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Most people arrive at self-hypnosis expecting either a stage trick or a mystery. It is neither. It is a narrow, deliberate use of attention — the same state you fall into when a book takes over, used on purpose and aimed at something you want.
Everything on this site is free to read and free to practise. The sessions run entirely inside your browser: nothing is recorded, nothing is uploaded, no email is asked for.
Find what you came for
Falling asleep
Racing thoughts at midnight, breathing patterns, the body scan, and what to do when you wake at 3 a.m. Six pieces.
What is self-hypnosis?
What the state actually is, the three mechanisms behind it, and how to run your first session tonight.
Calming down
Why "just relax" backfires, a five-minute reset, and a sixty-second version nobody in the room will notice.
Concentrating
Why concentration fails before the work starts, and a five-minute session for the part that actually breaks.
Feeling capable
Why affirmations backfire for the people who need them, and what to practise instead.
Fifteen scripts
Complete sessions written word for word, to record in your own voice and keep.
A five-minute session
Guided and silent, nothing to install — for bed at midnight, or for right now with your eyes open.
Two traditions, one practice
Almost everything written about self-hypnosis belongs to one of two schools — and most sources teach only one without mentioning the other exists.
Traditional
Direct and structured. Relaxation, counting down, clear instructions. For people who want a sequence to follow exactly.
Ericksonian
Indirect and permissive. Metaphor, open language, and using whatever is already happening as the way in. For people who resist being told what to do.
The hybrid session
The sessions here borrow from both: enough structure to get you down, enough flexibility to keep you there. More about the approach.
What this is not
Self-hypnosis is useful for sleep onset, everyday stress, focus, and rehearsing something difficult before you do it. It is not a treatment for depression, trauma, or a diagnosed sleep disorder, and nothing here is medical advice.
Written by a health professional who would rather you saw a clinician one visit too early than one too late.