Salvaging Your Induction
22. Jan, 2010 
2 Comments
The Suggestion Didn’t Stick
At last night’s HypnoMeet, D was hypnotizing R at the table. D just got certified as a hypnotist and I can already see the impact it is having on pumping up his confidence. His delivery is more sure and his cadence is more even. He had R going pretty deep when I returned to the group with my cup of hot green tea. It seemed that I had returned just in time to catch some more deepening techniques which included fractionation and lifting and dropping R’s limp arm. Then D tested the depth of trance with a stuck hand suggestion. Now, R is very new to all this. Last night was only her second time at the HypnoMeet and she is still a little skittish about losing control, even though she seems to be an excellent subject; perhaps even a natural somnambulist. Her hand did not stick. With her eyes still closed, she acknowledged the event with spontaneous giggling. D moved on and soon brought her out of trance and back to the café.
Utilization As A Possible Save
During the recap, we discussed how it felt and how it all went and what we observed and learned. One of the things that I mentioned was that perhaps D might have stuck with the hand stuck part a little longer. I suggested we really don’t know how deep R was at that point; how much of her mind was still in trance. I offered that he might have tried utilizing the turn of events by saying something on the order of; “Perhaps the right hand to stick to your thigh is the one you left behind and you can relax now and enjoy the sensation of being aware that your other hand is firmly glued to your leg and you can laugh about that too because it’s really OK that you have one hand that’s stuck while the other hand is free. You wanted see if you could move that free hand, and you did and yet your stuck hand remains on your thigh and you want it to be stuck there until I give you the direction to make it unstuck.”
I'm curious as to the purpose of the sticky hand thing……Is that for the hypnotist or the hypnotee?
Hi. The purpose of the sticky hand thing can be for both, actually.
For the hypnotist, it can be a gauge of depth of trance. It indicates to the hypnotist that his subject is accepting the suggestions that are being given. Depending on the type of suggestion and the level of compliance of the subject, there would be an opportunity to analyze or troubleshoot the induction on the fly.
For the hypnotee, hypnotic phenomena ratifies the trance. Carrying out the suggestion of the hypnotist can act as proof that hypnosis is actually taking place, on some level. The experienced hypnotist will build on this ratification to continue to deepen and test trance depth until they feel that such demonstrations can stop and the hypnotist can move onto the next phase of the purpose of that session.
If the context of the induction is stage hypnosis (performance, entertainment) or a class/workshop setting, then the additional purpose would be for the audience or classmates to witness actual hypnotic phenomena.