Hypnosis Without Formalized Hypnotic Inductions

I wrote about open-eyed hypnosis on another post. This is a method of eliciting hypnotic phenomena without going through the routine that we have all come to recognize as a formal hypnotic induction. I’m talking about hypnosis that occurs without the patter that one expects to hear when a hypnotist is hypnotizing someone else. You know that whenever you begin to hear any of the following, “Focus your eyes… start by relaxing your toes… your eyelids are as heavy as theater curtains… press down on my hand… pull my finger… you’re getting sleepy…”, that someone is trying to hypnotize someone else.

Even though there is much evidence that this type of hypnosis is not new and can be traced as far back as Esdaile, Emile Coué and James Braid. It seems that the collective awareness throughout much of the history of hypnosis, whether for hypnotherapy, stage hypnosis or street hypnosis, includes an established process by which hypnosis and hypnotic trance was brought about; a certain, proper ritual, if you will. With that ritual, both the hypnotist and the subject are mentally, emotionally and possibly even psychically prepared and predisposed for hypnosis to occur.

These days, hypnosis techniques appear to be evolving very rapidly, and skilled professionals are taking the field into new directions. It is becoming more and more evident that hypnotic phenomena can be achieved without going through the expected, familiar inductions. Hypnosis can be done as conversational hypnosis, or as some hypnotists are fond of presenting it, covert hypnosis, where there is no conspicuous induction. There are also many variants of rapid hypnotic inductions and shock hypnotic inductions. These occur very quickly and it appears that an induction is not used at all, but it often is if you  know what to look for. There is now open-eyed inductions or what is also known as hypnosis without trance, as hypnotist James Rolf calls it.

I am surmising that although one may require more skill to execute than the other, each has it’s utility. The use of open-eyed hypnosis can bleed over into the applications of persuasion, or for by-passing a challenging (resistant) subject), but there is also great effect to be had from the collusion of the hypnotist and subject as they interact with one another in the ritual known as the hypnotic induction.