Although most of us associate hypnosis with the client sitting in a comfortable chair with the hypnosis therapist standing or sitting giving suggestive commands. There are actually lots of self hypnosis techniques that you can learn and apply on yourself, and this way gain full control of your mind. To put it another way these techniques will help you become your own mind manager. Below follows a description of the core of these techniques which you can alter and adjust to fit your needs. This technique pretty much consist of the same core method that the hypnosis therapists are using on their clients. Be aware though, that you should be very careful about which statements you program into your sub-conscious mind. So take your time and select these statements very carefully.

The first thing you have to decide is the purpose for the self hypnosis: What are you really trying to find out or accomplish? As soon as you have defined your goal with the self hypnosis session, you must keep to this goal. Never select more than one goal at a time and resist the temptation of solving all your problems in one batch. You simply will not be able to do that but instead create even more problems by trying that. So how should the statements or suggestions that you're going to implant into your sub-conscious mind be?

They must be positive and represent something good. Never use suggestions like "I'm going to learn to bungee-jump no matter how scared I am". This will only make you even more scared. So cleanse out all negative words when you formulate your suggestions and substitute them with positive words like "I really look forward to bungee-jump and thus have the fantastic feeling of freedom when I fly in the air."

The suggestions you formulate must be easy to remember. Let's say you want to communicate better with other people, then for example you can make a suggestion like, "I am a damn good communicator." Now, write it down and then add all the reasons why you want to reach this goal plus what you expect will happen when you reach it. Each time you repeat the statement, visualize that you succeed to strengthen the message in your sub-conscious mind. It's also important that the suggestions you make are short, direct and specific like "I will only eat healthy food".

When you perform your self hypnosis sessions make sure you are not disturbed. Disconnect the phone, lock the doors and make yourself comfortable. You might lay on a bed or sit on a chair with straight back.

• Focus your attention on a point slightly above your eye level

• Take a few deep breaths while you repeat the word "relax" for yourself

• When you breath out imagine that you're getting rid of all the bad air that have caused all the trouble inside you and that you substitute it with the fresh air you breath in

• Close your eyes and try to focus on a few (3 to 5) sounds you can hear like water running in the pipeline, the wind that blows outside, the rain tapping on the roof etc. Also be aware of what you feel for the moment like the temperature of your skin, the weight of your body against the chair or bed etc.

• Start the descent to your subconscious mind by imagining that you are walking down a ten step spiral staircase to a beautiful garden which awaits at the end of your descent. For each step you take you have to pass layers of clouds and you feel more and more relaxed and all your worries are gradually leaving you. When you dismount the last step, you put your foot on a green lawn which have a glow on it from the rays of the sun.

• You should now be sufficiently relaxed to start the repetition of your suggestions or statements to your subconscious mind. Repeat each suggestion three times with a short break in between. When you're finished with your suggestions, imagine that you slowly climb back to the top of the staircase.

• Now the self hypnotic session is over and you are back in your ordinary state of mind.

Try it out. If you feel that hypnosis can help you accomplish whichever goal you have, redo it and make it a regular practice for your own self improvement.

Terje Brooks Ellingsen is a writer and internet publisher. He runs the website 1st-Self_Improvement.net. Terje is a Sociologist who enjoys contributing to the personal growth and happiness of others. He tries to accomplish this by writing about self help issues from his own experience and knowledge. For example, hypnosis and other self improvement methods as well as developing higher self esteem.