Be sure to give them these hypnotic suggestions. "You are going to have a much clearer understanding of the nature of hypnosis when you open your eyes. You will have a much clearer understanding than you ever had about the nature of your conscious and subconscious mind. You will understand that it is most likely you heard every word that I said, even when you were in your trance. You will understand that you were not asleep in the manner that you sleep at night; that you experienced a wonderful state of physical, mental and emotional
relaxation, or a sleep of your nervous system."
You have two more things to do. The first one is to say; "Before I bring you up from hypnosis, is there anything further you want to say to me, ask me or tell me."
Give them the option to give you information. They might give any number of a variety of responses. Most times they will say "No."
The second thing, done at the end of each session of therapy, is to say, "Quickly now, who do I remind you of"
You will get some very quick
information about the projections they put on you. "You remind me of my father."
"Well he was a good friend, he was very understanding" or "You remind me of a minister," or "a doctor," or "a school teacher."
I have had them say, "You remind me of a judge.""How am I like a judge?"
"Well, I think you are very
understanding."
Probably that person had an experience with a judge maybe when he was a juvenile and now he is more understanding. it means that I am an authority figure and I am linked to some authority figure out of their
experience. The most unusual one was when I said to a lady, "Who do I remind you of?"
I said, "How am I like the devil?" "Because the devil knows everything."
I said, "Alright, I am going to count from ten down to one and we are going back to a time that has to do with 'the devil knows everything"'
In the intake portion of her session, every time I fed back to her ("I hear you saying...," or "In other words..."), she would say, "Oh, my God, how did you figure that out?"
Finally, she said, "You seem to know all about me." Now, she says that the devil knows everything.
In the age regression, she was less than four years old and the family lived in a little house on the edge of town. Out behind the house was a small thicket of trees with a stream running through it.
She loved to go back there to play, but something happened to change things perhaps a child was molested, or some hobos were seen back there. One day, Mother said, "You are not to go back in the woods any more," and when she asked, "Why Mommy?" she was told, "Because the devil is living back there now and you know the devil carries off bad little girls." A few days later she did something that Mother thought was naughty and Mother said, "If you don't stop being so naughty, the devil is going to come right into this house, put you under his arm and carry you right out of here." She asked, "Marna, if the devil is back there in the woods, how does he know that I am naughty up here in the house?" Her mother said, "The devil knows everything."
NEXT STEP: Terminate the trance. "All right now, I am going to count from one to five and at the count of five your eyes are wide open, you are calm, rested, relaxed, fully aware and feel wonderfully good." (See the trance termination script.)
First thing I always say is, "Well, you kind of surprised yourself, didn't you?" There are only three answers they can give: "Yes," "No" or "What do you mean?" Whatever their response, your answer is always the same: "Tell me about it."
1. You say, "Kind of surprised yourself?" "Yes.”
"Tell me about it."
"Why, I really did not think I was hypnotized, but then I felt my arm jerking up and when I went to open my eyes they did not open. My left arm just felt like it was made of lead and I said, 'Hey, wait a minute, I must be hypnotized?"'
"You see, you got a consciousrealization of the trance state. "
2. "Kind of surprised yourself?"
"No. "
"Tell me about it."
"Well, I read in a book about how the arm came up and sure enough my arm came up, just as I figured it would."
3. "Kind of surprised yourself didn't you?" "No."
"Tell me about it."
"Well, I thought if I were hypnotized I would not hear anything and I would feel like a zombie."
Then ask, "What did you experience?""Oh, I just felt the relaxation and my arm coming up and my eyes sort of stuck but I heard a horn blow as a car went by outside."
What you have done is to take them from the place of basic misunderstanding to a position of some understanding, and what you are doing is to send them home with one of two positions.
The first is, "Yes, I was hypnotized" or "I might have been, or, I'm just not quite sure."
When they get home, the "significant other" says to them, "How did your session with the hypnotist go?"
They can say, "Oh great, I washypnotized."
"Tell me all about it."
"Well, I lay there and had the funniest feeling, my arm rose up -. "
"Oh great, made another appointment didn't you?"
"Yeah, next week."
Or they can say, "I don't know if I was hypnotized or not."
"What do you mean you don't know, what happened?"
"I got feeling pretty relaxed, and he said your arm is going to come up and my arm came up. It was lifting, I don't know if I was doing it, or what was happening and then he said try to open your eyes, and they did not open." They have something to describe to the other interested person.
The other party will say, "You were hypnotized. I can tell you right now you were hypnotized."
If you have not been doing that and you now begin to do so, it will add up to ten thousand dollars a year to your income because your clients will return for that second session. They will go home with the imagination excited and they will tell everyone, "I was hypnotized," and they will be back for more.
Now, what about your fears of being seen as an incompetent?Do you think, "If they do pop their eyelids open, or don't lift their arm, will they say, 'He is a poor hypnotist'?"
If you are not getting good results with these tests, you should examine the phrasing or methodology that you are using. Perhaps you can talk to some other hypnotherapists who are getting better results. Check your technique against theirs. The wording is so important that in my courses I place great emphasis on it.
Every technique is given in full printed form, not just, "This is what you say," but instructions to the hypnotist about what they do and say, a discussion about it and then actual practice of it in workshops, using the scripts.
I have spent 35 years testing and perfecting the effectiveness of these scripts. I know that they work and they work every time.
I want you to build a series of successful experiences while you are here because that is what you came to me for. To learn how to be an effective hypnotist and you can be most effective when you are generating a good income.
Let's suppose you say, "Your eyelids are locked so tightly that the more you try to open them, the more tightly they are locking closed - now try to open them and find them locking tighter and tighter" and they open their eyes and smile at you!
Show no concern and say, "That's fine, close them down."No matter what a subject does, except to become violent, you always say, "That's fine."
If they have a need to disappoint you, or work against you but you continually say "that's fine" to all of their responses, they soon learn that they cannot disappoint you by not doing what you suggest. Soon, they will give up; if everything is always "just fine," they will stop resisting. When the session is over, they may say, "Well I did open my eyes."
Your reply is, "That's right, please close your eyes, and open them again," and they will open them.
Ask, "Is that the way you opened them a moment ago?""No, but I opened them."
"Yes, but it took you several seconds. The difference between the way you opened your eyes just now and the way you opened your eyes a moment ago, was the degree of hypnotic suggestion that you had accepted at that moment. Do you understand that clearly?"
Students, it is always the subject who is confused or misinformed - it is impossible for you to fail because you have a great body of knowledge and skills, which you apply creatively.
When the subjects response is not as I would like it to be it is their failure to respond appropriately. If their arm did not lift or their eyes did not lock and their left arm did not get heavy. I just say:
"I think we need to talk a moment about your unwillingness to respond. Just close your eyes and think about it now and see if you can come up with a few reasons why you are exhibiting this unwillingness."
I never use the word resistance, that is a very poor word. if I tell them that they are capable of generating resistance, it is liable to generate more resistance so I tell them it is their unwillingness to respond.