Learning Hypnosis - Looking for advice/teacher

[docfreeze]

Good morning, and hello to all of you!

I am an occasional visitor to the realm of Hypnosis who has performed some meager attempts at self Hypnosis via files for fun, but have never gotten very far. Instead of continuing down that path I have recruited some email slaves to play whom I enjoy talking to very much, however I find myself wanting more. I have decided that I would like to learn to perform Hypnosis on my own without the need for files to give me my power over the mind of my willing subjects. Perhaps I would use it to create files to practice, or maybe find someone who wants to be hypnotized near me and start practicing with them. Either way I want to learn the craft, and am looking for someone to guide me along this road and show me what I need to know to do this properly. If any of you are interested and believe yourselves capable of teaching me please comment here or send me a PM!

I am very eager to hear from you,
- DocFreeze

[Feverdream]

So, there are some books out there about hypnosis techniques. I can't recommend any particularly. I've learned most of what I have by reading a little of everything, and by using a lot of hypnosis files myself. You could even start out by reading everything wikipedia has on hypnosis, and go from there.

There are lots of styles, and what works for one person might not work for another. Some people really respond well to a traditional induction, where there is a kind of pleasant, boring voice that talks someone through a progressive relaxation, maybe some breathing techniques, maybe a count down or two. My ADHD doesn't let me get very far with that kind of induction, but it really works well for some folks. That model of hypnosis tends to view it as an altered state of consciousness that can be accessed by boring the snot out of the conscious mind so that it "goes to sleep" while the subconscious remains accessible and infinitely programmable. In this model, the hypnotist is the one doing a lot of the work of taking someone down into trance, while they are just passive. The idea is that they can be taken deep, and then given commands. "You will do this..." "From now on, anytime you think of x or hear the word y, you will do z..." Yeah, that doesn't work well on me.

My personal model of hypnosis makes a few similar but not identical assumptions. I think that trance, while an altered state of consciousness, is not so unusual. I think that we are going into and out of trance like states all the time when we go through our day, that it is just another way to describe an altered sense of focus. That is to say, attention is taken away from all the things that usually are on the person's mind, and narrowed down to just whatever is the central theme of the trance. I see trance as a state where one can be coaxed into seeing things from a different perspective. I find that eliciting agreement is more effective for me than giving/receiving commands. "Here, think of this thing in this new way. I'm sure if you can see that, then you will agree that having this reaction to it is just the natural response to have from now on, right?"

There are a number of techniques that can work with either style of hypnosis.

Double binds - one of my favorites. You ask a question where both answers are something you want. This works great with small children, and entranced adults. "Do you want to do your chores now and get them out of the way before you start your homework, or do you want to do your homework first and then your chores?" Both answers accomplish what the parent/hypnotist wants, and they don't allow any other options. Also known as giving someone the illusion of choice.

Priming - Using a lot of words that don't directly call out what you want the person to feel or think about, but which lead in that direction. So, for instance, I could talk about how a stone *dropped* in a well would quickly *sink down* *under* the water. It would *fall down* just as *deep* as it needed to go, and would *just keep falling* until it hit the bottom. Now, I never told the person that they should also be going deep, but they probably will. Giving people imagery that talks around what you want them to experience can create the experience in their minds, without ever saying "do this." It is hard for some folks to take direct commands. They can resist them. But when you lead them along through a story about something else, they may accidentally go where you want them to.

Pacing - A great sales technique. I establish rapport with you... get you feeling as though we are connected or in tune in some way. That alone can be hard to do via a file, and it takes a little bit of finesse, but one can get the hang of it. Once you know how to establish rapport, you then get the person to agree to a few things that are easy to agree to. Someone might like to buy a car from a good friend of theirs, if it meant that they would get a really good deal on it, right? Yes, they agree, that is reasonable to agree to. And everyone likes it when good things happen to them, don't they? Yes, that makes sense. And a really good thing that could happen to you would be to buy this car from me today, right? You've established a pattern of the person saying, yes, I agree, yes, yes, that makes sense... And so, when I ask the last question, you are more likely to go ahead and agree with that, too.

(You may have noticed that there was a little priming in there, too, as the first suggestion was that a person would like to buy a car if it were a really good deal, and the suggestion that the seller is a "good friend" which implies someone who wouldn't rip you off. Now, I might be offering you a crappy deal and trying to rip you off, but the images I've put in your head are that this is going to be a good deal and that you can trust me.)

If you want to see conversational hypnosis done well, check out Derren Brown. You can see some of his stuff via youtube. He is an English stage magician/hypnotist, who is really astoundingly good at some of his techniques. The big difference between where you are and how good he appears to be is nothing but about 20+ years of constant practice and all the confidence that brings.

Anyhow, there are tons of ways to learn how to do these things. All it takes is to invest many, many, many hours of reading and practicing. You don't need someone to teach you necessarily. At best, any one hypnotist is only going to be able to show you their particular style, and if you only learn that, then you can ape that one person pretty well eventually. But getting good at this just means being willing to play with it, see what works for you and what doesn't, and then keep trying new ideas out.

Read Bandler & Grinder for Neurolinguistic Programming.
Read about Milton Erickson.
Listen to the files by Blink on this site.
Listen to any files on this site that interest you.

Maybe someone else will chime in with more recommendations. This place is not as chatty as it used to be, but one way to fix that is to jump in and post more. Good luck!

[postwartoaster]

I was fortunate to live near a practicing therapist who did it who was willing to help me out. Not the best advice but if you want to chat pm me. I'm a little spotty on skype these days but I do E-mail, too.