Is it possible to use hypnosis as a tool or aid in mindfulness training?

Hypnosis is definitely a useful tool in mindfulness training, and mindfulness training is helpful in working with hypnosis.  Both involve altered states of being.  In these states, a person is less subject to emotional or mental reactivity, and better able to focus and concentrate in everyday interactions.  There are many ways hypnosis and mindfulness might interact, or aid one another, particularly in achieving a deeper understanding of the self, and issues that cause pain, disruption, and even disease.  Ultimately, hypnosis can be used as a tool for clearing obstacles to mindfulness practice. 

Buddhist scholar, Thomas Kiernan, describes mindfulness as “ the mental ability to see things as they are, with clear consciousness”.  Simply put, mindfulness is the act of being aware of the present moment.  It is a process in which a person is engaged.  In Buddhism, meditation is the primary method used to develop mental clarity and engage in mindfulness.  (Please note that there are many types of meditation, all of which seek to move past the mind’s chatter.  So, for the purposes of this article, I will use the term in a general sense of quieting the mind unless otherwise indicated.) 

When a person enters into a meditative state, they are entering an altered state of consciousness.  As the practitioner develops his ability to maintain presence and concentration in the meditative state, he is then better able to maintain presence and concentration in everyday situations, hence mindfulness.   One way to describe mindfulness in action is that it brings the peacefulness of the meditative state into everyday interactions. 

In much the same way that meditation seeks to quiet the chatter of the mind, hypnosis also seeks to bypass the grip of the conscious mind.  And like meditation, there are many different kinds of hypnosis.  The most popular form of hypnosis is suggestion hypnosis in which the client enters an altered state, much like a meditative state, and then the practitioner repeats suggestions meant to overcome whatever issue the client may be experiencing.  For many people, suggestion hypnosis works, particularly for issues of habit abatement, addiction, etc.  However, there are other types of hypnotherapy that take the client into a deeper understanding of what is causing the issue, and then provide the client with the opportunity to change the deeper issue. This is where Depth Hypnosis, in particular, can be of help in a mindfulness practice.  This particular form of hypnotherapy is designed to aid the client in addressing issues as they arise.  In this way, blocks to consciousness can be cleared, and mindfulness is then easier to maintain.

Being aware of the present moment requires dealing with any issues that come up.  Not just meditating into oblivion the deeper seated issues that cause us to suffer.  Once the mind has been quieted, often referred to as samatha meditation, the opportunity to do deeper work is presented via vipassana, or insight meditation.  This is the reflective state achieved once the mind is quieted.  It is important to use this time to transform unresolved issues that are easier to access in this state.  The mistake of some Buddhist practitioners is to think that because they have reached this state, there is nothing more to do.  In Depth Hypnosis, this state is achieved, and it is in this state that both the client and practitioner engage in identifying and transforming issues that arise for the client. 

So, from the standpoint of hypnosis, having a meditation practice makes it easier to achieve altered states in a hypnotherapeutic situation.  And hypnotherapy, particularly a form of hypnotherapy like Depth Hypnosis, aids the mindfulness practitioner in clearing blocks that arise and might inhibit his practice.  In this way, hypnosis offers an opportunity for the practitioner to deepen his ability to be conscious with all things, and all states of being.  The more conscious he becomes, the more he is able to clear within himself. 

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Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D., is the Founding Director of the Foundation of the Sacred Stream, formerly the Anam Cara Foundation, and the primary teacher for the Foundation's training programs in Depth Hypnosis, Applied Shamanism, Huna, Buddhist Psychology and Integrated Energy Medicine.