Revision A.
Expanded Instructions with added instructions on Equanimity- Self hypnosis, intro Part 1 the Theory and a beginning practice suggestion
All hypnosis is self hypnosis. The “hypnotist” is the teacher and coach, but it is what you do to yourself that determines how much the self hypnotic exercise will help you. Like anything else the more you practice the better you will get at it and the more helpful it will be.
How does it work? Hypnosis induces a trance state which is like a day dream, but one in which you are aware of what is happening and can control it. In the trance state your mind is highly focused and relaxed making it more receptive to helpful suggestions.
The mind operates in two modes , the thinking-doing mode, and the experiencing-feeling mode. In the feeling experiencing mode one is closer to the unconscious mind and the autonomic nervous system that protect and can heal the body and the mind. To access these you need to shift from the thinking mode to the experiencing mode, you can do this gradually or more rapidly depending on the approach you use.
A gradual way is to do it use mindfulness based breathing, which will put you in a focused relaxed state, making your mind more available to respond to helpful suggestions, which is the essence of all hypnosis. A more rapid approach is facilitated by creating a temporary state of relative tension, and then letting it go. Again various breathing techniques can be used. Once in the relaxed focused state it can be deepened by using further focusing on the breathing and adding visualizations.
Mindfulness based breathing is involved with all of these methods and is simple and good place to begin. You can use mindfulness based breathing to get into the self induced hypnotic trance state and then use it to deepen the trance increasing concentration, calm, body relaxation, to decrease emotional reactivity and to help stabilize the mood all necessary factors needed to help the mind accept helpful suggestions.
Technique of Mindfulness based breathing:
This is what you will do. Stay in the present moment, focus only on your breathing, accepting each breath for what its, not changing it or controlling it, allowing its wave like nature to unfold, as you feel the physical sensations over and over, and again and again. This will put you into a relaxed calm and focused state, and as you practice this you will be distracted and this is to be expected and is normal, and when this happens, just return again and again to feeling the breathing sensations. Both your focus on the breathing and your returning back to the breathing when you are distracted will result in progressively increased concentration, calm and relaxation. With practice and time your mind will be more and more ready for helpful suggestions. The mind accepts suggestions when it is ready and they are available from the present reality.
Exercise 1. Mindfulness based breathing self hypnosis technique with added suggestions to help make you more alert and relaxed
Here are some possible steps in the process:
Part A- The” Basic Technique”:
1. Notice your mental state, in terms of what you are feeling, thinking and how your body feels and get off auto pilot,
2. Next, become aware of your breathing,
3. Then breathe in a mindful helpful way,
4. Breathe to gain more and more concentration and calm and until you are focused and relaxed
5. When concentration is strong and stable you are ready to add some suggestions.
Part B- some beginning suggestions to help alertness and relaxation
It makes sense to practice giving your first suggestions as they are connected with the actual breathing process as you are doing it, in the present moment, as you are experiencing it. This allows the mind especially the unconscious mind to be more likely and available to accept the suggestions. Start where you are and suggest what is readily available and apparent and what you are already experiencing. Build on what is happening and what your are experiencing. Notice as you are breathing that in the in breath, as you take the air in, the is as sense a feeling of increased alertness and being more awake, and on the out breath a s you let the air out, there is a sense and feeling of relaxation and calmness. Practice this and check it out, in breath feel the alertness and on the out breath feel the relaxation and calmness.
One turns this into a self hypnotic exercise by literally saying to yourself either out loud or quietly what is actually happening as it is happening, reinforcing it with your actual thoughts and or words. Do this by saying something like the following.
6. Here are some beginning suggestions.
A. As you breathe in say “ I notice and feel more alert and awake,” and
B. As you breathe out, say “ I notice and fee more relaxed and calm.”
Connect this with actual experience and feel of being more alert and awake having more energy as you take the air in, and with the actual experience of feeling more relaxed and calm as you let the air out and the lungs and your breathing causes actual physical relaxation and mental and emotional calm. As with anything the more your actual practice this the easier it will be, the faster you will feel the effects and the more powerful will be the results.
There are at least two main reasons why you may not practice this or any other exercise, one is lack of Effort which we will discuss latter, and the second reason is distractions, we can become anything from a simple nuisance to the major reason why you won’t or cannot proceed in your practice. First how to deal with distractions.
7. No matter how hard you try you will be distracted by something, this normal and to be expected, just note the distraction and go back to the practice of mindfulness based breathing, gaining more and more concentration and calmness , until you are ready again to give yourself the suggestions. Practice , practice and more practice as you breathe over and over. The formula is:
Breathe, over and over, gaining concentration and calm, get distracted, note it, then go back to breathing, or
Simply, breathe, breathe, get distracted, back to breathing, until distracted again, then back to breathing
8. the breathing with the focus on feeling its physical sensations over and over, become your home base your anchor, no matter what happen, getting distracted is the second part of the process, the distracted must be accepted, with mindful awareness and then letting go of the distraction, leading to more concentration and calm.
9. as you practice this over and over you will experience with and without the actual words and thoughts the something like the following :
“With the In breath notice feeling more alert awake, feeling more energy, feeling better, and on the out breath, more relaxed, and calm, as you let go, and feel better. Over and over, more and more alert , more and more relaxed and calm, feeling better and better, more energy, more alert, more relaxed, calmer and calmer. “
How does this process we call self hypnosis work? Both hypnosis and meditation can open up pathways into parts of the mind we usually don’t have ready and conscious access.
Only a very small part of what we do feel and think is available to our conscious mind and awareness. For the most part most of us walk around in a self induced trance state, that we call auto pilot resulting in automatic repetitive behaviors. We usually not aware we are functioning on this auto pilot. It is to our advantage to become aware of this auto pilot state, find out what we are thinking, feeling and what our body is sensing and doing, and what is motivating us to do what we do. To do this we need the initial awareness and then have good and stable concentration to stay in this aware state so we can study it. Both hypnosis and meditation can help this process. Hypnosis tends to be quicker using some conscious “mental short cuts”, more specific in its aim, but is less comprehensive and complete in its actions and thus long term results.
The self hypnotic process allows a blending and cooperation between the conscious and unconscious mind and the automatic auto pilot mind and the autonomic nervous system mind , and between the thinking doing mind and the experiencing feeling mode of the mind. This results in a balance in and between thinking, feelings and body functions that lead to health and healing of the body, mind and emotions, that will spill over to relationship, and at work, school, and leisure time activities. The alert yet relaxed and calm mental state that self hypnosis and meditation cultivate open up these pathways to health and happiness. To be effective they must be practiced over and over again.
Do these self hypnotic exercise frequently using mindfulness based breathing to help yourself with anything.
Do this when you thing about it throughout the day, anytime anywhere.
It is not unusual one has to use mindfulness based breathing to calm and stabilize the mind before one can use one of the more rapid methods, and or use it together with them to maintain focus and to deepen the trance state. So practice the mindfulness based breathing with a special emphasis on developing increasing mental alertness , body relaxation and emotional calmness.
Exercise 2. Mindfulness based breathing self hypnosis to develop emotional balance or how to accept all mental phenomenon as equal, regardless of their positive or negative or neutral emotional charge.
Part a. Use the “Basic Technique” as outlined above to get into a relaxed, calm and alert state, until you are ready to give yourself some helpful suggestions.
Part b. The helpful suggestions to help emotional balance: as you a doing the breathing exercise you will develop positive or negative feelings about the very process you are doing, trying to stay focused on the breathing, or distractions of some kind will pull your focus off the breathing, likely some thought, emotion, or physical sensation or some outside sensations like a noise or a smell , that will cause negative or positive feelings. Your tendency will be to hold on the positive feelings that you become aware of, and to avoid the negative feelings that arise. The third issue are things that distract are relatively neutral, that the mind notices and glosses over as boring or uninteresting, these neutral things, represent the third type of emotional distraction after positive or negative things. Your goal is to follow these suggestions as it relates to the positive, negative or neutral things as they come up:
Don’t hold on to the positive, don’t avoid the negative and don’t ignore the neutral.
Everything that enters and goes thru our mind has a wave like pattern. It arises, it stays for a while and then it goes away.
You need to give yourself the suggestion to allow whatever arise equal attention, notice and time, allowing it to come, allowing it to be as it is without changing it and to allow it to go away, after it runs its course , and not to prolong it because it feels good, or to make it go away quicker because it feels bad, or to ignore its very existence because it seems boring or uninteresting or neutral, but to treat all mental happenings equally and the same, allowing them to come, to be as they are and to go away.
The actual suggestion would be something like this whatever it is:
“Let it come, let it be, let it go.” When it feels positive and I want more of it, I will accept it for what it is allow its wave like nature to unfold, not wanting more, I allow it to come, allow it to be, without change or interfering, without controlling, or expecting anything, accepting it as it, and then allowing it to go away, letting it, and if it is negative and I want less of it, I will do the same, not avoiding or resisting but , allow it to come, allow it to be, and allow it to go away.
For what appears neutral, “ I will not ignore it , but recognize it for what it is, accept it for what it is, letting it come, letting it be, as I investigate, and then let it go.”
More rapid approach using breathing techniques will follow and include, the Inhalation technique, exhalation technique, deepening though visualization and breathing, using the relaxing eye roll technique alone and in combination with the above techniques.