Some nights it's so hard to relax and drop off to sleep. Here's one method you could try.
Difficulty: Average
Time Required: 1 hour
Here's How:
- Lie on your back, hands resting at your sides.
- Starting at your toes and working up to your head, clench and relax your muscles.
- Breathe deeply and tell yourself you are becoming very relaxed. You could open your eyes if you wanted, but it's so much easier to keep them closed.
- Imagine you're at the top of a tall building. You get into an elevator and begin the downward descent. At first you nay need twenty or more floors, but as you become more proficient, the number will decrease.
- Now begin the count down as your "elevator" passes down from floor to floor. One: I am becoming very sleepy. Two: Sleepier and sleepier. Three: More relaxed(Use your own words. It doen't have to be the same every night.
- When you reach ground floor, tell yourself you are so very sleepy, so relaxed and ready to drift into a deep and relaxing sleep.
- Give yourself the suggestion that each time you do this, it will be asier and faster, and you wil drift into an even deeper sleep.
- Snuggle into your pillow. Relax, sleep.
Tips:
- Soothing background music sometimes helps set the mood. Use the classics, or Nature sounds set to music.
- Make yourself a tape. With music playing in the background, relax your muscles and then talk yourself down through the floors. Then you can just flip on the tape recorder and relax to the sound of your own voice.
- If you can afford it, and there is one in your town, it does help to have a certified hypnotherapist help you learn self-hypnosis techniques.
- Never be afraid or nervous. Hypnosis is safe and a sure way to relax.
