30 Days of Hypnosis

I really did think that whittling down 10 choices to just one would be a difficult task. I worried that I was going to somehow flounder on it to such an extent as to render the entire exercise moot.  As it happens, however, the decision was pretty easy to come by.

I left work and went straight home and then to bed. I fell asleep for an hour and a half and woke up when my girlfriend came home from work. We went to breakfast and then both tried to go to sleep. She was unconscious pretty quickly and I lay there tossing and turning as my mind latched on to thinking about what I would do if  I won 100 mil on Powerball. This is about as worthwhile and realistic as when I was a kid and would ponder what super powers I would have if I ever stumbled across a magic genie. Despite how ridiculous a day dream it was, I couldn’t stop my mind from racing all over it. Eventually, and much to the chagrin of the cats that were in the process of festooning me to the bed, I got up and went to take a bath to try to sooth myself to sleep. This didn’t work mostly because my mind started in on whether I want to save for a new Laptop or if I should get a desktop and then a netbook to take places.  Also, two cats decided to use the bathtub as their watering hole which is not at all relaxing. I tossed and turned some more and eventually resigned myself to being awake. After I cycled through several helpings of anger and sadness with a healthy dose of frustration,  I decided that I would focus on getting better sleep for the 30-day challenge.

In order to begin the program, your first script is not the one you are focusing on but rather the Master Induction which essentially primes you for being able to be hypnotized and to give yourself suggestions. You must read the script out loud whilst you sit in a room free of distractions, preferably with some nice soothing music playing in the background. Of course, when I sat down to do it my phone started getting texts like I was a groom four hours late for my wedding, the cats jumped on my lap and a torrent of IMs started coming in on the computer. I did my best to ignore all of these as I swallowed feelings of abject silliness and began to read aloud.

I was instructed to visualize laying on a beach, hearing the waves lap against the sand and feeling the sun on my skin. I did this but couldn’t help but think at any moment the camera would pan back to reveal a freshly chilled Corona complete with a lime on the top sitting on the table next to me.  I was hoping that my mind would quiet a bit the farther I got into the script but so far, I was having a hard time shutting down my incidental thoughts.

Next, the script took me to a high rise building. Modern and glassy it is cool as you enter and you are ‘greeted’ by a doorman cum security guard who is large and muscular. At first you think he is going to try to stop you and you have to get into a Matrix-like lobby fight but then you realize that it is your building and he works for you. You move on to the elevator and go up to the 10th floor, counting each floor as you go by. At 10 you will be hypnotized.  Then you go into your office and pick up a copy of the book you are currently reading and through that gain the ability to accept suggestions from it while hypnotized with your eyes open. Then you read the ‘wake-up’ script and you are out.

I didn’t feel any different while I was doing this than I did before and I didn’t feel different afterward. The book tells you that most hypnotic states are light and you won’t even really tell the difference at first.  This being my first time out with it, I suppose I will give the book the benefit of the doubt on this one. Closing the book and looking around I checked the text message, pet the cat and answered some IMs. Then I went to bed and slept for two hours.

I can’t really say that my ability to sleep was earned by the hypnosis. I didn’t do the sleep script and all the Master Induction does for you is to prep you for daily self-hypnosis and open you for suggestion. The imagery of the building and the doorman represent your subconscious and the gatekeeper guarding it. You’ve learned to bypass your security system by taking ownership of your mind and are essentially leaving yourself a key for future trips. So there is no really good reason why the Master Induction by itself would allow me to sleep.

On the other hand, the process did relax me in its way and while it didn’t quiet down the noise in my head, it did soften them a bit and allowed me to slip past. Which I suppose works with the whole ‘getting by the bouncer analogy.’ So I suppose, in a roundabout way, I am getting at the same thing. Obviously it is too early to tell what effect this really had on my ability to sleep but it is not a bad start all in all.