Want fast and effective hypnotic inductions?
For anyone learning hypnosis, this article and accompanying video will help you out with skills you can use immediately.
In this blog post, we’ll cover:
- Three rapid hypnotic inductions, demonstrated and explained.
- Three hypnotic deepeners for even more profound trances.
- Where to learn even more AWESOME hypnosis techniques
The Kinesthetic Ambiguity Rapid Induction
There are three basic modalities we used to understand the world. To represent them, we use the acronym VAK. Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic.
The kinesthetic modality relates to physical sensations and emotions. But for this induction, we’re only going to use the sense of physical touch.
The Kinesthetic Ambiguity induction consists of touching the subject’s hand in an ambiguous way such that they can’t figure out exactly what you intend to have happen. This results in spontaneous catalepsy.
It’s spontaneous because we don’t pre-frame that the arm will become cataleptic. We only draw attention to it after we’ve already achieved the phenomenon.
After getting agreement via a yes set, and dissociation by asking to borrow “that hand” as Mike demonstrates, you gently position it in front of the subject’s eyes and intently ask him to close his eyes.
With the subject’s eyes closed and his hand hovering in front of him, you do a few light touches on different parts of his hand and wrist. At this point, the brain has received a series of unconscious messages that culminate in a spontaneous cataleptic hand and arm.
As a bonus, we can use the catalepsy to practice Ericksonian pacing and leading, as we explain in this blog post and Mike demonstrates in the video. These pacing suggestions draw attention to the cataleptic limb and use it to segué into a hypnotic trance.
To finish the induction, just say “that’s right…”
The Walter B. Gibson Induction
This induction employs the classical method of inducing trance through eye fixation. Walter Gibson (or whoever he learned this induction from) figured out you can use this method with built-in fractionation as well, which is what his induction consists of.
Mike found this induction in an old book: “The Key To Hypnotism”, by Walter B. Gibson. That’s why we named the induction after him. This was also the first induction Mike ever learned at the age of 12. It’s the reason Mike got hooked on hypnosis!
As with any induction of this kind, you ask the subject to stare at something slightly above eye level. This will cause his eyes to eventually feel heavy and fatigued. In the context of a hypnotic induction, the psychological response caused by eye fatigue rapidly results in a hypnotic trance.
Instead of having the subject simply stare at something, this induction will require him to repeatedly open and close his eyes. This will not only increase eye fatigue, but create a more powerful trance through the principle of fractionation.
Fractionation is well known because of the work of one of the hypnosis greats, Dave Elman. Fractionation is designed right into the famous Dave Elman Induction, too. It is a powerful technique to deepen trance, but it’s also built into the Walter B. Gibson induction.
To understand what fractionation is and how it’s used in hypnosis, click here.
Avoid using language that’s too direct and paternal. Instead, pace the subject’s experience and adopt a more maternal approach by telling him to “permit” or “allow” his eyes to close. To learn the difference between the paternal and maternal approaches in hypnosis, click here.
The induction ends by suggesting that, at some point, the subject’s eyes will be so tired they just won’t open again. When you notice it’s becoming really difficult for him to open his eyes, just say “eyes closed now…”
Test Drive Our Training
World Class Training. Test Drive with No Credit Card
Breathing With the Hand Induction
Mike learned this from his own mentor, the late great Darek Balmer.
It starts in the same way as the Kinesthetic Ambiguity induction: by asking to “borrow that hand” from the subject and saying “eyes closed now”.
The difference with this induction is you won’t position the hand in front of the subject’s eyes. You’ll hold it up by the wrist instead, letting it rest on your finger as in the image below.
The next step is to instruct the subject to take a deep breath, and slightly lift his hand as he does, accompanying the movement of his breath. Then you tell him to exhale, and let his hand drop slightly as well.
Suggest to the subject that he’ll fall deeper into trance with every motion. Eventually, you may remove your finger from under his hand, drawing his attention to it as the movement becomes automated, and suggesting the hand is getting heavier and sinking down as he sinks deeper into trance.
“That’s right…”
3 Easy Hypnotic Deepeners You Can Use Right Now
Except for the Dave Elman induction, which already has an embedded deepener, it’s good practice to always use a deepener after a successful induction.
At least until you’re good enough at calibration to know exactly how deep into trance your subjects are, do one of the following deepeners after each and every induction.
The Shoulder Press Deepener
This is the only deepener on this list which requires you to be physically present. The rest can be easily done while in a video call.
With the subject sitting down after an induction, pre-frame that, in a moment, you’ll put your hands on his shoulders and ask him to take a deep breath, and that as he exhales, you’ll press his shoulders, sending him into a deeper trance.
Press the subject’s shoulders down gently, and watch as the trance deepens and stabilizes.
Deepen Using Fractionation
We talked about fractionation earlier in this blog post. By bringing the person to the surface of their trance and immediately putting them back in, the trance will deepen. That’s fractionation in a nutshell.
Just do it exactly how you’d do it in the Dave Elman induction. Ask the subject to open his eyes and look at your hand as it passes in front of him, then close them again. Suggest him going twice as deep each time. You can do this five or six times for maximum effect.
That’s it. It’s that simple
Deepen by Utilizing Catalepsy
We’re using catalepsy as a deepener this time. Actually, we’re pointing out how important it is to use it to deepen trance after an induction like Kinesthetic Ambiguity, which you just learned.
To complement the already powerful use of catalepsy to deepen trance as the hand sinks, observe Mike’s maternal use of language as he paces Chris’ experience and leads it towards a deeper hypnotic trance.
Bonus Deepener: “And your unconscious mind knows…”
This bonus deepener might just be the best one ever. It’s so good we wrote a separate blog post about it.
Read: The Best Method for Deepening Hypnotic Trance.
Learn Hypnosis With the Mike Mandel Hypnosis Academy
When you are ready to continue your journey toward becoming a world-class hypnotist, we'd recommend getting started at Mike Mandel Hypnosis Academy (MMHA).
At MMHA, you can go from absolute beginner to confident hypnotist FAST.
With bite-sized, easy-to-understand videos, you’ll learn foundational principles and skills of hypnosis, meaning you’ll NEVER need a script. You’ll interact directly with us, guest trainers, and students worldwide.
In addition to building and reinforcing a solid foundation in hypnosis, MMHA contains tons of advanced techniques which you’ll learn quickly and effortlessly, making it the perfect training for beginner and experienced hypnotists alike.
You can get started at MMHA with a free Test Drive without ever needing to put in your credit card details. It's the easiest way to start learning hypnosis today.
Click here to get started at the Mike Mandel Hypnosis Academy.