As you know, creating the ideal hypnotic trance environment can have a huge impact on how successful your hypnosis session is.

And that goes for self-hypnosis at home or hypnosis in a professional hypnotherapy office.

The more conducive the environment, the more fruitful your hypnosis will be.

You’ve probably read lots of tips on how to go about it, such as choosing a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed.

Or turning off your cellphone and closing your computer.

All good advice, of course, but most of these points are just common sense.

So the question is: what other kinds of things can you do to set your hypnosis sessions up for success?

Are there ways you can actually enhance your hypnotic trance environment so that it’s as productive as it can possibly be?

You betcha!

Below you’ll find ideas you can use to get the most out of your hypnosis sessions, whether you’re practicing self-hypnosis at home or practicing hypnotherapy on a client in your office.

Enhancing Your Hypnotic Trance Environment At Home

Naturally, a quiet space where you won’t be disturbed is important to create the right hypnotic trance environment.

But what’s just as important is how you go about making the best use of this space.

Before your session begins, there are certain things you can do that will reap benefits:

1. Have the purpose for your session clearly in your mind before you start – think about what information you’re looking for ahead of time and give it some proper consideration.
2. Write down what you want from the session in a short sentence – just a few words will help to clarify your goal and will also give your unconscious something to begin chewing over.
3. Give the thing you’re looking for a symbol – your unconscious mind understands symbolism and will instinctively know what the symbol represents and what you hope to achieve.
4. Allow enough time for your session to be completed – you need to feel calm and at ease so that you can relax and let the session unfold naturally. If you feel rushed then you won’t be able to get into the session in the way you should, and you might end up wasting it.

It’s important that you’re sitting or resting in a comfortable area, a place where you can relax but where you won’t be so relaxed that you’re likely to fall asleep.
On top of that, you can also:

• Play soft instrumental music in the background if that helps create a calm and serene mood.
• Place essential oils in a diffuser to spread a favorite calming fragrance around the room. A word of caution here, though. Smell is a highly developed sense, and fragrances can easily trigger memories that may not be conducive to the specific self-hypnosis session.
• Ensure that the temperature in the room is comfortable.
• Give yourself the suggestion when you begin your session that any outside sounds you hear will take you deeper into trance unless there is a danger, in which case you will come back fully aware.
• Once your hypnotic trance environment is as you’d like it, start whatever self-hypnosis process you use, taking your symbol or statement within and focusing on it.

Where music is concerned, the instrumental variety is thought to be a better background environment because there are no words to distract you (music can also elicit strong memories).

You might prefer to use other types of sounds, such as binaural beats, which are at certain frequencies designed to help you enter the theta state.

Theta brainwaves are the ones you experience when you daydream and when you’re in a hypnotic trance.

They’re also active when you perform repetitive tasks like driving. The tasks become automatic and you’re able to mentally disengage from them. That’s how it’s possible to complete a journey and not be able to remember a certain section of it.

If music or binaural beats are too intrusive, you might like to try playing water noises. Many people find the sound of a gently trickling stream in the background creates a calming, soothing atmosphere, whereas a cascading waterfall would probably have the opposite effect.

Whatever sounds you choose they should be subtle enough so that they don’t produce any jarring effects or sudden loud interruptions at certain points.

>> Pssst! Want more great self-hypnosis tips and techniques? You might also enjoy this article:
Stuck In A Self-Hypnosis Rut? Try These 13 Powerful Induction Methods To Induce A Deep Trance – 2nd Edition

Enhancing Your Hypnotic Trance Environment In The Hypnotherapy Office

In your hypnotherapy office, many of the same issues apply. You still need to provide your client with:

• A quiet place where they won’t be disturbed for the duration of the session.
• A comfortable (but not too comfortable) place to sit – an upright chair is ideal. A recliner might seem like the more comfortable option, but it has the drawback that it makes people want to fall asleep.
• Adequate heating and lighting that’s not too bright, not too dark, not too hot and not too cold.

On top of that, your room or office environment should be:

• Neat and tidy – too much clutter can be seriously distracting for some people. The same can be said for wildly colorful posters adorning the walls, peeling wallpaper, and other typical signs of chaos or disorder.
• Painted a comfortable color that will give a professional ambience – bright yellow or pink, for instance, while perfectly acceptable colors in their own right, might make it hard for your clients to relax.
• Clean and neutral – if you’re using a fragrance such as an essential oil, make sure you check with the client beforehand that it’s one they enjoy or don’t object to. Likewise, if you’re using some kind of background music, make sure your client is comfortable with it.

Before starting any therapy, make your client comfortable. Offer them a beverage such as tea, coffee, soda or water, and if they want one, be sure that you get it for them. All your attention should be focused on the client and on making them feel settled and secure.

>> Related article: 5 Times You Should Absolutely Say “No” To Working With A Hypnotherapy Client: An Essential Guide For All Professional Hypnotists

If you’re trained in it, use conversational hypnosis in your chit-chat (pre-talk) to create rapport with your client. The more comfortable and trusting your client feels, the more successful your session is likely to be.

Be sure to include your boilerplate of suggestions to ensure safety when you’re ready to start the formal trance segment of the session, using phrases such as:

1. Feel the chair beneath you and know you’re safe
2. My voice will go with you wherever you go
3. Any sounds you hear around you will take you deeper into trance

And last but not least, consider working on your hypnotic voice. If necessary, take vocal lessons. Spend some time doing breathing exercises and warm-ups before a session to get your voice ready. Make frequent recordings of yourself reading hypnosis scripts so that you can work on getting the tone and pace just the way you want it.

These tips will help to ensure that your hypnosis sessions at home or in the office are as productive and worthwhile as they can be.