Chapter 3: A Brief History of Hypnosis This lesson gives you a background of the practice of hypnosis. The history of inducing trance states extends back probably as far as primitive man. In ancient times, it was mainly used in religious or healing practices. For example, ancient Egyptian priests, in a ceremony called temple sleep, induced trances in the names of gods and goddesses in order to give healing suggestions to the sick and troubled. Many of the shamans, medicine men and women, and healers in other cultures were proficient in these techniques. I spent 2 months in the San Blas Islands off Panama living with the Kuna Indians. I was able to meet many shamans and watch them perform their rituals. The techniques they use are designed to induce hypnosis in their patients. I also witnessed the healing rituals used by the Mayan shaman in Guatemala and noticed the same techniques for inducing hypnosis. Modern hypnotism can be dated back to Franz Mesmer (1734-1815), an Austrian physician working in France. Mesmer believed that a “cosmic fluid” could be stored in inanimate objects such as magnets and then transferred to patients for curative purposes. He believed that by contacting and holding certain magnetic rods, the force and direction of the energy flow were restored and contacting and holding certain magnetic rods would heal patients. This process was called “mesmerism”. Mesmer soon disregarded the magnets and used himself as the conduit for which he called “animal magnetism”. He eventually realized that touch was not important and he could influence a person’s behavior by solely talking to them. The Academy of Science and the Faculty of Medicine in Paris discredited Mesmer, but one of his pupils, Armand de Puysegur, continued his work. He found that verbal commands alone could produce the most positive results. By 1840, Dr. James Braid, and English medical writer and ophthalmologist  conducted scientific investigations into mesmerism. Although he discounted the idea of cosmic fluid, he observed that by concentrating on a single focus of attention, patients become profoundly susceptible to verbal suggestion. We will expound more on this subject in lessons 4 & 5. To differentiate his theory of single fixation from Mesmer’s theory of animal magnetism, Braid coined the term hypnosis, from the Greek hypnos meaning sleep. Later, realizing that the subjects were actually very alert, he changed the term to monoideism, but it never caught on. Interest in contemporary medical hypnosis can be attributed to the extensive work of psychiatrist and psychologist, Dr. Milton Erickson (1901 – 1980). Considered the father of modern hypnosis, Erickson’s methods bypassed the conscious mind through indirect suggestion, metaphor, anecdotal, confusion etc. In 1955 the British Medical Association passed a resolution approving hypnosis in the field of medicine. In 1958 the council on Mental Health of the American Medical Association accepted hypnosis as a valuable tool and recommended that instruction in hypnosis be included in both medical school curricula and postgraduate training centers. William J. Bryan Jr., founder of the American Institute of Hypnosis, has defined hypnosis or the induction of Trance State as: “A normal, physiological, altered state of consciousness, similar to, but not the same as being awake; similar to, but not the same as being asleep; and is produced by the presence of two conditions: 1) a central focus of attention and 2) surrounding areas of inhibition. The state of hypnosis produces three things: 1) an increased concentration of the mind, and 2) an increased relaxation of the body, and, 3) an increased susceptibility to suggestion.” A less technical definition of hypnosis is:  A naturally occurring altered state of consciousness in which the critical faculty is bypassed (mind in the conscious mode) and acceptable selective thinking established. This simply means that the reasoning, evaluating, judging part of your mind (conscious) is bypassed.  While we wonder how this could possibly happen, we are subject to it all the time.  The advertising industry is dedicated to bypassing our critical judgment all the time in order to influence our buying behavior. We suspend our critical judgment other times when an authority figure makes some sort of comment; doctors, clergy, professors, and many more fall into this category. Children suspend their critical judgment frequently in games of “let’s pretend”.  Actors do it in playing a part; they have to suspend their critical faculty, and they ask the audience to suspend theirs to accept them as being someone else. This focus on a specific goal or behavior is done with laser-like precision and intensity in hypnosis.  It’s a little like looking through a telescope from the wrong end.  You see just one tiny spec of the environment in focus though you may be aware of everything around you. Chapter 4: Preparation For Writing The “Hypnotic Script” Are you a Visual, Auditory or Kinesthetic? This lesson gives you the instructions needed to successfully tailor your self-hypnosis to your learning patterns. Your assignment in this class will be to write a “Hypnotic Script” that you can tape a self-hypnosis session.. Before you begin writing your script, you need to figure out the easiest way for your mind to respond to suggestion. People receive information via the sense organs and we tend to favor one sensory system over the others. You will classify yourself as Visual, Auditory or Kinesthetic. Visual refers to the sense of sight. Certain words are easier for visuals to understand. When a visual person thinks or speaks, his eyes will move up or stay softly defocused, looking straight ahead. The visual conversation is dominated by visual words “I see what you mean”, “I can see that” or “looks good”. They will give vivid description of things as thought painting a picture. They have a tendency to show you things or point to things while they are talking. Auditory people ‘s eyes stay level moving right and left, or move down and left. Auditories use “sound” words. Their voices usually have an even, rhythmic tempo and a melodious, easy to listen to sound. Auditory people will say things such as “Listen to what I have to say”, “that sounds good”, “I hear what you are saying”, “Did you hear?”They will laugh at a punch line of a joke and then repeat it. Kinesthetic’s eyes move down and right when they are processing information. They readily express feelings about anything. They like or they hate. You will hear “spaces” in a Kinesthetic’s conversation while they take time to check out their feelings. Kinesthetic people talk in terms of “I feel like a salad today” or “I can grasp that”. They have a tendency to touch a lot and a need to be touched back. Just make sure you see the difference. A visually-oriented person will say, “Am I painting a clear picture?” An auditory dominant person will say, “Does this sound right to you?” A kinesthetic-dominant person will say “Can you get a handle on this?” So, the question is which one are you? Let’s take a small test to see. Give your self a point for each descriptive phrase that fits you – and if you are on the edge think if it fits you a majority of the time. Checklist for discovering your dominant information processing system AUDITORY 1.      Prefers to have someone read instructions while putting something together. 2.      Reviews for a test by reading notes aloud or by talking with others. 3.      Talks aloud when working on a math problem. 4.      Prefers listening to a cassette rather than reading material. 5.      Uses rhyming words to remember names. 6.      Plans the upcoming week by talking it through with someone. 7.      Prefers oral instructions from an employer. 8.      Keeps up on the news by listening to the radio. 9.      Is able to concentrate deeply on what another person is saying VISUAL 1.      Likes to keep written records. 2.      Typically read billboards while driving or walking. 3.      Puts models together with out instruction 4.      Follows written recipes easily when cooking 5.      Reviews for a test by writing a summary 6.      Writes on napkins in a restaurant 7.      Commits things to memory by writing them down 8.      Prefers written directions 9.      Plans the upcoming week by making a list KINESTHETIC – TOUCH/MOVEMENT 1.      Likes to build things 2.      Uses sense of touch to put a model together 3.      Moves with music 4.      Learns touch system rapidly in typing 5.      Spends a large amount of time on crafts and handiwork 6.      Likes to feel textures- furniture, clothes 7.      Finds it fairly easy to keep physically fit 8.      One of the fastest in a group to learn a physical skill 9.      Doodles and draws on any available paper Now you can tell your dominance by the section that received the most points. We usually have a second coming close and one that we do not relate to at all. You will know where you fit in by the examples above. If you are torn between two, it is perfectly fine to utilize both. When you are ready to begin your script you will always keep this dominance in mind and write accordingly. An example would be: Visual -  “You are walking on a white sandy beach. The water is a crystal blue and the sky is lined with a pinkish hue”. Auditory - “As you walk down the beach, you can hear the waves gently fall at your feet, while the seagulls are humming.” Kinesthetic – “As you walk along the white powdered beach, you can feel the refreshing wind gently move across your face and through your hair.” The Sound of Your Voice When Making a Tape This course is set up so upon completion you will have all the information needed to make a self-hypnosis tape. The first lesson in doing this is the sound of your voice. Practice speaking in a low toned, very caaaaalm manner. The saying is “hypnotic patter”. Hypnotic patter can be described as a monotonous, calm, continuous voice. Using inflections on key words repetitively is also part of the “patter”. When thinking of patter, think of the sound of raindrops or the hum of a motor. For example, “Feel your muscles becoming soooo relaxed, looose and limp as you go deeeeper and even deeeeper”. Some people can do this better than others and some should not even try. Chapter 5: Writing The Hypnotic Script Part One: The Induction and Deepening This lesson teaches you how to write the induction of the hypnotic script. The induction is the part of hypnosis where you become completely relaxed. The point of induction is not only to relax yourself...and ease any tense areas...but is designed to bore your left-brain completely. When writing an induction for yourself, you will use repetition quite often. We must keep the conscious mind at work so we can access the subconscious. When your conscious mind is “bored” or occupied with menial instruction, it tends to drift off, and this is the best time to access the subconscious. Think of your conscious mind also as a “critical restrictor”. The conscious mind is famous for the words “I can’t” or “I could never”. Sometimes when we think of doing something new and positive for ourselves, our conscious mind begins to tell us all the reasons it will not work. I call this “the little me” – it is the ego part of me that is scared of change and knows all the reasons why goals cannot be attained. The induction serves as the distracter for “little me” (conscious), keeping it either too busy or too relaxed to interfere with the messages given to the subconscious. We know the subconscious is purely goal oriented and takes on new instruction easily. When the conscious is back in its normal state, the subconscious will be automatically giving us instructions in order to attain the new desired goal. The conscious no longer can obtain the negative information from the subconscious, because the subconscious has been in a sense, reprogrammed. A sample of an induction is below. Please be advised that this is only one example and there are infinite ways to write this – you will soon know what makes you most comfortable and what you respond to best. You will notice that I will use phrases for the visual, kinesthetic and auditory person. As this is a course, it will be your assignment to change the wording to the information process that best fits you. You will know which style of induction fits you just by the way it makes you feel when you are reading it. Also, you may be more comfortable hearing “I am becoming very relaxed.” rather than “You are becoming very relaxed.”  It does not matter which one you do, pick the style that you will feel most comfortable hearing. The most important thing is that you stay consistent with your decision. Important rules for writing a hypnotic script: Repetition of key words – relaxed, calm, at ease, peaceful, etc. Always speak in the present tense. Never say negative words – or use double negatives. I.e. Incorrect: “you won’t feel tense anymore”; Correct:” All tension is leaving my body” Be consistent in your style Example of a Progressive Relaxation Script Sit back, relax and close your eyes. Take a deep breath in…now let it all out. As I get into a very comfortable position, I am concentrating on my breath, breathing deeply and slowly. In a very few moments I will be more relaxed than I’ve ever known myself to be. I’m going to mention certain parts of my body, and as I do, I feel that part begin to relax – I just feel that part begin to relax. I visualize myself on a very beautiful little white sailboat. I feel the sun warming every muscle, nerve and bone in my body. The sky is the most beautiful blue I have ever seen – just a few white puffy clouds hanging in the sky, as I hear the sounds of the sea, I begin to feel more and more relaxed, more and more at peace. As I mention certain parts of my body, I feel that portion just begin to relax, so that in a few moments, I will be more relaxed than I have ever been. Starting with the forehead, I feel all the little frown lines, all the little worry lines in the forehead just seem to disappear. My forehead smoothes out, feels so relaxed and I feel this relaxation coming around my eyes. My eyelids seem to be very, very heavy, so heavy they do not seem to want to open. They may want to flutter a bit and that’s ok, but they are so relaxed and so very heavy. And as the relaxation comes down around the facial muscles now, all the muscles in the facial area just begin to relax. Relaxation comes further down around the mouth now, and all the hundreds of little muscles around the mouth just start to relax...so much so that the lower jaw becomes heavy and the teeth part. My jaw is so relaxed now. My mouth may even open up a little bit with relaxation as I continue to be deeper and deeper relaxed. I feel this relaxation now around my lower jaw, behind my ears so that all the little nerve endings behind the ears just seem to relax as I continue to go deeper and deeper, and even deeper as the sounds of the sea seem to say deeper and deeper, deeper. The relaxation goes to the back of my neck now (pause one second), down around the shoulders, so much tension seems to go out of my shoulders, and I feel the shoulders begin to relax. I can feel them drop a bit. Now they are relaxed, my shoulders are releasing any tension. I am perfectly relaxed, perfectly at peace The relaxation goes to my backbone now, and as it goes down the spinal column, it seems to go out the sides, so that every muscle, nerve, and fiber in my back just seems to relax.... The relaxation seems to come now to the small of my back, around the curve of the back. This sense of relaxation comes to the back of my thighs now (pause one second), and into the hollow of the knees, around the calf of the leg, around the heels, to the bottom of my feet. And each and every toe just relaxes even more as I go deeper, deeper and even deeper, hearing the sounds of the seas, feeling the fresh sea air gently, soothing my entire body... I am perfectly relaxed, perfectly at peace. I am calm, very peaceful, relaxed, the whole head and back area are sooo relaxed. Now, I feel my throat muscles just start to relax, the relaxation comes down to the front of the shoulders (pause one second), down the upper arms (pause one second), over the elbows, (pause one second), down the forearms to the hands as each and every finger relaxes more and more, as I go deeper, deeper and deeper, perfectly relaxed, perfectly at peace. I can feel the warm relaxation come back to my throat muscles, (pause one second), down into my chest, and all the muscles and organs within my chest area just begin to relax, continuing far into my stomach area, (pause one second), as all muscles and organs within the stomach area relax...the relaxation is going down now into the thighs, (pause one second), over the knees, more and more relaxed as I continue to go deeper and deeper and deeper.... I am perfectly at peace, perfectly relaxed. I am on the little white sailboat and I feel the warm sun on my face covering my shoulders. I inhale the fresh air as I go deeper and deeper. As I go deeper, I will leave that little sailboat and I will be standing at the top of a beautiful staircase, (pause) the most beautiful staircase I have ever seen. As I count backwards from ten to zero, each number will take me deeper and deeper... Ten. I take that first step down, deeper now; Nine, As I continue down the stairs, I feel myself becoming more and more relaxed, perfectly relaxed, perfectly at peace, perfectly at ease, deeper and deeper; Eight, As I continue down the stairs, I feel myself becoming more and more relaxed, perfectly relaxed, perfectly at peace, perfectly at ease, deeper and deeper; Seven, As I continue down the stairs, I feel myself becoming more and more relaxed, perfectly relaxed, perfectly at peace, perfectly at ease, deeper and deeper; Six, perfectly relaxed, perfectly at peace, deeper and deeper; Five, perfectly relaxed, perfectly at peace, deeper and deeper; Four, As I continue to breathe deeply, I feel myself becoming more and more relaxed, perfectly at peace, perfectly at ease; Three, As I continue to breathe deeply, I feel myself becoming more and more relaxed, perfectly at peace, perfectly at ease; Two, As I continue to breathe deeply, I feel myself becoming more and more relaxed, perfectly at peace, perfectly at ease; One, As I continue to breathe deeply, I feel myself becoming more and more relaxed, perfectly at peace, perfectly at ease, perfectly safe and full of happiness. At this point you would continue to the modification (suggestions) part of the hypnosis. Hints This script is simply a base for you to work from; there are many variations. For example, if you get seasick or do not like the sea, you can either take that portion out all together or replace it with a place you do enjoy, such as the beach, a mountaintop, in your backyard or in your bed. Make sure you describe the area in a consistent, simple matter. If you do not like the thought of stairs, maybe walk on a path or go deep into a beautiful forest. You can change the wording when relaxing the body to verbiage that makes you feel most comfortable, for instance, you can add “a beautiful, healing white light “that goes throughout mybody, you would add this white light this way: The warm, beautiful white healing light goes to the small of the back, around the curve of the back. This beautiful white, healing, light travels to the back of the thigh now, and into the hollow of the knee, around the calf of the leg, around the heel, to the bottom of the foot. There are also several variations that can be used during the count from ten to zero. The count is called “deepening”. It is taking you to the next level.  Please note that we are learning the counting method for deepening, if you do not feel comfortable with counting down, please advise me and I will show you other methods. Counting Script: (Repeating corresponding sentence to each number) Ten, Nine and Eight: Feeling perfectly safe, perfectly secure, perfectly at ease, as I continue to breathe deeply, I feel myself opening to the deep and perfect relaxation that is filling my body. And I feel so relaxed, perfectly safe, perfectly secure, moving down...going deeper and deeper Seven, Six, Five, Four: as I continue to move down the stairs, I feel myself becoming more and more relaxed, perfectly at peace, perfectly at ease...moving down, going deeper and deeper Three, Two: As I move further down the stairs, I feel more and more relaxed, going deeper and deeper... AND One: As I continue to breathe deeply, I feel myself becoming more and more relaxed, perfectly at peace, perfectly at ease full of happiness. Note: If you are more susceptible to hypnotism, you will be “under” before you start counting. It is always necessary to relax the body first, but you can alter the countdown to your preference.  If you think you will be hypnotized quite easily, it is ok to use a faster countdown script. What you want to watch is the consistency, say the same phrases for two to four numbers at a time. If you are relaxed by the time the deepening begins, you may create a more concise countdown, for example: 10...9...8… Going deeper and deeper with each number... 7...6...5...deeper and deeper and deeper.... 4...3.... very, very deep...so peaceful, so calm, so relaxed.... 2...Nearly there... 1...Now I am in a deeply relaxed state, very much at peace If you have any questions about writing the hypnotic script please feel free to email us at Ken@KenGrossman.com. If you prefer to have a professionally created hypnosis program you can order Hypnosis CD's for weight loss, smoking cessation, stress reduction, pain management and increasing golf skills from www.KenGrossman.com. To go to Part 3 click here.