adam eason school of therapeutic hypnosis rapid inductions...

Adam Eason School of Therapeutic Hypnosis

Rapid Inductions for Hypnotherapists

Seminarwith James Brown

Manual

www.adam-eason.com

http://www.adam-eason.com/

Rapid Inductions for Hypnotherapists Seminar ManualCopyright 2011 Adam Eason. All rights reserved.

Contents

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p3

Underlying Principles in Brief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p4

The Use of Ratification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p6

The No-Fail Hypnosis Suggestion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p8

The Classic Hypnosis Induction: Eye Fixation Induction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p9

The Eye Lock Induction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p11

The Imaginary Rubber Band Hypnosis Induction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p13

Spinning Hands Hypnosis Induction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p15

As If and Revivification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p17

Perfect Hypnotist and Mirror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p21

Posthypnotic Suggestion and Re-Induction as a Rapid Means of Inducing or Deepening Hypnosis p23

The Somatic Awareness Rapid Hypnosis Induction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p24

The Direct Gaze Hypnosis Induction by Gil Boyne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p25

The Hand Press Induction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p29

Pattern Interrupt / Handshake Induction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p31

The Actor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p34

Volume Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p36

Triple Handshake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p38

In Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p39


Hello and welcome to this manual to support and supplement the video footage of the Rapid In-ductions Seminar. Thank you for choosing to invest in this video programme, which I hope you will find to be stimulating, fun and educational viewing.

This programme was and is designed for hypnotherapists in clinical practice, and though not all the skills that are demonstrated are going to be useable in a clinical setting all of the time, it is the underlying approach and principles that we really want you to take on board and start to use within your own work.

As a trained hypnotherapist or hypnosis professional already, we presuppose that you know and understand a great deal. If for any reason there is anything you do not understand that has been assumed, then I am happy for you to get in touch with me personally with your questions.

Many of the inductions also offer up a means of being able to show your clients that they are hyp-notised — they inherently contain convincers. I think this is of great value for you and your client and the working therapeutic alliance you wish to establish. If they firmly believe that something different is happening, that hypnosis is occurring and they have evidence of that, then any sub-sequent intervention you employ is going to be met with belief and conviction — certainly much more so than if the client just thinks they are nicely relaxed.

Physical progressive relaxation processes are not to be sneered at, and they are in and of them-selves very beneficial and can be an intervention when used correctly, so we are not suggesting they are no longer used, they are valuable indeed. However, giving your client variety, interesting new ways of engaging hypnotically and offering up convincers has a great deal of value too.

All that leaves me to say is that you’ll want to have a rubber band handy for use with one of the in-ductions (now you’re curious, eh?) and I hope you enjoy this video as much as we enjoyed making it. I hope it helps you develop more confidence in how you induce hypnosis and also helps you deliver more benefit to your clients.

Do practice this stuff. Practice it, develop fluency and engage in the principles and do let us know of your continued success.

Yours hypnotically,

Adam Eason

Introduction


Prior to this seminar, you have a background and level of training that ensures you already know how to build rapport and set up an optimum environment for hypnosis. We will not be going over this stuff here. Much is presupposed that you should understand and know as a result of your hyp-notherapy training.

Learning Objectives:

Be able to prime an individual to be a receptive hypnotic subject.•To know several structured rapid inductions.•Get comfortable losing that structure.•Hypnotise rapidly in your own way.•

Remember: This is just inductions. Brief, rapid inductions. We touch on deepening from time to time, but this is all about the initial induction, nothing more. You can then use phenomena and deepeners as you choose once you have induced the hypnosis.

Underlying Principles

1. Expectancy

Create expectancy.•Assume hypnosis.•Educate accordingly.•Set frame for hypnosis.•Presuppositions.•Know the outcome — you and client.•

2. Attitude

You and your manner.•Tone and instruction.•Progressive and positive.•Motivated (appropriately so).•Create trust.•

Underlying Principles in Brief


3. Simplicity

Language.•Structure.•Easy to understand.•Easy to follow.•Ensures congruency.•

4. On the Ball

Pay attention. Be attentive.•Ratify.•Revivify.•Utilise.•

5. Non-Verbal

Intent.•Eye contact.•Congruence again! (Matches verbal.)•Show that you mean it.•

Lovely model… E.A.S.O.N.


When I wrote this, the previous night was another hypnosis geek dinner here in Bournemouth whereby we enjoyed our private dining room at a hotel, ate, drank, debated topics of and around hypnosis and therapy, and got to share some demonstrations. There was great company, top debate and a thoroughly enjoyable evening for us lovers of all things hypnosis and hypnotherapy.

That night, there was the science versus art in hypnosis debate and we really got under the skin of the subject. Within there somewhere, a hypnosis performer (i.e. not a hypnotherapist) asked the group if they tested clients to see if the individual was truly hypnotised.

Not many hypnotherapists did so formally it seemed. Many of our techniques and strategies include some testing, some forms of induction have innate tests within them and most of the good therapeutic interventions should be tested for efficacy and with the client to check that the therapeutic intervention is having a progressive and beneficial effect upon the client.

It was not discussed much further because it would have gone off the track of what we were dis-cussing centrally, but it did get me thinking.

Lots of people who work with hypnosis professionally, especially hypnotherapists, will encounter clients who perhaps need some proof that they are hypnotised. I can remember in my early years in the field working with clients, I could see that an individual was beautifully hypnotised, but they may not really know and often would question whether they were or not.

This is dealt with by creating the correct expectations, educating beforehand and ensuring the individual understands what hypnosis is and even perhaps explaining some common misconcep-tions and realities about what the hypnosis experience is and is not.

However, we can still offer up some evidence to the client to help them feel assured and convinced that something is happening, which in turn is going to help enhance the results we get with the hypnotherapy interventions we go on to use. And we do that with ratification.

Hypnotic ratification is whereby the hypnotist or hypnotherapist provides the client with some kind of convincer, or points out some part of their experience that is evidence that are hypnotised. As I said, even some of the greatest hypnotic subjects are unsure if they have been hypnotised until they get some sort of ratification.

The notion of ratification is a very simple one, yet it does tend to get overlooked, as with so many of the simple notions that I write about here. When certain phenomena naturally occurs in a hyp-notised individual, or if hypnotic ‘phenomena’ is elicited by the hypnotist/hypnotherapist then the client can realise that they are doings things well, correctly, and even believe more deeply in the process they are engaged in as well as believing in their own abilities more — important for aiding therapeutic results with the use of hypnosis.

Ratification can be as simple as spotting certain things happening within the individual and feeding them back to the client. In a brief demonstration I gave at last night’s dinner, the lady I was working with had fluttering eyelids and had the odd twitch in her fingers and the pace of her breathing

The Use of Ratification


changed, along with the pallor of her skin — all things I fed back to her to show her something different was occurring.

Additionally though, we can also induce certain phenomenon to give people more ready evidence that they are capable of more than they though with the aid of hypnosis. I have known hypno-therapists who have given their clients anaesthesia and analgesia in an arm and put a clamp on the arm without any pain or discomfort felt, to show the client what they can do when hypnosis is employed. The client may have come in for letting go of a phobia, but is now convinced of the amazing benefits of hypnosis and assured that it will help them.

The hypnotist may even use the experience within his suggestions to state that as they have now witnessed the amazing power of their mind with the aid of hypnosis, they are now finding it easier to let go of their phobia in line with the other specific interventions that are coming up — promote the upcoming interventions by building on the success of the convincer.

Lots of performance hypnotists use testing as an indicator to the individual — often with getting hands stuck to tables or their knee, or through amnesia of numbers or their name. Many of which may not be pertinent to all therapeutic environments, but do assure the individual in the same way that something is happening that is not the usual way things happen.

There you have it, hypnotic ratification and helping advance the belief the hypnotised person has about being hypnotised and their abilities to be successful using hypnosis.


Many people probably realise that regardless of the supposed depth of hypnosis someone is ex-periencing, they still may or may not respond to the suggestions they receive from the hypnotist or hypnotherapist.

We tend to do all we can to ensure it does not happen and that our clients do respond and react to our suggestions; we educate accordingly prior to hypnosis, we create expectancy and various other things to ensure the most amount of responsiveness to our suggestions, so that ideally, the client benefits.

There is one such way to deliver a suggestion that cannot fail, and that is to cover every possibility as far as the response to the suggestion is concerned.

If you (as hypnotist or hypnotherapist) deliver a suggestion that covers all the potential and possible responses, it means that however the client responds, it is a successful and hypnotic response. Thissort of approach to suggestion delivery is particularly useful in the early stages of working with a client, as they are finding their way around their own experience of hypnosis and learning more about their experience.

So if I were to mention that the client starts to notice the temperature in their hand, and that, “as a result of this hypnosis experience, you might notice your hand is warm, or perhaps cool, or somewhere in between…” All the options and response of the client are correct. If I expanded that and said, “and perhaps it feels heavy or light, or somewhere in between” I develop the idea further.

I could then go on to suggest that something will happen to that hand, “maybe it’ll feel as if it is so light that it wants to lift up comfortably, or perhaps it feels so heavy that it feels stuck fast in that position, or perhaps you’ll notice nothing significant at all and just allow it to continue to be comfortable in the position that you find it in…”

Each time, the options given cover every angle and can be interpreted by the client as hypnotic success, thus encouraging them and heightening responsiveness. It can also give them confirma-tion that the way they are responding is the right way, and serve as ratification and encourage-ment too.

Following a basic eye-closure induction technique of some kind, I sometimes keep the focus on the eyes to use as a deepener and within that deepening process might include something nice and simple such as, “notice the sensations in your eyelids… Perhaps getting heavier as they relax there, or perhaps you notice a lightness as they enjoy being closed… Or maybe they just feel like they do any other time when they are closed… I don’t know… And the most important thing is that you are aware of what happens in those eyelids as you go deeper into hypnosis…”

We chain and tack an assumptive/adjunctive suggestion on the end that presupposes they go deeper and we carry on with our deepener in our own way from there.

It is just a simple little way of delivering suggestion, that covers all angles of interpretation, aiming at heightening responsiveness, assuring the client and keeping them focused.

The No-Fail Hypnosis Suggestion


I did not demonstrate this live in the footage/on the seminar because I assumed that every qualified hypnotherapist knows how to do it. However, I thought I would explain it briefly and add it to the video footage and give you some written notes here also.

James Braid often referred to the subject of hypnosis as monoideisim, that term is defined as the following:

A mental condition marked by the domination of a single idea; persistent and thorough preoccupation with one idea, but seldom an idea that is complete.

James Braid’s favoured induction method was the eye fixation induction which has a rationale that fits in nicely with the notion of monoideism.

Not only does this hypnosis induction offer up a means of ensuring people focus on the induction and spend less time and attention reflecting on what they are doing, with the eyes closed, we tend to relax naturally (associating eyes closed with sleep and relaxation) as well as shutting out visual distraction.

The eye fixation hypnosis induction (or any attention fixation hypnosis induction derivative) is the classic one that all students ought to be learning about from day one in a hypnosis training. Here is James Braid doing this very thing…

I presuppose (as with all the subsequent inductions in this manual) that anyone attempting this process has developed trust, created expectation of the process and educated the individual as to what is about to happen, and then also ensured they are motivated for it to happen successfully.

As touched upon already, much research shows that when the client expects a certain successful outcome and has the motivation and attitude for it to be successful, and a trust in the hypnotist, then any hypnosis induction will be more successful. There is much more I could say on the preparation, but I presuppose that if you are a hypnotherapist or involved in this field in any professional way, then you should know all that stuff.

Have your client start with their eyes closed to get used to that while with you.

1. The Classic Hypnosis Induction: Eye Fixation Induction


Tell the client that shortly, you’ll ask them open their eyes and to raise them up as high as they will go so that they are staring at a point on the ceiling — or you might use your pen or something else.

Ask them to fix their gaze on the point, of course, the eyes gradually become more and more tired, the eyelids become heavier, and gradually the eyes feel like it would be much more agreeable to just be closed.

When the eyes close, there is going to be a sense of relief and relaxation in the eyes that you suggest spreads down the face and throughout the entire body.

When doing this, you want to repeat sentences that suggest the eyelids are becoming heavier and heavier… Also suggest that as this is happening, so the rest of his body is feeling comfortable and relaxed.

Do ensure that you observe the rate of blinking. If the person is responsive to this suggestion, then the rate of blinking will increase. You might want to say the words, “that’s right,” in Erickson style every time they blink.

You might like to state that the blinks last for longer and longer until they last so long that the eyes remain closed. Get them to notice how they blink. Get them being aware of what they are doing.

You might want to add an Erickson style presupposition that, “your eyes only fully close when you are ready to go into hypnosis.”

Suggest to them that when the eyes close, they’ll feel a deep sense of relief and physical relaxation that will spread down through their entire body.

And then when the eyes do properly close, suggest exactly that to them, suggest to them that the relaxation they sense in their eyelids spreads through the body. What you have done here is to create a contrast between the slight discomfort of keeping the eyes open and the beautiful relaxa-tion sensation when they finally close… And you have developed suggestibility once the eyes are closed and a degree of complicity, all important for subsequent suggestion delivery.

If they start to show some classic signs of hypnosis, you might like to feed them back to the client — eyelids fluttering, rate of breathing changing, pallor of skin, etc. You can ratify the signs that you see and tell the client that this shows they are doing it all so well. When you notice something and they then notice it even more, they move their focus further inwards and become more absorbed in the process.

Tell them that these signs show that they are doing this very well and are a great hypnotic subject.

You then proceed with a deepening technique and whatever therapeutic intervention you intend to use from there. Really simple, really good, robust, rapid hypnosis induction.


I was recently asked to review a book which contained a really good explanation of the classic eye-lock process and I thought I’d write about it… Whether used as an induction or as a process of priming for hypnosis, such as a suggestibility/susceptibility test, it is also used a great deal by hypnotists doing impromptu hypnosis.

I have read about it in Harling and Nyrup’s book, ’Sleight of Mind’, watched it done beautifully by Anthony Jacquin in his Trilby Connection videos and of course seen versions of it in Ormond McGill’s Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnosis and want to credit all these guys for this.

Done correctly, it applies some simple physical laws which are then enhanced with the use of suggestion. It is a good way to lead an individual into hypnosis as it does move their awareness inwards and has them very focused and attentive, and many of the processes involving the use of eyes do tend to lend themselves well to hypnosis.

I am taking it for granted, that anyone doing this has rapport, has developed expectancy, is being congruent and communicating effectively. This particular process can often benefit from the indi-vidual being physically relaxed throughout the body too, so you may want to punctuate what you do with suggestions of them being relaxed in their shoulders and other areas of their body.

Essentially, what happens is that the hypnotist asks the individual involved to close their eyes and then point to a position about an inch back from their hairline upon their head. Some suggest the centre of the forehead, but I think that the further backward and upward the eyesight goes, the better… Some hypnotists place their own finger on the head of the individual, but again, I have found it more effective to have the individual do it with their own finger and you can focus on what you are doing and keep connected with them.

Then the hypnotist simply suggests, that as they keep their eyes closed, they look up at that point, whilst keeping the rest of them relaxed, they look back and up to the point on their head where their finger is.

You then suggest that while they are looking at that spot, keeping their attention and eyes focused on that spot, their eyes are becoming locked and sealed into that position. You repeat it a couple of times, notice what happens with them, and increase the directness of your suggestions as you notice them doing all they are asked.

If they remain focused on looking upward at the spot on their head, then they will be physically unable to open their eyes. The fact you are suggesting as much, begins to give the impression it is due to something else… Suggestion, or hypnosis, or compliance… So as to remain ethical, you may not want to suggest any of these, just suggest the eyelids are locked as they continue to stare up at that point on their head.

I like to use a particular phrase, that binds things into place at this stage, rather than instruct them to “try and open your eyes” I like to offer up:

2. The Eye Lock Induction


“As soon as you sense that your eyes are locked and sealed into position, try to open them and realise you can’t.”

You can repeat that they continue to stare up at the spot on their head, this is essential for ensuring they actually physically cannot open their eyes, and then use the presuppositions again:

“While you sense that they are locked into position, you can try to open them, and find they are locked tightly shut.”

You spoon feed the outcome to them, you suggest they cannot open them, you also build in some element of failure by suggesting they ‘try.’

After a few moments of them struggling with this, you can suggest they move their hand, relax their eyelids, look back downwards and find their eyes are comfortable and easy to open.

This can then be used to lead them into hypnosis should you choose or used to suggest that they are already wonderfully responsive and ready for something more impressive with your hypnosis agenda.

Ormond McGill would not be anywhere near as subtle with this, he tended to ask them to squeeze their eyelids tightly shut and then he suggested their eyelids were locking and “are stuck so tightly together that you cannot open your eyes, try as hard as you will.” He’d then notice them failing to open them and tell them to “forget about your eyes now. They are closed so you can go to sleep. Go right ahead and go to sleep.” Thus they were in hypnosis and ready for him to move on to the next process.

There you have it, a fun process with many uses. Best kept simple and fairly rapid.


A while back, I showed one of my students a lovely little technique that started out being a sug-gestibility test written about by Ormond McGill and other stage hypnotists, but that I had adapted slightly to be used as a fun and slightly novel hypnosis induction. It is now something I use a great, great deal with my clients.

Firstly, I took out a rubber band and placed it around my own hand, like this:

It is important to demonstrate first and then explain the other person that this is what I am going to do with their hand in just a minute. I asked for permission to do so and he agreed.

Next, I then asked him to raise his hand up and stare at the back of it, while I placed the rubber band around his hand and asked him to resist the sensation and hold his hand out strong, stretching the rubber band for a few moments and to remember every detail of the experience prior to us talking it off his hand again.

So then we take it off and now that they have a real life example of the sensation, they are asked to use their imagination and I asked him to keep his eyes fixed on the back of his hand and imagine that the rubber band was still there.

Now, while imagining the rubber band is wrapped around their hand, they are to really engage their imagination and strain against it and force their fingers as far apart as they possibly can.

As they do this, the hypnotist now suggests that this imaginary rubber band is continually pulling against their fingers as they stretch them out. When used as a suggestibility test, this ascertains the ability of the individual to use their imagination and demonstrates ideo-motor responses and so on.

As hypnotist using this as an induction, you now start to suggest that they imagine the rubber band holding on strong and beginning to win out over the hand:

“Imagine the rubber band is pulling in tighter as its natural stretch continues to pull your fingers in, as you strain harder and harder to keep them in that weakening position… Start thinking to yourself that the harder you try to keep your fingers from drawing together, the more they start to move closer together.”

You can embellish this some more and repeat it with some force.

3. The Imaginary Rubber Band Hypnosis Induction


Suggest that they are imagining the fingers closing as they strain to keep them open. Then you can do one of two things.

Firstly, you can suggest that as the fingers touch close, the persons eyes close and they go inside themselves and become hypnotised, and you start the deepening process.

Secondly, you can ask them to close their eyes and continue to imagine the fingers closing and use the fingers drawing together as a deepener itself:

“As your fingers draw closer, so you reach deeper inside your mind and go deeper down now…”

Again, of course you embellish and develop and repeat.

You can make suggestions that you are trying very hard to resist the fingers closing, but the strength in the fingers is lessening and the rubber band keeps on relentlessly drawing them in. You may even suggest that it becomes inevitable that the fingers close.

“And as you reach the conclusion that the inevitable is soon to happen, and the fingers close, so you close off all connection with all other distractions and just go deep inside, focusing on going deeper…”

You can then take this even further should you wish and suggest that the fingers become clamped or welded together and are stuck shut if you want to use it for a convincer or further suggestibility test.

You could then just suggest that the hand drops to their lap as they go deeper, or be a bit Erickso-nian and suggest that all the time it takes for the hand to move to a resting position in their lap is all the time that it takes for them to go to the deepest level of hypnosis available to them today.

Of course, when you bring them out of the hypnosis session, you tell them that it was all the im-agination and that the sensation in the fingers and that hand are back to their usual way of being and the fingers do separate easily as they would usually expect.

It is a neat little way of having some fun and inducing hypnosis with a highly advanced prop of a rubber band… Though, you could of course do it all without the prop, the reality of the experience is heightened with the demonstration and actual experience of the rubber band used before-hand.

Hope you get to have a go at using this. It is great fun and my clients always thoroughly enjoy it.


Over the years I have seen many demonstrations of hypnosis induction and deepeners, as have most hypnosis professionals (I would say ‘every’, but I think I’d be inaccurate). Most of those induc-tions and deepeners are not necessarily all that compelling to watch, because most of what you see involves a hypnotist or hypnotherapist talking to a person who is sat perfectly still in a chair and not much else happening until some tests are employed, though even they don’t get demon-strated all the time.

The majority of the television coverage for hypnosis in the UK has been a series of Paul McKenna’s stage hypnosis effects, whereby the results of the hypnosis were deemed entertaining, or other documentary footage whereby the results of anaesthesia are shown because they are so impres-sive to watch.

Hypnotherapy tends to be far less compelling to view and the inductions and deepeners taught to hypnotherapists and clinical hypnosis professionals does not tend to make the most fascinating viewing.

So it goes without saying that I really enjoyed reading about and watching Gil Boyne demonstrate the automatic spinning hands deepener a number of years ago. It is something used by stage hyp-notists and I have seen footage of and read about Ormond McGill using this process too, however, it is also something that can be used in hypnotherapy sessions should you wish and offers up a far less static way of deepening hypnosis.

Step One:

With rapport developed, expectancy created, and with the client educated appropriately, you induce hypnosis in your chosen manner. There are plenty more things that may well be considered or done before you use this process, but this article is not about them and presupposes you know how to get to this stage already.

Step Two:

Advise the individual what is going to happen before actually doing it, then raise their hands and begin to move the around each other.

Step Three:

Now you suggest to the individual that when you let go of the hands, they continue to carry on with the motion unaided, all by themselves. You punctuate your words and sentences with some motion inspired language “moving, spinning, rotating, all on their own, easier and faster.”

All the time encourage the positive response of the individual. Feedback to them that they are doing it well and correctly.

4. Spinning Hands Hypnosis Induction


Step Four:

Tell them that as their hands continue spinning that they now start to think about and consider the way the heart beats. Of course they know this, but remind them and tell them that their heart automatically responds to the needs of the body.

Then link the automatic response of the heart to the hands moving automatically and even suggest, “the more you try to stop them spinning, the faster they continue to do so, all the time rotating, spinning, moving…”

It is wise to engage the imagination here and have the imagination assist. You might suggest their hands are moving with the same action of a spinning wheel, or that they can see the outline of their hands in their mind, leaving a trail like that left by sparklers when you spin them in the air on Fireworks Night.

You can now set them a challenge if you are certain that they have really got it and are continuing along automatically. Challenge them to, “try to stop spinning your hands and notice they keep on spinning, try to stop them and notice them go faster.”

Step Five:

With the challenge overcome, and the automated response of the hands spinning continuing smoothly, explain that you are going to touch their shoulder or forehead or somewhere that is appropriate and comfortable and that when you do, the hands will start to spin in the opposite direction.

Again, using the words of momentum — “moving, spinning and turning the other way, faster again, easier…” Then you touch them and continue to generate the language that gets them moving and continuing, all the praising and telling them they are doing everything well.

Now you use this to deepen. “As they turn, with each turn, you go deeper.” And apply similar sug-gestions to use the momentum to create more depth of hypnosis.

Step Six:

Now suggest that when you touch them again, the right arm drops comfortably into the lap and they continue to go deeper, the left arm remains spinning, taking them deeper all the time. Then touch them and watch that happen, all the feeding back that they are doing things well. Do the same process with the left arm now and have that drop to the lap also, comfortably, all the time suggesting this is deepening the process.

Let them rest and relax the arms, use the relaxation and stillness they are now experiencing to deepen and spread through the body should you wish to and you are ready to take the next step, depending on the focus of your session, with the client.

So there you have it, a simple process of deepening, that is slightly more interesting to watch, involves some activity and also gives you obvious and immediate feedback of the client’s response and receptivity to your suggestions. I really rather like that.


A number of years ago in the popular BBC TV soap opera EastEnders, when there was a prolifera-tion of Fowlers living in Albert Square, the youngest of the fowlers, Martin Fowler, owner of the fruit and veg stall, son of Pauline and Arthur, father to Sonia’s baby etc, etc… Well he had a best friend for a number of years, whose name was Asif Malik.

The reason I mention this is that whenever Martin hailed his friend in the square, or anywhere else in public, he called out, “Oi, Asif!” and it made me partially regress to the school playground, whereby if anyone mentioned anything remotely impressive (such as their Dad playing for Man-chester United or owning a race car from the weekend’s televised Grand Prix) then the audience of children would all say, “Oh yeah, as if…”

So you’ll understand why I childishly smirk whenever trainers or therapists or anyone else in the hypnosis or hypnotherapy fields talks or writes about the power of “as if.”

* Holds back nasal sounding smirk, just *

On to relevance and back on topic then… Often seen as good way of inducing hypnosis, or at least developing a hypnosis session with an individual is to use a method called the “as if” pattern. The way of doing things does not involve any direct suggestion as such. There is no expected response to suggestions.

Instead, the client is asked to act ‘as if’ they were responding in the correct way.

This is seen mainly as an NLP or even Ericksonian way to induce or deepen hypnosis usually as it tends to be in a lot of that sort of literature. However, Cognitive Behavioural hypnotherapists have delighted in this type of notion too. Simply asking someone to behave ‘as if’ they are in hypnosis, and think the same way they would ‘as if’ they were in hypnosis, and going deeper, etc is using behavioural and cognitive means of enhancing the hypnosis.

This is illustrated beautifully in The handbook of hypnotic phenomena in psychotherapy by Edgette and Edgette (1995) and was supported by other prominent cognitive behavioural hypno-therapists and researchers such as Sarbin in 1997 (in ‘Contemporary Hypnosis, Hypnosis as a Conver-sation’) and Spanos and Coe in 1992 (as cited in ‘Contemporary Hypnosis Research’ by Fromm and Nash pp.102–30).

The notion here is that according to non-state theorists of hypnosis in particular, where the acting ‘as if’ ends and the reality of hypnosis begins is ambiguous due to the responses being so similar (and considered by many as identical).

Co-creators of NLP Bandler and Grinder refer to Milton Erickson using this ‘as if’ notion in their early work, ‘Frogs into Princes’ (1979, p136), and here is what they stated:

Milton said to me, “You don’t consider yourself to be a therapist, but you are a therapist.” And I said, “Well, not really.”

5. As If and Revivification


He said “Well, let’s pretend… that you’re a therapist who works with people. The most important thing… when you’re pretending this… is to under-stand… that you are really not… You are just pretending…

“And if you pretend really well, the people that you work with will pretend to make changes. And they will forget that they are pretending… for the rest of their lives. But don’t you be fooled by it.”

So we can then suggest to a client that they act ‘as if’ they are profoundly relaxed prior to hypnosis, or act ‘as if’ they are in deep hypnosis, or whatever else may be deemed pertinent to experience the actual effects of what you are suggesting without having to react or respond to any direct sug-gestions being made by the hypnotist or hypnotherapist.

So it could be seen as cognitive behavioural, it could be seen as Ericksonian, it could be classified as indirect… but regardless, it is a simple and effective means of enhancing any hypnotic experi-ence.

Hypnosis Revivification — Revivifying Previous Hypnosis

OK, so to say the word revivification does make you feel like you have a stutter and sound a bit like Arkwright from Open All Hours (those of you in the UK old enough to remember the TV show, anyway!), however, it remains a very powerful and simple way to induce hypnosis.

Disappointingly, my huge dictionary only has revivification noted as the noun for the word revivify. So I may have to go and get myself a new one and revive my dictionary collection. However, my spell checker keeps correcting my typing errors, so it knows that such a word exists. The word revivify in my dictionary means the following:

To give new life or spirit to; revive.

Which does beautifully explain the notion of using revivification for the purpose of inducing hypnosis.

Revivification utilises a person’s memory to relive an experience intensely. So it is not exclusively to be used for hypnosis, though of course as a hypnotherapy trainer and hypnotherapist, I use it in such a way.

The classic experiences you can choose to elicit are those that are predisposed to have hypnosis present. For example, experiences that are similar to hypnosis that your subject has been in before, times of great fascination/absorption, times of intense learning and so on. Of course, if you have a client that you have taken into hypnosis formally on one or more occasion before, then you can use that direct experience of hypnosis to revivify too.

Any good hypnotist and hypnotherapist will know that of course all your training in preparing your client for hypnosis, prior to the induction still counts here — you ensure you have rapport, be aware of creating the right amount of expectation for the upcoming hypnotic experience, be congruent yourself and firmly believe that the individual is going to successfully go into hypnosis,


ensure your language suggests as much and behave accordingly. There are other considerations that we’ll assume are present and dealt with in order for you to begin the process.

Step One:

Initially, you may conversationally or casually enquire about a state that you want to elicit. For example, “how do you know when you have been totally absorbed in something?” or simply, “What do you like to do to relax?” or, “How do you know when you are relaxed?”

The question needs to be open in order for you to gather sensory rich information from the indi-vidual that you are going to take into hypnosis.

Step Two:

Now ask them to take a deep breath and as they exhale, to close their eyes and start to use their imagination.

You now start to explore the answer you were given (in step one) and you ask detailed questions about it, ideally having them explain a memorable occasion when that happened. You ask them to describe when, where, with whom, what happened and so on; giving a detailed account of it happening.

This in itself can begin to alter the mindset of the person, as they have to start imagining that scenario in order to recount it.

Step Three:

You start to use linking language to smoothly join and connect that individual’s replies. So that each thing leads to the next step… You encourage that explanation to flow using words like ‘as’, ‘and’, ‘while’ etc. — “As you sat in the chair in front of the TV, what happened next?”

If they have been into hypnosis in this formal manner before, ideally something they considered to be a deep experience of hypnosis, then Steps Two and Three can simply be altered to this:

“Please recall that time when you were in a deep, deep state of hypnosis. Remember how you behaved; that is, how did you hold your body, what were you doing, what was your posture, did your eyes feel a certain way (you elicit this information of their behavioural, physical experience of hypnosis)… And what were you thinking? What did you believe and how strongly did you believe in the experience? (Now elicit the cognitions that were present when they experienced hypnosis)…“

Step Four:

Then, to induce hypnosis, you start to gradually change the tense of your own language from past to present, so that the individuals responses are being fed back as ‘softened’ instructions.


“So you are totally absorbed and focused on the TV now… And your mind feels like it is not totally connected to the TV but you are still aware of it happening… Good, and you are enjoying that sensation, aren’t you?”

Then, start to also shift the focus of your words from external descriptions of the setting and situation, to internal elements, sensations and thoughts to move the focus inside their mind and focus their attention inwardly.

“So as you’re sitting on the sofa, watching the television listening to the music on the show, you are feeling deeply relaxed or is it more of that ab-sorption you told me about earlier?”

If they have experienced hypnosis before, and gave you some responses to the latter part of Step Three, you can simply follow that up with:

“Thank you… now please just recall those feelings… in every way… in your mind… in your body… Remember it like it is happening right now… right now… And allow yourself to recreate those conditions in the same way as best as you possibly can right now, right here… That’s it… Immerse yourself in that again right now…”

Step Five:

You may like to start using the clients words that they used during their descriptions to revivify their experience some more. Maybe even a similar tonality to that used by them when describing the situation.

Then as you start to notice the signs that they are in hypnosis, you begin to deepen the experi-ence using whatever you deem as the most appropriate deepener to use there and then with that individual.

That is revivification. Complex name, very simple process. Ideal if you have a very receptive client who has been in hypnosis with you before, or if you are doing a re-induction in the same hypno-therapy session.


Last weekend, on my hypnotherapy practitioner diploma (HPD) training module, I was demon-strating several hypnotic inductions and fractionating the hypnosis at the same time with one particular individual (i.e. They were going in and out of hypnosis, making it easier to re-access). Each time around, I wanted to also offer up a different hypnotic deepener too.

So I also demonstrated one of the simplest and one of my favourite ways to deepen hypnosis without really needing to do a great deal myself as hypnotist, using a process that engages the individual’s imagination, gets them focusing their attention and ensures that they deepen the process themselves, while you look on and amplify it.

Once you have induced hypnosis using whichever induction you deemed appropriate, then you ask them to imagine being sat opposite a mirror and (in their mind/imagination) to look into that mirror and see their own reflection.

I recommend that you allow them and their own mind to paint the reflection, that is, do not start telling them what they see in detail, give them the moderately vague suggestion that goes something like this:

“…As you see yourself in that mirror, notice the things that tell you that you are in deep hypnosis… What is it that tells you that you are going deeper and deeper?”

Of course, you expand on this and use repetition and spend some adequate time doing it. The beauty is, that they see themselves in the mirror reflection going deeper and being in a deep state of hypnosis.

The thought process is then that they realise in order for that mirror reflection to be that way, they must be in that place themselves and start to behaviourally and cognitively adopt those things they see in the mirror… And “ta-dah!” you have very simply deepened the hypnosis by giving an outline that they filled in the gaps with and deepened for themselves. They chose whatever was convincing to them, they generated the signs, so that must be their interpretation, which is far more accurate than anything you prescribe, eh?

This kind of deepening tends to work best with someone who has experienced hypnosis before and therefore has some personal reference to what would be signs of being in hypnosis and signs of hypnosis deepening.

I’ve often taken this notion a step further.

For example, having induced hypnosis in the individual, you can ask them to imagine that you are the perfect hypnotist for them in every way… You are speaking in the way that resonates best with them, that they find easiest to connect with, your nuances, tone and language start to be heard by the individual in a way that they become absorbed with.

6. Perfect Hypnotist and Mirror


Basically, you ask them to construct and create their ideal hypnotist and ask their imagination to transfer those qualities, using their imagination, onto what you are doing and how you are con-ducting the session.

One might suggest that if you had good enough rapport, trust and expectancy developed, such a thing would not be necessary, I get that. However, you could use it to deepen;

“…Notice what this perfect hypnotist for you starts to suggest in order to make your hypnosis deeper… Imagine that happening to you now…”

And so on.

Of course, each of these ideas needs embellishing and developing to fit with the individual, the context and the environment, but I am sure you are more than capable of working that out for yourself.


The means of deepening hypnosis that I am writing about here today is referred to as refractiona-tion by many and also goes by other names. It is particularly useful within a hypnotherapy session as we hypnotherapists tend to work with people whose presenting issues can detrimentally effect their ability to concentrate or focus well; this process enhances concentration and focuses attention very well.

This type of deepening process is virtually the same as the induction process often referred to as fractionation, the kind cited in a Dave Elman style of induction, as you’ll see as I explain it.

The process of refractionation is whereby the hypnotherapist or hypnotist delivers a suggestion to the client who is already hypnotised, to suggest that they can be hypnotised quicker and deeper.

That individual is then brought out of hypnosis, fully emerged, and following a brief chat is hyp-notised again. The ideal response is that they are now hypnotised quicker than before and have a perception of it being deeper. This process is then repeated a number of times with each occasion being hypnotised lasting slightly longer than the previous one.

So each period spent in hypnosis teaches and demonstrates to the client how easy it is to be hyp-notised, and it trains them to get better and more effective at it.

On occasion, some stage hypnotists have used similar notions as a means of being able to click their fingers whilst directly suggesting the person “sleep!” as they immediately respond and go into hypnosis, giving an impressive display for the audience to be wowed by; sometimes not knowing that the process has been practicing and re-induced to reach this speed prior to the show beginning in earnest.

Many hypnotherapists set up and use what is referred to in NLP as an ‘anchor’ and is also referred to as a ‘cue word’ by others. This kind of a cue is associated with the rapid entering of hypnosis and applied over and over so that upon being used in future sessions, the client can immediately go to that level of hypnosis attained previously. The hypnotherapist then has a posthypnotic suggestion that can be used in future sessions and can spend a lot less time inducing hypnosis and more time engaging in the hypnotherapy.

I would hasten to add that many cues actually exist inherently anyhow… I find many of my clients simply react a certain way to sitting in the chair in my consulting room. Or if I change my voice or dim the lights in a way that indicates the hypnosis part of the session is going to occur, in line with words used that have been used before when the client was hypnotised.

This really is basic stuff as far as hypnotherapy goes, but as with so many things in life, the simple tends to get overlooked and not appreciated enough when so much time is spent being in awe of the complex alternatives.

7. Posthypnotic Suggestion and Re-Induction as a Rapid Means of Inducing or Deepening Hypnosis


I had been reading a paper by Selig Finkelstein from 2003 in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis entitled ‘Rapid Hypnotic Inductions and Therapeutic Suggestions in the Dental Setting’, which I have found to be extremely interesting as it charts a number of evidence based rapid hypnosis inductions. Though the article is aimed at benefiting dentists wanting to induce hypnosis rapidly, I thought I’d point out one of the ways that Finkelstein suggests inducing hypnosis rapidly.

It is called the Somatic Awareness Induction and the paper itself has a full script for such an induction process, which you can go and read for yourself (if you subscribe to the journal).

Somatic awareness has its roots in mindfulness and other related fields, though there is a Somatic Psychology field all of its own in existence today. The main principle (and I realise how tough and unsatisfying it is to put an entire field into a media-friendly soundbite!) is to examine the individ-ual’s relationship with their own felt body. The awareness of how the body is experienced physi-ologically is examined.

Anyhow, the hypnosis induction suggested by Finkelstein uses somatic awareness by asking the client a number of questions that heighten their awareness accordingly.

For example, “Can you notice how your relaxation increases when you exhale?” Or you might also ask, “Does the right hand feel as if it is lying on your leg or does it feel as if it is supported by the leg?”

It can be developed into increasingly more sophisticated and complex questions also, such as, “Do your right and left legs feel the weight of your hands equally or is there a difference?” Even building up to, “Is it time for you to go to your special place, changing it whenever you want, with the people you want and only those, changing them whenever you wish, or would you prefer being by yourself?”

The script is longer, but I particularly like this hypnosis induction because it elicits absorption, internal focus and hypnotic responsiveness within the client in a rapid fashion whilst retaining a fairly permissive tone and style, so is not as direct as many rapid inductions tend to be.

I really rather like that. There are many versions of this same thing out there in script books, but it is always good to see these things in peer-reviewed journals.

Reference: Finkelstein, Selig(2003) ‘Rapid Hypnotic Inductions and Therapeutic Suggestions in the Dental Setting’, International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 51: 1, 77–85.

8. The Somatic Awareness Rapid Hypnosis Induction


The year I wrote this, we very sadly saw the loss of one of the greatest contributors to the field of hypnosis and hypnotherapy, Gil Boyne. I included an obituary to him on my website, there were very few people who are so highly regarded as he was by this professional field.

I once wrote in a forum about the benefit of developing niches, and Gil told stories of how he also started out running self-hypnosis seminars as I did and he regarded me for that… But he also told me that he got massively annoyed by hypnotherapists like me, because we sold hypnosis audios that people derived little benefit from and harmed the field of hypnotherapy.

He relayed his thoughts in this regard to me in no uncertain terms… And he demonstrated his desire and passion about the field of hypnotherapy and hypnosis. I learnt many valuable lessons that day and had some other brief contact with him in his latter years.

It is funny, back in 2010 in the semi final of ‘The Apprentice’ here in the UK, the notorious Stuart Baggs walked in to one of the interviews and saw Ms Margaret Mountford, one of Lord Sugar’s previous business aides, and because he had seen her soften on previous series of ‘The Appren-tice’, Stuart Baggs said, “Hello Margaret,” to which she scolded him for calling her by her first name and not addressing her professionally… You see, he felt he knew her because he had developed a relationship with her via his television.

Likewise, I feel I know Gil Boyne much better than I do, because I have spent so much time studying his work at http://www.gilboyneonline.com/

His legacy lives on through that website. He has a huge body of work recorded throughout the years which all hypnosis professionals can benefit from. As well as a number of hypnosis induc-tions, another section devoted to hypnotherapy training, there are a number of case studies in there and several opinion pieces from Gil, some very pertinent when looking into the regulation of the hypnotherapy and hypnosis field.

One thing I love watching is his video demonstration of the Direct Gaze Hypnosis Induction. I have had permission from Rob Woodgate, the owner of that site, to share the written explanation with you here, written by Gil Boyne and unedited:

The direct gaze induction is one of the most effective hypnosis inductions a hypnotherapist can employ, although it takes some practice to master. In this video, Gil demonstrates the direct gaze induction, eye catalepsy and post hypnotic re-induction.

The Direct Gaze induction Technique is the most powerful technique of all, and also the most difficult to use because you have to express perfect confidence. If you have any doubt, or hesita-tion, or fear, it will show in your eyes; the subject will read it and it will inhibit their response.

9. The Direct Gaze Hypnosis Induction by Gil Boyne

http://www.gilboyneonline.com/


Instructions to Hypnotist

If the subject is standing, you say to them, “All right, I want you to fix your eyes right here.” Take the index finger of your right hand and bring it up under your right eye. If they’re seated, say exactly the same thing. Or if they are lying down on their back on a couch or on a bed, say exactly the same thing:

Spoken to Subject

Now I want you to look right here. Don’t take your eyes from mine. Don’t move or speak or nod your head or say “uh-huh” unless I ask you to. I know that you hear and understand me just as you know it. If you follow my simple instructions there is nothing in this world that can keep you from entering into a very deep and pleasant state of hypnosis, and doing it in just a fraction of a second. Now, take a deep breath and fill up your lungs.


As you say this, take a gasp of breath yourself and take your right hand and move it in an upward motion in the air. Then say:

Spoken to Subject

Now exhale. That’s fine. Now a second and deeper breath.


Now again bring up your hand:

Spoken to Subject

Exhale.


Let your hand come down:

Spoken to Subject

Relax. Now a third deep breath.


Once again, hand up:

Spoken to Subject

Exhale. Relax.


Now take your hand once again up over their head, about three feet in front of them, about two feet above their head, with your index finger pointing out, just like you shake your finger at someone; hold it in an upraised position, about a forty five degree angle, pointing toward the ceiling. Say to them:


Spoken to Subject

And now, I’m going to count from five down to one. As I do, your eyelids grow heavy, droopy, drowsy and sleepy. By the time I reach the count of one, they close right down and you go deep in hypnotic slumber. Deeper than ever before. All right, Five… Eyelids heavy, droopy, drowsy and sleepy. Four… Those heavy lids feel ready to close. Three… The next time you blink that is hypnosis coming on you then. Two… They begin closing, closing, closing, closing, closing, closing, closing, closing them, close them, close them.


And at this point; as their eyelids begin to flutter and dose, you stand with your hand on their shoulder, move it around behind their head with a gentle pressure, say:

Spoken to Subject

They’re closing, closing, closing, closing. Sleep now!


Pull their head forward, say:

Spoken to Subject

Now just relax and go deeply into hypnosis. Deeper than you have ever been before.


When you’re looking the subject in the eye, It is important for you not to blink. You can learn the Direct Gaze by practicing in the mirror. Learn to narrow your eyes slightly, not enough to look ludicrous or funny bet enough to keep your eyeballs from drying out; because that is really what causes blinking. You blink to moisten the eyeballs because the fluid keeps evaporating from them. Now, also, just as in the arm levitation, time your numbers in response to what you see happening in the subject’s eyes.

When you say, “Five… eyelids heavy, droopy, drowsy and sleepy,” you may see that you just don’t feel any quality of response. Then stretch out your suggestion a little bit. You say, “Five… eyelids heavy, droopy, drowsy and sleepy, your eyelids feel so heavy. Four… your heavy lids begin to feel as though they’re getting ready to close. Three… the very next time they blink, that is hypnosis coming on you then.” Now, suddenly you see them beginning to blink and then you say, “And now they begin closing, closing,” and you pick up the tempo. Develop your pattern, your tempo, with what you see happening with the subject.

Now the Direct Gaze Technique is the most effective because of all of the imagery associated with hypnosis. All of the ideas that the person has learned from movies, novels, cartoons, and comic strips show that the hypnotist’s eyes have power. It is also in mythology as the evil eye. On the back of the dollar bill, right above the pyramid on the left side, you will see the image of the all-powerful eye or the eye of God. The eye traditionally holds great power. So when you develop your confi-dence, when you feel more certain, when you have achieved a number of successful inductions, then it is time to begin with the single most successful induction, that is, the Direct Gaze Process.


Also, in the demo, I love the fact that Gil says to the subject, “We don’t say ‘under’ hypnosis, ‘under’ is pejorative, we say ‘into’, OK?” I have said the same on my own seminars many times before… I am influenced by him greatly, it would seem. ;-)

He also tends to establish a re-access resource for getting people back into hypnosis very rapidly on subsequent occasions, no messing. I love seeing him do that as a matter of course.

I hope you enjoyed that process and enjoyed celebrating Gil Boyne once again.


I have seen this sort of induction referred to by Jeffrey Stephens and Cal Banyan as the ‘8 Word Induction’ because they use the 8 words of, “Press on my hand… Close your eyes… Sleep!” in order to carry it out. As well as using those 8 words, I tend to think you need a bunch of other words prior to doing them, in order for it to be most effective; at least, that suits my way of doing things.

It is indeed rapid, very effective, and I use it a great deal when doing demonstrations on my courses or working with people that have been into hypnosis with me before.

Because my hypnosis is done in the therapy room, I tend to frame the processes I employ by ex-plaining what it is going to happen, building expectation, educating the client and suggesting the way things are going to happen, yet leaving it open enough for them to interpret some of their own responses as being correct too.

As with all the inductions I write about here on the blog, I recommend that you have rapport developed, that you are being congruent, communicating confidently and effectively prior to pro-ceeding.

Initially, have the client sat comfortably in the position that indicates they are ready to go into hypnosis. Ideally with their arms and legs uncrossed, feet flat on the floor, head balanced on their shoulders, etc. You’ll want to be slightly to one side, as you are going to be touching one of their hands and don’t want to be leaning more of yourself into their personal space than is necessary.

Instruct them to:

“Press on my hand.”

You may want to use more words. You offer your hand, make sure it is above their leg, so when it falls, it lands on their leg and does not fall to their side, unbalancing them. The individual places his/her hand palm down on yours and begins to press down applying pressure. You resist for a while to keep the hand there in that position. You can suggest that they press harder if they do not do so already. Then say…

“Close your eyes.”

I prefer to prefix this with a presupposition along the lines of “when you are ready to go into hypnosis, close your eyes now.” You are still instructing them to close their eyes, but letting them know that by doing so, they are ready to go into hypnosis.

Observe what is happening with them. Wait a few seconds so that you tell that they are getting involved in the process, that they are focusing their attention. You may even want to suggest that they concentrate on their hand and focus on the resistance they are encountering, to be sure of their focus and removing other distractions. You may even notice that you already have some signs of hypnosis being displayed by the individual.

You then rapidly and surely drop your hand and say the immortal word…

10. The Hand Press Induction


“SLEEP”

Use a firm, confident and assured voice — while being absolutely expectant that the individual is going to follow your instructions to the letter. Explain that they remain in a good posture that advances the hypnosis.

You then use whatever deepener that you deem pertinent to use to develop the hypnosis.


You’ll recall James demonstrating his own version of the pattern interrupt induction which I origi-nally delighted at watching him do during a magic demonstration whereby he had wowed a group with a magic card trick, then he followed up with a ‘high five’ which he used to induce hypnosis by interrupting the natural movement.

High fives are not that common in the therapy room, and so we are giving you a full explana-tion of the notion of pattern interrupt and then the classic means of the handshake induction as pioneered by Milton Erickson and Richard Bandler after him which is much more usable and pertinent to the clinical environment.

On my hypnotherapy diploma course, I tend to get very fond of my students. On a recent training, with only a couple of modules remaining (we had been through a great deal together over the previous eight modules) they were asked to do something quite challenging by me. Up to that point, they had been doing some truly inspiring work.

As with any closely knit group of people (i.e. family members, work colleagues, team members, etc.) they also influence each other. And upon being asked to do this thing by me that is totally and completely within their abilities, one or two of them got slightly (and understandably) unsure of themselves, and it spread to a few more… It was like a swathe of worry and uncertainty ran through them hypnotically.

Many of them naturally asked me for assurances, help and support which I usually give in abundance… You’ll note the word ‘usually.’

I did not offer the assurance they sought. Instead, I explained the virtues of self-reliance, self-as-surance, and using all the great plethora of things they had learned over the previous 8 modules. I was incredibly provocative and challenging.

You know what happened?

What happened was something I was certain would happen and it delighted me.

They rose to the change in my pattern. They responded with a sense of fight and determination and assertiveness and started committing themselves to the task at hand… I was so proud.

In our hypnotherapy rooms, us and our clients can get stuck in certain states or mindsets. Or we tend to let our states get influenced and then we settle comfortably into it. What do I mean by state? Your state is your way of being at any given moment. It involves what is happening in your brain, what is going on in your body, what you are seeing, doing, feeling and what you are thinking.

It is how you are — physically, psychologically, emotionally, etc.

One great method of communication when engaged with people who seem to have settled into a particular state is to break patterns. To interrupt expected patterns. We have all found ourselves

11. Pattern Interrupt / Handshake Induction


stuck in states of mind where we tend to recycle our own mental dirty dishwater. It is like when a record gets stuck in a scratched groove, playing the same ugly noise over and over again.

So we go over to the record player and lift the stylus up and place it on a new, pleasant sounding section of the record. Aahhhh. That is better. The way to change a stuck state is the same: you need to interrupt the pattern, the ugly noise, and then start afresh.

My consulting rooms here on the south coast of England used to overlook the sea, and when people arrived for sessions, I could tell that the surroundings tend to put them in a positive state. I can often see the change in their physiology when they arrive.

Then what happens? They enter the consulting room and we’ll begin getting to know each other and naturally I will then start to discuss what brought them to see me.

Then it happens — their back curls, their shoulders droop, their facial muscles transform, their breathing changes, their voice takes on that of someone who is feeling a bit sorry for themselves and they begin to regale me with their personal tale of how they got to this stage in their life and they enter the state of some who is troubled.

The best way to deal with that pattern is to show how easy it is to break. What I usually do is to have a joke or make light of something and then they smile, straighten their back, resume usual breathing again and go back to feeling fine. The message comes through loud and clear, they know how to be in a good state. They also know how to choose to be in a bad one.

I have found that confusion and humour are the greatest ways to interrupt people’s patterns. People often fall into patterns because they don’t know how to do anything else. They might mope around and become depressed because they think they’ll evoke sensitive, caring questions about what’s troubling them. It’s their way of getting attention and using their resources in the best way they know how to change their state.

This notion can in turn now lead us to be aware of how to interrupt patterns to induce hypnosis.

With my own students I was referring to earlier, I simply changed my tack, I took a different stance and it provoked the desired response. I interrupted my own usual pattern and it interrupted their pattern in turn.

Professionally and personally, I find humour one of the best pattern interrupts there is. It is hard to be angry when you are laughing.

When using this idea to induce hypnosis, I encourage you to go against the grain of many things that you may have done in the past. We are not robots wired into being certain ways. We do not have to do everything the same as we used to. The classic way of interrupting patterns to induce hypnosis is the handshake induction that follows, but as we have encouraged you to do, and as James does with his ‘high five’ induction, be creative and understand the concept underpinning this notion, then utilise it if the opportunity presents itself when you need to induce hypnosis.


Handshake Induction:

Milton Erickson was notorious for hypnotising people when they least expected it. The handshake induction utilises the confusion that follows when an ordinary handshake is interrupted midstream.

First practice the physical gestures involved, then you can practice adding the language. The more you really practice making this fluid and natural, the more you will benefit. Here are the steps:

Step One:

Go to shake someone’s hand. In your mind, you must feel as if you really were going to shake that hand. Do not pretend to shake it. Your client will notice.

Step Two:

Stop purposefully just before the hands touch. I say purposefully, because it must be noticed by your client for them to engage in the process that follows.

Step Three:

Gently take a hold of the client’s wrist with your left hand (assuming you have both shaken with your right hand) and point into his/her palm with your right index finger (you may even choose to say something along the lines of “look at that!” or “look right here!” with some surprise).

Use a surprised facial expression. Intently look at their hand so that they look at it too.

Step Four:

When your client looks into his/her hand, you’ll notice them focusing on the hand, at which point you may choose to move it very slightly inwards and outwards so that it is harder for them to focus on and they’ll need to concentrate more and fix their attention to do what you are about to ask them.

Now you say, “Can you see those lines and shadows over here, in that hand, as your mind relaxes now close your eyes only as quickly as you can allow that comfort to spread…”

Step Five:

Continue with deepening suggestions such as — “Only allow your hand to move to your lap as fast as you go deeper and deeper into hypnosis now… Aren’t you?…”

There are many versions of this out there and many video clips of it, not to mention many varying opinions of it as a useful technique. Understand the purpose of the process and the ideas behind it — interrupting the usual pattern, inducing focus and using hypnotic language, etc.


This induction takes the ‘as if’ process a little further and encourages a more specific roleplay. I have found this extremely useful when working with someone for whom phenomena seem impossible and where their logical expectation (or lack of ) is incongruent with the creative process required. It encourages belief which is the stepping stone to the hypnotic induction.

Start by asking the client to stand with their palm pressed down on a table. Position their shoulder vertically above the hand and instruct them to keep the arm straight and focus on the back of their own hand. From this position it would be impossible to lift the hand without bending the arm and shifting their weight back. A fact that will, for this purpose, be ignored.

Invite the client to close their eyes and imagine that they are an actor on a theatrical stage. Build up the image in their mind by asking them to notice the audience before them and those in the balcony above. Get them to imagine the warmth of the theatres lights and the sounds around them. In other words, encourage them to build a strong mental picture, to CREATE the scene.

“Push down on your hand and, as a great actor, I want you to convey to your audience through every facial expression and muscle movement that your hand is completely stuck to the table. No matter how hard you try, your hand is completely GLUED, STUCK in place. Really sell this idea to your audience and make them BELIEVE THAT IT IS STUCK so that the more you try and lift it the more you find it’s completely stuck… that’s right… the more you try and lift it and find it’s completely stuck NOW.”

During this process look for signs that they are beginning to believe in the suggestion

“Notice that IT REALLY IS STUCK NOW.”

“In fact, you don’t even have to imagine it’s completely stuck NOW you can just keep trying to lift it and find it really is stuck and glued tight.”

To aid in this process you may want to lightly place your hand on the back of the shoulder above their hand and, without any force, stop their centre of gravity shifting back. Do this by imagining a vertical line from the back of their shoulder. You can allow them to move up that line but not beyond it. They should not feel any pressure or resistance. You will simple redirect their force UP rather than back.

Once you have created this belief you can, like the eye lock procedure, simply invite them to stop trying and feel a sense of relaxation as they drift into a deep hypnotic relaxation. You can even suggest that all the imagery round them begins to melt away as they drift deeper into hypnosis.

Further inductions from James Brown:

12. The Actor


Excuse me (Adam) butting in again here — before we give you the rundown of the volume control induction that James demonstrated in class, I thought I’d mention the typically Ericksonian notion of conscious/unconscious dissociation:

This was one of Erickson’s favourite induction methods. He would use this principle in most induc-tions. The structure is similar to pacing current experience (later in notes):

Begin talking about the functions of the conscious mind, in your usual “awake” voice and tone, •“Your conscious mind is logical, linear and likes to think in sequences…”Then talk about a few unconscious-mind functions, using you slower hypnotic voice and tonality, •“While your unconscious thinks intuitively, making associations in a holistic way…”Now say a few more things about the conscious mind, using your “awake” tonality, followed •again by more unconscious-mind contrasts using your hypnotic tonality and pace.Repeat the previous step while talking increasingly about the unconscious in your hypnotic •voice. To add confusion you can later begin talking about the conscious mind in your hypnotic voice to take the conscious mind further offline.

Of course, it is only effective is you work to a conscious/unconscious model of hypnosis, which I (Adam) no longer do in professional practice. It is a useful metaphor and therefore if you are working to that metaphor, this idea can be expanded upon in a variety of ways. The process that follows that James showed in class is a much more sophisticated adaptation of this, but includes many other previously mentioned notions and principles too.

OK, back to James’ explanations…


This one is a little sneaky as it is designed to allow the person to take themselves into hypnosis under the guise of a quick exercise to learn more about the way the client thinks. Especially good for someone who believes they have to relinquish control to the hypnotist and would find this a barrier to relaxation.

“Before you go into hypnosis today (note the presupposition) can we do a quick exercise that will give me some valuable information about the way you think? Good! You’ll enjoy this too as it will teach you a lot about your own imagination as well.”

Have the client it comfortably with their hands palm down on each leg, take a deep breath in and as they exhale allow their eyes to comfortably close.

Lightly take one hand at the wrist and say:

“I want you to imagine that this is the volume control to your logical conscious mind, the part of you that is linear, rational scientific if you like. This is the critical voice in your head, the part of you that would be engaged for logical processes like maths for instance. Sometime it is at full volume (raise their arm right up above head level, keeping it straight) this is when you are in your most logical and rational waking state, and other times it’s right down here (lower to just above the knee) when that voice in your head goes quieter and you feel a deep sense of inner peace and quiet. And there are times when it is off completely and you are asleep deeply (push hand onto leg). Please position this volume control to where it is right now, either down here, up here or somewhere in between (move arm accord-ingly).” (NB: most people will position the arm close to the top)

“On a scale from one to ten where would you say you are right now?”

Assuming they choose 7–9 say, “Good, you’ve already begun to relax.”

If they say 10 — “Excellent! You’ll really enjoy the relaxation coming your way!”

Leave the arm in the air and continue…

“You’ve probably already realised that this arm is your subconscious mind, the part of you that is intuitive, creative and deeply imaginative. This is the part of you that really works for you, the inner you, free from logic and rational thought it is the seat of your emotions and controls every nerve muscle and fibre of your being. It’s never off completely (raise it off the leg). Sometimes it’s down here, working in the background and sometimes its up here (raise up high) when you are deeply relaxed and open to your

13. Volume Control


powerful imagination, when you can accept positive suggestion and make quality changes in your life, when you are in a deep hypnotic state.”

Lower it below half way and ask them to position it to where it is now. Again it is likely to be just above the knee.

“I want you to turn the volume down on your conscious mind maybe to a 7 and see how that feels. You may notice how the voice in your head gets a little quieter and how your shoulder relax a little more. Notice that your breathing becomes deeper and more relaxing. You will also notice that as you turn the volume down on your conscious mind the subconscious mind automatically compensate (touch the other hand to encourage lift if necessary). In fact you can keep turning the volume down as you relax more and more noticing the other hand drifting slowly up into the air making you feel better and better.”

When the hand has lowered just above the knee you can push it down the last inch and say, “Sleep.”’

What this should leave you with is a cataleptic arm raised above their head — use this as a deepener by saying…

“In a moment I will touch you on the back of your hand and, when I do, a wave of relaxation will spread through your body and as all the muscles relax in that arm and it falls to your lap you can relax completely — Relax! That’s it, all the way down.”


The basis for this induction is expectancy. I will assume you have developed a good rapport, culti-vated the requisite amount of expectancy and have confident intent.

Pacing the client is of vital importance for this process. It will depend on them as to whether you proceed with an authoritative manner or a more gentle, even maternal fashion. You will need to assess your own client accordingly.

Although this can easily be achieved from a standing position I would advise you developed the skill seated. Once confidence in the induction grows you can do this standing, with a chair behind, and lower them to the seat as a deepening process.

So to begin. Take the clients hand (handshake) and with good ‘hypnotic’ rapport (eye contact, syn-chronised breathing, etc.), explain that in a moment you will shake their hand three times (demon-strate this and use this time to take control of the limb and ‘shake out’ any tension).

Continue…

“The first time I shake your hand (shake) you will take a deep breath and notice your shoulders relaxing as you breathe out. You will also notice your eyes becoming heavy and tired.

“The second time I shake your hand (shake) your eyes will start to close, but don’t let them close yet, in fact try as hard as you can to keep them open no matter how hard it is to keep them open.

“The third time I shake your hand (shake) your eyes will close, your body relaxes completely and you go all the way into a deep hypnotic sleep con-tinuing to sink into that blissful relaxation with every breath you take.”

During this process lead the client with your own breathing and eye movement. At this stage you are demonstrating what WILL happen so they understand. For most the experience should have begun.

If you notice any signs say, “You can already feel the way your body wants to relax now but don’t go into hypnosis yet,” and presupposing they will shortly!

“Are you ready? Good! Here we go then…”(Shake) “Notice your shoulders relaxing and your eyes feeling heavy — good.”(Shake) “Feel your eyes getting so heavy it becomes almost impossible to keep them open.”(Shake) “SLEEP — that’s it, all the way down.”

The third shake can include a slight tug to encourage the process.

Deepen from here.

14. Triple Handshake


We hope you have enjoyed this programme and gained lots than you can now apply with skill and confidence to the therapeutic setting when inducing hypnosis.

Some of the inductions we have enclosed here are more than one solid principle or induction method rolled into one. Though there are 14 inductions officially numbered, there are more than 17 actual means of structured induction included here and many more ways of doing so if you unleash your imagination upon the processes.

We both had aimed to encourage you to understand the principles and the structure of these methods and then feel comfortable in inducing hypnosis however you choose.

Keep in touch and we hope to see you on another seminar in the future.

With our very best wishes,

Adam and James

In Conclusion

adam eason school of therapeutic hypnosis rapid inductions...

Documents