Golf_ The Mind Game - Marlin M. Mackenzie [50]
Peter reported his experience by saying, “I was sure surprised when I didn’t experience the deep relaxation that I’ve heard should happen during hypnosis. Instead, I felt quite excited.”
“My guess,” I told him, “is that you were reexperiencing an exciting event in that special place of pleasure.”
“That’s right,” he agreed. “I was riding a huge wave in the surf at the seashore.”
Then I asked if any of them had not gone into an altered state.
“I didn’t,” Cheryl answered. “I tried to get relaxed, but it just didn’t work.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “This technique might not be the best way for you. Perhaps you didn’t follow the instructions. You said that you ‘tried to relax.’ That’s a difficult thing to do. Trying to relax is like trying to be spontaneous, or trying to go to sleep. Those three states—relaxation, spontaneity, and sleep—just happen; they can’t be engineered.”
For anyone who has an experience similar to Cheryl’s, I suggest that you do the exercise several more times. It you’re still unsuccessful, it doesn’t mean you are unhypnotizable. It merely means that another form of hypnosis, tailored to your individual way of processing sensory information, is necessary. Deciding the most useful form, however, requires some individual attention by a qualified clinician.
Loren, another member of the group, had looked uncomfortable during the hypnosis session, opening her eyes several times during the exercise. “If you’re willing to talk about it,” I said, “would you tell us about your experience?”
“I didn’t want to do it at all,” she replied. “Frankly, I was afraid. I didn’t want to lose control.”
“I’m glad you chose not to,” I responded. “When you have more trust in me, perhaps you’ll be willing to experience it.
“To learn this technique requires that you give up a certain amount of control by your conscious mind and let yourself go, the way I want you to hit a golf ball—mindlessly. It means that you will trust the process and your unconscious mind to take care of you as it has throughout your life.
“Whether you realize it or not, your unconscious mind has been taking care of you all along. For example, with your conscious mind you make a decision to cross the street. As you’re crossing, your unconscious mind controls the muscles in your legs as you walk. Take tying your shoes as another example. You learn to tie them consciously, and now you probably tie them unconsciously, without thinking. I’m sure you trust yourself to tie your shoes without thinking, don’t you?”
“Yes, but that’s different,” Loren answered. “I’m afraid of losing control. When I tie my shoes, I’m still able to decide what to do; I’m in control. But in hypnosis I might not be able to control anything. ”
At that point another member of the group, with whom I had worked previously, turned to Loren and said, “I think I know what you’re saying. The first time Mac worked with me, I was scared too. But we agreed upon a signal—blinking my eyes—that I would use if things became uncomfortable. When I knew that I could stop the process, I felt in control. But I had to be willing to give up some conscious control, which was scary at first.”
“You see,” I said to the group, “it is important to be wary if you’re overly susceptible to the suggestions and influence of other people, because hypnosis can be used manipulatively. However, I’m teaching you a process that you’ll use by yourself. It requires that you have trust in yourself. The most important point I want to make about self-hypnosis is that eventually you’ll be able to tap the power of your unconscious mind and make changes in your behavior.”
The last question in the group session came from Loren. “Can you get stuck in an altered state,” she asked, “and not be aware of danger, a fire, or an intruder?”
“My personal experience with self-hypnosis,” I replied, “and the reported experiences