Free Online Self-Hypnosis Training Course
Lesson IV: Hypnotic Regime Change
© Donald Robertson 2006

Now you have learned how to use autosuggestion, relaxation and self-hypnosis.  It's time to consider how to make more systematic use of hypnosis.  Don't be a therapy dilettante, an amateur and a dabbler.  Once you have grasped the basic techniques, put them to work systematically for your own benefit.  M. Scott Peck famously opened his bestselling self-help classic The Road Less Travelled with the words, "Life is difficult."  The ancient Stoic philosophers, who are the real precursors of modern therapy, had already gone much further by making their slogan, Vivere Militare Est, "Life is warfare!"

Look around you.  Except for the fortunate few, there is no magic wand, quick fix, golden ticket, silver bullet or panacea.  Another philosopher, Spinoza, is admired for artfully compressing a piece of sound wisdom into the maxim: "All excellent things are as difficult as they are rare."  Contemplate his words; he was talking about training the mind.  A little bit of perseverance and elbow grease is required, otherwise everyone would be enlightened already and the world would be an idyll.

If you are really serious about learning self-hypnosis or about achieving a specific goal, follow the instructions below.  They will guide you through the process of developing an intensive therapeutic regime for yourself.

Fractionated Hypnosis

In hypnotism, "fractionation" refers to the idea of splitting a process up into parts ("fractions").  It is common practice in both clinical hypnotherapy and stage hypnosis to increase the depth of hypnotic trance by repeatedly re-hypnotising someone several times in a row using a similar induction method.  The process of deepening hypnosis is therefore divided (fractionated) into several brief hypnotic trances.

We have developed a Hypno-CBT^® protocol called "Intensive Hypno-CBT^®" which involves fractionating not just the hypnotic induction but the whole process of hypnotherapy into a series of short "bursts" of hypnotic trance.  This means entering self-hypnosis many times in a row, for repeat doses of intense autosuggestion.  Clark Hull, one of the pioneers of behavioural research on hypnosis, attempted to investigate the nature of hypnotic suggestion by comparing a series of laboratory experiments.  Speaking of the curve of heightened suggestibility, Hull writes,

Once the trance (lid-closure) has been induced, the curve seems to rise a little at one minute and to fall somewhat at two minutes, after which there is a gradual rise until the end of the ten minute period.  (Hull, Hypnosis & Suggestibility, 1933: 308)

If this is correct, it would demonstrate peak level of heightened suggestibility for the period of roughly 1-2 minutes following eye-closure.  Indeed, this is consistent with the views of some stage hypnotists, who see this point in the process as a crucial window of opportunity for suggestion.

In practical terms, this might suggest that several consecutive rapid bursts (e.g., 3 minute) of hypnosis or self-hypnosis might be more powerful than one long (e.g., 20 min.) self-hypnotic session.  We have, in fact, found this to be consistent with our experience of clinical practice.

Exercise: Intensive Hypno-CBT^®

Before beginning, pick a situation that you want to change (see lesson 3) and an appropriate autosuggestion.  We will call this scene the "target situation."  If possible, quantify changes in your level of emotional distress by using a SUD (subjective units of distress) scale.  Before you begin check the starting level by thinking of the target situation as if it is happening now, and rating your level of emotional discomfort or distress from 0-10, where "0" means no discomfort and "10" means that it is as distressing as you can imagine it being.  Using a gauge like this is known to accelerate the process of therapeutic change.  When you are ready begin following the fractionated protocol below. 

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.  Close your eyes and take a few moments to relax.

2. Turn your gaze upwards and look at your forehead.  Keep your eyes continually rolling up and back as far as is comfortable.  Very slowly raise your eyelids and open your eyes, keep looking up at your forehead.  (If this is too uncomfortable, as Braid suggests, look at a point on the ceiling instead.)

3. Count slowly backwards from five under your breath.  Allow your eyelids to grow heavy and close before you reach zero.

4. Command your unconscious with the hypnotic trigger words "SLEEP NOW."  Say the words to yourself in your mind, and imagine a big wave of relaxation spreading deep inside.

5. Relax your eyes, face, body, and mind completely and rest for a moment.

6. Focus your attention upon the target situation and repeat your autosuggestion 3-5 times.  Each time, focus on believing in your words more deeply, imagine what it would feel like to believe in the suggestion completely.

7. Check your SUD scale and see what number you have now.  Make a mental note of the number.

8.  Count more energetically from one to three and open your eyes as you do so.

9. Return to step two above and repeat the cycle as many times as is comfortable.

This is an intensive process and can be quite tiring.  Do not push yourself too far in the beginning.  However, persevere as far as is comfortable because the repetition and fatigue are central to the effectiveness of this technique.

Measuring Progress

We recommend that you use a simple chart to record your therapeutic progress when using techniques like those described above.  The form below is a simplified version of one we use in hypnotherapy, for clients to record their progress between sessions.  Simply record the situation you wish to focus upon and change your responses to, your starting level of discomfort toward it, and the autosuggestion you feel is most appropriate to increasing your confidence and ability to relax and cope better with things.  We have completed a sample chart for you below to help illustrate things,

Example Table

Now you can print off and complete your own answers on the blank table below,

Blank Table

Exercise: Socratic Meditation

A powerful variation of the Hypnotic Mediation technique you learned in previous lessons, involves contemplating the meaning, or essence, of a concept in a manner that allows you to develop your philosophical understanding.  Follow the same procedure for Hypnotic Meditation given earlier.  However, this time, when you have finished, attempt to formulate your experience as best you can in words.  Imagine, if you like, that you are speaking to a wise figure, like Socrates himself, and explaining as best you can the essence of the concept you have been meditating on.  As always, an alternative method would be to imagine that you are speaking to yourself, as if looking in a mirror.  Keep things simple and concise.  Do not allow yourself to wander into elaborate digressions or complex analysis.  You can use sentence completion to help you do this, e.g., begin with the words "Courage is..." and put your own ending on the sentence.  Do this as many times as possible, attempting to deepen your understanding each time.  If it helps to focus your attention, hold a picture in your hand, or look in the mirror.  Use as few words as possible to sum up your understanding of the concept, focusing upon the essence of things.  You might even draw a sketch or diagram, or create a brief poem or metaphor to illustrate your understanding.

Do your best.  Don't worry if you find it difficult.  Consider this analogy: Socrates famously asked many intelligent people who claimed to be experts on a particular subject to try explain the essence of it to him.  For example, he asked lawyers and politicians to speak about "justice", priests to talk about "piety", or soldiers to explain "courage" to him.  They would begin very confidently, but Socrates kept asking more and more questions, relentlessly pressing them for a concise definition, the very essence of the virtue in question.  The "experts" were often surprised and humiliated by how difficult they found it to explain something they normally took for granted in this way.  This led to an anxious feeling called "aporia", a kind of confusion or bewilderment which Plato compares to being physically paralysed.  Some people became irritated with this and walked away from discussion with Socrates, dismissing him as a mere sophist, a charlatan.  However, a few brave individuals accepted this uncomfortable feeling and continued to debate until they began to feel they were getting somewhere, achieving a much deeper level of insight  than they had previously imagined.  They had to go through the discomfort of confusion in order to let go of their preconceptions and look at things afresh.  This is what Aristotle meant when he said that philosophy begins with a sense of wonder.  In the end, Socrates offended the wrong people, and was executed by his enemies for asking too many difficult questions.  His famous slogan, "I know only that I know nothing", alludes to the fact that he became more wise the more he questioned his own preconceived ideas and those of others.  His death made him the most important pagan martyr of the ancient world and secured the philosophical tradition for posterity.

The Secret Doctrine of Plato

In his Seventh Letter, Plato, the most famous disciple of Socrates, discusses the fact that the philosophers of his school practised a "disciplined way of life" consisting of a "daily routine" of contemplative meditation.  He explains that students first choose a word or "name" to contemplate.  This was typically the name of a "virtue" such as wisdom, integrity, self-discipline, or courage.  The students would constantly debate the meaning of the word with each other, just like Socrates did, and try to arrive at a concise definition of its essence.  They would also find an image that represented or illustrated the concept. 

These three ingredients -name, definition, image- were worked together in the mind to constitute a fourth ingredient, accurate belief or judgement about the meaning of the concept.

It is only by the constant use of all four instruments, moving back and forth from one to another, that acquaintance with what is in its nature good can be engendered –and that with great effort- in a soul which is itself naturally good. […] It is only when all these things, names and definitions, visual and other sensations, are rubbed together and subjected to tests in which questions and answers are exchanged in good faith and without malice that finally, when human capacity is stretched to its limit, a spark of understanding and intelligence flashes out and illuminates the subject at issue.  That is why any serious student of serious realities will shrink from making truth the helpless object of men's ill-will by committing it to writing.  (Plato, Seventh Epistle)

Plato therefore makes it clear that when this spark of deeper understanding does come it is very difficult to put into words, referring to it as a "mighty secret."  Paradoxically, the existence of this secret doctrine was itself an "open secret" in ancient times.  It was contained in a spoken lesson called "The Lecture on the Good", though we can only guess at exactly what it said and how Plato taught it,

No treatise by me concerning it exists or ever will exist.  It is not something that can be put into words like other branches of learning; only after long partnership in a common life devoted to this very thing does truth flash upon the soul, like a flame kindled by a leaping spark.  (Plato, Seventh Epistle)

Perhaps this technique helps to explain the legendary "Socratic Irony", the paradox of how Socrates came to be considered so wise while claiming to know nothing...  If you practice this method for yourself, you will increasingly struggle to put your experience into words, but by making the effort you will gain something more, and of tremendous value.

Graduation

Now you've reached the end of the course, all that remains is for you to put your new skills to good practice.  If you're looking for more information are have any more questions about self-hypnosis please feel free to contact us, we're always happy to help.

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