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Self Hypnosis
By Charlie Badenhop
Changing Personal History
"Take a moment and breathe deeply....... as
you begin to consider how all the factors of your life mesh together to
create your past...present,...and future.....
As you imagine the possible panorama of your future, you can
see....feel....and perhaps also hear....all of the multiple possible
directions in which you can go.....
You can see...feel...and have an intuitive understanding for...how some
of the factors in your present reality lead toward one or another
future realities..... You can begin to realize now.. how you have been
actively pursuing one of your probable futures without realizing
it...... You can understand now... that by making certain choices and
adjustments in the present, you can change your probable future......
The seeds of a different future can be planted now, in the present....
As you recall and feel your past, and become aware of all of its
details. .... you recognize that up until now, you've only been
remembering one small part of your past..., only using a few of your
memories as a foundation for your present experiences...... You realize
now that you can make new choices now..... You can choose to remember
and focus on parts of the past that you've avoided or ignored. .... You
can effectively create a new emphasis in your past and restructure what
the past means to you..... By restructuring or re-remembering the past,
you create a different perception of the present..... By recognizing
all the potential of the future, you recognize your full power and
claim the freedom to create the future that you want. You understand
what you need to do in the present in order to create your adjusted
past and future. "
Adapted from: "Choice Centered Tarot" by Gail Fairfield
The Self is a Relationship
Self hypnosis is a fascinating and complex subject. I believe that most
people develop an interest in self hypnosis because they want to be
able to live a life of greater fulfillment. People have a desire to
accomplish certain goals that they currently seem incapable of
achieving, and thus they have an inkling that there must be "a better
way."
It is important to remember:
THE SELF IS A RELATIONSHIP- BOTH INTRAPERSONAL AND INTERPERSONAL
"Who am I? I am a relationship. I choose to, and I have the right to,
Feel good and be respected. I am."
When we are feeling stuck we might think of self hypnosis like this:
"There is a part of me that wants to get another part of me to change.
And the annoying thing is that the part of me that 'I' want to change
does not appear to be open to my suggestions!" In such instances, "What
we have here is a failure to communicate."
For instance, people often say to me: "Why is it that when 'I' want to
'lose weight', 'stop smoking', 'get up earlier in the morning', that
there is somehow, somewhere a hidden part of me that very much does not
want to accomplish these same goals? Why does this conflict exist and
how can I get 'myself' to do what 'I' want to do?" Self relations
therapy would call this hidden part that is not cooperating "the
neglected self." Other forms of therapy would talk about "the
subconscious mind" or "the unconscious mind." Seishindo presents the
concept of "the somatic self." What we are striving for in self
hypnosis is developing a context of cooperative communication. We need
to learn how to respectfully communicate with the hidden parts of one's
self, and in the process, enlist the resources of the entire self in
order to bring about a more balanced life. This is the main task of
self hypnosis.
Cooperation
One of the reasons that the martial art Aikido works so effectively
(When and if it is done with the proper ideals in mind.) is that the
practitioner has no intent to harm or force the attacker, and somehow
this message gets communicated nonverbally and changes the attacker's
mindset.
In Aikido we attempt to cooperate with the attacker and touch their
true desire. When we are able to accomplish this the musculature of the
attacker softens and their fighting mind is neutralized. The goal is to
protect the one being attacked, as well as protecting the attacker. We
strive to blend with the energy and attempted goals of the attacker
rather than confronting them.
In Aikido we say:
"Change yourself first, before looking to change your opponent, and in
the process, you might find that your opponent has changed himself."
"First learn to control your self and then look to lead others gently.
Help the attacker to get what he wants without his needing to use
violence to achieve his goals."
In self hypnosis we can say:
"Change the mindset of your cognitive self first, before looking to
change your somatic self, and in the process, you might just find that
your somatic self will change itself." "Control your cognitive self and
gently lead your somatic self. Help the cognitive self to get the
appropriate results it desires, without it needing to resort to
manipulation and conflict. If your cognitive self is not getting the
results it desires, then what will your cognitive self need to do to
change itself, in order to more fully align with your somatic self?"
Or yet another way to say this is: "The solution your cognitive self is
attempting to implement is instrumental to the continuance of the
problem. If you implement the 'right' solution, you will likely find
that there is no problem. With a high quality solution in hand, the
problem ceases to exist."
Ten important principles of
self hypnosis
These principles are meant for you to muse over for now. These
principles are not meant to be a "to do" list of things to accomplish.
Read for now in order to begin to develop a broad background for self
hypnosis, and then we will delve into some of these principles in
detail in future newsletters.
1) Change out of your everyday frame of mind
into a different "trance".
This usually takes a change of posture, a good deal of calm breathing,
slowing down in general, and the spreading of your awareness.
Self hypnosis is a NATURAL way of changing your awareness of the
present moment, and the awareness of yourself as part of the present
moment. In almost every instance entering into a generative self
induced trance will be facilitated by slowing down your breathing and
your internal dialogue, and by becoming more aware of what is happening
now.
Self hypnosis dissolves the perceived problem so that it no longer
exists in your mind. Self hypnosis does not do away with the problem.
If you do away with thinking, you will do away with the problem.
2) Love, accept, and cooperate with, all that
you are.
"There is nothing amiss with you that a deep sense of self love and
support will not heal."
Develop a sense of trust and cooperation with your entire self. If you
don't respect all of your self, it will be difficult to induce the
cooperation that is necessary for change to occur.
3) Enter into a flow state that is more
spontaneous than any process that can be maintained by your cognitive
mind.
You need to let the thoughts of your cognitive self wander as if it is
"fully awake and dreaming." It is from this state of "active dreaming"
that solutions will evolve. The solutions do not come from "you" the
solutions come from the state that you are in. The solutions arise as
it becomes apparent that there is no problem.
4) Create a pleasant and respectful
conversation between the parts of yourself that are involved in the
struggle for and against change.
Accept and honor the behavior, beliefs, mood, and or interests of your
entire self in order to achieve rapport with your entire self. You are
always doing the best that you are currently capable of.
5) A generative state of self hypnosis
signifies responsiveness to your intrapersonal needs. When your whole
self is not able or willing to accomplish what your cognitive self
desires, this is a clear signal that are you not sufficiently aware of
or honoring some important intrapersonal needs.
Begin to reduce the differences in beliefs and desires between the self
that wants change and your other self that seems to be inhibiting
change. There is a deeper wisdom to this inhibition process, and it is
quite important to honor this wisdom.
6) Become intimately aware of your body and
its ongoing feedback loop with your cognitive self.
Feel all of the tiny reactions your body has to the verbal suggestions
that are being made. If in any way, your body tenses up when hearing
any one of your suggestions, chances are that you will not be
successful in implementing your suggestions. This is so crucial to
understand.
Find a way of presenting information and possible changes to your
somatic self, that your somatic self finds safe, supportive, and
doable. Your somatic self is quite powerful. Attempting to implement
changes that it is not fully in agreement with, is not a productive
long term way of living.
7) Consider every thought, feeling and desire
that you are having, to be of equal importance, rather than giving more
importance to any one part of your process.
It is often the "little things" that wind up having the greatest
importance in the long run.
8) Be with, stay with, and welcome, every
thought, feeling, and sensation.
This is crucial. Often we try to run away from what we think is
"incorrect" or what we feel to be painful. At other times we try to
hold onto a thought or feeling that we believe to be positive. Rather
than attempting such non productive behaviors, simply stay with and
welcome your every thought, feeling, and sensation.
9) Explore your experience without the need to
change who your are, or what you are doing.
It is the perceived need to change that often hinders the process of
change. Explore your experience and your thought processes and feelings
without trying to change yourself. When all of the necessary
preparations have been made, change will occur "on its own" when and IF
it is truly necessary.
10) It is the thinking mind that discerns
"right and wrong" "good or bad" "perfect and imperfect" that creates
your problems.
The idea in self hypnosis is to experience the mind that comes prior to
thinking. To experience the mind that does not know. The goal is not to
understand what to do. The goal is to already be doing it.
There is no problem to be solved. Only be in the moment.
_________________
Now you have been offered one person's thoughts and experiences in
regard to self hypnosis. Please let these ideas rest inside of you for
now.
The idea of answering the
"wrong" Zen koan
In a Zen koan you are presented with a question that you are asked to
find the answer to. When you are stuck in this process of finding an
answer to the original koan, you often wind up providing yourself with
the answer to the "wrong" koan.
Here is how this works in everyday life:
If you are feeling bad about yourself you might say- "I am
incompetent." and at such times you will believe that you have made a
factual statement, rather than realizing that you have instead answered
a question that you are not aware of having asked. The question you are
answering when you say "I am incompetent." might be "What is my first
thought after tensing up and no longer trusting in myself?" The answer
would be "I am incompetent." In this context your answer makes total
sense.
In each instance that you feel stuck, go back and find the question
that you have been answering without realizing that you are doing so.
Then go ahead and change your question to one that is likely to have a
more generative answer. For instance in the instance just described you
could change your question to be, "What will my first thought be if I
remain relaxed and trusting in myself?"
What will your answer to this question be?
Ask a different question and you will get a different answer!
Prelude to "Tuning in"
I want to "set the stage" for you prior to your beginning the following
practice:
a) The "practice" that follows is NOT meant to
get specific results in regard to behavioral changes. This is very
important to note. You are being asked to pay attention to what is
going on in the moment, rather than trying to change yourself or
something that you are not satisfied with. This practice is designed to
help you learn how to better communicate with your somatic self. If
generative change does happen to occur it will take place only as a
by-product of high quality communication with your somatic self.
b) The breathing that you are asked to do at
the end of each step is very important. If you find yourself rushing
through the breathing or not taking three FULL breaths as asked, then
you will likely feel that you did not learn much of interest in doing
this practice. If you find yourself wanting to ignore or rush through
the breathing, then indeed you are learning something very important
about yourself-That you will do well to SLOW DOWN your system in order
to achieve the results you desire. This can be a very important
learning. Shallow breathing tends to lead to a feeling of anxiety and a
sense of incompetence, much more so than your perceived abilities or
lack thereof.
c) This practice is meant to be learned from
OVER TIME, and each person will learn something unique and different,
depending on the thoughts, feelings, and life experiences, that one
begins their practice with This practice is an invitation to explore
yourself more fully, and learn how to enter into a generative trance
state. You might initially feel that you did not get all that much
insight or change from this practice, only to find that your behavior
or way of thinking changes some at a later date, "on its own." No
matter what, this practice is meant to be done numerous times.
In the process of "practicing" you will be learning how to:
1) Change out of your everyday frame of mind
into a different "trance".
2) Love, accept, and cooperate with, all that
you are.
3) Enter into a flow state that is more
spontaneous than any process that can be maintained by your cognitive
mind.
4) Create a pleasant and respectful
conversation between the parts of yourself that are involved in the
struggle for and against change.
5) Enter into a generative state of self
hypnosis that signifies RESPONSIVENESS to your intrapersonal needs.
6) Become intimately aware of your body and
its ongoing feedback loop to your cognitive self.
7) Consider every thought, feeling and desire
that you are having, to be of equal importance, rather than giving more
importance to any one part of your process.
8) Be with, stay with, and welcome, every
thought, feeling, and sensation.
9) Explore your experience without the need to
change who you are or what you are doing.
10) Experience the mind that comes prior to
thinking.
Tuning In
It is suggested that you read through the instructions several times
prior to beginning. This will give you the possibility of doing the
whole practice without needing to refer to the notes. Of course do
refer to the notes if you need to, but you will likely get the most
pleasing results when you can leave the notes aside.
This practice assumes that you have an issue, relationship, or
circumstance in your life that you would like to better understand or
change.
1) Sit in a comfortable manner, and take a few
deep breaths.
2) Create an "I am" statement.
What I mean by this is the following:
Consider what it is you would like to change or better understand.
Make believe that you have already achieved the results you desire and
make a statement that describes how your feel, and experience "life"
and yourself having already achieved the results you desire. For
instance, if you are wanting to lose weight you might say, "I am
healthy, maintaining an optimal body weight, and feeling good about
myself." This will be your "I am" statement for your practice.
It is very important that you make an "I am" statement that gives you
the mental image and emotional feeling of how you look and feel having
accomplished your goal, rather than using negative terms that describe
how you do NOT want to be. An incorrectly formulated "I am" statement
would be "I am no longer overweight and I feel good about myself." In
the same way, a successful athlete would NOT say to herself "I am no
longer missing field goals during the important moments of a game."
Instead, state what you ARE doing, and feeling, and the positive
results you are achieving.
(It is quite likely that your "I am" statement will change during the
course of the exercise, or you might find that your "I am" statement
changes the next time you entertain the same issue. This is fine. As
long as you continue to state your "I am" statement in positive terms,
welcome a change in your statement, if and when a change does come.)
Once you have made your "I am" statement-Breathe deeply three times. It
is important that you breathe deeply and expansively. Take your time
while doing this.
3) While looking in a mirror (when available):
Sit comfortably, breathe deeply, relax, and have a friendly look at
yourself.
4) Make your 'I am" statement once again,
speaking slowly and purposefully, in a calm voice.
Breathe deeply three times.
5) State three things that you see (other
than yourself) when looking in the mirror. Breathe deeply three times.
6) Name three sounds that you hear as you sit
calmly and look in the mirror.
Breathe deeply three times.
7) State three things that you feel/notice
about yourself as you sit calmly and look into the mirror.
Please do not comment about yourself by using terms like "happy" "sad"
"fat" or "thin" but rather note some aspect of your posture, body
movements, or facial expression, or note a feeling that you have inside
your body or on the surface of your body. For instance, "I can feel my
heart beating, my posture is rounded forward, and my left eye is a bit
more open than my right eye." Don't do anything to change yourself,
just note how you are now.
Breathe deeply three times.
8) Make your "I am" statement again.
Breathe deeply three times.
9) State two things that you see (other than
yourself) when looking in the mirror. Breathe deeply three times.
10) Name two sounds that you hear as you sit
calmly and look in the mirror.
Breathe deeply three times.
11) State two things that you feel/notice
about yourself as you sit calmly and look into the mirror.
Breathe deeply three times.
12) Make your "I am" statement again.
Breathe deeply three times.
13) State one thing that you see (other than
yourself) when looking in the mirror. Breathe deeply three times.
14) Name one sound that you hear as you sit
calmly and look in the mirror.
Breathe deeply three times.
15) State one thing that you feel/notice about
yourself as you sit calmly and look into the mirror.
Breathe deeply three times.
16) Repeat your "I am" statement again.
Breathe deeply three times.
17) Allow your mind to wander for a minute
or so.
Breathe deeply three times.
18) Make any statement(s) that comes to your
mind at this time. You can state how you are feeling, and you can also
state any thoughts that come to your mind.
Your practice is now complete for today. Please perform this practice
numerous other times so that you can notice how it is your RELATIONSHIP
to your initial concern is changing over time.
Author's Bio
Charlie Badenhop is the originator of Seishindo, an Aikido instructor,
NLP trainer, and Ericksonian Hypnotherapist. Benefit from his
thought-provoking ideas and a new self-help Practice every two weeks,
by subscribing to his complimentary newsletter "Pure Heart, Simple
Mind" at http://www.seishindo.org.
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