All hypnosis is self hypnosis, whether a hypnotist guides you through the session or you guide yourself. Either way, you make the shift in awareness within your own mind. Taking control and exerting a greater influence on your own mind whenever you choose is an ability anyone can learn to use.
To make significant changes, it is often suitable to have a guide. You can let yourself sink very deeply within, and simply allow yourself to become receptive to a steady stream of suggestions. It is also advantageous to have a guide if you are interested in doing insightful, exploratory work.
But there are many occasions when it can be much more convenient to simply shift into a self hypnotic state on your own and use it to reinforce whatever you are working on, or to alter the way you are thinking, feeling, or acting in a particular situation. This is when knowing how to do self hypnosis is an invaluable skill.
Since we all shift in and out of light hypnotic states frequently, it is easy to do this by yourself. However, prolonging and deepening your hypnotic state, and using it to take in suggestions, is often easier to accomplish after you have first had a guided session. Once you have learned to recognize the way the hypnotic state feels, have practiced shifting in and out of it a few times, and given yourself some simple suggestions, the process becomes very familiar and comfortable. Most people are then able to feel quite confident doing it on their own.
Instructions for self hypnosis can be given to you while you are in a hypnotic state, because during that time it is particularly easy to understand and experience them.
Self Hypnosis can be learned in one session.