In the past we have spoken extensively on being The Hypnotist. That entails making sure to keep an attitude of success. Whatever the subject throws at you is greeted with an attitude that it was expected.
Today we will explore a response that is even more powerful. Not only will we sidestep efforts at derailing our induction, we will actually use whatever is being thrown at us to facilitate trance.
For example, you’re inducing trance using a relaxation induction and the subject says “I can’t relax my body”. The hypnotist that has the wrong attitude will say “try harder to relax”. The hypnotist who has the proper THE HYPNOTIST attitude will say “wonderful, many people find that in the beginning they relax at a slower pace”.
The hypnotist who utilizes resistance will go one step further….. he will say “good…… and I wonder just how soon…. that interesting feeling of being unable to relax….. will completely capture your focus….. as you find that feeling impossible to ignore….. as you hear the sound of my voice”.
What has the hypnotist done here? He has taken resistance and used it in a powerful way to facilitate the trance state. The state of being absorbed in a feeling and unable to ignore a feeling is a profound state of trance. The hypnotist has also tied this to the sound of his voice, thereby creating a greater response potential from the subject.
Of course the subject can resist this suggestion, what that will do is make him not focus on that feeling of being unable to relax, and he will relax right into trance.
This is a fine example of a double bind being used along with a few other techniques, to neatly and simply use resistance in our favor.
Remember, any response, even resistance, is a good response. So long as we can create a response we can produce trance. It is only when there is no communication at all that we can’t induce trance.
If you have a particular resistance that you bump into and would like to find a solution for, simply leave me a comment in the comment section and I’ll think you up an answer!
Happy trancing!
Ok, I have a friend that has taken a personal challenge to make it very difficult for me to induct him. He says I can try, but he won’t let me do it. When I try any kind of induction (he’s seen me use pretty much every trick in my bag) he starts saying “you can’t get me, Eric, it’s not working, you fail, you can’t hypnotize me” and interrupts anything I try to say, constantly retorting that way until I give up. How can I use that to develop the trance? It seems so impossible…
@Eric: Confusion is good for stubborn people like that (unless he’s seen you use it).
You could also use a reverse bind. If you watch what he’s doing and tell him to do it, it ruins the game. Tell him NOT to go into a trance. Tell him to resist. Tell him to interrupt you more. Tell him he absolutely has to stay awake and pay attention. It also helps if you can stay clear-minded the entire time so that you can focus on every movement he makes and respond to it effectively.
Alternatively, you could ‘encode’ your message into such gibberish that he would have no chance of understanding what you’ve said. I would use something like “I can’t hypnotize you so you’ll just have to go into a trance yourself”. Then confidently smile and walk away. As long as he doesn’t understand any of what you’ve said on a conscious level, he can’t resist it and will go into a trance if he has even the smallest interest in doing so.
You could also combine things. The only rule to this game is that the subjective experience of the other person is everything. If you fight their experience, you lose.