Learn how to induce hypnosis in 5 basic ways

Hypnosis is a process and it is systematic.                       There are few simple ways to induce hypnosis:

1-Verbal pacing and leading

2-Non-verbal pacing and leading

3-Overlapping representational systems

4-Accessing previous trance state

5-Naturally occurring trance states

Here I am going to talk about                                                                  verbal and non-verbal pacing and leading, 

while I leave the other processes listed above for the next articles. 

Verbal pacing and leading is a basic way to induce a trance. You can practice this process if you like,     and by practicing you will make it automatic for you   to be triggered when you want,                       so you will be able to hypnotize people without they even realize that they are entering in a trance.

Verbal pacing and leading is a very simple hypnotic induction.           The main idea is to associate the current sensory experience  of the listener to internal states like: relaxation, comfort, pleasant memories etc.

In a nutshell, we want to pace the conscious sensory experience           of the listener and then lead the listener in trance.

All what you have to do is:

• To say 4 or 5 sentences related to the current sensory experiences   of the listener:

While you listen my voice,

you can feel your body, 

you can feel the temperature of your skin, 

you can see the room, 

you can see the light coming through from the window…etc.

• To do another cycle of sensory based statements                         but this time you will say 3 sensory based statements and 1 assumption related to an internal state of the listener, like for instance “feel relaxed”:

while you sit on the chair,

you can feel the weight of your body,

and your breathing,

and you can see the colors in the room,

and while I am talking to you,  

you can start to feel relax, deeply.

3- You will continue reducing the number of sensory statements and increasing the number of assumptions related                               to the internal states of the listener, like: “remember a beautiful place”,”explore your internal resources”,           “learn”, etc…

4-You send out a pile up of hypnotic suggestions, like:

while you breath in deeply…

and breath out completely, 

you can start to remember something pleasant… 

a beautiful place where you had been, see what you saw there, hear what you heard and feel what you felt…now…

You have to keep piling up statements related to the internal states in order to keep the person focused inside. Also when you describe some internal state, you need to be generic enough in order to be true for everybody. You cannot verify the internal experience of the listener,               so you need to be generic in order to match it anyway. For instance if you say something like                           “remember a time when you enjoyed walking on the beach, the feeling of your body, the colors of the sky, the sounds of the nature…” this is quite generic and can fit everybody’s experience.   But if you say “the feeling of the sun on your body” this is not generic enough and could be not true, for instance if the person is walking on the beach,                                   in the evening after the sunset.                     If the statement you say is not generic enough,   it could not match the internal experience of the listener,             and consequently the listener would come out of trance.

After 4 or 5 cycles of pacing and leading statements,   the listener will develop a trance and   you will be able to carry on with the utilization of the trance state.

Non-verbal pacing and leading

All what you need to do to pace and lead non verbally,         is to choose something that the person you want to hypnotize is doing unconsciously,                 and pace it. For instance the person is moving a foot rhythmically.     You can pace the rhythm by your finger.   You can pace the rhythm of the person speech by your breathing or by moving a finger, and so on.

When you pace, the person can become aware of what he/she is doing and get out of trance, or he/she can stay unconscious             and amplify also other unconscious behaviors.

After pacing non verbally you want to lead the person to behaviors that are trance state behaviors, like slowing down the breath rhythm, deepen the breath, defocus the sight, relax etc. To lead somebody to those behaviors, you need to do it yourself and see if the person follows you.   If the person follows you, fine, then lead him/her in trance.                                       If the person doesn’t follow you, then restart pacing and then retry leading,       and continue this way till the person will follow you.

Pace and leading (verbal and non verbal) is a basic process               always required in hypnosis.

The other basic processes for hypnosis induction listed above work well together with pace and leading.

Self-hypnosis

To understand how hypnosis works means to be able to control your state of consciousness.

People sometimes are confused about the difference between hypnosis, trance and meditation but whether you call it hypnosis, meditation, or altered state doesn’t really matter.The important fact is that we learn better when we are in an altered state than we do when we are in our normal state of consciousness.

Hypnosis and meditation are very similar states. The difference is that hypnosis has an outcome that you have decided before you begin to go in a trance, while meditation is more formless.

When you go in an altered state you may want to do something, you may want to know when you are going in, when you are coming out and what you are doing while you are there.

When you are hypnotising other people, in fact whenever you are communicating with someone else, even if you are simply trying to share a good memory, you are trying to induce in them an altered state and if you are sufficiently effective as a communicator, you induce an altered state in them. Knowing exactly how to induce an altered state and doing it with precision is what makes someone a good hypnotist.

If you want to achieve anything with self-hypnosis, you plan it out before you begin and then you start to put yourself in hypnosis.

When you want to enter in self-hypnosis you can follow these easy steps:

1-Stare at an object in front of you

and then

2- change the focus of your eyes by staring at something else behind this object

but

3-keep staring at the object at the same time, which is out of focus now while you are focusing your eyes behind it

For instance:

1-Stare at your right hand

and then

2-shift the focus of your eyes to the wall few metres behind your right hand

but

3-keep staring at your right hand that is out of focus now while you are focusing your eyes behind it.

In a matter of few seconds your eyes are going to feel tired and they are closing while you enter in a trance smoothly, deeper and deeper.

Learning more about to go into a trance

The first important thing to do if you are new to hypnosis is to practice going in and out of trance.

The easy way to learn to do this is to get an experienced hypnotist to put you in a trance and then to set up a sensorial trigger (anchor) while you are in a trance. This can be done by the hypnotist asking you to press your right forefinger on your right lap in a very specific point while you are in trance.

The hypnotist gives to you also the following post-hypnotic suggestion:

“Every time in the future when you will want to go in trance, all what you will have to do will be to touch your right lap by your right forefinger in that specific way”. When you came out of the trance you can use this anchor to enterin trance again by pressing the same point on your lap. This way you will fire the trigger for this specific state.

While you are going into a trance the quality of your voice changes, your breath changes and you displays some specific physical cues, which are signs of developing trance. These cues influence powerfully and unconsciously the people next to you.

The signs of developing trance

The more hypnosis you do the more easily you will recognize the signs of developing trance.

You need to focus on only few of the most evident signs:

1-The rhythm of breathing slow down

2-Pupils get dilated

3-Lower lip engorging with blood

4-Slowing and slurring of speech

5-Increased f.laccidity of the facial muscles

6-Evident change of the rhythm in blinking the eyes, faster or slower

7-Limbs become motionless, apparently inert. Movements slow down and limbs move as if “hesitant” in a very recognisable way.

8-Eyelids start flattering or closing naturally.