LEARN MORE ABOUT HYPNOSIS

For those of you who are interested in knowing more about hypnosis, this will provide additional background. The more you know the better it gets. It is, however, not necessary to understand and remember this detail in order to use hypnosis effectively.

DEFINITIONS -Two perspectives

1. Hypnosis is a state of mind in which suggestions are acted upon much more powerfully than is possible under normal conditions. While in hypnosis, one suppresses/sidelines the power of conscious criticism. One's focus and level of attention is narrower and one's level of awareness on a focal point is more acute than when awake. During this heightened awareness, suggestions appear to go directly in the unconscious mind.

2. Hypnosis is a natural state of mind that may be inducted in a naturalistic manner, intentionally or unintentionally. In hypnosis we are then able to re-educate ourselves with our internal resources across differing contexts. This is essential to maintain an integrated state of being and wholeness.

3. Hypnosis is a brainwave frequency somewhere between 4 Hz and 12 Hz (or cycles per second).

THE EXPERIENCE OF HYPNOSIS

It is common for people to be unsure about whether they are hypnotised or not. This is generally because hypnosis is a natural phenomenon and so, when induced by self-hypnosis, it seems familiar and is therefore questioned. This familiarity creates the confusion, i.e. “Was I hypnotised or not?” Below are the twelve most common phenomena/what you may experience in hypnosis:

• Experiential absorption of attention, i.e. so absorbed in what you are thinking /experiencing that all the external distractions are ignored or irrelevant.
• Effortless expression - a state of mental flow without ‘work’ or effort.
• Experiential, non-conceptual involvement, i.e. no need to understand or rationalise your experience.
• Willingness to experiment - you are more open to suggestions or new choices of behaviour and perspective.
• Flexibility in time-space relationships. Examples of this are: time distortions, such as time expansion or contraction and positive and negative hallucinations (deleting real images and creating imaginary ones).
• Alteration of sensory experiences, like catalepsy (immobility of all or part of your body) or an enhanced sense of lightness/heaviness, or changes in your sensory experience in any of the sensory modes: visual, kinesthetic (feelings), auditory.
• Fluctuation in involvement - an experience of moving through different depths of hypnosis.
• Motoric or verbal inhibition, i.e. the person does not feel like moving or speaking.
• Hypnosis logic - happens when normal logic is not important - your normal rules of living may not apply.
• Metaphorical processing - the tendency for you to understand and represent thoughts in the form of a symbol or metaphor.
• Time distortion, i.e. the reduction of the linear sense of time as well as the experience that time may seem to stretch or shorten.
• Amnesia - in that you may arouse from hypnosis and remember a few or none of the events that occurred during hypnosis.

Flexibility in time-space relationships explained in more detail

You may find that you :

• Completely disengage from the present, e.g. age regression.
• Compress time - an hour may feel like a minute.
• Expand time - a minute may feel like an hour.
• Positively hallucinate something that is not there.
• Negatively hallucinate something that is there.

Time and space become variables that may be manipulated rather than being linear constraints.

Motoric / verbal inhibition explained in more detail

This is the still and quiet nature of a hypnotised subject. Although you can move and talk in hypnosis, you may often experience this need to be irrelevant and a distraction from your internal experience.

Metaphorical processing explained in more detail

Metaphorical processing is a common and naturalistic process. We all use metaphors and symbols to make sense of our world - a symbol being something that stands for that which it is not. An example of this process is how we often put ourselves into a story being told to us. This process may further be used effectively to induce hypnosis and effect change. What is important is that hypnosis facilitates metaphorical/symbolic processing. Metaphors are also an excellent way to create unconscious solutions.

The nature of suggestibility

A description of the nature of suggestibility in hypnosis helps you to understand how the state will empower you (as opposed to the state of being fully conscious).

The factors that affect your suggestibility are:

The expectant attitude that you have - if you expect to be hypnotised and believe that it will work, the more suggestible you are, and vice versa.

• When working with a hypnotist to achieve your goals, the rapport between the hypnotist and yourself is important - the deeper the rapport, the deeper the trust between you and the operator and, therefore, the greater the success of the induction and hypnosis.
• The amount of reduction in critical-ness of your mind. This is related to the depth of the hypnosis as well as whether or not you have a natural predisposition to being critical. Being more critical implies that you are less suggestible.
• Your age. The best age for hypnosis is between 9 and 12. When one is over 40 years of age, suggestibility may reduce.
• The degree of suggestibility can be context related. Some people may be suggestible on one matter, such as golf, yet not suggestible on another matter, such as religion.
• It is not related to intelligence; rather suggestibility is more about the ability to concentrate. So in order to be suggestible you must be able to direct your imagination in accordance with the self-hypnosis induction process. Also, you must be able to use your imagination.
• Repetition does improve suggestibility

The nature of suggestibility in hypnosis may also be described within the framework of the three laws of suggestion. These are:

1. The law of concentrated attention

The key to this law is repetition. Whenever a thought and/or ideas are repeated over and over, they tend to realise themselves. They become the reality of the individual. In other words, repeating suggestions over and over is an important part of making them more effective. During an induction the classic use of this law would be by saying the words ‘relaxed’ or ‘relaxing’ many times.

2. The law of reversed effect

This law states that effort/will is inversely related to success. It is far more effective and effortless to use your imagination than to try to force your mind to recall information and skills. When the imagination and the will clash the imagination always wins. Using your imagination is an extremely powerful tool. When the imagination is engaged repeatedly, using the visual, kinesthetic (feelings) and auditory elements of the mind, these thoughts become real to the thinker (you). Through your own beliefs you will make your imagination come true, regardless of whether the thoughts are constructive or destructive.

Therefore stimulating the imagination with images, symbols, metaphors, music, the use of language and feelings are a vital part of producing hypnosis.


3. The law of dominant effect

This law is based on the universal truth that a strong emotion tends to replace a weaker emotion. This can be used to enhance the effectiveness of suggestion by creating strong emotions and associating these emotions to the suggestion. Emotions can be enhanced through physical touch or vivid recall of a similar situation that has been experienced in the past. It is important to ensure that the emotion recalled is suitable to the situation and that it is effectively connected to the suggestion.

STAGE HYPNOSIS VERSUS THERAPEUTIC HYPNOSIS

It is interesting to compare self-hypnosis with stage hypnosis as stage hypnosis, for the most part, has prevented the acceptance of the use of hypnosis as a powerful tool for learning and change. This, fortunately, is changing as people become more educated about the power of hypnosis.

Stage Hypnosis

1. Performance to entertain
2. Selects the best candidates
3. No history established
4. Unknown outcome  
5. No choice with suggestions

6. May be no debriefing
7. Controlling and authoritative

The Svengali Effect – the myth Definition:

’Svengali effect’ is the so-called ability to get a person to behave in conflict with their personal values. The name was derived from the movie ‘Svengali’. This effect is not possible. Hypnotists or clinical hypnotherapists are, under normal circumstances, not able to get people to behave in a manner that is in conflict with their deepest and most important values. For example: we cannot hypnotize a person and make him or her rob a bank unless this is what they would ordinarily consider doing. In addition, should the hypnotist make a suggestion while you are in a hypnosis that is in conflict with your values, you will immediately awaken or simply ignore the suggestion. Unfortunately, stage hypnosis casts doubt on this fact because people seem to be doing unnatural things. However, we must remember that all the things that they do while on stage and hypnotised, they would be able to do in a full state of being awake. Remember also the fact that they have volunteered to make fools of themselves for the audience. A trained actor could act out hypnosis during a stage performance and the audience would not know the difference.

USING MANTRAS WITH HYPNOSIS

How can mantras be utilized for better suggestions?

Definition:
A mantra may either be a word or phrase, sentence or verse that is repeated over and over many times. It may be spoken out loud or merely thought of. It could also be sung to a rhythm or tune.

Mantras may be used for better suggestions as they help to focus the mind, which in itself is transforming. A mantra may also be used as a posthypnotic cue to either induce hypnosis or to elicit a desired response outside of hypnosis. Using mantras will facilitate the design of a suggestion because, by definition, it needs to be specific, concise and easy to remember.

The purpose of posthypnotic cues and suggestions are to help you to change or improve your behaviour when you are out of hypnosis, during the normal course of your life. The principles that link the changes to your behaviour with the suggestions are summarised below.

Post-hypnotic suggestion and cues get results by:

• Creating a trigger/impulse to the desired action out of hypnosis
• Acting as a powerful extension of hypnotic work
• Acting as a link into your unconscious mind and memories
• Creating associations between events and your response to them
• Reinforcing desired states of mind
• Being personalised for you and the situation
• Cascading and building suggestions upon each other
• Repeating, as it is important, effective and creates new habits

Examples of these applications are:

• To help you induce a hypnotic state more quickly and easily
• To help you relax within usually stressful environments
• To trigger a new behaviour, such as calmness, when frustrated
• To trigger confidence when required

ARE YOU IN HYPNOSIS?

The three common clues of achieving self -hypnosis are:

1. Experiencing the physical nature of being totally relaxed - being totally loose and limp with an internal focus, which excludes or reduces awareness of outside events.
2. When your body or parts of your body feel numb, almost paralysed, or perhaps a tingling feeling in hands and feet, perhaps you feel cooler or warmer, perhaps heavier or lighter.
3. When time seems to distort in either direction

Five advanced signs of hypnosis:

1. Body warmth: if you are cold or hot and sweaty this suggests lack of interest or fear respectively. You are looking for a comfortable body warmth
2. Fluttering of the eyelids (commonly known as REM: rapid eye movement): the eyelids are closed and there is a noticeable fluttering of the lids without opening the eyes.
3. The white of the eye being pink or reddish. This is basically self-explanatory. It may be observed after hypnosis.
4. The eyeballs going upwards into the head: you can feel your eyes looking backwards as if looking at your brain.
5. Increased lacrimation (tears): this is self-explanatory. This is not to be confused with crying - rather it is watering eyes.

THE BENEFIT OF STRESS – A NEW PERSPECTIVE FOR YOU

We know that emotions act as reinforcers to behaviour. The experience of either positive or negative emotions will induce a person to repeat or avoid (respectively) the behaviour that caused the emotion. Stress has to do with adapting to a threat. Stress is a generic word used by lay people to describe a number of negative feelings or emotions. Scientists, on the other hand, believe that stress has some ultimate and adaptive purpose. In other words, they believe that our interpretation of events leads us to respond in a distressful manner that is dis-empowering or in a stressful manner which in empowering.

Stress may be used to move us away from the things we do not want in combination with moving towards the things we want. Simply put, stress is important to fire up our system so that we can respond in an optimal manner to the environment. How does it do this?

It can fire up our ‘fight or flight' system. This system, when activated by a stressful situation for example, prepares our body for action. Concentration is better, the five senses are sharper, muscles have more activity, the thyroid hormones allow the body to burn more fuel providing speed and energy. Golfers use the term ‘pumped up’.

Our response to a stressful circumstance may not only enable us to perform at our peak (in sports, for example, on the golf course) - it may well save our life if we need to run or fight.

We can, therefore, use stress in our favour by interpreting it in a powerful and positive manner. For example: to become excited at the challenge of pressure during play with a readiness to impress the audience rather than being terrified by the thought of it, thereby shutting down our abilities.

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT YOURSELF WITH RESPECT TO HYPNOSIS AND CHANGE.

a) You are unique. Each person has a unique set of experiences that combine with their personality to make up who they are. Through this they construct a map of the world according to themselves.

b) You have natural inner generative resources. The assumption here is that each and every person has enough internal resources to generate the life experience that they want. Through some past experience you may have limited your access to these unconscious resources and become stuck in an inappropriate behavioural loop.

c) Hypnosis potentiates your inner resources. We are often stuck in invariant behavioural loops. These loops are difficult to break and reprogram in a state of consciousness where the critical, goal-oriented conscious mind is active. Hypnosis creates an internal environment wherein it becomes possible to break/interrupt the internal pattern and it creates an exit to the pattern. Once the pattern is broken, new resources/choices can be generated without interference from the critical mind.

d) Hypnosis is naturalistic. Hypnosis is a natural way of experiencing life. We all enter and exit hypnosis during the day as a normal part of living. There is nothing bizarre about this state. An example of this is amnesia - this happens to all of us from time to time. It can be induced intentionally and/or can occur naturally. Thus it follows that, as hypnosis is a natural state, it is highly effective to create hypnosis using naturalistic communications.

e) Hypnosis facilitates course alignment rather than error correction. Correcting the errors of the past has little value in this approach - rather use the past learnings as a resource to get what you want from life now and in the future. The solutions, i.e. outcomes or goals, are seen as primary to the changes you want. Past errors are seen as a necessary (if not pleasant) learning experience. Hypnosis helps you to expand your own boundaries.

f) Your uniqueness can be appreciated on many levels. These may be defined as the deep self, the unconscious mind, the conscious mind and the content of consciousness.

Deep self: that sense of being (your spirit).

The unconscious mind: that mind which is not conscious now; it is generative in nature. Unconscious process can operate generatively and autonomously.

The conscious mind: the logical and critical mind that is not generative in nature.

The contents of consciousness: the bits of information with which we construct our reality.

Problems are often a result of people disconnecting with the resources of the unconscious mind and trying to resolve all issues using structure and logic, often becoming stuck in an inappropriate habitual loop. The unconscious mind is assumed to be intelligent, organised and creative. Therefore, part of the hypnotist’s/self-hypnosis function is to amplify the communication channels between the unconscious and conscious mind, sometimes within a goal-orientated framework, which supports a healthy lifestyle and is socially acceptable. Your unconscious mind will find the solution that works for you.

Why bother to understand the structure of your own internal language?

a) We know, through our understanding of Ericksonian hypnosis, that people have a predominant style of communication. Although we have five senses, three of these are used more often to internally construct our inner maps of reality. These more common styles of thinking are: visually, auditory and kinesthetically. Our brains automatically delete, distort and generalise incoming information in order to cope with the huge volume of data that we are exposed to.

To distinguish the predominant mode of communication is essential for constructing good hypnotic suggestions because we are then able to structure the suggestions using the preferred words and modes that will work for you. This will allow you to accept, understand and relate to the suggestions far more quickly. To explain this by example: if I were to speak to you in German and you cannot understand one word of German, the communication will not be efficient, to say the least! However, if you are English speaking and I speak to you in English, then communication improves dramatically. This obvious example applies in the same way - your inner language needs to be identified to facilitate effective inner communication.

STRUCTURING YOUR OWN SUGGESTIONS FOR USE IN HYPNOSIS.

There are some types of suggestions that need to be eliminated, as they are not effective. These are:

• Negatively framed statements with ‘no' and ‘do not want' and ‘cannot' and ‘should not', etc, in them.
• Suggestions that are too long and complex.
• Suggestions that are vague and/or too general
• Suggestions with words in them which have negative connotations
• Suggestions that conflict with important values
• Suggestions that are not ecological for you

THE NATURE OF SELF-HYPNOSIS TECHNIQUES

Listed below are the key elements common to all the techniques for self-hypnosis.

• Have a specific, well-formed goal before you begin self-hypnosis
• Find the most suitable environment available that will minimize distractions
• Prepare your suggestions, symbols, visualisations, metaphors and cues in advance
• Prepare yourself physically, i.e. sit/lay and relax. Get comfortable
• Take a few slow deep breaths
• Use your most effective induction
• Once hypnosis is achieved do transformation work and suggestions
• Install your posthypnotic cues
• Exit the state of hypnosis
• Enjoy the process

Below is a summary of the major self-hypnosis techniques. If you want to, you can design you own induction

1. The progressive technique - passive or active

This technique achieves a hypnosis state by systematically relaxing muscle groups in sequence. Starting at your head or toes, move systematically through all the parts of your body. A typical sequence may be feet, calves, thighs, bottom, back, tummy, chest, shoulders, arms, hands, neck, head and face. Using words and phrases such as ‘relaxing' and ‘letting go' combined with your own symbols, etc. As you relax, focus on each part of your body until complete relaxation and internal focus is achieved.

2. The Indirect Language Method

This technique induces hypnosis by using ‘fuzzy' language in a story-like fashion that allows the person to dream in a directed manner. The key to this technique is in the use of words that are not commands, i.e. words that imply choice. The more common words and phrases to use are: ‘might, may, perhaps, doesn't matter, that's right, you may notice, who am I to say?' The use of ambiguous words also works well, such as ‘wonder’. The use of pauses combined with metaphors for relaxation is also effective. The use of alternative suggestion works well, such as: “You may notice that you feel as light as a feather or perhaps a leaf drifting in the summer breeze” -this presupposes a choice that induces hypnosis.

3. Eye Fixation Method

This technique induces hypnosis by focusing your eyes on a fixed point. The point may be a hypnotic disk or a spot on the carpet or a mark on the wall. Allow yourself to become totally fascinated by the spot until it mesmerises you while giving yourself suggestions to relax. Make many statements which suggest that the more you stare, the more relaxed and comfortable you become; the more you stare the deeper you go into hypnosis. After a while start the count-down technique from 30 or 20 or 10 whilst continuing with suggestions of relaxation, comfort, looseness etc.

4. Guided Imagery Technique

To induce hypnosis using this technique you will use constructed mental pictures, recalled images and visualizations of scenes both real and imagined. Begin with breath work to relax. A common form of imagery with which you may guide the hypnosis is the use of an imagined staircase. Imagine ten stairs of your own choice (stone, steel, wooden, brick, whatever). You may either descend or ascend the stairs in your mind's eye, one step at a time, all the while adding suggestions of relaxing, loosening tension and getting comfortable. On each step, in your mind's eye, add in appropriate images such as colours or symbols of relaxation. The staircase may lead to a special place you think of or know - a beach, or a river, or even a walk in the forest. The key is to focus on pictures in your mind throughout the induction, more specifically the pictures that induce relaxation and focus.

5. The Direct Language Method

Unlike the indirect method, the direct induction method uses commands to enter the hypnosis. The language is instructive. The common words that you may use are: will, now, want, can, I am. Use direct instructions to relax such as “I begin to relax now, letting go of all my tension” in order to enter the hypnosis. Once you begin to experience the effects of these direct commands, use the 10-step count -down in conjunction with direct language.
A typical command will be: “As I step down I will go deeper…NOW as I take each step to relax… and change…”

6. Using Dreams method

Use your favourite induction to begin the hypnosis. Now suggest that you begin to dream using ‘fuzzy-type' language. The purpose of the dream method is to not only to install suggestions but also to uncover information in your mind that may be useful to use for constructive change work. Key suggestive phrases may be something like this:
“I am ready to dream… right now… as I drift off into a relaxed dreamy state”
“Is this a daydream or just a dream… wondering, as I do, through the dream, just how deep and naturally I may relax… Now ...”
Also, bring in suggestions for dream-like sleep: “ …magic sleep dust…to make me dreamy…”
Use the word ‘dream' combined with ‘relaxed' and ‘comfortable' over and over in your constructed sentences. Suggest positive experiences and feelings. Open your mind to dream. Insert suggestions and exit.

7. The Erickson Hand Shake Method

This was developed by Dr. Milton Erickson. Start the induction by extending your arm (either one) into a typical handshake position. You may either close your eyes and imagine your hand and arm position or fix your gaze onto a spot on your hand or arm. The process uses ‘fuzzy', indirect language. Suggest that your arms become heavy or light. Redirect focus onto other parts of the body (feet, legs), and suggest a total connection of all body parts. Suggest to yourself that your arm is feeling light or heavy using metaphors or symbols such as “…your hand is as heavy as lead…”. Again, suggest that the arm and the rest of body are fully connected and ready for change.
Insert suggestion and exit.

8. Self-hypnosis using music

Find a piece of music that is relaxing for you (regardless of the type of music). Enhance your awareness of how much the music relaxes you while it is playing. Become one with the music. Imagine being the music, being the musician and perhaps being each instrument. Use the sounds and the flow or the beat to enhance and develop suggestions of total comfort and relaxation. Parts of the music may cue you to make suggestions or deepen your hypnosis or exit the hypnosis. Pace yourself with the volume, words and sounds. Use standard suggestions of hypnosis formation throughout to deepen your hypnosis. Once in hypnosis, do your suggestions and exit.

9. Self-Hypnosis Deepening

The basic premise of this deepening technique is that you take yourself in and out of hypnosis three times in one sitting, each time going deeper as you re-enter the hypnosis. This technique was developed when therapists realised that clients went deeper and deeper into hypnosis with each successive visit to them. This technique was developed to accelerate the process of deepening the hypnosis in one sitting.

Further deepening techniques are:

1. Using the symbol of entering an elevator/lift, get into it and count down from 100 floors to ground level, going deeper into hypnosis with each floor.
2. Use a sequence of the colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and purple, and go deeper in to hypnosis with each colour.
3. Give yourself a repeated physical cue such as pressing your forefinger and your thumb together tightly
4. Walking down or up a flight of stairs in your mind’s eye, suggesting that you are going deeper into hypnosis with each step you take.
5. Deep breathing for deepening the state of hypnosis
6. Repetition

THE BASIC HYPNOTIC FORMULA: B I C E

Believe you can and will be hypnotised
Imagination must be engaged
Convince yourself by recognizing the signs
Expect to become hypnotised