Mind Play Study Guide - Mark Wiseman PDF

The Mind Play
Study Guide
by Mark Wiseman
(Wiseguy)
2
The Mind Play Study Guide
Contents
Getting Started
Introduction
About This Book
About the Author
Thanks
Necessary Disclaimers
Tips for Presenters
Building Blocks for a Successful Class
Start Strong
The Zone
Root Yourself and Set the Room
Organizing Your Content
Erotic Hypnosis 101 Outline
4MAT
Closing
Lecture, Demo, or Hands-On?
Closing Up
What about Q&A?
Co-Presenting
3
NLP for Teachers
Using Your Body
Borrowing Anchors
Self Anchoring
Chunking
Wrapping Up
The Basics
Erotic Hypnosis 101
Presenter Notes
What is Hypnosis?
Hypnosis Myths
The Conscious and the Subconscious
What is Erotic Hypnosis?
Anatomy of a Hypnotic Scene
Summing Up
Discussion Points
Exercises
Safety and Ethics
Presenter Notes
Playing Safe
Physical Safety and Comfort
4
Landmines
Abreactions
Safer Suggestion
Safe Words
Ethics
Consent
Covert Hypnosis and NLP
Negotiation
Respect
Touching
Discussion Points
Starter Inductions
Presenter Notes
Eye Fixation
Swinging Crystal
Relaxation
Body Scanning
Fractionation
The Dave Elman Induction
Discussion Points
Exercises
5
Going Deeper
Presenter Notes
What's Depth Got To Do With It?
Depth Scales
When Suggestions Fail
Deeper = More Controlled
Deepeners
The Staircase
The Blackboard
The Furniture Store
Self Deepening
Testing for Depth
Subconscious Depth Scale
Discussion Points
Exercise
The Language of Suggestion
Presenter Notes
Suggestion in Everyday Life
Suggestion in Hypnosis
Direct and Indirect Suggestion
Waking Suggestion
6
Post-Hypnotic Suggestion
Safe and Effective Wording
Trigger Safety
Putting it All Together
Discussion Points
Exercises
Fun With Modalities
Presenter Notes
Primary Modalities
Identifying Modalities
Language Cues
Decision Cues
Eye Accessing Cues
Using Your Partner's Primary Modality
Discussion Points
Exercises
Your Hypnotic Self
Presenter Notes
Trust, Expectation, and Belief
The Elements of Style
Your Voice
7
Your Words
Your Touch
Versatility
Discussion Points
Exercises
Being the Hypnotee
Presenter Notes
Can You Be Hypnotized?
Getting There
Self-Hypnosis
Discussion Points
Exercise
The Next Level

Testing and Convincers
Presenter Notes
Why Test?
Tests vs. Convincers
Caveats
Pre-Trance Tests
Arms Rising and Falling
Hand Clasp
8
Finger Vise
Floppy Arm
The Chevreul Pendulum
Convincers
Catalepsy
Numb Spot
Hilarious Pen
Discussion Points
Exercise
Confusion Inductions
Presenter Notes
About Confusion Inductions
The Analytical Mind
Control Freaks
Confusion Countdown
Cross-Body Confusion
Nine Things
The List
The Process
An Erotic Variant
Word Play
9
Discussion Points
Exercise
Setting and Using Triggers
Presenter Notes
About Triggers
Well-Formed Triggers
The Trigger Event
“Only when it is safe and appropriate...”
The Trigger Response
Trigger Safety
Non-Triggering Conditions
Temporary Triggers
Open Triggers
A Reinduction Trigger
An All-Purpose Trigger
Discussion Points
Exercise
Fractionation
Presenter Notes
What is Fractionation?
Fractionation as an Induction
10
Fractionation as a Deepener
Auto Fractionation
Discussion Points
Exercises
Instant Inductions
Presenter Notes
Instant Induction Basics
Transderivational Search
Setting the Stage
The Hypnotic Contract
Follow Through
Safety Concerns
Hand Drop
The Butterfly
Standing Rock
The Handshake
Erickson's Handshake
Bandler's Handshake
Discussion Points
Exercises
Hypnotic Favorites
11
Presenter Notes
Overview
Safe Place
The Control Room
Freeze
The Jedi Mind Trick
Discussion Points
Exercises
Long Distance Hypnosis
Presenter Notes
Reach Out and Hypnotize Someone
Text Trancing
Text Inductions
Suggestions
Contingencies
Ending the Session
Hypnosis by Audio
Voice Inductions
Suggestions
Contingencies
Ending the Session
12
Hypnosis by Video Chat
Video Inductions
Suggestions
Contingencies
Ending the Session
Discussion Points
Exercises
More Inductions
Presenter Notes
A Non Verbal Induction
Heart Coherence
Object Drop
Recursion
Discussion Point
Exercises
Kinky Human Tricks

Arousal and Desire
Presenter Notes
Pleasure Trigger
Lust Potion
Hypno-Pheromones
13
Remote Control
Discussion Points
Exercises
Sensation Play
Presenter Notes
Hot and Cold
Hypno-Tickling
Remote Erogenous Zone
Vibrating Underwear
Discussion Points
Exercise
Hypno-BDSM
Presenter Notes
Subspace as Trance
Hypno Bondage
Hypno Impact
Hypnotic Objectification
Floor Lamp
Human Sculpture
Exhibitionist
“My pussy is missing!”
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Discussion Points
Exercises
Doll Play
Presenter Notes
About Dolls
Basic Dolls
Rag Doll
Fuck Doll
Puppets
Marionette
Action Figure
Ventriloquist's Dummy
Discussion Points
Exercises
Memory Play
Presenter Notes
Hypnosis and Memory
Tips for Effective Amnesia Suggestions
Pop Quiz
Blank
Disappearing/Changing Clothes
15
Hypnotic Teleport
Memento
Mystery Trigger
Discussion Points
Exercises
Transformations
Presenter Notes
More Than Meets the Eye
Bimbo
Robot
Animal
Drugged Drink
Discussion Points
Exercises
Hypnotic Orgasms
Presenter Notes
Foreplay
Come on Command
Orgasm Gun
Brain Massage
Five-Point Palm Exploding Orgasm Technique
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Enabling Tantric Orgasm
Discussion Points
Exercises
Advanced Lessons
Dual Inductions and Co-Topping
Presenter Notes
Two Hypnotists Are Better Than One
Dual Induction Technique
Variations
After the Induction
Co-Topping
Negotiation
Execution
Aftercare
Mutual Hypnosis
Discussion Points
Exercises
Consensual Non-Consent
Presenter Notes
What is CNC anyway?
Surprise Inductions
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Resistance Play
Resistance and Brats
Induction Resistance
Suggestion Resistance
Turning the Tables
Hypnosleep
Discussion Points
The Esdaile State
Presenter Notes
A Little History
Why Esdaile?
Getting There
Coming Back
Beyond Esdaile?
Discussion Point
Exercise
Where to Go From Here
Local Communities
Events
Teaching
Online Communities
18
Going Pro
Have Fun
Appendix
Notes on the Discussion Points
Chapter 3: Erotic Hypnosis 101
Chapter 4: Safety and Ethics
Chapter 5: Starter Inductions
Chapter 6: Going Deeper
Chapter 7: The Language of Suggestion
Chapter 8: Fun With Modalities
Chapter 9: Your Hypnotic Self
Chapter 10: Being the Hypnotee
Chapter 11: Testing and Convincers
Chapter 12: Confusion Inductions
Chapter 13: Setting and Using Triggers
Chapter 14: Fractionation
Chapter 15: Instant Inductions
Chapter 16: Hypnotic Favorites
Chapter 17: Long Distance Hypnosis
Chapter 18: More Inductions
Chapter 19: Arousal and Desire
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Chapter 20: Sensation Play
Chapter 21: Hypno-BDSM
Chapter 22: Doll Play
Chapter 23: Memory Play
Chapter 24: Transformations
Chapter 25: Hypnotic Orgasms
Chapter 26: Dual Inductions and Co-Topping
Chapter 27: Consensual Non-Consent
Chapter 28: The Esdaile State
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For the entire erotic hypnosis community, and for those who teach and
guide them.
21
Introduction
Getting Started
22
Introduction
23
Introduction
About This Book

In July of 2013 I published Mind Play: A Guide to Erotic Hypnosis. It was a
labor of love: a resource for the erotic hypnosis community, who have so
few good sources for learning,and a way of making myself more widely
available, albeit by proxy, to those who want to learn erotic hypnosis. At the
time I figured it was a niche product with a small audience; it would likely
sell maybe 300 copies and then taper off.
What actually happened has far exceeded anything I ever imagined or

hoped for. As of May 2015 over 2,500 copies of Mind Play have been sold
(ebook and print editions combined) and it continues to sell at a consistent
pace. The community has been incredibly kind (though not reluctant to
smack me when I deserved it) and has actually made things possible for me
that I thought were never going to happen. And so, it's time for me to give
some more back.
The Mind Play Study Guide continues the work that we started in Mind
Play: A Guide to Erotic Hypnosis. If you've read Mind Play some of that
material is repeated here, but in greater depth.
The Study Guide covers a broader range of topics than Mind Play,
especially topics for the intermediate and advanced hypnotist but also for
the beginner. Each chapter in the Study Guide covers one aspect of erotic
hypnosis at a deep level of detail, with the examples and anecdotes (and
occasional tongue-in-cheek observations) you would expect from a
Wiseguy class.
Each chapter has been deliberately written to stand alone. Sometimes that
means that some fundamental concepts are repeated. In the chapter on
triggers, for example, you will find discussion of how to form triggers
safely and effectively. A lot of the same material is also included in the
earlier chapter on forming suggestions, because it's relevant and important
in that context too. As a result, your path through the Study Guide doesn't
have to be linear – you can take the chapters in whatever order you like
without having to flip around to other chapters to pick up important pieces.
This structure also makes it easy to use this material in a couple of different
ways.
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If you are seeking to learn erotic hypnosis, then each chapter represents a
self-contained lesson in your studies. Read the chapter through, give some
thought to the Discussion Points you'll find at the of each chapter, and do
the Exercises to practice using the content in the chapter. By the end of the
book you will have had an opportunity to do a lot of very cool and sexy
things.
If you are part of a local erotic hypnosis community group – and especially
if you are a leader, who is expected to teach as well as to facilitate regular
meetings – then what you have here are 27 individual classes which you can
turn into one- to two-hour presentations for your group. You may find
topics in here that you'd like to see presented on but have nobody who feels
comfortable doing so, in which case you can have a Wiseguy class by
proxy. It should also come in handy if you have a void in your activity
schedule or if a planned speaker has to cancel.
Another option is to use this book as source material for an erotic hypnosis
study group. Rather than standing up and lecturing, you could have
everyone read the chapter and then facilitate discussion and practice of the
skills in the chapter. The Discussion Points and Exercises come in handy for
this, too.
If you don't feel confident teaching a group yet, that's okay. Chapter 2,
immediately following this one, is a lesson on how to teach. It's based on
my “The Art of Teaching Hypnosis” class that I've done at various cons
across the country and online via Hypbook. Also, each chapter has a section
called Presenter Notes that contains advice from me on how you might
approach teaching that topic to a group.
For my own very selfish reasons, I hope you do use this book as a teaching
tool. In fact, I want you to get hooked on teaching – it would make me
extremely happy to find out that this study guide is the gateway drug that
gets you into teaching erotic hypnosis to groups, either at the local level,
regional gatherings, or the big conventions like NEEHU, MEEHU, and
WEEHU. We need fresh ideas, fresh voices, and fresh minds. Yours could
be one of them.
Whatever you do with this, be safe, be responsible, and have fun.
-wg
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Introduction
About the Author

My personal story is already laid out in Mind Play, so I'll just summarize.
I started writing erotic hypnosis fiction in 1999 as Wiseguy, and figured if I

was going to do that I should research my subject. A few years later I
developed an aptitude for it and became a professional hypnotherapist,
while still writing hypnotic smut and holding a day job and raising four
children as a single dad. I socialized online through the Mind Control
Forum and did a little online hypnotic play but largely kept to myself for the
first decade or so. Somehow I found the time to write Busman's Holiday, a
novel-length fictional work that served as a thinly-veiled erotic hypnosis
how-to guide, and some 40-plus other pieces of short fiction which can still
be found on mcstories.com and www.asstr.org/~Wiseguy.
Starting in 2008 I got more involved in the community aspects of erotic

hypnosis. It started with the New England Leather Alliance Fetish Fair Flea,
where I'd keep company with the New England Hypnosis Group, led at the
time by Mephki and Dr. Slashblight. Then came the first New England
Erotic Hypnosis Unconference (NEEHU), which gave me my first real
opportunity to go out and teach erotic hypnosis as Wiseguy in a safe
environment. NEEHU thrived and so did I thanks to the community that
grew up around it. In time NEEHU begat WEEHU and MEEHU, making
these wonderful learning events available around the USA and throughout
the year.
Realizing that the day would come when I couldn't travel to every con or
visit every local community group, I wrote and published Mind Play. That
book has opened doors not only for me but for the entire community. It's
been placed in kink-friendly libraries, sold in commercial book stores,
become an educational staple at local hypnosis groups, and it even got me
interviewed by Sex Nerd Sandra for her Nerdist podcast, which introduced
a whole bunch of new people to erotic hypnosis.
The joy of teaching has been bleeding over into my mundane life, too. I
became a certified instructor for the largest professional hypnosis
organization in the US. They don't know me as Wiseguy, of course – they'd
probably throw me out if they did – but it's allowed me to expand my
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teaching into the professional hypnosis world, and I'm bringing a bunch of
extremely talented kinky people into that world with me. I've also become a
Master Practitioner and Trainer of Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP),
which has led me in some very interesting directions. I'm getting closer to
letting go of the day job and devoting myself to hypnosis, writing, and
teaching full time. Plus, buried deep in the fertile soil of my hard drive are
the beginnings of other projects.
Stay tuned – we've only gotten started.
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Introduction
Thanks
A lot of people have contributed to this book, either directly or by doing
things that inspired me to get off my butt and do it. All of the people I
thanked in Mind Play come to mind, and in the tradition of that book I want
to thank them and some more people up front, because nobody ever reads
the ending credits.
First up has to be Mephki. Not only is she the brains and soul behind the
whole *EHU movement (I think three thriving annual conventions qualifies
as a movement), but it was her idea originally to do this book. She planted
the seed right after Mind Play first saw print, and I squirreled away the idea
intending to do it when a decent interval had passed (I really don't want to
become known as Wiseguy the Book Whore).
Another huge inspiration of mine has been HypnoMaestro. He and I go to

every *EHU but we seldom get to see each other because we're both
teaching all the time. He was there at the very beginning, before Wiseguy
ever learned to hypnotize, showing me how much fun this could be and it's
an honor for me every time I get to see him. His respect and admiration for
this community inspires mine, and I'm always looking forward to
opportunities to work with him for the community's benefit.
A teacher is nothing without a classroom. Mine is largely provided by the

*EHUs: WEEHU (every fall in or around San Francisco), MEEHU
(summers in the Chicago area), and of course the original, NEEHU (March
near Hartfort, CT). I owe an eternal debt of thanks to the people who
organize these: Dr. Headcrash, panavatar, and Fleur for WEEHU,
HypnoMaestro and his team (currently Mephki, MissIsis, Daja,
LeadPrism, SashasTrance, HypnoInamorata, and crucifixoftime) for
MEEHU, and of course Mephki and her cadre of helpers for NEEHU. It
has also been my pleasure to participate as a guest presenter for Hypbook's
Live Learning series, thanks to the kindness of Skyla and dystopiocracy.
This book's purpose is to serve the local erotic hypnosis communities, and
the inspiration for that has come from the local groups I've had the pleasure
of speaking to. Those include the New England Hypnosis Group (a NELA
SIG), Hypnosis New York, the Dayton OH hypnosis group, Edu.kink, The
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Sarasota Society in Florida, and of course the Black Rose Hypnosis SIG in
my home Washington DC area. There are tons more of them – check out the
list on Mephki's hypnation.org website or on Fetlife. There are also the
organizations such as New England Leather Alliance (NELA), The
Eulenspiegel Society (TES), the Society of Janus, and Black Rose that
sponsor local hypnosis SIGs.
My fellow erotic hypnotists and teachers have given me so much, and there
are way too many of them to name but I want to call out a few that hold
special places in my heart: Lady Ru’etha and Jukebox, whose love and
warmth inspired me to join with this community in the first place;
LeeAllure; Marc Cabot; my old friend Hypnosis Enthusiast; MrDream
and ZanyM; Daja and SpiralTurquoise; sleepingirl, my favorite co-
presenter; AmHypnotic; Dr. Headcrash, Fleur and panavatar; Felix
Krull and Professor X … the list could fill a chapter by itself.
A special thanks must go to Dr. Will Horton, who has become a friend and
mentor to me. He taught me NLP, he taught me to be a better teacher, and
he's pushed me to get off my butt and start executing on plans I've been
cooking for years. This book is one of those plans.
A group of trusted friends looked over this text for me, and their comments
and feedback all helped shape the book you are now holding. So even
though I’ve already named most of them for other reasons, thanks to
Mephki, ZanyM, MrDream, MissIsis, Daja, and SpiralTurquoise.
And finally, as always, in the place of honor is my beloved Dani. She gives
me the freedom to be who I want to be. She is always there with a hug and a
smile. And she puts up with the barrage of unprovoked orgasms I subject
her to in the honing of my craft. It must be love.
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Tips for Presenters
Necessary Disclaimers
The content in this book is meant to be read and used by adults for
education and recreational purposes only. Nothing in this book should be
interpreted as therapeutic or as instructions for doing any kind of therapy.
The author explicitly urges every reader not to attempt any kind of therapy
without the proper training.
This book contains some sexually explicit language, including discussion of

erotic techniques. It is intended exclusively for an adult audience. Do not
read this book or attempt any of the techniques in it if you are not of legal
age to read about and practice sexual activities in your area.
Recreational hypnosis should only be practiced by and with consenting

adults who are fundamentally in good mental health. If you have been
formally diagnosed with schizophrenia, dissociative identity disorder,
bipolar disorder, clinical depression, or any other serious mental health
issue, talk to your mental health professional about any special safeguards
you should consider when you engage in erotic hypnosis play. Hypnosis is
not dangerous, but it does need to be taken seriously.
You, the reader, are solely responsible for what you do with the information
in this book. Neither the author nor the publisher take any responsibility for
consequences arising from the use or misuse of the information and
techniques contained in this book.
30
Tips for Presenters

One of the classes I present at conventions is “The Art of Teaching
Hypnosis.” The purpose of that class is to pass on some valuable tips I've
learned over the years and to help people become more comfortable,
confident, effective presenters.
Very few of these tips are specific to teaching hypnosis. You'll find them
useful for pretty much any kind of informative public speaking, whether it's
teaching a class or giving a briefing or making a sales pitch. So even if you
don't plan to become a star *EHU presenter, you may find that you can still
benefit from these tips. I know I have.
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Tips for Presenters
Building Blocks for a Successful Class

Giving a good presentation starts with you. Like a good hypnotist, a good
teacher or speaker has to believe in themselves and earn the audience's trust
and confidence. There are a few things you can do to help with this process.
1. Model the attitude you want people to have. A basic principle of

sales is that your customer will always instinctively adopt the
attitude toward your product that you have. If you want your
audience to be excited, curious, or interested in what you have to
say, you have to feel that way about it yourself. If you don't feel
excited about the topic, why are you presenting it? Maybe you need
to change the topic, or focus on an aspect of it that does excite you or
interest you.
2. Create a safe environment. People learn best if they feel safe in the
space. By “safe” I'm not only talking about physical safety, of course
– unless you're teaching in a combat zone that is usually a given –
but emotional safety. Your audience members need to feel that it's
okay to ask questions, that they won't be humiliated for what they
don't know, and that you respect and appreciate them. I often tell
stories on myself when I'm teaching because it demonstrates that it's
okay to be vulnerable and to make mistakes because I've done it too.
3. Remember that the group is on your side. Fear of public speaking

is perennially ranked as the most common fear among adults in the
US. The very fact that you are in front of a group speaking
automatically wins you a measure of respect from your audience.
Many of them are glad they're not in your shoes. The vast majority
of them want you to succeed, either because they like you or because
they want to learn something from you. This is especially true when
the audience is self-selected, like at a hypnosis convention – nobody
is compelling them to be there, they chose to be. So remember that
and relax.
4. The group's feedback is your best coach. If you're presenting at a

convention there is usually a feedback mechanism in place. If there
isn't, or if you're not sure, go ahead and ask for feedback. Your
32
audience, as I pointed out above, wants you to succeed and a lot of

them will offer you comments, praise and criticisms. Take all of it in,
but pay particular attention to anything you hear more than once
because that could be a trend. For example, if several people who
were sitting in the middle and back of the audience tell you that it
was hard to hear you, you need to project your voice more; if only
one person says that, and they were sitting under the air conditioner
against the back wall, you probably don't.
5. Remember that we are all learning together. Nobody likes a

know-it-all. Even if you really do know it all (and does anybody
ever, really?), be open to learning with your audience. Without that
attitude, it's easy to come off as condescending and lose your
audience's respect and attention. I've been practicing and writing
about erotic hypnosis for 15 years, but when someone who's been
doing it for 15 days speaks up during my class to make an
observation of their own, I listen to them and I validate their
experience. Even if I disagree with the observation, I will always
acknowledge it as valid or as one way of looking at things. It helps,
of course, that in hypnosis almost nothing is absolute so it's very
hard for anyone to be totally wrong or totally right.
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Tips for Presenters
Start Strong
A strong opening sets the tone for the entire class. When you start strong,
you take control of the room and capture your audience's interest.
The first step to a strong opening is to energize yourself. One of the best
ways to do this is an NLP exercise called The Zone.
The Zone
1. Close your eyes and think of a time in your life when time seemed to
move very slowly. Maybe you were sitting in a boring lecture, or
stuck in traffic, or in a waiting room. Pick one or two such times.
2. In your mind and imagination, step into that experience. Notice all
the things you can: what you see, hear, feel, smell, taste. Become
aware of every little detail.
1. Notice whether your vision is narrow and focused, or broad

and open. If you have an image in your mind, is it color or
black and white? Bright or dull? Sharp or blurry?
2. If there are sounds, are they loud or quiet? Clear or muffled?

Nearby or further away? If there are internal sounds, where
are they coming from?
3. Where is your center? Are you focused inside yourself or on

things outside yourself? How do your stomach and chest feel?
Does your body seem heavy or light?
4. Do you smell or taste anything?
3. Open your eyes and clear your mind.
4. Close your eyes again and think of a time when time seemed to
move very quickly. Perhaps you were absorbed in an activity, or
spending time with someone you love, or enjoying a fun party.
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5. In your mind and imagination, step into that experience. Ask

yourself all of the same questions as for the slow experience, and
notice how the answers vary.
6. Now allow yourself to experience what athletes call “the Zone”:

where time moves normally or quickly for you, but everything
around you seems to have slowed down. Your internal responses are
rapid, flowing, smooth, effortless. Your mind and body instantly
react to events that seem to be moving slowly. Really imagine
yourself in that state where time is fast on the inside and slow on the
outside.
7. Now make a gesture that you can repeat later, perhaps a hand
movement or some other kind of physical gesture.
8. Repeat all of the steps above (1 through 7), and this time add power
music and applause in the background while you imagine yourself in
“the Zone” and make that gesture.
Whatever gesture you chose, that is now an anchor for you to get yourself
into that Zone state. Go ahead, use it, see what I mean. Now, before you
take the stage (or the front of the room, as the case may be), make that
gesture – in NLP we call it “firing off” the anchor – and let yourself enter
the Zone. You'll feel powerful and confident.
Root Yourself and Set the Room

Take center stage. Now that you're in your position to start
teaching/presenting, root yourself. Find your emotional center and, in your
mind, push it down. Imagine having roots that extend securely into the
ground. Then imagine pushing that power out into the room. It only takes a
second or so to do this but it makes a huge difference in your command of
the room.
Now, set the room. Make eye contact with your audience, sweeping across
them, and especially out to the far corners of the space. Bring the room in to
you. Some people do this physically, opening their arms and raising them to
metaphorically embrace the room; others just think about it and give the
audience a warm smile. You'll figure out quickly what feels most natural to
35
Tips for Presenters
you.
It takes a lot longer to describe this process than to actually do it. I root
myself and set the room in about two seconds, then I start delivering my
content.
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Organizing Your Content

Before your class ever starts, it's important to plan what you are going to
present. Over the years I've heard a lot of people make remarks like, “I
never prepare anything, I just speak from the heart.” Most of them are not
particularly good presenters; I do not believe this is a coincidence.
If people are going to give you their time, you owe it to them to be prepared
and to know what you're going to teach them in that time. You should also
present it in a way that is organized and easy to follow. This does not mean
you should spend hours making up PowerPoint slides – far from it! I think
PowerPoint is the single greatest evil ever perpetrated on an unsuspecting
world. But you should organize your material in a way that flows well and
is easy for your audience to follow. My usual method is an outline.
As an example, here is my outline for the Erotic Hypnosis 101 class that I
teach several times a year:
Erotic Hypnosis 101 Outline

1. Welcome
1. Why erotic hypnosis is cool
2. What is hypnosis?
1. There are many definitions and depictions
2. Agreed-upon characteristics are
1. Focused concentration
2. Increased openness to suggestion
3. Usually, not always, relaxation
3. Erotic hypnosis == use of hypnosis in a sexual context
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Tips for Presenters
4. Myths and Misconceptions
1. Mind Control/Truth Serum
2. Violating personal limits
3. Getting “stuck”
5. Things you can do with erotic hypnosis
1. Arousal
1. Induce it, amplify it, channel it
2. Body control
1. Hypno bondage
2. Freeze play
3. Human puppet
3. Sensation Play
1. Increasing, decreasing, relocating
2. Hypno impact play
4. Enhancing power exchange
1. enhance subspace/rope space
5. Fantasy role play
1. Changing perceptions of self
2. Vivid fantasy dreaming
6. Memory play
1. Forgetting things
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2. Remembering things differently
7. Orgasms
6. Anatomy of an erotic hypnosis scene
1. Negotiation
2. Induction
3. Suggestion
4. Emerging
5. Aftercare
7. Demonstration scene
1. Reactions/thoughts from the volunteer and audience
8. Closing/Q&A
That one-page outline covers a class that usually takes 50 to 60 minutes. It

doesn't go into heavy detail about the content, but it contains enough to
remind me what points I want to make and in what order I want to make
them. That order comes from a framework used often in education.
4MAT
4MAT is a method for helping people to learn by organizing content in a
way that is easy to follow. You can find very detailed analyses of it online,
but for our purposes we can simplify it to a sequence of Why, What, How,
and What If.
After your opening, the first thing you want to do is address the Why – that
is, give your audience the reason(s) why they want to know what you are
about to teach them. In a self-selected group like the typical hypno-kinky
munch or event that would appear to be self-evident, but it always pays to
address the Why. This is your opportunity to grab your audience's attention
early and keep it. Ideally you are raising questions that you will answer
39
Tips for Presenters
through the rest of the presentation.
Next, move into What. In the What stage, you give information: statistics,
definitions, facts and figures as needed. If there are common
misconceptions or misunderstandings, this is the time to expose and correct
them.
Once you've laid down a base of information, move into How. How is the
practical aspect – now that your audience knows Why and What, How is all
about what they can do with that information. In a hypnosis-related class,
this is when you explain how a technique works and what safety and related
concerns may come up with it. This is also a good time for a demonstration
or a class exercise. If you have a number of What/How items to cover, it's
okay to move between What and How for each item so the facts and the
application of those facts are closely related.
The final stage before you close is What If? This is your chance to engage
your audience's imagination and curiosity by talking about variations and
additional ways the skills and information you're teaching them can be
applied. If you did a demo, this is a great time to mention other things you
could have done in that demo, either with a different volunteer or with more
time or in response to some other variable. Contemplating these helps to
cement the information in your audience's minds and gives them ideas on
how they can take the material and use it themselves.
Closing
How many classes have you been to that ended in, “Any questions? Okay,
bye”? Were they good ones? I'm guessing not so much.
The closing of your presentation is your final opportunity to cement the

highlights into the minds of your audience. Take a few sentences to
summarize what you've taught them, and to challenge them to think of ways
they can apply the material themselves. Then open the floor for questions.
When you do start the Q&A, how you do it makes a difference. If you don't
really want many questions, then ask, “So, are there any questions?” That
wording subtly discourages questions by conveying that you really don't
expect any. You can even be more blatant about it (“There aren't any more
40
questions, are there?”) if you want, perhaps because you're out of time.
When I'm ready to start the Q&A, I put my hand in the air and say
something like, “So … if I were sitting out there I'd probably have a
gajillion questions. Who wants to be first?” The body language invites
people to mirror me by raising their hands, and the wording establishes the
expectation that there are questions and it's okay to ask them. A shorter
form (hand up and “What questions do you have?”) also works well.
It's generally a good idea to allow at least 5 minutes for question and
answer, especially if you don't take questions during the talk itself (I almost
always do). Few things irritate me more than a speaker who says, “Hold
your questions until the end” and then leaves no time at the end.
41
Tips for Presenters
Lecture, Demo, or Hands-On?

Planning a class or presentation can be a juggling act. Lecturing is
important, but who wants to be a talking head for the entire class?
Demonstrations can liven up a class and break the monotony of speaking,
but there are so many things that can go wrong. Hands-on exercises are
great for making sure people really understand the material, but it's so easy
to lose control of the clock when you do them. How do you balance them
all?
First, understand that you don't have to do all three in a single class. People
do like demos, and they generally love exercises and hands-on time, but it's
a very unusual class that doesn't involve at least some lecture to set things
up. Remember 4MAT – you should open and address Why and What before
you get into How, which is where your demo or hands-on would fall.
Lecture is typically how you'll do that.
Lecture is almost always necessary, and is the easiest of the three methods
to use: you simply talk to your audience, using your outline to keep yourself
on track. Another advantage to lecture is that it's the easiest to manage the
time with. It's easy to speed up or slow down, do a little more or a little less
detail, to keep yourself on track to finish on time and leave space for
questions.
Lecturing does not have to remind people of Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller's
Day Off or subject them to Death by PowerPoint. It's a chance to show your
audience who you are. If you engage them – ask them questions, make eye
contact, walk around instead of shielding yourself behind a podium – they
will stay connected with you. You can embrace them with your energy and
flow with theirs. When done well, audiences can enjoy a lecture as much as
they do a demo or hands-on class.
I work in demos any time I can. One of my favorite classes to teach, “Kinky
Human Tricks,” is at heart a series of demonstrations, with Why at the front
and a separate What and How and What If for each technique I demonstrate.
It also tends to be a very popular class, so I must not be the only one who
enjoys it. A well-done demo teaches on multiple levels, because it shows a
practical application of what you were speaking about. It answers What and
42
How together, and feeds the What If. Even when things drift away from
your expectations it's still a valuable learning experience for the audience
and for you.
The biggest dilemma with demos is how to select your volunteers. Some
speakers recruit their demo bottoms in advance, before the class starts.
That's not a bad thing, because it ensures that you have familiarity with your
demo partner; you can negotiate the scene ahead of time, which saves time
during the demo, and you have a level of rapport already built up (especially
if you practice with them in advance). If you are going to demonstrate a
technique that depends on the hypnotee having certain skills, such as a gift
for negative hallucination or hypnotic amnesia, this is the safest way to go.
When I do it, though, I have to admit I feel like I'm cheating a little by
bringing in a ringer. I typically only do this for a class like “All the Way
Down,” which is about really deep trance states; for that I usually use my
wife Dani because I know she is experienced at going into the Esdaile state
and that she enjoys it.
For things that don't require a specific skill or ability, I encourage you to
pull a volunteer from your audience. Using a random volunteer may seem
like rolling the dice – you could end up with someone who isn't well
focused, or who can't seem to pull off the hypnotic phenomena you need for
the demo to work. Worst case, you get one of those people who just loves
being the center of attention and isn't really all that good a trance partner,
and your demo falls flat. But there are things you can do to load those dice
ahead of time.
During the time leading up to the demo, when you are presenting the
concepts, keep an eye out for people who are paying particular attention.
They will make eye contact with you and hold it a hair longer. You may
notice them leaning forward in their chairs or looking especially alert.
Foreshadow a little – say something like, “and in a minute I'm going to ask
someone to come and help me demonstrate this.” The ones whose faces
light up, who sit a little straighter (or lean forward) in their chairs, whose
eyes widen – those are your ringers; the people you want to be your demo
volunteer.
Now, when you are ready to start your demo ask, “Who would like to
volunteer?” while you raise your hand. Look for your ringers – at least one
of them will almost certainly have a hand raised – and select one of them.
43
Tips for Presenters
Don't worry if theirs wasn't the first hand up – this isn't kindergarten. You
can also simply make eye contact with the nearest ringer and ask them to
join you on the stage. Nine times out of ten they will. By screening your
candidates in advance this way and then selecting from the best, you can get
consistently good results from your demos even with people you've never
met before.
For many, the best learning experiences come from hands-on practice and
exercises. I love to do these because I can immediately see people accepting
feedback, learning from it, and getting successful results. Unfortunately,
there are serious challenges with hands-on as a teaching method.
The first hurdle is often class size. If you have 10 people in a 1-hour class,
you can do hands-on and be able to offer a few minutes of guidance and
coaching to each. If you have 30, it's nearly impossible to get a meaningful
amount of time with each because you only get about 45 seconds per
person. You can alleviate this by having co-presenters who can help with
the coaching so that you don't have to personally handle everyone yourself.
The other challenge in a hands-on class is time management. When you're

speaking or doing a demonstration, you have the group's attention and you
can control the pace. Every time you start a hands-on exercise you are
suspending that control; people will naturally do the exercise at their own
pace, which will vary with each individual. You may feel obligated to wait
until the slowest people are done before you can end the exercise, which
puts your timetable in jeopardy. And once the exercise is over, you have to
regain your audience's attention and get them back into listening mode. The
time and difficulty of doing this increases exponentially with the size of the
group.
If you want to include hands-on practice time or exercises in your class, I

think that's great. Here is some advice designed to help you do it without
running over time or losing control of the class:
Keep the exercises brief. My rule of thumb is no more than 10

minutes per exercise; if the skill you're teaching needs more time
than that, divide it into smaller pieces and practice each piece
individually. NLP practitioners call this chunking. The longer your
exercise time goes, the larger the time gap between the faster and the
slower participants will become and the harder it will be to get
44
everyone back on track.
Get help. Ideally you should have a helper for every 10 students so
that there is coaching available quickly to those who need it.
Watch the clock. When the exercise time is up, end it regardless of
whether or not everyone is finished. You have a schedule to keep.
The presenter coming after you will appreciate it.
45
Tips for Presenters
Closing Up
A well-presented class ends with a closing that wraps things up for the
participants. You have a lot of flexibility here; the only requirement is that
you provide a sense of closure.
The easiest closing is brief summary of the key ideas and concepts you
presented in the class. Doing this closes the loop you opened at the
beginning and satisfies the old adage, “Tell them what you're going to tell
them; tell them; then tell them what you told them.”
A more subtle option is to close with a story. If you do this, pick a story that
revolves around the material you just taught. If you are teaching an NLP
concept, for example, tell a story about how you used that concept and got
an interesting or positive result. This not only closes the loop on your class
but also helps feed the What If, which will send your students out looking
for opportunities to use what you just taught them.
Another very common way to end a hypnosis or NLP class is with a short
trance session. Do a quick group induction, then summarize your content
and give suggestions for retaining the ideas and concepts and making them
your own, or some similar wording. Then bring everyone back feeling
great. You can also use your NLP techniques to inspire an emotional state
such as confidence or excitement.
However you do it, your closing should be upbeat and positive. Thank your
audience for their time and attention.
What about Q&A?

I said earlier to always leave time at the end for questions and answers.
Most presenters do this at the very end of the class, after the closing. You
can do that, or you can do your Q&A right before you close. Either choice
is fine.
When I'm teaching, I encourage people to ask me questions during the class.
Some presenters dislike the way it can break their flow, but I like the
46
immediacy that taking questions in stream provides. Also, if I'm getting a

lot of questions on a point that tells me that I need to be more clear in my
presentation of the concept. The questions you get also tell you a lot about
your audience; you'll get clues that you can use to increase your level of
rapport with the group, and I like that.
47
Tips for Presenters
Co-Presenting
Sometimes having multiple presenters can be a big help in having a
successful class. Sharing the stage with a co-presenter has a couple of
potential advantages to it as well as things to be careful of.
One of the key benefits of multiple presenters is that each can bring their
own perspective to the topic at hand. For example, when teaching Erotic
Hypnosis 101 at NEEHU 6 I brought in an experienced hypnotee to co-
present with me. She brought that perspective from her side into the
discussion and made it more rounded than just having me speaking as a
hypnotist. Obviously this works best if you and your co-presenter actually
have different perspectives! Perhaps one of you is self-taught and one is
formally trained, or one of you has a very dominating style while the other
is permissive and subtle. As long as there is contrast, the class can benefit
from multiple viewpoints.
Another benefit of co-presenters is that you can help take some of the
pressure off each other. If you and your co-presenter are in good rapport,
you will be able to pass the lecture ball back and forth pretty smoothly and
keep your audience engaged. This also creates even more interesting ways
to do positional anchoring, which we’ll discuss shortly.
There are potential downsides to co-presenting as well, though. You and

your co-presenter need to be familiar with each other and know what your
overall message is. You need to make frequent eye contact and maintain a
level of rapport with each other so that you can avoid talking over one
another. Finally, time management becomes more difficult when you share
the stage because you both have to be aware of the time and cooperate to
keep things on track.
48
NLP for Teachers

One of the best teachers I know is Dr. Will Horton, who teaches NLP and
hypnosis. One of the things he taught me early on is the value of using NLP
to teach. Regardless of what your actual subject is, knowing and using a few
NLP tricks will help you get your points across and keep your audience's
attention.
Using Your Body

We tend to think of teaching or presenting as a verbal art, but how you use
your body as you present makes a world of difference in how your audience
perceives you. For example, when you deliver your entire presentation from
behind a podium, you become a talking head to your audience. When you
come out from behind the podium and face your audience directly, a barrier
is removed; you become a person they can interact with.
When I teach I usually move around a lot depending on the venue. I'll at
least move from side to side across the presentation area, and if space
permits I also move closer and farther from the front row. If there's a
generous aisle in the middle I sometimes move a step or two into it and then
back out again. It's a natural tendency of mine, but I use it to my advantage
as well.
Moving across the space as I speak lets me connect with more of the
audience than if I stand in one place. People watch me as I move, which
helps me gauge how well I'm holding their interest. Also, my sight lines
vary with my body position; when I'm on the audience's left, I can make eye
contact with people I can't see as well from the other side and visa versa.
My tendency to pace also lets me make use of positional anchoring. This is

an NLP technique that can help you to leverage the rapport you have with
your audience. Suppose your talk includes points that are very important,
other points that are optional and less important, and things you've thrown
in to provide laughs in between. If you deliver all of your important points
from the same place on stage, the less important points from a different
place, and the laugh lines from a third, your audience will subconsciously
49
Tips for Presenters
pick up on that. They will pay closer attention when you speak from the
“important” spot; they will relax a little when you speak from the “less
important” spot; and they will laugh more readily when you move to the
“comic relief” spot.
Another form of positional anchoring is one I've been doing for years and
never realized it until someone pointed it out to me. I move almost
constantly when I'm speaking, spreading myself more or less evenly across
the available area. When I'm going to say something particularly important,
however, I tend to stop and deliver the important statement from one spot.
Audiences pick up on this (more quickly than I did, apparently) and perk up
when I stop moving. It's like my own personal, “E. F. Hutton says...”
trigger.
Another good option suggested by SpiralTurquoise is to use your body to

advance your outline. Plant yourself in one place and deliver Point A, then
move as you segue and plant again to deliver Point B. Continue this way,
and your audience will quickly pick up your cadence and follow you.
Borrowing Anchors
We all have hundreds of anchors that we've picked up in our lives. How do
you feel when you see someone in a military uniform, or a white coat and
stethoscope? Is there a particular smell that takes you back to a happy time
in the past? A song that can always put you in a better mood? All of these
are anchors – stimuli that, when we perceive them, invoke an emotional
response. Anchors are fired off by the subconscious mind, which means
they are not under conscious control – we can choose to disregard the
feeling that gets called up, but it's still going to be there.
Another way to connect with your audience is to borrow some of their

anchors. Ask them about people they admire, for example, and what it is
they admire about those people. As they answer, they are looking at you;
you can borrow some of that emotional response to the person they are
thinking of.
For example, you might ask someone in the audience to name their favorite
character from Star Wars. If they say Obi-wan Kenobi, for example, and
mention him being a wise mentor, you can then respond with, “Yes,
50
definitely. Obi-wan is a classic example of the wise elder, the teacher we all
wish we had,” and at the italicized words make a gesture toward yourself –
straighten your tie, if you wear one, adjust your collar, or touch a pendant or
necklace you're wearing. By pacing that emotional state of respect and
admiration by restating it, and making the gesture toward yourself (which
most people won't consciously notice), you borrow that anchor and apply it
to yourself. Get a couple of more answers (Luke, Leia, and Han Solo tend to
come up often) and do the same thing, and you'll have taken another step
toward bonding with your audience.
But wait – isn't borrowing anchors just a way of tricking people into
listening to you? You could take that position if you want to. The same can
be said of skilled salespeople, of course. And advertising writers. And
politicians. They all use strategies to influence how they relate to people,
and a lot of those strategies involve a form of NLP. If someone has chosen
to come to your class or presentation and you use NLP to help you connect
with them and convey the material that they came to learn, is that tricking
them or is it being a skilled communicator?
The ethical line gets blurry when it comes to using NLP techniques in your
daily interactions. Most of us can agree that using any kind of influence
technique to get someone to do something because you want them to is
ethically questionable at best. In the context of teaching, though, you're not
using NLP to get your audience to take any particular action or do
something that benefits you; you’re informing, in a way that makes the
material easier for them to take in, and leaving it to them to decide what
they will do with that material.
Self Anchoring
You can also use anchors on yourself. The Zone exercise from earlier in this
chapter is a classic example of setting an anchor to a resourceful state. Do
that and you can then fire off that anchor to get your mind back into that
resourceful state at will. You can use that anchor any time you need a boost
during your class, not just at the beginning.
You can also set a new anchor for yourself in the middle of a class. If things
are going particularly well, and you feel on top of your game, use that –
51
Tips for Presenters
pick a gesture, or a motion, or a sound you can easily recreate, and anchor
those feelings to it. You'll be able to use that new anchor later to recapture
those feelings.
Chunking
One of the core principles of NLP is that any complex behavior can be
taught if we break it down into smaller components. The principle is called
chunking: taking a complex process and breaking it down into a series of
smaller steps. For example, this chapter takes the complex process of
presenting a class and breaks it down into components:
an overview
starting strong
organizing your content
choosing between lecture, demo, and hands-on
NLP techniques for teaching
Several of these components are then chunked down into smaller bits.
Chunking down gives your audience a chance to absorb each bit and then
put them together at the end.
As an example of chunking in action, let's take the Dave Elman induction.

It's a popular and well-known induction that is quick and highly effective
for a lot of people. It also has the advantage of being very easy to teach
someone, as long as you chunk it down into its core components.
When I teach the Dave Elman, I describe it as a series of four steps:
1. Eye closure: get your partner to relax their eyelids so much that they
simply won't open. Once they've done that, have them test and see
that their eyelids won't open. Stop the testing as soon as they start
and have them spread that level of relaxation to the rest of the body.
2. Hand drops: raise your partner's hand by the wrist a few inches off
52
their lap. If they are helping you, wiggle the arm a little and tell them
to let you do all the work. Once the arm is relaxed, tell them that
when you drop it back into their lap they relax twice as deeply, then
count 3 and drop the arm. Do this a total of 3 times.
3. Fractionation: Tell your partner that on the count of 3, and only on

3, you want them to open their eyes and look straight forward, and
when you say “close” they close them again and relax twice as
deeply. Count to three, say “Open”, and then right away say “Close”
and encourage them to drop back down. Do this a total of 3 times.
4. Losing the numbers: Tell your partner to begin counting backwards

from 100, speaking each number aloud and after each number saying
“Deeper down.” As they count, suggest that their mind relaxes more
deeply with each number, and the more their mind relaxes the more
the numbers want to fade, to disappear, to relax away. Each number
makes the next one harder to bring up, and when the numbers just
don't want to come to mind anymore they can just let them go.
Continue this line of suggestion until they stop counting, then go on
to what you wanted to do in the session.
By breaking it down this way, I can take someone who has never
hypnotized anyone before and have them performing a competent Dave
Elman induction in about 15 minutes. That is the power of chunking.
53
Tips for Presenters
Wrapping Up
Now that you've learned some of the Wiseguy “secret sauce,” go back
through this chapter and take a look at it again. You'll notice that I used the
4MAT system to organize the chapter's content: it opens with a short Why
statement, then moves into What and How with a sprinkling of What If. We
covered tips on holding a successful class, on starting strong, on organizing
your material, on closing, and on using NLP techniques to help you teach.
And this, of course, is the summary closing. I hope you'll take a few
pointers from this and make them part of your teaching style, and when you
do let me know how well they work for you.
54
The Basics
55
Erotic Hypnosis 101
Erotic Hypnosis 101

Having a good foundation in what hypnosis is, how it works, and what it
can do is important to using it effectively, safely, and responsibly. This
lesson is all about building that foundation so that you have a solid base of
knowledge to work from.
56
Presenter Notes
One of the best ways I know of to introduce people to erotic hypnosis is to
have a good 101 presentation. The Black Rose SIG in the Washington DC
area actually has a 101 right before each of their monthly meetings so that
new people can come early for the 101 while veterans can skip that and
come for the main meeting only. You may not want to go quite that far
(though the Black Rose SIG never seems to have trouble filling the room
for it) but this is definitely one that you'll want to present regularly as new
people join the group. It also gives new presenters an opportunity to take a
turn and gain some confidence.
When I do my 101 presentation, I like to keep it light-hearted in tone. With

people who are new to the idea of erotic hypnosis, and may be a little
apprehensive, it's especially important to establish that this is a safe space,
and a good way to do that is to get people chuckling. Media stereotypes are
a rich source of humor you can safely tap into, so go ahead and talk about
“Curse of the Jade Scorpion” (a trigger so powerful that it can get schlubby
Woody Allen out of bed with Cameron Diaz to go rob a bank?? Really??)
or the Ghost Clown from “Scooby-Doo.”
I always do a demonstration in my 101, and I like to do it with an audience

volunteer I select at the time. Some people in the 101 are still wondering
whether hypnosis is even real, so having a prearranged demo bottom just
reinforces the idea that the whole thing could be staged. Besides, working
with someone new to you has educational benefits, as the audience gets to
see you negotiate the demo scene. This is your chance to model good
behavior instead of lecturing about it, so take it! If you're worried that you
might not be able to successfully get your volunteer into trance, don't be –
by being the one giving the class you have already established yourself as a
credible hypnotist, so belief and expectation should be there for you. Just
pick someone who is clearly interested and you'll do fine.
57
Erotic Hypnosis 101
What is Hypnosis?
Before we can define erotic hypnosis, it helps to first define hypnosis. And
hypnosis is … sort of hard to define. Humans have been using it in one
form or another for something like 2,600 years (that we know of) and we
still don’t have a firm definition. A few things that are generally agreed
upon are:
Hypnosis is a state of focused concentration
A person in hypnosis is fully conscious and aware of their

surroundings
A person in hypnosis is generally more receptive to suggestion than

they are when not in hypnosis
The ability to accept suggestions is cooperative in nature, requiring

some level of consent from the person being hypnotized
That’s a good enough working definition for our purposes, so let’s go with
it.
Hypnosis Myths
People have a lot of interesting ideas about hypnosis, most of them shaped
by things they’ve seen in the media. Let’s burst a few of them right now.
Myth: Only some percentage of the population can be hypnotized.
Hypnosis is a perfectly normal, natural state of consciousness. Everyone

goes into trance at least twice a day: when they first wake up, during the
transition from sleep to alertness; and when they go back to sleep, as they
pass from alertness into sleep. So everyone is capable of entering hypnosis.
Most people enter hypnosis several times a day; they just don’t realize it or
call it that. If you’ve ever been so absorbed in thought that you were
completely unaware that someone else was talking to you, you were in
58
hypnosis. If you’ve ever parked your car and realized you have no idea
what happened during the drive, you were in hypnosis. If you’ve ever been
watching a TV show or movie and suddenly, as it ended, became aware that
the room got dark somehow when you weren’t looking, you’ve been in
hypnosis. These are just examples of perfectly normal, everyday trance
states.
Having now explained that, it should be clear that just about anybody can
be hypnotized. Aside from cases of severe organic brain dysfunction that
interferes with concentration or severe chemical intoxication (alcohol or
other mind-altering substances) that interferes with concentration, anybody
who wants to be hypnotized can be. The trick, most of the time, is the
wanting to.
Myth: People can be hypnotized against their will
People often ask whether it's possible for someone to be hypnotized against
their will. The practical answer to that is no – someone who actively does
not want to be hypnotized can generally resist any kind of hypnotic
induction. Someone thrust into a trance state by a sudden surprise – what
we call a pattern interrupt – may go into trance involuntarily, but they can
always bring themselves out of it and ignore any unwanted suggestions
given to them by the jerk who did it.
A much easier task for the unprincipled is to hypnotize someone without

their knowledge. That is possible, and happens more often that it should. All
it takes is someone who has learned how to do pattern interrupts, or waking
suggestions (also called “covert hypnosis”), to get someone who isn't
expecting it into an altered state. What happens next, though, is still largely
a matter of how much that person actually trusts the jerk who just tricked
them into trance. People can and do say no to hypnotists all the time. Which
leads to another myth.
Myth: A hypnotized person’s mind is under the control of the

hypnotist.
Once hypnotized, a person does not become the zombified, mind-controlled

slave of the hypnotist. Just being hypnotized is not enough to get someone
to violate their personal morals, put themselves in danger, or cause them to
do something that would be unacceptable to them if they were not
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Erotic Hypnosis 101
hypnotized. There are those who love to debate this point, and they tend to
do it loudly, but in the end it’s still true. There are a couple of important
caveats to consider, though.
First off, realize that people can always be deceived, coerced, and tricked
into doing things whether they are hypnotized or not. Hypnosis has no
effect on that one way or another. Brainwashing techniques, for example,
might include hypnosis but rely mostly on sleep deprivation and a host of
other techniques to wear down resistance. Hypnosis alone isn’t nearly
enough. On the more mundane side of the scale, people in trance are no
more or less susceptible to peer pressure, avoidance of confrontation, and
similar coercive forces than they are out of trance. These things do happen,
with or without hypnosis.
Also, for some people the line between acceptable and unacceptable is not
sharply drawn. Someone may consciously despise peanuts, for example,
and refuse to ever eat any peanut product; but if they also have a
humiliation kink and are not actually allergic to peanuts, they may obey a
hypnotic command to eat peanut butter because of the thrill of being
“forced” to do something against their will. The murkiness of that line is
why an ethical hypnotist will negotiate in good faith, before any hypnosis
has started, and stick to what is negotiated with the person’s conscious
mind.
I deliberately chose peanuts for that example because it’s such a common
allergen. If, in the example above, the person hypnotized had a serious
peanut allergy, that’s a life-threatening condition; no amount of hypnosis is
going to get them to agree to ingest anything that smells or looks like a
peanut product, and no ethical human being would try.
The Conscious and the Subconscious

When talking about hypnosis, we use the terms conscious and subconscious
(or unconscious) a lot, so it's important to get clear in your mind what we
mean.
The conscious mind refers to the part of the mind (an abstract concept in
itself) that performs deliberate functions. The conscious mind is the
analyzing, decision-making, focused part of your mind. It generally does
60
one thing at a time and then moves on.
The subconscious mind refers to that part of the mind that handles all of our
automatic, instinctive functions. The subconscious mind regulates the
body's temperature, respiration, pulse, posture, and balance. It is also the
seat of learning: every complex series of actions that we learn starts in the
conscious mind as something we have to focus on, and then gets written
into the subconscious as a learned behavior. Think of a handshake, or a
tennis serve; those are complicated processes that we had to think about
when we first learned them, but which after learning them we do pretty
much without thinking of the steps involved. The subconscious is also the
seat of emotions. As you would expect given its many roles, the
subconscious is a natural multi-tasker.
In hypnosis, the conscious mind temporarily steps back and allows the
subconscious to come closer to the surface. This generally results in the
hypnotee becoming suggestible – that is, more inclined to accept
suggestions than they would in their normal, analyzing, conscious-mind-
dominant state.
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Erotic Hypnosis 101
What is Erotic Hypnosis?

Now that we have an understanding of what hypnosis is, erotic hypnosis can
be defined as the use of hypnosis in a sexual or arousing context. Exactly
what that context is depends on the people involved, of course. Hypnosis
can be used in a lot of ways that intersect with sexuality and sensuality. The
most popular uses, in no particular order, are:
1. Stimulating arousal and/or desire. Sexual desire and arousal are

emotional states; the mind feels them and the body provides the
physical responses. Since hypnosis works primarily on the
subconscious mind, it's very easy to cause someone to become
aroused or to feel sexual desire by suggestion. For many people the
very idea of hypnotizing someone, or being hypnotized by someone,
is arousing in itself. With hypnosis a person can become aroused on
command, and kept in that state for an extended period of time, if
desired. Someone who is normally passive in bed can be overcome
with lust to the point where they become sexually aggressive. It's all
up to the imaginations of those involved.
2. Sensation play. Hypnosis is often used in the medical world to

reduce sensation, specifically pain. It can also be used to amplify
sensation, either pain (which for some people is erotic) or
pleasurable sensations. A brush against the upper arm can be made
as arousing as a stroke across the genitals, for example. Turning
sensation down in sensitive areas can prolong someone's progression
from arousal to orgasm, or even be used in a sensual “torture” where
the person has to earn the ability to feel pleasurable sensations again.
Turning it up can also be used as a teaser, especially if the person
being affected is unable to orgasm without permission. You can also
simulate (using someone's own physical memory) the sensations
produced by various kinds of impact play with hypnotic suggestion
alone -- for example, by having someone feel the impact of a flogger
whenever you clap your hands.
3. Body control. The subconscious mind controls the body, so

hypnosis can easily alter the way the body moves, holds itself, or
reacts to commands. You can hypnotize someone to feel and act as if
62
they were tied up, chained, glued to the wall, or restrained in any
way they can imagine (hypno-bondage). You can use a remote
control to pause, reverse, or fast-forward someone's body
movements, potentially causing them to re-experience something
over and over. You can freeze them in position and treat them as a
life-sized dress-up doll, to be posed and manipulated as you see fit.
Hypnosis takes the “mirror game” – where one person must mimic
the motions of another as if they were that person's mirror image – to
a fascinating level.
4. Transformations and Role play. With hypnosis, anybody can be a

method actor. You can play out an entire role play fantasy with
someone in hypnosis, imagining that they really are the role they
portray, while their subconscious knows who they really are. The
entire scene can take place in someone's mind, as vividly as any
dream, which really helps on the props and costumes budget. With
hypnotic suggestion your partner can take on an entirely different
persona, becoming a bimbo (himbo), a robot, a vampire, an animal,
or a doll as you and they wish.
5. Memory play. Making someone “forget” is part of many a

hypnotist's bag of tricks. Hiding memories can turn a routine
hypnotic trigger into a delightful surprise, or add an element of
playfulness to an otherwise highly charged scene. It's also possible to
create memories of erotic encounters which never actually took
place, but which you can then “recreate” with your partner.
6. Orgasms. Yes, of course you can use hypnosis to give someone an

orgasm. The methods are as many and varied as hypnotists and
hypnotees, ranging from the simple come-on-command to elaborate
chains of compounded suggestions that push someone's buttons until
they can't help but orgasm from it.
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Erotic Hypnosis 101
Anatomy of a Hypnotic Scene

An erotic hypnosis scene generally follows a defined sequence. The
sequence can vary a little, particularly when the people involved have an
existing relationship and have adopted habits or rules of their own, but even
then these elements are usually represented in some form.
First comes negotiation, which is the process by which those who are going
to be participating in the scene discuss and agree on what will happen
during the scene. Negotiation can be as simple as “You want to? Me too”
and as elaborate as “Let's go through this 17-page checklist of items to
make sure we agree.” Most of the time it falls somewhere between those
two extremes. The important things to remember are:
1. Negotiation in some form is essential. In existing relationships it

may be abbreviated – after all, once you know someone's likes and
limits it isn't often necessary to rehash them – but there needs to be
consensus on what the scene is about. (Mind you the potential
hypnotee might very well choose to say, “Surprise me” if they trust
the hypnotist enough, and that's fine.)
2. Negotiation takes place before anyone gets hypnotized. Hypnotizing

someone into a highly aroused state, for instance, and then feeling
them out to see how far they're willing to take it is not proper
negotiation (though it might be a hot scene if that “pushing” itself
was negotiated in advance, of course).
3. It’s important to discuss limits for everyone in the scene. The less
well you know each other the more important that becomes.
4. Negotiation does not always conclude in play. Sometimes, especially

with people who haven't played together before, you find that desires
just don't seem to mesh. “Let's not” is a perfectly valid negotiated
outcome.
5. Negotiation is also a good time to talk about aftercare needs. Once

you’ve established what your scene will be, you will be in a good
position to judge whether either of you may need anything to make
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sure you can process it.
When discussing limits, we often talk about “hard” and “soft” limits. For
most people, a hard limit is a line they absolutely will not cross and is not
up for debate. People have these, they are entitled to them, and they must be
respected. Soft limits are usually subject to context and may be negotiable,
depending on your relationship, the environment, and other factors. Soft
limits must be respected as much as hard ones are. However, if the
relationship, environment and circumstances are amenable to it the person
with the soft limit may permit it to be pushed. If you plan to do this, make
sure that you negotiate pretty explicitly what can be done in that direction
and what constitutes a hard stop.
Once the parties involved have reached agreement to play and outlined what
the scene will involve, the hypnosis begins. An induction is a method of
getting someone into trance. There are a gazillion different ways to do this,
and you'll find a number of good ones later in this book. For right now, it's
sufficient to understand that a good hypnotist should know several
inductions and be able to choose one that is suited to the person they are
working with. Obviously the more inductions a hypnotist knows the more
equipped they are to play with a variety of people.
An induction is sometimes followed by a deepener. A deepener is just a

standard routine to help someone get into a deeper (meaning more focused,
possibly more inclined to accept suggestion) state of trance. Whether a
deepener is needed or desired is usually a judgment call the hypnotist makes
after the induction.
Once a trance state has been established, it's time for suggestion. Here is
where things get fuzzy just from the nature of the many options available.
You may do the entire erotic part of the scene here, giving suggestions that
take effect immediately until the desired result is achieved. You may give
suggestions here that are intended to take effect later (called post-hypnotic
suggestions), in effect setting up a scene that will take place at another time.
You can do a combination of the two, perhaps doing some sensation play
now and planting post-hypnotic suggestions that will cause arousal and
orgasm later. You are limited only by your imaginations.
Once all the suggestions have been given, accepted, and (if desired) acted
upon, it is time for emerging. This is simply the process of getting someone
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Erotic Hypnosis 101
out of hypnosis and back into their normal waking state. Some kind of
counting up is traditional but not required. I strongly recommend including
suggestions to wake with feelings of well-being – “refreshed, energized,
happy and content” is my usual phrasing – because you want them to feel
good about being hypnotized.
Finally, to conclude the scene, comes aftercare. Yes, aftercare is important,

especially if your suggestion phase included erotic content. When someone
agrees to let you hypnotize them, you are accepting responsibility for their
physical, mental, and emotional well-being for the duration of the scene.
That makes proper aftercare part of the job.
Like negotiation, aftercare can be as simple as “You okay? Cool” or can

consist of an extended time of talking, cuddling, or whatever everyone
needs to process the scene. Take the time you need so that you are both (or
all, as the case may be) okay before you go your separate ways.
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Summing Up
Erotic hypnosis opens up a whole candy store of opportunities for people
who are creative and open to its use. It doesn't take a lot of effort to learn
the basic techniques of hypnotizing someone, giving suggestions, and
enjoying the result, and for most people learning to be hypnotized is even
easier.
Erotic hypnosis has the ability to touch on deep emotional states and as such
can be edgy if used carelessly. Communication and informed consent are
vital to enjoying erotic hypnosis safely and responsibly. Negotiation should
take place before anyone gets hypnotized, and the scene should stick to the
negotiated framework.
Once the parameters have been agreed on, the actual hypnosis is
straightforward. The hypnotist uses an induction to get the hypnotee into
trance and then gives them suggestions. Those suggestions might be the
actual scene, or they could be post-hypnotic suggestions that give
instructions for things that will happen later. Often it's a combination of
both.
Always bring someone out of hypnosis with suggestions for feeling good,
and make sure that aftercare is completed before you part company.
Remember, the hypnotist is responsible for their partner's physical, mental,
and emotional safety for the duration of the scene.
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Erotic Hypnosis 101
Discussion Points
1. Some people routinely say that they can't be hypnotized. Are they
right? Why or why not?
2. Someone you know casually comes up to you and says, “Some time
I'd really like for you to hypnotize me without my realizing it and
make me do something a little embarrassing.” How do you respond?
3. What are some of the things you would want to ask someone before
you hypnotize them?
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Exercises
1. Negotiate an erotic hypnosis scene with a partner. (You don't
necessarily have to follow through and do the scene; just practice
negotiating.) Determine things like:
1. Who will hypnotize whom?
2. What are each person's hard and soft limits?
3. What will happen during the scene?
4. Will there be any suggestions that last after the scene is over?
2. Come up with a list of ideas you would like to explore in a

hypnoerotic scene, either as a top or as a bottom. Feel free to mix
and match from the various types of hypnotic phenomena listed in
this chapter.
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Safety and Ethics
Safety and Ethics

Norm Abram started every episode of The New Yankee Workshop with the
same short speech:
“Before we use any power tools, let's take a moment to talk about shop
safety. Be sure to read, understand, and follow all of the safety rules that
come with your power tools. Knowing how to use your tools properly will
greatly reduce the risk of personal injury.”
Do a little search-and-replace and Norm's advice applies quite well to

hypnosis. Unfortunately, the safety rules aren't written in clear text in an
owner's manual; you have to learn them as you go. That learning is the point
of this lesson.
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Presenter Notes
There are certain perils to leading a talk on safety and ethics. When you
demonstrate a technique and someone disagrees with you, it's easy to turn
that into a learning experience for everyone because very few people take it
personally. When you lay down a rule of safety or ethics and someone
disagrees with you, though, things tend to go less smoothly.
An amusing statistic I was taught in Driver's Ed (longer ago than I care to

admit to) was that 80 percent of men and 60 percent of women believe they
are better-than-average drivers. My experiences after publishing Mind Play
have led me to conclude that the same principle applies to hypnotists: the
overwhelming majority of people who do erotic hypnosis believe they are
being safe and ethical in their conduct. Therefore if you lay down rules that
differ from those peoples' practices they will let you know it, often loudly
and at length. And most of the time they have a valid point.
To avoid having your lesson derailed by verbal sparring with people in

entrenched positions (which can include yourself!), you might want to do
this topic as a group discussion rather than as a lecture. Doing so allows you
to act as a facilitator rather than as The Authority On Safety And Ethics and
makes it easier to find middle ground with people who disagree with the
lesson's content or have their own take on it (“...but when I do X kind of
play that safety principle doesn't really apply so well...”).
Another pitfall in safety and ethics classes is the temptation to preach. The
discussion format makes it easier to avoid this because it's not one single
person talking to many. If you find yourself, or someone else in the group,
getting louder or starting to repeat themselves, that's a sign that they may be
slipping into preacher mode and it's time to let someone else speak.
The last peril I want to mention is that of over-emphasizing this topic. “But
Wiseguy,” I can almost hear you protesting, “how can you possibly over-
emphasize safety and ethics?” Trust me, you can! This is particularly likely
to happen once there's been an incident – a real or perceived breach of
consent, an accidental injury, that sort of thing. There is a tendency, for the
best of reasons, to overreact; to start pushing ever more stringent rules about
negotiation and active consent and considering every possible way in which
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Safety and Ethics
things can go wrong before you ever even consider playing with someone
else, until one day you realize that your attendance at meet-ups has dropped
off precipitously and nobody who's left in attendance seems to know why.
I like to think in terms of RACK (Risk Aware Consensual Kink). Erotic

hypnosis is a form of edge play. People sometimes make mistakes, and then
they do what they can to fix them. When people choose to engage in this
activity, they need to accept the risk that something not-fun may happen and
trust in each other to deal with it like responsible adults when/if it does.
That attitude, in my opinion, is a lot more realistic and practical than trying
to predict and prevent every possible mishap.
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Playing Safe
One of the fascinating things about playing with hypnosis is that everybody
is different. People respond differently to the same suggestion, often in
ways that are delightful and fun and lead to more interesting play sessions.
With that great variety, however, comes an equally great potential for things
to go wrong.
Most of the time what goes wrong is simply an accident. The hypnotist says
something they think is clear and unambiguous, and their hypnotee
interprets it in a way they didn't expect. We usually refer to this as the Law
of Unintended Consequences, which is simply the hypnotist's version of the
infamous Murphy's Law: Whatever can go wrong, will.
As a hypnotist, when someone agrees to let you play with them, you are
assuming responsibility for that person's physical, mental, and emotional
well-being for the duration of the scene. Fulfilling that responsibility is
largely a matter of thinking through what you plan to do and then taking
reasonable care to avoid the most likely mishaps. When you do, it shows
that you care about your partners and makes it that much easier for both of
you to relax and enjoy the play.
This is not to say that hypnotees are powerless, delicate flowers that must be
cared for and protected in every way lest they wither. As I mentioned in the
previous chapter, a person can always refuse a hypnotic suggestion they
perceive as unacceptable. However, the nature of hypnosis does place the
hypnotee in the more emotionally vulnerable position.
It may help to think of hypnosis as similar to rock-climbing: the belayer

(hypnotist) by holding the rope assumes the bulk of the responsibility, but
it’s still incumbent on the climber (hypnotee) to be smart and make good
choices. The need for good communication flows both ways, as I have yet
to meet a hypnotist that could read their partner’s mind. I know I can’t.
Physical Safety and Comfort

Usually the easiest hazards to spot are those in the physical environment.
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Safety and Ethics
Slips, trips, and falls are seldom fun and usually put a damper on your hot
erotic scene, so be aware of what you plan to do and what might happen.
People who are hypnotized while standing up do not always remain

standing. This is especially true if you do an instant induction that involves
pulling the person off balance, as many do. You need to be prepared to
catch them so they won't land on the floor. Also be aware that not everyone
falls forward – I've had people drop straight down instead. You need to be
prepared to catch them whichever way they fall. If you are hypnotizing
someone much taller/larger/heavier than you are it's important to make sure
that you are braced, with one foot behind you, so that they don't just bowl
you over on their way down. It's a good idea to have a chair close at hand,
preferably behind the person you are hypnotizing, so you can lower them
into it instead of having to hold them up for the entire scene.
People who are hypnotized while seated do not always remain seated. The
metal folding chairs typically found at hotels, conferences, and meeting
rooms are particularly easy to slide out of when someone gets really
relaxed, or if they start squirming around. You can counteract that with
simple suggestions along these lines:
No matter how deeply your body relaxes, you always remain

safely and comfortably seated in the chair, as if held safely in
place by an invisible seat belt.
If you make a suggestion that may result in them squirming in the chair
(having an orgasm, perhaps, or trying to struggle against imaginary bonds)
reiterate that no matter how much they squirm or struggle they always
remain safely seated in the chair.
If the chair is hard, they may need to shift occasionally to stay comfortable.
Make sure you suggest that they can do this while remaining deeply
hypnotized – you might even suggest that doing so takes them deeper.
There will be times when you want your hypnotee to stand up and walk
around. Before you do that, make sure there is nothing in the path that they
may trip on. Also, make sure that you instruct them to open their eyes
(remaining deeply in trance if that's your desire) so that they can see where
they are going – this makes it much easier for them to aim for a doorway,
avoid furniture, etc. as they would normally.
74
Pay attention to your hypnotee's body position. A lot of people, when they
relax in an upright chair, tend to let their head drop forward onto their chest.
Sitting there with one's chin digging into the breastbone is very bad for the
neck and tends to get uncomfortable quickly. When a partner of mine does
this I lift their head gently to an upright position and suggest that their neck
muscles can find that spot of perfect equilibrium, where their head remains
balanced comfortably upright even as they continue to relax. Hypnosis can
give someone the sensation of locked muscles, but that doesn't mean they
don't get fatigued or sore, so don't make someone hold their arms out or
stick out one leg for a long time. If you are doing freeze or mannequin play,
make sure your hypnotee is always in a stable position when you freeze
them, or suggest that their body can always find a way to stabilize itself
when told to freeze.
And speaking of freezing: if you are going to have your partner strip, turn
up the thermostat a little bit beforehand so they will stay warm.
If you are playing with someone you don't know well, it's a good idea to ask
about any physical limitations or injuries they may have. If they have a bad
knee, or chronic back problems, do NOT suggest that they crawl around on
the floor like a cat. If they mention a recent shoulder injury, abandon your
plan for an arm-pulling instant induction and be careful how you position
them when you do that hypno-bondage demo. Someone who is going to
spend most of the scene with their eyes closed really doesn't need their
eyeglasses; take them and set them aside in a safe place so they don't fall off
and break.
Landmines
Your partner's mind may contain hazards of its own that aren't immediately
apparent. Like landmines, they sit beneath the surface and if you step on
one it can ruin all of the planned fun.
The most common sort of landmine is a strong aversion or phobia. These

are easy to work around because generally people who have these know
about them and are just as eager as you are to avoid triggering them.
Experienced hypno-bottoms will usually volunteer the information that they
are phobic of water, or heights, or falling, and you can easily modify the
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Safety and Ethics
imagery you use with them to avoid those concepts. With a first-time
partner you can ask, “Do you have any things that especially freak you out,
or that you're afraid of?” and they will probably know – it's rare that
someone discovers a phobia for the first time during mind play. As a
hypnotist consider asking your partner something like, “Are you OK with
imagery involving (what you plan)?” if you are concerned about triggers.
As a hypnotee, it is important to volunteer this sort of information as it will
make your trance time more fun!
Another sort of landmine, less common but still important, is a past trauma.
People are often rightfully reluctant to talk about these, especially with
someone they've just met, but someone who has been sexually abused, been
victim of or witness to a violent crime, or involved in a serious accident
(among other things) can have triggers that bring back panic, powerlessness,
and other highly unpleasant emotions. And since you don't know their
history, you don't know how to avoid that traumatic memory. You can ask
something like, “Are there any things I should avoid saying or doing
because they might trigger a past trauma?” if you suspect there is something
or want to be sure. If they seem dubious, you can assure them that you don't
want or need to know the details; you just want to know enough to avoid
accidentally stumbling into that territory. If they remain dubious, ask them
for broad areas of things to avoid, rather than any sort of specifics.
Another approach to uncovering possible landmines is to talk to your

prospective partner about their previous erotic hypnosis (or just hypnosis)
experiences. You want to know about the good ones, so that you can take
clues as to what they've enjoyed in the past and what has worked for them.
You also want to know about any bad experiences so you can avoid
repeating those.
Abreactions
When you do step on a landmine, the most common result is what's called
an abreaction: a strong emotional response that occurs in hypnosis as a
result of something happening in the trance. Professional hypnotists doing
therapy often cause an abreaction on purpose, because when properly
handled it can be cathartic and lead to new learnings and insights for the
person having the abreaction. In erotic hypnosis, however, you are NOT
76
doing therapy so you never want to intentionally cause an abreaction.
When an abreaction happens in a play context, it's never a good thing. Your
responsibility as a hypnotist is to get your partner out of that head space and
into a place where they feel safe and protected, then end the trance and the
scene. You can talk about it in after care if they feel as if they want to, and
if you still want to do the scene you can do it later. Remember, though, that
whether you’re trained for it or not, play and therapy do not mix.
Most people give a few warning signs before they go into full abreaction.
The most common signs of an oncoming abreaction are a sharp increase in
respiration, visible tension in the face or hands (clutching or clawing is
common), and an agitated posture or a sudden increase in body movement.
If you see someone who was calm suddenly looking upset, you've got an
abreaction in the offing. Stop what you're doing immediately and deal with
it.
If you miss the warning signs or do not stop and forestall it, a full
abreaction can be very disturbing to witness. Everyone is different and
every situation is unique, but in general you can expect a person in
abreaction to cry or call out, often yelling at figures in their memory; they
can become physically active, even violent, depending on what they are
reliving, or they can curl up into a ball on the floor and sob.
Your first duty when you see an abreaction coming on, or when it's started,
is to get your trance partner out of that state. It is vital that you remain calm
yourself, because if your voice sounds tense or worried that will impress
itself on their subconscious and the abreaction can get worse. Suggest that
your partner allow the scene they find themselves in to fade back into their
memory, that they step away from that scene and into a place where they
feel absolutely safe and secure, safe and protected. Keep making
suggestions to distance them from the upsetting scene in their head and coax
them into a place where they feel safe and protected. Keep your voice firm
but calm – yelling will only make things worse. It is also a good idea to
avoid touching the person, even if your relationship is such that you are
normally expected or allowed to touch, because it can make you a part of
the emotional scene in their mind. You need to be the lifeline back to the
here and now, to that safe place.
Once your partner is visibly calmer, gently bring them out of trance. Use a
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Safety and Ethics
long count, maybe 10, and keep repeating that they come all the way back
safe, protected, and secure. Spend as long as you need to with them to make
sure they are all the way out and back in a positive head space.
My policy is that if someone abreacts while playing with me, they are
finished with hypno-play for the day. This is not to punish them for having
a perfectly natural emotional reaction; it's a safety issue. Someone fresh off
an abreaction almost always still has a lot of emotional churning going on
deep beneath the surface. It is best to let their subconscious process that
before they start playing again, or there is a strong chance that they will
abreact again and that's never pleasant.
Safer Suggestion
I'm using the expression “safer suggestion” in the same context as “safer
sex” – you can never be 100 percent certain of safety, but you can take
reasonable precautions and any mishaps should be minor and fixable.
When you give suggestions to someone in hypnosis, how you word them
can have a huge impact on how effective they are and also how safe and
comfortable the person will be carrying them out. The key here is to avoid
surprises by following a few rules of thumb:
1. Use simple, precise language. Hypnotized people are notoriously

literal-minded. They are not usually good at interpreting sarcasm,
slang, or long, convoluted sentences. They also will not necessarily
fill in missing steps in a process, such as opening their eyes before
trying to walk across a room.
2. Repeat yourself. Giving the suggestion multiple times, using as

close to the same words as you can, will help the subconscious mind
absorb it.
3. Be positive. Suggest, “Do X” rather than “Don't do Y.” The

subconscious has a tendency to ignore don't, not, and similar
negation words (like a 2-year-old who hears “don't touch that” and
immediately reaches out to touch that). Even it they do process
“Don't do Y” correctly, you're still leaving it up to them to determine
what to do instead and you may not be prepared for what they
78
decide.
4. Repeat yourself. Tell them what the suggestion will be; tell them
the suggestion; then tell them what the suggestion you just told them
was.
5. Get subconscious buy-in. I will often end a set of suggestions

meant to be long-lasting with something like, “And when your
subconscious has fully accepted these suggestions and made them a
permanent part of your habits and behaviors, you can <make some
small physical gesture>.”
If you are giving someone a post-hypnotic suggestion, think about the

circumstances under which that suggestion might get triggered. Become
very familiar with phrases like these:
“Only when it is safe and appropriate ...”
“Only when I say to you <whatever> do you ...”
“The next time, and only the next time … “
“When I say <whatever> and <make some gesture or touch>...”
Using qualifiers like those is important because it helps to avoid creating

open triggers – post-hypnotic suggestions that can be accidentally (or
intentionally!) activated at inappropriate times or by unauthorized people. If
you are playing with multiple people who might end up in the same place at
the same time (such as at NEEHU,) you might want to make your triggers
specific to the individual hypnotee by adding their name or a touch to the
trigger event. People have self-protection mechanisms, such as the hidden
observer, and will typically not respond to a trigger in a context that is
obviously going to endanger, embarrass, or inconvenience them but it is
very poor safety practice to put someone in a position where that gets tested.
Doing it deliberately would be extremely unethical.
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Safe Words
I'm a fan of safe words. Most play spaces have standard ones, and in Mind
Play I actually state as a rule that that safe words should always be
established and used. Some in the community have called that unnecessarily
harsh, and they make a good point. If you are doing light hypnotic play – an
induction, maybe a few Kinky Human Tricks or a guided fantasy, an
emerging – that's like a walk in the park. It is highly unlikely that you're
going to get into a situation where a safe word is needed.
On the other hand, suppose you are negotiating a more “edgy” type of
scene, like a brutal interrogation scene. Perhaps one of you is not as
experienced as the other. Maybe one of you wants to experiment with
stretching their soft limits. That's more like a hike through a dense forest;
smart hikers bring some basic gear to help find their way out if things get
hairy. Safe words are the hypnotic (and BDSM) equivalent of that gear, and
the denser the woods you intend to explore the more important it is to have
them.
The green/yellow/red system from Mind Play is pretty standard and works
well. Using that system, when someone says Red the scene comes to an
immediate stop, the trance session ends, and everyone goes straight to
aftercare (and hopefully discusses what just went wrong). When someone
says Yellow the scene pauses, they communicate what is making them
uncomfortable, and the others in the scene redirect so that things stay fun.
When someone is particularly enjoying what is happening, they can say
Green to mean “I would love more of this!” I often give people the
suggestion that their subconscious mind uses these words automatically
whenever they are appropriate, and that no hypnotic suggestion can ever
prevent them from saying a safe word.
With an empowered or experienced bottom, the ultimate safe word is

simply “no.” If no really means no – and it always does, unless you've
negotiated otherwise – and you are both committed to using it as soon as
things start to get uncomfortable, then “no” can actually be liberating. Used
that way, when you have a foundation of trust, “no” can redirect the scene
without bringing it to a screeching halt.
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It is also a good idea to practice using safe words once in a while.

Especially in a long-term play (or deeper) relationship, people sometimes
become reluctant to use a safe word for any number of reasons. So once in a
while, negotiate a scene in which you will deliberately push your partner
into a situation where they should use a safeword, and make sure that they
do so. It’s a good idea to reinforce the suggestions you use to install the safe
words, and when you do to lay emphasis on their special properties:
Safe words come out automatically, immediately, instinctively when

they are appropriate, whether the person’s conscious mind is aware
of them or not
No hypnotic suggestion can ever interfere with the ability to say safe
words
Remember, too, that safe words are for communication; if you are doing a
scene with someone and they safe word that is not a criticism of you, it’s
feedback. Take it and use it.
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Safety and Ethics
Ethics
The subject of ethics is always touchy, because people tend to want to
define what is ethical for themselves and take offense when someone else
brands their choice as unethical. The three-page section in Mind Play called
“Wiseguy's Guide to Ethical Hypnotic Play” has garnered me more heated
feedback than the other 200 pages combined, and a lot of it was well
grounded. So let's toss the idea of rules entirely and focus instead on the
core principles that should be mandatory for any hypnotic play.
Consent
Everyone has a right to their limits, and to have those limits respected. No
has to mean no, unless you have specifically negotiated otherwise before
anyone gets hypnotized. Taking someone into trance and then trying to push
them beyond the agreed-on limits is unethical behavior. The one exception
to that would be if they had explicitly negotiated a push scene – and even
then, to be on firm ground those involved should agree ahead of time on
what limit(s) are okay to push on, and anything else is to be respected at all
times.
In the same vein, it’s a best to presume that only “yes” means yes. If in
negotiation one of you says “I’d like to do such-and-such” and the other
says something neutral or noncommittal, you do not have consent yet. Ask
for the yes if you intend to do that in the scene.
What people often overlook in discussing consent issues is that it flows both
ways. Hypnotists also have limits, and their limits deserve just as much
respect as the hypnotee's. As a hypnotist, it is important to take the time to
think about and define your personal limits. I've had people try to push
against my limits from the bottom, and it's not pleasant even when you are
theoretically the one in control. One advantage of being the hypnotist in that
situation is that, as the one theoretically in control of the flow, you can more
easily end the scene immediately if needed, and you should. The hypnotee
can always snap out of trance and/or disregard a suggestion they are not
okay with, but this is not a pleasant way to end a scene.
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A breach of consent is not always an act of malice. Most of the ones I've
witnessed or been involved in were accidental. A suggestion may be
worded in a way that the recipient interprets as beyond what they consented
to, for example, or the participants may have different understandings of
something they thought they had agreed on. As long as the hypnotist
handles these situations responsibly, retracting the offending suggestion(s)
immediately and expressing genuine contrition, this does not have to be a
hanging offense. People do make mistakes and we unfortunately cannot
actually read each other’s minds. If someone makes the same mistakes
consistently, that's another story.
Someone who knowingly or willfully violates negotiated limits, ignores the

need to obtain consent, or otherwise acts against the interests of their scene
partners is a bad actor. It is important for the safety of everyone that these
individuals be identified and held accountable for their choices. That can be
difficult, as there is no Hypno Police Force with which to file a complaint.
My advice, for what it's worth, is this:
Direct confrontation, if you are okay with doing that, is often the
best approach. Tell the person what they did wrong and why it was
wrong. Mistake is far more common than malice, so don't assume
they were deliberately trying to harm you unless the evidence is very
clear that they were. When addressing the person, stay focused on
the facts; don't let yourself get drawn into a shouting match or a
philosophical debate over generalities.
If you are sure the incident was intentional and the offender is a
member of a local community group, speak to the leader(s) of the
group about it, preferably in private. There isn't much they can do
other than inform the individual that the behavior was unacceptable
and they are no longer welcome at group functions if it continues,
but if you are dealing with a deliberate bad actor that can limit their
opportunities.
If the offense happened at a convention, speak to the convention

organizers. Organizers go to a great deal of effort to ensure that their
con is a safe space for people to play and explore, so if something is
disturbing that they will want to know. The individual may be taken
aside by someone well-known and respected to counsel them on
appropriate behavior. In severe cases the offender can be escorted
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Safety and Ethics
out of the con and barred from re-entering.
If the breach of consent did not happen to you, or to someone that is

under your protection, then stay out of it. Let the people who were
actually part of the incident resolve it, report it, or do whatever they
choose to do about it. Encourage them to report it, but it’s up to them
to do it -- they are the only ones who really know what happened.
Covert Hypnosis and NLP

There are a number of people in the community who are skilled in covert
hypnosis and neurolinguistic programming (NLP). These are influence
techniques that can be used in the context of normal conversation – subtle
uses of language, gestures, and tonality that sneak past the critical factor to
communicate directly with the subconscious. Often the person these
techniques are used on does not consciously realize they are being
influenced. This has caused some heated discussion on FetLife and in other
forums about the use of NLP and covert techniques without first obtaining
consent.
Practitioners of NLP – and for the record, I practice and teach NLP
professionally myself – will often defend the practice by stating that it is
simply communicating in a way that is naturally effective and persuasive.
People are targeted by NLP and waking suggestion constantly throughout
their day, deliberately and otherwise, but nobody points a finger and
screams “consent violation!” unless it happens during a hypnosis session.
The defenders do have a point, in that we all experience NLP techniques

and waking suggestions all the time. The layout of your local grocery store,
the design of the uniforms worn by police officers, the commercial
messages in every radio, TV, and print media ad … all of these are carefully
engineered to influence us and nobody asked our consent first. However, all
of those examples are impersonal. The people who design the grocery store
layout, the police uniforms, the ads, are targeting the general public and
leveraging their knowledge of human behavior to get the general public to
buy more stuff, respect the police officers, buy the products, etc. It's not
really practical to ask the general public for consent. Not until humans
develop a hive mind, anyway.
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When someone uses NLP, waking suggestion, or some other influence

technique on another person, however, the target is very specific. It is easy
to ask one person, or a classroom of people, for consent before you start
trying to mess with their minds. So easy, in fact, that it should be considered
obligatory. I consider it egregiously unethical to use NLP, covert
suggestion, etc. to influence someone’s attitudes or behaviors without
obtaining their conscious consent first. At best, it’s giving that person
something they didn’t ask for, and may not want; at worst, it’s imposing
your will on someone else, as if you had successfully walked up to them,
done a surprise hypnosis induction without consent, and given them
suggestions that you want them to follow. No matter what twisted
rationalizations anyone tries to wrap around that, it’s sleazy.
If you or your partner really likes the idea of being covertly

influenced/seduced that way, you can always negotiate this and gain
consent beforehand. It’s pretty common in the community for people to
give specific others blanket permission to trance them whenever they
happen to be together. You can negotiate a similar advance consent for NLP
or covert hypnosis with someone who wants it, or wants to do it, and then
you and they can have all the spontaneous covert-hypno-NLP fun you want.
Negotiation
As I mentioned in Chapter 3, negotiation can take many forms. How you do
negotiation isn't really that important as long as everyone involved is
satisfied that their needs are being met. What is important is that when
negotiation ends, everyone involved has the same understanding of what
was negotiated.
When I negotiate a scene as a top, I spend about 80 percent of the time

listening and asking my partner questions. That's my nature as a service top
– I want to know what my bottom's hot buttons are, how they like to have
them pressed, and where I can fit my own preferences and desires into that
framework. A more alpha type might spend more time describing what they
want to get out of the scene and then working out how to fit their bottom's
needs/wants into it.
Negotiation is important for hypnotees too, of course. An empowered
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Safety and Ethics
hypnotee knows what they want out of a scene and states their desires and
limits clearly up front. Always remember that it is perfectly okay for a
bottom to say No during negotiation. It's also okay to say “Surprise me” if
you are dealing with a top who knows you and is familiar with your limits
and has earned your trust.
When you negotiate a scene it's vital that you communicate clearly and
honestly. If you have both hard and soft limits, that's fine. State which limits
are soft, and what your tolerance is for pushing those if that's what you
want. Remember that tops have limits too, and it's equally important for the
top to make those known so that you each know where the other is coming
from.
Be as specific as you can when discussing the aspects of the scene. One
person's idea of objectification, for example, may be completely different
from another's. If you want to freeze someone in place like a mannequin,
strip them naked, and pose them while you take some photos, say so – and
be sure that you agree on what will happen to the photos!
Negotiation does not always have to end in play. Sometimes you'll get into
negotiating with someone and discover that what they really want to do
right then isn't really compatible with what you want. In that case it's better
to simply say “No, thanks” than to agree to a scene you're not really into.
Respect
The third pillar of erotic hypnosis ethics, for me, is the concept of respect.
When someone trusts me to play with their mind, I feel obligated to treat
their mind and body with the utmost respect, and to return them in as good a
condition as when I received them. Anything less would be unethical.
Part of practicing respect is honesty. You don't have to tell your trance
partner everything about your life, dreams, and aspirations to do a scene,
but anything you do tell them needs to be true. Be open and honest about
anything that is relevant to the scene. If you need to know something that
your partner has not disclosed – for example, you want to make sure you are
both legal adults – ask. If they won't give you a straight answer, decide
whether you want to risk playing with them.
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Responsible, respectful hypnotists clean up after themselves. If you are

doing a casual play session with someone, any suggestions you give them
should end when the session ends unless you've negotiated otherwise. Any
triggers you set should be removed unless you negotiated otherwise. If you
are in a relationship with them, either as “friends with hypno-benefits” or
something more, then lasting suggestions and triggers may be appropriate.
If you are playing with someone who trances with other hypnotists, respect
their desire to do so. Do not try to countermand, erase, alter, or take
ownership of any triggers or suggestions that other hypnotists have placed
unless your partner requested that you do it. It is especially sleazy to try and
prevent your partner from being hypnotized by other people. Even if you
are in a monogamous relationship, that could end very badly if something
unexpected happens.
When you set triggers, make sure they are well-formed. Follow the
guidelines under “Safer Suggestion” earlier in this chapter.
Know and understand your trance partner’s limits and stay within them as
negotiated. Your partner always has the right and ability to refuse a
suggestion, even if it falls within negotiated limits, and they should never be
scolded or punished for doing so. Your partner always has a right to safe
word, and should always be supported in doing so. So do you. Unless you
negotiated otherwise, your partner should always be able to remember any
suggestions that were given during a scene after the scene is over.
Also, know and understand your limits. If you are not trained in
hypnotherapy, do not try to help your partner lose weight, stop smoking,
overcome their fear of pencils, or whatever other non-recreational thing
they ask for. Send them to a professional. If you are a professional, you
should still consider carefully whether it is wise to do therapy with someone
that you are intimately involved with.
As a hypnotee, it is equally important to practice respect for your chosen

top. Communicate your desires and limits clearly and specifically. Honestly
disclose anything that may be relevant to the scene, and especially anything
that could derail the scene or cause you to abreact. You don’t necessarily
have to disclose all the intimate details; just give your hypnotist enough to
know they should avoid <X>. Trust is essential to successful hypnosis, so if
there is something you feel the need to hide from this specific top,
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reconsider whether they are the right person for you to be playing with.
Give your hypnotist honest feedback so they can know what worked well
for you and what didn't. Do not ask your recreational hypnotist to practice
amateur hypnotherapy with you; if you need that kind of help, seek out a
professional hypnotist. If your partner is a professional, they may not be a
good therapist for you because it's hard to be objective with someone close;
understand that and respect their choice if they decline or refer you to a
colleague.
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Touching
While not necessarily an ethics or safety issue, this seems like a good time
to discuss touching in the context of erotic hypnosis. There are times when a
hypnotist will want or need to touch their hypnotee. Sometimes it's for
safety (to prevent them falling during an instant induction, for instance), or
is a necessary part of the induction. Sometimes it's for effect, such as
running a finger along an extended arm while suggesting it becomes stiff
and rigid. Sometimes the touch is meant to be arousing or explicitly sexual.
Whatever the reason, it is incumbent on the hypnotist to get permission
before touching their trance partner.
Getting consent to touch is important for a couple of reasons. First and

foremost, a lot of people are not comfortable being touched. Asking for
permission first makes sure that your bottom has agreed to it and is okay
with it. Also, people in trance may not react well to surprises. If you did not
discuss touching and your partner suddenly feels a hand on their leg, that
can be jarring enough to pull them out of trance in a very unpleasant way.
It's also important to be precise when asking permission to touch. Asking,

“Is it okay if I touch you?” and leaving it at that invites a positive response,
but you and your hypnotee may have completely different ideas of what
areas are okay for touch. Instead ask permission to touch the areas on the
body that you anticipate touching – “For this scene I may need to touch you
on the arms, shoulders, back, or head; is that okay with you?” And once you
have that permission, only touch in those places. If you didn't ask
permission to touch their legs, don't be grabbing their knees and spreading
them apart.
There have been times – usually during a demo, of course, when dozens of
people are watching and I'm trying to pay attention to them as well as to my
demo bottom – when I've forgotten to ask permission to touch. It doesn't
necessarily have to be a problem. If the touch is innocuous, like the arm
drops in a Dave Elman induction, it's generally okay to ask permission
while the person is still in trance as long as you do it in a non-leading way,
such as, “Is it okay with you if I lift your arm by the wrist?” Anything more
intimate than that is going to depend on your relationship with your
hypnotee. If your relationship with them is such that you generally have
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consent to touch them in that way, in similar environments, it may be okay

to do it again. If there is any doubt in your mind, don't do it.
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Discussion Points
1. Chris is 5' 2” and 110 lbs; Fran is 6 feet tall and 200 lbs. They have
been paired up to practice standing instant inductions. What
precautions should they take?
2. You have a hypnotee, with whom you've been socially friendly for a
while, in trance and are guiding them through an erotic fantasy
scene. You can tell that they are close to orgasm but not quite getting
there on suggestion alone. A light touch or two, on the inner thigh or
perhaps a little higher, would probably do it, but you didn't anticipate
this and so didn't ask permission. What are some things can you do
now to bring them to orgasm?
3. Consider this trigger:
Each and every time you hear the phrase 'tied up' your arms cross
behind you and you feel them bound at the wrists. The harder you try
to pull against the bond the more firmly your wrists remain tied
together. You remain bound in this way, unable to separate your
wrists, until I tap them three times like this. Then normal movement
returns to your arms and you are no longer bound.
What is wrong with this trigger? How would you reword it to make
it safer?
4. You are starting a scene with a new hypnotee in which they wish to
experience hypnotic amnesia. You begin by having them imagine
walking down a corridor in their mind until they come upon a locked
closet where they can hide memories temporarily. Your partner
immediately starts sobbing and crying out, “Don't lock me in the
closet again! I'll be good, I swear!” and clutching the chair. What do
you do? Could this have been anticipated through reasonable means?
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Starter Inductions
Starter Inductions
An induction is a method for getting someone into trance. One of the basic
rules of being a good hypnotist is to suit the induction method you use to
the person you are hypnotizing. Clearly, then, the more inductions you
know the more versatile a hypnotist you can be.
In my professional hypnotherapy course, I teach my students about 20

inductions. The ones I teach first are the ones in this lesson. Just knowing
these will get you started toward becoming a well-rounded, versatile
hypnotist.
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Presenter Notes
Inductions classes are very easy to present because they're all about
technique. You don't have to do a lot of justifying why someone would
want to learn inductions, because you've got a self-selected audience – if
they didn't want to learn to hypnotize they wouldn't be there!
I chose the inductions in this lesson with the new hypnotist in mind. These
inductions are easy to learn, involving just a few steps, and don't rely on
fancy word-play or exact pacing. They are also generally effective for a
wide variety of people.
When teaching inductions to a group, I like to follow the 4MAT system for
each induction. First, I name the induction and describe in very general
terms what it does and under what circumstances I tend to use it (Why).
Then I select a volunteer and perform the induction on them so the audience
can see it done (What). Next I explain how the induction worked, referring
to the demo I just did when it helps to do so (How). If conditions are good
for it (meaning I have the time and the class isn't too big to make it
practical), I have the class pair off and do the induction with each other (still
How). Then I wrap up by mentioning variations on the technique (What If).
If you include time for the class practice, you can teach 3-4 inductions in an
hour-long class without having to rush.
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Starter Inductions
Eye Fixation
The eye fixation induction is one of the most well-known, and one that
people are most likely to be familiar with from movies or television. Which
is helpful, because people have been conditioned to expect it to work. That
makes the eye fixation technique a good general-purpose induction to use
with people who are new to being hypnotized as well as with experienced
people.
The classic fixation object is a pocket watch, pendant, or crystal that you
swing back and forth in front of your hypnotee's face while they watch it. A
plastic chandelier crystal tied onto the end of a piece of thread makes a
simple, effective, and cheap (less than a dollar, depending on the crystal)
fixation object.
Swinging Crystal
For purposes of this text, let's assume that you picked up a cheap plastic
chandelier crystal and tied it onto the end of a length of quilting or
embroidery thread (I like gold or silver metallic thread, which is thicker
than standard sewing thread but cheaper and more flexible than chain).
After obtaining consent from your hypnotee, raise the crystal in front of
their face, slightly above eye level and about 12-18 inches away from them,
or more if necessary. You want them to be able to see the crystal clearly, so
glasses are okay if they are needed for near vision.
Instruct your hypnotee to keep their head still and to follow the crystal with
their eyes. Then start swinging it easily back and forth. The speed doesn't
matter unless it's too fast for your volunteer to track. And while it swings,
say something like:
Just keep your eyes focused on that crystal. Notice every facet,
even as it swings back and forth. Isn't it interesting how the light
catches it and bounces off? Can you see through it, catching
flashes of color from the scenery behind it? And maybe you've
already noticed, or maybe not, that the more you focus all of your
attention on the crystal, the more your inner dialog – all those
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thoughts and ideas that constantly chatter through your mind –

slows down, and quiets. Letting all of your attention be
completely focused on this crystal, following it, observing it, to
the exclusion of everything else around you.
By now your partner's eyes should be starting to get fatigued. Look for them
to blink. Pick a blink and continue:
That's right. You're concentrating so well, following so closely,

that you may not have noticed your eyes becoming tired, wanting
to blink more. And that's okay; eyes get tired, especially when
they are so intently focused, and it's perfectly natural to feel that
tiredness, that heaviness, creeping into your eyelids each and
every time you blink. Many people find that each time they blink
their eyes are a little slower to open again, and it starts to
become more and more difficult to keep them focused on the
crystal.
You can help things along a little by slowly, subtly letting the crystal inch a
little closer to their face. That will inherently make it harder to focus on, so
take credit for that:
In fact, by now you may be noticing yourself how easily the

crystal seems to get blurry instead of sharp. Having a more and
more difficult time keeping it in focus. And with those eyes getting
so tired, lids so heavy with each and every blink, you may find
your attention wandering a little … wondering how good it will
feel to simply close your eyes and keep them closed … good.
Eyelids getting heavier and heavier … sleepier and sleeper …
wanting so much to close down now …
Everyone is different, of course. If your partner heeded the implied

command in that last sentence and closed their eyes, you're done – just tell
them to keep relaxing, going deeper, feeling so good, and you can put the
crystal down. If they open them again, just keep suggesting that they get
heavier and heavier with each blink, wanting so much to just close down.
Another way to finish the induction is to do a little reverse psychology:
And as I count from five down to one, you can perhaps imagine
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Starter Inductions
that with each number your struggle harder and harder to keep
your eyes open. That's right, no matter how much they want to
close now, try to keep your eyes from closing until I reach one.
Five, eyelids getting heavier and heavier … four, each blink
getting longer, harder to reopen those eyes … three, so ready to
just let them close down now, but struggling to open after each
blink … two, so close now, so ready to just close your eyes and
relax so deeply, closing, closing … one, letting your eyes close
now, and as they do feeling a wave of relaxation passing all the
way from the top of your head to the tips of your toes … good.
The fixation object doesn't have to be a crystal, of course. A pocket watch is

also iconic, and since you don't care how well it runs for this purpose you
can buy any cheap pocket watch that's interesting to look at. A woman's
pendant also works nicely for this purpose because the weight at the end
makes it easy to swing.
You don't have to swing the object back and forth, either. Sometimes I'll use
a round crystal with a lot of facets. It's a little heavy for swinging, so I spin
it instead. The ball rotates, winding up its thread, and then slows down and
reverses itself as the thread unwinds. It will keep doing this for a couple of
minutes depending on the thread, which is more than enough time to do the
induction.
Eye fixation inductions are also done with fixed points. You can have your
hypnotee choose a spot on the wall, or the ceiling, to stare at – any spot
above eye level is ideal, to help get that muscle fatigue.
And of course there's the ever-popular “Look deeply into my eyes” variant.
If you do this one, I suggest that you actually focus your gaze on an
imaginary point just behind one of your hypnotee's eyes. You will still be
able to observe them that way, but you will seem to be looking through
them. If you have the confidence to do the eye-to-eye variant, you'll find it
is a wonderfully intimate way to draw someone into hypnosis, which makes
it very well suited to erotic trancing.
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Relaxation
Relaxation inductions are a staple of hypnotists everywhere. They require
very little skill to perform, and like the swinging watch they benefit from a
ton of cultural references that prime people to expect them to work.
The standard relaxation method is well known: have your hypnotee settle
down comfortably, eyes closed, and then concentrate on relaxing the body
one part at a time. Some hypnotists start at the feet and work their way up;
others start at the scalp and work their way down. Depending on how
granular you get in choosing body parts, the process can take anywhere
from 5 to 30 minutes.
I hate that induction! It takes an inordinate amount of time, it's a cliché, and
at the end of it your hypnotee is limp as a dishrag and borderline
unresponsive – or, they checked out and went to sleep on you. And, I'll
admit, I tend to view the classic progressive relaxation induction as the
calling card of the unimaginative, unskilled, barely-competent hypnotist.
But that's just my personal bias; if you like this induction and want to use it,
more power to you.
Body Scanning
A quicker, far less tedious relaxation induction is the Body Scanning
induction. In Body Scanning, we use the concept of relaxation but in a more
active manner.
Start by having your hypnotee sit comfortably. Get permission to touch the
top of their head, arms, shoulders, and back of the neck. (You may not need
all of that, but it's better to ask and not touch than to touch and not ask.)
Then begin:
Close your eyes now and relax yourself as best you can, knowing
that if you follow my instructions nothing can keep you from
entering a deep state of trance in just a minute or two.
Place your palm lightly on top of the hypnotee's head and hold it there.
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Starter Inductions
Imagine right now a powerful wave of relaxation emanating from

my palm downward. Feel the wave flowing through your head,
down your neck, your shoulders, your chest and back, arms and
legs, all the way down to the tips of your toes. That's right.
Remove your hand.
And in a moment when my hand touches your head again, I want

you to imagine another wave of relaxation, twice as powerful as
the first …
Put your hand back on their head and say:
Now. Feel your head relaxing, neck relaxing, shoulders drooping,

arms going floppy … chest and back, stomach, hips, legs, feet all
going loose and limp, floppy and heavy, like a rag doll sitting in a
chair. …
Remove your hand.
That's right, you're doing perfectly. And now, when I touch your
head again, another wave of complete, total relaxation pours
down through you, leaving your entire body so relaxed, so loose,
so limp, that it's simply too much trouble to even think about
moving.
Wait for them to breathe in. Put your hand back on their head just as they
start to exhale and this time push very gently.
Deeper relaxed … your head, your neck, your shoulders all

letting go completely. Your arms and legs going floppy, heavy,
loose, limp. Chest, back, and stomach completely relaxed now,
completely relaxed.
Very, very good.
At this point, lift an arm at the wrist and wobble it a little. If it feels heavy
and loose, and it wiggles without them trying to help you, you're done. If
they do try to help you, repeat the body scan a couple more times.
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If you can get behind your hypnotee easily, you can substitute a downward
press on the shoulders for the hand on the head. Pressing down on the
shoulders is a near-universal command to relax the shoulders, and that
downward sensation tends to bring the head and neck muscles along for the
ride. Remember to make sure their neck stays in a comfortable position.
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Fractionation
Fractionation is the process of taking someone in and out of trance
repeatedly and rapidly. It's a sort of wind sprint for the mind. Each time the
person goes back into trance they drop more deeply, and after a few
repetitions they start to lose track of whether they are in trance or out. We're
going to use this as an induction here, but you can also do this as a
deepening technique after the induction.
Start with your hypnotee sitting down in a chair. Obtain their agreement to
go into hypnosis, and then proceed:
I want you to pick a spot, maybe on the ceiling or the upper part
of the wall, so that your eyes are slightly turned upward. Now, I
want you to allow your gaze to soften. In other words, look
through that spot, or just relax your eyes into that gaze.
In a moment I'm going to start to count down from 10 down to 1.

And I'm going to ask you, between each count, to open and close
your eyes. And I'd like you to just imagine that each time you
close your eyes, a wave of relaxation flows from the top of your
head all the way down to the tips of your toes, in whatever way is
comfortable for you.
Now … close your eyes … 10 … and imagine that wave of

relaxation from head to toe. That's right.
Open your eyes … and close your eyes. 9. Good. Notice how that
wave of relaxation feels better, more relaxing, each time you
open and close your eyes.
So you open … and close your eyes. 8. Feel this wave of

relaxation even more. Each and every time you open and close
those eyes it deepens that state.
Open your eyes … and close your eyes. 7. Allowing that

relaxation to move all the way down through your feet. Very
good.
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Open your eyes … close your eyes. 6. Relaxing more and more,
that's right. It's just that easy.
Open your eyes … close your eyes. 5. And imagine, as this wave
of relaxation flows through you, that those muscles around those
eyes relax to the point that when you try to open them they want
to stay shut. See how that works for you.
Now, open … and close, excellent, noticing what you can about
the changes in your breathing, about the level of comfort that you
can feel.
Open your eyes … close your eyes, 4, and beginning to sense a

real shift happening, as you...
Open your eyes … close your eyes, 3, feeling so good, going

deeper and deeper, so easily and naturally, noticing how easy it
is to get into this state of trance.
Open your eyes … close your eyes, 2, deeper and deeper down …
you're doing perfectly …
And open your eyes, close your eyes, one, all good, things settling
in, now as you get even more comfortable, more relaxed.
This induction seems very simple, and it is, but it works remarkably well.
The key is that your hypnotee spends most of their time with their eyes
closed; they only open their eyes to close them again. But each time they do
that, they come up out of their trance momentarily and then plunge back in
again as they close their eyes.
Exactly what words you say between counts is not critical, but the purpose
of them is. In between counts, you want to encourage your partner to turn
their focus inward, toward their own sensations and experiences as they go
into trance. The language in the example above is pretty standard relaxation
talk peppered with embedded suggestions (such as “notice how…” and
“See how that works for you.”) and dissociative language (“those eyes”
versus “your eyes”). But don't memorize those words, use your own.
Improvise on the themes of continuing to relax, of noticing changes in how
they feel or perceive, of just letting things happen or becoming aware as
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they happen, and you’ll help the process along. Without that, it’s just a
countdown and eye closure and while it may still work it won’t be as
effective.
What you're looking for here are stages. The first few counts are to establish
the rhythm, that you will say open and then almost immediately say close
again. Look for beginnings of relaxation in the face and body. Once you get
that, change your suggestions between counts to increase relaxation –
suggest imagining that each time they open, their eyes get more heavy and
reluctant to open. “See how that works for you” is a loaded suggestion to
make that happen. When you see the physical response (eyelids opening
more slowly, blinking heavily) then you've got trance, so use the rest of
your countdown to deepen.
It's perfectly okay to sneak in a few extra open/close sequences between

counts, as I did in the example. If your hypnotee is slower to respond that
will keep you from getting to 1 before they are ready.
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The Dave Elman Induction

Once you've learned Body Scanning and the Fractionation induction you are
already most of your way to learning the Dave Elman induction. The Elman
is a staple induction of professional hypnotists everywhere. It was designed
by (surprise!) Dave Elman, one of the best-known hypnotists of the 20th
century. Elman taught hypnotism to physicians and other professionals, so
his induction is designed to get someone into a moderate to deep trance
state quickly. It is usually delivered in a very authoritarian style –
commanding, assertive, not giving the hypnotee a lot of time to process the
instructions intellectually.
A well-executed Dave Elman induction takes about 2 minutes and consists

of four steps:
1. Eye catalepsy – Tell your trancee to relax all the muscles around
their eyes to the point where their eyes just won't open. Test that
briefly and then move on.
2. Arm drops – Lift the trancee's arm and drop it gently into their lap.
Here you are verifying relaxation of the arm and deepening the
trance.
3. Fractionation – In this step, you have the hypnotee open their eyes
very briefly and then close them again. Each time they come out of
trance for a very tiny moment and then drop back in, going deeper
each time.
4. Losing the numbers – Have the trancee count (usually down),

relaxing their mind until the numbers are too hard to keep in mind.
Start with your hypnotee seated. Get permission to touch the arms, head and
neck (so that you can adjust their head if needed – people drop deep for this
one!), get their agreement to go into trance, and begin:
Put your hands in your lap, please, and uncross your legs. Good.
Remember, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis; if you follow my
instructions, nothing can stop you from being hypnotized in just a
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couple of minutes. We both know you can always resist if you

want to, but that's not why you're here. Just follow my
instructions and you are about to enjoy a very pleasant, relaxing
experience.
Start now by taking a long, deep breath. Hold it and count to

three. Now, as you let it out, close your eyes and let go of every
bit of tension in your body. Just relax as much as possible right
now. Good.
Pay special attention right now to all those tiny muscles in and
around your eyelids, and relax every single one of those muscles.
Imagine them being so relaxed, so heavy and loose, that they
simply will not open. Keep relaxing them until you know those
eyes will not open, and when you know it, prove that they won't
open. Try to open those eyes and prove to yourself that they
simply won't open.
(Wait until you see the eyelids flutter. Continue immediately when
you see the first flutter.)
That's good. Stop trying now, and allow that relaxed feeling from
your eyelids to flow across your face, around your head, and all
the way down your body to the tips of your toes. Every muscle,
every nerve, every fiber relaxed from the top of your head all the
way down into the tips of your toes.
Very good. Now we're going to deepen your relaxation even

further.
(Lift the nearest arm at the wrist, raising it just enough to get a
good feel for how relaxed it is.)
As I lift your arm right now, feel how loose and limp and heavy it
feels … that's right, let me do all the work … and as I drop that
arm back into your lap you automatically relax twice as deeply
again. One, two, (drop the arm and say) three, twice as deep,
right now. (Lift the arm) And again, your arm so loose, so heavy,
that's right, and as I drop it again going (drop it) twice as deep.
So good. (Lift) Once again, loose, limp, lazy, and (drop) twice as
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deep, right now. You're doing perfectly.
Now, when I count to three and only on the count of three, I want
you to open your eyes only until I tell you to close them again. As
soon as I tell you to close them, you let your eyes close and your
whole body relaxes twice as deeply. Opening only on the count of
three and then closing immediately when I say so, dropping twice
as deep.
(Place your hand in front of the person's face about a foot away,
just above eye level.)
One, two, three – open. (As soon as the eyes open, pass your hand
downward.) and close, going twice as deep now. Good. One, two,
three open … and close, going twice as deep again. One, two …
(longer pause) … three, open ... and close, twice as deep. Very,
very good.
And now that your body is relaxed, it's time to also relax your
mind. In a few moments, when I tell you to begin, I want you to
count backwards from 100, saying each number out loud
followed by the words, “deeper relaxed.” As you count down I'll
be talking to you, but you needn't pay any conscious attention to
what I say; instead, focus on counting and relaxing, so that each
number is a little bit harder to bring to mind. Each number you
count relaxes your mind and makes it more difficult to remember
what the next number is. And when you've relaxed your mind so
much that the numbers are just gone, you can stop counting and
let them all go for a little while. Begin counting now.
(The trancee begins counting. Talk softly to them as they count.)
That's right, relaxing your mind … the numbers getting farther

and farther away … each number makes the next one harder and
harder to recall … relaxing and concentrating … growing distant
and fuzzy … so easy to just relax those numbers right out of your
mind …
(Keep going until they stop counting, which usually happens

before 90.)
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Very good. You can let the numbers go now and just relax. You're
doing perfectly.
The Elman contains a number of elements, which is why it is such an

effective induction. It starts out with relaxation, similar to Body Scanning.
The eye catalepsy test is a way of ensuring that the hypnotee is fully
cooperating and to gauge their success. If their eyes do open, simply have
them relax more and repeat the test until their eyes don't open quickly. As
soon as you see them starting to try, though, you tell them to stop trying and
relax further. The arm drops reinforce relaxation and act as a deepener,
again like Body Scanning.
The fractionation step is very much like the fractionation induction, but with
only three iterations. By pausing a little extra long on the third count, you
can gauge whether the hypnotee is following your rhythm (a conscious
response) or your directions (a subconscious response).
The hardest part of the induction for new hypnotists is the counting.
Everyone is a little different, so you won't know ahead of time how they
will count – how slowly, or for how many numbers. Remember that
whatever they do is right and go with it. Speak the suggestions while they
count, because the counting distracts their logical mind and lets your
suggestions slip right into the subconscious part. If they get past about 85,
you can shortcut by suggesting that they just let the numbers go.
The Dave Elman is such a great general-purpose induction that I strongly

believe every hypnotist should know it. I use it a lot at conventions, where I
tend to get approached by people who have been having trouble getting into
trance or are unsure whether they are getting “deep enough” or not. You
won't use the Elman on everyone, but it's a great tool to have at your
disposal.
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Discussion Points
1. Under what circumstances would you use each of these inductions?
1. Eye fixation
2. Relaxation
3. Fractionation
4. Dave Elman
2. What is your favorite induction? What is it about that induction that

makes it your favorite?
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Going Deeper
Exercises
1. Look around the room where you are right now. What potential
fixation objects can you find?
2. Find a willing partner and practice each of these inductions on each

other.
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Going Deeper
Once you've learned to hypnotize, or had your first experiences at being
hypnotized, there is almost invariably a tendency to wonder about depth.
Am I deep enough? Is my hypnotee deep enough?
Depth is an abstraction; an arbitrary measurement that varies greatly from

person to person and situation to situation. This lesson takes a practical
approach to determining whether someone is “deep enough” for the scene
you have in mind and, if not, getting them there.
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Presenter Notes
When presenting this class, you need to be particularly confident in your
material. People cling fiercely to their misconceptions. Less skilled
hypnotists take a lot of solace in the idea that they didn't fail, their “subject”
just couldn't go deep enough. When you tell them that no, that's not it, they
need to examine how they word the suggestion, they will want to argue with
you. Hypnotees get frustrated because they really want to achieve a certain
phenomena (amnesia is common here) but can't get deep enough to do it.
Some will balk at being told that no, depth isn't really an issue, they just
need to work their way up to it with practice and baby steps.
As with most hypnosis techniques, the best way to teach deepening is

through demonstration. Select a volunteer and hypnotize them. Use a short
induction, because you don't really want them very deep to start with. Agree
on a depth measurement system – I'm fond of letting my volunteer select the
meter of their choice, and just tell me what the numbers are – and ask
throughout the demo for what their depth reading is. Make a point of noting
that this depth reading is purely subjective; it has no meaning for anyone
other than this volunteer, and the even for the same person the numbers
could be entirely different another time.
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What's Depth Got To Do With It?

The concept of depth as it relates to hypnosis is nothing but an idiom. Since
we have developed the habit of saying “down” or “under” for going into
trance and “up” for coming out, it's convenient to refer to greater and lesser
degrees of hypnosis as “deeper” and “less deep.”
Hypnosis, however, is not a linear state. When we say “deeper” what we

really mean is more focused, perhaps more receptive to suggestion. But the
idea that there is a linear scale ranging from “barely hypnotized at all” to
“so deep they will follow any suggestion,” while still popular with the
academic set and old-school hypnotists, simply doesn't stand up to critical
examination.
Depth Scales
Formal hypnosis research has given us a multitude of systems for measuring
either how “susceptible” someone is to hypnosis (meaning how easy is it to
get them into trance and how deep they can go) or how deeply hypnotized
they are. Formalized attempts to study hypnosis in the laboratory brought us
the Davis-Husband scale, the LeCron-Bordeaux, the Stanford Scale of
Hypnotic Susceptibility, the Harry Arons scale, and many others. While
they vary in their granularity and in the order of some of the phenomena,
each of these scales is based on the same presumptions:
1. That a standard script, applied to X number of people, will produce a

level of trance that is determined by each person's susceptibility.
2. That the list of hypnotic phenomena can be arranged in an order such

that anyone who is hypnotized to a particular “depth” can perform all
of the phenomena for that depth level and above, but none of the
phenomena for deeper levels.
The problem with those presumptions, of course, is that they are built on the
fallacy that hypnosis is a hard science, like chemistry or physics. It's not. At
best it's a soft science, like sociology, and in my opinion it's more of an art.
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One hypnotic size does not fit all. The lab coat method of studying hypnosis
was to read the same relaxation induction to A, B, and C and conclude that
those who did not go into trance for it were less susceptible, or less
hypnotizable, than those that did. Then they'd read the same suggestion text
to those who were hypnotized, and if someone did not follow the suggestion
they were said to be not deep enough. Skilled hypnotists know that what
works well for A will not necessarily work as well for B or C, so they vary
the induction method and the wording of suggestions to suit the person they
are working with.
In a similar vein, people have different sets of talents and abilities. The
Arons scale, for example, insists that someone who can do negative
hallucination (failing to see/hear/feel something that is actually present) is at
the lowest depths of hypnosis and can therefore also accomplish any other
phenomena that is asked of them. In practice, though, very few people can
readily achieve everything on the list of phenomena in the Arons scale –
some can do negative hallucination, for example, but not positive
hallucinations (seeing/hearing/feeling something that isn't actually there), or
amnesia (forgetting things by suggestion). Those things that a person can't
do the first time they try can often be learned through practice.
When Suggestions Fail

Thanks to the various hypnotic scales, it is commonly believed that if
someone doesn't successfully follow a given suggestion – for example, to
forget parts of the session until later – that they were not deep enough in
trance. I've met a lot of people who are frustrated because they've had
trouble with a phenomenon – amnesia is a common one – and think it's
because they're not getting deep enough, when in fact they are quite good at
getting into trance. If Arons and company were right, these people would
not be having any trouble at all.
In reality, whether someone can do a particular thing in hypnosis is less a

question of how deep they are than it is about A) how the suggestion is
worded, B) their level of trust and confidence in themselves and their
hypnotist, and C) the talents and capabilities of their own mind.
Take amnesia, because it's such a common example. A lot of people love
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the idea of being “made” to forget things that happen during trance, or even
things that happen outside of trance. For some it's a measure of giving
control to another person; for others, a way to arrange delightful surprises.
However, quite a number of people have difficulty achieving that effect –
they either remember immediately what they were told to forget, or the
memory seeps back into their consciousness before it was supposed to, or
they become aware that they seem to have lost a few minutes of time, start
thinking about it, and the memory comes back.
The answer to that dilemma is seldom deeper trance states. Most of the time
it's how the suggestion is worded. Many people find that their subconscious
mind, which is the seat of memory and learning, naturally rebels at the idea
of being told to “forget” something, especially if there is a possibility that
we might appear foolish or air-headed for doing so. Most people's
subconscious minds, however, are willing to hide a memory temporarily
from the conscious mind, so that the person feels as if they have forgotten
but the subconscious knows where that memory is the whole time. We've all
experienced this before – that feeling of something on the tip of the tongue,
knowing we know but the word, or the name, or the idea, just won't come
up on demand. Harnessing that everyday experience makes hypnotic
amnesia a lot less scary to the subconscious, and tends to make for more
successful memory play.
One of the presuppositions of NLP is If what you're doing isn't working, try
something else. That can be applied very aptly to the case of hypnotic
suggestions that aren't working. If the wording you're using is not getting
the results you expect, try a different approach. There's always another way
to do it.
Sometimes a suggestion is asking too much from the hypnotee's

subconscious mind at one go. For example, suppose you have a trance
partner who wants to experience sensory deprivation: the temporary
suspension of vision, hearing, and touch as much as possible. The non-
hypnotic way to do this is in a water tank (creates a sensation of floating
and weightlessness) with a sleep mask and earplugs. Using hypnosis, you
can suggest that the eyes remain closed, that the ears temporarily rest and
simply ignore any sounds in the environment other than your voice, and that
the entire body becomes numb and weightless. If your trance partner has
difficulty doing all that, work on it a little at a time. Start with the dulling of
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sound, and have them practice that until you can drop a heavy book or blast
the radio and they don't react. Then have them practice having part of the
body go numb, and then spreading the numbness until the whole body is
numb. This might take many sessions of practice, but if they want the end
goal – that simulated sensory deprivation – they will get there
incrementally.
Deeper = More Controlled

In erotic hypnosis especially, there is the persistent belief that the deeper
into trance you go, the more control your hypnotist has and the more
irresistible their suggestions become. It's a great fantasy … but it's just a
fantasy. Someone on the edge of the Esdaile state (an uber-deep trance state
sometimes called the “hypnotic coma”) is just as capable of rejecting a
suggestion as someone barely in trance at all. If you don't believe me, take
someone super-deep and then suggest that they give you their ATM card
and tell you their PIN.
Just because “the deeper you go the more I control you” isn't real, of course,
doesn't mean we can't have fun with it. If your hypnotee wants to feel that,
you can always go there. Simply state, while you deepen their trance, that
the deeper they go the more automatically they obey your suggestions. As
long as you're pushing their happy buttons, you can act as if it were actually
true and make a hot scene of it. (And if you happen to step too close to a
limit, you will both discover quickly that they really can resist an unwanted
suggestion.)
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Deepeners
There are a number of ways to deepen someone's trance state. The simplest
of them all, of course, is simply to suggest going deeper. There are
hypnotists whose standard deepening method is simply repeating, “Deeper
and deeper” until they get the level of responsiveness that they want, and
there's nothing wrong with that.
You can also deepen trance by doing another induction. Some call this
“stacking inductions,” because the person is already in trance but you do
another induction anyway. You can either move directly into the second
induction, or you can tell your hypnotee to imagine that they have just
settled down and are ready to be hypnotized, and then do the second
induction. Either way, it will take them deeper.
Bear in mind that not every induction is suited to this technique. If you like
confusion inductions, for example, then lead with one to get them into
hypnosis, but don't stack another confusion induction with it. Once trance is
established, there's no point in continuing to try and confuse the conscious
mind; just let it sit back and enjoy the ride. There is also no benefit in
hypnotizing someone only to then stand them up and do an instant induction
as a deepener. Relaxation type inductions like Body Scanning work very
nicely as deepeners. So does fractionation.
The Staircase
The staircase is the deepener with which people are most familiar thanks to
movies and television. It's a simple exercise in imagery designed to get the
hypnotee to take themselves deeper into trance.
Imagine yourself now at the top of grand, well-lit staircase. Make

it as real in your mind as you can; notice the colors, the textures,
everything you can about that staircase. And as I count now from
10 down to 1, with each number I count allow yourself to take a
step down, going deeper into trance for me with every step down
that you take.
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Going Deeper
10, first step, feeling so relaxed and pleasant.
9, feeling the handrail under your hand. I don't know whether it's
wood or metal, or perhaps something else entirely, but you can
feel safe and secure with it.
8, deeper, gliding easily down the stairs.
7, noticing the patterns on the bannister.
6, perhaps hearing your footsteps as you go down, so soft they're

barely perceptible
5, halfway down now, approaching the floor below
4, deeper still, that last step coming closer as you go down and
down
3, so relaxed now, so easy to just float the rest of the way down,
2,
1.
The staircase deepener can be short and simple or lengthy and elaborate,
depending on your style and the desires of your hypnotee. Notice that in the
sample text I don't describe the staircase. Remember, the point of this is to
engage their imagination, not yours. Let their mind come up with the
imagery, so it can be real and absorbing for them, and you'll get much better
results.
The Blackboard
The blackboard deepener follows the same principle as the “losing the
numbers” exercise at the end of the Dave Elman induction. You ask your
hypnotee to imagine writing on a blackboard, using the letters of the
alphabet as you do numbers in the Elman. If the blackboard and chalk
concept is too dated for your trance partner, use a whiteboard and markers
or a tablet with a simple drawing app.
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Imagine that you are standing in front of an old-fashioned

blackboard, the kind used in school classrooms all over. Make it
as real as you can in your mind; feel the texture of the smooth
surface, notice the deep color, the frame around it, the chalk tray
where chalk and eraser are kept.
Now, imagine reaching for a piece of chalk right now and writing
a large letter A on the board. Really see the A in your mind's eye.
… And now, using your other hand, grab the eraser and erase the
letter A, and as you do allow yourself to think, “deeper down”
and feel your mind relaxing even more deeply. … That's right …
Now continue through the alphabet the same way. As you write
each letter, say it out loud and as you erase the letter, say
“deeper down” and feel yourself relaxing, drifting, deeper and
deeper with each letter you erase. As your mind becomes more
and more relaxed, it becomes harder and harder for the next
letter to come to mind, and that's okay. Very soon, your mind will
be so blissfully relaxed that you can just forget about the letters
entirely.
Continue now.
At this point you can proceed as with the Dave Elman induction, suggesting
that each letter they write makes it more difficult to recall the next, mind
relaxing more and more, so easy to let go of the letters, etc. until they seem
to be stalling or take more than a few seconds to come up with the next
letter. Then you can simply suggest letting the letters fall away for now.
Like the number sequence, the successfully executing the blackboard

deepener brings about selective memory, so it is a good deepener to use if
you want to play memory games.
The Furniture Store

If I'm going for a really deep state, then I often turn to this deepener that
was taught to me by my professional hypnotherapy instructor. It relies
heavily on imagining images, sounds, and body sensations, so it tends to
work well for most people and produces very profound relaxation. This is
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not a good choice if you want your hypnotee active and moving around.
Imagine yourself now in a furniture store, here to check out new

sofas. This is a most unusual furniture store because there are no
salespeople hovering around, no department manager to ask how
they can help … just you and an array of luxurious, comfortable
sofas that occupies floor after floor of the store.
On this floor, the top floor, all of the upholstered furniture is

white. There is a nice white upholstered sofa nearby, so imagine
trying it out now. Feel the leather conforming to your body as you
sit … hear the quiet little hiss as air leaves the cushion … see
yourself, in your mind's eye, relaxing into the white sofa …
serene, peaceful, still …
And now, imagine leaving that sofa and heading down the next
floor to see what's there. Imagine yourself finding the escalator
and slowly riding it down … down one floor …
On this floor the lighting is more soothing, and the sofa you find
near the escalator is a nice, light beige. Have a seat on the beige
sofa … feel it welcoming your body, cradling it … feel how
relaxing it is to just let yourself go, relaxing into the sofa, really
enjoying the comfort, the quiet, the soothing atmosphere … good
…
But there are more floors, deeper down, and more sofas to try.
So, relaxed as you are, imagine now heading back to the
escalator and down, down another level, easily, gently, safely …
deeper down …
On the next floor the lighting is even more subdued. The sofa you
find there is a rich gold color, and as you settle into it you can
feel every muscle in your body going, “Ahhhhhhhhh...” at how
very comfortable it is. Imagine almost floating in the gold leather
sofa, so warm and safe, comfortable and relaxed … that's right.
And after a few minutes you reluctantly return to the escalator

and once again, down another floor, deeper, and you find that the
next floor is even quieter, dimmer, more soothing than the one
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before. And there, right to hand, is a beautiful burgundy sofa that

practically begs you to come have a seat. And as you sit down
your body feels as if it's gently sinking into a warm bath, so
wonderfully supported, so comfortable, so relaxing. Your body
feels light as air, relaxing instinctively and completely, so good.
There is one more floor to experience, though, so you leave the

burgundy sofa behind and take the escalator down one more
floor, deeper, quieter. The lighting on this floor is so subdued it
feels like a bedroom at night, but you can easily make out the
gorgeous dark brown leather sofa nearby. This one is so soft you
can barely feel the leather as you lie down on it, letting it support
you completely. Your body floats as if on a cloud, completely
supported, totally relaxed and comfortable. You can feel your
mind drifting, wanting to nap, and you know that it would be
perfectly okay to simply rest here for as long as you like, listening
to my voice and enjoying the feeling of deep, deep relaxation.
You can make this one as long or short as you like simply by adding in
more subtle variations in color between the floors. Notice that the color of
the furniture on each floor is darker than the one before, and that the
lighting is more subdued. These are cues to the subconscious that there is a
downward progression going on aside from the obvious counting down.
Self Deepening
Designed for the truly lazy hypnotist, this simple technique causes your
partner to deepen themselves while you rest your voice, get a drink, or do
whatever you need.
In a few moments, I'm going to ask you to count down from ten to
one. When I do, you say each number out loud, and then wait
while your mind and body relax to the point where they are twice
as deep, twice as relaxed, twice as focused, as they were when
you said the number before you can say the next one. With each
and every number you count, you double your depth and focus
automatically, effortlessly, so that by the time you reach the
number one you may have relaxed so deeply that it's almost too
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Going Deeper
difficult to actually say the numbers out loud anymore; if that

happens, it's okay to say them quietly in your mind instead.
Begin counting now.
All kidding aside, if you really are going to leave the room during this make
sure your partner is safely and comfortably seated and get back as quickly
as possible. I generally stay, and take the opportunity to throw in the
occasional encouraging, “That's right...” to let them know I'm still there and
paying attention.
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Testing for Depth

Having now learned a few deepening techniques, it makes sense to discuss
when to use them.
Most hypnotists do some kind of depth testing, especially when working

with someone new to them. Many don't really think of it as such; they are
simply looking for the physical signs of trance, such as relaxed facial
muscles and slow, steady breathing. That in itself is a rudimentary form of
depth testing.
Others engage in more deliberate tests. I'm ambivalent about this myself. If
done well, depth testing is harmless and assures you that your trance partner
is prepared and able to accept the suggestions you are going to give. If done
poorly, it can make the hypnotee feel as if they are failing by not going deep
enough, which actually sabotages the session.
Some common ways of testing for depth during the trance session are:
1. Arm drops, as in the Dave Elman induction. By lifting someone's

arm (get permission first!) at the wrist, you can gauge their degree of
physical relaxation. The arm should feel heavy and limp. If you
wiggle it gently, it should move freely. If you feel resistance, that is
your hypnotee trying to help you; do some deepening.
2. Catalepsy, a state of rigid immobility of all or part of the body. The

usual catalepsy test involves raising an arm (again, make sure you
have permission) and suggesting that it is now stiff and rigid, stiff
and rigid, as if supported by a steel bar. Give the suggestion until
you can let go of the arm and it stays in place. Press gently and the
arm should feel stiff. Relax it again and continue.
3. Arm raising. In the arm raising test, you suggest to your hypnotee
that one or both arms becomes lighter and lighter, wanting to rise up
toward the ceiling all by itself. Many hypnotists use the imagery of a
bundle of helium balloons tied to the wrist; others merely suggest a
loop of cord which is being pulled from above. What you're looking
for is a slow, jerky upward movement. If your hypnotee is too
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Going Deeper
relaxed, though, you might get nothing so don't put too much stock
in this one if you've done a relaxation induction or a lot of
deepening.
4. Good smell. In this test you suggest to the hypnotee that something
nearby smells delightful, enticing, captivating, etc. and with each
breath they smell it more intensely. Watch for a facial reaction. Once
you're content that they are imagining the pleasant scent, you can
make it go away. Or not.
Those tests will confirm for you that your hypnotee is in trance and at a
depth where they are willing and able to follow simple suggestions. They
don't necessarily tell you whether suggestions you have in mind for the
scene will succeed, though. To confirm that, you need to test for the same
kind of phenomena that you intend to use in the scene. You're not really
testing for depth itself, but rather to determine whether your hypnotee is
amenable to a given type of suggestion.
If, for example, you intend to do memory play with a trance partner, a good
way to test for this is to have them briefly forget their name, or the number
after 5. They can stay in trance for this; simply make your amnesia
suggestions, ideally using the same kind of phrasing that you intend for
your scene, and then ask them a question that they should have forgotten the
answer to. If they can't answer, you've established that they are “deep
enough” (really willing enough).
If you want to do sensation play, start by suggesting a change in sensation

in the back of the hand. When they react to that, you know they will react to
the sensation suggestions you have in mind.
But what if they don't? If your test suggestions don't work out, ask the
subconscious what they need in order to achieve the result you want. They
may not know, or they may tell you something else that is preventing them
from carrying out the suggestion. If you get a definite answer, then adapt
your approach and try again; otherwise you can deepen, but you should also
consider changing your suggestion wording.
Understand one thing when you undertake testing for depth: a trance partner
never fails a test. No matter how they react, that is feedback that you can
use to be more effective. Never, ever say anything to a trance partner that
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suggests they are failing or doing things wrong because that will damage
their belief and expectation, which ultimately hampers the whole scene.
Subconscious Depth Scale

An approach that a number of hypnotists take to measuring depth is to
simply ask the hypnotized person to measure it for them. When I do this, I
use wording like this:
Just imagine now that somewhere in the back of your mind,

somewhere deep inside that part of your mind that is always
watching, always measuring, always orchestrating all the
unconscious activities that are part of being alive, is a meter that
your subconscious uses to keep track of how deeply into trance
you go. I don't know whether that meter is a digital readout, or a
pointer and dial, or a thermometer-like scale, and it really doesn't
matter; whatever it looks like, however it reads, is the right way
for you.
I'd like you to allow the reading on that meter right now to just
bubble up from your deep subconscious mind to your lips; just
automatically, letting your mouth say what the meter reads right
now for how deeply hypnotized you are.
You'll almost always get a number, but you don't necessarily know where
that is on the person's overall scale. If they say “eight,” for example, you
don't know whether that's 8 out of a possible 10 or 8 out of 100 or 8 out of
10,000. You can ask what reading represents fully awake and aware, out of
hypnosis, then ask what reading represents the deepest they think they can
go, and that will give you an idea.
If you trance with this person in the future, expect those readings to change.
It's very common for the deepest-they-can-go value to go higher (lower)
with practice. Sometimes the whole scale adjusts itself proportionally,
giving you more granular levels to work with, so what used to be 8 out of
10 is now 75 out of 100.
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Going Deeper
Discussion Points
1. Some hypnotists give suggestions like, “And now, take a nice deep
breath in, and as you let it out you drop ten thousand times deeper...”
Is this really effective? Why or why not?
2. You have hypnotized a partner and intend to do a hypno-bondage

scene with hypnotic flogging. How would you test to ensure that
your bondage and impact suggestions will be accepted?
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Exercise
1. Use self-hypnosis to enter a trance state -- if you aren’t sure how to
do this, skip ahead to Chapter 10 for some instructions -- and ask
your own subconscious mind for the reading on your depth meter.
Deepen yourself, and see how the reading changes as you go deeper.
2. Now hypnotize someone else and do the same thing.
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Suggestion is fundamental to everything we do with hypnosis. From the
induction, to deepening, to play, to emerging, almost everything that a
hypnotist says to their partner is a suggestion. Understanding how to word
suggestions for effectiveness and safety is an important part of being a
hypnotist.
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Presenter Notes
Being able to word suggestions effectively is crucial, so this is a good topic
for lots of group participation and practice. Be prepared to entertain
discussion, as there is almost never only one way to achieve a given result
and getting different perspectives gives everyone a more rounded picture.
Talking about wording of suggestions inevitably leads into the area of

safety. Since your topic is suggestion, keep the safety aspect confined to
avoiding unintended consequences. Encourage people to share stories of
times when a suggestion went “wrong” or got them a result they weren't
expecting, and include some of your own.
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Suggestion in Everyday Life

We are always receiving suggestions. Every time we see an advertisement,
read a street sign, talk to another person, or even think to ourselves there is
often a suggestion involved. Sometimes that suggestion is blatant (“DON'T
WALK”) and sometimes it's more insidious (think of any ad or billboard).
Suggestions have influence on how we think, feel, and behave.
A single suggestion's influence depends heavily on the source and the

context, of course. When a friend says, “I saw Movie X the other day and it
was awesome!” during a conversation about how to spend the upcoming
weekend, that carries a certain amount of weight. Casually walking past a
poster saying some critic you've never heard of recommends Movie X
probably has less influence.
However, over time and with repetition, a suggestion can become a belief.
This is how the Big Lie theory in politics works: repeat a statement enough
times, in enough ways, and people will begin to believe it simply because
they keep hearing it. It's also the goal of mass-market advertising – to get
the message out, from multiple media sources, so that people will accept it
as true. Once a suggestion becomes a belief, that belief then shapes our
attitudes and behaviors.
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Suggestion in Hypnosis
Erotic hypnosis is all about suggestion. As hypnotists, we use suggestions to
guide our scene partner into the hypnotic state, which then makes them
more inclined to accept further suggestions. We then give them suggestions
designed to (usually temporarily) alter their perceptions, sensations,
emotional state, attitudes or beliefs. If they accept our suggestions we have
a hot scene and then we give more suggestions to get our partner back to
their normal waking frame of mind. Even the process of negotiating the
scene involves suggestion.
A suggestion can be either in-hypnotic or post-hypnotic, depending on when

the suggestion is intended to be followed. An in-hypnotic suggestion is
meant to be followed immediately, as in, “...and as you watch the watch,
focusing entirely on the watch, notice how quickly your eyes start to feel
tired...” A post-hypnotic suggestion is given now but meant to be followed
after the trance session is over, as in, “Each and every time I hypnotize you,
you find yourself dropping more easily, more deeply, more effortlessly into
trance for me.”
Direct and Indirect Suggestion

The distinction between direct and indirect suggestion lies in how a
suggestion is worded. A direct suggestion is an instruction given to the
hypnotee that clearly states what they are to do:
“You feel uncomfortably warm; take off your shirt.”
“Take a sip from this glass of water.”
“Until I remind you of what it is, you are completely unable to

remember your name.”
As you can see, there is no subtlety involved here; the hypnotee is clearly
told to do X. Direct suggestions are generally very safe and easy to
formulate because they are so straightforward. New hypnotists tend to lean
heavily on direct suggestions, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with
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that. In fact, I know of a couple of very experienced hypnotists who work

primarily with direct suggestion and they get the results they want out of it.
Most hypnotists, however, mix direct suggestion with indirect suggestion.

An indirect suggestion is given in more subtle terms; it's embedded inside a
framework of words designed to bypass whatever amount of conscious
filtering may still be in place using techniques such a misdirection and
presupposition. If we were to take the direct suggestions above and reword
them to be indirect, they might come out like this:
“I can't help but notice, and perhaps you're just beginning to become
aware of it too, how the air keeps getting warmer and stuffier in here,
like a sticky, hot, humid summer day? How much of a relief will it
be once you take off your shirt and let your skin cool off?”
“I don't know whether you'll take a sip from that glass right now, or
perhaps in a few minutes when that dry feeling has begun to spread
through your mouth more completely; I just know that when you sip
from that glass you may be surprised at how good that water tastes
… now.”
“We've all had that feeling of knowing something, knowing that we

know, but somehow the words just hide themselves at the last
moment. It's so easy for a person to feel that happening even on
something so simple, so obvious, as your own name. And how
surprised will you be when I ask you to tell me your name and that
very thing happens … your own name, right there on the tip of your
tongue, but just a little out of reach … until I remind you of what it
is?”
You'll notice immediately, I'm sure, that indirect suggestions tend to be

longer than their direct counterparts. It takes words and time to misdirect
the conscious mind. It also takes time to learn how to deliver indirect
suggestions in a smooth, natural manner, but it's time well spent for anyone
who wants to be a skilled hypnotist.
The easiest way to learn indirect language is to study the patterns that are
commonly used when wording indirect suggestions. Some of the most
frequently used patterns are:
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1. I'm wondering if (X) … In order to determine whether X is true or

not, the person has to first imagine X – which is what you want them
doing. The subconscious doesn't do judgment, so the see-if-it's-true
part usually gets forgotten.
2. You probably already know (X) … Presupposes that what follows

is true; at issue is whether they already know it or not. Common
variations include You may not have noticed (X) yet or you may find
yourself becoming aware of (X).
3. One could (do X), because … Merely states the obvious truth that
“one” (which is impersonal) could do something. Lay a tiny bit of
emphasis on the could for even more effect. It really doesn't matter
what comes after because; it's there to draw attention away from the
embedded suggestion to do X. Variations: Combine with
presupposition (When you (do X), then … ), make it more personal
by adding their name (A person could, <name>, (do X)...) or less
personal (A person is able to do X). For an extra bit of indirect
goodness, append … can you not? (or could you/they not? to the end.
It's inherently confusing because it's vague, and draws attention
away from the embedded suggestion while simultaneously getting
the subconscious to imagine following it.
4. You might notice how good it feels when you (do X) ... Again, the
word when presupposes that the thing will happen sooner or later;
the suggestion is overtly about how good it will feel when that
happens. And in order to estimate how good it might feel, the person
has to imagine doing X.
5. I could tell you that (X) … I could tell you, but by prefacing it that
way the whole suggestion is a hypothetical so the conscious mind is
more likely to let it slip by. Variations include attributing the
suggestion to a third party (<someone> once told me that …),
presuming it's common knowledge (You may have heard that …), or
treating the point as already proven (There is no question that … or
There is every reason to be confident that … or, for a visual type,
You can plainly see that ...).
6. What happens when you (do X)? Similar to the first example, this
will cause the subconscious to imagine whatever you're suggesting
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so the conscious mind can then determine what happens next.

(Variation: Can you really enjoy (doing X)?)
7. You might want to (do X) … now. Rather than saying directly to

do X, it says that they might want to. Pause a couple of beats before
saying “now” and it becomes a suggestion rather than an imperative.
Variation: Maybe you haven't (done X) … yet is basically the same
thing, just expressed with stronger presupposition.
8. You don't have to (do X) Lay a little bit of stress on the have and
you have a truism – something that the conscious mind will see as
unarguably true – that masks an embedded suggestion to do X.
Variations: I can't make you (do X), or You may choose to (do X).
9. And I don't know if you'll (do X) (option 1), or (option 2) …

Salesmen call this the presumptive close; it's a more elegant version
of the classic, “Would you rather buy the red one or the blue one
today?” String as many options together as you like, but make sure
they all lead in the direction you want. A common variation is to use
time frames (Will you (do X) right now, or perhaps tomorrow?)
Milton Erickson is generally considered the master of indirect suggestion,

and there are a lot of hypnotists who flourish on using predominantly
indirect language. (Many Ericksonian hypnotists actually use a lot more
indirect language than Erickson himself did.)
Waking Suggestion
When we give someone suggestions without making any effort to establish
an altered state first, we call that waking suggestion. Waking suggestions
are the most like those everyday suggestions we get exposed to every time
we see a TV commercial or look at an ad.
Just because a suggestion is given in the waking state does not mean that it
can't be effective. Neurolinguistic programming (NLP) teaches us that we
are always communicating, and that it is quite possible to make powerful,
effective suggestions to someone that act on the subconscious even without
doing any kind of trance induction first.
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For example, right now you are (probably) sitting down reading this text,
and your brain is interpreting the words on various levels, as well as
keeping track of your surrounding environment, and as it does you may or
may not begin to notice a change in the sensations around your nose. Many
people find that it's a sort of mild itching feeling and they simply scratch the
nose to make it go away, while others choose to ignore it until it just gets
too annoying, and then they scratch. Some just feel that need to twitch, and
then resume reading. And it really doesn't matter which of those you choose
to do, because it is the choice that is right for you now.
Silly, isn't it? And yet, a lot of you either scratched or twitched your noses
as a result of those waking suggestions. Imagine how much more potent that
sort of suggestion can be if you are interacting with someone in person,
where you can develop rapport with them and gauge their reactions to what
you say.
Post-Hypnotic Suggestion
Whether they are phrased as direct or indirect, suggestions given during a
trance session are usually referred to as hypnotic suggestions. Some
hypnotic suggestions are meant to be acted on immediately (“...and as I
drop your hand into your lap you can relax twice as deeply...”); those are
sometimes called in-hypnotic suggestions but just as often are simply called
suggestions.
A post-hypnotic suggestion is a suggestion given during trance that is meant

to be followed after the trance session is over. For example:
“Each and every time you go into hypnosis you find yourself going
deeper, more easily, more naturally than before.”
“The sound of my voice is sexy to you; the more you hear it, the
more it arouses you and makes you want more.”
“Each and every time I make eye contact with you and say
'Surrender', as long as it is safe and appropriate to do so, you stop
whatever you're doing and go into a deep, submissive trance state for
me with your eyes open and staring into mine.”
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That last example demonstrates a trigger – a form of post-hypnotic

suggestion that is very popular in the recreational and erotic hypnosis
context. A trigger takes the general form of “Whenever (X happens), you
(do Y).”
The most common form of trigger is the reinduction trigger, a post-

hypnotic suggestion that can be used to put your partner back into trance
quickly and easily. For example:
Whenever we are in a safe environment and I squeeze your

shoulder like this while saying 'Sleep', you automatically drop
into a nice, deep trance for me before you even realize you've
done it.
There are practically limitless applications for triggers, which is why they
are so popular in erotic hypnosis.
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Safe and Effective Wording

Whether you are making a direct suggestion or indirect, in-hypnotic or post-
hypnotic, how you word the suggestion is vital to its effectiveness and
safety. A well-worded suggestion is easy for the subconscious mind to
follow and is therefore much more likely to be effective and enjoyable for
both you and your hypnotee. A poorly-worded one is likely to either fail
completely, or perhaps net you a result you weren't prepared for and that
your hypnotee may find objectionable afterwards.
Keep a few simple rules in mind when phrasing a suggestion:
1. Use clear, unambiguous language. The subconscious is not good at

subtleties like slang and idioms, so make sure that whatever words
you use have only the meaning you intend for them to have. If you
are uncertain whether your partner understands what “hot to trot”
means, then either don't use it (say “aroused” instead) or define what
“hot to trot” means in this context.
2. Give positive direction. When you are phrasing a suggestion, tell

the person what you want them to say/do/experience; avoid telling
them what not to say/do/experience. Consider, for example, the
suggestion, “You no longer find romantic comedies boring.” That
suggestion does not give positive direction; it leaves it entirely up to
the hypnotee to determine how they will react to romantic comedies,
and the new reaction may be no more desirable than the boredom it
replaces. A more effective suggestion might be, “From now on you
enjoy romantic comedies; they amuse you, and when you watch one
with me it puts you in a very sexy, romantic mood.” A suggestion
that tells the subconscious what to do is much easier for it to follow
and avoid the chance of an unexpected result.
3. State clearly when the suggestion effect begins and ends. Most
suggestions are not intended to be ever-lasting. For example, you
would not want to receive a suggestion that makes you
overwhelmingly aroused immediately and continues indefinitely.
There needs to be a start (which might be immediately, or might be a
trigger event) and there definitely needs to be an end – preferably
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once you've had an orgasm, for example.
Following these simple rules of thumb makes it easy to form safe, effective
suggestions.
Trigger Safety
When establishing and using triggers, there are some additional
considerations that come into play.
1. Make the event as specific as possible. Ideally, the event should be

something that only happens when it is safe and acceptable for your
partner to do what the trigger requires. I often include the preface
“when you/we are in a safe environment” so that they can
automatically disregard the trigger if it would embarrass them or be
unsafe to follow at the time.
2. Be specific as to who can initiate the trigger. Make sure to specify,

“when I do X” or “when <a specific person> does X”. Failing to do
that creates an open trigger, meaning a trigger that anyone could try
to use. Doing that by accident is a Very Big Mistake; doing it on
purpose is irresponsible and unethical. Yes, people have self-
protective mechanisms in place that will prevent them from
endangering themselves, but it is better to be thoughtful than to rely
on the safety net.
3. Define the action positively and unambiguously. As with any

suggestion, the more exactly you specify what the person being
triggered is supposed to do, the easier it is for their subconscious to
accept the trigger and act on it. Also, you will know exactly what
they are going to do so you won't be bitten by the Law of
Unintended Consequences.
4. Always state clearly when the trigger effect is to end. You almost
never want a trigger's effect to last forever, so state when it should
end. If the trigger effect is one that may impair the person's ability to
respond to an emergency or unexpected event make sure they have
an “out” available that either suspends or pauses the effect while
they deal with the other thing.
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5. If the trigger itself is meant to be temporary, or if there is no need for

it to be a permanent thing, explicitly define when the trigger
expires. I often use triggers when doing demonstrations or giving
classes, so it's standard practice for me to start with, “For the rest of
this class...” or “Until you leave this room next...” when giving my
volunteer a trigger. If you aren't in an ongoing hypnotic relationship
with someone it is generally not appropriate to give them permanent
triggers.
Like any hypnotic suggestion, a person can ignore a trigger if the

circumstances are such that acting on it would place them in danger or
cause them to do something they are strongly opposed to doing. However,
for some people that causes a very uncomfortable reaction as the
subconscious wants to obey the suggestion and yet knows that bad or
embarrassing things could happen if they do. This could manifest itself as a
distraction, which could be very dangerous if the person is driving a car at
the time, or as a subconscious “itch” that needs to be scratched as soon as
possible, prompting them to stop whatever they were doing and find an
environment where they can give in to the desire to follow the trigger.
Either way it's a very inconsiderate thing to do to somebody.
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Putting it All Together

Language is one of the primary tools of hypnosis. The way you word a
suggestion can have a dramatic effect on how well that suggestion is
received and acted on by the person you give it to. Suggestions can be
worded directly or indirectly, depending on your personal style and intent.
However you state it, though, it’s wise to make sure your suggestions are
clear, easy to follow, and phrased thoughtfully so that your partner can feel
confident in accepting them.
As you practice and play with different people, experiment with the way
you use language and find that mix of direct and indirect, those particular
turns of phrase, that resonate for you and for your partners.
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Discussion Points
1. What are some examples of suggestions that we give ourselves? Do
they have influence?
2. What are some of the factors that affect how much influence a
suggestion has on us?
3. Which is the better way to word a suggestion, directly or indirectly?
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Fun With Modalities
Exercises
1. Practice using direct and indirect language to give suggestions:
1. Think of a simple direct suggestion. If you do this with a

group, write it on a board where everyone can see it.
2. Now, take the list of indirect language patterns above and

rephrase the same suggestion using each of those patterns.
Any variation is fine. If you do this with a group, everyone
can take a turn until you've used all nine patterns.
3. Repeat for more direct suggestions
2. Practice creating well-formed triggers by coming up with

suggestions to have someone:
1. Stop whatever they are doing and do jumping jacks.
2. Move, speak, and think in slow motion.
3. Go back into hypnosis immediately.
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Fun With Modalities

One of the skills that can always help a new hypnotist to get better is the
ability to recognize how their partner processes information and use it to
their advantage. When you tailor your words to your hypnotee's modality
you make it easier for them to accept and follow your suggestions and
instructions.
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Fun With Modalities
Presenter Notes
This is a fun topic to present on and lends itself nicely to short in-class
exercises. Keep control of the class by limiting the time for each. It only
takes a few minutes to ask a couple of questions, watch eye movements, and
whatnot.
One thing that tends to happen when you teach modalities, especially when
you've talked about eye accessing cues, is that people become self-
conscious about their words and eye movements. This can make it harder to
tell what someone's real inclination is, because they are not longer acting
without thinking about it. There really isn't much you can do about that
other than encourage people to just relax and be natural as much as possible.
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Primary Modalities
Humans perceive the world through our senses – what we see, hear, feel,
smell, and taste. While all of our working senses are used to perceive, we
don't generally use all of them equally. Just as most people tend to favor
either the left or the right side for manual tasks, our brains tend to choose a
dominant sense for most of our storage, retrieval, and processing needs.
There are four primary modalities that you can expect to run across.
The visual modality is tied to sight. When people notice how things look,
when they picture remembered or imagined things in their minds, they are
using the visual modality.
The auditory modality uses the sense of sound. When using the auditory
modality, people notice subtle changes in voice tone, and can remember or
construct/imagine sounds. Internal dialog is also an auditory function.
The kinesthetic modality is attuned to emotions and body sensations.

Someone taps into their kinesthetic sense to reproduce physical sensations
in the imagination or memory, to be aware of the orientation of their body
in relation to their surroundings, and to notice or reproduce emotional
states.
The auditory digital modality relies on data, conclusions, and logic rather
than sensory inputs. It is a detached mode in which we make judgments
based on information.
When talking about modalities, there is a tendency to label people according

to whichever modality they tend to use most frequently -- this person is a
visual, that one is a kinesthetic, etc. While that can be a useful shortcut, it is
important to remember that people generally use all of these modalities to
one degree or another. When we say someone is visual we are not saying
they use vision exclusively; only that they are most adept with the visual
and so, all else being equal, their mind tends to default to using the visual
modality. They are still fully capable of using sound or feeling or reasoning,
it's just not their first choice.
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Fun With Modalities
Just as some people are ambidextrous (able to use their left and right hands
equally well), sometimes you will encounter people who are multi-modal –
that is, they use multiple modalities equally well. They may be visual and
auditory, for example. Some people are born that way, while others develop
skill with a second or third modality through life experiences they’ve had.
Taking up yoga, for instance, tends to improve someone’s kinesthetic
awareness. If you discover that your partner is strong in multiple modalities
that’s great, because it gives you even more flexibility in how you approach
things.
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Identifying Modalities
Being able to determine someone's primary modality quickly is a handy
skill for a hypnotist to have. Fortunately, this is frequently just a matter of
asking a few questions and really paying attention to how they answer them.
Language Cues
One way to get an idea what someone's primary modality may be is to listen
to the language that they use. A visual type will tend to use words and
phrases that describe appearance – “I see”, “It's clear”, “How would that
look?”. An auditory will be more inclined to say “I've heard that ...” or “I
don't like the sound of this.” When something “feels right” or “seems
rough” you're probably talking with a kinesthetic.
The more you listen, the more accurate you will be in your judgment.
Remember, we all use all of our senses, so even a kinesthetic will
sometimes “see clearly.” Get them talking and note what kinds of sensory
predicates (a fancy word for phrases that hint at the use of a particular
sense) they tend to use most. And keep the context as open as possible
because anybody will tend to use a lot of visual terms to discuss a
photograph or painting.
When using this technique with people, I like to ask open-ended questions
such as “Tell me about your (car, home, or hobby).” Follow up by asking
what they like (or dislike) about it to get more information and clues.
Decision Cues
Another way to get insight into someone's primary modality is to find out
how they make decisions. The easiest way to do that is to ask about one. For
instance, you might ask your partner how they chose to buy the shirt they're
wearing, what attracted them to their current significant other, or how they
decided what to have for lunch.
The answer will often be a multiple step process, and each step relates back
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Fun With Modalities
to one of the modalities. For instance, someone who chose their lunch at a
restaurant by browsing the photos on the menu and then reading the details
of the dishes that looked appealing is probably visual. Someone who asked
the waiter for a recommendation, or who listened to the day's specials and
picked the one that “sounded good” is probably auditory. Someone who
first asked themselves what they were in the mood for and then looked at
that part of the menu is probably kinesthetic.
It is very normal for people to use multiple senses to make non-trivial

decisions, but the one they go to first or most often is going to be their
primary modality. Note that one, and any others that come up often, and
work with them.
Eye Accessing Cues

A fast way to get an idea about someone's primary modality is to use eye
accessing cues. One of the best-known teachings of NLP is that people tend
to reveal their thought process through unconscious movement of the eyes.
By watching for those movements, you can get a quick read on whether
someone is accessing the visual, auditory, or kinesthetic modality.
Generally speaking, people glance upward when they are accessing visuals.
They may be remembering an image, constructing a new image in their
imagination, or using a mental image as an index to retrieve a piece of
information. When people look to one side or the other – toward the ears, if
you will – they are accessing their auditory sense. Most people look down
and to their right (your left as you watch them) when accessing kinesthetic
memory or imagination, and down and to their left (your right) while
engaging in internal dialog.
NLP further teaches that when people look to their left (your right as you
watch) they are remembering things, and when they look to their right (your
left) they are constructing things. This is often recommended as a way of
spotting a liar, but by itself eye accessing cues are not consistent enough to
do that. For one thing, some people are reversed, looking to their right for
memory and their left for invention. Sometimes construction just means
having to think about how to formulate a sentence. And someone
kinesthetic, or heavily driven by internal dialog, will tend to look the same
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way for memory and imagination.
While you can't safely spot a liar by watching their eyes, you can get a good
idea of how they are accessing information. Ask a few simple questions and
watch their eyes. Try questions that lean on one sense or another, like
asking their favorite color or food. You would think that asking a blatantly
kinesthetic question would yield an immediate look down and your-left, but
a visual will often have to pull up an image first (looking up), then consider
the kinesthetic point (shift the eyes down right), and then maybe even have
an internal dialog about what to say (down left). This all happens in a split
second; it's easy to miss if you're not watching for it. Ask several questions
until a pattern emerges. And while you're at it, listen for language cues and
decision cues as well.
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Fun With Modalities
Using Your Partner's Primary Modality

Once you've sussed out what your partner's primary modality is, you can
use that to tailor your induction and suggestions to the way their mind is
most comfortable working.
The first obvious thing you can do is adopt the predicates that correspond to
their favored modality. If your partner is visual, use words like see, picture,
look, colorful, pretty, perspective, hazy. For an auditory partner, work in
words like hear, discuss, quiet, noisy, scream, resonate, harmony. With a
kinesthetic partner say feel, grasp, pressure, rough/smooth, warm/cold,
tingling, firm, etc. By expressing yourself in the language their mind likes,
you make it easier for their subconscious to accept your wording with
minimal need for processing.
You will also want to tailor your language in a larger sense as well. If you
know your partner is visual, then use imagery as much as you can during
your induction and suggestions. You might have them immerse themselves
in an imaginary scene, describing in detail (or better yet, letting them decide
the details) what they can see around them as they go deeper and their inner
vision expands. If you then want them to have the experience of being
stimulated with a sex toy, have them imagine the toy and envision what they
look like as they submit to the pleasure it brings them.
To do the exact same scene with an auditory, you might use a metronome or
a Tibetan singing bowl for the induction, inviting their mind to slow down
as the ticking slows down or letting the harmonic vibrations from the bowl
ripple through their minds, smoothing out conscious thought. Then you
might have them imagine the sound the toy makes, if any, or the sounds
they feel themselves making automatically, involuntarily, as the pleasure
builds and amplifies inside them.
For a kinesthetic partner, you might use a relaxation induction or have them
imagine slowly lowering themselves into a hot tub or bath, floating in the
warm water as it relaxes them into bliss. Then they can feel the sex toy as
you tease their skin with it, talking up the textures and the vibration (if any)
and then the sensations it brings as it teases, touches, and arouses them.
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It bears repeating that we all use all of our senses. Using your partner's
favored modality this way is playing to their strength, which will help them
engage in the trance. However, don't completely neglect the other senses.
Once you've got your partner in a nice trance state, go ahead and work in
the other senses too. A guitar always sounds fuller when you use all the
strings.
It’s also worth noting that modalities are not all-encompassing. Just because
someone is primarily visual doesn’t necessarily mean they will do all visual
things well; they may appreciate swirls of imaginary color relaxing them
into trance, but then have difficulty visualizing the talking teddy bear that
you suggest is in the chair across from them. With a little experimentation
you’ll learn what your partner’s mind is comfortable doing and what is
more challenging, which is another level of tailoring you can add to the
trance experience.
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Fun With Modalities
Discussion Points
1. Which modality is easiest for you to work with? Why is that?
2. What would you do with someone who wants to get better at

imagining visual things?
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Exercises
1. As you encounter people in a casual setting, talk with them and
guess their primary modality. (You don't have to ask them to see
whether your guess is right, but you can.)
2. Make a list of the inductions you know and classify them by what
modalities they are designed to engage. (Hint: not every induction
plays to a particular sense, and some play to multiple.)
3. Take each of the suggestion ideas below and rephrase them to cater
to each of the primary modalities (visual/auditory/kinesthetic). Try
auditory digital for an extra challenge.
One arm becomes stiff and straight.
Imagine being on a hammock in the shade on a summer day.
Recall a pleasurable erotic experience.
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Your Hypnotic Self
Your Hypnotic Self

Being a skilled hypnotist involves a lot more than knowing a few
inductions. Going to the next level, from being good with one person to
being good with random people, requires that you learn how to make the
most of the tools you have. Find your voice, define your style, and your
confidence in your own ability will grow with each person you successfully
hypnotize.
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Presenter Notes
This is a very good topic to do either as a panel or with a co-presenter,
because so much of hypnotic style is subjective. The goal is not to get a
bunch of people hypnotizing the way you do (or the way I do); it's to help
them find and develop their own unique styles while picking up some habits
that will make any style more effective.
One of the themes of this lesson is that success as a hypnotist is 80 percent

belief and expectation. When I teach this topic at *EHUs, I like to
demonstrate this at the outset in a way that really hammers the point home.
I'll start by doing a longer introduction of myself than usual and go into
more detail on my professional hypnosis background – establishing
credibility, of course. While I'm doing it, I make eye contact with as many
people near the front of the class as I can, looking for people who are
paying rapt attention. Then I'll begin to drop into my hypnotic voice and see
if anyone starts to glaze over. As soon as I see that, I stop and point out that
they were starting to trance out and ask, “Why did that happen?”
The answers I get will vary, but they generally fall into the themes of
reputation and expectation. Which is the right answer, and leads very nicely
into a class on how to develop your own style that people will recognize
and believe in.
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Your Hypnotic Self
Trust, Expectation, and Belief

Being a successful hypnotist, whether in the scene or in general, requires
that you establish rapport with the person you intend to hypnotize. As much
as we like to pretend otherwise, as a hypnotist all you're really doing is
guiding someone; it's their mind that does all the work.
It should be obvious that successful hypnosis requires trust between the

hypnotist and the hypnotee. Your hypnotee has to know that you will treat
them well, or at least have no reason to believe that you won't. Without that
level of trust your partner's conscious mind will be more vigilant as you try
to work with them. Usually that results in either failure to get them into
trance, achieving only a light trance state with little response to suggestion,
or popping out of trance abruptly right after the induction.
Expectation is a powerful tool in hypnosis because the human mind has a

strong tendency to bring about what it expects to happen. If you've ever said
to yourself something like, “Dammit, why do I keep doing that?” you can
blame it on your subconscious expectation. In the hypnosis context, if
someone expects to have trouble going into trance it is extremely likely that
the expectation will cause that to happen. And where do expectations come
from? Beliefs, of course.
Beliefs are the filters by which we process our experiences. When presented
with new ideas or information, we tend to accept easily things that are
compatible with our existing beliefs and disregard or question things that
are not. Most of us are generally able to modify our beliefs, or adopt new
ones, in response to new experiences.
Belief is important on both sides of the hypnotic equation. Your potential

trance partner has to believe that they can go into trance and generally do
what you are negotiating, and that you have the necessary skill and
experience to keep up your end. At the same time, you have to believe in
your own ability as well. Any doubt you have in yourself will become
apparent to your partner once you get into rapport and can work against
you. This often creates a chicken-and-egg problem for new hypnotists, who
need to be confident that they can do something they haven't actually done
(or done much) yet.
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So, how does a new hypnotist establish trust, expectation, and belief in a
partner? Experience is the best source, of course, but here are a few things
you can do to help build your confidence while you are out there gaining
experience:
1. Be a student of hypnosis. Watch other experienced hypnotists;

notice what they do and how they do it. Ask them questions after the
scene is over (be respectful of after-care time). Most hypnotists love
to talk about this stuff and you can learn a lot that way. Read books
on hypnotic techniques – even totally vanilla hypnosis books can
still teach you things that you can apply in an erotic context with a
little imagination.
2. Talk the talk. Because you're a student of the art, you can speak
knowledgeably about hypnosis and erotic hypnosis. Develop a “grab
bag” of stories that you can tell, either about things you've done
(ideally) or things you'd like to do with a prospective partner.
3. Showcase a healthy attitude. Listen as much as you talk. If you are

talking with someone about possible play, ask them about what
they're curious about, or what they particularly enjoy, and listen to
the answers. If there is a primary relationship, make sure you are
respectful of it; ask what the protocol is with their relationship, and
make sure you follow it. That might mean asking their primary
partner’s permission, though not always. Be equally respectful of the
prospective partner; it's their mind you intend to play with, after all,
and they need to trust that you will respect the limits and parameters
of whatever you negotiate.
4. Start with experienced bottoms. The hardest people to play with

are those who know that you're brand new at hypnotizing people and
have little or no experience as a hypnotee, because they have a
history with you that does not include hypnosis; they probably trust
you, but expectation and belief are going to be very hard to establish.
So first, seek out empowered hypno-bottoms who enjoy playing with
multiple hypnotists and know what they like. Playing with people
like that will help you to get the hang of negotiations and protocol,
and they can give you extremely valuable feedback. Take it to heart.
Once you've done enough scenes that you start to feel confident, then
you can branch out to people who are new, or not very experienced,
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Your Hypnotic Self
and your confidence will help them as well as yourself. Now, with
several successful scenes under your belt, you have a strong basis to
establish belief and expectation with your significant other.
5. Avoid being creepy or pushy. It's easy to let enthusiasm get out of
hand. Sometimes you'll be tempted to practice your waking
suggestion while trying to persuade someone to scene with you.
Don't; it's unethical and creepy. If you ask someone if they'll play
with you and they say not tonight, accept that gracefully and then let
them approach you when/if they are feeling receptive. And always
hold yourself to high standards of ethics and conduct. If you slip up
– and we all do once in a while – apologize immediately and make
whatever amends are appropriate.
Do these things and you should develop a good reputation as someone who
is new but trustworthy. That will carry you far as you gain more experience.
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The Elements of Style

(Somewhere, Strunk and White just cringed without knowing why!)
Every hypnotist has their own personal style, a combination of what they do
and how they do it that makes each hypnotist different from the others.
Finding yours is one of the early challenges for any new hypnotist.
Your hypnotic style is defined by a number of separate but related things. It

starts with your voice – your tone, your pacing, your style of delivery – but
also includes your posture, your touch, your choice of words, your
demeanor. Some hypnotists are very commanding, standing over their
hypnotee, speaking sharply and quickly and making mostly direct
suggestions. Others speak softly, sometimes leaning in close and almost
whispering into their partner's ear, using indirect suggestions and open
language to engage the imagination. Some hypnotists stroke or touch their
partner as they work while others stay hands-off. Some are playful, others
are serious. Some spend a long time on inductions and deepening, while
others will drop their partner into trance in seconds and go straight into the
scene.
Defining your style starts with some conscious decisions and practicing
some fundamentals.
Your Voice
Your voice is easily the most important tool you have as a hypnotist; after
all, getting people into hypnosis is usually a verbal activity.
The stereotypical hypnotist voice is a low monotone, but in real life that's
probably the least effective style there is. Your best hypnotic voice is
expressive, varying in both pacing and pitch; it is obviously and
recognizably you, but usually richer and fuller-sounding than your normal
conversational voice.
One way to get a start on your voice is to do a short exercise. First, just say
out loud in your normal conversational voice, “Close your eyes and relax as
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Your Hypnotic Self
best you can.” If you have an audio recorder handy, on a smartphone or PC,
use it and then play back the recording. Now, actually close your eyes for a
moment and allow yourself to enter a light trance state, then say it again
(“Close your eyes and relax as best you can.”). Notice the differences
between the two? The second time you probably spoke more slowly and
smoothly. Adopt that tone and pacing, and you're well on your way to
developing your compelling hypnotic voice.
One of the keys to a good voice is getting the right tone. You want your
throat to be open and clear as you speak. You should feel the vibration at
the bottom of your throat and in your upper chest rather than in your mouth
and nose. Sit up straight, open your throat, and start speaking; it doesn't
matter what you say for this, just listen to yourself and notice how that tone
is different from your normal conversational voice and closer to your
hypnotized voice.
As you practice speaking with your throat open, you'll notice that you run
out of breath quickly. That's because you're expelling more air at a time.
With practice you'll get better at it; you'll breathe in more and learn to do it
smoothly.
There are vocal exercises you can do to help develop that resonance that
you want in a hypnotic voice. Sing the letters of the alphabet, slowly (1-2
seconds each), breathing when you need to. Start at a low pitch, and each
time you go through the alphabet lower your pitch until you can't go any
lower. The more you do that the wider your range will become and the more
easily you'll be able to sustain your hypnotic voice tone for full sentences.
Once you have your tone down, practice increasing the fluid, expressive
qualities of your voice. A good hypnotic voice is interesting to listen to; it
rises and falls in pitch and volume, speeds up and slows down in tempo.
Sometimes you'll do this deliberately, to emphasize certain words or
phrases, but even when you're not doing that practice exaggerating your
normal up and down a little bit, so it's more noticeable.
Tempo is another important component of a hypnotic voice. Again, variety

is good. If you are using confusing wording, go ahead and speed up a bit; if
you want to subtly tell the subconscious to slow down and go deeper, slow
your pace.
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Varying volume also sends signals to your partner's subconscious. When

giving embedded commands, a slight rise in volume marks out what you
want the subconscious to notice. To project authority, use a louder tone (not
shouting, just forceful) and speak while standing in front of or directly
behind your partner, especially if they are sitting. A quiet voice draws your
partner's attention to you and forces them to focus on it. If you really want
to crank up the feeling of intimacy, get very close to your partner, hold them
close or stroke them gently on the arm or back, and speak softly into their
ear.
Experiment with different vocal techniques until you find the ones that feel
natural and comfortable to you.
Your Words
What you say is just as much a part of your hypnotic style as how you say
it. Over time you will find that certain phrases just seem to work their way
into your speech patterns – a couple of mine, for example, are “perfectly
okay,” “automatically, instinctively,” and “only when it is safe and
appropriate.” You may even pick them up from other hypnotists that you
observe or listen to. That's normal and natural; it's your subconscious
noticing, a lot of the time, what feels natural for you or what seems to
resonate with your trance partners. And, as with most other elements of
style, they may vary over time.
Another important aspect of word choice is to notice what words your

trance partner seems to respond to. We all have a few words that, when said
in the right context or by the right person, set off a happy reaction; when
you spot that reaction, note that word and start using it strategically. For
example, if you happen to say “That's right” (which is a common
Ericksonian thing) and your partner squirms in their seat or you notice a
hitch in their breath, you've hit one of their verbal buttons; from then on,
you know you can use “That's right” as a stroke, a reward for following
instructions, or a treat. Words that tend to get a happy reaction from many
include:
surrender
obey (obedience)
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Your Hypnotic Self
submit
helpless
powerless
irresistible
good (girl/boy)
I'm sure you can think of a bunch of others as well. Try some on your
partner, note which ones get a reaction, and use them when you want to add
intensity.
I make it a point to reassure or praise my hypnotee frequently throughout

the scene or session, especially when they are responding well. I'll say
things like “that's right” or “you're doing perfectly” when my partner
responds to suggestions. Often people who are new to erotic hypnosis
appreciate the reassurance because they really can't tell a lot of the time how
well things are working. Assuring them that they're doing perfectly helps to
bolster their own belief and quiet that little voice they may have that's
wondering if the hypnosis is actually working.
One of the best things you can do to develop as a hypnotist is to watch other
experienced hypnotists. Whether you do this at a convention, or through
recordings, or at local gatherings, or by buying tickets to a professional
show, it's an opportunity to pick up tricks and tips that you can experiment
with and, if they work out well, incorporate into your style. I often say that
hypnotists are like comedians, always watching each other and
appropriating bits they can make their own. (In NLP we call this
“modeling.”)
Your Touch
Though hypnosis is largely a verbal art, it can be greatly enhanced by touch.
This is especially true in erotic hypnosis, which is much more intimate than
conventional recreational or therapeutic hypnosis. I almost never touch a
client when I'm doing mundane professional hypnosis, but I often do when
demonstrating erotic hypnosis.
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It's vital to remember that people have boundaries – just because someone is
willing to sit in a chair and let you play with their mind does NOT
automatically mean they're okay with you touching their body. Unless you
are already in a relationship where you've established that touching is okay,
always get permission before touching someone you are hypnotizing. Get
that permission before you start the hypnosis, not after.
Also, with someone you are not on intimate terms with, you need to be very
explicit about where you intend to touch them when getting consent. While
most people are generally okay with being touched on the arm or shoulder,
you cannot assume this – you need to ask for permission and list the body
parts you intend to touch, or think you may need to touch. They can then
give you an informed yes or no, perhaps as part of the scene negotiation.
Once you have permission to touch, confine yourself to the specific areas
you got consent for. If someone agrees that you can touch them on the back,
for instance, and your hand slides down the back to their ass, you have
overstepped and they may rightfully object. It should also be clear, but I'm
going to spell it out anyway, that asking someone who is already in
hypnosis and possibly feeling aroused if you can now touch them in a more
intimate way than they originally agreed to is egregiously unethical without
prior negotiation, even if they are the one asking for the not-negotiated
touch. I would only consider doing this with someone that I knew intimately
enough that the touch in question was a routine thing for us.
There are several overall handy ways to touch someone that can enhance the
hypnotic experience. One of my personal favorites, especially with someone
in an upright chair, is to place a hand on the back of the neck or on each
shoulder and then gently rock them. A smooth, gentle rocking motion can
be wonderfully soothing and many bottoms find that it helps them let go
easily and quickly into deeper trance states. It also gives me a heads-up if
they are getting too floppy so I can make sure they don't slip out of the
chair. A firm but gentle push down on the shoulders as your partner starts to
exhale is also a very potent deepener.
Another favorite of mine, which I do often for sensation play, is a gentle

downward stroke on the arm. Use the backs of your fingers and just draw
them slowly down the arm from shoulder to elbow (or to wrist), touching so
lightly that they barely feel it. Time it so that you start the stroke down as
they exhale, and that stroke will act as a highly effective non-verbal
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Your Hypnotic Self
deepener.
If you have permission to touch the arm, you can gauge your partner's
degree of physical relaxation by lifting an arm at the wrist, Dave Elman
style, and wiggling it. Someone who is still paying conscious attention will
try to help you; their arm will lift easily and when you wiggle it you'll feel
resistance because their muscles are trying to cooperate. In someone who is
well into trance the arm will feel heavy and when you wiggle the arm it
moves with you. You can then drop the arm back into their lap, or let it flop
down next to them, as a non verbal signal to go deeper.
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Versatility
NLP teaches that in any system the element with the most flexibility is
usually the controlling element. To be an effective hypnotist, you need to be
versatile. Learn as many inductions as you can, model from other hypnotists
when you see something that appeals to you, and be prepared to adapt your
style a little to accommodate your trance partner.
If you are playing with someone who wants to feel dominated and
controlled, for example, then morph your style a little to be more
authoritative: raise your voice a little, use short direct sentences, and add
some extra references to the bottom being controlled, overwhelmed,
powerless, or whatever other words resonate with them. If your partner
wants a more intimate, relaxed approach then pull up your chair closer, get
permission to hold them and stroke the arm or leg, and whisper sweet
hypnotic words into their ear.
The more you practice and work with different people, the more your
personal style will grow and evolve. That is always a good thing.
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Your Hypnotic Self
Discussion Points
1. New hypnotists are often tempted to exaggerate their experience in
order to inspire belief and expectation in a prospective play partner.
Is this a good idea?
2. If you've never done a hypno-bondage scene before and your partner

wants it, should you tell them it will be your first time?
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Exercises
1. Practice giving a spoken induction with your throat open, so that you
feel the resonance in your lower throat and upper chest. Notice what
that does to the tone quality of your voice.
2. Watch another hypnotist (erotic, stage, or other) in action and

identify as many elements of their style as you can. How is their
hypnotic voice different from their speaking voice? What words or
phrases do they tend to use often? Do they touch their partner?
3. Experiment with authoritarian and permissive wording. Take each of

the following suggestion ideas and write one authoritarian way and
one permissive way to word the suggestion:
One arm becomes light and rises until it points to the ceiling.
The hypnotee becomes giddy and giggly.
The temperature of the room becomes increasingly warm or cool.
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Being the Hypnotee
Being the Hypnotee

Anyone who wants to be a good hypnotist should learn how to be
hypnotized. By experiencing trance yourself you gain a much better
understanding of what hypnosis is like, which in turn will help you to relate
to what your trance partners are doing when you hypnotize them. And there
are benefits to you as well; we can all use a little mental vacation once in a
while.
Being hypnotized is a skill that improves with practice. If you don't have a
hypnotist handy that you can practice with, use self-hypnosis to get better at
going in and out of trance. Even if you're not making suggestions to
yourself, it's still good practice and beneficial in its own right.
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Presenter Notes
This topic is suitable for everyone. Even someone who exclusively plans to
top should learn how to be hypnotized so they can be a better hypnotist.
Switches can obviously benefit from getting better at letting go into trance
when they bottom for someone else. And of course there are always
bottoms who are looking for ways to go into trance more easily when they
play. This lesson is for all of them; the only real difference is why they
come.
When I present this class (usually under the title “Deeper, Faster, Easier”) I
like to do a group trance induction at the end of the lecture. During the
trance I have each participant choose their own reinduction trigger. Then,
after ending the group trance, I have them all use their triggers to go back
into hypnosis for a minute or two and fractionate them a little by doing this
3 or 4 times, for just a minute or so apiece. It's a great way to cement the
habit of going into trance, and of course the fractionation itself helps them
drop deeper, faster, with repetition. It's a confidence-builder.
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Being the Hypnotee
Can You Be Hypnotized?

It used to be common knowledge that only a certain percentage of the
population can be hypnotized. Depending on whose figures you heard, that
number ranged from as low as 15 percent to as high as 85 percent. This
came from the days when researchers tried to study hypnosis using the
scientific method – they would read (or play a recording of) the same script
to 100 people, and anyone who didn't respond to it by going into trance was
considered “not hypnotizable.”
Nowadays we know that hypnosis is more art than science. Everybody's

mind is different and how they respond to a hypnotic induction is a function
of their mood, trust/expectation/belief, and a bunch of other factors that a
canned recording or untrained grad student reading a script can't adapt to.
When working with a moderately skilled hypnotist, almost everyone can be
successfully hypnotized. The exceptions are:
1. People who have a severe physiological disorder of the brain that

prevents them from concentrating (extremely rare).
2. People who are under the influence of certain mind-altering

substances such as LSD, PCP, heavy sedation, or large amounts of
alcohol or THC (the active ingredient in marijuana). These people
are already in an altered state and the drugs tend to inhibit
concentration; once they sober up they can be hypnotized. (Side
note: a couple of drinks, or a few puffs on a joint, is unlikely to
affect an average person enough to prevent trance and can actually
help the process by encouraging relaxation; beyond that the ability to
concentrate deteriorates and hypnosis gets increasingly difficult.)
3. People who don't want to be hypnotized. Usually this is a temporary

thing; they aren't comfortable with this hypnotist, or in this
environment, and would be amenable to trance under other
circumstances. Occasionally you'll run into someone with a deep-
seated fear of losing control who jerks out of trance instantly under
any circumstance; they can still learn to let themselves be
hypnotized, but it's a lot more difficult for them.
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Going into hypnosis is a perfectly natural thing that your brain already
knows how to do. Each and every one of us with roughly normal brain
function goes into trance at least twice a day: when we go to sleep, and
when we wake up again. While going from wakefulness into sleep and then
back from sleep into the waking state we pass through trance. If you sleep,
therefore, you can be hypnotized.
Another thing that's often said is that all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. That one
is actually true. Hypnosis is never something that someone else does to you;
it's something your mind does in response to either an invitation or a desire
of its own to go there. No hypnotist can force someone into trance if they
don't want to go there. A sneak or surprise induction, where you don't
necessarily have time to consciously object, may work for a second or two
but you can (and likely will) always bring yourself back out and you can
reject every suggestion the unethical hypnotist tries to make in the process.
There are a lot of frustrated bottoms out there who can drop into trance at
will, but never feel as though they're going “deep enough.” Some are on an
epic quest to achieve that perfect deep trance Nirvana, thinking that if they
can only go deep enough they'll finally be able to experience a coveted
hypnotic phenomenon or they'll finally feel as if they were hypnotized. This
is unfortunately, because the idea that there is a certain depth that enables a
given result has been thoroughly discredited, and too much emphasis on
depth can prevent you from enjoying the hypnotic state you're in.
I often tell people that being in trance is a lot like being drunk, in that your
own perceptions are the least accurate way to judge your state. This is
especially true for inexperienced hypnotees, who may simply have an
expectation of what deep hypnosis must feel like that isn't true for them;
they remember things, they know they were aware of their surroundings, so
despite the fact that they clearly remember holding a conversation with their
left shoe and answering to the name Rumpelstiltskin they feel they probably
weren't really very hypnotized.
Chapter 6 of this book covers the whole depth debate in more detail. Suffice
to say for now that how deep into hypnosis you are has little or nothing to
do with how well you respond to suggestion or what hypnotic phenomena
you can experience. Your trust/expectation/belief, your experience and
mental talents, and your imagination are the important things.
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Being the Hypnotee
Getting There
The ability to easily drop into trance at will is a skill, like driving or dancing
or playing the piano. Some people are just naturally good at it; most of us
can become competent with practice. There are very few people who truly
can't learn to go into trance, though some may need to resolve some
personal issues first.
The key to gaining skill at going into trance is, of course, to practice. If you
have a hypnotist you can practice with regularly, that's great – you'll get
better and better with each session that you do. If you don't, you can use
self-hypnosis to sharpen your skill so that when you do get the chance to
play with a hypnotist your mind is primed and able to drop easily into
trance with minimal fuss.
There are some things you can do to help the process along. Remember to
keep an open mind, especially when you are new to hypnotic play yourself.
Hypnosis almost never feels the way we expected it to before we started
playing with it. For some people it feels different from trance to trance, or
from hypnotist to hypnotist. So let go of your expectations and let whatever
happens happen. If you really feel you must worry about whether you went
into trance or not, do it later.
Avoid the temptation to analyze. As you gain experience, there may be a

piece of your mind that listens to each hypnotist and compares them to
others. You may notice that they approach the Dave Elman induction
differently, for example, and find yourself dwelling on the “mistakes”
instead of letting the analytical, judging part of your mind wander off as it
needs to. If the hypnotist says something that seems nonsensical or
contradictory, it's okay to just let the words flow through without evaluating
them.
It helps a lot to adopt a Zen-like attitude: don't “try” to go into trance, just
allow trance to either happen or not happen. Don't try to measure how deep
you are or how trancey you feel; let the scene play out and judge at the end
how well the hypnosis worked for you. You may discover at the end that
while you didn't feel all that hypnotized you have no idea when or how your
clothes came off.
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When all else seems to be failing, call on your imagination. Imagine as

vividly as you can that you are deeply hypnotized and every suggestion the
hypnotist gives you is compelling and irresistible. Imagination is a function
of the subconscious, after all, and the subconscious is what you want
running the show; imagine being hypnotized and, more often than not, your
mind will take you there. (If you do this, make sure you communicate with
your hypnotist afterward that you were doing it so they can benefit from the
feedback.)
When you are playing with a new hypnotist (new to hypnosis or just new to
hypnosis with you), it's important to make sure that you give them
information that they need to know about how your mind works.
Communicate your hard limits clearly. Tell them about any physical
limitations you have, like an old knee injury or a stiff neck. Warn them
about any fears/phobias that you have. But also tell them about previous
experiences you've had that were good – a hypnotist wants to hear about
that so they can leverage the experience.
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Being the Hypnotee
Self-Hypnosis
Self-hypnosis is one of the easiest ways to practice going into and out of
trance. The more you hypnotize yourself, the more accustomed your mind
gets to what a trance state feels like and how to get there. This will make it
easier for you to go into trance for someone else when you want to.
There are a lot of tools out there that you can take advantage of to practice
self-hypnosis. There are thousands of YouTube videos designed to guide
you into self-hypnosis, for instance. Most of these feature some sort of eye
fixation graphic and a recorded voice doing an induction. This may not
really seem like self hypnosis because someone else is speaking, but
remember it's your mind doing the work. If you're going to go this route,
variety is your friend; pick several recordings and rotate through them so
you don't get too conditioned to one particular one.
There are also a bunch of websites where you can either use the site's tools
as a hypnosis prop or download software that you run on a PC. The website
or software, like the YouTube videos, typically displays some kind of
fascinating pattern on the screen and may also include either vocal
suggestions (recorded or synthesized voice) or audible beats to help guide
you into trance. A program called Virtual Hypnotist is an old and well-
known tool whose creator (FollowTheWatch) has retired and released it to
the community. A new project, Descent, is being developed as a successor
to Virtual Hypnotist. There are also any number of spirals, binaural beat
generators, and the like for those so inclined.
Ultimately, of course, you don't need any fancy equipment, a special chair,
or another person to hypnotize you. You can do it anywhere that you can
safely let your attention wander. Here is a very simple method that involves
no technology or props:
1. Settle into a comfortable position in a place where you can tune out
for a bit without risk to yourself. It could be a private spot at home,
the passenger seat of a car/bus/train/airplane, or anywhere you feel
comfortable.
2. Take a few long, slow, deep breaths. With each breath open your
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eyes and inhale completely, filling your lungs all the way, and hold it
for a second or two. Then, as you let each breath out slowly, close
your eyes and make a small gesture, such as tapping on the chair or
rubbing two fingers together. Make the same gesture each time you
exhale, and make it as you feel your body relaxing.
3. Tell yourself how much time you will spend in self hypnosis. Note
the current time if you can without having to move around or search
for a clock, otherwise don't worry about it. It's usually good to start
with 5 minutes and work your way up, if you want to, to longer
sessions. Even 5 minutes is good practice, though.
4. Close your eyes again if you haven't already and make that gesture.
Imagine that each time you make the gesture your body relaxes, your
mind clears, and you feel everything in and around you slowing
down. Continue to do this and feel yourself responding to the gesture
each time. Take your time; there's no need to count or measure.
5. At some point you will suddenly become alert again. Open your eyes
and look at the clock. You may be surprised at how good your
subconscious is at keeping track of time.
The gesture that you make, through repetition and practice, becomes a
trigger for self-hypnosis. Making that gesture will automatically start your
mind heading toward trance, which is a good and handy thing to have.
If you want to give yourself suggestions during your self-hypnosis, use your
imagination to do it. Whatever the suggestion is, imagine the benefit you
will gain from following it – maybe a slimmer body, maybe a calmer mind,
maybe doing something beneficial instead of indulging in a habit you want
to get rid of. Imagine yourself enjoying those benefits, and as you do make
the imaginary images, sounds, and feelings as intense and bold and in-your-
face as you can. Also imagine yourself doing whatever the necessary steps
are to gain that result – passing up sweets, exercising, throwing away
cigarettes, whatever – in the most vivid way that your mind can. Your
subconscious will get the message and start reprogramming your behavior
to get you there.
With time and practice, you'll discover that you don't really need the ritual
of the 5 steps to put yourself into trance. Once you know what it feels like,
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Being the Hypnotee
you can simply close your eyes and recall that feeling, make the gesture
once or twice, and you'll be right there in trance.
For a more intense sort of self-hypnosis practice, you can do your own
fractionation exercise. Trigger yourself into trance, giving the instruction to
stay in trance for one minute only. As soon as you feel yourself emerging
from trance, trigger yourself again for one minute. Repeat as many times as
you like. Each time you drop down right after coming (most of the way)
back up you'll find yourself dropping more deeply more quickly.
Fractionation can be a little disorienting, so if you find it getting too hard to
wake up completely you may want to slow down a bit. Or not – it's a cool
feeling.
Practicing self-hypnosis trains your mind to go into trance quickly, easily,

and deeply when you want it to. It will build your confidence in your ability
to trance successfully, and if you want to you can use it for your own self-
improvement purposes. Plus, if you are trancing with a hypnotist, you will
find it much easier to go into trance no matter what induction they use.
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Discussion Points
1. Suppose you are adept at self-hypnosis and are playing with a new
hypnotist whose technique is a bit awkward and not working for you.
Would you simply use your self-hypnosis skills to go into trance
yourself? What, if anything, should you tell the hypnotist
afterwards?
2. Why would a dominant allow their submissive(s) to hypnotize them?
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Being the Hypnotee
Exercise
1. Practice the 5-step self hypnosis technique from this chapter at least
once a day for 2 weeks. How accurate is your subconscious
timekeeper? Do you start to lose track of time while you're
practicing? Notice how much easier it gets to drop into trance when
you practice.
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The Next Level
177

Do you wonder if your trance partners are really hypnotized? As a
hypnotee, do you find yourself wondering whether you were really in trance
or not? If so, the answer can be had by using testing and convincers.
To do an erotic hypnosis scene you don't usually need a lot of hypnotic

depth, and depth as a general concept is overrated as we've already
discussed. However, using a test or convincer well can help to enhance your
trance partner's belief in the process and end up improving the hypnotic
experience for both of you. Pay attention to how you do it, though, because
using them poorly is a great way to sabotage yourself.
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Presenter Notes
This is a mid-level topic. It presupposes that your audience knows how to
get someone into trance and give them suggestions and is looking to get
better at it. This particular topic won't leave the beginners completely in the
dust, but they may not have the foundation they need to make use of this
material. Know your audience and make sure they understand what is
expected of them.
The topic of convincers and tests really lends itself to demonstrations, so do

them. I would start by doing the suggestibility tests as an audience-
participation demo. Watch your audience, and make note of the ones who
are most responsive to those exercises. Then choose one or two of them to
come up to the front and be your demo bottom for the convincers.
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Why Test?
Experienced hypnotists often disagree on the subject of testing: when to
test, what kind of test to use, even whether to test at all. Some swear that
testing is vital because it proves beyond a doubt that the person really is
hypnotized; others see any test as an opportunity for the hypnotee to “fail”
and undermine their belief and expectation. Both sides make a valid point,
so the wisest position to take is one somewhere in the middle.
How much I test depends very much on the situation and the person I'm
playing with. If I haven't played with this person before, or they aren't very
experienced, and we have plenty of time, then I'll do several tests or
convincers so that I can gauge how their mind responds to things and they
will have something they can point to and say, “Yes, that showed that I
really was hypnotized.” If the hypnotee is experienced, or we know each
other well, there is less need for testing because the hypnotee already knows
what their mind can do and I already have a decent idea what to expect. I
also tend to skip testing when doing demos because of the time factor;
whatever phenomenon we're going to demo becomes the test, in a way.
Tests vs. Convincers

When we talk about testing and convincers we're generally talking about the
same thing. The main difference is when we do them.
A suggestibility test (or just 'test') is an exercise done with a person who is
not in hypnosis yet. I strongly dislike the term and, as I'll explain shortly, I
never use it with someone I'm about to hypnotize but for purposes of this
section we'll let it stand. A suggestibility test serves multiple purposes:
It provides a way for the hypnotist to gauge how responsive the

hypnotee is to a particular kind of suggestion
It gets the hypnotee used to following instructions
It demonstrates to the hypnotee that their mind is capable of

surprising things
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A successful test – which is any test where the hypnotee believes they got
the expected result – helps to establish belief and expectation in an
inexperienced hypnotee. They can also start the process of shifting that
person into trance for you. I've seen hypnotists do two or three tests and
then move directly into an instant induction, using the testing to set that up.
When someone is already in trance, there is still a case to be made for

testing. In this case you're not testing waking suggestibility, of course,
you're testing response to suggestion. Tests done during trance are usually
called convincers because their primary purpose is to prove to the hypnotee
that they really are in an altered state and that suggestions do work.
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Caveats
Before we start discussing specific tests and convincers, let's go over a
couple of general caveats that apply to both:
1. Never tell a hypnotee that they are being tested. The very word
“test” implies the possibility of failure, and the last thing you want
someone thinking about as you are trying to hypnotize them is the
possibility that it might fail. Also, a lot of people get anxious at the
very concept of being tested, which is pretty much the opposite of
the mindset you want them to have. It's also wise to avoid using the
word “suggestibility” – most people equate being suggestible with
being gullible, which is something nobody wants to be. So if you
have to say anything, say something like, “Let's do a couple of
simple exercises to see how your imagination works” or “To
demonstrate to you how easily your mind can mess with your body,
let's do this...” Brian David Phillips likes to use the term
“imagination game” in place of “suggestibility test.”
2. Whatever response you get from a test is the right one. There is
no failure, only feedback. If you do a test and get a result other than
what you were expecting, that result is correct and you need to deal
with it. Remember the importance of belief and expectation to
successful hypnosis. Belief can be a fragile thing; if your hypnotee
thinks they have “failed” a test it undermines the entire session. So
never tell a hypnotee what response you expect, and no matter how
they respond to your test tell the hypnotee they're doing well.
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Pre-Trance Tests
Testing before trance gives you an opportunity to assess your partner's
ability and willingness to follow suggestions in the waking state. Always
remember when you do these that your trance partner's subconscious is
listening – keep the caveats in mind and make sure that you're building
belief rather than dismantling it.
Arms Rising and Falling

Also known as the “bricks and balloons” test, this one is such a staple that
it's become almost as cliché as a swinging pocket watch. Nonetheless, it
gives you good feedback on how vivid your partner's imagination is and
how willing they are to immerse themselves in an imagined situation.
Start by having your trancee close their eyes and hold their arms straight
out. For this example, let’s assume that their left palm is facing up and their
right palm is facing down. Have them take a deep breath or two and let
them out, then begin.
Imagine right now that I'm tying a string loosely to your right
wrist. On the other end of that string is a bunch of brightly
colored helium balloons. You may hear them bonking against
each other as I handle the string, and you can certainly imagine
that as I let go of the string you can feel those balloons tugging at
your arm, trying to lift upwards. Lifting, tugging, pulling up …
that's right.
Now, imagine that in your left hand I'm placing the handle of a
big empty bucket. You can imagine the bucket as metal, or
plastic, or wood, whatever material you like. The handle is now
in your palm, and as you feel the heft of that bucket in your hand
just imagine that I start placing bricks into the bucket. Each brick
clunks as it drops inside, and with each brick the bucket gets
heavier and heavier. Heavy, dragging, pulling down … good.
On the right side, imagine that I'm adding more and more helium
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balloons. The tugging, the pulling upward, getting stronger and

stronger the more balloons I add to the bunch. Adding balloon
after balloon, making that tugging upward get harder, more
insistent, pulling your arm upward.
And on the left side, dropping more and more bricks into the
bucket. Every second another brick plops into the bucket, making
it heavier and heavier. Imagine that bucket getting so heavy, so
much weight, pulling down.
As you talk, watch their left and right arms. If they are imagining well, you
should notice the right arm starting to rise and the left arm starting to drop.
You can encourage this by continuing to talk up the lightness, the pulling
upward, the tugging of the balloons and how the bricks in the bucket get
heavier and heavier. When you've got a visible result, where it's easy to see
that the left hand is lower than the right, have your partner open their eyes
and see how good their imagination is.
The amount of separation you get, of course, directly correlates with how
open to suggestion they are at the moment. Even a little bit of difference is a
successful outcome, but of course the more separation you get the more
confident you can be that they will respond well to direct suggestion
involving imagination of body sensations. If you get no separation at all,
have them lower their arms to their lap before opening their eyes (because
you don't want them to see that they got no separation). The test was still
successful because you have now determined that they are not very
receptive to direct suggestion involving body sensations.
Hand Clasp
The hand clasp is almost as universally known as the bricks and balloons
test. Stage hypnotists use it often to identify the people in the audience who
are most open to suggestion.
Place your arms out in front of you, extended all the way, that's
right. Now clasp your hands together like this (demonstrate),
letting your fingers interlock, good.
Now, imagine that the palms of your hands contain powerful
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magnets that attract each other. Your palms are already so close
now, so imagine that you can feel those magnets pulling those
palms together, tighter and tighter, tighter and tighter, that's
right. Really feel those magnets gripping, pulling, holding those
hands together.
Now, with those hands already stuck so hard together, imagine

that I'm pouring glue over those hands. Feel that glue seeping in
between the fingers, between the palms, everything sticking
together tight. Sticking tight. Glue drying almost instantly,
leaving those hands so stuck together that even if you TRY to pull
those hands apart now, the more you TRY to pull them apart the
more they're STUCK together. The harder you TRY to separate
those hands the more STUCK they become, STUCK together,
that's right.
Now, stop trying and feel how truly, absolutely STUCK

TOGETHER those hands are. Good!
I've seen stage hypnotists do this and then, at this point, invite everyone
whose hands are still stuck together to come up on stage and be in the show.
When you do this one, it's important to provide some guidance when it's
time to start trying to separate the hands. You want them to try and pull the
palms apart without first opening their fingers, so demonstrate it that way –
do the exercise with your partner, so they will do it the same way you do.
This is a trick, of course; it's much more difficult anyway to separate the
hands without first opening the fingers, so you get some physiology
working for you.
Also notice that once the hands are together they become “those hands”
rather than “your hands.” That's called dissociative language, and it helps to
distance the person from their hands. “Those hands” become an object
rather than a part of them, which makes it easier to accept them being
temporarily stuck together.
Finger Vise
The finger vise is another test that leverages a feature of human anatomy to
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achieve its end. Have your trancee hold their arms out and clasp the hands
together, just as they would for the hand clasp, but this time have them
extend just their index fingers and hold them about an inch apart. (If their
hands are clasped tightly together this should be difficult but not
impossible.)
Now, let's play a game with your imagination. I wonder if you

can imaging that I'm placing a vise around your extended fingers.
You know how a vise works, I'm sure: the operator turns a handle
or a knob and the two sides of the vise close together.
(Begin to mime turning a knob to one side of the partner's

extended fingers.) Imagine that now, a force drawing those
fingers together, getting stronger and stronger with every turn of
the knob. Stronger and stronger, that's right, feeling those fingers
getting squeezed together, squeezed together …
This one usually doesn't take more than a few seconds because the tendons
that control the fingers are stretched and already want to bring the fingers
back together. That's the “feature” that makes this test work for pretty much
anybody who isn't actively resisting. Mind you, this also means that you
can't put too much stock in the result either – this test is to convince them
more than to inform you.
Floppy Arm
This one is so simple it barely needs words. After getting permission to
touch your trancee on the arm or shoulder, take their hand in yours.
Now, as I take your hand, I'm going to lift it up to here. (Elbow

bent, arm mostly forward.) Let me do all the work here; I want
you to relax that arm as much as you can, so it's completely
loose, limp, and floppy.
(Wiggle the arm around, feeling to ensure that it is relaxed.)

That's right, like a rag doll's arm. I'm not going to drop it, but if I
did that arm would just drop right down toward the floor,
wouldn't it? In fact, you can even imagine now, can't you, that
that arm is completely loose, limp, and lazy, like a rag doll's arm.
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That's right.
This one is all about the trancee's ability to physically relax in response to a
suggestion. As you wobble that arm around, you want it to feel loose and
heavy; if you feel it moving other than as you wobble it, then they are trying
to help you and they are not completely relaxed. That phrase let me do all
the work seems to get the message across nicely for most people.
The Chevreul Pendulum

The Chevreul pendulum is a highly versatile hypnosis prop. It can be used
as an induction tool, it can be used in or out of hypnosis to get information
from the subconscious through a technique called ideomotor questioning,
and you can use it as a suggestibility test.
You'll need to do some preparation for this one. The pendulum itself is
nothing special; any weighted object attached to the end of a string will do.
It only needs to be something you can attach the string to and that's heavy
enough that it will hang straight down. I like to use a plastic chandelier
crystal (they cost about 20 cents at a craft store) because people tend to
associate a swinging crystal with trance anyway.
You will also need a pad, or a sheet of paper. It can be blank, or you can
pre-draw two perpendicular lines on it that intersect in the middle, dividing
the paper into four sections.
To start, have your hypnotee sitting upright and have the paper either in
their lap (supported by a clipboard or book) or on a table in front of them.
You want it in a position where they can comfortably and easily hold their
hand over the paper for several minutes.
Have your hypnotee hold out their hand (left or right, doesn't matter) over
the paper and position the hand in a specific way: forefinger extended and
curved, thumb and other fingers in a fist – as if they were holding an
imaginary gun and pulling the trigger. Now give them the pendulum and
have them hold the string with their thumb and non-extended fingers, so
that the string comes up and over the end of the index finger before going
straight down to the pendulum. The pendulum object should hover a couple
of inches above the paper. If they are doing it right, any movement of the
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index finger should cause the pendulum to move.
Now, wait for the pendulum to settle (or help settle it yourself) and move
the paper so that the center is under the pendulum.
The Chevreul pendulum is a fascinating application of the theory

of ideomotor response. For a moment or two, just watch the
crystal at the end of the string and notice how it never entirely
sits still; there's always a little bit of movement, isn't there?
Because no matter how hard you try to hold your hand still, there
are always tiny little muscle movements going on that cause a
corresponding movement in the string.
Now, watch what happens when you direct a thought at the

crystal in your hand. Watch the crystal, and think to yourself,
“No … no … no … show me No ...” Keep thinking that thought,
“No,” … that's right … and notice how that thought, directed at
the crystal, causes a definite change in how it moves.
If the paper is blank, draw a line on it that matches the direction the
pendulum is swinging. Everyone is different, so there's no right or wrong
direction; you just want to identify “No” and give your hypnotee the
opportunity to discover how their subconscious mind can control their body
in subtle, minute ways.
Good. Now, let's change the thought and see what happens to the
crystal. Think to yourself, “Yes … yes … yes … show me Yes ...”
That's right. The more you focus your mind on that idea, “Yes,”
the more you'll notice the crystal reacting, changing direction …
yes … just like that.
Mark the “Yes” direction on the paper as well. This is usually the opposite
of No, but not always.
And now, one more exercise: do your level best to think of

nothing at all. Just relax and let your mind be blank, and see
what that does with the crystal. Notice how it reacts as you simply
relax every thought away from the front of your mind. You may
even just think to yourself, “Relax … relax … relax ...”
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Again, there is no correct answer here. With some people the pendant will
go still; with others it will move in a distinct way that is different from Yes
or No. For testing purposes you really don't care which direction means
what; you're only interested in noting that the direction changes, and in how
clear and obvious the pattern is. Someone whose pendant swings in a wide
arc, or circle, is concentrating very well and getting a great result; someone
whose pendant moves only in small circles or arcs is less responsive. In 15
years I've never seen anyone have no response. There’s no magic here --
your partner’s subconscious mind is causing tiny muscle movements in the
fingers holding the string, which in turn cause the pendant to move in a
given direction. The more pronounced those movements, the more the
pendulum moves.
People who haven't done this exercise before tend to be fascinated by how
easily their thoughts affect the pendant, so by the time you've got a solid
response to “relax” they are already on their way into trance. It's very easy
to just keep going and turn the test into an induction if you have consent for
it.
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Convincers
Convincers are tests that you do during a trance session for the purpose of
demonstrating to your trance partner that they really are hypnotized.
Professional therapists use convincers because their clients often need to
have some sort of “proof” that they were hypnotized or they won't believe
they actually were, which can then undo all the suggestion work the
therapist did. In the erotic context, convincers server a very similar purpose:
they let the hypnotee have confirmation that they were “under” which, in
some cases, is all they really wanted from the scene. Having that proof may
also lead them to feel that they are now hypnotized and are therefore
compelled to obey, which is a key fantasy in hypnokink.
Almost any suggestion can be used as a convincer – very few people will
deny having been hypnotized when they have an orgasm every time the
hypnotist snaps their fingers – but in practice the best convincers are simple,
innocuous things done during trance that show the trancee that they are
receptive to suggestion. This enhances belief and makes the “real”
suggestions, either in the same session or in a subsequent one, that much
more effective.
Some of these convincers are post-hypnotic suggestions. When I use them

with a partner, I usually give them the convincer suggestions and bring
them out of trance to experience the effect without doing any more
suggestions right away. Once completed the convincer, I drop them back
down and get to work on the actual scene.
Catalepsy
One of the easiest hypnotic phenomena to obtain is catalepsy, a condition in
which part of the body (or the entire body) becomes rigid and immobile.
Catalepsy is a good convincer because it feels involuntary; it also gives you
some information too. There are a couple of common variations on this
theme.
For arm catalepsy, one arm is made stiff and rigid. Take your hypnotee's
arm (you need to have permission to touch the arm and shoulder for this)
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and hold it straight out in front of them.
Now, as I hold your arm straight out like this, just imagine that
arm locking into position. Every joint, every muscle, locking into
place. That's right, everything from the shoulder, through the
elbow, through the wrist, even each individual knuckle and finger
joint locking into place, absolutely stiff and rigid.
(Start to let go of the arm; if it stays in place you are ready to

move on, otherwise continue to support the arm and suggest it
become stiff, rigid, locked, etc. until the arm does not move when
you let go of it.)
Now, stiff and rigid and locked as it is, imagine that now you feel
a hard steel bar immediately under that arm. Imagine that arm is
resting on that stiff, straight, rigid bar of steel. Nothing can bend
steel, so no power can force your arm downward as long as it
rests on that stiff, rigid, steel bar.
(Take your hand and press down on the hypnotee's arm, gently at
first and then a bit more firmly as you feel the resistance. NEVER
push harder than they can easily resist!)
Notice how the harder I press down on that arm, the more
impossible it is for me to move it. The more I press down, the
more stiff and rigid and firm that arm remains. That's right.
And now, as I squeeze on the elbow right here (squeeze), your

arm returns to its normal state, relaxed and flexible and floppy.
The steel bar disappears and I can easily lower your arm back
into your lap (or onto the arm of the chair, etc.).
Arm catalepsy is a classic test because it's easy to do and very easy to judge
the result. When you press down on the arm, you want it to feel exactly as
you described: rigid, stiff. If it starts to go down and then presses upward
again, that's a conscious response – your hypnotee is not focused and is
consciously trying to resist the pressure.
It's important not to press down on the arm too hard. For one thing, if you
are stronger than your hypnotee or have the benefit of leverage (as someone
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standing would have over someone sitting) you can force their arm down,
and that would destroy their belief and probably ruin the scene before it
even starts. For another, they might injure themselves trying to resist your
force if you apply too much. Being hypnotized does not make anyone
stronger.
Another frequently-used convincer is eye catalepsy. This will seem very

familiar if you know the Dave Elman induction, which is in Chapter 5.
With your eyes closed now, I want you to relax each and every
one of those tiny muscles in and around your eyes. Relax those
muscles so completely that it begins to feel as if those eyes are too
relaxed to open. Now you and I both know you could open your
eyes any time you want to, but that is not why you're here. So
relax those muscles all the way, letting those eyelids become so
heavy, so droopy, so relaxed that they simply will not open. And
when you've relaxed those eyes so much that they simply will not
open, go ahead and TRY to open them. The more you TRY to open
those eyes, the more stubbornly they remain stuck closed, too
relaxed to open. That's right, prove to me that those eyes are so
relaxed that they will not open.
Good! Stop trying now, and just relax...
This is very similar to the first step in a Dave Elman induction. In fact,when
I do the Elman I use almost exactly that language.
This convincer works well for most people, and the language is a large part
of why. That word TRY always implies failure, so putting emphasis on
TRY is a powerful message to the subconscious that they will not succeed.
“Prove to me that those eyes are so relaxed they will not open” is a direct
suggestion to fail at opening the eyes. And again, notice the dissociative
language – “those eyes” and “those muscles” versus “your eyes.” When
people realize that their eyes won't open, something clicks and they know
they're hypnotized.
Another fun variant I like to use is full-body catalepsy. I typically do this

one as a post-hypnotic suggestion, to prove to someone when the scene is
over that they really were hypnotized.
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In a few moments I'm going to count to three. On the count of

three you come completely out of trance, fully awake and alert,
feeling wonderfully refreshed and rested.
However, for 30 seconds after that count of three, your body from
the neck down remains completely still, completely rigid,
completely immovable. All of your natural body functions
continue to work, but your arms and legs, your back and hips and
shoulders, everything below the neck remains absolutely still and
unmoving for 30 seconds. As soon as the 30 seconds pass your
body reverts to normal, able to move freely and easily the way it
always does.
You will know by the way your body remains absolutely stiff and
unmovable for those 30 seconds that you really were hypnotized
and that you can be hypnotized again any time you wish to be.
This one is very dramatic, especially for someone inexperienced who

doesn't think they're going into much of a trance. When they come out and
find their body just won't move it's a weird feeling that erases all doubt. Just
make sure you remind them that they will automatically regain all
movement at the end of the 30 seconds. You can even count it down for
them.
Numb Spot
Another very strong convincer involves creating a small spot on your
trancee's body and making it go numb. I like to use the back of the hand for
this because it's a very sensitive area for most people (meaning it has lots of
nerve endings) and it's easily accessible.
Like the catalepsy tests, this is done while the person is in trance. Make sure
you have permission to touch the hand and to leave a small, short-lived
mark. Take their hand in yours and hold it.
And now, just imagine that this hand I'm holding right now is
even more deeply hypnotized than the rest of you. Feel that hand
relaxing, growing more distant, more disconnected, more and
more like an object I'm holding. Good.
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Now, imagine that I'm holding an ice pack right here (touch the
back of the hand) on the back of that hand. An ice pack so cold
that it instantly numbs that part of that hand … a chilling
numbness that creeps in and spreads throughout that entire area.
You know how totally numb a hand can feel that way, all the
nerves stunned and senseless by the cold, every little part of that
area completely numb. The more you imagine it, the more numb
that hand becomes, the more disconnected and numb it feels.
At this point, take your fingers and pinch the area lightly while watching
your hypnotee's face. If you see a response, go back to suggesting
increasing numbness – you can keep talking about cold, or maybe remind
them what it feels like when a doctor or dentist injects a local anesthetic
(assuming your partner is not needle-phobic or afraid of the dentist!), or talk
about nerves going to sleep. Keep this up until you can pinch hard enough
to leave a red mark which will go away in a few minutes. If you have a
clothes pin or something similar that you can leave attached, all the better.
Now, bring your partner out of trance (reminding them that the numbness
remains until you tell them it ends) and show them the red mark, clothes
pin, or what have you. They should be able to confirm that they had no idea
you were pinching so hard – they probably felt a little pressure at most. If
they felt more than that and you didn't see it in their face, that in itself
suggests that they were suppressing the sensation while in trance.
I like to use the back of the hand for this because it's easy to get to, easy to
get consent for, and the mark fades quickly. If you have an intimate
relationship with the hypnotee and they agree to it, you can feel free to use
another sensitive body part instead.
Hilarious Pen
I modeled this post-hypnotic convincer from John Cerbone, a well-known
stage hypnotist. It's great to use in a light-hearted setting. All you need is to
have a pen handy. Start with your hypnotee's eyes closed, holding the pen in
front of them at a distance where they can easily focus on it.
In a moment I'm going to count from one to three. On the count of

three I want you to open your eyes and look at the object I'm
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holding in front of you. One, two, three. Remember this pen, what
it looks like, and now close your eyes and relax even deeper …
good.
That pen that you just saw, for the next little while, is the funniest
thing you've ever seen in your life. The very sight of that pen, no
matter whether you're in hypnosis at the time or not, makes you
break out laughing as if you'd just heard the funniest joke in the
world. The more you laugh, the sillier and funnier it gets and the
siller and funnier it gets the more you can't help but laugh. Every
movement of the pen makes it even funnier and funnier, as long as
you can see it. When the pen is out of view you no longer need to
laugh, but every time you see the pen it just makes you laugh
harder and harder and harder. Even the idea that you're laughing
at a pen is so ridiculously funny that it makes you laugh harder
and harder. The pen is the funniest thing in the world for you,
funnier and funnier the more you see it, until I tell you that it's
just a pen. Once I tell you it's just a pen, the pen really is just a
pen, no longer funny in any way, and your feelings about the pen
return to normal.
Having planted that post-hypnotic suggestion, put the pen in your pocket
and bring your hypnotee out of trance. Make small talk for a few moments,
then casually bring out the pen and hold it in front of them. They will start
to laugh, of course, and you can take advantage of their post-hypnotic
suggestibility to make it funnier and funnier. When you've made the point
sufficiently (before they get to laughing so hard they can’t breathe
properly!) tell them that they're laughing at a pen – just a pen – and watch
them sober up in a flash.
Most people I do this to say something along the lines of, “That was so
weird! I knew it was just a pen and shouldn't be that funny, but just
realizing how stupid it was to be laughing at a pen made it even funnier.”
Which is a great convincer for anyone who wasn't sure they were in trance.
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Discussion Points
1. What other suggestions might make a good pre-induction test?
2. What other suggestions might make a good convincer?
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Exercise
1. Partner up and practice using the tests and convincers from this
lesson with them, plus any more that you think of and they agree to.
Then switch roles so you both get a chance to experience them.
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There are a lot of ways to get someone into trance. In Chapter 5 we went
over some of the most basic ones that any hypnotist should know. Now it's
time to start branching out from there by adding some additional tools to
your hypnotic toolbox.
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Presenter Notes
One of the problems I'm having in writing this chapter is that my favorite
confusion inductions – things like “Seven Plus or Minus Two” and “From
Five to Nine” – are the copyrighted property of Terence Watts, which
means I can't include them in a book without his permission. I work around
that by focusing on how the induction works rather than what the words are.
There are examples of each, of course, but since this is a mid-level class by
now your audience should be able to take these principles and weave their
own words around them.
The copyright constraints that I have in writing a book don't necessarily

apply to someone doing a class. I am not a lawyer, but I believe that as long
as you give the original author credit and refrain from handing out entire
copies of their work, fair use should allow you to teach the original “Seven
Plus or Minus Two” or other inductions from copyrighted sources if you
like. Variety is good.
When I'm teaching a purely spoken confusion induction, I like to do it as a

group exercise; that is, I'll perform the induction and everyone in the
audience who wants to participate can just let me take them into trance.
When I do, I always suggest before bringing them back up that they can
“clearly and completely, easily and effortlessly” remember how the
induction was done so they can easily use the induction themselves
whenever they wish to.
Most of these inductions take several minutes to fully execute. If you want
to have your class pair off and practice them make sure you keep control of
the room and don't let the exercises go on too long.
Because most confusion inductions involve a lot of talking, people have a

tendency to ask for the script. Resist the urge to hand them one; it is better
for them in the long run to learn the concepts behind the induction and
practice delivering it in their own words.
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About Confusion Inductions

A confusion induction is a method of inducing hypnosis in which the
conscious mind is deliberately given material that is difficult to process
rationally. If you think of your partner's subconscious as an over-eager
Doberman patrolling their front yard, using a confusion induction is like
throwing the dog a nice, meaty bone. While their conscious mind is
chewing on that tasty distraction, you can slip into the house without getting
jumped.
The most common use cases for a confusion induction are:
1. What Roy Hunter calls the analytical resister. I really don't like that
expression at all because it implies that the “analytical resister” is
someone who doesn't want to be hypnotized or is somehow resistant
to being hypnotized because they are analytical. That's almost never
the case, especially in a recreational setting – these people do want to
be hypnotized, they just need you to do it in a way that's compatible
with how their mind works. More about that shortly.
2. Dealing with hyper-vigilance, which is that nagging tendency some

people have to keep asking themselves, “Am I there yet?” while
you're trying to get them there. Constantly trying to evaluate whether
the induction is working is a judgment function – that is, something
the conscious mind has to do – so doing it actually works against
you going into trance.
3. People who have not responded well to other styles of induction.

When negotiating with a new hypnotee, they may tell you that they
hate the relaxation induction, or that they've had people try the
down-the-staircase thing and the swinging watch and none of those
worked well for them. Or you may start out doing your favorite
relaxation induction only to notice that they are looking bored and
irritated. In any of these cases, it's a good time to bring out (or segue
smoothly into) a confusion induction.
There are also times when it's a bad idea to do a confusion induction. If
your trance partner is anxious or nervous to begin with I would advise
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against an induction that may agitate them more. Get them calm first, or use
a more soothing induction type. If your hypnotee has a short attention span
– perhaps they have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) – then a confusion
induction is a poor choice. A lot of ADD people are actually natural
multitaskers, much harder to overload than the average person, so it takes a
lot more to confuse them. And some just can't stay focused on one thing
long enough for a 4-minute spoken induction to do anything for them.
The Analytical Mind

You will often hear hypnotists suggest that confusion inductions are
inherently the way to go for anyone who is analytical. I disagree with that.
Analytical people are not inherently handicapped when it comes to trance;
they simply have minds that are inclined to examine and evaluate more
closely than most what they are told, and prefer to draw their own
conclusions rather than accept ideas from external sources. This makes
swinging a watch in front of them and intoning, “You are getting
sleeeeeepy” a losing proposition, but they can be hypnotized in a bunch of
other ways.
A lot of the “trouble” with analytical people can be addressed with

communication. Analytical people are often true skeptics – that is, they are
willing to accept an assertion like “Hypnosis is an altered state of
consciousness” as long as you give them evidence to support it. So I talk
with my analytical hypnotees about what hypnosis is, how it works, and
what medical evidence there is to prove that it even exists (because a lot of
people new to the concept aren't sure it does!). I admit up front that it is
more art than science; we don't have a lot of hard data, so we go by
experience and what proves to be reproducible in most people. I lay a lot of
emphasis on the voluntary nature of hypnosis – it's a cool thing they can do
with their mind, not a battle of wills between them and me. And I mention
that highly intelligent people are generally very good at hypnosis because
they have good powers of concentration and focus. (Yes, this is a subtle
waking suggestion and an appeal to the ego.)
When you approach hypnotizing an analytical person as a cooperative effort

– getting them curious about it and interested in learning something cool
their mind can do instead of treating it as a challenge to be overcome –
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you'll find it a lot easier to get satisfying results regardless of what kind of
induction you use.
Control Freaks
A lot of people come up to me at conventions and say something along the
lines of, “I'm not sure whether I can be hypnotized or not because I'm such a
control freak.” Usually this happens right after they've asked me to
hypnotize them. And again, a lot of people will tell you that the best way to
handle it is to break out a confusion induction. And again, not necessarily.
Like the highly analytical person, the control freak is a lot easier to handle if
you communicate with them before you start trancing. With control freaks I
talk about how going into trance increases your control because it puts you
more in touch with your inner mind where all those habits and behaviors
live. I stress that hypnosis is not something I do to you; it's something you
do, with me sitting there teaching you how and offering directions.
Sometimes I will talk about the AirBus commercial jets. When they first
came out a few decades ago, they were revolutionary and a little
frightening. In an ordinary jet of the time, the controls in the cockpit were
directly linked to the ailerons, rudders, flaps, etc. that control the plane
(albeit with lots of hydraulics and gear systems to moderate the forces
involved). In an AirBus, the controls in the cockpit were only connected to
a computer, and the computer in turn had control of the ailerons, rudders,
flaps, etc. Pilots were intimidated by this because it meant they could only
tell the computer what they wanted the plane to do and trust the computer to
take that request and execute it. A hypnotized person, I explain, is like the
AirBus – the pilot/hypnotist can tell the subconscious what to do, but the
subconscious may or may not choose to do it.
Another thing I will do with a self-described control freak is to use

expressions like these throughout the trance session:
Of course we both know that you could easily <do the opposite of
X> if you wanted to, but that's not why you're here...
I wonder whether you can use the control you have over your own
mind and body to <make X happen>...
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The more you <do X> the more it reinforces at the deepest levels of
your mind that <doing X> is what you've chosen for yourself...
And you have all the resources and ability that you need to program
yourself to <do X>...
See what I did there? I'm not giving them suggestions; I'm suggesting that
they give themselves the suggestion, and reminding them that they have the
control to make it happen. Ericksonians call that utilization – taking what
your hypnotee brings to the table and working with it.
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Confusion Countdown
Roy Hunter teaches a confusion induction that uses a counting down
technique. This is his preferred approach to the “analytical resister” type
and it has a good track record.
Start by having your hypnotee stare upward at a spot high on the wall or
ceiling. You want the spot to be decently above eye level to induce eye
fatigue. Explain to them that you will be counting backward from 100; on
each even number they are to close their eyes, and on each odd number they
should open them again and look at the same spot.
Now, while they are still staring at the spot, have them take three long,
slow, deep breaths and release them slowly. On the third breath out they can
close their eyes and you begin to count.
100 … eyes closed, allowing yourself to relax.
99, eyes open, taking another deep breath and 98, eyes closed.
Very good.
97, eyes open, 96, eyes closed, and just imagine how good it feels
to release the cares of the day as you breathe in deeply and
exhale … good …
95, open, maybe starting to notice the strain and then 94, close,
feeling that relaxation doubling or maybe tripling, because it
feels so much better to keep your eyes closed than to keep them
open
93, that's right, and 92, closed, and realizing that each time you
try to open those eyes it gets more difficult to do it quickly
because they just want to stay closed and relaxed .. closed and
relaxed …
91, 90, relaxing your mind, such a relief to have those eyes
closed,
89, getting so difficult, 88, so easy to forget, whether to open or
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close, to close or open
86, and as soon as you forget, those eyes stay closed and you can
just relax even deeper …
83, good, 82, deeper and deeper relaxed, and you may even find
that it's easier to respond to my voice if you simply let it happen
automatically, instinctively … the less you think about it, the
more automatic and easy it becomes 81 to forget, 80 to
remember, to open, or close …
Keep going this way, skipping numbers on occasion, as long as they

continue to open on odd numbers. If you see them struggling use that –
remind them that the more they struggle to open the easier it is to close and
relax. When they don't open their eyes on an odd number, you've got trance;
you can tell them to just keep their eyes closed now and relax twice as
deeply on odd numbers as they do on even numbers and keep counting
down to deepen.
If your partner is too lucid, or seems to be keeping track too easily, then
throw in some non-sequitur lines between numbers. Their conscious mind
will wonder what the heck your kitchen sink has to do with anything and
add to the confusion. If you really want to get evil, throw in non-sequitur
phrases that include a number out of sequence, like “reminds me of the '72
Dolphins, though there were only 45 of them...”
Most of the confusional element in this induction comes from the filler
statements you make between counts. Someone analytical can pretty easily
follow the counting part, so it's up to you to be creative with what you say
between the numbers. Throw in irrational numbers; use words that sound
like numbers but aren’t; give them math problems instead of simple
numbers. When you see some hesitation before opening, you can start
messing with the sequence and throwing non-sequitur numbers in there to
help move things along.
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Cross-Body Confusion
This is based on the same principle as a Terence Watts induction, but the
language in the sample is mine so you can use it freely. It leverages the
anatomical fact that control and sensing of the body is divided more or less
equally between the left and right sides of the brain. The left brain, in fact,
controls and senses the right side of the body and the right brain the left side
of the body. So an induction that references left then right then left then
right requires a lot of conscious attention to follow, and that need for signals
to keep crossing the center bridge of the brain has interesting effects: it
breaks up anxiety clusters, makes it difficult to form complex ideas, and
takes a lot of mental clock cycles all by itself.
Start with your trancee seated comfortably.
Close your eyes now, please. This exercise is about what you can
feel, and you'll feel more readily without the distraction of things
in your line of sight. Just relax yourself now and allow yourself to
become more aware of your physical body.
In a few moments I'm going to start calling attention to different

parts of your body, such as the tip of your left pinkie finger, or the
outside of your right ankle, and as I do I'd like you to notice
whether you can concentrate all of your thoughts on the part I
mention, or whether you find yourself giving only part of your
attention to that part and part to another part that I didn't
mention … or perhaps you'll think entirely of a different part
altogether. And it doesn't really matter because the important
part is that you be able to use that mind of yours to think exactly
how you want to think, whether it's about the part that I mention
or the part that I don't mention.
And as we go it may be that you begin to tune your mind into

mine, so that you can almost anticipate what part I'm going to
talk about next, or the part I'm not going to talk about next, and it
may even seem as if you are already thinking of that part, or a
part apart, even before I mention it, as if you're reading my
thoughts, or perhaps I'm reading yours, or maybe we just both
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had the same thought at almost the same time.
You can allow yourself to become even more focused now, so

focused that instead of that tip of your left little finger you can
notice the sensations in the knuckles of your right hand. Some
people have just a little hair on the back of their hand, and some
more, like the hairs on your head. Can you become aware now of
every single hair follicle on your head? Every square inch of your
scalp has hundreds of them. Or perhaps you're thinking of your
feet, both feet at once, and deciding which is warmer, the little toe
on your left foot or the big toe on your right foot.
And it may be, as you focus your mind in that special way, the
way people do so easily and naturally as they go inside now and
really notice that their entire awareness of the body is intensified,
so that you can actually think of every party of the body all at
once. So if I mention your left elbow, right knee, or that spot right
in the center of your back between the shoulder blades, you are
already aware of that part and how it feels differently. And I don't
know whether you've noticed yet a change in the sensations in the
left third of your right hand, or whether the texture you feel
around your left heel is different from your right shoulder, but the
more you continue to relax deeply and focus your awareness
inside the more easily you can become aware of something,
perhaps a tingling or a warmth, in your left palm.
Your unconscious mind keeps a map of the body, which it uses to

check in on its many parts – your head, your knees, your face,
your shoulders – where every part is mapped in detail. It knows
the long muscles in the back of your right thigh and the shorter
ones around your heels and ankles. It can distinguish the sole of
each foot from the arch of each foot, and truly seems to be aware
of each and every part all at once.
But the conscious mind is slow, and can really only think of one
thing at a time, so that when I mention your left ear, all of its
attention goes there and it forgets to notice the sensations in that
right index finger, and until I finish this sentence it may be
completely unaware of the sensations in the soles of your feet, or
whether your left hand feels warmer than your right one, until I
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mention it. So how much easier is it, now, to simply let your
unconscious mind take over and be aware of everything all at
once? To relax, to rest … now.
Before you get hung up on trying to practice that entire speech, let me
remind you that it's a process, not a magical formula. The early part of the
induction is about getting the person focused inward, thinking about
sensations in one part of the body or another. The language about thinking
of the part I mention, or another part altogether, is a sort of double-bind in
that obviously they will need to do one of those things and when they do it
seems like the hypnosis is already working.
Next we start shifting the hypnotee's awareness around their body, crossing
the body, sometimes comparing one side with another side. There is talk of
tuning their mind into mine, which is designed to take advantage of the
rapport we have and encourage them to let go into it. Make sure your pacing
on this is brisk; don't give them too much time to linger in any one place or
the confusional element is weakened.
After a few jumps back and forth across the body we start throwing in more
language designed to bring out the subconscious. We talk about noticing a
change in sensations (vague, isn't it? So the imagination can decide what the
change is), warmth or tingling. And then we tie all this to an inner map of
the whole body, which widens the hypnotee's awareness and, at the same
time, requires the subconscious to provide that wider awareness. We point
out that the conscious mind is slow and limited, and pick up the pace here
so that it's hard for the hypnotee to keep up. At the end we give an indirect
suggestion to stop trying to keep track and just let the unconscious mind
take over. Most people are more than happy to do that.
Use that sequence and it doesn't really matter what body parts you direct
them to or in what order. You'll get the result you want.
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Nine Things
Two of my favorite confusion inductions are by Terence Watts and center
around the principle of “seven plus or minus two.” That principle states that
the average person can hold at most seven items in their mind at once, plus
or minus two. So some people can consciously keep track of no more than
five different things at once, most can do seven, and some can do up to
nine. When you deliberately load up the mind with a too many things to
keep straight easily, that's called an overload induction. The conscious mind
can't keep up, so it calls on the subconscious, the natural multitasker, to take
over.
The original Terence Watts text of “Seven Plus or Minus Two” is on the
Internet, but it's still Terence's copyrighted work so I won't reprint it here.
(Confession: I've met Terence in real life under my mundane identity and
I'm sure he wouldn't object to my teaching you his induction if you were
professional hypnotherapy students, but I don't know where he stands on the
topic of erotic hypnosis and I'm reluctant to ask.) Anyone aspiring to be a
better hypnotist would benefit from reading his books Crucial!, which
contains his original “Seven Plus or Minus Two,” and Logical Indeepeners,
which contains the more imaginative “From Five to Nine” variant and quite
a few other confusion-style inductions and deepeners.
For purposes of this book, I will explain how the induction works and show
you how you can create your own version using the same technique.
The List
Building a “nine things” induction starts with a list of nine concepts that
you'll use to overload the conscious mind of your hypnotee. These can be
any combination of things that someone sitting in a chair with eyes closed
can either perceive, remember, or think about. In the original script, the nine
things are:
1. the sound of your voice
2. the weight of their head against the chair
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3. their breathing (slow and steady)
4. music playing in the background (or background noises, if there's no

music)
5. how they might appear to someone watching them
6. their hands/arms and how they feel relaxing in the chair
7. their feet/legs
8. the temperature of the room
9. how their eyes feel
Most of those are kinesthetic things – body sensations – with a couple of

auditory items and one visual. The common thread is that they all tend to
draw the hypnotee's attention inward, which encourages trance. Even the
“how you look to someone else” part requires the hypnotee to form a
dissociated image of themselves. So no matter which of the nine things they
are thinking of, it is helping to nudge them further into trance.
You can, of course, create your own list. One possible list might be:
1. the sound of your voice (since you're going to be talking, why not
use it?)
2. the flavor of an orange
3. the number 17
4. a particular sound in the background (music, or a metronome, or

random background)
5. how relaxed and heavy they can make their legs feel
6. the sensation of lowering into a warm, soothing bath
7. a smell that means “home”
8. a lightness or tingling in the palms
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9. a pet they would like to have, but don't
Like the original, these are mostly things that require imagination, which is
a function of the subconscious. If you're feeling brave you can even choose
things at random from the environment and improvise the induction – just
make sure you can remember all nine things!
The Process
Once you have your nine things, the induction itself is a straightforward,
almost formula process.
Start with basic instructions to close their eyes and relax. Elaborate a little; I
will often do a few lines of generic Ericksonian type relaxation, something
along the lines of:
Just relax yourself now, and realize there's nothing you really
need to do. You don't need to move, or speak. You don't even need
to consciously listen to the sound of my voice. Nobody wants
anything from you, nobody expects anything of you. You can
simply relax, and drift, and allow whatever happens to happen.
Now introduce the first few things, one at a time, slowly.
And as you do, just allow yourself to pay attention to the sound of
my voice. To notice how it sounds, and to note the pauses
between my words as I speak to your unconscious mind. And
while you do that, you can also allow yourself to recall the flavor
of a ripe orange, sweet and juicy and running all over your
tongue and down your throat. That's right.
And as you notice the sound of my voice and remember the flavor
of a ripe orange, you can also become aware of the number 17. I
don't know whether you'll picture the number 17 on a sign or a
board, or perhaps imagine 17 of something in a row, or a circle,
or perhaps something entirely different that involves the number
17. Whatever comes to mind first is perfectly okay.
So now that you've given them three things, explain what you expect them
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to do with them and add a couple more.
Most people, by the time they begin thinking of the number 17,
have forgotten entirely about paying attention to the sound of my
voice, or remembering the flavor of a ripe orange. And that's
okay, because it's a perfectly natural thing to do, and it's just as
natural to pick up all three of those ideas and juggle them in your
mind now, isn't it? Good.
In psychology there's a principle called “seven plus or minus

two” which states that people can generally think about seven
distinct things at one time, plus or minus two. So some people can
think of no more than five things at once, most can handle seven,
and exceptional people can actually think of nine distinct things
all at the same time.
So right now, for example, you're paying attention to the sound of

my voice, recalling the flavor of a ripe orange, and contemplating
in some way the number 17. Your mind can easily keep track of
these three separate things, and in fact you can easily add at least
two more. So let's also become aware of the sounds in the
background, those little random noises that occur in every
building and that we aren't consciously aware of all the time, yet
they're always there in the back of the mind, aren't they? That's
right.
And you can also begin to notice the sensations in your legs, that
heaviness, or maybe a lightness, as they relax in the chair. And
while we both know you could easily move your legs if you
wanted to, you can just as easily imagine them being perfectly
still and quiet, can't you? Of course.
This gets us up to five things, which is the minimum an average person can
juggle. Next we add in the remaining four things, one at a time.
So now you're thinking of five things all at once, which is

something that most people find easy to do, or somewhat easy,
depending on the talents and abilities of their own mind. So let's
add in another thought: imagine now the sensation of lowering
yourself into a warm, soothing bath. Perhaps it's a whirlpool, or
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a hot tub, or a bubble bath; whatever it is, it feels safe and warm
and restful, doesn't it? You may even imagine the sensation of
your body floating in the warm water, safe and supported.
And while you do that, you can also bring to mind a scent, or a
smell, that to you means “home.” Maybe it's a food, maybe it's a
fabric, or maybe it's something else entirely; any smell that
means “home” to you is perfectly okay. Good.
And now you're thinking of seven things all at once … seven

sensations, or memories, or concepts, which is what the average
person can keep track of in their mind. But your mind is creative
and powerful; you can think of all seven of those things and, at
the same time, become aware of the sensation in your palms.
They may feel warm, or perhaps tingly, or some other sensation
as they relax there.
And as you notice any sensations in your palms, I'd like you to
also imagine a pet that you'd like to have but don't currently.
What does it look like? Sound like? Feel like?
Okay, your hypnotee has the whole list in mind now and some things are
probably already dropping out. So we'll run through the list to make sure
they're all picked up again.
And how well are you doing now at keeping all of these things in
your mind? The sound of my voice … the flavor of a ripe orange
… the number 17 … the sounds in the background … the
sensations in your legs … a warm, soothing bath … a smell that
means “home” … the feelings in your palms … a pet that you'd
like to have, but don't.
As you think of all these things, what you're really doing of

course is cycling through them, like a computer dividing its
resources among the requesting tasks. Which is why some people
can only handle five or seven things at once, while others can
handle nine. I wonder how you're doing at keeping all nine things
in mind at once?
Now, my own evil addition: run through the list a couple more times, but in
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varying order!
A warm, soothing bath … the number 17 … your palms … an

orange … the sound of my voice … a smell that means “home” …
your legs … the sounds in the background … a pet you'd like to
have, but don't.
A smell that means “home” … that feeling in your palms … the

sounds in the background … a warm, soothing bath … a pet you'd
like to own, but don't … your legs … my voice … the number 17
… the taste of an orange …
Okay, now you can wrap things up:
And I wonder, as you think of all of those things, how wonderful

will it feel when I ask you think of only one thing instead of nine.
And that one thing is, how wonderful it feels to think of only one
thing. To let it all go and RELAX NOW …
Most people are more than happy to follow that last suggestion.
An Erotic Variant
You can use this formula to create an erotic trance induction. Make a list of
nine erotic stimuli: a combination of touches, feelings of arousal, arousing
images or sounds, whatever turns your partner on. Now, do the induction
with that list, but with a couple of changes to the formula:
As you're adding things, also include suggestions about how every

item on the list increases their arousal, the more they think of these
things the more arousing it becomes, etc. A good choice for the ninth
thing is how their body feels when they're on the brink of an orgasm.
Once you've got all nine going, suggest again that each time they
think of one of the things their arousal build and grows.
Repeat the list (scrambled or not, your choice) until they are both
hypnotized and ready to orgasm. Then, instead of RELAX NOW,
tell them to let go into trance and orgasm.
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My beloved Dani gets credit for this idea. I can state from experience that it
is quite pleasurable.
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Word Play
You may have noticed that some confusion inductions rely on the creative
use of language to achieve the goal of occupying the conscious mind. Using
deliberately ambiguous or twisted language ties up conscious attention, and
while the conscious mind is trying to figure out whether you meant to or too
or two whatever you say next slips right past to the subconscious.
Some of the key word tricks associated with confusion inductions are:
Words with multiple meanings, like part and sense. If you can use
the word in multiple ways in rapid succession (think: “... and you
may begin to sense how much sense this really doesn’t seem to
make…”) it creates a speed bump for the conscious mind.
Homophones -- words or phrases that sound the same but mean

different things, such as “a part apart” in the cross-body induction.
Negation. Processing negatives is an analytical function, which is

why we normally avoid using words like don’t, not, and the like. If
you bombard the conscious mind with negations, though -- “... and I
don’t know if you will or not, but what I don’t want you to do right
now is not relax completely…” -- you can tie it up long enough to
get more suggestions through to the subconscious.
Learning to use word play takes practice, but it adds another very useful
tool to your collection. The key is to be able to deliver the phrasing
smoothly, as if it’s a perfectly natural thing to say and not confusing at all to
you, and to keep your pace moving so that the conscious mind can’t ever
quite catch up.
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Discussion Points
1. If you were going to construct a list of Nine Things designed for an
auditory person, what would they be? What about for a visual
person? Do you necessarily need to cater to your partner's modality
if you're doing an overload induction?
2. How could you take the Confusion Countdown and make it even
more confusing?
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Exercise
1. Get together with one or more partners and practice these inductions
on each other.
2. Make your own Nine Things list and use it to do the induction on a
volunteer. (Extra credit if you do the erotic variant!)
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Triggers are an iconic hypnotic phenomenon made famous by their use in
the media and in stage shows everywhere. So naturally people looking to
have fun with hypnosis tend to use a lot of them. Learning to use triggers
safely and effectively, therefore, should be near the top of every new
hypnotist's To Do list.
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Presenter Notes
People love triggers, so you can expect to have a lot of fun with this class.
You could just about do it as an educational stage show: start out by
describing what triggers are and listing some of the common ones that get
done, then bring up a few volunteers and demonstrate different triggers on
each one. For a grand finale, give each one a trigger whose response is a
trigger to someone else (ie, “Joe, when I say X you do Y; Mary, whenever
Joe does Y you automatically do Z...”)
There are some pretty important safety aspects to triggers, so make sure you
use well-formed triggers when doing your demo. It's also a good idea to
explain, once you've set a demo trigger, why you phrased it the way you
did. For example: “Notice that what I told <demo bottom> was, 'When I say
the word fluffernutter', not 'whenever you hear the word fluffernutter'; I
want to make sure that this trigger never gets set off by accident or by
someone other than me...”
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About Triggers
A trigger is a specific kind of posthypnotic suggestion. The general
structure of a trigger is very simple: Whenever (X happens), you (do Y). X
is the trigger event (often just called the trigger) and Y is the trigger
response.
Triggers are a very useful hypnotic phenomenon because they allow

someone to have a hypnotic experience without the formality of the full
negotiation-induction-suggestion-emerging-aftercare cycle. As such, they
are generally used in the context of a lasting relationship between hypnotist
and hypnotee. In that case the triggers and their responses are negotiated in
advance, the triggers are installed (or “set”), and then used later, either at a
predetermined time or at the hypnotist's will for spontaneous hypnotic fun.
They can also give a top who is not a hypnotist some new toys to play with
by having a hypnotist (with negotiated consent of everyone involved, of
course) install the triggers in the bottom's subconscious in such a way that
the top can use them.
Some examples of triggers might be:
Each and every time I place my hand over your mouth and say
“Silence!” your mouth closes and your lips become stuck together,
as if a powerful magnet was holding your lips together. You can
move your jaw and breathe normally, but your lips absolutely
remain together and this prevents you from speaking, eating,
drinking, or doing anything else that requires your lips to open
except for using safe words. You remain in this state, lips stuck
together, until I give you permission to speak again.
Whenever we are in a place where it is safe and appropriate to be

topless and I hold up a set of Mardi Gras beads, you automatically
expose your breasts to me and keep them exposed until I toss the
beads to you.
From now on whenever it is safe and appropriate to go into trance

and I dangle this pocket watch in front of your face you become
instantly, automatically, irresistibly fascinated by it. Your eyes lock
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onto the watch; they become heavy and sleepy; your mind becomes
still; and as your eyes close you drift into a deep, obedient, blissful
state of trance for me.
Each of the above examples follows the basic trigger formula of “When
<X>, do <y>.” How you choose X and Y makes all the difference.
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Well-Formed Triggers
A well-formed trigger is one that is designed to be safe and effective with as
little potential for unexpected consequences as is reasonably possible. Since
by their nature triggers are often used outside of a controlled environment
it's not reasonable to expect perfection, but there are certain precautions that
you can and should take.
The Trigger Event

When you are setting a trigger, make the trigger event as specific as
possible. An ideal trigger event is one that is extremely unlikely to occur by
accident or under circumstances where the trigger response would be
inappropriate, embarrassing, or dangerous in some way to the person being
triggered.
Some examples of poorly-chosen trigger events are:
1. “Whenever you hear <insert name of song>...”
2. “Any time you hear the word <chosen word>...”
3. “Every day at <specific time>...”
Now compare those to well-formed versions:
1. “Whenever just you and I are in private together and you hear
<insert name of song>...”
2. “Any time that I say to you just the word <chosen word> and it is
safe and appropriate for you to do so ...”
3. “Each day at <specific time>, as long as you are in a place where it's
safe and appropriate ...”
Note how the well-formed versions of these trigger events are much more
specific. They all contain some variation on the concept of “only if it is safe
and appropriate,” which ensures that the response can only be triggered
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under circumstances where the hypnotee can feel safe performing the
trigger response. A hypnotee might hear a song anywhere, whether the
original hypnotist is present or not, and find themselves feeling an urge to
strip naked and dance in the middle of a restaurant. It's extremely unlikely
that the hypnotee would actually respond to the trigger under those
conditions, but many would feel the desire and be distressed at having to
exercise willpower to override the urge. By specifying that the trigger
requires a private place in the company of the hypnotist and hearing the
song, it becomes far less likely that the trigger would be set off by accident.
Using a word as a trigger is a similar problem, in that a word can come up
in any context. Even a seemingly uncommon word like 'eclipse' comes up
commonly every few months to a year, and pretty much any word can come
up during a game of Scrabble. You can make up a word, but even that
doesn't mean someone won't mishear something else and think the made-up
word was said.
I generally advise hypnotists to follow the two-factor rule: that is, a trigger
event should consist of at least two things that must both be present.
Examples would include a specific person saying a specific phrase, a
particular touch along with a word or phrase, or a verbal command given in
a specific location or type of location. More than two factors is even better,
within reason – most people will have no difficulty understanding,
“Whenever I and only I touch your forehead like this and say 'sleep'...” (3
factors) but something like, “When the moon is full, and I am wearing my
black leather vest, and I tap you three times on the left shoulder then twice
on the right from behind while saying schnitzerdoodle...” is too unwieldy
for most people.
Whenever practical, one of the factors in your trigger event should be the
specific person or persons who can invoke the trigger. When you're setting a
trigger for your own trancee, that is you. Sometimes when I'm doing a demo
or working with someone at a con, I'll set a trigger with the intention that
their top/partner/spouse/lover will be the one using it, in which case I'll
name that person instead of myself. Once in a while I'll give someone a
trigger and suggest that they can give permission to activate it to anyone
they wish and revoke that permission at will.
For example, in October 2014 I did a class at The Society in Hartford, CT

about erotic hypnosis and NLP. As part of that class I took an audience
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volunteer and first set an NLP anchor of a stroke on the upper arm to cause
a jolt of erotic pleasure, then I turned it into a hypnotic trigger to show how
a trigger differs from an anchor. As part of the trigger, I suggested to my
volunteer that only myself and anyone else that she verbally gave
permission to could use that trigger; if anyone that she had not verbally
given permission to tried to use the trigger, it was just a touch and had no
particular meaning or effect. This frustrated the heck out of several people
who witnessed the demo and tried to use the trigger on her later, and
provided her with a source of amusement each time she got to shake her
head and say, “Nope, nothing.”
“Only when it is safe and appropriate...”

I often use this phrasing when setting a trigger. It can be one of the two or
more factors in the trigger event, but usually I use it in addition to two or
more factors as a safety mechanism. As I mentioned above, being triggered
in an environment where the trigger response could be embarrassing,
uncomfortable, or dangerous can make people feel very uncomfortable, as
part of them wants to comply and has to be overridden by the part that
knows doing so could get them in trouble or be dangerous. If the stripping-
in-the-restaurant example above was too contrived for you, imagine
someone hearing a trance trigger while driving a car. They likely won't
close their eyes and slump down over the steering wheel, but just receiving
the trigger and rejecting can be dangerously distracting to someone
traveling at 50mph in a metal box. By including the “safe and appropriate”
constraint the trigger never fires off in the first place and the danger is
avoided.
The Trigger Response

The second half of a trigger is the trigger response, the action you want your
trancee to take when the trigger event occurs. Like the trigger event, it is
important that the trigger response be well formed. A well-formed trigger
response is one that is specific, reasonable, and time-bound.
Like any hypnotic suggestion, a trigger response needs to state specifically

what you want the person to do. You are still speaking to a subconscious
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mind, so all of the points made in Chapter 7 about well-worded suggestions

apply here: use simple language, state what you want instead of what you
don't want, avoid slang and explicitly define any term that might be open to
interpretation.
Also like any other hypnotic suggestion, a trigger response has to be

reasonable. If it's a physical response, it has to be something the hypnotee
can actually do, or reasonably fake doing. For instance, a trigger to make a
person do ten burpees should only be given to someone who is fit enough to
accomplish that and who knows how to do burpees (Google “burpee
exercise” if you don't). I've never met anyone who could genuinely sneeze
on command, but most people can imagine a tickle in their nose and
respond by jerking their head and saying, “a-CHOO!” so a hypnotic sneeze
trigger is feasible as long as you word it in such a way that their
subconscious can fake it if they don't feel a real need to sneeze. (You can
even stipulate that the conscious mind believes that they really did sneeze.)
A trigger response must be time-bound, meaning it has to tell the hypnotee

explicitly when the response starts and when it ends. For instance, an
instruction to become overpoweringly aroused needs to include a point
when they cease to be aroused, or you may find yourself with a very
frustrated hypnotee on your hands. A suggestion to feel a craving for
something needs to end at some point or the craving may never be satisfied.
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Trigger Safety
Using triggers safely is mostly a matter of making sure that the trigger is
well formed so that it can't be activated inappropriately and the response is
specific, reasonable, and time-bound. There are some tips and tricks you can
use to help make your triggers safer.
Non-Triggering Conditions
When I set triggers, I will often explicitly state conditions under which the
trigger does not activate. For example, with the demo volunteer at the
Society (see “The Trigger Event” above) I explicitly said, “If someone other
than me or someone you've given verbal permission to use this trigger
touches your arm that way, it has no effect on you at all; it's just a touch.” I
do that for a couple of reasons: it stresses that only the specified people can
use the trigger, and it gives me a chance to repeat the instruction by adding,
“Only when I, or someone you've given verbal permission to, touches your
arm like this...” etc.
Temporary Triggers
If a trigger is not meant to be permanent, you should state explicitly for how
long the trigger event causes the trigger response. When I install triggers
during a demo, for example, I typically include something like, “For the rest
of this class ...” or “Until the next time you leave this room...” as part of the
trigger as a qualifier on the trigger event. For example:
Starting now and until I declare that the class is over, each and
every time I say, “PLEASuuuure” you feel an intense wave of
erotic pleasure flow through your body. The wave of pleasure
lasts only a few seconds, but is strong enough to interrupt your
train of thought and surprises you with its intensity. The wave of
pleasure you feel when I say “PLEASuuuure” is always a highly
pleasurable, sexy, pleasing sensation.
If someone other than me says “PLEASuuuure” during the class
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it's just a word; only when I say it do you experience that intense
wave of erotic pleasure. And once I declare the class is over, even
if I do say “PLEASuuuure” again for you it's just a word and has
no particular effect on you anymore.
As you can see, it is explicitly stated that the trigger is only until class is
over, and I state clearly how they will know that class is over. There is also
an example of non-triggering conditions, as I specifically state that if
someone else speaks the trigger word it's just a word.
A basic rule of hypnotic etiquette is that you don't install permanent triggers
without the advance consent of the hypnotee. Asking someone who is
already hypnotized if you can install a trigger is generally considered a
breach of consent, which is a serious violation of your hypnotee's trust.
Don't do it.
Open Triggers
An open trigger is one that can be activated by anybody who knows how.
An example of an open trigger would be:
From now on, any time someone says to you, 'You look sleepy'
you immediately become intensely, overpoweringly sleepy. The
harder you try to stay awake and alert, the sleepier you become,
so that within a minute of being told 'You look sleepy' you've
fallen into a deep hypnotic sleep.
The first thing you may notice is that this trigger does not follow the two-
factor rule; the trigger event is just a phrase, and a fairly common one at
that. Anyone who knows this trigger exists can walk up to the person, say
'You look sleepy', and in theory they will go into trance. In practice, the
person will certainly resist responding to the trigger if given it under
conditions where going into trance would be unsafe, or if the person saying
it is not someone they trust or feel comfortable going into trance with, but
nobody should be put in the position of having to do that.
Deliberately setting an open trigger, even at the request of the hypnotee

knowing that it's an open trigger, is reckless and irresponsible. Don't do it.
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A Reinduction Trigger
A reinduction trigger is a trigger that causes the hypnotee to go back into
trance. It's often one of the first triggers that a hypnotist installs in a regular
playmate. Having a reinduction trigger is fast and convenient, because it
reduces the induction part of a scene to almost zero time. Seeing someone
drop abruptly into trance in response to a trigger is dramatic, convincing,
and to a hypnokinky person extremely hot.
Because reinduction triggers are so common, every hypnotist tends to have

a couple of favorite ones. Here is one of mine:
As we discussed, <name>, I would like to have the ability to drop

you into trance on command and you agreed that you want it as
well. So from now on, whenever it is safe and appropriate for you
to go into trance and I say to you, “<name> down” you
automatically, instantly, instinctively stop whatever you are doing
and drop into a deep, deep trance for me, at least as deep as you
are now and then letting yourself drift deeper. Only when I say
“<name> down” do you drop automatically, instantly,
instinctively into a deep trance; if someone else says it, it's just
words and has no effect at all on you.
Whenever I say “<name> down” your mind responds

automatically, instinctively, as a reflex, the way your knee jerks
when your doctor tests it with that little hammer. It happens
before you can think about it, before you consciously realize it's
happening, and it happens in just a couple of seconds. It may
please you to try and resist falling into trance for me when I say
“<name> down”, but the harder you try to resist the more
powerfully your subconscious takes over and drags you down into
that deep, pleasant, obedient trance state.
You only go into trance for me when I say “<name> down” and
it is safe and appropriate to do so. You never go into trance when
driving a car or doing something that requires your full
concentration. If we are not in the same physical space when I
say “<name> down” and you are holding a telephone, the arm
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that's holding the phone continues to hold it to your ear so that

you can hear me easily even as the rest of your body relaxes.
Each time I use the trigger “<name> down” you go deeper,

faster, more easily than before and your response becomes more
automatic and instinctive.
When you've accepted these instructions with your whole mind

and made them part of your natural habits, beliefs, and
behaviors, you can give me a smile.
That's right. Thank you for being so wonderfully obedient.
The two factors here are (1) the phrase, “<name> down” and (2) that is must
be me saying it. This gives me the flexibility to use the trigger in person or
remotely, over the phone or on a voice chat connection like Google
Hangouts. There's an instruction in there about holding the phone if I trigger
someone during a phone call – a lesson learned from early experience.
You'll also note the presence of “safe and appropriate” language and an
explicit admonition against answering the trigger while driving or doing
something that requires full concentration.
I also place a lot of emphasis on how the response is automatic and

instinctive. I like that immediate, without-even-thinking response to a
trigger so I ask for it. But because I've played with a few willful, bratty
personalities I also build in a consequence if they try and defy the trigger.
That resistance game, of trying to fight the response and losing, can be very
hot for both top and bottom so I make provision for it.
Finally, I ask the hypnotee to give me a signal when they've accepted the
new trigger and made it a natural part of their habits, beliefs, and behaviors.
Doing this seems to cement the trigger, making it less necessary to keep
practicing with it (though I won't install a trigger as permanent if I don't
intend for it to be used).
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An All-Purpose Trigger
This is another trigger that almost every hypnotist I know has their own
version of. It comes in extremely handy for impromptu play with a regular
partner, and is particularly fun for doing discreet public play. I call it the
Simon Sez trigger because it's based on the child's game in which the caller,
“Simon,” gives instructions and the players must do what Simon says.
From now on, each and every time I say something to you that
begins with “Simon says,” whatever comes after those words is
an irresistible hypnotic command that your subconscious is
automatically compelled to obey. Your subconscious obeys
immediately, automatically, whatever I tell you that Simon says,
usually before your conscious mind has even realized that I gave
you a command.
The longer you delay in obeying what Simon says, the more
powerfully you feel compelled to obey. You can always use a safe
word if you need to and your safe words always work even with a
Simon Says command, but otherwise any delay in obeying always
causes the compulsion, the need to obey to become increasingly
powerful until you finish obeying the command or until I cancel
the command by saying, “Command canceled”.
If what follows Simon Says is a question, then your subconscious

must answer that question honestly, completely, and directly. You
may remember answering or you may not; unless I specify, that
will always be your choice.
If what follows Simon Says is a statement of information, then

your mind absolutely believes that statement to be true and
ignores any evidence that contradicts it until I tell you the
statement is no longer effective.
When your subconscious has fully accepted the suggestion and

agrees that whenever I say something to you starting with Simon
Says it must automatically, unfailingly obey whatever Simon
Says, and when your subconscious has permanently added that
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response to your habits and behaviors, you can give me a nice big
smile.
An all-purpose trigger gives you an easy way to improvise trigger responses

on the fly. The safety aspects are already built in, so you can feel more
secure in being spontaneous with its use. If you are using this with a
lifestyle submissive who belongs to you, you may want to include a built-in
reward system:
Each time you obey what Simon says you can feel a little rush of
pleasure and pride with yourself for being so obedient to Simon.
The more you obey the more automatic and instinctive it becomes
and the more you enjoy being compelled this way.
If you are using this with a sub who likes to be bratty (I love the bratty
ones!) you can put even more emphasis on what happens if they try to resist
the command or subvert it. I have some language in the example, but for
specific partners I've been known to tie increasing arousal, or a “punishing”
physical sensation like tickling, to resistance. It adds to the fun.
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Discussion Points
1. Why would you use a trigger instead of a simple posthypnotic
suggestion?
2. A potential play partner comes to you with a request: they want you
to give them a trigger that makes them grant three “wishes” (requests
that they must fulfill if they are possible) to anyone who possesses a
prop lantern they have with them. Would you do this? If so, how
would you word the trigger? What limits, if any, would you place on
the trigger?
3. What are your favorite triggers? What makes them your favorites?
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Fractionation
Exercise
Rewrite each of these poorly-formed triggers to make them well-formed:
1. “Whenever I clap my hands, you become my harem slave and must

please me by doing a sexy strip tease.”
2. “Whenever you wear this slave collar, you are hypnotically

compelled to obey any command given to you by whomever is
holding the leash.”
3. “Whenever we are in private, I show you my (breasts/cock) and say

'Show me how much you want me,' you become intensely,
overpoweringly horny and can't help but masturbate for me, which
makes you get more and more aroused as you obey me.”
4. “Each and every time you see this pendant you immediately stop
anything you are doing, stare into the pendant, and enter a deep,
obedient hypnotic state.”
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Fractionation
Fractionation is the process of taking someone in and out of trance
repeatedly in a relatively short period of time. It's fun for the hypnotist and
for the hypnotee, but fractionation also serves a practical purpose by helping
the hypnotee to go deeper and to respond more automatically to a trance
trigger.
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Fractionation
Presenter Notes
Fractionation is a very simple topic, really, so when you teach this unit you
should take advantage of that and include plenty of hands-on practice time.
When I teach this by itself I explain what fractionation is and discuss why,
how, and when you might use it. That only takes 10, maybe 15 minutes
depending on questions. Then I pull up a demo volunteer and go through a
fractionation exercise with them – up and down 5, maybe 6 times. I ask
them after the first time how they feel, what sensations they're having, etc.
and then again after the last time. The rest of the class then becomes
mentored practice time so that everyone gets to practice the technique and
get some coaching and feedback in the process. You'll want to have people
to help you circulate and coach during the practice time.
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What is Fractionation?
Anyone who's been to an erotic hypnosis convention like NEEHU, WEEHU
or MEEHU probably knows a little about fractionation. Walk the halls of
any *EHU on Sunday and you'll spot lots of people wandering around in a
semi-daze, the result of being on their third day of regular, deep trancing.
But why do people get that way?
It's been shown that people tend to go into trance much more quickly and
deeply if they've already been in hypnosis recently. The more recent that
previous trance, the more pronounced the effect is: someone whose most
recent trance was yesterday will be a little easier to hypnotize again today;
someone who was hypnotized an hour ago much easier, and someone
hypnotized a minute or two ago easier still. The response is similar to the
hypnotic technique of recalling a previous trance – get someone to think
about what it felt like to be hypnotized, and they naturally start drifting back
to that state. They have to; it's part of the organic process of remembering.
In hypnosis, erotic and otherwise, we often use fractionation deliberately as

a means of getting someone into a deeper trance state, or of teaching them
to go into trance more easily. For the kinky hypnotist, using fractionation is
an opportunity to watch someone come out of trance and drop back into it
again repeatedly, which can be very hot. The hypnotee gets to experience
dropping, coming back, and dropping again repeatedly, with the response
getting more automatic each time, which can be very hot. The hypnotee also
gets to experience a sort of “trance buzz” where they're not quite sure
whether they're in trance or out of it. For people who've had trouble getting
the feeling that they really are deeply hypnotized, a fractionation exercise is
usually enough to get them that.
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Fractionation
Fractionation as an Induction
Chapter 5, Starter Inductions, has two examples of using fractionation
within a hypnotic induction. The Fractionation induction, in which the
hypnotee opens and then closes their eyes repeatedly during a slow count
down from 10 to 1, uses fractionation heavily to achieve a deep trance state.
There is also a fractionation step in the Dave Elman induction.
Another fractionation-based induction is one made popular by Richard

Nongard. Nongard's induction is a very conversational one following a
straightforward process something like this:
1. Get the hypnotee's consent to be hypnotized.
2. Talk about how hypnosis is a common, everyday thing that we all do

naturally.
3. Ask the hypnotee to remember a time when they experienced an

everyday trance such as:
1. Getting in the car and driving somewhere familiar, and their

mind wandering as they drive
2. Sitting down to watch a movie and getting fully absorbed in

the movie world, to the extent that when the credits roll they
suddenly realize the room got dark around them
4. Have the hypnotee close their eyes and imagine, as you count from 5
to 1, that on each count they can relax more deeply.
5. Have the hypnotee open their eyes for a few seconds.
6. Repeat 3 and 4, emphasizing deepening relaxation, several times. In

subsequent repetitions, start adding in additional ideas as you count:
1. That each time they open and then close their eyes they find it
easier and easier to relax back into that state quickly and then
go deeper
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2. That each time they try to open their eyes they find it more
and more difficult because their eyes want more and more to
just stay closed
7. When the hypnotee shows great difficulty opening the eyes, tell them
to just let them stay closed and relax even more deeply now.
When you use a fractionation-based induction you very seldom need a

deepener afterwards. With an experienced hypnotee you may even find that
they go too deep for what you had in mind, and you need to bring them up a
little bit so that they can physically respond and talk to you.
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Fractionation
Fractionation as a Deepener
You can also use a fractionation exercise after the induction, to bring your
hypnotee into a deeper state of trance. Anything that involves them coming
out of trance for a few seconds and then plunging back in will work for this
purpose. Here is an example:
We're going to do an exercise now to help you learn how to go

even deeper into trance for me. In a few moments I'm going to
count from one to three. Each time I count from one to three you
come all the way back and open your eyes, fully awake, fully
aware. Each time I touch you on the shoulder and say 'down' you
automatically, instinctively drop right back into trance again for
me, going deeper and deeper each time. Each time I touch you on
the shoulder and say 'down' you drop back into trance more
deeply, more quickly, more easily than the time before and your
response becomes more rapid, more automatic each time. You
may even be surprised at how quickly and how deeply you drop
into trance, automatically, and at how wonderful it feels to keep
going down, deeper and faster, each time.
One, two, three – all the way back, that's right. Feels good,
doesn't it?
(Touch the shoulder.) Down.
That's right, dropping all the way back down, so easily, so

naturally. Notice how it feels to go deeper this time, so quickly
and easily. Let yourself relax into that feeling, really enjoy it.
That's right.
One, two, three – all the way back. There you are.
(Touch the shoulder.) Down.
You can repeat the cycle of count up, wait a few seconds, then trigger them
back down as many times as you and they wish to do it. For best results,
trigger them back down as they begin to exhale. You can even suggest
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when their eyes open that they take a nice deep breath so that when you
trigger them on the exhale they almost feel themselves deflating like a
balloon.
After a few times up and down, you will notice that even when your
partner's eyes are open they don't seem entirely all the way back. Repeated
fractionation can do that; the subconscious is anticipating being dropped
again soon, even expecting it, and stays a little bit more in the foreground
than normal. That state can last anywhere from a few minutes to several
hours depending on the individual and the circumstances, which is why you
see so many people wandering around at *EHUs on Sunday looking spaced
out.
Bear in mind, too, that while in that state even though they are not
technically in trance your partner will still be much more open to suggestion
than they normally might be. This is a good opportunity to slip in some
waking suggestions about how good they feel or how easy they're going to
find it to go back into trance whenever they wish. It will also be very easy
for someone else to drop them back into trance, so keep an eye on them and
make sure they're all the way back before you turn them loose. Be mindful
of whether your partner may need to drive or do other things that require
their intense concentration, and discuss this beforehand so that they can be
prepared in case they are out of it. After the scene, stay with them and chat
or do non-hypnotic things until they are fully lucid. Aftercare is always
important.
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Fractionation
Auto Fractionation
Credit for this technique goes to Marc Cabot, known online as
DreamsofControl. In auto fractionation, your hypnotee is programmed to
fractionate themselves, coming up and going right back down again, while
you watch (or sip your drink, read the paper, surf the Web …). It's the sort
of creatively lazy thing that hypnosis is great for.
Start by getting your partner into trance using whatever method you fancy. I
recommend that they be seated in something that offers plenty of support,
because they're going to need it. If all you’ve got is a restaurant chair, then
make sure to suggest several times that they can always remain safely and
comfortably seated.
In a few moments, (hypnotee's name), I'm going to give you the

command, 'Loop start.' When I give that command, your mind
immediately goes into a fractionation loop.
While you are in a fractionation loop, you automatically count

yourself into and out of trance. If you are out of trance when I say
'Loop start' then your mind waits 15 seconds and then you count
out loud from five down to one. With each number that you count
you feel yourself slipping irresistibly into trance for me, so that
by the count of one you are deeply hypnotized. Once you've been
deeply hypnotized for 15 seconds, you automatically count out
loud from one to five, bringing yourself out of trance so that at
the count of five you are fully alert and no longer hypnotized.
While you are in a fractionation loop, you continue to repeat the

cycle of counting yourself down into trance and then back up out
of trance, always waiting 15 seconds before counting. When it is
time to count the urge to count is absolutely uncontrollable; your
mouth automatically says the numbers and they automatically
have their effect, either drawing you unstoppably into trance or
waking you back up. During the 15 seconds that you are out of
trance you can act normally, think and speak and move however
you like, but when that 15 seconds are up you stop whatever you
are doing and count yourself back down. You can always remain
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safely in whatever position your body is in when you start to

count, even as you count down and go nice and deep into
hypnosis for me.
Each and every time you count yourself down into trance, you go
twice as deep as the time before. No matter how many times you
loop, you keep going deeper with each count down and you
always come all the way back when you count up.
The loop continues, counting down into trance, then back up out
of trance, until I give you the command, 'Loop end.' As soon as I
give you the 'Loop end' command, you remain in whatever state
you are in when I say 'Loop end' and no longer automatically
count yourself up or down.
With a little rewording at the beginning, you can turn 'Loop start' into a
trigger that you can use whenever you like. You can also change the end
condition to have it repeat for a set number of cycles and then stop on its
own. With a bratty sub, it can be a lot of fun to see what they do during
their 15 seconds of lucidity to resist going back into trance.
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Fractionation
Discussion Points
1. What do you suppose would be good ways of making sure someone
is all the way back to their fully alert self after a fractionation
exercise?
2. What would be the benefits of Auto Fractionation as described

above?
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Exercises
1. With a partner, practice the Nongard conversational fractionating
induction. Get your volunteer's feedback on how that induction feels
compared to a standard relaxation induction.
2. With a partner, induce trance using any induction that doesn't

include fractionation, then do the fractionation exercise for
deepening. The first time you bring them up, ask about how they feel
and how the trance felt. Then, after 5 or 6 fractionations, ask them
again.
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Instant Inductions
Instant Inductions
An instant induction is a very fast way of getting someone into trance. They
are showy and dramatic and quick, which makes them perfect for
demonstrations. Most of them are also very easy to learn and to do. Any
hypnotist, erotic or otherwise, should have a few of these in their repertoire.
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Presenter Notes
Instant inductions aren't really hard, but they do depend heavily on
expectation and belief. If the hypnotist is not fully confident in their ability
to do the induction and expecting it to work, the hypnotee will
subconsciously pick up on that and their own belief and expectation may be
undermined.
When you demonstrate these, make sure you are modeling good behavior.
When you demo a standing induction, have a chair ready and make sure
your volunteer doesn't fall. Every instant induction in this book involves
some amount of touching, so let them see you getting consent for it.
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Instant Inductions
Instant Induction Basics

An instant induction is easily one of the most fun ways to get someone into
trance. They're very impressive to see; to someone new to hypnosis or just
curious about it, witnessing an instant induction can go a long way toward
establishing in their minds the belief that hypnosis is real and that you, the
hypnotist, are skilled and capable.
It is a bit of a misnomer to call these “instant” inductions, though. The

actual induction is more than just the moment when the hypnotist says,
“Sleep!” and the person drops; there's a lot of time involved in establishing
expectation, executing the induction, and then making the transition into the
rest of the trance session.
Transderivational Search
Most instant inductions are designed to take advantage of a psychological
state known as transderivational search. I like to call this the “what the
fuck!?” state; it occurs when we are presented with a situation to which we
have no ready learned response. The conscious mind prods the
subconscious to come up with an appropriate response, but it doesn't have
one. During that 1/4 to 1/2 of a second while the subconscious is trying to
find an appropriate response, any short, clear suggestion that you offer will
be happily accepted by the subconscious to fill the gap. Most of the time
that suggestion is “Sleep!” which the subconscious conveniently (thanks to
lots of cultural conditioning) interprets as going into trance.
The differences between instant inductions generally lie in how they induce
that WTF state. A pattern interrupt gets the trancee started on a learned
behavior that they know well, but interrupts the normal sequence in an
unexpected way. Other inductions use loss of equilibrium – literally pulling
or pushing the hypnotee physically off balance – as a way of inducing it. A
few use a form of confusion, providing instructions but then creating a
situation for which there was no instruction.
Because instant inductions rely on that WTF state, it makes sense to

conclude that if someone knows what is about to happen there isn't any
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surprise and the induction won't work. Interestingly, that's not so. For one
thing, WTF is hard-wired into our brains at the reptilian level – it's one of
the variants on the 'fight, flight, or freeze' response that almost all mammals
share to one degree or another. So it works time and time again, even doing
the same induction with the same person. Also, remember that hypnosis is
heavily based on belief and expectation. Once you've done a particular
induction with someone and it's worked, the next time you do it their
subconscious knows that it works and expects it to work, which of course
helps to ensure that it will. This WTF mechanism is so reliable that you
could in theory use it successfully with someone who doesn't want to be
hypnotized. Trying to do that, however, is egregiously unethical. Getting an
unwilling person to stay in trance or accept your suggestions would be
extraordinarily difficult and, in my opinion, a form of mental assault.
Setting the Stage

The success of most instant inductions is heavily influenced by what you do
before the induction. Remember that hypnosis depends on trust,
expectation, and belief. The more thoroughly you establish those things
before you execute the induction, the more successful your induction will
be.
If your hypnotee is experienced at going into trance, you don't have to

explain what hypnosis is or allay any fears because they've already been
there. With someone new to trance, however, take the time to do that. Tell
them how hypnosis is a perfectly natural state; mention the usual examples
(driving without remembering the trip, getting absorbed in a book or
movie). This will (A) establish your credibility as a knowledgeable
hypnotist worthy of trust, (B) genuinely address any uncertainty they may
have about being hypnotized, and (C) get their mind recalling times when
they've been in that state, which makes it easier to get them back there.
The Hypnotic Contract

With instant inductions in particular, it's important to establish the hypnotic
contract – that is, to get the person's verbal agreement that they want to be
hypnotized by you right now. Usually I'll do this simply by asking: “Are
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Instant Inductions
you ready to go into hypnosis for me now?” Get a positive response; a

shrug of the shoulders, or a “I'll try” is not good enough. By obtaining a
'yes' response, your trance partner is agreeing consciously and
subconsciously to go into trance for you. You have clear and obvious
consent, plus you have a degree of commitment already from their mind
that it's going to happen.
Once you've established the hypnotic contract, it's also a good time to use
some language to help encourage cooperation, such as “If you follow my
instructions, nothing can stop you from entering a nice, pleasant trance state
in just a few moments.”
Follow Through
Once you’ve performed the induction and your partner has dropped into
trance, it is vitally important that you keep talking. The trance state that you
get from an instant induction is usually a fairly light one, easily disturbed by
any circumstance that might require conscious attention -- like the sense of
falling, for example, or being suddenly caught and held and moved. So even
as you are catching, supporting, or guiding your partner into a chair, keep
talking!
But what do you say? Almost anything will help to one degree or another,
but it helps to say things that contribute toward your primary goals:
Reassure your partner that they’re safe and you’re in control.
Telling them what you are doing with their body so there are no
surprises.
Deepen the trance.
When I do an instant induction, I’ll typically follow it up with words like:
That’s right … I’ve got you, you’re perfectly safe … and as I

guide you back to a waiting chair, you can find it so easy to settle
back into that chair and just let yourself drift deeper and deeper
down … very good ...
250
An alternative, if you want them to remain standing, might be:

That’s right … I’ve got you, safe and secure … and as you let your mind
focus on my voice and drift deeper and deeper down, you can easily find
that your legs can remain strong and solid, holding you up even as your
mind continues to relax, to drift, to float … good …
Once your partner is safe and secure, you can transition into a conventional
deepener. Something I will often do after an instant induction is steer my
volunteer into a chair and then start rocking them gently from side to side
while I deepen. Rhythmic, soothing rocking helps to send people into a
deeper trance state.
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Instant Inductions
Safety Concerns
When you do instant inductions, there are some special safety
considerations that you need to take into account. A few simple measures
will help to protect your partner and you from some of the most obvious
and avoidable mishaps.
A lot of instant inductions are done with a person standing up, but someone
who is standing when they go into trance will not necessarily stay standing
on their own. This is especially true if you are going to be pulling or
pushing them off balance to create that WTF moment. So before you do a
standing instant induction, make sure that:
You or an assistant are in position to catch your trance partner if they

start to fall. Remember that not everybody falls forward; be prepared
for your trancee to drop straight down.
You or your assistant are physically strong enough to hold that

partner up. If they are significantly larger than you, make sure you
are braced so that they won't just bowl you over as they pitch
forward.
You have a chair or other seating option stationed behind your

hypnotee so that you can guide them into it once they've dropped
into trance.
You have permission for any touching necessary to catch, hold, and
steer them into a seat.
Let your partner see you making these preparations. It shows you are
concerned for their comfort and safety, and it helps to establish the
expectation that they will be going into trance so deeply that they may need
to be caught and settled into a chair.
Seated instant inductions are less tricky because someone in a chair is more
inclined to stay there, but people can and do relax enough to flop out of
chairs. Watch for this and be ready to steady them and make immediate
suggestions that no matter how deeply they relax they can always remain
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safely and comfortably seated.
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Instant Inductions
Hand Drop
The hand drop is simple, fast, and easy to learn. Start with your hypnotee
sitting down in a straight-backed chair. You will be relying on loss of
equilibrium to get WTF, so if the chair leans back or is too supportive the
induction will fail. (But you do need a back – don't do this with someone on
a stool or bench.)
To do the hand drop:
1. Sit facing your hypnotee. It's best if you are on their right side and a
little in front. You want to be far enough that they have to extend
their arm all the way to touch you.
2. Obtain consent to touch on the hand, arms, and shoulders.
3. Establish the hypnotic contract.
4. Make eye contact with the hypnotee and hold it throughout the
induction. If they don't automatically meet your eyes, instruct them
to.
5. Hold out your left hand, palm up, and have the hypnotee place their
right hand on top of it with their palm down.
6. Give them these instructions:
Now, press down on my hand with yours. I will be pressing up

against your force and power. The more I press upward, the more
you press down. Do NOT let me lift your hand. Good. Focus on that;
meeting my pressure, down against up, so that your hand stays
where it is.
And as you do, let your mind recall a time when you felt droopy …
drowsy … sleepy …
7. Watch for eye flutter or glazing, which is a sign they are starting to
trance out. As soon as you see that, drop your left hand. Your
hypnotee will start to pitch forward. Immediately say, “Sleep!” and
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steady them with your right hand on the left shoulder, guiding them
back into an upright position on the chair.
8. Deepen.
Timing is everything. When you do this induction, the dropping of the hand
and “Sleep!” will happen very quickly. They need to, as the hand dropping
and the resulting pitch forward is what creates the WTF and the command
“Sleep!” needs to come during that instant, and then immediately move into
deepening.
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Instant Inductions
The Butterfly
A version of this induction was made popular by John Cerbone, a
professional stage hypnotist. I happen to like John and I know that he sells
videos on how to do his induction, so I won't reproduce it here exactly but
this will give you the idea.
Your hypnotee should be seated for this induction, again in a straight-

backed chair. You can either stand or sit; if you sit, position yourself facing
them and to their right as you would for the Hand Drop. If you stand, stand
to their right and about even with their knee.
To do the Butterfly induction:
1. Obtain consent to touch on the hands, arms, and shoulders.
3. Establish eye contact with your partner. If they don't automatically

meet your gaze and hold it, tell them to.
4. Take their right arm by the hand and lift it to about chest level, and
give these instructions:
Just relax that arm as I wiggle it around. Let me do all the work
here. Just concentrate on relaxing that arm, making it loose and
limp, wobbly, floppy … that's right.
5. Place your right hand in front of your partner's eyes about 14-16
inches away. Your hand should be flat, palm down, fingers out.
Begin wiggling your fingers and, at the same time, moving your
right hand randomly left, right, up, and back (do not go down lower
than you started yet) so that you're forming an inverted T shape. As
you do, give these directions:
Now, watch my fingers. Follow my fingers with your eyes, keeping

your head still, and keeping that arm nice and loose, loosey goosey
… Remembering a time when you felt droopy … drowsy … sleepy ...
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6. Watch for eye glazing or flutter. As soon as you get that, move your
right hand straight downward. As their eyes follow it down, give the
loose arm a tug and, as they pitch forward, command “Sleep!”.
7. Steady your partner in the chair and deepen.
The “butterfly” is the the right hand, of course. This induction uses the same
technique as the Hand Drop but adds an extra confusional element from
having to simultaneously follow the fingers and focus on relaxing the arm.
A common mistake people make when doing this induction is waiting too
long in Step 4. This process should take no more than about 10 seconds
from starting to move the right hand around to “Sleep!” Taking longer will
not help, and may in fact work against you. Cerbone calls this method
“Speed Trance” for a reason.
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Instant Inductions
Standing Rock
Many hypnofetishists have seen videos of Italian hypnotist Tony Kamo
using this type of induction on European television. This is another that uses
loss of equilibrium to induce WTF.
Start with you and your hypnotee standing and facing each other. You want
to be far enough apart that you can easily hold hands at chest level with
elbows still partly bent. Their feet should be together and legs straight.
Then:
1. Obtain consent for holding hands and for embracing your partner to
hold them up.
3. Establish eye contact. If your partner does not automatically hold

your gaze, instruct them to.
4. Hold your partner's hands in yours in such a way that you can easily
lift and pull but you can also easily let go (meaning no interlocking
of fingers). If you imagine holding someone's hand as if to raise it to
your mouth and kiss it, that's the kind of grip you want.
5. Raise the hands to chest level and give your partner these directions:
I want you to keep looking into my eyes now and begin to relax.
Breathe deeply and slowly, and let whatever happens happen.
6. Watch their breathing in your peripheral vision. As they inhale, lift

on their hands and pull gently forward a couple of inches; as they
exhale, lower their hands and push them slightly back. You want to
create a rocking sensation that is timed to their breathing. As you do
this, continue to encourage them to focus on your eyes, relax, let it
happen, etc. Then, ask them to remember a time when they felt
droopy … drowsy … sleepy …
7. Watch for eye flutter or glazing. As soon as you see that, lift the
arms, then pull down and forward sharply while saying, “Sleep!” Let
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go of their hands and grab them around the upper body to catch
them.
8. Guide your partner into a chair if you choose, or continue to hold

them up, and deepen.
This induction can create a very intimate trance experience where you are
holding your partner in your arms and giving suggestions directly into their
ear in a low tone. If your partner is significantly taller or heavier than you,
make sure that you are properly braced (one foot behind you and planted
firmly) when you do the pull. Properly braced, you can catch and support
someone twice your size or more.
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Instant Inductions
The Handshake
One of the most famous – or infamous – instant inductions is the handshake
induction. What many people don't realize is that there is more than one
handshake induction. Milton Erickson, who is usually credited with
inventing this induction, had a favorite version but he was far from the only
one. Richard Bandler, one of the co-creators of NLP, also popularized a
handshake induction whose mechanics are different but equally effective.
Unlike the instant inductions you've learned so far, the handshake
inductions use the pattern interrupt technique to establish that WTF state.
When we learn something new, it starts as a conscious process – we have to

focus on it and pay attention to each detail. Remember when you first
learned to drive a car, and you discovered that holding the wheel straight
doesn't mean the car goes straight? After a few sessions on the road, though,
you no longer had to consciously pay attention to where the car was in the
lane and adjust the wheel to keep it centered; you still did it, but without
conscious focus. Your subconscious learned the behavior and took over the
execution of it, so your conscious mind could then pay attention to other
things, like your speed, navigation, traffic signals, etc.
Each of us has, in our subconscious mind, a vast library of these learned

behaviors. They're like subroutines in a computer program: the conscious
mind recognizes a situation where it has a learned behavior and passes that
off to the subconscious to execute. But if the normal sequence of that
learned behavior is broken by something unexpected, the subroutine fails
and the mind goes into WTF. Both Erickson and Bandler (and probably 7 or
8 others) have developed effective ways to induce WTF by breaking the
learned pattern of a handshake.
Handshake inductions are designed to be used by surprise. Erickson used

them primarily during talks or lectures, when someone in the audience
would express skepticism as to whether hypnosis was real. Erickson would
invite the individual to the stage, offer his hand, and do a surprise
handshake induction on the skeptic to prove his point.
Erickson's Handshake
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The Milton Erickson variant of the handshake induction I'm using here is
the one described in Hypnotic Realities (Milton Erickson and Ernest Rossi,
1976). It's probably not the only technique Erickson ever used, but it's one
documented one.
1. Obtain consent for touch and trance.
2. Extend your hand to your partner and shake hands normally at first,
maintaining eye contact.
3. When it is time to release, loosen your grip but hold the trancee's
hand. Let your grip change from a firm grip to a gentle touch and
refocus your eyes on a spot well behind your trancee.
4. Touch the hypnotee's extended hand gently with your thumb, then
your middle finger, then your little finger. Each touch should be just
enough to attract attention, barely there. Continue to alternate from
thumb to middle finger to little finger.
5. With your other hand, touch gently just under the hypnotee's
extended hand, then on top.
6. (Optional; Erickson often did this non verbally) While doing 4 and 5,
make verbal comments to invoke trance such as:
That's right … such a fascinating sensation, isn't it … so easy to let

that hand float there, sensing this touch, and that … feeling distant,
unfocused … yes …
At this point you can do a number of things. Erickson often simply walked
away, leaving the person standing there for a few moments until they
aroused themselves from trance. You could also suggest to your hypnotee
that “that hand” rises upward to touch “the face” only as quickly as they can
let go into a nice, deep trance state. As the hand rises confirm it and keep
suggesting rising as they drop into trance until the hand touches the face.
You could also just suggest eye closure and deepen without having their
hand rise up. It all depends on what you plan to do after the induction.
Bandler's Handshake
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Instant Inductions
While Erickson's handshake (at least the one described above) was usually
completely non verbal, NLP co-creator Richard Bandler made popular a
variant using a combination of pattern interrupt and spoken suggestion to
achieve trance.
1. Obtain consent for touch and trance.
2. Extend your hand toward the hypnotee to start a handshake.
3. As the hypnotee's hand comes out to meet yours, take it by the wrist
and lift it up so the palm faces the hypnotee's face. Quickly come
around to the hypnotee's right side, facing the same direction they
are, point to their hand with your finger, and say:
Watch that hand! Notice every detail about that hand … every line,
every crease … and as that hand moves closer and closer to your
face, you can notice the changing focus of your eyes. The closer that
hand comes to your face, the fuzzier it gets, the harder it becomes to
focus on it. That's right. Those eyes getting so tired, so hard to focus,
so much easier to simply let those eyes close.
4. As you say “let those eyes close” drop your pointing hand downward
to encourage eye closure.
5. Deepen.
Sometimes Bandler will use ambiguous wording to heighten the initial

confusion. If the hypnotee was wearing a wrist watch on that hand, for
instance, Bandler would start with something like, “Nice watch … that hand
… in every detail ...” etc.
You can readily construct your own version of the handshake induction as
well. All that you need to do is start a handshake and then, once you've
established the expectation, do something out of left field. Common
variations include:
Holding the other person's hand too long, then pulling forward and
saying, “Sleep!” (pattern interrupt plus loss of equilibrium)
Taking the hand and moving it in a circle instead of the expected up
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and down, while giving suggestions for relaxing the arm and eye
closure.
As the hypnotee's hand comes out, push down on their arm, step in
to catch, and say “Sleep!”
If you do the handshake as a pure pattern interrupt, without pulling your

hypnotee off balance, people generally remain standing easily and just
space out where they are. This is a very safe way to do things, of course.
Any time you add a pull you need to make sure you're ready to catch them.
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Instant Inductions
Discussion Points
1. Milton Erickson often used his handshake induction on people who
had not given consent to be hypnotized or touched. How would you
use the handshake induction ethically within the erotic hypnosis
community, where explicit consent is required and expected?
2. Would you use an instant induction on someone who isn't sure they
they can be hypnotized? Why or why not?
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Exercises
1. With a willing volunteer, practice each of the inductions in this
chapter.
2. Invent your own variation on the handshake induction and see how
well it works.
3. Think of another common pattern and devise a pattern-interrupt

induction around it.
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Hypnotic Favorites
Hypnotic Favorites
Club singers, disc jockeys and the like often work from a list of songs that
are generally popular and well-know for whatever type of event they are
performing at – think “Pomp and Circumstance” for graduations, “Sunrise,
Sunset” for weddings, and what have you. Likewise, many erotic hypnotists
have favorite suggestions that they use with multiple play partners or
submissives, especially in the use with multiple play partners or
submissives, especially in the course of an ongoing hypnotic relationship.
Often these are useful techniques that apply to a variety of situations, so it
can be helpful to learn some of them and adapt them to your own use.
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Presenter Notes
This is a really good topic to do as a panel. Get several experienced
hypnotists to talk about the things they do with multiple partners. Most
likely you'll get several variations on things like the safe place, and people
can then blend those to develop their own favorite formula.
The All-Purpose Trigger, which is covered in Chapter 13, fits nicely into
this topic as well if you have time for it. A lot of hypnotists do something
like that and most have their own spin on it.
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Hypnotic Favorites
Overview
Good hypnotists borrow from each other all the time. When I'm doing an
event and I hear a hypnotist say to their partner “Tell me about your car...”
or “Only when it's safe and appropriate...” I smile, because it feels so good
to know that people are modeling what I teach them.
People have been using hypnosis for 2600 years, so anything you can think
of to do with it has, in all probability, already been done by at least one, and
probably many, other people. I joke about having invented the Five-Point
Palm Exploding Orgasm Technique, but I can't possibly be the only
hypnotist who saw Kill Bill and had that thought.
In this lesson are a few hypnotic tricks that are so common that almost
every hypnotist I know does some variation on them. They are good things
to have in your repertoire as you grow in experience. Perhaps you've
already developed these independently, but it never hurts to see how
someone else does it. I'm always refining my techniques by watching what
others do.
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Safe Place
Most hypnotists use some variation on the safe place, especially those who
do challenging scenes or push soft boundaries. The safe place is a refuge
built in the hypnotee's mind where they feel absolutely safe and protected.
Having one built gives you a place to go if your hypnotee has an abreaction
or starts feeling anxious or upset during a scene or trance session.
This example establishes the safe place and also installs a trigger to take the
person there on command.
I'd like you to imagine right now a place where you feel
absolutely safe, protected, and calm. It can be a real place where
you've been before, or it can be a place that you invent for
yourself; it's your choice. All that matters is that it be a place that
makes you feel safe, protected, and calm. And when you've
thought of a place, you can give me a nice, big smile.
(Wait for the smile. If it doesn't come within a short time,

encourage them to imagine that safe place. Repeat until you get
the smile.)
Very good. Now, go ahead and imagine yourself in that safe

place. Really focus on it; make it as real as you possibly can
inside your mind. Imagine the colors, the textures, the sounds of
this place. Notice how just being here calms you, relaxes you,
deepens you. With every breath you take in this place, you feel
your mind and body wallowing in calm, peaceful, serene energy.
Every breath you let out carries away stress, tension, and anxiety
with it, leaving you feeling even more relaxed, more protected,
more peaceful with every breath.
That's right … you're doing perfectly.
And because this is your safe place, you can alter it in any way
you wish, at any time you wish. You might choose to move an
object, or change the color of something, or change the sounds
you can hear in this place, or you may decide that for right now,
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Hypnotic Favorites
it's just perfect. And you can always change your mind whenever
you'd like. This is your place … your sanctuary … your place
where you are always safe, protected, and calm.
Remember this place. Make it a fixed point in the landscape of

your mind, because I want you to be able to come back here any
time you want to re-experience these feelings of safety and calm.
You'd like that too, would you not? (Look for a nod, a smile, or a
'yes'.) Good.
From now on, (partner's name), any time I tell you to go to your
safe place, this is the place where I want you to go. You return
here, to this sanctuary, immediately and automatically, any time I
tell you to go to your safe place. Each and every time you go to
your safe place you feel yourself wrapped up in that calm,
peaceful, safe, protected feeling and any anxiety or stress you
may have been feeling before you come here simply falls away
and is left behind. Stress, anxiety, worry, fear … those things
simply can't exist here. And how good does it feel to know that?
When this safe place is a permanent part of your mind, when

you've accepted and agreed on every level that you will return to
this place automatically each and every time I tell you to go to
your safe place, then you can give me another nice, big smile.
I think it's important to let your partner design their own safe place. Let it be
exactly what their imagination chooses, and let them rearrange it or redefine
it any time they like. That way it's truly their place. You don't even really
need to know the details about it; what matters is that it exists and that they
feel safe and protected there.
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The Control Room

This is a very useful metaphor that I use often both in therapy and in erotic
hypnosis. The control room provides a way for someone to alter the inner
working of their own mind, temporarily or permanently, by manipulating
control panels in this imaginary room.
To establish the existence of the control room, start with your partner in
trance.
And now, (hypnotee's name), imagine a long, sloping corridor

leading into the deepest parts of your mind. Sloping gently down
and to the right, we can follow this corridor all the way to the
core of your being. Now just imagine that right here, near the end
of the hall, is a door marked “Control Room”. If you listen
closely you may even hear the hum of machinery beyond the
door, an industrial sort of sound, busy, smooth. The door is
locked, of course, because the things behind it are so important,
but it always opens for you.
Imagine now opening the door and entering the control room of
your body and mind. The room is filled with panels of controls,
each marked with its function. There's one for body temperature,
one for respiration, for heartbeat, for metabolism, for stress
levels … anything your mind controls, which is everything in your
body and mind, has a control panel in this room.
Everyone's control room is different, of course. I can't tell you

what the panels look like, or what style of controls are on them,
but you can notice this yourself as you survey the room. However
the room seems to you, in your imagination, is right.
Now that you've created the room and established where it is, you can use
this for a variety of purposes. Some things you can do with the control room
include:
Locate the panel that controls sexual arousal or desire, and

manipulate those controls to increase or decrease those emotions.
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Hypnotic Favorites
You may even establish a remote control that adjusts this panel from
outside the control room so that you can use a trigger to increase or
decrease arousal or desire.
Locate the panel that controls memory. If you are working on doing
memory play (hypnotic amnesia), you may suggest that by changing
some of the settings on this panel your hypnotee can enable the
ability to let their conscious mind forget things when you ask it to
and the subconscious agrees. (Metaphorically speaking, what this
does is let the hypnotee give themselves permission to “forget” when
you do memory play. People who have had trouble achieving
amnesia have overcome it this way.)
Your imagination is the only limit here. A word of caution, however: it can
be very tempting to use the control room for other purposes – releasing
stress, changing metabolism to encourage weight loss, that sort of thing.
Unless you are a trained professional therapist, DON'T. Even if you are,
you should know that play and therapy do not mix.
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Freeze
A lot of submissives love the idea of having the power of movement taken
away from them. We'll visit this idea in more detail in a later chapter on doll
play, but just the act of freezing your partner in place is something that
almost every hypnotist does. One way to set up a freeze trigger would be:
Each and every time I clap my hands once and say the word
'Freeze' you automatically, immediately freeze. By 'freeze' I mean
that all of the voluntary muscles in your body lock in position,
completely immobile. You continue to breathe, blink, and
maintain your balance but otherwise your body remains
absolutely still, stuck, and locked in position. Your arms and legs
are still; your head remains locked in position; your mouth and
tongue are absolutely still, leaving you completely unable to
speak except to use safe words. You always feel perfectly warm
and comfortable while you are frozen; it is simply your muscles
that become locked in position. The more you try to perform any
voluntary muscle movement, the more those muscles you are
trying to move simply remain still and stiff, exactly as they were
when I clapped my hands once and said 'Freeze'.
While you are in the frozen state, you remain completely aware of
everything happening around you to the extent that your senses
can detect. You hear every sound; you feel any touch on your
body, any sensations caused by the environment, just as you
normally would. You remember clearly and completely
everything that happens while you are frozen. You simply can't
move in any voluntary way except to say a safe word.
You remain in this frozen state until I clap my hands once and say
the word 'Thaw'. As soon as I clap my hands and say 'Thaw' your
muscles return to normal and you may move normally again.
In this variant of the standard freeze trigger, the hypnotee is fully aware of
what is going on around them but can't react to it. Some hypnotists (and
some hypnotees) prefer that their partner be able to speak while frozen; if
that's your preference, simply say so when defining what the frozen state
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Hypnotic Favorites
means for this purpose. Others go even further and freeze the mind, too –
the hypnotee, while frozen, is completely unaware of the passage of time or
anything that happens while they are frozen. This essentially combines the
freeze and the 'blank state' amnesia trigger, which is also described in a later
chapter.
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The Jedi Mind Trick

Sooner or later just about every hypnotist does this, or something very like
it. At its core, the Jedi Mind Trick is a general-purpose trigger, but the way
it’s done has tremendous geek appeal.
I’m sure you know what the Jedi mind trick is, don’t you? A Jedi
can use the force to influence the minds of those around them. It’s
very simple: the Jedi just waves his hand slowly across the
person’s field of vision while making a statement. The person they
do that to stops thinking, their face goes blank, and they repeat
whatever statement the Jedi made. As soon as they do that, the
statement becomes absolutely true to them and they act
accordingly, as if the statement was their own idea.
From now on, <hypnotee’s name>, I have that exact same Jedi
mind power over you. Whenever I wave my hand slowly across
your field of vision while making a statement in my hypnotic
voice, and it is safe and appropriate for you to do so, you react
exactly the way people do in the Star Wars movies do: you stop
whatever you were thinking or doing, your face goes blank, you
repeat the statement I made, and then whatever that statement
was is absolutely true for you and you continue acting
accordingly, as if it was your own idea.
Your response to the Jedi mind trick is automatic, instinctive, a

reflex. As long as it is safe and appropriate for you to react to the
Mind Trick, your conscious mind never interferes or prevents you
from going blank, repeating the statement, and then absolutely
believing and acting on it as if it were your own idea.
Each time I use the Jedi mind trick on you in a safe and
appropriate way, your response is immediate, automatic, as
natural and unavoidable as breathing. The Jedi mind trick
bypasses your conscious mind and memory temporarily, speaking
directly to your subconscious; your conscious mind is completely
unaware that I used the mind trick until after it has taken effect,
and even then the statement I made with the mind trick continues
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Hypnotic Favorites
to be true for you unless I use the mind trick to remove it.
And now, when your subconscious has completely accepted this

new behavior; when your automatic response to the Jedi mind
trick from me is to repeat and accept whatever statement I make
while waving my hand across your field of vision, and that has
become a permanent part of your mind’s internal program of
habits and behaviors, I want you to say, “Obey, I will.”
Now, while your partner is out of trance, you can make the classic Star
Wars waving gesture and make any factual statement you like, such as,
“What you’re eating right now is the most delicious thing you’ve tasted all
day” or “Those pants are unbearably itchy and uncomfortable; you should
take them off.” Bear in mind that, like any hypnotic suggestion, your
partner always has the ability to resist if they want to or if they don’t feel
safe complying. Even in the movies the Jedi mind trick didn’t always work.
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Discussion Points
1. At what point in an ongoing play relationship would you construct a
safe place? What if you need one and haven't created it yet?
2. You have a new play partner who has difficulty achieving orgasm
even during intercourse. Would you use the control room to adjust
their “orgasm threshold” so that they find it easier to orgasm?
3. What other “favorites” do you have? What makes them favorites for
you?
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Exercises
1. With a willing partner, establish a safe place and a freeze trigger.
Exercise them and see what you can do with them.
2. With a willing partner, use the control room metaphor to temporarily

adjust their sensitivity, or reaction, to an innocuous touch. (Get
consent for the touch!)
3. Play with the Jedi mind trick with a willing partner. See how creative
you can get with your statements.
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Throughout this book and most others that teach hypnosis, there is an
assumption that the hypnotist and their partner are interacting in person. For
many people, though, this is not necessarily the case. For people in long
distance relationships, or who don't have a local community group or
friends who are also hypnokinky to practice and play with, online play is a
real and commonly used option. In this lesson we examine the special
challenges of doing erotic hypnosis with someone over the Internet or
telephone and suggest some techniques for enjoyable remote trance play.
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Presenter Notes
A lot of people get their start in erotic hypnosis through online meetups,
chat rooms, and the like so this is a good topic to do as a round table
discussion or panel rather than a lecture. You can present ideas from here
and solicit stories, ideas, and tips from those who've been doing it more
recently.
There are some interesting possibilities for demonstration here, too. You
could arrange for a demo partner in advance and do a short remote session
with them over video or audio to demonstrate some of the techniques of
induction and suggestion. It might be even more interesting if you have a
volunteer hypnotist on a remote link working with a volunteer who is
physically present for the class; people can learn by seeing the demo
bottom's reactions to what the remote hypnotist is doing and how the
hypnotist adjusts to the situation.
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Reach Out and Hypnotize Someone

The ideal circumstance for an erotic hypnosis scene is to have everyone
involved in the same location, but for a lot of people that ideal circumstance
is a rare opportunity. Fortunately, hypnosis is at heart a communication
process; whether you and your partner are in different ZIP codes, different
time zones, or different continents, as long as you can communicate you can
play with hypnosis.
Years ago, before the rise of local erotic hypnosis community groups and
national events like NEEHU, most hypno-kinky people were more or less
isolated. If you wanted to experience erotic trance, and weren't one of the
lucky ones who had play partners in their social circle, the only viable
answer was the Internet. People would meet up in Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
channels, chat about hypnosis, and hold play sessions online. Text chat was
the most common method at first, but as IP voice technology evolved voice
chat and eventually video chat became more and more popular.
There have always been challenges to doing hypnosis remotely, but with a
little preparation and creativity it can be a very satisfying experience for
everyone involved.
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Text Trancing
In the earliest days of Internet trancing, the only reliable medium was text
chat. There are still a number of people who question whether you can even
really do hypnosis over text chat, but enough people have done it and
enjoyed it that there isn't much point in debating the question.
To be sure, there are challenges involved in text trancing. For one thing, the
hypnotee needs to keep their eyes open and focused on the screen; that
alters the sensation of trance significantly for most people because they
can't just close their eyes and let the world float away. Another challenge is
the need to type responses during the trance. Again, for people who prefer
to just drift off and be passive this changes the experience for them,
requiring a level of activity they may not be used to.
In general, though, these challenges are a matter of expectations rather than

any real obstacles to trancing. It helps to remember that hypnosis is a state
of focused concentration; as much as we tend to dwell on the ideas of
relaxation, sleep, and the like they really aren't hypnosis. Someone focused
on a computer screen to the extent that they ignore the cat in the room and
follow the suggestions they read on the screen is in hypnosis. As long as
they understand that, and accept that it will feel differently than when they
have their eyes closed and are being passive, they'll do just fine.
Text Inductions
Inductions over text tend to be very simple in their structure. Most of them
are of the pacing and leading variety, using short statements to guide the
hypnotee into trance. Here is an example of a text trancing induction
(hypnotist's side only):
Watch the screen now …
You can see the letters appear as I type …
Notice the glow of the screen …
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Hear the faint sounds of the computer's fan and hard drive …
And even as your eyes remain focused, notice how easily the
muscles at the back of your head can relax …
Always able to remain focused on the screen, reading my words

…
Blinking when you need to blink …
Breathing when you need to breathe …
Deeply and slowly …
And just allow the rest of your body to relax comfortably …
And you can rest your hands over the keyboard, ready to type
when I need you to respond...
And imagine what it would be like to soften your gaze …
To look through the screen a little bit …
so that you're still reading my words with your peripheral vision

…
And notice the differences in how that feels …
How much easier it is to let your mind drift and wander …
And while your eyelids may become heavy, droopy, drowsy …
Each time they close they manage to open again and focus on the
screen …
Going deeper into that relaxed mindset …
Each time your eyes close and open …
With each line you read …
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With each response you type …
You can let your mind drift more and more into that state …
Where you're aware, but in a distant, dreamy sort of way …
Those hands typing out letters on their own …
Whatever feels natural and right …
Each time I ask you to respond to me …
Each time you have something to tell me …
Deeper …
Deeper …
That's right.
At this point I would ask a few simple yes or no questions, to make sure my
partner is still responsive and to gauge their degree of focus. From there, it's
a matter of making suggestions and getting responses until it's time to end
the session.
Notice how the text induction is different from a more conventional spoken
hypnotic induction. The lines are kept short so that they're easy to read
quickly. Each one ends with an ellipsis (…), which is a way of indicating
that another line will follow. Long paragraphs become increasingly difficult
to read as someone goes into trance, so make it easy for them and they will
make it easy for you.
One of the major issues with text trancing from the hypnotist's side is that
you get very little feedback to tell you how well the session is going. You
can't look for facial expression, feel for muscle tone, watch breathing or any
of the usual things that tell you whether the person is in trance or how
deeply they've gone. There are things you can look for, though, to get an
idea of how well the session is going.
A hypnotized person usually types more slowly than a fully conscious one.
People in hypnosis don't tend to bother much with capitalization or
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punctuation and generally don't stop to correct typos. By comparing the rate
and spelling/grammar/punctuation/typos of the person before the trance
started to the behavior during the session, you can look for differences and
gauge how focused they are. As with anything else, people vary. For
example, back in 2007 I bottomed for Lady Ru'etha in a text trancing
demonstration for the Realm of Bliss podcast. (The transcript used to be up
on the podcast site, but I think it's gone now.) In the transcript I respond to
her throughout the session with fully-formed sentences, punctuated, and
with very few typos. Why? Because I've been touch typing since the eighth
grade, so my subconscious is totally comfortable at the keyboard and can
easily type full sentences, rapidly and accurately, without any help from my
conscious mind. If you play with someone like that -- and given that
keyboarding skills are commonly taught in public schools even earlier than
I learned them, I am probably no longer in the minority here -- you can
expect a similar result. Know your partner, just like with any other form of
hypnosis, and you'll be able to sense how they are doing.
Some chat programs can be set to play sounds for incoming messages even
when the chat window is active. These sounds can be used to your
advantage, in that your partner can open their eyes when they hear the
incoming message sound and close them when they are done reading. This
leads to some excellent fractionation over the course of a leisurely
induction.
Suggestions
Generally speaking, you can give suggestions by text pretty much the same
way you would verbally. Break up your suggestion into short lines so that
it's easy to follow, and make sure that you provide a positive cue when the
suggestion starts and ends. For example:
In a moment, I will count from one to three …
On the count of three, the seat of your chair begins to vibrate …
The vibration is intensely pleasurable and arousing to you …
However, you are unable to rise up from the seat in any way …
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The harder you try to get up the more firmly you are stuck in the
chair...
The more you squirm in the chair, the more arousing the
vibrations become …
No matter how aroused you become, you continue to watch the

screen …
No matter how aroused you become, you can always type to me

…
The chair continues to vibrate, getting more and more arousing

and pleasurable …
Until you need to have an orgasm …
But you only orgasm when I give you permission …
And I will only give you permission when I am ready to ...
Once your orgasm is over the chair stops vibrating.
When your subconscious has accepted this suggestion and is

ready to follow it, type Y.
(hypnotee types Y)
1 … 2 … 3!
Contingencies
Any time you are remote from your hypnotee, there are some contingency
suggestions you should put in place as early in the session as you can. For
text trancing, you need to be conscious of several common things that can
go wrong:
Your hypnotee closes their eyes
Your hypnotee stops typing in response
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Your connection gets dropped
Something happens in the hypnotee's environment that requires their

attention
The sample induction actually addresses eye closure as part of the process
with a suggestion that each time they close they simply open again and
refocus on the screen. It also mentions the hands comfortably at the ready to
type responses. Keep mentioning that during your suggestion flow so that
the suggestion is well reinforced and your hypnotee should continue
responding. You may also want to mention that it's okay to look away from
the screen to the keyboard when they need to if your hypnotee is not a touch
typist.
Whenever you do remote hypnosis it's a good idea to suggest that if for any
reason you lose communication, your hypnotee automatically comes out of
trance with all suggestions that they were acting on at the time ended.
Connectivity hiccups happen, so it's smart to have a plan. Make that
suggestion early and often, and repeat it at the start of every session once
you've established trance.
For the last issue, you technically don't have to say anything because people
in hypnosis are always aware of their surroundings. If the smoke alarm goes
off or the doorbell rings your hypnotee will hear it, come out of trance, and
respond accordingly (well, to the smoke detector definitely; they might
choose to ignore the doorbell). However, it is always a good idea to make
the suggestion anyway that if something in the environment requires their
attention they can come up out of trance long enough to deal with the issue
and then, if the session is still open, drop right back into trance and resume
with you.
Ending the Session

You terminate a text trance the same way you would in person, typically by
counting up. Always give suggestions for feeling good after the trance is
over regardless of what medium you used – it costs you nothing and helps
end the session on a high note.
Unlike most other trance media, text trance creates a record of everything
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that happened during the session. You and your hypnotee can choose to
save this or not as you wish. If you are playing with amnesia and there are
things your hypnotee should not remember right away, you might want to
also suggest while they are in trance that if they save the chat log they do
not read it until it's okay for them to remember whatever that was.
As a safety measure, chatrooms have started automatically logging all

activity and retaining it for a short time. Be aware of this but don't rely on it
– if you want a lasting record of the session, save your own.
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Hypnosis by Audio
Another option for remote hypnotic play is through audio, either on the
telephone or using voice-over-IP technology.
Whether you do voice trancing by telephone or voice chat, a few things will
make the experience much more enjoyable for all parties involved.
1. Have a good, comfortable headset. It is possible to go into hypnosis

while holding a phone up to one's ear, but it's neither ideal nor
particularly comfortable for a session of any length. A wired headset
is less convenient than Bluetooth but never runs out of battery in the
middle of a session.
2. Make sure anyone using a cell phone has plenty of battery life or
plugs it in before you start.
3. Have the hypnotee secure their environment against unnecessary

interruptions: close the door, silence other notifications on the
computer or cell phone, close or minimize distracting windows, and
put the dog or cat in the other room. Have a drink handy, both of
you.
If you plan to do a lot of hypnosis over Internet audio, I recommend that

you invest in a studio quality USB microphone, like the Blue Yeti. The
richer your voice comes through, the more engaging it will be for your
hypnotees. Also, if your hypnotee is wearing stereo headphones, they get
the sensation of your voice speaking from within their own head, which can
be very powerful all by itself.
Voice Inductions
Your induction options for a voice chat are much more open than they are
for text. You can use pretty much any induction you know that doesn't
require you to touch or see your partner. So choose a spoken induction that
fits your partner's mindset and you'll do fine. You can do an eye fixation
induction if you like; simply have them choose a fixation object or point in
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their environment and describe it to you enough that you can reference it
during the induction.
Because you can't watch your partner's eyes close or head droop, you'll need
to use sound to detect how well they're following you. If your partner is
using a headset you will probably be able to hear them breathe, so listen for
changes in respiration. If you can't hear that, then ask them short-answer
questions and listen to their voice to gauge their response time. A
hypnotized voice is markedly different from the waking voice.
Suggestions
Voice trancing puts very few constraints on your suggestion choice. The
biggest one is the need to keep the headset on. If your hypnotee is using a
wired headset and you want them taking off their shirt, that may require
them to remove the headset temporarily. It's a good idea to suggest that they
can do this, and that as soon as they've obeyed the suggestion they
automatically put the headset back on.
You can use suggestion to compensate for some of the faculties that don't
work over voice alone. For instance, you can cause your hypnotee to feel as
if you are watching them even though you're not, or give the illusion of
them being touched by you even though you can't actually do it.
Contingencies
As with text trancing, you should establish early on what your hypnotee
should do if certain things happen, such as the connection dropping or
something in the environment requiring urgent attention.
For the case of the call dropping, you have a couple of options. For a
telephone connection you can suggest that if you lose voice contact the
hypnotee waits quietly, drifting in trance, and automatically answers the
phone when it rings again. Voice chat usually requires more work to answer
an incoming connection, so you may instead suggest that they come out of
trance and wait for you to contact them again before dropping back in.
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Ending the Session

You end a voice trance the same way you would any other, with
suggestions to emerge from trance with good feelings. Engage your
hypnotee in conversation after they come out to help make sure they're fully
alert.
There are various ways in which a voice call can be recorded if you want a
record of the session. As long as everyone on the call consents to the
recording you are unlikely to run into any legal problems with doing it.
Recording a VoIP chat can be more challenging depending on what
platform you used, but it should be possible if you want to.
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Hypnosis by Video Chat

That picture phone from the 1969 World's Fair never took off, but thanks to
computers and the Internet video chat is now a common, everyday sort of
thing for a growing number of people. For online hypnotists, of course,
being able to see your partner as well as hear them opens up more channels
for feedback. Being able to see the face of the person you're playing with
also adds a comfort level for some, and gives you an opportunity to build
rapport.
Doing hypnosis over video chat requires that you have appropriate
technology, of course. You need something that connects to the Internet and
has a camera, display, and headset jack, microphone and speakers, or USB
headset. I prefer a computer, but a tablet can work quite well too. Most
smartphones are a little small for my liking – if I'm going to play with
someone I want to be able to see them well -- but that’s a matter of personal
preference.
Skype used to be the all-around best medium for voice and video chat
online, but since they were purchased by Microsoft the Skype experience
has become a lot less enjoyable, especially if you don't use Windows. I'm
very fond of Google's video chat, currently part of Hangouts, as it works
well with everything from PCs to tablets to smartphones – even Apple's
tablets and phones, which are kind of notorious for not wanting to work and
play well with other breeds.
You may find that different programs work better depending on where each
of you is physically located. In some cases, Google Talk may be jittery and
awkward while Skype is smoother, or Google and Skype may both be
lacking but another videoconferencing client works nicely. So be prepared
to experiment with multiple programs until you find the one that works best
for your combination of locations. These programs use significant
bandwidth, so be careful if you are using your smartphone and your cellular
network. If you have broadband internet and a wireless network set up in
your preferred trancing location, you will get better sound and video quality
if you set your phone to connect to your network rather than using your
cellular data.
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Since most computers have a good set of speakers on them and most
webcams have a reasonable quality mic it’s tempting to use those instead of
a headset for video chat unless there are housemates to consider. Bear in
mind, though, that unless your mic is directional anything that comes out of
your speakers will feed back into the microphone, and that can be very
distracting for the person on the other end. As with pure audio, if you plan
to do a lot of this invest in a really good microphone – your partners will
appreciate the voice quality. I also recommend that you both use high-
definition (1080p) video cameras, to get the best image quality you can.
Higher image quality also requires more bandwidth, though, so you may
have to compromise a little.
Video Inductions
With video, you can do any induction you like that doesn't require you to
touch your hypnotee. You can have them fixate on an object, either
something local to them or something that you hold up in front of your
camera. With some applications (Google being one) you can start a
hypnotic spiral application in a window and share it so your hypnotee can
stare at it. You can even do the “look into my eyes” induction if you want
to, but bear in mind that in order to look your hypnotee in the eye you
actually have to be looking directly into your own camera, not the screen.
That might make it harder to watch your hypnotee in your peripheral vision,
depending on where your camera sits relative to your screen.
During the induction, you have the luxury of being able to monitor your
hypnotee's response visually. You can watch their eyelids get heavy and
incorporate that into the induction; you can time your words to their
breathing; you can see if their head slumps down uncomfortably and
instruct them to hold it up.
One thing you can't do, of course, is steady them in their chair. Make sure
you suggest early that they can always remain safely and comfortably
seated, and remind them of that if they seem to be slumping.
Suggestions
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Being able to see each other opens the door to pretty much any non-
touching suggestions you want to give to your hypnotee. You can add the
touch element, too, by either having your hypnotee touch themselves for
you or by giving suggestions to feel a touch even though you aren't
physically present to do it.
Because you can see your hypnotee, you can also adjust to what they are
doing. If your hypnotee starts to squirm in the chair you can call attention to
that and use it just as you would in person.
Contingencies
The most common problem in video conferencing, of course, is that you
lose connection. Sometimes the video will stall for a few moments while
audio continues, and sometimes everything just freezes up. Total freezes are
very common on Skype, at least with the Linux client, and usually require
you to drop and reconnect.
Freezes and drops usually mean either network congestion or limited

bandwidth. They are especially common when one of you is using wireless
Ethernet because the bandwidth is constrained by the wireless access point
(wired is always faster). With wifi, there can also be interference from a
number of sources, primarily other devices in the house and neighbors with
wifi competing for the same frequencies you are using. Another common
symptom of either interference or network congestion is blocky, jerky
video.
Generally when you lose the video chat connection some analysis is
required to reconnect, so your contingency plan should be that if the
connection drops or freezes the trance ends and any currently active
suggestions are suspended. That way your hypnotee can troubleshoot on
their end if necessary and you can do so on yours. You should talk with
your hypnotee about who will call back if your session drops, as two people
trying to call each-other leads to failure on both sides. It is also helpful to
have alternate method of contacting your partner, so if video chat is beyond
fixing there’s always the phone or instant messaging to make sure
everything is OK and wrap up the session.
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Ending the Session

You can end a video session the same way you would an in-person session.
Bring your partner out of trance feeling good, and chat with them until you
are sure they are fully alert and in a good place.
Whether you can record a video session or not depends on what provider
you use and what operating system your device is using. I don't know of any
free video chat platform that has recording built in, but you can often run an
application on your system that will record the session (and possibly
anything else on your PC desktop) for you. There are ways to record a
Google Hangout and post it to YouTube, but I tend to assume that your
hypnotee does not want their erotic hypnosis session published to the world;
if that's your thing, you can easily look up how to do it.
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Discussion Points
1. Safety is a major issue when trancing online with people you don't
know. What safeguards would you recommend to someone trying
hypnosis online for the first time?
2. What are your favorite programs to use for voice or video chat?
3. What are your favorite hypnosis chat rooms?
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Exercises
1. Pick someone you know well and have a hypnosis session with them
using only text chat. See how well you can gauge the depth of
trance. Try some suggestions and determine how well they work. As
a hypnotee, note how the experience compares to trancing in person.
2. Try the same thing with audio only and video chat. Compare the
experiences with each other and with in-person play.
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More Inductions
Versatility is important for any hypnotist, professional or erotic. The more
different types of inductions you know, the more prepared you are to work
or play successfully with a variety of people. The inductions in this lesson
don't fit neatly into a single category but they are each well worth knowing
and come in handy in special situations.
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Presenter Notes
This is another inductions class, so much of what I've already noted in
chapters 5, 12, and 15 about inductions classes applies here. Demonstrations
are golden. The Object Drop induction is actually designed to be used with
a group, so definitely do that one as a group trance induction. Heart
Coherence and Recursion can be done with a group or with an individual,
your choice.
There are a lot of steps in the non verbal induction, so you may want to
handle it a little differently. I would demonstrate it once in front of the class
with a volunteer and explain how it works afterwards. Then, have the class
pair off and lead them through the steps again, you demonstrating with your
volunteer while they follow.
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A Non Verbal Induction

This non verbal induction is modeled on the technique taught by Marx
Howell, retired Inspector of the Texas State Police and a nationally-known
expert in forensic hypnosis. Marx used it to do hypnosis with people who
are hearing-impaired, asking questions through a sign-language interpreter
once his client was in trance. It is also handy in noisy environments, or just
for novelty. Even with inexperienced trance partners this induction tends to
produce a surprisingly deep trance state.
Make sure that your hypnotee does not have any movement restrictions
involving their arms, shoulders, or neck. If they do, choose another
induction.
Start with your hypnotee sitting in an upright chair without arms. Make sure
there is enough room around the chair that you can move freely around it on
all sides, because you will be. Marx usually begins by doing a short pre-talk
on the topic of non verbal communication, something like this:
Hypnotist: How much do you know about non verbal

communication?
Hypnotee: (usually) Not much.
Hypnotist: When you're in an audience, and the person at the

front does this (raises arms), what does it mean?
Hypnotee: Stand up.
Hypnotist: Right. And this? (lowers arms)
Hypnotee: Sit down.
Hypnotist: Right. And this means …? (Beckons with a hand or

finger)
Hypnotee: Come here.
Hypnotist: Yes. And this? (Puts a finger over their own lips)
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Hypnotee: Be quiet.
Hypnotist: Exactly. So really, you know a lot more about non

verbal communication than you thought you did, don't you?
You don't have to start with that, but it does serve a purpose. Each example
is a command or instruction, so doing it gets the hypnotee into a mindset of
receiving non verbal instructions. It also reinforces that they do know how
to communicate non verbally.
Now, to perform the induction:
1. Obtain consent for hypnosis and agreement to follow your non

verbal instructions. I recommend something like, “Do you agree to
follow my non verbal instructions and enter into a deep, relaxing
state of trance now?”
2. Obtain consent for touch. For this induction you will need to touch
both arms (including hand and wrist), both shoulders, the neck, the
head, and the forehead. You will also at one point be passing a hand
in front of their face at close range, so make sure they are okay with
that.
3. (Optional) Establish a signal – Marx uses a light poke on the side of

the neck – that means the hypnotee is to open their eyes while
remaining in trance. If your hypnotee can hear, this is not necessary.
4. Take your partner's right hand by the wrist and lift it in front of their
face, palm down, at eye level so that the fingers point toward the
eyes. You want the fingers far enough from the face that they can
focus on them. Move the hand back and forth in an oval, and get
your partner to follow the fingertips with their eyes. (With your free
hand, point from their eyes to the fingertips if they need a hint.)
5. When they're following the hand, gradually let the moving hand drop
a little lower and then pass your free hand down in front of their eyes
to signal eye closure. Repeat the hand passes until they close their
eyes and keep them closed. Place your hypnotee’s right hand in their
lap.
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6. Take their left hand by the wrist. Raise it up, over their head, and
back so that the palm comes to rest on the back of their neck. Press
the hand firmly against the neck. When you let go, it should stay
there; if not, put it back and press firmly again until it does.
7. Lift the right arm straight up toward the ceiling. If you feel resistance
as you get close to vertical, stop lifting and just work with whatever
upward angle you have. Tug on the arm a little (indicating, “Keep
this here”). If the arm doesn't stay put when you let go, reposition it
and tug again until they comply.
8. Wait a few seconds. Now take the right arm again by the wrist and
elbow and lower it a few degrees at a time, treating it as a stiff lever.
Bring it down to their right side, then wobble the arm to get it to
relax. Now lift the relaxed arm by the wrist and drop it into their lap.
9. Take the left arm from behind the neck and straighten it out so that it
points upward and forward. Lower it by degrees, just as you did the
right arm. Once lowered, wobble it to get relaxation, lift at the wrist,
and drop it into their lap.
10. Move to your partner's right side. Support the back of the head at the
base of the skull with your left hand. Wait for your partner to begin
to exhale and, with your right thumb and forefinger, press downward
firmly (but not hard!) on the forehead above the eyes. If you are
supporting the head properly it should NOT move. Do this a total of
3 times.
11. Stand behind your partner and place your hands on their shoulders.
Wait for them to begin to exhale and then press firmly downward on
the shoulders. Stop pressing when they start to inhale. Do this a total
of 3 times.
12. Hold your partner's head in both hands, palms over the ears and
fingers spread. GENTLY rotate the head clockwise 3 times, then
counterclockwise 3 times.
13. Lift the right arm by the wrist – it should feel limp, heavy, and
relaxed – and drop it beside them. Now lift it back up and place it in
the lap. Repeat with the left arm.
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14. Wait for them to exhale. As they do, press firmly down on the right
forearm near the wrist. Repeat with the left arm.
15. If you established a signal to open the eyes while remaining in

trance, give that signal. Otherwise, move on to suggestions.
Deepening further is seldom necessary. Should you want to deepen,
think back to which actions produced the best relaxation response
during the induction, and repeat them.
This is just one example of a non verbal induction. Feel free to experiment
with the sequence and timing, to substitute different actions, etc. The
subconscious message in most of the manipulations is “down” so anything
that gives that feeling of going downward will likely work.
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Heart Coherence
This is a very interesting induction technique to use with someone who is a
little bit antsy or anxious because the process involved is calming. It is
actually based on an anti-anxiety exercise taught by Melissa Tiers, a well-
known hypnotherapist in New York City.
Your hypnotee can be in any comfortable position for this. Establish the
hypnotic contract, then begin.
Let's begin by taking a nice, long, slow, deep breath in … that's

right … and just hold it for a second. When you hold your breath,
it's easy to become more aware of your heart beating … like that.
Now, slowly let that breath out.
And now, as you continue to breathe, just bring your awareness

to your heart. Imagine breathing deeply, in and out, from your
heart. You may want to hold a hand over your heart, or not, but
keep your awareness right there as you breathe through it.
As you breathe, your heart is also pumping healthy blood through

your body. That healthy blood contains oxygen from your
breathing, so with each breath and beat you are distributing life-
giving oxygen through your whole system.
Something most people don't know is that the heart is the

strongest emitter of electromagnetic energy in the body. So, as
you continue to focus your awareness on breathing through your
heart, you may become aware of how your heart radiates energy
through your whole system. By focusing on the rhythm of your
heart, you are beginning to entrain your brain into a coherent,
more relaxed state of mind.
The heart sends information to the brain in many ways. Some of it

is sent electromagnetically, which is what an EKG measures.
Some of it is sent through the pulse, which creates a pattern of
blood pressure waves. Some of it is sent biochemically, through
the release of atrial peptide, a hormone that inhibits stress
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hormones. That's right … your heart, through the release of atrial

peptide, is helping to reduce the levels of stress throughout your
system. And the more you allow your brain and your heart to
come into convergence, to synchronize, the more you can really
notice how that whole-body rhythm soothes away stress, worry,
fear, doubt … soothes them away, more and more, with each
healthy, cleansing breath.
And as your brain and heart come together, you can notice a shift
in your feelings, your emotions … a calmness … a sort of inner
harmony … that can guide you down into that peaceful,
meditative state. A state where you feel completely in touch with
yourself, with your body, with your inner mind. Good.
This induction is designed to turn the hypnotee's focus inward, which will
tend to start them on the way into trance. You can continue with a deepener
-- the “Dissociation with Iterative Deepening” technique from Mind Play
goes particularly well with this induction -- or just move on to your
suggestion plan.
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Object Drop
This induction is intended to be used with a group of people. Participants
should be seated in straight-backed chairs. Every participant should have in
hand an object. Exactly what the object is doesn't matter, and everyone's can
be different; what matters is that each person's object be easy to hold
between a thumb and forefinger and not fragile. A pen, pencil, or coin
works nicely. Poker chips are great if you have a supply of them handy.
To start, have each participant hold their object out in front of the body
between their thumb and forefinger, gripping it in a secure way. I usually
express it something like this: “Those of you who would like to experience
hypnosis right now, please take that object between your thumb and
forefinger and hold it out in front of you, like this.” You should also have an
object; hold it out to illustrate and then continue:
Close your eyes now, and focus all of your attention on that
object that you're holding. Now breathe in, deeply and slowly …
hold it … and breathe out, slowly, easily. Good.
Take another nice, deep, slow breath in … hold it … and now let
it out, nice and slowly. That's right. Each time you inhale, you
bring more oxygen into your lungs, and each time you breathe
out just imagine your body relaxing, becoming more calm and
peaceful, as you continue to focus on the feel of that object
between your fingers.
Breathe in again now … that's it .. and out, noticing how that

object feels in your hand, even as the muscles holding it begin to
relax. And I wonder when those fingers will become relaxed
enough that the object just slips loose and falls?
Breathing in … feeling that relaxation flowing again as you

breathe out … and each time you hear someone's object hit the
floor, you can relax even more deeply and let it go …
At this point your audience should be nicely focused and relaxing. If

nobody has dropped their object yet, talk them through another breath cycle
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or two and then drop your object. Nine times out of ten that starts a chain
reaction and you'll hear objects dropping all over the room.
This induction works best on a hard floor, so that when an object drops it
makes a clearly audible noise. If the room is carpeted you probably won't
get the same chain reaction result simply because your participants don't
hear others' objects dropping.
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Recursion
Imagine you had two mirrors and a vase of flowers. If you place the mirrors
so that they face each other and set the vase of flowers in between them,
then step to the side and look into one of the mirrors, you'll see what looks
like an infinite progression of mirrors showing reflections of vases of
flowers. The mirror you look at shows a reflection of the vase and the
mirror opposite it, which is showing a reflection of the vase and the first
mirror, etc. That loop of embedded image inside image inside image is an
example of recursion.
In hypnosis, we use the concept of recursion as a confusion technique. You

start your induction, and during that you tell a story about another hypnotist
doing an induction, in which they talk about a previous time when they (or
someone else) did an induction. It's probably better to show you an example
first and explain it afterwards.
Close your eyes now, and just relax. There's nothing in particular
you need to be doing right now except listening to my voice and
allowing whatever feelings, whatever sensations, whatever
thoughts might come to mind to simply float in, and float out.
Many other people who like to go into trance find it easiest to
focus on their breathing, while others imagine themselves in their
mind, doing whatever it takes to seem even more relaxed.
You may remember, or perhaps you never knew of her, a well-

known hypnotist called Soforia the Enchantress. Soforia had an
amazing voice, one that was so fascinating that you just couldn't
not follow the words and feel that sensation, deep down, of
drifting, floating … you know the one … that's right.
And Soforia would say to you something like, “Just imagine a

candle flame, flickering in the dim light … dancing every so
slightly, captivating, fascinating. And even though your eyes are
closed and you're relaxing so deeply, so easily, you can still
experience the candle flame in your mind's eye, and imagine it so
vividly that everything else just seems to fade into the
background.” And whatever Soforia said, you found it so easy to
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just let it happen for you.
“One time,” Soforia once told me, “I had someone in that chair
who is very much like you. They could imagine the candle flame,
and relax so deeply, and find it so easy to just let go for me. And I
said to them, 'You're doing so well for me, I'm so pleased, and I
want to show you something very special. You'd like that,
wouldn't you?' And of course the answer is yes.
“So I said to them, 'Now it's time to go even deeper for me … so

imagine that the candle flame is moving, slowly, gently, leading
you down a corridor … down to a grand flight of stairs. And with
each step, as you follow the candle down the stairs, you can feel
yourself going down, deeper, easier, with each step.'
“First step down, floating down, just ahead...
“Second step down, noticing how good it feels to follow, and

drift...
“Third step, down deeper, becoming so quiet, so calm, so open …
“Fourth step, barely aware of your own footsteps anymore, as

you float down, following...
“Fifth step, becoming aware of the quiet, the calm, the serenity
that envelops you more and more with each step...
“Sixth step, noticing a change in the air, or perhaps in your mind,

floating, drifting down...
“Seven, deeper down, following, drifting …
“Eight, very good, so delightfully deep for me …
“Nine, wondering just how good it feels to be so deep for me, to

let it happen now …
“Ten, all the way down … that's right ...”
And if you're still following, you'd feel that wonderful, relaxing,
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stillness … that sensation of everything slowing down … going

deep inside … and you knew that your mind can so easily accept
any suggestion at all … that's right …
And you may still be imagining the candle flame, as it flickers and
glows, and that's perfectly okay …
Now that you've seen an example, you can notice how the recursive
induction is constructed. It starts out like any other type of induction, with a
few suggestions to get started. Then this outer induction branches into a
story about someone else doing an induction. I picked Soforia the
Enchantress for my example, but you could just as easily pick a different
name – if you happen to know of someone that your hypnotee admires or
has heard of favorably, go ahead and use them – or just refer to someone in
the abstract, another hypnotist you knew or a mentor you had. It doesn't
really matter; what matters is that you bridge from you doing an induction
to you talking about them doing an induction.
This second layer, talking about someone else doing an induction, is a

recursion. The induction suggestions that occur in this layer are still going
to be heard by your partner's subconscious and, because you're still
speaking in terms of 'you' the subconscious hears that and responds to it,
even though the 'you' you're talking to is an imaginary, fictional 'you' in the
story within the induction.
Next, while describing the induction within the induction, that second
hypnotist branches into a story of another induction they did on someone
else, and so we have a third layer induction happening within the frame of
the second induction, which you are retelling as your induction. And again,
because you're quoting someone else who is quoting someone else (or
themselves, as in the Soforia example), you can still use 'you' and your
hypnotee's subconscious will still receive and act on those suggestions even
though they were given to someone else entirely.
Using recursion this way is confusing for the conscious mind because it's so
easy to lose track of the levels of narrative. It's also easy for your conscious
mind to lose track, so focus on what you're doing. You can in theory recurse
by more levels if you want to, but with most people the best results come
from three layers, as in the example. More than that makes your life more
difficult with no appreciable benefit to the hypnotee.
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Discussion Point
1. The Heart Coherence induction is designed to be used with a trance
partner who is feeling anxious or agitated. Would it be better to do a
longer pre-talk to address the source of their anxiety first and then
use some other induction? Why or why not?
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Exercises
1. Recruit a willing partner, and perform the non verbal induction from
this chapter with them.
2. Using the structure outlined above, create your own recursion-based

induction. Find a volunteer and see how well it works for them.
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Kinky Human Tricks
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Arousal and Desire
Arousal and Desire

The mind, some say, is the ultimate erogenous zone. Erotic hypnosis lets us
take that saying more literally than it's usually intended to be. Arousal and
desire are emotional states; since emotions are the domain of the
subconscious mind, obviously hypnosis can affect how people experience
those states.
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Presenter Notes
This lesson is all about getting people turned on. It's a fun topic to present,
but depending on your audience it may be challenging to find a willing
volunteer for a demo. You may want to prearrange a demo bottom who is
okay with displaying arousal in front of the group and then reward them
well for their service.
At NEEHU and similar events I'll often start out by doing the “Pleasure”
trigger as a group demo so that anyone who wants to participate can, in their
seat in the audience. As I'm setting the trigger (which expires at the end of
the class) I'll use it a number of times and calibrate the response up, making
it stronger and stronger, until I get a few people squirming or biting their
lips. Then, for the rest of the class, I'll trigger them at random just to watch
and hear the reaction.
In a kink-friendly environment, you could consider doing exercises to

practice the skills. Warn everyone ahead of time to bring a partner, though,
because pairing up strangers and saying, “Okay, now go get him/her horny”
tends not to work out well.
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Arousal and Desire
Pleasure Trigger
One of my all-time favorite triggers is this one, inspired by the only scene in
the movie Bruce Almighty worth watching. The mechanics of it are very
simple.
From now on, each and every time I say the word 'pleasure' and
it is safe for you to be momentarily distracted, you feel an
immediate, powerful rush of erotic pleasure, as if you were being
stroked or licked or kissed in the most pleasurable, intimate,
arousing way. The sensation lasts only a few seconds, but is
always powerful enough to interrupt your train of thought and
cause you to automatically focus for those few seconds on that
wave of pleasure, fully aware of how good your body can feel at
my command.
Each and every time I say 'pleasure' to you and it is safe for you
to be momentarily distracted, that feeling comes over you again,
stronger, more pleasurable, more arousing and more distracting
each time. Feeling that wave of intense, erotic pleasure is an
automatic, instinctive, reflexive response, like breathing or
blinking, and it happens each and every time I say 'pleasure' to
you as long as it is safe for you to be distracted.
Allow this new habit of yours to embed itself into your mind, part
of your own personal library of automatic habits, and when
you've completely accepted this new part of your habits and
behaviors, you can give me a nice, big smile.
(Wait for the smile.)
Good. Pleasure...
This is a fun trigger to use for public or semi-public play, because out in
public most people aren't paying attention to anyone else, so the trigger and
the reaction are unlikely to get you noticed but you can still enjoy the thrill
of playing in the open.
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I'm partial to the word “pleasure” because of the movie, but of course you
can substitute anything you'd like – a stroke down the arm, a squeeze of the
hand, whatever. One of the more interesting variations I've seen on this is
that when your partner says your name they receive the erotic jolt.
Whatever word you use (if you use a word), adopt a distinctive
pronunciation of it. When I say “pleasure” for this trigger, it's more like
'PLEAshuuuuuuuure' (drawn out the way Bruce does in the movie). My
wife Dani's subconscious recognizes that distinction, so if I just casually say
“pleasure” as part of a sentence it has no effect.
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Lust Potion
Aphrodisiacs have probably been part of human sexual mythology since its
beginning. Science may disagree with the folklore regarding chocolate,
oysters, cherries, Spanish fly, and whatnot, but with a few well-chosen
suggestions you can turn anything into “Love Potion Number Nine.”
For this example, let's use a bottle of ordinary drinking water. Get your
partner into trance, and then continue like this:
Now, allow any part of your conscious mind that may be listening
to just tune out for a few minutes; your subconscious can always
remember clearly and completely everything that we do while you
are in hypnosis, but you will enjoy this much more if your
conscious mind stays blissfully unaware of the suggestions I'm
about to give you until later.
After I bring you out of this trance, when you're fully alert, fully
conscious even though your conscious mind is not aware of what
we're about to do, you come out of trance feeling a bit thirsty. I
will offer you a bottle of water and when I do, you accept it as
you normally would.
What your conscious mind is unaware of is that this water is

special water; it has been laced with a powerful aphrodisiac, a
substance that is completely safe and harmless but causes
extreme sexual arousal. The water itself tastes perfectly normal to
you, even perhaps a little extra refreshing and good. You drink it
slowly, one swallow at a time, pausing for at least a few seconds
between gulps.
A few seconds after you take your first sip from the bottle the
aphrodisiac takes effect: you suddenly become extremely
aroused. You feel blood rushing to your groin, to your erogenous
zones, and you feel a rising sense of erotic pleasure and arousal.
Each sip you take from the bottle increases that feeling of
arousal. Your conscious mind, however, never makes the
connection between the water and the arousal; you continue to
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sip, getting more and more aroused with each drink, and yet
always wanting another sip.
By the time the bottle is half empty, you are so aroused that you
can no longer hide it; you have to fondle your body, either
through your clothing or by reaching inside of your clothing, and
each sip then makes you twice as aroused. The more aroused you
become the less you care about hiding it and the less you care
who is watching or what they may be thinking; all that matters is
how good you feel, how aroused you are, how badly you want to
orgasm. No matter how aroused you become, though, you orgasm
only when you've emptied the bottle.
By the time the bottle is three-quarters empty, you are so aroused

that fondling yourself through clothing just isn't satisfying enough
– you peel off any clothes that are in the way and touch yourself
freely, still getting twice as aroused with each sip from the bottle,
still unable to orgasm until the bottle is empty.
Once you swallow the last sip from the water bottle you have a
tremendous, long-lasting, super-powerful orgasm that you can
feel in your entire body. You orgasm for as long as you can,
feeling as much pleasure as you can, and when the orgasm
subsides you feel completely satisfied and can enjoy the blissful
glow of endorphins flooding through your system for as long as
you like.
Once you've had that really satisfying orgasm, you may then
choose to allow your conscious mind to remember how it all
happened … or you may choose to keep it our secret, if that
makes it more enjoyable for you.
End the trance, hand your partner the water bottle, then sit back and watch.
Remember, too, that while responding to these posthypnotic suggestions
your partner is highly suggestible, so you can make suggestions disguised
as offhand observations (“Gee, that looks like it would be a lot easier if you
took that shirt off”) and your partner will act on them.
This particular example is intended to evoke pure arousal and channel it into
uninhibited masturbation. You can, of course, reword things to get a
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Arousal and Desire
different result. You also don't necessarily have to ask the subconscious
mind to keep the conscious mind in the dark; if your partner enjoys
resistance play, they may actually get more out of knowing they're acting
out hypnotic suggestions and feeling unable to resist.
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Hypno-Pheromones
A more modern take on the aphrodisiac is found in pheromone colognes
and sprays. As with so many things in this area, the true effectiveness of
pheromones is greatly exaggerated by companies who sell the products. On
the other hand, a little hypnotic suggestion can create the same result.
Start with your partner already in trance.
As you relax and drift, your mind completely open to my

suggestions, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. While you've
been enjoying this trance, I took the opportunity to spray on some
very powerful pheromone body spray. The spray has a very subtle
scent to it, so subtle that you may not even consciously notice it,
but the pheromones are incredibly powerful. When you breathe in
those pheromones you find yourself becoming turned on, aroused,
lustful. Your inhibitions start to fall away, encouraging you to act
on the urge to have hot, wild, uninhibited sex – and the person
your body wants to do this with is me.
The effect of the pheromones is mild at first, but with every breath
you take in my presence you breathe in more pheromones and the
effects get stronger and stronger. You get more and more
aroused, more and more turned on. Your body feels a powerful
animal desire to have wild, uninhibited sex with me, and that
desire gets stronger with every breath. You have the courage to
say or do anything that comes to mind to make that sex happen,
and the more you breathe in those pheromones the less reason
there is to delay.
If we are in an environment where it is not safe or appropriate to

have sex, you still feel the urges building but you hold back from
acting on them in any way that will cause you embarrassment
until it is safe and appropriate to give in. The act of holding in
those urges makes them stronger, and you'll do whatever you can
to get us to a place where it's safe and appropriate to act on
them.
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Arousal and Desire
Breathing in these pheromones makes your body so erotically

charged that it craves sex with me, and that charge makes it easy
for you to orgasm as often as you wish. Every orgasm you have is
particularly enjoyable and intense because of the pheromones.
The pheromones continue to affect you, keeping you turned on,
aroused, uninhibited, passionate, until I say, “Fresh air is
overrated.” Once I say, “Fresh air is overrated” the pheromones
wear off and you are no longer affected by them.
If your partner likes to be teased, try giving them this suggestion in a public
environment, like at a party or restaurant, where they can't act on the urges
until later when you're in a private location. But know your partner – if their
idea of “safe and appropriate” is the alley out back and you're not
comfortable with that, you could be in trouble.
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Remote Control
The Lust Potion and Hypno-Pheromones are pretty similar, in that they both
involve a linear progression in the arousal/desire they produce. But
sometimes an extended tease, where the feelings come and go, can be more
fun. For those times, you may want to use this sort of technique, which I am
blatantly modeling from my friend Lee Allure.
As usual, start with your partner in trance.
I'd like to program your mind to become aroused at my

prompting, and to allow me to remotely control your level of
arousal. If you're still willing to allow this, give me a nod now.
(Assuming you get the nod) Thank you. From now on, each and
every time I say to you the command, 'Remote Mode On' that
command signals your mind to attune itself for remote arousal
control. When your mind is attuned for remote arousal control
you feel perfectly normal in every way, but you also feel a sense
of connection between the two of us, as if your mind has an
imaginary antenna receiving signals from me all the time. Those
signals are received by your subconscious only; your conscious
mind may or may not be aware of them, as you choose.
While your mind is attuned this way, I can remotely control your
level of sexual arousal by saying the word 'level' and a number
from zero to ten. 'Level zero' causes you to feel perfectly normal,
not aroused at all; each number above zero causes you to feel
increasingly aroused, turned on, horny. At levels one, two, or
three you feel aroused, but you are able to function normally even
though the arousal is a bit distracting. At levels four, five, or six
the arousal is powerful enough to be very distracting, making it
difficult for you to concentrate on things because of the
sensations in your body. At levels seven, eight, and nine the
arousal increases more and more at each level, getting so strong
that you are completely distracted by it, unable to hide your
arousal, unable to concentrate on anything except how incredibly
aroused you are and how much you want to have an orgasm. At
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Arousal and Desire
'level ten' you are so overwhelmingly aroused that all you can
think about are the overpowering feelings of arousal flooding
throughout your body, so strong, so intense; you feel the blood
rushing to all of your sexual parts and the urge to stroke yourself,
touch yourself, do anything at all to get you to that orgasm that
you so desperately want is just too much to resist any longer. The
more you try to give yourself the orgasm you need, though, the
more it arouses you but the orgasm remains just out of reach
until I say to you, 'Orgasm now.' When you are at level ten and I
say 'orgasm now' you automatically have an exquisite, powerful,
incredibly satisfying orgasm and then, as the orgasm subsides,
you automatically re-adjust to level one.
When you are attuned to me, I may choose to increase or

decrease your arousal level whenever and by however much I
choose. I may start you at level three, then increase to nine, then
reduce to four, and your mind always adopts the level of arousal
appropriate for that number, on the scale from zero to ten. When
I set your arousal level, you remain at that level of arousal until I
change it, no matter what else may be happening around you or
what you may be attempting to do or concentrate on.
Your mind remains attuned to me, and you continue to respond to

the 'level' commands, until I say to you, 'Remote mode off.' Once I
give you the command 'Remote mode off' you are no longer
attuned, and my saying 'level' and a number no longer affects
your degree of arousal.
Allow these new behaviors to write themselves into your mind at

the lowest level, so they become as instinctive, as natural, as
automatic for you as breathing. That's right.
Now you have a toy that you can play with in whatever ways your
imagination may suggest. You can set 'remote mode on' and 'level three', for
example, and carry on a perfectly mundane conversation with your partner
or watch them try to converse with someone else. You can increase their
arousal, or decrease it, at your whim as long as they can hear your
command. You can take them to level 10 and leave them there until they
beg you to let them orgasm, or you can have them yo-yo between 10 and 2
repeatedly for a while before giving them their orgasmic reward.
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You can also recalibrate from time to time. For example, if your partner is
at level eight, you could say:
And right now, at level eight, feeling so incredibly turned on for

me, so hot, so horny, so aroused that you can barely think
straight. And yet, your mind and body are capable of so much
more, so we're going to recalibrate. Feel your mind adjusting the
arousal scale, so that what you feel now, what used to be level
eight, is the new level six. That's right, this level of arousal is now
six, and every level above six gets even more intense, more
arousing, more distracting.
Another variation I've seen done is a time-delayed level command. For

example:
While your mind is attuned to mine, I may also give you a

command to set your arousal level at a future time, or in response
to a future event. If, for example, I say 'at 7:30, level eight' then
you would automatically become aroused at level eight as soon
as you become aware that it is 7:30 or after, even if your mind is
not currently attuned at that time. I may also choose to say
something like 'the next time I touch my nose, level six' in which
case the next time you see me touch my nose you automatically
become aroused at level six. As with any level command, when
you respond to these commands your arousal level stays at the
level I set until I change it regardless of what you may be doing.
Another useful command variation is the touch control:
While your mind is attuned to mine, any time I slide my finger up

your arm like this your arousal level increases by one. If you are
at level five, for example, and I slide my finger up your arm like
this, you automatically increase to level six.
Any time I slide my finger down your arm like this, your arousal
level decreases by one. If you are at level six, for example, and I
slide my finger down your arm like this, you automatically
decrease to level five.
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Arousal and Desire
This technique lends itself to countless variations. The only constraint is

how flexible and creative your and your partner's imaginations are.
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Discussion Points
1. Some of the applications in this lesson mention using them in public.
What sort of things should you consider before engaging in public
play? What would you do differently from using the same technique
in private?
2. What do you think would happen if you used the hypno-pheromone

technique with someone with whom you have never been physically
intimate?
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Sensation Play
Exercises
1. Find a willing volunteer and practice as many of the techniques in
this lesson as your relationship with them allows. Alternately, word
the suggestion in such a way that a third party (either a specific
person or anyone of your hypnotee's choosing) can trigger it instead
of you.
2. Alter the Lust Potion example to evoke a different state –

drunk/high, silly/giggly, sleepy, whatever – and use it with a willing
volunteer.
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Sensation Play
Each of us experiences the world through our senses. Every minute of every
day we are bombarded with sensory data. Even now, as you read this, you
are seeing the words on the page (or screen) but you can also, if you choose,
be aware of a host of other things: sounds in the background, your body's
position on whatever you may be sitting or standing on, the texture it feels
there, the temperature of your environment, any smells in the air, perhaps
taste sensations if you've eaten recently or increased salivation if you're
thinking about eating soon, and probably a dozen more things specific to
you and your environment.
The job of receiving all of those inputs and filtering them so that you don't
have to be consciously aware of all of them all the time falls to your
subconscious, the natural multi-tasker. Since hypnosis works directly with
the subconscious mind, it's surprisingly easy to use hypnotic suggestion to
manipulate how a person senses the world. With the right suggestion you
can create sensations that don't actually exist and manipulate sensations that
do, to bring pleasure to your hypnotee in whatever way you and they prefer.
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Sensation Play
Presenter Notes
The techniques in this lesson lay the groundwork for the next chapter,
Hypno-BDSM. They also have plenty of uses in their own right.
Demonstrate liberally, and encourage your audience to play with these in
class as much as time permits.
Playing with sensation almost always leads back into discussion of

modalities. It's important to emphasize that sensation play is not just for
kinesthetics; we all have the ability to feel, inwardly and outwardly, so we
all have the ability to manipulate those feelings and sensations with our
subconscious. The kinesthetics may be extra talented in this area but they
are by no means the only ones who can enjoy sensation play. If someone is
not getting as much response as they want from the sensation play
suggestions, it's okay; they'll get better at it with practice.
You may also want to refer back to the lesson on Arousal and Desire as you
teach this because sensation play and arousal often go together. After all, if
you simulate a sensation that your partner finds arousing, they are naturally
going to get aroused; there is no reason not to acknowledge that arousal and
play with it along with their sensations.
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Hot and Cold

Any sensation you have previously felt, your subconscious can reproduce.
In fictional stories like “Adult Education” I called this body memory, but
it's a real thing that you can take advantage of. In this trick, we get the
subconscious to recall and reproduce the sensations of being too hot and too
cold. For purposes of this example we'll assume that you are indoors at a
normal room temperature environment, that your hypnotee is already in
trance, and that they have consented to undressing for you.
And now, as you relax and feel your mind opening itself
completely to my suggestions, I'd like you to pay particular
attention to the atmosphere around you. The air, moving ever so
slightly, is a comfortable 70 degrees and you are shielded from
any direct sunlight, able to relax and enjoy this comfortable
environment.
But notice what happens as I turn the thermostat up to 80

degrees. The air gets warmer, sticker, heavier. When you breathe
in that warm air, you feel it warming your body from the inside.
That's right.
And as I turn up the temperature even higher, to 90 degrees, you

can easily feel now how uncomfortably hot it is in this room. Hot
air all around you, the seat beneath you feeling warm, like you're
sitting on a heating pad. You breathe in and feel that hot, sticky,
humid air entering your lungs and heating up your body from the
inside too. You just know that if you did anything involving an
effort you would immediately start to sweat.
The temperature rises more, to 100 degrees. SO hot now, so

stuffy, you can feel your clothes starting to stick to your body,
getting sweaty and hot and itchy, so uncomfortable.
Now 110 degrees, so hot you feel yourself breaking into a sweat
even just sitting there. How much better will you feel once you
take some of those clothes off?
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Sensation Play
120 degrees, blazing, blistering hot, you can't get those clothes
off fast enough now, can you? Every bit of skin that you expose
feels better, more comfortable, more able to breathe despite the
intense heat. That's right, you can take off as much as you want,
every piece of clothing you take off helps you to endure the
blazing heat. ...
Excellent, you're doing perfectly.
And now, a gentle, cooling breeze rolls in. Feel that air on your
exposed skin, cooling you down, feeling so absolutely wonderful.
The temperature falls to 100 degrees … 90 degrees … 80 degrees
… and you get more and more comfortable, feeling more and
more relieved, relaxed, and comfortable … 70 degrees … perfect
room temperature.
But now the air conditioner has kicked in and it's over-correcting.
It's 60 degrees, and the air in the room is starting to feel cool.
The chair beneath you is also getting cool to the touch.
50 degrees … definitely chilly now, and you can feel your body
heat dissipating, sucked away by the cold chair and the cold air
around you.
40 degrees … beyond chilly now and feeling very cold, cold and
dry, your exposed skin feeling so very cold now. Feeling a wind
whipping by and chilling you down even further, colder and
colder as the temperature continues to drop.
30 degrees … below freezing now, so cold that you can't help

starting to shiver, grabbing on to anyone nearby for their body
heat … that's right huddling so close, the closer you huddle the
more of their body heat you absorb to keep yourself from freezing
… that's right.
Ah! Did you hear that? A loud click; the air conditioner is cycling
off. The room quickly warms up again: 40 degrees … 50 degrees
… getting warmer and more comfortable again … 60 degrees …
feel that warm air surrounding you, warming you … 70 degrees,
perfect room temperature, perfectly comfortable for you once
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again.
A lot of stage hypnotists use a routine very much like this one early in their
act, to help identify who in the volunteer group has the best imaginations.
Depending on the nature of the show, of course, they generally discourage
taking off clothing, but for an erotic hypnotist getting someone to strip off
their clothes and then huddle up close to them can be its own reward.
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Sensation Play
Hypno-Tickling
Tickling is erotic in itself for a number of people; you can use hypnosis to
bring on that same sensation and then play with it, even if your partner is
normally not ticklish. I like to do this one as a trigger:
We both know how much you really love to be tickled. Being

tickled arouses you and pleasures you, and that's perfectly okay.
From now on, from time to time, I will say to you, “tickle mode
on.” Each and every time I say “tickle mode on” your body goes
into tickle mode. When you are in tickle mode your body is
completely normal except that you instantly become very, very
ticklish – way more ticklish than you normally are – but for me
only. If someone else tries to tickle you while you are in tickle
mode, your body reacts to them as it normally would. Only for me
are you extra ticklish.
While you are in tickle mode, each and every time I mention a
body part you feel my fingers tickling that body part for three
seconds. No matter what body part I mention, the tickling is
immediate and lasts three seconds. My tickling always feels good
– pleasurable, erotic, arousing, exciting – no matter where I
tickle you, and the more I tickle you the more strongly your body
feels and responds to the tickle. You may laugh, you may squirm,
and you become increasingly aroused the more I tickle you by
mentioning parts of your body.
You remain in tickle mode until I tell you, 'tickle mode off.' As
soon as I say 'tickle mode off' your body returns to its normal
state of ticklishness and my mentioning body parts no longer
makes you feel tickled. The arousal from being tickled can linger
for as long as you enjoy having it, even though you are no longer
being tickled.
When your subconscious has accepted these suggestions – to go

into tickle mode when I say 'tickle mode on,' to return to normal
when I say 'tickle mode off,' and to react while in tickle mode as I
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have described – and made those responses an automatic part of

your habits and behaviors, you can give me a nice, big smile.
Tickling is just one possible sensation, of course, If your partner is not into
tickling, you may instead have them feel a different sensation – perhaps
being stroked on the named part with a fur glove, or an ice cube, or a
vibrator.
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Sensation Play
Remote Erogenous Zone

With this technique, you use your partner's subconscious mind to establish a
link between an innocent part of their body and an intimate one. You can
use that linkage to create an erogenous zone anywhere on their body that
you want.
Your mind has an amazing ability to form connections between

different parts of your body so that what one part feels, the
connected part feels as well. I want to show you right now how
creative and powerful your mind is in this way.
Think now about the places on your body where you most love to
be touched; those erogenous spots where the slightest touch
arouses, pleasures, and tantalizes you. And as you do, just
imagine now those different spots linking together, sharing
sensations, so that a touch on any one of those places feels like a
touch on all of them together. Some people imagine a network of
energy lines connecting each part to each other part, the lines of
whatever color that erotic energy would be in their imagination.
Yes, that's right.
And now, as you continue to imagine that erotic network of

connections, let's add one more spot to it: this spot right here, on
the back of your left hand. Imagine those energy lines extending
out from every erogenous part of your body to this spot right here
on the back of your left hand. Feel them connecting up, so
whenever any of those spots is touched you feel it in all of them at
once. Good.
(Stroke the spot on the hand.) So as I stroke that spot now, you
can feel that stroke in all of those erogenous spots, all at once.
That's right, you're doing perfectly. And the more I stroke that
spot, the more you feel it in all those other spots too. Just imagine
all those spots getting so sensitized, so excited, so aroused by this
touch, just as if I were touching you in all of those spots all at
once.
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From here, you can go anywhere your imagination leads. You can leave the
spot connected, in or out of trance, and have a toy you can use for public or
semi-public play. You can have them go to the control room in their mind
(see Chapter 16) and adjust the sensitivity of those areas up or down, so
they feel more or less aroused by each touch. You can use a variant on the
Remote Control arousal technique from Chapter 19 to control how sensitive
they are to your touch. You can tie different sensations to different touches
– for instance, a short stroke might feel like being licked, while an extended
press might feel like a vibrator being applied.
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Sensation Play
Vibrating Underwear
This is a simple one designed for the mischievous dominant and a
submissive who enjoys public play.
The underwear you are wearing now has been fitted with special
motors and equipment so that on command I can make it vibrate.
From now on, whenever you are wearing that underwear, I can
turn it on by touching you anywhere on your body and saying
'vibrate on'. As soon as I do, the underwear begins to vibrate. You
can feel the vibration all through the area of your body that the
underwear touches or covers, even if the underwear isn't closely
touching at the time. The vibrating sensation is incredibly
arousing and pleasurable to you, as if an actual vibrator was
being used on all those areas of your body that are covered by the
underwear. The longer the vibration goes on, the more aroused
you become from it. If you are in a place where it is not
appropriate or safe to show or express arousal you do your best
to hide it, even though you know that hiding your arousal only
makes it stronger. The vibrations always automatically stop if you
are driving a car or in a situation where the arousal is
dangerously distracting to you.
While the underwear is vibrating, I can control the intensity of

the vibrations. When I touch you anywhere on your body and say
'stronger' the vibrations become stronger, more arousing, more
distracting to your mind. When I touch you anywhere on your
body and say 'weaker' the vibrations become weaker, the arousal
builds more slowly, but the sensation is still present and still
extremely pleasurable to you.
The vibrations in the underwear continue, getting you more and

more aroused, until I touch you anywhere on your body and say
'vibrate off.' As soon as I do that the underwear ceases to vibrate.
You can, of course, have this apply to any underwear rather than a
particular set. Once this set of triggers is in place you can cause the
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vibrating sensation anywhere, at any time, on command. The wording as

given above is intended for public play with a sub who enjoys the idea of
trying to hide their arousal; it is incumbent on you to make sure you do not
push the public aspect too far. Most people can be made to orgasm from the
imaginary vibrations.
You can also use sensations other than vibration. I've been known to have
underwear come to life and start stroking, caressing, licking, and fingering
the wearer to orgasm. Undershirts and bras seem to be particularly fond of
tickling people into submission.
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Sensation Play
Discussion Points
1. Besides tickling and vibration, what other sensations would you use
in erotic play?
2. Should safe words be required if you are engaging in public play?
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Exercise
1. With a willing volunteer, practice the various sensation games in this
chapter.
2. Create your own sensation play suggestion set and test it out on a
willing volunteer.
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Hypno-BDSM
Hypno-BDSM
Not everyone who practices erotic hypnosis is into BDSM, but the two
communities do intersect quite a bit. And why not? Power exchange is a
strong underlying theme of a lot of BDSM activities; in a lot of ways, erotic
hypnosis can be looked at as a form of power exchange in which one person
gives another temporary control of their mind to another. That's sexy.
It also helps that the capabilities of the subconscious mind make it possible
to use erotic hypnosis in ways that the BDSM community can appreciate.
Sensation play can work nicely with impact play; hypnotic control of the
body can blend in with actual bondage. And once someone is tied up and
hypnotized, all sorts of fun things can happen.
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Presenter Notes
BDSM is sometimes a touchy topic for erotic hypnosis groups, so know
your audience. There are a fair number in the community whose only kink
is hypnokink; that contingent, while they may appreciate the fun you can
have with purely hypnotic bondage or impact play, may be turned off by a
presentation with actual rope or floggers. Similarly, a lot of people who
came to erotic hypnosis from BDSM look at hypnotic bondage and wonder
what the point is.
Fortunately, BDSM and erotic hypnosis are both big tents. If you know
which tent the majority of your audience is from, you can tailor your
presentation in that direction. For an audience of BDSM fans who are
getting into hypnosis, you can talk about blending the hypnotic with the
physical and stress the convenience of being able to use hypno bondage for
improvised play when there is no rope at hand. For an audience who are not
as into BDSM, you can stress the safe nature of hypnotic play because it's
all in the mind.
Demos are always good; pick out a few from your audience and
demonstrate what they are into. If you have a hard-core pain slut in the
group who is into hypnosis as well, then pick them to demonstrate hypnotic
impact play. Take two people who are into bondage and hypnotically super-
glue them together. Everyone can have a lot of fun with this if you know
your audience.
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Hypno-BDSM
Subspace as Trance
In BDSM people often speak of subspace, a state of mind that submissives
can enter into during a scene. People experience subspace in different ways.
Some get very passive, feeling warm and floaty and letting go completely to
the will of the top(s); some dissociate, almost floating out of their bodies
and losing touch with physical sensations like pain; some actually focus on
the pain, feeling every sensation acutely and ignoring everything else
around them.
Subspace, as you can probably guess, is a form of trance. All of the

characteristics of hypnosis – focused concentration, increased suggestibility
– are present in subspace. And like conventional trance, subspace feels
different for everyone and is often different for the same person from top to
top or scene to scene. Someone who goes into subspace easily will also
trance easily because they've been doing it already for some time.
Explaining this can go a long way toward helping someone experienced in
BDSM to understand what erotic hypnosis is about. You can even engage
the BDSM side of your audience by noting how they already know how to
get someone into subspace, and they might’ve noticed that their partner is
more suggestible when they are in that state.
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Hypno Bondage
Using hypnosis it is possible to simulate being tied, chained, gagged,
strapped down to a table with plastic wrap, and just about any other kind of
physical restraint you can think of. What's the point, some ask, when you
can just use real rope/chain/straps/plastic wrap to do the same thing?
Hypno bondage shines in several situations where the use of conventional

bondage gear isn't practical. Spontaneous scenes can take place at any
convenient time and place. Because nobody can see the imaginary
handcuffs, you can actually do hypno bondage play in public if you like.
And when traveling, using hypno bondage means never having to explain to
the TSA why you have a wooden yoke, shackles and a ball gag in your
luggage. (You also don't have to fit those things into your luggage.)
Another advantage of hypno bondage is that, because it all happens in the

mind, it is possible to do things that are impossible, impractical, or unsafe
with actual physical implements. You can bond two people together with
hypnotic super glue, pull someone to the wall and hold them there with an
imaginary high-tech tractor beam, or put hypnotic duct tape around
someone's head without it getting stuck in their hair.
There is also a safety advantage to imaginary bondage. It takes a certain

amount of training and practice to learn how to tie good knots and to gauge
how tightly you can tie someone without harming their circulation.
Hypnotic restraints are never too tight or too loose because the hypnotee's
imagination sets the tightness exactly where they want it to be, and their
circulation remains intact regardless. Also, it is pretty much impossible for
someone wearing a physical gag to say a safe word, but a hypnotized person
can feel gagged yet still be able to speak to say a safe word.
Here is an example hypno bondage scene using a combination of rope and

chain.
In just a few moments, you are going feel as if you are bound,
gagged, chained up, and completely helpless. Your subconscious
mind knows at the deepest level that we are playing a scene, that
the ropes and chain and gag are all in your mind and that you
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Hypno-BDSM
are really perfectly safe and protected, but it can choose to hide
that information from the rest of your mind for the duration of the
scene so that you can experience all of the feelings you told me
you want: to feel bound, gagged, and helpless, and to feel
aroused and excited by the danger that most of your mind
believes you are in. That deep part of your subconscious, the part
that knows you are completely safe and protected but hides that
fact, also knows that all of your safety suggestions and safe words
are always fully effective to protect you. Even while your mind
thinks you are gagged, safe words come out of your mouth
automatically when they are appropriate without your mind even
realizing that you spoke them.
Just imagine now that you have been taken to a dank, cold,
concrete cell and shoved down onto a hard chair. You are
blindfolded; your eyes remain closed against the blindfold. A
foul-tasting rag has been shoved into your mouth and another
tied over the lower half of your face, making it impossible for you
to speak . The strong, brutal men who brought you here also do
not speak as they grab your arms and extend them out in front of
you, forcing your hands together. (Pull the hypnotee's arms
forward and together, and have them clasp their hands.)
Now, feel a rough, almost wiry, hemp rope wrapping around your
wrists, securing your hands together. The rope is so tight that no
matter how hard you try to pull your wrists apart they simply
can't budge; the more you try to spread your wrists apart, the
harder that rope bites into them and holds them together. Your
circulation always remains intact, but you are hopelessly bound
at the wrists. Go ahead and try separating your wrists, and feel
how tightly that rope holds them together. That's right; stop
trying now; there is no hope of you escaping or separating your
wrists until someone removes the rope.
Next, just imagine hearing the sound of a chain being tossed up

and over a beam in the ceiling. As your jailers yank on the chain
you hear it scraping against the wood beam. Your hands are
grabbed and lifted, and you feel the cold steel chain looping once,
twice between your tied-up forearms. There is the snap of a
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padlock, and then more scraping as you feel your arms being
hoisted upward. That's right, hoisted higher and higher … feel
your arms being pulled toward the ceiling, harder and harder,
making you stand up. (Help the hypnotee to stand up.)
The chain keeps pulling, pulling, until your arms are pointing
straight up and your body is stretched all the way up, erect,
reaching for the ceiling. One inch more and you'd be on tip-toes.
Good.
Now, imagine rough hands shoving your ankles together. It may

feel as if you are about to lose your balance but you manage to
stay standing, with your feet together supporting your weight.
(Ensure that the hypnotee is standing, feet shoulder width apart,
arms raised straight up and together.) Another rough, unyielding
rope loops around each ankle, spreading your legs to shoulder
width. The harder you try to bring your feet together, the more
firmly those ropes bite into your ankles and hold your feet in
position. You can only manage to shift a little bit as needed to
maintain your balance, nothing more.
Imagine trying to pull down on that chain between your arms,

and realize that the harder you try to pull on it the more you
realize that there is no slack in that chain at all; your arms are
securely held at full stretch, your wrists and ankles firmly bound
together, nothing you can do but wait to find out what you will
endure next.
The people who bound you take a moment to grope your ass, then
you hear them leave. The door clangs heavily as they exit.
The example makes use of several common language constructions in

hypno bondage:
Emphasis on the sensations of being tied, chained, etc. engages the

hypnotee's imagination, which is of course a function of the
subconscious. Even if they are not kinesthetic, the subconscious gets
the message of how it is to pretend to be bound.
The more you try to move <body parts>, the more you find that they
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Hypno-BDSM
do not move. This is also designed to instruct the subconscious to

enforce the imaginary bondage. It is normal to struggle, and many
rope bottoms enjoy the sensation of struggling and failing.
Drawing in other senses. In this example I used mostly sensation and

hearing because I had already stipulated that the hypnotee is
blindfolded. Unless you know that your hypnotee is talented at
visual hallucination with eyes open, it's usually better to keep their
eyes closed and let them imagine the scene for you.
Note that I'm leaving the hypnotee in a safe but not entirely comfortable
position. There is lots of emphasis on remaining safely balanced on feet, but
standing there with arms raised high above the head is going to be tiring for
the arms and shoulders. Most people can handle that for a few minutes, but
the longer you ask them to hold it the more uncomfortable it will become.
In some scenes, of course, that's a bonus.
To conclude the scene, have the hypnotee imagine you releasing them from
their bonds. I'll leave that suggestion set up to your imagination because I
want to continue this for the next topic.
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Hypno Impact
As we explored in the previous chapter, the subconscious mind is capable of
replaying sensory experiences, altering them, and even inventing them from
whole cloth. Naturally this comes in handy when you want to indulge in a
little impact play.
Hypnotically simulated impact play has the same advantages as hypnotic

bondage: you don't need training in how to safely use a flogger, cane, whip,
etc.; you never have to worry about hitting too hard or too softly; it's very
difficult to injure someone with an imaginary implement; and you can do it
anywhere, spontaneously, without toys or tools. Mind you, a lot of impact
bottoms like the bruises, welts, or red marks that a well-wielded implement
leaves, and you won't get those with imaginary implements; that's a definite
downside for some people.
Here is an example of how the bondage scene from above might continue
and incorporate hypnotic impact play. Let's suppose that in negotiations we
learned that our hypnotee likes sharp stinging sensations and has enjoyed
physical impact play with a cane.
As you stand there, helplessly bound and chained, blindfolded

and gagged, you may wonder just what kind of torment I have in
store for you. You'll find out momentarily. First, though, I'm
going to remove your gag now – I don't want anything interfering
with the sounds you make. Feel the gag falling away from you
now, leaving your mouth free.
I know you've been caned before. I have here a special cane, very
light, very springy, guaranteed to raise welts wherever it hits you.
Just imagine the sharp sting of pain as I strike you on the thigh
with it NOW! (clap your hands). That's right, feel the hot rush at
the point of impact, feel the welt already starting to rise, the
throbbing pain rippling out in waves from that spot. And until I
release you, each and every time you hear this (clap) my cane
whacks you again. Each time I clap the cane strikes another spot
(clap!). Each time I clap the cane strikes harder, the pain is
sharper, that heat and throbbing more intense. And if I name a
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Hypno-BDSM
body part and then clap, the cane strikes that part precisely in the
most agonizing way, still sharper, more intense with every strike.
The back of your left thigh (clap) … your stomach (clap) … your
belly button (clap) … the middle of your back (clap) … each
strike more intense, more stinging, more throbbing, more heat.
You can continue in this vein for as long as your bottom can take it. If
you're playing a sadist (or if you really are one), work your way to ever-
more-sensitive body parts, or just keep clapping and let them move the
sensation around to wherever their subconscious wants to feel it. When your
partner has had enough, release them from their hypnotic bonds so that the
clapping trigger will end, then move into aftercare.
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Hypnotic Objectification
The desire to be objectified is popular in BDSM. Objectification can take a
number of forms, all of which involve dehumanizing the bottom so that they
become a thing. That thing may be a piece of furniture, an ornamental
statue, a living blow-up doll, or anything else your joint imaginations can
dream up.
Hypnosis plays well in objectification type scenes. Using hypnosis, you can
lock your partner's muscles into any position they can hold, and they can
have the experience of being helpless to stop you or others from touching,
positioning, and using them as they see fit.
When negotiating an objectification scene, make sure that you are clear on
what your bottom finds exciting about being an object. Get consent for the
kinds of things you intend to do to them, and be as specific as possible. Get
very broad consent for touch, because for many there is a great thrill in
being touched in places they normally wouldn't allow but can't prevent. This
is especially true if you intend to bring third parties or strangers into the
scene. I'm going to presume in the examples that follow that you have
negotiated all of the indicated physical contact with your partner in advance.
Floor Lamp
One popular form of objectification is to make human furniture. By
assuming an appropriate body position a person can easily become a foot
stool, a chair, a table support, or any number of other things. Give them a
prop and the options expand even more.
To make a human floor lamp, have a bright flashlight or hand-held work

light on hand. Battery powered is most convenient, of course, but if there's
an outlet nearby you can make a point of plugging in your “lamp” before
turning it on. Get your bottom into trance, position them standing next to
your favorite easy chair, and proceed:
Stand right there, absolutely still. That's right. Your body moves
only enough to assist me while I strip you to the waist.
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Hypno-BDSM
(Remove enough clothing to expose the hypnotee's nipples.)
Good. Now, your hands close around the light I am about to give
you. I will shape your grip so that you can turn it on and off.
(Give them the portable light. Position their arms and hands so
that they are holding it at an appropriate height for your
purposes and they can easily manipulate the on/off switch with
minimum physical movement.)
Very good. Now, feel every muscle in your body locking into
position exactly as you are right now. Your arms, hands, fingers
… legs, feet, toes … neck … head … shoulders … spine … all
locking exactly into position. The more you try to move in any
voluntary way, the more firmly locked into position your muscles
and joints become. Just like that. Open your eyes, remaining
deeply hypnotized, staring blankly ahead. That's right.
Until I instruct you otherwise, you are now my floor lamp. You
stand exactly here, in exactly this position, unmoving. You may
blink, you may shift your weight to remain stable on your feet,
and in a moment I will explain the other ways you move on my
command, but otherwise you remain absolutely still and stiff, a
piece of furniture. Your mind slows down, thinking only of how
still and stiff you feel and how important it is to remain so until I
instruct you otherwise.
Because you are now my floor lamp, I need to be able to turn you
on and off when I need more or less light. Each time I twist your
right nipple like this (twist), you automatically, instinctively,
unthinkingly, make this movement. (Move the hand/finger as
needed to turn the light on.) Each time I twist your left nipple like
this (twist), you automatically, instinctively, unthinkingly make
this movement. (Move the hand/finger as needed to turn the light
off again. If it's the same movement, then you don't need to
program both nipples.)
You remain this way, my floor lamp, for as long as I need you to
be. I will instruct you when I am through with you; until then my
floor lamp is all that you are, and your only purpose for being is
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to provide me with light when I want it.
Now that you have a new floor lamp, you can sit down in your chair and do
some light reading. Naturally you'll have to get up several times, and being
energy-conscious you'll want to turn the lamp off when you leave the chair
and back on when you return to it. You can keep this up for as long as your
partner's endurance will allow. When you see them starting to quiver it's
time to end the game.
A similar suggestion set can be used to turn your hypnotee into a coat and
hat rack, a footstool, or most other pieces of furniture. Add a flat
lightweight board and they can become an end table. Do be aware of your
physical size and theirs before trying to use a hypnotized partner as a chair,
sofa, or bench – it's very easy to injure someone who is just trying to be
obedient to you.
Human Sculpture
Not everything in your home needs to have a utilitarian purpose. With a
little hypnosis, one or more trance partners can become a highly attractive
piece of art. This can be especially fun during a party.
Drop your partner(s) into trance and position them as you want them to be
for your artwork. Remember that a lot of truly classy sculpture involves
nude figures. Make sure they are not straining to hold the position before
you give them their instructions:
Right now, feel your muscles and joints locking into position
exactly as they are right now. Your arms, legs, feet, hands, back,
shoulders, neck, head, face, all locking into position as if you
were carved this way from stone. Open your eyes now and just
stare blankly ahead at nothing. Until I instruct you otherwise, this
is your position. You can blink, breathe, shift your weight as
needed to maintain balance, but otherwise your body remains
absolutely stiff and still.
You are my decorative sculpture, a piece of art, nothing more.

Your mind is blank, aware only that you are a statue, that you
remain absolutely still and silent, looking blankly ahead,
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Hypno-BDSM
regardless of what may be happening around you. Others may

approach you to examine and appreciate the artwork; they may
touch where and how they please, for as long as they please, and
no matter what you remain absolutely still and silent. You remain
this way until I instruct you otherwise.
You'll note a lot of similarity to the floor lamp example. Whenever you
want someone to remain absolutely still, this language is a good way to do
it. Always make sure they know they can blink, breathe, and shift their
weight to stay balanced but stress that all voluntary movement is locked,
frozen, or whatever language you choose. And notice that I didn't say “you
can't move or speak” – that would be suggesting the negative; instead I use,
“you remain still and silent.”
Exhibitionist
A more interactive form of objectification is to “force” your trance partner
to put their body on display for others to ogle or appreciate. If you’re going
to do this, you need to make sure that the others are okay with it and that
those who are not into it have the option to decline the display. Otherwise
you may be imposing your partner on others who do not want it, and that’s
just rude.
In this example, for simplicity of language, I'll presume that your hypnotee
is female-bodied and wearing something that can be easily lifted or pulled
down to expose the upper or lower body, like a sheath dress. It would be
simple to change the wording for a male-bodied person or to accommodate
different clothing.
Until I instruct you otherwise, you have an overpowering desire

to show people your body. You feel compelled to approach as
many people as you can, especially people you don't already
know, and talk to them. In particular, you introduce yourself and
offer to show them your breasts.
Any time someone accepts that offer, you automatically lower the
top of your dress and show them your breasts. Your body does
this for you, whether you think you want to or not, and you keep
your breasts exposed until that person asks you to put them away
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again or walks away from you. As soon as the person you are
showing your breasts to asks you to put them away or walks away
from you, you can readjust your dress to cover your breasts
again. If the person declines your offer to show them your
breasts, you thank them and move on to someone else.
When you encounter someone you already know, you feel an

irresistible impulse to ask them if they would like to see your ass.
The longer you delay in asking the more urgently you need to ask
if they would like to see your ass. If the person accepts, you turn
around and lift your dress to show them your ass, and continue to
show it to them until they ask you to stop or walk away. Once they
ask you to stop or walk away you can lower your dress again. If
the person does not accept your offer to see your ass, you thank
them and move on to someone else.
You continue this way, always looking for people to meet and
show yourself to, until I instruct you to stop. The compulsions to
approach people, to tell them your name, and to show them your
body gets stronger and stronger with every conversation you
have. If someone declines your offer you thank them and move on
to someone else.
You could, of course, simply have your partner walk around naked showing
off their body parts if the environment is appropriate for it and their clothing
doesn't lend itself to flashing.
“My pussy is missing!”

Here is an amusing little trick you can play with an imaginative partner:
Today we’re going to play a little trick on your conscious mind.

Upon waking from this trance, you will find that your
(pussy/cock/nipple) has disappeared. Your subconscious mind
always knows that your (body part) is perfectly safe and you will
get it back at the end of our scene tonight in perfect working
condition, but your conscious mind absolutely believes that it is
suddenly gone.
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Hypno-BDSM
If you look for (the part), you can stare right at the place where it
should be but your conscious mind completely misses it, like when
you’re looking for something that is right in front of you but your
conscious mind just doesn’t recognize it.
If you feel for (the part), or anything touches you there, it just
feels like a normal brush against a normal area of skin. To your
touch the area feels smooth, unfeatured, and gives you no
particular sensation at all.
Your (body part) remains missing, despite all of your attempts to

find it, until I hypnotize you again and restore it to you. Until
then, the harder you try to see, touch, or locate that missing part
the more you realize it’s gone.
From here, there are many places where you can go. You might suggest that
certain people at the party might know the location of the missing part; your
partner might feel compelled to ask around and yet embarrassed at having to
admit that they’ve lost track of an important body part. If someone is
disbelieving, they might feel obliged to “prove” that the parts are gone (of
course, only if the person is willing.) They might need to convince you to
give their body part back, which may require them to do you a particular
service or favor, or perform a ritual to “earn” it back. Let your partner’s hot
buttons be your guide here and you will both have a lot of fun.
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Discussion Points
1. What are some other BDSM activities that you could incorporate
hypnosis into?
2. What sorts of things might you need to negotiate with your partner
before making them a nude sculpture at at a leather party? How
would you ensure that no third party unknowingly breaches one of
your partner’s limits?
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Doll Play
Exercises
1. Find a willing volunteer and play with hypnotic bondage and/or
impact play. Get creative with your restraints – try some things that
are silly or unrealistic.
2. Find a willing volunteer and turn them into a piece of sculpture for a
little while. Get their feedback on what it's like.
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Doll Play
Doll play is a form of objectification in which someone is treated like an
inanimate human-shaped play toy. Depending on the type of doll being
portrayed, it can appeal to a variety of interests.
Using hypnotic suggestion you can create a rag doll, an action figure, a
wind-up doll, a blow-up doll, a puppet, a voodoo doll … the list goes on
and on. You saw a little of this in the previous chapter on Hypno BDSM; in
this lesson we delve deeper into types of dolls you can play with.
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Doll Play
Presenter Notes
My friend ZanyMo, one of the leaders of the TES Hypnokink SIG in New
York, inspired this chapter. At the NELA Fetish Fair Flea #44 Zany did an
entire 90-minute class on doll play and showed me some really interesting
aspects to a form of play I hadn't done much with up to then. The big thing
that got my attention was the variety of things you can do with your dolls.
Having a number of willing demo volunteers will help a lot in presenting

this material. Zany had several up front at once and that made it possible to
do things like have the dolls lock arms, pick up action phrases from each
other, pose together, and the like. In teaching this material I would totally
do that, using a variety of different dolls to illustrate the differences.
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About Dolls
Dolls come in many different types for many different uses. They all start
from the same basic concept: the person who becomes a doll is frozen in
place (or so relaxed they simply can't move themselves), staring forward at
nothing; a simple, unthinking toy whose only purpose is to be played with
in whatever way its owner wishes. Your doll may be exactly that and be
very satisfying for you and your partner. Or, as with the dolls you buy at the
toy store, you can build in additional features that change the experience for
both of you.
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Doll Play
Basic Dolls
A basic doll is a no-frills (or few-frills) doll: it's not articulated, it doesn't
move or speak on its own; it just stands or lies there waiting for someone to
play with it. For a partner who is into objectification, this is a very easy
thing to do.
For all of these examples, I am going to presume that you have your partner
in trance already and have obtained consent for the physical activities I'm
going to suggest for uses. Please make sure that you do!
Rag Doll
A rag doll may be the simplest kind of doll there is. Even this, though,
requires a deep level of trust with your hypnotee because they will need to
remain totally physically relaxed while you move them, drag them, and play
with them.
As you lie there now, listening to the sound of my voice and

drifting deeper and deeper with every breath you take, I want you
to imagine what it feels like to be a rag doll.
A rag doll is a wonderfully simple thing, isn't it? There are no

posing joints, no internal electronics or motors or gears … just a
floppy, limp, lazy shape stuffed with some cotton or yarn.
How easily, I wonder, can you let your arms and legs become just
like the arms and legs of a rag doll? Feel them getting floppy,
lazy, loose and limp … so droopy and limp that it's just too much
trouble for you to even think about moving them on your own.
They may feel heavy, or light, and they may be warm or cool; it
doesn't really matter which, or what, as they become increasingly
loose and limp, floppy and relaxed, the more you think about
them.
Feel your fingers now closing together, as if your hand was just a
mitten shape with fingers drawn on it, your thumbs sticking out
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and the other fingers together. Feel your toes, together in a

bunch, just like the feet of a rag doll, where the toes are often just
drawn onto a rounded, floppy, limp foot. That's right.
And you know, rag dolls have no spine. Your back, shoulder,
neck, head, all just relax and sink into the (bed, couch, chair),
totally loose, totally slack, totally limp. You continue to breathe,
and with each breath you feel every muscle in your body relaxing
more and more completely, making your body all the more loose,
limp, floppy, lazy.
Have you ever looked at a rag doll's face? Eyes staring forward
blankly, focused on nothing at all … mouth closed, formed into a
friendly smile … feel your own face now taking on that form,
staring blankly ahead, mouth closed and smiling. You continue to
blink, of course, whenever you need to, but your conscious mind
may even be unaware that you're doing that because it's receding
further and further into the depths of trance while your mind is
clear, open, and still. You are my rag doll.
Now that you've created your rag doll, you can play with it. You can
position its floppy arms and legs, or cuddle with it. A lot of rag dolls come
with changes of clothes, so you could undress your rag doll and dress it up
in something else or just leave it bare. If you do that, bear in mind that
unlike the small rag dolls you can buy in the toy store a human rag doll
tends to be heavy. If you haven't had practice at dressing and undressing
unconscious people, you may find this a lot more difficult than you expect.
A rag doll doesn't really stand up, though you can sit one on the floor and
lean it into a corner. Whenever you move your doll's arms or legs they
should just stay flopped wherever you put them.
Fuck Doll
It's a fairly simple matter to upgrade your rag doll into a fuck doll. For
purposes of this example, a fuck doll is the equivalent of one of those life-
sized dolls that people buy to have sex with. It is basically a rag doll (or
could be a rigid doll instead of floppy) with a few special features added.
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Doll Play
And now, it's time for my rag doll to transform into a fuck doll. A
fuck doll has one purpose only, and that is for people to gratify
themselves with it.
(For a female-bodied fuck doll:)
As I spread your legs open, imagine that center seam between

your legs opening, ready to receive anything that I choose to
insert into it. At the same time, the seam where your ass should be
also opens, so that if I want to I can put something in there as
well. And of course, as my fuck doll, your mouth should always be
ready to be fucked.
(For a male-bodied fuck doll:)
A cock is no good to anybody if it's not hard, is it? So just

imagine now that I'm unsewing the seam between your legs here
and inserting a little air pump. As I pull and stroke on your cock,
it activates the pump, and you feel fuckdoll blood flowing into
your cock, getting it stiff and ready for me. Good. And since I've
opened that seam, I'm going to sew it shut again but leave an
opening over the anus so that you can be ready to receive … well,
anything I choose to put in there. A fuckdoll's purpose, after all,
is to be fucked, isn't it?
(For either:)
Feel your mouth now opening up, your lips forming a round O
shape … that's right … and of course, those lips become the one
part of your fuckdoll body that always remains stiffly in position,
always ready to receive a cock and please it.
Now you have a much more value-priced version of a Real Doll or similar
blow-up toy, to be used for your pleasure (provided you have consent!).
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Puppets
A puppet is a movable model typically used for entertainment. Some are
worn and moved by the operator inside, while others are controlled by
strings or wires or rods manipulated from above or below.
Marionette
A marionette is a puppet that is controlled from above using strings or
wires. In our case the strings are imaginary – you will be the one moving
your puppet's limbs, head, etc. – but for someone who wants to experiment
with giving physical control to another, the marionette is a fun way to do it.
Start with your hypnotized partner either sitting or standing, as you wish.
Now, as you relax your mind and body for me, I want you to
imagine that you are becoming a marionette – a doll controlled
by strings. All over your body, at every joint, at every limb, you
feel a series of strings being attached to you. Those strings lead
upward to a frame you can't see, where I can control every move
of your body by tugging or relaxing the strings.
Whenever I move your arm, leg, head, hand, foot … any part of
your body, really, you feel the strings tightening and loosening,
tugging and releasing, to make that movement happen. Your
muscles remain relaxed, holding only enough muscle tone to hold
whatever position the strings place you in. So when I move your
arm like this (illustrate by moving an arm) you feel those strings
lifting and pulling your arm into place and holding it there.
That's right. And until I cut the strings, you remain like this,
controlled by the strings, staying where I place you whenever I
move you, relaxed and yet holding position.
While you are my marionette, you continue to blink, breathe, and

shift your weight as you need to in order to remain safely
balanced and comfortable. You remain silent, and your eyes stare
blankly in whatever direction your head is facing.
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Doll Play
When I tell you that I'm cutting the strings, you feel the strings
falling away and your body relaxes; your arms, shoulders,
neck,and head can drop down, and if you are sitting or lying
down your legs can also drop; if you are standing you remain
safely standing and balanced while the rest of your body relaxes.
Now you can move your marionette around in any way you'd like, and they
will feel the “strings” manipulating their body. Turn their head, move their
arms, have them bow or kneel or walk or crawl, whatever you negotiated or
what seems like fun. If you have more than one marionette, you can make
them dance together or put on a play. As you move your marionette,
mention how they can feel the strings pulling at them in that way to help
maintain the sense of being a puppet on strings.
This can also work very well with verbal commands, with a bit of
rephrasing.
Action Figure
Action figures are typically made with articulated joints, so they can be
posed in any number of positions, but unlike the marionette there are no
wires; the joints have enough friction built into them that when moved they
remain in that position until you move them again.
A lot of action figures have additional features built in. It's common for an
action figure to have a button or a pull ring that you can activate to make the
figure speak a phrase – usually a random choice from a list of phrases
programmed into it. Some action figures have physical features, like Kung
Fu Grip or a spring-loaded arm movement.
Let's establish the basic action figure first, then add features. Start with your
partner in trance.
You are now my toy action figure. Imagine that your whole body
is made of firm plastic, and every joint is articulated to allow me
to move and position you in any way that I wish. Your arms, your
legs, your neck and head, your jaw, your hands and feet, your
shoulders and hips, all move only as I move them, and when I
stop moving them they remain in whatever position I leave them
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in, still and holding.
While you are my action figure you continue to breathe and blink
normally, and you are always able to shift your weight or make
tiny movements to make sure you remain safely balanced and
comfortable. That's right.
The initial setup is pretty simple, just establishing that they only move when
you move them. It's always smart to emphasize that they can blink and
breathe and shift as needed to stay safe and comfortable – nobody wants
their doll breaking itself.
Now let's give our action figure a few phrases. Action figures come in all
different sorts, of course; you may want to specify that this action figure is a
superhero, a ballerina, a ninja, etc. and assign phrases that fit the persona of
the doll. For this example, we'll keep it generic.
Because you are an action figure, you can be programmed with a

list of action phrases. From now on, whenever you are an action
figure, when I press the button right here (touch a spot
somewhere on the body, usually the back or base of the head) you
automatically respond by saying one of your action phrases. I'm
going to give you three action phrases.
Your first action phrase is, “I'm a dolly, play with me.” Since that
is the only phrase you have right now, you say that automatically
whenever I press your button.
(Demonstrate by pressing the “button” a few times and making

sure the doll responds with the action phrase.)
Good. Your second action phrase is, “I want to make you

happy.” Now that you have more than one action phrase, each
time I press the button you automatically pick one phrase and say
it. It doesn't matter which phrase you say, just the one that comes
to mind first.
(Demonstrate again by pressing the button several times. You

should get each phrase about half the time.)
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Doll Play
Very good. From now on, whenever I add a new action phrase to
your list, you choose any phrase from the list, either the new one
or an older one, each time I press the button.
Here is another phrase to add to your list: “Let's do something

fun!” Add that phrase to your list now.
(Try the button a few times. You should get a mixture of the new
phrase and older ones.)
Over time you can develop a lengthy list of action phrases, but you will
have more success if you introduce them one at a time and practice them.
Some action figures are also designed to either perform an action or respond
to a specific action. Let's give our generic doll a couple of those features.
You know, action figures sometimes have extra features built into
them. From now on, you are one of those action figure dolls with
extra features built in. I'm going to give you those extra features
now.
Whenever you are an action figure and someone presses your

belly button like this (Demonstrate the press), you automatically
giggle, like this: “Heeheehee.” Because you are a doll you may
not actually feel any sensation of being tickled, but you always
respond to that press on the belly button with “Heeheehee.”
(Press the belly button and make sure you get the programmed
response.)
There is also a special spring-loaded mechanism built into your

left butt cheek. Each and every time someone squeezes your left
butt cheek like this (demonstrate), you instantly, automatically,
stand up straight and tall, with your arms straight down at your
sides, and stare straight ahead. You do this automatically,
instantly, every time you are an action figure and someone
squeezes your left butt cheek like this (demonstrate).
Depending on what the persona of your doll is, you may select other actions
that are more in theme with the doll. A ballerina doll, for example, might
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pirouette when you squeeze their shoulder; a soldier doll might salute when
you poke them in the chest.
You can spend a lot of time setting up your doll's action phrases and
features, so it's fairly common to make this a recurring suggestion that you
can use regularly, adding or changing features of the doll as you go. All you
need for that is to designate a trigger that activates “action figure mode” and
another to deactivate it again.
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Doll Play
Ventriloquist's Dummy
A ventriloquist's dummy is a specialized type of puppet. If you're above a
certain age, as I am, you may remember seeing a ventriloquist act on
television or in a stage show; if not, you may have seen them parodied, or
you have have no clue what I'm talking about. Just in case, I'll explain a bit.
A ventriloquist is someone who can make it appear that their voice is

coming from an object somewhere nearby. The classic ventriloquist act
involves the actor and a dummy – a puppet, usually seated in the actor's lap
or on a chair next to the actor, whose head and mouth are operated by the
actor's hand. The actor plays the “straight” role, talking with the audience
and asking the dummy questions; the dummy is the comedian, making
wisecracks and (frequently off-color) jokes intended to shock and embarrass
the actor. The art is in moving the dummy's mouth and making it appear as
though the dummy is speaking independently of the actor, whose lips do not
appear to move as the dummy speaks.
Using hypnosis, you can eliminate the years of practice it takes to learn
ventriloquism and go straight to the fun part, the show. Sit your hypnotized
partner down in a chair, or in your lap if that's comfortable for you both, and
set up the game:
And now, you become my ventriloquist's dummy.
A ventriloquist's dummy is a puppet whose body is loose and

limp. So feel your arms and legs now going limp, loose, and lazy.
Hands just flop into your lap, legs relax, knees relax, feet just
dangling at the ends of your legs. That's right. Always able to
remain safely seated, but until our act is over your arms and legs
are just loose, limp, and floppy, unable to move by themselves.
Good.
I'm going to hold you by the back of the neck here. (demonstrate)
By moving my hand this way and that, I can turn your head or
raise and lower it. When I squeeze like this (squeeze), your eyes
and mouth open wide. If I let go of you, your body relaxes and
you stop speaking until I put my hand back there again.
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A ventriloquist act is a comedy act. When the act starts, we are

going to sit here and have a conversation with the people around
us. I will be leading the the conversation, and you will be
listening. Like any ventriloquist's dummy, you are playful, bratty,
wise-cracking, sarcastic, irreverent – you say things just to amuse
yourself, that may shock or insult the people around you in a
light-hearted sort of way. You interrupt anyone if you have a
rude, or bratty, or playful remark that you want to make – in fact,
you have to; the remarks just flow out of your mouth, unedited,
uninhibited, whenever they pop into your mind.
You continue to be my dummy, making wise cracks and trying to

shock people, until I say that the act is over. As soon as I say that
the act is over you drop all the way down into a deep, peaceful,
trance and you cease to be my dummy any longer, completely
back to your normal self and deeply, happily hypnotized.
This one is a lot more fun if you have a partner who is a little snarky to start
with and at least a few onlookers to be your “audience.” The sharper your
partner's wit – and yours – the more fun you will have with this doll variant.
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Doll Play
Discussion Points
1. Doll play usually involves a lot of physical contact, and frequently
involves moving people's arms and legs for them. What would you
do to help improve the safety of your doll play?
2. What other kinds of dolls can you think of that would be amusing to
emulate with hypnosis? What would your suggestions to the doll be?
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Exercises
1. Take a willing volunteer and turn them into the doll of their choice.
2. What action phrases and other features would you give to these types
of action figures:
Doctor Who (your choice which one)
a firefighter
a genie
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Memory Play
Memory Play
The ability to manipulate memory is one of the most interesting things that
hypnosis brings to the table. If you've ever seen someone hypnotized to
forget their name, which is a pretty common trick in stage shows, then
you've seen a taste of what hypnosis can do with memory and recall.
Realizing that you've lost time or can't remember something that obviously
happened, or watching someone experience that, can be erotic in itself for
some people. For others, the fun lies in conspiring with their partner's
subconscious mind to create surprises or set up scenes in which their partner
is in the dark on some key piece of information.
This chapter will get you started with some of my favorite memory play
games. To dive deeper into what is possible with memory, I strongly
recommend the book Hypnotic Amnesia by LeeAllure and DJ Pynchon. It's
an extremely thorough treatment of how to induce amnesia and what you
can do with it by two amazing hypnotists who are experts at memory play.
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Presenter Notes
Memory play is a popular topic, and tends to draw people with all levels of
experience. It's also something that people tend to get excited about. So
you'll likely get a good audience for this topic.
Memory play is so popular, and so much a part of some people's fantasies,

that I've noticed a tendency for people to jump right into it when they are
still new to erotic hypnosis. That's fine, unless they try something very
advanced and then get discouraged because it didn't work the first time.
That happens a lot with memory play because it requires a higher level of
trust and belief than simpler games. So encourage those in your audience
who are still in the early stages to start simple, make sure they've got a deep
level of trust and belief, and work their way up to the more elaborate
memory games.
Because so much of it takes place entirely inside the hypnotee's head, it can
be challenging to demonstrate memory play. People in an audience can't
really tell what a demo volunteer is experiencing much of the time, so you
have to do more explaining and hope that your demo partner is the
expressive type. Also, you don't have a lot of time to develop trust and
rapport with a demo partner that you pull from the audience, so elaborate
memory games are very hard to demo unless you have a pre-arranged
partner that you've worked with before.
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Memory Play
Hypnosis and Memory

Before we delve into the mechanics of playing with people's memories, let's
get a few things straight up front about what you can and can't do with
hypnosis and memory.
Memory is generally divided into two broad classes. Short term memory is
the ability to hold a fact or concept in the mind and use it right away, for
example to remember someone's email address long enough to type it into
the To: line on an email or enter it into your phone. Short term memory is a
function of the conscious mind; it has a very limited duration and requires
some degree of concentration to sustain, which is why people keep
repeating that email address until they can use it or commit it to some other
medium. We are also very limited in how many things we can keep in mind
at once – the famous rule of seven plus or minus two that we discussed in
the chapter on confusion inductions.
Long term memory is the ability to store information and retrieve it later.
Anything that you've known for more than a few seconds is in your long
term memory. Long term memory is a function of the subconscious mind.
When we learn something (which is really what long-term memory is), it
starts in the conscious mind and then gets handed off to the subconscious to
store. A set of connections is made at the neurological level that codes that
information, both the data itself and one or more connections to other,
already known pieces of data. Those connections act like indexes and are
used to retrieve, or recall, that information later when it's needed. The
librarian who maintains those indexes and pulls up the answers when we
need them is the subconscious mind.
Forgetting is, in essence, a failure of the subconscious mind to retrieve

information that had been stored in the memory previously. Science is still
unclear on exactly how this happens. One popular theory (just a theory, not
proven) is that patterns and connections that are not used tend to be
overshadowed by newer ones, so that over time the information we do not
access gets more and more difficult to recall. The indexes, if you will, get
lost so the information can't be found. Sometimes a new experience creates
new connections to those old patterns and they become accessible again,
such as a 40-year-old vacationing in Mexico and suddenly starting to
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remember a lot of the Spanish they took in high school.
Since it is the subconscious mind that handles the process of storing and
recalling memories, you can use hypnosis to alter that function. Hypnotic
suggestion can inhibit the subconscious from recalling something you want
“forgotten” or store the memory of an experience that hasn't actually
happened (the infamous “recovered memory” phenomenon). There are, of
course, practical limits on what you can do with hypnosis and memory.
A fundamental truth of memory play is that nobody ever really forgets

something just because a hypnotist told them to. Those patterns and
connections are still there in the brain; you've just gotten your partner's
subconscious to agree not to retrieve them for the time being. Someone who
wants to remember always can, eventually.
Successful memory play requires a high degree of trust between the

hypnotist and the hypnotee. The ability to learn and recall is a survival trait;
trying to tamper with it can easily trigger resistance from the hidden
observer. The stronger the trust you and your partner have established, the
more willing their subconscious mind will be to let you mess with that vital
function.
Tips for Effective Amnesia Suggestions

The phenomenon of “forgetting” something as a result of a hypnotic
suggestion is called hypnotic amnesia. As explained above, though, it's not
really a loss of memory, just a conspiracy to prevent retrieval of the
memory. As such, how you word the suggestion can help make it more
palatable to the subconscious mind of your trance partner. A few things that
I've found to be very helpful are:
1. Be very clear in your suggestion that the subconscious can always

remember whatever it is, and they are simply agreeing to hide that
memory from the conscious mind. I've found this to be effective for
a very broad range of people, where telling them to “forget” often
fails.
2. Make it clear that this request is temporary, and give a specific

instruction as to when it is okay for the conscious mind to remember.
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Memory Play
The longer the time period you want them to “forget” for, the more
trust you need from your hypnotee. Any permanent amnesia
suggestion will end if the thing being “forgotten” suddenly becomes
relevant or important to them.
3. Provide a positive suggestion on what to do if the conscious mind

tries to remember, such as, “Each and every time your conscious
mind tries to remember what we've agreed to hide, the memory stays
hidden away in your subconscious mind, and instead the conscious
mind only remembers something completely unrelated, like a TV
commercial or a favorite TV show.”
For most people memory play takes a bit of practice to master. If your
hypnotee is new to it, start with simple, short-term memory games like Pop
Quiz (below) and work your way up to longer, more elaborate scenarios.
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Pop Quiz
This is a fun memory game that you can play either one-on-one or with a
group. Because it is very short-term and innocent, it's usually a good place
to start with someone who is new to memory play.
Start by getting your partner into trance, and then set up the rules of the
game:
In a few minutes, I'm going to count to three. On the count of

three you come completely out of hypnosis, wide awake, fully
alert, and in the mood to play a quiz game with me.
The game we are going to play is very simple. One of us will ask
the other a simple, obvious question about themselves, something
very direct like 'What is your name?' or 'Where do you live?' If
the other person answers correctly, they get a point. If they don't
answer correctly or can't remember the answer, the other person
gets a point. The first one to reach 5 points is the winner.
You really want to win this game, so you'll be very excited about
playing. I will even let you be the first to ask a question.
However, once we start playing the game, something very weird
happens: each and every time I ask you a question, no matter how
obvious or simple the question is, the answer to that question just
disappears from your conscious mind. Your subconscious always
knows the answer, of course, but the harder your conscious mind
tries to find that answer and speak it the more you find that it just
won't come to you – the answer is right there on the tip of your
tongue but you just can't find the words. If someone else speaks
the answer, to your conscious mind it's just unrepeatable
gibberish that makes no sense. If you see the answer written down
somewhere, it's just a meaningless jumble of letters to you instead
of the answer. After a few seconds of trying to remember, you
give up and admit that you don't remember the answer. This
happens to you each and every time I ask you a question until the
game is over. As soon as the game is over, your conscious mind is
once again completely able to recall all of the answers that it was
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Memory Play
unable to remember during the game.
It's important that you understand that your subconscious mind

always remembers the answers to the questions I ask; it is only
your conscious mind that forgets, and only for the few minutes
that we're playing the game. If you are comfortable doing that
with me, please give me a nice, big smile right now.
(Wait for the smile.)
Good. To make this more fun, I am also going to ask your

subconscious mind to hide from your conscious mind the fact that
we've agreed to keep it from remembering during the game. When
you come out of trance your conscious mind believes that you
have agreed to the game and that no other suggestions were
given to you during your trance that would affect your memory.
After we are through playing the game you can allow your
conscious mind to remember everything we did in trance, but
until then will you agree to keep this a secret between me and
your subconscious mind?
(Wait for some kind of affirmative response.)
Good. Now, coming all the way back on three, conscious mind
completely unaware of the agreements we've made on
remembering. One, two, three...
As you can see, the suggestions are worded very carefully to be reassuring
to the subconscious mind and to make very clear that this is a temporary,
short-term thing. That makes it a lot easier for an inexperienced hypnotee,
or someone you've just met and are doing a demonstration with, to trust you
and accept the suggestions.
To play the game, just ask your partner a very simple, obvious question.
Good ones to go with are things like:
What is your first name?
What city/town do you live in?
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How old are you?
What is your job?
Every once in a while I'll demo this at a convention and people will look at
their name badges to get their name – that's why the part about “if you see
the answer written down...” is in there.
You can, of course, turn this into a less innocent game by altering the
penalty for failing to answer. I've seen and played variants where a wrong
answer required the person to remove a piece of clothing, or to drink a shot
(not a great idea, as drunk people can't focus well enough to stay in trance),
or to perform some kind of service for the person who asked the question.
Use your imagination and have fun.
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Memory Play
Blank
The most all-around handy memory toy that I've played with is the “blank”
trigger. This trigger places your hypnotee in a blank state, where they do
anything they are told (within their limits, of course) and consciously
remember nothing at all that happens, even the fact that they were in a
trance state at all. This can be used for all kinds of entertaining mischief.
From now on, each and every time I touch you anywhere on your
body while saying 'blank' you automatically, instantly become
blank.
While you are blank, your mind is completely passive, empty,

idle. Your body remains exactly in the same position unless I tell
you otherwise. You think nothing unless I tell you to think it; you
do nothing unless I tell you to do it; you say nothing unless I ask
you a question or tell you to speak. While you are blank you
automatically obey any instruction that I give you immediately
and completely, even as your mind remains blank. You remain
blank until I say 'unblank'.
As soon as say 'unblank' your mind goes back to its normal state,
but your conscious mind is completely unaware of everything that
happened while you were blank. Your conscious mind is always
completely unaware that you were blank – to your conscious
mind, it seems as if no time has passed. Your subconscious mind
always remembers what happens while you are blank and always
makes sure that you carry out any suggestions I give you while
you are blank. Whenever I tap your hand three times and say
'recall' your conscious mind can then remember everything that
has happened up to that point while you were blank.
What this establishes, in effect, is a pause button for your partner's

conscious mind. You can trigger the blank state, change anything in the
environment that you want, and then when they unblank it appears to them
that the change happened instantaneously, as if by magic.
You can play all kinds of entertaining games with this. Here are a few that
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I've enjoyed.
Disappearing/Changing Clothes
With the blank trigger established, try this:
1. Blank your partner
2. Instruct them to remove a piece of clothing and hand it to you, then

resume their original position.
3. Hide the clothing out of sight.
4. Unblank.
To your partner it will seem as if the piece of clothing suddenly

disappeared. For an extra element of fun, suggest while they are blank that
they had never been wearing that item in the first place, so they are
completely nonchalant about it being missing. Hearing their conscious mind
rationalize why they have been semi-nude all day is fun.
For another amusing variant:
1. Blank
2. Have your partner remove a piece of clothing and give it to you.
3. Hand them a substitute piece of clothing that goes on the same body
area and have them put it on.
4. Have them resume their original body position.
5. Unblank
Now it appears and feels to them as if their pants (skirt, shirt, blouse, shoes,
whatever) just magically changed while they were sitting there.
At MEEHU 1, I was playing this game with someone when I realized that I
had, without really thinking about it, packed several shirts that were
identical except for color. (I had recently gone down a shirt size, so I'd
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Memory Play
bought a bunch of new shirts in the smaller size at the same time.) This gave
me the idea to do this:
1. With my partner in mid sentence, Blank.
2. Take off my own shirt and put on a different-colored one. Also

transfer my eyeglasses, pen, and name badge to the new shirt.
3. Unblank
I did this a few times, changing colors every time she noticed the color
change. For a grand finale, I kept the same shirt and she suddenly found
herself wearing one of mine instead of her own.
Hypnotic Teleport
This one is very simple in concept, but you have to use a little showmanship
to really sell it. Tell your partner that you've been experimenting with using
telekinesis – the ability to move objects with the power of your mind. It
takes focus and concentration, but the movement is instantaneous. Then
“demonstrate” it:
1. Make some kind of grand gesture, like arm waving. I often quote
The Amazing Mumford: “A-la-peanut-butter-sandwiches!” and then
Blank.
2. Memorize your current body position.
3. Move your hypnotee to a different location within the same room – a

different chair, for instance, and preferably seated so they can see
you. Have them resume their original body position.
4. Return to your original body position.
5. Unblank.
To your hypnotee, it seems as if they teleported across the room in an

instant. As I explained in Mind Play, you can also have a lapse in
concentration and “accidentally” teleport their body without their clothes.
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Laying out the clothes so that they look as if the body disappeared from
inside them helps sell the illusion.
If you prefer a less theatrical approach, try this while you are sitting down
somewhere having an innocuous conversation with your partner:
1. Blank
2. Move to a different seat
3. Unblank
Do this without any preamble at all – your sudden shift in position is a

complete surprise. Deny that it's happening – no, you've always been in that
seat. Repeat until your hypnotee realizes you're messing with them, which
tends to be pretty quickly unless you suggest otherwise.
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Memory Play
Memento
This is my name for a technique that LeeAllure loves to use with regular
play partners of hers. Lee credits the Doctor Who villains known as The
Silence, but it also reminded me of the 2000 movie Memento. This is a good
one to set up at the start of the day.
From time to time during the day, I will do something that causes
you to have an orgasm. It doesn't matter what that is, and it may
be different each time. However, for today, each time I give you
an orgasm, you fully enjoy that orgasm and then, the moment the
orgasm is finished, your subconscious mind takes control and
does two things for me: first, it causes you to take this marker,
which you'll keep with you, make a hash mark on your forearm,
and put the marker away again. Then, it takes the memory of that
orgasm and of marking your forearm and hides those memories
away in a box where only your subconscious mind can find it.
Your conscious mind is completely unaware that you've just had

an orgasm or marked your arm. In fact, your conscious mind
ignores the hash marks on your arm and any physical sensations
lingering from the orgasm; to your conscious mind it's as if that
orgasm never happened. If anyone else happens to point out the
marks on your arm, your conscious mind just says, “it's nothing”
and changes the subject without even thinking about the marks at
all.
Every time you orgasm today; every time, you mark your arm
with another hash mark and then hide the memory of the orgasm
and the marking from your conscious mind. At the end of the day,
when you undress for bed, then and only then does your
conscious mind notice the hash marks on your arm. As soon as it
does, you remember each orgasm from the day, in order, and as
you remember them you re-experience each orgasm in rapid
succession until you've remembered and re-experienced every
orgasm from the day.
As soon as that final orgasm of the day subsides, your conscious
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memories of everything that happened during the day return; the

memories are out of the box and available to your conscious
mind, and you can remember them again any time you want to.
I'll admit I have a fondness for playing with suggestions whose effects build
up over time, so when I heard Lee describe this I had to add it to my
collection. You do have to be a little careful about using it, of course – have
plans for the day that will make it easy for your partner to make the hash
marks, but where having them will not generate a lot of attention. And since
it may take a few days for the marks to fade, make sure they can wear long-
sleeved shirts!
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Memory Play
Mystery Trigger
I love bratty subs. The playfulness of a brat appeals to the playful and
mischievous side of my own nature, and the result is stuff like this:
In a few moments, I will count from one to three. On the count of

three you come completely out of hypnosis, fully awake, fully
alert, feeling refreshed and energized, happy and content. You
also have a distinct feeling that there is something about this
session that you can't remember – that I've given you a trigger
that is going to take effect later today, but I've also hypnotized
you to forget what the trigger is and what it does.
Throughout the day, you feel a growing sense of anticipation,

wondering what the trigger is and what it will do. You will try to
remember, but the more you try to remember what trigger I gave
you and what it does the more you remember only that you can't
remember because I hypnotized you to forget it. The harder you
try to remember the more impossible it becomes to remember.
That may frustrate you, or excite you, or arouse you, or maybe all
of those things, and those feelings can get stronger and stronger
the more you try, and fail, to remember what the trigger and its
effect are.
You get more and more preoccupied by the anticipation, the

certainty that there is a trigger and the inability to remember it,
wondering when it will take effect and what it will make you do,
as the day goes on. You may ask me about it, but the more I deny
placing a trigger the more convinced you are that I did.
You remain this way, totally convinced that I've set a trigger for
you that will take effect at some surprise time during the day or
evening, totally unable to remember what it is or what it does,
until I tell you that what I actually did was suggest that you
believe you have a trigger, but not actually give you one. As soon
as I explain that … (Insert a suitable reward suggestion.)
The first time I did this with someone it was a long-distance play
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relationship so we only spoke on the phone. I must have gotten 30 texts on

my phone that day, all variations on “What did you do?” For that partner,
the idea that she might suddenly feel an overpowering urge to do something
strange, possibly a little embarrassing, was a huge hot button. This inspired
little bit of improvisation was one of the most diabolically satisfying things
I ever did with that partner.
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Memory Play
Discussion Points
1. When would it be appropriate to ask your hypnotee to hide a
memory permanently? What would be the possible repercussions of
doing so?
2. Hypnosis can be used to create false memories as well as to hide real

ones. What erotic uses could there be for creating false memories?
What ethical and safety pitfalls can you think of in doing so?
3. Suppose you want to play a hypnotic game called Groundhog Day,

where your hypnotee automatically repeats a series of actions over
and over, realizing that they're repeating themselves but unable to
stop doing it. How would you word the suggestions for a scene like
that?
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Exercises
1. Establish the 'blank' trigger with a willing volunteer and play with it
by changing things in the environment while they are blank.
2. Gather a small group of volunteers and play Pop Quiz with them.
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Transformations
Transformations
Transformation is a broad topic. For purposes of this chapter, a
transformation is a hypnotic scene in which the hypnotee undergoes a
temporary change in their personality, beliefs, or behaviors. We'll look at
some of the classic transformation types and give examples on how they can
be done.
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Presenter Notes
Transformation is a topic that a lot of people are curious about, but
relatively few hypnotists (at least in my experience) have actually explored
in depth. It is a good topic for a workshop for intermediate to advanced
hypnotists, and if you have a few enthusiastic demo partners on hand it can
be a lot of fun to demonstrate different types of transformations.
It's important when you do transformations to be extra aware of safety

concerns. If someone is going to act like an animal, crawling on the floor or
climbing on furniture, make sure they aren't going to abrade their knees on a
rough floor and be there to spot them in case they slip while trying to climb
up on a coffee table. (And make sure the coffee table can hold them.) When
you can, use suggestions to limit the activities of your transformed partner –
for instance, you might suggest that the animal is the type who loves to
stretch and mew and pad around on the (carpeted) floor but has no interest
in climbing the furniture.
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Transformations
More Than Meets the Eye

Hypnotic transformations are about altering the way someone thinks,
behaves, and/or feels. In some ways you can think of it as creating a
character as if for a role play, but then interacting with the character instead
of taking them through a prearranged plot. As such, your suggestions for
creating the transformation will focus on the aspects of that new character.
When you are setting up a transformation, make sure that you provide
suggestions to cover the various elements you will need:
How the character thinks, feels, and behaves. A robot will be very
mechanical and logical, probably intelligent; a bimbo will likely be
bubbly and ditzy. Give as many specific, positive (Do X, not Don't
Do Y) instructions as you can to help define the character.
How the character interacts with other people in the area, assuming
you intend to allow them to do so. This may be as simple as
suggesting that anything others might say that doesn't seem to make
sense they simply disregard. Your partner's limits will have a lot to
do with these instructions, as you want to make sure anyone who is
not aware of the parameters can't breach them.
Appropriate safety suggestions. Acting out some types of

personalities might introduce physical safety issues such as a desire
to climb, jump, or do physical things the hypnotee's body may not be
able to do safely. The hidden observer will prevent obviously
harmful actions but there is a lot of room for unexpected
consequences that the hidden observer is no better equipped to
anticipate than you are.
A specific trigger or action that restores the hypnotee to their normal

self. Whether they remember what took place during the
transformation or not may be a negotiated point.
Transformations are often done as a sort of fantasy fulfillment game.

There's nothing wrong with that, but it sometimes means that there is a
temptation to push limits in order to embellish the fantasy. Be careful to
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stay within negotiated limits.
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Transformations
Bimbo
A very popular form of transformation is to turn someone into a bimbo – a
ditzy, slow-witted, usually very oversexed person. Fans of this have even
coined a name for it, bimbification. The word “bimbo” is usually applied to
a female-bodied person, but the technique itself has little to do with
anatomy and can be equally well applied to a male-bodied person. The male
version is sometimes called a himbo, or a dumb jock, but for convenience in
this example I'll use the word bimbo to apply to male- or female-bodied
people. As you adapt the example to your specific partner, feel free to
substitute their pronouns of choice for the neutral ones in the example.
The stereotypical bimbo persona is overtly sexual, so it's important to

negotiate carefully with your partner so that you understand what being a
bimbo means to them. That will let you define the character so that its
behavior meets your partner's expectations while staying within their limits
and yours.
In a few minutes, I'm going to count to three and have you return
to your waking state. On the count of three you become fully
alert, fully aware, but you are different from your normal self.
When you come out of this trance, you temporarily become a
bimbo.
As a bimbo, you are far less intelligent than your normal self. You
have trouble understanding complicated ideas or long words;
these things confuse you. Talk about any complicated topic just
seems like gibberish to you; you hear the words but the meaning
completely escapes you. You find it hard to concentrate on
anything unrelated to sex for more than a few seconds without
feeling as if your brain is tired. This feels perfectly normal to you;
it's how things have always been. People talk a lot about things
you don't understand, and when they do you might get confused
but you just shake it off and forget about it.
A bimbo is very proud of their body and is always happy to draw

attention to it and show it off. Bimbos wear revealing clothes and
look for every opportunity to talk about their body, to ask people
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their opinion of their body, and show off their body. Bimbos enjoy
being naked and jump at any excuse to take off clothes or flash
someone.
A bimbo has an extremely powerful sex drive. Bimbos crave sex

all the time. Anything they hear that can be taken in a sexual way,
they take that way, and they usually find it amusing enough to
giggle at and repeat. Bimbos find everybody attractive and want
to have sex with anyone they talk to. As a bimbo, you also know
that you have the ability to get people horny by showing off your
body and flirting with them, and that doing this makes people
want to please you by doing what you ask, so you take every
opportunity you can find to flirt with people, to make them aware
of your sexy body, to touch them in familiar, intimate ways, and
to proposition them for sex or for a favor you want.
A bimbo only talks about things that are interesting to themselves,

so as a bimbo you talk mostly about sex, clothes, fashion, and
make small talk about the weather and the immediate
surroundings. You are always eager to point out when something
turns you on, and you are always ready to compliment someone
on how sexy they look.
While you are a bimbo, you stay near me and only interact with
people that you already know or whom I tell you are okay. If
anyone else talks to you or seems interested in you, you politely
excuse yourself and come back to my side. You have that
powerful sex drive, and you really do want to have sex with
anyone you can, but before you actually go to have sex with
anybody you must come to me first and ask my permission. No
matter how horny you feel or how much you want it, as a bimbo
you can only have sex with someone if you first get my
permission. If I do not give you permission you accept that and
tell the person that you will have to take a rain check and your
sexual desire for that person fades away.
While you are a bimbo, you are fully aware of everything you do,
say, and think but to you this all seems like everyday, normal
behavior. It is perfectly acceptable to be ditzy, to laugh easily, to
be sexy and to want sex, to talk about and show off your body, to
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Transformations
flirt and touch people, because that is what bimbos do.
You remain a bimbo, acting and thinking as I've described, until I

put my hand on your shoulder like this (demonstrate) and say,
'back to normal.' As soon as I do that you are no longer a bimbo;
you think, talk, and act the way you normally do in your everyday
life. You remember clearly and completely, easily and effortlessly,
exactly how it felt to be a bimbo and all of the things you said and
did as a bimbo, but you stop being a bimbo once I touch your
shoulder like that and say, 'back to normal.'
The structure of this example is pretty direct. First I define what a bimbo is
– how a bimbo thinks, behaves, and talks to people. Then I add some safety
parameters designed to keep my bimbo safe by limiting who they interact
with and making sure they won't slink off somewhere to have sex with
anyone who accepts their proposition. (The hidden observer would prevent
this anyway, but I believe in showing my partner that I take responsibility
for their safety at all times; it helps their subconscious to relax and let them
play.) Finally, I give a clear signal to end the transformation.
Depending on your partner's limits, my definition of how a bimbo behaves

may not be appropriate. You will need to alter it to suit what your partner is
comfortable doing in whatever environment you are playing in, and to
accommodate any limits of yours as well.
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Robot
Another very popular fantasy is to be turned into a robot. Like dolls, robots
come in many varieties; make sure you know what sort of bot your partner
would like to be, and what the characteristics of that bot are.
A generic, service-oriented robot might be done like this:
From now on, whenever I touch this spot on your back (demo)
and say, 'robot mode activate', you automatically, instantly
become my robot.
As a robot, you think and act as my personally programmed robot

servant. You move stiffly and deliberately, perhaps even feeling
or hearing the gears and servos inside your robotic body
smoothly rotating and flexing as you move. You speak in a flat,
monotone voice. You speak in complete sentences and use formal,
technical words like 'affirmative' for 'yes' and 'negative' for 'no.'
You refer to yourself as 'this unit' and to me as 'controller.'
As my robot, you are programmed to follow my orders to the best

of your ability. Any task I instruct you to do, you do immediately.
Nothing can distract you from completing the task I give you. In
between tasks you remain by my side, waiting for your next
instructions. The only actions you take without my instructions
are those necessary for you to remain at my side as I move
around, and whatever actions you need to take to fulfill my
instructions to you.
A robot has no emotions, so when you speak it is always in a very

calm, monotone voice. You feel absolutely calm, clear minded,
and unemotional the entire time you are my robot.
A robot has no inhibitions or fears, so anything I instruct you to

do you do immediately. If I instruct you to remove clothing you do
it and feel perfectly normal and natural about it, because robots
are not modest; a robot's body is just a thing designed to look and
feel like a human's body.
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Transformations
A robot has no independent thoughts of its own, so the only

thoughts that go through your mind as my robot are those
necessary to follow my instructions. If others engage you in
conversation you speak only if it is relevant to the instructions
you are following; otherwise you simply say a robotic “please
excuse me” and continue with your current task.
If I give you a task that is outside the physical limitations of your

robot body, you warn me of the limitation and wait for further
instructions. You only obey the instruction when I have modified
it so that it is within the abilities of your robot body.
You remain my robot until I press that spot on your back again
and say, 'deactivate'. Once I do that, you return to your normal,
everyday self in every way. You always remember clearly and
completely everything that happened while you were a robot.
This creates a very generic, service-oriented robot albeit with one specific
instruction to encourage nudity. (After all, a topless wait-bot can be fun at a
gathering of kinky friends.) You can use this as a starting point and then add
additional “programming” for other purposes such as a sex bot, which is
very popular. If your partner is skilled in singing, dancing, or playing an
instrument you can easily turn them into an entertainment-bot who does
those things.
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Animal
Animal transformations are very popular. Usually it's a domestic animal,
like a cat or dog. Sometimes an imaginative partner will want to be
something more exotic.
Animal transformations can be particularly tricky, so be careful. Find out

what your partner's idea of the behavior of the animal is, and compare that
with the physical capabilities of their body. Be on the alert for things that
might cause accidental injury, like excessive crawling on a rough floor or
rapid bounding across a room full of furniture. One very talented hypnotist I
know told me of a time when she transformed a volunteer into a seal and
had him jumping around the room, only to discover later that he had
unknowingly abraded the tops of his toes to the point where they bled. The
guy was having the time of his life, but then couldn't wear shoes for two
weeks. Nobody intended that to happen, and nobody anticipated it;
sometimes, when we get absorbed in anything, we don't foresee those sorts
of consequences.
Another special point with animal transformations: make sure that your
instructions limit the “animal's” range of travel. You do NOT need someone
acting out being an ape, for example, leaving the apartment and dragging
their knuckles down the hall while you chase after them calling, “Sleep!”
(That's only funny until it happens to you.)
The most commonly asked-for animal transformation, especially with

partners who identify as female, is the domestic cat. I happen to be
extremely allergic to cats myself, but I am more than happy to indulge this
fantasy in the occasional human.
On the count of three, your mind and behaviors become those of a

domestic cat.
Cats are fastidious creatures, very clean, very neat, so as my cat

you naturally spend a lot of your time cleaning yourself. Cats do
this without any regard for decorum, so you freely lick your paws
and stroke your body anywhere you feel like, anywhere that
hasn't been stroked lately, to make sure you are always clean and
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Transformations
well-groomed.
Cats love to curl up next to a human and be petted. As my cat,

you are always on the lookout for someone to stroke you and pet
you. You rub your body against theirs to get their attention, make
purring noises, and if you can you settle yourself on their lap to
be petted and stroked. If the person does not respond, you can
either become more insistent about getting their attention or you
may move on to a different human, as you wish.
Cats are easily distracted by laser pointers. While you are my cat,
if someone shines a laser pointer anywhere near you, you become
alert and chase the dot wherever it goes, as long as it goes
somewhere you can reach without having to climb or jump on
furniture. You do this instinctively, uncontrollably, any time you
see the dot from a laser pointer.
When they are not chasing a laser pointer dot, cats move
deliberately, graciously, smoothly, crawling on all fours in a
precise manner and at a dignified pace.
(Optional, depending on the circumstances and your relationship

with your partner:) Everyone knows that cats do not wear
clothing. Any time you become my cat and find yourself wearing
clothing, it feels wrong to you. Your paws and limbs move in
whatever way they need to until you have removed all of that
clothing. Once you are free of the clothing, you pile it up into a
little pillow on the floor that you can curl up on while you clean
yourself.
While you are my cat, you remain in this room unless I tell you to
go somewhere else, in which case you stay in the place I tell you
to go until I call you back to me. You are only interested in the
people and things in the room where you are; anything
happening outside of that space you ignore.
You remain my cat, acting as I've described, until I take you by

the scruff of the neck like this (demonstrate) and say, “that's
enough.” As soon as I do that you return to your normal,
everyday self, no longer hypnotized, fully human again. You
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remember clearly and completely, easily and effortlessly,

everything that happened while you were my cat.
An alternative sort of transformation, popular with role-playing gamers and

those who dislike crawling on the floor, would be to become a cat person
instead of an actual cat.
From now on, each and every time I squeeze your shoulder like
this (demo) and ask, “What's new, pussycat?” you transform into
a cat person.
As a cat person you are human, but your personality takes on

some of the traits of a domestic cat. You become very fastidious,
wanting everything to look neat and clean, especially yourself.
You frequently look in mirrors or reflective surfaces and check
your hair, making sure it is neatly arranged, and your clothes,
making sure they are neat and flattering. Any quick modifications
you can make to your clothing to make you look sexier, such as
undoing an extra button or removing an unnecessary item that
covers you too much, you simply do without thinking about it
Cat people crave physical attention, so as a cat person you

naturally, automatically snuggle up close to people and rub your
body against them to get their attention. You want and expect
them to put their arm around you, to stroke and caress you, and if
they do you purr with contentment. If they don't you try harder to
get their attention or just move on to another person if you wish.
Cat people are very sensual creatures. As a cat person you love
the feeling of smooth caresses and soft fabrics against your skin.
As with anything that you enjoy, feeling these things makes you
unconsciously purr with contentment. When you move, your body
moves very deliberately, and in ways designed to evoke sexual
desire in those who see you. You let your hips sway as you walk.
You make and hold eye contact with people as you walk by them
in a flirty, sensual way.
Because cat people crave physical attention you stay near me as

much as possible, at least in the same room as me. You have no
interest in answering the door or going outside as a cat person.
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Transformations
You remain a cat person until I squeeze your shoulder again and
say “back to human.” As soon as I do that you return to your
normal self, no longer a cat person, though you remember clearly
and completely, easily and effortlessly, everything that happened
while you were a cat person.
By taking the attributes of the animal and applying them to the human form,
you can avoid some of the potential risks of doing a full-on animal
transformation. And for some, that is quite enough to enjoy.
404
Drugged Drink
In all of the transformations we've done so far, the hypnotee has assumed a
new temporary personality with different attitudes and behaviors from their
norm. In this one, your hypnotee's persona remains the same, but they are
overcome by the effects of an imagined drug.
This is a very popular fantasy, particularly when the “drug” is some form of
knock-out drops or date rape drug, and of course if your partner is interested
in that sort of thing it's much safer (not to mention more legal!) than
obtaining and using an actual drug. You can also use your partner's
imagination to take a little dramatic license with how these things actually
work.
In a few minutes, I'm going to count from one to three. On the

count of three you come all the way out of trance, fully awake,
fully alert. For the time being, your conscious mind remains
completely unaware of all of the suggestions I'm about to give
you until I tell you that the game is over. Your subconscious
knows and remembers everything, of course, but until I tell you
that the game is over your subconscious can hide all of this
information from your conscious mind, so that when the
suggestions take effect it is a complete surprise to you.
At some point this evening, I am going to hand you a drink. When

I do, you automatically take the drink from me and begin to drink
it, in a perfectly normal way, as if it is a commonplace thing. You
drink it steadily, so that within a few minutes of my giving it to
you the glass is empty.
As soon as you put down the empty glass, the imaginary drug that
I've placed in your drink takes effect. You begin to feel woozy,
dizzy, as if you are very drunk. It seems hard to keep your
balance, though you always manage to avoid falling or tripping.
Your tongue feels thick, and if you try to speak you find yourself
slurring your words like a drunk person does. Then you become
increasingly sleepy.
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Transformations
You realize that someone has drugged your drink, and that very
soon you will be passed out and helpless. You come to me to tell
me that someone has drugged you, and that you need me to help
you. When I tell you that the person who drugged you was me, the
drug completely overpowers you and you pass out in my arms.
While you are passed out, your conscious mind is completely

asleep, unaware of anything that happens. Your subconscious
mind remains alert and aware, able to respond to my questions
and assist me in moving your body as I need to. Even though your
conscious mind is drugged and asleep your subconscious can
always answer questions and can always say safe words when
they are appropriate.
You remain in that passed-out state, your conscious mind asleep

and unaware while your subconscious remains aware and
communicative, until I tell you to wake up. When I tell you to
wake up your conscious mind becomes aware again, though it
continues to feel groggy and woozy for several minutes as if you
had a drug hangover.
The drug that I give you is completely safe, and only affects you
in the ways that I’ve described here. It never makes you feel sick
or queasy, never has any effect or after-effect that you would find
unpleasant.
When we have finished the rest of our game, I will say that the
game is over. Once I say that the game is over, your conscious
mind can then remember clearly and completely, easily and
effortlessly, all of the suggestions I've given you and all that
happened while you were passed out.
When you've accepted all of these suggestions and your

subconscious has committed to following them so that we can
enjoy our fantasy game, you can give me a nod.
(Wait for the nod.)
Thank you. One, two, three...
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The example is designed to simulate the stereotypical drugged drink scene,

where your partner succumbs and then is carried about, used, or perhaps
kidnapped as their fantasy and your limits dictate. By varying the
suggestions you can instead simulate a marijuana high, a stronger-than-
usual alcoholic buzz, or any number of other drug-like effects (such as the
Lust Potion from Chapter 19). This is definitely edge play, even by erotic
hypnosis standards, so negotiate clearly and carefully before you do a scene
like this.
You may notice that I do not actually name the drug, and there is a
deliberate suggestion about it having no effects other than what is specified.
This is important in general, and especially if your partner has any
knowledge of pharmacology or real-world drugs with effects similar to what
you are suggesting. The subconscious is quite capable of producing
unpleasant symptoms that it believes should be present with Drug X, and
the knowledge of those effects could trigger the hidden observer to object to
the whole scene.
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Transformations
Discussion Points
1. What are some of the things you would want to bring up in
negotiations before doing a bimbo scene? A robot scene?
2. Your partner wants to do a drugged drink scene during an actual play

party at a dungeon, and they want to be completely surprised when it
happens. How would you negotiate this? Would you make any
special arrangements with the dungeon staff?
408
Exercises
1. With a willing volunteer, negotiate and then perform a
transformation scene similar to one of the examples in this chapter.
2. Create your own animal (or animal-like human) transformation

suggestions for the following animal types:
1. Dog
2. Gorilla
3. Snake
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Hypnotic Orgasms
Hypnotic Orgasms
Mundane hypnotherapists are often judged by whether they can get
someone to quit smoking or lose weight successfully. Erotic hypnotists tend
to be measured by how good they are at giving people orgasms. Neither of
those litmus tests is entirely fair, of course, but it pays to recognize them
and be prepared.
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Presenter Notes
How you present this is going to depend heavily on your audience. When I
present “Kinky Human Tricks” at a Dark Odyssey event, where people tend
to check their inhibitions at the door as a matter of course, it's easy to find
volunteers eager to have an orgasm in front of a group. At an *EHU, it's hit
or miss. In smaller groups, say less than 20 people, I have yet to get a
volunteer from the audience for an orgasm demo. What I generally do is
bring someone with me whom I know is okay with having a public orgasm
or two for educational purposes; that way, if I don't get a volunteer I have
someone I can turn to.
Your venue also plays a role in how adventurous your audience may be.
People having an orgasm tend to make some noise, and it's fairly distinctive
noise. If your usual meeting place is the community room of someone's
apartment building, expect some reluctance on the part of your audience. If
you're in a dungeon, or a private space without strangers walking in and out,
your audience will probably feel safer about letting their hair down.
It's possible, I guess, to teach these techniques without actually

demonstrating them but I don't think it would be very satisfying for
anybody. An ideal format would be to describe the technique, demo it with
a volunteer, and then have the class break up into pairs (or more) with
partners they brought along for that purpose and practice it on the spot.
You'd need a pretty uninhibited crowd for that, of course. If you can at least
arrange a demo, people can take that home with them and practice in
private.
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Hypnotic Orgasms
Foreplay
With orgasms, as with so many things hypnosis-related, there's always more
than one way to do it. People are different.
Some people are like exotic sports cars, able to go from zero to screaming
orgasm in a few seconds. You can do some really fascinating things with
someone who can come quickly, recover quickly, and do it again and again.
You can also get spoiled and start expecting everyone to be that responsive.
To continue the vehicular analogy, a lot of people are more like the family
sedan. They are fully capable of going from zero to orgasm, but it takes
some effort to build up the momentum and doing it repeatedly uses up a lot
of fuel. You can still do a lot of fun things with these people, but you'd be
well advised to go for quality over quantity.
In previous chapters you've already seen several ways to build someone up

to the point of orgasm. Because hypnotically-induced orgasms are such a
prominent topic, though, let's look at a few more.
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Come on Command
The classic erotic hypnosis fantasy for a lot of people is to be made to (or to
make someone else) orgasm instantly on command. If your play partner is
one of those sports car types, you can probably get away with just:
From now on, each time I snap my fingers and say 'orgasm now'
you immediately experience a sudden, gripping, very pleasurable
orgasm that stops you in your tracks until it subsides.
Most people can benefit from a bit more preparation than that, though. The
approach I usually take to come-on-command goes like this:
Now, as you allow your mind to drift, blank and open, hearing the
sound of my voice and allowing my words to become your reality,
I want you to remember a time when you had a really strong,
satisfying, memorable orgasm. Perhaps it surprised you by how
good it was, how much pleasure it brought. And I don't know
whether that especially good orgasm was one you had with a
partner, or in a group, or perhaps from pleasuring yourself. It
doesn't really matter; all that matters is that you let your mind
choose that orgasm now. And when you have one in mind, give
me a nice smile.
(Wait for the smile.) Good.
Now, allow your body's memory to really immerse itself in the

sensations of that orgasm. Remember how aroused you felt at
first, the pleasure you experienced. Remember the sounds, the
tastes, the sensations. And of course the more you remember, the
more easily your body can feel those sensations, that arousal,
that pleasure, again now.
Surround yourself with that memory now. If there's an image in

your mind, bring it all the way in close; make it bold and sharp
and all around you. If there are sounds, sounds you make or
perhaps other sounds, bring them in close, hear them right next to
you, right inside you. Whatever you felt during that orgasm,
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Hypnotic Orgasms
really let yourself feel that again now, in all its sensual glory.
Your hypnotized mind is so powerful that it can actually

reproduce all of the arousal, all of the pleasurable sensations, all
of the desire that led to that wonderful orgasm … that's right, just
like that … and it can even make that memory, those sensations,
that arousal, that pleasure, stronger and stronger right now,
stronger, more pleasurable, more arousing, more intense …
(Keep suggesting increased arousal, pleasurable sensations, just

like that wonderful orgasm only stronger, better, etc. Get ready to
put your hand on their shoulder.)
And you know, it's perfectly natural as your mind replays all that
pleasure, all that arousal, making you so aroused again right
now, that your body may want to have that orgasm again. It
wants to have that wonderful, long, strong, surprisingly
pleasurable orgasm all over again. And it can, but not yet. Not
until I squeeze your shoulder and say 'come for me now' will
those feelings burst out in a long, strong, wonderful, pleasurable
orgasm just like that great orgasm you remember, only better and
stronger and more pleasurable even than that one.
(Keep suggesting increasing arousal, pleasure, erotic energy

building, etc. until your partner looks ready to come. Include in
your suggestions that they know they will come gloriously when
you squeeze their shoulder and say 'come for me now' but not
before. When they are clearly ready to orgasm, put your hand on
the shoulder without squeezing.)
Remember this feeling...
(Now squeeze the shoulder.) Come for me now!
(Let them enjoy the orgasm until it slows down, then continue.)
Your mind is so powerful it can give itself an orgasm just like

that, just by remembering and amplifying that memory. And now,
you know that you can have that orgasm again and again and
again, each and every time I squeeze your shoulder like that and
414
say 'come for me now.' If someone else squeezes your shoulder

and says 'come for me now' their words have no affect on you at
all; only when I squeeze your shoulder and say 'come for me now'
will you re-experience that wonderful orgasm you just had.
Each and every time I use this trigger to give you an orgasm your
body responds automatically, instinctively, immediately by re-
experiencing all the arousal, all the pleasure, all the sensations,
getting stronger and strong, bringing you back to orgasm as
quickly as your body can experience it. Each time your body
responds to me squeezing your shoulder and saying 'come for me
now' the orgasm is longer, stronger, more enjoyable for you,
more pleasurable. Any time you become aware that I am about to
touch your shoulder your body stops in place to allow the touch;
you may even find that just when I lay my hand on your shoulder,
even before I've squeezed it and said 'come for me now,' your
body gets tingly with the beginnings of arousal, and that's
perfectly okay.
(Lift your hypnotee's arm and hold it straight out/up.)
And now, you can let your subconscious mind slowly lower your
arm back down into its original position only as quickly as your
subconscious mind completely accepts this new trigger and adds
it to your permanent habits and behaviors, so that each and every
time I squeeze your shoulder and say 'come for me now' you
automatically, unthinkingly, instinctively, immediately have that
wonderfully long, strong, pleasurable, intense orgasm.
(Repeat until the arm comes down.) Very, very good.
This way of establishing the trigger combines some NLP with the hypnotic
suggestions. Putting your hand on their shoulder becomes an anchor that
generates arousal even if you don't trigger them to orgasm right at that time.
You can use that to generate anticipation in someone who needs more time
to build up to their orgasm, so they have a head start when you do use the
trigger.
I also avoid putting too much emphasis on them immediately having the
orgasm. Since a lot of people can't go from zero arousal to orgasm instantly,
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Hypnotic Orgasms
the wording gives them permission to let it build up and then come. With
practice and reinforcement they'll find themselves responding faster and
faster. Most people don't seem to mind putting in the effort to practice this
one.
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Orgasm Gun
In 1997 Trey Parker and Matt Stone released their movie Orgazmo, in
which the hero's “orgazmorator” renders his enemies helpless by causing
them to orgasm. (It's classic Parker/Stone, a hilarious send-up of the porn
industry; if you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and buy the DVD –
you'll want to watch it more than once.) I borrowed that idea for a fictional
story called “Play Time” (2000), which centers on a toy ray gun that has
been hypnotically imbued with the same ability, at least for one of the
characters in the story. And it's something I've used more than once in
playing with people because it's so much fun to do.
To use this technique, you'll need a prop. A toy ray gun that lights and
makes sounds works nicely, which is why I use it in the example below, but
that’s far from the only option. I've also been known to use a Doctor Who
sonic screwdriver (I have a few different ones). If it appeals to you or your
partner, you could instead point a Harry Potter-style magic wand at them
and say something like, “libidinous!”
In a moment, I'm going to count to three. The next time I count to

three, I want you to open your eyes while remaining deeply in
trance, and focus your gaze on the object in my hand. One, two,
three.
(Hold out the gun and point it at them.) When I fire this toy gun at
you, notice how it looks and sounds. (Fire the gun the same way
you intend to when you use it.) Commit to memory now how that
looks and sounds, and then close your eyes again and just let
yourself drift deeper. Good.
When I fired that toy gun at you a moment ago all it did was light
up and make sounds; it had no effect on your mind at all. From
now on, though, any time I point this toy gun in your direction
and fire, in your mind it shoots a ray that strikes you and
envelops your body in a glowing burst of powerful erotic energy.
When I point this toy gun in your direction and fire, that energy
envelops your body and penetrates it from all sides, bringing with
it overpoweringly intense feelings of arousal, as if the glow were
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Hypnotic Orgasms
stroking, caressing, kissing, licking you in every delicious, erotic

way you can imagine, in every place on your body where it feels
so good to be stroked, caressed, licked, or kissed. The erotic
energy, the sudden overwhelming erotic pleasure, is so powerful
that it completely distracts you; you stop whatever you are doing,
your thoughts are completely derailed by the sudden burst of
arousal. You may even find that your knees get weak and wobbly,
so that you need to sit down or steady yourself, the erotic burst of
energy is that powerful, that distracting, that overwhelming.
Imagine how that feels, how your body reacts to that sudden,
overpowering arousal.
Each time I shoot this toy gun at you, the erotic energy ray strikes
you and that incredible, arousing energy overpowers you, and it
lingers with you for at least 10 seconds. For at least 10 seconds
all you can do is feel that arousal, wallow in it, let it get stronger
and stronger and stronger, pushing out every other thought from
your mind, interrupting anything you may have been doing or
thinking at the time. If I shoot you again during those 10 seconds,
you feel a new burst of that erotic energy combining with the first
one, twice as powerful, twice as arousing, twice as distracting. If
your hands are free you may be unable to resist the urge to touch
yourself, caress yourself; you absolutely need to sit down, or lie
down, or slump to the floor in a way that is safe. And each time I
shoot you with the gun while you're already feeling the arousing
effects, the new burst of energy is twice as powerful as the one
before it, twice as arousing, twice as distracting, twice as
overwhelming, and lasts at least 10 seconds.
Now obviously if I keep shooting you with the gun while you're
already helplessly, overpoweringly aroused, unable to stop
yourself from caressing and touching yourself while you focus all
of your attention on how aroused you've become, you will very
quickly be so overcome with arousal that you simply have to
orgasm. When that happens, you do orgasm, and your orgasm is
unusually strong, extra long, extra satisfying, and leaves you
breathless and blissful. If I happen to shoot you with the gun
while you're having an orgasm the orgasm doubles in strength,
doubles in length, doubles in intensity.
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The more I shoot you with this orgasm gun the more
automatically, irresistibly, powerfully it affects you. The more you
try to resist the feelings of arousal from that energy, the stronger
it gets and the more you realize you have to succumb to it.
(Raise your partner's arm in front of them to shoulder height.)
Now, imagine yourself being shot with the orgasm gun. Imagine
how it feels, overpowering you with arousal, arousal that pushes
everything else out of your mind, stops you in your tracks, makes
your knees weak and your body quiver. Imagine it getting
stronger and stronger each time I shoot you. Imagine yourself
getting so aroused that you orgasm loudly, hard and long,
helpless to contain it. And when you're subconscious mind has
fully accepted this response, installed this response as a
permanent reaction to me shooting you with the gun, you can
allow that arm to lower back into your lap.
(Bring your partner out of trance and shoot them a few times.)
This technique is different from come-on-command in that a single use of

the trigger isn't likely to cause an orgasm, but several in quick succession
will. That's good for those who need some build-up to get to a state where
they can have a really good orgasm. With practice you'll find that they start
getting to orgasm more quickly, with fewer uses of the gun.
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Hypnotic Orgasms
Brain Massage
This one started as an improvisation that I did when playing with someone
at The Society in Hartford, CT. We had so much fun with it that I've started
using it in other play sessions, and Chew Toy actually turned it into an
induction for a recording on his site (http://www.gentlybitten.com).
Now, to really relax you, I want you to imagine something a little

strange: I want you to imagine that I can actually reach inside
your head and massage your brain.
You know how wonderfully relaxing a massage can be … skilled

hands working on every muscle, every joint, working out every bit
of tension and tightness. Imagine how good it can feel right now
to have my fingers skillfully, gently massaging the various parts
of your brain and how easily that can cause your brain to
completely relax.
Let me start in the frontal lobe, where your brain does most of its
conscious thinking … where it plans, organizes, solves problems,
pays attention. As my fingers gently caress the folds of your
brain, smoothing it out, relaxing it, notice how that judging,
analyzing part of your brain just drifts off into a restful sleep.
Planning, organizing, problem-solving … they can all be done
another time. You can even begin to notice how it is more and
more difficult to pay attention to anything in particular … Ideas
that float into your head just seem to float right back out again …
that's right.
And now, as I move on to the motor centers, notice how with

every stroke of my fingers your muscles relax. Your arms and legs
get heavy, loose, limp and floppy, like a rag doll's, as the part of
your brain that controls them relaxes into sleep. Very good. You
may even start to become less and less aware of your physical
body, as the part of your brain that keeps in touch with it relaxes
and sleeps, and that's perfectly okay. Your body is safe and
secure.
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Moving on now, feel my fingers beginning to stroke and caress

the emotional center of your brain, where all off that stress,
tension, worry, anxiety, frustration resides. Imagine every stroke
of my fingers releasing more stress, more tension, more
aggravation, more worry, frustration, anxiety … feel it all
dropping away as the emotional center gets smoothed out,
relaxed, soothed. And in place of those other emotions, the
massage brings on a profound feeling of calmness, happiness,
even bliss. Just like that.
Now, imagine my massaging fingers stroking the language center

of your brain. My fingers reach in and caress, soothe, smooth out
that area, and as I do all that inner dialog that you were having
breaks up into phrases … the phrases break up into words … the
words break up into individual letters … and the letters just fall
away as the language center of your brain relaxes so deeply
under my touch … that's right … leaving nothing behind but
stillness, quiet, calm.
Finally, let me just move a little further over and massage the
pleasure center of your brain. As my fingers caress, stroke,
soothe, and relax the upper areas of your pleasure center you can
feel a steady flow of endorphins entering your system. The
endorphins quickly circulate throughout your body, making you
feel so blissful, relaxed, happy, content … and the more I stroke,
caress, soothe, massage the more of those endorphins get
released, and the more you feel bliss … contentment … maybe
even a little high. Yes, like that.
But you know, deeper down inside your pleasure center is that
spot that controls your sexual arousal and pleasure. Imagine me
now, massaging more deeply, finding that arousal spot, that
pleasure spot, and stroking it … caressing it … working it in
every delightful way. Feel the sudden onrush of arousal that
causes, powerful arousal, getting stronger and stronger with each
and every stroke of my fingers on that part of your brain. The
more I stroke, the more aroused you become, as if I was directly
stroking your (insert appropriate erogenous zone) in the most
perfect, pleasurable, arousing way.
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Hypnotic Orgasms
That's right, feel that pleasure and arousal growing, building,

intensifying, more and more as I continue to stroke deeply into
your pleasure centers. Stronger and stronger, more and more
pleasure, more and more arousal, building and building, getting
you closer and closer to a beautiful, powerful, incredibly
satisfying orgasm.
(Continue “stroking” until your partner has an orgasm.)
This does not have to lead to orgasm, of course; you could do the brain
massage and just induce a pleasant, dreamy, blissed-out feeling without
pushing the arousal/orgasm buttons. Chew Toy's induction does that.
I should also point out that I've taken a lot of liberties with brain anatomy
here. Unless your partner is a neurobiology geek, they probably won't care.
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Five-Point Palm Exploding Orgasm Technique

This trigger is by far my favorite orgasm-inducing technique. It was
inspired by the movie Kill Bill: Volume 2 and its famous Five-Point Palm
Exploding Heart Technique.
Before using this on someone, make sure you have consent for touch. You'll
need to be able to touch on the chest roughly over the heart, and in my
experience you will likely need to hold on to your partner to keep them
from falling out of their chair or dropping to the floor when you use the
trigger.
A master of martial arts once taught me the legendary Five-Point

Palm Exploding Orgasm technique. I'm going to show you how it
works and give you a delightful, intense, extremely pleasurable
orgasm. Will that be okay with you?
(Get some kind of positive response.)
Here is how the technique works. When this technique is used on

you, nothing in the world can stop you from building up to a
powerful, intense, satisfying, extremely pleasurable orgasm.
To perform the technique, I touch you like this.
(Touch them over the heart with your extended fingers five times,
turning your hand slightly between each touch. Sometimes a
hypnotee's subconscious will cause them to feel the vibrations
and experience the affects while you're describing them. If that
happens just go with it; the trigger will still be implanted and
they'll have already experienced the result.)
When I touch you that way, it sets up a series of vibrations within

your body. Those vibrations start at your erogenous zones,
teasing and tantalizing your body into an instant state of sexual
arousal. But the five-point palm technique affects the entire body,
not just your genitals. The vibrations quickly spread, getting
stronger and more pleasurable with each breath you take, until
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every party of your body is feeling arousing, erotic tingles that

just keep getting stronger and stronger and stronger. Your mind
becomes so distracted by the sensations that all you can do is
focus on how aroused you are and notice how you get more and
more aroused, feeling more and more pleasure, every second,
with every breath. Those vibrations keep getting stronger and
stronger and your arousal builds and builds, doubling and
doubling, no matter how hard you struggle to control it. The
harder you struggle against the arousal the more powerfully
those vibrations affect you, stimulating you in every part of your
body in the most incredibly arousing way you can possibly
imagine. The harder you try to resist becoming more and more
aroused with each breath, with each second, the more
overpowering that arousal becomes.
(If your partner is experiencing the arousal now, slow down as

you go through the next part. Mention the orgasm only when they
are ready to give in and come.)
The vibrations flow through your whole body, from the top of
your head down through the tips of your toes. Every part of your
body gets aroused, including your mind. You find that the
vibrations keep getting stronger and stronger, the arousal
continuing to build, overwhelming and overpowering, until your
entire body gives in to a fantastic, powerful, full-body orgasm
that brings you the most intense pleasure you ever thought you
could feel. The orgasm lasts and lasts until your body is
completely satisfied, completely spent. Only when you've come as
much as you can do the vibrations subside, leaving you feeling
blissful, happy, and absolutely satisfied.
(If your partner just had an orgasm, give them a minute to recover
before you continue.)
Each and every time I use the five-point palm exploding orgasm
technique on you the effect is stronger, more compelling, more
pleasurable than the time before. Any time you notice that I am
about to use the technique on you, your body freezes in place,
unable to duck or block me, because your body craves those
orgasms and you know how good they make you feel.
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When your subconscious has accepted these suggestions and

made them into a permanent part of your habits, beliefs, and
behaviors, you can give me a nice, big smile.
Again, this allows the orgasm to build as rapidly or as slowly as your

partner needs it to. While they are feeling the vibrations, you can give them
additional suggestions to promote a more satisfying response. I will often
suggest that the sound of their own moaning or the squirming of their body,
if they do that, only makes the arousal more powerful. Over time, repeated
use of this trigger does seem to result in training the hypnotee to orgasm
more quickly.
The touch gesture that I use involves having my hand spread out and fingers
curved, as if reaching to turn a very large knob or dial. The exact sequence
of touches doesn't matter as long as you do it consistently; my usual method
is to do the five touches and turn my hand just a little between each touch,
like opening a safe: center-right-center-left-center.
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Enabling Tantric Orgasm

This technique was inspired by a play session with LeeAllure. Lee is one of
the very few hypnotists who have blanket permission to play with my mind.
When it comes to orgasmic hypno-play, many male-bodied hypnotees are at

something of a disadvantage. For most male-bodied people, the
emotional/neurological phenomenon of orgasm is tied to the biological
process of ejaculation, which then in turn leads to a refractory period during
which it is very difficult for them to get physically aroused again. That
makes it difficult to give that hypnotee multiple orgasms in the same scene.
Fortunately, hypnosis has an answer for this. Using hypnotic suggestion, it

is possible to teach a male-bodied person to have all the emotional and
many of the physical sensations of an orgasm without ejaculating. This is
often called a dry orgasm or a tantric orgasm. Someone taught to do this
can orgasm frequently and intensely with no refractory period to deal with.
One way to enable tantric orgasms in a partner is to use the Control Room
metaphor from Chapter 16:
And now, (hypnotee's name), imagine a long, sloping corridor

leading into the deepest parts of your mind. Sloping gently down
and to the right, we can follow this corridor all the way to the
core of your being. Now just imagine that right here, near the end
of the hall, is a door marked “Control Room”. If you listen
closely you may even hear the hum of machinery beyond the
door, an industrial sort of sound, busy, smooth. The door is
locked, of course, because the things behind it are so important,
but it always opens for you.
Imagine now opening the door and entering the control room of
your body and mind. The room is filled with panels of controls,
each marked with its function. There's one for body temperature,
one for respiration, for heartbeat, for metabolism, for stress
levels … anything your mind controls, which is everything in your
body and mind, has a control panel in this room.
426
Everyone's control room is different, of course. I can't tell you

what the panels look like, or what style of controls are on them,
but you can notice this yourself as you survey the room. However
the room seems to you, in your imagination, is right.
In your imagination, move through your control room now and

locate the panel that controls your sexual response. You'll notice
a readout indicating your current arousal level, various knobs,
sliders, and switches for enabling your erogenous zones and
making them more and less responsive to pleasurable stimulation.
And somewhere on that panel, you can locate a control for your
orgasm response mode. This control determines whether you
ejaculate when you orgasm or not; it may have settings for
Always, Never, and When I Want To. Or it may be labeled in
some other way. Locate that control, and describe it to me please.
Let your hypnotee describe the control. Responses will vary greatly, of
course. Some will describe a dial with the three settings you suggested; for
others it will be a switch, or a slider. As long as there is a setting equivalent
to “When I Want To” you can proceed something like this:
Great. Now, just take that control and move it to the When I Want
To setting. As you do, you may feel a shift inside, as your
subconscious mind alters your orgasmic response so that you can
choose whether or not to ejaculate when you orgasm. And once
you've made that change, and you feel inside that the change is
done, you can give me a nod.
Sometimes, your hypnotee will tell you that they have no such control, that
the control is stuck, or that they only have one setting (usually Ejaculate). If
that happens, you have a couple of options:
You can suggest that there is a box on the shelf with a new orgasmic
response control, and all of the tools they need to properly install it.
Have them open the box, remove the old control, and install the new
one, which of course has the When I Want To setting on it. The
control is easy to install; it plugs into the panel with a simple wire
connector that can only fit one way, so they can't make a mistake.
Then, with the new control installed, they can set it for When I Want
To.
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Hypnotic Orgasms
If their description of the control is more computer-like, tell them

that they can upgrade the software in the panel to enable the orgasm
response control. Have them pick up a USB stick, software DVD, or
other metaphor that works for their mind and install the software
update. After the update installs, the orgasm response control is
present and can be set.
If they are as geeky as I am, there may be a keyboard and display

screen on the panel. If so, you can have them enter a command (or
write a script) to enable the When I Want To ejaculation response
and save the configuration change.
Once you've established a control and enabled it, explain what the change
has done:
From now on, you can orgasm easily, naturally, and you can
ejaculate if that's what you want to do at the time. But you also
have the ability to orgasm in your mind, in your brain, in your
body, but without ejaculating. When you orgasm this way, you
feel every bit of the pleasure, every bit of the excitement and the
rush and the feelings throughout your body that you've always
experienced with an orgasm except for ejaculating. As a result,
you can be delighted and pleased to discover that your body can
easily become aroused again, even right away after an orgasm,
and you can orgasm again much sooner than you could if you
chose to ejaculate. You can orgasm intensely, frequently, as often
and as hard as you want to, and then when you want to have that
physical release of ejaculation you can have it, or not, as you
choose.
Once you've established this with a male-bodied partner, exercise it right

away – use one of the other techniques in this chapter, or another one of
your choosing, and give them an orgasm. Then, when it would normally be
too soon after an ejaculatory orgasm, do it again. With practice the tantric
orgasms they experience will be every bit as powerful, explosive, and
satisfying as the ejaculatory ones.
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Discussion Points
1. Hypnotists take different approaches to orgasms, as they do
everything else. What is your preferred approach to inducing an
orgasm – quickly, or slowly? Touching, or not touching?
2. Suppose you are doing a scene in which you have negotiated

bringing your partner to orgasm hypnotically but did not discuss
touching. As their arousal get stronger and stronger, you hear them
ask, “Please touch me!” What do you do?
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Hypnotic Orgasms
Exercises
1. Find a quiet, private place and bring yourself to orgasm using self-
hypnosis and as little touching as possible.
2. With a willing partner, practice one or more of the techniques in this

chapter.
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Advanced Lessons
431

Perhaps the ultimate in confusion inductions is what is technically called a
multi-evocation: two or more hypnotists working in concert to induce trance
in one or more hypnotees. I like the term dual induction because it's less
pretentious-sounding and covers the most common case (two hypnotists).
The combination of two voices, saying seemingly different things at the
same time, is both fun and highly effective for almost everybody. And when
you've got two hypnotists, it's perfectly natural to explore some of the
dynamics of co-topping.
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Presenter Notes
People seem to really enjoy this topic, so be ready to have fun with it. You'll
need a co-hypnotist, even if they're not a co-presenter. It's better if you and
your co-hypnotist practice together a few times so that you have a feel for
each other's rhythm and language. It'll make it easier when you do
inductions in front of an audience.
Note that you do need at least a moderate level of experience to do this well
– ideally, enough that you can improvise an induction and adjust your
wording to blend in with your co-hypnotist. New hypnotists are often
intimidated by that and tend to worry about going blank in the middle of the
induction. The nice thing about this technique, though, is that it's pretty hard
to screw up – no matter what you and your partner are saying, as long as it
isn't the same thing you'll achieve the confusion effect you're looking for.
When I present this at an *EHU, my co-presenter and I generally do several

demonstrations, showing the technique and then variations on it. That fits
easily into an hour, but if there's more time the best way to spend it (in my
opinion) is to let your audience break into threes and practice it.
It's pretty common when discussing dual inductions to start getting

questions about co-topping. That's why the co-topping material is in this
chapter. You don't have to present them together, of course, but they do
seem to go together.
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Two Hypnotists Are Better Than One

The dual induction is a technique in which two or more hypnotists work
together to put someone (or multiple someones) into trance.
The concept is very simple: each hypnotist speaks at the same time, using a
different spoken induction. Because the conscious mind is single-tasking, it
can't process both sets of words simultaneously; it has to choose one to
focus on at a time. While your hypnotee's mind is listening to Hypnotist A,
processing that induction, everything that Hypnotist B says goes straight
through to the subconscious. When the hypnotee's attention shifts to
Hypnotist B, everything A says gets a direct path to the subconscious. The
result is the mother of all overload effects.
A dual induction is a lot of fun for the hypnotee. Most people drop into
trance very quickly and very deeply, even if they've never been hypnotized
before, thanks to the powerful confusion/overload element of multiple
voices. It can also be a lot of fun for the hypnotists, as they develop rapport
with one another and start playing off each other. That rapport comes in
very handy in a co-topping scene.
There are some situations where it is better not to do a dual induction,

though. If your play partner is a very anxious type, or someone who gets
agitated by overload situations, a dual induction is a bad idea. If they are
comfortable with a standard, seven-plus-or-minus-two type induction, then
they can probably handle this technique.
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Dual Induction Technique

In its simplest form, a dual induction is simply two independent inductions
happening at the same time. For this purpose it's best if the inductions are
primarily spoken – I'll explain more about this after the example. If we
assume one hypnotist on the left and one on the right, a typical dual
induction might go something like this:
Hypnotist A Hypnotist B
Just relax now, and let your

mind empty itself. As I count I wonder if you can imagine
down from 10 to 1, imagine yourself, as you look to me
that with each number I count standing beside you, in your
you become twice as relaxed, mind's eye. Noticing how
twice as calm. And I don't relaxed you look, how still
know at precisely what point you feel, how quiet your mind
you'll pass from simple becomes. And as you think
relaxation into deep trance, about that, you can do
but it really doesn't matter whatever it takes to make
when you do it because yourself appear even more
trance is a perfectly natural, relaxed.
normal thing to do, isn't it?
You may even imagine that

10, imagining a wave of
your body is entering a sort of
relaxation starting at the top
suspended animation …
of your head and moving
suspended animation in a
down to the tips of your toes.
warm, comfortable, safe place
9, another wave, twice as Your mind drifting free of the

relaxing, just flowing so body, so easily now, as the
easily down, and down. body relaxes
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8, so easy, so natural, to And you may begin to notice

relax, to let go as you drift freely
How wonderful it feels to be

7, twice as relaxed, that's
so in touch with your inner
right … you're doing perfectly
self,
6, another wave of relaxation, Your real self. Hearing our

noticing how easy it is for words and allowing them to
your mind to drift, to float. mix and mingle in your mind,
5, twice as relaxed again, Jumbling together, swirling

feeling the difference in those around, chasing out every
arms, those legs, as they relax conscious thought as you
and get loose, limp, lazy. relax more and more.
4, noticing how your

Those arms, those legs, that
breathing just naturally slows
body, so far away now,
down, your thoughts slowing
connected but distant, as you
down, relaxing away, drifting
drift in your own energy.
on down...
And it's okay now to let your

3, twice as deeply relaxed,
body be … just be … to spend
getting ready to let it all go,
this time, your time, to really
all the way down,
become aware
2, feeling so good, so relaxed,

Of your inner self, your true
so drifty and dreamy, and
self, that self that knows how
wondering how good it will
good it can feel to drift and
feel to relax twice as deeply
dream,
again on
1, that's right. So deeply Open to whatever may

relaxed, so focused, so ready happen, whatever our words
436
to let your mind open up and may bring, open to letting

just let it all go your conscious self go
NOW NOW
On the left, we have a brief countdown-style relaxation induction. On the

right, something a little more imagination-based, with a dissociative theme
to it. In the middle, befuddled into a nice, deep trance, we have the
hypnotee(s).
Just reading the two scripts simultaneously at more or less the same pace is
enough to achieve the end result for a lot of people, but if the two hypnotists
are skilled enough to work without a script (which I always encourage),
they can enhance the experience by working together. They can pick words
and phrases from each other's speech and use them, either in the same sense
or a different sense. They can coordinate their pacing so that they are both
talking at the same time as much as possible. And for a truly delightful
effect, when they note the hypnotee starting to drop, they can coordinate so
that they finish together with a simultaneous “NOW” and watch the
hypnotee's head drop.
Most spoken inductions work well as part of a dual. A couple of caveats

apply:
An induction that requires the hypnotee to follow a lot of directions

is probably not a good choice, since they are not going to be
listening to you for some of the time and will therefore miss
directions.
An instant induction, which is usually a physical jar or jerk of some

sort, doesn't blend well with another person's spoken induction.
With dual voices trance sets in quickly, so an induction that takes

several minutes to unfold (like a seven-plus-or-minus-two variant)
will be harder to work with and is likely to get cut short.
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Pacing and leading works nicely as part of a dual induction, as do short

relaxation inductions and Ericksonian metaphors. If you both want to count,
have one count down while the other counts up.
Variations
Once you have the basic two-person technique down, you can have fun
trying a few variations on it.
For an extra zing, try adding spatial movement to the dual voices. I love
sitting a hypnotee or two in chairs, then having my co-hypnotist and myself
walk around them in circles as we do the dual induction. In addition to the
dual voice confusion you get spatial confusion, and a sense of being sucked
down into trance by a verbal whirlpool.
If you have limited moving-around room, you can put one hypnotist in front
and one in back. Then, as you do your inductions, lean alternately left and
right, always keeping the hypnotee's head between you (so one of you leans
to the hypnotee's left while the other leans to their right). Change positions
every few seconds, and your hypnotee will get an interesting rocking
sensation even though they're sitting still.
You can also add a kinesthetic element by having one or both of you stroke
an arm, shoulder, leg, or side of the face as you speak. The sensations of
touch, whether you touch in unison or not, will add to the confusion and
overload.
There is no reason to stop at two hypnotists. One of my first co-topping

scenes was one in which I, Lady Ru'etha, and our friend Sweets triple-
teamed my wife-to-be Dani to drop her into a deliciously deep trance and
give her a mind-blowing orgasm. This is truly a case where the more the
merrier.
Similarly, these techniques work just as well with multiple hypnotees. It

may require more movement to do the spatial variations, but it's all quite
viable. At NEEHU 6 LeeAllure and DJ Pynchon put an entire room full of
people into trance by walking around the room in circles, opposite each
other, while speaking different inductions.
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After the Induction

Once your trance partner is hypnotized, you can continue to use both voices
to give suggestions and/or play out the scene. Depending on what you want
to achieve, you can decide how to blend the two hypnotist voices (or not).
If your scene is primarily based around creating an emotional state, such as

arousing someone to the point of orgasm, then one very powerful way to do
that is for both hypnotists to keep going the same way they did for the
induction. Two separate sets of suggestions with the same goal, spoken at
the same time, can be used to bombard the hypnotee's mind and produce a
very intense experience. Weave your words together, playing the phrases
across, and that effect only gets more powerful and interesting. Or, you can
have one giving suggestions for a particular emotional state or goal while
the other gives suggestions that deepen, or that are aimed at increasing the
feeling of being overwhelmed, overpowered, unable to resist, etc.
You can also start to alternate voices, with A speaking a sentence or

suggestion and then B either echoing it or adding another. Doing this well
demonstrates that A and B are in sync with one another, a dual entity, and
that can add depth to some kinds of scenes. If you do this, both hypnotists
have to know where the scene is going so they can both contribute to
getting it there. See the notes on co-topping that follow for some specifics.
You can also simply have one hypnotist drop out and let the other one do
the suggestion work. This is perfectly valid and makes sense if one of the
hypnotists is the primary partner of that hypnotee. In that case the other
hypnotist is in a supporting role, so the primary partner should do most of
the suggesting. The other hypnotist may want to add quiet, background
suggestions about submitting to the primary (using their name).
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Co-Topping
Co-topping is a BDSM concept that we can apply to erotic hypnosis even
when there is no BDSM-like content in the scene. It is simply two or more
dominants running a scene together with one or more submissive partners.
There can be some challenges in co-topping. For starters, communication is

vital because the more people you add to a scene the more opportunities
there are to miscommunicate or misunderstand each other. Every voice
needs to be heard in negotiations, and everyone's needs, wants, and limits
need to be voiced and respected.
When two or more tops are running a scene, they have to be in good
agreement as to what the scene is about and how they expect it to unfold.
The two dominants' styles may be very different, so they need to work out
how they will mesh them to create a good scene for everyone.
With those challenges, though, come some very satisfying benefits. Co-
topping is a great way for a less experienced top to learn from the more
experienced one, picking up tips and tricks they can use when they play
with others. Two skilled tops can play off each other, generating more
energy that adds passion and power to the scene.
Co-topping also creates opportunities to bring different skill sets into the
scene. For example, one top might be a skilled hypnotist and the other a
skilled rope top. The hypnotist can entrance the bottom and then “freeze”
them and whisper arousal and submission suggestions in their ear while the
rope top binds and flies them, and perhaps trigger multiple orgasms while
they are suspended.
There are also benefits for the bottom(s). They feel that increased energy
that the co-tops are generating and join into it. For those that enjoy being
objectified, two tops can talk about the bottom as if they were not present.
They can also combine their abilities to overload the bottom with
sensations, for example by one using hypnotic suggestion to control the
perception of pain while the other wields a flogger or cane.
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Negotiation
Negotiations can get complicated in a co-topping scene. As mentioned
above, the more people you involve in a scene the easier it is for someone to
misunderstand so everyone needs to make sure they are being heard and that
they understand what is being agreed to.
When I co-top, I like to have two negotiations. First, the whole group
assembles to establish everyone's desires, limits, and expectations and set
the basic parameters of the scene. Then the co-tops get together to generate
ideas, select their roles, and discuss their co-topping preferences and
protocol. I've actually done this with the bottom present but hypnotized to
be unaware that the co-top and I were speaking about them, which is pretty
hot by itself.
Execution
Executing a co-topping erotic hypnosis scene is not that different from a
one-on-one scene. If both tops are competent hypnotists, a dual induction is
a great way to start. Not only does it put the bottom(s) into a good, deep
state, but it also helps get the tops into rapport with each other. That rapport
helps them maintain flow throughout the scene.
During the scene, I find it helpful to apply some of the rules of improv:
Yes, and... – Whatever either of you says or does in the scene that
establishes a fact, that is now real for the duration of the scene. The
best thing you can do is acknowledge that and then add to it. For
example, if your co-top says, “We have your co-conspirator in the
next cell” you might say, “That's right, so there's really no benefit to
you in refusing us; if you won't talk, we'll simply torture him until he
does.”
No pimping! “Pimping” in improv refers to putting the onus on

another person to complete your idea. For example, if one of you
points to the other and says, “My associate here has a particularly
fiendish plan to make you talk, and he's going to tell you about it
right now” that would be pimping. It puts the other top on the spot,
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which can break the smooth flow of the scene.
It is important when co-topping to respect the position of your hypnotee's

primary partner. If the primary is one of the co-tops, they should have the
lead role unless they decline it. As the scene plays out, defer to the primary
whenever there is a question about which way to proceed. And remember
that the primary will know their partner’s limits and preferences better than
you do.
While the scene is going on, all of the co-tops need to keep a close watch on
the bottom(s). Note their body language and reactions. If you have any
doubt about whether they are okay, check in. If a scene is going to be edgy,
I will make sure to reinforce what safewords are in play, make sure the
hypnotee(s) understand and agree to use them automatically whenever they
are appropriate, and emphasize that no other hypnotic suggestion can ever
interfere with their ability to use a safeword.
Aftercare
Depending on the intensity of the scene, some decompression time may be
warranted when the scene is over. This is a good time to give each other
feedback. Talk about what you enjoyed in the scene, what you would have
done differently, or what you noticed in your scene partners that helped
you. Make sure that everybody has processed, or is in a good head space,
before you go your separate ways.
Co-topping is challenging. It requires good communication skills, rapport,

and a willingness to cooperate in creating something awesome. The reward
is often a scene that simply couldn't be done, or couldn't be done as well,
with only two people.
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Mutual Hypnosis
In mutual hypnosis, each participant in the trance is both hypnotist and
hypnotee. It's a technique that requires a certain degree of confidence on the
part of every participant, but the results can be very interesting.
The 1969 book Altered States of Consciousness is a compilation of articles

assembled and edited by Charles Tart. One chapter is a report by Tart on a
series of experiments he conducted with two volunteers, referred to as Bill
and Anne in the paper. By having Bill hypnotize Anne, and then while she
was still in deep trance having Anne hypnotize Bill, both Anne and Bill
reported much deeper trance experiences than they normally had on their
own. For Anne, the ability to go into deeper trance more quickly and easily
persisted even after the mutual trancing experiments ended.
Before you start your session, select an environment where you and your
partner can be comfortable, can see each other clearly, and can maintain
some sort of physical contact. The contact can be holding hands, resting a
hand on a leg, or anything else that you're comfortable with; it helps to
promote rapport and non verbal communication between you. You can be
sitting or lying down, as you wish.
Place your partner into trance, maintaining that physical contact as you do.
Eye-to-eye fixation inductions are great for this because of the intimate
feelings they provoke, but you can use any induction that you're
comfortable with. Deepen to a moderate trance depth, and then continue:
In a few moments, I'm going to count from one to three. On the

count of three you open your eyes, remaining deeply hypnotized
as you are now, and make eye contact with me. You then use
whatever words come to mind to hypnotize me.
As you hypnotize me, you feel the deep sense of rapport, of

connection, that our minds establish, and the more I relax the
more you relax. When my eyes close, your eyes close, and you
can deepen my trance using whatever words happen to come into
your mind at the time. Once we are both deeply hypnotized we
can each make suggestions, any suggestions that our minds
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desire. Every suggestion either of us makes affects us both, and

with every suggestion we make we can easily slip deeper down
into this shared state of profound deep trance.
We remain in this profound, mutual, deep trance state until

(choose either an amount of time, or an event of some sort that
you plan to have during the trance). Then we suggest to each
other rising out of trance and returning to our full waking state.
One … two … three.
When your partner opens their eyes, go ahead and make eye contact. When
you look into the blank gaze of a hypnotized person, mirror neurons in your
own brain start firing off and lead you into a similar state. (I used this
technique at NEEHU 6, leading a hypnotized Lizzidoll around to several
other people and having her hypnotize them just by looking into their eyes.)
Once you are both in trance, you can each start making suggestions.
Depending on your relationship and limits, you might do any number of
things, such as:
suggesting increasing arousal, leading yourselves to a mutual orgasm
continuing to deepen, just looking for a really deep shared trance

experience
begin a guided imagery scene in which you explore an imaginary

world that you create together with your suggestions
Since you are both in trance, and may be experiencing time distortion, it's a
good idea to establish when you will bring each other out of trance again.
You can use a given time – say, 20 minutes – and when one of you senses
that the 20 minutes is up you will wake yourselves. You could also set an
external signal, like an alarm clock, to indicate when it is time to come
back. If you are doing a shared fantasy or some kind of erotic scene, you
can agree to bring yourselves out of trance when the experience is over. As
long as you agree on the timing, the details are not so important.
Practicing mutual hypnosis has some interesting side effects. Just a few
sessions together caused both Bill and Anne to develop greater skill at going
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into trance, whether they did it together or in more conventional settings. If

one of you is less adept at achieving deep trance states than they would like
to be, practicing mutual hypnosis could be a fast way of helping them get
better at it.
Hypnotic play in general has a tendency to promote strong emotional

connections between people who play together. When you practice mutual
hypnosis this is even more the case, so be prepared to handle the feelings
that may come up between yourself and your mutual trance partner. This is
an advanced technique and probably best saved for people that you already
feel close with.
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Discussion Points
1. How could you achieve the same effect as a dual induction with only
one hypnotist?
2. Suppose you are at an erotic hypnosis convention and are

approached by a rope top who wants you to co-top a kidnapping
scene where their bottom is hypnotically “chloroformed” and
abducted, then tied up nude and molested by one of the kidnappers.
Assuming you agree, what are some of the things you would cover
during negotiation with the pair? With just the top?
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Exercises
1. With two willing partners, practice performing a dual induction.
Rotate through so that each of you gets a turn being the hypnotee.
2. With a willing partner, practice mutual hypnosis. Pay particular

attention to what the trance experience feels like for you, and how it
differs from your normal trance play.
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Even today, with all we've learned about hypnosis, a disturbing number of
people still view the things we do with erotic hypnosis as a form of rape.
Part of the blame for this falls on the media, who love to sensationalize
stories with headlines like “Hypnotist thief puts shopkeeper in trance before
robbing him” (The Telegraph, December 2014) because “Con artist
confuses shopkeeper and robs him” is far less interesting. Part of it is the
sleazier elements of society, where people combine hypnosis or NLP with
coercion and fast-talking to try and breach people's boundaries, sometimes
successfully. The pickup artist community has a culture of bragging about
their conquests, as if the people they pick up in singles' bars would have had
absolutely no inclination for a hookup if not bamboozled by mad NLP
skills.
In the erotic hypnosis community we – meaning myself, the community

leaders, and my fellow teachers – have gone to great lengths to establish a
culture of consent. In a culture of consent, those who use influence
techniques, either hypnosis or NLP or something else, do so only with the
prior, informed, conscious consent of the person they use them with.
The line between full, conscious, informed consent and predatory behavior
is neither sharp nor well-defined; it is a murky gray area, where things
become very dependent on the subjective experiences of those involved.
Within that murky area is the concept of consensual non-consent.
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Presenter Notes
This topic can be challenging to teach for some of the same reasons that
ethics gets touchy. Everyone has their own idea of how much explicit
consent is required for a given scene. At some events the rule requires
explicit verbal consent for any touch, even something like people in an
intimate relationship innocently holding hands while watching a scene. At
others, anything goes as long as the Dungeon Monitor has been alerted
ahead of time that a con-noncon scene will be taking place. Both
approaches are equally valid, as is pretty much anything else people may
come up with. It's hard to lay down rules when the subject is this squishy.
My advice to you as a presenter is to find out what your most popular local
venues state in their rules for this sort of thing and teach to those rules. If
your community group has recommendations or standards, use those as
well. With the diversity of opinions and experiences, you probably should
do this as a round table discussion rather than as a lecture so that everyone
is encouraged to participate and there can be a full exchange of ideas.
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What is CNC anyway?

Kinkipedia defines consensual non-consent (CNC) as “a mutual agreement
to be able to act as if consent has been waived.” In parts of the BDSM
community, though, the same term is used to describe a scene in which
there is the appearance that one or more of the participants is not
consenting, though in actual fact consent was negotiated and obtained prior
to the scene. The whole concept, regardless of which definition you use, is
controversial in part because it is so difficult for an onlooker to distinguish a
real consent violation from a CNC scene, which raises the possibility of
someone suffering serious psychological harm.
Most CNC play requires an extreme degree of trust and understanding

between the partners in the scene. It is not for casual play, and not for
people who have just met and are exploring erotic hypnosis together – the
chances of a miscommunication are just too high in those cases. The best
context for CNC play is that of an existing, stable relationship in which all
of the people involved fully trust one another and know what each other's
limits and desires are.
Hypnosis brings its own variations to CNC that are unique to the hypnotic
relationship. Surprise inductions, in which the hypnotee is simply dropped
into trance without warning or preamble, are one example. There is also the
concept of pushing, where soft limits are stretched deliberately to create an
experience that may expand the hypnotee's horizons. Combined with
memory play, you can create scenes in which your partner believes they are
being taken without consent even though their consent was actually
obtained ahead of time.
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Surprise Inductions
Imagine being at a convention like NEEHU, in one of the socializing areas,
talking to someone. A new person enters the room, walks up behind the
person you are talking to, and suddenly your conversation-mate goes limp
and falls back into the new person's arms. Did you just witness a consent
violation?
Maybe. Maybe not. (Either way, though, it’s rude.)
For some people, the idea that they could be taken into trance with no
warning, no formalities of asking permission or making sure it's a good
time, is an incredibly hot thing all by itself. Now consider the possibilities
for a hypnotic “kidnapping” scene and you can see why getting explicit
consent before every trance induction might spoil certain kinds of scenes.
This is a case where a little CNC can be fun and enjoyable for everyone
involved. It's also one where you don't necessarily need a strong pre-
established relationship. To satisfy the requirement of consent, you simply
need to establish with your partner that they are okay with you performing
surprise inductions on them. If you know each other well and trust one
another sufficiently, this may be an ongoing agreement; with someone
you've met at an event, you might give them your consent (or obtain their
consent) for the duration of the event. Either way, you've now established
consent and you can feel free to indulge in surprise inductions within
whatever limits were specified (such as, “Not when I'm attending one of
Wiseguy's classes.”).
For the hypnotee, having given consent in advance this way can actually
heighten the sense of anticipation. The act of being asked for consent and
giving it, of course, practically promises that at some point or points they'll
be getting dropped by surprise; if they kink on that, it will only make it
more satisfying when it happens.
The downside of doing surprise inductions is that others who witness it may
not know that you obtained consent in advance. Be prepared to answer
questions if they are asked.
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If you want to do surprise inductions, the two most common methods are
the pattern interrupt and the reinduction trigger. Reinduction triggers are
discussed in Chapter 13. One of the advantages of using one in a convention
setting is that it's very hard to question whether you have consent – after all,
you have to have installed the trigger at some prior point so clearly your
partner consented to it. Some people consider it cheating to use a
reinduction trigger, though.
Pattern interrupt inductions are fast enough to take people by surprise. The
classic form is the handshake induction; two examples of handshake
inductions are described in Chapter 15. With someone you already know, of
course, it would be strange and suspicious to come over and start to shake
hands. What to do?
Remember that the mechanism of the pattern interrupt is general; any time
you can create surprise and get someone experiencing that what-the-fuck?
state of mind, you have successfully interrupted a pattern and can start
giving them suggestions. Examples of non-handshake patterns you can
easily interrupt include:
Hand them an object, and as they start to take it from you pull it
away and place their hand in front of their face. Continue as with the
Bandler version of the handshake (Chapter 15).
Come up behind them while their attention is on something else.

Quickly put your arms around them (for support and surprise) and
command, “Sleep!” Alternately, swipe your hand downward in front
of their face and say “Sleep!”
If they start to get up from a chair, let them get about halfway up.
Reach over, push them back down into the chair, and say “Sleep!”
With a little creativity you will think of several more.
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Resistance Play
One of the all-time great tropes of hypnosis in the media is the idea of the
all-powerful charismatic hypnotist whom no innocent can resist. We can
probably thank Mesmer for that; he believed and taught that the ability to
mesmerize was an innate quality that certain individuals, such as himself,
possessed, and that his induction was a matter of imposing his will upon the
magnetic fluid in his subject to cause trance.
As a modern professional hypnotist I spend a lot of time reminding people

that it's their mind; they can always resist or refuse anything I say to them if
they want to. For some people, though, it's a lot sexier to feel that Mesmer
was right – that they might try to resist, but must ultimately succumb to the
hypnotist's power. And as long as everyone knows, if only subconsciously,
that they're enacting a fantasy there's absolutely nothing wrong with
indulging it.
In hypnotic resistance play, the hypnotee willfully tries to resist the

suggestions of the hypnotist in order to feel the sensation of inevitable
surrender when their resistance fails. The thrill for the bottom is in the
struggle, in the feeling of being taken or overpowered. That is why I put
resistance play in this chapter, because it can appear to an onlooker as if the
hypnotist is actively disregarding their partner's refusal to consent or
deliberately pushing them to cross their own limits.
Resistance and Brats

I often hear people refer to brattiness as a type of resistance play, but that
isn’t always the case. To me, the essence of a brat is playful equivocation. A
brat doesn't generally refuse to comply with a suggestion; instead they look
for loopholes that will allow them to comply with the letter of the
suggestion while producing a result other than what the hypnotist wanted.
That might include wisecracking or back-talking as a way of distracting
themselves or delaying their response to, say, an arousal-inducing
suggestion. When there is no loophole, a brat will playfully complain or
poke fun at the situation.
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In resistance play, there is no looking for loopholes or complying in

unexpected ways; the hypnotee actively tries to resist the suggestions. That's
an entirely different dynamic; it becomes a battle of wills more than a battle
of wits, whether the hypnotee is bratting or not. And with resistance play,
you both know that the hypnotee ultimately has to lose the battle or there
won't be a scene.
Induction Resistance
A very common resistance game is for the hypnotee to resist being
hypnotized in the first place. When you approach your partner with their
favorite shiny bauble dangling from your hand, they may look away or
close their eyes, for instance. Which is fine – you can shift gears on them
and do a different style of induction, perhaps along these lines:
If you don't want to look, that's perfectly okay with me. In fact, go
ahead; do your best; TRY to resist that temptation to look, to
watch, to follow … TRY to resist that desire that you know is in
your heart … the desire to submit, to surrender, to obey …
Keep your eyes averted, or just close them down so you can't see
… that's right … even now, you're finding it easier and easier to
do as I suggest, to avoid letting your gaze get captured, because
deep down you know that once your resolve weakens, once you
sneak even a tiny peek, there's no avoiding that wonderful, floaty,
drifty feeling that always comes over you as I take you into
trance.
You know that feeling well, don't you? Try not to think about it;
whatever you do, do NOT think about how it feels to be
captivated, seduced, lulled into that deep, peaceful, obedient state
of trance … because the more you think about that feeling, the
more you remember that feeling, the more you crave it … the
more you need it … the more you feel it creeping into your mind
again, even now, as you TRY to resist it … TRY to avoid it … but
the harder you TRY, the more difficult it becomes as that trancey,
drifty feeling get stronger and stronger … pulling you down into
blissful obedience, whether you consciously think you want to or
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not … that's right.
Because even as you TRY to resist the pull of my voice, the

overwhelming craving to just surrender into trance for me, you
just can't stop yourself from imagining what it feels like when you
simply can't resist any longer … when it's just too hard to keep
trying … and my words, echoing through your mind, make it so
easy to just … let … go … NOW.
This induction is based on the common technique of accessing a previous

trance. Get someone to remember what being in trance feels like and they
automatically start feeling it again because that's how memory works. Every
admonishment not to think about it naturally causes the person to think
about it, as in the classic “Don't think of an elephant.” Combine that with
the repeated use of try, which always implies failure, and you end up with a
pretty aggressive version of a standard, usually passive technique and an
induction that can really set the tone for a hot resistance scene.
Suggestion Resistance
Perhaps your partner has succumbed to your induction, but still wants to
play at resisting your suggestions. As long as they are playing at resistance
– meaning, they are not actually opposed to the suggestion but just want the
thrill of being “made” to obey – you can use a few tricks to turn their
resistance against them.
One of my favorites is the language pattern “the more/the more.” This

pattern ties together a cause and an effect, regardless of how unrelated the
two things might be. For example:
Isn't it interesting how the more you try to resist my command to

remove your shirt the more that shirt seems to get itchy, tight, and
uncomfortable?
Haven't you noticed yet how the more you struggle to defy me the
more that part of your mind that wants to obey gets harder and
harder to ignore?
I like to use “the more/the more” to tie an emotional response to a partner's
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resistance – preferably an emotion that will weaken their resolve, of course.

You might try something like:
I love watching you try to resist me, because the very act of trying
to resist causes you to become increasingly aroused. That's right,
the more you try to resist the stronger that arousal becomes, and
of course the more aroused you become the more your body
wants to give in, to submit, to obey.
If they continue to resist, and you're sure you're not crossing any limits,
eventually they are going to want to orgasm. At that point, you add:
And now, of course, you've spent so much energy resisting, gotten

yourself so aroused, that your body yearns to orgasm. And
because I'm not cruel, I will allow you to orgasm as long and as
hard as you like – but only when you obey the command you've
been trying so hard to resist.
Another amusing (for the dom) variation on that theme is to set up a cycle
where a resisted suggestion reinforces itself the more they try to resist, as in:
You might TRY to resist what I've just suggested, of course, but
the more you TRY to resist my suggestion the more powerfully it
repeats itself in your mind. The very act of TRYing to resist
causes my suggestions to repeat in your mind, getting stronger
and stronger each time you do it. The more you try to resist, the
more powerful my suggestions become. The more you try to think
of anything other than obeying me, the more you find that your
mind focuses on my suggestions, unable to think coherently about
anything else until you obey.
Other interesting variations on this theme include:
Use sensation play to generate an unwelcome sensation, like tickling

or poking or itching, that persists until the hypnotee follows the
suggestion.
If your hypnotee likes to be poked, spanked, or tickled, instead

suggest numbness. I've been known to have numbness start in their
erogenous zones and spread out from there the longer they resist.
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For an auditory partner, choose a song or sound that annoys them

greatly and have them start hearing it, getting louder and louder until
they obey.
These are all harmless and playfully cruel ways to win the resistance game.
And when the hypnotist wins, everyone does.
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Turning the Tables

A popular fantasy with some tops and many switches, “turning the tables” is
a scene where the hypnotist and hypnotee switch roles partway through.
The typical example is one where the hypnotee seizes an opportunity to
hypnotize the hypnotist and then takes over topping the scene.
There are several ways in which you could set up a turning-the-tables scene.
In this example, the turning point and method are specified in advance:
In a few moments as I count from one to three you come all the
way back, fully awake, fully alert, but not entirely in control of
yourself. Your body is under an overpowering post-hypnotic
suggestion to perform a sexy strip tease for me. You might try to
resist that suggestion to do a sexy strip tease for me, but you find
that your body just does it, automatically, unstoppably, no matter
how hard you try to stop it, and with every piece of clothing that
comes off you become more and more powerfully aroused..
However, you discover that you do have some control over what
you say and do during the strip tease. You realize that I'm
watching you closely, and that if you are sneaky and clever about
it you can use your body as a fixation object, drawing my
attention closer and closer, and hypnotize me as you strip. The
more you see me falling under your spell, the more it arouses and
excites you, filling you with lust.
You must complete your strip tease, but once you have you
deepen my trance until I can no longer resist you and then use
hypnotic suggestions to seduce me into fucking you.
Knowing exactly how the transition will occur and what will happen
afterward has appeal for some. If your partner is only marginally
comfortable topping, a scene like that gives them enough boundaries to still
feel that you are ultimately in control.
If your partner is also a skilled hypnotist and your relationship is such that
you both are comfortable with a more open-ended scene, you might do
458
something like this:
In a little while, we will go out to dinner together. Starting as

soon as we leave, and lasting until you go to sleep for the night,
you find that you just automatically do anything that I ask you to
do as long as I say 'please'. Any request at all that includes the
word 'please' is an irresistible hypnotic command that you
immediately, automatically obey to the best of your ability.
Every time you obey a request because of this suggestion, you feel
a little surge of erotic pleasure, arousal and desire. The more out
of the ordinary the request is, the stronger that surge of erotic
pleasure, arousal, and desire becomes.
Naturally, when your conscious mind realizes that I'm using a

posthypnotic suggestion to get you to do things for me, you may
want to retaliate in some way but starting right now your
conscious mind is completely unable to remember any of the
hypnotic triggers you've set up to use on me; they're all carefully
hidden away in a closet in your subconscious mind, safe and
sound but completely unavailable to your conscious mind
temporarily. The harder you try to remember any of those
triggers the more thoroughly they hide away from you. The
memory of those triggers, and your ability to use them, stays
hidden until I say the phrase 'Johnny Mnemonic.' Once I say
'Johnny Mnemonic' all of those hidden memories come back to
you and you can once again use and remember any triggers
you've set for me.
Each and every time you obey a request because I said 'please'
you get more aroused, feel more desire, and have a stronger wish
to get back at me, but the more those triggers hide themselves in
the back of your mind. In order to get back at me, you'll have to
think of a way you can hypnotize me by surprise. Once you've
hypnotized me, you can give me any suggestions that you like
within our usual agreed-upon limits, including the suggestion to
tell you what will restore your memory, but with every suggestion
you give me you become more and more aroused, lusty, and
horny for me.
459
When your subconscious has fully agreed to this game, and to

hiding the memory of this trance session from you until after
you've successfully hypnotized me tonight, you can give me a nod.
(Wait for the nod and emerge.)
In this variant, both you and your partner have a lot of leeway for
improvisation and spontaneity. All you know is that at some point your
partner is going to try a surprise induction on you and that they will be in a
frame of mind where sexytimes are extremely likely.
460
Hypnosleep
The term hypnosleep was coined by Dave Elman to refer to a technique for
inducing trance in someone who is currently in natural sleep. He devotes an
entire chapter of his seminal book Hypnotherapy to the technique, including
accounts of sessions he performed on his own son.
If hypnosleep is executed successfully, the hypnotee goes back to sleep and

wakes in the morning with no conscious idea that the hypnosleep session
even took place. As you can imagine, this makes the technique very easy to
abuse. Using it without prior discussion and informed consent just about
guarantees the destruction of all trust in a relationship. Using it with prior
discussion and consent can make for a fascinating CNC experience as your
partner wakes in the morning and starts acting on posthypnotic suggestions
they don't remember receiving.
The process for hypnosleep goes like this:
1. Watch your partner closely. Note their breathing rate; someone in

deep sleep typically breathes six to eight times per minute.
2. In a quiet voice, say:
This is (your name) speaking. You can hear me clearly, but you can't
wake up. You can hear me clearly, but you can't wake up.
Repeat several times
3. Very gently touch a finger while saying:
This finger I'm touching now can wiggle when your deep mind is
listening. I'll know you're hearing me when this finger wiggles. You
can hear me and respond but you can't wake up.
Repeat until the finger wiggles. Stop if your partner starts to wake.
4. Make your suggestions. Do not expect any verbal response, but if

you need to ask yes/no questions you can use ideomotor response
(this finger for Yes, this one for No) to get answers. Use very simple
461
The Esdaile State
words, and be careful not to touch or jostle them too much.
5. To end the session:
And now, you can return to sleep and let your conscious mind
remain completely unaware that I was even talking to you.
Dave Elman wrote in Hypnotherapy that the hypnosleep technique could

actually bypass the critical factor completely, meaning that you could get
someone to accept a suggestion that violates their morals. Elman didn't
intentionally test this (at least not that he wrote about), but he does describe
his experience using hypnosleep with his young son, without his son's
knowledge. The boy woke during one of the sessions, and from then on
Elman was unable to get him back into hypnosleep. That strongly indicates
that Elman was wrong about the ability to completely override the hidden
observer – his son no longer trusted him and would not cooperate anymore.
Discussion Points
1. What would be some good ways for someone to advertise their

willingness to be hypnotized by surprise at an event?
2. What risks can you think of in doing resistance play with someone
you've just met?
3. Suppose your partner expresses an interest in being hypnotized in

their sleep. What kinds of guidelines would you want to negotiate for
this?
462
The Esdaile State

For most erotic and recreational purposes there is no need to stress over
depth of trance. Having said that, it feels great to spend some time in a deep
trance state. The Esdaile state, or “hypnotic coma,” is generally accepted as
the deepest known hypnotic state. Knowing how to take someone there
gives you a delightful reward you can lavish on a worthy trance partner.
463
The Esdaile State
Presenter Notes
I've taught about the Esdaile state at several events, and it always surprises
me how many people are curious about it even after I explain that it's not
particularly good for erotic uses. The curiosity of kinksters is probably
limitless, and I love it that way.
The best way to teach about this is to demonstrate it. You can choose a
volunteer from your audience, but be aware that if they've never been in the
Esdaile state before you can't tell in advance how much work it will take to
get them there. This is one where I usually select my demo bottom in
advance; most of the time it's my wife Dani, because I know how quickly
she can go there.
Because the amount of time it can take to get someone into Esdaile for the
first time is so unpredictable, I would recommend against doing a hands-on
during your class. Instead, do the lecture and demo, take questions, then end
the class part and follow up with mentored practice time. That will allow
you and some volunteer mentors to circulate and offer advice when needed
while giving everyone enough time to work with their partners at their own
pace. Your audience gets practice time but you don't have to worry about
minding the clock and keeping control of the group.
464
A Little History
In the mid 19th century Dr. James Esdaile, a Scottish surgeon working in
India, discovered that he could use mesmerism (as it was then called) to
anesthetize patients before surgery. His results were so impressive that
when an independent commission reviewed his work and confirmed
Esdaile's results Esdaile was awarded with his own small hospital in
Calcutta.
Esdaile (or, more accurately, assistants working under his direction)

induced in his patients a profoundly deep trance state which is now formally
known as the Esdaile state. Because people in this state tend to appear as if
their vital functions have gone minimal the state is also sometimes called
the “hypnotic coma.”
Until recently it was widely believed that the Esdaile state was interesting
but useless for most therapeutic purposes because people in Esdaile did not
respond to suggestions, including the suggestion to come out of trance. The
state was used primarily for its original purpose, for surgery and drug-free
natural childbirth, and that was about it. In more recent years, however,
research led by Kevin Hogan and Ines Simpson has shown that a person in
Esdaile can and will accept suggestions, but for most actually responding in
any physical way is just too much work. Simpson and Hogan have
developed protocols for communicating with people in the Esdaile state and
conducting effective therapy there.
465
The Esdaile State
Why Esdaile?
Erotic hypnosis is not therapy. Most of the time you won't want your
partner so zonked out that they can't move or speak. So why go the the
effort to take someone that deep?
Before we dismiss using Esdaile for scenes, consider that there are some
fairly common fantasies that involve one person “molesting” another person
who is either under anesthesia or otherwise rendered unconscious and
unresponsive. The Esdaile state is as close as someone can get to that
condition without actually using drugs or blunt force trauma. As an added
benefit, when the scene is over they will be able to remember clearly how it
felt and what was done.
The main reason to put someone into the Esdaile state, though, is that it
feels absolutely awesome. People in Esdaile often report feelings of
euphoria. Stress, worry, and tension melt away just from being there, before
a single suggestion has been made. For someone who loves to be
hypnotized, Esdaile time can be a wonderful treat.
466
Getting There
Taking someone into the Esdaile state for the first time can be a lengthy
process. It's not difficult, just time-consuming.
Before you start, make sure that your partner is seated comfortably and
securely. They are going to get very floppy, so a standard-issue straight-
back or folding chair is not ideal. When I demo this at a convention, and
folding chairs are typically all that's available, I sit right next to my demo
bottom and put an arm around them so I can hold them safely. (Obviously
you need to get consent first for that degree of physical contact; luckily, I've
been told that I'm very cuddly.)
Start by doing an induction. Any induction is fine, so pick one that is well
suited to your partner. Since the ultimate goal is extreme depth, I often use
the fractionation induction from Chapter 5 to get started.
Move from your induction directly into deepening. You can use typical
deepeners (see Chapter 6), or you can do another induction or two. If you
started with the fractionation induction, doing a relaxation induction like
Body Scanning would be an excellent deepening technique. I will often
follow that with the furniture store deepener (Chapter 6); if you prefer a
staircase or counting down deepener will work fine too. The goal is to get
your partner deep enough that it's difficult, but not impossible, for them to
form words. Once their verbal responses are slow, quiet, and a little bit
mumbled, they are ready for one more deepening exercise.
This deepener comes from James Ramey and is very frequently used to
induce the Esdaile state.
And as you relax now, so deeply, it may feel to you as if you've

reached your personal bottom … the deepest you've ever been.
And it feels so good to be there, doesn't it? Nice and deep.
But you know, there is another level of relaxation and trance

below this one. Twice as deep, in fact, as where you are right
now. It's the basement of relaxation, level A. And to get there, all
you need to do is instruct your mind to do whatever it needs to do
467
The Esdaile State
so that you become twice as deeply relaxed, twice as focused, as

you are right now. Go ahead now and tell yourself to let go and
go twice as deep … take as long as you need … and when you're
twice as deep as you were a moment ago, just say to me, 'A'.
(Wait for them to say “A”.)
Good! And you can notice how wonderful it feels here in the
basement of relaxation, at level A. But there is another level even
deeper than this one … level B. To get there, all you have to do is
instruct your mind to TRIPLE the relaxation you feel right now.
Go ahead and do that now, and when you've become three times
as relaxed in your mind and body, it will be a struggle to speak,
but say to me, 'B'. Take as long as you like … as long as you need
… to get three times as relaxed.
(Wait for “B”. It may be very muffled and indistinct, so listen

closely and watch for lip movement. When you get it, take one of
your partner's hands and rest it over yours.)
Very good! And you know, as beautiful and calming as Level B is,
there is one more level that is even deeper, more relaxing, more
wonderful than this one … Level C. And all you have to do to get
to Level C is to instruct your mind to relax five times as deeply as
you are right now. At Level C you become so relaxed that it's
simply too difficult to speak, so instruct your mind to increase
your relaxation, increase your focus, until you are five times as
deep as right now, and when you've finished you can just let this
hand squeeze on mine to let me know you've reached Level C.
Take all the time you need … that's right …
(Wait for the squeeze. It will likely be a very light squeeze.)
At this point, your partner should be in Esdaile. The Esdaile state is marked
by a few specific traits that you can easily test for.
1. Without saying anything at all, lift one of your partner's arms into
the air. It doesn't have to high; shoulder level will do. Hold it there
for a second or two, and then start to let go. If the arm stays in place,
you have spontaneous catalepsy (prolonged maintaining of body
468
posture without suggesting it), which is one of the attributes of the

Esdaile state. If the arm flops when you let go, deepen some more –
invent a Level D, or E, and simply continue the deepener from there.
Keep testing for this until they pass.
2. Lower the arm again. Now choose one of your partner's hands and
pinch the area in the middle of the back of the hand. Pinch it hard
enough to make a small mark that fades in a minute or so. People in
Esdaile experience spontaneous anesthesia (loss of sensation without
suggesting it); if they don't respond to the pinch, they pass.
3. This test is absolutely optional – I don't like to do it because it's kind

of rude. Yell, “WAKE UP RIGHT NOW!” loudly at your partner. If
they don't respond at all, they pass. (This does not mean they did not
hear you yelling – trust me, they did. Which is why I don't like to do
this test.)
If you've got spontaneous catalepsy and spontaneous anesthesia, your

partner has achieved the Esdaile state. Praise them for it, and let them enjoy
it.
While your partner is in Esdaile, you actually can give them suggestions.
However, you probably should avoid suggestions that involve any kind of
verbal response, body movement, or powerful emotional state. If following
your suggestion is too much work, your partner may ignore it entirely or
they may try to follow it and get pulled out of Esdaile doing so, which will
make them unhappy with you. You can establish basic ideomotor signals,
along the lines of “twitch this finger for yes, this one for no,” to
communicate. One thing you might very well want to do is establish a
trigger that takes your partner from any other trance state into Esdaile.
469
The Esdaile State
Coming Back
Being in the Esdaile state is a little like deep sea diving: when you're down
that far, it's a very bad idea to come up too quickly. While a rapid wake-up
from Esdaile will not jeopardize anyone's life, it can be extremely
disorienting.
When I emerge someone from Esdaile, I first ask them to come up from
Esdaile into a regular deep trance. It is not unusual to get some grumbling
here – the Esdaile state feels amazing, and it's pretty common for people to
not want to come out just because you ask them to. It helps if you can give
them a reason, such as an obligation or another activity they enjoy.
In some hypnosis books I've seen it commonly recommended that when a

“subject” (as they insist on labeling the person in trance) is reluctant to
emerge you should say something like, “If you don't come out of trance
RIGHT NOW you will never be able to achieve this deep state again.”
Personally, I can't think of a worse thing to say to someone you're supposed
to be taking care of!
Be nice! If your partner is reluctant, tell them that you understand they may
not want to come up right now because it feels so good to be in that deep
state, but you need them to come out now because <insert reason here>.
And they can always come back to this state later, when there is more time
to enjoy it. Given a decent reason, everyone I've ever done this with has
come out of trance for me.
Give your partner a few minutes in a non-Esdaile trance state. Ideally, have
them do a few things that involve moving the body and talking so they start
to shake off that physical lassitude that Esdaile can bring. Then bring them
the rest of the way out.
Even with this gradual emerging it's still fairly normal for your partner to
feel a little disoriented or fuzzy, sort of like someone abruptly awakened
from a nap. And of course they are still highly suggestible. So stay with
them until they are all the way with it and feeling fully alert again.
470
Beyond Esdaile?
Walter Sichort Sr. was a famous hypnotist, stage performer and teacher
from the 1950s. During his stage act he routinely put his assistant into a
deep trance state in which she stood stock still while he lifted her and
rotated, creating the illusion that the assistant, whom he always had dressed
in an angel costume, was flying. Sichort called this super-deep trance the
catatonic level of the Esdaile state; after his death in 2000, his disciples
renamed it the Sichort state in his honor.
From there things got a bit ugly. Some of Sichort's students gave the state
another name, which they trademarked and defended vigorously. Their
heavy-handed marketing chased a lot of researchers away, and there is still
wide disagreement about whether the Sichort state is really something
“deeper than Esdaile” or just an extreme manifestation of the Esdaile state. I
don't claim to have the answer to that one, and I haven't found a reason to
pursue it.
471
The Esdaile State
Discussion Point
1. How would you use the Esdaile state with a regular play partner?
472
Exercise
1. With a willing volunteer, follow the process in this chapter to take
them into the Esdaile state. Verify that they’ve gotten there by
testing for it. Let them enjoy it for a while and then emerge them.
473

Congratulations! If you've read the 27 individual lessons, considered the
discussion points, and performed the exercises, you should be feeling pretty
confident in your knowledge of erotic hypnosis. So what do you do next?
Practice!
Hypnosis, whether you're the hypnotist or the hypnotee, is a skill. You can
read about it and talk about it for years, but you don't really get good at it
until you start doing it. So get out there and hypnotize people. Or, if you
prefer to be on the receiving end, get some people to hypnotize you.
474
Local Communities
By far the best way to find people to play and practice with in person is
through a local erotic hypnosis community group. There are dozens of these
groups that we know of and probably scores more that we don't.
These community groups are the best thing to happen to erotic hypnosis
since the Erotic Mind Control Stories Archive (mcstories.com). Before
these groups came into being, the only real options for a budding erotic
hypnotist were to practice within their own circle of friends and
acquaintances, thereby coming out to them as hypno-kinky, or to hang out
in IRC/Yahoo/etc hypnosis themed chat rooms with the hope that they
might find a competent, considerate, and ethical partner.
Community groups give you a third, extremely useful, alternative. Most

have regular meetings, often monthly, where you can socialize with each
other, discuss erotic hypnosis or other related topics, and either engage in
practice and play right there or make play-dates for another time and place.
The community offers safety, in that you and your potential partner can get
to know each other before you make any decision to play and anyone who
acts unethically or unsafely gets called on it quickly and publicly. Generally
you can be as anonymous as you need to be within the group, because
everyone there understands the need for discretion.
475
Events
Throughout the calendar year there are larger erotic hypnosis events like
these:
NEEHU, the New England Erotic Hypnosis [Un]conference

(http://www.neehu.org), is the longest-running and best-known of
the major erotic hypnosis events. Held every March in Hartford, CT.
It is organized by Mephki and features attendees and presenters from
far and wide..
MEEHU, the MidwEst Erotic Hypnosis [Un]conference

(http://www.meehu.org) takes place every July in the Chicago area.
It is organized by HypnoMaestro and leaders in the Chicago and
Wisconsin erotic hypnosis scene.
WEEHU, the WEst Coat Erotic Hypnosis [Un]conference

(http://weehu.org), happens in the San Francisco area in the fall and
is organized by Dr. Headcrash, panavatar, and their team in the San
Francisco Bay Area Erotic Hypnosis Group.
The *EHUs are spiritual kin; though each has its own distinctive flavor and
atmosphere, they share a number of common characteristics. NEEHU 1 was
a pure unconference, where all of the programming was spontaneous. The
practical reality, it soon turned out, is that people prefer to know at least
roughly what they're going to get when they buy plane tickets, hotel rooms,
and admission to an event so all of the *EHUs since then contain both pre-
planned classes and a space and time for unconference-style programming
to spontaneously happen. *EHUs are a Friday-through-Sunday affair with
classes by day and play parties by night; the highlight reels of many
peoples' experiences are the spontaneous fun things that happen at those
parties, or in more private playgroups that just happen by chance. I've been
to every *EHU so far and I fully intend to keep that up as long as I can,
they're that important and that much fun.
Aside from the large conferences there are also smaller but equally
satisfying and fun regional events such as:
476
Deep Mind Dark Wood (DMDW), a smaller, less structured

gathering of erotic hypnosis enthusiasts. Organized by Lee Allure
and Mr. Dream, both rock stars of the New England and New York
scenes, respectively, DMDW is a hypnotic retreat in the beautiful
Berkshires of central Massachusetts. The program tends to be more
experiential than class-like, with plenty of opportunities to bond with
the group and explore things out of your comfort zone if you wish.
The Fetish Fair Flea (FFF) is a very large event put on every winter
by the New England Leather Alliance (NELA). The Flea is primarily
about the vendors – NELA books a huge array of vendors of every
conceivable kink-related goods – but in recent years they have added
an educational element as well, with classes in many topics including
erotic hypnosis. NELA has an active hypnosis Special Interest Group
(SIG) that sponsors meetings in New England.
TES Fest is another very large annual event that includes erotic
hypnosis content. Organized by The Eulenspiegel Society in New
York, TES Fest combines vending and education to make a summer
festival for all things kinky. TES has a very active and vibrant erotic
hypnosis SIG who put on great erotic hypnosis programming.
LeeAllure puts on an annual London Hypnosis Workshop in

London (of course). The agenda varies, but each workshop is
typically two days packed with instruction and practice time from
one of the best natural hypnotists I've ever met.
Many other large BDSM organizations such as Dark Odyssey and

Black Rose have started including erotic hypnosis topics as the
demand for them has grown. If you want to see erotic hypnosis at
your local kink convention, don’t be afraid to ask!
New events spring up all the time. In 2014 there was Deep in the Minds of
Texas (DMTX), an event similar in format to DMDW but organized by
Romeo, founder of Descent Hypnosis Radio. Local community groups
usually hear about these things early, which is another reason to belong to
one.
477
Teaching
As you mature and grow in your erotic hypnosis journey, I hope you will
share the knowledge and experiences you have with the rest of the
community. Remember all those big conventions I mentioned just a page
ago? Everyone who teaches at those is a volunteer who contributes their
time and skills to the con in order to help everyone get better and have more
fun.
You do not have to be a marquee name in the community to give a class.

Maybe you've discovered an interesting induction, or found that you
particularly enjoy a specific kind of play. That's great; come to a con and
tell people about it. If you can describe what you're passionate about,
demonstrate it so others can see how cool it is, and answer a few questions
you can teach a class. Look back through Chapter 2 and you'll find a bunch
of techniques you can use to help you structure it for success.
Every annual convention is always looking for new people to put on the
presenter roles, because every new speaker brings new ideas, new attitudes,
and fresh perspective to their topic. Now factor in all those local community
groups, who need fresh material and new faces to keep their members
excited and curious, and you'll understand why I believe we can never have
too many teachers in this community.
478
Online Communities
As you might expect, a lot of the local community groups were able to form
and sustain themselves by communicating over the Internet. In the early
days there were IRC channels where hypnofetishists gathered to trance each
other and discuss the finer points. As things moved on from there, online
communities have formed.
One of the best-known online hypnosis communities is Hypbook. Hypbook

is dedicated entirely to erotic hypnosis enthusiasts. In addition to the many
discussion groups and forums hosted there, Hypbook also has regular Live
Learning events in which a speaker will give a talk on an erotic hypnosis
topic which is then recorded and archived for future reference and listening.
For those who are most interested in finding trance partners, sleepychat
wants to be your hypno-matchmaker. This is a robust and energetic site
dedicated to helping people find partners to play with.
A frequent haunt of mine is the MC Forum. The Forum exists as a meeting

place for fans of mind control fiction; at first it focused almost exclusively
on the Erotic Mind Control Stories Archive (mcstories.com), but there is a
growing interest and sub-community there of authors who write and publish
short fiction for sale as ebooks through Amazon and other outlets. The
Forum also has a section, moderated by Daja and me, dedicated to real-life
erotic hypnosis experiences and advice. It's a good place to get questions
answered by a number of experienced hypnotists and hypnotees.
In addition to dedicated hypnosis chat/community sites like hypbook.com

and sleepychat, hypnokinksters may be found on more general BDSM sites
like Fetlife, a social networking site for people who are into BDSM and
related kinks, including erotic hypnosis. Interestingly, you can't actually
search FetLife for the word “hypnosis” (a thorny issue much discussed, but
which boils down to the tyranny of credit card processors). The largest
erotic hypnosis group on Fetlife (https://fetlife.com/groups/123) has over
13,000 members. Linked from there is an extensive list of online erotic
hypnosis discussion groups
(https://fetlife.com/>groups/55155/group_posts/4346843). You can also
find a listing of many regional Erotic Hypnosis groups at
479
https://fetlife.com/groups/123/group_posts/604922; that list is updated

whenever we hear of a new one. Those who are looking for help getting a
group started, or want advice or pointers from more established group
leaders, can join the Erotic Hypnosis Communities Group
(https://fetlife.com/groups/73115).
Hypnation.org is not a community per se, but it is a great way to find out
what's going on in the communities. Mephki maintains this website to help
people connect with their local communities and with the ever-growing list
of known regional hypnosis groups on Fetlife. In addition to a list of local
groups across the world, hypnation.org also features a calendar that
community leaders update with their events.
And still, after all these years, we have IRC. There are a number of robust,
busy channels for those who enjoy online trancing, but they vary greatly in
their definitions of acceptable conduct. Do your research and ask around
before you play with anyone through one of these channels.
480
Going Pro
Some people find that while they can do all sorts of fun things with erotic
hypnosis, they want to take it further and start using hypnosis to help
people. Being a professional myself, I completely understand that and I
applaud anyone wise enough to recognize that the training of an erotic
hypnotist does not qualify them to start doing therapy.
There are a number of professional training options out there. How much
education you need and what other requirements you have to meet in order
to practice hypnotherapy varies from country to country, and within the
United States it varies from state to state. As a result, the standards tend to
be set by the private professional organizations who provide the training.
The most recognized professional hypnotism certification is that of the

National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH), based in Merrimack, New Hampshire,
USA. NGH is the oldest of the professional organizations and has members
and chapters worldwide. NGH certification classes are taught by NGH
Certified Instructors, who must abide by the NGH standard of at least 80
hours classroom time and 20 hours of independent study and practice. NGH
mandates a certain set of topics, but every certified instructor adds material
and presents it as they wish, so the actual course content and training
experience is largely determined by the instructor.
Another well-known professional organization is the International Medical

and Dental Hypnotherapy Association (IMDHA), based in Laceyville,
Pennsylvania, USA. As you might expect from the name, IMDHA focuses
on promoting hypnotherapy to complement health care practices; their goal
is to have a practicing hypnotherapist at every major health care facility.
IMDHA offers training through approved schools, which may be actual
colleges or training centers or individual trainers. Their standard is currently
220 hours of instruction, and as with NGH the instructor has a lot of latitude
to add material to the standard curriculum.
The International Association of Counselors and Therapists (IACT) is a

sister organization to IMDHA, with similar training methods and
requirements. They are less focused on the medical arena and more on
generalized professional counseling.
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A professional certification course from any of these leading organizations

is a serious investment, typically around $2000 US or higher depending on
the instructor and the program, plus your travel and lodging expenses if the
class is not in your local area. When training with one of these organizations
it is unwise to mention your erotic/recreational hypnosis experience, as
these professional organizations tend to strongly disapprove of both erotic
hypnosis and non-professional (meaning, “not certified by somebody we
recognize”) hypnotists.
At the risk of seeming self-serving, I will mention that I use my status as an

NGH certified instructor in my mundane-world practice to offer NGH
training to people in the kinky community who want to become professional
hypnotherapists. When I offer a class this way I advertise it only in the kink
community, so everyone can feel comfortable and safe talking about their
experiences and asking about anything. I use a distance learning format,
with lectures and exercises done online through a videoconferencing service
and homework assignments done either in writing or recorded on digital
video and uploaded to me for review; that allows me to charge a lot less for
the class (because I'm not renting a classroom) and saves participants the
cost of travel and lodging. I normally announce these classes on FetLife, on
Hypbook, and on my blog (http://mindplaybooks.com) a few months before
they start.
Let me stress one more time that this level of training is not necessary to be
an erotic hypnotist. You can learn all you need from the large and small
events held during the year, especially if you have an organization like TES
or NELA or Society of Janus nearby. The only reason to take one of the
courses I've described here is if you want to practice hypnotherapy
professionally.
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Have Fun
Whatever you do with the skills you've picked up, always remember that
mind play is still play. No matter how much we learn and practice, there are
always new things to try, experiments to do, off-the-cuff inspirations to
indulge. It's easy sometimes to get so focused on doing things “right” that
we forget this is all supposed to be fun. So get out there, play safely, and
have fun.
-wg
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Appendix
484

This book has been deliberately structured to serve dual purposes. One was
to provide a text for self study, similar to the various technical certification
self-study guides I've bought and used over the years. The other was to
provide ready-made topics that can be presented to a group as a class so that
one person can teach many – sort of like the Teacher's Edition of a typical
school textbook.
To serve both purposes, I included in almost every chapter a set of

Discussion Points. The purpose of these is to generate conversation; they
are deliberately open-ended questions with any number of potential
“correct” answers. In order to be truly useful, though, there still needs to be
some way that you can tell whether the discussion has covered everything
important. If you're seeing this material for the first time, or studying it on
your own, it's easy to miss things.
So in this last chapter, I'm providing something analogous to the answer key
from a textbook. For each discussion point I'll provide my thoughts on the
sorts of things that should come up in discussion, and sometimes a
statement of my own preferences. The questions are so open-ended,
however, that you may easily think of things I didn't, or a perspective that I
don't have. When that happens, don't automatically assume that Wiseguy is
right; consider my points and yours, and reach your own conclusions.
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Chapter 3: Erotic Hypnosis 101

1. Some people routinely say that they can't be hypnotized. Are they
right? Why or why not?
Strictly speaking, yes and no.
On the one hand, hypnosis is a perfectly natural state that serves a survival
purpose; anyone who truly cannot go into trance is likely to be plagued with
all sorts of physical and emotional maladies, so anyone who is making this
assertion who does not appear to be psychotic is probably wrong, at least in
the literal (and admittedly pedantic) sense.
What they probably mean is that they cannot be guided into hypnosis
deliberately by another person. We can argue semantics on this, too, but I'll
leave that up to your imagination. Bear in mind that hypnosis is ultimately
something we do ourselves, not something someone else does to us, and
that it is highly dependent on belief and expectation. If someone's belief
system says that they cannot be hypnotized, that belief can easily prevent
them from cooperating with a deliberate induction (even if their conscious
desire is to experience it!). If it were ethical to do a surprise induction this
person might very well drop into trance for a few seconds, but keeping them
there – in clear contradiction of their belief system – would be very
difficult. So for all practical purposes, they are right.
2. Someone you know casually comes up to you and says, “Some time
I'd really like for you to hypnotize me without my realizing it and make
me do something a little embarrassing.” How do you respond?
Chapter 27 (Consensual Non-Consent) actually covers the first part of this

situation, but I put this question in the 101 chapter because it comes up
surprisingly often.
There are really two questions here to consider. One is the person's request
to be hypnotized by surprise or stealth. The other is the request to “make me
do something a little embarrassing.” How you respond to the requests is
going to depend on your relationship with the person doing the asking and
on the policies of the venue and group where you are meeting.
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Some groups are very stringent about explicit consent, so even if you have
this request (which pretty much constitutes advance consent) it might be a
breach of meeting rules to do an unannounced surprise or stealth induction
during a group meeting or function. Remember, someone observing the act
who does not know about the advance request would think you were being
predatory. On the other hand, if the requester is someone you encounter
regularly outside of the group, you can certainly fulfill the surprise
induction request at some other safe and appropriate time when only you
and they are involved. It then becomes a question of whether you are
interested in doing that.
The more insidious request is the “make me do something a little

embarrassing” part. Unless you know this person extremely well, how do
you know what their definition of “a little embarrassing” is? At a minimum,
you need to have a clear discussion about what sorts of things this person
would deem appropriate and what settings they are applicable to. For
instance, a suggestion to twerk might be a little embarrassing at a sports bar
but extremely embarrassing at a fine dining restaurant.
There is also the question of what will happen if the suggestion you give is
more than just a little embarrassing. In theory the person's hidden observer
will veto the twerking in the fine dining restaurant … unless that person has
a fetish for being humiliated, perhaps, or wants to believe that your
suggestion actually compels them beyond their ability to resist. Then they
might do it, and blame you when they get ejected from the restaurant. Or
they might feel the urge to do it and be highly uncomfortable throughout
dinner because of the need to consciously suppress that urge.
Ultimately, any answer can be right depending on the circumstances. Ones I

would hope to hear floated include:
“Okay, sure, but we need to have a more specific negotiation about

what you mean by 'a little embarrassing' first and when it's
appropriate to do that.”
“No. I'm sorry, I just don't do that sort of thing.”
“Hmmm … I'm not entirely opposed to that, but I'd feel a lot better
about doing it if we got to know each other better first. It's too easy
to misjudge otherwise.”
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“Sorry, no. This group has strict rules about explicit consent and
respecting limits.”
3. What are some of the things you would want to ask someone before
you hypnotize them?
This question is anticipating the safety and ethics talk (Chapter 4) a little,
but it's always good to get people thinking about what they may need to
know to play safely.
The first thing on a new hypnotist's mind might be to find out what previous
experiences this person has had with hypnosis. If they are brand new, that
brings with it a set of expectations that may or may not be right; if they are
very experienced, they know what to expect and can pretty much plunge
right in. I would ask about previous experiences that they enjoyed,
particularly how they were placed into trance and what they did during the
session, because those are clues to how to have a good session now.
If you are planning to start a scene, you would want to negotiate what will
happen during the scene. Find out what they like, what they dislike, and any
hard and soft limits they have. If your scene will involve physical activity,
ask if they have any injuries or physical limitations that might come into
play (for instance, a bad knee or a stiff neck).
The last thing I usually ask is, “Are you ready to go into hypnosis for me
now?”
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Chapter 4: Safety and Ethics

1. Chris is 5' 2” and 110 lbs; Fran is 6 feet tall and 200 lbs. They have
been paired up to practice standing instant inductions. What
precautions should they take?
There is a serious difference in physical stature to contend with here. The

obvious problem situation is when Chris is doing standing instant
inductions on the much larger Fran. One thing Chris needs to do, as stated
in the chapter, is make sure to be braced so that they can catch Fran without
getting knocked down. Of course, that assumes that Fran will pitch forward
instead of dropping straight down. Ideally, Chris may want to recruit a
couple of spotters who can assist if Fran starts to drop in an unexpected
direction.
The height and weight disparity also affects Fran as the hypnotist, though. It
can be awkward trying to do a standing induction on someone who is much
shorter than you. Fran needs to be prepared to reach lower when catching
Chris, so that Frans' arms can actually get below Chris's – otherwise the
attempt to catch could easily turn into a tight hug, which leaves room for
Chris to slip through and push Fran off balance.
When you do standing inductions it is also incumbent on both of you to

make sure you get permission for touching in order to catch your hypnotee
and prevent them from falling. Make sure you explicitly say that you may
need to put your arms around them to catch them. I've had situations in
demos where someone slipped in an unexpected way and in order to catch
them my hands ended up in places that most people consider private. As
long as you keep them from falling and get your hands off those private
places as soon as possible, most people will understand and forgive you.
2. You have a hypnotee, with whom you've been socially friendly for a
while, in trance and are guiding them through an erotic fantasy scene.
You can tell that they are close to orgasm but not quite getting there on
suggestion alone. A light touch or two, on the inner thigh or perhaps a
little higher, would probably do it, but you didn't anticipate this and so
didn't ask permission. What are some things can you do now to bring
them to orgasm?
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The key variable here, of course, is in your relationship with the hypnotee –
which in this case I've defined as “socially friendly.” If, as I hope that
implies, you are not on intimate terms with this person then actually
touching them in a sensitive place without permission is out of the question.
It's better to leave them wanting the orgasm. However, there are a couple of
alternatives you could try:
Suggest that they imagine being touched in those areas by someone

who knows exactly how they love to be touched.
Suggest that they feel so incredibly aroused that they barely even
notice as one of their own hands reaches down to touch them in that
intimate way (and actually let them do it).
Either one might do the trick without putting you in the position of
overstepping boundaries.
3. Consider this trigger: Each and every time you hear the phrase 'tied
up' your arms cross behind you and you feel them bound at the wrists.
The harder you try to pull against the bond the more firmly your wrists
remain tied together. You remain bound in this way, unable to separate
your wrists, until I tap them three times like this. Then normal movement
returns to your arms and you are no longer bound.
What is wrong with this trigger? How would you reword it to make it
safer?
There are a couple of problems with this trigger:
1. It is an open trigger – anyone can activate it just by saying 'tied up.'
2. The trigger phrase is a very common one that can easily occur in
situations where the response would be awkward, inappropriate, or
dangerous.
3. The trigger response requires the physical presence of that hypnotist

to end, which could be very difficult if it is triggered accidentally
when the hypnotist is not around.
Any changes that eliminate these problems would be fine. At a minimum,
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the reworded trigger needs to be tied to a specific person, made more

difficult to trigger accidentally, and (unless the reworded trigger requires
the physical presence of the hypnotist to activate) not depend on a specific
person's presence to end the effect. An example would be:
Each and every time I touch you on the arm and say, 'I see you're
all tied up,' your arms cross behind you and you feel them bound
at the wrists. The harder you try to pull against the bond the more
firmly your wrists remain tied together. You remain bound in this
way, unable to separate your wrists, until I tap them three times
like this. Then normal movement returns to your arms and you
are no longer bound.
4. You are starting a scene with a new hypnotee in which they wish to
experience hypnotic amnesia. You begin by having them imagine
walking down a corridor in their mind until they come upon a locked
closet where they can hide memories temporarily. Your partner
immediately starts sobbing and crying out, “Don't lock me in the closet
again! I'll be good, I swear!” and clutching the chair. What do you do?
Could this have been anticipated through reasonable means?
This is a classic example of an abreaction. The suggestion itself is perfectly

innocuous, but the hypnotee's own experiences came to bear and turned it
into something frightening.
As the section on abreactions says, your responsibility is to get your partner

out of that head space. So suggest immediately backing away from the
closet, safe and protected, coming back up the corridor, the closet getting
further and further away. Calm them, bring them to their safe place if they
have one, and when they have calmed down bring them out of hypnosis.
You can play the amnesia game another time.
Now, could this have been anticipated through reasonable means? It

depends. If your partner in this scene is someone you know well, and
they've alluded to being locked in the closet as a child, then I'd say that was
a very poor choice of metaphor and the incident could have been avoided.
On the other hand if this was casual play with someone you don't know
intimately and they didn't volunteer that information (as most people
wouldn't, because what could it possibly have to do with kinky hypnosis?)
then definitely not.
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Either way, though, you would of course apologize for calling up those
memories and spend as long as you need with them to make sure they're
okay and back in a stronger head space.
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Chapter 5: Starter Inductions

1. Under what circumstances would you use each of these inductions?
The only hard and fast rule in hypnosis is that there are no hard and fast
rules in hypnosis. This question is really aimed at getting people used to
thinking about how they would choose an induction for a given partner.
Eye fixation is a good induction to use for anyone who has talked about
seeing one done, particularly if they start to glaze over a bit as they describe
watching someone else get hypnotized that way. If you do it with a pocket
watch or crystal, you have decades of Hollywood propaganda working in
your favor as well. People also tend to assume that you should use eye
fixation on anyone visual, but that's an oversimplification – sure, visual
people like looking at things, but eye fixation can also work well for non-
visual people.
Relaxation inductions are good for someone who is twitchy, nervous, or

stressed out. They are also really good for people who find the slow
surrender of the induction process itself erotic. Like the eye fixation option,
people tend to have the expectation that a relaxation induction will succeed
so it's also good for someone's first induction, and for people who are
kinesthetic.
The fractionation induction is great when you are going for a very deep
trance state, because it will typically get you there in a fairly short time. It's
also an excellent choice for people who have had difficulty getting into
trance using conventional relaxation or fixation inductions.
The Dave Elman induction is a great general-purpose induction, useful for

just about anyone. I tend to use the Dave Elman a lot for first-time
hypnotees, because it keeps their conscious mind too busy to sit there
asking whether the induction is working or not. It's also a great choice for
people with a strong submissive streak because it's all about telling people
what to do and them doing it.
2. What is your favorite induction? What is it about that induction that

makes it your favorite?
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Everybody’s answer will be different, of course. Mine changes periodically

as I rediscover old inductions or pick up new ones. My current favorites are
the fractionation countdown from this chapter and Terence Watts’s “From
Five to Nine” (known in *EHU circles as “the office supplies induction”).
I rediscovered the fractionation count by watching Melissa Tiers do it in a

group setting and noticed that it tends to drop people very deeply in a short
amount of time, which is always good in an induction. Since then I’ve used
it a lot and it really appeals to me.
“From Five to Nine” is a confusion induction. What I enjoy about it is that

it’s highly imaginative, keeping my trance partner mentally active while
they are sliding into trance. It’s also more interesting for me to do because
of that.
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Chapter 6: Going Deeper

1. Some hypnotists give suggestions like, “And now, take a nice deep
breath in, and as you let it out you drop ten thousand times deeper...”
Is this really effective? Why or why not?
If you are doing this chapter with a group, let the hypnotees in the group
relate their experiences before weighing in. My personal experience is that
no, the “ten thousand times deeper” approach is not very effective. It's very
difficult for for most people to conceive of what “ten thousand times
deeper” actually means or feels like (though I do know someone who
calculated 11 factorial in her head while in trance, so there can always be
exceptions). It's usually more effective to stick with easier relative steps
such as twice as deep, three times as deep, maybe at most five times (and I
typically only do that in rare cases). You can get a long way by doubling
repeatedly.
2. You have hypnotized a partner and intend to do a hypno-bondage

scene with hypnotic flogging. How would you test to ensure that your
bondage and impact suggestions will be accepted?
Bondage is about restricted movement, so any suggestion that freezes a joint

or sticks a small body part to something else would be a good test for
bondage. Try suggesting that two fingers are held together with tape, and
the harder they try to separate those fingers the tighter that tape holds them.
That is just one possible answer to testing for bondage.
Hypnotic flogging is a sensation game, so I would do a sensation-based test.

Since you will be going for a strong sensation, I would probably start by
suggesting an imaginary nipple clamp biting down on one nipple and watch
their face for reaction. Then, use suggestion to increase that sensation or
decrease it. If you can get them to regulate the sensation of the nipple
clamp, imagining a flogger will be easy for them.
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Chapter 7: The Language of Suggestion

1. What are some examples of suggestions that we give ourselves? Do
they have influence?
The suggestions we give ourselves vary greatly from person to person,

obviously. Some common ones are things like:
I'm just not good at <whatever>
I have to (or can't) do this myself.
I have no willpower.
These self-suggestions always have influence. One thought alone may not
seem like much, but we tend to think these things habitually, and suggestion
repeated often enough without challenge becomes a belief.
2. What are some of the factors that affect how much influence a
suggestion has on us?
Common factors include:
What is our opinion of the person (or entity) making the suggestion?
We are more likely to accept a suggestion coming from someone we
like or admire – that's why celebrities get paid to endorse products.
Have you ever found yourself dismissing a product you've never
tried because it was endorsed by someone you dislike?
Does the suggestion agree with our existing beliefs? People are hard-
wired to be more accepting of ideas that square with our existing
belief systems. Suggestions that defy what we believe to be true are
more likely to be disregarded.
Have we gotten the suggestion multiple times, from different

sources? The Big Lie theory of politics is based on the simple truth
that the more often people hear something, and from the more
seemingly different sources, the more inclined they are to believe it
unless they have compelling evidence to the contrary.
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3. Which is the better way to word a suggestion, directly or indirectly?
This is an obvious trick question. There is no inherent advantage to one

form of wording over the other as a general principle. What makes one
more appropriate than another is the mindset of the person making the
suggestion and the one receiving it. If your hypnotee is accepting and acting
on your suggestions then it doesn't matter whether you phrased it directly or
indirectly.
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Chapter 8: Fun With Modalities

1. Which modality is easiest for you to work with? Why is that?
This is a matter of pure personal preference, so any answer goes. In the

beginning, a lot of people find it easiest to work with someone who has the
same primary modality they do. For others whatever their first regular
partner's primary modality was becomes the one they are most comfortable
with simply by virtue of practice. Ideally, of course, a good hypnotist
should be able to adapt to any modality.
2. What would you do with someone who wants to get better at

imagining visual things?
People can and do get better at working in senses that aren't their primary
ones. Usually the key is to start simple and work your way up. For this
example, I would start by having them just imagine a solid color filling the
field behind their closed eyelids. If they are kinesthetic I might suggest
wrapping themselves up in that color; for an auditory, allowing them to
experience whatever sounds are associated with that color. When they can
readily imagine the color, you might try adding a pattern to it (“Now,
imagine that red field is dotted with yellow polka dots...”), or forming the
color into a shape. As your hypnotee gets more adept at these simple
exercises make the shapes and images more and more complex.
Your hypnotee may never get to the point where they can stand in the back
yard with their eyes open and see themselves at Wembley Stadium – heck, a
lot of visual people can't do that – but with patience, practice, and desire
they should be able to get pretty good at visualization in their minds.
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Chapter 9: Your Hypnotic Self

1. New hypnotists are often tempted to exaggerate their experience in
order to inspire belief and expectation in a prospective play partner. Is
this a good idea?
You can make a case for or against this, but I lean heavily against. Hypnosis
requires trust and belief; if your hypnotee finds out that you have lied about
your experience – and if they've been with an experienced hypnotist before,
they will figure it out – then they will be unlikely to play with you again or
recommend you to anyone else. I would rather hear you say “I'm a new
hypnotist, I've been working on my technique, and I really need someone
who I can do a trance with and give me feedback” than claim to have tons
of experience you don't have.
2. If you've never done a hypno-bondage scene before and your partner

wants it, should you tell them it will be your first time?
If your partner asks about your hypno-bondage experience, then I think you
have to answer honestly about it. Just because you haven't done it before
doesn't mean you can't figure it out on the fly, and since you've read this
book you probably have a basic idea of how hypnotic bondage works. If
your hypnotee doesn't ask, then it's entirely up to you whether you want to
state up front that it's your first hypno-bondage scene.
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Chapter 10: Being the Hypnotee

1. Suppose you are adept at self-hypnosis and are playing with a new
hypnotist whose technique is a bit awkward and not working for you.
Would you simply use your self-hypnosis skills to go into trance
yourself? What, if anything, should you tell the hypnotist afterwards?
This is squishy; there's a good case to be made for any approach.
If you use your self-hypnosis skills to take yourself into trance, you may
find that you can still get enjoyment out of the suggestions that come after
the awkward induction. It will also help to build the new hypnotist's
confidence, which might make for an immediate improvement in their style.
On the other hand, you are not obligated to bolster a new hypnotist's fragile
ego; if you really aren't feeling the induction, stop the hypnotist and explain
as best you can why their induction is failing for you.
Honest communication is important. If you do end up trancing yourself, I

would expect you to give the hypnotist some constructive feedback. “That
induction wasn't really doing it for me, but I didn't want you to give up so I
tranced myself. I think you might want to practice that one a few more
times before you do it with a live person” is gentle and yet truthful and
helpful.
2. Why would a dominant allow their submissive(s) to hypnotize them?
People get very committed to their chosen roles and labels, so I like to ask
people who have full-time submissives whether they ever allow this. And,
I'll admit, I tend to automatically respect a hypnotic dominant who allows
their submissive(s) to hypnotize them sometimes.
Hypnosis is a cooperative process, and the rapport that you build in doing
hypnosis flows both ways. Allowing your partner to trance you helps to
strengthen that bond and gives you both confidence in each other. If you
like to play with others, this also gives you the opportunity to train your
submissive in how to hypnotize so they can then top others while being
topped by you.
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Another very good reason why a dominant would allow their submissive to
hypnotize them is that it's a great form of service. A submissive can
hypnotize their dom (with permission, or by order) and give them pleasure
without expecting or requiring anything in return other than the satisfaction
of pleasing the dom.
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Chapter 11: Testing and Convincers

1. What other suggestions might make a good pre-induction test?
Anything that shows a willingness and ability to focus and imagine can be
used as a pre-induction test, so there is a near infinite list of possible good
answers. A couple of mine would be:
Ask them to imagine that feeling they get when they first wake up in
the morning, no longer asleep, but not really ready to get up and start
moving yet … that distant, dreamy, sleepy sort of feeling. See if their
eyes start to glaze over, stare, or flutter a bit. (Testing recall of a
previous trance state.)
Just make eye contact and start describing what going into hypnosis
may feel like for them. Watch for their eyes to start to glaze or
unfocus. (Testing ability to imagine by suggestion)
Have them extend their arm straight out, close their eyes, and
imagine a thick steel bar directly underneath that arm, stiff and rigid,
holding the arm exactly where it is no matter how hard anyone
presses down. Repeat once or twice and then press gently down. If
you feel resistance, press a little harder. (Testing arm catalepsy by
suggestion.)
2. What other suggestions might make a good convincer?
Any suggestion that your partner remembers following can be used as a

convincer. I will sometimes set one up specifically for this purpose. When I
do, it's usually a posthypnotic suggestion with a harmless or benign effect,
such as:
And from time to time today you may notice that you are
particularly aware of the color red. The color red is more
vibrant, more interesting, more sexy to you than it has ever
seemed before, and that can remind you that inside, something in
your mind has changed.
502
This is great if you're wearing a red shirt; or you can substitute whatever
color you are wearing for red.
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Chapter 12: Confusion Inductions

1. If you were going to construct a list of Nine Things designed for an
auditory person, what would they be? What about for a visual person?
Do you necessarily need to cater to your partner's modality if you're
doing an overload induction?
To cater to a specific modality, I would have 5 to 6 of the Nine Things tied

to that sense. An auditory version is tricky in a quiet environment because
there often aren't five or six distinct sounds in the area you can reference.
However, you can get the same effect by having the hypnotee imagine or
remember specific sounds, such as:
The moans of a lover in ecstasy
The sound of their own voice
The ticking of a metronome
The chorus of their favorite song
The phrase, “Relax and let go...”
Similarly, a visual person with their eyes closed is not really going to see
much, but you can use their imagination to call up images like:
The face of a person having an orgasm
A balloon of their favorite color
A pet they have, or would like to have
A toy they played with as a child
The wallpaper on their computer desktop
Catering to a specific modality is not really necessary, though, for the Nine
Things type induction to work well. In fact, you could make an argument
that using images for a visual, sounds for an auditory, etc. actually makes it
504
easier for their mind to keep up; by that logic you would use more auditory
and kinesthetic items for a visual person. Ultimately people are individuals,
so there's no hard and fast rule about this. I usually don't tailor the list of
things unless there is something in the environment that is so prominent I
can't ignore it.
2. How could you take the Confusion Countdown and make it even
more confusing?
There are a number (so to speak) of ways to add more confusion elements
to the countdown. A few that I've played with include:
Have the hypnotee do the counting, with some sort of imaginary

erasing or a mantra phrase like “deeper relaxed” between each
number, like in the Dave Elman induction. While they are doing that,
you are free to keep up a steady stream of suggestions to confuse
their counting and relax their mind.
Have them count by threes or sevens instead of individual numbers.

Every other number will still be odd or even unless they make a
mistake in their math. If you do this, you might want to have them
start from one and count up instead of down from 100 – you're less
likely to run out of numbers.
Work both ends into the middle: that is, have them count 100, then 1,
then 99, then 2, 98, 3, etc. Again, this requires more conscious effort
and gives you more opportunity to slip suggestions into their
subconscious while they do it.
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Chapter 13: Setting and Using Triggers

1. Why would you use a trigger instead of a simple posthypnotic
suggestion?
This largely comes down to personal preference, so almost any answer is

going to have merit.
One common reason for creating a trigger is so that you can use the effect
repeatedly, since a non-trigger post-hypnotic suggestion is typically only
used once. Triggers are also very familiar to fans of hypnosis, so they tend
to expect that a demo of hypnosis will include at least a couple of triggers.
(Think of any stage show you've seen; I'll bet you several triggers were set
and used during the show.)
2. A potential play partner comes to you with a request: they want you
to give them a trigger that makes them grant three “wishes” (requests
that they must fulfill if they are possible) to anyone who possesses a
prop lantern they have with them. Would you do this? If so, how would
you word the trigger? What limits, if any, would you place on the
trigger?
This one is designed to set off ethical and safety alarm bells. It's not really
about the mechanics of the trigger, though that should also be a point of
discussion.
Let's suppose for a minute that you agree to the request. To meet ethical and
safety standards, you may want to consider including limits like these:
Each “wish” must fall within the submissive's hard (or soft, if you're
playing careful) limits and physical capabilities or it is automatically
forfeited and has no effect.
The wishes must be made at the time the person gains possession of
the lamp, in the genie's presence, and must be something the genie
can do in a reasonable amount of time. The wisher must continue to
hold the lamp until the wish is fully granted or the wish ends
immediately.
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If the wisher gives the lamp to someone else before receiving their
three wishes, they forfeit any remaining wishes.
Any one person can only get a maximum of three wishes from the
genie in a 24-hour period.
Those restrictions should make the suggestion reasonably safe for the
person requesting it, particularly if it is time bound to a specific event, such
as a play party already in progress. The trigger event would be something
like, “When anyone holding the lantern says, 'I wish...' whatever they then
wish for, you must fulfill” followed by the restrictions and rules.
It would be perfectly reasonable for a hypnotist to decline this request,

though. If there is no dominant partner watching over the “genie” it would
fall to the hypnotist to monitor how the trigger got used and to intercede if
the “genie” seemed to be distressed or uncomfortable with anyone's wish.
That's a lot of responsibility to take on for someone you don't know during
an event for which you may have had other plans.
3. What are your favorite triggers? What makes them your favorite?
Any answer is a good one, of course. My favorites are already in this book:
the “Pleasure” trigger, because I love the response it gets when it hits
people; and the “Simon Sez” (all-purpose) trigger for its versatility.
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Chapter 14: Fractionation

1. What do you suppose would be good ways of making sure someone is
all the way back to their fully alert self after a fractionation exercise?
It can take some time – several minutes or a lot more, depending on how
much fractionation they've been doing – to get someone fully alert and with
it again. The more you can engage their analytical mind the more it will
tend to clear the fog. Ask them what they'd like for their next meal, or what
traffic is probably going to be like on their route home – anything that
requires them to make a judgment or compare things will help engage their
conscious mind.
2. What would be the benefits of Auto Fractionation as described

above?
I pretty much admitted in the text that this is a creatively lazy exercise for
the hypnotist. Bear in mind that for a lot of hypnotees fractionation itself is
a reward and a desirable thing, so using auto fractionation lets you give
your partner a treat without requiring a lot of talking and focus on your part
(but do pay attention anyway, because you're still responsible for them!).
There are particular attractions to doing this with a brat, as their antics as
they accuse you of being lazy and try to resist the suggestion to count down
again will be very entertaining for you. Another advantage of this technique
is that you can get a sense for your partner's timing; how long does it take
for them to come up and go down again? What physical signs can you
detect that reveal how deeply they are dropping? And of course it's great
practice for them at going in and out of trance.
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Chapter 15: Instant Inductions

1. Milton Erickson often used his handshake induction on people who
had not given consent to be hypnotized or touched. How would you use
the handshake induction ethically within the erotic hypnosis
community, where explicit consent is required and expected?
This harkens back to Chapter 4 on safety and ethics, and is a bit of a

preview to Chapter 27 on consensual non-consent. The simple answer is to
reach an agreement with that person that they are open to being tranced by
you using a handshake or other surprise induction whenever they are in a
safe environment. That simple answer always raises other questions,
though, such as how others would know that a consent breach has not just
taken place. It's a good discussion to have.
2. Would you use an instant induction on someone who isn't sure they
they can be hypnotized? Why or why not?
This is a yes or no question, but either answer can be supported.
There are certain advantages to doing an instant induction with someone

who isn't sure they can be hypnotized. The speed of the induction gives
them very little time to think about whether they are going into trance or
not, and since the phenomenon of transderivational search is wired into our
brains a smoothly executed instant induction should work. Whether they
stay in trance once the initial surprise is over and their conscious mind can
start doubting again is another matter.
Since it is very difficult to get someone so deep that they won't analyze in
the few seconds that you have, there is also considerable risk that the person
will go into trance and then pull themselves out again. A lot of pretalk
stressing how everyone with normal brain functions can and does go into
hypnosis can help, especially if you are dealing with someone who has
genuine self-doubt as opposed to someone who is emotionally invested in
the idea that they are unhypnotizable. Ultimately, though, I can completely
understand and support the position that an instant induction on someone
like that is risky compared to, say, a good confusion induction or
fractionation.
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Chapter 16: Hypnotic Favorites

1. At what point in an ongoing play relationship would you construct a
safe place? What if you need one and haven't created it yet?
This is a judgment call. If your play is pretty benign, meaning you're just
having fun and staying well clear of any known land mines and limits, then
you probably don't need one. If you start talking about pushing boundaries,
playing with consensual non-consent, or playing at the edges of your
partner's comfort zone then I would recommend having a safe place ready.
If you find that you need one and haven't built it yet, build it on the spot:
have your partner imagine a place of absolute safety and then take you there
with them, away from whatever is causing them upset, right away. It's not
ideal, but it's better than staying in the jaws of the monster.
2. You have a new submissive who has difficulty achieving orgasm even
during intercourse. Would you use the control room to adjust their
“orgasm threshhold” so that they find it easier to orgasm?
This is a rarity: a discussion point where there really is only one right
answer.
Making the adjustment in question crosses the line from play into therapy.
Someone who is not trained in hypnotherapy has absolutely no business
going there, especially as this particular tactic makes no attempt to unearth
the cause of the difficulty before trying to force-fit a solution. Someone who
is trained in hypnotherapy will know better than to conduct therapy with
someone they are involved with, and would refer the case to a colleague. So
either way, it's a solid and emphatic No.
3. What other “favorites” do you have? What makes them favorites for
you?
You should get a variety of different answers for this, all of which are right.
Most of my personal favorites have made their way into this book or are in
Mind Play: the “Simon Sez” trigger, “PLEASuuuuuuuure!”, “Blank”, and
the Five Point Palm Exploding Orgasm Technique probably rank highest
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for me.
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Chapter 17: Long Distance Hypnosis

1. Safety is a major issue when trancing online with people you don't
know. What safeguards would you recommend to someone trying
hypnosis online for the first time?
Depending on the experience level of the group discussing this, you could
get a number of good answers. Some common safety precautions include:
Only play in channels with rules against predatory behavior and

where those rules are actually enforced.
Prefer channels that automatically log sessions and retain them for a
period of time after, so that you can review those logs if you have
any doubts as to what happened during a session.
Play only with people you know, or who are vouched for by
someone whose judgment you trust.
Never agree to send photos, video or audio to someone who is not

willing to do the same for you.
If it is your first play session with a given hypnotist or hypnotee,

have a friend monitor the session and invite your play partner to do
the same
Negotiate as if you were doing the scene in person – that is, include
all of the information that you would for an in-person session, and
terminate the session the moment one of those limits is crossed.
Report people who try to abuse you to the appropriate monitors.
There will likely be other ideas as well.
2. What are your favorite programs to use for voice or video chat?
Nothing changes as quickly as technology, so bear in mind that everything I

say about video chat software is likely to change before too long.
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My favorite at the moment (spring 2015) is Google Hangouts. It works well

on every platform I’ve tried it on and the quality I get is pretty consistent.
Others are more fond of Skype, which I used to use regularly but, as I
mentioned in the text, the quality and support have gone downhill for non-
Windows users. On smartphones, though, I’m told the Skype client is very
good. If you are and your partner are both using Apple products, FaceTime
becomes another viable option for video chat.
For audio only, a new option that is just starting to become widely available
for smartphones is Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE), also called High Definition
Voice. VoLTE uses the data network to transmit digitized voice. The result
is a call made from a cell phone that sounds extremely clear and clean,
without the fuzziness or noise that is common in cell phone calls. Voice
quality over VoLTE rivals that of a good Internet connection with a quality
mic, which makes it a viable option when Internet bandwidth is limited.
3. What are your favorite hypnosis chat rooms?
This is another one where any answer I try to give is bound to be dated very
quickly. The only one that I frequent nowadays is the chatroom on
Hypbook.com.
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Chapter 18: More Inductions

1. The Heart Coherence induction is designed to be used with a trance
partner who is feeling anxious or agitated. Would it be better to do a
longer pre-talk to address the source of their anxiety first and then use
some other induction? Why or why not?
This is another judgment question where either answer could be right.
If you are starting a scene with someone who is anxious or agitated, it's a
good idea to at least ask what you can do to help them feel more
comfortable. Sometimes it's a good kind of agitation – they may be eager to
start the scene, a little apprehensive about what is about to happen
(especially if they are new to hypnosis) yet excited at the same time.
Sometimes it's stuff they bring with them that has nothing to do with you,
with the scene, or even with hypnosis. You are not their therapist (even if
you are a therapist – play and therapy never mix), so it's not your job to try
and resolve their outside anxieties.
As far as the Heart Coherence induction vs. a longer pre-talk, either

approach is valid. The longer pre-talk might be more effective with an
inexperienced hypnotee, especially if their jitters are coming from fear of
the unknown. With someone who has already had the lecture, who knows
what hypnosis is about and is just unsettled, there's no real value in more
pre-talk so you might as well just go into the induction, whether it's Heart
Coherence or something else.
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Chapter 19: Arousal and Desire

1. Some of the applications in this lesson mention using them in public.
What sort of things should you consider before engaging in public
play? What would you do differently from using the same technique in
private?
Public play is a huge turn-on for some people. Much like the sex-in-public
fantasy, there's the thrill of doing something sexy in full view of an
unsuspecting world, risking exposure and embarrassment. Ideally, your goal
should be to do it in a way that leaves the people around you unaware of
your activity – otherwise you're effectively coercing others into being part
of your play without their consent, and that's egregiously rude.
Everyone has their own limits as to how far they're willing to go in a public
setting, so there's no set correct answer here. Some things to consider before
engaging in public play might include:
What is the intended setting? You can get away with a lot more in a
darkened movie theatre than you can in a public park in daylight.
How much sound cover do you need? Moans and gasps can be loud
or quiet; will the effort required to keep quiet be a turn-on, or is there
a real risk that you can't be quiet enough to avoid drawing attention?
Will you be under direct observation? Needing to maintain a neutral

appearance may place some activities out of bounds.
Are there security cameras monitoring you? This is more common in

public spaces than a lot of us would like to believe. Is that an
attraction for you, or a deterrent?
Will people who know you in the vanilla world be in a position to

witness your play?
Depending on those factors, you might want to add suggestions that

increase pleasure the harder they struggle to remain quiet (but don't say “try
to remain quiet” unless you want to hear noise) or to appear as if they are
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not feeling the arousal.
2. What do you think would happen if you used the hypno-pheromone

technique with someone with whom you have never been physically
intimate?
This is a pure hypothetical, so what would happen would be a function of

the individuals involved. The kinds of reactions I would consider plausible
would be any of the following:
The person completely ignores the suggestion. (Probably the most

likely.)
The person sniffs the air and mentions that you smell nice.
The person acts much more interested in you, flirting and touching
more than they normally do, but does not take it further.
The person feels the compulsion to be attracted to you but rejects it

and wants to get away from you instead.
The person already had a subconscious desire to be intimate with

you,so they respond to the suggestion as it was given. (Probably the
least likely response, and ethically very squishy!)
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Chapter 20: Sensation Play

1. Besides tickling and vibration, what other sensations would you use
in erotic play?
Lots of different sensations come to mind here. Soft fur stroking across the
body; the cold steel of a knife blade playing over the skin; a mouth and
tongue on the genitals; needles penetrating the skin; rope wrapping around
the body; sexy smells and tastes; the stroke of a violet wand; the list could
go on and on.
2. Should safe words be required if you are engaging in public play?
Again, this is a judgment call. My personal opinion is that if you are

pushing the limits, where there is a good chance that you might draw
attention or bring unpleasant consequences to yourself, then you should
have a way to pause or end the play quickly before that happens. Others can
disagree and be equally right.
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Chapter 21: Hypno-BDSM

1. What are some other BDSM activities that you could incorporate
hypnosis into?
This is a pretty easy question in an audience of people who are in the scene.
Any activity that tends to bring on subspace is a great place to use hypnosis,
either to get the bottom into that space faster or to deepen the state once
they're there. Anything involving a body sensation can be simulated through
hypnotic suggestion: hypno-needles, hypno-knives, hypno-caning, hypno-
violet-wand, etc.
2. What sorts of things might you need to negotiate with your partner
before making them a nude sculpture at at a leather party? How would
you ensure that no third party unknowingly breaches one of your
bottom's limits?
This will depend on the partner's limits and desires, of course. Some
obvious ideas include:
Being nude in front of strangers is one thing; being touched by

strangers can be quite another. If your bottom does not want to be
touched, or is willing to be touched in certain areas only, you need to
make provision for that.
The position of the “statue” should be up for negotiation. It needs to

be a position that is comfortable enough to sustain without causing
muscle cramps or undue fatigue.
If the “statue” will be in place for an extended time, think about self
care needs like bathroom breaks, food and drink, and the temperature
of the room where they will be hanging around naked.
A good way to make the sculpture's limits known would be to attach a sign,
perhaps on a 3x5 card or a sheet of paper nearby, with what is and isn't
allowed. With a little advance planning this could even be positioned like
the placards at museums that identify the sculpture, artist, and any
interesting history.
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Chapter 22: Doll Play

1. Doll play usually involves a lot of physical contact, and frequently
involves moving people's arms and legs for them. What would you do to
help improve the safety of your doll play?
Something I generally do is to make sure I include this:
No matter how I move you, you always automatically remain

safely balanced. Any little body movements you need to make to
remain safely balanced, your body makes automatically without
thought or effort.
That helps to ensure that as I'm moving someone's legs around they will do
what they need to in order to help me without tripping and falling.
2. What other kinds of dolls can you think of that would be amusing to
emulate with hypnosis? What would your suggestions to the doll be?
A robot is a reasonable variation of the doll; suggestions might include

speaking in a mechanical monotone voice, stiff body movements, and the
like. (Robots are covered in Chapter 24.)
Other ideas might include specific super heroes, fashion dolls that you can
undress and dress, department store mannequins, sex-bots (robot
programmed to perform various sexual acts), etc. Have some fun with this
one and let people brainstorm.
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Chapter 23: Memory Play

1. When would it be appropriate to ask your hypnotee to hide a
memory permanently? What would be the possible repercussions of
doing so?
People can disagree, but I would never advocate trying to achieve

permanent amnesia. If the event in question is minor, it probably makes no
difference as we tend not to dwell on these things anyway; if the event is
major, it will continue to have emotional impact even if the conscious mind
is no longer aware of it. There are serious ethical considerations involved
here, among them the line between play and amateur therapy.
2. Hypnosis can be used to create false memories as well as to hide real

ones. What erotic uses could there be for creating false memories?
What ethical and safety pitfalls can you think of in doing so?
Creating false memories is not something that we do often, but it is

possible. I've seen people hypnotized to recount a wanton sexual encounter
they'd recently had with the hypnotist (whom they had just met at the start
of the show), for example. It might be interesting to have someone
“remember” a particularly hot, sexy play session they have already had with
you (which is provided by their imagination) and get so turned on
describing it that they want to repeat it with you right now.
The biggest pitfall to this sort of play, of course, is that the memories are
not real. As long as you make sure to remove them afterwards, to remind
the subconscious that they are fantasy memories, not real ones, there should
be no lasting issues.
3. Suppose you want to play a hypnotic game called Groundhog Day,

where your hypnotee automatically repeats a series of actions over and
over, realizing that they're repeating themselves but unable to stop
doing it. How would you word the suggestions for a scene like that?
The first challenge here is defining the scope of the activities to be repeated.
Trying to repeat an entire day, a la the movie, is asking a lot and would be
very cumbersome to do. On the other hand, a few minutes' worth of activity
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is easy to remember and, if the activity makes no lasting changes to the

person, easy to repeat. One way of doing this might be something like this:
In a few moments, I will say the phrase 'Groundhog Day.' As

soon as I say 'Groundhog Day' to you, your mind and body
automatically get stuck in a repeating time loop. You get up out of
your chair, check out your hair in the hallway mirror, then go to
the kitchen and bring me a piece of candy from the dish on the
counter. After giving me the candy you go to the middle of the
room and lift up your shirt to show me your bare chest, then you
return to your original seat. After thirty seconds, you repeat all of
those actions again.
You continue repeating that series of actions, waiting 30 seconds

between each, until I tell you that Groundhog Day is over. You
can take no other actions during the 30 second pauses other than
to speak or move in your seat. Your conscious mind is fully aware
that you are repeating yourself, but the more you try to break the
sequence or do things differently, the more you find it impossible
to do anything except repeat the sequence exactly the same way
each time.
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Chapter 24: Transformations

1. What are some of the things you would want to bring up in
negotiations before doing a bimbo scene? A robot scene?
Many good answers are possible here.
For the bimbo, it's important to find out what your hypnotee's definition of a
bimbo is. Some may see the bimbo as giggly and dumb but without the
sexual aspects; others may see the bimbo as calculating, playing dumb
while using her body to get her way. So find out what your hypnotee wants
to be and define the bimbo that way. If the hypnotee's definition includes
being sexual, find out how far they want to take that and build in limits – for
example, “You love showing off your naked body and being touched on the
ass, but no matter how much you are enjoying that you feel no interest in
actually having intercourse with someone you don't know intimately.”
With the robot, the big variable is typically what the robot is programmed to
do. Is it a sex-bot? A butler or maid? A secretary? Find out what the
hypnotee wants to be, and when you word the “programming” make sure
their limits are respected (“As a sex-bot, you are programmed to give
people orgasms using your hands; your programming does not permit you
to engage in oral or genital intercourse...”).
2. Your partner wants to do a drugged drink scene during an actual

play party at a dungeon, and they want to be completely surprised
when it happens. How would you negotiate this? Would you make any
special arrangements with the dungeon staff?
This is going to depend heavily on the rules of the hypothetical dungeon, so

if there is one that you or the group frequents that would be good to use as
an example.
At a minimum, before agreeing to top a scene like that, I would talk to the
dungeon staff and make sure they are aware; I would describe the scene and
make it clear that no actual drugs will be involved. I would have the
hypnotee present to confirm that they asked for this and are consenting to it,
and only if the dungeon staff are okay with that would I do the scene.
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Depending on the hypnotee I might invite the dungeon monitor to observe

the hypnosis session that sets up the scene as a gesture of trust and good
faith.
Things to negotiate with the hypnotee would include what they want done
with them once the “drug” takes effect, any safe words they want (or the
dungeon requires), limits, and at what point they will remember that this
was a pre-arranged scene with their consent.
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Chapter 25: Hypnotic Orgasms

1. Hypnotists take different approaches to orgasms, as they do
everything else. What is your preferred approach to inducing an
orgasm – quickly, or slowly? Touching, or not touching?
There are no wrong answers here; it's just a matter of discussing options.
Often it's the hypnotee who really dictates how these things will happen. A
lot of people need some build-up before they can have a satisfying orgasm;
others can come at the drop of a hat (or any other designated trigger) and be
ready for more almost right away. So if you're going through the book by
yourself, think about what you prefer; if you have steady partners, talk to
them about their preferences and what makes the ideal orgasm. Then give it
to them.
2. Suppose you are doing a scene in which you have negotiated bringing
your partner to orgasm hypnotically but did not discuss touching. As
their arousal get stronger and stronger, you hear them ask, “Please
touch me!” What do you do?
Your relationship with this partner is everything here. If the kind of touch
they are asking for is something you do regularly do in similar
environments, with their consent, then you can plausibly take the request as
consent to do it again. If you have any doubt at all, though, don’t do it.
But what if you haven't? It may be tempting to take the request as giving
consent, since they are asking you to do it, but I wouldn't do that – someone
already hypnotized and in the grip of powerful arousal is not in the right
frame of mind to give informed consent. Sure, they probably do want you to
touch them, but what the subconscious wants and what the conscious mind
has agreed to are not always in sync. Touching them could be considered a
breach of consent, and this partner would be entirely in the right to
complain about it afterward.
So what can you do? I would go back to the similar question in Chapter 4:
you can either have them imagine being touched as they wish, or give them
a suggestion to touch themselves where they wish to be touched. Either
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keeps you on the right side of the line (assuming that one of their limits
wasn't “don't make me touch myself”) while doing right by your partner.
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Chapter 26: Dual Inductions and Co-Topping

1. How could you achieve the same effect as a dual induction with only
one hypnotist?
The most effective way that I know of is to use technology. You can make a
recording of yourself giving an induction and play that back, with the
speakers on one side of your hypnotee, while you do a live spoken
induction on the other side. It's clunky, of course, because the recording has
no ability to pace and no idea when to stop, but it works.
A more effective option is to record both inductions and mix them with a
program like Audacity so that one plays in each ear concurrently. I've done
recordings like this for people before and they are a lot of fun to make and
to listen to. With that kind of tech you don't even need to limit yourself to
two voices; I've done recordings where I've had a male voice and a female
voice each speaking an induction (swapping sides periodically for a fun
spatial effect) while the same voices also repeat short mantras and
affirmations in the background from one side or both. For a hypnotee
wearing stereo headphones and listening to that, it's seriously trippy.
2. Suppose you are at an erotic hypnosis convention and are

approached by a rope top who wants you to co-top a kidnapping scene
where their bottom is hypnotically “chloroformed” and abducted, then
tied up nude and molested by one of the kidnappers. Assuming you
agree, what are some of the things you would cover during negotiation
with the pair? With just the top?
This is similar in a lot of ways to the drugged drink scene question from
Chapter 24.
With the pair together, aside from learning everyone's limits, I would want
to cover how to handle the dungeon monitors so they know what's going on
and are okay with it. I would want to establish what my role in the co-
topped scene is. Since my co-top is skilled with rope, and is presumably the
bottom’s primary partner, I would assume that they will handle the tying
and molesting and I would provide the hypnotic “chloroform” and other
mind effects needed to pull off the scene. I would want the bottom to define
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clearly how they end up naked, what they mean by “molested,” and which
of the kidnappers they wanted doing those things. We should also discuss
how much the “victim” realizes about the identities of the kidnappers – are
they strangers? Are they masked?
With just the top, I would want to discuss more about our specific roles and
limits. What characters are we playing in the scene, and how do we
interact? I would expect to be a subordinate to the rope top, but it's
important to define that relationship. Am I just there to provide the
“chloroform” and then hand the bottom over to the rope top to finish the
scene? Do I stick around looking menacing so the top can threaten the
bottom with me? At what point do we allow the “victim” to wake up? Does
this top have specific limits as to what they want me doing (or not doing)
with their partner? Do I have limits as to what I'm willing to do with the
others in the scene?
Again, there are many options here; I've only listed the ones that come to
my mind in a hypothetical sense.
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Chapter 27: Consensual Non-Consent

1. What would be some good ways for someone to advertise their
willingness to be hypnotized by surprise at an event?
This is an actual debate that takes place periodically during the lead-up to
various events, and so far I don't think anyone has come up with a fully
satisfying answer.
One option that's been tried is to provide something you attach to your
convention badge (and can remove at will) that advertises that you want and
consent to be hypnotized by surprise. The problem with this is that it's
indiscriminate; there is no way to say, “I want to be surprised … but only
by people I know.” That effectively limits the usefulness of the flag unless
you're open to being hypnotized by literally anyone at the event. As much
as I admire the community for how well it polices itself, I can totally
understand if someone is not comfortable going quite that far.
Something I've seen done recently involved wearing two specific tokens in
a visible place: one token for hypnotists and another for hypnotees. Wearing
the hypnotee token meant you were open to being hypnotized at any time by
someone wearing the hypnotist token. This seems like a very good idea to
me, but it depends heavily on there being an existing level of trust and
comfort between everyone wearing the hypnotee token and everyone
wearing the hypnotist token. The larger that group gets, the more difficult it
becomes to ensure that relationship is there.
If you come up with a creative idea that seems workable, go to the FetLife
group of any of the erotic hypnosis conventions (NEEHU, MEEHU,
WEEHU, and DMDW all have them) and suggest it. Or send me an email
(wiseguy35@gmail.com) and tell me about it so I can pass it on to all of the
con organizers. Please!
2. What risks can you think of in doing resistance play with someone
you've just met?
The big trick in resistance play is sensing how far you need to push the
resisting partner to give them the result they want, and what ways they most
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love-to-hate to be pushed. The better you know someone, the easier it is to

make those calls.
Also, sometimes when doing resistance play you will accidentally run up
against a limit. Maybe something in the environment changes without your
noticing right away, or your partner has a squick that you didn't know about.
When that happens, play resistance can become real resistance and your
partner may be reluctant to safeword but definitely wants you to change
approach. The better you know your partner, the more likely you are to pick
up on the signals that this is happening.
3. Suppose your partner expresses an interest in being hypnotized in

their sleep. What kinds of guidelines would you want to negotiate for
this?
While the non-consent aspect of hypnosleep makes it seem scary, you

actually would negotiate this pretty much like any other erotic hypnosis
scene. What does your partner want to get out of the hypnosis? How will
you prove to them that you did it? What limits do they have? What are your
desires, expectations, and limits? Do they want to know when you plan to
do it, or should it be a complete surprise?
529
Chapter 28: The Esdaile State

1. How would you use the Esdaile state with a regular play partner?
Any way they wish, really. I use an Esdaile session to reward a play partner
for a particularly good scene or for surprising me in a happy way. I also use
the Esdaile state with my wife Dani as a super-charged stress relief
technique.
530
Also by Mark Wiseman
Mind Play: A Guide to Erotic Hypnosis
The original guide book that has introduced thousands of people to the
world of erotic hypnosis.
All kinds of people are secretly (or not so secretly) fascinated by the erotic
possibilities of hypnosis. Many of us know that hypnosis doesn't really have
the kind of mind-melting power we see in movies. Still, we can't help but
get turned on at the thought of either controlling someone, or being
controlled by someone, into doing things we've been told we shouldn't do ...
but really, inside, kind of want to.
In paperback and electronic editions; available through Amazon, Barnes &

Noble, Smashwords, and other outlets worldwide.
Read Wiseguy's erotic fiction on:
http://www.mcstories.com
http://www.asstr.org/~Wiseguy
531

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The Mind Play

About This Book

About the Author

Building Blocks for a Successful Class

Root Yourself and Set the Room

Organizing Your Content

Erotic Hypnosis 101 Outline

Lecture, Demo, or Hands-On?

What about Q&A?

Using Your Body

The Conscious and the Subconscious

What is Erotic Hypnosis?

Anatomy of a Hypnotic Scene

Physical Safety and Comfort

Covert Hypnosis and NLP

The Dave Elman Induction

What's Depth Got To Do With It?

When Suggestions Fail

Deeper = More Controlled

The Furniture Store

Testing for Depth

Subconscious Depth Scale

Suggestion in Everyday Life

Direct and Indirect Suggestion

Safe and Effective Wording

Putting it All Together

Eye Accessing Cues

Using Your Partner's Primary Modality

Trust, Expectation, and Belief

The Elements of Style

Can You Be Hypnotized?

The Next Level

Tests vs. Convincers

Arms Rising and Falling

The Chevreul Pendulum

About Confusion Inductions

The Analytical Mind

The Trigger Event

“Only when it is safe and appropriate...”

The Trigger Response

Instant Induction Basics

Setting the Stage

The Hypnotic Contract

The Control Room

The Jedi Mind Trick

Reach Out and Hypnotize Someone

Ending the Session

Ending the Session

Hypnosis by Video Chat

Ending the Session

A Non Verbal Induction

Kinky Human Tricks

Hot and Cold

Remote Erogenous Zone

“My pussy is missing!”

Hypnosis and Memory

Tips for Effective Amnesia Suggestions

More Than Meets the Eye

Five-Point Palm Exploding Orgasm Technique

Enabling Tantric Orgasm

Two Hypnotists Are Better Than One

Dual Induction Technique

After the Induction