Experimenting with technology
Using AI to generate a hypnosis script
“Can you do a trance with me? I know I need to move, but I just can’t seem to get motivated to exercise.”
Athena peered over at me expectantly. Feeling a bit burnt out and unsure about what I’d want to include in an impromptu hypnosis session, I reached for my phone.
“Just a sec. I’m going to try and generate something in Perplexity.”
Perplexity, like ChatGPT, is an AI platform that allows you to enter a prompt and in return it spits out an answer to your query that your can further specify as needed. What I particularly like about Perplexity is that it lists its sources, reducing the possibility of AI hallucinations and allowing the user to discern if the information has a particular bias based on where it is drawing its information from.
I typed in my prompt, something along the lines of “Write a hypnosis script to help motivate someone who struggles to exercise regularly”. Seconds later, out popped a script, much faster than I could ever do. I skimmed through the script — it seemed pretty solid.
“You ready?”
Athena nodded, closing her eyes and settling into a comfortable position.
Using my formal training in hypnosis and my knowledge of Athena, I riffed off the AI-generated script I was reading on my phone. Athena entered into trance relatively quickly — given she’s pretty practiced at trance by now from previous sessions with me — and for the next 10 or so minutes she absorbed the hypnotic suggestions I delivered.
“How would you rate that?” I asked, when we’d wrapped up.
“I’d say an 8 out of 10. Can you record that? I’d like to listen to it throughout the week, when you’re not around.”
Verdict on AI-generated hypnosis scripts
Part of me feels like it’s cheating. After all, the real skill of hypnosis is being able to generate hypnotic suggestions that will resonate with your client and their particular issue. If AI is doing the generating then the hypnotist is basically just an actor reading someone else’s (or in this case, something else’s) script!
But as Athena pointed out, artists use shortcuts too. For example, Vermeer is thought to have used a Camera Obscura as an aid to his paintings. Was that cheating? I’m reminded of a formula a former teacher of mine used to share with students:
Creativity + Technology = Innovation
But whose creativity? Perplexity would not have generated a hypnosis script had I not requested it. In that sense it is dependent on humans for sparking its metaphorical fire. But once the prompt is made, Perplexity was the one who generated the suggestions, the order in which they were shared, and the targets of those suggestions.
Is that creativity?
I’ll admit, it is unsettling how quickly Perplexity was able to generate a decent script that would have taken me much more time and effort to do. While I’d like to think my own script would have been superior, I’m not so sure. Clearly Athena found it quite effective (“8/10,” she said).
As for concerns, I do worry about how this technology can get misused. Laypeople could in theory generate hypnosis scripts without an understanding of the mechanisms by which hypnosis operates. My formal hypnosis training allows me to discern suggestions that I think are not helpful from ones that are, and to tailor it in ways someone wouldn’t necessarily know how to do if they didn’t have such training.
Then again, if AI-generated hypnosis scripts are effective, who am I to get in the way of that? That is, if Perplexity is able to generate hypnotic suggestions that help Athena get moving, maybe I need to put aside my ego and help her get on with exercising.
You be the judge…
Motivational Hypnosis Script for Exercise Consistency (8 minutes)
You can take a moment now to get comfortable… allowing your body to settle into a rhythm that already knows how to rest…
And even as you breathe… softly in… and easily out… you might notice how your attention can begin to turn inward… toward that part of you that truly wants to feel capable… energetic… and alive.
It’s interesting, isn’t it… how motivation isn’t something we find, but something we create… one small decision at a time.
You don’t need to force the feeling. You can just allow it to unfold naturally… as your mind reconnects with the part of you that already understands the satisfaction of movement… that feeling you get when your body works with you instead of against you.
You might imagine a time when you did something physical that felt good… a stretch, a dance, even laughter—because laughter moves the body too.
And as you recall that moment, your body remembers the sensations… the rhythm of breathing, the subtle strength in your muscles, the sense of ease that followed.
And perhaps you can begin to realize that exercising isn’t about obligation… it’s about reclaiming that feeling of aliveness.
Your mind might picture yourself tomorrow—or soon— beginning to move, just a little at first.
And somehow, the more you move, the easier it becomes… because the body learns through repetition, and the mind learns through experience. Each small success becomes its own reminder: I can do this.
It’s perfectly fine to start small… and to keep starting.
Because consistency isn’t built from pressure—it’s built from choice, from awareness, from how you talk to yourself.
You may even find it interesting to notice how something within you begins to shift now… as you think less about “needing to exercise,” and more about wanting to move—because it feels good to choose yourself in that way.
And you can trust that your unconscious mind is already rehearsing what it feels like to be steady and strong… even as you rest here now.
Each breath prepares you for movement; each calm moment builds readiness.
And you might discover that at some point soon… you’ll simply find yourself putting things in motion—without effort, without guilt, just the natural next step in taking care of yourself.
You can let that realization settle comfortably somewhere deep inside… knowing that your motivation is growing quietly, steadily… from within.
And when you’re ready to return… bring back a sense of calm energy… a trace of that inner commitment that says: I will move, because I can.
Take a slow breath in… and release it.
And when you open your eyes… feeling refreshed… that quiet motivation will still be there—steady, gentle, and real.
Stefan is Tilted Windmills’ clinical counsellor, generative coach and a self-described wounded healer. You can learn more about his practice on our website.