Hypnosis for Transcendence and Self-Actualization

Better it is than gems or gold.

And O! It cannot die.

Thought will live when the stars grow cold

And mix with Deity.

               -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

If stage hypnotists can tell volunteers that they are turning into a chicken, why can't experiential hypnotists tell their clients that they are experiencing the fulfillment of their existence and chage the content of their entire life narrative? They can!

Clients have been saying things like, "i can't thank you enough," and, "I feel like I am at a position now where I feel like I can accomplish almost anything!"

In the words of Sherlock Holmes in  The Adventure of the Abby Grange, "Come, Watson, Come! The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!"

Progressive Relaxation Induction 

For those who prefer to work from a script, I am including a progressive relaxation hypnotic induction as a preface. Of course, any other induction may be substituted if you prefer, or a preliminary induction may be entirely dispensed with, provided the participant is sufficiently imaginative.

Just imagine that it’s a nice spring day, and that you’re lying on a soft woolen blanket, on a sandy beach, by the side of the ocean. If you accept each detail of the situation as I describe it, without trying to think critically, your imagination will be free to allow you to experience the situation just as if you were really there.

I’m going to count from one to ten, and by the time I get to the count of ten, you’ll be resting comfortably in a deep, sound, peaceful state of hypnosis. So just relax and listen to my voice, as I begin the count from one to ten.

One . You can feel the warm sand beneath the blanket on which you're lying, and you can feel the gentle breeze blowing across your body, cooling you to just the right temperature, so that all you want to do is just keep drifting, and dreaming . . . and floating . . . on . . and on . . . and on into a deep, sound, beautiful state of hypnosis.

Two . You  can hear the sound of the waves gently crashing upon the ocean shore. You can hear the sound of the gulls in the distance, and you can savor the freshness of the pure salt air, as you feel a heavy, relaxed feeling coming over you. You can feel your arms relaxing, you can feel your legs relaxing, and you can feel your entire body relaxing completely. 

As I continue to count and continue to talk, every word that I utter will carry you faster and deeper, faster and deeper, down and down, into a deep, sound, peaceful state of hypnosis.

Three .  You can feel your entire body relaxing now . . . relaxing deeper and faster, and deeper and faster, all of the time.

Four . Sinking down, and shutting down . . . sinking down, and shutting down . . . sinking down, and shutting down . . shutting down completely. And the deeper you go, the deeper you're able to go. And the deeper you go, the deeper you want to go, and the more peaceful, and the more relaxing, and the more beautiful the experience becomes.

Five. Sinking and relaxing, and sinking and relaxing, deeper and faster, deeper and faster, all of the time. Relaxing so very deeply now that you can just let yourself go completely, as you continue drifting down and down, into a deep, sound, beautiful, blissful state of hypnosis.

Every word that I utter is carrying you faster and deeper, faster and deeper, down, and down, and down. And the deeper you go, the deeper you want to go; and the deeper you go, the deeper you're able to go, and the more peaceful, and the more beautiful, and the more enjoyable the experience becomes.

Six . Relaxing so very deeply now, as you continue drifting on and on, into a deep, sound sleep, a deep, sound sleep.

Seven. Sinking down and shutting down. Sinking down and shutting down. Sinking down and shutting down, shutting down completely.

Eight . And the deeper you go, the deeper you want to go. And the deeper you go, the deeper you're able to go. And the deeper you go, the more peaceful the more relaxing, the more beautiful, and the more enjoyable the experience becomes.

Nine. Sinking down, and shutting down. Sinking down, and shutting down. Sinking down, and shutting down. Shutting down completely.

Ten. Very deeply drifting, in a deep, sound state of hypnosis. And the deeper you go, the deeper you want to go. And the deeper you go, the deeper you are able to go. And the deeper you go, the stronger the effects of my words become.

Deepening

Now, as you continue sinking deeper with every word that I speak, and with every second that passes, you can imagine, or picture in your mind, a clock dial, with no second hand and no minute hand on the clock, just an hour hand. And the hour hand is set at twelve.

I’m going to move that hour hand back, one hour at a time, until it’s all the way back to one. And with each hour that I move the hand back, you’ll go twice as deep as you are right now, and you’ll feel twice as good as you do right now.

There is no end to the depth of experience you can have in deep hypnosis.There is no limit to how good you can feel, and to the benefits you can obtain from it. And the deeper you go, the deeper you're able to go . And the deeper you go, the deeper you want to go, and the more peaceful and the more beautiful, and the more wonderful, and the more enjoyable the experience becomes. So just let yourself go completely now, as I move the hour hand back, one hour at a time. ,

And now I’ve moved the hour hand back from 12 to 11, and you’re sinking down twice as deep as you were before. And the deeper you go, the more easily you are able to become aware of your Best Me -- of the person you are becoming.

And now I’ve moved it down to 10, and you feel twice as deep and you feel twice as good. But there’s never any sense of strain or overload, for the deeper you go, the deeper you want to go, and the deeper you go, the deeper you’re able to go. And the deeper you go, the more beautiful, and the more enjoyable the experience becomes.

And now I’ve moved it down to 9. Twice as deep, and feeling twice as good

.As I lead you deeper and deeper into hypnosis, your Best Me, -- your Future Self, -- the person that you are becoming -- will provide you with all the guidance and support that you need, in order to free yourself from the problems and limitations that have been holding you back. This guidance will enable these problems to be solved in just the right way, and at just the right time, for you to keep whatever is of value to the person that you will become and to release and eliminate whatever needs to be released.

8. Twice as deep, sinking down and down, and feeling twice as good, as you allow your Best Me to handle all of your problems in the outside world in the healing, caring light of your future.

7. Twice as deep yet again, and feeling twice as good yet again.

6. Deeper yet. Notice what that does, and notice how good you feel. And imagine how good you're going to feel, when we get all the way down to one

5. Twice as deep, yet again, and feeling twice as good yet again . . . . deeper . . . and deeper . . .And the deeper you go, the deeper you want to go . . . and the deeper you go, the deeper you're able to go . . . and the more beautiful, and the more wonderful, and the more enjoyable the experience becomes.

4. Deeper . . . deeper . . . deeper . . .

3. Twice as deep, and feeling twice as good . . .

2. Deeper . . . deeper . . . deeper . . .

1. Infinitely, and unbelievably deep, and continuing to go deeper with every word that I speak. Deeper and deeper, down, and down, and down.

Now the scene is changing, and we are standing on the top of a large mountain which is covered with clouds after a sudden spring shower. If you accept each detail of the situation as I describe it, without trying to think critically, your imagination will be free to allow you to experience the situation just as if you were really there.

One end of a large rainbow is touching the ground right in front of us. We walk up to this rainbow and prepare to enter the first band. As we go through each band one by one, each band will present you with a priceless gift, which you will be able to take back with you  And the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is the treasure that your life is becoming as we explore the joys and wonders of the Multiverse itself.

First, we are entering the red band of the rainbow. Red is the color of strength. Feel this strength flowing through you now, overcoming negative emotions, overcoming physical discomfort, paving over the effect of every bad thing that has ever happened to you in your entire life, and filling and flooding every muscle, every nerve, and every cell of your being with wave after wave of infinite, boundless strength, and confidence, and power. [Brief Pause]

Orange is the color of happiness.Each time that we practice this multiversal meditation, you go higher; each time, you go faster, and each time you experience this happiness more beautifully and more intensely than you did the time before.

Feel the happiness flooding through you now, filling and flooding every muscle, and every nerve, and every cell of your body with wave after wave of infinite happiness and boundless joy. Infinite happiness, and boundless, boundless Joy. [Brief Pause]

Yellow is the color of healing. Each time that you repeat this multiversal meditation, all of the healing processes throughout your body are considerably strengthened. As we travel through this band of yellow light now, you can feel its healing warmth flooding into every muscle, and every fiber, and every nerve of your body, penetrating to the very core of your being.-- body, heart, mind, and spirit. Body, heart, mind, and spirit. [Brief Pause]

Now, we are entering the green band of light. Green is the color of renewal. The farther we go into the rainbow, the more your sense of the passing of time is slowing down. Regardless of the time we may actually have been away, it will seem as if we had been gone for an eternity. And the benefits of our journey will be increased in direct proportion to the time that it feels like we have been away together.

Now, we are traveling through the band of blue, which is the color of Heaven, and the color of Eternity. This is the true reality, and the universe from which we came is merely an illusion. This is your eternal home beyond the stars, and the spark of Divinity which is within you is nothing less than the energy of the Multiverse itself

You will always look back upon these journeys with fondness, even as you look forward to the next opportunity to return to them with ever-increasing anticipation; for each time that you practice this hypnosis for self actualization, you will be able to obtain even more benefit and more growth from the experience as it continues to change your life forever into a thing of wondrous beauty.

Next, we move into the purple band, which contains the heightened mental and spiritual powers that are becoming yours in ever-increasing amounts, as your consciousness drifts higher. 

Now, we are entering the band of violet, which is the color of love. It’s only the separation from this infinite ocean of perfect peace, and calm, and tranquility, that is the source of all unhappiness, all depression, all anxiety, all loneliness and all despair. And now that this separation has been removed, it has brought you an inner peace which is greater than anything that you have ever dreamed of, longed for, hoped for, or imagined, and far, far beyond the power of.the human imagination by itself to even begin to comprehend.

Finally, we have come to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, which holds the priceless treasure that your life is becoming as you continue to practice this multiversal meditation. Scoop it up and take it with you; for It contains everything you wanted from this experience, regardless of whether or not it was specifically included in the suggestions that you were given, and regardless of whether or not you were even fully aware of them yourself at the time

You are a child of the Multiverse, more highly evolved than the rest. And this is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to you.

It's a wonderful feeling of release and liberation which you are experiencing now, as we step out of the final band of the rainbow and into the Multiverse itself, and all of your vast, untapped potentials are becoming freed for their fullest possible functioning.  This feeling of exhilaration is going to continue growing and growing, like a snowball rolling downhill, until we return to the universe from which we left.

Self-Actualization

Now, as we step out of the final band if the rainbow and into the Multiverse itself, all of the bands of the rainbow which brought us here have blended into one boundless ocean of perfect, infinite love which contains them all: strength, happiness, healing, renewal, peace, power, and serenity, more beautiful than anything you have ever dreamed of, hoped for, longed for, or imagined, and far, far beyond the power of human imagination to even begin to comprehend.

Transcendence

In the center of this infinite ocean of unbounded love, you are completely dissolving into the infinite love of the Multiverse itself (or the Creator Himself). And all of the happiness, all of the love, all of the joy, and all of the rapture that have ever been felt by all of the people who ever walked the face of the Earth, put together, are becoming a part of you, now, in these golden moments of delight -- infinite, beyond infinity, and eternal beyond all measure of eternity: infinite, boundless, eternal, and everlasting, yours to enjoy and yours to be, now, in these golden moments, torn from the pages of time and space.

This is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to you, greater than anything you have ever dreamed of, hoped for, longed for, or imagined, and far, far beyond the limits of anything that you ever thought was even possible. It is the complete and total fulfillment of your existence: everything you ever were, everything you are right now, and everything you will be in the future, put together and multiplied endlessly, over and over again -- infinite beyond infinity, and eternal beyond all measure of eternity. Revel in it, glory in it, and enjoy the experience to the.fullet. (Pause.)

Here in the Multiverse, where you will spend Eternity, the total fulfillment of your existence has already become an accomplished fact. And as we continue to return here to this, your home beyond the stars, it will change your life forever and turn each new day into a thing of wondrous beauty. -- in many different ways, and on many different levels, some of which you may already know, and some of which you may not yet realize until they actually begin to occur.

You will not be able to bring the full intensity of this experience back with you, because it would be more than you could possibly bear in the universe from which we came. But its healing effects will remain with you, turning each new day into a thing of joy and, with continued practice, paving over the effect of every bad thing that has ever happened to you in your entire life.

Because time does not exist in the Multiverse, it will seem like we have been gone for an entire lifetime; and the benefits of each journey will be increased in direct proportion to the time that it feels like we have been away together.

Return

Now, we are ready to return to the everyday state of consciousness by riding through the rainbow of delight that brought us here, in reverse order, from the inside out. You will remain in deep hypnosis until we emerge together from the final band.

Just as before, each band of color will present you with a priceless gift which you will be able to take back with you, to make it easier for you to withstand stress, pain, and cravings of every kind, and to counteract the effects of every bad thing that has ever happened to you in your entire life. These changes will provide you with a source of deep Inner strength which will enable you to cope much more effectively with all of life's stresses, and all of life's problems.

First, we are beginning to retrace our steps through the band of violet, the color of love. It's only the separation from this infinite ocean of boundless rapture, wonder, ecstasy and delight -- it’s only the separation from this ocean of perfect peace, and calm, and tranquility -- that is the source of all unhappiness, all depression, all anxiety, all loneliness, and all despair. And now that this separation has been removed, it has brought you an inner peace which is greater than anything you have ever dreamed of, longed for, hoped for, or imagined, and far, far beyond the power of human words to describe -- infinite, boundless, eternal, and everlasting. Yours to enjoy and yours to be, now, in these golden moments of delight, torn from the pages of time and space.

Next, we move into the purple band, which contains the heightened mental and spiritual powers that

 are becoming yours in ever-increasing amounts, each time this exercise is repeated 

And as you continue to regularly practice this mindful hypnotic meditation, it will continue to change your entire existence into a thing of wondrous beauty.

Now, we are traveling back through the band of blue, which is the color of Heaven, and the color of eternity. This is the true reality, and the.world from which we came is merely an illusion.

Regardless of how much or how little you actually remember of these experiences, you will always look back upon these journeys with fondness, even as you look forward to the next opportunity to return to them with ever-increasing anticipation.

You will treasure the effects of these experiences as they add meaning and purpose to your life; and each time that we return, you will be able to derive new benefits from them which will meet your needs even more effectively.

Now we are entering the green band of light. Green is the color of renewal; and each time that you repeat this multiversal meditation, you will obtain even more happiness and more fulfillment from the journey than you did the time before.

Next, we are traveling through the band of yellow light. Yellow is the color of healing. You can feel the healing warmth of this yellow light, flooding once more into every muscle, and every fiber, and nerve and cell of your body, penetrating to the very core of your being -- body, heart, mind, and soul. . . body, heart, mind, and soul.

Now, we are entering the orange band of the rainbow. Orange is the color of happiness. Feel this happiness flooding through you once more, filling and flooding every muscle, and every nerve, and every cell of your body with after wave of infinite happiness and boundless joy. -- Infinite happiness and boundless, boundless joy.

Each time that we repeat this multiversal meditation, you go higher, each time you go faster; and each time, you experience this happiness more beautifully and more intensely than you did the time before.

Finally, we are entering the red band of the rainbow. Red is the color of strength. Feel this strength flowing through you now, overcoming stress, overcoming worry, overcoming depression and care, and filling and flooding every muscle, and every nerve, and every cell of your being with wave after wave of infinite, boundless strength, and confidence, and power.

You will obtain everything you wanted from this experience, regardless of whether or not it was specifically included in the suggestions you were given, and regardless of whether or not you were even fully aware of them yourself at the time; for your Best Me is always with you, guiding your path in the way that it should go.

Now, as we prepare to return to the everyday life from which we came, all of the dimensions of the world from which we originally left will reassert themselves. Your mind will be clear and alert, and you will easily be able to concentrate on anything you have to do. But the benefits and the good feelings of these experiences, will remain with you, adding meaning and purpose to your life, making it so much easier to resist stresses of every kind, and filling your life with zest and joy.

You will obtain everything you needed from today's session, regardless of whether or not it was included in the suggestions you were given and regardless of whether or not you were even aware of them yourself at the time. And whenever you want these feelings if strength and empowerment to return during a moment of special stress, all you need to do is make the okay sign with your thumb and forefinger, and they will come back as strong as ever. Then if you need to, you can pump your thumb and forefinger together to make them even stronger 

By the time I get to the count of five, you will open your eyes, wide awake and feeling wonderful. Getting ready to open your eyes now. One. . .  Two. . .Three. . . Four. . . Five! You can open your eyes now, wide awake and feeling wonderful!

References

Gibbons, D. E., & Lynn, S. J. (2008). Hypnotic inductions: A primer. In Ruhe, J. W., Lynn, S. J., & Kirsch, I. (Eds.) Handbook of clinical hypnosis, 2nd ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Assn.

Gibbons, D. E., & Woods, K. T. (2016) Virtual reality hypnosis: Exploring alternate and parallel universes. Amazon Books, 2016. (Both print and Kindle editions are available.)

Multiversal Meditation to Strengthen the Will to Achieve

The Human Capacity for Achievement has Scarcely Been Tapped.

Just before the end of the academic year, a student who was about to take her final examinations consulted me for relief from  the anxiety which had been interfering with her ability to prepare for them.

 

I asked her to think of a time in her life when she was happily and productively engaged in working toward a much-desired goal. When she was able to visualize this clearly,  I asked her to re-capture that mood, concentrate on it, and bring it back into the present, even if she had to do so repeatedly, using a variety of situations from her past, until the new pattern was successfully established. She later reported that this method had successfully helped her to "lose the blues" while srudying.

When regularly incorporàted into the practice of multiversal meditation, the following suggestions have been shown to be effective, drawing in the future rather than the past: "Whenever you have a goal that you can deeply believe in with all your heart,  you will be able to visualize the rewards of a future goal that you deeply believe in so clearly  that you can believe it will happen, expect it to happen, and feel it happening, as you act, think, and feel as if it were impossible to fail!"

What is Hypnosis?

The easiest way to explain hypnosis is to tell the story  of how it developed in its modern form. Until relatively recently, in Western culture the experience of trance was interpreted as due to demonic influences or, occasionally, the mark of holiness or sainthood, as it was in the case of Saint Teresa.

Saint Teresa was a prone to spontaneous states of rapture  

Although healing by means of trance induction probably dates back to prehistoric times, the revival of interest in the induction of healing trances in Western culture may be traced directly to the work of the Viennese physician, Franz Anton Mesmer (1733-1815). Mesmer was considerably influenced by the teachings of Paracelsus that the stars and the planets exert considerable influence over human behavior by means of their magnetic fields. He decided to investigate the implications of this theory by slowly drawing some small magnets over the bodies of his patients. This was frequently found to be accompanied by convulsions, fainting, and the disappearance (at least temporarily) of a host of symptoms which today we would attribute to the power of suggestion. But to Mesmer and his followers, the discovery of these new "powers" of magnetism appeared to be an exciting medical breakthrough. 

Mesmer soon discovered, however, that he was able to produce the same results without the aid of special magnets. This led him to conclude that the "magnetism" in question was coming from his own body. He abandoned the use of metal magnets altogether, and simply began to make passes in the air with his hands near the bodies of his patients. He coined the term "animal magnetism" to explain what was happening.

When the demand for his services had reached its height, Mesmer proceeded to "magnetize" a large elm tree on the estate of his patron, the Marquis de Puységur, a few miles outside of the city of Paris; and great crowds would often gather to stand under the tree, either to derive the benefits if its healing power for themselves or simply to observe the dramatic results which were apparently produced in others.

Events were to take yet another turn when a retarded peasant lad of twenty-three named Victor Emmanuel was brought to stand under the now-famous elm tree, in the hope that the "magnetic rays" which were supposedly emanating from the tree might also be of some benefit to him. As many developmentally challenged people are apt to do when they are placed in a situation in which they are not quite certain what is expected of them, Victor, though he remained standing, promptly utilized the occasion to avail himself of a quick nap. Other patients standing under the tree, seeing Victor asleep on his feet, apparently perceived this event as merely another result of the strange mesmeric rays emanating from the tree; for they promptly began to feel drowsy and to "fall asleep" themselves, thereby initiating a change in the form of suggestion-induced trance experience which heralded the death of mesmerism and the birth of traditional forms of hypnosis.

Hypnosis immediately became an object of fascination.

"Suggestion"  may be defined as presenting an idea in such a way that a person will accept it as literally true and therefore real.  By now the role of suggestion in determining both the outward form and inward experience of trance behavior should be obvious. The mesmeric "crises" we re brought about by implicit suggestions or expectations arising from the eccentric astrological notions of Paracelsus, whereas the "sleeping" or hypnotic trance was first manifested by people who were imitating the behavior of a person who was too stupid to realize that he was supposed to go into convulsions and went to sleep instead! An induction procedure provides both the occasion and the opportunity for those who are able to respond well to suggestion to go ahead and do so. All the rest depends upon ongoing cultural narratives, explicit or implicit cues which are present in the situation, and the ability and willingness of the participant to comply with the instructions and suggestions which he or she is given. (Gibbons, 1979).

Today, we no longer need to rely upon the model of trance behavior which was accidentally provided to us by a sleeping mentally challenged individual over two hundred years ago.  Hyperempiric inductions are based on suggestions of mind expansion, enhanced awareness, and increased responsiveness and sensitivity, in contrast to traditional hypnotic inductions based on expressed or implied suggestions of lethargy, drowsiness, and sleep. (Gibbons, 1976). Hyperempiric inductions, or "alert hypnosis," have been found to be just as effective as traditional hypnotic inductions in facilitating subsequent responsiveness to suggestion (Bányai, & Hilgard, 1976; Gibbons, 1976, 1979: Gibbons & Lynn, 2010). But I didn't have to wait for another historical accident to come along to change our expectations of the manner in which a person is supposed to experience a trance. I simply made it up! 

After people have accepted the suggestion that their mental processes are beginning to function differently, which is what a trance induction really is, we can create in their personal experience almost anything we care to imagine, simply by suggesting it. What kind of experiences, then, should do them the most good?  If you can literally suggest anything that you want to, why not tell people in hypnosis that this is the most wonderful thing that has happened to them, and suggest that they are experiencing the fulfillment of their existence as they. dissolve into the infinite love of the Multiverse itself? You can, using multiversal meditation -- and it works, with predictable changes in thinking, feeling, and behavior!

References      

Bányai, E. I., & Hilgard, E. R. (1976). A comparison of active-alert hypnotic induction with traditional relaxation induction. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 85, 218-224.

Gibbons, D. E. (1979). Applied hypnosis and hyperempiria. New York: Plenum Press.

  

Gibbons, D. E. (1976).. Hyperempiria, a new “altered state of consciousnes” induced by  suggestion. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 39, 47-53.

Gibbons, D. E., & Lynn, S. J. (2010). Hypnotic inductions: A primer. in S. J. Lynn, J. W. Rhue, & I. Kirsch (Eds.) Handbook of clinical hypnosis, 2nd ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, pp. 267-29

Multiversal Meditation and Narrative Therapy

Life is like a tale. It is not how long it is, but how good it is that matters.

                          --Seneca

Most people are familiar with Charles Dickens' story, A Christmas Carol, in which the miserly Scrooge is visited by three spirits who frighten him into becoming a lovable old man who "knew how to keep Christmas better than anyone." If  Dickens had written this story in the 21st century instead of the 19th, Scrooge would probably have made three visits to an experiential hypnotist. But, in light of our current understanding or motivation, instead of "scaring the Dickens" out of him, the hypnotist would have used reward rather than fear as an incentive.

When hypnosis clients are facing challenges for which they are not emotionally prepared, we can provide them with corrective experiences in a parallel universe which are meaningful enough to change their ongoing life narrative in this one. Regardless of whether or not these parallel universes actually do exist, all that is necessary to change the  narrative of a person's life is to believe that they exist, so that this belief can serve as a catalyst for productive change.. For example, I was once working with a client who was going through several  stresses at the same time. She had lost her job, she was separated from her husband, and she was being evicted from her apartment because she was ubahke to pay the rent  She was an excellent amateur gymnast, however, and she would probably have had great success if her family had the means to allow her to compete at the national and international level.

She responded extremely well to hypnosis. To boost her confidence and self esteem, I suggested that she would experience the thrill, the exertion, and the triumph of winning an Olympic competition in a parallel universe, and of having the gold medal hung around her neck at the end of the ceremony. At the conclusion of the session, she opened her eyes, obviously thrilled to the core, and exclaimed, "Wow! I just won a gold medal!"

We chatted for a while, and I jokingly mentioned that I should adopt the motto for our practice that some dance studios use, posting a sign outside which read, "Walk in, dance out." To my surprise, as I watched her leave the office and walk down the hallway to the door at the far end, she was dancing!

She later told me that she had no more difficulties in facing her current stressors with resolution and courage. Just as the three spirits had done for Scrooge in Dickens' story, suggestion-enhanced experience had changed the ongoing narrative of her life.

Now, imagine the changes in one's life narrative which might ensue if a person we're able to repeatedly experience the fulfillment of one''s existence by dissolving into an ocean of infinite, unbounded love at the center of the Multiverse itself!

Differences Between Hypnosis, Mindfulness, Multiversal Meditation, and Relaxation Training

In order to understand the alterations in experience which may be induced by suggestion, let us look at what it means to be conscious of oneself in the first place.

In the early years of the Twentieth Century, adherents of the school of psychology known as structuralism were attempting to discover the basic elements of consciousness by employing a method known as introspection.  This "looking inward" to identify the basic components of one's thoughts and feelings led to widespread disagreement among various investigators regarding just how many such elements of consciousness there actually were. The diffficulty, of course, lay in the fact that consciousness, like a mirror, tends to reflect back what is put into it; and if reading and speculation have led a person to surmise that a particular element exists in conscioiusness, as soon as one begins musingly to "look inward" to discover such an element, that element is likely to appear. The process is somewhat reminiscent of the game which Tolstoy and his brother used to play when they were children, which involved seeing how long they both could go without thinking of a white bear.

Since the perception of one's own awareness is, by definition, a subjective phenomenon, what is true regarding the perception of the elements of consciousness is also true regarding the experience of one's consciousness as a whole. In other words, tbe number of "altered states" (or, more accurately, altered experiences) of consciousness which may be induced by expressed or implied suggestion is probably equal to the number of such states or experiences which it is possible to conceive or to imagine; for each of these imagined definitions may be presented in the form of an induction procedure or similar ritual containing explicit or implicit suggerstions which will bring about such an experience in subjects who are sufficiently responsive and willing to comply. Thus, the suggestor is free to define the dimensions and experiential properties of a suggestion-induced "trance state" in practically any manner he or she may desire. Today, for example, we hear of hypnosis, meditation, mindfulness, relaxation training, mind control, ultra-height, autogentic training, suggestology, dianetics, and a host of other techniques too numerous to mention. Rather than concluding that these techniques are all variations of "hypnosis," it is more accurate to describe them as changes in perceived awareness which are brought about by means of suggestion, and which differ from hypnosis in the same way that they differ from each other: in the specific content of the changes in perceived awareness which are either directly implied or suggested by the procedure which is utilized to bring about such changes, and hence, in the "feel" of the resulting subjective experience, and in the effect of that experience upon the subsequent thought and behavior of the person who undergoes it. A highly responsive hypnotic subject may feel as if he or she had been unconscious, for example, and report no memory of the events which transpired while supposedly under the influence of the "trance" (unless it has been suggested that one is not supposed to feel that way in hypnosis, or it has been specifically suggested during hypnosis that one will remember everything), whereas a student undergoing an advanced form of yogic training may feel as if he or she is merging with infinite reality!

An "induction procedure," then, is not some sort of mechanical process which one person "uses on" another to render the subject more compliant witb the will of the suggestor, as laymen occasionally tend to perceive it; and neither does it operate in some mysterious manner to open up a direct channel of communication with the "unconscous mind." It is, rather, a method of providing both the opportunity and the rationale for those who are able and willing to utilize their imagination in an "alice in wonderland" fashion to go ahead and do so. 

Rather than inquiring how many alterations in perceived awareness it is possible to produce by means of expressed or implied suggestison, or how one may go about measuring their purported "depth" -- which is, after all, pointless when one is dealing with subjective experiences for which new phenomenological dimensions can be invented, suggested, and consequently experienced by sufficiently responsive subjects virtually at will -- it is more appropriate to inquire how such experiences may best be defined and guided to fulfill their primary purpose which is to assist the subject in achieving an increased measure of self-awareness and self-control (Gibbons, 1979, pp. 15-17). The question then becomes, which of these techniques is best adapted for use with a particular individual, and in what form this procedure should best be tailored, for the enhancement of human potential, the ennoblement of the human spirit, and the fulfillment of human existence.

I prefer to use the term multiversal meditation instead of hypnosis in order to avoid the outmoded, Nineteenth-Century, Svengali-like stereotypes of dominance and submission which continue to be asssociated with the concept of hypnosis in some quarters, and the occasional public relations nightmare which occasionally erupts when fantasies of seduction under hypnosis are acted out by both hypnotist and subject.  Multiversal meditation also allows us to adopt an experiential approach which incorporates concepts borrowed from modern physics.

Multimodal Meditation as Your "Higher Power"

Lucille was an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous. She had just celebrated a major  anniversary of being alcohol free when she came to see me for her regular appointment, angry because her husband, a retired police officer who "never took his badge off," had insisted that she personally deliver a set of legal papers to him in another State rather than entrusting them to be delivered by mail. As she usually did, she responded very well to multiversal hypnotic meditation, and left with an expression of blissful happiness.

When I mentioned at her next appointment how much her suggested trip to the Multiverse had changed her mood, she replied, "I thought that it was God."

"I can provide that kind of an experience too," I told her, "but I don't like to push that on anyone unless they ask for it. She nodded in agreement. Since she had grown up as a Roman Catholic, I told her about the teachings of Meister Eckhard a thousand years ago, who preached that a person was like an empty bowl waiting to be filled with the glory of God. He was charged with heresy, but he died before his trial could be completed. Recent Popes, however,  have praised his work; and today, there is even a Facebook page dedicated to the study of his teachings.

I asked her if she would like to feel like she was dissolving into the infinite love of God instead of dissolving into the Multiverse itself, and she replied that she would.  In her next session of Multiversal Meditation, I incorporàted the following suggestion, using the Best Me Technique:

Belief systems. Now, as I continue to speak, you can gradually become aware of yourself standing in front of a pair of large wooden doors, which are the doors of a great cathedral. If you accept each detail of the scene as I describe it, without trying to think critically, your imagination can be free to allow you to experience the situation just as if you were really there.So just let yourself stand there a moment, gazing at the carved wooded doors, as you prepare to enter. [Brief pause.]

Now, as the doors swing open, you first traverse a small area paved with stone, stopping at the font if you desire, and pause before a second pair of doors which leads inside.

Emotions. You can feel a surge of happiness and anticipation as you pass through a second pair of doors and into the dimly lit interior. As your eyes gradually become accustomed to the dimmer light from the stained glass windows, take a moment to look around in wonder at the magnificence of all you see.

Sensations and perceptions. Let yourself breathe slowly and deeply, as you inhale the faint aroma of incense, and listen to the gentle tones of music floating upon the quiet air.

Some distance away from you stands the High Altar, bordered by banks of gently glowing candles. You select a pew and, after pausing to genuflect if you wish, you enter the pew and take your seat or kneel once more.

Thoughts and images. Let your mind flow with the experience, and allow it to fill you to the very core of your being, until you feel as if you are able to hold within your own consciousness an awareness of the entire Universe, and all its beauty. As it does, you can feel yourself gradually becoming aware of the presence of God Himself 

As this Consciousness begins to merge with yours, you can feel the power of His infinite healing energy filling and flooding every muscle, and every fiber, and every nerve of your entire body. And it's as if all of the worry, and all of the tension, and all of the care that you have ever felt are being driven out and replaced by the power of His infinite, unbounded, healing love.

As your own consciousness merges ever more completely with this Infinite Awareness, you feel as if you are able to hold within your own mind an awareness of the entire Universe, and all its beauty ‑‑ infinite, beyond infinity, and eternal beyond all measure of eternity. And in this sense of total oneness, you are able to freely communicate all your deepest thoughts and needs.

Motives. The experience, as it continues, is providing you with all that you had hoped to obtain from it. The serenity and the peace which you find here will remain with you, as a source of deep inner strength which will enable you to cope much more effectively with all of life's problems.

Expectations. You will treasure the memory of this experience as it meets your needs in the future; and each time you return, you will be able to derive new benefits which will meet your needs even more effectively.

We continued to use this format for her weekly visits and she reports that her faith has been greatly strengthened as a result. She is also much more tolerant of the demands of her husband.

if Lucille really believed that she was being absorbed into the mind of God, why didn't this type of sanctification experience turn her into a saint? Regardless of the content of whatever is suggested to you, how you process that content depends upon the backstory that you bring to it. Not every Roman Catholic who believes that they are literally ingesting the body and blood of Christ as they partake of Holy Communion is totally sanctified by the experience. What you do with a suggested experience depends upon both your hereditary potential and what that experience means to you when it is integrated into the total narrative of your life story. 

 

Kicking it Up a Notch: The BEST ME Technique of Multimodal Suggestion

An earlier version of this posting was presented at the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Charleston, SC, October, 2005. contrast to a traditional hypnotic induction, which is based on expressed or implied suggestions of relaxation, a hyperempiric induction is based on suggestions of mind expansion, increased awareness, and enhanced responsiveness and sensitivity – i.e., “It’s a wonderful feeling of release and liberation which you are experiencing now, as all of your vast, untapped potentials are becoming freed for their fullest possible functioning” (Gibbons, 2000, p. 32). The term itself is derived from the ancient Greek empiria, or “experience,” with the prefix “hyper” added to denote a greater or an enhanced quality (Gibbons, 1975). Hyperempiria was found to be as effective as traditional hypnosis in facilitating post-induction responsiveness to suggestion (Gibbons, 1975, 1976), as measured by the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (Shor & Orne, 1962); and shortly thereafter, Bányai and Hilgard (1976) provided further documentation of the validity of alert inductions by demonstrating their effectiveness with subjects who were pedaling a stationary bicycle.

Multimodal hyperempiria is modeled after the multimodal therapy of Arnold Lazarus, who has amassed a considerable amount of empirical evidence in support of his hypothesis that therapeutic change can be brought about more rapidly and more effectively by working simultaneously with several different modes of experience. His multimodal approach to therapy employs behavior, affective responses, sensations, cognitions, interpersonal relationships; and drugs, biological functions, nutrition, and exercise. He refers to these categories using the acronym, BASIC ID (Lazarus, 1989, 1997). Hypnosis may be employed any of the aforementioned modes of experience as a method of increasing client expectations of success, and as a means enhancing patient compliance and treatment adherence. (Lazarus, 1999).

Suggestion itself, however, is inherently multimodal in nature. Therefore, multimodal suggestion may be employed to define the experiential dimensions of hypnotic experience itself, for maximum involvement and effectiveness in therapy. The present adaptation of Lazarus’ experiential categories for use in hypnotic settings may be summarized as follows, and may be collectively referred to using the acronym, BEST ME (Gibbons, 2001, 2004; Gibbons & Schreiber, 2005).

Belief systems which orient an individual to person, place, time, and events may be suggested as being different, allowing the participant to mentally transcend present realities.

Emotions may be enriched, intensified, weakened, or combined with others to add to the uniqueness of the experience.

Sensations and physical perceptions may be suggested and experienced with an intensity approaching, and occasionally exceeding, those of real events.

Thoughts and images may be created and guided in response to explicit or indirect suggestions.

Motives may either be suggested directly or implied as a consequence of other events.

Expectations may be structured in such a manner as to determine both how an event will be experienced in the future, and later recalled and interpreted in memory.

Suggestions using the Best Me Technique may be employed in the induction procedure, in the conduct of the trance session, and in the conclusion of the hypnotic experience. Best Me suggestions may be administered in any order, each of the aforementioned categories may be employed as often as necessary, and each step in the procedure may incorporate elements of the others.

While most of us routinely attempt to include as much detail as possible in our suggestions, the Best Me technique provides a systematic, comprehensive method of including the major dimensions of experience, for maximum involvement and effectiveness in therapy.

In actual use, the choice of imagery and the content of the suggestions used will depend upon the responsiveness of the client, the client’s personal style and preferences, and the purpose for which the induction is being administered. The essential question is, what kind of experiences should be provided in this experiential theater in order to be most useful?

Most of us can think of several themes from history, mythology (Brink, 2001-2002), literature, the mass media, or even from the sports world, which we have found to be personally meaningful and inspirational in the conduct of our own lives – or else we make up our own (McAdams, 1993). Hyperempiric vivification of such themes, therapeutically augmented by means of multimodal suggestion, can potentially serve as a means of overcoming many personal challenges, as illustrated by the following two cases.

Case One

A 60 year old retired biology teacher had recently completed a one-year training course in medical technology because she desired to remain productively employed. She accepted employment at a local hospital laboratory in order to be able to work near her home. She had previously been able to improve her confidence and reduce test anxiety in her hematology course by means of multimodal hypnosis. However, as she began her new career as a laboratory technician, she began to experience subjective feelings of stress at having to compete on the job with younger workers.

In the course of our discussion, she mentioned that she was a lover of horses, that she had found the story of Sea Biscuit to be personally inspiring, and that she had seen the recent motion picture of that title several times. I asked her if she would like to experience what it must have felt like to ride Sea Biscuit to victory, in order to use this experience as a further source of inspiration in her own life, and she readily agreed.

She preferred to experience the second race depicted in the motion picture. After an initial defeat, a new jockey whispers in the horse’s ear, “Okay, boy, are you ready to go?” and the ensuing bond between horse and rider is depicted as leading to a string of victories culminating in lasting renown. After a multimodal hyperempiric induction, she was guided through the experience of riding Sea Biscuit to victory in this particular race, as I repeated the elements of the Best Me Technique with appropriate variations as the race progressed. I then suggested that whenever she watched her videotape of the movie, Sea Biscuit, although she would not go back into hyperempiria, it would re-charge her motivation anew.

She was taught to use multimodal autosuggestions in the following manner. “Whenever you have a carefully-chosen goal which you deeply believe in, you will be able to act, think, and feel as if it is a reality, just as you did today First, find a quiet place where you are not likely to be disturbed, close your eyes, and picture clearly in your mind something about the goal which you most deeply desire. Believe it will happen, expect it to happen, will it to happen, feel it happening, and savor in your mind the fruits of your success.”

The multimodal hyperempiric session was concluded, and she was given a card to take with her with the foregoing suggestions, which contain all the elements of the Best Me Technique. She was told to repeat this exercise as often as necessary, using whatever images appealed to her most strongly at the moment. If she ever had trouble “getting into it,” she was instructed to go back and re-examine the goal itself, to see if there was something about her formulation of the goal that was troubling her, or which kept her from believing in it wholeheartedly, and to make whatever corrections were necessary before proceeding further.

Six months later, she told me that she had typed up the suggestions contained in the foregoing paragraph, and that she carries it with her wherever she goes. She stated that it had not only helped her with adjusting to her classmates, but with other aspects of her life as well.

Case Two

A married woman in her mid-forties sought my help in order to lose weight. She had obtained clearance from her physician to proceed with a weight loss program, along with a recommend diet; and she was not currently taking any medication. She described her relationship with her husband and children as warm and affectionate, and told me that her life was fundamentally happy, with no major stressors which might serve to distract her from her weight loss goal.

Her anniversary was some eight months away, and she had already thought of how she would like to celebrate it. She was going to surprise her husband by arranging a getaway weekend at a hotel in New York. Her plans included dinner at a stylish restaurant where she would like to be be able to once more wear a treasured dress which she had saved from her honeymoon.

I taught her how to to place herself in hyperempiria by means of multimodal suggestion, and how to use the Best Me Technique to pre-experience the attainment of her weight loss goal, using the anniversary restaurant dinner as a setting in which she could enjoy the many dimensions of its fulfillment. Since her plans also included renting a hotel room for the evening, once she had mastered the technique, she was able to devise multi-modal scenarios for the remainder of the evening on her own. Follow-up sessions were scheduled at progressively greater intervals as her self-imposed deadline drew near, to make sure that her progress continued and that her goal was satisfactorily reached, which it was.

Discussion

The experiential dimensions of the Best Me Technique are very similar to the integrative model of hypnosis set forth by Lynn and Ruhe (1991). They state, “. . .hypnotic action and experience are the end results of what subjects think and believe about hypnosis, what they imagine or fail to imagine, what they attend to or do not attend to, what they wish to do or not to do, and how they perceive hypnotic communications and evaluate their experience” ( p. 308). Indeed, there are probably as many altered experiences of consciousness as it is possible to conceive or to imagine; for each of these imagined definitions may be given a name, written up in the form of an induction procedure, and presented to a person who is sufficiently responsive to suggestion for the induction to be effective. The experience which results from such an induction is likely to be some inner representation of the instructions and suggestions which have been given, as this person understands them and is willing to comply – and my evidence for that assertion is hyperempiria (Gibbons, 1975, 1976). It did not come about because of an accidental misunderstanding of the nature of magnetism, as Mesmerism did, and neither did it result from the behavior of people who were imitating the retardate who went to sleep because he was too stupid to know that he was "supposed" to go into convulsions, as was the case with traditional hypnosis. I simply made it up!

If the results obtained by procedures involving expressed or implied suggestions of alertness, mind expansion, and enhanced responsiveness are similar to those obtained by more traditional methods, then shouldn’t we continue to refer to these procedures as “alert inductions,” instead of using another name such as hyperempiria?

Shakespeare said, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” However, modern-day English many objects have been re-named in order to alter the manner in which they are perceived and experienced. A house trailer is a mobile home, an old person is a senior citizen, a used car is a pre-owned car, and a rest room (also the result of an earlier name change) is now occasionally referred to by signs in public places as a “comfort station.” Shakespeare notwithstanding, a rose by any other name is not a rose, especially when the subject matter with which we are working is suggestion itself.

Traditional induction procedures involving direct or implied suggestions of diminished awareness, are clearly associated with the term hypnosis by the general public. Attempts to refer to them by another name, such as visualization, or to simply avoid the use of the term “hypnosis” altogether, are likely to meet with rather limited acceptance by some people, and may even be perceived as vaguely deceptive, because they “know” how a hypnotized person is supposed to behave. But the emergence of alternative induction methods provides us with an opportunity to refer to these latter procedures, at least, by a new name which is not only etymologically more accurate, but which provides us with an opportunity to finally escape from the outmoded, Nineteenth-Century, Svengali-like stereotypes associated with the concept of hypnosis.

Given the complexity of existing differences among researchers concerning the nature of suggestion-related phenomena, any perception of such phenomena among the general public is inevitably going to involve the use of stereotypes. The use of a new term such as hyperempiria enables us to break with the past, and to re-direct our educational efforts in directions will result in the creation of more favorable and more accurate stereotypes, instead of endlessly combating the old pejorative ones.

Applications of the Best Me Technique may not be limited to its use in multimodal hyperempiria. Amigó (1998) has developed a procedure called emotional self-regulation therapy (ESRT) which involves the learned ability to reproduce various kinds of sensations, such as the taste of lemon juice, by associating them with a word or an image until these sensations, or a close approximation of them, can be called up at will. He then provides the suggestion that the client’s brain has become sufficiently sensitized to accept therapeutic suggestions, which permits clients to accept such suggestions while their eyes are open, and able to move about and interact with the therapist. Capafons (1998) has found that ESRT is effective for a wide variety of problems with many clients who are normally not responsive to hypnosis, including many who are either skeptical or fearful of hypnosis itself.

Perhaps the comprehensiveness of the Best Me Technique may prove to be useful in structuring the types and sequence of training suggestions which are employed in such an approach, and in facilitating responsiveness to subsequently-administered therapeutic suggestions by making them multimodal. There are certain types of suggested situations, however, such as riding the racehorse, Sea Biscuit, to victory in the race of his life, in which a change in the perception of one’s own awareness (i.e., an induction, whether expressed or implied) constitutes an essential part of the experience and the preparation for it.

Considering the wide variety of suggestions which may be accepted by sufficiently responsive individuals (Shor & Orne, 1962; Weitzenhoffer & Hilgard, 1967; Barber & Wilson, 1978), multimodal hyperempiria has some intriguing implications for our choice of paradigm if the procedure can be shown to be valid by additional research. Aldous Huxley, in his book, Brave new world revisited, predicted that motion picture technology would advance to the point where it included not only the senses of sight and hearing, but all of the other senses as well, in a totally new and engrossing artistic medium which he referred to as the "feelies." Following a similar line of reasoning, a multimodal approach to suggestion provides us with a highly versatile artistic medium which enables us to work much more effectively with the ultimate art form, human experience itself (Gibbons, 2001).

Thinking of ourselves as artists working with a new medium makes it easier, I believe, to draw upon such areas as classical mythology, history, literature, the mass media, or even sports events, as in the present example, for a wide variety of applications to help give meaning and direction to our clients’ lives (McAdams, 1993). But we need not give up our basic identity as therapists in order to do so; for ultimately, the goals of art and the goals of therapy are the same: the facilitation of personal growth, the ennoblement of the human spirit, and the enrichment of human existence. 

 

See also the following print Sources

Gibbons, D. E. (2001). Experience as an art form. .New York, NY: Authors Choice Press.

Gibbons, D. E. (2000). Applied hypnosis and hyperempiria. Lincoln, NE: Authors Choice Press (originally published 1979 by Plenum Press).

Gibbons, D. E., & Cavallaro, L (2013).. Exploring alternate universes: And learning what they can teach us. Amazon Kindle E-Books. (Note: It is not necessary to own a Kindle reader to download this e-book, as the Kindle app may be downloaded free of charge to a standard desktop or laptop computer and to most cell phones.)

Gibbons, D. E., & Lynn, S. J. (2010). Hypnotic inductions: A primer. in S. J. Lynn, J. W. Rhue, & I. Kirsch (Eds.) Handbook of clinical hypnosis, 2nd ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, pp. 267-291.