Visualization and Hypnosis to Induce a Lucid Dream
Anyone who has been reading my posts /replies in this forum knows I advocate visualization to induce lucid dreaming. I thought some of you might get a kick out of an article I wrote sometime back about hypnosis in general. Hopefully, some of you will come away from the article with a better understanding on how the sleeping brain works and think of creative ways to visualize yourself into a lucid dream experience.
Hypnotism Revealed
"People have been using hypnosis for about 230 years to reveal lost memories or make suggestions to the subconscious mind. Franz Mesmer stumbled upon the technique in the 1700's (mesmerizing, animal magnetism) but proceeded to completely miss the point. James Braid, taking a more scientific approach, coined the term hypnotism in 1841. We all have the image in our collective conscious of the exotic gentleman with the swinging pendulum inducing a hypnotic state. He seemed to know something we didn't. Read on and that will no longer be the case.
The human race experiences self-hypnosis every day. We don't think of it as self-hypnosis, however. We think of it as falling asleep. When we are awake and active our brains are in what has been termed the Beta brainwave state. When we are relaxed, watching television or looking at the ocean, our conscious mind slows down and enters the Alpha brainwave state. In the processes of falling asleep, meditation and hypnosis the subsequent state; the Theta brainwave state, is where all the magic happens. If the Theta brainwave state is allowed to occur then the Delta brainwave state (deep sleep) soon follows. If one accepts this scientifically proven brainwave transition to sleep then I suggest that this is knowledge we can use. In the Theta brainwave state one is neither asleep nor awake. The Theta state is a different level of awareness as our conscious mind has loosened it's control of the thought process. It is the inability to reach the Theta brainwave state that is the root of most sleep issues.
Simple Hypnotism
To hypnotize someone (or yourself) one must induce the Theta brainwave state. This requires that you relax the subject and apply one simple technique. You must get them to visualize, via the mind's eye, something. One could hold up a non-threatening object; lets say a coin or marble, in front of the relaxed subject's eyes and suggest that they close their eyes and imagine the object in their mind. Have the subject then imagine a series of non-threatening objects... all while speaking in an unemotional tone. This monotone speech pattern is important as you do not want emotion to play a part in the hypnosis induction as it is counter-productive. If the subject is too relaxed (i.e. laying down on a bed) they might fall asleep so you must continually gage where they are at in the sleep process. Let me state, once again, that hypnosis and falling asleep are part of the same process.
Once the subject is in the Theta brainwave state you can begin making suggestions. Common uses for hypnosis are smoking cessation, weight loss and anxiety reduction.
A brief theory about a more effective hypnosis technique:
If one accepts modern sleep and dream theory then the induction of sleep after a hypnosis session could greatly enhance the effectiveness of the procedure. Modern sleep theory suggests that the human brain crunches data, during sleeping and dreaming, from our day's experiences; discarding unneeded information and assimilating important experiences. In theory, suggestions from a hypnotic session could take on greater significance if sleep were allowed to happen, even for a short duration, directly after the hypnosis.
A word about why visualizing induces the Theta brainwave state and, therefore, the hypnotic state. In the rear of our big human brain there exists a smallish chunk of gray matter called the Occipital lobe. This area contains the Primary Visual Cortex and the Secondary Visual Cortices. The combination of the Secondary Visual Cortices is generally referred to as the Secondary Visual Cortex. When you visualize you are stimulating the Secondary Visual Cortex. Why is this important? Because this is the same area that is active in dreaming and dreaming is one of the first things our brains do when in the Delta(sleep) brainwave state. Visualization is part of the brain's process to deep sleep. To hypnotize someone, or yourself, you must willfully simulate the process of falling asleep without allowing deep sleep to occur.
About Mass Hypnosis
Lastly, when our minds wander we are in a form of self-hypnosis. Falling asleep during a lecture has as much to do with daydreaming as the subject matter of the speech. A daydreamer is stimulating the Secondary Visual Cortex and unknowingly beginning the process of falling asleep. If you do not want listeners to fall asleep then continually stimulate their Primary Visual Cortex with visual aids.( i.e. powerpoint presentations). The primary visual cortex is humming when we are in the Beta (alert and aware) brainwave state and processing the things we see with our eyes open. This also works in reverse. To attempt a mass hypnosis of an audience you must first relax them and then stimulate their collective visual imagination without external visual stimulation.
You are now a Hypnotist. Congratulations! " :shock:
Brad McBride (aka faceonmars)
