Trance Tops Drugs, Sex, Rock & Roll(By Theresa McKeown, Tone Magazine, Sept 2005)
When Bruce "The Boss" Springsteen's Ottawa summer concert was sold out, an aspect of mySelf reminded me Stephen Gilligan once said the right of passage into adulthood would be easier, if we taught adolescents about trance. What we seek in drugs, sex and rock & roll is available through trance - the connection with ourselves and others, the going inside, the focus or heightened awareness and the relaxation or relief from our daily rhythms.
And as trance is a naturally occurring state, when we consciously induce it, we are merely utilising something we already do, easily and effortlessly. We all know the driving trance - the "how did I get here" moment at the end of the drive to work. Or how about the TV trance, the gardening trance, the yoga trance or, perhaps, the golf trance. When I recently heard a former British Open Champion describe "this eerie calmness" that he felt during the final round, I knew what he was really talking about was the uptime trance state which world class athletes are in when they are at their peak performance.
Those of us who were, or saw or read about the "flower children" of the 60s and 70s know the drugs, sex and/or rock and roll trances. "We all have a deep need to get away, to go into far out states" says Stephen Gilligan, an internationally renown psychologist and trance trainer, mentored by Dr. Milton Erickson, an even more renown psychiatrist who, in the 1950s, was influential in having trance recognised by the American Medical Association as a therapeutic technique.
What Is Hypnosis?
"Trance, relaxation or comfortable self awareness" is what Dr. Erickson called hypnosis. In trance there is a focused awareness, a paying attention in the foreground, to what is really important. And when you wish, you can pull the background information back into conscious awareness. In this way, trance is a tool to facilitate learning and skill development, with the desired results or changes occurring naturally.
All hypnosis is actually self hypnosis. I do not do it to you, you do it to yourself. The subject is always in charge, deciding if, when or how deeply to go into trance. Whether I guide myself, or am guided by another, it is always about me choosing to hypnotise myself and invite the unconscious mind to access resources, share insights, undertake learning or make changes. Whatever you want to do, however you want to be, is available and accessible through the unconscious mind. And your unconscious is absolutely willing and delighted to connect and to play. Using a pendulum and practising self-hypnosis are very direct ways to experience this connection.
How To Do Self-Hypnosis
To begin the traditional, long version of the self-hypnosis induction, sit or lie down comfortably, perhaps choosing an object or spot to fixate your attention. Centre yourself, take several deep breaths, relax. Decide on one objective or outcome for your experience. It may be relaxation, improving an aspect of your golf game, seeking the answer to a question or changing one specific behaviour.
Choose a key word or phrase to assist you with deepening your trance. Give yourself a suggestion: As I focus on………. my eyelids become heavier and heavier. With each breath, I relax more and more…until my eyelids become so heavy, that they close and my breath takes me to a deeper level of relaxation. I am now entering trance. Repeat as many times as necessary. Say, to yourself, your key word or phrase to deepen trance. Repeat as often and slowly as necessary. Do a body scan for signals of relaxation and allow your breath to lengthen.
Give yourself another suggestion: Now I am going deeper and deeper. Imagine standing at the top of an escalator which is going down. You step on and count down from 10 to 0, until you arrive at the bottom. Imagine you turn right and step onto another escalator and do the same thing. At the bottom, when you are at 0, turn right again and step onto a third escalator and do the same thing once again. Continue as long as necessary. When you are ready, invite your unconscious mind to do the learning or change work on your behalf, whenever it is ready.
And when you are done, prepare to return to the waking state. Return back up the escalator(s) or simply count from 0 to10 saying: Now I am going to come out of trance and when I do I will be awake, alert, refreshed and energised.
And then, I don't know just when, your unconscious mind will delight and surprise you with the awareness that your experience with yourself may have topped even a concert by "The Boss." You may also be reminded of this when you have that feeling of "eerie calmness" while playing a great round of golf. And with practise, you can very quickly enter an uptime trance state that will improve whatever is really important in your life.
|