Inductions and Deepeners: Strategies for Effecive Hypnosis

Foreword

by Michael Johns

Introduction

Notes from Richard: Subjects, Scripts and The Point ~ Why Use Hypnosis~ Understanding Induction ~ Styles and Approaches ~ Practice, Perfection and Confidence

The Inductions

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Eye Fixation

Reverse Arm Levitation

Ericksonian Style Confusion with Levitation

Visual Imagery

Fractionation with Discussion

Fractionation with No Discussion

Awareness

Classic Directive

Rapid Induction

Rapid Touch

Child with Teddy Bear

Child with Coin

Zarren Marble Adaptation

Dave Elman Style Count with Amnesia

The Deepeners

Classic Elman Count with Amnesia

Simple Number Count

Fractionation Number Countdown

Staircase

Candelabrum

Staircase with Fractionation

Bonus Script

Reverse Hypnosis Induction and Deepener

Closing Thoughts

Bibliography

Recommended Reading

Two Minute Commercial

Author’s Note

Some of the inductions and deepeners demonstrated in this book are adaptations; the scripts have been modified from the original published teachings of other hypnotists.   

These include strategies adapted from Dave Elman, Milton Erickson and Jordan Zarren, and we have tried to credit the creative force that inspired these these adaptations whenever possible.

Please know that as such, these modified or adapted inductions are not identical to the original scripts, and are not endorsed by the original creator.   

We hope you learn from the material that I have presented in this text, and we also encourage you to learn form a variety of sources.

~ Richard K. Nongard

SubliminalScience.com

Hypnosisgurus.com

FOREWORD

By Michael Johns

Las Vegas Stage Hypnotist and National Comedy Club Performer

If you have any experience with hypnosis at all, you know that doing hypnosis is quite easy, and yet it can be a bit complicated, all at the same time.

As Richard is fond of saying, all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis, so as the hypnotist, you are the simply the tour guide for the subject’s hypnotic trip. Your job is to discover where they want to go (assess the goal), study the map and determine the best route to take (evaluate the hypnotic approach), and then lead them on their way (facilitate induction and suggestion).

This simple three-step process applies whether you are a stage hypnosis entertainer like me, or a hypnotist who helps people quit smoking, lose weight or get over their fear of public speaking.

And either way, you won’t have to be in business very long to realize that different groups and individuals sometimes require different approaches. Different entertainment venues may precipitate the need for a more or less physically dramatic induction; different individuals may respond better or worse to imagery, touch or sound.

In an effort to be prepared for these situations, it’s best if you have a well-rounded resource to guide you through. As with anything, the more you know, the easier it will be to help your clients reach their goals, and that’s why I highly recommend Richard’s book, Inductions and Deepeners, Styles and Approaches for Effective Hypnosis.

I’ve had many conversations with Richard about hypnosis, and let me tell you, the guy knows his stuff, inside out. Nevertheless, I must admit I was amazed by the quality of information in this text. It’s one thing to discuss an approach or style with someone face-to-face, but most textbooks fall short when it comes to conveying the finesse of this or the subtleties of that. In Inductions and Deepeners, however, Richard covers most every induction and deepening technique you could ever need to use, explains why and how it works, when to use it, and even how you can modify it for your own personal style. The language is easy to read - no lofty diatribes or podium preaching - and the practical concepts are right on and to the point.

In real life, Richard is the kind of guy who’s there for you when you need to sort out a problem or maybe get a little confidence boost, and I’m happy to see that these personality traits show through in the book. I love the way he encourages you to just take the plunge and do it; practice here and there and everywhere until you find yourself conducting inductions in your sleep. It’s great advice. People are resistant to practicing hypnosis professionally because they lack confidence, but they lack confidence because they don’t practice doing hypnosis.

I also like how he included transcripts from actual sessions rather than just typing out ready-made scripts. One benefit is that you can see how easy it is for a confident hypnotist to instinctively respond to the subject’s responses by improvising in the middle of a session. Effective hypnosis practice is about adaptation; you adapt approaches that are known to work and tweak them to make them work for you, and you adapt your approach to the needs of your subject.

Another benefit is that you get to see how spoken hypnotic language patterns really work. We are taught in school that when writing we must dot this I and cross that T and put a comma here and so forth, but when we speak aloud to the subconscious, the rules of grammatical necessity change quite dramatically, and when you read a ready-made script, quite often vital language patterns and subtle hypnotic syntax are neglected in favor of English 101 sentence structures.

In my opinion, the selection of induction and deepener approaches Richard chose to include represent the perfect blend of classic and unique, and even demonstrate how a classic can be unique. For example, Eye Fixation is Eye Fixation, a common induction method. However, the subject’s eyes can be directed to fixate on a light, a still object, a swinging object, a color, a corner, a spot on a wall, or even a spot in the middle of the room, or the subject can be directed to select their own point of fixation.

Richard’s philosophy is this: Here’s the basic concept behind this approach, this is how and why it works, and here are some variations. Now, take it and make it work for you. He isn’t looking to create a cult following of clones who use only his inductions word for word, but instead encourages you to study and adapt these approaches into to your own unique style.

In summary, I am impressed with this book and I think you will be too. It’s full of easy to understand, motivating and practical information that you can actually use - and I hope you do!

~ Michael Johns

Michael performs his successful comedy hypnosis show nightly on the Las Vegas Strip, and has entertained thousands in comedy clubs across the country for over 15 years. You can find out more about Michael at www.TwistedComedy.com or www.HypnosisGurus.com.

INTRODUCTION

Greetings, fellow hypnotists! I’m Richard Nongard, and I’m glad that you’ve decided to purchase this training text on hypnosis inductions and deepeners. I hope you find the content to be practical and useful to you.

When we first dive into hypnosis, we usually only learn one or two inductions: Progressive Muscle Relaxation, maybe Eye Fixation, or some other basic induction. Consequently, people often become frustrated because they recognize early on the need for a variety of inductions and deepeners designed to address a variety of different client types - and that is the purpose of this text, to provide you with many different styles of approach.

Some of the inductions and deepeners will overlap. For example, the Reverse Arm-Levitation also incorporates an element of Eye Fixation. Most of the inductions that I will cover include an element or two of Progressive Muscle Relaxation. And you will find that most approaches you use or create will combine elements from several different styles. This is perfectly normal and acceptable.

The more you practice, the more you will begin to incorporate your own patterns of speech, your own words and your own preferences into your induction styles. The goal of this text is not necessarily for you to mimic or copy everything that I suggest, but for you to be able to use the parts that you believe would benefit the clients on your caseload, in a way that draws on the strengths of your own personality.

This text presumes that you already have some background in hypnosis. You may be a beginner trying to increase your skills, or maybe you are an advanced practitioner and you want to incorporate some new elements into your helping or entertainment repertoire. Either way is fine, but since this book focuses on induction, I will assume that you already have some basic hypnosis skills.

THE SUBJECTS, THE SCRIPTS

AND THE POINT

This text is filled with examples of hypnosis sessions. The first section focuses on inductions and the second on deepeners. Each of the demonstrations presented is a transcript of an actual session. With the consent of the subjects, I filmed the sessions, and then had the content transcribed into printed form.

I used four subjects. Three are adult females, from ages 25 to 37, and one male child, age 11. None of the subjects had ever been hypnotized before, either for clinical or entertainment purposes.

I chose these subjects because they were interested in learning about hypnosis, they trusted me to be professional, they had no qualms about being videotaped, and they were available.

All of the subject’s responses are real. The experiences that they describe and the transcribed phenomena that you may observe are real; nothing was rehearsed or practiced. They represent typical clients we might see on any given day.

The sessions themselves are short or abbreviated - meaning