Countless websites describe how to put yourself into a state of self-hypnosis (good example here). Rarely do they tell you what self-hypnosis is or what physiologically happens to you in this state. Without such an understanding, it is less likely that you will seek meaningful help from self-hypnosis.
What is self-hypnosis physiologically?
Self-hypnosis is the act of stopping yourself from falling completely asleep. Self-hypnosis allows you to set aside most of your conscious mind to give you access to your subconscious to emphasize (instruct) a healthy idea.
In the self-hypnotic state, you experience theta brainwaves like those provided by REM sleep. If you want to learn more about the physiological and mental benefits of self-hypnosis, learn about the benefits of REM sleep.
Theta brainwaves felt during self-hypnosis do the following:
Increase verbal ability
Improve memory recall
Increase IQ performance
Provide deep physical relaxation
Stimulate the release of endorphins and promote euphoria
Enhance creativity and imagination; decrease or eliminate self-consciousness and anxiety
Heighten mental clarity; improve concentration on a single task; decrease awareness of the surrounding environment
Self-hypnosis is so natural that everyone passes through the hypnotic state at least twice every day: once every time you fall asleep and once again when you wake up. If self-hypnosis were harmful, it would have killed all of us long ago.
Anytime you focus on one idea at the exclusion of all else, you may be in a self-hypnotic state.
In the waking state, you can experience varying degrees of hypnotic effects from authority figures such as parents, actors, sports figures, police officers, politicians, cinematic films, and literature. The more authority you give a person or influence, the more powerfully they can affect your subconscious.
You can be attacked by dogs countless times and not become afraid of dogs. But you can become afraid of dogs from one attack if that attack produces a sufficient emotional response within you.
All hypnosis is self-hypnosis
When you undergo hypnotherapy, the psychologist is only helping you to hypnotize yourself. Hypnotists do not have metaphysical powers. They simply know how it's done. You can learn to do it yourself better than a professional hypnotist. This is because:
You know yourself better than anyone else.
You (I hope) trust yourself more than you would a hypnotist.
Conscious vs. subconscious
You are consciously aware of only a small part of who you think you are. Five percent of your mind is the conscious part, while ninety-five percent belongs to the unconscious.
Imagine being the head of an organization of twenty people. This makes you 5% of the group. The other 95% are your nineteen employees. Imagine not being able to communicate with your nineteen employees. Instead, your employees act under their own direction. You are unaware of the direction they’re taking. In such a scenario, what is the likelihood of their acting according to your will?
Will comes from the periphery of your mind. Imagination comes from its core. Imagination will always eventually win out.
Your conscious mind is the mind of choice. Your subconscious mind is the mind of preference. Ultimately, you will choose what your subconscious prefers.
Whether you know it or not, your subconscious drives you almost entirely. If your subconscious is healthy, so will your awareness of and perception of yourself. If it is unhealthy, you will be anxious and fearful. Such deep feelings manifest themselves outwardly in a myriad of destructive behaviors.
Why is the subconscious so dominant in our lives?
We are like blindfolded ants trying to direct a horse. Why is there such a restriction on our conscious mind?
Your subconscious prevents you from changing too quickly, making you less “tossed to and fro.” Your subconscious controls so much of your mind and body that if you had to control all of it consciously, you would not live longer than a few minutes. By design, your conscious mind is weaker than your subconscious mind.
There are roughly 700 muscles in your body. Imagine trying to stand up while consciously controlling each of those 700 muscles. Go ahead, try it.
As a minimum, your subconscious mind,
keeps track of the importance and relevance of your memories
manages involuntary functions of your body, including heartbeat, digestion, circulatory and nervous systems (thousands of miles of blood vessels and nerves), hormones (fifty of them), and immune systems (including two million types of proteins)
provides the center of your emotions, imagination, preferences, and habits
Your subconscious mind is 100% loyal to what it thinks you want and will never give up on its goals. It works 24/7 and never tires.
How can we let our subconscious mind know what we want?
Four ways you can change your subconscious mind
Endure repetition over a very long period of time.
Maintain a strong identification with a group.
Internalize ideas from authority figures, especially when received in an emotional manner.
Use self-hypnosis.
What is the best use of self-hypnosis?
Three words: overcoming emotional habits. Your emotional habits affect you every waking moment of your life. This is okay so long as your emotional habits are healthy.
Emotional afflictions occur automatically. These include,
anxiety
laziness
shyness
insomnia
overeating
overworking
oversleeping
chronic anger
procrastination
disorganization
lack of confidence
Overcoming emotional habits requires enormous willpower over a long period of time. This is because the conscious mind is weaker than the subconscious mind.
Wouldn't it be nice to make your imagination work for you instead of against you? This is what self-hypnosis does.
General information about self-hypnosis you should know
The subconscious mind is like that of a six-year-old. While under self-hypnosis, speak to it aloud using simple thoughts, small words, and short sentences, as if talking to a small child.
All hypnosis is self-hypnosis. Hypnotists have no power over you.
Communication and decision-making systems are still in place.
The state of self-hypnosis is similar to sleep, but your brain remains highly focused on one idea.
Focusing on two ideas while under self-hypnosis will re-arouse your conscious mind and draw you out of self-hypnosis. Reign yourself back from trying to do everything at once.
Under self-hypnosis, speak and think as if what you’re trying to improve has already been improved. Instead of telling yourself, “I want to be happier,” tell yourself, “I enjoy being happy.” Then imagine living happily as if you already were. It will be easy for you to genuinely believe this while you're under self-hypnosis. If you say under self-hypnosis, “I want to be happy,” you're telling your subconscious that you are not presently happy. This may make your life worse.
Under self-hypnosis, you do not entirely suppress your conscious mind. If you do, you will fall asleep as you do every night. This is why learning self-hypnosis techniques requires practice.
Self-hypnosis simplified
If you're reading this, chances are you're a beginner at self-hypnosis. Here is a simple but powerful technique that will give you some success with self-hypnosis. This beginning technique is so powerful it may be all you need.
Every time you fall asleep and every time you wake up, you pass through a mental state called hypnagogia. In such a state, we are much more susceptible to suggestion than during the day. This includes susceptibility to our own suggestions.
I have successfully applied the following techniques in my life:
Wait until you are comfortable in bed and close to falling asleep. The longer you delay the process, the better. Just let yourself begin to fall asleep as you normally would.
Pick one issue in your life that concerns you. Self-hypnosis can only work on one concept at a time. I recommend an easily described issue using only two to five words. If you are struggling with overeating, the words may be, "I eat less." If you are quitting smoking, the words may be, "I hate smoking." If you are reducing anger, the words may be, "I love peacefulness."
When you are in this final state, repeat the several chosen words in your mind. Believe those words. Believe you have already made the desired change in your life. The message is not, "I will eat less," but "I already eat less."
You must use only those preselected words during this process. Do not elaborate. Accept them at face value, as if the issue has already been solved. If you rehearse anything further in your mind, you will drift away from the hypnagogic state.
A few of these sessions will be as effective as years of willpower.
You may be doubtful about this process. But you will not feel such resistance in the hypnagogic state.
About dreams
The point must be made that night dreams are the work of the subconscious. Dreams are always about you. The subconscious mind is the mind of a six-year-old. What would the emotional state of a six-year-old be if he or she were put into an adult setting and expected to deal with adult pressures? I imagine the person would feel like we feel in our dreams: anxious, fearful, intimidated, vulnerable, and hopelessly confused.
Let's give this young, impressionable person some help.
You want to make a decision? Your brain has already made it.
Scientists measuring brain activity have found that when a person makes a conscious decision, the person's brain makes the choice seconds before the person's awareness of making the decision. Scientists can monitor the decision a person is about to make and predict the person's choice before he/she is aware of consciously making the choice. This is eerily close to mind-reading in advance.
Imagine engaging in a battle where the enemy knows your every action before you do. We must, therefore, keep our subconscious as healthy as we can.
Suggestibility vs. Gullibility
Do not confuse suggestibility with gullibility. Gullible people have inadequate critical faculties at all times. Suggestible people have good critical faculties but can dismiss them when they choose.
The five-minute rest
We tend to be in the habit of being continually stressed--to the degree that our bodies and minds never become unstressed. This habit is not healthy.
Five minutes is all it takes to reduce your stress significantly. If you have a few minutes to spare, sit down on your living room couch or some other comfortable, quiet location.
Take note of your breathing and heartbeat.
Just sit or lay there for a while.
After a few minutes, you will notice that you have calmed down significantly. This "semi-relaxed" state may last for hours. If you do this exercise several times daily, you will enjoy a life with significantly less stress.
If you can't spare five minutes from your schedule, your life is over-programmed. It's physiologically unhealthy for you to be in a 24/7 panic. Just because it's common for people to be continually stressed doesn't mean it's healthy.
Practicing this technique several times daily will help train you to recognize when you're experiencing runaway, continuous stress.
iNLP
For online coaching on how to take advantage of self-hypnosis, check out iNLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming), which helps people overcome major life-inhibiting roadblocks using hypnosis, self-hypnosis, and other means. Be sure to read through their informative Blog page.
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