by Dany Leblanc C.H.

This is a re-post from my original blog as I am moving its content as quickly as my host will allow me, I felt it would be great to revisit some of my older, perhaps more naive posts :-) ...enjoy!

People often ask if meditation is the same thing as self-hypnosis or if one can lead to the other or if meditation can replace hypnosis and the answer is really simple. Yes and No! So to clarify lets go to a definition of both Meditation and Self-Hypnosis.

Meditation (Passive) is a mental discipline by which one attempts to get beyond the conditioned, "thinking" mind into a deeper state of relaxation or awareness. Meditation often involves turning attention to a single point of reference. The meditative process may emphasize different goals -- from achievement of a higher state of consciousness, to greater focus, creativity or self-awareness, or simply a more relaxed and peaceful frame of mind.*Passive Meditation is the standard, empty your mind kind of meditative process.

Self-Hypnosis is a mental discipline by which one attempts to get beyond the conditioned, "thinking" (conscious) mind into a deeper state of relaxation or awareness in order to be able to implant "Affirmations" or "Suggestions" directly into the sub-conscious mind Self-Hypnosis often involves turning attention to a single point of reference while relaxing various parts of the body to the point where the relaxing feeling is such that the mind can focus on the "Affirmations" or Suggestions" given. The Self-Hypnosis process may emphasize different goals -- from achievement of a higher state of consciousness, to greater focus, creativity or self-awareness, or simply a more relaxed and peaceful frame of mind depending on the suggestions given.

Now I can understand how this can be confusing as those sound so similar! Well in a sense it is all about focusing your mind on a specific thing, they both produce great results and can be the best thing for you to manage your stress and nervous tensions that causes back pains amongst other things. The only real difference is that the Self-Hypnotic process is about Intent and affirmations (or suggestions) that are put in the sub-conscious mind and the Passive Meditation is all about Intent. To explain a bit further passive meditation is simply putting oneself in the state and letting your intent do the work (e.i if its for healing that you meditate your mind knows it and takes the knowledge with through the different depth levels of meditation and relaxation and makes the "Intent" known to your sub-conscious mind and helps you heal) Self-Hypnosis is also carrying "Intent" down the depths of your mind, the difference being that once you access the levels of your sub-conscious mind you start giving yourself the "Affirmations" (or Suggestions) (e.i I am healthier and better everyday) or my personal favorite by Émile Coué "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better" and by following one of the laws of Suggestibility and using repetition what your doing is really nailing it into your mind on top of the "Intent" making it even stronger than only passive meditation as it gives your mind more to work with.

Now some types of meditation are considered active and do include auto-suggestions and are in fact Self-Hypnosis and is of course works on more levels than Passive Meditation same as Hetero-Hypnosis (Hypnosis guided by a Certified Hypnotist works on more levels Self-Hypnosis)

Self-Hypnosis and meditation are powerful tools that can help reduce stress and enhance performance in many areas of your life and can help better your life. Those tools can help you achieve your goals and enhance the effectiveness of Hypnosis and goal setting.

*Hetero-Hypnosis or Hypnosis by a Hypnotist is guided by a experienced professional who shapes the tool to you, instead of you trying to shape yourself to the tool and as such is where you would get the most out of hypnosis and the only place where you should use hypnosis to deal with such things as depression or suicidal thoughts as Self-Hypnosis can be useless to detrimental as it can give your problems focus in your mind's eye. Such situations should be dealt with by a Certified Hypnotist.

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