This chapter focuses on enhancing clients’ understanding of self-hypnosis. Mindful self-hypnosis may be accomplished with or without audio recordings. Up to this point (session 4), mindful hypnotherapy (MH) has involved providing audio recordings of hypnotic inductions, asking the client to “practice self-hypnosis using audio recordings“, and tracking progress on the Mindful Self-Hypnosis Daily Practice Log. Practice using the audio recordings is very beneficial. Learning and practicing self-hypnosis with and without audio recordings has a number of benefits as it can enhance the progress of MH. Self-hypnosis without audio recordings can be used in a very flexible manner and clients can use it to achieve a hypnotic state and reinforce mindful suggestions and goals. Self-hypnosis can be very empowering as it gives greater control to the client and hypnotic suggestions can be self-directed.

This chapter addresses training considerations regarding clinical hypnosis and mindfulness, standards of training in clinical hypnosis, development as a mindful hypnotherapist, competency, and future research. Training for MH should include a firm understanding of both hypnosis and mindfulness. Workshops in clinical hypnosis and application in practice are essential to deepen understanding. Likewise, workshops, retreats, and personal experiences of mindfulness can be extraordinarily helpful in understanding the phenomenology of mindfulness and can allow a clinician to integrate mindfulness in clinical work more adroitly. This book provides the basics of MH, guidance, and transcripts for use in clinical practice. It encourages therapists to begin to utilize MH as may be appropriate in their clinical practice and mindful self-hypnosis in their personal self-care. Workshops on MH as well as training in the rich foundational knowledge in hypnosis and in mindfulness practices can be an important source of developing competency in these methods.

Mindfulness interventions are predicated on the idea that suffering is amplified when there is a strong resistance or attachment to particular experiences. Therefore, one of the core components of mindfulness interventions such as mindful hypnotherapy (MH) is helping clients to develop a nonjudgmental attitude toward their experiences. Session 2 is intended to open the client’s eyes to the possibilities of nonjudgmental awareness by fostering curiosity and openness to physical experiences. The session invites the client to attend to physical experiences that are relatively innocuous (such as breathing, mild pleasantness, or mild irritation), but encourages them to pay attention to these experiences as though it were the first time they have ever experienced the sensation. With practice and experience, this mindful attitude can also be used with more intense and unpleasant experiences, and it can even be used to mindfully notice thoughts and emotions.

Mindful hypnotherapy uses individualized hypnotic suggestions as well as standardized transcripts to facilitate a client’s integration of mindfulness into their lives. Hypnotic suggestions can serve a wide variety of purposes depending on a client’s needs and goals. Hypnotic suggestions can be expressed in a variety of ways in the context of mindful hypnotherapy, but there are certain principles that help distinguish effective hypnotic communication from ineffective hypnotic communication. This chapter presents the basics of formulating hypnotic suggestions, including principles such as pacing and leading and the use of reinforcement during hypnotic suggestions. It discusses the different styles of hypnotherapy as they relate to the delivery of hypnotic suggestions as well as the importance of therapeutic metaphors (or storytelling) in mindful hypnotherapy. Examples of hypnotic suggestions are also included to illustrate each principle.

Compassion is an attitude with tremendous potential for healing and for transforming one’s actions. Compassion’s potential to transform the world for the better means that many people have come to think of compassion as a moral imperative. Compassion for oneself is often regarded as unimportant at best and narcissistic at worst. This session is an opportunity to examine and perhaps challenge some of these unspoken assumptions about the role of compassion. The result of this process is that a client unlocks the profound healing potential of compassion for themselves and for the people around them. Throughout the session, the therapist can help expand a client’s view of compassion from an exclusively moralistic, one-way street to a broader view that encompasses both themselves and others. Session 5 falls just past the middle point of mindful hypnotherapy (MH) and occupies an important place in the overall intervention.

Hypnotizability is defined as “an individual’s ability to experience suggested alterations in physiology, sensations, emotions, thoughts, or behavior during hypnosis“. It is most useful to consider hypnotizability as a trait that may affect how quickly clients progress and/or may contribute to the depth of their experience of the hypnotic (mindful) state. It may also determine how much practice a client needs with mindful self-hypnosis in order to achieve their therapeutic goals. This chapter explains the concept of hypnotic abilities and how it can relate to mindful hypnotherapy (MH). It reviews scales to measure hypnotizability, and provides the clinical form of the Elkins Hypnotizability Scale (EHS-C) at the end of the book for clinical use. Research has shown that most people have hypnotic abilities and most individuals can benefit from hypnotherapy just as most people can benefit from mindfulness.

Mindful hypnotherapy (MH) is a secular intervention that draws upon Buddhist concepts and philosophy to formulate hypnotic suggestions and interventions. As such, MH is suitable for therapists and clients with a wide array of faiths and beliefs. This chapter presents a few Buddhist concepts and stories to give readers a basic, contextual understanding of where our secular MH intervention originated. It presents a select set of Buddhist teachings that inform some of the core concepts of MH in the hopes that it will prompt further independent exploration. Just like the mindfulness interventions that came before MH, the chapter presents a version of the origins of mindfulness that is filtered through author’s own experiences and cognitive filter. A common refrain throughout Buddhism and secular mindfulness interventions alike is to experience things for yourself and base your understanding on what you directly observe to be true.

During session 3 of mindful hypnotherapy (MH), the two main goals of a therapist is to (1) solidify the client’s understanding of the material covered so far and (2) help the client “bridge the gap“ between mindful awareness of their physical senses and mindful awareness of thoughts and emotions. The aim of the third session is to facilitate a greater degree of nonjudgmental awareness of thoughts and feelings. Although mindful awareness of thoughts and feelings can be a difficult endeavor for a client, the task can be made less daunting by keeping in mind that the skill is no different than the one introduced in session 2. One can help the client by starting with a thorough review of session 2 and helping them feel more confident about the meaning of nonjudgmental awareness.

The intention behind mindful hypnotherapy (MH) was to create an intervention that provides some core structure but remains flexible to differing client needs and diverse clinical orientations. Session 7 is meant to put a great deal of discretion in your hands as a clinician. The chapter provides some thoughts and direction for how one might use this session, but it is our hope that one consider these as only suggestions, not as necessities. Most clients will be experiencing the world more mindfully by this point in treatment. This mindful change can be an opportunity to delve deeper into the subtlety and nuance of mindfulness or can help a client to see how mindfulness can help them feel less distressed in the face of their presenting concerns. MH can also be integrated with traditional interventions and psychoeducation if needed.

Mindfulness is a contemplative practice involving focused attention, attentiveness to the present moment, and nonjudgmental awareness. It is a way of experiencing the world that can facilitate powerful life changes and open the door to greater well-being. Clinical interventions that use mindfulness offer a unique perspective that can help people improve clients’ lives. Mindful hypnotherapy (MH) is an intervention that intentionally uses hypnosis (hypnotic induction and suggestion) to integrate mindfulness for personal or therapeutic benefit. This chapter begins with a quote from Dr. Milton Erickson, one of the most important figures in contemporary psychotherapy and hypnosis: “Until you are willing to be confused about what you already know, what you know will never grow bigger, better, or more useful“. There is great potential for the integration of hypnosis and mindfulness; however, to achieve this, clinicians and individuals must be open and flexible in their understanding of both concepts.