Self-hypnosis is not used to ‘cure’ a problem or condition. It is an effective way to release stress, improve self-confidence and self-esteem, set and achieve goals, sports performance, weight management and reinforce a positive state of well being.
The time involved for the relaxation phase of your self-hypnosis induction can vary from half an hour to just a few seconds. As you practice you will get better and your skill increases you will recognize deeply relaxed states, and you will be able to achieve them in a surprisingly short time. But as a beginner, take your time. It will be time well spent.

1. You will need to pick 2 Self-hypnosis keys or key words.
One physical key: Heavy, Floating, Light, Calm, Relaxed, Loose, Limp, Tingling… to create a physical response and relax your body.

One emotional key: Calmness, Confidence, Success, Happiness, Joy, Peaceful, Powerful, Self Esteem… to create the desired emotional state you wish to achieve.

2. Progressive Relaxation
A very popular method of deep relaxation is the ‘Progressive Relaxation’ procedure. This involves tensing each of the major muscle groups of your body in succession (starting with your feet, lower legs, thighs, abdomen etc) Tense the muscle group for a few seconds, then let go.
Once you have completed the relaxation phase of your self-hypnosis induction procedure, you can begin to deepen the relaxed state. At some time between the deep relaxation and the deepening procedures you will move into a hypnotic state. You probably won't know it, especially as a beginner, but it will happen sooner or later.
One of the first hurdles a beginner must get over is the compulsion to "watch for it." That is, you will keep waiting for hypnosis to happen, for some change in your awareness or the way you feel that will say to you, "You're hypnotized."
Watching for any symptoms of hypnosis gets in the way. Going into a hypnotic state is, in this respect, similar to going to sleep. If you try to catch yourself going to sleep – if you try to be aware of the precise instant in which you actually go to sleep – you are much less likely to go to sleep. "Watching" keeps you awake.
In this same way you will not know when you go into a hypnotic state (but that won't be because you lost consciousness – you won't). Later, after you have been practicing regularly for a few weeks or a month or two, you'll be much more familiar with yourself and how it feels to be hypnotized.
Does it take everyone weeks or even months to get into a good hypnotic state? Definitely not. Some people have an amazing experience the very first time they try it. Others might practice for several days, noticing nothing, then wham! they have one of those great induction sessions in which they know something stupendously good happened. But if you happen not to be one of these people, don't worry about it. Just keep practicing and you will eventually get there.

3. Count Down
To use the count-down technique you simply start counting downward from, say, 20 (or 100, or whatever). Adjust the countdown number to whatever feels right to you after you have practiced a few times. Imagine that you are drifting deeper with each count. Other images and thoughts will probably intrude themselves as you count. That is natural. Just gently brush them aside, continuing with your counting. (You might imagine a train in your minds eye and put your thoughts on that train, see the train leave the station down the track going to some other time, some other place, far away….taking your thoughts with it.)
The speed with which you count down should feel natural to you – not too fast, not too slow.. Some people like to tie the count with their breathing. As they drift deeper their breathing slows down, so their counting also slows down. Don't count out loud, just think your way down the count. You want to avoid as much physical involvement and movement as possible.

 4. Suggestion Application in self-hypnosis
Once you have reached the end of your deepening procedure you are ready to apply suggestions. What you have done during the relaxation and deepening procedures is increase your suggestibility. That is, you have opened up your subconscious mind at least a little bit to receive your suggestions.
It helps when you apply suggestions to have them worked out ahead of time.  Suggestions should be kept short and phrased in a positive manner and in first person (‘I’).
Ex: "I am eating in moderation, choosing foods I feel good about eating before I eat them, while I am eating them and most importantly after I eat them." “I continue to move my body through exercise as I become healthier and happier each day.
Ex: “I embrace calmness in my life through my thoughts and feelings. Stress begins to roll off my back and I focus on the positive in any situation”.
Generally speaking, the most effective kind of suggestion is image suggestion. Image suggestions usually do not use language at all.
So as you are ‘thinking’ your suggestions see yourself actually being that way
Ex: if you are focusing on weight loss, see yourself at your ideal weight while you give yourself the suggestion (s).
Or, see yourself calm in a situation that would normally aggravate or stress you.
Although people sometimes see immediate results from their suggestions, it is more likely to take a little time for them to kick in. If you have not begun to see some results within a couple of weeks, you need to change your suggestions.

5. Breaking the self-hypnotic state – awakening.
You should formally identify the end of every session. By doing this you provide a clear demarcation between the hypnotic state and your ordinary conscious awareness. A clear termination also prevents your self-hypnosis practice session from turning into a nap.
If you are practicing at bedtime and don't care if you go on to sleep, that is okay. But still draw the line in your mind to indicate the end of your self-hypnosis session.
To terminate the session, think to yourself that you are going to be fully awake and alert after you count up 1-5.
"One, I'm beginning to come out of it, moving toward a waking state. Two, I'm becoming more alert, getting ready to wake up. Three, Four, more awake and Five I'm completely awake."

Measuring Your Depth of Self-Hypnosis
In general, results from suggestions are the best way to gauge how deeply you are going in your self-hypnosis practice. If your suggestions are working and you are getting results of the kind you expect, then you are achieving plenty of depth in your self-hypnotic trance.