Self Hypnosis for Lucid Dreaming

Self hypnosis is another powerful way to incubate lucid dreams.

Like meditation, it draws on the same relaxation response that helps calm your body, reduce stress hormones, and focus your mind on affirmative thoughts.

However, hypnotizing yourself is different from meditation because it uses auto suggestions to plant specific thoughts and affirmations. To use self hypnosis for lucid dreaming, use suggestions like: "I can remember my dreams clearly" and "The next scene will be a dream".

In this way, you can use hypnosis to improve your recall, program your dreams and increase your self awareness, teaching you to habitually recognize when you're dreaming - and thereby trigger lucidity.

What is Self Hypnosis?

If self hypnosis is new territory for you, it may help to understand what's really going on in your mind while you're in hypnosis.

Hypnosis is the act of sending your brain into a relaxed trance. It makes you more suggestible than normal. It is not unnatural, evil, or mind control!

Hypnosis gets a lot of dubious press - most people are familiar with stage hypnotists, who often make fun of very suggestible people in a trance state. They convince their victims to perform embarrassing tricks such as flapping around like a chicken or humping a chair.

In the real world, hypnosis has much more productive uses in therapy and personal development. It gives you the ability to talk to your inner self and program your unconscious mind. So let's dispel a few myths about hypnosis:

• You are self aware during hypnosis. The deeper you go, the more you will become immersed in an inner reality. But you are always aware of the hypnotist's voice and instructions and what you do.

• You have complete control over yourself during hypnosis. You may be more suggestible but you still decide what you say and do. You can't be convinced to do anything that breaks your moral code.

• You can't get stuck in a hypnotic trance. Even if the hypnotist were to keel over midway through a session, you would surface from the trance naturally, just as you wake up after a night's sleep.

• Everyone can be hypnotized to some degree. We all enter hypnotic trances every day, whether we are watching TV, going through our morning routine, or staring out the window. Some of us are just more willing to become mesmerized than others.

In self hypnosis, you become closer to your inner voice and more suggestible. You'll enter a deep, relaxing trance, causing the release of endorphins (the natural happy chemicals). You can then plant any number of powerful auto suggestions to improve your life - in this case, to encourage lucid dreaming.

Final Thoughts

Self hypnosis is a deeply relaxing state. I believe everyone should try it.

I used self hypnosis a lot when I was learning to lucid dream. I became very familiar with the hypnotist's voice on the tape. Even in the first few seconds of hearing his voice, my mind was triggered with a rush of thoughts about having more vivid dreams and becoming lucid. It became self-perpetuating.

It's good to fall into a self hypnosis routine - perhaps by listening every night just before sleep or when you wake up early in the morning. Your mind will relate the feelings induced with relaxation and lucid dreaming. In NLP this is called anchoring and it's a good way of quickly inducing a feeling or state of mind. There is no better time to do this than when you are in bed ready to dream.