For self hypnosis on myself, Can someone suggest a simple and effective book or video?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Stephen Gruber - www. ask-the-hypnotist.com on August 31, 2008 at 3:33am

If you like you can recieve a free self-hypnosis guide from my site. This is more than a "close your eyes and relax" deal and there is no advertising attached to it. I just want to start people on the journey. It gets good feedback frompeople around the world.

I can not imagine a day without self-hypnosis myself. This practice can change your life profoundly.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Stephen
www.ask-the-hypnotist.com

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Melissa J. Roth on August 31, 2008 at 8:09am

Stephen Gruber does a good job. Also, check out Roger Moore's one minute light switch self hypnosis technique. It's quick and produces really good results. Roger is a member of this community and I think his video is in the videos section.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Conrad Cook on August 31, 2008 at 8:59am

To *go into* trance, you can't do worse than to get a light-and-sound machine. You can get quite a good one for $150 or less.

To attain *benefits* from self-hypnosis:

Well, at hypnosis.edu there's a free video explaining the mental bank, which is self-hypnosis in the domain of general getting-one's-act-together-and-pursuing-one's-goals.

Also, while I don't believe in the snake oil around it, there is _the Secret_. Frankly, it's a lot of nonsense: and now, a good year-plus after it came out, we could expect the success stories to be hitting the media: vast word-of-mouth of people who have attained their goals through the power of visualization.

The reason _the Secret_ doesn't work is that it's based on the Law of Attraction: the claim is that in our daily lives like mystically attracts like, just as like attracts like with magnets: so, if you visualize living in a mansion enough, You Will live in a mansion.

There are a couple of problems with that:

To start with, magnets do not work that way: opposite charges attract; like charges repel. Besides the bad analogy, it's pretty clear on a moment's consideration that like things do not attact one another, since all the unattended socks in the world have not coalesced to form an island off the coast of Indonesia.

Besides that, the mental image of a mansion is not "like" a mansion any more than a physical picture is: and, analogously, making pictures in your mind of mansions will do just as much good in putting you into one as would a locked box full of mansion photographs.

The one grain of truth in _the Secret_ is this:

Your unconscious mind does not handle language or abstraction well. So, through visualization and mental rehearsal you can more effectively communicate with your unconscious mind than by talking to yourself (ie, through affirmations).

So, replace the Law of Attraction with the Law of Work -- it's not as sexy to our inner couch potato, but it's more effective. Do this:

1) Spend some time visualizing the ideal realization of your goals. Make these images ideal -- this isn't the time to visualize what could go wrong.

2) After you've been at that long enough to make them vivid and easily called up, do this: start visualizing the basic thing you need to do to get there. Whatever it might be: paperwork, homework, cold calls, etc. Again, this is not the time to think of obstacles. Once you get the image of you doing the basic behavior, then call up the image of you enjoying the reward: that is, switch to (1).

The goal of this is to explain to your unconscious what your goal is and how to get there.

You can add (3), which is course correction: something goes wrong, and you fix it, do what you need to, and enjoy the rewards. That's (3) - (2) - (1).

Conversely, to break yourself of habits, show yourself doing the wrong thing and suffering the consequences.


Conrad.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Janice Shaw on September 1, 2008 at 12:26am

I think what you have written there is just fantastic and I aim to try it. Most of the information from The Secret is purported to have come from the 'group of non-physical beings' known as Abraham and chanelled by Esther Hicks - you can check this out at www.hicks.com (I think that's it anyway) and very interesting, but as you say above, simply doesn't seem to work. You've given me new hope.

Janice.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Donna Rodolph on September 2, 2008 at 7:56am

I totally value Conrad's opinion... and believe thoughts from a devil's advocate would be needed in this conversation in the true spirit of seeing things from different sides of the coin - so to speak. >grin<

Maybe the power of attraction does work and does make sense?

I understood the 'power of attraction' to mean: See your life the way you want it to be. Imagine it...as though you already have it. Then take each moment and make the choices that propel you toward that goal. The book and the movie both repeat that choices are ours to make. Ask for what we want and then see it as if we already have it. That process can and does change the way we think. If we practicing seeing it as if we already have it... then it can be ours. For example - if we see the (imagined) pool that we want to swim in - in our backyard - we start making changes in our life via 'our choices', be it taking additional jobs or cutting back on spending (ie: no more coffee, no more restaurants, etc.) so that we can afford the pool (or whatever items) we want. Or maybe we want to be more confident... see it as if it has already happened...and it will be real to us. On the opposite side, if a person suffers from anxiety - see it as if there is no longer anxiety in a situation, repeat, repeat and 'poof' its gone!
The power of attraction (to me) is about making choices. Making choices that can either propel us forward (by visualizing what we want) or hold us back (dwelling on what the world hasn't provided for us). It is about the power within ourselves and the choice on how to use that power - that can guide us, if we let it.
When we think of like attracting like - could it not mean: we attract what we give the most attention to? Our thoughts of the pool...will get us the pool. The thoughts of our misery, will get us more misery. Both (and all other thoughts we can think of) require choices that we must make and the choices we make are totally affected by the thoughts we have.
It isn't surprising and it should be expected that 'the power of attraction' will not appeal to all people - we all have a different paradigm. However, I think it works in their life even if they don't believe it.
The power of attraction (with my understanding of it) has worked in my life and I suppose the moral of the story is: to some people 'the secret' actually makes sense and I wouldn't discount it. >grin<

All the best,
Donna.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Linda Warsh on August 31, 2008 at 9:29am

Hi J!

Here's a couple of books that I can recommend: "Hypnosis for Change", Josie Hadley and Carol Staudacher, and "Through the Open Door, Secrets of Self-Hypnosis", Kevin Hogan and Mary Lee LaBay.

Hope this helps, all the best to you.

Linda

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by James Malone on September 1, 2008 at 3:25am

I know you are interested in a book to help you learn self-hypnosis, but might I offer another suggestion? Years back when I was an undergraduate student in psychology I too developed an interest in self-hypnosis for confidence building and relaxation purposes and tried to learn it from it several books on the topic. This turned out to be an exercise in frustration and eventually I gave up.

It wasn't until I went for hypnosis certification course and through the live classroom exercises and demonstrations did the ability to enter the altered state and positively self-program click with me. With the instructor's expert guidance I was able to relax, and lost the self-consciousness/conscious mind interference that I had had previously experienced during my solo efforts.

Now you might not have an interest in investing the money and time for a certification course, but you should consider either taking an adult education course on self-hypnosis or book a session or two with a certified hypnotist for some coaching in this regard. After you have been guided through the process a few times you will probably find that you will be able to utilize any number of techniques in the books mentioned in this post. I am sure there is a practitioner in your locale who could help and you could ask for a referral through this site. Best of luck to you.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Katherine Zimmerman on September 1, 2008 at 5:29am

I agree with James. Learning self hypnosis in a class or in a private session will be much more effective than from a book or video. I've been teaching self hypnosis since 1989 and some of my students have tried to learn the technique from a book. Most of them lacked confidence in the process that they'd learned and needed to learn ways to deepen the trance state. I have two chapters on self hypnosis in my e-book, Finding Your True Self but I think that a class would be more helpful.

Katherine Zimmerman
www.trancetime.com

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lisa Cefalu, C.Ht. on September 1, 2008 at 10:23am

Hi J
one the of the best cd's/tapes out there is 'Self Hypnosis Made Easy" by Dr. John Kappas. One of the leading pioneers in the hypnosis field.
I often supply this cd for my clients to condition themselves at home between our sessions.

you can order it on line from HMI (His university) or might find it on amazon
www.hypnosis.edu (go to the bookstore tab)

- Lisa

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jkygogo on September 2, 2008 at 4:00am

Hi, thanks for all your responses. I wish I could go back to a hypnotherapist. I went in 1990. The first time my hypnotherapist put me under with a total progressive relaxation of my body. I knew I was under because she said that my arm was lighter and lighter and would go up, and it did! It was a pretty interesting experience. I think that was a sign that I was under, or was it? Is that a sign that I was under? Does anyone know???? Anyway, I think in future sessions the going under was quicker with less total body relaxation, I'm not sure.
So to this day, I usually do the total body relaxation to go under, then give myself suggestions. But sometimes it seems that when I give my self confidence suggestions to raise my confidence, they don't seem to take hold and don't seem to last too long. So I'm unsure if I'm doing it right. I also have restarted doing the Mental Bank by Dr. John G. Kappas, which I think seems to help me.

Till I get a job, I can't afford a hypnotherapist. But in the future I hope if I do go back to a hypnotherapist, it will be a good one. Hopefully I can find a good one in the Los Angeles area or Pasadena area for a cheaper price.

Thanks for the advice on the authors you gave me. I hope I can really get a good one.

J. :)

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jkygogo on September 2, 2008 at 4:01am

Yes, I wish I could go back to a hypnotherapist in happy situations and ways.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Paula Saxon Nongard on September 2, 2008 at 4:43am

All of the above are great resource ideas, and here are two more:

"America's Favorite Hypnotist" Terry Stokes has a book out called, "Understanding Self-Hypnosis, an easy to understand book about hypnotism" - which offers education on hypnosis, instruction for self-trance and several common scripts - which you might record and then play for yourself - as if you were your own hypnotist.

And Richard Nongard has an instructional DVD, "How to Do Self-Hypnosis" which covers the basic steps of the hypnotic process and teaches you how to follow through for relaxing, productive self-trance.

These are both less than $30 each.

~ Paula

▶ Reply to This

• 1
• 2