Basic Principles of Hypnosis and Auto-Hypnotic Suggestion

[Leo Volont]

Last week I wrote a short essay on Auto-Suggestion, which had been suggested by my purchase of some handy Fonix ISpeak 3.0 Software. This ISpeak program can read a WORD document script, and can record it onto either WAV or MP3 format for repetitive playing. As I played with that software over the span of the entire week, I began to think that if I were really serious about suggestion, then perhaps I should go all the way to what amounts to actual hypnotism. Years ago I had read a number of books on hypnotism, and this last week I had brushed up on what On Line references there are to hypnotism. Surprisingly, it seems that some people are still looking at bright little objects or watch chains. How silly! But generally the state of the Art is how I had remembered it. Let’s discuss the basics. If you decide to write an Auto-Hypnotic Script, the following factors must be kept in mind. First, the hypnotic state is simply one of relaxed attention. You must script a narrative which asks for a gradual to complete relaxation of the body. You must talk away all tension and all anxieties. Then you must focus the attention of the mind, particularly the subconscious mind. So you must suggest the words “deeper”, and the ideas of ‘going down’. The words ‘heavier’ suggest both the ideas of profound relaxation as well as the idea of sinking ‘down’ to a deeper level of mind. One must tailor one’s script narrative to the time one would suppose it would take a person to actually relax. If it typically takes you five minutes to fall asleep during your afternoon naps, then you should probably give your narrative a similar length of time to unfold. No, it is not necessary or even desirable for the subject of hypnotism to fall asleep. It is quite okay to remember everything that was said. It is okay to retain body consciousness. Even if one does not seem to relax or go as deep as what is suggested in the narrative, it does not mean that Hypnotism is not taking place. Trances do not have to be very deep in order to still have effect. Also, remember, that being hypnotized is an acquired skill. As one practices being hypnotized by these auto-suggestion programs, one will find that in time one can almost instantly fall into a very relaxed state. In writing your hypnotic scrips, when you have spent sufficient time establishing relaxation and attention. Then move into your working Suggestions. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition. Suggest what you want to suggest, and then suggest it again. Find every way you can think of to phrase your suggestion. Use every metaphor you can think of. Tie it into your subconscious in every way you can consciously imagine. Also, never go more than several sentences without again bringing back the attention of your hypnotic subject, that is, yourself. “Please, give me your entire attention”. “Keep listening to my voice”. “Do I still have your undivided attention?” When you begin to use these Auto-Suggestion programs, you will be surprised at how often your attention is called back by such phrases. When even our Conscious Minds have a tendency to wonder off, the Subconscious Mind is even more wayward. It must be called back again and again. ‘Are you still paying attention?” Now, as far as suggestions go, one can design suggestions in order to in effect re-engineer the Subconscious and Persona. People who want to auto-hypnotize themselves in order to quit smoking or for eating disorders are basically in the business of re-writing their basic motivations. So repeated suggestions in these regards would be sufficient for what they require. But remember that one of the good things about Hypnotism is the potential to create Post-Hypnotic Suggestions. “You will awake calm and peaceful and with a glow of a continuous joy”. Or you can create Post-Hypnotic Suggestions that will take effect on cue, such as, you can suggest that when one touches or twirls one’s thumbs one will experience a burst of Ananda and feel one’s self bathed in Spiritual Light. Even though such suggestions may be extremely exaggerated, your subconscious mind will certainly deliver whatever it has, in that regards. And remember, what may be an exaggeration for the Waking Self, might be well within the capability of the Dream Self. Post Hypnotic Suggestions on Cue, can also be arranged to be triggered by certain words. For instance, pick a word that one might hear maybe five or six times a day and make it the trigger of a real feel-good post hypnotic suggestion. It will be an occasion for giving you little psychological treats throughout the day. Being an old man, many people call me ‘Sir’ and so a good word for a post hypnotic ‘feel good’ suggestion would be to feel a wave of ananda every time I hear the word ‘sir’. Well, not everybody is called ‘sir’, but you know what I mean.

[Leo Volont]

You're not really supposed to fall asleep during a hypnosis induction tape... oops... I mean... what does one call a computer audio file?... but I fell asleep with the hypnosis induction 'Program' looping and found myself dreaming. It was quite a convoluted dream -- the odyssey of a man undergoing profound personal and psychological transformations. Now, my Hypnosis Induction Program did not explicitly delineate those exact procedures. So it seems that my Subconscious Mind is rather taking these Hypnotic Suggestions as, well, 'suggestions' and developes them from there, treating the 'suggestions' as perhaps only 'starting points'. Again, it seems to indicate that in dealing with the Subconscious Mind we are dealing with a Superior Intelligence that is aware of its Superiority.

[Leo Volont]

Interesting discoveries this week in regards to the possibility and limitations of hypnotic suggestion. In one instance I auto-suggested that I no longer be angry. Well, then, in a dream this older lady, something of a nag, confronted me on it and asked if the Subconscious Mind was to tape my mouth shut and tie my hands behind my back to prevent my negative mode swings. Well, chased her out of the room telling her that she better hope so! But it did give me a clue that perhaps I should suggest that some psychological dynamics should be addressed in order to get the the basis of my anger issues. It struck me that it might be good to go back into a lifetime of memories, and on the Subconscious Level, even past lifetimes (though not believing in Reincarnation, it would offer a good subconscious construct) and re-configure my memory structures to reinforce a less confrontational personality. But that did not work either. In one dream, which I did not get at the time, I was backing up in a car, at night, in a forest. Of course, I felt anxious that I would eventually hit some trees. Then the next night I dreamt of backing up in these huge vehicles which strained and lurched when going backwards, but which went forward just fine. Then I got it. There is no going back. So, I decided to speak to the Subconscious in the Subconscious Mind's own language, and suggested to myself that I be in control of the vehicles I would drive through life. By now we should know that the Subconscious Mind is no grovelling slave, and that the Subconscious Mind has quite a mind of its own. The Dream in response to the Vehicle in Control Suggestion was that I was given this wonderfully luxurious SUV, which I instantly had plans for and took it for some destination, starting by driving down some river bank where I instantly found trouble I immediately regretted. The bank was much steeper than I thought and the vehicle slid sideways down into the water. I thought I was sunk, but then noticed I had a companion (probably an angel) who assured me gruffly not to worry and told me to 'punch the accelerator' and steer for the other bank which was not nearly so steep. Well, we got out of the river no worse for wear. What does this tell me? The Subconscious was saying that Life does not so much need to be Controlled as it needs to be well executed. For instance, look at the Vehicle that was given to me -- a SUV. The Subconscious Mind was telling me that sometimes we must leave the roads, and that good control may consist in trusting in good saves from disaster. I started dropping the introductory relaxation phases of some of my hypnotic tapes. Why bother? I leave them play while I sleep. I would have thought that some of the language would cross over into my dreams, but actually I have found that the Subconscious Mind takes its own shot at the concepts and improves the language -- presenting catchier phrases and more intriquing concepts. For instance, I suggested that I become more spiritual, and the Dream turned that into a Clint Eastwood figure telling me that our duty was to become "Superconscious Transcendental Men". so I included that phrase in my next suggestion tape -- using the Subconscious Mind's own language. Oh, and a technical word about the Fonix ISpeak software I've been using. Sometimes the ennunciation of words is to good. As for instance the word 'Transcendental' the word came out sounding odd. But you can get into the User Dictionary function and adjust the pronounciations. I took the second 't' sound out of 'Transcendental' to make it sound like 'transcendenal' and sounded much more natural. I've 'fixed' a number of words. At first it is quite mysterious -- sometime adding a consonant between syllables, to end the first syllable in the same consonant that begins the second syllable will fix the sound, or moving the consonant from the beginning of the second syllable to the end of the first. One needs to play around a bit. Then there is the matter of the narrative flow. Sometimes you simply need to re-write your sentenses so the program will have something that it can get right. Luckily, that once you can get the Reader Program to read a text smoothly and convincingly, it is also more hypnotic.

[Leo Volont]

I few more things I've learned -- Dream Resistance to Suggestion, and also Dream Incorporation of Ongoing Suggestion. I fell asleep with the Tape running (I call the program a Tape simply from out of customary usage, from when there used to be such a thing as tape recorders) and the material was actually incorporated into Dream Content. This would be useful to anybody who wants to become Lucid, since the Program Voice could be saying something along the lines of "You are Lucid Dreaming, now. This is just a dream, you know". This might not be a sufficient clue for many of us, but it would certainly be on the par with little blinking lights or vibrations. I noticed that the Tape Voice bleeds into dreaming just when the volume of the voice reaches a point where it would have to be incorporated into dream content, or it would be almost too loud to sleep through. It takes some getting used to... one has to build up to that volume slowly or one could not possibly go to sleep with it like that. In my own instance, I was not running a Lucid Dream Suggestion program. it was a program more on the spiritual side of things. And I found some resistance to it. The Dream Characters were grumbling about it. The Dream Content had some of the Dream Characters quoting from my Hypnotic Suggestion Program. I found myself discussing Hpnosis Theory with them. Then there was one dream character who really had a problem with the Program, and I grew a bit impatient with him until I insisted he explain exactly what his problem with it was. But the Dream was playing a bit of a joke on me by that time, because the Dream Character reached over to a microphone and began saying "Let me have your complete attention, please.." from right out of the Suggestion Program that was still running at the time. And I woke up.

[Simply.Complex]

I don't have a credit card or money to buy it. I'm 14. Can you send me a copy or at least let me try it out or something?

[Leo Volont]

Originally posted by Simply.Complex I don't have a credit card or money to buy it. I'm 14. Can you send me a copy or at least let me try it out or something? Do a search of "text to voice software" and you can get some free downloads. I think Jay Dawg had already gone that route and knows all about editing audio files.

[jay dawg]

ah yes, download "speaking notepad" from www.download.com once u save the text into a wave file, you might want to use an audio editor to cut out the demo intro watermark at the beginning. and here it is: http://www.download.com/Speaking-Notepad/3...tml?tag=lst-0-1

[Leo Volont]

Originally posted by jay dawg ah yes, download \"speaking notepad\" from www.download.com * once u save the text into a wave file, you might want to use an audio editor to cut out the demo intro watermark at the beginning. and here it is: http://www.download.com/Speaking-Notepad/3...tml?tag=lst-0-1 Thanks! I tried to do the homework of finding your posting where you had already given the same info, but the 'search' function on the page was erroring out and I could not find the original thread by name... it had gotten back-paged too quickly, or my memory was too flawed to recognize it. So, thanks for coming to the rescue. I'm sure the young man greatly appreciates your help.

[Leo Volont]

Sometimes the benefits of these Auto-Suggestion Programs are a bit indirect. For instance, refer to the Dream described below in which the form the benefits take are in no way that which are literally described in the Auto-Suggestion Program itself. Again it indicates that the Higher Mind does reserve to itself a great deal of creative autonomy, and treats a 'suggestion' as just that -- only a suggestion. But the resultant dreams are perhaps better than anything we could have written and produced ourselves. Take a look: I had a new Initiation Dream. If you’ve noticed some of my posts lately, I’ve been doing Auto-Hypnosis Suggestion using Word to Voice software. Last night I was running a derivation of a section from Saint Patrick’s Prayer (Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ at my right, Christ at my left, Christ in the fort, Christ in the chariot seat, Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.) mixed with recitations of the Gayatri Mantra. The dream incorporated the continuously playing audio file as a kind of Incantation of Protection against an immanent attack from demons. The rooms were filled with spiritual people, among whom I was apparently one of the pre-eminent, but only because the Spiritual Level of these particular people was not of the highest caliber. For instance, this one young man, who was handsome, intelligent and upright, came up to me and discussed a complaint he had with me, that I had recently received many awards and favors from the Angels which he felt I did not deserve, and then he went on to enumerate the trivial nature of the presentations I had made which presumably accounted for the rewards – one in particular where I had simply made a dessert, which the Angels had even helped me with, so that the inference was that I was rewarded when I had actually done almost nothing to deserve it. I mentioned that I myself had used a Ganesha Centerpiece (Lord Ganesha, an Elephant God in Hinduism is the Remover of Obstacles) in that presentation and tried to lighten the mood by saying that I had at least paid for that statue myself and could show him the cancelled check, but the man did not think it was all so funny. I saw that levity would not help the situation and I tried to be friendly and reassuring toward this person – he was not a bad man, but quite to the contrary – he was an extremely good man and rather thought I was the one who suffered in the comparison. But he choose to ignore my gestures of goodwill as beneath him. His business was finished with me as soon as he had expressed his contempt. In the dream I decided to shrug it off as one more instance of Spiritual Politics, which, even in the best organizations, seems to be ever present to some degree. I’ve seen much of that kind of thing, particularly in regards to spiritual competitiveness. It seems that within the Spiritual Community there is a strict pecking order, a precise delineation of status and rank with few horizontal plateaus, but a steep vertical incline where almost nobody is equal to any other, but where everyone is sandwiched between those who are higher and those who are lower. And so you have people who resent those who are placed above them and who grumble over their own allotted slots. Well, these people sort of miss the point. It is their grumbling and innate competitiveness that are keeping them down. These people are seeking Greatness and Glory, but if they ever really thought about Eternity then they would realize that what they should really want is NOT Glory and Greatness, which can provide little real satisfaction or lasting happiness, but what they should be seeking is the sustainable Friendship of Good and Worthy Souls. This you can only achieve in the spirit of humility, whereby one acknowledges the virtues and talents of one’s friends and colleagues without trying to ‘one-up’ them, get the better of them, or treat everything as though it is a game that is being scored and must be won at all costs. One has to be happy that others are happy. And, here, in my dream, was a man who resented me for my Angelic Awards, instead of simply being happy for me. It isn’t always like that. Years ago I was given a Symbol of Grace from a Dream Guru. It was a Statue of a God or Goddess, but the statue was called “Feet of the Guru”, and one could see actual flowers miraculously flowing from it into the air. It was an odd dream and showed how forward I can be. First the Guru came out and showed everyone this Statue, saying “This is the Feet of the Guru from which all Grace flows”. And then he left the room taking it away. I then turned to the person next to me and lamented that I had not had the presence of mind to simply ask the Guru for it right then and there. But then the door opened and the Guru came through, again with this Statue. Well, I felt like I had put myself on the spot, and so I came forward and told the Guru, “Swamiji, I hope that in some future lifetime I might be worthy to possess such a fine, valuable and important Statue as this “Feet of the Guru””. “Well”, he replied, “Why not just take this one now”. And he handed me the Statue. It was an ecstatic moment, and at first I thought everyone would be jealous of me, but when I turned and looked, everybody was as happy for me as I was – they were all delighted. But in this present dream I was being judged and falling short of at least some people’s expectations. But then came the initiation. This particular Dream Guru was one that I had never seen before in a dream, as I would have remembered him. He was very stout. All of my other Dream Gurus had been on the ascetically thin side. But this Guru rather filled out his robes. He looked a bit like Neem Karoli Baba (Ram Dass’s old Guru who died back in the seventies. Here’s a webpage http://www.nkbashram.org/ ) except that he had pure white hair and beard, and the beard was long. It was during my interactions with the jealous young man, that this White Haired Guru approached and poured a small amount of gold dust into the palm of my hand and told me that the purity of that metal would aid and protect me. He appeared to be in a hurry, and though he gave a short explanation, I felt that he somehow simply assumed that I already quite knew sufficiently about it, and so he knew that he only had to say enough so that I would have something to quote later… as I am doing now. Then he turned and walked out of the room. I kept the gold dust in my palm for a moment or two, but then realized that I should ingest it to really derive its benefits. Upon waking up it occurred to me that I had just crossed over into the Initiation that countless Alchemists had sought – that of the Philosopher’s Stone – the transmutation of base matter into Gold. I had seen references to such language in various spiritual treatises, both of the East and of the West. Particularly that the Transcendent Spirit Body is made up from a golden elixir that must start off with an atom of pure gold. Well, it seems to me that this Dream Guru had just Initiated me with just such an atom of Pure Gold. I keep insisting with people that Dreams provide Tests which we must pass in order to advance. Well, what did I do in particular to pass anything? Well, my Autosuggestion Program had been running, and suddenly, in a dream, it was being made quite public. Ordinarily I am self conscious about such things. But I decided to think that although some of these many people might have been able to contrive better Incantations for Spiritual Protection, that this one would serve the purpose, and that everybody would be polite enough not to quibble over any noticeable defects, as each person would simply be grateful that it was not their own composition that would be put on display for public criticism. There was also a moment when I had some anxiety about demons breaking down the doors and invading our rooms. I thought that it would be preferable if the demons came in from the far side, so that the others could handle the fighting first, giving myself a greater chance for survival, but then I thought of the doors which were closest to myself, and that if these doors should be first to give way, then I would simply do what would be expected of me and fight my best, and that it didn’t help to worry about such things beforehand. Then there was the jealous and resentful young man. I had taken his criticism almost with too much good nature, deciding that it would be rude not to take the criticism soberly and seriously, and then I tried to extend my friendship. But when it was clear I was being rebuffed, I choose to simply let it go before it could become an unpleasant scene. Doesn’t seem like much in order to deserve a Spiritual Initiation, does it?

[jay dawg]

wow leo you have cool dreams! i wish my dreams where as insightful and meaningful as yours. i can definitely tell my dreams are messages from my subconscious, even though they may not be as meaningful as that one! heh o well. as far as the suggestion goes, are u implying that the spiritual matter on the tape gave u a spiritual related dream? why do u think there was resentment towards your gift this time, by those DCs?

[Leo Volont]

Originally posted by jay dawg wow leo you have cool dreams! i wish my dreams where as insightful and meaningful as yours. i can definitely tell my dreams are messages from my subconscious, even though they may not be as meaningful as that one! heh o well. as far as the suggestion goes, are u implying that the spiritual matter on the tape gave u a spiritual related dream? why do u think there was resentment towards your gift this time, by those DCs? Sure, what I suppose happens is that an Auto-Suggestion Program is taken by the Higher Mind as a kind of Petition that becomes the subject for consideration by a very complex deliberation process. I've seen it represented in dreams as being a studio not unlike an old News Room for some major metropolitian Newpaper -- with writers and editors and all sorts of people milling about in the creative process. A Suggestion Program is taken as a Starting Point for the deliberation of all of these Intelligent Entities. Why all of the resentment? Well, these were some fairly accomplished Spiritual People with excellent resumes and portfolios -- leaders of their orgnanizations, upright pillars of their communities, never an indiscreet moment, impeccably correct all the time, but mostly that they have many concrete accomplishments which they feel should be allowed to testify for their Spiritual Merit. And, yes, although I certainly believe that people should act in accordance with their beliefs, and that people are best known and understood by their overt behavior, still, on the spiritual level, a persons soul is self-evident, and Being testifies to Being. In that dream in which the Angels had given me awards for this and awards for that, which nobody could figure out how I deserved.... it was all because the Angels simply preferred me, the same way that I prefer some particular stray cats among all of those that I volunteer to help. The quality of soul shines through. But everybody who is standing around looks for some objective criteria and they do not see anything. There is a chapter in the Bhagavad Gita about the Three Qualities -- Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. Sattva is Light and Wisdom. Rajas is Action and Karma. Tamas is inertia, darkness and dullness. Well, Sattva is the Self Evident Light of Being. But many spiritual people are still at the level of Rajas -- Activity is everything, Karma is everything. And, yes, people DO need to define themselves in action, but it doesn't have to stop there. The Resentment in my dream was from people still entirely caught up in the framework of action and karma.

[bmx-life™]

I hear that.