than just it's going to be alright.

And no one ever dies of anxiety. No one dies of stress. Well no one dies from the stress feelings necessarily.

But stress can cause physical illness if it's not addressed. And if someone's unhealthy, stress could lead to a very difficult physical situation. So it's not completely honest to say that stress and anxiety has never killed anyone.

The results of it probably have many times. But not in a panic attack kind of a way. Maybe in an unhealthy, in an unhealthy body, someone's very, very unhealthy for whatever reason, whether it's through illness, disease, whatever.

Having huge amounts of stress added on can cause heart disease. It can cause all kinds of problems. But in itself it doesn't, you know, on its own.

And it takes time for that stuff to happen. You don't just have a panic attack and then suddenly you've got a heart disease. And that's probably years of ongoing stress.

Which is why our body warns us. So that we don't go beyond a certain level. And the body's warning is anxiety, stress, panic, anxiety attacks.

So this book, keep going back to this book. The idea, and I've been testing this out by the way, with other things as well. The idea really is to go beyond acceptance.

To actually welcome it. Which is the complete opposite to what anybody would want to do. So I am, you know, aware of that.

But the theory is this. Welcome it in. Say, do your worst.

Do your worst, come on. It's almost like taking on a bully. And the anxiety and panic is not bullying you.

It seems like it, but it's actually there to help you. Everything that happens in your body, all the feelings you have, is there as a warning. Or there to help you.

To get somewhere. Maybe a warning to let you know that you need to see a doctor. Or that you need to stop doing whatever it is you're doing.

And being aware of that. Not always aware why, but there's always messages, continuously, physical messages, thoughts in our mind that are saying, oh, perhaps I don't feel like I want to do that thing. And it's judging whether or not it's, you know, how much of that is something to be listened to.

Whether it's sabotage, who knows. It's a big nest of complications when it comes to thoughts and thinking and stuff sometimes. But this is a very simple thing.

Welcome it in. Even when it's not knocking on the door, leave an open invitation for the stress, for the anxiety. An open invitation.

Come on. Let's see what you've got. Challenge it.

Now this can be done with pain, physical pain. And you know what happens is the body, the mind, it gets confused. Because when you're no longer pushing against that door, trying to stop those feelings from getting through that door, when you're no longer barricading that door, you've literally took everything away, took the locks off.

You've even opened the door, maybe even took the door off. So that those feelings can come and go as they please. Like a fart in the wind.

Something changes. Now saying, doing this is not a new idea. It's a very old idea.

I don't know who first thought of it. It's not new. It's been repackaged various times.

But the idea of just allowing something in is something that meditation, Buddhists, mindfulness has been done for a long time, for thousands of years, to actually accept the feeling, whether it's physical, whether it's emotional. Just accept it. But further than that, invite it, which is the opposite to the way we think.

Because it sounds like the most preposterous. I can't say the word. It sounds nearly as silly as it.

Preposterous. You know the word. Can't believe I can't say a word.

It's the first word I was ever able not to say. Preposterous. Anyway.

Ridiculous thing. The idea is saying, yeah, come on then. Come on, Mr. Panic.

Mrs. Stress. Come on. Welcome to the party.

Meet Mr. Anger and Mrs. Jealousy. Come on, you're all invited. Mr. Chronic Pain.

Come on. You can all come in. Welcome.

Do what you want. And you know what happens? Is they don't know what to do. They don't know what to do.

I like to use the analogy of farting quite a lot in my recordings. No one uses this analogy. A fart in the lift can be awful.

Or a fart in an elevator can be awful. You know. Not a pleasant experience for most people in there, especially if you're on the way to a job interview and you don't realise that the person interviewing you was actually sitting, standing next to you on the way up to the office.

But if you go to the middle of a football field and you let off the biggest fart you've ever had in your life, no one's even going to notice it. Won't cause a ripple. Nothing.

So this stress, this anxiety, when we barricade that door, lock that door, don't let anything in, worry about what's the other side, all that stuff, that is like farting in a lift or an elevator. Or a small enclosed room. A greenhouse maybe.

But when you open that door, unbarricade it, unlock it, take the door off the hinges, just leave it, leave the gap, the doorway, just leave it open. It's like going to the middle of a football field and letting a rip. The biggest, smelliest fart ever.

Has no effect. And you can have 30, 40 people standing in that field, farting. Nothing.

Because of the area, because of the space. You've given yourself space. You've given yourself room.

And you've invited it in. You said, open invitation. Come on.

In you come. What are you going to do now? And that's right, I ain't going to do nothing. Because they can't do nothing.

Because they can't do nothing is because it's you. This is all you. You're the person.

You know, this isn't outside of you, this is you. Whether it's jealousy, anger, stress, anxiety, love, laughter, joy, whatever, it's you. It's just feelings are part of you.

And you just let them in. Allow them to come and go as they please. Whatever feelings you feel, prove them in.

Let them be there. Invite them to get stronger. Come on then.

Is that all you've got? Come on, give me more. Give me more, come on, more. And I made a reference to a bully.

And it's not really a good reference because we're not really bullying ourselves because we don't mean to. But if you do the analogy of a bully, you say to a bully, come on then. Can you bully me a bit more? Come on then.

What else you got? What else you got? Come on. Got a bit more, come on. Come on, bully boy.

What else you got? Give me your best. And the stress almost seems to just evaporate. The fear seems to just disappear.

And it's freeing, so freeing. And reading that book reminded me of something that I kind of already knew. But I think what it is with why I like reading books is because you can read the same subject.

You can read 20 different versions of the same topic and learn something new from each one. Just the way it's maybe described differently from a different angle, from a different perspective, from a new pair of eyes. Which is why I make so many recordings because I like to go from different perspectives, different angles, and hope that something will be useful.

Whether it's mindfulness walking, walking meditation, or whether it's relaxation exercises. Whether it's just changing the way that you think about yourself. Changing the way that you react.

Just saying, yeah, come on then. Bring it on. Make it stronger.

Make it stronger. If you want, come on, see what you got. And that goes against anxiety.

It goes against, it's practically impossible for the two to mix together. Because nobody wants an anxiety attack. Nobody wants it.

So when you say, come on, bring it, your mind and your body doesn't know what to do because that is not the right response. It's not the response your mind is used to. It's illogical.

It does not make sense. It confuses the feelings. It's almost like a pattern interrupt, which you would find in like a psychology kind of situation, where you break, you interrupt someone's pattern.

When they're trying to, let's say, tell you their telephone number. Or, yeah, maybe tell you, or they're going to read you a paragraph of a book that they'd learnt. So, you know, they'd learnt it off by heart, and they're going to read you this paragraph, and they get through two sentences, three sentences, and you interrupt them by saying, sorry about that, might need to open a window.

Carry on. Good chances they're going to have to start right at the beginning again, because you interrupted. This is an even bigger pattern interrupt than that.

This is on a level that, well, it's just a different level. Just the idea of going from barricading that door, I know this isn't physically barricading the door, but with that fear of those feelings, they're just feelings, that fear of, yeah, turn into, unbarricade, unlock, take the door off the hinges. Come on then, come in.

All of you, come in. Let's see what you've got. Welcome them.

Well, once you welcome them, they kind of don't want to stay, because there's no point to them anymore. There's a reason we stop eating, when we're, you know, we're full up, we stop eating, because there's no point eating anymore. The job is done, and that's kind of how things are.

It's something that you can test yourself, as I have. You can test it with different things, because it's not just feelings of stress or anxiety, because so many other things may be connected to that. Feelings of anger, feelings of resentment, feelings of jealousy, feelings of whatever.

It's just so many different feelings, isn't there? Regret, rejection, whatever. So, the more things we push away, because they are painful, they can be very painful, but they're more painful, the longer you leave it. The more painful, if you don't allow yourself to experience it.

It's just the equivalent, really, logically, of the difference between a dripping tap on the top of your head, just a tiny little bit of water every 30 seconds, or a little bit of a shower, a bath full of water poured over the top of your head once every five hours, or once a day, whatever it is. I'd rather just have the dripping tap, although that would be a little bit annoying.

To have a whole bath of water poured over you is a lot more to contend with than just a drip.

So, what I'll say is, give it a go. If you want to, invite those feelings, whatever they are, invite them. Say, come on, and just feel it.

Realising that it's just feelings, and the more you experience whatever's happening now, the healthier you'll be physically and emotionally, because it doesn't build up, it won't cause damage to your body or to your mind long-term, which untreated anxiety and stress can have, as we all know, have a big effect. And part of the reason why people have anxiety and panic attacks is because they have ignored the stress levels that they were at.

I know I did.

So, maybe it's now time to invite those stress levels. Not the stress levels, just the stress, because the levels will actually reduce. Because all you'll have is the drip, not the big bath poured over your head, bath full of it, just the drip.

A small amount, which is almost, eventually, it's almost non, it's like it's not even there. What you can notice is the feeling of relaxation. You can feel the, notice the sensation of feeling calmer within yourself, as a person, mentally, physically, emotionally, calmer, more at ease, more relaxed.

So, I'm going to leave you with that, and I shall speak to you next time. Remember to be kind to yourself, because you deserve to be happy. Lots of love.

Bye.