Self-Hypnosis

The benefits of self-hypnosis are clear:
1. Hypnotise self.
2. …?
3. Profit!

I’ve done quite a lot of work with self-hypnosis in the past. In all seriousness, I have found it to be both useful and powerful. Getting good results depends on three simple factors: well-worded affirmations, repetition, and patience. It can work with just about any mental or emotional issue, and has also been known to help gain influence over utterly unconscious physical processes, from stuttering to fighting disease.

What would you like to change about yourself?

Forget the rumours; anyone can be hypnotised. The idea of people being immune comes from stage-hypnotists, and what they do is not really hypnosis. Anyone can resist being hypnotised if they don’t want to be, and anyone can be hypnotised if they are prepared to let it happen.

The technique for getting yourself into a useful level of trance is really pretty simple. Basically, you methodically tense and relax your body, and after that, relax your mind. Once you’re there, you repeat prepared affirmations to yourself, and then bring your mind back up to normal consciousness. You can do all of this just by thinking to yourself, but personally I like to plan and record a script that I can listen to, because then I can let go completely, and don’t have to worry about staying conscious enough to remember my affirmations.

Hypnosis by Mastrobiggo

Whether you do it ad-hoc or record a script, self-hypnosis requires daily practice. If you’re new to it, it will take about a month for your subconscious to get with the program, and start seeing effects. You probably won’t know whether you’re hypnotised or not either, because being in a hypnotic trance really doesn’t feel much different to just being a bit relaxed. Keep at it though, and it can revolutionise your life. There’s no danger, by the way; the absolute worst that can happen — say you go ‘too deep’, or forget to tell yourself to come out of it — is that you doze off and have a little nap, then wake up feeling perky.

I’ll go over how to craft a good affirmation in the next day or two, but the cliff-notes version is to phrase it in the present tense, using positive phrasing with emotionally engaging content, as if the result you wish were already true: “I love being a non-smoker”, rather than “I want to stop smoking”.

The technique for actually getting intro trance is straight-forward. Sit down or lie down, and get comfortable. Make sure you won’t be distracted or disturbed for the duration — if you are, you’ll need to put yourself back into trance again.

Close your eyes, and take three slow, deep breaths, as slow as you comfortably can, one after another. Then slowly tense the muscles in your left foot and hold for a moment. Then gently allow them to relax again, and say to yourself “My left foot is relaxed.” In your mind’s eye, picture your left foot bathed in a soft white light.

Au Revoir Aura by Boca Blaise

Now repeat this up your body as follows: right foot, lower left leg (include ankle), lower right leg, left knee, right knee, left thigh, right thigh, hips and groin, stomach, chest, left shoulder, right shoulder, left upper arm, right upper arm, left elbow, right elbow, left forearm, right forearm, left hand, right hand, lower back, upper back, neck and finally head.

It can be helpful to add a couple of extra reminder stops part-way through. After your hips, don’t tense anything, but say to yourself “My whole lower body is totally relaxed and at peace”, and visualise it all bathed in the soft glow. Do the same after your upper back, making it “my whole body”, and again finally at the end, simply as “I am”.

Then you move on to your mind. Say to yourself, “I am going to count from 20 down to 1. With each number that I count, I will sink deeper and deeper into a lovely, warm, safe, relaxing hypnotic trance. Once I’m there, I will change myself and my world for the better.”

Then just count, slowly, from 20 to 1. You may find it helpful to add little boosters every five numbers: after 16, say “I am already sinking into a beautiful hypnotic trance”; after 11, say “I am now half-way to entering a deep, powerful trance”; after six, say “I am warm and safe, almost into a really deep trance”; and after 2, say “I am now slipping into a lovely deep trance, so that I can change myself for the better.”

After 1, give yourself a moment, and the repeat your affirmations. Generally you should repeat an affirmation at least three times — far more, if you’re only using one affirmation — and while you’re doing so, picture yourself as vividly as possible with the affirmation being true. If you can, try to really feel this truth: physically feel that you are this slightly different person.

When you’ve done your affirmations, and allowed yourself a bit of time to just enjoy feeling peaceful, bring yourself back out. Say to yourself, “I am going to count from 1 to 3. When I reach three, I will awaken feeling really refreshed, positive, cheerful and energetic, ready to get on with my day. 1. 2. 3!” Then open your eyes, stretch to get your circulation back up to its usual levels, and you’re done.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, you can also use this technique on other people in order to hypnotise them, if they are prepared to be hypnotised by you. All you need to do is speak softly and calmly to your subject, rather than to yourself. You can’t get someone to do something they wouldn’t normally wish to do, no matter how deeply hypnotised they are.