STEP FOUR: DEEPENERSDEEPENING Definition: A technique for increasing the depth of trance (enhancing inner awareness by diminishing residual external awareness) Most deepeners can also be used as trance in- ductions Typical deepeners include: staircases, leaves falling, dissociation, fractionation and com- pounding.1.Direct Suggestion Merely directing the client to ‘go deeper’ into trance can be all that it takes for the trance state to deepen. Ensure that the client is already in a light trance beforehand and following your direc- tion. Say something like: ‘Deeper and deeper now.... More and more re- laxed’ Or ‘As relaxed as you are, there is still further to go... now allow yourself to double the sense of relaxation you are experiencing right now and go deeper into total relaxation.’2.Staircase Technique 1. Relax and close eyes 2. Imagine you are in the lobby of grand hotel 3. Exit through doors to wide sweeping stair- case (use all senses to make more real) 4. Imagine staircase sweeping down to a spe- cial place (eg. garden, sea-shore) 5. Imagine that as you take that first step down that you begin to feel more relaxed etc. 6. Pause to enjoy the increased relaxation 7. Repeat process for each step emphasising increasing depth of relaxation and detach- ment till special place is reached3.Dissociation Deepening Technique This technique involves subjectively dissoci- ating the client in multiple stages. eg....Associate client to internal relaxing memory (e.g.lying on beach) Amplify Visual, Auditory, Olfactory and Kinesthetics Have client imagine drifting off into a dream of another relaxing space (e.g. floating like a bird in the sky) Amplify Visual, Auditory, Olefactory and Kinesthetics Have client imagine being in another relax- ing space (e.g. bird sees fish swimming in sea, imagines itself as fish) Repeat as necessary N.B. Remember to return through reversed se- quence to re-orientate4.Pool Deepening Technique Imagine that the focus of your awareness is like a pebble tossed into a deep pool On the surface ripples spread just like the thoughts that ripple across the surface of your mind But just there, just below the surface, that point of awareness drifts down...gently floats down. ..... past the thoughts ....... slowly drifting down .... past the images ....gently down past the memories .... drifting effortlessly down past the feelings .... easily floating down till it gen- tly comes to rest in that quiet still place so very deep within your thinking experience where ev- erything is so calm and peaceful that even the surface ripples become stiller and stiller until the surface becomes like a perfect mirror etc.5.Fractionation or Compounding The process of causing the subject to alternate between inner and outer realities, usually by asking them to open and close their eyes Fractionation can be used as an induction or deepening technique Fractionation is differentiated from re-orien- tation because no time is allowed for the sub- ject to re-adjust. You can incorporate this into the Elman In- duction to compound the deepening effect. Once the client has closed their eyes for a while, ask them to allow them to gently flut- ter open again. Then ask them to close them softly and slowly... more and more relaxed. Repeat two or three times until you see the client really struggling to open their eyelids and then give the instruction to allow them to remain closed now and relax even deeper.6.Rehearsal Induction 1. Ask subject to imagine what it would feel like to experience the very beginning of trance phenomena: perhaps finger tingling, heavy eyelids etc. 2. Validate any response and guide subject to- wards deeper phenomena 3. Repeat until trance is established7.Minimalist Validation Technique 1. Seed idea that subject’s unconscious knows how to go into trance and will do so in it’s own time, when ready 2. Observe any minimal changes and feed these back to subject as signs of trance onset 3. Continue until trance is required level.STEP FIVE: CONVINCERS1.Ideo-motor Responses Ideomotor responses (“IMR”) is a psycholog- ical phenomenon where a subject makes mo- tions unconsciously. Derived from the terms "ideo" (idea, or mental representation) and "motor" (muscular ac- tion), it is an unconscious movement of a par- ticular muscle group of the body. When di- rected to specifically move that muscle group, by the hypnotist within trance, it acts as a convincer that the client is in a trance state. These movements can also occur out of trance and indeed we often do not realise why we jerk our hand away from something or flinch from time to time. We seek to find cause for our action and then are satisfied when we see the tickly or sharp object that our consciousness had not observed. The fact remains that our unconscious mind snatched the hand away BEFORE the consciousness knew what was happening. These movements are also referred to as "re- flexive" or automatic muscular reaction, often of minuscule degree, and often outside of the awareness of the subject. As in reflexive responses to pain, the body sometimes reacts reflexively with an ideomo- tor effect to ideas alone without the person consciously deciding to take action at the con- scious level.James Braid (see the section on the history of hypnosis) adopted the specific use of IMR within the hypnotic experience. He termed it ‘the mono ideo-dynamic’ Hypnotists and hypnotherapists use ideomo- tor responses to communicate with a subject's unconscious mind using a system of physical signals (such as finger movements) for the un- conscious mind to indicate "yes", "no", "I don't know", or even formulating a response for "I'm not ready to know that consciously". There are experiments to demonstrate the ideomotor effect by allowing a hand-held pen- dulum to hover over a sheet of paper. The paper has keywords such as YES, NO and MAYBE on it. Tiny muscular movements in the hand, in response to questions, cause the pendulum to move towards key words on the paper. This technique has been used by illu- sionists such as Derren Brown and others. 2.Anchoring Anchors are stimuli that call forth states of mind - thoughts and emotions. For example, touching a knuckle of the left hand could be an anchor. Some anchors are involuntary. So the smell of bread may take you back to your childhood. A tune may remind you of a certain person. A touch can bring back mem- ories and the past states. These anchors work automatically and you may not be aware of the triggers.Establishing an anchor means producing the stimuli (the anchor) when the resourceful state is experienced so that the resourceful state is pared to the anchor. For example, touching the knuckle of the left hand when the resourceful state is experienced to pair the two events. Activating or firing the anchor means produc- ing the anchor after it has been conditioned so that the resourceful state occurs. For exam- ple, touching the knuckle of the left hand after the anchor has been established so that this action produced the resourceful state. This page is concerned with creating anchors that produce resourceful states at will. Unconscious Anchors We are affected by anchors throughout our lives and go into a good mood or a bad one... feel motivated to do one thing or to do an- other ... feel confident and resourceful or the opposite. We are responding to anchors, but we may not know what they are. These anchors have been built up accidentally. In fact, we often think that our mood has nothing to do with us and that our moods occur by chance. Deliberate AnchorsYou use these to produce the state of mind or mood you need for a given situation. You enter an interview calm and relaxed. You control your temper. You turn on the enthusiasm you need to doa task. First of all we will assemble the ingredients for anchors and then give the whole procedure for establishing your designer anchors. You can use any resourceful state, but here we will us ‘being calm and relaxed’ as the example. Although we have dealt with the subject of es- tablishing anchors in some depth in this page, it is actually extremely easy to establish them! Anchoring Exercise 1. Select some physical action that is easily re-doable. Some people make a fist, some people say a word to themselves, others see an object or a symbol. This will be your anchor. 2. Remember atime when you felt really confident. If you can’t immediately remem- ber a situation, imagine what it would be like when you are confident or think about some- one who exudes confidence. Become fully aware of what it is like when you or someone else is confident. What did you see? What did you hear? What did you feel and where did you feel what you felt. Notice where the feel- ing starts and where it moves to. 3. Stay in the memory and get back that good feeling. When the feeling starts, imag- ine that it is getting bigger and spreading all round your body and returning to its source empowered. When you feel that the state atits peak, use your anchor — say the word you have chosen, do the physical action or visu- alise your object or scene or do a mixture of all three — it’s your choice. 4. Now think about what you had for breakfast. This is a way of breaking the state or getting back to ‘neutral’. 5. Wait a moment then fire your anchor again [see 3 above] . You will notice that the feelings, sights and sounds of ‘confidence’ begin to replay themselves in some degree. This is just a start and you can do much, much more to really recall and relive good states. This very basic exercise has many additional and useful parts to it, and initially, it works even better when you have someone facilitat- ing you. Skilled NLP practitioners know how to work with themselves and others to create great states and make permanent changes. The Two Crucial Elements of Anchoring Remember, the two elements of effective an- choring are: 1.Heightened State 2.Repetition3.Catalepsy Your unconscious movements that you sug- gest for your ideo motor response signals are good deepeners and convincers. Catalepsy can be used as a deepener and provide good convincing evidence that your client is in fact hypnotized. This convincer is not just for your client, as often the new hyp- notist needs such evidence too! Good old Wikipedia tells us that the phrase catalepsy comes from the Greek (as many things hypnotic do originate) ‘katalipsis’ meaning ‘seizing/grasping’ and is a nervous condition characterized by muscular rigidity and fixity of posture regardless of external stimuli, as well as decreased sensitivity to pain. The medical dictionary state it is a condition of diminished responsiveness usually charac- terised by a trancelike state and constantly maintained immobility... Erickson and Rossi wrote about catalepsy in 1981 in the book, ‘Experiencing Hypnosis: Therapeutic approaches to altered states’. The book refers to everyday daydreaming where a person is self-absorbed and temporar- ily immobilised by the intensity of that focus. When this state is induced by the hypnotist in the client, suggestions made that the eyelids will remain shut, no matter what, can truly fascinate an audience and is perceived as one of the convincers of the trance experience.The suggestion would be applied as such: ‘your eyelids are so very relaxed now that they remain closed, shut tight...’ followed by seed- ing the response: ‘in a moment, I am going to ask you to try to open those eyes and the more you try and open them, the more they remain locked down tightly shut..’ The audience marvels as the client sub- ject seemingly struggles to open their locked down lids. Whilst this is often utilised on stage performances it can be useful for demonstration purposes when addressing a group. However, it is not usual practice to do this within therapy. Occasionally, however, there comes before you what is referred to as a ‘resistant client’ and one may use some form of catalepsy to prove the effectiveness of the hypnotic state to that client. When the client witnesses, for example, their arm drifting in front of their eyes, whilst they have no sensation of it doing so, then they may be convinced of the state of hypnosis. How to Induce Catalepsy Use an induction technique, such as Esdaile, then deepen the experience as much as is nec- essary.