1.) Anyone can be hypnotized. (I'm a certified hypnotist btw.) I can prove you can be hypnotized because I can show you that you have been successfully hypnotized previously. Have you ever been driving somewhere and suddenly find yourself at your destination without specifically remembering your journey? (Rhetorical question… of course you have.) This is referred to as "highway hypnosis". What happened was that your subconscious mind took over the mundane task of driving. Your conscious mind was temporarily suspended and only "awakened" if there was something that required your immediate attention. This happens when your active attention for a repetitive task is unnecessary. I use driving as the example since everyone is familiar with the term "highway hypnosis" but it could just as easily be operating a drill press or walking in a park. This is hypnosis.

2.) Anyone can meditate. Meditation is nothing more than allowing your mind to become still. Most people's minds are filled with a continuous parade of noisy and random thoughts which intrude on the waking mind. Meditation is a focused effort to quiet the mind. Sit quietly. Find an object on which you can focus your attention. Turn off the phone and TV. Now look at your chosen focus object. If a thought arises – consider it for a moment then let it go. If it is something you consider important or something you need to remember – stop, write it down, begin again. Writing it down means that you won't forget it and can think about it later when you're finished meditating. (This is also a good technique if you are troubled by unwanted thoughts while trying to go to sleep. There will be plenty of time in the morning to think about it and the paper you wrote the thought on will act as your "memory" so you can think about it in the morning without worrying about "forgetting it" overnight.) Commit to meditating for 5 minutes per day. If it "doesn't work" then try again the next day. Learning to quiet your mind requires constant daily practice. Once you successfully quiet your mind for 5 minutes per day increase the time to 10 minutes… then 15. Within a few months you'll be able to have 20 or 30 minutes of peace per day. This will recharge your mental batteries.

When I was grade school age, maybe 3rd or 4th grade, I noticed the strange effect silence had when I tried to hear. I think without sounds to mark off the passage of time I lost my point of reference and my thoughts seemed rapid fire, any ambient sound I could sense seemed magnified.

When I try to do this as an adult I get the random voices in my head or music which I have concluded to be hypnagogic hallucination.

Once I tried to silence it by visualizing a point of light surrounded by a soundproof sphere as I imagined the point reaching center, there was brief quiet. I had about 5 seconds of silence before a voice blurted out: "He's the guy that turned me on to Led Zeppelin".

I think this was as close I've come to meditating, but I know little of any formal methods. I'm not sure I was meditating at all.

It seems very close to a "not asleep, but not quite awake" mid ground.

In the mid 80's, I worked for a guy who would meditate in his office when things were slow.

One night a call I knew he needed to take came.

Entering his office I found him snoring in the lotus position.

I told him "wake up Jim, you have a call!"

Jim: "I wasn't asleep, I was meditating…"

Me: "Sorry, I thought you were asleep."

Jim: "No, and I could feel myself about to enter the astral plain!"

Me: "Well you snore when you meditate. Pick up the phone!"

I hope that doesn't offend anyone, back then, I wouldn't have expected to hear snoring during meditation. Nowadays if I try it, I find it nearly impossible to stay awake myself.