Why is it so much easier when you’re being guided into hypnosis by someone else? More importantly, what can you do to make it easier for you to take yourself into hypnosis?
Self-hypnosis is a form of active meditation. And like meditation, it is a practice of paying attention that involves focused concentration. The states of mind you can access through the practice are similar with both meditation and self-hypnosis.
What makes self-hypnosis different is that it is goal-oriented.
Meditation is a passive practice of focusing attention. So, you focus your attention on something like your breath. And when your attention wanders off, which it will, the practice is to notice it when it happens.
The moment you realize that your mind has wandered off, you simply bring your attention back to your focal point. You come back to the breath. That’s the practice.
As you get better at maintaining your focus of attention you start to access deeper states. And that can be a pretty yummy experience.
The problem is getting there . . .
Self-hypnosis is an active form of meditation that involves giving yourself three types of suggestions.
1. The Induction
The first suggestions make up the induction process. This is to get you into the state of hypnosis.
2. Deepening
The second type of suggestion has to do with deepening the state. The deeper you go into hypnosis, the more receptive the Mind becomes to allowing suggestions for change. So, this can make it easier for you to create a desired change from the inside out.
3. Desired Change
The third type of suggestion are suggestions you give yourself for the change you want to create.
To begin with, the suggestion might be to simply relax. So, you can develop your ability to relax into hypnosis. Many people practice self-hypnosis for the benefits of stress-relief because it gives you a way to encourage physical and mental relaxation. So, you can use it to ….
- Improve sleep
- Increase energy
- Improve mental clarity and memory
- Enhance immune function
- In general, feel better physically and emotionally
These are also some of the benefits of having a meditation practice. But where self-hypnosis is different is that you can use it to give yourself suggestions to create positive change. For example, you might want to change a behavior like over-eating.
Self-hypnosis can help you change an unwanted behavior.
Simply being more relaxed will help you to feel more in control of the choices you’re making in daily life. But self-hypnosis also allows you to give yourself suggestions for alternative behaviors.
For example, instead of reaching for the Hagen-Das whenever you’re feeling tired or stressed-out, you can program yourself to choose something healthier, like a piece of fruit or some nuts.
Self-hypnosis can also be used to encourage a healing process.
There is considerable research into the benefits of using imagery to enhance the body’s self-healing capabilities. This is because the Part of the Mind that controls body functions, uses the language of image and emotion. So, if you can imagine something, and feel it powerfully, it becomes a form of communication that your mind-body system can understand.
Your mind-body system has the ability to respond to these suggestions. That’s what you want. But to get these suggestions into the level of Mind that can create the kind of change that you want, you need to get past the Critical Faculty of the Mind.
This is the purpose of the hypnotic induction. The induction is what gets you past the Part of the Mind that is responsible for critical thinking. And this is what gives you access to the Subconscious level of Mind.
That’s where all the Power lies. So, when we enter into hypnosis or meditation, we cross through this invisible barrier called the Critical Faculty.
The Critical Faculty has been described as a semi-permeable barrier that sits between the Conscious and Subconscious levels of Mind. And its function is to keep us consistent with our beliefs.
The way it does this is by reality-checking information that’s coming in against what we already know to be true. This function helps to keep us from acting and feeling like a crazy person. But for many of us, the Critical Faculty is working overtime.
The Critical Faculty’s job is to censor everything that doesn’t fit with our existing beliefs. That can be a problem if you’re holding onto beliefs that aren’t working for you anymore. So, if you want to get newer, better beliefs in there, you need to get past the Critical Faculty. Self-hypnosis allows you to do this.
Hypnosis is a by-passing of the Critical Faculty of the Mind.
My experience of the Critical Faculty during meditation and self-hypnosis is that it’s like a train passing by. Each car of the train is a thought. So, as the train passes by, thoughts pass by.
The Conscious Mind is aware of these thoughts passing by. And your attention tends to get drawn to the thoughts. The temptation is to follow the thoughts. When that happens, you get carried away by your train of thoughts. So, now you’re thinking. Thinking will prevent you from entering into a state of hypnosis.
The practice of meditation is to simply focus on the gap between the cars. If you can maintain focus on the gap, what happens is that you will find yourself on the other side of the tracks. The train of thoughts will still be there. But you’ll be on the other side of it.
The train will be behind you and those thoughts just won’t hold any interest for you. That’s when you’re in a state of hypnosis. It’s when the busy thoughts take a place in the background. As a result, you experience a calmer, more peaceful state of mind, which is lovely, but here’s the problem …
If you’re like me, sometimes your mind is so busy and chaotic that it’s more like a train-wreck. And this makes it very difficult to keep your attention focused long enough to enter into a state of hypnosis. So, what do you do?
Option 1 is to try using a self-hypnosis CD.
Having someone to guide you through the induction and deepening phase can make things a lot easier because it gives your Conscious Mind something to focus on long enough to get into hypnosis. It helps you to let go of all the internal chatter, allowing it to take a place in the background, while you drift on over to the other side.
Option 2 is to have a hypnosis practitioner guide you into hypnosis.
Your hypnosis practitioner can then program you to go into hypnosis very quickly and easily. This can make it much easier for you to return to the state on your own. Nice, right?
The easiest way to learn anything is while you’re in the state of hypnosis. This is because hypnosis is a hyper-suggestible state. So, once you’re in hypnosis, it’s much easier to accept ideas for change. You can use this state to condition yourself for hypnosis.
The main benefit of being guided into hypnosis is that a skilled hypnosis practitioner knows how to observe your responses to suggestions. So, they can adjust the suggestions to meet your specific needs. This is why it is so much easier to access the state of hypnosis when you’re being guided by someone else.
What will happen in a self-hypnosis training session?
Typically, what will happen is this. First, your hypnosis practitioner will guide you into a deep state of hypnosis. They’ll test to verify that you’re there. Then, they’ll give you some time to just to enjoy the state.
Relaxation hypnosis feels good! This will teach you what it feels like so you’ll know where you want to return to when you practice on your own.
Next, your hypnosis practitioner will give you a personalized trigger you can use to re-enter the state on your own. This will make it easy for you to go back into hypnosis whenever you want to.
Your hypnosis practitioner will then test the trigger to make sure that it works. They will then give post-hypnotic suggestions to reinforce your ability to return to the state. So, this can make it much easier for you to take yourself into hypnosis.
Once the trigger has been installed, you just need to practice it. Practice will make the trigger stronger and, therefore, more effective. But hypnosis is a natural state. It’s a talent you already have. Practice is a way of developing it powerfully.
The Mind naturally goes in and out of hypnosis throughout the day. So, once you have learned how to enter the state, you will find it easier to return to it on your own. And each time you do, you’ll get better at it. And your ability to access deeper and deeper states will get stronger.
Hypnosis happens very easily.
The challenge is not merely entering into hypnosis, however. It’s also one of maintaining the state long enough to reach those deeper states that are so healing. This requires focused concentration.
The problem is that there’s always this ongoing train of thoughts. They can be a big distraction. But, once you get yourself into hypnosis, this tends to lose its power to distract you. So, you can let those thoughts take a place in the background.
Once the train of thoughts takes a place in the background, the mind becomes highly receptive to suggestions for change. So, you can turn your focus of attention on creating the change you want. And this ability to focus attention will also allow you to enjoy deeper states of awareness.
The deeper states are very healing states.
If you want to develop your ability to access increasingly deeper states, having a recording of deepening suggestions that you can listen to during your practice can support you in achieving increasingly deeper states.
A recording of deepening suggestions can help you to maintain the state by giving you something compelling to pay attention to. And it’s kind of like having your hypnosis practitioner right there with you.
Whether it’s live or Memorex, just having a voice to guide you can make the practice of self-hypnosis easier by helping to keep you focused long enough to slide into those deeper, more healing states of Mind.
Your hypnosis practitioner can provide you with a recording of deepening suggestions. And if you are a hypnosis practitioner, you have everything you need to create your own recordings. You can use them yourself. And you can share them with your clients.
So that’s it.
Self-hypnosis is an active form of meditation that allows you to create positive change – from the inside out. Like meditation, it’s a practice that involves by-passing the Critical Faculty of the Mind.
The Critical Faculty is like a train of ongoing thoughts. It just goes on and on … The objective of any meditative practice, including self-hypnosis, is to get this mental activity to take a place in the background.
But this can be a bit of a challenge for some people – in fact, most people. And this is what makes meditation and self-hypnosis difficult for a lot of folks.
One of the things that can make your self-hypnosis practice easier is to use a self-hypnosis recording. Having a voice to guide you can help you to stay focused long enough to by-pass the Critical Faculty of the Mind. And that will get you into hypnosis.
Alternately, you can be conditioned for the state by a hypnosis practitioner. That’s the easiest way to learn.
A qualified hypnosis practitioner can guide you into hypnosis. They can verify when you’re there. And they can give you a trigger you can use to re-enter the state whenever you want to.
Once installed, all you have to do is practice. The more you practice, the easier it will get. And the better you will feel. And you’ll have this powerful tool you can use on your own to support you in achieving whatever your self-improvement goals happen to be.
Nice, right?
