The way I see mind states, there are sleeping, normal wakefulness, meditative states and hypnotic states. In all of these, a person might be alerted by a sharp sound, such as a telephone ringing. It seems probable that such states are not totally separate but that we pass from one to another.
How we fall asleep, wake up, suspend our stream of thoughts and suggest or concentrate on thoughts is mysterious to me. My reading of
- The Relaxation Response by H. Benson
- The Wise Heart by J. Kornfield
- Coming to Our Senses by J. Kabat-Zinn
- The Mindful Brain by Daniel Siegel
- The Brain That Changes Itself by N. Doidge
- The Self Hypnosis Diet by S. Gurgevich
and other sources, combined with my thinking and recent workshop on self hypnosis, give me a picture of these states.
Let’s assume we know what sleep is, even though we don’t really. Clearly, infants sleep much of the time as do other baby mammals. Those who are sick and the elderly may spend much time sleeping. Clearly, as adults, we wake up. Equally clearly, we can carry ideas, impressions, fears and images from sleep to wakefulness and in the opposite direction.
When we are awake, we may still be in various states of wakefulness. For instance, when aroused by anger, fear or sex, we are in a somewhat different state from what we are when not aroused. As we get older and have experienced thinking and emotions, we may come to a time when we are interested in suspending the stream of thoughts. Just exactly where thoughts come from and why one thought arises instead of another seems a bit of a mystery. In Candace Pert’s “Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d”, she refers to thought production mechanisms but doesn’t go into much detail. [Pert is a highly credential scientist.] It seems clear that our thoughts are related to our lives and experiences. We don’t get ‘stray’ thoughts in a language we don’t know nor in subjects with which we aren’t familiar.
In general, meditation is for reaching out, beyond ourselves, our usual thinking. The ancient Hindus wanted to empty their minds to receive God. They practiced this way long before Gautama’s birth and his becoming the Buddha. There are many Christian practices, too. Meditation is usually sorted into two classes by procedure: fixed-point calming and insight observation. The fixed point concentrates on a sight, sound or other target and puts gently aside any perceived thought that comes to mind. Insight observation allows thoughts to parade across consciousness but simply observes them, sometimes labeling them for a bit of increased objectivity and distance from them. Both types aim at avoiding getting ‘hooked’ or ‘caught up in the story line’ as one does when one gets involved with thinking things through, reminiscing or planning. The evidence is piling up that regular brief practice of meditation improves health, self knowledge and one’s ability to enjoy life.
My hypnosis teacher, Mary Elizabeth Raines, likes to say that all hypnosis is self hypnosis, since any person can ignore guided imagery or lulling talk or mock them or do other things to avoid being hypnotized if they don’t want to be. Meditators often try to stay fully alert and aware while hypnosis involves being in a trance state. Despite the Raines statement, when I am coming out of deep hypnosis, the experience is much like awaking from an especially delicious sleep, particularly so when Rainey induces the trance.
Aside from hanging out and passing time in a relaxed and refreshing state, a main use of hypnosis is to program the mind. Suggestions to the mind while it is in a suggestible state can increase the likelihood that thoughts of one sort or another will arise or emotions of a desired type will be felt for a while after the hypnotic session.
