Book Signing with Steve! You Can Attract It, Saturday April 10th at 2pm. Barnes and Noble Ogelthorpe Mall, Savannah GA. Click here for directions.

As I sit here in my office preparing notes for a hypnotherapy training DVD to be released by the fall, I am reminded of some of the more challenging aspects of hypnosis. Sometimes hypnotherapists are asked to work with clients who are highly resistant to hypnosis. Almost everyone who enters a hypnotherapists office is willing to be hypnotized, but for some it is only a mild trance state whereas for others it is a much more "profound" experience.

While it is absolutely true that even a mild trance will produce excellent results, a deeper trance can be more enjoyable for the client. It is therefore up to the hypnotherapist to discover which method works best for a particular client. Some clients go very deeply into trance with a basic relaxation induction. This is a series of words designed to progressively relax different parts of the body until all parts are relaxed and the client is drifting in a sea of tranquility. This is the theory at least, but some clients require an entirely different approach to unwind. Some clients are so analytical or nervous that they pay attention to every word the hypnotherapist is saying in an attempt to pick the structure of the session apart. Often these clients will remark at the end of a session something such as, "I don't think I was hypnotized, I heard every word you said." What these clients don't understand is the power of the spoken word. Even if the client were completely awake, those words spoken by the hypnotherapist would have a positive impact on the person's life.

Think about it. What if someone says to you, "I love you." Or "You will never amount to anything." Well-phrased sentences are powerful. The client of a hypnosis session will be able to relax to at least an alpha state and the words they hear in that state will have an impact on their lives. What we are concerned with here though is the perception the client has of the experience. The deeper into hypnosis they go, the more they will feel they have received their money's worth. It is fine to explain to a client that no matter how deeply they go, they will receive the same benefit, but clients expect to be "knocked out."

With this in mind, the following information is designed to help you either work with clients who do not respond well to a simple relaxation induction or, if you are a client, to help you understand other ways in which you can be more deeply hypnotized.

One of the most well-known hypnotic inductions, aside from the relaxation induction, is the confusion induction. This is done in an attempt to confuse the conscious mind of highly analytical clients. They are led on a wild goose chase through a meaningless and confusing word maze. Along the path, relaxing words are sprinkled here and there. As the client attempts to pick apart the meaning of the words spoken, he/she is at the same time being influenced to relax through the occasional use of such words as "relax, deeper, down, etc."

Another alternative to the relaxation induction is a technique causing eye fatigue. In this technique, the client can be asked to perform any number of tiring exercises such as the following… "Look up at a point just above your head. As you count in your mind backwards from 50 to one, you will have your eyes open on the even numbers and closed on the odd numbers." By the time the client gets to one, he/her eyes are tired and, consequently, the client is tired.

If you or someone you know can benefit from these more advanced hypnotic techniques, you may wish to order a custom tape, CD or MP3. You can request either induction with your purchase.

Have a wonderful July and I'll talk to you next month!

Steve G. Jones
Clinical Hypnotherapist