One Year Experiment: Using Self-Hypnosis to Attain Lucidity

One Year Experiment: Using Self-Hypnosis to Attain Lucidity
USHAL for short ;)

Introduction
I am going to be attaining and developing self-hypnosis over the next year. My primary goals are to get better at both entering a trance for hypnosis and at attaining lucidity in dreams. I shall be starting using the DEILD and WILD techniques, but have plans to expand this to a means of post-hypnotic cue induced lucid dream. But that's for later. ^^

A bit about me: I am Polish, but I live in the UK. I moved here when I was about 6 years old. I study biology, chemistry, maths and psychology in college and plan to move into a career in psychology next year.

Self-hypnosis, and hypnosis in general, can be said to 'lower the drawbridge between the conscious and subconscious mind'. I believe this to have especially valuable applications to lucid dreaming, particularly in manifesting DILDs, when the conscious mind acts much less than the subconscious. Using cues to inform my subconscious to prod my consciousness into action when dreaming could activate lucidity; in face, this is the purpose of the investigation.

I have decided to make a thread for multiple reasons. I hope that you will all be able to follow my journey and perhaps be inspired to take up self-hypnosis yourselves!

Aims

• to investigate the use of self-hypnosis in attaining lucidity.
• to maintain motivation by the use of regular updates in this thread.
• to improve my rate of having lucid dreams.
• to motivate, and hopefully inspire others, to practise self-hypnosis in conjunction with lucid dreaming.

Plans

• to spend the next two weeks developing a set of self-hypnosis techniques; a procedure, using various sources, which I will be able to use for my other plans.
• to create a post-hypnotic cue to instruct my subconscious mind to create a single, easily recognisable feeling in every dream I have. At the moment, the plan is a small ball of heat in my palm, but this will probably change once I work more on the procedure.
• to then create a post-hypnotic cue to instruct my subconscious mind to alert my conscious mind of the presence of the cue, in turn informing me that I am dreaming.
• enjoy lucidity :)

please note, this page will probably be edited quite a lot! I will update my full procedure when it's completed here in a couple of weeks, and will post my full results, graphs and all, in the next post on the first of february, 2014.

Thanks for looking, PM me if you have any questions/suggestions :)

-reserved for results-

This is great :) I meditate and use self-hypnosis alot and it works like a charm for me. For me it works both great as a bridge for both WILD and for using mantras for MILD. Can't wait to see how it goes for you.

If you need me to edit the original post just send me a PM :)

Thanks for the support, dutchraptor. :) I can definitely see how self-hypnosis would work well for MILD! I had never thought of using it in WILD, but I will try it out. Will do, thanks very much!

Good luck to you! I, too, have studied self-hypnosis and hypnosis in general. I wrote a blog about hypnosis here

Today is the official start: 365 days to go :)
I've entered two hypnotic trances so far out of three attempts. I've been doing a lot of studying up, getting an idea of what is an what is not possible. I've yet to sign up to a couple of hypnosis forums, but will do so soon. Stationary has been purchased. It is very official. :D

Progress in Self-Hypnosis
My first hypnotic trance was achieved two days ago. It was probably my deepest to date. I used active progressive relaxation to generally sink into a feeling of relaxedness, then used eye fixation to go into a trance. My eyes closed by themselves, which I was quite surprised about. Suddenly, my body felt... separated. Although I knew that I was lying on my bed, I could not feel anything, at any of the points of contact between my body and the bed. I imagined being on a cloud, floating in the air, getting more relaxed. I then imagined tying a helium balloon to my right hand's finger. The finger slowly felt like it was lifting up, I don't know if it actually did or not, but it certainly felt very real. Then, I tied another two to my middle and ring fingers. They too, seemed to elevate. I was then interrupted by my dad, and broke out of the trance.
The second attempt was a failure. I did not manage to enter a trance, mainly I think because I tried to progress from eye fixation too quickly and I almost fell into a nap. Learned something though, so the attempt was progress at least.
My third was a success, but I did not have enough time to get fully into a trance. I was 3 counts away from reaching the bottom of the stairs, into a green field of grassy relaxation and a full trance, but my dad interrupted me again. I've shouted at him a bit, and he should stop interrupting now, lol.

Progress in Lucid Dreaming
No lucid dreams lately. Dream recall is increasing sharply, and I am naturally waking up after more and more dreams. Getting better at WILD, slow progress though.

@faceonmars, I read through your blog post, I found it intriguing, well written too. I did not know that it involved the Theta brain state, in fact I do not know much about the physical, measurable side of hypnosis at all! The history was quite interesting too. Thanks for posting :)

In the future, I will put the following at the bottom of the posts; lucid dreams this week, % of lucid dreams recalled, that contained my cue this week, and cumulative number of trances entered.

Oh this is exciting! I have been trying something similarly, although admittedly I'm a lot less scientific about it. I'm using sensory deprivation to try and facilitate my lucid dreaming. I work with float tanks, so I have a lot of access including late at night, and I'm using the tank to help me enter a deamlike state prior to sleeping, which I try to recognize and cultivate. It's going really well so far.

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Originally Posted by whatis

Oh this is exciting! I have been trying something similarly, although admittedly I'm a lot less scientific about it. I'm using sensory deprivation to try and facilitate my lucid dreaming. I work with float tanks, so I have a lot of access including late at night, and I'm using the tank to help me enter a deamlike state prior to sleeping, which I try to recognize and cultivate. It's going really well so far.

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That sounds pretty cool! Sensory deprivation is something I seem to be experiencing more often while in a self-hypnotic state; it feels exactly as though I was floating on some warm, salty water. :p I seem to lose my tactile sense, but oddly enough my brain starts inventing phantom smells, like yesterday, I smelled freshly baked croissants, and a couple of days ago, it was roast beef. So are you basically performing a WILD whilst inside the tank? Or do you just recreate the feeling of dreaming to become more familiar with it (to be able to recognize it in a dream I assume)?

I am very excited by your experiment and avidly following your posts! Please post as often as you want even if no one responds since many folks here read a thread without commenting (lurking) and still learn from your posts.

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Originally Posted by Berto

That sounds pretty cool! Sensory deprivation is something I seem to be experiencing more often while in a self-hypnotic state; it feels exactly as though I was floating on some warm, salty water. :p I seem to lose my tactile sense, but oddly enough my brain starts inventing phantom smells, like yesterday, I smelled freshly baked croissants, and a couple of days ago, it was roast beef. So are you basically performing a WILD whilst inside the tank? Or do you just recreate the feeling of dreaming to become more familiar with it (to be able to recognize it in a dream I assume)?

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Yea, float tanks are amazing, it's one of the most relaxing things I've ever experienced. It's awesome that you feel as if you're in water while doing self-hypnosis. And I haven't had any phantom smells in the tank, so that's one point for self-hypnosis, haha.

What I try to do in the tank is take advantage of the theta state more and be able to capitalize on it. Float tanks cause your brain to shift into the theta state and stay there, the theta state often being called "the state of inspiration" when you're on the brink of sleep. I just try to get more comfortable with it and sort of more "limber" with my mind, where I can still be there but sort of just let stuff happen. Then I try to make myself recognize the mental space, as I feel I'd have a better chance of doing so if I'm accustomed to the semi-dream like theta state. Maybe I should keep a record of my progress too, for others interested.

If you want to find out more about float tanks I work with the largest float center in the nation, Float On. We're getting an info site up for people who want more information, which is Float Tank Info - A resource for learning about float tanks. There's also an awesome blog up on our other website Float Tank Solutions — Everything you need to know about nothing. which we've gotten leading members of the industry and researchers to work with us on, so there's a bunch of great information.

Week 1 - End of Week Results

Progress in Self-Hypnosis
I've gone from taking 20 minutes to enter a self hypnotic trance to about 5 minutes now. It seems as though I am naturally quite susceptible to the hypnotic state, which in some ways is a good and a bad thing. Good because I can enter a trance easily, quickly and in any location, so I won't have to spend the next 5 months mastering this skill, I've pretty much got it down. Bad because I go into a deep trance quite quickly, and from there find it difficult to focus on my thoughts (I am currently entering a trance with internal monologue) so I don't get to go as deep as I would like (I count down from 30 to 0, by 7-9 my mind is scattering all over the place and I find it very difficult to focus on my thoughts). The best way to solve this will probably be to record myself saying a personalized script out, I'll be able to get waay more goal suggestions in that way too. For example, while now I can repeat 'I sense heat in my palm when I am dreaming' (though the goal suggestion is usually much more complex) about 5 times, I would be able to do so potentially tens or even a hundred times with a recording; I could stay entranced for longer and have less mental distraction.

Extract from self-hypnosis journal:

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"5/2/13 - day 5:
Entered a very deep trance, much deeper than any others. My body was highly receptive to suggestions of physical changes, I could move heat and coldness, heaviness and floating sensations through body parts individually and easily. I am finding it easier and easier to enter a self-hypnotic trance. My mind was a lot less distracted during the goal suggestions today, but I am unsure if this is the deeper trance I felt or due to engaging more senses. No lucids, need to work on dream recall too as I remember a dream or so less now that I have stopped WBTB. Overall very good progress.

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So, it is going well so far, I reckon I should start feeling the heat in my palm in around 3-4 weeks in some dreams, hopefully in all dreams by 3 months and then working on suggestions to make me almost certain to become lucid by the end of the year. But we'll see, no real progress yet except for in entering trances so it's hard to judge.

Progress in Lucid Dreaming
Pretty much negative progress lol, I stopped doing wake back to beds. They make me too tired and WILDing is not really successful for me any more, so there's no point in doing them. Suffered a bit in terms of dream recall, but I still recall around 2 full dreams and another 2-3 fragments in the morning so it's not so bad.

Stats
Cumulative self-hypnosis count: 7
% of dreams containing post-hypnotic cue: 0%
% of dreams made lucid as a result of post-hypnotic cue: 0%

Will put procedure up soon, I've got it pretty much planned out now.

Cool. I've been looking into self hypnosis to help me sleep better. :) I found a hypnosis audio online for lucid dreams on google play called Lucid Dreams Dream Walking Self Hypnosis by Erick Brown. It looks like good quality as the tracks are pretty long but I have yet to buy it so I can't say how good it is.

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Originally Posted by oneiroer

Cool. I've been looking into self hypnosis to help me sleep better. :) I found a hypnosis audio online for lucid dreams on google play called Lucid Dreams Dream Walking Self Hypnosis by Erick Brown. It looks like good quality as the tracks are pretty long but I have yet to buy it so I can't say how good it is.

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Let me know how this goes. This thread has really peaked my interest in self-hypnosis to attain lucidity.

You are very welcome. We all go through a hypnotic state, whether we realize it or not, as we fall off to sleep naturally. I like the idea behind your experiment and would suggest more visualization during the process(i.e. what I referenced in my blog post) . Keep these posts coming , Berto!

Maybe you will get to a point where you can have a lucid dream during self-hypnosis

I have used self-hypnosis to enter many NREM dreams immediately. It takes discipline and practice but it can be done.

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Originally Posted by CloudlessSky

Maybe you will get to a point where you can have a lucid dream during self-hypnosis

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It could be possible, maybe I could transition out of the hypnosis directly into a dream rather than directly into being awake.

@faceonmars, I have found that it is very easily for me to fall asleep after hypnosis where normally it takes me at least an hour (5-10min after hypnosis). I wonder if this is because the Theta brain state is found in both hypnosis and as we fall asleep?

Oh man I can't wait to hear what this'll develop into! I've always been a fan of hypnosis but it never dawned on me that hypnosis could be related to lucid dreaming. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help you man, you have my full support and attention! ;)

Yes.. Theta is a transitional brainwave state between relaxed (alpha) and asleep (delta) . It is also the brainwave state that make us drive our car from here to there and not remember how we got there. It is the state that hypnotists strive to get there subjects to for auto-suggestion. It is the 'day-dream' state and it is inherently tied to sleep. Ergo, sleeping pills are called hypnotics... and so on.

That's really interesting. I would like to learn self-hypnosis as well from time to time.
Can you give tips, as how you proceed, what you do?
Plz reply :D

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Originally Posted by MyCooky

That's really interesting. I would like to learn self-hypnosis as well from time to time.
Can you give tips, as how you proceed, what you do?
Plz reply :D

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Sure, I'll put up my procedure in a couple of days, I've got everything I want to do pretty much decided now. I'll name some good books on self-hypnosis too. The things I do are what work best for me, there are many, many different ways to enter self-hypnosis and it really depends on the individual as to what works best, so a good book will teach you more than the internet ever can.

Well, I've been playing around with self hypnosis and it worked kinda well I think?
First day I got into trance, said something like "I'm having lucid dreams every night", "I'm aware of my dreams".
I had a lucid that night. It started in a dream, where I just woke up in a middle of the night. I was lucid straight away. Second day, I did the same, and I had the same FA, non-lucid though.

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Originally Posted by MrOMGWTF

Well, I've been playing around with self hypnosis and it worked kinda well I think?
First day I got into trance, said something like "I'm having lucid dreams every night", "I'm aware of my dreams".
I had a lucid that night. It started in a dream, where I just woke up in a middle of the night. I was lucid straight away. Second day, I did the same, and I had the same FA, non-lucid though.

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That's awesome :o did you use a tape or like an internal monologue? That's a good result for 2 days, you should continue doing it, whatever you did worked :P I wanna use a slightly different method that telling myself I have lucid dreams, hopefully once it just clicks I should be lucid in ~90% of dreams. It'll take a lot of work to get there though. xD
You should definitely continue with the SH, it sounds like you're naturally good at it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Berto

That's awesome :o did you use a tape or like an internal monologue? That's a good result for 2 days, you should continue doing it, whatever you did worked :P I wanna use a slightly different method that telling myself I have lucid dreams, hopefully once it just clicks I should be lucid in ~90% of dreams. It'll take a lot of work to get there though. xD
You should definitely continue with the SH, it sounds like you're naturally good at it.

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Internal monologue.
Well getting into trance is a really nice ability to have, since it's needed when WILDing.
Instead of self hypnosis, I'm trying to WILD tonight ;)

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Originally Posted by MrOMGWTF

Internal monologue.
Well getting into trance is a really nice ability to have, since it's needed when WILDing.
Instead of self hypnosis, I'm trying to WILD tonight ;)

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I've been using internal monologue for a while, but as I get better at self hypnosis, it's getting really hard to stay focused enough to do it properly, so I'm recording a script in a few minutes.

A lot of people talk about this relation between WILDing and trance, I'm not sure I understand why it's needed when WILDing. Would you mind explaining please? :p

@MrOMGWTF
Could you please tell me how exactly you proceed as well,
knowing more opinions and experiences is always better.

I really don't have much knowledge about Hypnosis, neither about SH particular...
So I'm really looking forward to hearing methods where I can be sure that they 'worked' (at least for someone),
instead of trying out all the procedures on youtube videos.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Berto

I've been using internal monologue for a while, but as I get better at self hypnosis, it's getting really hard to stay focused enough to do it properly, so I'm recording a script in a few minutes.

A lot of people talk about this relation between WILDing and trance, I'm not sure I understand why it's needed when WILDing. Would you mind explaining please? :p

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Well, trance is a deep state of relaxation, which is needed for WILDing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MyCooky

@MrOMGWTF
Could you please tell me how exactly you proceed as well,
knowing more opinions and experiences is always better.

I really don't have much knowledge about Hypnosis, neither about SH particular...
So I'm really looking forward to hearing methods where I can be sure that they 'worked' (at least for someone),
instead of trying out all the procedures on youtube videos.

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I'll post some info later. ;)

im interested...i find myself in a kind of trance, semilucid state, before becoming lucid. i dont know how to induce that state, perhaps its something about hypnosis, maybe, so im interested about this.

just for curiosity SSILD technique is believed to induce an hypnosis like state, according to its author. i dont know if it may be useful in your experiment.

Well im working on how to induce a lucid dream through hypnosis itself without the intention of doing a wild.
So i was wondering Berto if you are working on how to induce lucidity by autosuggestions that plants "wilding" into your mind right? or am i wrong?