“Odysseus’ rage mounted within him… His heart growled inside like a bitch guarding her helpless pups, snarling, ready to fight when she sees a stranger… But, striking his chest, he said: “Be still my heart…” Thus he reproved himself, subdued his inner unrest and prepared to endure.” (The Odyssey, c. 700 BC, XX: 15)
Hypnosis and meditation are different things. However, they are closely related in many respects. That means that people who learn meditation are often already very good at doing self-hypnosis. It also means that hypnosis and meditation can complement each other, e.g., self-hypnosis is often used to improve meditation skills.
Exercise: The Benson Method
In the 1970s, at Harvard Medical School in America, Professor Herbert Benson carried out a seminal programme of research into the means by which the body's physiological "relaxation response" could be triggered. Benson studied various meditation and relaxation techniques and compared their results. He found that most were equally effective in inducing physical signs of deep relaxation. For example, within twenty minutes of practice, the heart rate usually lowers by about 5bpm, blood pressure reduces, oxygen consumption decreases by about 15% and blood lactate levels lower. Current NHS guidelines, therefore, recommend relaxation techniques for the treatment of hypertension (high blood pressure), though as Benson rightly observes, common sense dictates that to the extent any condition is caused or worsened by stress it can potentially be helped by relaxation therapy.
Benson developed a simplified form of meditation which was quicker and easier to teach than other methods but was shown to be just as effective at a physiological level. It simply consists of repeating a word on each out breath for about twenty minutes. Perhaps most importantly, his research demonstrated that the attitude of the participant was more important than the type of technique they used. It is normal for the mind to wander when first learning a meditation or relaxation technique. Perfectionist people who saw this as a sign of failure were more likely to become tense and made slow progress as a result. People who were indifferent and accepting toward "distractions" -who just "shrugged them off" said "so what?" and returned to the exercise- were more relaxed and made much better progress as a result. Benson even suggests that if you fall asleep you should simply continue the exercise for five minutes after you wake as if nothing has happened.
This is a modified version of Benson's technique of eliciting the relaxation response,
1. Sit with your feet flat on the floor and your hands separated and resting on your lap. (Crossing your hands or legs will cause "pins and needles" and make you more likely to fidget.)
2. Close your eyes and relax. Take three deep breaths, exhale slowly on each breath and let your body become as comfortable and relaxed as you can imagine.
3. Each time you exhale, say the word "PEACE" to yourself in your mind.
4. If your mind wanders, tell yourself it doesn't matter and just continue with the exercise. Be relaxed about everything.
5. Continue for about twenty minutes. When you are finished, simply stretch your hands and open your eyes.
We recommend that once you are familiar with the basic technique you begin to introduce an emotional element by imagining that you are gently smiling to yourself inside as you meditate. Some Buddhists, for example, remind themselves to do this by assuming a "half-smile" during meditation, a faint smile on their face. Learn to relax in this way. The Benson Method forms a good preparation for the technique which we call Hypnotic Meditation.
Exercise: Hypnotic Meditation
The subtle but crucial difference between the Benson Method and Hypnotic Meditation is that the Benson Method works by repetition of a monotonous stimulus, the sound of a word; the meaning is relatively unimportant. In his later work, Beyond the Relaxation Response (1984), Benson acknowledged that focusing upon the meaning of repeated phrases such as short prayers could elicit what he called the "Faith Factor." However, he was primarily concerned with the general spiritual meaning of a word like "God", "Om" or "Allah", or a phrase like "Om Mani Padme Hung" or "The Lord is my shepherd." As it stands, therefore, his technique is virtually indistinguishable from the well-known contemplative meditation method described in The Cloud of Unknowing, a famous Christian mystical text written by an anonymous English priest of the late Fourteenth Century.
A naked intent directed to God, without any other desire than him alone, is all that is required. And if you want to sum up just what this intent is, and to remember it more easily, then choose any small word of one syllable (the shorter the better) which harmonises with the Spirit's work. For example 'God' or 'Love', or whatever suits you best -but make sure it is of one syllable. Then cling on to it so that it is fixed forever within you, come what may.
This word will be both your shield and spear, in peace and war. [...] If any thoughts try to engage your mind, respond with that one word. [...] If you do this unfailingly, thought will not stay. Why? Because you have not let it feed on other thoughts in helpful meditations, as we've already said. (The Cloud of Unknowing, §7)
The only difference appears to be that Benson recommends using either a single word or a short phrase of less than six or seven words, rather than a single syllable. This is simply a practical measure to ensure the phrase is short enough to be repeated with each exhalation of breath. However, it does not seem to have occurred to Benson to combine his method with theories of hypnotic suggestion in this respect by substituting the practical meaning of a specific autosuggestion (such as "I feel calm") for the spiritual meaning of religious phrases.
In Hypnotic Meditation the phrase is used as an autosuggestion, not just an empty sound, and so the focus of attention is upon its meaning rather than the sound. People sometimes overlook this difference because the technique is very similar on the surface; but underneath the whole mechanism is different. The Relaxation Response is behavioural, hypnosis is cognitive. Hypnotic Meditation requires a little more skill and so we recommend you practice the Benson Method first until you are able to use it easily. Benson's Faith Factor is closer to what we mean and the phrase used in self-hypnosis might be a spiritual affirmation or symbol, but it is usually a personal psychological affirmation.
1. Remove your spectacles, if you wear them. Sit with your feet flat on the floor and your hands separated and resting on your lap.
2. Turn your eyes up and look at your forehead; keep your eyes rolling up and back as far as is comfortable.
3. Each time you exhale, say the word "PEACE" to yourself in your mind or under your breath. Focus your mind on the idea of "peace", believe that you feel peace, imagine a feeling of peace deep inside. As you do so, imagine your eyelids are growing heavy and want to close.
4. Let your eyelids close slowly. Relax completely.
5. Continue repeating the word "peace" in your mind as an autosuggestion, a gentle command to yourself. Focus your attention on its meaning, and imagine that you feel peace deep inside. Keep bringing your mind back to that feeling, and patiently work on making it grow.
6. Again, if your mind wanders, tell yourself it doesn't matter and just continue with the exercise. Be relaxed about everything.
7. Continue for about twenty minutes. When you are finished, simply stretch your hands and open your eyes.
Of course, you can substitute any similarly suggestive phrase, e.g., "STRENGTH", "LOVE", "COURAGE", etc., for your meditation.
An alternate method is to count while repeating the meditation phrase. This is best done by counting on each alternate breath, from one to ten, as follows,
1... Strength... 2... Strength... 3... Strength... [And so on...]
Repeat each number on an out breath, followed by your phrase on the next out breath. Continue like this until you reach ten and then start again. Likewise, if you lose count it doesn't matter, just patiently start again from one. Many people find the advantage of counting to be that it prevents their mind from wandering and helps them to maintain a passive focus on the exercise.
Exercise: Symbol Suggestion
Hypnotic Meditation employs an old hypnotic technique called "symbol suggestion." Instead of a script or a detailed phrase, it uses a short phrase, or even a single word as the suggestion. Symbol suggestion takes advantage of a technique known as "pre-suggestion", whereby a series of suggestions are prepared in advance before being triggered during hypnosis.
"You have given yourself the suggestion fully and forcefully as a pre-hypnotic suggestion. You have, so to speak, loaded the gun. When you think the symbol, you are merely pulling the trigger on a gun which is already loaded." (Cooke and van Vogt, 1956)
Take time to make sure that you have a clear sense of what you want to achieve, therefore, before you begin to meditate in this way. Some students have even found it useful to draw a diagram or mental map of the idea they wish to symbolise for meditation.
1. Pick a goal that you want to achieve. Choose a word or short phrase to symbolise it. For example, you might want to pass an exam and choose the word "knowledge" to symbolise achieving your goal.
2. Write down a description of your goal phrased, as far as possible, according to the rules of suggestion. Make it as powerfully worded and detailed as possible.
3. If possible, read your description aloud three times. Put passion into your words. Visualise your goal as if it is happening now. Get as clear and detailed an image and sense of it as possible.
4. Hold the piece of paper in your hand or clasp it to your heart.
5. Continue with the Hypnotic Meditation exercise described above. Instead of the word "peace", contemplate the meaning of your own symbol suggestion. Continue for as long as possible.
Self-Hypnosis˛
If you are struggling at first, or wish to develop your technique, we suggest
that you use this technique in a circular manner. One of the most
powerful features of suggestion, arguably the essence of all hypnosis, is that
the fact that suggestion can be used to increase responsiveness to suggestion
itself, either directly or indirectly. For instance, you might feel that
you are impatient when using hypnotic meditation; as we have seen, that is a
common problem. In that case, contemplate the meaning of "patience",
define what it would really mean in the context of meditation, imagine being
patient about meditation, and meditate upon that very idea. We call this
"Self-Hypnosis˛", the use of hypnosis, in a circular manner, to enhance
precisely the qualities which make hypnosis more effective.
Practice these techniques until you feel confident in using them. When you are ready, you can proceed to the next lesson.
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