Booklearning hypnosis via the fundamentals!
In a post I made not too long ago, I talked about what I think are the fundamentals of hypnotising someone are, because I think people are unnecessarily intimidated by how complex and hard to learn hypnosis seems to be.
So I thought I'd build upon it a bit, and thought what direction to go with before I settled on this extension of that last statement: Newbie 'tists tend to get overly invested in the need to only learn by doing it.
There's a bunch of causes for this: For one, playing it more fun, and there's a lot of motivation and desire to find someone cute to zonk, for sure. I also think booklearning isn't given as much due as it should be, because it takes longer and is more complicated/less fun than reading a script at someone.
But I've... ranted, I'll be honest :P, about that before (because I had no choice but to booklearn about hypnosis for years so I'm a big advocate of it), so instead let's be more constructive this time!
What I'm going to do, is use what I talked about last time, and run through applying that to trying to actually learn how to zonk people! Or rather,
How to booklearn hypnosis!
Alrighty then! I'll use the good ole' Elman as the example here. Why the Elman? Because it's generally the one induction always recommended, due to its versatility, and it's also one of the most daunting to learn as a newbie, because it is big, long, involved, and complicated.
Note this isn't meant to teach you how to do an Elman, but rather applying the ideas of breaking down inductions and so-on. I'll also talk about what you don't learn from books later on, just to be thorough. If you haven't read the previous post about my fundamentals, I suggest you do, as I'll be referring to them a bunch.
Let's define things to start with: I'm using what I mentally refer to as the Wiseguy version of the Elman, which roughly goes:
1. Eye catalepsy
2. Fractionation
3. Arm raises/drops
4. Counting backwards and losing the numbers
5. Zonk successful!
So we have a big-arse script to look at, where do we start? By breaking it down, starting with the key components of the entire induction. Because if we want to understand its minutiae, we need to understand first what it's trying to do at a broad level.
What the Elman does, is almost metaphorically throw the kitchen sink at a subject. It's a string of rapid-fire mini-inductions/deepeners/convincers, delivered rapidly in succession. The idea being, at least some of them will work, for any given person. Hence why it's broadly effective and recommended.
From there, we could go in a bunch of directions. We've identified that the Elman consists of several distinct sections, so we could go into those individually in detail. We could look at how they're woven together into a big cohesive induction. But, we're already looking at it broadly, so let's continue that idea while we're there!
Why is it rapid-fire? Why are they in succession? Again, we're looking at the broad why are we doing this of the entire induction. The answer here, is that doing it fast, and moving rapidly between distinct mini-inductions, keeps the subject on their toes, keeps them focused and interested, and doesn't give them much time to process what exactly is going on.
Also, the ordering of these things. Now, this is quite malleable actually, but there's a general progression of starting with things that are easy, and provide some real oomph into the moments the subject can realise "this is working! o.o", and ends with the "harder" to do stuff, that transitions well into more deepeners and such. Because once they've lost the numbers (or letters, if you want), their mind is probably pretty clear and relaxed, which is exactly what you want!
And that leads me to another big key component of the Elman that I nearly forgot about! Why these specific mini-inductions? Now, a lot of different things can be thrown into an Elman, it's very modular and flexible. But if you look at each, a key thing is they all have built in feedback mechanisms, both for you as a 'tist, and for the subject. Those being: Inability to open eyes, opening and closing their eyes at specifics commands, how their arm feels as you lift it, and actually letting the numbers fade.
Obviously this is fantastically useful for you as a 'tist, because you can tell quickly if it's working the instant you hit one of those feedback points. They also serve as a good moment for the subject to realise it's working and that you know what you're doing!
Alright, now let's hit those individual components. Briefly :P. We understand what the overall induction is trying to do, and why, now let's look at the how.
Eye catalepsy: So this part is a great example of how everything you do has an effect. A big thing here is choice of language, where you're picking words ("try", "fail", "when you know they won't open") to imply, and create the expectation, that the subject will not be able to open their eyes. You're setting them up to lose, or expect to lose. Also knowing that naturally, if you let them try long enough they'll succeed, so you cut them off the moment you see them failing.
Fractionation: Again, everything you do has an effect. Often hand gestures and stuff like that are recommended to emphasize the opening and closing of eyes. You're also taking advantage of fractionation in general, to rapidly deepen their relaxation. And it's a good example of working with your subject and reading their responses, because you can keep repeating it as needed.
Arm raises/drops: Pretty similar to the fractionation section, imo. However you can work off the expectation built prior of countups/downs you might have created earlier, and that they have in general (i.e. counting up means coming out of trance, counting down means going deeper). I'll also point out your language choices here are good, because you can really cconvey to your subject the difference now with how their arm feels compared to normal.
Counting backwards and losing the numbers: Right, so this is a big chunk of pratter, and also a bit of taking advangtage of normal things. We almost always do this with counting numbers (or the alphabet) backwards, because it's harder than forwards, and thus takes more mental effort to remember. We also throw extra words in sometimes to the counting, because that also makes it harder to remember the next count, if you have to focus also on the extra words! Also, this is the part of the Elman where pratter happens, and you need to focus it towards losing the numbers and so-on.
Alright, that's about all I'm going to say on the Elman in detail, lest this gets too gigantic! XD
Well, one more thing about expectations. You tend to start an induction like this by being super confident that it will result in trance, because you want them to believe you, naturally! :P
Now then, the second part of this:
What don't we learn from books?
While I'm the biggest advocate of booklearning for hypnosis you might find, there are things it doesn't prepare you for. Not that you won't be effective (you will be!), but you'll quickly notice things you can work on that you didn't realise would need work. So I'll hit a few of them to prepare you for it in advance! :)
Keeping up with your mouth: To start with, you'll talk faster than you can think of what to say. Simply because at the beginning, you're keeping so many things in mind at once because you still need to think about them, that it just slows down everything. It's like driving initially, really. You'll get used to it, just expect more pauses and umms and stumbling than you'd think.
Vocabulary: If like me you aren't an English major, your vocab is probably going to be limited, and that takes work to improve on. You just won't notice what you naturally gravitate towards for a while.
Precise feedback reading: Now, books will tell you generally what to look for when you're zonking someone. But they won't cover everything, and it takes some experience to really read your subject well, and notice subtle things.
Pratter: Personally, I've found doing good pratter is more of an art than a science, so reading didn't help me too much there as opposed to raw practice.
Alrighty! That's all I want to write for now, it's already a lot! :P
This all looks complex because of the length, but it's stuff that in words I'd explain in like 5 minutes or so. You can also do similar for any induction/deepener/technique you want, just happens the Elman is a big and complicated one, so it gets more to write about!
With some practice, it's not hard to do this kind of breakdown quickly and easily, too. :)
I think I'll try to expand on this kind of style of thought again eventually, I kinda like doing it even though it takes a bunch of effort XD, or maybe revisit some other things and hit them in a similar manner (suggestions? ;P).
