A Practical Guide to Self-Hypnosis | Page 4

of who can outstare whom. The subject usually
begins to blink his eyes and the hypnotist follows this up with rapid
suggestions that the subject's eyes are becoming watery and heavy and
that the subject will fall into a deep hypnotic sleep just as soon as he
(the subject) closes his eyes. This procedure gives the impression to the
observer that the subject is "willed" to go under hypnosis. It appears
that once the hypnotist concentrates or wills sufficiently, the subject
succumbs. Actually, the hypnotist in this technique is not looking into
the eyes of the subject. He fixes his attention on the bridge of the nose
of the subject.

The concept that the subject is a helpless automaton stems from the
weird movies where the "mad scientist" has hypnotized subjects into
behaving like zombies. Naturally, there is usually a beautiful girl in the
movie and she, too, has been hypnotized. Even though the audience is
sophisticated enough to realize that this science-fiction drama is purely
entertainment, the theme is repeated sufficiently in novels, comics, and
television to make an indelible impression on the subconscious mind.
It's the technique of telling the "big lie" so many times that it becomes
believable. We are all influenced by this procedure. There is an
excellent book explaining this very premise. It is called Battle For The
Mind by William Sargent. It describes in detail the technique by which
evangelists, psychiatrists, politicians and advertising men can change
your beliefs and behavior.
Following the reasoning that the subconscious mind can be affected,
you can see that a problem could present itself even though the subject
consciously wishes to be hypnotized. Unconsciously, there may be a
poor interrelationship with the hypnotist which can create an
unfavorable climate for hypnosis. When this is the case, the subject
doesn't respond until such time that he relates well to the hypnotist.
Even the most calculated procedures will fail until a positive
transference relationship is established. I am sure that you sometimes
have said, "For some reason I don't like that person." If pressed for an
answer, you'll usually reply, "I can't explain it, but I just have a feeling
about him." Actually, your subconscious reactions are influencing your
thinking and you "feel" a certain way. The same thing takes place in
business transactions. You either like or dislike the proposition
presented to you. You may say, "I have a certain feeling about this
deal." You may not be conscious of the reasons, but your subconscious
has reacted automatically because of previous experience along similar
lines.
In giving you some insight into the hypnotic procedure, I am trying to
point out certain problems in regard to acquiring self-hypnosis. For the
most part, it is not a simple procedure that is accomplished immediately.
You can't just will it. It requires working toward a specific goal and
following definite procedures which eventually lead to success.

The hypnotist is usually endowed by the subject with an omniscience
and infallibility which logically is unjustified. The subject is naturally
extremely disappointed if he doesn't respond immediately. If he loses
confidence in the hypnotist, he may never achieve hypnosis with this
particular hypnotist. I have hypnotized subjects who have been to
several other hypnotists without success, and I have had some of my
unsuccessful subjects hypnotized by other hypnotists. How and why
does it happen? I believe that some of the reasons are so intangible that
it would be impossible to explain all of them with any degree of
exactitude.
I once saw an individual about 12 times who wanted to learn
self-hypnosis and had been unsuccessful in every approach. I asked him
if he would volunteer as a subject for a class in techniques of hypnosis
that I was teaching for nurses. He readily volunteered and showed up at
the designated time. Much to my amazement as well as his own, he
responded within a relatively short time as one of the nurses hypnotized
him before the group. She had used a standard eye closure technique,
requesting him to look at a spinning hypnodisc that I had previously
used with him every time he was in the office. Her manner was
extremely affable, she had used the identical technique I had used
unsuccessfully, and the subject responded excellently to cap the climax.
He was the first subject the nurse had ever hypnotized, since this was
only her third lesson.
How would you account for it? Here was one of my students with two
weeks' experience hypnotizing a subject where I had failed while using
every procedure that I felt would work. Was it because she was a better
hypnotist? Perhaps! However, I'd like to recall at this time our
discussion about subconscious responses. I'm inclined to feel that being
hypnotized by a middle-aged female nurse created certain