“I’m forever blowing bubbles” sing fans of West Ham football club and I have in my time written about bubbles on a number of occasions; they seem to make for good metaphorical material for hypnotists and hypnotherapists.
They can sometimes be the sort of material that is a bit fluffy, a bit too alternative and the sort of thing that does not necessarily suit me. So I was naturally delighted a few years back when I re-read the Charles Tebbetts self-hypnosis book, which incidentally is a bit fluffy, alternative and esoteric, but is an important contribution to the library of anyone exploring the field of self-hypnosis… Anyhow, it used a rather lovely process that involved bubbles that I have adapted and use a great deal still today.
Many people learning self-hypnosis or practicing their own skills often talk to me or ask me about getting distracted or explain that their mind wanders and that they feel they get easily distracted. This in turn serves to fuel their opinion that they are not progressing.
We get distracted. We all do. There are monks out there who dedicate their entire lifetimes to getting stillness and deep peace of mind and even they rarely attain absolute perfection in that regard. My message is to persist and with practice things get easier, and to accept distractions and continue regardless of them…. “Oh no, I left the cutlery drawer open at home when I left for work… I think… Did I?” Can be simply followed with “… And back to my self-hypnosis practice…” for example. No big deal.
However, the reason I mention the bubble related theme at the beginning is because you can use a deepening process that I am about to give (involving bubbles) that can be used to enhance the peace of mind and quiet and actually utilises distractions or unwanted thoughts and allows them to form part of your self-hypnosis session.
Here is that process:
6 Steps To Use Bubbles To Deepen Your Hypnosis and Quiet Your Mind
Step One: Induce hypnosis.
You can do so by any means you desire or know of. You can use the process in my Science of self-hypnosis book, use the free audio we give away on this website to practice or have a look at the following articles as and when you need them; they are basic processes to help you simply open the door of your mind:
Heavy Arm Self-Hypnosis Induction Method
Using Eye Fixation for Self-Hypnosis
The Chiasson Self-Hypnosis Method
Hand to Face Self-Hypnosis Induction
Using Magnetic Hands for Self-Hypnosis
The Coin Drop Self-Hypnosis Induction
However, with this process, an induction is potentially too much activity, so I teach my clients how to adopt a hypnotic mindset and simply have a mindset that is positive and expectant. Again, to really understand the cognitive set of the hypnotic mindset, go grab a copy of my Science of self-hypnosis book where it is explained in simple but comprehensive terms
Once you have induced hypnosis, move on to step two.
Step Two: Now imagine a large body of water of some kind. This can be an ocean, a sea, a lake, a river or even a large pool of some sort. A lake would be ideal for the first few times you use this process as it is more still and has less movement occurring within it that lends itself well to the very nature of this type of session.
As you imagine that large body of water, imagine being sat on the bed of it, the floor of it and use your imagination to let you breathe easily and comfortably.
Just be mindful at this stage. Observe yourself, your breathing and don’t try to change anything and don’t try to stop anything from changing. Sometimes thing change just by being observed. Enjoy some quiet. Just be comfortable imagining this rather unusual idea that you are breathing comfortably and easily whilst sat at the bottom of a large body of water.
When you have got comfortable with that notion and are imagining it as clearly and vividily as possible, move on to step three.
Step Three: After any period of mindfulness and quiet reflection occurs, eventually a thought is likely to cross your mind. As soon as any thought enters your mind, watch and imagine a bubble rising out of the ground, rising up to the surface of the water.
So if and when any image, sound, dialogue or thought comes into your mind, you watch and see a bubble rise up out of the water bed, it then floats up and up and you watch it go out of view as it reaches the surface of the water.
Imagine that the bubble is the thought and that you simply let go of the thought as the bubble drifts and floats far away. The thought then leaves your mind quiet and peaceful again.
Continue doing this for a few moments. As you continue to do this, tell your self that with each bubble that floats up, with each thought that dissipates, and with each breath you breathe comfortably at the foot of this body of water, you go deeper and deeper into hypnosis.
You might simply say the words “deeper and deeper” (for example) to your self as a deepening mantra and a means of keeping the mind still while letting go of any other thoughts as bubbles that float up and away.
Once you have got comfortable doing this, move on to step four.
Step Four: Let the bubbles raising and floating away be mirrored with your breathing rate. That is, create the bubble and get it rising as you inhale. Then as you exhale push it all the way out of the water and into the air to dissipate. Some thoughts may persist and continue, in which case, be patient and accept the repetition and keep repeating the process gently and easily as you breathe gently and deeply.
Do not judge or try to interfere with the thoughts you have. Just notice them, watch them happening, accept them and then let them go by imagining the bubble. Allowing each facet of this mindful bubble process to take you deeper into hypnosis.
As you go deeper and once you have done this for a comfortable period of time, move on to the next step.
Step Five: Once you feel that your hypnosis is of a sufficient depth, then you continue with your change work or self-suggestion as you would do usually before moving on to the final step. Though this can be done simply to derive the benefits of mindfulness and enjoying a quiet, relaxed and peaceful mind for the duration of the session.
Step Six: Wiggle your fingers and toes, take a couple of nice, deep, energising breaths and open your eyes to bring this session to an end.
As with all of the techniques and processes I tend to showcase and share here, practice and repetition will advance the effectiveness and your own responsiveness. You might want to experiment with the amount of time you can keep going with the process and build up your time doing this as a standalone technique.
For you regular self-hypnotists, this is another tool for your box, for you beginners of self-hypnosis, this is a really valuable way to help keep you on track when starting out.
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Have some of themes here resonated with you? Then have a read of these pages:
1. Do you need help or support in a particular area of your life?
Coaching with Adam Eason Or Hypnotherapy with Adam Eason
2. Would you like a satisfying and meaningful career as a hypnotherapist helping others? Are you a hypnotherapist looking for stimulating and career enhancing continued professional development and advanced studies?
Adam Eason’s Anglo European training college.
3. Are you a hypnotherapist looking to fulfil your ambitions or advance your career?
Hypnotherapist Mentoring with Adam Eason.
Likewise, if you’d like to learn more about self-hypnosis, understand the evidence based principles of it from a scientific perspective and learn how to apply it to many areas of your life while having fun and in a safe environment and have the opportunity to test everything you learn, then come and join me for my one day seminar which does all that and more, have a read here: The Science of Self-Hypnosis Seminar. Alternatively, go grab a copy of my Science of self-hypnosis book.
