1. Purpose of the newsletter
This newsletter is designed to serve a community of private
individuals and professionals who have the desire to cultivate
a life of clarity, compassion, and creativity. Your interaction
and feedback is encouraged. Please contact us at: seishindo@seishindo.org.
In general this newsletter will espouse the theories and practices
of Seishin-do. To find out more about Seishindo please go
to: http//www.seishindo.org.
2. Musings
Self hypnosis is a fascinating and complex subject. I believe
that most people develop an interest in self hypnosis because
they want to be able to live a life of greater fulfillment.
People have a desire to accomplish certain goals that they
currently seem incapable of achieving, and they have an inkling
that there must be "a better way."
It is important to remember:
THE SELF IS A RELATIONSHIP
- BOTH INTRAPERSONAL AND INTERPERSONAL.
"Who am I?
I am a relationship.
I choose to, and I have the right to,
Feel good and be respected.
I am."
When we are feeling stuck we might think of self hypnosis
like this: "There is a part of me that wants to get another
part of me to change. And the annoying thing is that the part
of me that 'I' want to change does not appear to be open to
my suggestions!" In such instances, "What we have here is
a failure to communicate."
For instance, people often say to me: "Why is it that when
'I' want to 'lose weight', 'stop smoking', 'get up earlier
in the morning', that there is somehow, somewhere a hidden
part of me that very much does not want to accomplish these
same goals? Why does this conflict exist and how can I get
'myself' to do what 'I' want to do?" Self relations therapy
would call this hidden part that is not cooperating "the neglected
self." Other forms of therapy would talk about "the subconscious
mind" or "the unconscious mind." Seishindo presents the concept
of "the somatic self." What we are striving for in self hypnosis
is developing a context of cooperative communication. We need
to learn how to respectfully communicate with the hidden parts
of one's self, and in the process, enlist the resources of
the entire self in order to bring about a more balanced life.
This is the main task of self hypnosis.
COOPERATION
One of the reasons that the martial art Aikido works so effectively
(When and if it is done with the proper ideals in mind.) is
that the practitioner has no intent to harm or force the attacker,
and somehow this message gets communicated nonverbally and
changes the attacker's mindset. In Aikido we attempt to cooperate
with the attacker and touch their true desire. When we are
able to accomplish this the musculature of the attacker softens
and their fighting mind is neutralized. The goal is to protect
the one being attacked, as well as protecting the attacker.
We strive to blend with the energy and attempted goals of
the attacker rather than confronting them.
In Aikido we say:
"Change yourself first, before looking to change your opponent,
and in the process, you might find that your opponent has
changed himself."
"First learn to control your self and then look to lead others
gently. Help the attacker to get what he wants without his
needing to use violence to achieve his goals."
In self hypnosis we can say:
"Change the mindset of your cognitive self first, before looking
to change your somatic self, and in the process, you might
just find that your somatic self will change itself." "Control
your cognitive self and gently lead your somatic self. Help
the cognitive self to get the appropriate results it desires,
without it needing to resort to manipulation and conflict.
If your cognitive self is not getting the results it desires,
then what will your cognitive self need to do to change itself,
in order to more fully align with your somatic self?"
Or yet another way to say this is: "The solution your cognitive
self is attempting to implement is instrumental to the continuance
of the problem. If you implement the 'right' solution, you
will likely find that there is no problem. With a high quality
solution in hand, the problem ceases to exist."
3. Dynamics of Embodied Spirit
TEN IMPORTANT
PRINCIPLES OF SELF HYPNOSIS:
These principles are meant for you to muse over for now. These
principles are not meant to be a "to do" list of things to
accomplish. Read for now in order to begin to develop a broad
background for self hypnosis, and then we will delve into
some of these principles in detail in future newsletters.
1) Change out of your everyday
frame of mind into a different "trance".
This usually takes a change of posture, a good deal of calm
breathing, slowing down in general, and the spreading of your
awareness.
Self hypnosis is a NATURAL way of changing your awareness
of the present moment, and the awareness of yourself as part
of the present moment. In almost every instance entering into
a generative self induced trance will be facilitated by slowing
down your breathing and your internal dialogue, and by becoming
more aware of what is happening now.
Self hypnosis dissolves the perceived problem so that it no
longer exists in your mind. Self hypnosis does not do away
with the problem. If you do away with thinking, you will do
away with the problem.
2) Love, accept, and cooperate
with, all that you are. "There is nothing amiss with you that
a deep sense of self love and support will not heal."
Develop a sense of trust and cooperation with your entire
self. If you don't respect all of your self, it will be difficult
to induce the cooperation that is necessary for change to
occur.
3) Enter into a flow state that
is more spontaneous than any process that can be maintained
by your cognitive mind. You need to let the thoughts of your
cognitive self wander as if it is "fully awake and dreaming."
It is from this state of "active dreaming" that solutions
will evolve. The solutions do not come from "you" the solutions
come from the state that you are in and the connections that
you are making. The solutions arise as it becomes apparent
that there is no problem.
4) Create a pleasant and respectful
conversation between the parts of yourself that are involved
in the struggle for and against change.
Accept and honor the behavior, beliefs, mood, and or interests
of your entire self, in order to achieve rapport with your
entire self. You are always doing the best that you are currently
capable of.
5) A generative state of self
hypnosis signifies responsiveness to your intrapersonal needs.
When your whole self is not able or willing to accomplish
what your cognitive self desires, this is a clear signal that
are you not sufficiently aware of or honoring some important
intrapersonal needs.
Begin to reduce the differences in beliefs and desires between
the self that wants change and your other self that seems
to be inhibiting change. There is a deeper wisdom to this
inhibition process, and it is quite important to honor this
wisdom.
6) Become intimately aware of your body and its ongoing
feedback loop with your cognitive self. Feel all of the tiny
reactions your body has to the verbal suggestions that are
being made. If in any way, your body tenses up when hearing
any one of your suggestions, chances are that you will not
be successful in implementing your suggestions. This is so
crucial to understand.
Find a way of presenting information and possible changes
to your somatic self, that your somatic self finds safe, supportive,
and doable. Your somatic self is quite powerful. Attempting
to implement changes that it is not fully in agreement with,
is not a productive long term way of living.
7) Consider every thought, feeling,
and desire that you are having, to be of equal importance,
rather than giving more importance to any one part of your
process. It is often the "little things" that wind up having
the greatest importance in the long run.
8) Be with, stay with, and welcome,
every thought, feeling, and sensation. This is crucial. Often
we try to run away from what we think is "incorrect" or what
we feel to be painful. At other times we try to hold onto
a thought or feeling that we believe to be positive. Rather
than attempting such non productive behaviors, simply stay
with and welcome your every thought, feeling, and sensation.
9) Explore your experience without
the need to change who your are, or what you are doing. It
is the perceived need to change that often hinders the process
of change. Explore your experience, your thought processes
and your feelings without trying to change yourself.
When all of the necessary preparations have been made, change
will occur "on its own" when and IF it is truly necessary.
10) It is the thinking mind that
discerns "right and wrong" "good or bad" "perfect and imperfect"
that creates your problems.
The idea in self hypnosis is to experience the mind that comes
prior to thinking. To experience the mind that does not know.
The goal is not to understand what to do. The goal is to already
be doing it.
There is no problem to be solved. Only be in the moment.
________________
Now you have been offered one person's thoughts and experiences
in regard to self hypnosis. Please let these ideas rest inside
of you for now. We will explore these principles further in
later newsletters.
4. Prelude to Practicing
I want to "set the stage" for you prior to your beginning
the following practice:
A) The "practice" that follows
is NOT meant to get specific results in regard to behavioral
changes. This is very important to note. You are being asked
to pay attention to what is going on in the moment, rather
than trying to change yourself or something that you are not
satisfied with. This practice is designed to help you learn
how to better communicate with your somatic self. If generative
change does happen to occur it will take place only as a by-product
of high quality communication with your somatic self.
B) The breathing that you are
asked to do at the end of each step is very important. If
you find yourself rushing through the breathing or not taking
three FULL breaths as asked, then you will likely feel that
you did not learn much of interest in doing this practice.
If you find yourself wanting to ignore or rush through the
breathing, then indeed you are learning something very important
about yourself: That you will do well to SLOW DOWN your system
in order to achieve the results you desire. This can be a
very important learning. Shallow breathing tends to lead to
a feeling of anxiety and a sense of incompetence, much more
so than your perceived abilities or lack thereof.
C) This practice is meant to
be learned from OVER TIME, and each person will learn something
unique and different, depending on the thoughts, feelings,
and life experiences, that one begins their practice with.
This practice is an invitation to explore yourself more fully,
and learn how to enter into a generative trance state. You
might initially feel that you did not get all that much insight
or change from this practice, only to find that your behavior
or way of thinking changes some at a later date "on its own."
No matter what, this practice is meant to be done and learned
from, over the course of time.
5. Practice
TUNING IN
It is suggested that you read through the instructions several
times prior to beginning. This will give you the possibility
of doing the whole practice without needing to refer to the
notes. Of course do refer to the notes if you need to, but
you will likely get the most pleasing results when you can
leave the notes aside.
This practice assumes that you have an issue, relationship,
or circumstance in your life that you would like to better
understand or change, over the course of time.
1) Seat yourself so that you
are comfortable.
2) Create an "I am" statement.
What we mean by this is the following:
Consider what it is you would like to change or better understand.
Make believe that you have already achieved the results you
desire and make a statement that describes how your feel,
and experience "life" and yourself having already achieved
the results you desire. For instance, if you are wanting to
lose weight you might say, "I am healthy, maintaining an optimal
body weight, and feeling good about myself." This will be
your "I am" statement for your practice.
It is very important that you make an "I am" statement that
gives you the mental image and emotional feeling of how you
look and feel having already accomplished your goal, rather
than using negative terms that describe how you do NOT want
to be. An incorrectly formulated "I am" statement would be
"I am no longer overweight and I feel good about myself."
In the same way, a successful athlete would NOT say to herself
"I am no longer missing field goals during the important moments
of a game." Instead, state what you ARE doing and feeling,
and the positive results you are already achieving.
(It is quite likely that your "I am" statement will change
during the course of the exercise, or you might find that
your "I am" statement changes the next time you entertain
the same issue. This is fine. As long as you continue to state
your "I am" statement in positive terms, welcome a change
in your statement, if and when a change does come.)
Once you have made your "I am" statement, breathe deeply three
times. It is important that you breathe deeply and expansively.
Take your time while doing this.
3) While looking in a mirror
(When and if available):
Sit comfortably, breathe deeply, relax, and have a friendly
look at yourself.
4) Make your "I am" statement
once again, speaking slowly and purposefully, in a calm voice.
Breathe deeply three times.
5) State three things that you see (other than yourself)
when looking in the mirror.
Breathe deeply three times.
6) Name three sounds that you hear as you sit calmly
and look in the mirror.
Breathe deeply three times.
7) State three things that you
feel/notice about yourself as you sit calmly and look into
the mirror.
Please do not comment about yourself by using terms like "happy"
"sad" "fat" or "thin" but rather note some aspect of your
posture, body movements, or facial expression, or note a feeling
that you have inside your body or on the surface of your body.
For instance, "I can feel my heart beating, my posture is
rounded forward, and my left eye is a bit more open than my
right eye." Don't do anything to change yourself, just note
how you are now.
Breathe deeply three times.
8) Make your "I am" statement
again.
Breathe deeply three times.
9) State two things that you
see (other than yourself) when looking in the mirror.
Breathe deeply three times.
10) Name two sounds that you
hear as you sit calmly and look in the mirror.
Breathe deeply three times.
11) State two things that you feel/notice about yourself
as you sit calmly and look into the mirror.
Breathe deeply three times.
12) Make your "I am" statement
again.
Breathe deeply three times.
13) State one thing that you
see (other than yourself) when looking in the mirror.
Breathe deeply three times.
14) Name one sound that you hear
as you sit calmly and look in the mirror.
Breathe deeply three times.
15) State one thing that you feel/notice about yourself
as you sit calmly and look into the mirror.
Breathe deeply three times.
16) Repeat your "I am" statement again.
Breathe deeply three times.
17) Allow your mind to wander
for a minute or so.
Breathe deeply three times.
18) Make any statements that
come to your mind at this time.
You can state how you are feeling physically and emotionally,
and you can also state any thoughts that come to your mind.
Your practice is now complete for today. Please perform this
practice numerous other times so that you can notice how it
is your RELATIONSHIP to your initial concern is changing over
time.
9. Copyright | [un]Subscribe
Unless otherwise attributed, all material for the newsletter "Pure Heart,
Simple Mind"(tm) is written and edited by Charlie Badenhop ©. All rights reserved.
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