You Can Do Self Hypnosis in 2 Minutes

A zine by sleepingirl, created in 2023. Available as a printable/readable download.

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People think self hypnosis needs a lot of bells, whistles, and a solid and recognizable trance state. Not so! Partnered hypnosis doesn't need that stuff, so why should self hypnosis?

Your psychology is like a bunch of muscles that can be trained and stretched. Doing little exercises to play with your brain is self hypnotic and develops strength, flexibility, and muscle memory! You can be a psychonaut, or a scientist, or a magician who experiments with thoughts.

Try these! Make up your own! You will feel weird at first, and you will get distracted sometimes. That’s normal! Practice these literally any time you want and you have a minute.

Body/Brain Scan

Focus on your body and move through it from top to bottom or vice versa. Do it kinda slow and then kinda fast! What are you feeling? “Narrate” it to yourself and then try it with less narration. How did the scan change what you’re feeling? Try the scan with just your face/head. Then try the scan with your internal thoughts!

“Pattern” Interrupt

Any time you’re thinking about something or doing something, practice stopping. Just for a split second! Pretend you got interrupted and your thoughts or body freeze up. What does that feel like?

Sensory Transformation

Imagine something: a fantasy, a visualization, a sound, a feeling, a thought -- anything the way you imagine/think stuff. It’s just an imagination so it doesn’t have to be strong or “perfect.” Then change something about it! The color, the sensation, the fuzziness/detail, the contents, something small or big.

Meta/Parts

When you’re doing any of these exercises or thinking about something try this: Pretend you’re “stepping out” of your thoughts/body to observe. Notice something in third person. Then try stepping back in, or stepping out another level from the observation!