#78 Relaxation Hypnosis for Stress, Anxiety & Panic Attacks - (Jason Newland) (24th January 2020)

Hello and 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. Thank you for listening to this podcast because it's really growing in, I don't know if the word popularity is correct, but more and more people are listening.

So that's, you know, I just like to say thank you. In fact, it's moving towards being one of the most popular podcasts that I do. So I'm kind of excited about that because I've got a few, I do the Let Me Bore You To Sleep podcast and I've got the Deep Sleep Whisper Hypnosis podcast and I've got the Sleep Hypnosis Weekly podcast.

I've got two podcasts that have all of my sleep sessions on. So every time I do a new recording, I put it on there. And I've also got this podcast as well.

So those are the, how many is that? Let Me Bore You To Sleep, Deep Sleep, Sleep Hypnosis Weekly, this. So there's six podcasts that are kind of at the most popular scale out of 30. I've actually got 35, I think, all together.

So I've also got like Self Development One, Self Help, Chronic Pain, Smoking, all those kind of stuff. Excuse me. So this is growing.

So I thought, before I start the actual session, let me just let you know how things are going with this podcast. So I don't normally do this on this, you know, before recording here. But I just wanted to sort of let you know that I've got 74,585 downloads so far on this podcast.

And yesterday I had 648 downloads, the day before 644. And today so far 107 downloads. It's 546 in the morning.

And I've not even I've not made a recording since the 19th of January, and it's now 24th on the 19th of January. Okay, so yeah, so that's just want to say thank you because without you listening, there'd be no point me recording. So thanks.

And that's it. So I look forward to reaching 100,000 downloads for this for this podcast. And just to give you an idea, the other podcast Hypnosis Asleep and Deeply 146,800 downloads.

And that's like the top one, but Deep Sleep Whisper Hypnosis 124,972. And Let Me Bore You To Sleep is 93,560. So I want this.

I kind of want this podcast to I'm just interested in seeing how it goes because I'm getting more downloads here than I am on some of the other ones daily. So yeah. Anyway, I just wanted to do a quick thank you before I start the actual recording.

And it kind of fits in with what I just did just then. Gratitude, gratitude. I find now I'm not saying that everyone's gonna find this and you know, or, or that I'm special or anything like that.

But I find that when I feel grateful, I mean, properly feel grateful, sort of inside and naturally feeling grateful towards something that I have or, you know, whatever it could be. I feel relaxed. I feel calm.

And that that feeling that emotion of gratitude seems to trigger some kind of chemical in my brain, which sends, you know, that feeling of calmness and relaxation throughout my body. And in my mind, my mind feels calmer. And I guess if you think about it, logically, we react, don't we, to what we're thinking about.

What we're thinking about affects our body. In the same way as how our body feels can affect what we think about. So someone with chronic pain or someone with a, let's say someone has a broken ankle.

Then initially, that's probably the, that's going to be the focus of that person's attention. When I broke my wrist, fell out the bath. Don't laugh.

It's a few years ago, when I first moved into this place I'm living in. I slipped out the bath and I broke my wrist. Also hurt my shoulder and you know, luckily, I didn't hit my head on anything.

So I didn't cause much. I don't know if it would have made much difference to my head. But it's, I broke my wrist.

I went to the hospital and had, you know, just, my focus was the wrist. But you know what, what was weird about that? Is I kind of felt grateful. And, and this is going to be a weird thing that you may not kind of relate to.

And I won't delve into it too deeply. But with, or you may completely understand this. But from the other side, you know, it's, it could, it is a potentially damaging thing as well.

So when I was sitting in hospital with my broken wrist waiting to be seen, I knew it was broken. I've had a few broken bones. I know the difference between a sprain and a break.

Just this is basically, it's as simple as the initial pain with a break stays. Not forever, but it stays with you. It doesn't subside.

That pain, maybe not the right initial pain, but basically the pain stays. With a bruise, with a sprain, it does reduce. You know, within, within a short enough time, it does reduce.

Maybe not to the, to the extreme where you feel fine, because you still may need medical attention, but it reduces. A break, in my experience, stays. That initial kind of pain level seems to stay for whatever reason.

So I'm in the hospital. And part of me is, I mean, actually, I'm in a really good mood. First of all, I thought it was funny.

The circumstances of falling out of the bath amused me, for some reason. I didn't find it funny at the time when it happened. And I really didn't, because I couldn't get off the floor, because the way I was positioned, I had to put all my weight on to the left wrist, which was broken.

So I kind of, you know, I was just like slipping, slipping around everywhere. And I was naked as well. So that wasn't good.

And I started feeling grateful and finding it funny at the same time. Because what if I had needed an emergency, you know, like an ambulance to come and get me? I'd have been there naked. And that would have been, well, I could see the humour in that, as well as the trauma to them seeing me naked probably, the paramedics.

But I also felt grateful that that didn't happen, which seemed to reduce my stress levels. I felt grateful that actually, first of all, it was only my wrist. And it was just a break.

It wasn't an open fracture. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't my shoulder, which would have been a lot more painful, I'm guessing. I've injured my shoulder before, and it's a lot more restricting because of, you know, the size of it and everything.

But just my little wrist. I could deal with that, that's fine. And it's my left hand.

So I could, I was grateful that it was my left hand, but my right hand because I'm right handed. So it meant I could still do all the other things that I normally do without having to go six weeks without being able to do that stuff. Because I've broken my right hand twice in the past.

And that's that's very restricting. Left wrist, not so bad. As far as restrictiveness.

So I felt grateful. And I kind of thought, well, why am I feeling grateful? I should be feeling sorry for myself. Because that's my natural go to place.

I love feeling sorry for myself, a little bit of self pity. And, you know, yeah, I've always kind of seemed to have enjoyed that over the years. That's never helpful, really.

It can feel comforting at times. But ultimately, not useful. It's a bit.

Yeah, it's not particularly good. You know, being the victim, even if you've been a victim, doesn't mean you have to be a victim. You know, it's not a 24 hour career, I don't think.

I think it needs to be something that we do all the time. Because the only person that hurts is us. That's the horrible thing about it, isn't it? Because anxiety, stress, panic, it could be caused by trauma that's happened in the past that may have been caused by another person.

And very likely they don't care about it. They're not thinking about it. They might not even have meant it to happen.

They might not know that it's caused trauma. You know, depending on what it was. So, in a sense, the only person that's hurting is us.

By, you know, focusing on it. Which increases anxiety, stress, and all that stuff. All that good stuff.

But gratitude, and I don't mean false gratitude. I'm not really into that. You know, oh, I'm so grateful I've got a carpet on the floor.

It's like, well, yeah, I know some people can't afford to have a carpet. But, you know, when I first got the carpet in here, I was very grateful. It was lovely.

But then Andre the Ferret moved in, and he destroyed the carpet within about a week. So the carpet basically is, oh, I'm not going to go into details, but he is his. It's not mine.

I walk on it. He owns it. I'm his lodger in this flat.

But I feel grateful that I've got him. So there's these weird things. What are you grateful for? And what can you focus on that changes how you feel? Kind of instantly.

What are you looking forward to? What's going to happen in the future? It could be something holiday you've got coming up. It might be a family event. I don't know.

It could be a birthday. It could be maybe you're getting yourself a new car. Maybe you're having, who knows, maybe you're having liposuction or perhaps you're getting married or put those two together, liposuction and getting married.

But, you know, something that's happening in the future. You're starting an educational course. Perhaps you're going to, who knows, maybe you're saving up to get your hair done.

A specific way. Or there's a dress or, you know, a coat or a pair of shoes that you've been looking forward to getting or wearing or buying. Or maybe you're looking forward to having a clean out and getting rid of stuff.

Maybe you're looking forward to your grandchildren visiting, or maybe you've got a baby inside you. You're looking forward to giving birth. Who knows what it is.

You don't get to see your little baby for the first time. What's that feeling or that thought that you can think of? That changes how you feel in a positive way. We've all got something.

There's always something, and it might be looking at a photograph of a loved one. See, I've got a picture of my nan, my grandmother, who's no longer here, but there's a picture of me with her, and she's looking happy. And I look happy next to her.

It's a lovely picture. To me, it's a lovely picture. But there are no horrible pictures of her.

They're all lovely. But it's that feeling. It's a feeling of, yeah, I had a really close, really, for me, a close relationship with her.

I had a connection, a good connection with my nan. So I look at that, and I feel a little bit sad, but at the same time, so it's probably not a good example, actually, of something that makes me feel really good. But it might do in the future.

I'm still, you know, not quite there yet with that. But if I look at a picture of Andre, I've got him on my phone. So when I'm out, sometimes, I look at a picture of him, and he's just so cute.

And I think of him, and I feel good. You know, I feel... there's a degree of gratitude there. I feel grateful that he's in my life.

He annoys the hell out of me sometimes. Right now, he's in the bedroom. I just had a look.

He's in the bedroom. He's got his girlfriend, who's my old slipper, in his mouth. And he's humping one of my t-shirts.

So that's a little bit gross. But he's still cute as ever, you know? Not right now, he's not, but outside of that situation, he's lovely. And I haven't had a job since I've had him.

But I can see that if I was in a, you know, not having a great day at work, I could look at a picture of him, and it could relax me. Could make me feel a bit calmer. Just, even if it's just taking the edge off, you know? The difference between feeling stressed and feeling okay.

Okay. Maybe I won't be completely floppy and all, you know, completely relaxed and melting on the floor in blissful relaxation. But at least I won't be stressed, you know? At least my relaxation level will be at a better level than it was.

So you've got the gratitude, you've got something you can look forward to. That's a couple of things that maybe could be a trigger to you feeling better, feeling more relaxed, feeling calmer. Instantly.

And I'm talking about something that has an instant reaction for you. And because it's natural, because it's something that's already there, it's already implanted in your mind, it's already connected to your nervous system by many, maybe many years of repeating the process. That it's already there.

It's there. You don't need to create it. You just need to remember it.

Need to find something that has that effect. A happy memory. Or a future.

You know, an image of the future that you are looking forward to. Something that, when you think about it, you feel good. It doesn't have to be orgasmic.

Just, you feel good. You feel good. Which is the flip coin.

It turns the other feeling on its head. Or on its tail. You know, it turns it upside down.

Changes that feeling. Adds cold water into a bath that was too hot. It was getting a bit too hot.

Sometimes turning the hot tap off isn't enough. You need to add some cold water as well. And sometimes, as you know, if you add too much cold water, you can't get the water hot again.

No matter how much hot water you put in, it just won't get hot again. Which is a good thing, because those stress levels can't raise to where they were. Because you've added that relaxation.

That calmness. That pleasure. Pleasure.

That really nice feeling. Changes. Changes how you are feeling instantly.

Now, there are ways that I can, or not just me, but I suppose anybody that knows how to, could show you how to create your own version of this. Linking certain things to a feeling, and then thinking about that thing. But I was wondering, maybe have a little search for something that's already available to you.

That's already doing that. We've all got things that we think about that stimulate our emotions. For good or bad, you know, negative emotions and positive emotions.

There's different things that we can think about. So, when you focus on those things that increase your positive emotions instantly, your feelings change instantly. The way you feel, physically and emotionally.

Your stress levels reduce. Your relaxation levels increase. Your general feeling of well-being improves.

And I know this is obvious. It's so obvious. But at the same time, it's how we think.

And if someone's natural way of thinking seems to shine the spotlight on the negative stuff, then it's time to change the direction of that spotlight. And start shining it on the thoughts, the memories, the ideas, the things you're grateful for, the things you're looking forward to. Those thoughts that create and stimulate those nice feelings, those positive feelings, stimulate those positive feelings naturally, instantly.

So, you're in control of the spotlight, and that's all you have to do. So, this really is really, really simple, in a sense, is there's nothing else for you to do other than just aim the spotlight at something, and your mind and your body does the rest. You don't actually have to physically do anything.

You know, you don't have to do the process of, well, now I'm thinking of this, and now I'm going to create this feeling to spread from, you know, my brain's going to activate and this chemical is going to spread throughout my body so that I feel more relaxed and calmer and more positive. And at the same time, the stress levels can't live with that. You know, they can't be together.

Stress levels automatically reduce in the same way as when you pour cold water into a hot bath. It starts to reduce the temperature of the bath. That's just how it works.

And the more cold water that goes in, it gets to the point where that stress level that could be represented by the hot water almost disappears to the point where you can't even get it back anymore because the cold water has eliminated it, it's gone. But that happens naturally, you don't need to do anything other than just aim the spotlight at a thought. And if the thought is crappy, change the spotlight and aim it at something else.

So you don't have to keep the spotlight on anything. You can change it at any time you want. So if you aim the spotlight at a happy event in the past, and you feel really good, and you know, that feeling of calmness spreads through your body, and you decide, oh, this feels too nice.

I feel too calm and relaxed. You can change it to a different one. You know, maybe you might feel too relaxed.

I mean, there are times when maybe you want to feel relaxed, but, you know, also very alert to be able to do what you need to do. So it's about managing it and choosing for yourself what you shine the spotlight on, where you aim it. And there are thousands, hundreds of thousands of things to choose from, especially if you're as old as me.

There are millions of things I could choose to aim the spotlight on that's happened over the years. So just choosing to shine that spotlight on something and maybe make a little photograph of it in your mind. And when you think about that photograph, you look at it, it automatically stimulates that feeling of relaxation.

Just in the same ways, if you're a regular listener to this podcast, or, you know, to any of my other podcasts, really, even before you press the play button, you're already going to start feeling relaxed. The second you hear my voice going, hello, welcome to jasonnewland.com, blah, blah, blah, only listen when you can safely close your eyes. It stimulates and triggers that sense of comfort in your body and in your mind.

So even before you press the play button, you know, that that thing at the beginning is going to happen, I'm going to say welcome to jasonnewland.com. And I've been saying that for 14 years on pretty much every recording I've ever done. You know, I don't know if I could say anything else.

Sometimes I do just say hello, welcome to whatever the podcast is. But generally, and my name is Jason Newland. And you know, but there's that feeling that comes with that.

And not only do you feel a sense of comfort, relaxation. At that moment, I also do. Because when I say those words, I automatically start to feel relaxed.

Or even more relaxed. But at the same time, my brain is able to function in a way where I can verbalize and hopefully communicate some ideas. And I don't even know where they come from half the time.

I just have to have trust in say, the words to come. I'd be good and have a little bit of a break. Oh, yeah, the words.

I have to have trust in that the correct things to come out my mouth. Have trust that what I say will be useful and relaxing and help to reduce the stress levels, not just now, but also tomorrow. Also the day after and the day after.

As your relaxation levels increase, naturally, each day forward, feeling more comfort. So I'm going to leave you on that idea is to just start just start shining that spotlight on something maybe that you're grateful for. Maybe that you're looking forward to.

Maybe the way that you can look back to that feels really nice. A really happy memory. Or it could be as simple as remembering something that you've seen on a film, like a funny moment in a comedy.

Unless there's something that I remember. A comedy moment from years ago. It's a French movie.

And I'm talking years back in 1994. I watched this or 93. And this man was in a caravan.

He kind of walked into the caravan and the caravan had holes in the ceiling and the bucket and the holes like letting water in because it was raining outside and the bucket was full of water. So he had all these buckets to catch the water so it didn't go onto the floor. So one of the buckets was full.

So he needed to empty it. He emptied it on the floor and then put the bucket back on the, you know, to catch the rest of the water. Now, in my mind that is just, you've got to see it for it to really have the effect.

But it's absolutely ridiculous. It's on a level of, it's really, really silly. And there was just hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing.

Because it's the whole idea is like you're collecting the water so it doesn't go on the floor and then just tipping it on the floor and it gets full. Admittedly, you probably have to watch the film, yeah, to get the full benefits. But when I think about it, I feel good.

Even now, even after all these years, because it's just so silly. And I like to tell people about it every now and then. Because I had no idea what the film was.

And it's, you know, most of the people that I know probably haven't seen it. Because it was a French film, French language. It wasn't like a famous English speaking film.

So I like to tell people about it now and then. And I feel good telling them. They sometimes look at me like, what are you talking about? What are you talking about, Jason? But it's okay, I don't mind.

So maybe there's something in a movie that you've watched, or something that maybe you've got a child, niece, nephew, grandson, grandchild, whatever, daughter, that said something that was just hilarious. That was just so, you know, just so funny. And even now, it might have happened 30 years ago, but even now, you think about it, and it just, oh, that was funny.

There was something that happened with my nan years ago. We were watching a movie. Shirley Valentine, I think the film was.

And it was, it was, it was, this is totally true, I can't. But anyway, the, there's a point in it where someone's, the woman, the whole family was there watching this movie. And there's a point where one of the characters in the film says, oh, where's, mentions the word clitoris.

Yeah, that was it. And my nan shouted out, what's a clitoris? And we all started laughing. But like, they kept it kind of a little bit inside.

But I had to leave the room and could not stop laughing. Now, I don't know if my nan was just having a laugh. But it wasn't like her to say something like that.

You know, she's very, she wasn't, she wouldn't come out with something rude, not on purpose. Not that that's a rude word. It's just a part of the body, isn't it? It's no more ruder than you saying your ear or your knee, you know, it's just a part of the body.

But it was just so funny. The way she just came out with it. And even to this day, I just, it just makes me internally giggle.

Because it was funny. And it's never not going to be funny. It's not as funny as what it was at the time, at the moment.

And that's just a couple of examples that I can kind of get in touch with. And it doesn't have to be funny, you know, it could be nice, a nice memory, a nice feeling. And, you know, getting your first job, getting your first paycheck.

And, you know, passing your driving test. You know, it could be anything that your first kiss, your first passing your exams, getting the results, getting into the college you wanted to get into. Just, you know, be shining on those positive things, shining a light on the positive things.

As opposed to the other stuff. And there's plenty of that to choose from as well. But why would you choose that? What would be the point? You know, if I was going to make a session on how to feel stressed and crappy and all that stuff, that'd be easy.

I could make that session, I could make 100 recordings a day on that. It's the easiest thing in the world. To focus, you know, to be focused on that stuff.

But that's the opposite of what is useful for us. And besides, no one needs help with that. No one needs help on how to, you know, get in touch with that, the other stuff.

But maybe, you can give yourself help by flashing that light, shining it brightly, and finding some of those things that maybe you've forgotten about. The good stuff, only the good stuff, only the happy stuff, only the funny stuff, only the positive stuff. Shining the light only on those things, memories, things you're grateful for, things you're looking forward to, that actually have that natural reaction within you, where you feel good, which causes relaxation within your body and your mind.

And while you're shining that light around, because you come across something you don't like, move along to the next thing. Because that's not relevant. It's not part of what we're doing here.

You know, sometimes, like the other day, I cleaned the toilet. And it's part of my brain saying, well, the sink needs to be cleaned as well. You know, I said to my mind, you know, I said, I said, I don't care about the sink, I'm cleaning the toilet.

That's all I'm doing today. I'm just going to clean, but what I'm doing the whole day, but that's the only thing I was going to clean was a toilet. The sink, I can do a different day.

And that's what I focused on. And I felt good afterwards, because it was done. Rather than feeling, oh, but I could have done more, and there's other stuff to do.

No, I'm going to, I'm going to take the victory. I'm going to be the hero, the toilet cleaning hero. And now every time I look in the toilet, it's only been a couple of days, I think, yeah, it's nice and clean.

And I feel a little bit of, I don't know, a little bit of pleasure. And it's not, you know, it's not, it's not life changing. But it's a little bit of like, yeah, I feel better now that it's clean.

It's the little things sometimes. I don't really want to end it on talking about cleaning toilets. But you know, that's not what this recording is about.

It's about you. It's about what you can focus on. What you choose to focus on.

Because all the choice. I talk about, you know, in the past, you choose what you do next. Will you choose what you focus on next? So if you've got something you think about and you don't like it, don't like the result, don't like the response that you physically have or emotionally have to that thought, treat it the same way you would if you put something in your mouth, a bit of food that you didn't like.

You'd just spit it out, wouldn't you? You know, if you're at home, and you're trying some food for the first time, maybe it's a takeaway, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, pizza, whatever it is. And if you're trying something new, and you taste it, or maybe, you know, you've got someone that's with you, and they said, Oh, try this. And you try it, you don't like it.

Or you're going to chew it up and eat it. Or you're going to spit it out, maybe into a napkin, not necessarily on the floor, because that could be classed as rude, especially if you're in a restaurant. But you're not going to eat it because it tastes horrible.

Or you know, to you, it doesn't taste nice. In the same way, if there's a thought that doesn't feel nice when you think about it, and if you don't have to think about it, then move on to a different thought that you feel nice about them, you know, helps you to feel relaxed. In the same way, if you eat something and you think that's a bit, I'm not that you don't chuck away the entire takeaway, you know, if I don't like that, but I'll eat the rest of this stuff, because that's nice.

I like that, but not that. And you eat the other stuff that you do like. And that's what you focus on, the things that you do like.

So I'm going to leave you on that thought. So thank you for listening. Remember to be kind to yourself.

Because you deserve to be happy. Lots of love. Bye.