How Hypnosis Is Like Giving a Massage

At the last HypnoMeet, D gave R some printed induction scripts. A basic Elman induction was one of them. R is still pretty new to all this, and basic Elman is not a bad place to start, I guess. “Should I try to memorize this?”, R asked. Well, that’s a good question, isn’t it?

D and I both agreed that, no, she wouldn’t want to memorize it. Not to repeat it verbatim. Not even like an actor would memorize their lines so they could perform it with feeling. We suggested that she analyze the induction, break it down to its components and try to understand the sequence. I asked her if she ever had the experience of giving someone a massage. “Yes,” she said. I asked her if she had ever given the same person a massage on more than one occasion. Again she said, “Yes”. I then said that if she could remember the massages she’d given, she would probably realize that she didn’t do them each exactly the same, but that they were probably all good massages. And what made them good was that she understood how to do it, and that she had a good idea of the sequence of it, and had a specific objective that she was working towards. If you have that, the process just flows. The flow might be different each time, depending on the prevailing circumstances or conditions. You might have to work around an injured body part, of emphasize one part over the rest, but you know how to tie in all the different parts and the different strokes together to get a coherent and synergetic effect. If you were to speak aloud while you gave a massage, describing exactly what your hands were doing and where they were going and why, it would be very similar to doing an induction.

As an exercise for a new hypnotist, this could be an interesting way to practice tonality and volume and tempo.  You could do that without having to think about what to say next. Let your hands guide your words as it takes your conscious mind offline and lets your unconscious take over.