My new book, Hypnosis for Healing: A Handbook For Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Well-Being, is available on Amazon today! What follows is an excerpt from the book that I’d like to share with you. Enjoy!
Hypnosis is a powerful tool for healing. While in this state of focused awareness, openness, and receptivity we are able to access inner resources of intelligence, wisdom, and creativity that make it easier for us to bring about lasting change.
The really good news is that we can enter into this state any time we choose! Self-hypnosis is the first skill that I teach my private clients. Because it’s natural, and because you already know how to do it, it’s easy to learn and begin putting into practice right away.
My definition of therapeutic hypnosis comes from my teacher and mentor, Jack Elias.
Simply put: “Hypnosis is a natural state of enhanced learning, healing, and growth.”
Let’s break that down a little bit. First, hypnosis is natural. Whether or not you’re consciously aware of it, you already experience hypnosis many times a day. A really good example of this is the brief interval between sleep and waking. Just before we fall asleep at night and for a few moments as we are waking up in the morning, our minds are open and spacious. Our normal tendency to evaluate and judge our experience is temporarily suspended and we can feel like we are in a kind of waking-dream state where it seems anything is possible.
Another time we are in a natural state of hypnosis is when we are learning something new. Again, our critical mind is off on vacation, allowing us to be more receptive to new ideas, information, and perspectives. The more flexible our mind is, the easier it is to learn and the more open we are to new possibilities and potentials.
The only difference between therapeutic hypnosis and these “ordinary” trances, is that we are leveraging that natural state to accomplish specific, positive, and beneficial desired outcomes. We are also more in touch with our deep inner wisdom. With our normal critical faculty temporarily suspended it becomes possible to hear our true inner voice with more and more clarity.
Everyone experiences hypnosis a little differently. That being said, there are some fairly common similarities. For example,
- During hypnosis, you are awake and aware.
- You are in control at all times. In fact, throughout this process you may even learn how to be more in control of our thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and behaviors.
- Some people feel pleasant, heavy feelings of relaxation as they sink deeper into the chair, or couch, or wherever they’re sitting. Others may feel pleasant, dreamy, dissociated sensations. Still others may simply feel like they’re sitting in a chair not feeling anything special at all. Whatever you experience is fine!
- Because you are in control of the process, if you ever feel the need to move, itch, or scratch, just go ahead and do so. Also know that any sounds you hear in the room or outside will only remind you to go that much deeper.
The point is, there’s no one, definitive way that people experience hypnosis. I recommend that you remain open, curious, and willing to see what happens.
So how do we intentionally take ourselves into this state of “enhanced learning, healing, and growth”?
The process of taking yourself into hypnosis is surprisingly simple.
First, find a safe and comfortable place where you won’t be interrupted by anyone for the duration of your session. If you are disturbed that’s fine. You can always pick up where you left off. You can sit in a chair or lay down on a couch or on your bed.
Next, choose a specific length of time that you would like to remain in hypnosis. It can be as little as a minute or any length of time that is uniquely appropriate for you. Even though the subconscious mind is not limited by the concept of time, it also has an excellent sense of how much time has passed. Trust that your subconscious mind will let you know when your predetermined time is up and allow you to easily come out of trance.
- Now, with your eyes open, pick a spot on the wall or ceiling and focus your attention on it. Keep that focus for a few cycles of your breathing until you notice your eyes beginning to feel tired.
- Let your eyes close down. Notice the relaxation around your eyes as your breathing begins to slow down while all the tiny muscles around your eyes begin to feel very loose, limp, and rested.
- Think to yourself how your eyes are feeling so loose, limp, and rested that even if you were to try to open them they just wouldn’t open. If it makes things easier, you can simply pretend that’s what is happening.
- Now try to open your eyes and find that you cannot. The more you try, the more relaxed they become.>
- Stop trying and let that feeling of relaxation flow from the top of your head to the tips of your toes like a cascading waterfall as each exhalation of your breath takes you down deeper and deeper.
If you like you can take yourself even deeper down by imagining that you are standing at the top of a staircase. The staircase has seven steps going down. Begin counting slowly from seven down to one as you start walking down the stairs. Feel yourself moving down with each step and each count. As you take each step you can quietly or silently say to yourself, “Seven…going deeper down…feelings of relaxation and ease moving through my body…Six…going deeper still…feeling good…feeling safe…Five…going deeper and deeper down…” And so on.
When you get to the last step imagine you have arrived at the deepest level of hypnosis. You can then simply enjoy that experience for your predetermined time.
When the time is up (again, your subconscious mind will let you know), turn around and walk back up the steps as you count from one back up to seven. You can narrate the process by saying things like, “One…moving back up the stairs now…Two…moving up the stairs towards normal waking consciousness…Three…beginning to feel more and more awake now…” and so on.
Knowing how to put yourself into hypnosis is a powerful tool for healing. Even if it’s only used to relax, reset, and reground yourself it can help interrupt panic attacks, soothe stressful feelings, and simply give you the space to step back from challenging situations and to assess the most skillful course of action, giving you back control of your emotional state.
