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Mind and Self Hypnosis:
A Short Introduction
Eldon Taylor
Introduction
First, I want to suggest to you that all hypnosis is fundamentally
self hypnosis. This idea is not new from me, for one of the
real pioneers of modern hypnosis, Dr. Milton Ericcson made
this statement many years ago. The fact is, hypnosis is based
on suggestibility and you must be willing to accept the suggestions
or there is no so-called trance state to follow. Now, that
is not to say that gifted hypnotists are not able to disarm
defenses one might have, but it is to say that YOU are the
key to a successful hypnotic session. The common fear of hypnosis,
that someone else has control over you, has no place in a
self-hypnosis session, for you are both the hypnotist and
the subject--and just to be clear, the fear is mislaid and
false to fact.
You will learn that hypnosis is a natural state that can be
objectified by brain wave activity. This special brain wave
state known as alpha and theta (we'll look at those more closely
later in this text) is not only a powerful state for mind
training, deep relaxation, accelerated learning opportunities
and so forth, but a state that most move through several times
each day. All of this and more are covered in these programs,
so let's get into some important matters that are not discussed
there.
Self Hypnosis to Condition Belief
Not long ago I was preparing a literature review of hypnosis.
One of the texts I used is written by two scholars with impeccable
credentials. The book is called "Hypnosis, Will and Memory"
(Laurence and Campbell, 1988). It is essentially a psycho-legal
history of hypnosis. Repeatedly the text cites a time when
hypnosis was believed to be either of the devil or pure unmitigated
fakery. Finally, the scientific community investigated hypnosis.
Scientists who doubted hypnosis used a test to determine true
hypnosis from fakery. The test was largely based on body levitation
evidence. In other words, it was assumed as a result of direct
observation that a subject truly in hypnosis could and would
levitate!
Now skeptics tested for fakery and often reported finding
hidden wires and ropes and pulleys. However, these same skeptics
reported true unfaked levitation on many occasions. Not only
did they report it, the evidence was sometimes offered in
the courts. Okay, levitation was not such an unnatural act
until the laws of Newton became popularly known. Suddenly,
everyone knew that the human body was heavier than air and
could not float. Levitation suddenly disappeared from the
scene and the literature. Prior to that, levitation was often
witnessed by the most reliable of even the skeptics in instances
of hypnosis, spiritual enlightenment and so-called demonic
possession. Indeed, levitation was one of the criteria for
determining the guilt or innocence of a witch.
It would appear that belief, individual and collective, directly
influences the physical world. Physicists have often reported
the role of the "observer" in influencing the outcome of physical
measurement and observation. Indeed, many physicists believe
that consciousness interacts with matter. A recent study employed
some sophisticated statistical measurements to evaluate the
mind's interaction with matter. The data clearly suggested
an information exchange between mind and matter. Belief in
ourselves, abilities, powers, and the influence over our own
lives and the world around us, is at the crux of what each
and every one of us experiences in life. Belief literally
may define and delimit our every experience. Eroding belief
is doubt. Self doubt is the most personally damaging belief
we can hold.
Monkey Conditioning--Behaviorism
Regaining our inherent self-confidence, self-belief, self-respect,
and self power is relatively easy, if we're willing to make
the proper choices. The difficulty is in the choices. Humans
can behave very much like the conditioned animal. It is for
this reason that Classical Behaviorism gained such popularity
in psychological schools of thought. Behaviorism essentially
argues that the human condition is entirely a product of nature/nurture
and is conditioned to believe, behave and otherwise execute
life. There is no such thing as a higher principle or a need
for self-actualization. The human is but a shabby animal with
higher cerebral processing mechanisms than other animals.
It behaves in habitual patterns and treatment consists chiefly
of changing the patterns. The assertion seems simple, change
behavior and you change the person. This assertion has some
very pragmatic applications and we'll use it as we progress
with the material at hand. However, just so there is no ambiguity,
the underlying hypothesis which asserts no higher principle
is as false a notion as any one will ever encounter! In fact,
it is my opinion that only one with true cognitive dissonance
and/or absolute ignorance of the world around us would hold
such a view.
Altered States Of Consciousness
For some, an altered state of consciousness is a taboo.
It portends to "mess" with the mind. The mind is not to be
messed with. I have always found this assertion naive for
the reason that every human being experiences various states
of altered consciousness daily. When the typical person turns
on the television, an altered state generally ensues. Indeed,
children become conditioned to enter an altered state within
minutes after beginning to view TV. Studies have demonstrated
that even when children are hooked up to brain wave monitoring
devices such as electro encephalographic feedback and given
substantial reward motivation to remain in fully alert states
of consciousness, that in under five minutes they will fail
to maintain ordinary wakeful consciousness. The child will
slip into what is commonly termed alpha consciousness (more
on this in a moment). When a person day dreams, falls into
a light sleep or state of reverie, slowly wakes from a deep
sleep, or fixates on almost anything, they are almost always
in an altered state of consciousness. So what is an altered
state of consciousness?
Typically, consciousness is divided into four categories.
Normal consciousness is called "beta," lightly modified consciousness
"alpha," deep sleep "theta," and comatose states "delta."
States of consciousness are thought of in terms of brain wave
rates (cycles per second). Beta consciousness is normally
15 to 30 cycles per second, alpha is 8 to 14 cycles per second,
theta is 4 to 8 cycles per second and delta is less than 4.
Now let's translate this schema into something meaningful
outside the realm of definition.
Beta
In normal ordinary wakeful states of consciousness, the
mind operates from its most critical platform. It constantly
judges input from self (inner talk) and others. It evaluates
and reacts. Indeed, it chiefly reacts. For even when one believes
they are evaluating, more often than not, the evaluation is
settled before it begins. The belief system of the unconscious
not only places a lens through which all matters will be disputed,
but it also hides behind a protective veil the information
that may give rise to mistaken decisions. That is, the unconscious
mind during normal wakeful states is operating as a software
program feeding the flow of everyday life through a mosaic
of interpretations that are written chiefly upon avoidance
and attraction principles (experienced and imagined). Therefore,
when the conscious mind says something like, "I can do this.
I'm good enough to excel and succeed," the unconscious (subconscious
if you prefer) sends some inner talk message like, "Really,
good enough for what? How about‹? Do you remember?" etc.
Now, maybe the reason the unconscious sends the negative message
is due to some fear from the past, or some fear projected
through imagination. Perhaps the negative feedback is due
to negative input from peers, parents, and so forth. It is
also possible that the negative is due to some deep sense
of unworthiness that is the result of a need to punish oneself.
It could also be the result of some deep belief that conflicts
with our desire, such as the desire to become successful and
an inner belief that sorts along a line of logic that goes
something like this, "If I want to be saved in Heaven, I must
sacrifice here and now. Further, money is the source of all
evil." There could also be a myriad of other reasons and a
virtual labyrinth of entanglement between them all. The fact
is, in ordinary beta consciousness very little new information
can really get in. Now, "very little" in this reference is
by comparison to alpha consciousness. In fact, just as an
aside before going further, the methods of Superlearning and
Suggestopedia (Ostrander) clearly demonstrate the advantage
of learning school room information such as language, math,
science, and so forth, in alpha consciousness states.
Alpha
Alpha consciousness is the state most refer to as the primary
state experienced in hypnosis. Hypnosis has been viewed from
many perspectives and historically has held more than one
definition. However, the agreed upon definition today is a
heightened state of suggestibility. This heightened state
of suggestibility is just what the title implies. In alpha
consciousness one is particularly prone to the acceptance
of skillful suggestion. The nature of suggestion depends on
who is suggesting. A hypnotherapist will make healthy and
positive suggestions while a sales person trained in the art
of hypnotic selling may give personally self-serving suggestions
(Moine, Lloyd). The power of suggestion and the psychology
of compliance, mentioned in further detail in the next chapter,
are used every day in mass marketing strategies to sell everything
from illness to religion (Taylor).
When one is in an alpha state, whether naturally or artificially
induced, their inner talk tends to slow down and become image
oriented and/or guided as opposed to constantly self-initiated,
albeit often unconsciously. Since we live in a modern society
we are exposed to a variety of stimuli that our forefathers
never knew. Let me provide a couple of examples.
Much of the television, radio and print media programming
of today dwells on violence, sex and so-called taboo issues.
The word is sensationalism. The more sensational, the better
the reviews, the more money, the larger the audience and so
on. Rather systematically over the past twenty to thirty years,
the threshold of arousal has increased in the population,
forcing an ever increasing thrust into areas of an explicit
nature in order to maintain the sensational. Consequently,
our inner talk, our fantasies, our very ideation has been
influenced. This new tolerance for vengeance, anger, fear,
violence, sexuality and so forth has tilted our society. Values
have diminished to the point that we have younger generations
without the proverbial "clue" as to what life is about. The
world is for living and taking and minimizing pain while maximizing
pleasure. Twelve-year-old children walk into school and gun
down their teachers and school mates. Drugs, child prostitution,
gang violence, drive-by shootings, and so forth are the chief
worries of parents today. How did our society degenerate to
this point?
Many psychologists and psychiatrists, sociologists and anthropologists,
and for that matter, political scientists, have made vociferous
outcries asserting the neurotic nature of our times and are
lining up in an attempt to end the media management of arousal
thresholds and value orientation. Television has probably
the single largest impact on people today. It guides our purchases,
the information most have about their world or any single
issue/event, merchandises everything from wearing apparel,
hair style, fashion in general to wholesaling the common cold.
"It's the flu season and it's coming to your town! Everyone
will get it! You can relax and baby yourself, pamper your
whims and take some needed time off, maybe even cement your
relationships, if you have XYZ on hand." How much sickness
do you think is vended in the same way attitudes and beliefs
are sold through our media?
Some of you may want to say, "Taylor, you're nuts. Television
doesn't make anyone sick. You don't get the flu from a TV!"
Fair enough. Let's look a little deeper. When a person is
in a state of alpha, such as hypnosis, the science and literature
show us clearly, without doubt, that the body can be suggested
to health or illness. A hypnotist can suggest a burn, place
an ice cube on the arm, and a blister will almost immediately
appear. As a practicing hypnotherapist, I personally witnessed
phenomena that illustrates the mind's control over the body
to the degree that suggesting a simple runny nose is, as Sherlock
would say, "Elementary!" But in order to tie this suggestibility
of alpha states in to the problems posed by television viewing,
we should also take a look at another area of scientific enquiry
that may surprise you.
Studies have shown that the average individual will enter
alpha brain wave states within four minutes of being engaged
by television (Taylor). If you think about it, this should
not come as any surprise. How many times have each of us seen
someone, or been that someone, who appeared so engrossed in
television that it required yelling at the person to get their
attention?
Okay, alpha consciousness and "cold season"‹I ask you again,
how much illness do you think is sold in order to create the
market that sells the cure?
It should be obvious that the state of alpha consciousness
is not only natural but can be a beneficial time to put positive
information into our bio computing brain/mind. The essential
use of alpha can also either be a matter of choice or a matter
of habituation. Recently I saw a sign in the supermarket selling
the publication: TV Guide. The sign underneath the current
issue said, "Check Out." A picture of a television with the
initials TV within it was all that accompanied the sign. How
many times have you heard or used the phrase, "I'll watch
television and check out"? Check out, vacuum the mind, and
so on; these are the terms we all naturally think of when
we think of TV. Turn our minds over, let go of our concerns,
oh‹and let someone else program them. Why "check out"? In
alpha states of consciousness endorphin levels increase. Endorphin
is the body's natural opiate system. It feels good. Sometimes,
perhaps too good.
Before we continue with our discussion of brain states, let
me provide a visual analogy that may be helpful. If you think
of brain wave activity as the number of lines on an inch of
graph paper, then you have a visual image of mental activity
at least as we measure it with electro-encephalographic instrumentation.
Instead of thinking of the lines on paper, think in terms
of the size of fencing. The closer the lines are to each other,
the smaller the fencing material. The smaller the fencing,
the more restrictive it is to both incoming and outgoing "stuff;"
in our analogy, let's say birds. The mind is very much like
this. The tighter the wire enclosure, the less information
(stimulus) we can process and remember. This is why superlearning
states use alpha consciousness. As the brain wave activity
slows down, the holes in our fencing material become large
and more information can get it.
In future chapters we'll examine in more detail some of the
powers and practical applications of altered states of consciousness.
For the purposes of this chapter, our introduction is only
intended to serve as groundwork.
Theta
Theta consciousness is often associated with deep sleep
and very deep levels of hypnosis or meditation. It is generally
believed that the so-called super human feats of the many
spiritual masters, such as those reported eating hot coals,
controlling body functions, and so forth, are achieved while
in theta consciousness. Indeed, mystics tend to teach that
as the brain wave patterns slow, the vibration of the body
alters. By allegedly changing the vibration of the body, many
things thought to be impossible become possible. The rate
of vibration is seen analogically as light vibrating at a
rate much faster than glass, therefore it passes through the
glass. A stone, however, vibrates much slower than glass,
consequently preventing it from passing through without breaking
the glass. Thus, there is an arguable inverse proportion to
brain wave activity and body vibration. As the brain wave
activity slows, the body vibration rate is said to increase.
Delta
Delta consciousness is ordinarily thought of as comatose.
For years this state of consciousness was believed to be so
turned in on itself that outside stimuli went totally unnoticed,
perhaps even unrecognized at any level of registration. However,
the work of Oliver Sacks showed the world that even in this
state of consciousness, there is awareness. In his work with
patients (see his book Awakenings), he used massive doses
of dopamine, and literally awakened (at least for a short
time) most of the patients. Stranger than fiction, these patients
reported their various records and sensitivities to the history
of their treatment, the hospital protocol, their environment
and so forth.
This has just been a short introduction to hypnosis. The bottom
line is one that you may want to check out for yourself. My
suggestion, try it. If you still want to know more first,
then you will want to read the story in the July 2001 issue
of Scientific America. The article shatters many common myths
including those that attempt to debunk hypnosis as either
fakery, pleasing the hypnotist or imagination. The hypnotic
subject experiences a state of consciousness that is independent
from so-called ordinary consciousness. It is not about compliance
or imagination, nor is it about placebo responsiveness, low
intelligence or the weak minded. Hypnosis is a safe state
where many wonderful insights and healings can and do take
place.
Eldon Taylor, Ph.D. is director of Progressive Awareness
Research and the author of over 200 books and tapes. Visit
http://www.innertalk.com
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