Question: Can I listen to a self-hypnosis audio or CD in the car while I’m driving?

Answer: My answer is an unequivocal, absolute “Please, no!” Not even with headphones. Not even if you aren’t driving. Self-hypnosis audios and CDs (whether mine or someone else’s) lead you to focus your attention inwardly, to the extent that everything in your outer world fades away.

When you’re driving, you need to be alert and aware. Even if you fast forward past the beginning part, the induction, the voice on the tape is going to be soothing and gentle. That alone will lull you into a relaxed, more inwardly directed state. Think of how it feels when you’re driving and listening to elevator music or music that bores you.

Once upon a time, I told a client not to listen to her individualized audiotape while driving. I wasn’t specific enough. At one point, her son was driving her to an appointment in a nearby city. She figured, “I’m not driving,” so popped her audiotape into the tape player in the car, and sat back to listen to it.

Soon, she became aware that the tires sounded funny. She opened her eyes and discovered that her son had succumbed to the relaxation on the tape and the car had drifted into the emergency lane. So I’m much more specific now when I warn people not to listen to their hypnosis recording in a moving vehicle.

Copyright 2002, 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved