Hypnosis for Beginners

by William W Hewitt

  ROUTINE K-1 (use only with female subjects)

  I want you to imagine yourself. See yourself as you really want to be, the real you. Alive and vibrant, in full control, serene and lovely. This is you. This is the real you. This is the woman you can really come to be. At this moment you are making yourself a promise. Not a promise to me.. .a promise to yourself... a commitment to become the real you. This commitment will be with you, stronger every day. From now on, every day you will become more and more completely the lovely woman you want to be. You will be relaxed and serene no matter what is going on around you. And anything that does happen, you can handle it in a relaxed and sensible manner. And you will feel so good, you will have all the energy in the world every single day. And it will be very easy for you to stay on your diet strictly every day. No matter where you are, no matter what you are doing.

  ROUTINE K-2 (use only with male subjects)

  I want you to imagine yourself See yourself as you really want to be, the real you. Confident and energetic, in full control, healthy and trim. This is you. This is the real you. This is the man you can really come to be. At this moment you are making yourself a promise. Not a promise to me...a promise to yourself ..a commitment to become the real you. This commitment will be with you, stronger every day. From now on, every day you will become more and more completely the trim, handsome man you want to be. You will be relaxed and calm no matter what is going on around you. And anything that does happen, you can handle it in a relaxed and sensible manner. And you will feel very good, you will have all the energy in the world every single day. And it will be very easy for you to stay on your diet strictly every day. No matter where you are, no matter what you are doing.

  ROUTINE L

  In the morning you will have a small serving of protein, a small serving of fruit or juice, and one piece of toast served without butter. For lunch you will have one small serving of protein and a small serving of fresh fruit or vegetable. For dinner you will have a small dinner salad with a very light dressing, a small serving of protein and one-half cup cooked vegetable served without butter or margarine.

  ROUTINE M

  You will always eat very slowly, and when you have eaten just a little of the proper sensible foods, you will feel full, completely full and satisfied on just a little bit of the right food. That is all your body needs right now. That is all you will want. You will have no desire at all for sweets or starches or rich greasy foods. The longer you stay on your diet, the easier it will be and your weight will just melt away. All those extra pounds will just disappear so fast and so easy. Every day you will be smaller and lighter and prettier, and you will feel better and better every day. And you will also practice faithfully the little exercise in self-hypnosis that we are going to do together now.

  (Where the word "prettier" is used, you may find it more appropriate to use "attractive." If the subject is a man, use "handsome.")

  ROUTINE N

  In a moment, I am going to ask you to open your eyes and look at a spot I am going to hold before you. You will not awaken when you open your eyes. You will not awaken. You will go even deeper into relaxation. Open your eyes now and look at the spot I am holding before you and take a deep, full breath.

  (As you tell the subject to open her eyes, hold up a card that has a large, bright red spot on it for her to direct her attention to. A handy size for this card is 6 x 6 inches, preferably white card stock on which is drawn as large a circle as you can get on the card. The circle should be colored bright red. Hold the card at her eye level about 4 feet in front of her.)

  Deep and full. Now close your eyes, let the breath out and think 5. ..5...5...and go deeper. Again now, a deep, easy breath and think 4.. .4...4...and let it out. Again a deep breath, deep and full, think 3...3...3... and let it out. More and more deeply relaxed. Take in a deep breath and think 2.. .2...2...and let it out. Once more a deep breath, let it out and think 1...1...let it all go now...1.

  Imagine now a heavy, deep force of relaxation just behind your eyelids. Feel this deep, relaxing force flowing down from your eyelids. Down through your face and neck, down through your shoulders and chest, your waist, your hips, down through your thighs, your knees, your calves, your ankles, your feet and toes.

  ROUTINE 0

  In a moment, I am going to count backward from 10 to 1. I want you to count with me silently to yourself Think each number as I say it, and allow each number to take you deeper. 10...9...8... 7...6...5...4...3... 2...1. You are now very deeply relaxed. You can give yourself the following suggestions. Say the words to yourself with me as I say them: I will always be relaxed and calm. I will not want anything to eat until dinner time.

  (In place of "dinner time," substitute whatever is appropriate. It may be "until lunch time" or "until tomorrow," or whatever.)

  Now picture the spot that you looked at at the beginning of this exercise. Imagine the spot floating in, traveling together with your suggestions. Traveling all the way to the back of your head, all the way to the back. When you have your spot and your suggestions together at the back of your head, erase it, forget about the spot, forget about the suggestions, just let it all disappear. Allow yourself to relax.

  ROUTINE P

  Between now and the next time I see you, you will practice this self-hypnosis exercise faithfully at least three times every single day, even if you think you don't need it. It makes you feel just wonderful. And each time you go through this routine in self-hypnosis you will relax completely. You will go just as deep as you are now. Just as you are now, and the suggestions that you give yourself will go deeper and deeper into your mind. By practicing your self-hypnosis faithfully every day, you will have perfect control over your own appetite. You can dissolve away any hunger. You can dissolve away any tension, any craving for food or drink you shouldn't have. Every day your weight will keep on going down and you will keep on looking better and better, and you will keep on feeling good every single day.

  ROUTINE Q

  The next time I see you, or whenever you hear my voice on tape, you will allow yourself to relax even more completely than you are now. And the suggestions I have given you will keep on going deeper and deeper and deeper into your mind.

  In a few moments when you awaken yourself, you will feel very very relaxed, and you will be completely refreshed, alive, alert, full of energy, full of confidence. You will feel simply marvelous. All you have to do to awaken is to count with me from 1 up to 5 and at the count of 5, open your eyes, feeling relaxed, refreshed, alert, in very high spirits. Feeling very good indeed. 1...2...3...4...5.

  After the bring-out, ask the subject how she feels. Answer any questions she may have.

  Have two pre-typed sheets of paper to give her to keep. These are necessary for her diet control and for practicing her self-hypnosis. One sheet has her recommended diet on it. The other sheet has her selfhypnosis routine on it.

  Sample Diet Program

  The sample diet is not to be taken literally as the diet to suggest to everyone; it is just an illustration. Not everyone should be put on a 1,000-calories-perday diet. Don't play doctor or nutritionist unless you actually are one. Work with your client to achieve a healthy diet. If the client has medical problems or is taking medication, you may need to have the client consult with her physician concerning any diet recommendations. Even though you have pre-printed diet sheets of this sample diet, be prepared to pencil-in changes to customize it for an appropriate diet when you discuss it with the client.

  Many times, you need only focus on one dietary problem (such as eating too much candy, eating two or three portions when one would be sufficient, or drinking too much beer). In these cases you don't need to have a total dietary plan. Just create a distaste for the chocolate, beer, or whatever. The case example at the end of this chapter shows how to deal with this sort of problem.

  Self-Hypnosis Instructions

  Stretch! Then sit in a comfortable position.

  Focus your attention on a sp
ot, and as you do, mentally say the number 5 three times as you exhale. Then close your eyes.

  Take another deep breath, and as you exhale, mentally say the number 4 three times. As you say the number 4, picture it at the same time.

  Take another deep breath and do the same thing with numbers 3, 2, and 1 consecutively.

  Now, imagine a relaxation force emanating from your eyes and flowing out all over your body like a warm blanket of soothing, warm, gentle air going all the way down to your toes.

  Then count backward from ten to one.

  After reaching the number 1, give yourself these suggestions:

  I will always be relaxed and calm.

  I will not want anything to eat until dinner.

  Then picture the same spot in your mind that you looked at originally. Imagine this spot moving all the way to the back of your head taking the suggestion with it. Then forget the suggestion, so that your inner mind will absorb it.

  Then count from 1 to 5 and awaken and feel the effect of the suggestions.

  POST-SESSION WRAP-UP

  Give your client sufficient time to read the diet program and the self-hypnosis instruction sheet. Answer any questions that she may have.

  You need to be fairly well informed concerning diet. Keep a good nutrition book on hand for reference if necessary. Many people don't know what a protein food is, so you need to be prepared to explain and give examples.

  Read the self-hypnosis instructions out loud with your client, explaining each instruction as you go. Reaffirm that she was given these instructions under hypnosis and was given the post-hypnotic suggestion that it would work just as well for her as when you perform the hypnosis.

  The most important thing the subject should understand is that she must practice her self-hypnosis daily. There are two reasons for this.

  First, she is training her mind to follow a different course than in the past. The mind prefers to do what it has always done, i.e., follow the same path. Therefore, consistent and diligent retraining is necessary. Your mind isn't going to believe you really want to change if you take a willy-nilly approach to your practice of self-hypnosis. Your mind believes you really want to overeat and be fat because that is what you have been practicing and telling it for years. Now, you want to reverse that detrimental programming. To reverse it, you must hammer into your subconscious every day what you really want until your mind is convinced of your desire for a new reality; then your mind will create this new reality... more temperate eating habits, loss of excess weight... feeling better ...looking better. Fortunately, self-hypnosis doesn't take years to achieve the re-programming. Hypnosis works quickly, sometimes instantly, most often within days or several weeks, and occasionally over several months for really stubborn problems. But you must keep at it until you have successfully achieved the reprogramming.

  Second, hypnotic suggestion is not permanent. If it were, it would only be necessary to have one hypnosis session and give one set of suggestions per problem and then everything would be all right-but it doesn't work that way. The length of time a hypnotic suggestion lasts effectively varies widely depending on the individual's response to hypnosis. I have seen some people who wouldn't respond to hypnotic suggestion more than a few hours to a day without the need for being reinforced with another hypnosis session. Some remain responsive for one or two weeks. A rare few, even longer than two weeks. This is why the subject needs to reinforce herself every day with the self-hypnosis until the desired results are achieved.

  CASE EXAMPLE FOR DIET CONTROL

  An overweight woman came to me for diet control. Her problem was that she was a compulsive popcorn eater. She bought her popcorn in 100-pound bags. She ate it morning, noon, and night and in between times, and the popcorn was always soaked to the point of dripping with real butter and loaded with salt. Then, of course, there were cases of nondiet soda pop to quench her thirst. I knew that the butter, salt, and soda pop were far more detrimental to her than the popcorn, but popcorn was the vehicle. Without the popcorn she wouldn't be consuming all those other things. So I decided to make popcorn undesirable to her.

  Before hypnotizing her, I tried to find out what she didn't like. She loved everything.

  "Isn't there something in life you find repulsive?" I asked in desperation.

  "Well, yes," she replied. "Wet chicken feathers make me ill. I can't stand the smell. My father used to make me kill and pluck chickens against my will."

  There I had my mechanism... wet chicken feathers. When I had her into routine J and I got to the part where she puts something to eat in her mouth, I said, "There is a large bowl of popcorn in front of you. The popcorn has been soaked in wet chicken feathers. The popcorn smells like wet chicken feathers. The popcorn tastes like wet chicken feathers. Now, pick up a kernel of popcorn and put it into your mouth and taste it"

  She immediately began to gag and retch. I thought she was going to vomit.

  After she left my office she went home and made a batch of popcorn out of habit. This time she did vomit. She tried daily to make popcorn but got nauseous just trying to make it. By the time she came back for session 3, she had stopped trying to make popcorn... she had kicked the habit and was losing excess weight. Of course, without the popcorn, she stopped drinking soda pop and eating large amounts of butter and salt.

  By session 6 she had lost almost 20 pounds and was looking and feeling good. I had her add more fruit and vegetables to her diet. She was no longer a popcornaholic.

  The lesson to be learned here is to find out what tastes or smells are especially offensive to your subject. Use those tastes and smells to remove the desire for the offending eating habit. Most often, the dietary habit that is causing the problem is eating sweets such as chocolate or pastries. If your subject eats five pounds of chocolate a day and hates the taste of liver, have her visualize getting some chocolate from the refrigerator where it has been lying next to five pounds of unwrapped wet liver. The liver taste and smell has impregnated all the chocolate... you get the idea.

  The purpose of this session is to reinforce the hypnosis and suggestions previously given, increase the depth of hypnosis so that suggestions will be programmed in at another level of mind, and reinforce the subject's own self-hypnosis.

  Before starting the induction, talk with the client about her experience with self-hypnosis since you last saw her. Has she been practicing her self-hypnosis faithfully every day? If not, why? Has she been following her diet faithfully? If not, why? Has she fairly well mastered the self-hypnosis or is she having some difficulties?

  If she has been having difficulty with the self-hypnosis, go over the procedure with her again. Demonstrate on yourself just how to do it, speaking your thoughts out loud so she can observe and follow.

  If she is having difficulty relaxing or concentrating, reassure her that this will disappear with practice. Tell her that many people experience this difficulty and she should not be concerned.

  A frequent complaint is, "I keep forgetting what I am supposed to do in my self-hypnosis procedure." Tell her that is why you wrote down the procedure, and that it is all right to open her eyes and read it. Very quickly she will learn it from memory. Her first concern is to learn the procedure and become comfortable with it and not be concerned about results. The results will occur automatically when she learns and practices diligently.

  Be sure to emphasize that she can change the suggestion portion of her self-hypnosis routine to suit any purpose she has in mind. She can have only one suggestion if she wants, or she can have many. Recommend, however, that she treat only one purpose or problem at any one time. For example, she shouldn't work on quitting smoking at the same time she is working on diet control. Handle the problems separately. The self-hypnosis routine is hers for life, so encourage her to develop the habit of using it daily for self-enrichment.

  At this point in the program, the subject may not be practicing her self-hypnosis regularly. This is because her recalcitrant mind is fighting change
; the mind prefers to follow the same old path rather than a new one. The subject will rationalize all sorts of reasons for not being able to perform the self-hypnosis.

  There are two common reasons for not practicing self-hypnosis faithfully every day. The first one is: "I don't have, or cannot find, a spot to look at for beginning the self-hypnosis." Do not scold the subject for saying something this ridiculous. Remember, the subject's mind is fighting her and at the same time she is trying to understand and develop a new skill and a new lifestyle.

  Calmly explain that the spot can be anything in her line of vision, including a doorknob, a flower on a curtain, a dirt spot on the wall, the point in the corner where the walls and ceiling meet, an electrical outlet, an upholstery button on the sofa, a burning candle flame, and an electric light bulb. It is impossible to be in a place where there is nothing in your line of vision on which to fix your gaze.

  The second reason for not practicing self-hypnosis is: "I don't have time. I am never alone. I work in an office from 8 to 5 with people all around. Then I go home to my family where there are again demands on my time. I don't have a minute to myself." This is a common situation. It is often difficult to be alone for five minutes, three times a day, to practice your selfhypnosis.

  My response to this reason goes something like this:

  "Do you go to the bathroom at all during the day?" I ask.

  "Of course'

  "Do you take anyone with you when you go to the bathroom?"

  "Of course not!"

  "Then every time you sit on the toilet, use the time to perform your self-hypnosis routine."

  "I didn't know it could be done sitting on the toilet," is the usual response.