Excerpt from Finding Your True Self (out of print)
Close your eyes for a moment and think about your belief about learning. Can you identify a limiting belief that you have? Most of us have limiting beliefs about learning. Do you believe that you can learn anything very quickly and easily? Do you believe that you can retain information well and use it effectively to pass examinations? If not, you can use hypnosis and EFT to change the limiting beliefs that are in your way.
For instance, you can use the hypnotic state, achieved naturally just before sleep or though hypnosis, to re-program your mind to function more effectively during an exam. Using image rehearsal, you can see yourself successful in passing exams. An example of image rehearsal is the visualization in the prior blog, “Public Speaking–Can You Really Enjoy It?” There, the image was a positive scene with you speaking to a group that you were really having fun with. To assist you in being a successful exam taker, visualize yourself in the examination room, feeling relaxed and confident. Visualize yourself leaving the room, feeling really great about your performance, and visualize your exuberant response when you get the great results!
You can also use EFT to change your belief about exam performance–and about how long it will take you to adequately prepare for an exam. I worked with Dave, a law student who had been told that it took fifteen weeks of studying to pass the bar exam. When he came to see me for hypnotherapy, he had three weeks before taking the next exam. He had already failed the exam three times. So now, not only did he believe that he didn’t have enough time to study, but he had also formed a belief about is inability to pass the bar. We used the Emotional Freedom Techniques™ and hypnosis to change his belief about needing the full fifteen weeks to study. As a result, he realized that it was simply a limit that he had placed on himself. After all, in this case, he had studied for fifteen weeks on three separate occasions already!
Relaxation Visualizations
Mind-Switch Off
Take a deep breath and close your eyes. Now imagine being inside your mind. Notice what that space looks and feels like. What’s your sense of this space? Imagine a switch in this space. It can be any size or shape. This switch allows your muscles to let go so that you can relax more deeply than ever before. Whenever you turn off this switch, your muscles relax instantly. Find your switch now and when you are ready, turn it off. Remember that you are in complete control and can turn it back on whenever you want. Notice how much more relaxed you are when the switch is off.
There is another switch in this room. This switch slows down and quiets your thoughts. Locate this switch now and, when you are ready, turn it off. Take a few minutes now to enjoy this deep relaxation and quiet.
Now, when you’re ready, turn the switches back on. Keep in mind that you may need to practice this technique before it works instantly.
Mind Calming
Take a journey through inner space. Begin by closing your eyes and taking a deep breath. Let your body relax. Imagine that your eyelids are so relaxed that they just won’t work. Now, allow the same quality of that relaxation to start at the top of your head and gently wash over your entire body. Let yourself relax more deeply with each easy breath. Feel yourself becoming calm and peaceful. Focus on your breath as it enters and leaves your body. As you feel calmer, imagine that you have a calm, still lake in the center of your body. A peaceful clear lake filled with fresh, still water. Let yourself feel as calm and still as this lake. Now imagine dropping a pebble into the center of your lake and feel the ripples spreading slowly and smoothly from the center.
As you relax into this calm, peaceful feeling, remember a time in your life when you were successful in learning something new. Any positive memory will do. Feel how wonderful it was to enjoy learning. Bring that feeling all the way into your body. Breathe it in.
Pause for as long as you would like. When you are ready to return to your normal waking state, simply take a deep breath and stretch. You can return to this feeling of stillness whenever you like.
Physiological Techniques for Increasing Mind Performance
Two techniques are presented below. Do one or the other prior to each study session.
Alternate Nostril Sniffing
Benefit: Wakes up both sides of the brain; balances negative and positive ion flow in the body; balances sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
Action: Block one nostril and sniff in; block that nostril and breathe out the other nostril; sniff in through the second nostril, then block that nostril and breathe out. Repeat six to eight times.
Receptor Balance
Benefit: Opens mind to receiving more information; opens you to receive more “good;” improves memory, attention; stimulates 400 acupressure points.
Action: Uncurl ears (the tops of our earlobes curl forward), massage, and tug on earlobes. Variation: turn head each direction while rubbing earlobes.
These exercises will assist you in learning situations in a classroom or during on-the-job training. Practice them often for consistent results.
Be joyful, be grateful, live in peace,
Katherine Zimmerman
Clinical Hypnotherapist
Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash.com