Self-hypnosis and Meditation: What’s the Difference?
Are meditation and self-hypnosis the same thing — or do they serve different purposes? While both practices help shift your mental state, they do so in very different ways. Whether you’re aiming for deep healing, inner clarity, or behavior change, understanding the difference between meditation and self-hypnosis can help you choose (or combine) the right tools for your journey. Let’s break it down.
Understanding the Basics: What Sets Them Apart?
Self-hypnosis and meditation are often treated as something similar. To be honest: I did so as well. And before delving into differences, it’s good to notice the similarities, such as:
- Both might be treated as mindfulness practices,
- They are used to enhance our mental health,
- Self-hypnosis and meditation intertwine in some techniques (e.g.: both use breath-work),
- They alter our every day state of mind.
The key difference lies in how they approach those altered states of mind.
Meditation (usually) is about increased awareness and being in the present moment. It encourages looking at your feelings, emotions and sensations in body. You observe your thoughts, without identifying with them.
Meanwhile, auto-hypnosis puts focus on working with the subconscious mind. You do so, by getting into a hypnotic trance. It’s the state of mind, where your inner world feels more real than the external one.
It’s characterized by focused, deep concentration. Often, but not always, you delve into your experiences, to understand current behaviors, habits and patterns.
If you want to read more about the basis of self-hypnosis, click HERE to check out my guide.
Autohypnosis vs. Traditional Meditation: Key Differences
State of Mind
The difference in self-hypnosis and meditation lies in how your mind works. During hypnotic trance, it enters a highly suggestible state. Thanks to that, you can program new, positive changes, while getting rid of those, that don’t serve you.
In meditation, the goal is (usually) to remain fully aware and observant without engaging thoughts or emotions.
Control vs. Letting Go
Auto-hypnosis is more directive, tailored to tackle a specific problem. Meanwhile, with meditation you learn about letting go of thoughts, judgments, sudden emotions.
End Goals
Self-hypnosis is often used for specific personal improvement, such as quitting smoking, overcoming fears, or boosting confidence.
Meditation is typically practiced for mental clarity, emotional balance, and spiritual growth.
Techniques
Self-hypnosis and meditation share a lot of similar techniques. For example: in both, you can use breath-work to relax.
However, during hypnotic trance — and to induce it as well — you use auto-suggestions, such as affirmations and visualizations. It’s also good to have your own self-hypnosis script. It helps you ease into the whole practice.
Meditation can take many forms, but generally: it’s not that focused on specific techniques. While mantras are similar to affirmations, they are not a must-have of meditation.
Hypnotic Trance vs. Meditation Awareness
What mostly sets apart self-hypnosis and meditation is the difference between trance and awareness.
Hypnotic trance is a focused and absorbed state where the mind becomes highly suggestible. It is often induced through guided relaxation, autosuggestions like affirmations and visualizations. That state of mind allows you to bypass critical thinking, that doesn’t serve you anymore.
For example: you are a well earning artist. Yet, you are still influenced by your parent’s upbringing, when they said things like, “You can’t make a living with art.”
In contrast, meditation awareness is about cultivating presence and detachment from thoughts. You don’t engage with them — you observe them. Instead of shifting into trance, you sharpen your awareness of the present moment.
Thus, you learn how to accept and observe things without judgment.
What I find the most important distinction between self-hypnosis and meditation is the degree of mental control versus conscious surrender.
In hypnotic trance, you guide your mind toward specific problems. Those might be things like:
- Procrastination,
- Fear of success,
- Nicotine dependence,
- Sports-related anxieties.
You actively work towards solving those problems, following script and auto-suggestions. Of course, no hypnotic session is the same. You encounter different things in hypnotic trance, and use different techniques to deal with them.
But the rule remains the same: you are consciously working with your subconscious mind in a controlled manner.
Meanwhile, meditation emphasizes the importance of letting go. Instead of directing the mind toward a specific goal, you observe yourself, your thoughts, feelings and emotions. You don’t suppress them, nor cling to them.
This way, you enter a state of increased awareness. By consciously surrendering to them, you lose control, to become fully aware of yourself.
Unique Benefits of Each Practice
At that point, you might ask: so what exactly are the benefits of self-hypnosis and meditation?
Self-hypnosis is particularly effective for behavior change. It’s a powerful tool for addressing fears, anxieties, negative thought spiralling. If you struggle with problems of an unknown origin — auto-hypnosis is your friend.
Moreover, it allows you to strengthen positive behaviors. You want to form a new habit, that seems impossible? With hypnotic trance, you’ll make it into something easy, attractive and desirable.
It’s also one of the best tools to fight off procrastination.
On the other hand, meditation strengthens self-awareness and emotional regulation. With regular practice, you cultivate a deep sense of presence. Thanks to that, you reduce stress levels, learn how to react to unpleasant situations, regulate your emotions.
With time, meditation allows you to live your life, not relying on anxieties and emotional bursts.
At the same time, self-hypnosis and meditation have many common benefits. Both promote mindful life, self-consciousness and better understanding of yourself.
Which One Suits Your Goals Best?
If you’re thinking what’s better between self-hypnosis and meditation, the answer is: it depends.
Practicing meditation offers many benefits, as proved by scientific research.
I won’t go into detail, as you can read more HERE, but to sum up:
- It reduces stress and anxieties;
- Improves cognition and attention span;
- Enhances sleep quality;
- Improves physical and mental health.
Meditation is, of course, a broad term and there are many different kinds of it. However, it’s rather a practice that takes time to notice effects. Sometimes it’s one week, other times one month.
The key is regular practice and patience. It takes time to learn, how to sit and be with your thoughts. After that, you learn WHY you do that in practice, not just in theory.
Very often there is no specific reason. Meditation is helpful on many different fields, and it’s hard to distinct one, main goal.
Meanwhile, auto-hypnosis is great to tackle a specific problem. You hate public speeches, but you have to give a speech for your team in one week? With self-hypnosis, you will build a solid mindset, while learning why you are actually afraid.
Once you learn the true reasons, it’s way easier to deal with the problem itself.
Self-hypnosis is also great in terms of effectiveness. If you get to learning it, you notice first big results even in your first two weeks.
That is not to say that it’s just for short-term gains. You can practice auto-hypnosis daily for affirmations, visualizations, creativity etc.
And on the other hand: meditation doesn’t take years to see the first results!
In the end, the choice between self-hypnosis and meditation comes down to your needs.
- If you need to tackle a problem, like procrastination, I’d say auto-hypnosis is better.
- If you aim for self-awareness and thought-detachment, I’d say meditation is better.
But there is no need to choose.
Can You Combine Both for Greater Impact?
The beauty of the whole mindfulness movement is that you can combine different practices. It’s true for self-hypnosis and meditation as well. So how can you do it in practice?
Let’s say you work a full-time job, and your passion is dancing. Then:
- Early in the morning, use quick self-hypnosis to set a good mindset for a day.
- In the work, during a break, perform breath-work to stabilize and relax for a moment.
- Once you get home, meditate to break free from job-relates stress and thoughts.
- Use self-hypnosis before your dance practice, to maximize the joy and effectiveness of your training.
That’s of course a simple example. A lot comes down to your daily routine, preferences and needs. What matters as well is the stage of your mindfulness journey.
Meditation is more popular, that’s for sure. So many people start with that, and discover different practices later on.
What I’ve noticed, personally, is that once you discover and learn self-hypnosis, you are usually more keen to it. With auto-hypnosis, you tackle your biggest problems, that hold you back. In my case, it was a feeling of guilt for writing books, instead of working extra hours.
With time, however, you slowly switch more towards meditation. After all, once you dealt with your traumas, it’s time to learn more about your present self.
That doesn’t mean you don’t use self-hypnosis at all. It’s just that you don’t need to do it so often, once you conquer your hidden traumas.
There are, of course, some exceptions. For example: some new, sudden problem arises, and the mental block appears again. Then probably for some time you’ll once again switch to auto-hypnosis.
In the end, you will probably sort it out by yourself. Just remember: self-hypnosis and meditation are not mutually exclusive. They are both here to help you build your dream life.
And I highly encourage you to use self-hypnosis and meditation as complementary tools!