Self-hypnosis right before bed can help you program your subconscious mind so that it works for you instead of against you.
Self-hypnosis can be a wonderful and powerful way to redirect your actions and learn to change bad habits. It is also a great way to program better sleep by suggesting deeper relaxation and sounder sleep.
You can program new habits by working with conscious habit changes as well as hypnosis to reinforce your new habit or behavior.
So settle into bed with a soothing self-hypnosis audio and your favorite natural pillow and let’s get started.
What is hypnosis?
The word hypnosis can conjure visions of dramatic stage scenes with people in trances barking like dogs. But in reality hypnosis is a gentle trance or reverie state that is very ordinary.
Listening to Self-hypnosis audios cannot cause you to do harmful things to yourself or others. Hypnosis is considered to be a safe natural process by experts.
We all go through this theta state of slower brain waves as we transition from waking to sleeping every night.
A good time for listening to self-hypnosis is when you are lying in bed about to go to sleep because you are already tired and ready to relax your body.
It can be difficult to hypnotize people in the middle of the day when they are active. And it can take a long time to induce relaxation and get people to slow down before the actual suggestions can be introduced.
Hypnosis and theta brain waves
Hypnosis is a form of suggestion that works well when you are in that in between state right before you fall asleep. With the slower theta brainwaves, you are not fully alert or awake, nor are you totally unconscious yet.
This theta brain wave state is a lot slower than our normal beta brainwaves or waking state. Theta mode is induced by hypnosis and is called a “trance state”. But really it isn’t all that mysterious.
Brainwaves and hypnosis
We have several different brain waves that can be measured by an EEG or electroencephalograph machine.
Our waking brain waves are called “beta”. Beta waves can range from 12 to 38 hertz. In beta we are alert and engaged in activities. Beta is further broken down into low, medium, and high beta depending on what you are doing. If you are idle or fairly relaxed but awake, this is known as low-beta or beta1 at 12 to 15 HZ.
When you are engaged in active problem solving, or if you are in the middle of a complex situation, your brainwaves will be between 15 to 22 HZ. This is beta2
High-beta is when you are excited or anxious. High-beta brain waves can range from 22 to 38 HZ. If you are constantly in this faster waking state of high-beta it can be stressful and inefficient way to live. But luckily there are ways to train the brain with biofeedback to remain calmer more of the time.
Relaxation, sleep, and your brainwaves
Relaxation during meditation (can be done with our without a meditation pillow) is usually in alpha at 8 to 12 HZ, which is a little slower than our normal waking state, and is associated with a state of relaxed, open, creativity. Alpha is used by athletes and artists for being able to access more parts of the brain for optimal learning and remembering.
Theta brain waves are 3 to 5 HZ, a little slower than Alpha, but you are often not asleep yet when you are in light theta. This is where hypnotic suggestion works best. You may be extremely relaxed or in a light doze. But in theta you are not so deep into sleep mode that you can’t hear the suggestions.
In theta mode you are relaxed enough to take in what is being suggested through your self-hypnosis audio easily without a lot of resistance.
Often people will fall asleep during hypnosis and fear that they have missed out on the benefits of the hypnosis audio. It is fine to doze during self-hypnosis audios because part of the mind is still registering the messages.
Delta Waves are .5 to 3 HZ. And are generated in deep sleep. Though some experienced meditators can stay awake and generate these very slow brainwaves.
Infra-low brain waves below .5HZ are known as Slow Cortical Potentials. Not a lot is known about these slower waves. They underlie the higher frequencies and may play a role in the timing and functioning of the nervous system and other bodily functions.
Meditators and Gamma Brainwaves
At the other end of the spectrum, Gamma brainwaves are the fastest lightest most subtle brain waves at 38 to 42 HZ. Gamma waves are generated when all the parts of the brain are processing information in a beneficial way.
Gamma frequency relates to empathy, compassion, and higher levels of consciousness. These super high brain waves are seen in experienced meditators when they meditate on loving kindness.
You can learn to modulate your brainwaves to some extent through meditation and increase the balance and health of waking brain waves through neurofeedback programming. Or brainwave entrainment.
Theta is the goal when you want to change habits
We are going to focus on the Theta brainwaves and how they can help you suggest the new habits you want to install in your life.
According to scientist Bruce Lipton the conscious mind is only using about 5% of consciousness to try and control our lives. A lot of what we do and think and believe is programmed before the age of 7 onto our "hard drive".
The nonverbal part of the mind that we have trouble accessing consciously also known as the subconscious mind or unconscious mind is producing much of our habits and behaviors.
Young kids spend a lot of time with their brain producing delta and theta and alpha waves, so they are able to learn languages faster. Toddlers learn to walk and learn other motor skills much faster than adults who have to relearn skills after an injury or stroke.
Teens spend more time than adults in alpha and tend to be more imaginative than adults. Adults tend to spend most of their waking hours in beta and are not encouraged to play or be imaginative.
Making the adult brain child-pliable
So we can mimic kid-style learning by using hypnosis as an adult. This is one of the reasons sleep is so important. Much of our learning and memory enhancement happens during sleep.
And why just before sleep is the perfect time for learning new things and remembering and programming the hard drive.
We often don't have conscious control of much of our early programming or even remember downloading or copying all these patterns from the adults who were around us when we were kids.
This explains why we can be adults who know better but still overeat or drink too much or act in abusive ways even if we don’t want to.
How old programs get stuck
We can be lost in thought and we don't see what is going on in autopilot-mode until all the cake is gone or the bottle is empty, or the relationship is over.
This is why conscious willpower goes astray so often. We are talking to the waking mind when we want to change something. The conscious mind processes only a limited bit of information. While the rest of the mind is still running the old programming.
We can learn a lot of new things as adults, but it can be a slow process. When you go back into theta with hypnosis and install new instructions you can enhance your learning and get the changes you want more quickly.
Getting Started
There are many audio recordings by licensed hypnotherapists that you can use for your self-hypnosis. Or you could record your own self-suggestions once you have listened to some of the professional recordings to get the idea.
So get your Cherry Pit Natural Heating Pad ready, and plump up your French Lavender Buckwheat Pillow and let the reprogramming begin!
