A Practical Guide to Self-Hypnosis by Melvin Powers (best summer reads of all time TXT) 📕

You should not attempt to memorize the exact phraseology for any of the tests. You are to merely use the suggestions that have been written out for you as a guide. The timing of the suggestions is the paramount consideration in attaining successful results. Don't be impatient. Take as much time as you need. Should you find yourself unsuccessful after ten or fifteen minutes, drop the test and come back to it another day. I haven't found that working at a specific test all day long accomplishes the end result.

It is best to work for a specific period every day. In this way, the conditioned response pattern is established for the success of the tests as well as the success of the posthypnotic suggestions that you have given yourself. You should bear in mind that if you have been successful in achieving the first five tests, you have reached a medium state of hypnosis, and posthypnotic suggestions will be extremely effective. In the next chapter, you'll learn, psychologically, how to go even deeper into hypnosis. You'll learn those psychological factors that are important to know and that can contribute to your development into an excellent hypnotic subject. Following this, the subsequent chapter will give you further tests and instructions for developing into a somnambulistic subject.

Becoming an excellent subject follows the same general rules for becoming proficient in any other endeavor. It depends upon your motivation, persistence and willingness to devote time and study to the subject. Let us agree that most individuals can learn to play a musical instrument to some degree. This degree is usually sufficient for their own needs. To become a virtuoso, however, it is necessary to study the instrument and devote a great deal of energy and time to practice. The same example could be given for most undertakings. Anyone can learn to hit a golf ball, but being able to control the direction and distance and become a skilled golfer is quite another matter.

If you have been successful in accomplishing the first five tests, you can consider yourself a good hypnotic subject. Becoming an excellent subject entails following the same procedure used in accomplishing the first five tests. Some may proceed very easily into the somnambulistic state, and others may have a difficult time reaching this deepest stage. Understanding some of the psychology involved and assuming the right psychological frame of mind for the attainment of the somnambulistic state is more important than just working blindly in an attempt to get the somnambulistic tests to work. Being irritable, disgusted and despondent because of your inability to go further into hypnosis is not the answer and will only lead to frustration and failure. The reader is not to assume he will be a difficult subject. If you have come this far, you'll be able to continue in the same manner. The topic under discussion now is brought up to prepare readers for any contingency that may arise. It's like having a life preserver on a boat. You hope you never need it, but you should be prepared to use it in case of an emergency.

It is natural to assume that if you are willing and trying to go into the lethargic, cataleptic or somnambulistic state, you will be able to do so in a relatively short period of time. Unfortunately, this is by no means the case. Many of the principles of learning and conditioning can be applied to hypnosis, but with many subjects these laws do not seem applicable. Let us assume you wanted to learn to become an excellent typist. This is a reasonable goal and all that is necessary is to continue practicing until you have reached the proficiency you set out to achieve. This proficiency would, as a rule, follow application of the laws of learning and conditioning.

This isn't always so in a subject's attempt to become somnambulistic. When the subject progresses from one stage to another in a classical manner, the theory works admirably, but what happens when a subject cannot seem to progress any further? He has reached a plateau and is unable to climb higher. He seems to have reached a psychological impasse or stalemate. It is easy to say that the subject is thwarted by a subconscious block and let it go at that. This, however, doesn't help him in his dilemma. It's like telling the stranded motorist that the reason his car has stalled is because the motor isn't running. The following information will be helpful to those who haven't been able to reach the first stages of hypnosis, as well as those who apparently can go only so far. Actually, the same principles are involved.

If the subject doesn't respond or responds to a limited degree, there evidently is a cause or reason for this poor response. In order to continue this discussion, it will be necessary for us to agree that the resistance can be either conscious or unconscious. If the subject insists that he is trying to "let go," has nothing to hide, is not afraid of hypnosis, understands what is involved and has strong motivation, we can only assume that the resistance must be unconscious. Usually, it will be necessary to work through this unconscious resistance before the subject responds. If the subject is conditioning himself, this will involve a great deal of introspection, and even then it is an extremely difficult job. One doesn't usually have proper insight into one's own emotional make-up. The end result is that one can only rationalize about his behavior.

Let us explore some interesting aspects of hypnosis with a view toward helping you if you are having difficulty responding the way you desire. I have had the following paradoxical situation happen many times. A subject calls my office, requesting to be conditioned for self-hypnosis. He further requests that he be allowed to bring along a member of his family or a friend for the hypnotic session. These individuals usually ask if I object to this procedure. I interpreted this request as a sign of distrust during my early career as a professional hypnotist. I was affronted by the idea of the unspoken insinuation verbalized by this request. Didn't they trust me? Between trying to defend myself and assuring them that there was no need for another person being present, since my secretary could observe the procedure, I usually "won" the argument but lost the client. As I developed understanding into the needs of these persons, I began to realize that the request was not directed at my integrity, but was a safeguard for their ego.

Here is an interesting sidelight that has happened frequently in regard to the foregoing situation. I would request the subject to sit near my desk and tell the onlooker to sit in back and to the side of the subject, away from the subject's view so as not to distract him. In this situation, I invariably place the hypnodisc on a spinning, portable phonograph turntable and turn it upright for the subject to look at. The hypnodisc, which is made of stiff cardboard, looks like a 12-inch phonograph record and has concentric heavy lines drawn on it. As it spins, the subject feels he is being pulled toward the center. At the same time, it causes his eyes to become very tired. I have included a drawing of it on this page for those who are not familiar with this hypnotic device. The revolving hypnodisc causes a physiological reaction and must work with everyone. You feed back certain known physiological responses for the successful attainment of hypnosis.