Self-Hypnosis and Meditation

Be Still and Know
by Sunny Massad, Ph.D.


Meditation gave me the faith that there were other techniques
of self-exploration than the analysis of my thinking mind.
Mark Epstein, M.D.


Contemplative practices have been recognized as an essential element of almost all religions and have been practiced for 5,000 years. The fundamental belief behind all meditative practices is that divinity can be experienced, or accessed by quieting the mind. Meditation promotes a state of profound peace that can be obtained by observing the traffic of the mind, and all of the sensory experiences of the present moment. With eyes open or closed, when the attention is focused on witnessing the activity within the mind, thoughts pass, desires arise and subside, memories surface and fade, and the activity within becomes an observable phenomenon. The method is not designed to provide freedom of the mind. It is designed to provide freedom FROM the mind.

Thoughts might be heard as internal dialogues, perceived as visualizations, or experienced as feeling impressions. The act of observing broadens one’s point of view by revealing character defenses, self-perceptions, ideologies, attachments, hopes and fears. The dedicated observer of the contents of the mind becomes dis-identified with the mind itself and ultimately realizes the presence of the awareness that is beyond the incessant internal chatter. Ultimately, a meditative mind begins to relate to reality as it is, rather than the way it “should be.” Meditation gives access to the consciousness that exists beyond one’s story, even as it includes that story.

Self-hypnosis, on the other hand, is a process that works to recondition early life conditionings or old programming that is no longer useful. Self-hypnosis allows a person to rescript beliefs that result in self-sabotaging behaviors. We hypnotize or program ourselves every day by thoughts that we have. Learning self-hypnosis provides a useful tool to become aware of your own programming so that you can determine whether or not your thoughts and behaviors align with your values.

If you would like to spend three hours learning about and experiencing meditation and self-hypnosis, consider joining me for the upcoming class: