Hypnosis for Beginners Read online

  (I wait for the subject to acknowledge that he understands. If he doesn't, I go over it until he does.)

  Now let's begin.

  ROUTINE A

  First I want you to stand up and take a good, complete stretch. Get all the kinks out.

  (I wait for a few moments while the subject stands up and stretches thoroughly)

  That's fine. Now just sit in the chair and relax. Close your eyes and take a nice deep, full breath and exhale completely, all the way to the bottom of your lungs. All out. Do it again now. Just relax and let it all out. One more time, and this time hold your breath when you have filled your lungs with clean, refreshing, relaxing air. Hold it in. Keep your eyes closed. Now let your breath out slowly and feel yourself relaxing all over.

  ROUTINE 1A

  Focus your attention on your knees now and relax everything below your knees. Relax your calves. Relax your ankles. Relax your feet. And relax your toes. Relax your toes. Everything below your knees now are loose and relaxed. Now relax your thighs as completely as you can. Let your thighs just droop limp and loose and heavy into the chair. Relax your hips and relax your waist. Now relax your chest as completely as you can. Allow your breathing to be easier and deeper, more regular and more relaxed. Relax your shoulders now. Let the muscles in your shoulders be heavy and loose. More and more completely relaxed. Relax your neck and throat. Let your head just droop as all the muscles in your neck just relax. Now relax your face as completely as you can. Allow your face to be smooth and loose, relaxed and easy, your jaws all loose and relaxed, your teeth are not quite touching. Everything smooth and loose and easy. Now relax as completely as you can all the little muscles around your eyelids. Feel your eyelids growing heavier and smoother. More and more deeply relaxed.

  In a moment, I am going to ask you to open your eyelids. When I ask you to open them, your eyelids will be so relaxed and heavy they will just barely open and when I ask you to close your eyelids again you will allow yourself to relax even more completely. Now try to open your eyelids. Now close your eyes and feel yourself relaxing even more.

  ROUTINE B

  I want you to imagine now that all your tensions, all your tightness, and all your fears and worries are draining away from the top of your head. Let it drain down through your face, down through your neck, through your shoulders, through your chest, your waist, your hips, your thighs, down through your knees, your calves, your ankles, your feet, and out your toes. All your tension, all your tightness, all your worries and fears are draining away now from the very tips of your toes, and you are relaxing more and more.

  ROUTINE 1B

  We are going to do this relaxation exercise again. This time I want you to allow yourself to relax even more fully and completely than you did the first time.

  Focus your attention on your knees once again and relax everything below your knees. Relax your calves. Relax your ankles. Relax your feet, and relax your toes. And now relax your thighs even more completely. Allow your thighs to droop limp and heavy into the chair. Relax your hips and your waist. Feel the relaxation flowing into your chest now. Relaxing the vital organs within your chest, your heart, your lungs, allowing your breathing to be more intense, more regular, more and more completely relaxed. Now relax your shoulders even more. Feel your shoulders heavy and loose. More and more deeply relaxed. Relax your neck and throat. Relax your face even more. Feel your face all smooth and loose, completely easy and relaxed all over. And now relax even more all the little muscles around your eyelids. Feel your eyelids heavy and smooth, more and more deeply relaxed.

  In a moment when I ask you to open your eyelids, your eyelids will be so relaxed, so lazy, that they may not even work. But whether your eyelids open or whether they do not open, in either case when I ask you to close your eyes again you will allow yourself to relax even more completely. Open your eyelids. Now close your eyes, and feel yourself relaxing even more.

  ROUTINE 1C

  We are going to do this relaxation exercise once again. This time I want you to allow yourself to relax completely. There is nothing to fear, you will always hear me, so just pull out all the stops and allow yourself to sink into perfect relaxation.

  Focus your attention again upon your knees and relax everything below your knees. Relax your calves, relax your ankles, relax your feet, and relax your toes. Now relax your thighs completely. Feel the deep and heavy relaxation flowing into your hips now. Feel it going up through your waist, flowing into your chest, to your shoulders, heavy and loose, completely relaxed. And now this heavy relaxed feeling is going into your neck and throat, all over your face. Your face is all smooth and loose, completely easy and relaxed, and the heavy relaxation is flowing into your eyes and eyelids now. Your eyelids are so heavy and so smooth. Ever more deeply relaxed.

  ROUTINE 1D

  In a moment when I ask you to open your eyelids, I want you to believe very very strongly that your eyelids are glued together. I want you to imagine that your eyelids are one piece of skin. Like one piece of skin. Don't be antagonistic or skeptical and say that you can open your eyelids. Just believe, just imagine that your eyelids are glued together. And if you believe and if you imagine that you cannot open your eyelids, you will really not be able to open them. Believe now very very strongly that your eyelids are glued together. Imagine your eyelids are like one piece of skin. Now try to open your eyes. Now let your eyes relax. Feel yourself relaxing all over.

  ROUTINE 1E

  I want you to imagine now that you are looking at a blackboard. And on the blackboard is a circle. Into the circle put an X.And now erase the X from inside the circle. And now erase the circle. Forget about the blackboard now as you just go on relaxing more and more deeply.

  In a moment, I am going to count backward from 100. I want you to count with me silently to yourself Say each number to yourself as I say it, then when I ask you, erase the number from your mind and allow yourself to relax even more deeply. 100.. .say the 100 to yourself Now erase it from your mind and go deeper. 99.. .and erase it all away. 98 and erase it. 97 and now erase it so completely there is nothing left at all, just deeper and deeper waves of relaxation.

  ROUTINE IF

  Focus your attention now on the very tip of your nose just as we practiced before. Keep your attention gently focused on the tip of your nose until you reach a point where your entire attention is on my voice. And when you reach that point, you can forget about your nose and just go on listening to my voice and allowing yourself to relax more and more deeply. And as you keep your attention focused very gently on the tip of your nose I am going to take you down through four progressively deeper levels of relaxation.

  ROUTINE IG

  I will label these levels with letters of the alphabet, and when you reach the first level, level A, you will be ten times more deeply relaxed than you are even now. And then from level A we will go down to level B, and when you reach level B you will be ten times again more deeply relaxed than you were before. And from level B we will go down even further, down to level C. And when you reach level C you will be ten times again more deeply relaxed than before. And then from level C we will go all the way down to the deepest level of relaxation, level D.And when you reach level D, you will be ten times again more deeply relaxed than before. You are drifting down now, two times deeper with each breath that you exhale. Two times deeper with each breath. Your hands and fingers are so relaxed and heavy, and they keep growing heavier. Feel the heaviness growing in your hands and fingers. Heavy... heavier still until now they are so heavy it is as though your hands and fingers were made of lead. And this deep relaxed, heavy feeling is flowing up through your forearms now. Feel it going up into your upper arms. Flowing through your shoulders, into your neck, over your face, over your eyes. Flowing up to your eyebrows, your forehead, over the top of your head. The deep relaxed, heavy feeling is flowing down the back of your head and down the back of your neck. You are now approaching level A.

  ROUTINE 1H

  Y
ou are on level A now and still going deeper. Five times deeper now with each breath that you exhale. Five times deeper with each breath. Your mind is so still and peaceful. You're not thinking of anything now. Too relaxed to think. Too comfortable to think. And this heavy relaxation in your mind is flowing into your face and eyes. It is flowing down through your neck and into your chest. Flowing down to your waist, down through your hips, your thighs, your knees, your calves, your ankles, your feet and your toes. You are now approaching level B.

  ROUTINE 11

  You are on level B now and still drifting deeper. Floating smoothly and gently into perfect relaxation. Your arms and legs are so relaxed and heavy they feel like logs. Your arms and legs are stiff and numb and heavy... simply immovable. Your arms and legs are like planks of wood. You are now approaching level C. You are on level C now and still drifting down. Sinking into the chair. Sinking deeper and deeper into perfect relaxation. And as you go on drifting even deeper, I am going to count backward from 15 to 1. Each number that I say will take you deeper and deeper still, and when I reach 1 you will be on level D. 15, deeper, 14, deeper still, 13...12...11...10...9...8...7...6, let it all go now, 5...4...3...2...1...1...1, so deep, so dreamy, so heavy, so misty. You are now on level D and still drifting down. There is no limit now... no limit. Go on floating, drifting deeper and deeper into perfect relaxation, deeper with each breath.

  At this point, give your suggestions. If I use this session as the only session I plan with a client, the suggestions will be as extensive as necessary for the problem being handled. Usually this session is just the first of four or six planned for handling problem. In this case, I just put in a few general welfare suggestions such as the following:

  This is the first of a series of hypnosis sessions that will enable you to get more control of your life and to enrich your life by solving your problems.

  Repeat the following statements to yourself as I say them: "Every day in every way, I am getting better, better, and better."

  Positive thoughts bring me benefits and advantages I desire.

  Use the above suggestions or tailor your own. But you should put at least one suggestion in and probably no more than three at this point. Then proceed to the closing routine, W.

  ROUTINE 1J

  The next time I see you, or whenever you hear my voice on tape, you will allow yourself to relax ten times more deeply than you are now. And the suggestions I give you then will go ten times deeper into your mind.

  In a few moments I will awaken you. When you awaken you will feel very relaxed and very refreshed all over. You will feel alive and alert, very refreshed. Full of energy. You will feel just wonderful. You will keep on feeling relaxed and fine all the rest of today, and all this evening. Tonight when you are ready to go to sleep, you will sleep just like a log all night long. And the first thing you know it will be morning, and you will awaken feeling on top of the world.

  I am now going to count from 1 to 5. At the count of 5 you will open your eyes, be wide awake and feeling fine, feeling relaxed, refreshed, alert, and in very high spirits. Feeling simply terrific!

  1.. .2.. .coming up slowly now.. .3.. .at the count of 5 you will open your eyes, be wide awake and feeling fine, feeling better than before.. .4.. .5. (Here I usually snap my fingers at the count of 5 and say:) Open eyes, wide awake and feeling fine, feeling better than before, and this is so!

  THINGS TO NOTE ABOUT SESSION I

  Look over routines 1A, 1B, and 1C. At a quick glance, they seem to be the same. A closer look reveals subtle differences in the wording; these differences are very important. We progress from telling the subject to relax, to feeling the relaxation, to you are now relaxed.

  Routine 1J uses the words "or whenever you hear my voice on tape." If you are not going to tape any sessions, omit this. If you think you might perform relaxation over the telephone, add "or whenever you hear my voice on the telephone" to pre-condition your subject for future sessions.

  In this session we really get down to business and achieve two goals: To begin specific routines and suggestions to deal with the diet and eating habits (or whatever the problem), and teach the subject selfhypnosis.

  SESSION 2 consists of 16 routines in the following sequence: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, 0, P, Q.

  Routines A and B are found in chapter 2.

  ROUTINE C

  Focus your attention on your toes now and allow your toes to relax completely. Each toe is loose and heavy. Now let this relaxation flow into your feet, into your ankles, your calves, your knees. Feel it flowing into your thighs, into your hips, into your waist, flowing up into your chest now. Feel your breathing easier and deeper, more regular and more relaxed. Now let the deep relaxed feeling go into your shoulders, down your arms, into your upper arms, your forearms, and into your hands and fingers, and flowing back into your forearms, your upper arms, your shoulders. Flowing into your neck, over your face, your chin, your cheeks, even your ears are relaxed. Feel it flowing into your eyes and eyelids now Your eyelids are so heavy and smooth. Flowing up into your eyebrows, over your forehead, over the top of your head, down the back of your head, and down the back of your neck.

  ROUTINE D

  A new heaviness is starting in your toes now. Twice as heavy as the first time. Imagine a heavy weight on each toe. Feel the heaviness deep and even more relaxed. And this heavy, deep feeling is going into your feet, your ankles, your calves, your knees, going into your thighs, your hips, into your waist. Flowing up into your chest now, relaxing your heart, relaxing your lungs, allowing your breathing to be more intense, more regular, more and more completely relaxed. Now the deep heavy feeling is flowing into your shoulders, and down your arms, your upper arms, your forearms, into your hands and fingers. And now flowing back through your forearms, your upper arms, into your shoulders and into your neck. Flowing over your face, into your eyes, over your eyebrows, over your forehead, over the top of your head, down the back of your head and down the back of your neck.

  ROUTINE E

  And a new heaviness is starting now at the top of your head. ?mice as heavy as before. Twice as heavy. Imagine a heavy weight on the very top of your head, soft and relaxed and heavy. Feel the heavy relaxation flowing down into your face and eyes now, down through your neck, your shoulders, flowing down through your chest, your waist, your hips, your thighs, your knees, into your calves, your ankles, your feet and toes. Deeply relaxed, loose and limp, and comfortable from the top of your head to the very tip of your toes.

  ROUTINE F

  I want you to imagine now that you are looking at a blackboard. On the blackboard imagine a circle. Into the circle we are going to place the letters of the alphabet in reverse order, and with each letter after you place it into the circle, you will erase it then from inside the circle and allow yourself to relax more and more deeply.

  Picture the blackboard now. Picture the circle. Into the circle put the letter Z.Now erase the Z from inside the circle, and go deeper. Put Y into the circle, and erase it and go deeper. X, and erase it and go deeper still. W, and erase it. V, and erase it. U, and erase it. T, and erase it. S, and erase it. R, and erase it. Q, and erase it. P, and erase it. 0, and erase it. N, and erase it. M, and erase it. L, and erase it. K, and erase it. J, and erase it. I, and erase it. H, and erase it. G, and erase it. F, and erase it. E, and erase it. D, and erase it. C, and erase it. B, and erase it. A, and erase it. Now erase the circle and forget about the blackboard. Just go on relaxing more and more deeply. Feel yourself sink into the chair, mind and body drifting deeper and deeper into relaxation, deeper with each breath.

  ROUTINE G

  I want you to imagine now that you are looking at a clear, blue summer sky. And in the sky, a sky-writing airplane is writing your first name in fluffy, white cloud-like letters. See your name floating fluffy, white, and cloud-like in a clear, blue sky. Now let your name just dissolve away. Let the winds just blow your name away into the blue. Forget about your name. Forget you even have
a name. Names are not important. Just go on listening to my voice and allowing yourself to relax more deeply.

  ROUTINE H

  I want you to imagine now that I am placing on each of your knees a heavy bag of sand. Feel the sand pressing down on your knees. Your knees are growing heavier and more relaxed. In the sand is a very powerful numbing ingredient and the numbness is flowing down into your knees now. Your knees are growing numb and more numb under the sand. And the heavy, numb feeling is flowing down into your calves, into your ankles, into your feet and toes. Everything below your knees is numb and more numb from the sand. And now the heavy, numb feeling is going up into your thighs, flowing into your hips, through your waist, and into your chest. It flows into your shoulders, and they grow numb and heavy. It flows down your arms, your upper arms, your forearms, into your hands and fingers. Flowing back now through your forearms, your upper arms, your shoulders, and into your neck. Over your face, your eyes. Flowing up to your eyebrows, your forehead, over the top of your head, down the back of your head, and down the back of your neck.

  ROUTINE J

  As you go on floating, drifting smoothly and gently, more and more deeply relaxed with each breath, I want you to focus your attention on the very tip of your nose. Keep your attention focused gently and lazily on the tip of your nose until you reach a point where your entire attention is on the sound of my voice. And when you reach that point, you can forget about your nose and just go on listening to my voice and allowing yourself to relax more and more deeply. As you keep your attention gently focused on the tip of your nose, I want you to imagine now that I am placing on your tongue, in your mouth, a small bite of chocolate candy. You don't swallow it; it just sits there on your tongue. Notice the bitter taste of the chocolate. It is bitter and it is growing more bitter and more bitter as it just sits here, melting on your tongue. It is so bitter that you can hardly keep it in your mouth. It tastes terrible. From now on you will be completely free from any desire for chocolate or candy or sweet foods of any kind. You will be completely free from that desire, completely free from now on. I am taking the bitter chocolate from your mouth now. Your mouth feels clean now, all fresh and clean. You are glad that that ugly taste is gone from your tongue.