Self-Hypnosis CDs Does the Length Matter?

By Barrie St John – HypnoShop.com

There are literally thousands of different self-hypnosis CDs and downloads for sale all across the internet – from a wide range of sources. The quality of these recordings differs substantially. Many are home made recordings by good and not so good hypnotherapists. There are also some very good and not so good professionally produced self-hypnosis recordings. Apart from the actual quality of the recording or the voice, or the words said, they all differ somewhat in the length of the actual recording.

From my extensive experience as a one on one hypnotherapist, I can attest to the fact that a comfortable period of time in hypnosis for most people is around twenty to twenty five minutes, thirty minutes at the very most. I’ve seen people start to lose their focus, and get shifty and unsettled after that amount of time. The quality of the hypnotherapy can then be compromised by the faltering concentration.

The same guideline certainly applies in self-hypnosis. If a self-hypnosis CD or download is longer that half an hour, you won’t necessarily get more out of it, because after a certain period of time, your focus and your concentration starts to falter. This is definitely a case of quality over quantity. More content on a self-hypnosis session does not equate to better self-hypnosis.

People are also far less likely to be able to devote forty five minutes to an hour every day to listen to a self-hypnosis CD or download session without distraction. A shorter, more focused recording will be easier to schedule into the day’s routine on a regular basis. Also, we know that regular listening contributes greatly to successful self-hypnosis.

A shorter self-hypnosis session, say twenty to twenty five minutes, also allows for maximized use of suggestibility. The same message heard over and over again will penetrate and gain access, and have impact. An hour long self-hypnosis CD or download will take twice as long to achieve the same repetition level, and therefore requires far more work on the part of the listener.

Anyone just starting to experiment with self-hypnosis will likely lose courage after the first session with a longer CD. In frustration, they might decide never to try it again. Then they’ve been really been done a disservice, haven’t they?

I should point out that I’ve conducted many sessions with clients that have lasted an hour or longer, but the entire block of time was not spent in hypnosis. I just know from experience that after a certain amount of time, people get become unsettled, and the effectiveness starts to wane.

I have authored a wide range of self-hypnosis CDs and downloads, and if I really believed that a longer self-hypnosis recording would be beneficial to the listener, then that is what I would produce. But as an ethical, sincere expert, I honestly feel that I would just be wasting people’s money by charging them more for unnecessary surplus material. And more detrimental, I’d be wasting their time making them listen to extensive recordings that won’t reach desired impact, when they should be spending their time focused on repeated listening of a quality self-hypnosis CD or download.

About the Author

Barrie St John is a leading figure in the field of hypnotherapy and personal change. He is the author behind the best selling self-hypnosis CD and downloads at www.HypnoShop.com