If you use hypnosis regularly, you will know that time distortion is a common feature. Time distortion is the sense that much more or less time has passed than really has, and typically in hypnosis, people think they have ‘been away’ for less time than they have.
This is not really so surprising when you consider more everyday forms of trance state, such as being absorbed in an interesting conversation, or a creative activity such as painting. Everyone can recall an experience where time flew.
And this is what BBC Radio 4’s Extra Senses neatly demonstrated last week.
The programme’s presenter was asked to listen to sounds of differing durations, then press a button for a the same length of time. He was then hypnotised and asked to do the same thing again.
Although his waking state attempts were highly accurate; mostly near the 100% mark, the time he pressed for in hypnosis was typically 120% of the actual time period of the sound. So in hypnosis, his internal clock had effectively slowed down.
A nice demonstration of something hypnotherapists already know. Oh the smugness. 
You can listen to the Radio 4 Extra Senses program on time distortion in hypnosis here (programme 3) :
Distortions of time and space awareness during hypnosis may be strategies for inducing mystical experiences. I have recently taken a keen interest in the use of hypnosis to explore mystical experiences.
Robert Masters and Jean Houston published a book in 1972 called Mind Games. This book uses hypnosis to explore various hypnotic experiences. While some scripts are, in my opinion, inappropriate for layperson use (e.g., age regression experiences), other scripts have elements of mystical experiences. The book was republished in 1998.
Joseph Meyerson and Marc Gelkopf described their therapeutic use of out-of-body experiences that occurred spontaneously during hypnosis. Youcan read thier descriptions in the article: Meyerson, J., & Gelkopf, M. (2004). Therapeutic utilization of spontaneous out-of-body experiences in hypnotherapy. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 58(1), 90-102.
Paul Schenk published a book in 2006 called The Hypnotic Use of Waking Dreams: Exploring Near Death Experiences Without the Flatlines. He describes his methods of using hypnosis to allow people to experience something like near-death experiences. He describes several cases in which this method lead to profound clarifications of values and even mystical experiences.
Ronald Havens used hypnosis to explore “cosmic consciousness” during the early 1980s. He published his methods and results in an article: Havens, R.A. (1982). Approaching cosmic consciousness via hypnosis. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 22(1), 105-116.
In 2007, Ronald Havens took what he has learned over the years and published a book called Self Hypnosis for Cosmic Consciousness. There he includes several hypnotic scripts designed to induce mystical experiences.
I am learning a great deal from these sources, and may eventually use them to make my own MP3s. However, I would really like to find a professionally developed set of DVDs, CDs, or MP3s designed to let listeners explore mystical experiences through self-hypnosis.