There are many ways to bring yourself into a trance, but the majority of hypnotists claim that hypnotic trance is about focusing your attention inwards. With Betty Ericksons technique for self hypnosis, you can effectively experience hypnosis very easily. I personally prefer this technique when I'm using self hypnosis. Wether you have a specific goal to work on, or if you just want to relax and enjoy the trance, you can calmly use this technique!

As the title says, this technique is made up by Betty Erickson, who was the wife of Milton H. Erickson. For those who don't know it, Milton H. Erickson is a renowed hypnotist who used a particularly permissive way of doing hypnosis, this style of doing hypnosis is named "Ericksonian hypnosis/hypnotherapy". This technique for self hypnosis is also very permissive. As you progress through the technique, the trance will come by itself.

Before you read any further I will clarify some terms used later:
When you think, you do a number of things. One of the things you do is using your senses inward. You can watch pictures (Visual), you can hear sounds (Auditive) and you can feel feelings (Kinesthetic).

When you visualize you can do two things. You can either create an image of something you have never seen before, or you can combine things you have seen before in ways that you never have seen them. This is what many architects do along with others who work with putting things together in new ways. The second option is to see images that you have actually seen before.

The same thing goes on in the auditive dimension. You can hear sounds that you have heard before, and therefore remember, or you can construct new sounds.

Feelings can also be some you remember from earlier situations in your life, but you can probably also imagine how something would feel, that you have never felt before. Have you ever watched a movie, where one of the good guys gets punched in the face and you can almost feel the amount of pain he must go through. Put differently: Although you cannot feel the actual feelings of another persons, you can imagine how something would feel without having experienced it yourself.

Most people has developed more use of one of these dimensions than the others. We all use all the dimensions to create our experiences, but the important thing is that a person who mainly uses the visual dimension will have an altered experience when using the auditive dimention. So when we speak of an altered experience we are really speaking of changing the ways in which we process information.

Let's go through the technique in sequential steps, so you know exactly what to do.

1. Start by finding a comfortable position of your body, where you can relax. It should be a position in which you will be comfortable through the whole process. It doesn't matter if you choose to sit or lay down doing this. Some hypnotists would warn you about choosing to lay down, because you might fall asleep instead of experiencing hypnosis. Personally I have never fallen asleep when I didn't want to, dispite the fact that I have used this technique when I have been really tired.

2. Find out how much time you want to spend in the hypnotic trance. Usually I spend 20 minutes in hypnosis, except when I use this technique before going to sleep. Say something like this to yourself: "I will be in the trance for 20 minutes..." You will find out that your internal clock functions really well. Personally I use this technique the day before an important event before I go to sleep. I say to myself that I wish to wake up at a certain time and then I imagine both an analog and a digital clock showing the time I wish to wake up. Last time I used the technique for this purpose I woke up at 6:59 when telling myself I should wake up at 7:00. Your subconscious mind works almost as well as a quartz crystal!

3. Now you need to tell your subconscious mind what the purpose of the hypnosis is, insert this purpose after the statement about time "... with the purpose of allowing my subconscious mind to make the adjustments that are necessary for ...". Remember that it should be something you are motivated to do, not something are motivated to not do.

4. Posthypnotic suggestions. This is where you decide how you would like to feel when the time is up. This could be something like: "When the 20 minutes are up I feel ..." maybe something like this "... wide awake and comfortable in every way". If you are doing this right before bedtime you could say "... fully relaxed and ready to sleep". You are very welcome to include the following: "... every time I go into hypnosis I go 10 times deeper than I've ever been before", multiplication is an unconscious process and you might aswell use that to your advantage.

5. The actual process of selfhypnosis starts now. I will begin with showing the process visually, that way it will be more clear how you should proceed.

External focus	V A K		V A K		V A K
	V A K			V A K
	V A K
Internal focus	V A K
	V A K			V A K
	V A K		V A K		V A K

The first time you see this model you might think it's a little confusing, but I think you will find it very simple right after my explanation. You read the model from the left to the right, line by line. The first thing you read will be V, V, V. So let's go through the meaning of V, A and K first in the external and then in the internal part og the model.

Every time you read a V you look at something in the external world. Personally I start by looking at the spotlights in the ceiling (I do this laying down). Some people like to name the things they are looking at, just to make it easier to keep the focus. If you would like to do that, but don't really know what the thing you are looking at is called, you can just say "I'm looking at that thing over there". The purpose is not to know names, but to engage in the activity of looking at something. Just spend an amount of time that you feel is appropriate to look at this thing and then continue to the next letter in the model.

Whenever you read an A you listen to whatever external sound you may hear, and just listen to it for a little while. This is a unique opportunity to include otherwise disturbing sound into the process of self hypnosis. You might hear a dog barking or whining, just use this sound to listen to. You are also welcome to mention this to yourself: "I hear a dog barking". Personally I close my eyes during the A's and the K's in the external part, even though I know that other people like to keep their eyes open through the whole of the external part and then close their eyes for all the internal parts. This is a matter of taste, just do whatever you prefer.

Whenever you read a K you notice some actual feeling that you have. It should be something you are feeling right now. It could be the feeling of your feet against the floor, the feeling of your head on a pillow, the texture of the surface your hand is touching, the temperature of your right hand, and so on. There are an infinite amount of feelings available every second, find one and feel it for a little while, for every K in the external part of the model.

That's it for the external part, now we move on to the internal part. Here you will turn your attention inwards, so go on and close your eyes if they are not closed already from the last K. Eyes should be closed through the whole internal part of the self hypnosis.

Whenever you read a V in the internal part you visualize something. Just visualize anything that comes into your mind. It doesn't matter if what you see is a light dot or a painting you know. Some people say that they are not capable of visualizing, but that's not right, even blind people have the ability to make internal images, some are just more aware of them than others. For instance, I'm not very aware of my own images, but I can easily imagine how a blue ball would look and where the air goes in to pump it up. You should not struggle doing this, just imagine something. If it makes it easier you can also name the things you visualize here.

Whenever you read an A in the internal part you imagine some sound. Some people like to continue using external sounds to incorporate them into the process of self hypnosis. Personally I will use sounds that I currently don't hear, for instance like the sound of walking in snow, the sound of an applause or whatever comes to my mind.

Whenever you read a K in the internal part you imagine some feeling that you do not feel at this moment. This could be the feeling of sun on the skin, the feeling of being tugged under a blanket, the feeling of a cold shower or being in a hottub. It doesn't matter what you imagine you are feeling, as long as it's something you imagine. Again, feel free to name the feelings if it helps maintain focus.

To sum up, the external process goes like this: V, V, V, A, A, A, K, K, K, V, V, A, A, K, K, V, A, K and the internal like this: V, A, K, V, V, A, A, K, K, V, V, V, A, A, A, K, K, K.

6. Several things can happen when you are going through the process of self hypnosis. Personally I lose consciousness sometimes as late as the last K of the internal part. After I lose consciousness it feels as if I'm dreaming and that I'm not totally aware of anything but what's going on inside of me, but when the time is up I get a feeling that it's time to wake up from this state of mind.

Other people hurry through the process and therefore gets done with the process without losing consciousness and without having the feeling that it's time to wake up. If this happens to you, just keep on going with 4V, 4A, 4K, thereafter 5 of each, and continue to do so, until you feel it's time to stop. While your consciousness is busy with this process or is lulled to sleep by the process, you subconsciousness works on the purpose you stated before starting the self hypnosis session.

Remember that practise makes perfect! The more you practise the better you get!

P.S. Feel free to try it out right now, and share your experiences with this technique as a comment to this article. I'm sure that future readers will appreciate it, and I will be able to answer any questions you have.