How To Use Self-Hypnosis

by Eric Greenleaf PhD

When I was a grad student in Chicago, a friend got very interested in hypnosis. He read some book and began to experiment with direct suggestions to himself. One day I ran into him on campus – he was white-faced and shaking. “What happened to you?” I said.

He told me that he’d been procrastinating going to the library to research an important school paper. So he hypnotized himself, giving a suggestion that he forget his own instruction to go directly to the library at 4PM. At that exact time, having forgotten what he told himself under hypnosis, he was driving on the freeway, felt an irresistible urge to go to the library, and turned his car into the oncoming traffic to reverse direction and follow the suggestion.

This true story is not meant to frighten you out of the use of self-hypnosis; rather, it’s to caution you on the proper use of self-suggestion. After all, Einstein used to relax by sitting in a chair with a pencil in his hand until he heard the pencil drop, signaling relaxation and the onset of a trancelike state of thought experiment. 

The important matter in self-hypnosis is that you not tell yourself what to do. Neither slavish following of exact suggestions, as my friend discovered, nor a battle between you and yourself about being directed by someone, will do the trick. What is needed is a goal, and intention or invitationto your unconscious mind to help you use your own resources at the right time, in the right way, to reach your goals.

And, the goal should be general, not precise. Not, “I will do seventeen push ups every day,” but, “I’d like to begin to improve my fitness,” or, “It would be helpful to find a way to have regular exercise.” You’re looking [making an unconscious search] for the methods that work for you in your own way, rather than for specific performance of some procedure suggested by someone else, even if that hypnotist is you dictating to you.

Here’s an example: Some years ago I had open-heart surgery to correct a mitral valve malfunction. Thinking like a hypnotist, I thought of a goal which would be achievable but not too specific, and which would be able, through my own efforts, to help during surgery and with recovery. I sat comfortably and let my mind drift and daydream. What came to me was this goal: to be cooperative while under anesthesia. I placed this goal, and a goal for rapid recovery from the surgery, in the back of my mind, and went about my preparations for being a patient. 

The goal of cooperation while unconscious only made sense to me much later. I realized that while the person is anesthetized and unconscious, the body still reacts strongly to being cut, sewn and manipulated. Instead of fighting the surgery, my goal was to cooperate with my chosen surgeon and anesthesiologist. The second goal, rapid recovery, was in effect when the surgical nurse called before the surgery to tell me the long list of possible complications and dangers of the open-heart procedure. I knew that this was her job, and she did it well. At one point, she said with authority, “And it will take 8-12 weeks to recover from surgery.” I found my hand writing, “6 weeks,” on my notepad. Six weeks after surgery I had reached the benchmarks for recovery. I’ve been healthy ever since.

So, practice sitting comfortably, let your mind drift and dream, and form a broad goal. Invite your unconscious mind to help you toward that goal in your own way and using your own style and values. Then notice what happens. Don’t be like a stage hypnotist with yourself, commanding performance. But do think like a hypnotist about using the person you have become to employ your own unconscious learning to help in your life.

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