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