"15 years ago I went to a hypnotist for smoking. I loved smoking. I loved the first cigarette of the day, and the last one at night. I loved the cigarette after meals and after sex. I enjoyed dramatically blowing the smoke out when making a point, and taking a big drag on it when I wanted to relax.

5 day process. The very next week I went to Vegas. Have not had one since. Don't mind people who smoke around me at all, as I am not bothered by the smoke (I hate stale smoke,though).

I highly suggest it. I was skeptical, and did not really believe that it would work. In fact, I still don't believe that it worked. But it did."

BiteOfTheWeek, from my "eagles" post.

During a practicum somewhere along my Psych 111/112, 411/412 undergrad program (same massive Crutchfield/Jacobs text throughout) we paired off and attempted to induce our partners into "hypnotic" states, with varying degrees of success. I was not a good subject, though practice usually leads to some level of ability, and that's the point: It is the inductee who learns to enter an "alternate awareness" through intense focus, not the "hypnotist" who Mesmerizes. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis, as opposed to bending to another's will or penetrating eyes or pendulous pocket-watch.

Some people are just better at it than others. Are you a somnabulist? Do you talk in your sleep? Can you respond to questions in your sleep? Do you sometimes become so engrossed in mundane tasks...vacuuming, shaving, driving...that you momentarily fail to respond to outside stimulii, like your wife/husband's repeated question? If so, you are probably a good candidate for hypnosis, most likely to benefit from hypnotherapy.

I congratulate Bite on her success. She is probably a natural; one with ability to intensely focus on a single subject, object, vision, thought, to exclusion of all else, without practice. Lest this ability be confused with imbecility, which evinces seemingly similar but psychologically profound differences, note that Einstein, Bill Gates, Mozart, Steven Hawkings, various scientists and world leaders also present/presented such ability to intense focus on the...ahh...singularity.

Have you ever undergone clinical hypnosis? Was it a success? Was your problem resolved? Do you think you cannot "be hypnotized"? Do you think you are too easily "hypnotized" by some fast-talkin' sweetheart, some glib con man/woman, some enticing advertisement?

not recently, and not regarding anything significant and not in your sense (mine was just me involved, both ends*). but i have. cool. that's all.

* and no jokes required

No jokes required, no jokes delivered, at either end.

I'd like to know a bit more of your self-induction, just clinically. "Cool" is good indication of success. I've never been able to do that.

Because I took a couple of classes in college that did similar things and could not, for the life of me relax enough to go under. Probably one of the reasons I was so skeptical about the whole hynosis thing.

I also want to say that I was fully conscious during the sessions. I still remember quite clearly what we talked about, I just had my eyes closed.

I've tried hypnosis and meditation several times over the years. I was never able to go under during hypnosis, and have never been very successful at meditation. I was able to get through a few of the relaxation levels in meditation but just couldn't get my brain to stop hopping around and focus.

I've always tended to daydream a lot and I'm always trying to sort out solutions to several problems. Often the solution just jumps out at me when I'm daydreaming.

because in all honesty I don't remember all of the details. Plus I've posted on this before, so the retch factor too.

The idea is to catch yourself in that mystical moment between almost asleep and asleep. You ever have somebody talk to you at exactly that moment? The weirdest feeling, jarring almost, you say (complain), I was just going to sleep, she says, No way. So it's at that moment when you hit yourself with the suggestion. Again, keep it simple, do-able .. but also, of course, remedial, or helpful, or otherwise out of the norm or difficult (for you), otherwise, what's the point. It's hard, it definitely takes practice. And no comment on the science of it all, why that thought at that time should be become something you act upon automatically, unconsciously.

Or not .. who the fuck knows.

Just go with it. And when you realize your mind has jumped about simply let that thought go too.

You may find that you realize and let go 100 times in 20 minutes. But the net effect is, in fact, meditation.

someone taught me how years ago, and I practiced for awhile. It's not hard. You're right that it's the hypnogogic state you're aiming for. From what I recall, the process is one of relaxing yourself into it (visualize going down a stairway), and then you're in a lucid dreaming state where you control the narrative (dream). The trick is, you have to imagine the dream beforehand, in detail, or your dreaming brain will plug one in for you. Making it up as you go along is not an option in a hypnotic trance, but replaying it from memory is. It's fun to experiment with. The coolest result I got was being in a conscious state during sleep paralysis.

into another post of yours. your "I have a dream post" on BOTF.

Wow, I was getting ready to thank you for posting it then Bam Bam Bam

You racist piece of shit.

How dare you pretend to be respectable and then turn around and post such crap. Vomiting down your throat would not be enough to assuage the anger I felt upon seeing such a shocking revelation of your despicable pathetitude.

you didn't look deep enough into that post

Consider the source, consider the venue, consider the intent.

I'm a fuckin' Jew-Injun trying to make a strong anti-racist statement on what has become a blatantly racist board.

For lack of a better term, that bald negativity can be called...oh...I don't know...dripping sarcasm?

does one have to be "open" to hypnotism in order for it even to have a possibility to work? In other words, must the subject at least have an open mind on hynotism's efficacy......or status as non-Hokum? Or can even the most armored skeptic be taken Under by the right practitioner?

The only times I can recall truly being hypnotized was during the first two or three seasons of Baywatch. Only a commercial break could snap the hold Pamela Anderson's Rescue-Running had placed upon me.

Part of the equation really is the skill level of the hypnotist. I took a class in clinical hypnosis from someone of some national stature. I'm not particularly susceptible (less-so then, probably, than now), but he induced me effortlessly (in front of a class of twenty or thirty people), and was feeling quite cynical at the time (the experience was quite instructive). Interestingly, I don't think he had very good clinical judgment, and I've never wanted to use it in my own practice (that's a whole 'nuther topic in itself), but man, he was good.

Susceptibility to hypnosis is something you can assess very unobtrusively in the course of seemingly casual interaction, if you know what you're doing. But one needn't worry about that here - anyone who has become immersed here is susceptible to dissociation (particularly those who are here compulsively, or are inclined to interact on a subtextual level).

that jogs my memory, and I am sure that practical experience is better than book larnin only! What I do remember, I was most successful when I went to bed dead tired.

Was it an on-off switch, or a fade to black? Did you re-emerge having no memory of Down Under?

I desperately need to know from someone like you TK because you're the type of person I would ordinarily consider as bolstering my conceit that I myself could not possibly be hypnotized.