Most people have limited experience with hypnosis. Maybe you've been to an event where a stage hypnotist convinced a friend to act like a duck; perhaps you've heard amazing claims about hypnotherapists who are able to rid their patients of the need to smoke or drink or overeat in a few hours. Unless you were the one quacking at that cocktail party, you may not be sure if hypnosis is real, and may not be aware of its history and proven benefits in the treatment of psychological problems. In this article, I will discuss the history of hypnosis, why it can change behavior, and how you can use it for self-improvement. There are a lot of popular misconceptions about hypnosis, but the truth has the potential to be much more amazing – and much more useful – than the most far-fetched story.

A Brief History of Hypnosis

Hypnosis was uncovered in its most primitive form by Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer, an Austrian physician, in 1778. Mesmer's method of inducing trancelike states was based on animal magnetism, the belief that living creatures had magnetic fields that influenced unseen forces around them. By immersing a patient in a vat filled with chemicals, Mesmer believed he could alter their magnetism and induce emotional fits, characterized by laughter, crying, and other extreme outbursts, that would leave them clean of whatever ailment they suffered. We now know that although animal magnetism never cured a single patient, some of those Mesmer treated found their symptoms alleviated or even relieved completely.

Around the turn of the century, psychoanalyst Dr. Sigmund Freud discovered more efficient ways to use the mind to overcome physical symptoms. Freud believed that the majority of negative behaviors people exhibit were due to the subconscious mind, a portion of the mind which constantly catalogs our experiences and influences us to act in ways that encourage survival. The subconscious mind does not use the same logic we do, and when it makes incorrect assumptions about what is and is not dangerous, dysfunctions result. By inducing a hypnotic trance in his patients, Freud was able to find out about past traumas that led to their undesirable conditions.

In the mid-20th century, Dr. Milton Erickson expanded on the research of Freud and other first generation hypnotists, developing new methods to help patients access their subconscious. Erickson addressed Freud's concern that hypnosis might be too powerful to be used safely by pioneering the use of hypnotic suggestions, proposed changes in behavior that the subconscious is free to adopt or discard naturally. Erickson made many other changes which allowed patients of hypnosis to influence their subconscious using a variety of simple verbal and mental techniques.

Recent research has proven that hypnosis can be used by anyone to make positive changes in their behavior. Hypnosis is used by the patient to uncover hidden motivations of the subconscious and suggest alternatives that are more in line with conscious desire. Hypnosis can be used to help overcome any problem or achieve any goal. Anyone can be hypnotized, and no negative side-effects are possible in self-hypnosis.

How Hypnosis Works

A hypnotic state is a pleasant, relaxed state of heightened suggestibilty during which the hypnotized person has greater access to the subconscious mind. When a hypnotist talks about suggestibility, they are not referring to suppression of the patient's will or any form of "mind control." Suggestibility merely refers to how well subconscious ideas can be challenged by you, the conscious.

To understand why this is necessary, one must realize that the subconscious holds tremendous power. In addition to controlling internal organs and reflexes, the subconscious is continuously sorting through your experiences and making predictions about what you can expect from the world around you. When you hear the voice of a friend, your subconscious reacts by influencing the level of tension in your muscles, the dilation of your pupils, and so on. The same is true when you run into someone you would rather avoid – you may develop sweaty palms, a dry mouth, or you may squint.

Trouble comes in when the subconscious makes incorrect generalizations about what causes pleasure or pain. For example, you may want nothing more than to drop ten pounds for swimsuit season. However, your subconscious might have come to associate chocolate cake with success and celebration. Even though you'd love to look good on the beach in a few months, you would find yourself eating cake whenever you've lost a pound or two. The cake may be your subconscious trying to spur you on to victory, but it really has the opposite effect. Whenever your conscious and your subconscious disagree, the subconscious will always come out on top. And while you may think you eat the cake because it tastes good, your subconscious often has different reasons.

That is where hypnosis comes in. By slowing down the conscious mind, you access the subconscious. The subconscious is not concerned with everything in your conscious, or else changing it would be as easy as talking to yourself – so easy, you would never be the same person twice. However, once in a hypnotic state, carefully worded suggestions can be used to address the subconscious and change its beliefs. Once the desire for chocolate cake is eliminated, you will no longer feel compelled to eat it, and will lose weight.

Preparing to Hypnotize Yourself

There are three vital steps to effective hypnosis

• Autoquestioning is a means of "talking" to your subconscious and discovering what it believes about a given subject. Through autoquestioning, you determine what's at the root of any given problem.
• Suggestion formulation is designing a suggestion that addresses the root of the problem. If the reason your subconscious wants cake is because it feels cake is what people should get when they accomplish their goals, it would do you no good to suggest that cake does not taste good and you should not eat it.
• Suggestion application is what most people think of when they think of hypnosis. In suggestion application, you induce a hypnotic state through muscle relaxation, visualization or breathing exercises, then repeat to yourself the suggestions you formulated.

Autoquestioning

Autoquestioning is vital to effective hypnosis. By analyzing unconscious movements of your hand, you can carry on something like a dialogue with your subconscious, and obtain answers to simple yes-or-no questions. Anyone can do it, though it takes some practice.

Start with a blank piece of paper and a pendulum. You can make one by tying string around any small, balanced object with a little weight. Draw a horizontal line across the center of the paper. Hold the pendulum over the line and imagine it moving back and forth. Focus your eyes on the pendulum. After a few minutes, you should notice slight movement along the line. If not, wave the pendulum so the weight swings smoothly from left to right over the line. Tell yourself, “This is what I want to happen.” Stop the pendulum and try again.

When you notice movement over the horizontal line, repeat the process with a vertical line, two diagonals, and two circles, each marked to show if it is clockwise or counter-clockwise. Over the course of a few hours, you should see motion over all the lines and both circles. Take your pendulum and ask your subconscious to assign a direction for yes. You will notice movement over one of the lines or circles. Mark this line or circle "yes." Do the same for no, maybe, do not care to answer, and rephrase the question. These are the potential answers the subconscious will give you by moving the pendulum.

Now, begin to ask questions. Rest assured that your subconscious cannot lie. Going back to the weight example, one might start with the question, does the subconscious have a desire to remain overweight? After a few seconds, movement would begin over the line for no. The questioner might then ask questions about their weight and eating habits.

Be creative: ask the subconscious if objects associated with your problem have any special emotional significance. If so, try to find out what event in your past caused the subconscious to feel as it does. Knowing these details, you can formulate effective suggestions.

Suggestion formulation

A good hypnotic suggestion addresses the core problem, which you discovered in autoquestioning. Instead of only making the suggestion, I will lose weight, the chronic cake sufferer in our example should also add, I do not need chocolate cake to celebrate my success.

Some tips for good suggestion formulation:

• Language is not natural to the subconscious, which thinks in images. A good suggestion is short and phrased in a positive way. Instead of I do not eat chocolate cake, suggest, When I see chocolate cake, I put it aside.
• Neither the past nor the future exist for the subconscious. The subconscious only understands now. Therefore, suggestions should be phrased as though they are happening now. Early hypnotists were not aware of this, and got mixed results. Instead of I will lose weight by June, try I lose weight every day.
• Good suggestions are highly specific. In the early days of Dr. Erickson's research, it was believed that very general suggestions, such as every day, in every way, I am getting better and better, could be extremely potent. We now know that the more specific a suggestion is, the faster and more effectively it addresses a problem.
• Once you have formulated a suggestion, "verify" it with your subconscious through autoquestioning. Ask if the proposed suggestion will work exactly as you intend and how long it will take to be fully implemented. If you do not get agreement from the subconscious, edit your suggestion.

Suggestion Application

To apply your suggestions, you must learn to induce a hypnotic state. If you have ever meditated, the process is similar, and, in fact, a meditative state is scientifically identical to a hypnotic state. For a more detailed explanation, you may read my first article on this website, A Beginner's Guide to Meditation.

• Find a place where you will not be disturbed.
• Sit in a chair with your back and shoulders straight, hands resting on your knees.
• Close your eyes and breathe deeply, filling your lungs completely. Beginning at ten, count toward zero with each exhalation. Tell yourself that with each breath you are becoming more relaxed and are moving deeper and deeper into your subconscious.
• As you become relaxed, your subconscious mind will become more receptive.
• Once you reach zero, you should feel very comfortable and relaxed. If any part of your body is particularly tense, you may wish to begin at ten and count down once more. You should notice that you feel much more relaxed than when you started.
• Repeat your suggestion ten to twenty times either in your mind or out loud.
• Once you have done this, open your eyes, stretch, and go about your daily routine.

Repeat this process two to three times daily. After years of experience, I find it is most effective if done once in the morning and once in the evening. You may need to implement several suggestions at once to deal with one problem, in which case you should repeat each ten to twenty times in each session. I recommend only working on one problem at a time. You may start to see subtle changes within days, and should notice definite improvement within two weeks. However, if the problem is something that has gone on for years, it may take months before a suggestion is fully implemented.

Congratulations on your entry into the fascinating and valuable world of hypnosis. Regular practice of hypnosis can change your life, no matter what your goals may be. The more you use it, the more open to change your subconscious will become, and the more you can accomplish.