Sleep Programing With Sleep Affirmations - How To Make Your Own Sleep Tape
- Sleep tapes directly target the subconscious mind.
- Sleep tapes can provide 6-8 hours of positive reinforcement each night.
- Sleep tapes are effective at programming 90% of the population! Â
 What Is A Sleep Tape?           Â
A sleep tape is an audio recording that contains several affirmation statements, which are repeated in a continuous loop while you sleep.
As the subconscious is always recording new information (even while you sleep) a sleep tape provides an excellent opportunity to flood the mind with positive reinforcement.
When a sleep tape is used with other programming methods, the subconscious receives positive reinforcement throughout the day and night, thereby accelerating the process of reprogramming.
However do not confuse a sleep tape with “sleep learning” which is something different, and something I do not believe to be effective.
What Can I Use A Sleep Tape For?
A sleep tape can be used with any information you would like to put into the subconscious, so the possibilities really are endless. But here are a few ideas…
- Use a sleep tape to loose weight.
- Use a sleep tape to increase confidence.
- Use a sleep tape to increase sales.
- Use a sleep tape to get a certain job.
- Use a sleep tape to grow back hair.
- Use a sleep tape to attract a lover into your life.
- Use a sleep tape to improve your health.
How To Make A Sleep Tape
A sleep tape does require some effort to create and a small amount of technical knowledge, but in my opinion the effort is well worth it.
Creating Spoken Affirmations For Your Sleep Tape
To begin, you first need to decide what areas of your life you would like to improve and then create several related affirmation statements.
It is important these statements are spoken in the present positive tense, so should start with “I have…” or “I am…”.
It is unknown whether “I” or “you” affirmations are more effective for sleep tapes, so I am now recommending you record dual affirmations, one beginning with “I” then repeated with “you”.
Click here for detailed examples of affirmations.
Recording Affirmations For Your Sleep Tape
Once you have decided on your affirmations (I recommend a maximum of 5-10 statements) you now need to record them. Here you have 2 options.
1 - Record your own voice.
2 - Use a text to speech program to do it for you.
I personally prefer* using a text to speech program, such as the one found here (I recommend Audrey UK Voice).
If you are using this method to create your sleep tape, type in an affirmation and save the spoken statement as a file.
Do this for all your affirmation statements.
*Sleep tapes may be more effective if they are recorded in a voice that is not your own.
Create A Booster Statement For Your Sleep Tape
It is also a good idea to create an additional “booster statement” to encourage your subconscious to accept these affirmations. A statement I use is…
“I accept these commands and use them to benefit my life in positive ways”
You can use that statement or create something similar that you are comfortable with.
Editing Affirmations For Your Sleep Tape
This is the part that requires some technical knowledge, but it really isn’t that difficult.
With the affirmations you have recorded (and have saved as files) you now need to repeat these affirmations in a continuous loop for 6-8 hours, depending on how long you normally sleep.
You will also need to create a period of silence at the beginning of the sleep tape. How long you make this silence, will depend on how quickly you fall asleep.
I have 2 hours of silence at the beginning of my sleep tape, so I only hear the messages during sleep and upon waking.
The program I use to edit my affirmations is called “Wavelab”, but there are other free audio editing programs you can use such as Audacity which do similar things.
// - Added new details for wavelab
If importing the text to speech affirmations you recorded, in wavelab select file, new wave and make sure sample rate is manually set to 16000. Then edit, insert audio file at start and repeat for each of your affirmation files.
Once these are all inserted add a 5 second gap between them, then select all, copy and edit, paste special, multiple copies until you get something close to 1 hour in total play time. Save this file. Then edit select all, silence to add 1 hour silence at start. Repeat until you have 3 hour silence at start.
Then save as a separate file. You can save this as wave file, and mp3 file also. 16000 / 16000 mono mp3 setting is fine for sleep tape. Although you can make better quality if you don’t care about file size. Under the mp3 setting click encoding, then edit to enter these settings.
The 1 hour file you have created copy and past in windows so you have around 4 copies, then use the mp3 joiner to join all the files into 1. This is how i make my sleep tapes. Sleep tape around 60mb is normal, for 7-8 hour tape.
// - end new details for wavelab
The best way to create your sleep tape is to copy and paste your affirmations until they repeat for 6-8 hours. Then insert a period of silence at the start (remember to include the booster statement at the start of your affirmations!).
The resulting file is likely to be very large, so you now need to convert it into mp3 format. Don’t worry about selecting a high bit rate (quality) as you are working with spoken words and so can quite comfortably lower the quality to get a smaller file size. My sleep tape is around 100mb.
Trouble Creating The Files? Â
If you have trouble creating one large file, repeat the affirmations for 1 hour in your audio editing program and save it as an mp3 file. Do this 6-8 times to create additional identical 1 hour files.
Now use the same file but this time insert your silence at the start and save it as a separate file. To avoid confusion label the files “silence”, hour 1, hour 2, hour 3 etc…
When you have done this, you should have 6-8 identical separate files that contain 1 hour of affirmations each and also a separate file that has a period of silence at the start. You can now use an mp3 joiner to merge these files together into one large file.Â
Playing The Sleep Tape
If you have successful created your sleep tape, congratulations! You now have an excellent tool for mind programming, which you can use everyday. But first you need to a way to play it!
My preferred option is to keep the sleep tape in mp3 format and play it via an mp3 player.
However if you prefer you can convert it to CD format and play it via a CD player, or alternatively use your computer if you leave it on at night.
Since you will most likely find it difficult to sleep with headphones on, I recommend using small portable speakers. These can be wedged between your mattress and headboard underneath your pillow.
If you do this you should test out the volume so that you can hear it while you sleep, but make sure the volume is not too loud otherwise it will wake you up!
Please do not sleep with headphones on. This will most likely damage your hearing. The sleep tape does not have to be played very loud. Ideally it should be played on a bedside cabinet at a low volume, or via some small portable speakers tucked underneath your pillow.
Sleep Tape Final Thoughts
A sleep tape is an excellent method for accelerating the process of mind reprogramming, as it directly targets the subconscious mind for a prolonged period of time. It is like having someone praise you for 6-8 hours everyday, sooner or later your subconscious will begin to take notice!
The Sleep Tape May Influence Your Dreams
When you start using your sleep tape, you may notice something strange happening to your dreams. For me the first thing that happened was a person speaking my affirmations to me in a dream.
After using the sleep tape for a few weeks, I then began to notice that the majority of my dreams were in some way consistent with my affirmation statements.
If you experience anything similar to this it is an indication that your subconscious is being modified, which means the sleep tape is working! But don’t worry if you can’t remember your dreams, as sleep tapes will be effective for 90% of the population.
If you would like to learn more about sleep tapes I recommend listening to this speech given by Aldous Huxley (author of A Brave New World). In it he talks about controlling the mind and makes reference to the use of sleep tapes, very interesting stuff!
Can You Help? Share Your Experiences / Thoughts
I do not claim to have all the answers on sleep tapes. This research is an educated best guess based on the things I have read, and the people I have heard talk about sleep programing. It is an ongoing process, and I am constantly tweaking my sleep tapes based on new research I discover.
The US Army has been said to use sleep tapes on some of their soldiers, so I have no doubt that sleep tapes are potentially very valuable mind programing tools.
Where I am uncertain is what the best method of delivering the affirmations should be, i.e. how should the affirmations be phrased? How often do they need to be repeated? Periods of silence between each affirmation? How quickly do they have an affect? What sort of programing are they most useful for? etc.. I suspect the key is in how the affirmations are phrased.
The more we can learn about sleep tapes from peoples experiences the better sleep tapes we will be able to create in the future. So please share your thoughts, suggestions and experiences.
Email This
November 30th, 2007 at 3:11 am
When you record your spoken affirmations (to be used in subliminal/sleep tapes) do you think it’s best to speak with your own dialec (regional accent) or as your language is written? I myself, feel that I pronounce the affirmations with more feeling/emotion, when I talk with
a dialect! But will it be correctly understod by the subconscious mind who is sometimes compared to a child?!
December 1st, 2007 at 12:51 am
no it doesn’t matter how you speak, the subconscious will still be able to understand.
December 8th, 2007 at 7:56 am
After reading ur articles xpecially on the sleep tapes….I made a recording with my phone and played all night with headphones on, i hv been listening for about 2months now but I am yet to attain my goals.
how do you know that ur subconcious mind is saturated and not opposing ur affirmation..
plz i need a rply to my email if convenient 4u
December 8th, 2007 at 8:04 am
I am sorry i 4got 2 add..u hv a very educating and inspirational website….keep it up
December 8th, 2007 at 9:22 am
Hi Inoo, glad you like the site!
Isn’t it uncomfortable sleeping with your headphones on? Its best to use sleep tapes with external speakers, when possible.
Are you looping the sleep tape, so it is played all night?
One thing i would add is that the time it takes for your sleep tape to be effective will really depend on your exsisting beliefs. So it is not really possible to give a date by which sleep tapes will start to be effective, but generally speaking it will take alot longer than 2 months.
Also using a sleep tape will not automatically make all your goals become a reality. It is equally important to take physical action in addition to any technqiues you use, so you should see them as aids rather than a subsitution to action.
Another thing when using sleep tapes is to stop expecting something to happen, and just trust that it will happen in its own time.
The more you consciously think about the sleep tape, and the results you are getting from it, the less effective it will become.
This is because you are using your conscious mind, and sending doubts into the subconscious. If you are constantly expecting something to happen, and not seeing results, you will most likely delay or prevent any results from occuring.
So ideally just play the tape while you sleep, and forget about it. This will ensure maximum effectiveness.
So in closing just remember that you are reprogramming the mind, and this will take time as you are trying to erase or modify beliefs that have exsisted for many years.
Since you are using a subconscious technique you should avoid conscious interance as this may interfer with the results you obtain.
If you have followed the instructions I detailed in the article then you should be ok, providing your statements have been phrased correctly.
In terms of the subconscious rejecting your statements, the subconscious will most likely reject your statements because they are not consistent with your existing beliefs that were formed during your childhood. This is why repeated exposure over a long time is needed to change your beliefs at the subconscious level.
However saying that, it sounds to me like the sleep tape may be having an effect on you. What usually happens when trying new techniques is that intially the subconscious tries to reject new beliefs and hold onto original beliefs. This is phase 1. And is usually indicated by you wanting to give up, or doubting the effectiveness of the technique you are using. Its like the subconscious trying to tell you to stop doing it, because the information is not consistent with what it already has.
With repeated exposure over time the subconscious then begins to seriously consider incorporating the information you are giving it. This is phase 2, where the subconscious begins to believe.
Phase 3 is when the subconscious accepts the new information, and then acts out that information in reality.
So to me it sounds as if you are somewhere in the middle of phase 1, where your subconscious is trying to convince your conscious to stop using the technique.
for more information on this see this article which talks about the battle between the conscious and subconscious mind
http://www.eruptingmind.com/self-acceptance-subconscious-mind/
in addition i would also listen to the audio by Aldous Huxley on sleep tapes at the end of this article
let me know if you have any further questions
December 8th, 2007 at 9:26 am
i forgot to add, it has been shown that statements are more effective if there is a slight pause between each command. So a 2 or 3 second delay before the next statement is spoken will be more effective.
December 12th, 2007 at 4:56 am
Wow!!!…10x 4 ur prompt and incisive response
that was well analysed …..u must be a genius and i look 4wad 2 meeting u soon.
As per being comfy wit d headphones..I am now used 2 dem and more over i cant find any pillow spkrs here and my being in mid of phase1,I thk u r very correct cos most times i wake up in d mid of d night with a strong urge to take dem off and somtimes i do bt not always.
I have so many other questions but i will prefer a different medium
And once again 10x 4 ur prompt and incisive response
December 14th, 2007 at 8:33 am
plz do help ans this TOO
How come hypnosis/hypnotherapy are more effective than
a sleep tape?
Is it possible to influence the Subconcious for
Instant results?i.e before an interview and how?
And how can someone else influence my Subconcious and otherwise?
December 14th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Generally financial affirmations would also include statements such as “i deserve x wealth” “i deserve to have X money” “I attract x wealth into my life easily”. These statements may help to overcome limiting beliefs in the mind. it is often said that the amount of money a person earns is roughly correlated to how much they think they are worth. In other words some people have blocks in the mind, which tell them they don’t deserve or are not worth a certain amount of money.
Regarding hypnosis. You have to be very careful using hypnosis. Many people think of hypnotists they see on stage, but real life hypnosis is not like this. It takes much longer, and depends on the skill of the hypnotist and the suggestibility of the person.
You should only see a hypnotist that has been recommended to you by another person, as they may program your mind poorly or incorrectly with negative limiting suggestions.
I don’t know whether hypnosis is more effective than a sleep tape, as i have not seen any studies on this. However hypnosis may be more effective (with an experience and skilled hypnotist) because they guide you to access certain parts of the mind. Although you will most likely still require many sessions for it to be effective.
Commands may also be more effective when spoken by another person, if consciously you do not know what they are. The problem with the sleep tape is because you set the affirmations, you will have to overcome your mind rejecting them
Real life hypnosis does not work like it does on TV, there are other reasons why people appear to be hypnotized on stage.
Technically you can program the mind for instant results, although you need preparation first. This is usually done with a technique called anchoring, for example you learn to feel good when you click your fingers. If you do this often enough you can produce that feeling just by clicking your fingers. I am using fingers as an example, it can be anything that you learn to associate an emotional state with.
In terms of other people influencing you, it really depends on how suggestible you are. Some people are very suggestible and can be influenced much easier than other people.
So in general if you are trying to program your own mind there are certain things that you can do. Although if you are with a skilled person they may be able program your mind also.
Just keep in mind that if you are reprogramming the subconscious you want to be using as many methods as possible as i discuss on my site such as subliminal messages, affirmations, written goals, mind movie, visualization (done at morning or night) and you need to identify any limiting beliefs you may have programmed into your mind as a child. In addition to this i would recommend you read the book success secrets of the happy and rich in the free ebook section on the website to help you identify any subconscious limiting beliefs you may have (specifically look at the handwritting section).
p.s. i would not advise sleeping with headphones on. I am concerned this may cause damage to your hearing over a prolonged period of time. It would be better to use speakers next to your bed. Do not be concerned whether you can hear the sleep tape, as your subconscious hears everything regardless of how loud it is. For example if you buy a subliminal tape, you cannot hear the subliminal suggestions.
December 23rd, 2007 at 8:53 pm
Awesome info!!!
I am delighted when I find powerful info on the web and put i t to use. I had a dream last night (only been using the sleep tape for about a week or so) and it’s wild but in my dream a lady was repeating 3 of my affirmations. It was so crazy because in the dream I found myself looking at the woman and saying “Why is the woman repeating word for word the affirmations I’ve been using lately”. Incidently, those affirmations were:
“Consciousness is everything and all things begin with a thought” (Madonna said this in O Magazine….you can google it….and I found myself encouraged by the fact that a star used Mind Power to get where she is”
Also
“If You believe you will Receive”
There was another affirmation about the “Law of attraction” but I can’t quite remember it.
Anyway, it was so real. Actually I think for a while it was a lucid dream because I specifically remember reading your article and your saying if the cotent of your affirmations start popping up in your dreams, that means it’s working. And for about 30 seconds in the dream I found myself saying “wow the woman in my dream is repeating my affirmations so my sleep programming must be working”…only the crazy thing is that I was asleep while thinking thinking all of this.
Seriously due, this was a psychedelic experience. Anyway, when I fully attain the results of my programming I will be delighted to write in with a success story because I swear not a word of this is made up.
Also, a further proof that this stuff must work, I did some Youtuube research and this guy created a patented product which says your affirmations something like 80 a night that he claims helped him heal himself of Cancer (plus some other stuff like his bowling score, lol). Here is the link:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fTpwggLkFfM
Oh to the guy who has been doing it for 3 months with little results, John Kehoe of http://www.learnmindpower.com says yoiu should give it at least 3 months/90 days. Also I am using the “Creative Bombardment Technique”, i.e. I am using both subliminal and conscious mind programming techniques - vision/dream boards, writing my affirmations in the morning and night, listening to affirmations at subliminal levels during the day, meditation for 30 mins in Alpha and computer-based image and word affirmation software so I may be getting faster results.
If you really want results fast and permanent, maybe using as many methods as possible will help. Thanks so much for this info.
Please do another sleep tape entry!!
December 27th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Hi IAM,
Thank you for posting your results with the sleep tape, and for the video link, that was very interesting.
I am pleased to see you are also using other programming techniques in addition to the sleep tape, this really is the key to achieving success.
In addition to the sleep tape i recommend affirmations, subliminal messages, writen goals, visualization, mind movies and self talk. You can find these on the site, if you haven’t already.
Please keep us updated on your progress!
January 30th, 2008 at 9:39 am
How affirmations are ideal for a sleep tapes?
and what do u thk about supraliminal tapes from Dr Laura De Giorgio……http://www.deeptrancenow.com/
January 30th, 2008 at 9:41 am
I am sorry I meant ,How many affirmations are ideal for a sleep tapes?
January 30th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Hi Inoo,
How many affirmations to add to your tape? Thats a difficult question. The less affirmations you have the more they will be repeated, but at the same time the less programming you can do for other things.
So it is really a comprise between what you want to achieve, and the number of times you want something repeated.
In general I would just use as many affirmations as it takes to cover the areas of your life you would like to improve. Its all going into your subconscious, and its just a matter of time before things start to happen.
I have no experience or knowledge of that site you mentioned, so I cannot comment. However what i will say is that you should be careful when using mp3’s for hypnosis/brainwave entrainment.
The mp3 format may cut off certain frequencies, so if it is a subliminal tape you are likely to recieve no benefit at all.
Ideally you want to listen to something direct from the source and uncompressed. For example, direct from a cd, a music program or using the FLAC audio codec.
If you are interested in brainwave entrainment inoo have a look in the free stuff section on this site, there are some programs you can use there.
February 20th, 2008 at 2:29 am
Hi, looks like a great site you have here. Thanks for all the info. I was just wondering how often our affirmations should be said on our tapes? Should they be in a continuous cycle, or should there be breaks in between each set of affirmations like say 10 or 20 minutes?
Thanks,
Mike
February 21st, 2008 at 11:56 am
Hi Mike,
The more the affirmations are repeated while you sleep the greater the effect should be. So its up to you how often you want them repeated.
I have a 2 hour silence at the start of my tape, and 6 hours of affirmations.
Generally it is best to have 3-5 seconds in between each affirmation. I decided upon this figure after finding out that hypnotic suggestions are more effective if given with a slight pause between them. Maybe this gives the message time to sink in?
However, remember the more affirmations you have on the tape, the less times an individual message will be repeated to you at night.
So its a good idea to choose a few central topics or things you would like to improve and turn those into affirmations.
It is also a good idea to have a supporting or reinforcing statement along with your affirmation.
For example,
I earn X amount of money
add a supporting statement something like
I deserve wealth or I attract wealth or i am worthy of wealth
It seems to me that making a statement may not be enough, unless you convince your subconscious you are worthy or deserving of it.
Often as a result of childhood, people have subconscious mental blocks that will prevent them from achieving the things they consciously desire.
There also seems to be some secondary gains they have from not achieving their goal, which is what is subconsciously holding them back.
I think the only way to fully understand your subconscious, and the type of programming it recieved during childhood is to study your childhood and your self esteem.
If your self esteem is low, then you probably have a lot of subconsious blocks that you need to overcome before you start noticing changes in your life.
If after studying your childhood you know or can guess at what these blocks may be, then you can tailor your sleep tape affirmations to target those areas.
If you want to learn more about the subsconscious, childhood effects on adult life and self esteem, have a look at the homepage for more information.
With sleep tapes this is all still highly experimental, although the basic principle is valid. The messages and means of delivery still need tweaking. I am trying to find out more about creating the best messages. So feel free to try different things, and report back what you find.
i would also like to stress that sleep tapes should be seen as an aid. Remember, your mind is still being heavily influenced and programmed during the day also.
So if you expose yourself to negative influences or thoughts throughout the day, you might be lessening the effects of the sleep tape and/or increase the amount of time before results are seen.
May 21st, 2008 at 1:50 pm
> Hi Martin. Great site. Incredibly useful resources!!
and thank you for
> In fact I was thinking of creating my own sleep tape
> and researching how to do it when I stumbled upon your
> website. Serendipitous synchronicity, huh?
>
> I have 2 questions. I’d be grateful if you kindly
> answer these.
>
> One. I like the idea of using a “booster statement” to
> help encourage the subconscious to accept the
> affirmations. But when/where exactly during the sleep
> tape and how often should this statement be used?
>
> Two. Currently I use tools like a subliminal messaging
> software on my computer, visualization, affirmation
> writing twice a day, and view a combination (I change
> the combination after every 2 weeks or so) of 2
> self-improvement videos with flashing subliminal
> messages twice a day. I am sometimes having mildly
> scary or disturbing dreams in the night or even in the
> day (I often take a small 30 min nap in the afternoon
> when the energy level drops). I wonder, is my
> subconscious trying to tell me something? I wonder
> because I don’t generally have these kinds of
> disturbing dreams (mostly I never even remember my
> dreams) and in this frequency too! I thought maybe you
> have an explanation….
>
> Look forward to hearing from you
> your time.
>
> Warm regards,
> Swati.
May 21st, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Hi,
The booster statement can be used at the start of each set of affirmations. So if you have 5 repeating affirmations, then you will have 1 booster statement at the start of those 5 (after some experimentation, i now believe a 5 second gap between affirmations is most effective).
The idea behind this is to encourage the subconscious to accept your affirmations, and to make them a reality in ways that will positively benefit your life.
You can make your own booster statement to say whatever you want, i gave an example in the article. Another could be “all of these things are true in my life, i fully accept them”.
About your dreams. There are many things which can influence your dreams, for example cheese can sometimes give you bad dreams, and certain supplements can give you very vivid dreams. So looking at the things you eat before bed may help to explain some of your dreams.
Another possibility is the programming you are doing. You seem to be doing a lot of mind programming which is very good, but you have to be careful that the information you are recieving has been phrased correctly.
If possible carefully analyse any messages, and try to think of anything bad that could happen as a result of them. This is how i approach subliminal messages, and make sure that i am very specific in the result i want and that something postive will happen from it. This is one reason why i added a booster statement to my sleep tape affirmations.
The third possibility, and also the most likely, is that your subconscious is trying to tell you something. The reason i think this is the case is because you already seem to suspect that your subconscious is trying to tell you a message. Usually your gut instincts are correct.
Sometimes these messages may be very obvious and clear, however often they are almost presented in code (like a strange story that may not make obvious sense). And it is up to you to decide what that dream could be telling you.
Have you tried recording your dreams on paper, or on the computer? If you are having dreams with a similiar theme to them, then your subconscious is very likely trying to tell you something important. So don’t ignore it!
If you want to analyse your dreams the best thing to do is write them down in the morning, immediately after you get up.
After a few days try to make sense of what they are telling you. If you can’t come up with an answer, just say to yourself that you know your subconscious will give you the answer soon.
Often you will find that within a few days, or even a few hours you will get the answer you were trying to find.
I use this technique all the time when i forget something. If i try hard to remember it i never can, but if i trust that my subconscious will give me the answer (and stop trying to remember it) i will suddenly get the answer when i was least expecting it.
Hope this helps. If you have any further questions, just ask.
June 15th, 2008 at 1:05 am
Thanks for your sharing
June 26th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Hello, All I need to know and can’t seem to find is this. When I record my own self-talk, do I say, “You” or “I”?
I read somewhere a long time ago that if I’m listening to self talk about me(as in a recording), that since it’s coming from the outside of me, it should be addressed as “You”.
Example: “You enjoy being organized”, vs. “I enjoy
being organized.”
If I say affirmations out loud or read them to myself, I understand that it is the “I” or “I am” that I’ll be using. It’s just the recording stuff that has me confused.
Can you offer suggestion?
Thanks so much for your time, wherever you are at this moment.
Warmly,
Linda
June 26th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Hi Linda,
My recorded affirmations begin with “I” rather than “you”.
I have choosen to begin my affirmations with “I” based on information from several sources.
Some of these include a radio talkshow host on one the largest radio shows in America (coast to coast am) who mentioned their use of sleep tapes, and gave examples of their sleep tape using “I”.
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, the spoken phrases played to children in their sleep begin with “I”.
Many commerical audio recordings with affirmations begin with “I”.
Based on this information i have choosen to start my affirmations with “I”. However in some cases “you” can be used.
“You” will often be used if you see a hypnotist. This is because their purpose is to guide you to access certain parts of your mind.
The purpose of a sleep tape is slightly different. It is to imprint something into your mind by playing affirmations while you sleep, so that your subconscious accepts it as true. The first indication of this happening will usually occur in the form of a dream.
When listening to spoken affirmations “I” is more personal than “you”, and is therefore likely to experience less resistance from the subconscious.
“I” would serve to program a belief directly into your subconscious, reprogramming the very core of you as a person.
When using affirmations beginning with “you” these affirmations will be subject to some filtering before they are accepted by the subconscious.
This is because if someone is telling you that you are happy for example, your mind will validate that statement and see it as either true or false depending on what other beliefs have previously been programmed into your subconscious.
However what you can do is experiment with “you” and “i”, and see what sort of results you get.
July 5th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Hi Martin.
I’ve got a question. I am hard of hearing and I sleep without my hearing aids. I’ve been using an affirmation tape while I’m sleeping. I can’t actually hear what is being said, but I feel that my subconsciosness is hearing the affirmations. I am not actually sure about the latter, as sometimes I wake up in the morning and don’t feel that well. But on the other hand I feel that my self esteem has improved massively and a few other things start to change. I just would like some sort of confirmation that my subconsciousness is receiving the affirmations even if I don’t hear them. Oh, and I think I should mention how I’m listening to them. I’ve got headphones which I put behind my pillow. I can’t listen to them otherwise as my housemates would be irritated (my room is next to the bathroom and I’m living in an old british house with pretty thin walls).
I hope you can help me with this question.
Thank you!
July 5th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Oh, I forgot to say something. I recorded my affirmations with a programme (linked somewhere above) and I’ve got them on my mp3 player as an mp3. You said somewhere that the subconsciousness might not receive the mp3 for the reason you stated above. Do you recommend burning them on a cd and listen to them over a portable cd player?
Thanks again!
July 5th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Hi Madeleine,
It doesn’t matter what volume you play your sleep tape, or whether you consciously hear it or not, it will still be absorbed by the subconscious regardless of volume or whether you hear it or not.
Infact if you purchase any subliminal tape you will not be able to consciously hear any messages, because they are embedded in with the background noise.
I used to listen to my sleep tape exactly like you, with speakers underneath the pillow tucked between the matress and the headboard. Some places actually sell pillows with speakers built in for this very purpose!
Now i play my sleep tape via my nintendo ds, on a cabinent next to my bed.
Whatever arrangement you choose it doesn’t really matter, as long as you are comfortable with it.
Mp3 format is fine, and that is how i play my sleep tape. What i was referring to was specially recorded tapes with subliminal messages embedded into them. These are not sleep tapes and are designed to be listened to when you are awake.
When i said it wouldnt be effective i was talking about the compression rate of the mp3 file. If it is too low then it may cut off the frequencies that contain the subliminals. But this does not apply to what we are doing with the sleep tape.
I am glad you are finding some benefit from the sleep tape, but i could ask what do you mean when you said you don’t feel well sometimes in the morning? What is happening? Is this something to do with the sleep tape?
July 6th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Hello Martin!
Thank you so much for getting back to me.
So my subconsciousness is actually receiving the messages even if I don’t actually hear them. Thanks for telling me, that’s really a relief for me. But does it still counts for me as I’m not actually hearing them. People with normal hearing will hear them before they fall asleep but I won’t hear it.
I am actually listening to the tape over headphones, the headphones are just tucked behind my pillow. Do you think i’d be better having them underneath the pillow? I can’t use proper speaker, as for my housemates as I already explained.
I don’t feel very well sometimes in the morning. The thing is, I can’t get out of bed. I just stay in bed as long as possible and it’s so hard for me to get out of bed. And sometimes I’m just so frustrated because I want to do loads of things but I can’t bring myself to it. The other reason could be that I just feel rotten at the moment as the affirmations start to work (Louise L. Hay explained that really good in one of her books. That I’m just getting rid of the old and you feel rotten for a few days.)
I also have the feeling that my sleeping tape is too long. I inspired my recording after a affirmation tape from Louise L. Hay. Her affirmations are I and You. So she states and affirmation which startes with I (For example: I am lovable) and then she says: You (For example: you are lovable). I edited this on my ipod, I’ll listen to the tape again without the you this night.
Love
Madeleine
July 7th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Yes thats right, your subconscious will pick up everything. You said you are hard of hearing, so unless you are completely deaf your subconscious will still absorb the affirmations.
You said people with normal hearing will hear the affirmations before they fall asleep, who has told you this?
There should be a period of silence at the start of your sleep tape, so you should hear nothing as you fall asleep.
After doing some more research i have tweaked my sleep tape slightly.
I have added a 3 1/2 hour silence at the start of my tape. I have done this because the first few hours of sleep are most important for the brain, so the sleep tape will kick in after this period so it doesnt disturb it.
After your comments, and another readers comments, i am adding the affirmations in the format of “i” and “you”.
I don’t know what is more effective, so i am including each affirmation twice first with “i” and then repeated with “you”
Each affirmation on the tape is seperated by a 5 second silence.
Writing out your affirmations in the morning that you use on your sleep tape should also help to increase their effectiveness. When you do this write out the affirmation in as much detail as possible, adding more information to it. The more detailed and specific the better.
The reason behind this is that the subconscious responds to whatever you program it with, which is why you want to give it as specific a command as possible.
I dont recommend sleeping with headphones on, as this may damage your hearing as i said in an ealier comment. If you are using your headphones as speakers then do a little test before you go to bed.
Start your tape playing somewhere in the middle and listen to volume. If you can hear it at a reasonable level that should be fine. Although it really shouldnt matter what volume you play it at, it is best to check the volume beforehand so that it is not overly loud and wakes you up in the night.
I think when it comes to the sleep tape its such a simple and easy thing to do, people expect there to be more to it! And wonder if they are doing something wrong, or if they need to do something extra. It really is just as simple as playing it while you sleep, although for it to be effective this needs to be something done long term and consistantly.
Another thing to add is that spoken affirmations will be more effective if they are recorded in a voice that is not your own. So using the text to speech engine or something similiar would be best.
The text to speech site has recently added a notice to their site which want there before, saying that they are restricting usage. I hope all these people making their sleep tapes haven’t bogged down their computers!
I think adding “you” to affirmations may boost its effectiveness, as hearing something from someone else tends to be quite powerful in terms of influencing a person.
Whilst at the same time “i” affirmations target the very core, and shoud experience less resistance. Maybe both used in combination will have a cumulative affect?
You said you dont feel very well sometimes in the morning, this may be due to how you wake up, or the affirmation theory you suggest (which i thought was quite interesting).
If you wake up in the morning but dont get out of bed immediately, you will tend to drift in and out of a light sleep. Half asleep, and half awake. What happens is that when you finally do get out of bed your brain is still in a sleep like state, which can make you feel groggy and tired later in the day.
If you get out of bed immediately, or as soon as you can, you brain will be more awake and you should feel better.
There are 5 sleep stages we go through that repeat throughout the night. What stage you wake up in can determine how alert you will feel for the rest of the day.
To help wake your brain up in the morning apart from opening your eyes, moving your hands and feet can also help to wake you up.
The sleep tape should not be too long. The ideal tape should play only while you are sleeping, and finish before you wake up. So you shouldnt really be hearing any of it at all.
I would stick with the “i” and “you” affirmations, as this seemed to be working for you. I edited my sleep tape yesterday to add the dual affirmations “i” and “you”. I had a wonder nights sleep!
August 7th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Hi,
I liked reading this as well as the article on using affirmations. I find the other articles on this site are useful, too!
One useful type of software I’ve found displays subliminal text on the screen at certain intervals. I haven’t spent much time looking online yet, but there are plenty of free, open source versions available (searching for “open source subliminal screen software” tends to yield the most results). Here’s one program I found: Free Subliminal Text.
I’d expect it would have much the same effect as audio, as long as you don’t try to consciously read the messages. Once you take your mind off them, even if it’s an affirmation that your subconscious disagrees with (you might get an urge to stop using it), you’ll probably stop noticing them.
Thanks,
Pat
August 15th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Wow this is awesome stuff. I wonder if I could use this same technique for quiting smoking. It’s been something i’ve been trying to do for a year now so I might just give it a go.
Thanks
August 17th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Have a look in the ebook section, there is a book about stopping smoking you may want to read.
http://www.eruptingmind.com/download-free-self-improvement-ebooks/