Suggesting Self Hypnosis...PART 2

Hypnosis is a method of systematically shutting down the conscious mind leaving the subconscious open and susceptible to new ideas. First the body is made to be still and calm, then the eyes are fixated and closed. Breathing is slowed and controlled as the body slips into relaxation, the mind urged into the subconscious realm. The senses have been nullified one by one leaving the client relaxed but at the same time focused only on the sounds reaching their ear, the sounds connecting directly into their subconscious mind. Once into the state of hypnosis the mind is perfectly poised to have changes made to its long held belief system, changes made by something known as hypnotic suggestion.

So what exactly is hypnotic suggestion?

A suggestion can be simply defined as an act of offering a thought or an action to another person, but while a suggestion is given when that other person is in a state of hypnosis this becomes a hypnotic suggestion. In regular waking state someone might tell you ‘your eyelids are feeling heavier and heavier with each moment that passes, as though they are longing to close’ but your critical conscious mind would consider the idea and most likely reject it out of hand. However under hypnosis this critical aspect of mind is subdued leaving the whole mind more responsive to suggestions, and given the exact same command as above the eyes will typically close almost immediately. Auto-suggestions are suggestions that you apply to yourself when in self hypnosis.

Hypnotic suggestions are designed to have positive effects on the mind and body in numerous different ways, and are basically a series of instructions aimed at making the mind realise it’s own potential. As humans we fail the majority of the time because we fundamentally believe we will fail, and is the core reason highly confident people tend to achieve far more than persons with low confidence and self esteem. A saying goes that if anyone could bottle confidence they would instantly become a millionaire. Hypnosis does not come ‘bottled’ but with due time and thought hypnotic suggestions are a great tool for bringing personal success through many different means, including boosting confidence and maximising the potential of the mind, and could very well be worth an absolute fortune to anyone willing to learn it’s secrets. In trance state suggestions can be used to alter perceptions, attitudes and behaviours to either STOP unwanted traits such as negative addictions or habits, or to START wanted changes such as weight loss or stop smoking.

Hypnotic suggestions come in a variety of different forms that fall into some easily defined categories:

·         Direct Suggestion (aka Primary/Authoritative): A simple straight suggestion that tells you exactly what to do. ‘You will notice your eyelids feeling heavier and heavier until eventually they will close and you will feel relaxed’ This is the traditional style of suggestion pioneered by James Braid, deemed authoritarian as it is worded and spoken just like a command.

·         Indirect Suggestion (aka Secondary/Permissive): was made famous by Milton Erikson and is the opposite of direct suggestion. Indirect suggestions are insinuations or the rhetorical, anything that has a concealed meaning in the same way a metaphor would work. Indirect suggestions are used a lot in TV adverts, music and images combining to produce a scene that will translate to the viewer’s subconscious in a way perhaps not so obvious straight away. For example it is not just a video of a Land Rover moving through the countryside to opera music, subliminally it is representing the power and prestige owning such a vehicle would represent…

·         Verbal Suggestions: are spoken instructions as in the examples above.

·         Non Verbal Suggestions: are any suggestions that are unspoken. These can include physical manipulations of the body (physically swaying the body gently), mental imagery (as shown via pictures or video) or tone of voice (sounds rather than words e.g. breathing) used to promote relaxation and trance.  These suggestions can be very helpful in hypnotising those with a language barrier or those that have strange associations with certain words that are best avoided. Non Verbal suggestions are the most ancient of suggestions and can still be seen in ‘shaman’ rituals of indigenous tribes based on dance, movement, images and rhythm to induce trance.

·         Post Hypnotic Suggestion: these suggestions are designed to trigger an effect AFTER coming out of Hypnosis, e.g. ‘every time I close my eyes and think the word ‘RELAX’ I will be brought back to my visualisation of lying on a beach watching the sunset’. The time frame can range anywhere from minutes, days, weeks or even years after the suggestion was planted, depending entirely on how the suggestion is worded. In the example the word ‘RELAX’ would be the ‘post-hypnotic cue’…the trigger for the suggestion to kick in.

·         Relaxation Suggestions: ‘My whole body begins to feel calm, and as it does so I notice my mind relaxing in the same way’. These suggestions ease the mind and body in preparation for deeper levels of hypnosis and further suggestions. They are frequently used most at the onset of hypnosis.

·         Deepening Suggestions: make the trance state more enhanced often by focusing on a single task. e.g. ‘My hands are locked together so tight the harder I try to pull them apart the tighter they will lock together and the deeper into hypnosis I will go’

·         Imagery Suggestions: create mental scenes or pictures to work directly or indirectly in producing a mental environment where alterations can be made to attitudes or connections made to one’s experiences. A common use of imagery in self hypnosis is to find your mental ‘paradise’ or ‘happy place’ where every aspect of your surroundings is as you want it to be and where they are totally comfortable and relaxed.

Many suggestions will combine aspects from the different categories to form one single set of instructions, the content of which is dependant largely on the goal of the suggestion as well as the personal choice of the individual constructing it. What will your auto-suggestion be?

COMING SOON...

You know the basic rules of self hypnosis, but how to actually apply them to YOU and YOUR OWN situation?

For more info on self hypnosis, try http://www.hypnos.info/self/selfhypnosis.htm