Time distortion

Time distortion is probably the second most important use of hypnosis, after that of relaxation, at least in terms of the non-medical uses. But what is time distortion? To explain this, a distinction must be made between clock time (or objective time) and subjective time. Clock time means what it says; namely, the time that elapses as registered by the clock. Subjective time, on the other hand, is the elapse of time that a person perceives has taken place.

Consider some examples. Most people have experienced waiting for a bus or train, when time seems to go very slowly indeed; it may feel as though twenty or more minutes have elapsed when, by clock time, only a minute or two has passed. The same experience is felt when you cannot get to sleep. It may feel as if you have been lying there for hours, when it is in fact, no more than fifteen minutes. These are examples of time expansion. A different sense of time tends to occur when you are very absorbed in something, then time just seems to fly. Two or more hours, as measured by the clock, may have elapsed and yet you feel as though it has only been half-an-hour. In the morning, you awake and, on occasions, lie there for what you feel is only two minutes which, by clock time, is half-an-hour or more. These are examples of time contraction. Time expansion and contraction is illustrated in the following figure.

These experiences are so common that people often fail to see their true significance. To begin with, these examples show that subjective time and clock time are not the same thing. Given that they are not the same thing, an event can be experienced either according to clock time or to subjective time. In the examples just cited, one seems to have no control over whether you experience something by clock time or subjective time. But they do illustrate that subjective time is purely a feature of your state of mind. Once this is realized, it is but a short, and significant, step to realize that subjective time can be controlled. You would never raise the question, ‘How can subjective time be controlled?’ unless you consider that it can, in the first instance, be subject to control. It can, and this web page is concerned with how to control subjective time: how to expand it and how to contract it.

Because so few people are aware that subjective time can be controlled, I shall begin with a hypothetical explanation as to how it is possible to distort subjective time. This is done with the aid of a holograph, used to represent the function of the brain and outlined in BOX 1

BOX 1 Holograms

Recent research into how the brain works suggests that it functions like a holograph. Before explaining a hologram, we shall first consider an analogy provided by Bentov in his Stalking the Wild Pendulum. Imagine a pail of water in which three pebbles are dropped, as illustrated in the following figure on the left-hand side. These will create ripples that will interact with each other. Imagine, now, that the water is frozen instantly and a layer of extracted.

Now if we take a slice of this layer, as shown in the right-hand drawing, then information about all three pebbles is recorded, in terms of the interaction that is taking place in the ripples (which are now frozen). In other words, the slice does not simply record the information about the pebble in its area, but also information about the other two pebbles in a different part of the layer. Each slice, as it were, has information about the whole. It is this aspect that is important in holography.

The basic idea of a hologram is illustrated in the next figure, where a hologram of an apple is being constructed. The upper part shows a laser beam that is split into two parts. One part continues until it hits the photographic plate, this is called the reference beam. In the lower part, consisting of the working beam, the beam comes into contact with an object (here an apple) before it hits the photographic plate. The two beams meet on the photographic plate and interact, forming an interference pattern – just like the frozen ice. This constitutes the hologram and it looks very much like a contour map rather than anything like a photograph of the original object. It, however, a laser beam is once again shone on the exposed film, an apple will appear in mid-air and with a three-dimensional appearance. Just as for the pebbles, it is the two beams that interact to form the hologram.

In normal photography, each point on the photographic plate records only that part of the image that falls on that section. While in the holograph we see that each point of the hologram stores all the information about the object. Each point contributes more information and clarifies the object, because each point records the object from a slightly different angle.

Instructions for creating time distortion

Time distortion is fairly easy to obtain, although the duration of time distortion requires practice. Under hypnosis, man’s in-built clock can be controlled to some degree. The initial instructions for time distortion are always the same – a straightforward statement of the time to be distorted. For instance: ‘In just one minute of clock time, you will experience thirty minutes of subjective time’; or, alternatively, the statement can be left ambiguous, but with specified limits, e.g. ‘you will, in one minute of clock time, solve this problem which normally takes about thirty minutes’. Both of these are examples of time expansion, which have a number of non-medical uses. Time contraction is more difficult, but why this is so is not known. It has many uses in clinical situations, most notably, shortening the time a pain is experienced. In the next section we shall illustrate the use of time contraction in shortening the subjective experience of the time that a journey takes.

The images for creating time distortion can be found on this web site at scripts/time_distortion. The time machine utilized in script #1 is a most useful image for creating time distortion.

A variant of the above, which will appeal to the scientist or science fiction lover, is script #2 Space travel. In this, we will not again repeat the distortion, and we shall shorten the instructions because they are basically the same as for the time machine. You can elaborate, and above all, picture the whole sequence.

This set of instructions will, in all probability, elicit the same sensations as the first, with the possible exception of the final stage, which can produce blackness and a feeling of emptiness far greater than you may have experienced before. This particular instruction may also cause a far greater degree of dissociation. In addition, both instructions will deepen the hypnotic state automatically, because of the deep involvement in the subjective experiences.

Time contraction is more difficult to elicit and it is generally more difficult to devise scenes that will help in developing this technique. The object, however, is for you to create a scene in which you become very involved and that would generally take a long time for such an event or situation to unfold. In this way a long journey, for instance, can be passed without too much notice: a two or three hour journey can be reduced to thirty minutes or so. The more involved and detailed the scene, the longer your attention will be held by this and not focused on the journey. The instructions are given in script #3. The object, of course, is to become involved in the scene: to become so interested and involved that your attention becomes very directed to it. This slows down your subjective sense of time and so actual time goes more quickly.

Uses of time distortion

It is apparent that time distortion refers only to mental thinking, and not to physical responses of the body. Even with time expansion, you cannot build a doll’s house in half the time. You can, however, reduce the objective time taken from the amount of time you would normally take. But we shall return to this later. The point being made at the moment is that the uses of time distortion are limited to mental actions. Under hypnosis and using time expansion, it is possible in five clock minutes or so to re-experience the reading of a whole novel or to see, once again, the whole of Gone with the Wind. As explained earlier, this is likely to arise from the holographic nature of the mind (see BOX 1 above).

The suggestion used to elicit experiences of this nature, is given in script #4. There is more to this than watching a film. The brain records all past and present experiences. Under hypnosis, these can be recalled much easier than normal and, certainly, in more detail than normal. Combined with time expansion, you can re-read a whole book, for instance, and so help your memory and recall. As an educational device, this is extremely valuable – and it costs nothing!

Here, I wish to consider further just one other non-medical use of time distortion: namely, solving a problem. Solving problems, whether they are to do with the household or are of a more technical nature, are both time-consuming and require the expenditure of a great deal of energy. This loss of energy often goes unnoticed, except when the problem is solved. Then, a sense of relief is usually felt, which is quite noticeable. Alternatively, those people who worry about problems at the unconscious level tend to create tensions somewhere in the musculature of their bodies – especially in the walls of the stomach (which also tend to aggravate ulcers).

The act of hypnosis reduces tensions, and allows you to approach a given problem more effectively and more objectively. By also using time distortion, you can amass in your mind all the relevant facts, and begin to solve the problem in far less time than you would take in your normal waking state. The reason for this should now be fairly apparent. Under hypnosis, you are concerned only about that which you have decided to direct your attention to, namely the problem, at the exclusion of everything else. Second, you have reduced your general level of tension, which allows more energy to be directed at the problem – rather than in a wasteful tension of the muscles. Third, your recall of information is far superior to normal. Finally, by speeding up the process, you can obtain a better understanding of the different facets of the problem, which, in turn, helps in formulating a solution more quickly – and almost certainly a better solution, if more than one exists.

Let me expand on this issue a little further. Suppose you cannot keep all the facts, etc., in your head, or that you wish to write out steps in obtaining the solution, or to draw a diagram. In other words, suppose that, in coming to a solution, you must consider material that you have gathered, constructed, sketched, or whatever. In this case, you wish to approach the solution somewhat differently. The first job is to hypnotize yourself and then carry out a time distortion instruction. Having done this, you then give yourself the suggestions contained in script #5.

If necessary, elaborate the suggestions with specific details, in the light of whatever problem you are trying to solve. You will notice that there is no termination to the trance state in these instructions. Once you have completed the task of solving your problem, and even if you do not manage a complete solution, you should then awaken yourself. An alternative approach is rather than initially being in a trance state, you could give yourself a post-hypnotic suggestion to the effect that as soon as you come out of trance you will go to your desk and begin to solve the problem and while you are doing this five minutes will feel like thirty minutes of time and so you will solve in five minutes what normally takes thirty minutes.

It is also possible to use this technique in earlier stages, such as setting out the problem, seeing whether the problem can be looked at in a variety of ways. Creativity is a right brain feature and, under hypnosis, this has a greater chance of arising. If your work involves design, then, at this stage, engage in self-hypnosis so that you can apply the creativity that we all possess, but under utilize.

The educational value of time distortion is very great and is quite underrated in the literature on hypnosis, largely, I feel, because of the greater emphasis on the medical uses of hypnosis. This is one of the costs of allowing the medical profession to monopolize the training of professional hypnotists.

Time distortion and post-hypnotic suggestions

In the previous section, I highlighted the use of time expansion as an aid in solving problems. Another possibility is to combine time distortion with a post-hypnotic suggestion. We shall do this with the use of time contraction, since we have not used this feature as frequently as time expansion.

Chores of one sort and another are, to many people, drudgery and because they are such drudgery, they seem to take a long time to do, either as measured by the clock and/or in terms of subjective time – but most especially subjective time. Just as we do not like waiting for a bus and, and as a consequence it seems to take ages in coming, so with unpleasant tasks, such as housework. It is true that some people like housework, but for many it is something that must be tolerated, no matter how distasteful. In this section, I shall concentrate on this one example as an illustration of the use of time contraction with a post-hypnotic suggestion. It can be readily adapted to other situations.

I shall first give the instructions and then discuss them, referring to the numbers in brackets. (The instructions are the same as script #6, but there we do not have the numbers, so the instructions are given again here.) First induce hypnosis. There is no need to carry out a time distortion because this will be contained in the post-hypnotic suggestion.

Image for housework (or any disagreeable job)

When I awaken, I will go about doing my housework. I will begin with the living room, then go on to the kitchen, etc. (1). I can see myself going through each room, doing all that is necessary. (2).

And while I am doing this, which I will do when I awaken, I will not notice time passing and very soon all the housework will be done. I will be able to get through all of my housework in no time at all. I will concentrate on each task and think of nothing else. (repeat) (3). You will feel happy and will direct all my attention to the task in hand. Yes, I will go from the living room to the kitchen, and then on to …

And in no time at all, the housework will be done and I will be very pleased and most satisfied with my progress and what I have accomplished.

Let me now explain the three points.

(1) It is useful to have a clear idea of which rooms and in what order you wish to do the housework, and to do this before you induce self-hypnosis. This is so that you can give yourself the instructions without having to think about it, for to think about it will activate your left brain. The order is purely illustrative, but it is best to begin with the most disagreeable task because the post-hypnotic suggestion will be strongest at this stage. This approach also has the advantage that, as the jobs get shorter, you will, quite naturally, take less time to do them, and so the success of the suggestions will act as a reinforcement.

(2) It is very important to carry out the visualization. Actually see yourself hoovering the floor, washing the dishes, etc. Furthermore, see yourself doing these in a very happy frame of mind – singing if you like that. In all likelihood, you will do the work very much as pictured. If you can, try introducing some fun into the whole affair. A job is not, in itself, drudgery: it is your attitude towards the job that makes it so. Knowing this, it can be eliminated and even replaced by something else. So why not introduce some humour into the whole affair. If you have children, include them in the work and turn it into a game. Be imaginative, and housework, or any job, can take on a totally new dimension.

(3) This is an important suggestion. It can be referred to as the principle of one-pointed attention. Jobs often take longer than necessary because a person’s whole attention is not on the job in hand. How often are we doing one thing while thinking about something else? This should be avoided at all costs. This one-pointed attention should be cultivated in all things you do, and not just in this post-hypnotic suggestion concerning housework. The more busy you are, especially if this means you have a variety of jobs to deal with, then the more important it is to deal with each problem in turn, and devote all your attention to that one task. When this is done, then and only then should you turn your attention to the next job. If you do have many jobs, always workout in advance of the hypnotic induction, the sequence in which they are to be carried out.