8 Tips On Achieving Guided Meditation And Hypnosis
One of the most overlooked and most important aspects of Witchcraft, mindfulness and simply mental health is meditation. Guided meditation is simply a kind of meditation in which one person guides the other or group of others, in a similar manner to guided hypnosis. The alternative to this is self-meditation and self-hypnosis, which are both very common means for people to achieve altered states of consciousness.
I have been practicing meditation, guided meditation, hypnosis and self-hypnosis for many years now, and I consider myself to be fairly experienced. In my opinion, these are some of the most important tips for any beginner who is seeking to induce hypnotic or meditative trance states (which are essentially the same in all but name). Your reasons for wanting to practice meditation or hypnosis might vary, but at the end of the day the rules remain the same. Some practice self-hypnosis for religious or spiritual reasons, whilst others do it for personal pleasure and enjoyment of both them and their partner(s). However, the most important rules are safety, consent, communication, and trust. Abide by these, and youâll rarely go wrong.Â
Remember also that this guide is simply an introduction, and is not the be-all-and-end-all of how to meditate! Look up meditation and hypnosis methods on the Internet or in books, and learn the way that YOU meditate best!
Candles can provide excellent sources of focus and concentration, and gazing into a candle is a very common technique used by meditators, mindfulness practitioners, and even hypnotherapists. Try visualising the flame licking up and around your body, warming your mind and pushing orange-yellow heat energy inside your muscles, melting away tension and stress. You might also want to imagine that the flame is a living thing like a spirit, guiding you down into a trance state. When Iâm inducing a meditative or trance state in someone who is struggling to induce it themselves, this is a standard induction method I will use.
If candles donât work for you, try a detailed and decorative object of fascination. Fascination is a term used to describe a meditative or trance state thatâs induced through the usage of objects that fascinate the meditator. This means they should be decorative, ornate, intricate, or simply aesthetically very pleasing to the eye. Crystals (especially translucent crystals like quartzes, or scintillating stones like opals) are a very common group of fascinators, because they play with light in interesting ways, but other objects like rings, jewels, coins, or even knives have been used to great effect. Find the object that works best for you, and then hold it in your hands. Visualise the energy this object contains; feel it out using your eyes and hands, and imagine that the deeper you admire the object, the more energy it pours into your body. Feel this energy drawing you down into the item, and losing your tensions and stresses as you fall. This is an excellent induction for when candles or other methods donât work, and especially for those people who canât âdisconnectâ their senses as easily as others.
Narratives can be wonderfully useful, so try weaving a story to guide yourself into trance. When Iâm inducting a new apprentice to demonstrate proper meditative and trance techniques, I will often use a narrative approach. Stories are such powerfully emotive and imagery-rich topics, and the imagination canât help but weave itself into the story and follow the story down into a meditative state. I commonly use stories that also allow me to work physical contact (such as controlled strokes along the palm), as this âanchorsâ the story into peopleâs minds and bodies and gives them a frame of reference upon which to build. You might want to think about a story about Witches of old who used secret herbal potions to draw themselves down into the spirit world, or if the meditator is a fan of swimming you can talk about a pool of water that removes stress from the body. This technique is a very reliable one, but itâs not really suitable for self-hypnosis and self-induced meditative states â you might get more success with something like progressive relaxation if youâre self-inducing.
The key to a good meditative state is relaxation, which is why progressively relaxing your body is the single most common form of induction used by hypnotherapists and guided meditation teachers. Itâs a very good âstarting-pointâ technique, one that works well for many people, but that doesnât potentially limit future inductions if it doesnât work for a person. Progressive relaxation is achieved through several methods, but my favourite is to imagine a warm pool of energy soaking up through your feet, and progressively relaxing each muscle group in your body in turn. This technique is fast, requires no additional tools or practice with narratives, and thereâs a lot of information about progressive relaxation available online if youâd like to learn more. However, whilst itâs a good starting induction, it doesnât work for everyone and so Iâd advise learning more than one technique in order to cover all bases. Itâs also the best beginnerâs technique for those looking to use self-hypnosis and self-induced meditative states, and itâs a technique that even after many years of working with meditation and hypnosis I still find myself using time and time again.
Low-level but consistent physical contact, measured and rhythmic sounds, and repetitive motions are all very, very common when youâre seeking to induce trance, especially in yourself, because they provide the mind with a comfortable, repetitive, unchallenging environment in which it can feel safe to relax and open up. Meditation is always much harder to achieve if sensory stimuli from outside the mind and from outside the meditative session itself are random, unpredictable and violent, because the brain canât simply relax and instead is constantly on the lookout for every new potential threat. This is why many hypnotherapists have offices that use cool, even lighting, soft music or quiet sounds, and sometimes will burn incense or use soothing visual and physical textures. It sets up an environment in which the brain knows what to expect, and so it stays calm. When self-inducing, try sitting in a dimly-lit room with comfortable in-ear headphones playing quiet, soft music (I use Enya a lot!), and perhaps with some mild incense burning. If you are unexperienced with meditation or self-hypnosis, avoid starting your practice in environments with lots of sensory stimuli!
If you are working with someone else, avoid words like âdangerâ, âcutâ, âdesperateâ etc.ž as these are emotive or âstrongâ words that invoke strong, often negative emotional reactions at a subconscious level. This can make the brain start to close up again, because it starts sensing stress or potential attackers. Instead of saying âthereâs no danger hereâ, try something more neutral like âyou know that you can be completely safe hereâ. Instead of saying âcutting away the strings holding onto your tensionâ, use terms like âslowly untying the strings connecting you to the tensionâ. Find ways of speaking or referring to things that use neutral, soft, non-threatening words. Additionally, wherever possible, avoid plosive consonants like hard P, hard C, or B. Instead go for more sibilant consonants like soft C, S, and H. Again, this sets up flowing river of words that the mind can flow away with, rather than a jarring barrage of words that disrupts the pleasant relaxed state you are hoping to culture.
Always, always remember that the most important word when inducing someone else is COMMUNICATION. Before you begin, talk about what your goals are from a guided meditation or hypnosis experience, make sure youâve talked about what direction youâre planning on taking, and always, always communicate with your partner throughout your session. Make sure to ask if theyâre OK, if theyâre feeling uncomfortable, or if thereâs anything specific they need at that time. Do not constantly ask âif theyâre in tranceâ â the whole point about trance is that itâs not some mysterious different state of mind, but rather itâs the same state of mind but simply in an altered form. Watch your partner, listen to them if they ask for anything or mention anything, and constantly be alert for if they are showing signs of distress. Hypnotic states can often make memories or visualisations more solid or real, so if your partner gets triggered by a memory during a trance state this can be even worse than it might normally be. Keep an eye out for any signs of discomfort, and be aware that itâs your job to keep them safe as well as guide them down and up again.
Learn how to guide someone up safely, without causing distress â this is probably the most overlooked thing on this list, and yet itâs the one thatâs easiest to get wrong. When guiding someone up, donât try to control the speed or manner of their ascent. Theyâve just been through an emotionally and mentally taxing ordeal, and if they need to take things slowly then thatâs what you need to help them do. The most common and one of the best wake-up sequences is simply to count up from 0 to 10, at each level describing how another part of their body or mind is waking up in a logical order. However, look up alternative methods if youâd prefer, and allow THEM to control the speed of ascent. This might be achieved by asking them to count the numbers as they go, and each time they do moving onto the next line of the wake-up sequence.
I hope this beginnersâ guide has helped you on your journeys towards fulfillment and mindfulness!
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