Hypnotised!

“Imagine that you are standing on the top of a carpeted staircase leading down, towards a place of pleasure and peace. There are ten steps, and you will descend the staircase, one step and a time until you reach a beautiful garden at the bottom. The first step is number 10; after that there are nine steps to descend. 9; now take the next step 8 . . . 7 . . . 6 . . . .5 . . . 4 . . . 3, nearly there now . . . you find yourself feeling sleepy, but calm and peaceful. 2 . . . 1. . . there you are, at the bottom of the staircase. Now imagine . . . “

This is a common introduction that a hypnotherapist might use to guide a patient into a hypnotherapy session. You may also have heard or seen stage hypnotists using something similar when demonstrating the hypnotic effect with an individual or a group of volunteers at a theatre show.

When engrossed in a “porn-binge” you are hypnotised! The only difference between porn hypnosis and stage hypnosis is that, in the case of the former, there is no hypnotist to wake you up! Repetitive sessions of porn and masturbation eventually creates a constant hypnotic state. This is not a state to be desired.

If you can be engrossed in a TV series, be fully engaged in a football or other sports match, feel euphoria at a music concert, or even watch porn, and stop at will, you are not completely hypnotised. On the other hand, if you are engaged in any of the above past-times and are unable to stop at will, you are probably in a state of hypnosis! It is a sobering thought, that you might be hypnotising yourself on a regular basis; probably to the detriment of your work life, your love life and your general health.

The pioneer of what we know today as hypnotism was a German physician, Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815); hence the familiar term “mesmerised”. The state of being mesmerised is that of being so fascinated by something that you can’t look away. We occasionally meet someone who is so “mesmerising” that you want to keep looking. It is as though something catches and holds your attention, as if taking you into its grip, or power. You are mesmerised, controlled, captivated, trapped. In short, hypnotised.

Consciousness

Nobody can satisfactorily explain exactly what is meant by consciousness, just as nobody can satisfactorily explain exactly what electricity is, or magnetism. Psychologists and scientists publish academic papers and write extremely turgid books to describe these phenomena; the harder they try, the denser the explanations become and the further the reader remains from a satisfactory explanation.

It is impossible to satisfy the intellect with an intellectual understanding of consciousness because we simply do not have the language. If we were to try to explain to a Martian what it is like to be a human being living on Earth, we would have great difficulties!

While it isn’t possible to fully explain what consciousness is, it is possible to describe what consciousness does.

When we wake up, get out of bed, and go to work or to study, we are experiencing our life in the state of waking consciousness. This state of consciousness utilises the parts of the brain that receive impressions from our external environment; essential for studying, memorising, and analysing. Most people think that this state of consciousness is a most sophisticated and highly developed state of mind. But while this thinking part of the brain is intelligent, it is also restless and full of constant activity. Scientists now call this the “Beta” brainwave state.

There are several other brainwave states known by scientists; two of those that concern us here are called “Theta” and Delta”.

The “Theta” frequency is active when we dream, and when we delve into our archive of memories. It stores our experiences and our feelings in a storehouse of memory. Without memory, we wouldn’t be able to walk, talk or understand anything. This theta brainwave state is what psychologists call the subconscious. It is the subconscious that dreams at night, or even during the day. Dreams can sometimes be indicators of deep significance, brought to your notice through symbols and stories that have meaning at a level beyond your waking consciousness. This is why dreams are often forgotten as soon as waking consciousness arrives in the morning.

It is unfortunate that psychologists refer to the theta brainwave state as “subconscious” because the prefix “sub” implies that this state of consciousness is less then, or lower, than waking consciousness. To the contrary, this subconscious state is ultimately a deeper, rather than an inferior, state of consciousness. It never sleeps and directly affects what we feel. Feelings can often be more of a true indicator of reality than our thoughts.

The “Delta” brainwave state is what is called, in psychological terminology, the “Unconscious”. There is no such state as complete unconsciousness. Even during deep, dreamless sleep there is still a level of consciousness. If that were not the case nobody would be able to say, “I slept well last night.” Without the faculty of consciousness nobody would know how to wake up in the morning, or to go to the bathroom during the night! The unconscious is a vital dimension of our psyche and we will look further into this level of consciousness in a future blog.

When under hypnosis the subject’s normal, waking consciousness is “put to sleep” and the subconscious mind is available to be manipulated by the hypnotist. In the case of porn, the hypnotist is the computer screen and the images being displayed mesmerise the viewer.

Waking Up from Hypnosis

When you are mesmerised, trapped by pornography, wasting time, money and peace of mind, you need to wake up from a form of sleep. What is this sleep? When you are hypnotised, you behave in a particular way, perhaps one that is in complete contradiction to your normal character. It may be that you do untold harm to yourself or act in a very destructive way. When the porn is finished, and you have reached the climax of your hypnotic state, you realise that you have just wasted so much time out of your life, but while you were under the hypnotism you continued, because of the spell you were under.

Ask yourself: “If I am mesmerised by this pornography and don’t really want to be, am I awake or asleep? Am I hypnotised?”

It is possible to wake yourself up.

There are many proven techniques to strengthen your self-awareness; to snap yourself out of a state of hypnosis and to reconnect with your waking consciousness where you can make choices based on your real will.

One of the most accessible exercises, or techniques, that will wake you up from a state of stupor is that of the Grounding Exercises.

Here is a summary that you can use as self-help:

·      When you realise that you need to stop watching or doing whatever is captivating you, press your feet firmly into the ground. Notice the pressure and firmness of the ground beneath your feet.

·      Feel your back against the chair or bed that you are sitting on. Feel your legs against the flat surface of the chair. Feel your backside grounded on the chair and your feet against the floor.

·      Breathe deeply, in and out through your nose, feeling your breath filling the area of your stomach. Exhale deeply, feeling your breath travelling down your body until you can imagine filling your legs and feet with breath.

·      Hold a solid object, especially one that is literally connected to the earth like a stone or piece of wood and focus on its firmness and temperature.

·      Stretch your body or at least tap or click your fingers, clap your hands or shake your whole body in a kind of dance, or imagine that you are shaking dirt or dust off your body.

 To return your consciousness to the present moment and to become more awake:

·      Notice five things you can see: look around and name five objects in your surroundings.

·      Notice four things you can touch: your clothes, a chair, or an object nearby.

·      Notice three things you can hear: birds, traffic, or your own breathing.

·      Notice something you can taste: sip water, tea, or a mint.

 Finally, here’s a technique that will really wake you up!

·      Recite aloud your full name, the date, and your address.

·      Count backward from 50 in multiples of 5.

 Strength over weakness. Faith over fear.

David

P.S. Look out for my next blog: “The Crucible”

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