**8. Conclusion**

*Hypnotherapy and Hypnosis*

*First part*

*Second part*

*session:*

*First part*

*to my stomach."*

*Second part*

*energy inside me."*

*specific and clear goals in his life:*

*big bright shining light from the sun."*

*"I feel more relaxed and peaceful."*

*relaxation and inner peace."*

*"I don't feel exhausted, but relaxed."*

tion), or lack of a referential index, among others.

are some suggestions for their usage [3]:

*something that I haven't felt for a long time."*

*right… very well… freely… quietly … (pause a minute) … Now you can lower your arms … And when your arms reach your side and descend on your legs … You will be totally… and freely… awake… Rested and awaken… How well are you feeling?*

Next, here is some feedback from people who experienced this approach:

*A 24-year-old man who suffered a chronic sense of demotivation and a lack of* 

*"I visualized myself achieving every single goal that guided me towards my main goal. I pictured myself getting good grades, I felt joyful and happy, I visualized myself with my family sharing my success and my main goal achieved."*

*"I felt as if I was finally released from something so strong that was keeping me tied up. I felt an unbelievable sense of freedom, I felt a bunch of adrenaline, a burst of* 

*"I could feel the air in my face, like I was really flying in the air, and I finally saw a* 

*Report from a patient with depression and anxiety after an active-alert hypnosis* 

*"I felt a huge amount of blood pumping fast up to my head and then running down* 

*"I felt how the adrenaline rushes through my body from my stomach to my brain. This sensation makes me feel euphoric and generates emotion and happiness,* 

*"This is a feeling that I haven't experienced before, but now I only feel the energy from the front side of my brain to my mouth, and even more than the energy, I feel* 

**7. Some general guidelines to apply active-alert hypnotic procedure**

There is no big difference between how the linguistic structure is applied in common, relaxed trances, as you may have seen in the approach we share with you, there are some "hypnotic language forms" [24] or "Milton Model" patterns [28, 29], such as analogical marks, interspersal, ambiguities (phonological and punctua-

In addition, the use of posthypnotic suggestions is key to the construction of a good and effective hypnotic script, since you are looking for a "posthypnotic behavior" [30] integrated into the "normal" behavior of the person [5], and there

**128**

Active-alert hypnotic states could be an alternative in some cases where traditional, relaxed-state hypnosis may not be applied. This approach can be used as a tool to guide people to realize how hypnosis could be experienced on a daily basis and as an auto-hypnosis method, making use of posthypnotic trance states.

Reaching a goal requires people to think, to feel, and to act, both consciously and unconsciously. Both active-alert hypnosis and traditional relaxed-state hypnosis help to store goal-seeking information into the unconscious mind in order to encourage the person to reach his/her goals in a nonconscious manner. However, an advantage of active-alert hypnosis is that it seems to increase motivation and energy as well as increasing the probability of producing a state of flow.

According to our experience, this dumbbells technique is an excellent tool helping people to set and achieve their own goals, whatever they are: personal, professional, financial, and health-related ones. Also, in many cases it could produce a flow state characterized by a focused attention and full concentration, merging awareness and action, "freedom" from worries about failure, self-consciousness disappearing, distorted time sense, and auto-rewarding experiences [33]; this flow state leads the person to a higher motivation and energy, augmented self-efficiency perception, mind clarity, and self-control.

AAH could be very useful in high-performance athletes, as has been shown by Unestahl's research [30]. We have used the dumbbells technique, as a kind of AAH, in several cases of high-performance athletes and sport teams, from amateurs to professionals. The following is a report from a female cyclist who won gold medal in 2018 Pan-American games, who experienced this technique after a session of AAH dumbbells technique:

*"I felt all the people in the stadium was screaming, encouraging me… to arrive the finish line in first place… I felt how my legs were stronger and faster as time goes by… once I reached the goal I felt proud, happiness, and a lot of inner peace."*

We invite you to develop your own approaches, keeping in mind that there are many kinds of hypnotic states and that you can elicit those states just by talking, even about something trivial, like your wardrobe, following conversational hypnotic patterns, by reading while your unconscious learns something without you noticing it yet, you know?
