Hypnotic-like Aspects of the Tibetan Tradition of Dzogchen Meditation.

Dzogchen meditation has been practiced by Bonpo and Buddhist yogis for at least 1,200 years. Dzogchen utilizes methods of meditation and yogic exercises that are said to help one fully awaken from that cause suffering in life. The philosophy and experiential practice of Dzogchen is very similar to hypnosis.

Empathic Features and Absorption in Fantasy Role-Playing.

This study examined the levels of empathy and absorption of individuals who regularly play fantasy and science fiction role-playing games. A hypothesis was developed that higher levels of empathy would be found in individuals who fantasy role-play based upon previous research in hypnosis such as J. R.

Mysteries of hypnosis and the self are revealed by the psychology and neuroscience of empathy.

This article reviews a growing body of research and theory in hypnosis and neuroscience that supports the empathic involvement theory (EIT) of hypnosis (Wickramasekera II, 2001; Wickramasekera II & Szlyk, 2003; Wickramasekera II, 2007c). The EIT is a unified transpersonal theory of hypnosis and the self, which weaves together empathic elements of Dzogchen, neodissociative, neuroscience, psychoanalytic, sociocognitive, and other theories by proposing that hypnotic phenomena are inherently characterized by their deep involvement with processes of empathy and the self. The EIT proposes that the experience of hypnosis is embodied in a system of neural networks in the brain that utilizes empathy-related processes, adaptive resonance between perceptual input and top-down expectancies, and connectionist learning algorithms to (a) empathically enact the affect, cognition, body language, response expectancies, social roles, sensations, etc.

Empathic features of absorption and incongruence.

A study was undertaken to examine whether empathy could be related to absorption and incongruence (repressive coping). The participants were 71 graduate students who completed measures of empathy, absorption, and incongruence (repressive coping). The results confirmed a previous finding that empathy appears positively related to absorption (r = .

Could empathy be a predictor of hypnotic ability?

This study examined whether trait empathy is related to hypnotic ability and absorption. Sixty-four graduate students and mental health professionals completed the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A; the Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index; and the Tellegen Absorption Scale as measures of hypnotic ability, empathy, and absorption. Correlation analysis determined that statistically significant relationships exist between empathy and hypnotic ability (r = .