#44 Relaxation Hypnosis for Stress, Anxiety & Panic Attacks

Hello, welcome to this relaxation hypnosis for stress anxiety and panic attacks. My name is Jason Newland and please only listen when you can safely close your eyes. And as I speak to you I have a little ferret lying on my lap staring at me weirdly.

He's got his tongue out so he's happy. He's got that like little blissful look on his face. You feeling happy aren't you? Yeah? And you may wonder why I'm telling you this.

Well it's not going to be for everybody and I'm not going to recommend getting yourself a ferret but having a pet can help with anxiety stress panic and all that stuff. Having, could be a dog, could be a cat. I mean there's different, obviously there's different kinds of pets.

You know there's some people have reptiles and you know different kinds of things or maybe crickets or I had a friend who had a stick insect. So there's the focus of attention that you give on looking after a little animal. Maybe it's a little gerbil or a little mouse a rat or you know whatever.

I personally, I like having Andre my ferret because of his personality and because he's a little rascal and he's always, well he's naughty sometimes. Right now he's falling asleep in my arms. So it's that, having that communication, having that connection which I don't think I could ever have with a goldfish.

But I've got it with him, with Andre. So it's about finding a pet or companion or family member because they do, that's what they become. I mean he is my son.

That can actually change your life in a positive way. They can also be a pain in the arse as well but so can humans. So there's that kind of, the two-fold aspect I think.

There's the commitment, having to get out of bed, having to you know take, if it's a dog, have to take the dog for a walk. If you own a horse you have to go and you know clean out the horse's stable, you know perhaps every day. If it's a cat you've got to clean the cat tray out and of course all animals need to be fed.

I'm going to put him down, hopefully he'll behave. Are you going to behave Andre? And the other side of it is the emotional side, the connection, the, and it could be even a case of it could be, you could say it's a distraction, but it's a nice distraction. So when I'm cuddling him or playing with him or fighting with him, whatever he wants to be doing, so he likes me to chase him and he likes to chase me and stuff like that.

But right now he's trying to play with me, so he's biting my hand, not hard, but he wants me to get all rough with him and pull him around so he can be rough with me. And he loves that, he really enjoys it, because the rougher I am with him that gives him permission to bite me harder, but I don't want to give him permission to do that because it hurts.

But he never does it to hurt me, it really is just playing.

And it's a distraction. And admittedly, ow, I shouldn't really be doing it while I'm making a recording, it just happens that he followed me into the bedroom. I've been waiting for him to go to bed, go to sleep.

And he's followed me in here. So I thought I'd talk about him. And I'll tell you how it's benefited me.

So this is, it can only be from my experience, my personal experience of connecting anxiety. I shouldn't, I'll stop saying the words anxiety, stress and panic because we all know what these recordings are about. But the benefit, one of the main benefits for him, or how he is now attacking my feet, he wants me to chase him.

One of the things I've really noticed about him, about my, my behaviour changes, and my reactions change. So I'll give you a really big example. It's big for me, it might not be big for you.

But I would not talk to a stranger in the street. Generally. If someone asked me a question, I'd stop and I'd, you know, give them directions.

But quite often, I'd, I'd hope not to be stopped. And I definitely wouldn't have a conversation with someone at a bus stop, or waiting for a train or in a pub or anything like that. I just never, that, that is, has been stress inducing for me.

I've always felt the anxiety there. And then perhaps the anxiety of that happening, being out in public. And it's kind of prevented me from going out as much as perhaps I would.

But once I got Andre, four years ago, it'll be four years ago next month. When I'm out, I will stop and talk to people. Because people, not everybody, but quite a few people want to say hello to him or kind of ask me about him.

Because I take him out for walks every day. And I don't feel even the slightest bit anxious or stressful when I'm with him. It's not like I've got this big, massive, scary dog, which means I can feel safe.

Because he's a tiny little ferret. So it's not a physical safety. I seem to get an emotional safety from him.

Or a feeling of emotional safety, which means that anxiety and stress can't even arise. You can't, they can't live in the same place. Emotional safety and anxiety.

I think it's, they can't live together. They don't. You know, it's a bit like, I suppose, a rain and a drought.

You know, the two opposite things. And he, I was going to say marriage and happiness, but I'm only joking about that. So he, and it's not him, is it? It's not him that's making me feel that way.

Because nobody can make anyone feel any way. All that is is just being reactive. And that's, that's not an enjoyable lifestyle.

Being reactive, living as a reactive person all the time. Reacting to outside experiences and the environment. It's not to say that we're not affected by stuff.

Because we're human. So I thought, what is it about me having this little ferret that changes and pretty much completely diminishes any anxiety or stress in me when I'm in public? And not just when I'm in public, but when people that I don't know are talking to me. I can stand there and talk and feel relaxed and laugh and feel completely at ease.

I'm talking completely at ease. Not even a part of me is got any anxiety or stress. When I've got him in my arms, or even he's on the floor walking, the only, the only thing I'm kind of had any concern is just to make sure that he is safe.

So if there's dogs around, I kind of like, grab him up. Because he likes to bite dogs. And, but even then it's not, it's not something I'm concerned or something I'm maybe a little bit concerned, I'm not worried.

Just, it's the same as looking before crossing the road. I'm not worried or stressed that I'm before I cross the road because I've got a brain and I know that that's what I need to do in order to get across the road safely. Because once you look before you cross the road, it means you don't have to worry or be stressed about getting hit by the car.

It's only if you walk across the road without looking, then there's a reason to be worried because you can only do that so many times before a car does hit you, obviously. Unless you live on, you know, it's a private road and no one ever goes on it. I've got this little ferret.

And maybe, this isn't just for people that don't have a pet and thinking, maybe consider getting one. Because that's not my, it's not really my position to sort of advise someone to get a pet. I'm not going to advise anyone to do that.

But I can tell you about my experience regarding um, the benefits that I have found with having Andre, the ferret, in my life. Of course, there's always going to be downsides to having a pet, you know, as far as if you've a dog, you know, it's the responsibility, going away, holidays, leaving it there, is it going to bark and, you know, disturb the neighbours, things like that.

So I don't have to worry about stuff like that with Andre because he doesn't bark, because he's not a dog.

He can go like that, but it's not going to be heard by anyone really. Well, he does scratch at the front door sometimes, trying to get out. I don't think the neighbours have heard that, but I just say it's, I don't say anything, I was going to say something weird, but yes, they know it's him.

They might think it's me trying to get out. But as Jason is drunk again, weird because I don't drink. There's those obvious things, you know, those things that might not fit everybody, not might not fit everybody's lifestyle.

So if you're travelling around a lot, then having a pet might not be ideal. But then again, you might have someone that you can trust to come and feed your cats or your dog or look after your animals. So just ignoring all that side of it.

That's the practical side that only you know about, because it's your life. The emotional side of having a pet, and this is the first time I've really had my own pet, my own, I don't class them as a pet, but you know, my own animal living in the home. I've lived with dogs and cats over the years.

But they've always been the cats or dogs of the owner of the property. And I've just been a lodger. So I've never had that deep connection that I have with Andre.

And it really helps. Sometimes, one thing, I don't feel alone with him. I really, I mean, it's occasionally I'll feel a bit lonely.

Just, you know, as a human being, sometimes, it's very, very rare. And I'm quite a solitary person anyway. But having him, I talk to him.

I have to clean up after him. I've got to feed him. I've got to play with him.

He's got all his toys all over the place. He's basically, I'm his lodger in this flat, this apartment. I'm his lodger.

And he runs the place. This is his territory. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

This is a great way to live for me. It's not for everybody, but for me, it's, you know, having him here is improves my life. And I think if I'd have had him 2003, 2004, when I was at the height of the panic, I might not have got to that height.

I might not, it might not have got that extreme. There's no way of knowing. I know that.

But I really notice how he offers quite a few different ways to move from stress to relaxation or to humor. Because, you know, sometimes I'll feel a bit stressed or maybe angry, with various different emotions. And he'll start jumping around and rolling around on his back and makes me laugh.

Or sometimes he'll jump on, jump up on my leg, I'll be on the chair, he'll jump up, bite my finger and run off. And then look back, waiting for me to chase him. And it's just, it's funny.

He's, I say bite, it's not proper biting. And I realized this could sound like a recording of me just talking about Andre, which I suppose in some ways it is. But I'm trying to describe my experience of the benefits of this.

Otherwise, I'd just be talking about Andre and all the things he gets up to and, you know, how long I've had him. But I'm not, I'm trying to focus it on how I feel when I'm with him. And there's another feeling I have.

That feeling of protection towards him, it gives me a sense of safety. And it might seem a bit strange. And if it feels a little bit strange to me, I've given it a lot of thought over a few years.

I still don't really understand it completely. I kind of do. But I know that I would protect him.

Because he's so little and vulnerable. You know, compared to the dogs that are around because they're, you know, so much bigger than he is and humans and stuff that I, I just feel, I suppose my attention is not focused on myself. You know, I'm not feeling sorry for myself.

I'm not thinking about, I want to say I'm not feeling sorry for myself. I'm not being judgmental about feeling people that feel sorry for themselves, because we all do it. At some time, every single one of us feels sorry for ourselves.

And it's a, it's, it's not a pleasant thing to hear. I know that it can be annoying to hear. Someone says, Oh, you're feeling sorry for yourself again.

It's quite, it's a bit of a, it can sound like a put down, like a, like someone's making fun of you. But I don't mean it in that way. I mean it in a just a literal way.

We all feel sorry for ourselves. Sometimes for the damn good reason. Other times, just because maybe we've lost track of reality and we're not, you know, of what it is.

We're kind of a bit too stuck in the past, maybe, or when maybe not seeing the positive, not seeing, just seeing what is and what has been, not what can be. Or maybe we're just being self-indulgent, which I've spent a long time in my life doing that. Feeling sorry for myself, feeling like a victim.

The thing is, a lot of people that feel like victims, they kind of once were victims of a situation. When does someone stop being a victim? And that's where it kind of comes, you know, that's probably a different conversation. And I don't have the answer to that.

Because the word victim is both a, not positive, but a a respected term. And another one, which is a, like a disrespected term, to someone that's been a victim of a terrible crime. It's a respected term and people respect what's happened and they possibly want to help and they see that it's, you know, just wish the person well and all that stuff.

The human natural reaction to terrible things that happen. But then there's the other word, the other exactly the same word, but you're just being a victim. Victim mentality.

So it's some people that think of themselves as a victim. It's just purely can be a case of, they just need to blame other people for how they feel. When maybe, I think it's, I think someone, and it's just a guess, someone that feels that other people are to blame for how they feel.

In their mind, that's the only two options is to blame someone else or blame themselves. And they can't face blaming themselves. But why should they have to blame themselves? Why does blame have to come into it at all? Responsibility.

That's different to blame and guilt. Because I don't think people that blame themselves for stuff are any happier than people that blame other people for their problems. I don't think there's happiness in either of those extreme situations.

So someone can think of themselves as a victim on that, you know, that really general level of, oh, this always happens to me. Anything, any bit of happiness happens, always goes and, oh, everyone's trying to stress me out. And, you know, blah, blah, blah.

Or the other side of someone just being really horrible to themselves. Oh, I'm to blame for that. And, you know, even to the extent of blaming themselves for what happens to others, which is something I used to do when I was a kid.

If I saw someone fall over or have an accident, I used to think it was me. It was my, my, it was me that did it. I caused it.

When I was young. And most of the time, most of the time it wasn't me. So it took a while to realize that.

But that might have just been from years of being told that things were my fault. So, again, it's a very complicated subject, really. Bringing it back to the little ferret that I've got, is that safety that I feel, that confidence that I feel with him.

I don't really feel when I'm on my own. And I don't have to do anything to feel it when I'm with him. It just naturally happens.

I naturally feel relaxed. I'm not saying I'm always relaxed every time I take him for a walk. Because sometimes he does things that annoy me.

And I get stressed with him. So, but that's a different situation. You know, if he just runs out in the road and I, you know, and I just managed to catch him before he runs off or does something like that.

Yeah, I'll get upset internally. But there's a reason for that. That's quite a legitimate reason.

If he nearly gets run over, or he does something that could cause himself harm, but he doesn't know it. Because he's, he doesn't, he's not aware of the dangers. But I don't shout at him or anything like that, because that's ridiculous.

If you want to see people shouting, just go to the supermarket. People shouting at their kids, expecting their two year old to actually comprehend what the adult's saying. And you can actually see the adult turning and regressing into a two year old.

So it's actually the adult that's the child in that situation. Quite funny to watch. Well, it's not funny when you think about the child.

So I just kind of, I would advise, not advise, I would say that there may be, there may be a way for you to change how you feel when you're out, when you're in a social place, a public place. And I know there's probably, well there is, there's hundreds of books that will give you advice and stuff. I try and talk just from my own experience, because I find that is, that seems to be more legitimate, more genuine.

And because a lot of books, they just regurgitate the same stuff that that author has read somewhere else. It's a bit like if you, if you want to study hypnosis, and you read the introduction to like an introduction book on hypnosis, and they all say the same thing. They just like reword it a little bit different.

So I try and talk from my own experience. And another thing, it's not related, it's not related to a ferret, but I got myself some headphones. And they're, they are hands free, you know, wireless.

So they got connect to my phone via, is it Bluetooth? Yeah. So now, I listen to not always music, sometimes I like to listen to motivational speakers, like Bob Proctor, or Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, and a few others. And Dan Piena is another one, but he's, he's a bit harsh, but he's still quite funny.

And while I listen to music, and, and it changes how I feel when I'm on the bus or waiting for the bus. And I suppose there's the degree, you know, distraction, I suppose is there. But there's the drowning out of talking, other people talking.

And if, you know, sometimes, I'll be honest, sometimes I'll be, I'll be at home, I hear people talking, laughing, I sometimes think they're laughing at me. And I guess that's a natural thing. But it may be a degree of paranoia, but it's, who knows, you know, it's, some people are just, some people can be quite rude in on public transport.

So to be able to just drown them out with a little bit of sound, I don't have it blaring out, because I don't want to disturb other people on the bus. But just enough so I can hear it. And I've still got my visual, I can still look out the window, I can still, if someone started talking to me, I'd still hear them.

But it gives me something to concentrate on, gives me something to focus on. And my stress levels really reduce a lot. And I've got this new little thing that I do, I listen.

And, of course, this is all down to personal taste. As I'm walking to the bus stop, I listen to an ELO, to the electric light, electric light orchestra. And I forget the name of the song, but it's one of the best songs.

And it's really, really upbeat. And I listen to that. And I think it's in, it's in a movie, a Marvel movie.

Not Saviors of the Universe, Guardians of the Galaxy, that's a similar title, isn't it? Guardians of the Galaxy 2. It's played at the beginning of that. And it's like a really, really great tune. And I listen to that every time I go to get the bus, or maybe walk to the garage.

It's usually if I'm not with Andre. If I'm with Andre, I don't wear, I don't listen to music. And I don't need to as far as being relaxed.

So I feel relaxed when I'm with him. If there's no one around, sometimes I'll have a little sing song. Because I got a park and I don't do it when there's people around, but I feel relaxed.

I feel at ease and a sense of comfort. It's almost like I've gone out in my slippers and my pajamas. But I haven't.

But there's that feeling of comfort that I have when I've got him with me. And yeah, so I thought I'd just mention this because other people may, other people listening to this may have a dog or a cat or any kind of animal that they can give attention to, maybe take out for walks. Or even if you've got an animal that doesn't want to go for a walk, maybe carry it around the block.

You know, sometimes I carry Andre. He can't bother to walk and I carry him nearly the whole journey. And he's happy just to just lay there in my arms looking around and a little sniff and just enjoying the breeze on his face.

And sometimes he's happy just to be for me to carry him. Other times he wants to get out, wants to get off onto the floor and roll around in the grass and everything. So it's, you know, this is kind of for different people.

One could be for someone that's already got maybe a dog or a pet that you could take out. But maybe you could do more of that. Maybe get more in touch with that feeling that you have.

And just wondering if it's a similar kind of feeling to the one that I've explained. That's if I've explained it correctly, you know, in a way for you to understand. Do you have, what kind of feelings do you have when you take your dog out for a walk, for example? What kind of feelings of relaxation and calmness do you have? And can you take advantage of that?

Can you experience more of that? And, you know, maybe just having a picture of your dog or your cat or your gerbil or maybe a goldfish.

You might have tropical fish or your lizard or whatever. And having a picture on your phone to look at. So maybe you're, you know, on a train or in a public place.

Perhaps, you know, you're in a situation where you could do a little boost of relaxation, a little boost of calmness. And you look at your phone, look at the picture. I do that with Andre.

He's on my phone. He's basically the screensaver on my phone. And I look at his little furry face, get a little, get a feeling of comfort, you know, feeling of love, feeling of sort of, oh, looking forward to going home and seeing him.

And I wonder what naughtiness has been up to today. It gives me a little smile, either internally or even externally. You know, sometimes I will smile.

Sometimes I just feel the smile inside me. And it feels relaxing. And for those that don't have a pet, you know, maybe it's worth considering.

But that has to be, you know, it's a commitment. So it has to be completely up to you what you choose to do. But for me, and I'm sure many people, it's life changing.

And it's, there's this whole, we don't really have the term in England, an emotional pet or an emotional assistant dog. I mean, it kind of is here, but it isn't. In America, it is, you know, you can actually, in the same way of like guide dogs for the blind, you can walk into public places, supermarket, or anywhere, really, if you've got a guide dog.

But emotional pets, although they're not really recognised so much in England, and possibly many other countries, doesn't stop them from being emotional pets. Emotional and helping you with your emotional stability, helping with keeping you calm and relaxed. And you know, maybe even if you don't have your own dog, maybe you've got a neighbour that has a dog, or a friend or someone close by.

And you could maybe take that dog for a walk. Maybe you've got an elderly relative or an elderly neighbour. And you can just offer to take the dog for a walk every day.

And, you know, just notice how relaxed you feel. Apparently, one of the most relaxing therapeutic things is looking after horses, like stroking a horse and spending time with a horse. I've never done it.

And I don't live anywhere near where there's any horses. There was some near me, but they moved out. They weren't living downstairs.

They weren't a neighbour. But they were in a field, but they're gone now, so they're not there now. But apparently, you know, it's a really therapeutic activity to spend time with horses.

Because, well, ultimately, they are very majestic, calm, beautiful animals. You could say that about any animal, really. I mean, some people, I know a lot of people think animals are just dumb, dogs dumb and all that stuff.

But I think that animals have got something that humans could benefit from. You know, that ability to relax. Nearly every animal that I've ever seen has the ability just to go to sleep, to relax, to know what they want when they want it, to know when they're hungry, to know when they want to play.

But also to be able to just go to sleep and relax. And it almost looks like cats are meditating. Very peaceful.

The same as with a pigeon. Some of the pigeons are sitting in a tree, just sitting there, calm. So I'll leave you with those thoughts.

Andre stimulated my brain to do this today. I just, I don't know, I just thought it might be useful, a useful thing to talk about. It also opens up the creative side of your mind to think, I don't want a ferret, but what if I did this? Well, I'm not going to get a dog, but what about, or it could be, well, what things have stimulated you to feel completely relaxed and calm in the past?

And how come I'm not doing that anymore? Why don't I do more of the things that I know help? And that might be jogging, going to the gym, going and watching a movie, collecting stamps, train spotting.

It could be anything, painting, cooking, something that actually you enjoy doing. So it doesn't have to be a ferret, obviously. It doesn't have to be anything.

There are no rules because we're all different. We all need different things and it's about listening to yourself for what you need and what you can benefit from. So I'm going to leave you.

What a wonderful treat. You've had two recordings in two days. I normally don't do them quite so close together, but I was inspired by my little furry friend to talk about the benefits that I have felt in a sense of stress reduction and anxiety.

To be fair, when I'm with him, anxiety elimination, completely zero anxiety when I'm taking him out. I mean, sometimes I do have to wake him up and for a cuddle because I need to do that in order to sort of calm down and to reduce my stress or you know, basically so that I can feel better. It doesn't happen very often and he doesn't always want me to do it because if he's asleep, he doesn't like to be disturbed.

But I don't kind of try and play with him or get him to run around. I just give him a cuddle and he can just sleep. But just looking at him, just watching his little belly rise as he breathes, seeing his face contented, knowing that he feels safe actually helps me to feel safe.

And that's the thing when it comes to panic attacks, anxiety attacks. You can't have them if you feel safe because anyone that has panic attacks in that moment, you don't feel safe. It's impossible to have both at the same time.

So if you're feeling safe, the panic attacks won't happen in that moment. So doesn't it make sense to embrace and increase those experiences of safety or the experiences of feeling safe? Because it's all about how you feel. And feeling safe is one of the antidotes to anxiety and stress.

So I'm going to leave you on that and I wish you a wonderful week ahead or however long it is before I make a new recording. And the website I've got is stressanxietyhypnosis.com, I think. And that's it.

I shall speak to you next time. And thank you to everyone for supporting this podcast, for listening and hopefully benefiting. See you soon.

Lots of love. Bye.