Extreme Relaxation

Train yourself to experience the deepest possible relaxation. For stress relief, resilience, and letting your body heal itself.

Product includes 15 different audio files for download: 16 minute short version, 45 minute long version, 45 minute sleep version (no re-alert), all the above with and without binaural beats, all the above in uncompressed and compressed files, PLUS short/long/sleep with no music and no binaurals (just voice).

Listeners have said...

• "Exponentially more relaxed after this."
• "Awesome! So well done! Thanks for the deep dive."
• "The quick sesh with binaural beats sent me so deep today, you are a master at this."
• "Very well done, nice guided Relaxation"
  
• "Loved this! I'm about to listen to it again."
• "I can‘t thank you enough for this."
  
• "I love the redundant deepeners! It's like a very, very relaxing roller coaster that almost never ends 😂 ."

Relaxation is a Skill

What do most people do to relax? Generally it’s something highly stimulating, like watching television, playing video games, or going for a run.

Few people actually practice the skill of relaxing. Yes, relaxing is a skill, and you can get much, much better at it. Becoming good at relaxing sets your baseline for resilience quite high, so that fewer things bother you in general.

The first thing I teach all my hypnosis clients is how to relax on command using what’s called Post-Hypnotic Re-Induction Training or Rapid Relaxation Training. I give away a recording of that for free in my free Resilience 101 7-day email course.

But there are many elements of state training. Rapid Relaxation Training trains state access, getting into a relaxed state quickly. You can also train state intensity, in this case becoming extremely relaxed.

Train the Deepest Possible Trances

In hypnosis we refer to this as “depth of trance” and there are endless debates about whether such a thing exists or whether it is useful for making changes. Extreme relaxation is known by other names such as the Esdaile State, the Sichort State, the coma state and so on, and was originally used for surgery back before chemical anesthetic and analgesic. 

Before analgesics and anesthetic drugs, surgeon James Esdaile in his 1851 book talks about the first time he tried getting someone in extreme relaxation, he then operated on his scrotum:

If you can slice open someone's balls while they are in this state and they feel no pain, that might be a useful thing to know how to do, no? Most people experience spontaneous lack of pain in extremely deep trance, which you can test by having someone pinch the skin on the back of your hand very hard, or poking you with a needle. Then repeat it after you are awake.

What I notice is sensation, but no pain. It's pretty wild, but it makes sense, as in deep sleep we all have spontaneous lack of pain. But don't believe me, try it for yourself and see. Everyone is different.

Become Intensely Relaxed

Instead of “depth” we can talk about “intensity” and all states have intensity. You can be slightly happy, quite happy, or exploding with joy so intense it is overwhelming. There are precise ways in hypnosis to deepen, amplify, or intensity states, and it can be fun and useful to do so.

Often these are called "deepeners" in hypnosis. In this guided hypnosis audio I just layer one deepener after another after another. By the end you may find it hard to move a muscle or think a thought, it just seems like too much work. Then you are intensely, extremely relaxed.

Once deeply relaxed, you can then just hang out there for a while and let things happen, or you can try to do some change work or visualization or mindfulness meditation. I usually just rest and do nothing. Many people will find they fall asleep, so I made a version without a re-alerting section that you can use as you drift off.

I also made a shorter version and a longer version. The shorter one is about 16 minutes, and the longer more like 45 minutes, so you can choose to deeply relax for a short time or a long time.

Why Train Extreme Relaxation?

• It feels amazing. That alone is a good reason.
  
  
• It can make it much harder for you to get stressed afterwards. It's like an athlete training aerobic exercise so they have more endurance when playing. I find the effects of a 15 minute session can sometimes last for hours.
  
  
• It may facilitate healing. This is speculative, but if I had cancer or coronavirus, the first thing I’d do is spend many hours a day in deep trance, where my breathing becomes very slow and subtle, and allow my body to heal in that state. I suspect that would make it easier for my immune system to do its thing, certainly better than stressing out for hours every day. And at the very least, it can be a nice break from the stresses of being sick. Obviously it's not a "cure" for any disease though, and please do still seek regular medical care.
  
  
• It can provide temporary pain relief. Could even be useful if you can't do the drugs they use for surgery or dentistry for instance. I did this when I had a 2.5 hour dental procedure. I also opted for local numbing, because I'm not that confident in my pain control abilities. But after the dentist prescribed me some opioid drugs and said "you will need these." He was worried about me, given the unusual amount of time it took. But I only needed 4 ibuprofen once. I think this was due to my extreme relaxation during the procedure. My body didn't interpret it as a serious injury. I also know many other hypnotists who skip the analgesics entirely.

What Extreme Relaxation Doesn't Do

Extreme relaxation doesn’t transform the stress response to stressors. It's more general than that, like running for a basketball player. If you want to become really good at basketball, you need to do more than running, you also need to practice free throws, passing, dribbling, lay ups, and more. But having a good aerobic base can help a lot. Then at least you aren't panting and needing to take breaks during practice.

Similarly, there are methods from hypnosis and neuro-linguistic programming that can transform specific stressors very effectively. I find extreme relaxation isn’t a good state to do that kind of work from though, because you are so relaxed it is hard to move a muscle, speak out loud, or think a thought deliberately. So I don’t typically guide clients into this deep of trance.

But it's still good to be able to go that deep, and to do so regularly, because it's like hitting the reset button on your nervous system. It helps keep a baseline of low stress, which is the ideal environment to do other change work.

What You Get

• Short Version. 16 minutes of ridiculously deep relaxing trance. Soothing non-cheesy music, voice recorded on my studio-quality mic. Available in both uncompressed AIFF and compressed AAC (.m4a) versions.
  
  
• Long Version. Same as short version but with no voice for about 30 minutes after you reach the deepest trance state, just nice soothing music. You can use this time to rest, relax, visualize, meditate, or do self-hypnosis. The deepest, longest chill you can imagine.
  
  
• Sleep Version. Same as long version but with no suggestions for re-alerting. Don't worry, you won't get "stuck" in trance, you'll just wake up as normal but most likely feeling especially refreshed.
  
  
• Delta Binaural Beats Versions. Versions of all the above with a low delta frequency binaural beat subtly in the background. Delta frequencies "entrain" the brain into the deepest levels of consciousness, often associated with deep sleep or deep meditation. "Binaural" means one tone is played in the right ear and one in the left, with a frequency difference between the tones, creating the illusion of a pulsing sound. For that reason, you must use headphones for it to be effective. This enhances the experience for some, and others prefer no binaurals, so I made versions with and without.

Preview

You can listen to the entire short version without binaurals in this YouTube video:

To get a higher quality version of that and all other versions, buy the full product.

Pay What You Want

I think this is worth around $20. But I don't want money to be an obstacle, especially in these uncertain times. So pay anything from $2 or more. And if you want more 1-on-1 support, get Online Hypnosis with me.