Post-hypnotic suggestion

Before continuing the discussion of hypnotism, I wanted to show a video of a heavy snowstorm we had this morning:



Its hypnotic quality should make it suitable for use with the self-hypnosis method described in the previous post.

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Once you've learned to hypnotize yourself, you can experiment with different kinds of suggestions to make to yourself while hypnotized. Such suggestions are often referred to as post-hypnotic suggestions, since their purpose is to affect behavior occurring after you are no longer hypnotized. In the previous post, we gave a few generic examples of post-hypnotic suggestions. These may work well for you, but if they don't there are many other types of suggestions you can try.

One idea is to suggest to yourself while hypnotized that you perform a reality test in certain specific situations. A reality test is simply the act of questioning whether you are dreaming and then performing a simple experiment to determine the answer. For example, you might try closing your mouth and squeezing your nostrils together. If you can still breathe while doing so, you must be dreaming. The use of reality testing is a powerful method of triggering lucidity.

The main problem, however, is to get yourself to actually perform a reality test during a dream. This is an area where post-hypnotic suggestion can help. If you've been keeping a dream journal, read through it to see what kinds of situations often occur in your dreams. Suppose you find that you often drive cars in your dreams. In that case you might consider a post-hypnotic suggestion that whenever you notice you are driving you perform a reality test. You'll know this suggestion is working if you often find yourself questioning whether you are dreaming when you actually are driving a car. Another suggestion that is likely to work for most people is to perform a reality test whenever you speak with someone you don't know or haven't seen for a long time. If phones often appear in your dreams, you might want to suggest to yourself that you perform a reality test whenever you see a telephone or hear a telephone ring. Other good possibilities are suggestions to perform a reality test whenever you see an animal, walk through a door, or eat something.

Post-hypnotic suggestion can also be used to improve the performance of various lucid-dream induction devices. For example, suppose you're using lucid-dream induction goggles. Worn over the eyes while sleeping, these devices detect the rapid eye movement (REM) usually associated with dreaming. When REM is detected, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in front of the eyes begin blinking to signal to the wearer that he or she is dreaming. Unfortunately, the dreamer often incorporates the blinking lights into the dream. For example, a flashing neon sign might be conjured up by the dreaming mind to explain the blinking lights. In such cases, lucidity is rarely induced. However, if a post-hypnotic suggestion to perform a reality test whenever one sees a blinking light has been previously implanted into the subconscious mind, the dream induction device still has a good chance of working. Even though the dreaming mind has explained away the blinking light by incorporating a neon sign or other type of flashing light into the dream, the flashing itself may still remind the dreamer to question whether or not he or she is dreaming.

Whatever post-hypnotic suggestion you use, be sure to repeat it to yourself several times while you are hypnotized. It's also a good idea, if possible, to visualize the suggestion while you're making it. For example, if you're suggesting to yourself that you perform a reality test whenever you seem to be driving a car, try to imagine yourself driving while making the suggestion. Another good idea is to incorporate imagery related to the desired suggestion into the video used during the self-hypnosis procedure. For example, if you're going to suggest to yourself that you perform a reality test whenever you see snow, you could use the video provided at the beginning of this post.