Literary Speaking: Hypnosis can be a powerful tool for self-development
By Hypnosis is very effective in making changes to our lives for self-development in a way we may not even think is possible, says Saket Rai, master hypnotist and author of two books.
“We use techniques in hypnosis to gain more confidence, speak out, go talk to more people, be more extrovert if you want to be more introverted, practice a skill or for sports enhancements. In all areas of self-development, hypnosis has been found to be effective”, he explains.
Rai, with over two decades of experience in Hypnosis, is the author of two books ‘Conversational Hypnosis in Action – influence on the go’ and ‘Rapid Hypnosis’. He has trained hundreds of students in hypnotherapy and alternative healing modalities. He is based in New Delhi and also holds workshops for corporates. His intention in writing the books was to enable even laymen to understand hypnosis.
Describing hypnosis, Rai says that to understand hypnosis one needs to know how the mind works or how minds get influenced. “I’m using the word mind very clearly, which is distinct from the word brain. So, when I’m saying mind, hypnosis influences the mind. There are certain principles like repeating a suggestion and getting the attention of a person on a particular subject. During these processes a hypnotist makes sure the critical factor which rejects the suggestion is for some time not present, is looking the other way and the suggestion given by the hypnotist goes in. So, it’s more like influence and persuasion because sometimes when we are off guard, somebody suggests something and we totally accept it,” he elaborates.
Giving an example, he says “Let’s say when a doctor walks into a room. We are very attentive because we are waiting for that doctor to tell us what is about to happen. We are in a state of trance and then the doctor says something. Maybe it was not meant for you. Maybe he referred to another person’s report and he said, oh, this looks really grim Mr. Rai”.
“What would happen? I would immediately, even if I don’t have any ailment, figure out that I have an ailment and I’ll start reacting that way. So, hypnosis is one way of understanding how the mind takes on suggestions and how we react to those suggestions. It’s a very powerful influencing technique,” he adds.
According to Rai hypnosis can be done in a clinical setting when you go for therapy, and that’s hypnotherapy. If done on a stage, it’s stage hypnosis. If hypnosis is done on the street, it’s street hypnosis.
“Hypnosis actually happens all the time. But we are assuming that we need somebody to do hypnosis on someone. But we are getting influenced in our lives and taking suggestions from everyone all the time”, he says and adds that there are some people who believe that all hypnosis is actually self-hypnosis.
People feel that hypnosis is something scary, but there’s nothing scary about hypnosis in a clinical setting or a stage setting. “Its only byproduct is relaxation. It’s more fun, and hypnosis worldwide is being used in working with fear, phobias, anxiety, and habits. Definitely. You know, one of the major areas where people use it is for smoking secession, change in the habit of smoking, changing the habit of eating more. Hypnosis is purely a system where we are suggesting a way to pick up a different habit. What is a habit? A habit is a suggestion that you’ve given to yourself. We all use affirmations to change things in our life. Some of us would have experienced the fact that you simply tell your pillow I want to get up at 6:00 o’clock in the morning. And you do get up. What is that? That is basically a suggestion to your subconscious that makes sure that you get up at 6:00 o’clock in the morning,” he adds.
His book on conversational hypnosis is all about using hypnosis in conversation and influencing people. Whereas the book about rapid hypnosis talks about how to hypnotize people in a more formal setup, be it on a stage or a clinical setup. It also lays out the process of hypnosis for those who want to learn.
“One of the other areas that have really, really used it is pain. Hypnosis really works in pain management, especially if the pain is chronic and is a psychosomatic condition.” Rai recalls a workshop on cancer care in Chennai, where a lady who had severe pain in her ankle for the past five years, came up on stage. “The only language she understood was Tamil. So, instructions were translated for her into Tamil. After twenty minutes her pain vanished. She was so confused, it was so beautiful to see her moving her ankles, trying to find the pain,” says Rai.
Explaining one of the processes used for pain management, Rai says that the person who is suffering is requested to first identify where the pain is. The process applies both to emotional as well as physical pain. A brief induction is done which takes the person into the state of hypnosis. The induction process could be as simple as closing the eye and focusing on the breath. This takes them into a state of relaxation and moves their focus inwards. “The moment the attention has moved inward. The person begins to get into a state of trance and then we apply a kind of disassociation technique and move the person into a third-person mode and ask if that pain had a colour, what colour would it be? What we are trying to do here is give the pain a physical attribute which is colour. What is the shape? What is the size? What is the texture, then the person gets involved in defining the shape etc. Then we instruct the person to scoop that colour out with their hands and hand it over to me. I pretend to take it away from that person. Now again, there’s a disassociation desensitization happening. The person has mentally moved the pain out. So, through this method, the subconscious is getting a message that the pain is no longer there. It has moved ‘out’.
Rai informs that Milton Erickson, who is known as the father of conversational hypnosis, would simply talk with somebody for two hours and the person would not have that problem anymore. Simply speaking, conversational hypnosis is to practice hypnosis using the same model, the same language, and same kind of principles in your conversation to influence people.
According to Rai, certain people are very charismatic They either have natural ways or some actually learn how to speak, learn how to behave, learn how to modulate their voice and learn how to use their body language, verbal, and nonverbal communication. Politicians and religious people influence a lot of people. Charisma is one of the things that if you practice enough, you can build using hypnosis.
But something like charisma cannot be acquired, unless you can see yourself as being charismatic. In a similar way if you want to be able to influence people, you will not be able to do so if you have a limiting belief and that’s part of something called the ‘inner game’. “But through hypnosis one can change those limiting beliefs, opening up endless possibilities for our growth,” he adds.
*Ranjit Monga is a senior journalist and documentary filmmaker
