Self-Hypnosis - Soliciting Your Comments

[Kyle Jackson]

Hi All.
I'm currently just a hobbyist of sorts, saving money in order to train and begin transitioning into a more professional role as a hypnotist. I have lots of theory from books and some distance learning, and quite a bit of fun practice with my wife and friends. I truly love it and want to make it a more substantial part of my life.
In the mean time, I'm focusing on mastering self-hypnosis. I want to be able to take a 15 minute break at work and trance out, refresh and de-stress. Or even five minutes. That is not the only thing I'd like to do, just an example. I am, however, no good at it. Currently, the best I can do in 15 minutes is a slightly more vivid, consciously directed, day dream like state. I want to reach a deeper, more satisfying level of trance with relative speed. So, I invite you all to share your tips and techniques regarding self-hypnosis. I am perusing all the older discussions as well, so if there is a thread that you could recommend please also share that.

Thanks,
Kyle Jackson

[Don Gibbons, Ph.D.]

Hi Kyle,

There's an old joke about a man who stopped an elderly pedestrian in New York City and asked, "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" to which the old man replied, "Practice, practice, practice!" Self-hypnosis is like riding a bicycle. You're going to wobble for a while, but you'll eventually get the hang of it.

In the meantime, you might check out this method and see if it helps.

Best regards,

Don

http://www.wikihow.com/Hypnotize-Yourself-Using-the-Best-Me-Technique

[Kyle Jackson]

Don,

Thank you for the link and encouragement. That is a great wikiHow post! I don't know how I missed it in my searches.

It always comes down to practice, doesn't it? :-)

~Kyle

[Robert Shanks]

Hi there Kyle,
One of the things about "Hypnosis" is that by definition it is when one person gives a suggestion to another (at least that is how it was initially defined). That would make self-hypnosis an oxymoron. What most people call self-hypnosis is more accurately defined as "self-suggestion" or "auto-suggestion".
Now the semantics are out of the way, the same result can be reached with self-suggestion! Émile Coué is famous for the phrase "Every day in every way, I get better and better" - although he probably said it in French ;-)
By repeating a phrase to yourself over and over, you progressively make it more and more a part of your belief system. This can work both positively and negatively, so if you say "I have a bad memory" to yourself, then you will eventually believe it, and find yourself forgetting things. Find a positive phrase and make it part of your routine.
Alternatively, a fast solution is to get another hypnotist to hypnotize you, and take you to the frame of mind where you can make changes, and then get them to anchor that for you so that you can trigger that state with your own objectives as and when you want.
Meditation is an alternative, if you want to make changes without actual hypnosis though :-)

Robert

[Kyle Jackson]

Hello Robert.

I can sometimes be found spearheading a semantics conversation, so I can (and do) fully appreciate your reply. Semantics depends heavily on definition and context, and with a word like hypnosis there seems to be several definitions and contexts. The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary, for example, defines hypnosis as "A trancelike state resembling somnambulism, usually induced by another person, in which the subject may experience forgotten or suppressed memories, hallucinations, and heightened suggestibility." The American Heritage® Dictionary states simply hypnosis is "An artificially induced altered state of consciousness, characterized by heightened suggestibility and receptivity to direction."
Cal Banyan notes that there are different kinds of hypnosis: "Generally there are several types of hypnosis, (1) naturally occurring hypnosis, (2) hetero hypnosis, (3) self-hypnosis, and (4) waking suggestion which is similar to placebo." I admit that there must me some overlap and "gray area" between the states mentioned by Mr. Banyan. When practicing hetero hypnosis, for example, I too enter a trance-like state.
I feel like the Coué method is more in the waking hypnosis category, which I inferred from the title of his book, Self-Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion. Braid on the other hand, in his 1850 work Observations on Trance or Human Hybernation describes what seems to be a full-on self-induced hypnotic experience in which he removed what he described as "exquisite" pain. This suggests to me that while certainly related, self-hypnosis is somewhat different from Coué's idea of autosuggestion.

Well, I went off on quite a tangent from my original intent with this discussion. It was very helpful in organizing my own thoughts on the subject though. Thanks Robert for inspiring me to do so.

The Coué Method is a very valuable technique which I will most certainly incorporate. Thank you for suggesting it. I see quite clearly your point of view and I do not disagree. This is simply a coin with many sides.

To add confusion to this, if I record an induction and set of suggestions and then listen to it, would that be hetero hypnosis or self hypnosis? Self and other in this case would be the same. :-) Incidentally, Wikipedia has Coué's famous phrase in French: "Tous les jours à tous points de vue je vais de mieux en mieux."

Thanks for your reply Robert. I didn't intend to ramble on like I did, but I hope you don't mind my friendly counterpoint.

Sincerely,
Kyle

[James Hazlerig]

Elman has a chapter on auto-suggestion that is worth reading on this subject, though I would recommend picking out a signal that suits you rather than just adopting the word "Green" because Elman liked it.

I learned self-hypnosis by following a set of instructions for a visualization. At one point in the instructions, it said to suggest to yourself that any time you close your eyes and count 3-2-1, you can go into trance, and likewise, that counting 1-2-3 will bring you out. At the time, I didn't realize I could pick out any signals I wanted, so I went with what the book said.

Even so, this tool has served me many times. I've often used it for a quick pick me up, or to get rid of stress while waiting for an ambulance, or to kill time when I forgot to take a book with me, or to suggest that the sound of yapping dogs fills me with deep relaxation. At first, I found that I had trouble actually staying focussed enough to direct my trance, but with practice, I've gotten better at it.

Happy trancing,

James

[Kyle Jackson]

Hi James,

Thanks for your reply. In what Elman work is this chapter you mention? I have Hypnotherapy and I don't recall seeing it there. Thanks too for you tips. I find them quite helpful, and your uses for self-hypnosis are right along the same lines as my intended usage.

Happy Trancing to you as well.

~Kyle

[Jackie Spencer]

If I may, I just finished reading Hypnotherapy. Loved every word of it and can't wait to read it again. It's in chapter 5. Page 33 in my book.

[James Hazlerig]

Thanks, Jackie, for answering this faster than I could.

In a recent interview, Sean Michael Andrews asked Dave Elman's son about situations in which his father used autosuggestion, and the younger Elman replied that his father once used it to control the desire to urinate when stuck in traffic.

I used it recently for the opposite. While in the hospital last month, I was asked for a urine sample. Considering that I had urinated shortly before having the experience that caused my wife to call the ambulance, I just couldn't seem to produce any urine, especially not while lying in a bed in the emergency room. After several failed attempts, I gave myself the trance signal and stepped back in time to an instant when I barely made it to the bathroom on time. Sure enough, it flowed like a river then.

Y'know, self-hypnosis is so useful and so easy that I'm amazed people graduate from high school without having been taught how to do it. And yet we spend time teaching them to solve quadratic equations . . .

Jackie Spencer said:

If I may, I just finished reading Hypnotherapy. Loved every word of it and can't wait to read it again. It's in chapter 5. Page 33 in my book.

[Roger Moore, PhD]

Hi Kyle - Here is how I do it and how I teach self-hypnosis. This method works for 1 minute or for 60 - I usually get in at least one 15 minute session each day using this method, most of mine tend to be 1 - 3 minutes. The main thing is discover what works best for you. The self-hypnosis techniques are limitless.

Hypnosis Health Info Self-hypnosis

Have fun

Roger

[Aino / Akpolarmom]

Hi Kyle,
I always take any opportunity to learn, and hypnosis is just another area where I love to learn. I have found that as long as I enjoyed a trance I want to recall it. And who really cares whether it is true 'self hypnosis' or it is a recall of a hetero induction. I haven't yet met a trance I didn't like, and so I user, or reuse, all of them in some form or other to create my own level of 'self hypnosis' and why not? it is after all the state you are looking for isn't it? The relaxation and de-stressing. So I say hire a hypnotist, or volunteer for a stage show or for a practicing friend, use mp3's, online voice /text / video guided trancing, and then practice and practice reassembling the best of each, into the ultimate recall-self hypnosis trance of a life time, until you can drop as a rock at your own will. At that point you can start reducing your time and start creating trigger words if you so choose. You can have more than one trigger and you can vary the way and the things you do...!
By all means the most important rule is ... HAVE FUN!

[Robert Shanks]

Hello again Kyle,
Looking back I probably overlooked my intended point. Hypnosis from someone else is FAR more effective than self-suggestion in my experience. My case is based on the concept that somnambulism and the Esdaile state can't be employed by the subject, but have to be from an external stimulus. Once you are in that state, you can get fantastic results, but you are unable to actually provide the suggestions at this point.

As for the recording of yourself, I would have to consider that as external, because it does not involve feedback. Your voice in the recording makes it no more "self-hypnosis" than taking prescription drugs is consider "self-medicating". Without the doctor to provide the prescription, you would not have had that medication.

But enough of our semantics (unless you wish to riposte), my core point is that externally provided suggestion allows the subject's mind to release all control and therefore achieve a more primal change in their reality. Any stage hypnotist volunteer (unless they are a stooge) will verify that the hallucinations presented in a show are more 'real' than any daydream. Their temporary existence is purely because the hypnotist makes them so.

Robert

[Kyle Jackson]

Hi Jackie.
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction! I'll check it out when I get home this evening. I too loved the book; I (apparently) need to read it again as well. :-)

~Kyle

Jackie Spencer said:

If I may, I just finished reading Hypnotherapy. Loved every word of it and can't wait to read it again. It's in chapter 5. Page 33 in my book.