Trance-formations Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the Structure of Hypnosis by Jobn Grinder and. Richard Bandler edited by Conttirae Andreas = ol REAL PEOPLE PRESSCopyright ® 1987 Real People Press Box F Moab, Uiah, 84532 Cover Artwork by Rene Eisenbart Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Date. Grinder, dchn. 1, Hypnotism--Thevs: Problems, exercises, otc, I. Bandler, Richard, IL, Andreas, ae, TIT. Titles 35.076, 615.8512 BL-15542 ISBN OnS11226-22-2 BCR TSEN Q-9L1226-25-0 ¢ pbk.) Other books chour Neuro-Linguistic Programming from Real People Press: Core Transformation: Reashing the Wellspring Within, by Connirae Andrees end ‘Tamara Andreas. 1993, Cloth S2L80, Paper $13.50. ‘Frogs Into Princes, by Richerd Bundler and Joka Grinds, 197 pp. Pager $13.50 y the Mind, hy Caarimae Andceas and Steve Andreas, 261 pp. 1969. Cloth Paper $1330. Using Four Brein—fora CHANGE, by Richard Bandler. 165 pp. Mastrated 1988, Cloth S19, Paper 513.50, Refroming: Neuro-Linguistic Programmlag ard ihe Transfusteerion of Meaning, ard Bundles and fohx: Grindes. 208 pp. 1981. Pager $13.30, Change Your Atind—And Kevp the Change, by Steve Andreas end Coarisae ‘Amadis, 187 pp. 1967. Cloth $18.04, Paper $13.50. “The name Real Peopfe Press indicetes our purpose: to pobiish ideas end ways thet a persua cause hicepencenlly o with olbel3¥6 become mars reai—tofuriber their tam sve esemumanbeing and wo develop reletionsbigs anacommuntestion with others, 6 7 8 9 MW 11 Printing 99 98 9 86Contents Tavroduettan Exercise] 8 Exercise 2 11 Trercie 327 Summary 33 Simple Induciions ‘Verbal Pacing and Leading: 3-2-1 Exercise Nonverhal Pacing and Leading 43, Overlapping Representational Systems 44 Acvessing 4 Previous Trunce State 49 Naturally Occurring Trance States. 50 Exercised 54 Discussion 56 Anchoring Trance States 61 Analogue Marking 63 Exercise 5 66 Discussion: Negative Commands and Palarities I Advanced inductions Leverage Inductions and Pattern Interruption Overload 40 Stacking Realities 85 1 5B 34-69 35 6 70-98 70Exercise § 38 Incorporation and Dealing with Abresctions Benediction 97 LV Diitization Process Instructions 99 Generative Change 116 Exercise 7 118 Clean-up Routines 129 VV Reframing in Trance Introduction — 137 Reframing 147 Reframing Outline 159 Discussion 160 VI Specific Giitizarion Techniques ‘New Behavior Generator 178 Deep Trance Identification 185 Pain Control 189 Amnesia 192, Recovering Personal History 198 VU Caltbration Exercise 8 292 Exercise 9 204 Exercise 10208 Crystal Ball Gazing 206 VIL Self-Hypnosis Discussion 219 TX Questions Benediction 235 Appendix I Appendive Hd Nore Bibliography Index 90 99-136 B77 178-200 201-212 213-223 204-257 238039 240-250 251-252 253 254.255Foreword Hypnosis is a word that usually gcts strong responses from people— some pasitiveand some negative. Sarne people think W'su boas or only goad formeking peopleactike chickens, some people think ft will cure everything from danclruif to flat fect, and others think:it isso dan; ‘ous that it should be left alone completely. Trance experiences have existed in different forms for centurics, usually surrounded bya my: tique of something “magical” and unexplainable, What is unique about this hook is that it turns the “magic” of hypnosis into specific understandable procedures thut can be used not onlyin doing “hypno gis” but also in everyday communication. When John Grinderand Richard Bandler doa seminar on hypaosis together, one of them usually says “All communication is hypnosis and the other says "I disaerce, nothing is hypnosis; hypnosis doesa’'t Sxis” There isa sense in which they arebot right, and both are saying the same thing, T Tell you about going snorkeling on my recent honeymoon in the Yucatan and describe to yau the swift movements of the brightly colored tropical fish, the rhythmic sound of the geatle waves against the shore, and the feeling of rising und falling with the warm wavesss | scam the underwater scencry, Liopefully {will alier your state of con- sciousness so that you tan experience same represcmtation of what [ experienced, If you become exelted about going there yourself, T will have use! the same pariemns of commumicarion that are used by sue- cessful hypnotists - dy success!ul poets, 1en, parents, 12 Politicians, religious Leaders, ete. f you think of hypnosis as altering someone's sate of consciousness, ihenany offective communication is bypnosis. (One of the simpler hypnoticpatterns is the “negative command.” If] say “Don't think of blue,” you have to think of blue ia arder to understand my sentence. Ifa hypnotist says “I don't want you Lo relax too gona" the listener often finds himself beginaingto relaxasa way of understanding what those words mean, Beginning with a negation simply takes any pressure to respond off the listener. ‘The same pattern 3s often inadvertently used to get unwanted responses. The well-meaning parent may say to her child “Don't spill ‘the milk,” or “Don't stumble," The well-meaning husband may say “Don't get upset,” or “don't want yau to worry abo ut what happens while youare gone.” The listener has 10 represent the unwanted behas jor somehow in order to understand what has been said,and this makes behavior more lilly. Unknowingly, ne or she in a sense “nypnotizes” the child or spouse into an urrwanted response, The same pattern can be used to get more useful responses from people, whether they are in “tence” or not. “Don’t be too curious about whacyou'llIearn from reading this book” “Lwouldn'ttell you to be eager to discover haw you'll change comfortably in the coring weeks.” Since hypnosis is fundamentally no different than any effec! cornmunication, “There iso such thing as hypnosis" as a separateand distinct process. ‘Most books presenc hypnosis as something that you sitdownand do ‘with yourself or someone else for a discrete period of time, usually to solve problems. Then you get up and da something else. If you still think af hypnesisin that way after Fou have read this book, you will be depriving yoursell of the niost important ways you eum use these tools—in your living. The communication patterns described in this book are far too useful to leave oma hypnosis chair somewhere, Most ofthe satisfactions that we all wantin life dawt take plage in a hypnosis chair; they happen with the people we lowe, the work chac we do, and the ways that we play and enjoy life. ‘You can use the information in this book in many ways, both personally and professianelly, Qa way is io make remedial changes By solving problems and emoving limitations. This is thesway hypnosisis usually used lo stop smoking, lase weight, deal with unreasonable fears, and soon.3 Butysucanalso usethis formation in evolutionary ways to devele op yourself and continually increase your abilities and choicesin life— learning to do Bester what you already do well. You can do this in simple ways such as learning to communicate with family and assa- ciates more effectively, make love more enjoyably, learn new skills more easily, and so on. You can also carn how to make even mare pervasive changes in how you live. Much of the material in this book is derived from Bandler and Grinder’s care[ul and systematic observation of the wark of Milton H Erickson, M.D, Until bis death in 1980, Erickson was widely con- sidered to be the world’s greatest medical hypnotiyt, Me was widely known for his successfial and often “miraculous” wark with “impossi- ble” chents, as well as for his extensive weitings on hypnosis. Several years ago [ went to visit Milton Erickson at bis home in Phosnis, After he described some of his remarkable work with clients, Tasked him how he knew to use one approach With eneclient, when he had used an oppositeapproach with another client who-appaccntly bad the same kind of problem. He responded “You just trast your uncon- scious mind.” ‘That approach to hypnosis warks great if you have Milton Exickson’s unconsciousrring, Bus how isit possible o learn wautom. cally and unconsciously respond as effectively as Milton Erickson did—to have an unconscious mind like Erickson's? Grinder and Band |er’s special genius is the ubility to observe someone like Evicksoa and then describe in detail what Erickson does, what eves be responds to, and how itall fits together. This makes it possible or athersto learn ‘how to repeat the same provedures end get similar results. After a period of practice, these patterns can become as automaticas knowing. ‘which muscles to moye in order to reach across a table and pick upa glass. Erickson wrote thefollowingin the preface to Bandler and Grinder’s book The Parteras ofthe Hypnoile Techniques ef Milton H, Erickson MD, “Although this book by Richard Sandler and John Grinder, to whicded am coniribuung this Prefaee, is far from beinga complere descrintion of my meshodologics, ax they so clearly state itis. a ach berterexplanation af haw Ewark shan I myself, carrgive, 1 know what Ido, bul to explain how do Jt is much tao difficult for me”4 In addition to modeling the behavior of “wizards” such as Milton Erickson, Grinder and Bandler have added their own wide array of effective communication skills to the body of knowledge that they teach others. Itisunusual to find two people like Bandlerand Grinder who are such powerful and efiective communicators, It is even more unusual to find two people whoare socapuble of teaching atherstodo what they do so exquisitely, ‘The material presented in this book is detailed and spectfic and carefully sequenced, beginning with simple concepts and exereisés,aitd proceeding stop-by-sicp to mare advanced prostdures, This book bas boon created from verbatim transcripts of 10 different seminars on hypnosis, edited together so that it appcars as a single workshop. No distinction is made between when Richard is speaking and when John is speaking, and the names of most participants bave been change ‘As you read this baok, keep in mind thet Bendler and Grinder usually doing what they’re talking about. Sometimes they're explicit about this, snd sometimes they're not. The astute reader willfind mush ‘more in the text than is overtly commented upon, ‘This book has been edited! so asto keep redundancy with other NLP books to a minimum. Some material from the original workshops which is already available in other books has been omitted. You will find that the books Frogs into Princes, Patterns of ke Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D., Vol. f and They Lived Happily Ever After ure very usetal ad ditions to the information in this, book. If you are reading with an interest in acquiring and developing hypnotic communication skills, you will serve yoursel by taking the y pragticing eack stall plece that is presented so that you ean become systematically effective. Ifthe pieces are toobig far youto do comfortably, break chem into smaller and more digestible chunks, If you arc reading this book simply for entertainment or out of curicsity—enjoy! Grinder and Bandler’s teaching is more inceresting and entertaining than most comedians. Comnirac AndreasIniroduetion ‘Our topic here is hyponsis, We could immediately launch into an stzunient about whethcr there is such a thing, and what it might be if there were. However, Sines you already paid your money und came here for a seminar in bypaosis, 1 won't bring up that particular argument Lhope that in the three days wespond here together, you willlcomis to understand the sense in which thatanighe be fruitful argument. [hope you will diseover that you already know a great deal ahout hypnosis under other names, of under no name a all. You can discover that sertain experiences many of you havehad are really exeellent exauples of altered states of conscinusness. In the course of these three days, [ will call upon both of exch of you to enjoy and learn from what takes place here. ‘assume that each of you is here with at Ieast twa objectivesin mind, ‘Onc is to discover how hypnotic Battorming mighe be useful and effec tive for you in whatever arex you are in, whetlier it's psychotherapy, managedient, cducation, nursing, sales, or something else, J assume ‘that you want to discover what new choices hypnotic patterning offers that you might add to your present repertoire co hecome event more effective indaing what you do. In addition, | amsuze that many of yeu are interested in making a number of personal changes asa part of your cxperience here. Tinvite you to participate with both those objectives fully in mind, In dealing with this material, we will be doing demonstrations, we Will 56 discuss what is waingon, and we willask youto do exercises under our supervision alter we've explained whar we would like you to do. Hypnotic patterning is the same as any skill that can be learned. In order to be Learned, it has to be practiced. ] assume that mast of vou here drive automobiles. If you don’t drive automubiles, you can fing some comparable perceptual-motor skill that you have mastered, whether i's riding & bieyels, roller skating, or playing some atluetie sport. Ifyou remember the first occasion on which you actempted to master the complex skill of driving car, there were many things that ‘you had to keep track of. Your hands were doing several things. At east one of them was on the wheel, presuniably, and the other one was Working the gearshift, ifthe car you were learning te drivehad one. At the same time you werg taxed with the tusk of being able to pay altention Lo what your feet were doing. There were three things they might do down there, and some of those things had to happen in eoordination. You may remember putting the brake on and filing to put the clutch in at the same time, and the disastrous results of chat. ‘You had to pay attention to all ef this, in addition 1g haying some consciousness of what Was going on autside af the ear itself. As with any complex perceptual-motor skill, what's required is that the task be organized into small pieces oF chunks, 90 that you eHm practice each small chunk individually until yau've mastered it. Once you have succeded in practicing each chunk to the point that it becomes an automatic. effective, unconscious skill, you are free to attend to new possibilities: other eamponents of the task. Youcanthen practice these new chunks until they alsoachiewe Lhat same status ofan unconscious, effective, perceptual-motor pultéra that youdonethave to give any conscious attention to. The easiest way to become skilled at hypnosis is to practice small chunks one at a time, inthe sane way that you learned many tasks such as drivinga car, assume that the ultimate test of your skill in hypnosis iswhother you can walk inand begin ta interact with someone such a. way ay ta induce the specific kind of hypnotic outcome that they request- without having to strategize at the conscious level. Three daysisnot long enough, inmy opinion, teachievethe kind of gracetul, systematic, unvonsvious funstioning that is required of a really fine hypnotist, Hovever, our task in these three days will beto arganize the overall cask af hypnasis inta chunks, and ask you to practice the various pieces. Our job will be to balance the amount of time we have7 you practice specific skills with the time we spend making sure we complete a coherent whole that will give yow am overall strategy for hypnosis. E trest that you, and particularly your unconscious mind, ‘will continue to prectice such skills after this seminaz, Talso hope that you will continue ta auld altemative ways of achieving the same ou comes to the repertoire you will be acquiring here, what we do [ars living isan obscure thing called medeling. When we model, we try ta build descriptions of how to do something. As modelers we are interested in two chings: one is usking really good quastions about what needs to be knawn, and the other is making descriptions of what seems to work. Its something akin to writing & cookbook, During the next three days, we'd liketo teuchyowa model for doing hypnosis, It is not the truth, It is not an answer. It js not real. If you think you know what's *reslly” going oa and want to argue with me about what'seeally going on, I'mnot goingtabe able ro argue with you because Ialan't know. There are some things that I cir knciw about 1 understund bow hypnosis is done, Why Ie works, Tdon't know. Ido know that bypnosis works in the same way that you learn and remember and everything else, It works in the same way that you understand language. Althouzh hypnosis is not differont from anything else, inthecontig- uration we're going ¢o teach it to you,it'sa very powerful wol, And would like you to think of il as # tool that aceomplishey something specific. I’ an amplilier. No matter what you do, whether you're sellingears, doing psychotherupy, or working with juries, vou can doit and elicit more intense responses from people. [Iypnosiswill allow you to do whatever you do and have a greater impact with it. By ilsell it wan't do anytling. Talso want (0 potot out that hypnosis is nota panuees, I have boon using hypnosis for seven veaus, and [still sometimes wake up tired ia the morning. Since I'm nota person who ordinarily drinks coffee, if1 drinka cup of coffee inthe mosnine, ray body vibrates. If Efall down, T still g2t bruised. Hf | have # toothachic and I remove the pain with hypnosis, I still heveco goto adentist to do somethingabaut the Wwoth, consider these ta bs limitations notin hy prosis as atool, but primar ily in myself, Righe now, hypaasisand communication arts in general are in their infarey us disciplines, The pracess of learning to da hypnosis is somewhat unusual,8 because unlike most things you learn, you already know haw ta do it, The problem is noticing it. So rather than going thraugh a long and detailed description this moraing, | am going to ask you to du some thing and then afterwards take a look at Exercise | Tm going toask you to get into groups ofthree peuple. Tywunt oe of you, person A, tu Link of samathing that fits the following deserip- tion: a siruarton in which you become deeply involved with a limited focus of attention. For same people that’s jogging: for others it's reading & bavk, It tight be Weiting, Watching television, going t the movies, driving your car on a long srip—anything whici fies thac description Iryou're A, I want you to tell the ather two in your group, Band C, what the experience is, Give thed only the name of the experience: Jogaing, sailing just a word. If you give therm tap much detail, it ‘makes ittoa casy for them. Just give them a ward, sit back and close your eyes, and pretend chat you're in hypnosis it’s all pretend any- way. | Waut the other two people to describe whut they believe would have 10 be there in sensory terms if you were having that experience. ‘The magic words arc “have to” because if someone is jogeine and you say the bright sun is shining down on your body, that doesn't have te be there. People can jog at night, or on a cloudy day, However, they do fave to have some skin temperature. So you're going to have to be artfully vague. want B and C to take turns saying two sentences ot phrases each. One will say “You can feel the temperature of the air ot your body, and the place where your fact touckes the ground.” The other pne might say “You notice the beatingof your heart, You can eel the temperature of your skin." Those ure experiences that have to be there Pim not goitig to give you any more description than thyt to with, I want you eaeh to take a turn, und T want you to observe the person who has his eyes closed, and notioc how he responds to what you say, When you are the person sitting (here with your eyes closed, 1 want you to notice wikieh things allow you to get into the experience more, and which things make it more difficult. 'm gaing to leaveit at that and have you usc your own experience as a teacher. Let’s start. Take about five minutés each.9 I didn’t want ro talk t@ you too much in the beginning because whenever I begin tn Leach a hypnosis course it's a little bit difficult for me ta keep from demonstrating at large. usked yau ta notice what Kinds of things sccmed to allow you to go hack to the state of con sciousness thal you were in when you actually had theex perience you mentioned, and which things seemed to make it hardecfar sou. Which things seemed to jar vou, and whieh seemed to lead you move into being relaxed? Which things sccmed to be disjointed, and which allowed you to forget where you were a little bit? ‘Woman; Anything thac liad to with my body put mein deeper, and anything that had to do with my mind, like what [thought about it or my reactions t0 it, took me outs little. Twwant to know exactly what the other person actually did. Give me some cxamples, Woman: OK. 1 was playing the pian, When the petson said “You can feel the contact of yaur fingers on thekeys," it mademe go deeper. I hesaid something like “You think the emsic is yau," then [came out Man; Itwas casier for me when the tempo of his vaice was the same rate as my breathing, What Kinds of things made it harder? Man: Um, when something he said was incongruous wich what | had been thinking. Isaw crysel!in an indoorskating rink, and ir threw me when somebedy suggesled semething outdoors. Yeah, you're in an indoor skating rink and somebody says “You wok up and notice how beautiful ce sky is.” Woman: My partner said to me “Youcan hear and fecl your breath ing.” That reully jarred me, because I couldn't do them hoth at the same time. I thought “No, just a minute. Leam't do that,” OK, what kind of things made it exsier? Woman: When shejustsaid one thingto do ata time, like “You ean far your breathing.” ‘Man: 1 was swimming undeewater wh feel the splash of your hand hitting the water,” | thoweht " underwater. I can‘. Woman: We were talking about music, and at some point he said someting about beingin une withthe wa ld, and itjustceally took me in deeper. What made it harder? Womaa: [e didn’t do anything that made it har OK, he can go home new, someone said “You can 2 Te10 Woman: There was one thing. [Cone person had slowed down the spced of his voice, and then the other one speeded up, that brought me buck up, So one of the people would go (slowly) “and you'll focl .. « very relaxed” and the other ont would say (quickly) “and more and mare and more relaxed.” Man: | noticed that my partners used nothing but feeling terms. At first that madeit very easy, because [was just using onesensory system, but after a while £ heard myself saving *] want to see something” I wasn't secing anything So it was really the absence of something, After a while U tions became what is knavva as reduadan ‘Man: Onsthing really distracted meand pulled meout after I wasin theexperience: the phrase “as all other experiences fade.” When hesaid that, suddenly~bang! 1 was back. You had to find out what the other experiences were so they could fade, What made it easier? ‘Man: Sensory things: fooling the guitar, feeling my fingers mow loaking at the music, Woman: The omission of something very obvious made it more difficult for me. I was painting picture and my partners never lalked, about the feel of the brush in my hand. How did that make it more difficule for you? How did it cross your mind that they weren't talking about it? Woman: I kepl feeling that there's an incompleteness here; I've got to fill tin, They were talking about mixing paint and Iooking at the view and how beutifully the picture was progressing. And that’s not what you were doing? Well, [had t6 yet from mining the paint ta having a brush in my hand and painting before I could stand back and look at the picture, OK. So it wasn't a natural transition for you. It was kind af Tike “You're standicg on the beach, and you feel the warmth of the sun on your body, and yau look back at the beach and notice how far you've swure.” Now what Lhope you come to understand in the next three days is that many of theanswers to questions about what leads somebody into an altered stale have just heen described. The difficulty that people have going ints hypnosis is nota genetie one, It's nox that some people Just can’t, Infact, everyone does icall che time. The difficulty is that no ne really notices, Hypnosis is a very natural pracess, and hypriasis isn only a word that describes the tools that you wseto systematically take someone into an altered state of eonseigusness. Peaple go into altsced states alll thetime. Perhaps at lunch you can get in an clevatorand ride Up Lothe top of chisbalel withsome people wham youdon't know, and wateh what happens to thet, People dan’t get into an elevator and act the way they do normally. They kind of go "on hold” and watch the floars go by. Infact, if the door opons before they're ready ¢0 get oUt very often they'll vuke up and start out, Howmany of you have walked out of an elevator on the wrong floor? There's a universality to that experience. Finding things that are nniversat in peaple’s expericace is the key to both inducing hypnosis and using it for whatever you want to accomplish. Another important thing is making anatural sequence. I saracbody says fo you “Well, T wus drivingdown the raud, and | was on may Way Lo Texas, and Twas looking out the window and seeing the other cars go by, andit was.a heautifel sunny day, and I said to mysclE“It's raining so hard!" that last phruse will jar you aut af listening Usually that’s the point at which somebody will ask @ question or heyin to argue oF disagree. Nature] transitions lead people intoan altered state without Jarring them, There ave ways toinduce an alleredstate by jarcingsomeone aswell Both ways ef using communieation ean induce altered states, People eften use what is called the confusion technique as an induction procedure. When you use theccnfusion tccbnique, youd nat build in mesningiul transitions, You indueea state af mild confusion in people, and shen you begin ta build natural transitions tram that paint, We'll get to that later. If you listen to the kiads of things that jarred people, usually they were things that weren't sens ory-hased|, orthings that werea't universal to the experience. 1! you're playing the piano, you are going to have contact hetween the kos and your fingers, but you ave not necessarily going to feel that “the mpsie is sou.” For example if you were playing “Chopsticks” would you feel like » chopstick? [t wouldn't necessarily work that way. Exercise 2 Soon I'm going a ask you tadothe same thing again. only this Lite T Want you to testrict yourself to descriptions of what mau be there in senuory experighee and lo benan-specific. [you say “Y oncan hear splash of the water” and the person ig underwater, it won't wark, But2 you can say “You can hear che sounds that the water makes” becauss: there will be some spends, This time Pa like you toadd onc other impartant piece: Fd like you to have a steady volce tempo and use the other person's breathing ws the speed... and rate... and the pace... of the speech. . . that you generare, Matching someone's breaching with anything in your behuvior—whether it's your own breathing rate, the tempo of your specch, or unything else—has a very powerful impact. Tey it and find ut What impactit has, I want you to use the same experience und keep the same groups. Tuke two minutes apiece and don't talk about it. It should take eight toten minutes at most forevery body in your grounto do it. Notice ifr feels different this time, T'd Tike to ask you if you noticed any difference in your own experience, even with just that small amount of instruction, Was it dilfereat at all for you? Some yf you are nadding. ls there anyone here for whom it was not different at al? . . One person, Even with just that little bit of instruction, thr little bil af change, the capericnet changed for everyone but one ersoa in this room, That dilferenceto meisu profound oue, because theinstruvtionsT gave you arcjusta tiny bit of what's available “Hypnosis itself, as far as Pm concerned, issimely using yourself asa biofeedbuck mechanism. You were doing that when you match other person's breathing rate with your voice tempo, Yaur behavior ‘became un ongoing feedback mechanism for bis behavior. Whether you're going to use altered states [or inducing persona] change, for some medical purpose, for the purpose of relaxing, or as a form af meditation, the things that allow you to be able to respond to another human being by going into an allered state are not genetivally prede- termined, They're simply the mechanisms of eomiraurtication, If [tell vou that J want you Lo think about this (speaking capidty) vary-slowly-und-carefully,” the incongruity between what I sey and how [say icgives you ovo contradictory mstructions, Bus if [tell you L want you to stop... and consider... very... slowly... just ex- wo sehat the change... in your own experience... was -.- 2 line tempo . .. the rate of’ my speech... the mavements af my body (he has been swaying to she chythm of his speech} don’t interfere with the words that 'm saying. In fact they emrielléek them. and amplify theic impace.is I heard somebody here say the word “up” as he lowered his voice, ‘That's an incongruity. ‘Those ovo things dott match. It's like talking about being reully excited in s monotone, Hypnotists do this somme- times. There’san old natian that you'resupposed totalk int monotone when you do hyonosis. It is acinally much mare effective to sound theilled if you se taking someone back into a thrilling experience. Beingin trance docst"t mean that you have ta bedead. A lot of pen ple tell me “Well, T don't think I was in a tranee because | could still bear things and fcel things.” Ef you can't see things and hear things, that's enth; that's # different state. In hypnosis, what you hear and see and feel is actually amplified for the most part. I believe that people in a state nI'hypaosis have muck mare control over thernselves than they think they do. Hypnosis is not a process of taking control of people. 13 & process uf giving them control of themselves by providing feedback chat they woulda’s ordinarily have. J know that each of you in here is eapable of going into any trance state—oven though Science has “proved” that’s nal true. And given how researchers have proved it, they're right, If you use the same hypnotic induction with a group of people, only sume of them will Eo into a trance, That's the way traditional hypnotists work. However, we're not going to study traditional hypnosis. We're going to stady what's called Ericksonian hepnosis, after Milton 11. Erickson, Brick sonian hypnosis means developing the skills of a hypnotist so well that youcan pul someone into a trance in. conversation in which theword hypnosis is never mentioned. Lleataed along tise ago that it isn't so much what you say as how you say it. When you ty to convinee somebady consciously by over- powering him, it elicits from him the response of resisting you. ‘here arcsome people who dos’ resist being averpowered. and who go into a trance, However, neither resistance nor cooperatian is a demonstra tion of anything except the ability of people t0 respond, Everybody who is living can respond. The questions are: how and to what? Your Job when you do hypnosis is to notice whar people respond to eturalr, Peaple vome inty my offite and say "People have tried to hypnotize me for years and it has never worked.” They sit down and sey "go abcad and try to hypnotize me." And T say “T can't hypnotize you." They say “Well, goahead and try." [say "I can’t do it, There's nothing 1 ean doy if I decided to force you ta keep your eyes open, that would make you keep your eyesopen, Tllery. Keep yourcycs wide open. Stay4 totally alect. Everything yondo will mekeyoustay right here and right now." Then they resist me right ite trenes, The prineiple I was using was simply noticing the response of the persan in front of me, and providing him with acontext that heculd respond to appropriately in away that was natural for him. Most people avé not thet radically resistant. Every once ia while you find one. Lf you realiee what he's doing and aller your behavior, il can be really easy. ‘Astage hypnotist usually pulls owemty people up from the audience and gives them a series of commands, Then he throws aut all the good hypnotic subjects and keeps the people Who are fust ohadiont. To me that's not an indigation of skit that’s a statistical approach 1o doing hypnosis, I want to teachyouta see how someone is responding sa that you can vaty your behavior to provide a context in which he ean Tespond appropriately. If you can ko that, anyone van go into an altered state in which you can teach him whatever you want him to learn. ‘One thing I've noticed is that people are more apt 10 respond easily when they're in « state that bypaotists cull rapport. Rapport seems to ‘pe built on matching behaviors, Disagreeing with people won't estab- lish rapport, Talking faster than people can listensvow't build rapport. ‘talking about écclings when psapls are making visual images won't build rapport. Rut if you gauge the tempo of your voice co the rate of their breathing. if you blink at the same rate that they blink,3f younad at the same rate that they'se nodding, if you rock at thesafte rate that theyreracking, andif yousuy things which must ia fact be the case, or things that you notice ure the case, you will build rapport. If you say You can be aware of the temperature of your hand, theaounds in the room, the movement of your body as you breathe” your words will match the person's experience, beeusseallof those things are there, We sali tbis kind of matching “pacing” ‘Auuniversal experience in this country is driving down the freeway and noticing that somebody next you is driving at thesame rate. If ‘you speed up, they speed up with you, and if yau slow down, they slow Mowa with you, Whea you begin to match somebody, you build an unconstiaus biofeedback Tong, and there's « tendency for the ether persan toda whatever itis that you do, or whatever it is that you talk about. Ifyou asuge the tempa, the ste, and the rhythm of yourspeech to someone's breathing and then very slowly begin ta slow down that sate. their breathing will slow dow too. If all of a sudden. , you peuse, 30 will they, Saif yau begin by matebing someone's bettavior,15 either verbally or nonverbally, it puts you in the position of being able to vary what you do.and to have them follow ‘Thencxt time youdothisexercise,] want you to bogin bymatching the person's presen! expcricnes. Last time you deserihed what would have to be therein some previowsex perience the person had. Thistime you'll begin by describing what has to be there in the person's expe- tiene now. So if Um doing it with Charlic, | would say something ke “And you arc listening to the saund of my voice... and you can feel the warmth where your left hand is resting oa your thigh... .” There's an artistry to choosing these statements. “Until T say this sentence, you will be unaware of the temperature and feeling in your Jett ear” and suddenly you arc aware of that. If say to Ana“*Youcan beaware ofthe feeling of warmth where yout hand touches your chin” she was probably not aware of that before E made the statement. But when ] said it, she could immediately verify that my verbalization was in Jact an Hecurate representation of her experienes. | come to gain credibility, aru T also begin to smplify things that are true, but were anconscious in ber before I mentionet! them, If] coatinue with kinesthetic statements and then say “And youcan: be aware of the sound af peuple shuffling paper in the oom” site will again shift consciousness in order to determing whether my verbaliza- tion is accurate for her experience, I'm feeding back things that are part of her experience, but ure normally outside of awareness for her. So Tm builling rapport, and at the sanie time 'malready altering her consciousness by that maneuver, Today we're only going toexplore the principles for inducing altered states, What you do to wilize an altered state ufier you get it is a separate topic, which we'll et to tomerew, For alongtime hypnotists have worried about hov“deep” you were. They used depth as an indication of what you could and could not do. As faras [van tell, depthismot a meaningtul way to thinka bout tranes; in some altered states some hypnotic phenomena are possible, while others arc not, But hypnatic phenomens per se are not that valuable. eingable have positive or negative hallucinationsis nat something which is really that valuable in and of itself, Hallucinations can be used as coals ta accomplish other ends, but they are aut themselves shat valuable. Thave discovered that you can even teach people to da hypnotic phenomena—positive hullucinations, negative hallucinations, pain comrol, and so on- in the waking state, There is somebady in this16 room Light now who can da thesé things in the waking state. Ts there anybody here who can stil sce an imaginury friend or animal that you had as a child? Anybody? You can raise your hand, we won't arrest you. (Somconczaiseshis hard. OK, youcan hallucinatein the Waking stat, Thay's a hallucination, L hope you realize that, Tf you don’t, we have a psychiatrist waiting outside with an electric shock treatment machine. ‘There arc many of you who can do negative hallusination; that is, yousanTookat somebody and net sce them. Muny of you havotooked down et a table to try tofind something on it, and you looked all over lace and didn't see it. Yet all that time it was Iving right ovt in Lhe open, That is not different from what peopls da in deep wanecs, (Childrea aegatively hallusinate their parents speaking to them all the time! How many of you can smell a rose when there isn't one? How many of you can takea deep breath and smell a rase right now? Qn a hypnotic chart that means you're three quarters of the way into the deepest tranee vow can be it! This either means that you've never boon in the waking siate, orthatthe peaple who make the charts don't know ‘what they're talking about. Its not a guastion of depth; if ene of you im here were to experience the constiaus state of the person sitting next to you for a moment, it would make LSD look trivial. Trunce is only taking your conscious experience and altering it ta something ele. InCalifornia the legislature is passing a law which says only licensed ‘hypnotists caninduceeltered states. The ramifications of that particu lar law are going to be very intecesting, beceuse when people make Jove, they ccrtainly induce ultered states im one another. At least 1 ‘ope making lave is not che ssime asmowing the lawn! Td Tiketo know how they're gaingto enforce that law. Everybods"s goingto haveto 20 out and became a liceuscd lrypnotist so that they can get married, Naw backto your task. Inaddition ro matehing people's experiance \with your statements (0 get rapport, you nest 10 be able ta do somes thing with the rappor: you'IThave. The key to this is beingable to make ansittans. Youneedto havea gtaccful way of guidiog someone from his peesent state into a trancestats—gaing frou describing his present state to doseribing the state youswant tim to goto. Using transitional words allaws youto dathissmoothly, Transitional words suchas “as” ‘or ‘when are words which imply that there is some mesningful Telatiandhap between two utterances, “4s you sil there. it’s possible for you 10 realize thet I'm about to tell you something,” There's no0 relationship between your sitting there and realizing something, How- ever, it sounds meaningful, and it's the toneat volceand the transition as" thet imply meaning Raginaing willtsensdry-based information allows youto rake tran- sitionsand elicit responses that induce sliared states. Thesensory base for transitions needs to be something that the person with whom you are working can find. Tl doesn'tneed iy he sornethinghe ulready hus in awareness, but somethingthat ic can find, Lf Lsit here and fook down at Stan and soy "Scan, vou can feel the texture of your moustache ant as youslide your finger, you can notice that you smiled and stopped You ean even feel your clbaw with your other hand and sense the rise and fall of your owa chest ex you breathe. Arad you may nat know it yet, but you're aboutto become aware of the temperature of your right Toot.” Joe: Toiill don’tunderstand whet you mean by the term transition, If Tsay to you “You asked 2 question ivhile you were sitting in a chair” Lam making & transition. I’m using the word “while” to define that two things are related. “Youasked this question because you want wo kaow something that’s important." Now most things aren't a sarily related, buat wsing the word "becausc” gives them a relationship. I Lsay" as you sit iathat chair yoware breathing in and out" it relates those two things by time. They arc not necessarily related, but | relate them in time by saying “4s.” - T'inialking akoatFetating the semences by using transitional werds, Hf] sayro somebody" You're sitting inthis chait, You are blinking your eyes. You are waiting,” thut doesn't have anywhere near the flowing, quality of "Youare sliting in the chair and you are blinking your eyes amd yow are wondering what the point of all of this is” Words Tike and,” “as,” “While,” “because,” and “whea” al] build a relationship between parts of 2 sentence, The particular relationship is one of time. That relationship allows people to move fram one idea ta another ‘without disjunction. Ir’sthe same thing as sayieg "You're standing on the beach fesling the warmth of the sum on your body, and yeu lock back at the beach as you take another stroke in the water.” Even though the ideas aren't related, they decome more related simply by adding those carnecting words. You exm tske ideas thet doa’t fit together and fit them together by gracefully using those kinds of words. When people listen to language, part of what allows them to flow from ‘one idea to the other are these particulas kinds of words. And you ate here becaiere you want to learn to beable todo. certain phenomenon18 calted hypnosis. And as you go through the next thres days, I'm going to teach you a lat of things Lhat allow it towork easier. Why it works] don’t know. Bucas you begin to try some of these things, you will find in your own expericnee that they have an impact. Even asI'm talkingto you now, I'm using the same kinds of words and thal's pact of wht makes it mort meaningful. Joe: Is the “even as” that you just used, another example of a transition? Yes Joe: OK, then lunderstand what vou're saying. You're saying Ggore fut words that will allow bridging between the diffecont sentences, you'te making. Yes, [eauld say “Asyousitin that chair, you can feelthe warmth of your hand on your arm aad you can feel the notehook on your legs. If you listen, you can cven hear your own heart beating and you don't really know... exactly what you're going to learn in the next three days but you can realize that there ares whole lot of new ideas anef experiences and understandings that could be useful.” Now those things don't necessarily connect together logically. The fact that your hand is touching your arm arid your notebook is on your leedoes not mean thut you're going to learn things, However, itsounds meuningful and serves purpose, The purpose is aot one of deception, bbut one of transition. A lot of pcople have the idea that hypnosis is a contest, but te think ofhypnasis asa contest is really a waste of time. The question is “Haw ean Tstruccure my communication to make it easiest for somevne to “RcoMpich what he wants To" If'somebody comes in wancing fo go va trance to make therapeuli¢ chaages, or if I'm using hypnosis far some medical purpose, or conttal of pain, or to remember things, | # to be as easy as possible for me to accomplish these chings. T want the same thing for the peuple T caramunicate with. And as | communicate with people, | use words like “as” to connect idcas together so that they don’t have to jump trom one idea to another. Man: Are you saying chat you iry to link up the suggestion with something in the person's immediate concrete experience to make the suggestion more credible “Absolutely. You cam, in fact, feel your hondon your leg and you can feel yaurnotebook. So I can link something about learningto that, Not only docs it become more ore Le, but it is no longera jump. Dused to think that what made transitional wards powerful was only that they9 nade a statememt more credible. In adaitlon to that, the fact that people don't have to jemp simply makes it ratich easier for them to ually engage in the process. When J was working with people doing things like pain cantral, 1 sed to build upon things that they could verify. “You can feel the pain Sn FOUF arm, and it hurts you very builly, but you can also feel the ‘eating of your beart, the movement of your taes, and youean fee! the sound in your ears as your heart beats. Yau can feet your glasses on vournose, and it’s possible for vou to beginto feel thal alher hand, and thot other hand can become very intense inits feelings. Youcan notice ch finger, and in fact, vou can take all the feelings in one hand and put them in anather.” 1 used to chink that it was the logic of that kind of statement that made it convincing. That so-called lagie is part of what makes these statements effective, but more than being logical and convincing, these statements are aset of instructions about what's plausible, That plaus- ibility becomes easier for people to respond to when they stay ina sonsiant, Uninterrupted state of consciousness. You see, hypnosis makes it possible for somebody ta control his heat rate. But usually when people begin to try to do something like control their heart rate, hey start talking to themsclves, and then they start thinking about their Aunt Susie, und then they say" wonder if this will work.” Those jumps between ideas represent changes in consciousness—nat radical ones but subtle ones. Building transitions maintains # relationship between statements s0 thal rather than jumping from one state of consciousness to anocher, you move through them smoothly, Aind as you mave more gracefully from one state of consciousness to another, i’s easier to accarmplish tasks, especially ones that have to do with your involuntary systems: like heart rate and blood pressure. It's nota mechanism of conviction; it’s a mechanism that makes it easier. One of my main eriteria for the validity of something is not only ‘whether or not it works, but also how easity it works. T don't believe therapy shauld be hard on the slicat or the therapist, When something is hard, isan indication of what we dos't know. Hypnosis shouldnet be diffigelt or unnatural, It should b¢ the most natural thing in the world. Whenever people have to force themselves and try, that is an indication that the technology you're using is not suphisticated enough. That doesa’t make it bad, buc itis an indication that there's much mere te know. Does chat make sense? Manz T zeully wasn’t following the last sentence,20 Thank you. You did that beautifully, What T'm saying doesn’treally makesense; however, it works, Islivita very different eespouse if stop using phrases like “as” or “when” or “while” and suddenly use 2 disjunctive sentence like "Does that makescose™ You start to go back through what I said, and it's difficult ta make the transition to the last sentence becaime there wasn't one. Naw wile Um describing this to you, if you consitler your experience of what's occurring right at the moment that I'm talking ta You, you're moving from one idea to the other, The grace with which you're moving from one ides tothe other is what we're talking about, And if I want w knaw if you conseiously understand that--which is a different thing than experienting it or heing able to do it—t'm going to have to be able to make a smooth transition tevour conselous understanding, As you sit here congider- ing that, does thet make more sense to you Mau: It seems that you're talking about using a number af bridges; for example the thing about making your style like the patient's, or adopting maybe the mannerisms — No. I didn't say mannerisms. You might want to mirror body posture, but ifthe ss himsell, i's not necessacy for you to seratch yourself. Ifyou adopt a_pervon's thunnerisats overtly, it as a tendeney to intrude into consciousness, and the ane thing you don't want tadoas a hypnotist is o intradcinto that person's consciausness, You want to find more subile mechanisins: for example, breathing at the same rate, That's not something & fersoa is apt to become con soious af. But unconsciously he will he aware af it and he'l respond. jan; OK. Those things are another way of making a link between, the ideas that you're trying to pul deross. 1 don't know quite how to articulate what I'm thinking: that somehow you're going to be more persuasive if these’s e similarity in varions subtle means. Yes, and T do something elsé thal rakes it much easier to be successful as a hypnotist. I dowt chink ofit as persuasion. Many pzople whodo bypnosisand writeabout it talk about it as“persuasion,” being “one-up.” being it “meta-position.” or being™in control,” They some times refer to themselves as "operators." which T always thought was an interesting thing for hypnotists to call themselves. People who do that also write about “resistance.” because thinking of hypnosis as control and getting resistance porhand in hand. One way of describing what I'm suggesting is that it is more persuasive, The other way of describing it is that it is mare mafurad. T's more nacural for you to21 respond to things that fit together tha to things that don’t Ley something. Close your eves fora minute, Most af you here have ding near a grovoof trees al some timein your life, Andas you stood there und looked up at those trees, you could see the leaves and the branches, and you could smell the alr that surrounded the trees ‘You could feel the weather, the temperature atthe air: you atight even hexintoheara breece, and as you hear that breere you might notice the brenchesandthe leavesresponding with movement. You might urn to pur left and see 2 large Thinoeerous charging al you, thar doesn’t disjoint vour reality, nothing will, In tecms of induc ing analtered state, disjointing vam havea value and a fungtivn, But its fanetion is nat onc of gently gliding someone somewhere, Digjointed communication is a very paverfultool in family therapy. People come inand say things like “I wish my wife would just leave me alone” and T say "OK, lock her in a closet.” Well, that’s not what [ yant.” “OK, what do you wune?™ st Want her to stop tolling me she wants things.” “Do you want her to write you letters?" ‘Those are not natural transitions, and they eticit different kinds of responses. They are very uscful in the context of family therapy when things have got 1y go quickly, add you often have to work around the limitations of the conscinus mind by battering it buck and forth. You can use the absence of transitions to elicit very, very powerful sesponscs, Here we're tulking about smooth inductions into altered states. You can also pump people into altered states very quiekly by communicating without transitions that ace logical, meaningful, and smooth, We'll get to that later on, That’sa more radical method, and 1 don"t want to teuch You both at the sametime, Lwant te teach you one and then the other. T's always easier co understand when things are sorted into pieces. In my teaching Ive noticed something ' mention 10 you. [t's a funny thing about learning and the way people make generalizations, If yau tell people "You know, I really think that Kansas City is 2 nice Lown" they'll say “What's the matter with Dallas?" This isn’t idiosyn- cratic Lo psychological and communication arts; i's a very pervasive thing, In my teaching around the couatey if T tell people “This is something that will work” somehow or other they get the idea that something else won’ work, And I'm nor saying aor using transitions‘won't work. I'm saying using transitions is helpt As amplifies what you're doingand makes it belter. The opposite can work just as well. but you have to usc it differently, Inthe contest of hypnasis, you do not go fast by going quickly. You go fast by going slowly. Yau sienply put your subject’s conscious mind in abeyance. Gr you cau describe it as switching what is in conscious ness by leading him into an allered stale of consciousness. I's not that he loses his conscious mind and he can't see or hear of think; i's that the same paradigm chat operates his conscious mind is notat work. L's still thore, it hasn't disappcared, but when you shift him to an altered state, you can logically and systematically and rigorowsly build new leacning. The first step is to learn Lo get a person into an altered state by using gentle transitions. Mant T've seen the uility of wansitions, especially when you're dealing with relatively unrelated canvepts. Is it necessary when they're related—say in relaxation, when you're dealing with wards like “fee! ings of tranquility, peaceful, focling quict, fecling very good"? Is it necessary to keep tying transitions onto those types of phrases? Well, “necessary” is a funny word. Necessary alwags relates to the outcome. I's certainly not necessary; the question is “What is it that you want to accompiish?” Mant ‘Whut becurnes the meusuring deviee for knowing how often i's mast beneficial to use those transitions? Youreyes. As you begin toda this you're going tonatice that people look different in altered states than they do when they"re in their normal waking trancess and as you hegin (o notice that, you begin to notice when you do things which create discontinuity in their experien- ees. Very good vision is necessary in order to use hypnosis, because most of the time people are not providing vou with as much feedback 1s they would normally. They're nat talking much, and they're not behaving as obviously. Inonesense this makes il easier, because there's not as much to confuse you, but it also requires that you have mare vigual acuity. I you don't huve thal, you'l end up daiag what many hypnotists do relying completely om fingcr signals to yct yes/no answers to your questions. That isn't necessary. It's a goad thing to know about in case you're not gettingthe feedback you want, orto use while you develop your sensitivity. However, if you have good vision, you can get any feedback you want without having w build in a focdback mechanism artificially. People respond externally, in ways ‘thot you can see, to What's going om in them imernally.4 Lf people have the internal experience of being disjointed when you say “quiet,” “relaxed,” or “comfortable” hecause thev dow feel that ‘way, you willsee nonverbal sesponscs which will Indicate that, And if you seethose Kinds of things, it makes sense to mention them. “Some one says Why don't vou relax” and you try to relax, but it’s difficult and you can’t. and you say to yourself'If only I could." Teould tell you ‘Be comfortable’ but i's hard wo Ae econforsable deliberately. BUL it's very easy to think about 2 raindrop resting on a leaf." Even though ‘those two things aren't related. people will relux a Jot more thinking -8bout a raindrop than they will ving to relax, One of the things that impressed me mare thas anything else about Millon Erickson sas that he did not use hypnosis as a direct tool. Ithe wanted someone to be colorblind, he didn't say “Become colorblind.” He'd say “Have you ever road a book? What dogs it moan to have & ‘book read (eed)! 1t doesn't mean anything at all. Somebady told me one time that there was a ‘blue Monday.’ 1 said to myself ‘a blue Monday. That doesn’t mean a thing. These chings go together somes haw, bot they don't have any mesning.” They dom’t mean anything to me. They dos't need to mean anything to you.” “The differenes between Erickson and the other hypootists that ['ve watched aud listened ta and studied with, is that Frickson didn't have any resistant clients. Either he selected his patients really well, or hedid something important chat other people weren't doing. Milian watshed how people responded, and he gave them what was appropriate for them, Using transitions is one thing that is appropriete with anyone who isa native speaker of English, Fecawse transitions ate past of the basic structure of English; they are part of how our langunge is built And ax you do hypnosis, {you use transitions, they will help you, J saw Milton do an official trance induetion once, which was.a very tare phenontengn, heligve me, Most of the time people went in aad started talking to im abaut intellectual things . .. afd suddenly the time bad passed. But once he officially induced u trance. He had a person sil down, and hesaid™ Aredas you sit there ]-wamt you to stare at a spot on the wall, ad as you stare at that spot you can realize that you'redoing thesame thing now thar you did whien you very first went toschool and learned the task af writing numbers and the letters of the alphabet. You're learning. .. learning about something that you really don’t know about. Ard even though you haven't realized it, already your breathing has changed (his voiee tempo stows dowd}, wad you're becoming more carnforlable aed more relaxed.” Those transi24 tions helped to build continuity. Nenw what going La school aad learn ing abour numbers and lstters of the alphabst have to do with becom jing more relaxed i tenuous at best Hawever, the meaning af ar communicstion—not just in hyprosis ‘but in life—is not what vou think ic means; it’s the responscit elicits, If you try to compliment somebody und he's insulted, the meaning of your communication is an insult. If you say he’s insulted because he didn't understand you, that's 2 justification for your inability to come auunicatc. The communication itself wasstill an insult, You can either justify things and explain them, or you san [sara from them, My preference is ta learn from them, Sa if | communicate and someone takes itas aninsult, next time } change the way I communicate. And if dn the future I want to insuls that person, T know exactly how todo it! Whiletransitions are notthe whole ball game, they ars a useful tool, ‘There's na set formula in hypnosis. The aniy thing that you can cout ‘onis that when youcommunicate with people, they will respond. Ifyou provide them with cnough different communications, you cen find what they will respond t appropriately. What ['ve (ald youso far is just the beginning. {also want yauto pay attention to your tempo, Tempo ix very, very powerful. A rather tradicional hypnotist named Ernest Hilgerd proved after forty years of esearch that there's no relationship belween a person's ability to alter his state of consciqusness and the hypnotist’s voice tempa. He has statistical proof of this. But it you pay attention to your own cxpe- sience as Tara talking to you right now and when . [change my jempo... io another tempo... which is distinctly... different . tnd slower... it has # notigenble impact. As long as it has a noticeable impact, I don't care what “science” says. Now, I said in the beginning that I'm a modeler. A modeler anly builds descriptions, The descriptions are only ways of getting you te pay attention to things. Right now these descriptions are designed 19 ‘get you to puy attention to your voice tan and tempo. The first hypnotist ] ever mct was sitting down tryingto put someone in a trence when I walked in the com. He was gaing ta teach me how to do hyprtdsis, dad he was talking in at leasant high nasal voice saving want youto feel very relaxed.” Even J recognized that leaulda’t feel relaxed with a whining person talkingtome, But he“knew" that all you needed tadowas have anetone of voice, bcoause it says inallche books that you're supposed to use w monotone. He “knew” that it doesn’t matter what tone you use, as long as it’s the same one.25 Now, talking in 2 monotone is only a way of avoiding being incon- grucnt, asfar asf cantell, Ifyou use thesame tone of voice all the time then you probably wor't be incongruent. [f you are incongruent, no ‘one willnotice it, because there's no variation inyaur voice. However, the variation in your voice can algo be a vehicle that Will ada to what you're doing, Man: [ noticed that when you were giving suggestions, you some- times used words that imply control; words like “you will fee!" or “you are feeling” versus “this is something that may happen.” Do you differentiate between when you choose controlling versus non- controlling words? Yes. The guidcline 1 use is this: I don’t want anyone that T do hypnosis with co ever fuilst anything. 1f I'm shakinga suggestionahout: something that cam be verified easily, I will probably use words suchas “could” or “might"—what we call “modal operators of possibility.” “Your acm may bogin co rise... .° That way, if what Te asked for dosn't oceur, the person woa't have “failed.” Ié Pm making # sugecs~ tiom about something that is completely unverifiable, 'm more likely’ ta use words thet imply causation; “This makes you sink deeper into trance” or “That causes you to become more relaxed.” Since the suggestion is unverifiable, le won'the ableto conclude that he's failed. Hr'veused fiveor six modal operators of possibility, and the person responds tothem all, at that point I'm probably safe switching yo words that imply causation. However, if my next suggestion is very critical, [ mayeontinusto ase modal operaters of possibility. The basie guideline is ta make sure no one fuily at anything. Many hypnatists push people to the limits of what they ean do by ving thom what are called suscepeibilicy tests, These hypnotists put cir Clients in an altered state and attempt to do a series of graded hnypnocic tasks, and the elieals accomplish some and fail we others, What usually happens is that somehow or ather both the hypnotists and the clients get the idea that there are things they can’t do, ‘When I was teaching at the university and was running hypnosis ‘coursesintheevening, « lator people would come tothose eourses and say “Well, P've been in lots of trances, and I enn only go to @ certain level." Idan't knaw where this idea about levels came from. Somehow ‘of other the quality of your hypnotic trance is measured in height — self-esteem goes up, but in hypnosis you go down, It takes a really altered state for some peoy a see # positive hallucination. Other peaple sce positive hallucinations all the time; they call it chinking, Lf26 Tima hypnotist and | push someone into a position, it sets him up for failure. 17 1 say "You will open vour eves and see a six-foot French poodle” and he opens his cyes and there's no French poodle, he may think he can’t have positive hallucinations, If he tehes thet instruction aS a comment about hidlself rather thao about that particular hypne- tist, he will probably believe that he can’t doit, Typically, clients will comeinandsay “Well, ee, P've always wanted to be uble to have a ppsitive hellucination, hut Tuae’t™ 7know that everybody is capable of it and las probably already done ita number of times. When they tell me they eau’, it's an indication that something has convinced them that ifs outside the range of their capabilities, which will only make it that much harder for me to beable to do it. have to snzuk around their beliefs in order to gel them to have that experience. Alteratively. I can simply seeopt this belicf and sey "Well, youknow, it'sa genetic limitatina, but it ise'ta necessary phenomenon to be able to accomplish chings, unless vou'te a civil engincer.” That's what civil engincors do for a living, vou know, They xo aut and look at valleys that have nathingin them and hallusinace freeways and dams, and then they measurechem. They just have ta have cerdaan hallucinations and nat athers. Seeing a freeway where thereisn’t onc is “nirtural” it's called “work” If they soe Little blac men walling up and down the freeway, them they're in rouble Since] don’t want people w fail and make generalizations whichare not true, [ procced very, very slowly in producing vesifiablecifects like the classic hypaatic phenomena. T haver't kndwn ckiny people Wito have a great need to bave arm Ievitation or negative hallucinations, Most people have those all the time und dom't know it. Those phes nomena don't have any value in and of themselves. ‘What I'm coucerncd about is that lead pcopls through experienees that convings them they can get whatever changes they want for themselves. Whether they want (o beable to.control pain whem they go tothe dentist, to change theirsleeping hubits, arto make very pervasive psychological changes, [ want to help them gct those results, because hypnosis ean by @ very powerful tol to expedite psychotherupeutic change. Many people ask “What can you usc hypnosis for Phe question is not “War can youdo with hypnosis specifically?” hut “How can you use hypaosis to do whatever you want to do?” Hypnosis is not a cure; fsa setal took. Ifyou have a sel of mechanic's wrenches, that doest’t mean you can fix the car. You still have co use the wrenches in &a particular way to fix il. This is Ine most misunderstood aspect af hypnasis; i's treated as a shing. Hypnosis is not & thing; its a set of procedures chat can he used i aller someone's state af consciousness. The question about which state of consciousness you use to work with a particular problem is really a ditferent issue. 1's an important issu, and it's one we'te going Lo weal with later. Bul the first thinggto learns how ta move somebody quickly and gracefully from one state of consciousness to another. Frercise 3 I want you totake another ten minutes and do thesameexercise that you did before in the seme group of three. This time edd the refim ments thet we have been talkitig about, Some time has passed since L described them, so Twant ta go back through them indetail, This time, rather than first describing the experience to the person, have bimsit hack and clase hiseyes, and begin by describingelements of is present experience. T wad you 1 ust three stalemenis that ace pacing statements ~ descriptions of verifiable experience. “Yow'resittingin a chair... You can feel where your bady touches the chair... . You can feel how your arms are crossed . « where you foot touches the the lemperature of your face... the mavernent of your rm You can heer the sounds in the reom of other peaple moving. . .. Youcanfoel thc temperature ofthe air. ... Youcan hear the sound of my voie All of those statements can be verified. | waut you to say three sentences thut van beverified, and then I want yauty attach something which is nor teadily verifiable. You can attach any statement that isa description of where you want them to go: . . and you're becoming more relaxed.” “ag you cOnlinué Lo get mare comfortable.” “2. and you dow kaow what F'm going to say next.” So you make three pacing statements. use @ transitional word, and add one state- ‘ment chat leads them in the direction you want them to go. “You are breathing, ... There aresoundsin theroom. ... You ean hear peaple moving... aad you Wonuler, really wonder, exactly what you're doing.” Make the transitions sound as natucal ss possible, One of you vill be the subject. and the other twa will take turns saying a vet af pacing and leading statements. Afier each of you has dane two sets, [want you to begin ty include descriptions of the same experience you used. the first twa times yon did the excrelse in your pacing and leading statements,“ . . while you take time and go back and28 think about when you were joggin; time, Again, it will help if you pace nonverbally: breathe at the same rate asthe person you'retalhing to, or usethe tempoof your woiceto match his breathing. And it's essential that what you sa¥ is congruent with how you say ite ‘Whien your subject appears to be into the experience as deeply or deeper than he was hefare, T want you i start violating these peincle ples, one at a time. Suddenly make your voice tempo totally different. Notiee whether or not chat bas an impact, ‘lien go back to what you were doing before, and then change your tone, Then try mot using transitions. “You're sitting there. You're comfortable. You're relaxed. You don’t know whet’s going to happen." Notice what happens when you do that, Try adding things that aremot relevant, "You can fesl your Tingers on the Keys... and you know that there's akitchen somevinere inthis buliding.” “Youcandeelyour feet against thefloor . .. andyou feel the enthusiasm and interest of politiclans in Washington.” Conuentrate First on using all the elements Unal we have discussed. When you kaveestablished & good solid state, vary just ane litte piece aril noice what happens, Then go hack to using ull the elements and then varyanothcr little plece. Natice what happens to the porson'sfacc, to her breathing, to her skin solor, to het lower lip sive, to the move- ment of her eyelids, Peaple don't talk much in trance, s0 you're going to have to get your feedhack in other ways. If you check ir ont afterwards, itwill betoo late. You haveto be ableta check it out while i'sgoing omat each moment, and the best tool to do that withis going to be your vision, Take three of four minutes each to do this. Go ahead. * Notice haw it’s different this Did you notive that doing the exercise this wuy:amplified the pracess even more? What I have been trying to show vou this morning by grading thesc things _ by having vou just do it, then giving you a litfle more instruction, and then having you do it again—is that Ped Hike you ta thin of hypnosis as a process af araplifiearion. If you think of hypnosis as a way of persizading, in the end you won't be able to da neatly as much with it. I'you think of it as 0 way of controlling, you won't be able to da nearly as much, We picked one situution in a person's expatience in which she responded in a particular way. and asyou used these particular tecliniques, vou couldamplify that response. Woman What about getting arm levitation and things like that? Is that mplification? Hypnotists are very clever in yoing ufter responses that they mow are going so happen anyway. Atm leviration is one af the things many bypnorists go for. And one of the first instructions to lead to arm itation is “Pay attention to your band and it will begin to feel fghter.” Try taking a really deep breath, and notice what hanpens to your hands, .., Your hands have a little light cling, because when {you breathe in and your clest goes up, that pulls your hands up. 5) {you give your insteuetion for light hancls when the person breuthey in it will he true. Good hypnotists pick things like that which they know will hap pe However, they're aol all constiaus of how they're doing it. There'san old induction method yau.see in Lhe niavies whare the hypnotist swings watch back and forth, The hypnotist says The watch is goine back d forth slowly. and you're Looking atthe watch, and vou see itas time passes before you, Aé you wate that watch go back and forth, your es arc going ta begin to grow tired.” Of course they're going to grow red! If you stare at amysdinrg long enough, your eyes will get tived. Around theturn of the century people used tade hypnosis by having ‘he subject laok up at something. The subject would be sitting down d the hypnotist would stand up in front of ker, hold up two fingors, d say "OK. I want you fo stare at thess two fingers, smd 2s you look those fingers, [want you to watch them intensely, . .. And as your os begin to feel tired, your cyelidsare going ta grow heavy and you'll ‘now that you're beginning to go into a hypnotic trance.” Ityou stare 1ything that’s ahovey ou longenough. yaureyes arc guing to graw “And as Four eyes begin 10 grpw tired, you begin to notice shangss in the focus of your vision.” If you stare ar anything long ough. your facus wilichange. “And your eyelids are gaingta begin 10 ow heavy, You're going to feel chcnced to clascthera.” Of course you I, Every does all the tim, 1s called blinking, If 1 shen tell you "And when your eves close, they're going to stay shut” the adds are pretty high thet they will. Pv taken three pieces of riflable experience, and I've connected them with one which ix not rifiable, Pve done it with a neural transition and with flow that ‘atetes everything in your axperienee. I've built a step-by-step process at leas to an outcome. I'm saying "You are having this ex perience,30 dad that leuls co this experience, which leads to this ex and ‘these three arc all verifiable. Your cyes are going ta grow tired; your eyelids are going to want ca close; your focus is going 1 ¢hange. You don't know consciously that thosé things are x natural part of expe- rience, but as 1 deseribe them, ane naturally leads to the next. Then when | add on something which is nar a natural part of your expe- tiene, you are already following step by step, so you just go on to the nextone, It's not that you'reconvinced. You never even thought about whether it was trus of false. You're just following along, Using transi+ Lions like that allows you to follow alang easily If you think of hypnosis as if i's u slate of controlling someone or persuading someone, the Joser is eoing to be you. You will limit the umber of people you will be effective with. You'll also lose in your own personal life, because you're going to start worrying about who's, in contral of you. My experience is that people arc much mare respest- ful of themselves in bypnoticaltered states than they are inthe waking state. | can givesomennea suggestion which is negative and harmtutin the waking stute, and she will be cuch mote apt to carry if out than if he is ima trance. [f you think about the things that people have told you to do which were unpleasant, but which you did anyway, you were probably in the waking state at the time you did them. [n trances it’s, very diffioult to get somebady to do saraething which does not lead toward something meaningful and positive. People seem to be more discerning in altered statcs, [i’sa lot easier to trick or take advantageo! someone in the waking slate than in any other state of consciousness | know of. T lieve that hypnosis is really biofeedback. However, a biafeed- back machine does not tell you fo slow your pulse daw. It only tells you where it is now, You have to sim toward the outcome of your pulse being slower, ar your blood pressure being different. “The machine only provides the feedback. Asa hypnotist you can do both, ‘Youcan provide people wich communicstions that match what's going ‘on, just like a biofeedback machine. You can then start adding other things step by step that lead them to somewhere else, and they will be ‘able to go #longnaturally and comfortably. You can createa situation in which all hey have todais respond--the onething people do all the time, and the thing they do best. Tein alot easier to make personal changes in amultered state than itis in the wakingstate. The fact thar you dan't have the choives that you ‘want isa function of the state of consciousness thal you're in, Yournormal waking state, by definition, is a description af the capabili and che limitations that you have. If'youaze ima state in which you are limited, and you try to make changes in those limitations with your nocmalstat¢ of consciousness, it's a*entch-22" yituation, Those limita- tions will constrain the way you try Lo deal with the limitations, and you're going to havea lot of difficulty. 1F you go into an altcred state, yau will not have the same limitaions chat you usually do. You will have limitations, bus they will be different ones, If you go back and forth between altered states, you can change yourself so much that your waking state won't rescmble what it was before. How many of you im here are clinicians? How many of you atsome time have changed so much that you never went back te who you were? ... And how many of you have never done that?.. . L was hoping one of you would raise your handso | could say “How dare you bea clinician!" Anagent of change unable ta change—that would be the ultimate hypocrisy. To me, hypnosis is only a way of expediting change, All we're working on here is learning to make nstural transi- tions fram one stute to anather. ‘Man: Lkecp wondering how you can tell when sameone goes intoa trance. You asked us ip nerticethe changes, and Tyamesome, But how do 1 know if thst means she’s golng inco a trance? ‘OK, What kinds of changes did you all see when you did the inductions! [asked you to pay attention to what resulted in change What changes did you aotice? ‘Woman: Her face muscles scemed torclax, and her face got flatter, ‘That is characteristic. In trance there ig a flattening or a laccidity of themuscles:n the face. and thercis asymmecry which is uncharacteris- tie of the Waking state, D've found that first there is dn inbénsifieation of facial asymmetry as the person begins to enter a trance. You know you've got a faitly deep trance when you gct symmetry again~-a symmetry chat is more balanced than the typical symmetry in the waking state, As a person comes back out of a trance, you can deter- mine whare they are in the process of eoming hack to the noreaal state of consciousness. They go from extreme symmetry in their face through a celatively asymmetrical state to whatever their normal symmetry is. What else did you see? Man: There were litle twitehes of the fingers or other parts of the boy. ‘Any unconscious mavernents—icrky, involuntary kinds of shudder movements ~are really good indicators of a developing trance state.32 ‘Woman: The breathing ceally changed. I'm glad you said it thet way. People’s breathing pattaris vary considerably in their normal state, and when they go into an altered state, whatover breathing pattern is characteristic for them will change. Ifyou huve a very visually-oricnted client who breathes shallowly and highin the chest in 4 normal state of consciousness, she'll often shiftto breathing deeply from lower in her starsach. If you've got a very kinesthetiealiy-oriented person who typically breathes slowly from her stomach, she'll shift to some other breathing pattern, Breathing paticms are linked to sensory modes, and they will change a5 person. alters consciousness. Woman: Ifyouseea pesson whotypivally has an asymmetrical face, dues that mean thet there is 2 lat of polaricy, or # lot of difference between his conscious and unconscious? Twoulda't draw that conclusion. If you scv an exaggerated amount of facial asymnietry, you know something unusual is going on. 1 conclude that there's some imbalance: either chemical, or behavioral, oor hath. 1 wouldn't lebel this 2 difference between conscious and ‘unconscious. Maa: [noticed that us peaple went decper, their ands got warm and flushed. Especially as you get into the deeper stages of tranee, there will be muscle relaxation and en inereesed flow of blood in the extremities Man: What's the relationship between the eyes rolling completely backwards and altered states? ‘None that I know of. Ifthe eyes roll all the way up inthe head, that’s a good indicator of a fairly deep trance. However, Lots of peaple go into @ profound trance with their eves open, so it's noc necessarily an indication of wn altered state. What does it moan when you get eve mavernent? re two kinds of moventent. One is un eyelid flutter, and the other one is seeing the eysball moving behind the eyelid, but the lid itself is not fluttering. The latter is called “rapid eye movement" and is an indicutor at visualization ‘OK. Thercare these general signs of emtering trance, and in addition there will be many other changes that you ¢an observe which will be uniqueto the person you are working with. These chang simply be indications that the person isshiftingstules of consciousness. When you ask what a trance state looks like, the question is “which state?” and “for whom?" If you observe the persar’s muscle tonus, skin color,3B and breathing pattern defore you do en induction, you know what their normal stare looks like. As you do the induction, when you observe changes in those parameters, vow know that the person's state isaltering Jn addition to watching for genceal signs af changes in someone's state of eanseiousness, you need tawatch for signs of beingin or out of Fapport, The persan will either make responses that are congruent or that are incongruent with vehat you are asking for, and this will be a g00d indication of the degree of rapport. OF course, as you lose rapport, the person will begin to return to their waking state. Summary A. Trance can be thought of asthe amplificacion of responses and ex- perience. Ifyou describe an experience, talking about what hes 0 be mere, you will help the person amplify his/her response, B, Matching builds rapport and is the basis [or leading someone intr amaltered state. You can matchany part of the person's behavioral output [t's particularly useful to match something like breathing Tate which is always oceurring, but is something the person isn't likely tw be conscious of. If you mateh breathing rate with your specch tempo, you van simply slow dawn the rate of your speech and the other porson’s breathing will become slower, Another way to match is 10 verbalize what is present in the person's ongoing experience. “You arc smiling as vow look at me, vou cai hear my voive as talk... Smooth transitions make it possible far the personto easily go inte an altered state, Coangeting words like “as” “while” end “and” make your transitions graceful D, General signs of trance: first facial asymmetry, then moze than Uusval facial symmetry. General muscle relaxation, small involune tary muscle movements, flushing, changes in breathing patternIL Simple Inductions This afternoon we'se going to describe, demonstrate, and have you practice very systernaticully a vasiety of specific hypnotic induction techniques, s0 that ou will begin to have chive in how you induce tanee, What you did this marning is all you will need with some people, but you will nat be successful with athersif thal isall you have in your repertoire. ‘Traditional bypnotists have done research which “proves” that only a.certain pereentuge of people are hypnotizable, The way they proved that is hy using exactly the samcinduction with everyone, so of course they are only successful with acertaia percentage. Ifyou have only one induction, ifs going to work with some peaple and fail with other Most traditional hypnetistselan’t even bother toadd some af the basic pieces youused chis morning, suchas matching your voice tempo to the person's breathing. ‘The wider the range of induction possibilities you have, the more people you will he successful with. This moraing we spent some time discussing what physiologiesl signs accompany an ulvered state ot consciousness. You were able to dcvect at least some of the distinctive changes in muscle tous, broath- ing patterns, skin color, lower lip size, ete., in the person you were putting into an altered state, Those particular signs of wn altered stato arepreeisely what you will be watching and listening far this afternoon as you continue learning about inductions. ‘The busic principle of doing a hypnotic induction is to wateh for the ological signs of developing altered states, and to do anything 4 pl8 you can toamplify those signs, Therearg ako speuifie ways of prococd- ing Thece are generslizations—patterns that You can use which arc to lead in the direction of altering somenne's state. I remind you that all the generalizations we offer are lies: that is, they will not wark for every person or at every time. They ate good generalivatians because they farce you to go to seusory experience and notice what's going on. Advarrgive up generalization ora pattern in favor of wha is actually being presented ty you in the way of sensory feedback. W vill be presenting these patterns t0 give you specific ways to proceed, As you proveed, if you see signs of trance developing in the other person, contimio, whot you areduingis working, Ifyou dou't see those signs developing, do anyrixing else. The first two methods fam goingta demonstrate aresimitar to sore af the methods you already used this morning. However, thes are important and useful enough that I want te describe thom in a slightly different way. Perbal Pacing and Teacing: 5-d-3+2e] Exorctse This morning you did verbal pacing ard leading when you made three senasory-based, verifiable statements, used» transition, and added a non-verifiable statement. You can make this method more elegant by making your beginning statements almost entirel: extetnally-orignted, und then gradually ineteasicig the nuraber af non- verifiable iotecnally-ariented statements you make. Miltan Prickyon often described trunce ws having an inward focus af attention, By gradually increasing the numbcr of internally-orlented staternents, you tse pacing and leading to shift che persoo’s attention inward. Sa when you practice this method, start by making five statements: four which are seasory-hased, and then onc which is internally orientey. Connect them with some transitional word like"and” or "as." ~You arc listoning to the sound of my voice and you can notice the colors in the raom as you focl youranm on the chair und you can begin to have a sense of coatentment,” Then you make theee verifiable statements followed by two non-vérifiable, then two and three, onc and fous, and at that point you should have a fairly nice trance state developing, Iwould like yauallto think fora moment: what would canstitute an cxample of a nomsensory-based description that you could offer it conjunction with your verifigble statements? { want to take sure You36 understand whet constitutes @ nonsense: internal experience Man: And you will became comfortable. Woman: And you will experience the fecling of dolight Woman: Satisfied. “And you will be satisfied wilh the progress you are making. Mani And you will feel some things being different, Man: And You will remember pleasant memorias. “And you will remember a specific pleasent memory.” Maa: “Are you intentionally wsing the liture tense? Actually, I suggest that you use present progressive tense for now. nd you are decouring aware of tar delighttulexperience, and vou ure Peginning now to remember... .” “Now you are becoming awase of the sense of being able ta learn about hypnosis,” Would you come up bere, Barty! 'd Like to demonstzate, There are two things that the rest of you can attend ta as I proceed, Oneisto keep track of the observable physiologival ehanges that Barb goss through as shealters her consciousness. The othevis to kecp track of what | am doing verbally, booause | am going ta be wsing the pattern Tye just been talking about. That way you can cosrelace what 1 em. doing with her responses. Now, Barb, with your based description of an ‘ex opened orclosed—it's entizely amatter of your own camfart inthis—I wauid like youto sit these and aliow meta off you some v tions, One thing you might consider doing iy questioning whether aF not ike verbal Uescriptions [am offering youaze accncate for your ongoingexpcrience. For exemple, at this moment you gre sitting there and you can hear the tone of my: voice, And you cad feel the warmth of your fiugers being imerlaeed, ‘What just happened? | hope you can detect that, because Barb's response just naw is an imporant beginning, Man: She was nodding ‘Yes she was, hu Lhere was something even tore profound, Man: She closed her eves and oponed them. ‘Well, her pupils dilated, The part that Tthink you could have seen even fromthe hack row is thesmoothing outof her facial muscles. You all know the phenomenon called the "blank stare”? You are talking to. someong, end suddenly you have the feeling that vou are al] alone? There's a technical term Sor It in Norshem California called “spacing out." 1 said two things 10 Barb, both of which she could immediatelyverily, As she verified that those two statements were truz, and espe+ cially as she verified the second one, there was a sudden comgruence petwean What she was heuringund whut she was feeling, which allowed her to begin to change the way she was perceiving the world around her. She began to go intoan altered state. Let me go on a bit sa you have 2 chance Ln watch this As 1 said, Barb, sou can do this with your eves open or closed, whichever one is anave comlortable, And ag you sit there, you can teal the support that the cheir offers you along your lower back, and you can focl the place where therungsare supporting your feet just in rant jour heels. Amd you can notice, as yousit there, thé warmth where x ng on your Jogs ond thighs, and a sense of growing comfort, And the nest time that your eres begin to clase, simply allow thom co stay there and onjoy a grawing sense of comfart internall he sound pfusneeze washes through you, leaving yau even more comfortable. £and.as yousit here breathing in . . . and oat va have a growing sc of comfort... Listen for those particular saunds . . . and enjoy a growingsense . .. of securi- ty... for the purposes that we have bere, , Al the moment, Barb, 1'd like your unconscious mind to make a choice... . about giving youa seusc of refrestiment . . . and renewal = as yousit therelisteningto the soundof my voice . . . as wellas the inkling al the china... hutwith a sense al growing independence of your sustoundines ... snd a comfort... internal... and for the purposes of what we bave come bere todo... usu demonstration you have already succeeded very well And Lam going to request of your unconscious mind , . that il eause... ome... of both... of your hands and arms... to begia to lift. ifindoed . .. icisappeopriste ... insmall.. . honest... un+ conscious mavemeni ‘And you can wonder - .. as you sit there -. breathing in... and out... whether or not . .. thac particular Zesponse will be the one selected by your unconseious mind ~. or... equally useful... for the purposes we have here this afternoon... would be for your enconseious ... to give you a sense... of comfort... and if more appropriate... to cavse you - With a sense of refreshment .. . to slowly drift back and rejoin be... here... in thie suom . . . pleased with how quickly you could cn. .. chess initial phases .. of altcring your state of conscious- In cither case... 1 would like this opporvunity . to ask youra unconscious to prepare some materiel... The carpenter who approaches... the construction of a building... has... as bis busi... tools to begin with... boards... nails. ,, and the tools hebrings. .., Theboanisand thenails .. haveno meaning... un- til thoy are assembled... in a particular farm .. . and attached to oneanother, . . . $0,100, with fitle markson paper... The particue lac marks on paper that we call the alphabet are constructed . . . by small... boards ar sticks. ... And it's lot easior to sce... olearly the finished product ... thal the carpemter... can construct a house... 4 garage... than it is to sce that same [orm whilt the boaeds . .. afd thenailsare still separated , ., one from the other There are natural... ways... of perceiving... which can be tured... . From the air... an emtire skyline . . . for example the San Trancisen waterfront... can be taken in with a single glance... and its meaning discerned... And indeed . . . from an airplane it’s much casier to see such things... anid to gasp... The entire... meaning ofthe waterfront af San Francisco thanit isto wander down amongthe buildings, ... The same is truein many other areas of our life. . So whether your unconscious chooses . . . tohave youreturn witha sense of refreshment . . ..or causes you togaindeeper, so signal me by causing oncor both handsand arms to Lift. I'sachaicethat I leave entirely to your unconscious, T would request that whichever choice it makes, it begin to assernble those materials... that | have areferring ta... so that your perveptionscen beordared . .. ina sew and more effieiont way. . .. (She opens her eyes and stretches.) ‘As.usual, I spent only the first four ar so uerances staying with the pattern [said I was goingto use, and then just went Imacverythingelse 1 wanted to do. | bogan by making stalements that could be imamedintely ve Tiarb'sexparienee, Atany point in time, seal ‘have available 1ousa potcasially infinheamountofsensory-erounded experience, The artistry is in knowing what part of sonsory cxperionse +o chowse | you guess would be outside of her awareness wel! vou mention it. | was {aitly cersain, for example, that she was aware of the tone of my voive, And indeed she was. That came as no surprise. However, she was loss. aware of the feeling of the rung of the chairand the support itaffered Lo ‘the heels of her fect. So when I mentioned thet, you could see more mention, [V's pavticularly useful to choase anything that9 observable changes in her. She had to change her present conscious- ness in order to verify that what | said was true. ‘Two things happened by thatmancuver, Number one.I gained ered- bility; what I said matched her experience, The second thing ig that since she wesn't attending tothe sensation of her fect touching the rung ‘of the chair until 1 mentioned it, it was algo a covert instruction to change her present consclousness—in this case in the direction of attending to a body sensation, I made haifa dozen remarks li in the kind of verbulizations [ offered Barb. Wi Woman; Then vow went into metaphor, 1 did something else before thet. Man: You started leading. Yes. First ] was just pacing making statements describing herexpe- rience, And them what kind of statements did I make? Man: Suggestions te close her eves. T made suggestions about eye closure, but ste was already doing that. We call chat sti hieoporarion. She was doing something, so 1 incorporated it into what I said. Right after eye closure, I started making statements about internal states thal T wanted her to develap. T said things like “a growing sense of comfort and sccurity as you sit here.” For me, the nonverbal signs that she already offeted—slower breathing, muscle relaxation, ct havethe name “comfort.” They may notfor Barb, The word “comfort has as auany different meanings as there ate people in this room, When Tse words like “comfort,” Tm 0 longer talking in sensory-grounded terms. 'm suggesting that such stales develop in tie—whatever those words may mean to her. Lhope that vou alt have some appreciation for what the rest of my statements Were abOUL I have to explain that Bath bad asked me earlier for a particular kind of change with reference to an aeudemiv skill that she wants. I told a series af metaphors directed toward preparation for that change. You may be able to find some way of making sense cut of that, and yowmay not, She has w way of making sense OUL of it, and that’s the ienportant thing. Barb: didn’t at che time, It was justso many words. | just quit trying 20 deal with it consciously. Exactly, And that's anc ofthe responsesthat [want “Tt wassa many ‘words that I just quic trying .o make sense out of it. What the hell are that, Then there was a sudden shift at. id T do?40 youl talking about? Curpenters aud the San Francisco skyline, And from a plane, is different than it is walking around among the buildings." In other words, the latter part was tailored 1 the request that she had made of me eurlier. As | told the metaphors, ber conscious mind didn cand. However, [received siguals that her unconscious understood the reference and was beginning the preparations that 1 hhad requested of it, Are shere any questions about what [ did? Mant You decided sat to pursue the hund levitation? No, | offered her a choice. 1 always do Man: Didn't you get some resistance to ei analtemativc? ‘There was 10 resistances, Her hand began ta lift. The mavements in ‘her fingers and thumb were already there. Then I offered the second alternative, and her unconscious selected chat onc, If Thad not offered the second choice, ber hand would bave continued to rise, Tmadesuggestions ahout hand and arm levitation and gat twitebes, which almost always precede the actual movement. At that point 1 remembcred I was supposed co be demonstrating inductions, tot trance phenomena. So I made the sugesstion about her bringing herself outwith a sense al refreshment and renewal and delight thatshe had achieved gu much so quickly. ‘A good hypnotist is like a good government. The Jess you da to achievethe outcome effectively, the better you areal your job, My way of thinking melepkorically about what Barb and 1 did is that she allowed me to coter a loop with ber in which | could feed back certain parts of her experience which allowed her to alter ber state af eon sciousness radically. But the entire cime, sie was leading in the sense that I was being responsive ta thie changes in her, incorporating those, and thon makinga suggestion about where we ought to go next. She accepted all the suggestions T cade co her. [she had indicated at eny point thas Iwas making a sugscstion that was not appropriate for hat, L would have offered alternatives. Man: How would you know when e suggestion was inappropriate for her? ‘Areversal of all the growing signs of trance would indicate that, Any revcrsal of the muscle flaccidity, the breathing changes, the lower lip size changes, or skin colar changes would have indicated to me that T had just proposed something that was not appropriate for her. Man: Lwas wondering whal you thought of her nervous laugh at the ion and then give herat very beginning when you sald her hands were experiencing warmth. She laughed bue you ignored it That was when | interrupted and said “I hope you noticed chat response.” The response | was referring to was the muscle [laccidity, the pupil dilation and un immediate body sway, Immediately following my camments she laughed, She would not have laughed if{ had gone on with the induction. Her laughter was a reeognition that it was working. I bad said only twa sentences and it was already workingand she detected a change, Ts that tus, Barb? Barb: Yes. So the laugh would never have emerged if T had gome an with the induction. Her respanse was sa immediate and distinct thet [wanted ta make sure all of you aotieed., Woman: Whar happened to me when you did the induction ig king of strange. I was trying to watch you, because that was my job, angt instead | went through the whale thing myself. I was really embar- rassed because my hand was coming up and Well. you had lots of company. About thirty other people siting out there did, tao, so don’t be too embarrassed Larry: Can you give us mose words that you use for interaat responses things you were guessing she was feeling inside? ‘Well, I wasn't guessing. I was leauling al that poing, Iwas usking her to create those experiences, I didn't nse the words “security” and, “comfari" hased om what f was secing, because Ldon't know ifthe signs that she was offering me mean sccurity and.comfor¢for her. [just know those are general words that are often associated with muscle Telaxation, Larry; Right. fam trying to find our other words you would use for that. There are lots, You can use words like ease, peace, serenity, calm- ness, or being centered. They are all just words. They don's have any intrinsic meaning. They are imerpseted individually by each person for his or ber own needs. I'm insisting on making a clear distinction between sensary- grounded descriptions and nonssensorygrounded descriptions. The sens@ry-grounded deseriptions allow me to get into synchrony with her. The non-sensory-grounded descriptions allow meta affer her very general pracedures that she can usc idiaxyneratically, Her interpreta- con of these will berich and meaningful and individual to her. I havea2 no idea whal they ero, but thas fine. That's content, and that belongs to her. My job is to con the process. This isa very simple word induction.and you san always fall buck on it. It will work. Iejuse takes longer than samte of the other fancier ones. ‘When yu use it, remember to connect the statements about sensory grounded sxperience to the statements about internally-oriented states. This is called “causal modeling." The simplest and weakest Way to connect statemontsis ta use the word“and."“"You hear thesound of my voice and you feel de warmth where your hands are resting on your ‘thighs anda growingscnse of comfort and. . .."In heinduction did with Barb, Istasted linking with the word “and,” and thet Lmovedtoa stronger form of Tinkage. “The feeling of warmth and support as your body fits against the chuir wi? allow you ro graw even mare comfortable. There are three kinds of linkage, The sienplestis"X and ¥." The next stronger form is “4s X.Y" "As you listen tthe sound of my voice, you will become moe comfortable,” or " Wher] seach over and touch you fon the knee, you will have 2 sense of dropping into an even more Telaxedstate.** While you uresitiing chere liseaingto thesound af my voice, your unconsciaus tind san prepare a particularly interesting recall of a pleasant childhyed experience." The strongest form *X causes ¥" uses words Tike“cause" or “make” “The liftieg of your asm will make you drift off into a plewsant memory.” So the partern is to say four things that are ieamedistely veritable, and then caanect them with an “and” to an intcrnally-orienced state thal you are proposing. First you have the pacingand then the leading, Asyou proceed, you can gradually increase ths number of internally oriented statemenis, and you cin gradually go from a weaker form of linkage to a stronger form. Linkage ean be Very powerful, It's astounding how much linkage ‘goes eight by people's conscious minds. and yet has an impact, Quice 1 Iterally had somebody wo Locally blind ina seminar, I was demonstrat- Ing something, and I said “All you need ca be able te dois see in order du dio this,” [ad linked seeingto beingable todoxhe task. After | went ‘through the demonstration, a woman raised her hand and said "I have a question.” I asked her whet the question was, and she answered ~What da you def you can't see anything?” I thought she meant she hadn't noticed the person change in my demonstrativa, so I ssid “Vou weren't able £0 see any responses?” She said “No, it's totally dark, She wasn’t worried at all, bet | was thinking “Hey, wait 4 miaucea bere!" ] went aver to her and said “You doa'e Rave re dearn thés" end pooft . . . her vision came back. That woman's response wag very unusual. Por most people, the linkage will work the other way. Sincethey can see, they wel! beab do thetask. As longas you know what you're linking to what, you'll be able to deal with whatever impact it does have, Nonverbal Pacing and Leading All hypnosis can beuscfu!ly thought ofas feedback. At this moment Bob is sitting in front.of me, We ure passing lots of information hack and arth both verbally end nonverbally, Qutof all the messages uhar wwe offer each other, some arecanseious—thatis, he and 1 know that we are offering them—and some ae nat. Onc thing! can do with Bob’s messages is tosclect those whisk can identity as being outside af hisawareness, and begin te feed those back by body mirroring. As I feed those back, one of two things will happen. His consciousness will alter and he will become aware of thase things, arhisunconscious responses will simply beamplitied, sothat moreand more of his respomses will be unconsciousand fewer and fewer of them canscious. After you have paced some unconscious response, you can begin ta amplify orlead intasome ather response. can pick out any portion of Bob's nonverbal behavior and de this. 1 can pace his pupil dilation by ditating my own pupils, and then, as [lookat him, beginto defocus my eyes only us fast as he will follow me. Defocussi eyes area good indicae hon of trance, because they accompany internal processing as opposed to focusing oa something in the external world Team maten his eveblinks and then geaduslly blink my eyes more often and more slowly until get him to shut hiseyes, Lean mirror his muscle tonus and then slowly relax my own muscles lor assist him ia relaxation, When you pace and lead nonverbally, rhese’s no aced for talk. You just micror to get rapport, and then slowly pt yaursel! into an altered state of consciousness, makingsure that the otter person is following you. Pacing and leading is a meta-pattera. T's actually a past af every other induction we'll be teaching you. You can use nonverbal pacing and Iesding either by itself, or as @ part of another induction. I recommend that atsome point you practice just the nonverbal portion. Without words, just arrange yourself in a mircoring position, Then yout vad very slowly —notieing haw fast che person follows you—put your44 self into a deep trance, Besure to have some way for you tecome back out, Overlapping Represemariowral Systems For those af you who don't know what representational systerasare, let me explain briefly, Wenoticed same time ego thet peoplespecialize in the kind of information they process und pay allention to. If you divide experience into information in the different sensory channels, you have a visual chunk of experience, an auditory chunk, and a Kinestherie chunk. You also have olfactory (smell) and gustatory (iaste) chunks, but those «va channels don't generally take up very large portions of your experience unless you are cooking oreating. In our nozmal state, some of us are primarily aware of visual experience, some prienacily auditory, andsome primarily kinesthetic, We call these tepresencational systems, because they are the systems that we use to represent aur experience, The words we use when we talk about our experience are an indication of whieh senscry channel we are can- sciously using. Now the inicresting thing is that if you ask someoneto describe her normal state of consciousness and then to describe what it's like to be in analtored state, she'll often use a different roprescatationalsystem. Far example, someone migit describe her normal state as “having a clear, focused sense of who L am (visual words), and her ultered state as. being “br cone with the universe” (kimesthetie wards) This means that when you find out whut state someone is in nor- mally in terms of representational systems, you have an ex indication of what would bean alicred state for thet person—arsyeh ine else, If sommoone comes in who is really dn tach with ber feelings wod has a Jiro grasg? on her life, You might want to take ber to att altered state where she is primarily aware of visual images, So if she came in and said “Well, Ijust fee! like I want to go into a trance, because ['m fa touch with baving a lot of needs, and I-get irritared sometimes, and T want li feet relies! anid seacdh aud soane of the difficulties in ray Life” 1 would havea subtle indication that her awareness ismostly kinesthetic, Jan, would you came up here minute? Tell me something you Tike about your house. Jani Oh, [lovethe view. I'vegot a place overlooking the aowen—it's just beautiful She is offering me visual information, so L know Tm safe if | begin4s salking about visual information. That will pase her exporicnes. Remember. the meta-paltern i pacingand Lending: matching Wh cients already daing aud then leatting ia somethingelse. That "some- thing else" is to go-to systems which she doesn't ardinarily use. That ‘will be ae altered stale for her, Td probably begin by asking fora context thatis visually pleasing. | already know Jan likes the view of the acean. Do you like the bewch? Jan: Oh, yest I would like to invite you, with your eyes open or closed, to follow along with me as | offer you a deseription of the experience. . . of being at the ocean. ... If you were autusully able... to go to the ocean... on aday like today... one of the flest things that you ean become aware of... is that as you lavk up... you sce clear ing of the 3 You may he able to some clouds floating actoss the sky... aad as you lok about youcanenjoy ... theelarity ofthe air. . . and you glance down and sce... the surlace of the boach ... and as You stand chere » >; looking down at the beach you're standing on... you can soc yourfeet .-. and youcun feel. .. the feeling... ofyourfeet ... on the beach. And when you look out actoss... the ocean... yau can sce wave. after wave... after ware... rulling frem the horizen toward you... each one having a unique form... x particular curl... a particular color as it splashes... . And us you lack out a thowaves ... moving in... younotice .. . thewindis blowing some the spray aff the (op of cack wave as the breuker hits the shore. . .. And as youwatch that spray, you camfetl . . . themaisture intheair. .. asthe breeze blowsonyouriace. ... And ifyouvereta now take... a couple af steps... into the water... and feel the coolness of the water swirling around your fect... and ankles = andl you ean really enjoy It... Now if you look up or down along the beach, you can sees familiar figure... sameone you had not expected to find there... and you wave... and that pemon calls across to you, . . reminding you of another tims and place... and something rather ploasant and Surprising... that came ftom thac experiance... and enjoy the experience... and learn... from it... whatever might be useful for you... And when you are prepared... and kave enjoyed them av your awn rate... taking all the time you desite ... come koe ha46 Now, what form of communication wus Tusing? Woman; You seemed to be using primarily visuals and a lot of going ack and Forth berwoen those and kinesthetics. Bid you reach a point swhore you decided ta stay in kinestheties? Twould have iT had continued the induction, When I go back and forth, ['m tesliag to find out ifshe cau follow, Think of this asa verbal counteepart of breathing together. 1 breathe with her for a while and ‘thent ulter my breathing. [she follows, I now kave rapport; | have the lead and can continus to develap Whatever kind of experience is appropriate, How did I know that she was able to follow me, by the way’? After L suid the first few things, 1 knew immediatcly thet she was able to 20 along with me, How did | know that? Man: Her head moved congruently with your instructions, Yes. When 1 talked about looking up, her head maved up. When T talked about looking down, ber head moved dawn. When T talked about lookingout ac the waves, she loaked oul atthe waves. Her body responses indicated that she #as having (he experience T was suggest ing. Thatisenough information lo know that Thave rapport, Now, the question is: do I still have rapport if | switch systems? Answers try it and find out. $0 Thad hoc look down at the beach. Then I said “And feel your feet against the sand.” Jan: | did, Woman: Sothen wher to stay there? ‘Yes. Then I would talk mainly about the sensations in her body. As she steps into the-water, she can feel che swirling of the water... and the moisture in the air... as the wind blows zgains! her facc, Hirst developa visual imageahout where she is aad then find a point of overdap hetsveen the visual hitage and any ather system. $0, ia this case, ifshe looks down at the beach und sees her feet against the sand, then she ean feel the firmness of her fect upon the beach. IC she looks put and secs the wind blowingspray oll the top ofthe breaking waves, then she cen feel the breeze against her face, There is always a viswal, an auditory, unda kinesthetic dimension to very experience, So vou begin with whatever representational system ‘the person affers you. That's pacing: joining the client's model, Then you can use a simple verbal formula whieh is "You see the clouds moving acrass the sky, . , andas you wareh the clouds move, you feet the breeze apainst your fee.” Sccingthe clouds m you gether into another system, do you tedn The point of overlup between the visual image of clouds moving, driven oy the wind, and ihe kinesthetic eystem E want ta Jead her to is the fecling of the breeze upon her face. The verbal formula is “as X," which is the pace, *Y," the lead Women: You only used suditory oncethat Iwas awareof. You ssid shceould hear the fricnd calling to her. Isthere a reason why you did not emphasize auditory? I didn't need it. Tn this culture the auditory ayslem is seldom well- developed except in musicians. There were lots of other places where could have included auditory elements: the saund of the wind, che sound of the waves breaking aguinst the shore. Twant to distinguish between induction and utilization. An indus- sion of going visual-visusl-vigul, then averluppiny to kinesthetic, and when she follows, continuing with kinesthetic, will adieally alter her state of consciousness. Once that has huppened, and T've got all those physiological signs that we were tatking about carlice, then all | have to do is build a full experience again, Then I would include all three systems. I would have her walk up Lo the person, reach out, touch the arcfully at his or fcr face end notice what exaression is chere, and then lislén Lo what the person has to tell her, Thea | would se that fantasy with all three representational systems as the matrix for whatever changes she wunts ta achieve, Woman: There was an auditory interruption. Somebods"s tape recorder clicked loudly, and 1 was wandering why you didn’t utilize that, Lt certainly interrupted you, It inwerrupted me, but it dide’t intersupt her, She dido't hear it, 1 know that because she didn't respond, There was no change in hee breuthing, her skin colos, or her muscle tonus. Since there was 10 réspouse, it would have beon absurd for me to mention it, ‘Woman: [she did hesr the tape, how would yowrhaveineluded that in the induction? “And there are disturbing noises, even at the beach. Man; What about incorparaling the swinging of hee leg? I cauld have. 1 could put her on a swing st the beach. That would have worked nicely, Ukiliring the ley swing and some other pieces of her behavior would have heen goad choices to make. Youdon'chaveto use af! the goad choices every time that you da an inductien, only enough of them ts wet the response that you wan Jan: J can remember my leg going around, and at the tims 7 knew why, but T don't now8 “How could she recover that informacion. using the same principles of representational system overlap? . . Jan, swing your leg again. Close your eves and swing your leg again and sotice what eomes in visuelly, . .. little bit Easter. Jam: Just people's faces. My interpretation, wltcn 1 think back about it now, was that she age-regressed as she-wes doing it she becasne a little girl sgaia at the beach, There is a difference between the way an adult swings her Jeg and the way s child swings her Log. The way she swings her Fee now is relatively adult. The way she wns daing it when she was ia the altered state was mare childlike. She wasa little gir] back al the beach. Do you shave uny idea how old you were at the beach? Jant [he sume age Lam now. She said/she was thesame age that she isnow, but she alsmoffeced me nonverbal facial aud tonal changes which are characteristic of ageregression, That's also how [ wyeld desotibe the way slic was swinging her leg previously ‘OK, any questions abour this kind of induction? Man: [don's remember how you first started, Ditl you ask her something? Yes, [did something that I chink isextremely useful, Tsaid“Do you ke to go to the beach?" and noticed ber respanse. 1f | hail just automatically assumed she liked to go to the beach, | cotldn’t have known if herentirefamily haddrowned when she was three years old as she stood on theshore watching. In that case, a heach would nol have been # good choice for a relaxing induction. Tie principle is to discover whul ceprescotatinaal system # person evpically uses in her normal state, Some pewple uilize all systems, and with them you could acmaliy begin anywhere. In the context of stress—and therapy is one such context -people ovpically have become specialized, That's part of the way they got stuek anul-¢ante t9 you for holp, With respect to the presenting prablem, they will be Specialized in one representational systert or another. Sisnply intro- ducing the other two representational systems will often be adequatt for them to eamne up with some new behevior far themselves. You can do that by using overlap. “Overlap will always he evidentin what wedo, Not only overlap from ‘one representational system to another, but overlap fram the ouside to the inside, T know a man who said “E do inductions & hemlred different ways.” [was interested, so] had him demonstrate us many asa he cowld think of, They were all idenriea! from a formal point of view, (On every induction he used the following sequence: outside visual 5 ductioms, Puen though hehas only one sequence. be’ otive kypnotist in tavms of achieving the usual outcomes af a traditineall hypnotist, In the contest of working here in the group, vou could begin with yystem unless you have u purtner whos is dleeadly severely special- ined. Hawever, (d like you to cake that initial step in order to go through exactly what you would actually:doin practice: ask the person something zhowt ker previous experience, notice which preilicates she uses, and use that system as a place to begin, Offer tour or five descriptions in that system, andthen find pint aCaverlap ta lead be into another system. Accessing @ Previous Trance Si “The easiest of all inductions is to ask your clicns if she has ower been in wtrance before. Tf she hax, you ask her ww recount in great devil the sequence of events that occurred che last time sho went into a trance, (Awk her [ar the exaet configuration of the roam, the sound of the hypnotist’s voice. and exactly whac che hypnotist did to lead her into that profound trance. You willmotice that she will relive the experience for you as she describes it, e's an cxzmple of autamatie regression. Ta order for herto 20 back and eet all the information in responge to the fie questions you ate asking, she will re-experiency the trance ‘ly, and vouare not geiting @ full response, you can either indicate nanverbally lor her te slow down, orask her questions which require that she give you moredetail, You can ack “Were you seated just as you are now?" "No, very differently.” “Well. would you show me how" The body position which she last associated with the altered state of consciousness will help her overlap hack to that trance experience. Wore you in a reom like this?” “No, no, ‘The walls were green.” Allow your eyes to close and form & mental image of the room you were in the last time wou went..." Youdiverce ber {ram her present state, the present space-time coordinates, te give ber more freedom to access all the information, and therefore to re-enter the trance state which was most effective for her in the past.30 ‘You cun add other delivery techniques like embedded co (see Appendis ID to your questions to reinforce their power, “Well, was he Leaning to his right ar to bis left when your eves first began to close" ‘That really is the cxsiest ofall inductions, Ustully all you need to do is ask her to recount in detail thestqwene of events that occurred when ghe last went into a deep trance. When she has accessed that trance state, you simply utilize it How many people bere have ever hut! the experience of visiting Milton Erikson? If you 180k around now, you gan tell wich of the people here have sited Milton, because as Task that question, they access the trance experience of being with him, Naruratly Occurring trance States ‘There'sanother really easy way to go after a trance state. Everybody has bocn ina somnambuliscic trance; i's justa question of whether they have recognized it as sueh, This morning we asked cach of you to pick some state in your personal experience in which you have alimited focus ofattention, The ther twe people in your group talked to you about that exparience in order tw amplify it. You can get the same kind of response without knowing anvthing about the person by choosing and describing som nambulistictrance states that naturally occur inoue culture, What you dois very easy. You sit acrass froma peisamand say "Well, hefore we begin, les talk about comraon kinds of experiences. becauscit isof use to Ine as ¥ communiestor to know what kind of personal history have, as a Way of drawing spon your resources to insteuct you in this new matter of hypnosis.” Then you deserihe five very panerful commanly-vccursing trancestates, Youwill aotige thats she attempts to understand vour words and find examples of what you are talking about in her personal experience, she will go into an ultered state. ‘What happens in your experience when I talk 19 you about the feelings you have dn a long car trip? That's an example of not giving a direct suggestion to go into tranve, but simply mentioning a situation where trance states oveur naturally in our culture. For cxample, J drove yesterday from . . . Santa Cruz, Culifurnia, where Hive... up and over the Santa Cruz mountains .. . and back down the ather side... 1@ the sirpart in San Jose. And as has haps pontd so many times when Tam driving . . . especially along a route51 which [ kuow.. . 2 great deal about... Ihave driven ita numberof times... the Tast thing I remember . . . before arriving at the airport - - Was turning onta Highway 17, the Treeway that J Look all the way across the Santa Cruz mountains to San Jose to catch the airplanc, And evidently drove quite safely... and during the drive. . the monotony of the road... Tussume ... induced in me asozt af auto- matic... and wnconscious response... which [ could trust... 10 got me safely from where I began . . . to where] wanted to go... And thal was 2 grent day! ,, like anvther experience whieh Tm sure you and many people listening Lome haveshared . .. which lsthe experience of sitcing ina Jecture . .. where attendance is mandatory - + butthe person who is talking... isnot avery exciting speaker =. Someone who is simply . ,. talking in a way thst induces a sense @f... boredom ... and offering yau words without a great deal of attention tostimuleting you... . Andinsuchcageriences I've noticed my mind tends to wander... toother places and times... . whichare ass bariag and somehow store slimullating than my present environment. ‘Or the experience T've had in my life... of walking through the woods... ona quiet day... Some of the prettisst arcas in the part of the county that I live id... are the marvelous redweod forests... 'veheard peopiclixen .. . the visualimpact .. . of those redwood forests... to being in a cathedral ....a large church of some kind... anu the sense of majesty... andl calm . . . serenity thar they bring... And as 1 walk through the redwood forests = Ane Thing about redwood forests, . is the faut that they are so homogencous .. . that they do wot support... . much in tke way of willlife, especially binds... so often there is a majestic sort of silence associate with... walks through the redwood forest and although there is not a lot of variation... in the expericnee | have... as] do walk through them . ., T certuinly huve a sense of calm... and rclaxation . .. which I deeply. . . appreciate. What one thing do Lhose three experiences have in summon? Woman: Relaxation, solitude. Man: Serenity. Woman: Repetition. ‘They are repetitious. They are monotonous. And if any of you were Jovkinygaround as I wastalkiny, yioy could seethe physiglogies] signs that yau'reTearning 19 assusiate with trance developing inmost of vou. ‘Soa very natural and covert way of leading a person from the2 state of consciousness she is intoward am alteved state, isto tela series ‘of stories or little episodes as I did, which have in common only the kind of response that you want clit from that person. At that point it isentirelya question wf kaw acute your own sensory apparatus is, 80 that you can natice whether you have achieved the kinds ef responses ‘youwanl. You tellas many stories as necessity toachiove theresa nse. You can talk ahaut riding inan slevaler. Almost everybody goes inves jrance int a olevatar, They Look up at the qumbers and then their ‘pupils dilate und Lhey become immobilized. In clevatars the only plage itiscutturally aece prable co look isat the numbers ar al the walls or the ‘oor. ‘Another example; What happens when vou aredlriving alonga street and you drive up to a red stop light? You step. When the car stops moving. you stop moving. What are other naturally aeewrring exuriples of trance states? Woman: Watching a mevie. Man: Sitting in ebureb, Yes, although sitting in church is getting less universal. A lot of people haven't had that experience aad won't beable o identify wit it, bout it’s 2 good one for those who have. Woman: Watching television. Yes, If you want to pass information to your kids -if you'd Hike themtu clean thefrrooms or samehing -gel them while they're watch- ing TY, They're going to be gone: living whars going on in the TY show, Sa you sit next to them and say —spitly so-you don't disrupt then", . and you have this overwhelming compulsion to... .” Man: Chronic mata hospital paticnts wutch television all day. 1 never thought of rewching them there, ‘You might try it chac w: ‘When we were test learning hypnosis, Richard Bandler and [ used to play a game with euch other. We'd eet a group of "ne people who had never been officially induced into.a trance, Then we would challenge ourselves to get them feom the present starc to w somnambulistictrance stare ina minimum nember ofsceps. One ol LHe first things 1 always asked [or was a meditative state, Medilation is very altered state relative to normal eansciousness, 1 would ask if T could be allowed che privilege of watching them ga into the meditative state Without interfering in any way. They would gointo the meditative scate—a dramatically altered state When they werethere, I wouldsay “Withyour permission, [villnow3B offer a suggestion for you to move from this meditative stats, leaving its integrity fully protected, to a state called a general sommambulistic trance, from which we can then begin to mike the changes you have asked for."1 make a clear distinetion between trance andl meditation, because if there is nol a separation belwesn what is Called meditation and somnambulistic trauce, every thme they meditacc they will ga back inta the ccance state. Ielontt wast ta connect the wo, unless T have a spacitic reasou to, TC.and when you da official ritualistic kinds of hypnosis, 1 suggest that you walt until you have alzeady covertly sucozeded in getting a couple of trance states with the client. Let me give you the most common ssample, Somebody comes in and demands that you do hypnosis with her for @ presenting problem! and vou say “Of course. However, before we begin thereare a couple al things Tneed 20 kaw." Thea yau induce aseriesof trances. You say something like “Well, the first thing to do is to eheek your ability to Tecull in detuil information that I'm goingto need fer your ease Ristury."So yau induce a trance By ‘you bora?” and you taking aease histary. You ask “Nov, where wet have her describe in detail the house in which she lived, and the sounds it made, the feelings she had there, ete. And, of course, she is gone: she ‘Ago Tegresves in order to got the detailed nfarrmation ubout her past One description of trance is getting the person independent of her present tlneyspace coordinates. This fits that definition. The only link between her and the present time/space coordinates is your vaiee. Along ull other dimensiems, she ix somewhere else Regression is considered oue of the “deep trance” phenomena by traditional hypootists. T's actually something you get all the time. Gestalt sherapists typically ect deep crance phenomens automatically, much more easily than & hypnotist, und yet most of them would resise the label “hypnosis.” All over the world people are looking, at empty chairs and secing heir mothers or tncir fathers and talkingto themand heuring responses. Those are positive auditory and visual halhucina- tions, ‘They constitute deep trance phenomend, Bur it's nut lubeled thar wey, 60 there's no resistance involved. By che way, justasa teaching device, let me make a point here. Ifyou ever lecturcon hypnosis, of courscthe group is gaing tobe going inand out of a trance. The anly way that the group casi make sease of your descriptions of hypnosis and trance is to access their own expegjences that fit those descriptions. Depending on how confident voare in your own personal power, you will get perhaps « hundred people in54 Geop trance rather rapidly—or not_dencndingupon what oulenme you want. There isn't an easier subject in che world to lecture about, because as you talk about i, it is happening. You san alsa use your observation of people's responses to know whom to chanse as a subject when you are doing groups. You choose one of the twenty perceat of the graup who have already besnin arid out of at least five somnambulistic transes during your fitty-minute presentation, By the end of this workshop you ought to have the sensory experience to know who's responding by going into a deep teance and taking in all the material at that level of consciousness; awho'sin a mixed state, responding consciously and unconsciously; and who'sstaying entirely conscious, To demonstrate teaching paints, vou shauld always be able to pick out exquisite demonstration subjects. 1 there's a particular eesponse you want to demonstrate, you can talk ahout what you are going to do, instruct people in what responses are appropriate, and notice who develops those responses most rapidly, ‘That pergen will be the subject to select Some of you here may be driftingal! a litele more rapidly than might. be useful to you for the purpose of learning this material. You might consider stopping for a meament to silently drop inside and ask some part of you to maintain stateof consciousness which is most useful to you for learning purposes. It would be nice to have some blend of having the experience and also being able to keep conscious track oF the pattorns being used. Let's havea moment of silence while youtnake thuse arrangements, You can use the reframing format if you already know it. . Exercise 4 Tv just given you five specific induction techniques: (1) verbal pacing and leading, (2) nonvecbal pacing and leading, {3) representa tional system averlup, (4) accessiag a previous erance, and (8) describ= ing commonly occurring trance situations, Get into groups of three, and cash of you pick w lechuique chat interests you, und which you haver’t done systematically beiore. Persan A will pick an induction and do ic with B, B cen just enjoy it Person C will use ail of bis conscious attention te notice what chunges aceuras B goes into trance, Pay attention to whieh statements and behaviors praduee the most response, and whether there are any statements or bchaviors that bring B ack out of trance. Cis going to bc a “meta-person” to keep track of what's going an, As person C, if55 you notice that the hypnotist is talking too quickly, give her a hand gesture that indicates “Slow down.” Ifthebypnatist’s voiceistoo igh and it seems irritating to B, give her some signal to lower her vaiee, When you are A, alter you bave indueed the trance, [want you to give B some general instructions for learning, and then for returning. ‘When you've gotten gaod trance responses of the nature that Barb offered us here sarlicr, then simply sit there, take « cquple of deep breaths, smile and mentally pat vourself on the back. Look at your observer, and give some minimal cue that you are satisfied chat you have achieved a trance. Then match breathing with your subject and when youl speak make your voice tempo mateh ber breathing cycle, “And enjoy... those particular experiences... whieh your uncon scious mind . . . can offeryouat this point... asenseof wonder and adventure... as you enter ,. . new states of eonsciausness gleaning from this experience ... a sense of assurance... about your own capabilitics ... and flexibility ... wy a human being, ‘And after doing that fully... and deeply... your unconscious, slowly... with ull respect . . . can being you back to this state giving you a sense of refreshment and renewal... . 1 will tive... Hatany point ... vou would be interested . . . in my sssist- ingyou ... ingettingback . .. indicarethat witha hand mavernenL”™ Then sit there and watch. This will be an excellent opportunity for you to train your perceptions to notice the changes that a person demonstratesas she goesin and out of altered states, Ifyou get a hand ‘wave, then you can maich ber breathing as vowsay “Tara going .. . 10 count backwards... irom ten... to onc... slowly. . en I reach‘ane® .. . youreyes will apen ... and you will have asense « of refreshment... and you will be... totally present here Then count backwards with her breathing until you reach “one.” Take a few minutes for Feedback when you're done. B can tell A about anything in the Induction thar was particularly helpful, or about anything that B found disruptive or got in the way of developing the sitered state. C can add anything that che observed from the wutside, especially relationships between A's suggestions and B's responses This will be really uscful feedback for A. After che feedback. switch positions and give both Band C a change to try an induction, So A is going to first induce a trance, then give general Jeorning instractions. and finally give instructions to came back out of trance. Go akead.56 Discussion Man: Thavea question. When Iwas putting Lynn onder, she began to demonstrate a lat of shaky movement in her left hand. Later, she said that that was connected to.anerve center in her cheek which had betnoperated ona long time ago for acyst, and that supposedly there's still nerve damage, But at the time I didn't have the faintest ides what—if anything—to do with that. “The minimum resnanse to anything that happens which you don't Sirectly suggest as vou are inducingan alteredstatc of consciousness is to verbally incorporatcit immediately: “Yes, and you cantinue to have thase specific experiences and the body sensations connected with them." That validates the response and reassures the persom that you are alert to the signals she is offering you, even though you may not understand what the signals represent, “Organ language” is another really powerful pattern which I find useful in dealing wilh any phonontenon that is significant. By “signifi- cant] mean there’saa doube thal something unusual is going on —but Thave:no idea what it might represent. “Now, the first time that a person... . g088 into am altered stave of consciousness... . it often shakes them up a little bit... . But they often find it handy... to come 10 grips with the part. . . of the problem . ., that may be attached tathis paricularsyndromein away that , , . allows them to pus rheir finger on changes . . . which they can really grasp the reality of.” Lincluded four or five allusions to the part of the body and Lotheactivity thatis being performed by that part Of the body, If there are still any remnants of the person's conscious mind left around at that point in the trance, it typically won't under stand those allusians. However, the uncoascious mind typically will understand and take that as a validating message. ‘The two maneuvers I just offered you are ways of incorporating an obvious response that ldidr’'t ask for, and validatingit. I’smy way of saying “OK, | recognize what youere daing, ard itis perfectly all right ‘with me for you to continue to do thal.” That Kind of respanse is usually adequate. ‘Anothat slightly more powerful method you can use is to say .., and with each such mo’ at you'll go deeper into trance.” “Then you typically get one of owo things: either they go really deeply into trance, or they stop shaking. ‘You could also use the shaking as an access point to do some therapeutic work, “Those particular experiences .. . connected witha those dramatic moverients of your and... at this point in time vo Mall become available to you... only when you reach an ade- quately deep state of trance... for you tw ampreciate them... as experiences trom your past... which may or may not have had negative repercussions then. . but which vou.can now recogaire with comfort... a8 something that you survived , .. and to drew from a review and a reteating .. . of hose particular experiences... ways ‘in which you might protect yourself... . in the present and in the future . "earning from your ownexperience .. - whichis the foun- dation of your present resources.” ‘Allhas is “fluff” in the sonse that it includes no content, But it is an appropriate and meaning ul corarmunication ia the sense thut you ure ing her todo something with the experiences she is having in order learn from chem Woman: What do you do if the person doesmt come back out? tf you tell her to carne back and she dowsn'l, that indivates that you've lest rapport. So you have ta go hack and get rapport. You might just puce her breathing for a while, Then ask hor to eather up all the enjoyable, positive aspects of this experience, so that she can bring these beck with her when she returns in a few moments. Count back wards slowly from ten to one, saying ane curaber for every other breath that she takes, This will belp insure sappart. Give instructions thet when you reuch “one” ker cyes will fluuter open as control is returned to her conscious mind, «nd she will be puzzled and delighted by the expericnee she has just bad. Woman: Tye had. clients who apparently go into physiologic! sleep. I have assumed that somehow the unecascious is still listening, but Pim not ut all sure of that, There's no response to me at all ‘OK. Fitst of all, I don’t helieve the last statement; that they dan't respond to youat all. [would suggest for your own learning purposes, ‘hat yu une several simple nonverbal devieesto find out if they are still responsive to you. The easiest way to do it would be to gat in close enough that they can hear your breathing. and then breathe with them for several minutes. Lassume that you have che internal Nexibility not 0 simply fall asleep yoursclf, You can give yourself instructions that yoware going te copy their bres thingand even though that breathing is pically associated wich physiological sleep, youaregaing tamuuiatain @ certain level of alertness. After a minute or two of breathing with them, change your broathing patter vary sllgntly, and they should follow at that paint,8 ‘You can get rapport without renning the risk af going 19 sleep by purting your hand an theic shoulders and varying the pressure of your touch with therhy thm oftheir breathing. You can increase the pressure n they exhule, and decrease the pressurc when they inhale, We call his “cross-over” pacing. because vou pace with a different sensory channel. Do this for kwo or three minutes, and then change your pressure patiera slightly, noticing whether their breathingfollows you. ‘Warnan: What if they dant follow? 1 they daw't, then they are in a physiological sleep state, and you need to spend more time building rapport, You can still de-it, but it takes more time, We made up something called “sleep therapy” once when we were working at a mental hospital where people had acoess to their elicnts twenty-four hours aday. We had heen there several times; this wasour third visit. The staff members wore delighted with the responses they were gotting using our patterns, and dealing very effectively with all thelr patients exeepr theanorenics. They were having trouble with the anorexics. Anorexics are people wha consider themselves arossly overweight. “The peregption of the rest ofthe world is thac they.are about to sarve to death, They are extromely skinny, to the point that their healtt is threatened. One of the things that we instructed the stall co do with the anorexics which Wiped out this last stronghold of unrespansive patients—was what wecalled“sleep therepy." Ifyou live withsomeone for whom this is acceptable, you can ty it ovt yourself Go into the place where she is sleeping and use ane of the two techniques [just mantioued to you ta get rapport. Breathe with her [or three of [our minutes to wet rapport. Since she is in a scverely altered state, it takes some time to get rapport. Or instead of breathing with hee, yau can touch her and use pressure differences. You coull get rapport auditorily by singing or humming little soft notes with her breathing movements. You cun use any repcritive pattern that you cant comtral in your own output to match her breathing cyele, Then very carefully and very slowly change whal you aredoing, Lo dind oun ifyau can lead her. Dont change your breathing radically, because past of a person's ability to by ulseep and to stay asleep without interruption depends on her maintaining that beeathing pattern. Unless youwantto wake her up, itwould be inappropriate for youte change Ber breathing cadlically.38 You then proceed ta set op finger signals something that we'll teach you tomarrow. “As you continue to sleep deeply und rest your- ‘completely, you ean respand tacertain questions that | ask you by Tifting one finger for ‘yes’ and another for ‘na.7” The person is in a severly altered state in which her normal canscious resources aré not available, and therefore not in your way. Yau can naw begin to access information directy by getting yes,na signals, or propose changes and new behaviors. You can da all the work in that state without interrupt. ing her sleep Woman: And what if ber breathing doesn't change when I change mine? Does it mean she is indead in physialogivul sleep state? ‘No. You can gain rapport with poopie who acc ina physiological state of sleep, ‘The difference is that you have to spend more time following them belore yau attempt to load, If you attermpt to lead and youdo not get the response, take that as a statement thut you didn't pace long enough: go hack and pace longer. People whoare asleep da respand, bat more slowly and less overtly. The same is true of people in at anesthetic sleep state during opera tions. Many doctors think that their patients are completely out when they are am the apersting table. 1's just not true. People uccept past~ syproticsuggestions under anesthesia faster than they wil just about any other way, Just because their eyes are closed and their conscious minds are vonked, duesn't mean their ears dan’t work, Once worked with w woman wha was living a very wild and rowdy life, Some of the things she was doing were destructive to her.so Lwas yilgO get her 10 change. T worked with ber fora while and couldn't make sense out of what she was doing, Finally I warned ther and said emphatically “Look, you absolutely have got tostop living wildly like I's not doing you any goad, and it'sjust a waste oftime. And what makesyaudo it?" Immediately her nostrils Nared dramatically, and she d“Oh, P'm really dizzy!” | asked "What do you smell? gain und said “It smells like a hospital.” T asked “Wh pital” She replied “You knaw that ether smell?" Irswrned ous that some time earlier she'd bad an operation, She'd been anesthetized, and singe the doctar "knew" chat she wasn't there, 2 talked iecly. He looked at her insitles und said “It looks terrible. 1 on't think she's going to make it for very long." She did make it. Som sto he wrong! However, some- nw brother she got the idea that the doctor's statement meant that she sastigoingto make iter the operation, notthat shewasn’t going to