@modprobe
Thank You
You sound a lot like me :)
If you ever want to learn how to hypnotize yourself, have a hypnotist give you a trigger like "The finger drop technique" so you can drop in within seconds, I am not a fan of the traditional "self hypnosis" because you need someone to test you and make sure that you are in the desired state.
To make sure I'm understanding you correctly, are you pointing out that the trigger technique is different from the traditional method because it carries less risk of putting oneself into the wrong state; or are you saying that self hypnosis in general, including the trigger method, has that risk?
@modprobe
I wasn't referring to risks, you just need someone to test you to make sure you are were you want to be, in order to achieve somnambulism you have to relax your mind and body, but in order test yourself for somnambulism or give direct suggestions, you would have to stop relaxing and you would leave the state. So this is why you need someone else to show you how to achieve it, ensure you are there and then give you a trigger so you can reenter it at will.
Then later when you are alone you could repeat a suggestion, then drop into somnambulism and without any effort the suggestion would take hold with your mind and body being completely relaxed.
Also "triggers" are just a generic term for any action that can cause a response, so if I told someone every time I touched my nose they would enter somnambulism or their discomfort would melt away, touching my nose would be the trigger.
Traditional techniques typically use guided meditation (You are getting sleepy) which takes forever and if you can manage to not fall asleep, you never know what state you will end up in. This technique is very outdated and I rarely ever use it, but it is good for helping cancer patients.
@modprobe
Google: Gerald Kein
He has some videos that you can watch and I think you would really like them. I still watch some of his old seminars for fun and to keep my brain sharp.
Thank you for clarifying; it appears that much has changed in the field since I studied it as a child. I like where it has gone, the theory seems much better developed now. I think it may behoove me to try being hypnotized again at some point, as the guided meditation method you describe was the method used on me and was the method I used on myself.
To clarify my own question, when I say "risk" above, I don't mean some kind of danger; I only mean the possibility of failing to achieve the desired outcome.
@modprobe
Many people still teach the old ways and there are still tons of hypnosis books written each year telling us to use methods that were outdated in the 1960s and that is one of the major reasons why I started this blog. I can't tell you how much it pains me to hear a poorly educated hypnotist on TV or the radio giving out terrible advice just to make a few bucks. Also if a hypnotist can't explain hypnosis properly, I wouldn't trust them to be tinkering around in my head.