There are tons of books, both good and bad, on this subject in English, but my way and style of writing is so different, and therefore I honestly think this book will be unique.
I always believe as a writer that the text should be simple and factual as much as possible.
This English version is not a literal translation of my Sinhala medium book, but rather an adaptation with much rewriting afresh.
Though my Sinhala medium book tries to teach hypnosis beyond just basic level, the English version is oriented towards the hobbyist.
This book covers all the basics and beyond that any hypnotist - amateur or expert, shall know.
The Table of the Contents of the book as shown here will attest the fact that this book is all comprehensive.
Introduction
What can HYPNOSIS do?
Mind
Mind Model
Conscious Mind
Subconscious Mind
Unconscious Mind
Critical Factor
What is HYPNOSIS?
Old school hypnosis
Faulty Progressive Relaxation
Basics of Hypnosis
Hypnotic suggestions
Pre-hypnotic suggestions
Post-hypnotic suggestions
Brief History of Hypnosis
Faith healing & Placebo effect
Psychosomatic diseases
Hypnotizing Step by Step
Pre-talk
Sample Pre-talk
Induction
Elman Induction Script
Special characteristics of an induction
Emerging
First Technique
Second Technique
Emergency technique
If the surrounding has background noise…
Hypnotic amnesia
Depth of Hypnosis
Deepening techniques
Deepening with breathing
Counting down
Imagery
Fractionation
Feedback
Physical handling
“I need an interval”
Subsequent sessions
Abreaction
Further on hypnosis
Hypnotherapy
Direct Suggestion
Hypno-analysis
Self-hypnosis
Group hypnosis
Random thoughts…
Two paths of hypnosis
Types of induction
Standard inductions
Rapid inductions
Instant inductions
How to write script
What not to expect from hypnosis
Sample script
Hobbyist script
Regression
How to regress
Self-hypnosis
Anchoring self-hypnosis
A few more inductions
Hand drop induction
Progressive relaxation induction
Play a game induction
Final notes
The following are some excerpts from the book.
What
can HYPNOSIS do?
Well, the
list may be so long, but I would love to list down the main ones as follows.
The following list is actually a set of cases/situations/conditions where
hypnosis can be used to mitigate or solve the problems.
·
Addictions
like smoking, alcoholism
·
Bad
habits like nail biting
·
Phobias
like fear to speak publicly
·
Unnecessary
stress as in uncontrollable exam stress
·
Psychosomatic
disorders as in getting stomachache when you are about to face a challenge or
bitter experience.
·
Incessant
negative/gloomy feelings
·
Lack
of self-esteem and self-confidence
·
Chronic
pains
·
Laziness
and lack of interest for studies
What
is HYPNOSIS?
“Hypnosis is the bypass of the critical mind of the person,
and establishment of acceptable selective thinking.”
This is the
most comprehensive best definition with the least number of words. That can be
considered the standard definition too. There are a few other definitions (such
as “hypnosis is to cause an altered state of mind”, “hypnosis is highly focused
mind”, etc). According the above standard definition, hypnosis is of two
important facts.
1. It bypasses the critical factor. It
is the most essential part. This is the active and challenging part for the
hypnotist too. Somebody may regard this stage as “you make the mind fall
asleep”.
When your mind’s CF is bypassed, it reduces the noise in your mind. It
becomes so calm that outsiders just see the person in hypnosis as “sleeping”;
but remember that she is in fact not sleeping.
However much you try to bypass the CF, the hypnotist can never bypass it
completely. The deeper (further) you bypass it, the better and the easier for
the suggestions to reach the subconscious.
Sometimes you may have seen such terms as light hypnosis, medium
hypnosis, and deep hypnosis. These relative words (light, medium, deep) refer
to the level the CF has been bypassed. This is called the level of hypnosis,
also known as depth of hypnosis. It is an important factor to know, and each
hypnotist must know how to check it while hypnotizing somebody. A hypnotist must
try to get the client to the deepest level as much as possible.
2. It establishes the acceptable
selective thinking. This is as important too (that’s why it is included in the
definition itself). Simply it says that the client in hypnosis is only accepting
what he is really ready to accept. That means a hypnotist cannot change a
person by giving instructions that the client is not ready to accept or belief.
For example, you cannot make a person kill another person by hypnotizing him –
leave such scenes only to movies.
The reason for this is that still the CF exists subtly. There may be some
other techniques that can actually make a person do things he would not have
loved to do if he were conscious (like brain washing, covert hypnosis). Yet,
those are not covered in this book, and if the client knows he is being
hypnotized, and then it is guaranteed the client DOES NOT accept suggestions he
is not willing to comply with.
That is a relief – you do not have to be afraid of being hypnotized at
least for fun. Therefore remember the following important facts.
·
You
cannot be hypnotized by force. One may say he is going to hypnotize you without
your consent. Don’t be afraid; challenge him to do it, and you keep confident,
and relaxed. He cannot!
·
If
you give your consent to be hypnotized, then most probably you will get into
hypnosis. Still, the hypnotist cannot give suggestions to do say or do things
you don’t like to do. You will not be embarrassed if you really do not want to
comply with the suggestions. Even in hypnosis, the client is still IN TOTAL
CONTROL.
·
The
hypnotist cannot find your secrets in hypnosis. If you really do not want to
reveal them, you can still keep them as secret even in hypnosis.
Due to above
reasons, if a person cannot by hypnotized, at least one of following conditions
exist.
1. She is afraid.
Fear is the number one foe of the hypnotist. She may be fearful because
of various reasons. I am 100% sure, those reasons are baseless. They may have
the fear because they do not have a correct understanding of hypnosis, and they
think of scenes they have seen in movies. They may be afraid thinking that
their well-kept secrets be revealed; or they may “be stuck in” the hypnosis for
the rest of their life; or their body may be possessed by some spirits/demons.
However, all of these claims are absolutely false.
2. She is doubtful.
If she has doubts on the hypnotist or hypnosis itself, then she is a hard
case again. You have to get their trust in you. Act, Say, and Think
Professional. Nobody likes to be a toy of another. Fair enough?
Actually this fact is very crucial. Do not underestimate it. You may
think that after hypnotizing some person you can change her belief system. NO
WAY! Unless she is willing to change it, a hypnotist cannot do anything about
it. The only thing that could happen is that she might find it out suddenly
whilst in hypnosis and get out of the hypnosis. From that moment on, she may
lose trust in you and you would never be able to hypnotize her again.
It may be possible to change one’s belief system and things the client is
not willing to change without her consent. This is done in another variety of
hypnosis which is called covert hypnosis. Here, the person does not know
that he is being hypnotized even. It happens without her knowing and awareness.
Therefore, it has to be done in subtle ways. The covert hypnotist here does not
get any cooperation from the hypnotee, so it is challenging. However, it cannot
be done in the normal standard (and professional) hypnosis process that you are
going to learn in this book.
Now you can
understand that for a successful hypnotic session, the hypnotist must expel
fear and doubt from the client’s mind. I will explain in a moment how to do it
nicely and simply.
Hypnotic
suggestions
In hypnosis,
everything happens through your voice. The client just keeps listening to your
talking (voice), and sometimes the client is asked to give some answers to your
questions. The “good directions” the hypnotist gives to the client in hypnosis
is called hypnotic suggestions. In a hypnotic session, there are two
types of suggestions.
Pre-hypnotic
suggestions
These are
the statements you deliver by your voice to put the client into hypnosis. While
the client is listening to them, she is gradually going into hypnosis.
Not only
that, usually you should try to bring her into the deepest possible trance (we
call it deepening). To achieve that, again you give suggestions, and
these suggestions also come under pre-hypnotic suggestions.
The process
of giving pre-hypnotic suggestions in order to hypnotize somebody is called induction.
There are many techniques of induction, such as progressive relaxation,
fixation, fascination, pendulum swinging, Elman induction, etc. Most of the
induction methods are very old (ineffective “old fashioned”), and has drawbacks
mentioned earlier. One of the best modern highly effective and efficient
induction techniques is Elman. I will teach it in a moment.
Post-hypnotic
suggestions
If I ask
“why do you hypnotize somebody?”, I may get two possible answers. One answer
would be like “just for fun and entertainment”. Another may answer like “to
mitigate some problem”. Either answer is
valid and good. However, the latter answer is more serious.
With
pre-hypnotic suggestions, the client is now in hypnosis. Next, the hypnotist
has to give further suggestions to her subconscious mind to make the difference
(that is, to solve her problem). These suggestions are called post-hypnotic
suggestions.
The
post-hypnotic suggestions are very seriously important because these
suggestions are going to make huge effect on the client’s life. These
suggestions may linger in her subconscious mind for years (and the impact may
last a life time). Therefore, post-hypnotic suggestions have to be carefully
prepared. Usually the hypnotist has the list of these suggestions prepared
before the client is put into hypnosis. This list of post-hypnotic suggestions
is called the hypnotic script or patter.
As you can
see writing a script is a serious business. I will teach how to write best
scripts. Otherwise, you may have to buy them. When you become an experienced
and well-read hypnotist you may do it without a script on paper. You may be
able to make the suggestions instantly in your head.
Pre-talk
The first
step in hypnotizing a person for the first time in her life is to do the
pre-talk. If the client has been hypnotized previously by you, then it is not
needed. However, if she had been hypnotized not by you, then it is still better
to do it. It may take around 10 minutes.
Actually, in
a pre-talk, what you do is to describe (or explain) what hypnosis really is,
how it works, how it is different from the descriptions in folklore and movie
scenes. You have to describe and convince her.
Even after a
good pre-talk, if she still has fears and doubts, well, it is better to leave
her. Do not knowingly attempt to fail in the end.
Induction
We learned
earlier that the set of instructions/suggestions given by the hypnotist to the
client is called the induction. There are a lot of inductions, and we
are going to learn the very famous and effective one called Elman induction.
There are several characteristics any induction should have, and I will talk
about them later. First let’s see the script.
Elman
Induction Script
All right… What you have to do is to simply listen to me, and
to do what I am telling you. Don’t try to focus on other sounds and things
except my voice.
Okay… Now take a deep breath slowly… that’s right… Now slowly
exhale it… [If she does it quickly tell her to do it slowly]… that’s
right… again take a deep breath sloooooowly, and hold it for a few moments… [Now
you wait two or three seconds; don’t have to keep looking at a watch] Now
slowly exhale, closing your eyes. Let your whole body relax as much as possible,
and feel that relaxation…
That’s right… Now focus your attention on your eyes… Relax
those muscles in and around your eyes… Yes… Let them relax till those muscles
become so relaxed that they can’t open up.
Yeah… That’s right… If you have really relaxed those muscles
around the eyes, you cannot open your eyes. As long as they are relaxed like
that, those muscles won’t work. Yeah… eyes and the muscles around the eyes are
so relaxed and you can feel it now.
If you are sure that you have made those muscles relax, now
check that you really cannot open your eyes. [Now let her try opening her
eyes for two seconds. Most probably she will be struggling to open them, but
will fail. Keep looking at her eyes. Don’t give her more than two or three
seconds because very soon she will be able to open her eyes. Sometimes, she may
open her eyes as soon as you say it. Then she may be a hard case. Here she
still might have doubts or fears; or you may have to use another induction
method. However, in such a case, you may continue to do the rest of the
induction telling her to close her eyes again, as if nothing wrong happened.]
Very good… Now I want you to spread that relaxation in your
eyes throughout your whole body… that’s right… You are doing good… Let that
feeling of smoothing refreshing relaxation and limpness flow from your top of
head to your tip of toe… Yes, let your whole body feel it… that’s right…
So good… Now let’s increase this current level of physical
relaxation further. In a moment, I am saying to you to open your eyes and close
them… Then you will open your eyes and close them… Just when you close your
eyes, it will be a hint to your body to let you feel at least ten times the
relaxation you are in now. Yes… you will feel ten times the relaxation… It is
very easy to do… Just love to have it… love it… It automatically happens…
Okay… Now open your eyes… [She should open her eyes now.
If she does not, you say “open your eyes now” with a somewhat strong
voice. If she still does not say “I told you to open the eyes for a moment;
you must do what I am telling you; right?; Just because I tell, you can open
your eyes now; okay, open your eyes”. She will open her eyes. Remember that
a stronger voice does not mean like you are angry. You must not get angry or
show anger to the client in any way. It’s the stupidest thing to do. Make sure
there is nothing distracting in her vision when she opens eyes. Or else place
your palm in front of her eyes before she opens it so only your palm she can
see. Do not ever touch your hand on her face while doing this. ]
Now close your eyes; let your whole body feel at least ten
times the relaxation you currently have… You now feel that the refreshing
relaxation going all over your body… yes… feel it. Excellent… [After her
opening eyes, don’t let her be for more than a second or so with open eyes.
Tell her to close. She will. If you were holding your palm in front of her
eyes, you can lower your palms slowly while you say to close her eyes, and it
would work like a hand gesture to close it too]
All right… You are already in a good relaxation, and you can
feel further relaxation… You can go deeper… Again like we did earlier, in a
moment I am telling you to open and close your eyes, and when you do it, you
will feel two times the relaxation you are currently having.
Okay… Open your eyes… [Wait a second] Close your eyes,
and let your body feel two times the relaxation you are having now… Go deeper….
[This time too, you can hold your palm as described earlier]
Okay… let’s do it one more time, and go to a deeper
relaxation. In a moment I am saying to you to open and close your eyes, and you
will feel at least twice the relaxation you are having now. Open your eyes…
Close them, and let you relax your body deeper and deeper… Very good… You are
doing fine…
You are now deeply relaxed. As long as you keep that
relaxation in your body, you cannot move your body, and your muscles are limp…
In a moment, I am going to hold your right hand a little bit
up and let it fall back on your lap… [You said “right hand”, so remember to
hold the right hand] If you really followed me, and if you really wanted to
feel the relaxation, when your hand drops like that, your body should have been
relaxed so much that your hand would be limp and heavy and falls down on your
lap like a piece of rock or wood falls down. Yes, your hand should have been
relaxed and limp to that much level. Don’t try to help me. Leave to me the task
of lifting your hand. Your hand should be heavy and limp.
Okay, now I lift up your hand and let it fall on your lap
like this… [You do it while saying it. While lifting her hand you can feel
if she tries to help you or resist the lifting. Then say to her not to help or
resist it, and just relax them; say to her “don’t help/resist to lift your
hand; let me do it; you just let it relax and be limp like a piece of wood”.
While saying it you just slowly swing her hand side to side by her wrist. Keep
repeating it while doing this till her hand becomes limp and lifeless. If she
still shows no relaxation after a few attempts, go back to the previous stage
of opening and closing eye without hinting her that she has not been
successful. If she did it in the first attempt, then you can go to the next
level. Otherwise, do this on her other hand too before going to the next level.]
Hmm… You are now in good state of relaxation… fantastic… Let
that relaxation go deeper and deeper… Let’s now go to a deeper mental
relaxation just as you are having a deeper physical relaxation. Actually, you
are already in a good state of mental relaxation. Physical relaxation and
mental relaxation go hand in hand. They help each other. So, let’s increase
your mental relaxation further…
You proved you can go to a deeper physical relaxation.
Likewise, you can go to an even deeper mental relaxation. In a moment, I am
telling you to slooooooooowly count backwards… like… 100… 99… 98… 97… and so on…
loud enough for me to hear. [Here, when you pronounce the numbers, you
should act it out in the way she is supposed to count. I suggest taking two or
three seconds for counting each digit. If she counts too quickly, tell her to
do it slowly.]
When you say each number, let your mental relaxation go
deeper at least as twice as it was before the number counting… You can do it…
After each count, your mental relaxation goes deeper and deeper, and after a
few counts, you will be so much relaxed that you will automatically forget the
counting too. Yes, maybe at the count of 95 or even before you will be
forgetting the counting and numbers, and you will be just experiencing the
relaxation only. Actually, that is what I want…
Okay… Now start counting backward from 100… slooooowly…. [Now
she will say 100. Once she says or murmurs the number, you just say “double
the mental relaxation”. She will say/murmur the next number 99. If she is
quick, tell her to slow down. Once she says the number, you say “double the
mental relaxation”. You must further
say to her “let the numbers be forgotten… forget the counting… relax your
mind”. Remember that the client will wait till you finish your instructions,
and will say the next number. She will say the next number. Now you say “double
the mental relaxation… let them be forgotten”. Use the word “them” instead
of “numbers” from this moment on. She will be counting a number or two further,
and then she will stop. However, if you feel like she would be counting without
stopping, then after around 94, you give her a strong instruction like “double
the mental relaxation… forget the numbers and forget the counting… let them
become smaller and thinner… expel the numbers from your mind… let your mind and
body feel the refreshing relaxation… focus on that relaxation only…” If she
still goes on to count, it is better to stop the induction gracefully and use
another induction on her. If she did it perfectly, then it is the end of a
successful induction.]
Regression
Regression
is a wonderful hypnotic experience. Here the client is “taken to the past”.
Some mistake it as going back to a past life. No, it is not. Everything that happens
in hypnosis does happen in this life. I do not know whether past lives and
future lives exist as a matter of fact.
In a
regression, the client is taken to the past along her memory lanes. Most of the
memories are lurking in the subconscious mind even without you conscious
knowing and awareness. Regression wakes up those memories too. Therefore, this
“time traveling” experience can be vivid, exciting, and fun.
Memories are
not constant. Brain activity is a set of chemical reactions. They may fade and
weaken. That essentially means your memories may not reflect the real
experience. Your past memories may not be true; they might have been modified
automatically without your knowing. It’s not your fault. Therefore, when
regression is used to find out the past memories, remember they may not be
accurate. Do not get the false conviction that you find true evidence/memories
by regression.
Moreover,
the client in hypnosis creates stories. Yes they do it. They would fill the
gaps in faded memories with fabricated stories. You may not even notice it.
They may not do it to deceive others. They have the discretion, so they may not
reveal the real truth and instead give a modified account on purpose.
You can take
the client back in time as far as you like. That means you can take her to her
infancy, or to a time when she was still in the womb of the mother, or even to
a previous life. When the client is taken to a past life, regression is known
as “past-life therapy”.
However, it
is not really going back to a past life. Some may believe in past life and
regressing to a past life. As for me, it is just a model or mechanism where the
mind creates episodes with its creativity. I do not want to create a holy war
here (whether there is past life or not), so I leave it to you.
Not only
that, you can take a client to a future time with hypnosis. It’s called progression.
Now you can understand that regression and progression are not about real past
or future lives. However, regression can be effectively used for therapies. It
is indeed a technique of hypno-analysis.
Apart from
being used as a therapeutic purpose, regression can be used for entertainment.
This is called recreational regression.
Even though
the purpose of this book is not to teach hypnosis for therapy, I will briefly
describe how regression can be used for a remedy.
Take for
example a case of a phobia – a phobia of darkness. The person who is having the
phobia of darkness got it in one time of his life. Didn’t he? So, when she
comes to get a remedy for it, the hypnotist may regress her to that
time/occasion in the past. Then she is made to look at the situation logically
and rationally. Most of the time, at that particular moment in the past, the
person would not have a right awareness of the incident and that’s why he is
having a phobia, but now she is guided to look at it in different angles. Thus,
the irrational fear can be removed, and the phobia is cured. Furthermore, to
cement the remedy tight, the client is also given direct suggestions after the
regression.
The deeper
the client is in, the more dramatic and the more effective the regression
becomes. If the client is not in a deeper state when he regresses, he might
just recall the incidents of his past. He would be recalling the chain of
actions as if he is re-telling a film he watched previous day. Often he would
be describing it in past tenses (like, “… the thief looked at me, and I got
frightened…”). Because it is just a remembering, he does not get afraid or
excited now. His breathing will be normal.
However, if
he is in a deeper state, he would not just recall it, but rather re-experience
it. It is like really happening right now for him. Therefore, he describes it
in present tense (like “… the thief is now looking at me, and I am so
afraid…”). He can be afraid and excited. His breathing rate may increase. His
voice may change. He may tremble. If the past incident had been so excited or
frightened, then he would get into an abreaction even.
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