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Old Jan 25, 2006, 05:04 PM
Anonymous29319
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hypnosis in nothing major. I use it all the time in fact most people use it and don't realize its what they are doing - dissociation is a form of hypnosis - using imagery and imagination to relax away from uncomfortable situations. You know the feeling you get when watching a mevie and after the show ends you have that total relaxed and slow motion feeling. That is it.

Conscious hypnosis - relaxing while being aware of the process is just breaking down the steps of relaxing your body in sections. The way I do mine is I imagine a ray of sunshine warming my hair, head face neck..... and just keep imaging that ray of sunshine moving down and through my body warming like on a summer day of laying on a beach. By the time I reach my toes I am completely relaxed. Then depending on why I am using this hypnosis technique I tell myself something - "its time to go to sleep" or "every time I get the muscle spasm I am going to relax that muscle instead of tighten up". Then if its time for me to sleep I go to sleep. If its at a time when I have other things to do I bring myself back by imagining that ray of sunshine is waking up each part of my body and I move that body part as the sunshine moves past it.

I also use this process to do memory work - locating my memorys that I have forgotten by telling myself when I have reached that total relaxed area (I call this my level one) I tell myself what situation I want to remember and that I am going to open a door and I will be in that memory. and it works at least for me. At first I kept the memory work to the happy stories that always get retold during family gatherings telling myself I will remember one thing that is not in the retelling of the storys. then after I checked with relatives by calling them and getting them to talk about old times and then say do you remember when did this happen and every time they told me yes and thought it was funny that I remembered something they didn't until I asked them. I think hypnosis is really cool. My therapist and I just made a relaxation tape with this technigue of relaxing my body and we will be using it to access the nightmare information that I can't remember when I wake up in panic attacks every night.

Hypnosis with a professional is the same process - they talk to you asking you to relax each part of your body then they give you an afirmation (something to do or say if the problem happens again outside of the session) and use it for memory work the same way that I do.

Examples of hypnotic relaxations can be found in Nancy J. Napier's books and tapes and in Belleruth Naparstak's books and tapes. Both have websites Belleruth is listed with healthjourneys.com and has sample players you can listen to on the website both links for Nancy J Napier and Belleruth Naparstak can be found in the thread - resources - pinned to the top of the Dissociative Disorders message board.