A 20 minute Crash Course In Self-Hypnosis transcript

[Music] so hello for quite a while now I've wanted to have a playlist on my youtube channel the teachers a wide range of self-hypnosis applications some techniques for enhancing well-being using self-hypnosis so I'm in coming weeks I'm going to be doing just that offering lots of different techniques and strategies to combine with self-hypnosis however those videos are unlikely to be useful or stimulating if you don't know how to engage in the self-hypnosis process to begin with of course you know what one great way of learning is to grab a copy of my book and the science of self-hypnosis the evidence-based way to hypnotize yourself I'll also put a link on this page wherever you're watching this video or in the comment section below to a roadmap document that you can download for free which will give you a kind of I'm a written version of lots of what I'm talking about in this video lots of what I'm going to be talking about today the process in particular so today I thought I'd talk you through and give you a bit of a crash course if you like I'll talk you through the self-hypnosis process that I recommend and teach and that is informed by research I published a peer-reviewed journal article last year that offered up the first ever systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical applications of self-hypnosis and this is the process that advances the chances of success according to that review the six steps are simply this you know you adopt the hypnotic mindset you induce hypnosis you deepen self hypnosis you apply the hypnotic skill or engage in the process that is the focus of that particular session their new exit self-hypnosis and then you reflect and ratify and develop so step on you you adopt the hypnotic mindset when when you're practicing the self-hypnosis skills you want to be sat in an upright receptive posture with a straight back crown of your head pointing towards the ceiling ideally do not lie down or slouched you know unless you're looking to go to sleep be attentive and receptive while you're learning these skills so we conceptualize hypnosis in terms of the hypnotic mindset ah got a video on that and this mindset consists of factors such as belief imagination expectation attitudes to hypnosis motivation depth of roll involvement by adopting this mindset you become more responsive to the hypnotic suggestions you'll be giving yourself so hypnosis simply means a set of attitudes and behaviors that mediate hypnotic responses the mindset consists of positive attitudes which can potentially facilitate and enhance self hypnosis for you and aid imaginal absorption and engagement with the suggestions that you'll be giving yourself when you're underway so if the hypnotic mindset put simply can be seen as being motivated to be hypnotized and being confident in your ability to respond being optimistic about the process and expecting to automatically experience the responses being suggested if you do those things you'll tend to respond better because you are in the right mindset for self-hypnosis therefore when you are using self-hypnosis and you tell yourself that your eyelids feel really heavy um as we're going to be doing later all in this video do you expect that to happen then do all you can to make that your reality and make believe that they are closing all by themselves so we'll begin the hypnosis with an induction there's going to involve a I fix a ssin simply recognize that the hypnotic induction that's the the cue to adopt your hypnotic mindset start to actively imagine the things that that are being suggested as vividly as you're able focus on the suggestions and make them your reality as much as you can be relaxed throughout there's that there's no success or failure there's no need to put excess conscious effort in just imagine the things being suggested are your reality convinced yourself of them there make believe that they are happening all by themselves so you know be motivated to develop the skill recognize that you are an active agent in the process and like I said earlier don't try too hard likewise don't be too passive just relax and imagine things as vividly as you can making them your own reality so this is a skill that you'll get better at when you adopt this favorable mindset I'm kind of laboring that there's a video or on my YouTube channel and that goes into that separately if you want to look at that but once you've adopted this mindset you now induce self-hypnosis of step two is is we're going to do the eye fixation induction process and the two main reasons for the fixed gaze technique firstly it induces a feeling of sleepiness by closing the eyes slowly and secondly it creates a sense of intense concentration through staring so after developing this technique James Braid found that most people's eyes would close within 20 to 30 seconds if they follow the instructions properly make that your aim the main factors are that firstly you must use your imagination to make your eyes feel like closing and secondly you must keep your gaze absolutely fixed in a position which makes the eyes feel tired and and ideally without deviating from that particular fixed spot that you're going to stare up and these can be called complimentary behavioral and cognitive strategies so behaviorally the eye fixation you know have a physical posture that resembles that of someone who is concentrating very intently and then falling asleep this behavioral strategy can be broken down so first of all you stare intently as if completely absorbed in a single point second allow your eyes to close very slowly as if you're falling asleep and struggling to keep them open you know adopt that role and then thirdly relax your body completely and remain still and silent acting as if you are falling asleep then fourth allow your breathing to relax imagine it becoming more regular and shallow you can think of yourself as an actor behaving in such a way as to to mimic somebody falling asleep and the eyes closing accordingly and cognitively you know at the same time user is a kind of mental strategy to increase the physical response rather than closing your eyes as normal therefore use your imagination to make your eyes feel like closing it doesn't matter how you do this you might use memories mental images imagined sensations or verbal sensations or suggestions that that you say to yourself in your mind so there are some typical strategies which lots of people use first of all you might simply remember what it feels like when your eyes are very tired and you can't keep them open and then relive that feeling as much as possible I'm secondly you might imagine it you've been staring for hours and that your eyes are incredibly tired and they just want to close and thirdly you might imagine that your eyelids are somehow growing bigger and heavier and want to just close down or fourth you might imagine that there are little weights pulling your eyelids down or fifth imagine that a bright light is shining in your eyes or that a breeze is blowing in them making them want to close and aiding you in triggering the blink reflex or you know finally you might just tell yourself in your mind you know my eyes are growing heavy sleepy and tired they're closing they're closing and then repeat these or any other words that you find useful in the right manner and convince yourself you know create your reality when using verbal suggestions to yourself you should use a tone of voice in your imagination which evokes the feelings that you want you know if you want to relax then use a soothing voice if you want to feel energized you know use use a motivating for voice and say it like you mean it have confidence and expectation and everything you do expectation is vital don't try to fight your imagination and you know don't treat the eyes closing as if it's an endurance event just just let your eyelids close by themselves sometimes become a little bit tense when they're doing this for the first few times so it helps to perhaps pause when your eyelids have closed and just focus on relaxing the muscles around your eyes and your eyelids for a little while then your face and and then your entire body so to recap once you've adopted this hypnotic mindset engage in the eye fixation process at the beginning of every self hypnosis session you know you'll pick a spot on the wall or the ceiling in front of you then without raising your head raise your eyes up so you raise your gaze up until it becomes very slightly uncomfortable to maintain your gaze on that particular spot then you'll look steadily at that spot in a highly focused fashion in order to hypnotize yourself relax and focus your attention throughout and then gradually you engage in self-hypnosis and do your best just to concentrate on that spot and imagine vividly that your eyelids are getting tired and heavy convince yourself believe it to be happening tell yourself that they're getting heavy adopt the role that is act as if they're getting heavy and then just let your eyes close nicely so you know you're just going to focus on that target pay attention to how the target or the spot on the wall changes how the shadows play around it and how it sometimes is fuzzy sometimes clear whatever you see is okay you just keep staring at that spot telling yourself convincing yourself that your eyelids are heavier more tired and that you want them to close and after a while you'll have stared long enough you've convinced yourself that your eyes feel very tired and you wish strongly that they were closed and then they will close as if by themselves and when this happens just let it happen let it happen once your eyes are closed you then move on to the next step step three which is to deepen your experience of self-hypnosis and what do we mean by deepen what does that mean um first let me say to you um I mean you want to keep aware and engaged okay so to deepen does not mean to be zonked out and and forget where you are or what your name is um you don't want to nod off or fall asleep that that's not useful um hypnotic deepening techniques that there's a kind of widely held assumption shared by many members of the public and even many hypnotherapists that deepening involves relaxation and sleepy feelings but you know that that's little more than a common misconception really um if someone is so relaxed that they can hardly move a muscle they are unlikely to respond as well to two suggestions of being energized or motivated or enthusiastic as someone who is in an active and alert and focused psycho physiological state already so that's the reason that alert hypnosis is often preferred by modern hypnotist when motivating the pressed clients or sporting performance most deep iners used by self-hypnosis fall into a variety of categories depending on what they seem to primarily be trying to deepen or increase and these categories involve being deeply absorbed being highly focused or dissociated as well as being relaxed when deepening your experience of self-hypnosis make it your aim to become focused deeply absorbed develop your hypnotic mindset further and that will serve you best so to start with though just use a really basic counting deep inner this is whereby you simply count down in your imagination from 10 to 0 or from 20 to 0 imagine that with each number that you count that your body and mind are relaxing much more deeply or that you are becoming and being much more uplifted or that you are walking down some steps with each count focus on the idea of advancing your focus or your relaxation for example very deeply by the time that you reach zero and you can repeat this part of the process if you wanted you can do it a couple of times in order to deepen and absorb yourself further and really create expectation and so on and tell yourself throughout but this is how in you to become more absorbed in the hypnosis process while being positive adopting the role of the self hypnotist while counting tell yourself that you're becoming more deeply hypnotized believe it and and and dominate don't stop disturb you so you've adopted the hypnotic mindset you've induced hypnosis you've deepened the self hypnosis another fun part step four is the skills exercise or the hypnotic phenomena and what do we mean by hypnotic phenomenon well this is our effect the effect that we're going to create with within the hypnosis session with spaced stage hypnotists for example they may create the effects of people believing that there's someone else and with hypnotherapists they create effects of being free of habits for example with us here and to start with we're going to create an effect that is you believe that a pin is stuck to your hand really useful life skill but the pen being stuck to your hand is our aim and and you believing it is so that's the hypnotic phenomena that's the effect that you aim to create in this first skills exercise so in practical terms you're gonna raise your arm out in front of you totally straight at the shoulder with the pen in your fingers and thumb pointed downwards like it is here this is how you position your arm you'll obviously have your eyes closed and you must likely be sat down so in a sense the ideal hypnotic response to the suggestion can be compared to the ability to become deeply absorbed in the content of a story so much that it invokes physical and emotional reactions here you make the responses that are suggested you know that the that the pen is stuck to your hand but you pay no attention to the fact that you're making the suggestion instead you just devote your full undivided and continuous attention to the suggestions and believing in the suggestion that the pen is stuck okay and create that reality make it your reality imagine it's happening all by itself your job is to do everything that is required of someone making believe such a thing you know you've got to lift your arm up and you've got to imagine that the pen is stuck to your hand and anything else you wish to imagine that is consistent with such a make-believe situation now of course the pen would not really be stuck to your hand by itself and you must make it happen and you must believe that it is happening in reality you can make it feel like it's stuck to your fingers all by itself by focusing on the make-believe situation that your fingers are locked in place and that the pen is truly stuck to your fingers and thumb so cognitively you know within your mind mentally you focus your attention upon the expectant dominant idea of the pen being stuck in your hand and the fingers and thumb being locked around it holding it in place imagine it to be stuck make believe that it is so relaxed and convince yourself of it use the elements of the hypnotic mindset and expect the outcome to occur you know adopt the role behaviorally you simply voluntarily lift your arm nice and slowly hold the pen imagine it's locked and shut in place while imagining that it's happening of its own accord so you know adopt the role behave as if this is your absolute reality behave as if it is really happening act and believe in your acting believe that your acting is actually happening all by itself imagine it being stuck make it your reality that it is stuck believe it undeniably convince yourself okay then once you're sure it's stuck test it and move on you only need to have created the effect for a short while at first imagine that the pen unsticks itself and drop the pen imagine it drop it let your arm move gently back down into your lap to wear it again I've mentioned this a couple is are kind of alluded to the effort error a number of experts have observed the paradoxical tendency for people to become more tense when they're trying so hard to create any kind of hypnotic effect such as sticking the pen to their hand and this is known as the effort error or the law of a reversed effect do not try too hard to make things happen do not exert excess physical or mental effort just gently believe the outcome will happen and then believe it happening all by itself be gently assured of it then we have our step 5 we exit we exit self-hypnosis before exiting you thank yourself you'd be appreciative of yourself you know it's a lovely thing to do to invest time and energy in your setup in your own you know psychological development so you can then exit by simply taking a couple of deeper breaths wiggling your fingers and your toes and opening your eyes and orienting yourself I'm if you want to be a bit more thorough then you count from one to five to yourself and your mind you can see something along the following lines when I count one I have full control and flexibility and coordination throughout my entire body from the tips of my toes to the top of my head from the tips of my fingers and thumbs to my shoulder my my entire body and any feelings of lightness or heaviness return to the true and correct sense of perspective when I count to myself back in the place where I where I started with the hypnosis remembering and recalling what was to my left and right above and below me remembering and recalling some some features of the place when I count three all sounds return to their true and correct perspective and have their true levels of importance when I count four I'm keeping and bringing with me all the wonderful benefits of this particular hypnotic session and and all of the belief in my hypnotic skills count 5 I just opened my eyes to be emerged from hypnosis and you'll encounter from from one through to five open your eyes take some deep breaths with some purpose wiggle your fingers and so on if you can't remember all of those steps all of that kind of verbiage I'm simply count from 1 through to 5 take some deep breaths reorient yourself with your surroundings so then step 6 we've on a ratify erm reflect and feedback to ourselves so once you're out of self-hypnosis you you you you want to then encourage yourself and build upon what you've just done identify and highlight what went well and give yourself some praise and heighten your belief that you can get better it's proven that you can create more positive expectancy for the next skill that you practice the next session you have reflect upon what you did in that session maybe even highlight anything you may have missed or you could have done better so that you can fine-tune your skills for the next time you practice it be progressive with yourself be supportive encourage yourself in the same way that you'd encourage a loved one to do anything better as well and then it's time for you to practice you know you go ahead and you do the following you adopt the hypnotic mindset you induce hypnosis using AI fixation you deep him by counting from 10 down to zero or 20 down to zero and then you hold the pen we do the skill the application hold the pen in your hand extend it stick it to your hand once you've tested that it's stuck you can sort the suggestions you drop the pen then you exit hypnosis by Counting from one to five and then finally you reflect upon what you did well and what you believe you can do even better next time um so so you know you practice this particular process develop the skill and you'll be in a wonderful position to then start using the applications that I'm going to be sharing I'm here it in some videos in the coming weeks and that's it for today do subscribe this channel to go visit my college website for more information about my classroom based and online courses and my members area it's a paradise for hypnosis geeks goodbye for now [Music] you [Music]