by Anthony Jacquin » Mon Mar 01, 2004 8:20 pm
Hi Lucid,
got a few thoughts on your questions...
I am guessing that the reason you gave your subject the sugestion to sleep at your comand was so that next time you would not have to go through a longer progresive induction. I think that is a great idea. However the word sleep is a strong one - looks and sounds great for stage hypnosis but is possibly less appealing in the context of therapy or a non stage situation. The fact that your subject was hypnotised and respinded well to your suggestions does not mean that they will automatically accept every suggestion. maybe there is something about being commanded to sleep that they found unappealing. Also the confidence with which you deliver such a command is of high importance. Were you feeling confident? What did you do after it didn't work.
What i prefer is to give the post hypnotic suggestion that 'whenever you want to use the power of your unconscious mind/relax in this way/etc all you need to do is sit quietly and hear the word relax four times in your mind. the fouth time you hear the word you will immediately experience the deepest state of trance you have experienced today.' You can add in they will only be able to do this when it is safe and appropriate to do so.
This is less threatening than I shall say sleep and you will zonk out. It also puts the ability in their hands, so they can genunly have this shortcut to trance.
Another thought about this is to stack the cards in your favour as much as you can. When someone has just come out of a trance they are still highly suggestible. Congratulate them on their abilities to go into a trance, let them know that once they have been in a trance like that they can go back into it, very easily, and very quickly. Ask them if they would like to go back into a trance now. In other words, big them up, tell them what will happen then get their permission to go ahead. Of course emphasise, the words that you wish to.
I could go on about this for hours as I really find it ratifies the trance for my clients, gives them a blaggers guide to going in a trance and using their new skills and totally throws them from thinking about the fact they just quit smoking or lost a phobia.
On the subject of noise, I know it is a tough one to accept that you have to incorporate it, but that is likely to be the only response you will get from hypnotists. It is the best advice you can get. If something is bothering you it wil likely bother your client. So dont let it bother you. Incorporate it.
You can do this directly. 'Other sounds, other voices will simply remind you of your goal here, those everyday sounds wil relax you more and remind you, you are sitting in that chair, listiening to me...'
Indirectly. Fopr example if someone is waling past audibly, say 'And as you take those steps toward...' or 'Stepping through each...'
In terms of getting through the induction with sounds, think about times when you have gone into an altered state with sounds around you, dozing off in the passenger seat of a car, falling alseep in front of the television, bored in a meeting....go over some of these experiences in the early phases of your induction - they suggest or oresuppose that it is possible to go into a trance with sounds around.
I used to have my hypnotherapy practice at home and used to worry about the door bell going off as it was right outside the room I worked. Eventually it did and at the time my client was in a crucial stage of work with full arm levitiation. I had been waiting for the inevitable and the day had arrived. I said, I want you to enjoy those changes ringing through you now as you drift deeper into a trance while i leave the room for a moment. Dealt with the door, crept back into the room and the arm was even higher than when I left. It dealt with all my worries about noise in a moment.
Another example is group sessions. I do these for smokers and it is inevitable when you get a few smokers in a room, one will have a cough. You have to incorporate it.
Any questions let me know.........
Ant