#80 Relaxation Hypnosis for Stress, Anxiety & Panic Attacks - SMILEY MIRROR - (Jason Newland) (26th January 2020)

Hello, welcome to jasonnewland.com. My name is Jason Newland and this is Relaxation Hypnosis for Stress, Anxiety and Panic Attacks. I hope you're well. Only listen to this when you can safely close your eyes.

Now, this is going to be, and you're probably going to be grateful, possibly, this is going to be a short recording. So I won't be going on and on and on and on and on, like sometimes I may do. But this is going to be a short recording asking you to do something.

It's a five-minute exercise. It's not a physical exercise, don't worry. I'm not going to do sit-ups or press-ups.

I wouldn't ask you to do anything that I would not do myself. So I'm not going to ask you to do sit-ups. Although, actually, if you have got a bit of a belly, or if you look at someone who's got a big belly, just remember the stomach is one of the strongest muscles in the body, if not the strongest muscle in the body.

So even people with big bellies have got strong abdominal muscles. So don't, you know, just because they've got a bit of, a little bit of fluff on top, don't be mistaken, they are muscular. It's just well hidden.

So everybody has got very, very strong muscular stomachs. So there. So this exercise has got nothing to do with stomachs.

It's to do with your face. And this is something that I'm going to ask you to do every morning, or whenever you wake up. It doesn't have to be first thing in the morning.

But it can be, you know, for me, it doesn't matter what you ask me to do first thing in the morning. The first thing I'm going to do is go for a wee. That's the first thing I'm going to do.

So nothing else. And have a drink of water. Because you know, I might have been eight hours since I last had a drink of water, so I'd like to have a drink of water.

So you can do this anytime you want. You can do it before having a shower, you can do it after having a shower, bath, whatever, going to the toilet, having your breakfast. Whatever, but ideally in the morning.

Before you go and do what you're going to do for the day. Of course, if you work night shift, or if you're asleep during the day, like I am, I wake up during the night, I sleep during the day, through choice. So if you're like that, I'm a night owl, I suppose you would call me.

You do it in the afternoon when you wake up. Right, are you with me so far? This is what I'm going to ask you to do. It's going to seem silly.

But it's going to also be, it's going to feel silly, but it's going to be humorous at the same time. So what I'm going to do is ask you to just, if I'm going to do it myself, I'm going to take you into the hallway, I'm going to do it myself. So here I am.

So it might be a little bit echoey here, so I don't have soundproofing on the walls in the hallway, which I do in the living room. So I'm standing in front of the mirror. I want you, and maybe you don't need to do it right now, because you might be lying down with your eyes closed.

But you can maybe pause and go and sit in front of a mirror or stand in front of a mirror or just decide to do it at a later stage. But every morning or every, you know, time that you wake up in the morning or afternoon, whenever it is, look in the mirror. And it may not be your thing.

It's not really my favorite thing, actually. I'm looking old. Never mind, I am, doesn't matter.

And all I'm going to ask you to do is smile. And this is regardless of how you feel. So yeah, I'm asking you to do a fake smile, a fake smile.

So even if you're feeling in a good mood, and you feel like smiling, I'm still going to ask you to do a fake smile. Like a real exaggerated. So I'll make myself laugh now, just an exaggerated smile.

And just hold it just for a few seconds. Just look at yourself. And you can relax your mouth.

You haven't got, I don't expect you to hold that fake smile for five minutes, because it's going to feel uncomfortable. You know, it's, you know, holding your face in any particular position for that amount of time may not feel very comfortable. And as you're probably aware, I'm all about comfort, if at all possible.

So, looking in the mirror, do a fake smile. It could almost be a sarcastic smile. You know, you're meeting someone, and you don't like them, and they don't like you.

Maybe, and you just give them a fake smile. Hello. You know, kind of a silly smile.

False, but silly. And just keep doing it. Maybe turn your head to the left.

Maybe turn your head to the right. Maybe if you've got a hat, put a hat on and smile. And just keep doing it for five minutes, over and over again.

The biggest smile that you can, that you can put. Now, it might make you laugh. It's making me laugh a little bit doing it, because I've naturally got a funny face anyway.

But when you do it, it does make you look funny. And, but I don't want to laugh while I'm doing this because I'm trying to keep the volume low. And, you know, for those that are falling asleep to my voice, I don't want to be waking you up.

And you can extend this even further. You can make funny faces with the smile. You can contort your body a little bit, like moving your right shoulder down, lifting your hands up, like you're being held up by strings, or pretend to play an invisible violin.

It could be anything. But you do this stuff for five minutes. And my suggestion is to actually set a timer.

So if you've got an alarm clock, or if you've got a phone, most people these days have phones. If you've got a timer on your phone, set it for five minutes, exactly. And just do this for five minutes.

Smiling fakely to yourself in the mirror for five minutes. You haven't got to stand up doing it, you can sit down doing it. So this is available for anybody, pretty much of any physical ability can do this.

All you need is a mirror, and to be able to move your face. So someone even in a wheelchair, that maybe hasn't, is not able to move, perhaps part of their body, providing they've got a mirror, they can still do this. Also, you don't need a mirror to do it.

You can just do it anyway. But it adds to the fun. Doing it in front of a mirror makes it funnier.

It gives it a, I don't know, more of a context. You know, I'm just thinking if you know, you might be looking out the window, and you're practicing your facial expressions, and someone might walk past and see you and think you're making fun of them. What's that person making funny faces at me for? It probably won't happen.

But I'm just saying, if you do it to yourself, it's just more enjoyable. So just pretend to smile. Put a big smile on your face.

I'd say it doesn't have to be genuine. So don't stand in the mirror waiting to have the feeling of smiliness. I'm going to wait until I have a genuine smile appear on my face automatically, naturally, organically.

No, just put a silly smile on your face. That's my, the voice I make when I make a silly smile. Just smile, big smile.

As long as, you know, you've got no issues with your jaw, your face, I try and cover all angles, but I hope that will just be an automatic thing. If someone, you know, if you've got a broken jaw or something, then don't do this because it's going to probably cause problems. But then you can imagine yourself having a really silly smile in the most inappropriate situations.

So I talk about job interviews way too often. I don't know why, but maybe meeting someone important, you know, important to you, perhaps you've got a new boyfriend or girlfriend, or, you know, or you're meeting their family for the first time, or his family for the first time. And just imagine in your mind, saying hello and putting on the biggest, goofiest, fakiest smile that looks fake.

And how ridiculous that would look. Of course, you can do that in your mind. You don't have to, you don't need a mirror for that.

And in some ways, it's even funnier. Just the idea of smiling at the wrong time, because it's not a real smile. But it's almost like you feel you should do it, and you're trying to give a good impression.

Again, like a job interview, sitting down, put a big fake smile on. And then shaking your hand and saying, so Jason, what is it that makes you feel you'd be good as a as a funeral director? And you've got another big, funny, fake smile. Well, I'm a happy fella.

You know, it's ridiculous. It's silly. It's supposed to be silly.

It's supposed to be absurd. Let's put on that big fake smile for five minutes. Set the alarm, do it for five minutes.

And as I said, don't, it's not about holding one facial expression for the whole five minutes. Play around with it, doing it, do a big smile. Maybe hold it for a few seconds.

And let it go. You'll find your face relaxes. And also when I do it, I've noticed the back of my neck sort of tingles.

I feel tired as well, but I kept really relaxed. The reason I'm feeling tired is because it's nearly my bedtime. So seven o'clock in the morning.

So give a big smile. That's that's the sound of me smiling. And then just let it go.

Let it relax. The worst case scenario is it relaxes your body and your face. So relax your face to start with, because you stretched your face a bit.

You stretched your jaw a little bit. And then it relaxes. And that relaxation spreads through your body.

Because your face is an important part of your body. So it's not my body, it's my head, it's my face. It's connected.

It's connected by the skin, by all the other stuff. And it spreads. And I can feel it in my chest, moving down my stomach, down my shoulders, my arms, down my back, into my legs.

And even though I'm standing up, I'm feeling the relaxation in my legs. But it's not relaxation to the point of needing to lay down on the floor. It's just a nice relaxation.

Because you can feel relaxed without being all conscious or asleep. There's different levels of relaxation. That's the worst that can happen doing this.

The best thing that can happen is, well, just find out for yourself. Notice how you feel. When you do it, notice how different you feel before you do it, during doing it, and then afterwards.

Just notice that difference. And then during the day, maybe you're at work, maybe you're on a bus, maybe you're... You can show my limited lifestyle, can't you? I'm talking about going, being on the bus a lot. But whatever your situation is, wherever you are during the day, remember that five minutes where you're looking in the mirror, making silly faces to yourself, doing false grins, pretend smiles, big exaggerated smiles, the type that you'd never really do in reality.

And just notice how you feel as well when you think about that. And maybe every now and then you can have that little daydream of a scenario when you know that smiling like that would be the most absurd thing you could do. And notice how that feels.

Notice how your level of comfort, calmness, relaxation feels. And that's it. I'll walk back into the living room now.

Excuse any sounds you get. That's better. You can hear the difference in there, can't you? I've got soundproofing on the walls, soundproof tiles.

It's a lot quieter in there. So, that's the exercise. Still took me 18 minutes to explain it.

Although it shouldn't, didn't need more than about 20 seconds, really, did it? But I like to do stuff with you. Rather than just try this out, I want to say, yeah, I've tried it. When I go through a relaxation technique, I'm doing it at the same time as I'm talking about it.

That's why I tell you how I'm feeling. So, that's the end of this recording, really. Please let me know how you're getting on.

I don't get a lot of feedback from people listening to this podcast. So please subscribe, maybe leave a comment, go to my website, leave a review, video review or written review. Because this this particular podcast is now become kind of my most popular podcast on a daily basis.

Or one of them. So it's really, it'd be interesting to have a, to hear what you think. I've had a few people comment and let me know but, you know, please subscribe wherever you're listening.

Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Castbox, wherever it is, please subscribe. And I will speak to you very, very soon. And I'd love to hear how you get on with this.

Do it for a few days. I'd say do it every day. But at least do it for the next week.

Every day for a week of five minutes. And I've got the birds in the loft, scratching around, which is weird. So I'm going to go.

So thank you for listening. Remember to be kind to yourself. Because you do deserve to be happy.

Try and get in touch with the simple fact that you have helped many people over the years. In ways that you're never ever going to know about. People that you don't want to even remember.

Because maybe that interaction was completely just random, unimportant to you. But to them, it may be really important. Might have been a smile.

You know, it might have been, perhaps they dropped their wallet and you picked it up and said, Oh, wait, look, you handed them the wallet back. Now, if they hadn't, if you hadn't done that, their whole life may be different. And that might sound dramatic, but it's true.

They might have gone home, didn't have the money and broke down, didn't have the money to pay for this, blah, blah, blah. So you've affected, we all affect other people's lives. So you do deserve to be happy.

It's not just a soundbite. I know it's quite a groovy soundbite, but it's not just that. It's actually reality.

You do deserve to be happy. So you do deserve, therefore, to do something, to be kind to yourself today. And that kind thing may actually be spending five minutes looking in the mirror and putting on a fake smile and playing around with that for five minutes every day.

Lots of love. Bye.