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Frak Eng
Frak Eng
One of the ongoing challenges with hypnosis and hypnotherapy is the ability to guide someone into a
deep enough state to be both open to suggestion and to be relaxed enough to not fight the process to
their own detriment.
I’m not saying that a trance state needs to be deep to be effective, as it’s possible to do great work with
most people in even a very light trance. Sometimes though, a persons conscious thoughts and tension
can interfere with an effective hypnotherapy session causing it to take longer or for more sessions to be
needed. So it is useful to have ways to help the person let go at a deeper level.
Without getting into the many techniques for hypnotic inductions I would like to point out this one
because it’s used surprisingly little, but used correctly is a very useful and powerful technique and not
just for hypnotherapy sessions.
I think some hypnotherapists avoid it partly because it is counter intuitive and takes confidence in
abilities despite being hard to get wrong. To be fair, with the right relaxation techniques fractionation is
not needed either but having it as an option can help you get past some potential challenges when
helping someone relax.
Fractionation in hypnosis is basically the practice of bringing someone out of the trance state for a very
short period of time before putting them back in again.
By very short period I mean literally you would say something like… “In a moment I’m going to count to
five and on the number five you will open your eyes and be awake and alert. And when I say the words
‘close your eyes and relax deeper now’ your eyes will close and you will go even deeper into a trance
than you were before”.
The body and mind have what might be considered a working memory. Defined as a temporary storage
of information to facilitate decision making and behaviour.., working memory is often referred to when
talking about an active mind but the reference to the body is less common.
When talking about the body.., it’s kind of like what people do with body movements to stretch a body
part further. Not quite the same but metaphorically similar, this is known in fitness circles as PNF
stretching or Proprioceptive Neuromusclar Facilitation (flashbacks to fitness trainer certification come
flooding back, haha).
[PNF stretching is where you: Stretch a body part as far as it is comfortable to go (usually with someone
else’s help). Then that other person pushes (with safety and awareness in mind) in the same direction to
stretch you further. And while they do that.., you tense your muscles to push back against the further
stretch. Then both you and your helper (if using one) stop pushing and relax, before repeating doing the
same thing again.]
The effect of PNF stretching is each time you can stretch slightly further as muscles and ligaments go
back and forth in a stretch, tense and relax fashion. This works through part muscular adaption and part
neuromuscular adaption.
The tension against stretching resistance causes an interruption and cessation of the pain signals in the
brain that are causing the muscles to stop earlier than your actual ability. Needless to say this should
only be done with experience and care but the results can be dramatic.
Metaphorically, hypnotic fractionation is similar. Each time you take the mind (and body) into an altered
state and then bring it back again, repeating in quick succession, you get that same effect of going
further each time. A type of back and forward between mental tension/arousal and relaxation.
It’s almost like getting multiple trances into one session, and we all know that the more you practice
something the better you get at it. IE: Every time (with a few exceptions) a client goes to a
hypnotherapist for a session, they will find it easier to get into a trance state and therefore will often
also go deeper.
Again this is part adaption to physical relaxation and part adaption to mental resistance of something
unusual or unknown.
Each time you or they relax, you/they will be more familiar with what to expect and will likely have less
resistance to the process.
You can use fractionation as often as you like and I would suggest you experiment with about 3 times as
being a good number. This technique can be combined with asking a person a question during the
awake and alert phase as well, before then getting them to go deeper again.
For this same reason don’t worry if someone spontaneously opens their eyes during a session either.
Just use that as a chance to do this technique. Remember the power of utilisation in trance work..,
whatever happens, use it as if you were expecting it and as a way to add to your session.
Like I said, this fractionation idea seems counter-intuitive because you would think that bringing
someone out of trance would ruin all the effort you’ve just made to get them into it, but trust me, it’s
worth having a go with.
Remember that people who come to you for hypnotherapy are in a very suggestible state so use that to
your advantage and pre-frame what you are going to do so they are ready for it. That is unless you are
planning to use a different strategy of induction, like for example pattern interrupts where a slight shock
to the mental system can induce trance very quickly. But that is beyond the scope of this article.