Derren Brown Video - Anesthesia Using Only Hypnosis

The Rules of Suggestion in Hypnosis

No matter what kind of hypnotic suggestions you decide to include in your self hypnosis script there are a set of rules that must be applied when structuring and delivering those suggestion, with a certain method of speaking to the subconscious in order that the messages be understood as intended. Get this methodology learned right and you will be able to use an immensely powerful tool to your advantage without even having to give it much conscious effort. The power of self hypnosis:

1. MOTIVATING FACTOR must be strong. Your conscious mind will not be fooled into doing something without a core reason behind it. If you decide to learn to fly using only the power of your arms you will have a hard time making yourself accept such a duty as it has no reasonable sense. However if you wish to spend your day working in an unpleasant office but get paid well at the end of it you will stand much better chance of convincing yourself it is the right thing to do. What ever your motivating desire is it must counter any opposing desire, E.g. desire for health and wellbeing must outweigh desire to smoke cigarettes if you are to successfully quit.

2. ALWAYS BE POSITIVE! The law of reverse effect means that whatever you are trying not to think about you will invariably think about E.g. try not thinking about pink elephants… In the same way you cannot wish simply ‘to stop smoking’ as it will suggest to the subconscious the act of smoking once more as the mind does not understand ‘No’ or ‘Don’t’. What you must instead do is frame each suggestion positively and leave the negative components behind. ‘I am feeling healthy with clean lungs as I breathe freely and happily’.

3. USE THE PRESENT TENSE. Never say ‘I will do this’ or ‘I am going to do that’ because your subconscious mind only works in the present moment. ‘I am a healthy person’ must be the message, as though you are already doing whatever it is you wish to achieve. When you construct your suggestion do not merely read it; feel it, imagine yourself doing it and live it; the subconscious is linked in this way and it is the only method to truly connect it with what you are trying to achieve. Do not give the subconscious any excuse to delay!

4. SET A TIME LIMIT.  We have just said that the subconscious needs to always be in the present, but the conscious reasoning side of the brain still has its limits. Some things cannot be done overnight, such as learning a particularly difficult new skill, and will take time to develop, so a realistic time frame must be set. Find out how long it would typically take to learn a set skill and then set your time to half that amount. Once programmed towards a goal your subconscious will never stop working and will achieve the target far quicker than you could imagine. Don’t set a limit and the subconscious will wander less purposefully…

5. SUGGEST ACTION, NOT AN ABILITY FOR AN ACTION. Do not say ‘I have the ability to ride a bicycle’ but instead ‘I ride a bicycle with incredible skill’. This is for similar reasons as stated above in using present tense; it is the kind of language that works best for the subconscious mind.

6. BE SPECIFIC. You stand a far better chance of success if you focus on one single aspect at a time instead of multi-tasking on several different things. The more focused and specific the suggestion is the more likely it is to succeed with the all-important subconscious aspect of mind.

7. USE SIMPLE LANGUAGE. Suggestions should be tailored as if speaking with a bright ten year old child. Longer words are useless extravagances that expend energy needlessly in deciphering their meaning. Simple and direct commands translate best with the subconscious mind as they can only be interpreted one way.

8. EXAGGERATE AND EMOTIONALISE. The subconscious is the foundation of all our emotions, so stirring words and powerful images excite and influence it into following your commands all the more strongly.

9. REPETITION. The subconscious mind is heavily influenced by repetition. Repeat anything enough times and the message will be engraved into our memories. Use a suggestion on yourself as many times as you can and results will come to you; daily repetition is certainly recommended. Just think of that TV advert you hate with the all too catchy jingle that has stuck in your head…maybe you don’t like it but the message has certainly rung home! 

For even more information about hypnotherapy, why not visit http://bogcopper.com/

Ed Byrne: Smoking Jokes Video

www.youtube.com

Animal Hypnosis Video

Hypnosis Suggestions Please?

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 still, the eyes are fixated and then 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, 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, using 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 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 shut most rapidly.

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 very reason why highly confident people tend to be far higher achievers than persons with low confidence and self esteem. A saying goes that if anyone could bottle confidence they would 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 boosting confidence and maximising the potential of the mind, and can very well be worth an absolute fortune to anyone. In trance state suggestions can be used to alter perceptions, attitudes and behaviour in numerous ways, from increased self esteem to eradication of addictions or phobias.

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 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) 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 and rhythm to induce trance. 

• Post Hypnotic Suggestion: these suggestions are designed to trigger an effect AFTER the client has come out of Hypnosis, E.g. the client may have had the suggestion that for the 30 minutes following awakening every time they hear the word ‘relax’ they will close their eyes and enter into hypnosis. 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: ‘Feel your whole body relax, and as it does so you will notice your mind relax 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. ‘Your hands are locked together so tight the harder you try to pull them apart the tighter they will lock together and the deeper into hypnosis you 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 is to find a person’s ‘paradise’ where every aspect of their surroundings is as they 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.

In the next post I will be publishing information on how to structure your own suggestion.

For a different perspective on self hypnosis why not try: http://www.wikihow.com/Perform-Self-Hypnosis