“Now imagine yourself in a place where you feel completely calm and safe.” Nearly every hypnosis script contains some version of that line. It is asked for in studies of pain, surgery, anxiety and sleep.
And it is usually given about ten seconds. You are told to go there, and the script moves on, while you are still deciding between a beach and a forest.
A favourite place works much better if you build it properly, once, in advance. Then it is ready when you need it.
Why it works
- It occupies attention. A mind busy with detail has less room for worry or pain.
- The body follows. Imagining a calm scene vividly tends to slow breathing and release tension.
- It gives relaxation a shape. “Relax” is abstract. “Warm sand under your feet” is something you can do.
- It becomes a cue. With practice, simply recalling the place brings the feeling with it.
- It is yours. You control it entirely.
Choosing a place
There are three kinds, and all work.
A real place you know. A beach from a holiday, a grandparent’s kitchen, a particular bench. Easiest to make vivid.
A real kind of place, adapted. A forest clearing built from several you have walked through.
An invented place. A cabin, a floating island, a room in a tree. Total freedom.
Guidelines:
- Choose calm, not exciting. A football final is a happy memory but not a restful one.
- Avoid places tied to someone you have lost or to a relationship that ended, unless the feeling is purely warm. Grief may come along.
- Avoid anywhere with mixed associations.
- You can be alone or not. Some people want solitude. Others want a dog at their feet or someone trusted nearby.
- It need not be outdoors. An armchair by a fire, a library, a bath.
- It need not be still. Some people prefer walking, swimming or cycling slowly.
If the word “safe” makes you uneasy, as it does for some people, call it a calm place, a comfortable place or just your place.
Building it
Set aside fifteen minutes. Close your eyes and work through the senses. Do not hurry.
Sight. Where are you standing or sitting? What is in front of you, to each side, behind, above? What colours? What time of day? What is the light like? What is far away and what is close?
Sound. What can you hear nearby, and in the distance? Water, wind, birds, a clock, a fire? Or quiet?
Touch. What is under you? What is the temperature? Is there a breeze, sun on your skin, a blanket? What are your hands resting on?
Smell. Salt air, pine, cut grass, woodsmoke, coffee, rain.
Taste. Perhaps a drink beside you.
Movement. Waves, leaves, clouds, flames.
The feeling. Where in your body do you notice calm? Chest, shoulders, stomach? Give it a word.
Then give the place a name, a single word or short phrase. That name becomes your cue.
Afterwards, write a paragraph describing it, or sketch it. Getting it down fixes the detail.
If you cannot see pictures
Many people do not visualise clearly, and a few see nothing at all. This does not matter.
- Use your strongest sense. For some people that is sound or touch.
- Know it instead of seeing it. You can know there is a tree to your left without a picture of it, as you know the layout of your home in the dark.
- Use a memory of a feeling: the heaviness after a long walk, the warmth of a bath.
- Describe it to yourself in words.
- Use a photograph to begin with, then close your eyes.
Hypnosis depends on absorption, not on picture quality.
Using it
In a session. After settling and counting down, go to your place. Spend two or three minutes there before your suggestions, and return to it briefly at the end.
As a quick reset. Breathe out slowly, say the name of the place, and be there for three breaths. In a queue, before a phone call, in the dentist’s chair.
For sleep. Explore the place slowly in bed. Walk a route through it. The gentle mental task displaces worry.
For pain or procedures. Go there and stay there, adding detail as needed.
For rehearsal. Begin in your place, rehearse the difficult situation, and come back to it.
Making it stronger
- Visit daily for a week or two, even for a minute.
- Add one detail each visit.
- Link it to a physical cue, such as pressing thumb and forefinger together.
- Keep it for calm. Do not use it for problem-solving or planning.
- Have a spare. A second place, in case the first stops working or does not suit your mood.
Ways to extend it
- A dial or control panel in your place, for turning down pain or tension
- A pool or stream that washes discomfort away
- A bench where a wise, kind figure sits, if you want advice
- A box or a locker at the entrance for leaving worries
- A path leading to a rehearsal of what you want to do
- Changing weather or season to match what you need: cool for hot flushes, warm for aching joints
Problems
Intrusions. Something unwelcome appears: a person, a thought, a storm. You are in charge. Change the scene, put up a fence, move the place, or open your eyes and try again later.
It feels flat. Add another sense, or choose somewhere else.
Sadness comes. The place may be carrying a loss. Choose a different one, or an invented one.
You feel more anxious, or unreal. Stop, open your eyes and ground yourself by naming five things you can see. People with a history of trauma sometimes find closing their eyes and turning inward difficult, and are best guided by a qualified professional. An eyes-open alternative is to study a real object or view in detail.
An example
“I’m on a wooden bench at the edge of a small lake, early evening. The water is flat and silver. Pines on the far side, dark green. A wood pigeon somewhere behind me. The bench is still warm from the sun and the air is cooling. It smells of pine and water. My shoulders are down. I call it Stillwater.”
Sixty words, and it can be reached in one breath.
The bottom line
Do not improvise your calm place in the ten seconds a script allows. Choose it, build it sense by sense, name it and visit it every day for a week. After that, it is one slow breath away whenever you need it.
Next in the series: A Self-Hypnosis Script for IBS
This article is for general information and is not medical advice.