Picture the familiar scene. You recline in a comfortable chair, close your eyes and listen to someone suggest that your breathing is slowing, your muscles are relaxing and your body is becoming wonderfully heavy. There is a countdown. There may be a staircase. They may even be playing whale music and have started speaking in a ‘Hush FM’ DJ voice. Before long, someone is inviting you to relax and go deeper.
Meanwhile, you are thinking: ‘This clearly has not worked. I am still awake, my legs would like to move and I remain offensively vertical.’ Or even ‘well the main reason I came here was because I cannot relax!’
If that sounds familiar, here is the answer to the question, do you have to relax for hypnosis? No. Relaxation can be useful, pleasant and entirely appropriate. However, sleepiness, closed eyes and motionless limbs are not compulsory ingredients.Hypnosis can happen without that.
You can engage with hypnotic suggestions while alert. You can keep your eyes open. In suitable circumstances, you can use self-hypnosis alongside movement. Research into active-alert hypnosis has been challenging the sleepy stereotype for decades. I have been teaching and writing about it for decades too.
This matters because people sometimes abandon self-hypnosis after failing to achieve a feeling that their actual goal never required. If you want to speak confidently, run consistently or approach a difficult conversation more constructively, becoming an exceptionally comfortable puddle may not be your most relevant preparation.
Why relaxation and hypnosis are different
Relaxation describes a change in tension or arousal. Hypnosis concerns the use of suggestion to influence experience and behaviour, although researchers differ in how they explain and define it. Attention, expectations, imagination and the interpretation of responses all deserve consideration.
A hypnotic suggestion might invite a change in perceived comfort, a movement that feels easier or more automatic, or a different emotional response to an imagined situation. Relaxation may accompany those experiences. It need not accompany all of them.
Consider the distinction from the other direction. You can relax during a massage, while listening to music or after sitting down following a demanding day. None of those experiences automatically establishes that hypnosis has occurred. Otherwise, an impressive proportion of British sofas would need professional indemnity insurance.
Feeling relaxed is evidence that you feel relaxed. Remaining alert is evidence that you remain alert. Neither observation, by itself, settles what is happening in response to suggestion.
This also means you do not need to monitor yourself for a special internal announcement: ‘Hypnosis has now commenced.’ Ask what you are practising, what changes you notice and whether those changes help.
Why the sleepy image became so familiar
The historical language of hypnosis has strong associations with sleep, and conventional inductions often reinforce them. Instructions about heaviness, drooping eyelids and going deeper make drowsiness an understandable expectation.
There are practical reasons for the association too. Someone seeking help with stress may welcome a quiet room and a chance to release unnecessary tension. A bedtime recording will sensibly sound different from preparation for a race. Recorded sessions frequently assume that listeners are resting somewhere comfortable.
Add theatrical images of limp bodies and marketing promises about ‘switching off’, and the familiar picture becomes difficult to escape.
The trouble begins when a useful convention becomes a universal requirement. ‘Deeper’ may be a meaningful metaphor for some people, but it is not a physical destination. There is no underground hypnosis department into which everyone must descend before suggestions can matter.
Relaxation earns its place when it serves the person and the goal. It should not become an entrance examination.
What active-alert hypnosis actually means
Active-alert hypnosis combines hypnotic suggestion with alertness and, in some approaches, physical activation. The classic research procedure developed by Éva Bányai and Ernest Hilgard involved participants pedalling a stationary bicycle with their eyes open while receiving alerting suggestions. Their 1976 study compared this with a conventional relaxation induction (Bányai & Hilgard, 1976).
Bányai’s later account describes a body of research showing both similarities and differences between active-alert and traditional hypnosis, including differences in subjective experience (Bányai, 2018). This work undermines the assumption that hypnosis must look or feel sleepy. It does not establish that every moving activity constitutes hypnosis or that active-alert practice is universally superior.
There is a further distinction worth making. A structured laboratory induction on a stationary bicycle is not the same thing as someone using a short suggestion during an ordinary walk. The research provides a reason to question the requirement for relaxation. It does not automatically validate every exercise bearing the active-alert label.
In practice, alert approaches can involve upright posture, energising language, open eyes, movement or task rehearsal. Related approaches vary, so I would not treat ‘active-alert’ as one identical procedure used by every practitioner.
Nor is exercising automatically hypnotic. Walking, positive self-talk and motivational music can be useful in their own right. In self-hypnosis, we deliberately establish a suggestion-based exercise, attend to its meaning and explore the response it invites. The boundaries overlap with imagery and other psychological skills; giving something a hypnotic label does not make it uniquely powerful.
Can you be hypnotised with your eyes open?
Yes. Closing your eyes can reduce visual distraction and make it easier to attend to imagined experiences or bodily sensations. It is an option rather than a requirement.
Eyes-open practice might involve looking comfortably at an object, reading a short suggestion, observing a small movement or attending to features of the situation you are rehearsing. You do not need to stare hard enough to intimidate the furniture.
For a speaking exercise, the relevant visual information might be your notes or the room ahead. For a simple preparation routine, it might be the place where you intend to begin a task.
The aim is useful attention. Sometimes that means concentrating closely; sometimes it means keeping attention flexible and responsive to your surroundings. Any practice undertaken during movement must preserve the awareness needed to move safely.
There is no sensible blanket ranking in which closed eyes are always more effective. Compare methods against the outcome you want, rather than judging them by how closely they resemble a hypnosis demonstration.
Who might prefer a more active approach?
An alert approach may be worth exploring if you repeatedly fall asleep during recordings, feel uncomfortable with closed eyes or spend a relaxation exercise wondering when you are allowed to move again.
It may also suit a practical goal that involves standing, speaking or acting. Rehearsing the first sentence of a presentation while looking ahead has an obvious relationship to delivering that presentation.
These are reasons to experiment, not evidence that you belong to a permanent category of person. I would avoid announcing that someone is a ‘kinaesthetic learner’ and prescribing movement for the remainder of their natural life. Preferences change with fatigue, familiarity, setting and purpose.
Someone may enjoy seated, eyes-closed self-hypnosis in the evening and a brief alert exercise before work. Both choices can be sensible. I lie down and relax with my eyes closed when using self-hypnosis to help lull myself to sleep at night, and then I use highly charged active alert self-hypnosis when training in the gym in the mornings.
For people who find stillness difficult, movement may offer a manageable starting point. For others, it adds an unnecessary distraction. Find out which applies through experience and feedback.
When relaxation is exactly what you want
If your goal is to settle before bed, an energising exercise may be spectacularly poor timing. Relaxation can help create a deliberate pause, reduce unnecessary muscular effort and provide an enjoyable context for suggestions about comfort or rest.
It can also be part of pain-management work, alongside suitable clinical assessment and treatment. However, pain relief and whole-body relaxation are different outcomes. Feeling comfortable does not require every muscle to become heavy, and relaxation alone is not a complete explanation for hypnotic analgesia. I have used self-hypnosis to reduce pain when I have been running ultra marathons for example and some of my clinical clients have used self-hypnosis to reduce pain during childbirth when very much active and alert and involved in that experience.
You can value relaxation without making exaggerated claims about it. You can also find it difficult on a particular day without treating that difficulty as proof that you cannot use hypnosis.
A gentler starting suggestion might be: ‘I can notice this sensation without needing to change everything at once.’ Demanding immediate calm often gives people another task to feel they are failing.
Try this eyes-open active-alert experiment
This is a brief self-hypnosis practice inspired by alert approaches. It is not a replication of the bicycle research, a diagnostic test or a validated treatment protocol.
Practise indoors in a clear space. Sit upright or stand with comfortable support if needed. No exercise equipment is required. Keep your eyes open and stop if you feel dizzy, distressed or disorientated.
First, choose one small goal. For example, beginning a task you have postponed. Select a first action that is under your control: opening the document, writing a heading or making a short outline.
Next, orient yourself. Notice the room, the support beneath you and an object ahead. Allow ordinary breathing. There is no need to breathe unusually slowly or deeply.
Introduce the suggestion. Say quietly or think: ‘As I attend to that first step, I can become more ready to begin.’ Consider what readiness would look like in action. You might imagine reaching for your notes or hear yourself saying the opening sentence. As you imagine the outcome, expect it to occur and believe it is going to be your reality.
Add an optional movement. Gently bring your hands into a useful position, straighten your notes or make a small comfortable shift of posture. Let this accompany the suggestion rather than trying to force a dramatic feeling.
Explore the response. Repeat the suggestion a few times, noticing any change in willingness, attention or emotional response. You may feel a modest shift. You may notice little. Neither outcome requires theatrical embellishment.
Finish by acting. End the exercise deliberately, look around and complete the first step. The useful outcome is whether beginning becomes more manageable.
On another day, practise the same suggestion while seated with your eyes closed, including a short period of comfortable relaxation. Keep the duration and task as similar as reasonably possible.
After each version, rate engagement, alertness, absorption, concentration, how believable the suggestion felt, emotional response, relevance to the goal and willingness to continue. A simple zero-to-ten rating is sufficient. Also record whether you actually began the task.
Repeat the comparison if useful. One good afternoon does not reveal your permanent hypnotic identity. Sleep, workload and expectations may affect the result. This is a personal comparison to guide practice, not a scientific trial proving one method superior.
You can review the videos here on this website for a great many similar exercises.
Self-hypnosis while walking
Walking can provide a convenient rhythm for a simple suggestion. Safety determines whether it is appropriate at all.
Begin on a clear, level indoor route or a quiet, familiar pedestrian path away from traffic and other hazards. If you have balance difficulties or movement is demanding, use a seated alternative. Keep your eyes open and maintain ordinary awareness of the route, surfaces and people around you.
Choose a phrase such as: ‘Steady steps; begin the next useful action.’ Let it accompany a few steps loosely. There is no need to match every syllable or disappear into an elaborate imagined world.
Briefly rehearse a relevant quality: approaching a conversation patiently, for example, or returning to work with a clear first step. Then bring your attention fully back to the surroundings.
Use short periods and leave gaps. Stop the suggestion exercise before crossings, crowded areas, uneven ground or anything requiring more attention. Road safety overrides the exercise at all times. If awareness narrows, stop the exercise; this is not an invitation to become absorbed while navigating hazards.
Do not use this practice while driving, cycling on roads or operating machinery. A conventional recording that asks you to close your eyes, become drowsy or ignore surroundings is unsuitable for walking.
You might enjoy watching this short video (60 seconds) where I show how to use this process: Self-Hypnosis When Walking.
Self-hypnosis for running and exercise
My interest in applying hypnosis to running reflects a wider principle: psychological skills should help us engage with the activity we actually want to perform. That does not mean making every training session a hypnosis session.
A runner might rehearse maintaining an appropriate pace, responding constructively to a difficult section or returning attention to useful information after becoming frustrated. Preparation can also include how to recover between efforts and how to respond when a session needs adapting.
A suggestion such as ‘I can assess this effort and adjust my pace sensibly’ offers a better basis for judgement than ‘Nothing can stop me.’ Quite a few things should stop you. Chest pain is one. A delivery van is another.
Distinguish familiar exercise effort from warning signs. Never use hypnosis to suppress injury signals, chest pain, dizziness, overheating or unusual breathlessness. Stop exercising and obtain appropriate medical help when symptoms warrant it.
The safest starting point is rehearsal before activity, while stationary. During suitable exercise, keep cues brief, preserve situational awareness and follow the demands of the activity. Avoid complex imagery, narrowed attention or relaxation recordings while using equipment. Technically demanding lifts require your attention on the lift.If you follow me on my social media channels, you’ll see me demonstrate applying self-hypnosis when lifting in the gym regularly.
A controlled research setting involving a stationary bicycle is not blanket permission to practise hypnosis on gym machinery by the way!
Rehearse public speaking on your feet
Suppose you want to feel more capable during a presentation. You could begin by practising a brief suggestion while standing or sitting as you will for the talk, looking ahead and saying the opening sentence aloud.
Think and believe: ‘I can feel some activation and still deliver this first sentence clearly.’ Then deliver it. Notice your voice, breathing and attention without demanding perfection.
Rehearse a minor disruption too. Lose your place deliberately, pause, look at your notes and continue. A suggestion such as ‘A pause gives me time to find the next point’ may be more credible than promising yourself that you will never hesitate.
Include natural gestures and attention towards the audience. You are practising behaviour in a relevant context, with suggestion supporting that rehearsal. This is a practical rationale, not a claim that standing hypnosis has been proven superior for every speaker.
The goal need not be zero nervousness. It may be the ability to speak while nervousness is present.
What posture and movement can contribute
Posture changes the practical conditions of an exercise. Reclining supports rest. Sitting upright may make it easier to stay awake. Standing gives you access to the movements involved in speaking. Physical comfort, pain, disability and fatigue all affect which position is workable.
A posture may also influence how ready you feel, but that does not justify claims that adopting a powerful stance automatically creates confidence or changes your hormones. Treat posture as one adjustable part of rehearsal.
Movement can provide rhythm, sensory feedback and a cue associated with a suggestion. It may make imagined action easier to engage with. It can also compete for attention or become tiring.
Ask a useful question: ‘Does this help me practise the response I want?’ You are allowed to remove movement if the answer is no.
Choose your method with MATCH
MATCH is my practical framework for this article. It is a planning aid, not a validated clinical protocol.
- M — Meaningful goal: What specific response or action are you practising?
- A — Appropriate arousal: Would calm, ordinary alertness or greater energy serve that goal?
- T — Task-relevant posture: Would reclining, sitting, standing or safe movement help?
- C — Comfortable attention: Do open eyes, closed eyes or a combination make engagement easier?
- H — Helpful suggestion: What credible wording supports the next useful action?
For sleep preparation, the answers may favour a quiet, reclining practice. For a presentation, they may favour upright rehearsal with open eyes. Neither requires you to declare allegiance to a particular induction.
Common questions about hypnosis without relaxation
Is eyes-open hypnosis less effective?
There is no universal answer across people, suggestions and outcomes. Research on active-alert hypnosis challenges the necessity of eye closure and relaxation. It does not establish identical effectiveness for every therapeutic use (Bányai, 2018).
Am I hypnotised if I remain fully alert?
Alertness is compatible with hypnosis. It does not prove hypnosis by itself. Pay attention to how you engage with suggestions, the experiences that follow and their usefulness, rather than searching for sleepiness as confirmation.
Can I move during a hypnosis recording?
You can adjust your position and respond to discomfort. If a recording assumes stillness or invites drowsiness, keep it for an appropriate resting setting. End or pause it before moving into an activity that needs attention.
What if I cannot relax?
Remove relaxation as the immediate target and try a short, comfortable, alert exercise. Persistent agitation or distress may need attention in its own right. You do not have to push through an exercise that makes you feel worse.
Can I practise while walking or at the gym?
Only where the activity and surroundings allow full safety and awareness. Start with stationary rehearsal. Walking practice should remain simple and stop whenever navigation becomes demanding. Avoid hypnosis during technically demanding lifts, equipment operation or hazardous activity.
Why do I fall asleep during hypnosis?
Possible contributors include tiredness, timing, a reclining position and a soothing recording. Falling asleep does not demonstrate a deeper or better hypnotic response. If you want awake practice, try an earlier time, a shorter session and a more upright position.Your brain does usually associate lying down with being asleep, so sit upright instead. Persistent unexplained daytime sleepiness warrants medical advice.
Does active-alert hypnosis work for ADHD?
Some people with ADHD may prefer movement or shorter exercises. Preference is not evidence of treatment effectiveness. The active-alert research discussed here does not establish it as an effective ADHD treatment. Adapt practice to the individual and continue appropriate established care.
Is relaxation necessary for pain relief?
Relaxation and pain relief are distinct. Hypnotic pain-management work can use suggestions directed towards comfort and the experience of pain, with relaxation included when helpful. Our review considered clinical self-hypnosis studies including pain applications, but it did not establish that active-alert and relaxed methods are equivalent for pain (Eason & Parris, 2019). New, worsening or unexplained pain needs appropriate assessment.
Can I alternate between still and active practice?
Yes. Your method can change with your purpose and circumstances. Flexibility is a useful skill, not inconsistency.
What this means for hypnotherapy practice
Practitioners should ask about comfort, preferences and goals before assuming that closed eyes and progressive relaxation are the right starting point. Someone moving a leg, sitting upright or asking to keep their eyes open is providing information. Calling it resistance does not substitute for understanding it.
Offer choices, consider disability and physical capacity, explain what the exercise involves and obtain feedback. Compare approaches against meaningful outcomes. An induction should help establish useful engagement rather than become a performance the client must pass.
My research with Ben Parris reviewed 22 randomised controlled trials of clinical self-hypnosis. The findings supported its potential, while highlighting methodological differences and the importance of how the skill was taught and practised (Eason & Parris, 2019).
Our abstract described self-hypnosis as most likely to be effective when taught as an ‘independent self-directed skill’. That supports taking teaching and practice seriously. It does not prove that recordings are ineffective, that three sessions guarantee success or that movement is a superior treatment ingredient.
Bányai’s (2018) account explicitly reports ‘both similarities and differences’ between traditional and active-alert hypnosis. That is a useful reminder to retain curiosity about the experience rather than replacing one rigid rule with another.
You can remain awake and get on with it
So, do you have to relax for hypnosis? You can enjoy relaxation when it helps, and use another approach when your goal calls for alertness.
You do not need to become sleepy, heavy or motionless to begin exploring self-hypnosis. Choose a meaningful goal, a credible suggestion and a safe way to engage. Notice what happens, practise and adapt.
If you would like to develop that approach further, explore my self-hypnosis teaching and my book. The approach in my book The Science of Self-Hypnosis and my research-informed self-hypnosis teaching explain how to develop these abilities through active participation and practice. You can explore my self-hypnosis protocol at this page: Learn Self-Hypnosis.
For applications involving exercise, motivation and confidence, you can also explore Hypnosis for Running, Exercise and Fitness, The Motivation Sessions and Ultimate Confidence, alongside the Hypnosis Audio Emporium. Choose recordings suited to your setting and follow their instructions; a conventional resting session should stay a resting session. Look for these titles in the full listing of my hypnosis audios here.
For prospective practitioners, my diploma training reflects this wider commitment to research-informed, adaptable hypnotherapy. Clients differ, and the therapeutic goal should guide the intervention. You can explore my range of courses at the Anglo European College of Therapeutic Hypnosis.
There is room in hypnosis for the reclining chair. There is also room to sit up, open your eyes and practise something useful.
Main References
Bányai, É. I. (2018). Active-alert hypnosis: History, research, and applications. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 61(2), 88–107. doi:10.1080/00029157.2018.1496318
Bányai, É. I., & Hilgard, E. R. (1976). A comparison of active-alert hypnotic induction with traditional relaxation induction. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 85(2), 218–224. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.85.2.218
Eason, A. D., & Parris, B. A. (2019). Clinical applications of self-hypnosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 6(3), 262–278. doi:10.1037/cns0000173
Eason, A. D., & Parris, B. A. (2023). The importance of highlighting the role of the self in hypnotherapy and hypnosis. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 53, 101810. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2023.101810
