Chapter 5 - How to Arouse Yourself from the Self-Hypnotic State - A Practical Guide to Self-Hypnosis

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Chapter five, How to arouse yourselffrom the self hypnotic state. You will
note that this chapter proceeds instruction onhow to attain self hypnosis. The reason
for this is to alleviate whatever anxietyyou may have in regard to the question,
if I'm hypnotized, how do Iawaken myself? It is important to

(00:22):
understand that even though you are hypnotized, you are in control. You are
aware of your surroundings, what isgoing on about. You can think clearly
and can arouse yourself very easily.It is only necessary to say or think,
I shall now open my eyes andwake up feeling fine. You could

(00:43):
also give yourself a specific count andsay, as I count to five,
I'll open my eyes and wake upfeeling wonderfully well and refreshed. One,
two, three, four five.It should be remembered that while we sometimes
use the word sleep to describe thehypnotic state, we are not actually referring

(01:07):
to true sleep. This accounts formuch of the confusion. The individual thinks,
if I'm asleep, how can Iawaken myself? If the subject were
asleep in the true sense of theword, this would be impossible. Actually,
the subject is in a special orheighten state of awareness. In self

(01:27):
hypnosis, he is extremely conscious,although his general physical appearance is one of
passiveness. In the self hypnotic state, the individual consciously gives himself whatever suggestions
he desires. This proves he isconscious and therefore can awaken himself with the

(01:48):
appropriate suggestions. Occasionally, the subjectfalls asleep while giving himself suggestions or while
relaxing to get into the right psychologicalmood. Naturally, in this case,
the subject will awaken in due course. If the subject practices hypnosis when he
is normally set to fall asleep inbed, he would awaken refreshed in the

(02:12):
morning at his usual time. Beforebeginning to give yourself therapeutic suggestions, you
could give yourself the following suggestions,which give you a specific length of time
that you will work with self hypnosis. I shall work with self hypnosis for
fifteen minutes. At the end ofthat time, I shall open my eyes

(02:32):
and wake up feeling wonderfully well,wide awake, confident, cheerful, and
optimistic. The moment I open myeyes, I'll feel refreshed. In case
of any outside danger, I'll beable to awaken immediately, be fully alert,
and act accordingly. You will noticethat these suggestions take into consideration the

(02:54):
possibility of something happening of danger tothe individual, such as fire, et
cetera. These points arise in theminds of most individuals attempting self hypnosis and
are well taken. You could alsoset an alarm clock to awaken you at
a designated time. Let us assumeto arouse yourself, you gave yourself a

(03:15):
suggestion to open your eyes and bewide awake at the count of five.
You count to five, and forsome reason, you are unable to open
your eyes. First of all,don't worry, remain relaxed, and give
yourself the suggestions over again, emphasizingto yourself that at the count of five

(03:35):
you will absolutely positively be able toopen your eyes very easily and will feel
fine. You then begin the countagain, reiterating between each number that you
will positively open your eyes at thecount of five and be wide awake.
This should do it? Should thisnot do it? May I reassure you
again, don't become alarmed, Relaxfor a few minutes, and try again.

(04:00):
You'll be able to open your eyesand wake up. I hope I
haven't frightened you with the prospect ofnot being able to awaken. I bring
this up only to acquaint you withthe procedure to use. Actually, the
problem of dehypnotization is a rare one. I should point out a very important
fact. I have never had asubject practicing or using self hypnosis tell me

(04:25):
he had the least bit of difficultyin awakening himself from the self induced hypnotic
state. I have had persons tellme that they heard or read of a
case where the hypnotists could not bringthe subject out of the hypnotic state,
and as a result, the subjectslept for so many days. Not one
of those stories could be documented.Years ago, for publicity purposes, stage

(04:49):
hypnotists would have a subject sleep ina store window for several days. This
was on a voluntary basis, though, and should not be confused with what
we are discussing. In working withsubjects, I have very rarely had a
subject who did not awaken at aspecific count. But I have had this
experience. I have usually found thatthe subject is so relaxed that he just

(05:14):
didn't want to awaken for fear oflosing this pleasant sensation. When the subject
doesn't awaken, I merely ask himin a calm manner. Why don't you
wish to wake up? You cananswer me without awakening from the hypnotic state.
He usually replies, he'd like toremain in this state for another five
minutes or so. I agree tothis extended period while getting a firm commitment

(05:39):
from him that he will awaken afterthis period. This is usually sufficient to
bring the subject out of the hypnoticstate. Occasionally, the instructions to wake
up are not clear to the subject. If this is the case, clearer
instructions should be given. You couldalso deepen the hypnotic state and then give

(05:59):
sugg questions to awaken at a specificcount in a very authoritarian manner. Every
so often I have found that thesubject has fallen into a natural sleep and
just hasn't heard the instructions. Inthis case, I raised my voice,
which is usually sufficient, or gentlyshake the subject, awakening him as you

(06:19):
would any sleeping person. I wouldlike to relate a rather interesting experience that
I had with a male subject.I had worked with this particular subject six
times previous to this occasion. Hewas a good hypnotic subject, and he
failed to awaken in the usual mannersince he had carried out several post hypnotic

(06:42):
suggestions. It was rather perplexing toanalyze what had happened. After about ten
minutes, he finally agreed while hewas under hypnosis to awaken at a given
count. I asked him what wasthe nature of the difficulty. He replied,
I wanted to see how you wouldreact. In conclusion, having difficulty

(07:03):
in dehypnotizing yourself is extremely rare.Should it happen, keep calm and repeat
the suggestions with emphasis. Even inhetero hypnosis, where the hypnotist hypnotizes a
subject, it is extremely rare.There are explainable psychodynamic factors for this,

(07:24):
However, they can be met adequatelywhile the subject is under hypnosis. End
of Chapter five