Autosuggestion is suggesting something definite and specific to oneself. Autosuggestion can cause harm if used wrongly but can be extremely helpful when used properly- Dr. Joseph Murphy, The Power Of Your Subconscious Mind.

Several months back I was hospitalized due to the tightening of my throat while in deep sleep. This blocked the air passage in and out of my lungs causing me to stop breathing for while. In some occasions of attack, it made me breathe extremely difficult. Soon as I felt that I couldn’t breathe, I would become half conscious and would immediately get off the bed panicking until I was completely conscious. Grasping for the air was the most difficult part of the attack. My wife would wake up upon hearing me growling, that’s how she described the rumbling sound coming from my throat as if something’s trying to explode. She also described my face as extremely distorted and paled. The attack would last for about one minute, long enough to give me a hard time grasping for air. The occurrence of attack became very frequent and that made me decide to seek for medical attention.
I found it so difficult to explain to the doctors why it’s happening and I suspected they could not even relate to what I was trying to tell them. They suggested several medical testings, so they admitted me for about 4 days if I’m not mistaken. One test I underwent was sleep apnea (apnea is a sleep disorder in which you stop breathing during the night). The result showed that I had an attack towards the last hours of my sleep but was insignificant to put me in that very stressful condition. The other test was pulmonary function test which showed obstruction in my breathing but again, not enough to conclude that it’s the cause of the attack. The attack worsened and became so frequent that caused my anxiety. It occurred even while I was awake and driving. I never told anyone about my fear that something bad could just happen to me anytime. I fear not only for myself but for my children.
The doctor’s prognosis: it was an asymptomatic illness which could be stress related. At first I could never take it as the root of the problem as I never felt that I was severely under stress. I might be under stress because of work and because at that time my father passed away. But I didn’t think I was stressed out. Perhaps I was really tired. Probably I just didn’t want to admit it. All I got from the hospital was the doctor’s advice- I should manage my stress. My goodness, how could I if I never believed that I was. But then I gave myself a chance to calm down, to relax and reconsider the doctor’s prognosis, until I had my conviction that I was really under stress.

The frequency of attack caused me to become more anxious. I never shared this kind of feeling to anyone I knew, not even to my wife because of my pride. I developed fear for that attack and that’s probably the reason why it became so frequent. I was not given any medication to calm me down so I had to manage my condition by myself by natural process.

The only solution that came to my mind was to use an autosuggestion. I told myself that if I could convince myself that I was no longer under stress, I could help myself to calm down. And during the attack, I had to convince myself that I must calm down, so that I could manage my breathing by bringing it back to the normal pattern.

Everyday, especially before the evening falls, I had to meditate to auto-suggest to myself that during the attack I could relax myself and could control my breathing. I did it without fail and I succeeded.

Meditation and autosuggestion can really help us control our fears. It’s a powerful way to communicate with our higher self, so powerful enough to convince our subconscious mind that we are what we suggest we are.