Hi, I'm Phil.

I'm a professional hypnotherapist, currently writing my first book, under the working title of "I Will Teach You Self-Hypnosis".

Since it's my first post here, I thought I'd share something cool and useful with you guys. So I put together a bunch of excerpts into this article that explains (in as practical terms as possible) how to actually hypnotize people.

So if you like the mystery and fiction of hypnosis, I'm going to spoil it all for you. It isn't, and never was, mind-control.

So don't expect to get everyone hypnotized. Still, by using what's described here, you should have a fairly healthy 50%+ success rate on hypnotizing people who fulfill the criteria outlined below.

So, to keep things simple, everything I'm going to write here is going to be purely practical, with as little theory as possible.

So what's hypnosis?

• Hypnosis is the bypassing of the critical faculty of the conscious mind.
• Hypnotic trance is the result of establishing hypnosis into a state.

The critical faculty mentioned here is that function (process) of the mind which compares known information to new, incoming information. In everyday life, if something doesn't agree with what we're already know, we generally reject the new information. Thus confirmation bias.

In hypnosis, the goal is to put yourself in such a state, where you simply take in all the new information and integrate it seamlessly into your worldview.

By taking a step back from rational, strictly logical thinking, you can allow your emotions and feelings to surface more. This in turn means that the decisions you make in hypnosis are not driven by logic or planning, but by how you feel about what's happening.

Is it dangerous?

Not in normal circumstances. However, there is a small subset of people who have strong emotional tensions built up inside, and during an induction (the process by which hypnosis is achieved), they might start flooding out.

That's called an abreaction. If that happens, and the person you're hypnotizing is weeping, feeling uncomfortable, or spontaneously explodes with emotions (anger, guilt, sadness, fear, you get the idea), here's what you do:

1. Don't touch them. (You don't want to create an association between your touch and these bad feelings.)
2. You tell them: "Focus on your breath, let that scene fade away". You repeat this until you see improvement.
3. You continue with "Feel your weight on the chair (or floor), know you're safe". Again, repeat this until you see they're better.
4. Then you emerge, optionally with a suggestion like so: "Now, I'm going to count to 5, and I want you to come out of hypnosis, and as you do, you can remember everything that you need to remember and forget everything that is appropriate for you to forget."

This last suggestion essentially helps by preventing the hypnotee from having recurring thoughts about the emotions, and thus making them unable to cause the abreaction themselves, by digging too deep into their own psyche.

CAUTION!

Do not hypnotize:

• People for pain removal (as that can lead to them badly handling themselves and exacerbating their problem).
• Pregnant women (abreactions are possible, and emotional distress from such can lead to miscarriage).
• Children (i.e. anyone below 18 or 21, depending on your local laws).
• People who are inebriated or intoxicated.
• People who don't want to be hypnotized (you can get your face smashed).
• People with conditions such as: heart issues, epilepsy, mental disorders.

Hypnosis can be dangerous if not used responsibly and with care. Make sure to go over this list, and if in doubt, err on the side of caution.

So how do I do this?

Very simply. Below, you're going to find Dave Elman's induction, which is known as the most effective induction in history. Whether that is true or not, I do not know. But it is simple, and it's as effective for recreational, fun purposes, as it is for running therapy.

The Pre-talk

As with any cooperative task, you need a pre-talk. Because hypnosis isn't something you do to the hypnotee - you, as the hypnotist, merely guide them through sequences of actions, thoughts, and feelings.

1. The person can’t fear being hypnotized.
2. They retain control and awareness.
3. They won’t do anything they don’t feel good about.
4. The person must want to be hypnotized - this is a prerequisite to them committing to the hypnotic contract.
5. Have the hypnotic contract in place.
   1. “On my part, I’ll treat you as well as I can, I’ll only give you suggestions and guide you through the process with your best interest in mind, so that you have a good experience and increase your ability to do those things which you want to do.”
   2. “From you, I expect that you will do the things I tell you, when I tell you, adding nothing, subtracting nothing. So that if I ask you to lift your hand, a hand that belongs to you will move in an upwards, vertical fashion. For the time of our session, you’re not supposed to think, you’re supposed to act.”
   3. “If you have objections, voice them. If you're feeling something weird, say it. The more communication happens, the better.”
   4. “Agreed?”
6. If they don’t agree, you can still work with them, however your success rates are going to be lower without the contract to hold them to.
7. If they do, you’ll find the process much easier, as long as you abide by your part, and hold them to their part of the contract. Which means, if they stray, you have to get them back on track.

It’s worth noting that some people also benefit from pretending to themselves (not to the hypnotist). Just like kids pretend sticks are guns, and they're cops and robbers, give yourself the space to engage in imagination for a while. Things don't need to be "real" in order to carry real emotional charges, and those emotional charges are what shapes recurring behaviors.

Dave Elman's Induction

(You read all of the below, or recite it from memory. It's less about the words, and much more about getting them through the sequence as described.)

Will you just take a good long deep breath and close your eyes. Now relax the muscles around your eyes to the point where those eye muscles won’t work and when you’re sure they won’t work, test them and make sure they won’t work…

(If the hypnotee opens their eyes: No, you’re making sure they will work. Relax them to the point where they will not work and when you’re sure they won’t work, test them. Test them hard. Get complete relaxation in those muscles around the eyes . . .)

(Alternatively, here’s what I prefer saying: Great, now you know that you can relax them even more, your eyes, your eyelids, to the point where they actually won’t want to move, they won’t work; relax them completely, and test.)

Now let that feeling of relaxation go right down to your toes…

In just a moment we’re going to do this again and when we do it the second time you’re going to be able to relax ten times as much as you’re relaxed already.

Now open your eyes. Close your eyes. Completely relax-let yourself be covered with a blanket of relaxation.

Now the third time we do it you’ll be able to double the relaxation which you have.

Open your eyes – now relax.

I’m going to lift your hand and drop it and if you’ve followed orders up to this point that hand will be just as limp as a dishrag and will just plop into your lap.

(Lift the hypnotees hand – not high, just enough to feel that it’s completely relaxed and limp)

(If they have total relaxation – let it go. If not, suggest further relaxation as such: No, let me lift it – don’t you lift it – let that hand be heavy as lead. You’ll feel it when you’ve got the real relaxation.)

That’s complete physical relaxation, but I want to show you how you can get mental relaxation as well as physical, so I’m going to ask you to start counting – when I tell you to – from a hundred backwards. Each time you say a number, double your relaxation, and by the time you get down to ninety-eight you’ll be so relaxed there won’t be any more numbers. Start with the idea of making that happen and watch it happen. Count out loud, please.

[100] Double your relaxation and watch the numbers start disappearing.
[99] Watch the numbers start disappearing.
[98] Now they’ll be gone . . . Make it happen. You’ve got to do it, I can’t do it. Make them disappear, dispel them, make them vanish.

Are they all gone?

(If yes – congratulations, you have a person in somnambulism. If not — read on. This is the way Elman dealt with it.)

Make them disappear. I’m going to lift your hand and drop it, and when I do, the rest of those numbers will drop out. Want them to drop out and watch them go.

(Lift hand and drop it.)

Gone?

Usually, at this point, they’ll say yes. And this should be more than enough to achieve complete somnambulism in essentially anyone, as long as they cooperate.

Suggestions!

Now, once the hypnotee is at this point (called "deep trance" or "somnambulism"), they'll be able to do things that they perhaps were's able to do before. Such as:

• Become unable to move a limb after being given a suggestion that it's stuck.
• Become unable to remember things. (Note that this is temporary, and abuse does end badly. Hypnosis isn't mind-control.)
• Experience things which are imagined, as if they're real.
• Enhance sensory perceptions, experiencing sight, hearing, and touch much more intensely.
• Take roles on a much deeper level than normally possible. (Method acting!)
• And much more.

Essentially anything you could imagine is possible to experience this way.

But more on that later, as it's 2 AM, and I feel like I've covered all the basics.

If there's interest/ questions, I'll give it my best shot to answer them to the best of my abilities in a follow-up post, and we can go from there.

Sincerely,
Phil

PS. Since I skipped the introduction, I'm the Copytist, the guy who put HypNox together, and one of the mods of /r/hypnosis.