Meditation vs. self hypnosis.
They both quiet the mind and stop the inner chattering.
Hypnosis is quieting the mind by focusing the attention on one line of thought.
Meditation is quieting the mind by moving the attention from thought to the experience.
When the mind is quiet, it becomes receptive, but receptive to what?
Hypnosis makes the mind receptive to suggestions.
Meditation makes the mind receptive to intuition.
Hypnosis brings about a state of full concentration, which makes you fully distracted from everything other then your object of concentration.
In Meditation you are experiencing the object you meditate on, as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi said: It is not Concentration or Contemplation, but a direct experience of the sound of the mantra, you are repeating in your thought.
Putting your attention on the experiential level brings about a state of awareness - the opposite of what hypnosis is doing. Awareness is the good thing you get from meditation, not the quieting of the mind, not if this quiet does not lead to awareness, not if it leads to a state of trance and distraction, which turns you into a zombie who is acting like a robot.
Still people are mixing between Meditation and self Hypnosis and thinking they are basically the same thing. And when you analyze these practices, to understand them, so they will bring you to a state of awareness and not lead you to a state of trance, people think you are simply complicating things, and that you are addicted to thought...
Very very strange...;)
As a hypnotherapist who also teaches mindfulness meditation, I know a bit about both hypnosis and meditation. Actually hypnosis encourages thought even self hypnosis. The thoughts will be about how to change things, how to solve a problem. The trance state frees the subconscious so it can give insights, suggest solutions. Hypnosis without thought would be pretty useless IMO
Meditation covers a multitude of things. There is the classic mantra chant, focussing on the breath, and taking a journey in the mind. In mindfulness meditation the idea is to become aware of what the mind is doing....and lead it back to the breath. It doesn't matter how many times during a meditation your mind wanders..the important thing is that everytime you become aware your mind has wandered off, you lead it back.
There is a considerable overlap in the techniques. The other day I was leading a mindfulness meditation, and one of the ladies in y class really relaxed very deeply....and I had to resort to the lightening techniques I would use for a hypnotherapy patient,
You use the same techniques to induce relaxation (focussing on the breath,, imaginary landscape etc ) prior to using deepening techniques that you do for meditation.
In some respects the only difference is what the intention of the session is....or what the person leading it calls it. In one european country hypnosis is illegal...but it is totally OK to lead people in a relaxation session using guided imagery....
I personally think your view of the two modalities is wrong...but you are entitled to your view. in fact both are very experiential.
This is an article of an experienced hypnotist about this subject. If someone is interested:
Here is a link to a video, I couldn't have said it better:
Doesn't everyone agree that a trance state is the opposite of a state of awareness?
Well, in the same way that GT racing has nothing to do with hypnosis either.
And then there's the Shamanic Trance Journey ...
And then there's the Shamanic Trance Journey ...
Shamanic Trance Journey, I think, is a form of channeling with the spirit world, to get guidance. I have seen many woman who did what they called meditation, and became possessed by some spirit which they claim gives them information. I've seen an interview with one of the more famous ones, and she says this spirit is taking her over, to a point she can't remember what she has done in most days of the year, more the 200 days in a year she is not present. I don't know what this is, but it is not meditation. Meditation is to always be present. S. N. Goenka said with meditation you can reach a level where even in sleep you are fully aware, not awake, but aware. In the other state - the trance state - you are not aware even in waking state... how can this be the same as meditation...
I agree that the STJ isn't meditation - there have been brain scans of people doing each and they appear to use different parts of the brain. However, the channelling you describe above is certainly not a shamanic journey. Awareness in the shamanic journey is, if anything, more acute than in the 'waking' state.
I have, many years ago, been hypnotised. As I recall, I was in a state of total awareness but very passive. In an shamanic trance journey I am aware and actively taking part in what is going on.
I guess the difference between Meditation and Hypnosis can be a very delicate one. You can listen to the sound of a drum, just as a means to keep your attention on the experiential level, you don't concentrate on it, you just listen to it, experiencing it.
but you can also fully focus you attention on a sound of a drum, in order to distract yourself from everything else, and then it becomes something completely different. So it is not so much the practice you are using, but the way you are practicing it...