THE PREP | THE MINDSET | THE FACTS
As with nearly all things, there is no single, best way to prep for a hypno session. Everything has to be taken into account when trying to find what works best for you, on a personal, subjective level. Don’t let anyone tell you that there’s only one way to trance. One way to listen. There are certain ways most people enjoy hypnosis, but you don’t have to be a part of the “most.” Some need alternative ways. Some need more time and practice. All that, and more, will be explained here.
Location
If you’re a relative beginner to hypnosis (especially recorded audio hypnosis), the very first thing you should be aware of is that where you listen is important. The piece of furniture you choose to conduct your trances should be somewhere other than your bed or something you use everyday for long periods of time.
The bed, because it’s deeply associated in your mind with sleep; as a beginner, as you listen, you may simply fall asleep and miss the session in its entirety. This doesn’t have to happen, but it happens often enough that everybody should be aware of it. If you have trouble with falling asleep during hypno, try listening somewhere other than your bed. On the flip-side, if you listen in bed long enough and often enough, your mind may begin to associate it more with hypno than with sleep, which may cause issues with falling asleep. Again, this doesn’t happen to everyone, but it does happen to many.
In the same vein, listening in a chair you use for hours on end on a regular basis isn’t always the greatest of idea. Most likely, it’s totally and completely fine, but there are those who can’t relax fully somewhere they’ve only ever used for productivity of some sort. Our minds build connections with the world around us, and each piece of furniture has a deeper meaning somewhere in the back of our heads. So just like a bed brings to mind sleep, a chair you use for office-work brings to mind productivity. You don’t really want to be productive in a hypno session. In that sense, at least.
A lot of beginners find that using a surface they don’t use often helps them enter trance easier and on a deeper level. Like a recliner you don’t use or a couch you neglect. Perhaps even a different side of your bed. What you’re looking for is a location that your brain can easily mark as The Hypno Place. That one special place which you’ve dedicated to trance, so that even sitting down or lying down on it may begin to drop you. This is very, very helpful for those just starting out or those who have had trouble with dropping for long period of time.
One of main pillars upon which the entire subject of hypnosis functions is habit. So if you create a simple ritualistic habit for how you prep for hypnosis, you’ll teach your mind how to better prepare. How to know when you want to trance and when not. And once it knows, it’ll become all that much easier.
This doesn’t apply to everyone, of course. If what you’re doing seems to be working for you, you shouldn’t change your ways. This is only if you’re struggling. After some level of conditioning and after you can drop easily into trance in any way you like, the piece of surface beneath you won’t make the slightest difference. With time, nothing will.
However, do be aware that even experienced subjects may still have trouble distancing the dual purposes of a bed from one another if they happen to trance in bed often. It may be a bit more difficult to fall asleep. If you happen to listen mainly to erotic hypnosis, it may even become difficult to fall asleep without growing aroused. The mind is a strange place and all sorts of interesting things happen to it.
It should also be pretty obvious that you should usually listen in the comforts of your home, where it’s safe and secure. Some files may require you to listen somewhere else, but most erotic hypnosis files take place indoors.
Body Positioning, Comfort, & Equipment
Being comfortable isn’t 100% necessary, but for longer sessions, it’s definitely healthy. For beginners especially, being in a comfortable, loose position, with non-restrictive clothing, can help immensely.
In almost all cases, one of the best positions you can find yourself in is on your back, arms and legs slightly spread. Either flat out on a flat surface or slightly reclined. Clothes should be loose or, perhaps, even wearing nothing at all. The more comfortable, the better. The fewer distractions, the better. If it’s cold, cover up. It’s it’s hot, take it off. Find the position you like most. Try it out. If it’s not working out, trying something else. Some like to keep their heads elevated. Some like to keep their legs elevated. There really isn’t a best way to do this. There is only a best way for you.
Similarly, there is no right amount of light during a session. Some people prefer it when it’s pitch black, with no shred of light. Some can’t drop in any real way if there is even a single sign of light. If you happen to be someone who notices the light behind your eye lids, you may want to try placing some sort of cloth over your eyes. Perhaps even a comfortable sleeping mask. This can help those who are just beginning to trance immensely. It may even help those who are experienced, but wish to drop deeper.
Then, of course, there is the sound. In almost every single case, you want to be listening in stereo headphones. The more comfortable, the better. The more sound they isolate, the better. Whatever you need to do to remove all distractions. Quality of your headphones isn’t extremely important, as dropping deeply into trance will make that somewhat unimportant, but many sound effects depend on at least somewhat alright headphones. You may not hear everything in the correct way if all you’re hearing is a buzz of words or noise.
Over time, as you learn to better drop and trance becomes easy, the detail won’t matter. It won’t matter what position your body will be in, in what location, or how much light. But for beginners, everything can be important.
Headspace
There aren’t any “requirements” for hypnosis. There is no particular mental space you need to be in. However, it’s good to be aware of certain things.
If you’re just beginning to listen to hypnosis and it’s still all very new to you, it’s good to remember that it usually takes time to feel the effects. The first few sessions, simply keep your mind open. Some like to say that you should pretend as if the suggestions are working until they actually begin to. Well, with time, whether you pretend or not, they will begin to work. It’s only a matter of time.
Just keep your mind open to new ideas. Know that you’re ultimately safe. That whatever may happen, everything can be reversed if needed. And that with enough time, whatever you’re looking for can be achieved. All you need is time and practice.
Try not to have many expectations. It’s good to expect something, but if you go into trance with an open mind and allow the hypnotist to guide your thoughts, expectations aren’t necessary. Only the knowledge that things will happen. That your mind will change in some way.
If you listen to a session and it fails, giving you nothing but perhaps a nice relaxed trance, don’t give up. It may take a few more listens. May take a different approach. But in the end, the vast, vast majority of people can be hypnotized more than well enough.
To put things simply, if your mind can switch between mental states, it can be hypnotized. If you’re in any way mentally flexible, you can be tranced and conditioned.
Improving Trance
If you’re having trouble with entering trance, one of the quickest and most effective shortcuts is meditation. Meditation and hypnosis share many qualities, and if you can mediate in any fashion, you can trance. Most of hypnosis is exactly alike guided mediation. Truthfully, they’re all but the same.
So, if you need a helping hand, there are plenty of meditation guides on YouTube, teaching you how to empty your mind. How to remove your own thoughts. How to focus. How to control your own mind. These are usually very short and very practical and don’t require much time commitment. Knowing how to meditate can be extremity beneficial, not only in terms of easier trance, but also just life in general. It’s also a great step toward learning how to perform self-hypnosis, but that’s for a future entry.
Once you learn how to focus your thoughts (or disperse them), trance will come easier. You’ll drop easier and deeper. Hypnosis will work better. You’ll be able to better control your own thoughts (or better let that control go, when needed). So give it a try. It can only help.