Meditation vs. self hypnosis.
They both quiet the mind and stop the inner chattering.
Hypnosis is quieting the mind by focusing the attention on one line of thought.
Meditation is quieting the mind by moving the attention from thought to the experience.
When the mind is quiet, it becomes receptive, but receptive to what?
Hypnosis makes the mind receptive to suggestions.
Meditation makes the mind receptive to intuition.
Hypnosis brings about a state of full concentration, which makes you fully distracted from everything other then your object of concentration.
In Meditation you are experiencing the object you meditate on, as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi said: It is not Concentration or Contemplation, but a direct experience of the sound of the mantra, you are repeating in your thought.
Putting your attention on the experiential level brings about a state of awareness - the opposite of what hypnosis is doing. Awareness is the good thing you get from meditation, not the quieting of the mind, not if this quiet does not lead to awareness, not if it leads to a state of trance and distraction, which turns you into a zombie who is acting like a robot.
Still people are mixing between Meditation and self Hypnosis and thinking they are basically the same thing. And when you analyze these practices, to understand them, so they will bring you to a state of awareness and not lead you to a state of trance, people think you are simply complicating things, and that you are addicted to thought...
Very very strange...;)
As a hypnotherapist who also teaches mindfulness meditation, I know a bit about both hypnosis and meditation. Actually hypnosis encourages thought even self hypnosis. The thoughts will be about how to change things, how to solve a problem. The trance state frees the subconscious so it can give insights, suggest solutions. Hypnosis without thought would be pretty useless IMO
Meditation covers a multitude of things. There is the classic mantra chant, focussing on the breath, and taking a journey in the mind. In mindfulness meditation the idea is to become aware of what the mind is doing....and lead it back to the breath. It doesn't matter how many times during a meditation your mind wanders..the important thing is that everytime you become aware your mind has wandered off, you lead it back.
There is a considerable overlap in the techniques. The other day I was leading a mindfulness meditation, and one of the ladies in y class really relaxed very deeply....and I had to resort to the lightening techniques I would use for a hypnotherapy patient,
You use the same techniques to induce relaxation (focussing on the breath,, imaginary landscape etc ) prior to using deepening techniques that you do for meditation.
In some respects the only difference is what the intention of the session is....or what the person leading it calls it. In one european country hypnosis is illegal...but it is totally OK to lead people in a relaxation session using guided imagery....
I personally think your view of the two modalities is wrong...but you are entitled to your view. in fact both are very experiential.
This is an article of an experienced hypnotist about this subject. If someone is interested:
http://www.selfhypnosis.com/meditation-vs-self-hypnosis/
Here is a link to a video, I couldn't have said it better:
Doesn't everyone agree that a trance state is the opposite of a state of awareness?
Well, in the same way that GT racing has nothing to do with hypnosis either.