Hypnosis and Fasting?

[JackTheWriter]

I was curious if fasting before either listening to a file or having a private session would having any effect on the hypnosis, either positive, negative or none at all. I have fasted in the past for various reasons(up to three days completely with only water and broth as my sustenance) and I know that it puts me in an altered state of mind and clears my thoughts while doing it. Would it make me more susceptible to hypnosis and easier to accept any suggestions while under because of the clearer mind while fasting? Or would it inhibit the ability to go into trance because of the known religious overtones associated with fasting?

Has anyone ever tried this before and if so could you share the results? I am also open to any theories that the hypnotists on this site have about this idea. I would like to gather some information before I try it myself and when I do I will post the results here for anyone that is intrigued by this.

[Jeshi]

I think it would just depend on the person. Hypnosis isn't actually much of an altered state compared to other states that are called altered states.

Hypnotized people are about the same as non-hypnotized people except they're relaxed and they aren't thinking critically. Hypnosis is a method with which to get people to stop thinking critically and be convinced of things.

I don't know what your fasting altered state is like. Even if it clears your mind of thoughts, are you still able to listen to and consider ideas proposed to you?

The difference between a suggestion awake and a suggestion hypnotized is that the normal reaction to a suggestion while awake is "Is that true?" while when you're hypnotized it's "Oh, that's true." (Or "Should I do that?" versus "Sure, I'll do that." or however you want to phrase it.)

I honestly don't think that fasting for days is worth it for just a half an hour hypnosis file, but if it's really such an easy nonchalant thing for you to do then I guess you could try it. I'd say no harm in trying, but I don't know much about fasting. There's at least no harm in trying on the hypnosis end.

[Calimore]

From a classic text by Edward Alsworth Ross. "Suggestibility". Chapter 2 in Social Psychology: An outline and source book. New York: Macmillan Co. (1919): 11 - 4

Fasting heightens suggestibility

Fasting heightens susceptibility to hallucination and suggestion. The universally recommended regimen for hearing voices, experiencing ecstatic states, and "seeing God" is fasting. There was an ancient saying, "The stuffed prophet shall not see or know secret things." The Indian boy about the time of puberty fasts till he is vouch safed a vision of his "Manitou." In the earlier days the negro, "seekers" fasted in order to experience "conversion." Savage peoples employ fasting, solitude, and physical exhaustion induced by watching, dancing, whirling, shouting, or flagellation, to bring on abnormal states in which suggestibility is extreme. The preternatural resonance of the half-starved human being has long been counted a sign of divine afflatus, and the full-fed healthy man of stable mentality has humbled himself before the emaciated seer of visions and dreamer of dreams.

http://www.brocku.ca/MeadProject/Ross/Ross_1919/Ross_1919_02.html

[Jeshi]

From a classic text by Edward Alsworth Ross. "Suggestibility". Chapter 2 in Social Psychology: An outline and source book. New York: Macmillan Co. (1919): 11 - 4

Fasting heightens suggestibility

Fasting heightens susceptibility to hallucination and suggestion. The universally recommended regimen for hearing voices, experiencing ecstatic states, and "seeing God" is fasting. There was an ancient saying, "The stuffed prophet shall not see or know secret things." The Indian boy about the time of puberty fasts till he is vouch safed a vision of his "Manitou." In the earlier days the negro, "seekers" fasted in order to experience "conversion." Savage peoples employ fasting, solitude, and physical exhaustion induced by watching, dancing, whirling, shouting, or flagellation, to bring on abnormal states in which suggestibility is extreme. The preternatural resonance of the half-starved human being has long been counted a sign of divine afflatus, and the full-fed healthy man of stable mentality has humbled himself before the emaciated seer of visions and dreamer of dreams.

http://www.brocku.ca/MeadProject/Ross/Ross_1919/Ross_1919_02.html

I'm not sure how much one should trust anything so old that they still refer to anyone as "savage peoples" let alone "negroes." We have come a long long way in psychology since then, the stance of fasting could be very different.

I remember I found a book once that was from that era and it had a chapter about how "Negroes engage in unusual sexual behavior because they know that they are not white enough to engage in normal sexual behavior" and kept referring to anal sex as "negro-style." In that same book, it claimed that homosexuality is the result of an Oedipus Complex that is realized as wrong, so then the child blocks themselves from being attracted to not just their mother, but all women, and then channels their sexual energy into men to fill the gap.

So. . . Psychology from the 1910s is probably not very reliable is what I'm saying.

[Haxsaw]

Dear Friends,
I had stated before Jesus warned fasting beyond three days was dangerous. I am sure someone half starved would hallucinate a great deal. I, on a dare, went 24 hours without food. I felt my inner man was cleansed. I found this to be odd to experience. Someone had seen I ate a great deal. He dared me to go a one day without food. I only had water. I did find my thoughts were very clear. That night, after, I got a thick crust double pepperoni pizza and a Pepsi!
Sincerely,
Haxsaw