learn hypnosis

learn hypnosis
Learn Hypnosis... Now!
By Michael Stevenson MNLP, MTT, MHt
Certified Master Trainer of Hypnotherapy,
Neuro-Linguistic Programming and TIME Techniques
Visit transformdestiny.com to learn about live hypnosis & NLP trainings!


Dedicated To Jonathan and Julie.
Everything I do is for you.


Copyright © 2008 Michael Stevenson
ISBN 0-9744599-0-9
Published by Transform Destin, Inc., http://www.transformdestiny.com/

All Rights Reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, desktop publishing, recording, or otherwise, without permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks have been appropriately capitalized and are denoted with a ®, a TM or an SM. The publisher cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any registered trademark, trademark, or service mark.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Welcome! You are about to embark on a fantastic journey! You will learn many things about hypnosis and the human mind along the way. It’s a story of who we are and what we’re capable of as humans, and how we can tap into it to better our own lives and the lives of others.
In this book, we will cover the theory and mechanics of hypnosis, including five different styles of hypnotic induction, the structure of suggestion, hypnosis for therapeutic purposes (i.e., pain management, smoking cessation, weight loss, etc.), hypnosis for entertainment (stage hypnosis) and even self-hypnosis. We will also cover common myths about hypnosis. There are more than you know, and many that you probably believe to be true!
Hypnosis is a journey into the subconscious mind, or the unconscious mind, as we tend to call it in the field of hypnotherapy. It can be used in a variety of situations from having fun on stage or at a party, to relieving pain, to breaking habits, to achieving hypnotic anesthesia for surgery. Prepare yourself for the ride of a lifetime ¬– you’re about to have some fun!

Who is this book for?
This book is for anyone! If you have a desire to have fun, explore the human mind, understand the unconscious mind, learn how to be more suggestive and persuasive, and become more at peace with yourself, you have come to the right place.
Hypnosis is more than the silly entertainment we see in stage shows. It’s more than ‘hocus-pocus’. It’s more than just showing off for friends and family. It’s a journey inward. I offer you the opportunity to learn about the inner workings of yourself, as well as those of others.
Now, don’t get me wrong… hypnosis is fun too! Children, teens, adults and the elderly each have their own style and charm in hypnosis. Stage shows, if done right, are humorous and fun for everybody. And you’ll learn all about them in this book, too!

Can you perform hypnosis?
The simple answer is yes. Hypnosis is not regulated in most of the United States and the world*. Usually, no license is required to practice hypnosis. Hypnotherapy (the clinical use of hypnosis) is a self-regulating industry, and though there is no licensing, there are boards, such as the International Board of Clinical Practitioners, that certify people in clinical hypnotherapy and more. If you plan to work with people as a professional hypnotherapist, see Appendix IV for information on obtaining live training and certification in Clinical Hypnotherapy.
There are rules and laws that can govern how hypnosis can be used. For instance, certain issues should not be addressed without approval from the subject’s physician or therapist. These issues will be addressed in the section titled “Should I Work With This?” in Chapter 3.
The most difficult part of hypnosis is finding subjects to practice with when you are new. I suggest that you keep your study of hypnosis quiet around people you know, at first. Those who know you best will likely be skeptical. Begin by simply asking a friend or family member to experiment in a “relaxation technique” that you’ve learned and practice these techniques with them. Before they know it, they will be in a deep state of relaxation and hypnosis and will really enjoy the way it feels.
The first few times you practice hypnosis with others, you’ll probably want to forget about giving suggestions to them, which you will learn about in Chapter 1. Just take them into trance, let them experience the beauty and benefit of it, and then bring them out.
You will experience this for yourself, later in Chapter 1, when I explain how to download your sample hypnosis induction from our website.
Eventually, you can begin to let your friends and family know that you’ve been dabbling in hypnosis. At this point, you will have hypnotized a few people and become more confident in your own abilities. Confidence is a valuable trait to have, as a hypnotist.

Conventions used in this book
• Depending upon your specific context, you may be working with a client, patient, volunteer, audience member, relative, friend or guinea pig. Since I can’t predict how you’ll use your new skills, I’ll settle on the word “subject,” throughout this book when referring to the target of your hypnotic inductions.
• New Words will be italicized to indicate that the word may be looked up in the Glossary (i.e., Now would be a good time to try some convincers.)
• Within quoted text, italicized words are called embedded commands and are to be spoken with a different inflection, temp or tone. This concept will be covered before the first occurrence.
• Within quoted dialog or instructions, commands to you as the hypnotist will be enclosed with [square brackets].
• Focus on This! Factoids, trivia and other fun information will be displayed under this heading.
• Don’t Trance Out! Reminders and other important information will be placed under this heading.

About the Author
I am a practicing Master Hypnotherapist, Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP, a related field), a Master Practitioner of TIME Techniques, a Master Success, Life and Business Coach and the President and Lead Trainer of Transform Destiny, Inc., a full-service hypnotherapy, coaching and training company in Orange County, California. I’ve been helping people change their lives and achieve their dreams for nearly a decade.
I was not always a hypnotherapist. I used to be a computer programmer. I was a heavy smoker and had tried everything to quit smoking, with no results. After nearly fourteen years of smoking, and about four years of trying to quit, I quit smoking easily and effortlessly with a self-hypnosis tape that I bought at a stage show at the county fair. I instantly became fascinated with hypnosis.
My first trip to the library yielded no results whatsoever. I began going from bookstore to bookstore looking for any information I could find on this incredible subject. Eventually, after I had read nearly every book I could find on hypnosis and NLP, I attended a live training, became certified as a Clinical Hypnotherapist in just one weekend and started my own private practice out of my living room.
Since then, my life has changed in so many incredible, amazing ways. I live in Orange County, California, where I own and operate Transform Destiny, Inc (www.transformdestiny.com). I have now received hundreds of hours of hypnotherapy training and I’m board certified by several prestigious boards, including the National Guild of Hypnotists, the International Hypnosis Federation, the American Board of Hypnotherapy, the American Board of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, the Time Line Therapy Association, the International Association of Counselors and Therapists, the International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association, and the International Board of Clinical Practitioners, of which I’m currently the President.
I tell you this, not to impress you, but to impress upon you the fact that anyone can learn hypnosis – even a former computer programmer like me.
In the last eight years, I’ve taught tens of thousands of people hypnosis, NLP, TIME Techniques and coaching, either through my books, or in person. These are, by far, my favorite subjects to discuss, and if you have a question, feel free to contact me. Maybe your question will be featured in our monthly newsletter. Feel free to contact me any time at hypnobook@transformdestiny.com
If you’re interested in learning hypnosis, NLP, TIME Techniques or EFT in person, go to www.transformdestiny.com and come join me at one of my live trainings.
Part I - Fundamentals
Chapter 1: What is Hypnosis
In this chapter, we will take a look at what hypnosis actually is. While we don't fully understand hypnosis from a medical/scientific standpoint yet, many studies are in process at the time of this writing that will shed light on exactly what this wonderful state is and how we can continue to use it in the future. Here's what we do know about hypnosis…

Hypnosis is a Natural State
Hypnosis is a natural state that each of us has the ability to enter. Some people are more talented than others at entering deep trance (This deep level of hypnosis is commonly called somnambulism). Everyone is able to enter this somnambulistic level of trance, but some enter it more easily than others.
Nearly every school of thought about mental health defines two major parts to the entity we call personality. Some call it Id and Ego; some call it Child and Parent. We will call them your Conscious Mind and Subconscious Mind (or Unconscious Mind, as most in this industry prefer to say, and which I’ll use throughout the rest of the book).
Your conscious mind is the part of you that you’re conscious of, the part of you that you "think" with. It consists of all of your conscious thought, and is generally limited to thinking of around seven things ¬– give or take one two – at any one time.
Your unconscious handles the many millions of details that you encounter every day of your life. Your unconscious is the domain of your emotions. It’s where your learnings and memories are kept, and it maintains all your
A good analogy that I like to use is that of a sailing ship. The Captain is your conscious mind, and does all the logical, rational thinking. It makes conscious, informed decisions based on the high-level information before him. He does not deal with the lower-level, more mundane tasks... that's the Crew's your job. If you haven’t guessed it yet, the Crew is your unconscious.
If the captain wants the ship to turn right, he doesn’t grab the wheel and do the work himself! He give the command, "All Hands! Full to Starboard!!!"
Something as simple as turning the boat right seems like an uncomplicated process. But behind the scenes, crewmembers are scurrying to make the command a reality. There is a man who rings the chime to indicate a turn, which prompts engineering to fire up one of the motors, which requires more steam, prompting crew members to shovel and burn more coal, which needs still other crew members to replenish coal. These men work hard and deserve a good meal, so there are cooks that make food that waiters need to serve. Others have to replenish the food supplies, sweep the floors, check the weather, monitor sonar and radar, plot courses and a million other tasks... All just so the Captain can bark his next order.
The same is true with us. Something as simple as picking up a glass of water involves hundreds of muscle pairs. To consciously think of each group of muscles to flex and tense in just the right proportion to pick up a cup – neither dropping it, nor crushing it – is as delicate an operation as a ballet, and it takes the intent and orders of the conscious mind, plus the multi-tasking skill of the unconscious mind to pull it off.
Now, in order for any captain to be a good captain, he must pay attention to the feedback from his crew. Can you guess what happens when the Captain starts ignoring – or even worse, mistreating – the crew? That's right, mutiny. And that’s exactly what happens when some of us get out of rapport with our own unconscious.
There’s good news, though! Just the act of using hypnosis begins gaining that rapport between the conscious and unconscious minds. Hypnosis opens the channels of communication between the two, and when the unconscious gets its fair share of attention, it begins to produce better results.
Basically, hypnosis allows us to open the unconscious mind to suggestion, while the conscious mind wanders, or is otherwise distracted.
Hypnosis is not mind control, brainwashing, black magic or voodoo. The hypnotist has no special powers over the subject. Hypnosis is actually a cooperative activity, which requires the full consent of the subject.
As a matter of fact, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. The subject enters his own trance - the hypnotist merely guides the subject through his experience and offers therapeutic suggestions along the way (or entertaining suggestions, depending on his line of work).

You Have Already Been Hypnotized
You may not know it, but chances are you've already been hypnotized!
Have you ever been daydreaming – so oblivious to the world that you didn't even hear someone speaking to you or calling your name? Ever read a book or watch a movie and get so into it that you lose track of all time and feel as though you are there? Have you ever been driving down the road and suddenly "snap to," wondering how you have traveled the last few miles? These are all altered-states, called book trance, movie trance and highway trance, where your unconscious mind has taken over while your conscious mind wanders. In essence, you have been hypnotized! You just didn’t know how to use it!

The Signs of Hypnosis
People react to hypnosis in many different ways. Because of this, no simple table can accurately describe everyone's reaction to hypnosis. Some people appear to be "out cold,” while others will have fluttering eyelids or some other types of twitching. Young children, who are actually in altered states most of the time, will squirm or even giggle while in hypnosis.
The point is that hypnosis is completely subjective and just because one person may or may not show one or more of these signs does not necessarily mean that the subject is or isn't hypnotized. These three levels of trance are simplified and not really meant to signify concrete states of hypnosis. More will be said about this in the section titled "The Stages of Hypnosis".
Figure 1.1 - Signs of Hypnosis
Light Trance • Deep relaxation
• Change in respiration
• Fluttering of the eyelids
Medium Trance • Face Flaccid
• Redness and increased lacrimation of the eyes due to relaxation of the muscles around/in the eye.
• Labored breathing
Deep Trance • Catalepsy
• Inability or unwillingness to speak

The Effects of Hypnosis
Effect is another highly subjective area of hypnosis. While there are some similarities in the experiences of most subjects, none of these effects are a requirement or a direct indication of successful hypnosis. People will feel their own subjective feelings in hypnosis, so this is only a guideline.
Figure 1.2 - Effects of Hypnosis
Deep Relaxation Most subjects will experience an intense feeling of relaxation. Although, relaxation is not necessary for trance, many methods of hypnosis promote trance through dissociation with the body. This is usually done through deep relaxation.
Floating or Sinking Many subjects report the gentle feeling of floating or sinking into the chair or couch that they are on.
Increased Senses While hypnosis usually involves dissociation from the body, typically, many people report that they also become aware of certain things through an increase in the sensitivity of their senses.
Amnesia Many people experience amnesia about the content of the hypnotic experience. This is actually encouraged, and even intentionally suggested, when using hypnosis in a therapeutic setting.
Time Distortion Trance can do some amazing things to a person’s perception of time. Many sessions that last an hour feel like ten or fifteen minutes to an awakened subject. Sometimes, twenty-minute sessions feel like hours. Time distortion is completely subjective - everyone experiences it differently.



The Stages of Hypnosis
Hypnosis is generally regarded as having three levels or stages of "depth". There is a fairly heated argument between different camps regarding the actual levels (even if there actually are any) of hypnosis and what characteristics belong to each level. This chart is based on the work of Leslie LeCron and the LeCron Depth Scale, which is still in use by many hypnotists today.
Figure 1.3 - Stages of Hypnosis
Light Trance • Feelings of lethargy and relaxation
• Catalepsy of the eyes
• Catalepsy of the arms or other muscle groups
• Floating or sinking feelings
• Full body catalepsy
Medium Trance • Smell and taste can be suggested. For example, making an onion taste and smell like an apple.
• The ability to totally erase or block numbers from the mind.
• Amnesia of certain events
• Glove Anesthesia
• Analgesic suggestions
• Post-hypnotic suggestion
Deep Trance • Automatic movement.
• Positive hallucinations can be suggested. For instance, in my hand, you will see a tennis ball. What color is it?
• Complete anesthesia
• Negative hallucinations, while more difficult to suggest than positive hallucinations, can sometimes be suggested at this point. For instance, the chair you are sitting on has just disappeared… you can no longer see the chair anywhere.
• Comatose, or what has been commonly called, the Esdaile state.

Bear in mind that these stages are very fluid. Please, do not get the idea that only a person in medium trance can receive post-hypnotic suggestions, or that only a person in deep trance can experience anesthesia. Everyone is different and people respond in different ways to hypnosis. This table is only presented as a loose outline and is not meant to limit your options in any way. Remember... Anything is possible!

Dispelling Myths About Hypnosis: Common Questions
Let's face it... Hypnosis has not fared well under the skeptical eye of most. There are many reasons for this – media being the biggest, in my opinion. The image of hypnosis most commonly put forth by Hollywood is one of magic, mystery and power. In these movies, some sinister villain usually waves something shiny in the "victim's" face and gains full and complete control.
Well, as we have learned, this is all false. But most people don't even have the small amount of knowledge about hypnosis that you already have now. So, in order to help these people to trust us and relax sufficiently, we must dispel a few myths about hypnosis.
Most uncertainties about hypnosis stem from issues where the subject believes that they will lose control and be made to bark like a dog or something of the sort. I will provide some specific ways to combat these fears later in this book, but for now, let's look at some of the most common questions people have about hypnosis and the ways that I like to answer them.
Will I fall asleep?
No, you will not fall asleep. While many people look "zonked out" while in trance, this is usually just a product of the extreme relaxation and comfort felt during hypnosis. Remember, hypnosis is not sleep. At all times, you will be completely awake and in control, but you may be so relaxed that you don’t choose to move because it’s just so darn comfortable.
Will I Lose control or be a Zombie?
Not at all. Hypnosis is a cooperative activity, which means that you must consent to everything that I suggest to you. If I were to suggest something that would make you uncomfortable, cause harm or is out of line with your morals, you would either come out of trance, or simply ignore the suggestion. You are suggestible under hypnosis, but not commandable! Your unconscious mind will always protect you, and will always choose to adhere to your morals.
If that's so, why do people on stage bark like dogs and act like fools?
Have you ever known anyone personally that has gone on stage? The stage hypnotist plays with a bit of a stacked deck. Think about it... Who goes up on stage? Volunteers, right?! These are people who enjoy hamming it up! Heck, I'll bet if you watch most of them volunteering, they were probably standing on their tippie-toes on their chairs saying "Me, me, me, me, me, me, pick meeee!!!!" They enjoy the attention! Chances are they might bark like a dog even if they weren't hypnotized just to get a laugh!
This is not meant to take anything away from stage-hypnotists. Stage hypnotism is an extraordinary art that is difficult to master. And in order to put ten to fifty subjects under trance in less than five minutes, and then have them do entertaining things, it definitely helps to have the right type of subjects.
What Will Hypnosis Feel Like?
Focus on This!
In the above paragraph, you'll notice that certain words are italicized. Those "chunks" of the passage are meant to be said at a slightly different volume, tempo or tone of voice. This type of emphasis is called embedded commands, which speak directly to the subconscious mind. Embedded Commands will be discussed further in Chapter 2
Hypnosis can feel radically different to different people, so I can't tell you exactly what you'll feel. But I can tell you this... It will be completely comfortable...you will relax completely... And you will have a profoundly incredible and positive experience. The best way to learn about it is to experience it.



What if I Can’t Be Hypnotized?
Everyone can be hypnotized. Let me say that again: Everyone can be hypnotized. This does not necessarily mean that everyone will submit to hypnosis. Remember, hypnosis is cooperative... The subject is always in charge. But rest assured that, anyone with an I.Q. above that of a cucumber, who can relax, comprehend and follow simple instructions, can be hypnotized.
What if I get "stuck" in Hypnosis?
This is the most common fears of the average person. It’s also the most silly. In the entire history of hypnosis, no one has ever gotten "stuck" in trance. You've never become permanently "stuck" daydreaming, have you?!? Of course not! While a few people are reluctant to "snap to,” just because hypnosis is so cool and feels so good, everyone comes out of hypnosis feeling great, refreshed and full of life.

Time for Your First Trip
As I said before, the best way to learn what hypnosis feels like is to experience it. Now that we've taken all the mystery and hocus-pocus out of hypnosis, and dispelled all the common myths that you may have believed, you get your chance to do just that.
As my gift to you, I have recorded a special hypnotic induction so you can feel exactly what this wonderful thing called hypnosis like. This is a short hypnotic induction at about 22 minutes. There are no silly suggestions in it, such as suggestions to buy more products or take my live trainings, just a few suggestions for peace of mind and relaxation. So find a nice place to sit down and enjoy it.
Simply log on to the website using the link below and download the MP3 audio file, which is free to you as an owner of this book. Please be mindful that the audio file you are about to download is copyrighted material and should not be shared with others who have not purchased this book. Listening to the recording constitutes your acceptance of the terms in Appendix VI
While hypnosis itself is not dangerous, closing your eyes and trancing out while driving, or doing some other activity that requires your attention, obviously is dangerous. So the standard warnings apply: do not use while driving any type of vehicle, operating heavy machinery or power tools, babysitting or parenting or performing any other activity that requires your attention.
This is a simple induction using relaxation techniques and guided imagery. There are a few suggestions for general happiness and well-being, then you will be brought back out of trance. Allow yourself about 30 minutes of quiet, peace time where you can be alone and undisturbed. Follow the link below, or copy & paste the address into your browser to begin. The file is in mp3 format and will require a player, such as Microsoft Windows Media Player or Apple Quicktime for you to listen to it.
http://www.transformdestiny.com/downloads/free-induction.zip


Induction Types
Overview
The field of hypnosis is as varied as any of the other "helping" professions. There are many different styles of hypnosis in use today. It probably won't surprise you to know that the style most commonly portrayed by Hollywood, the media and mystery writers is the style that is least likely used by real, knowledgeable, professional hypnotists.
Let's take a look at five common styles of hypnotic induction: Permissive, authoritarian, Dave Elman style, Milton H. Erickson style and rapid induction. Although some may argue it until they are blue in the face, my belief is that none of these are mutually-exclusive. Each style has its own advantages in different situations. As a matter of fact, most inductions are a mix of styles. So don't artificially limit yourself by learning only one style.

Authoritarian
Authoritarian style is the style that you most often see from Hollywood or read in horror/mystery novels. Using this style, the hypnotist literally commands the subject into hypnosis.
"Close your eyes. Take three deep breaths and begin, now, to relax every muscle in your body."
This previous passage is indicative of an authoritarian type of induction, and commands like this would continue to be given until the client went into trance – many times out of sheer boredom. This sort of style usually works on people that like to be told explicitly what to do. Stubborn people, skeptics, defiant people, those with polar-reactions and people with otherwise "strong" personalities are probably not good candidates for an overly authoritarian induction.

Permissive
Permissive techniques are much less commanding. The idea with a permissive approach is to let the subject make the decisions about what he or she wants to do. There is virtually no emphasis on the "power" that the hypnotist has over the subject (because, if you remember, the hypnotist has no power over the subject!). Use of embedded commands is usually used fairly often to clue the subconscious mind into what it is you want them to do. If you’ll remember, embedded commands are commands that are "hidden" within normal conversion. The command words themselves are said with a slightly different tonality or tempo to mark them out to the unconscious mind.
“If you would, sit down with in a comfortable position. I wonder if you can begin to relax completely. It feels good to relax, doesn’t it? You might be able to notice that your eyes are getting heavier and your eyelids will soon feel very, very tired. Please close your eyes and listen to my voice.”
In the above example (embedded commands were italicized for emphasis), you can see that the mood is much more friendly, and polite than the Authoritarian approach. At all steps, the subject is asked to do things, not told. This technique can appear to be similar to the Erickson style of hypnosis, on the surface.

Ericksonian
Milton Erickson was a man who truly understood how to communicate with the unconscious minds of others. Nearly everything he did communicated on multiple levels. In order to communicate that effectively, you need to learn to use everything around you in your communication – from the subject’s history to events and noises around you at the moment, to the responses your subject has to your commands. That is why this style of hypnosis is often called utilitarian.
For example, if someone inadvertently came in through the door during an induction, many new hypnotists would panic and think the session a failure. Milton would have simply said something like
“…And as the doors to your unconscious open… they allow you to go even deeper inside…”
Much like a phony fortuneteller, one of the keys to this style of hypnosis is deliberate vagueness. Ericksonian techniques use vague statements and fuzzy descriptions to pace the subject’s ongoing reality – in other words, to match what the subject feels at the moment to create more of a reality.
For example, Erickson might look at you and say “Sometime, maybe very soon, you will blink…” When you eventually do (as, of course, will happen), he will say “That’s right… And that will allow to your relax even deeper…” Or he might say “In a moment, you’ll begin to feel a sensation in one of your hands… Maybe one will be lighter or heavier than the other… Maybe you’ll notice that one is warmer or cooler than the other…” This will cause the subject to become curious and withdraw to ponder the situation and check his hands. Of course, no two hands are alike, so the subject is sure to feel some difference, and he’ll believe that this is the one Milton speaks of, causing him to go even deeper into trance!
This serves two purposes. First, it serves to pace the reality of the subject, thereby creating a greater level of rapport, trust and belief. Second, and most important, it begins to get the subject into an altered state by occupying the subject’s conscious thoughts and causing him to withdraw.
Learning Ericksonian hypnosis is a must. These conversational hypnosis patterns aren’t only for use in a clinical setting. They can also be used in everyday communication with anybody. To learn more about this very powerful way of hypnotizing people through conversation, attend one of our live Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner trainings, which you can read more about at www.transformdestiny.com.
Elman
Dave Elman discovered a rapid approach that works very well on most people. While hypnotists at the time were worried about eye fixation and achieving eye-closure before inducing hypnosis (sometimes taking an hour or more), Dave Elman simply asked for it. His theory was that hypnosis is a state that we’re all capable of and familiar with, so induction could be rapid. Elman dispensed with all the pretense that was so rampant in hypnosis at the time, and developed a way of hypnotizing very deeply people in just a few minutes.
Elman’s technique was so powerful that he taught it almost exclusively to doctors and dentists. There are detailed records of him curing stuttering, migraines, sinus problems and asthma, over and over. He could also gain perfect anesthesia using hypnosis is just a matter of moments. This technique is so powerful, the famed Mayo brothers performed more than 17,000 deep abdominal surgeries using no chemical anesthesia, at all.
To learn more about the Elman method, attend one of our live Neuro-Linguistic Programming Master Practitioner trainings, where you’ll also be certified as a Master Hypnotherapist. You can read more about this training at www.transformdestiny.com.

Rapid
Rapid inductions can be very powerful when used in the right situations. The key to performing successful rapid inductions is to use them at times when other factors contribute to the success of the induction. Here are a few examples:
Highly Hypnotizable Individuals: Sometimes, very suggestible subjects can be hypnotized using rapid induction techniques. These are the types that are so suggestible that they often trance out just watching someone else being induced!
Shock: Very useful in the medical fields is the shock induction. Consider a situation where a patient comes in to the E/R in shock, such as a compound fracture, and you simply don’t have time to administer anesthetic, and maybe you can’t calm the patient sufficiently to work on the affected area. Simply jumping toward the patient with arms and hands out and screaming “SLEEEP!” is often enough to put the subject in a mild trance, because of the already altered state of shock they are in. This approach is obviously extreme and not recommended for most subjects. It could, as a matter of fact, get you punched, or cause your patient to have a heart attack. Use at your own risk!
Social Proof: Social Proof is a very powerful concept that has been studied for years by all types of professionals. Have you ever noticed that people tend to do what they see other people doing? Ask a question in a crowded room that requires a show of hands. For the first four or five seconds, you’ll get no response – nothing. Then maybe one or two will raise their hand. Seeing this, more raise their hands, etc. Most didn’t feel comfortable answering until social proof dictated that it was acceptable to do so.
Social proof is used a great deal in stage hypnosis. There are usually a huge variety of people on stage at any given show. By the time they’ve been on the stage two minutes, the experienced stage hypnotist already knows who the joker is, who the reserved one is, who will be their star, who is willing to try on clothes of the opposite sex, etc. But most importantly, he knows who is the most suggestible. By concentrating on getting these easiest people into trance first, he is setting up social proof that works with his as he moves down the line to the more difficult subjects. In most shows, after the first four or five people are tranced out, all the hypnotist has to do is look at a subject, yank their arm, and say “Sleep!” The anticipation and social proof is enough to do the rest!
Veterans of Trance: Trance is a skill. We can all do it to some extent, but some people are naturals. For most of us, the more we get to experience trance, the better we get at it, and the faster and deeper we can go. Many times, people who have experienced trance and know what it feels like can easily put themselves back into that state with little or no help from the hypnotist. Rapid induction works well for these people, especially if you’ve previously given them a post-hypnotic command to go back into trance upon command.
Children: Children are notorious for their imaginations. Imaginary friends, imaginary worlds (my kids come up with imaginary promises that I supposedly made!)… They walk around much of the time in an altered state! Because of this, it’s usually very easy to get a child into trance using a rapid induction. Most children simply won’t respond to longer, more boring inductions, anyway, and rapid inductions can be made fun to kids at any age.
Interventions
I’m going to says something now that will shock you: Nobody is ever cured with hypnosis. That’s right. Hypnosis is not in itself a cure for anything. Instead it is a tool – and a very powerful one at that – that allows you to speak directly to the unconscious mind of your subject. It’s not the hypnosis that gets results – it’s the commands and suggestions that are given in hypnosis that get results. This part of the process is called the intervention, and it’s what you say at this point that is most important.

The Value of Scripts
There are many opinions about scripts. Most hypnotists think that scripts are useless because they’re too generic and don’t target the specific needs and situation of the subject. Some believe that scripts are fabulous because they are tried and tested, over and over, otherwise people would not be distributing them.
I tend to take the middle ground on this issue. I believe that scripts are a great starting point. They are a record of what someone did that worked at one time on a subject under certain conditions. Many times, especially for beginning hypnotists, scripts are the only way to get a start. After all, in the beginning, you usually need some inspiration!
Please notice that I said scripts are a good starting point. They should only be used to get a general idea of what to do, and should not generally be read word for word.
For instance, if your subject already has their eyes closed, it can be counter-productive to be continually telling a subject, “your eyelids are getting heavy… soon, you will notice your eyes closing…. Your eyelids are slowly closing.” Yet, this type of mistake is possible if you’re reading verbatim from a script and not paying attention to your subject. It can also get very annoying to the subject, causing them to come out of trance.
The most important thing you can do is to be in tune with our subject. Pay attention to their physiology and body language and tailor your session to match. This will get you the best level of rapport and help your subject go into the deepest trance possible.

Visualization and Future Pacing
Visualization and Future Pacing are similar concepts, and two of the ways that you can reinforce suggestions and interventions in your subject.
Often, a perfectly good suggestion can crumble under real world conditions. For instance, someone who has had suggestions for smoking cessation may do wonderfully as a non-smoker until Friday night when they go out drinking with friends at the club.
This is where visualization becomes important, if not essential. The idea is to have the person visualize, as vividly as possible, a time in the future where they have the success they desire. They will visualize themselves with all the new resources they've acquired (i.e., the ability to refuse a cigarette or eat sensibly or posses self-confidence), and using those resources successfully.
Future Pacing is a specific kind of visualization where we will get all the details from the subject about how they envision themselves enjoying their success. Then, in hypnosis, we help them create the scene, hear the sounds and feel the feelings of success.
This allows the subject to experience their success immediately. The key is that they realized it in the safely and comfort of your presence, instead of in the real world, which is full of pitfalls and temptations. There’s another benefit, because you can immediately get valuable feedback from your client. If they had trouble imagining the success, you may want to rehypnotize them and give key suggestions again. It’s better to spend the time in the first session than to have the subject come back later after failing.
Other forms of visualization can be very useful as well. Visualizations can help to calm and relax, and there are even studies to show that visualization can activate powerful healing mechanisms in the body.

Commands & Post-Hypnotic Suggestions
Focus on This!
These techniques are not only valuable while you have a subject under hypnosis. They work equally as well when people are out of trance!
Try this with your children, spouse, co-workers… anyone! You’ll see better results in your every-day communication, guaranteed!
There is much to be said about the structure of a good command or suggestion. Good, clear and concise communication is key to giving successful suggestions.
There have been whole books written on the art of suggestion and persuasion. Check the Bibliography for more references on suggestion. For now, here are some pointers to get you started.
Be congruent: When forming a suggestion, the pitch and tone of your voice should always match your intended meaning. For statements, your tone and pitch should remain relatively flat or constant. For commands, your pitch should go down slightly at the end of your sentence. For a question, your pitch should go up at the end of your question. This may seem like common sense, but you wouldn't believe how many beginning hypnotists forget tonality and say something that reads like, "In a moment you’ll be a non-smoker?" Not only does it confuse the subject but it also makes your suggestion less effective.
Be Thorough: Make sure that you specify exactly what you want. You are speaking directly to the unconscious mind, which can take things very literally.
If you are working with someone who wants to lose weight, your initial reaction might be to suggest, "From now on you will eat less."
This suggestion may seem perfectly acceptable to you. But, remember, you're hearing this with your conscious mind! To the unconscious mind, this could mean something as silly as taking one less bite per meal. Or worse, the subconscious could interpret this as "From now on, I'll only eat once a month." As you can see, being thorough is important.
In our previous example, a better suggestion might be "From this point forward you will only have the urge to regularly eat healthy foods. Chocolates, candy and fatty foods will only be eaten moderately or on special occasions. You’ll decide when your meal is done based upon need and fullness only. After taking each bite you will consciously check your stomach to see if you need to eat more. You'll stop eating when you are pleasantly comfortable, at 6 on a scale of one to ten, one being hungry, ten being full." As you can see this suggestion leaves very little to interpretation and will net much better results than a vague suggestion.
Be Positive: I cannot stress this enough. Because of the way the human brain works, we cannot process negative statements very effectively. For instance, I could say, “Don’t think of a blue tree. No matter what you do, don’t think of what a blue tree would look like, with its blue leaves and blue bark. Stop thinking of a blue tree.” What did you just think of? A blue tree, of course! You can’t think about what you don’t want to think about without thinking about it. Think about that!
Our minds are very symbolic. We think in symbols and have to turn words into symbols to understand them. So, when we interpret a negative communication, the brain first makes a symbol – a picture – of the thing that is being discussed, and then negates it (sometimes).
For example, have you ever noticed that when someone tells their child, “Don’t spill that milk!” the first thing the child does is knock over the glass? The parent’s simple error was that they didn’t form a positive suggestion. The child’s brain made a symbol of spilling milk and the child acted on it before the brain had a chance to negate it. In effect, they gave their child a hypnotic suggestion, and the child accepted it.
A more productive suggestion might sound like the following, “Be sure to keep your glass upright,” or, “Please keep your milk either in the cup or in your mouth,” or even simply, "Be careful with your milk."
Speaking positively may sound funny, at first, because we are so symbolic. We tend to make a symbol of what we don’t want to happen in our mind, and then turn it into language which includes the word not or don’t. It’s just the way our minds work. It’s a very efficient way to speak, but not a very efficient way to communicate with others.
So, as funny as positive language may sound at first, it’s much more powerful and influential to do so. You may have to get a little creative to come up with good wording, but the fact is, positive suggestions are easier for the subject to accept and have a far greater chance of being accepted for what they are.
The simple trick is to imagine what you want, instead of what you don’t want. Then, the language becomes much easier.
Stack Suggestions: Stacking suggestions, is simply stringing suggestions together so that the subject has less of a chance of rejecting the group of suggestions.
In general, people want to please. We usually like to please people and will respond to simple requests. But if you ask request after request after request, your subject may tell you to take a hike for asking for so much of them.
The key is to stack suggestions. If you stack your suggestions correctly, you stand a much better chance of influencing the other person.
The basic principal works like this. Suppose you ask your child to pick up their bike. When they’re done, you ask them to close the garage. You’ve asked the child to do two, individual things, which they will evaluate separately and they may or may not reject one or both. Maybe they’ll pick up their bike and forget to close the garage, or close the garage and forget the bike. Maybe they’ll forget both.
Now, consider this phrasing: “Please close the garage when you pick up your bike.” You’ve now stacked suggestions. Your child will have to evaluate these suggestions as a whole, and because of our amenable nature, will most likely respond favorably to both.
Presuppositions: Presupposition, is a fancy word that simply means “assumptions,” and presuppositions are extremely powerful.
In every conversation, there are things that are assumed. I am trying to get my thoughts across to you, and you are trying to get your thoughts across to me. But no one can ever know the thoughts of another person in such detail as they do themselves. So, when others are speaking to us, we tend to “mind read,” the meaning behind their words. In other words, we give their words our own meanings, based on our subjective experiences, beliefs, values and memories.
By knowing this, we can use these presuppositions, to communicate ideas to the subject that will bypass their critical thought process.
For example, if I’m speaking to a potential client, I might say, “You will really enjoy the feelings you experience when you go into trance”. I’m presupposing a few things here. Of course, I’m telling the subject will have feelings that will be enjoyable. But in order for that to happen, we must presuppose that the client will willingly and successfully be hypnotized by me, because the presupposition in the sentence is: “when you go into trance”.
This is a trick that is used quite often in sales when a clerk will walk up to you and say “Would you like to pay for that with cash or charge?” They didn’t ask you if you want to buy it… they’re presupposing that by asking you a question that assumes you will buy it. In essence they are saying, “I know you are going to buy that, so how would you like to pay for it?”
This is a very simple technique, yet very powerful. We discover just how powerful these techniques are in our Neuro-Linguistic Programming trainings, when we go into presuppositions in great detail.
Stack Realities: Another example of stacking or layering is to Stack Reality. This is frequently called pacing reality, and has been used in sales under the name of Yes Sets. This is a bit of a combination of the last two techniques.
When stacking realities, you state things that are apparently obvious and verifiable to the subject – things that the subject can only say yes to – to persuade them to say yes to the suggestion you want them to accept. It is difficult for a person to discount one part of a sentence if they have agreed to the other parts.
For example I could say, “You’re sitting there, reading this book, learning about hypnosis, thinking those thoughts, and feeling those feelings, as you continue to breathe like that, and you suddenly want to attend every live training available from Transform Destiny.”
What I’ve cleverly done is called stacking realities. There are six verifiable realities in the previous sentence, and one suggestion that I hope would become a reality. By stacking realities, I’ve gotten you to say, “Yes I’m sitting, yes I’m reading, yes I’m learning about hypnosis, yes I’m thinking thoughts, yes I’m feeling feelings, yes I’m breathing” and out of sheer repetitiveness and habit, you will probably also agree that, “Yes, I want to attend every live training available from Transform Destiny!”
When stacking realities in a hypnotic setting, often the only reality we can stack is the subject’s experience. Since we obviously haven’t perfected the art of mind reading or learned the Vulcan Mind Meld, we don’t really know what the subject is feeling or experiencing, because hypnosis is so subjective.
The answer to this conundrum lies in the utilitarian styles of Milton H. Erickson. By using vague, ambiguous words we can, more or less, describe the subject’s experience. Here’s an example:
“You’re sitting there… thinking those thoughts… feeling those feelings… noticing the temperature of a hand or a foot… maybe a leg…. wondering what will happen next… knowing that you can close your eyes and relax any time you want.”
This is another very powerful technique that can be applied in every day communication.
Metaphor
Stories have been used since ancient times to teach, entertain and heal. In the field of hypnotherapy, a metaphor is a type of story that has specific, personal and therapeutic meaning to the subject. Metaphors are usually short stories that, when interpreted at the unconscious level, give new resources or solutions to the subject.
The structure and creation of therapeutic metaphors is beyond the scope of this book. Learning to structure metaphors can be very valuable to the practicing hypnotherapist. This skill is taught in detail in our NLP Practitioner and Master Practitioner trainings. Check out www.transformdestiny.com for more information. There are also great books containing pre-written metaphors listed in the bibliography.
Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
Neuro-Linguistic Programming is a field using very powerful techniques that is closely related to hypnosis and hypnotherapy. It’s got a funky name, so let’s look at what that means:
Neuro: Having to do with the neurology, or the brain, and how we experience our world though our senses: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory and gustatory.
Linguistic: Having to do with our language and our nonverbal communication. We give this communication meaning in terms of our internal neural representations: pictures, sounds, feelings, smells, tastes and self-talk.
Programming: Programs, patterns and systems that we run in our mind.
So, Neuro-Linguistic Programming is how we use the language of the mind to program ourselves and assist others in creating an extraordinary life. NLP is used to model excellence, eliminate negative emotions, destroy limiting beliefs, undo limiting decisions and create a compelling future.
If you’ve ever watched the movie The Secret you probably walked away feeling really inspired, but having no idea what to do. In terms of personal development, NLP gives you the mechanics behind the law of attraction.
In terms of business, NLP gives you the tools to take any venture to the next level and beyond.
In terms of therapy, NLP trainings typically will certify you as a Practitioner or Master Practitioner to work with others as a professional therapist and/or coach.
Coupling hypnosis and NLP can be very beneficial, sometimes making the difference between a subject’s success and failure. Oftentimes, NLP can be used in lieu of a hypnosis intervention, as in the rapid-change techniques used for curing phobias, using hypnosis only to future-pace the subject and reinforce the treatment.
NLP is beyond the scope of this book. It is not just a field, but can be a way of life in many aspects. It has created radical success in my life, and the lives of many of those I work with, coach and train. To learn more about NLP, get yourself a copy of Learn NLP… Now! or join us for one of our live trainings. You can learn more about this amazing field at www.transformdestiny.com.

Summary
As you can see, hypnosis is a wide and varied field. There are many different styles and techniques at your disposal. Each has its own strengths. None of them is hypnosis alone, but they all make up hypnosis together. In the next chapter, we’ll begin to look at some of those techniques in depth.

Part II -Techniques
Chapter 2: Pathways into Hypnosis
Overview
You've made it this far, so congratulations! You are this close to learning how to actually hypnotize people!
In this chapter, we actually get into the meat of hypnosis. You'll learn the tonality and attitude that you should have, as well how to use the example scripts to hypnotize people. This is where it really starts to get good!
While I’ve made it as easy to learn about hypnosis as humanly possible from this book, nothing compares to the fun, learning and experience of a live training. Our introductory hypnosis training takes just one weekend and will be one of the most fun, memorable weekends you’ll have in your entire life. Visit us on the web at www.transformdestiny.com to book a seat in one of our live trainings, or call us on the phone at 800-497-6614.

Tonality
One of the most common questions asked is, "What voice should I use to hypnotize people?"
Contrary to popular belief, and the bologna you might read in some other books, pitch (the "highness" or "lowness" of your voice) is not very important to induce trance! Otherwise, most women (and many men!) would be inherently bad hypnotists.
The two most important vocal qualities to be concerned with are tonality and tempo. Tonality deals with the qualities of your voice, such as smoothness, volume and even emotional overtones rather than the pitch, while tempo describes the speed and rhythm of your words.
It's important that you convey feelings of relaxation and carefree-ness in your voice by using a soft, half whisper, half speaking voice at a low- to medium-volume and a slow, methodical tempo.
Think of how you might read a bedtime story to a small child. In my hypnosis trainings, I always play an audio clip of the old Taco Bell® commercial where the Chihuahua dog, in a hypnotic voice says, "Your getting verrrry sleepy… No wait, you’re getting verrrry hungry…"
Just be sure to convey with your voice the state you want them to enter. A study done years ago shows that the words you say are only about 7% of your total communication. The tone of voice and body language are much more important at 93%. So if you quickly yell at them in your most irritating, nasal voice, "YOU'RE GETTING VERY SLEEPY!!!" they will surely do just the opposite. So, slow it down, and use a nice, quiet, soft voice.

Congruence
The effects of the congruence of the hypnotist are of utmost importance. Because hypnosis is a cooperative venture, the hypnotist must believe wholeheartedly that the subject will go into trance and accept suggestions. If there is any major doubt in the hypnotists mind, it will be communicated to the subject non-verbally. Therefore, if the subject doesn't believe that something can be fixed or accomplished using hypnosis, your chances are for success become much more difficult.
This concept extends directly to you. Be sure that your body language, vocal tone and attitude all reflect the probability and certainty of the suggestion you're giving the subject, otherwise the subject will pick up on your incongruence. I'm not saying that you have to believe in the suggestions, just that you convey the attitude that your subject can carry out the suggestion. For instance, I can do past-life regressions, even though I don't necessarily believe in past lives. The important thing is that I believe past life regression can help the subject if they believe it will help them. Just keep an open mind and, as my grandmother used to say, fake it ‘til you make it.
Eye Fixation
Just a quick note about eye-fixation. You may read books that tell you that eye fixation is the most important thing to hypnosis. In my opinion, you may politely disregard their theory.
While eye fixation was considered very important in earlier forms of hypnosis, it has been found that it only serves to tire the eyes and to focus the subject some. It does not induce hypnosis. While eye fixation can be a useful tool, it is not necessary, as some classic books incessantly insist.
Some hypnotists will work for as much as an hour to get eye closure through fixation and would continue, even if their subject had entered trance in the first five minutes. I prefer to skip all of the pretense and just ask... "Please close your eyes, now."
Some scripts may incorporate eye fixation, and that's fine – There’s nothing inherently wrong with trying to get eye closure by fixating the eyes – but don't let it take over at the expense of everything else.
Performing Suggestibility Tests
There are a few standard "tests" that many hypnotists perform. Traditionally, it has been taught that these tests prove how suggestible a person is. I tend to think they serve a much greater purpose.
See, we can determine how suggestible a person is by watching their physical cues during the induction. We can give them non-verbal suggestions and see if they follow them unconsciously. We don’t need silly parlour tricks to tell how suggestible they are.
In my opinion, the real reason to perform these “tests” is to prove to your subject that they can be hypnotized – not to prove it to you. Success breeds success, and so when your subjects accomplish these seemingly amazing, yet incredibly simple and automatic feats, they will be that much more confident in your skills as a hypnotist, and in their skills as a subject.
While the results of these tests are nearly automatic to all but the most resistant of subjects, some people simply will not perform. Just as success breeds success, failure breeds failure, so remember three important points when performing these tests:
Don't call them tests! It is amazing how a person's perspective on an activity changes as soon as you label it a "test"! Simply calling anything a test can cause people to panic, have anxiety or become concerned and distracted with the results. Keep these exercises simple and low-pressure by calling them experiments or games that will allow them to experience a little bit of hypnosis. I like to call them “Fun Experiments for your Unconscious Mind.”

Don't divulge the details of the test. Simply begin the tests without going into detail about what outcome is expected. This will keep the subject from declaring the test a failure if they don't think they've met the expected outcome. It will also keep them from faking the results, and then later saying it didn’t work because they were just trying to make you happy. If they don’t know what the result is supposed to be, you can frame the outcome in any way you want.
Everybody Passes. These are not tests, so there's no reason to grade anyone. Let a success breed more success. No matter how they performed, even if not at all, tell them that they did a great job and that they’re excellent hypnotic subjects. Since you've kept the details of the tests secret, they have no reason to doubt your judgment.
Make it fun and make it about them. Rather than making this about how much supposed power you have over them, make it all about them. Tell them this will show them how much power they have over themselves. Also, do this with a little bit of flair and make it fun. The more fun you make it, and the less of a power challenge you make it, the more they will be willing to play along and let things work.
Suggestibility Tests
This is a script of the suggestibility tests from a typical session. Text in italics is referred to as an embedded command. These will be covered in detail later, but for now, just remember that they are meant to be said with a slightly different tonality or temp, so as to mark out the command to the subconscious mind.
Introduction
So, I've explained to you the basics of hypnosis, what you'll experience, what you'll feel... So let's just do a couple of neat little experiments with suggestibility and you'll be able to see what it's all about. You'll be able to see exactly how much power your imagination has over your body.
The Lemon Test
Let's begin by just sitting in your chair, very relaxed, with your eyes closed, feet on the floor, and hands in your lap... Very good.
[Make sure that they follow your instructions. If at all possible, provide an example by yourself sitting down, feet flat, hands in lap and relax. The best way to provide a suggestion is to lead by example while instructing.]
Imagine yourself, now, sitting in your most comfortable spot in your living room. You can feel the comfort of home as you lounge in your favorite chair or couch... Wherever you may be... Seeing those things... Hearing those sounds... And feeling those feelings of... home.
[Pause for a moment to let these images and feelings sink in. There is a dual purpose to this introduction. First and foremost, we want to kick start the subject's imagination. We are showing them the power of their imagination, so we want to create as vivid a picture/sound/feeling as we can, while using very general terms so that we don't mismatch our subject's memory of their actual home.
The second reason is that, as we describe this scene, the subject will "go inside" and begin to experience the sights, sounds and feelings of home. This will increase your rapport automatically by causing him/her to be as comfortable as if they were in their own living room.]
Just imagine what it's like as you begin to put your feet to the floor and stand up. Feel the texture around your feet and toes... Feel the muscles in your legs supporting you... Feel the weight of your clothes upon you as you begin to walk toward the kitchen.
[This is simply more imagery to guide the subject into an internally oriented state. Pause briefly (three to five seconds) to let them absorb the details and catch up.]
As you enter the kitchen and begin to make your way toward the refrigerator, you can feel the cold hardness of the floor beneath your feet... take in the sights of the room... And smell the smells that all kitchens have. You gaze at the door to the refrigerator as your hand reaches out to grasp the handle.
[Just continue to flood their senses with sight (visual), sound (auditory) and feeling (kinesthetic).]
You tug on the handle... Resisting at first... then you hear that familiar peeling sound as the seal pulls away, the door comes open and the inner light floods out. You peer inside to find a bowl of perfectly ripe, vibrantly yellow lemons. You can hear the refrigerator fan turn on as you feel the cold air breezing out past your face.
Reach out and take a lemon from the bowl. And as you feel the cold bumpy rind of the lemon, firm in your hand, close the door and begin making your way to the counter, where you'll see a rather large cutting knife and a cutting board.
Place the lemon on the cutting board and pick up the knife. Feel the weight of this knife in your hands. Hold the lemon and begin to cut down the middle. Feel the juice spurting out on to your hands as you see the lemon split in half. Smell that lemony smell… Mmmmm. Pick up one half of that lemon. See the light glinting off of the inside, cut that half in half again, leaving one quarter of a lemon. You can hear the flesh of the lemon tearing as the knife slices through. Pick up that quarter lemon… feeling some juice running down your hand as you pick it up… bring it up to your lips and take a big bite!
[Pause here for a second. Watch the subject’s mouth pucker, as it invariably does, and say…]
Open your eyes. Do you notice an increase of saliva in your mouth?
[Shake your head “Yes” while asking this question and look the subject right in the eyes. This will help the subject realize that they should be thinking, “Yes”. The truth is that most people are not aware of how much saliva is in their mouth at any given time, so if you ask this question convincingly, they will most likely answer (and believe) “Yes”… even if they don’t have more saliva in their mouth. This will amaze them and show them the power of their own mind over their body.]
You have just experienced the power that your mind has over your body. You’ve taken a bite out of an imaginary lemon, but your body has reacted as though you have taken a bite out of a real lemon by puckering your lips and causing you to salivate! Let’s do a few more quick experiments!
Finger Vice
Let’s go ahead and stand up, and begin by clasping your hands out in front of you… fingers laced, thumbs overlapping. Good. Now, point your two index fingers straight out towards me. Great… squeeze those fingers together as tightly as you can, because in a moment, they’re going to return right to that spot…
[Pause for about two or three seconds while they squeeze their index fingers together.]
Now, open those fingers up as far as they will go, but keep the rest of your fingers clasped. I’m going to put a little hypnotic vice on your fingers… without touching you, I’ll turn the little vice handles and clamp your fingers down, just like they were a second ago.
[With your hands at either side of their outstretched index fingers, begin turning imaginary vice screws in opposite directions, as if you were tightening a vice or a C-clamp around their fingers. They will watch with amazement as their fingers close automatically, without you ever touching them. This trick, while a test of suggestion, is helped a little by human physiology. The fingers are more comfortable at a resting position and will easily retract to that position with little need for help. Just the tiniest bit of suggestion starts them to clamping down.]
Just a few twists of the hypnotic vice and… there we go. Fingers clamped down. Excellent! Let’s try another!
Sway Test
Please stand straight up, feet together, and arms at your sides. Go ahead and look straight up to the ceiling – nose pointing straight up – and close your eyes. Great!
[At this point, walk around behind the subject and BRACE yourself, one foot in front of the other, as if you were going to push something heavy or catch something heavy.
For this test, you’ll want to place your hands near the subject’s shoulders at all times to prevent them from falling (which would break all that good rapport you’ve just built!!!) Remember, some clients are funny about being touched… be sure to stay away from the chest area with your hands and always let the subject know before you touch them if their eyes are closed.]
Imagine that you are on a small boat, sailing in the sea. You can smell the salt in the water and see the beautiful blue sky. It’s a windy day and you can feel the waves rolling under the boat up and down, back and forth, back and forth. You feel yourself swaying back and forth, backward and forward as the waves get bigger… and bigger… back and forth, back and forth and… *push* - Very good!
[This test is another that is helped a bit by human physiology. The average person cannot stand with their feet together, hands at their sides and nose pointed straight up without swaying at least a little bit. So time your "fronts" and "backs,” "backs" and "forths" to the subject’s movements, if in fact they are moving. When you reach the point that says *push*, gently push the subject on the top/front of the shoulders and let them fall backwards, ever so slightly. Just an inch or two is plenty – especially with their eyes closed. Be sure to do this while they are swaying backward and not forward, otherwise their movements will be working against you! Don’t fight the laws of physics, because physics will win. If the subject is already swaying backward toward you, you shouldn’t have to push hard at all… just a little tap should do. The subject should very easily and very lightly fall backward just an inch or so before you catch them with your hands on the back of the shoulders. Then gently push them back straight up to help them get their balance.
It is extremely important to remember to brace yourself. I’ve seen tiny, tiny women bowl big brawny men over because the men were standing with their feet together and had no stable base to stand on. No matter how big or small your client is, always stand ready.]

Heavy/Light Arms
Excellent! Let's do this one. Sit back straight in your seat and hold your arms straight out in front of you like a zombie. And just go ahead and shake out the arms. They don’t have to be totally relaxed, but you can keep them out there relaxed. Good... Close your eyes... And now I want you to pick one hand - it doesn't matter to me... Which ever one wants to - and just turn it over.
[It is important that you remember to have the subject close their eyes first, then turn over the hand. We are going to show them that their hands/arms will move through sheer suggestion. By having their eyes closed, they won't even realize that their arms have already moved apart, just by turning one over. This way, if the subject does not respond, you still have some results. Just act like they did a great job and congratulate them. Remember, success breeds success. For the purpose of our discussion, we are going to assume that our subject has turned over their right hand.]
Excellent! Now, I want you to imagine that I have a large book in my hands. This is the biggest, heaviest old book from the back of the library. It’s got big, thick, yellowed pages, and a heavy leather cover. And you can hear that thud as I put that book in your right hand now. You can just feel the weight of that book now... Pulling your right arm down, as it gets heavier, and heavier.
[You should see some sort of movement now. Move on to the next section, even if the subject isn't performing quite yet.]

Good. Now, imagine that I am tying a biggest, lightest bunch of helium balloons you’ve ever seen to your left wrist. Notice the weight of the arm disappears as the balloon goes up and up, gets lighter and lighter. As the string pulls taught, the balloon catches the wind and begins to pull the arm up, higher and higher. It’s getting lighter and lighter.
Yes... Feel the weight on your right arm as I place another big, hardbound dictionary on that hand - the kind that you might find in a big library - feel the weight as I stack that on top of the other book with a big thud... that's right... Pushing that arm down...
And at the same time, you can feel your left arm begin to float up as I add a few more super-light helium balloons to the bunch and they float up, up, up into the sky. Your left arm becomes lighter, and lighter as the balloons take over and raise your arm.
[Keep repeating these types of suggestions - adding books, adding balloons - until you have a pretty good distance between the top and bottom hands. Four or five inches is sufficient. If you have continued for more than one and a half to two minutes and seen no results just continue with the next paragraph and show them the inch or two that the hands parted when they turned over their right hand in the beginning.]
Now... Open your eyes... Look at your hands! [Wave your hand between their hands, if there is enough room.] Notice the amount of space between your arms! Isn't that amazing?!? See? The human mind can create change in the body just by imagining!
You should have a pretty good idea of how suggestible your subject is by now. This will help you gauge your persistence and style during your induction and interventions.

Trance Inductions
Overview
Now for the part you've probably been itching to read. This is where we learn how to actually put people in trance! There are four common styles of induction, but we will focus on the easiest and most common in this book – Progressive Relaxation. No single style is better than any other. Rather, each style has its own benefits in different situations with different subjects.
Knowing which style to use with which subject will, of course, come with time and experience. As you quickly become comfortable with this script, you’ll probably want to learn other styles. The Elman and Erickson styles of hypnosis rarely involve scripts. In fact, they work best without scripts, so it helps to learn how to speak hypnotically. When you’re ready to learn these powerful styles of conversational hypnosis, come take one of our NLP Practitioner Training, where you’ll become certified in Ericksonian hypnosis.
The following script can be used word for word, as long as you are paying attention to the subject. This means, for instance, if their eyes are already closed, you would skip the part about closing the eyes. Embedded commands will be italicized and my comments/instructions to you will be shown in brackets.
You’re Getting Sleepy – The Progressive Relaxation Script
Just relax... And sit back... And close your eyes... Good... In a few minutes, you're going to be more relaxed than you have ever been before. I'm going to start mentioning certain parts of your body, and as I do, I want you to feel that part of your body just begin to relax. That's right... just feet that part of your body begin to relax.
Start by imagining yourself... laying on a hammock, or perhaps a bed, or maybe a pile of leaves in a wonderfully peaceful, safe... beautiful forest. The sky is a spectacular hue of dark blue as dusk begins to turn to twilight. There are no sounds of the world... except the gentle breeze... the lazy song of a few crickets... And the hypnotic bubbling of a nearby brook.
Now... Imagine a glow beginning to form at the top of your head... This is the most relaxing and peaceful light you have ever seen... and as that light begins to slowly move down the body, it completely relaxes every muscle, nerve and fiber that it gently touches.
[Now we begin by progressively relaxing the entire body. Notice that we use terms such as "the arms" or "the back" as opposed to "your arms" or "your back". This is done to help facilitate the dissociation so important to hypnosis.]
This wonderfully relaxing glow begins, now, to grow... And engulf the top of the head. You can feel the entire scalp let go as it begins to relaaaaxx... Even the hair seems to be relaxing. This beautiful light grows even more... And as it begins to touch the forehead, you can feel all the little frown lines disappear as each muscle lets go... Good. It begins to engulf the area around the back of the head... ears... All the little muscles around the ears relax... cheeks... nose... And the eyes... relax... and each and every little muscle around the eyelids relaaaxes completely. So much so that you don't even want to open them... that's right.
Going down deeper now, the glow begins to grow down... to the lips... Relaxing... And your mouth... and your jaw relaxes... So much so, that the jaws might even part a little... Very good... And this fabulous glow of comfort... And relaxation... just engulfs the entire head.
Moving down, you can feel the relaxation down the back of the neck... Into the shoulders and the middle of your back as the shoulders begin to droop comfortably... This peaceful feeling begins to grow... Down the spine... Radiating out through the back from every vertebrae... Like little antennas, broadcasting relaxation throughout the back... And moving into the lower back now... Completely relaaaaxxed... completely comfortable.... Mmmm...
This incredible feeling... Makes it's way around the hips as the light grows down into the legs... the hamstrings becoming soooo relaaaaxxed... working it's way down past the backs of the knees... Into the calves... Around the bottoms of the heels... And even the bottom of the feet are now completely relaxed... As this relaxing glow embraces the muscles. There are no worries... No cares... Only a few moments of total peace... total relaxation.
Excellent... Doing so well now... Begin, now, to see that glow growing down from the chin... and relaxing down the front of the throat... down the neck... Relaxing every muscle... Every nerve... and every fiber... As it continues to spread through to the fronts of the shoulders... Down into the upper arms... And past the elbows... the forearms... the wrists... hands... and each and every finger... just completely relaxed... As you go deeper... Good.
Now the light continues to go down... Growing into the chest... Relaxing all the muscles of the chest... Even the lungs begin to relax with every breath of this glow... In...out...in...out...in...... [Time the previous with their breathing. Then pause and just pace their breathing with your own for about 10 seconds. On the final breath, say with a sigh...] Relaxing... It feels so good to relax... And to know that no matter how deep you go, you can always go deeper...
Going further down now... Passing the solar plexus and saturating the midsection... All the muscles in that area just relax... Very good... and the light continues to grow... Into the hips, so relaxed. Into the upper legs... the quadriceps like a mass of loose... Limp... Rubber bands. So comfortable... Still growing... Over the knees... shins... ankles... the tops of your feet and each and every toe completely comfortable... completely relaxed... No worries... No cares... today is in the past and tomorrow is a million miles away.
[Pause here for about eight to ten seconds to let your subject soak in and contemplate quietly.]
As you begin to float to your feet, and take in the wonderful sights of your forest, you notice a beautiful stone stairway leading down into a safe, serene valley of total peace and relaxation. This staircase will lead you into a profound state of deep, deep hypnosis. We're going to go down these stairs now, and as I count backward from ten to zero, each number I say will take you even deeper, and deeper, and even deeper.
[Pause for about five seconds, then begin.]
Ten... taking that first step now... Nine... Eight... Going deeper... Seven... And deeper... Six... Five... No worries... No cares... Four... your are going into a deep state of hypnosis now... Three... Almost to the bottom... Two... tired to even move. One... total peace... total relaxation... Aaaaaanddd....Zerooooooo.....
[By this point, your subject should be pretty well in trance. How deep will be different for each client. From this point, you might do convincers, suggestions, and then bring them out of trance. We'll learn more about these techniques soon.]
Now that you know what to say, go find some friends or family who want to experiment with a “fun relaxation technique” you learned and practice!
Hypnotic Aids
There are many aids (and gimmicks) out there that claim to help you achieve trance. Some are useful, some not so useful. I'll cover a few here and give you my take. This is just my personal opinion, so make your own decisions and feel free to choose whatever works for you and for your subjects.
Using Music to Aid Your Induction
Music is one of my favorite trance tools. Nothing calms the nerves and puts people at ease quite like music. There are all different kinds of music that can be used. Everything from Classic to New Age can be used, but I wouldn't recommend anything strong like rock, punk or heavy metal. The idea here is to soothe the subject, not pump them up!
I recommend Hypnotic TranceScapes (www.trancescapes.com). I created Hypnotic Trancescapes, which incorporates deep hypnotic and psychological techniques that assist you in achieving trance for yourself or with your subject. The music you heard earlier in the sample induction is Mystical Forest, volume I of Hypnotic TranceScapes series. I designed Mystical Forest to complement a complete hypnotic session from beginning to end, so it’s one hour of continuous music that has a track for hypnotic induction, two tracks for the intervention, and a final track to come back out of trance.
You can read more about Hypnotic Trancescapes at www.trancescapes.com.

Other Hypnotic Aids
Pre-recorded inductions
There are some hypnotists who prefer to leave their subjects with a pre-recorded hypnotic induction. The clients listen to it through headphones, and then the hypnotist returns at the end to do the actual intervention.
As far as I can tell, the only benefit is to the hypnotist (who must just be way too busy to deal with his pesky clients!). The subject loses out on a number of levels. First, the induction is not customized to the subject. Just the same as reading a script verbatim, a pre-recorded induction doesn't cater to the non-verbal signals given off by the subject.
My suggestion is that you stick with your subject through the entire session, pay attention to their verbal and nonverbal signals, and deliver an induction suited to their individual needs.

Mechanical Hypnosis Aids
While some devices have been scientifically tested to facilitate Alpha patterns in the brain, I believe they are expensive gimmicks. With flashing lights or white noise, these devices are supposed to automatically produce trance in the wearer. While there may be some validity to that claim, I still think it’s best to be with your client and give them the personal experience of a customized hypnotic induction.

Rapid Induction Techniques
Post-Hypnotic Suggested Induction
This technique is for subjects whom you have already hypnotized. Post-Hypnotic Suggested inductions are a convenient way to get returning subjects into trance.
The idea is to associate a word, a look, or a touch with the trance they are in on their first visit.
Here’s an example to use when your subject is already in trance:
It feels sooo good to relax like this... And I'm going to show you the quickest way for you to get back to this wonderful state. Upon awakening, and for the rest of your life, any time you hear me say the word platypus and touch you on the knee... any time I say the word platypus and touch you on the knee, you will immediately sit down, close your eyes and go deeply into hypnosis. Again, the moment I say the word platypus and touch you on the knee, you will sit down, close your eyes, and go deeply and immediately into trance...

Pattern Interruption – Handshake Induction
Have you ever been walking along a sidewalk and taken a step off of a curb that you didn't know was there? Or unexpectedly tripped over something you didn't see? That hazy, confused state that you experience for the following few seconds is the result of a pattern interrupt.
A pattern interrupt occurs when a thought process that has been completely internalized into an unconscious action gets interrupted. Walking, for instance, has most likely become a program that is run completely by your subconscious mind. Of course, you make a conscious decision to walk somewhere, or in a specific direction, but you don't actually think to yourself, "Tense this muscle to move my leg forward, then straighten my toes, put foot down, lean forward. Now, tense muscles in other leg..."
Having to consciously control all the muscles for walking in this way would take an incredible amount of conscious thought, so the brain packages complex operations, such as these, into unconscious programs.
When one of these programs gets interrupted, the conscious mind becomes confused while the unconscious is left grasping at straws for the next "instruction.” This produces a very short, light trance, and it’s a very convenient time to offer a quick suggestion or two to the unconscious mind.
That’s the theory behind one of Milton Erickson's most famous inductions.
To begin, Milton would simply hold his hand out, inviting a handshake. In America – especially in business – we shake hands all the time. We've done it so much as a society that shaking hands has become an unconscious process. Think about it... Most of the time, you don't even look at the other person's hand. Your hands just reach out and automatically meet in the middle.
As the subject's hand moved forward, Erickson would very casually and subtly, so as not to be perceptible, lower his hand a little. This leaves the subject grabbing at air, and interrupts his "pattern."
In the following seconds, Erickson would begin to slowly push the subject's outstretched hand towards their face and say, "Look at your hand... And notice the changing focus of your eyes... the color and texture of your skin... As you close your eyes... Relax... And go deep inside..."
The suggestions start very small, so as not to alert the subject. “Look at your hand,” is a very small suggestion. But by stacking a few small suggestions in succession, Milton would get the subject into a nice, light trance.
Shock Induction
Shock inductions should not be used as an everyday induction. Frequently, in emergency situations, such as an accident scene or a hospital E/R, victims can become hysterical and jeopardize their own care by not communicating with doctors or not sitting still during an examination. Patients presenting with compound fractures are frequently brought into the E/R in this condition.
The shock example is simple. The idea is to overload the subject's sensory system. Simply jump out toward the subject with hands and arms outstretched and yell, "SLEEP!!!" This is usually sufficient enough to put them into a light trance (and if not, at least get them to shut up!)
This induction should be used only in emergency situations that you have been trained to handle. There are various issues that can cause this to be dangerous. If your subject had heart a condition or other health issues, a shock induction could be very dangerous. Use your best judgment and, as with everything in this book, use at your own risk.

Awakening Your Subjects
Awakening your subject is often a great mystery and the source of many people's fears. Contrary to popular belief, awakening the subject is the simplest of aspects in hypnosis. Often times, all that is required to awaken the subject is to "count them up," as in the following script:
In a moment, I'm going to count from one to five. As I do, and with each number I say, you will come twenty percent of the way back into the room, back to wakeful awareness. [Increase volume and strengthen tonality with each number until you are almost yelling by the number five] One, Beginning to notice sounds in the room. Two, Noticing a sensation in your hand or your foot. Three, take a nice big deep breath. Four, take a nice big stretch. And, five, eyes open, wide aware, feeling wonderful and refreshed.
This is just one example. There are countless ways to bring people out of trance. In my opinion, it is best to use a gradual approach, like this, instead of a hard and fast, "When I snap my fingers,” type of awakening. If you wake your subject up too quickly, they can become disoriented, just like if someone woke you up from sleep too quickly.
As far as subjects getting "stuck" in trance, it is impossible. There are, however, infrequent cases where the subject is so relaxed, so comfortable, that they just don't heed your command to wake up. There are three possible solutions to this, and at least one of them has always worked:
• Gently shake the client's shoulder and say something like, "Mr. Smith, your time is up now. It's time to go out in the world and do good things."
• Gently shake the client's shoulder and say something like, "Ms. Smith, it's time to go now, or I will be forced to charge you another hour at double the rate."
• I like Dave Elman's approach. "Mr. Jones, if you do not come out of trance, I promise you I will never take you this deeply again. I will never let you experience the beauty of this wonderful feeling again."


Part 3: They're Hypnotized... Now What?
Overview
There are many things you can do once you or your subjects are in trance.
First, we will cover the therapeutic aspect of hypnosis, commonly called hypnotherapy. In this chapter, you’ll learn how hypnosis is used to help others.
Next, we will cover self-hypnosis in Chapter 4 where you’ll learn how you can improve your own life through the power of your unconscious mind.
Finally, in Chapter 5 we will cover stage hypnosis and how to use hypnosis for entertainment.

Chapter 3: Hypnotherapy
Warning: I cannot stress this enough. You should receive the proper training before working with other people for therapeutic purposes. Doing therapy without proper training can actually cause more problems than it can fix. This book serves as a jumping-off point into the world of hypnosis, and the completion of this book is in no way an endorsement of your ability to conduct therapy. Neither the author nor the publisher can be held responsible for information you learn from this or related material.
When you’re excited enough to learn how to use hypnosis with others, I highly suggest you take a live training and become certified like I did. There are many training institutes that teach hypnotherapy, including Transform Destiny, where we can certify you in clinical hypnotherapy in just three days. Visit www.transformdestiny.com to book at seat at one of our live trainings.

Deepening the Trance
There are numerous ways to deepen a trance. Many clever suggestions can be made up to take your subject deeper and deeper. The technique taught here, called Fractionation, is probably the most widely used technique and is very effective.
As you have already learned, trance is a skill. Some subjects are naturals, but it stands to reason that, if practiced, any subject can get "better" at trance. In the old days, hypnotists would go for session after session without doing any therapy at all! The first many sessions were merely "practice runs," where they would let the client get better and better at trance. Sometimes, it would take a client up to 30 sessions, spaced a week apart, before the therapist would consider them a "good" hypnotic subject capable of deep trance.
Then, it was discovered that there is no real need to wait a week between trance inductions. The client could be awakened, then re-hypnotized within minutes or seconds and receive the same benefit as if they had waited a week. This process, called fractionation, allows the subject to achieve deeper and deeper levels of trance with each induction. Let's look at an example that would be used once the subject is already in trance:
"Very good... Feeling sooo relaxed, now... In a moment, I'm going to count from 1 to 5. As I do, and with each number I count, you'll become more alert, more awake. Then, when I snap my fingers and say, "Sleep,” you will relax, collapse and go deep asleep twice as deep as you are right now. Again, I'm going to count you up from one to five, you will awaken more with each number until you are awake with the number five. When I snap my fingers and say "Sleep,” you will go down even deeper - twice as deep as you are now. One, two, three, four, five, *snap* sleep! All the way down now... that's right. Twice as deep.
This technique can be used as often as necessary, but I generally like to use it three to four times to get the subject into a nice, deep trance. The number of times you use it is up to you and will be based on your subject’s state and the desired level of trance.

Convincers
Convincers serve three important purposes and should be a part of every induction you perform. The first purpose of a convincer is to indicate the level of trance to you, as the hypnotist – to convince you that the subject is in trance. If the client is not deep enough to carry out these simple suggestions, you’ll probably want to use a deepener like fractionation.
The second purpose of convincers is to actually convince the client that they are, in fact, hypnotized, in the moment. When they perform these hypnotic techniques, the results will convince them they are in trance, and actually deepen the trance, because of that conviction.
Finally, the third purpose of convincers is to convince the client that they were in trance, after the fact. Since hypnosis is such a radically different experience from the idea most subjects have built up in their imagination, they usually need convincing. They will often come out of trance and say things like "Well, I don't think I was hypnotized, because I could hear everything you said." This is why it's important that you always both a) explain hypnosis fully before doing any work with a client and b) Do your convincers - every time! This way, when the subject says, "I'm not sure I was hypnotized..." you can say "Well, your hand floated, didn't it? You weren't able to lift your legs, were you? See? You did excellent!"
Doing convincers is generally a quick process, as long as things go well. Convincers must be passed. If you continue the session without successful convincers, your client will not be convinced, and then they may ruin the results by their own negative suggestions to themselves. If your subject fails a convincer, deepen their trance and do the same convincer again, until they pass.
Do the convincers Convincers right after you do the induction. Just flow into them. No introduction or explanation is needed. At this point, it’s also a good idea to change the tone of your voice from the softer, hypnotic voice into a more conversational and authoritarian voice.

While there are many ways to get creative and make up your own convincers, I like to stick with these classics. We'll start with Heavy Eyelids, Heavy Legs, and then Light Arm.
Heavy Eyelids
In a moment, I'm going to count from one to five... As I do, your eyelids will become a hundred times more relaxed than than they are, even now... So much so, that they just won't even want to open... Try as you might and find out with a little bit of delight that they just won’t open. That's right... One... feeling how completely relaxed your eyes can be. Two... Feeling the weight of your eyelids... Three... eyes becoming so heavy... Four, relaxed to even open... And, Five... Eyelids feeling like they're glued together. Now, go ahead and open your eyes only when you're sure that you cannot. [Pause briefly, but continue after you see about two seconds of movement. Usually, the eyebrows will bounce around a bit and the eyes will stay closed. If you see no movement at all, that means they are so relaxed that even the surrounding muscles didn’t move. Wait about ten seconds and move on.] Good, that's enough... Just relax the eyes... The eyes are returning back to normal now, only ten times more relaxed. Good.
Heavy Arm
In a moment I'm going to count from one to five. As I do, and with each number I count, you'll begin to notice your left arm is getting heavier and heavier... So heavy, that you wont even be able to lift it. You’ll try and find out with a little bit of delight that it just won’t move. One... absolute relaxation of the arm... as... Two... You begin to notice the weight of your arm on your leg... And... Three... Feel the weight of the arm pressing down on your lap... Heavier and heavier... Four, too relaxed to even move... And... One. The arm is just so heavy. Now, try in vain to lift your arm as you notice that it’s just too heavy. [Pause briefly, but continue the second you see attempted movement in the arm – usually around the shoulder - or after 10 seconds] That's enough... that's right... they're just too heavy. The arm is returning back to normal now, as you relax even deeper...
Light Arm
Now, as you begin to notice your right hand feels slightly different from your left, you'll be shocked to find out that your right hand is beginning to feel quite a bit lighter. That’s right, your arm feels like it's full of helium and lighter than air as it begins to slowly, float off of your leg with honest, unconscious movement. You can notice it getting lighter and lighter as more helium gets pumped in with every... breath... you... take... [Time these last four words with the subject breathing in. The arm tends to naturally lift a bit as a breath is drawn and the chest expands, so this will help to solidify the suggestion.] Very good, as it continues now... Getting lighter and lighter... [Repeat these kinds of suggestions until the arm is three to six inches above the lap.]. Excellent, and the arm can just stop... Floating comfortably, right where it is.
Now, when you’re ready to make this change now, allow the arm to just drop comfortably to your lap sending you ten times deeper than you are, even now. [Wait for the arm to drop] That’s right…

Using Direct Commands
While direct commands seem to be a part of every induction in Hollywood, they are actually less used in real life. In many cases, direct commands such as "You will quit smoking" are simply not enough to overcome a smoking addiction by themselves. The client will usually need a fitting metaphor and future pacing (sometimes called End-Result Imagery), and possibly even an NLP intervention, if you are so inclined (and trained).
I am not saying that direct commands are useless. They are very effective when used in conjunction with these other modes of trance-therapy. Let's look at a few examples of direct commands.
• With each breath you take, your urge to smoke will become less and less until it is completely gone. Just let it go...
• From this point forward, you will be a healthier person - eating foods that are good for the mind and good for the body - and you'll avoid foods that tend to promote excessive weight gain.
• On the count of three, your fear of heights will be gone. Although you will retain a healthy common sense about safety at any height, you’ll be comfortable in high places and be able function normally and in good spirits at those heights.
Many people ask me how to come up with direct suggestions. And the answer is, let your intuition do it. In our live trainings, students are always surprised at how easily this comes. You can also ask your client, “Is there anything you’d like for me to suggest to you while you’re in trance?” This question reinforces the fact that the client is in control by giving them a part to play in the creation of the suggestions given.
Metaphor
A therapeutic metaphor is a story that relates to your subject (and their problem) on an unconscious level. They’re simply stories that your subject's unconscious mind can learn from.
For instance, a child who always cries crocodile tears when it doesn't its way may be told the story of "The Boy that Cried Wolf" too many times. A woman who feels that she is trapped in an abusive relationship might be told about an escape from a prison camp in World War II. A teen with a limiting belief may be told a story about a paralyzed boy who learned to walk again. A man with self-esteem issues may be told a story about how every culture is unique as a people, and there’s nothing wrong with being "different."
The subconscious mind is naturally very abstract and metaphorical. This is why your dreams can hold so much meaning about what's inside you. The therapeutic metaphor is not a story that’s meant to be understood by the conscious mind. On the contrary, they are often designed to confuse, distract or otherwise misdirect the conscious while the unconscious mind draws parallels and derives meanings from the story in relation to its current dilemmas.
Entire books have been written on the subject of metaphor. Therapeutic metaphors are an excellent means for hypnosis inductions and interventions. While a true discussion of metaphor is beyond the scope of this book, the bibliography has excellent references to books that have metaphoric scripts, and books that will teach you how to create effective metaphors for your clients.

End-Result Imagery and Future Pacing
No matter how good your therapy is in your office, your subject still has to go out and "perform" in the real world. Expecting a client to integrate all that they have learned in your office well enough to be able to use those new resources immediately in the real world – filled with real pressures in real situations – is foolish under most circumstances. Your subject needs a "practice run” in the comfort and safety of your office and the chance to install, integrate and test their newfound resources in an appropriate situation.
Future pacing is a fairly simple process. You just paint a picture for the client of what they will see, hear and feel when they have success. Here’s an example:
Now, picture yourself, in the future, in a situation where someone will offer you a cigarette. Notice how it is now that you turn it down. It feels so good inside, and you can hear the voices of the people around you as they praise you for becoming a non-smoker.
This is a very powerful technique. But, as powerful as it is, there is at least one way to make it more powerful, which is our next subject.
End-Result Imagery
End-Result Imagery is a little more involved than future pacing. Instead of asking the client to envision a future situation that you make up, we will first interview the subject and ask them what they think they’ll be doing when they’re successful. This allows you to operate from within their “model of the world,” as we say in NLP. You’ll be using their own imagination of what the future will look, sound and feel like, making it all the more powerful.
How to Use End-Result Imagery
The reason we call this technique End-Result Imagery is because we want to construct vivid imagery of the "end result" of their therapeutic change, based on their "end values" (as opposed to the "means values") of how their life will be affected once they have their new resources. Extracting these ends values from your subject's answers is easy. There are three questions to use when interviewing your client's for End Result Imagery.
1. What will you be doing when you _________ (quit smoking, lose weight, sleep better, have better concentration, etc)?
Your subjects will most likely give you a state or a feeling here, such as, “I’ll be happy,” or “I’ll be healthy.” You can take note of that state/feeling and even use it within their imagery, but what we're really looking for here are specific behaviors.

So, if they client says, "I'll be feeling healthier," you can fill in the blank and say, "Great, what will you be doing when you feel healthier?" Just ask the question again, but use their last response.

This can go 'round and 'round with some subjects. Don't get discouraged. Keep at it until they give you a specific behavior.
2. Good, so if you're not _____, what will you be doing?
Sometimes, your clients will give you behaviors that are based on a negative action. For instance, "What will you be doing when you lose weight?" - "Well, I won't be sitting on my butt." -This may seem like a motivating answer, but for our purposes (imagery), it's difficult to picture yourself not doing something. So, in order to get a more specific answer, and to put it into a positive frame, we fill in the blank and say, "Good, so if you're not sitting on your butt, what will you be doing?" "Hmm... Well, I'd like to start kickboxing." This is a much better answer as far as end-result imagery goes.
3. Get details. Who, What, When, Where and How Specifically?
At this point, when you have a positive behavior, get all the details you can. You want to know Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. We are not concerned with why. If they give you whys, you can make note, but we don’t need to ask. When you feel like you have enough information to “tell them a story” of their future and lead them through detailed imagery of this behavior, move on to the next behavior. Ideally, you want about three good example behaviors to use during the hypnosis session.
Let's run through a quick example that will help you easily grasp this concept. In it, the subject (S) has come to the hypnotherapist (H) to quit smoking. In this example, the hypnotist has already done the pre-talk and suggestibility tests and will begin the induction as soon as the end-result interview is done. The interview is framed so that the subject has already succeeded and that all these questions are not about possibilities (would, could), but about definite certainties (will, can) - a very important part of end-result imagery.
H: So, you’re going to become a non-smoker. Great choice! Let me ask you, what will you be doing once you become a non-smoker?
S: Well, I won't be so antsy anymore. ["Won't" is negative. Let's get them to reframe this positively.]
H: Great, so if you're not antsy, what will you be?
S: I guess... I'd be more calm. [Now, calm is a state. And it’s a nice state, but it’s not a behavior. So, we will use question #1 to get a behavior.]
H: Good, what will you be doing when you're more calm?
S: Relaxing! [Relaxing is the state of being relaxed. So, we’ll plug “relaxing,” into question #1 and keep asking for a behavior.]
H: I'll bet! What kinds of things do you think you'll be doing when you're relaxing?
S: Hmm... Well, I'd be able to sit through a whole movie without having to get up and smoke a cigarette! [Bingo! Now we have a behavior. So we move on to question #3 and expand. We want details. Write everything down. Try to get as much of "Who, what, when, where and how" as possible.]
H: Wow. That will be nice! Where is it that you like to watch movies?
S: I like that new cineplex over on Crown Valley... with the stadium seats.
H: Oh yeah, those are nice seats. I'll bet you have someone that you like to go to the movies with too. Who do you like to go with?
S: Yeah, my brother. We like Van Dam, Jackie Chan, Schwartzenegger. Action stuff... You know. [We got both who and what on that answer.]
H: Yeah, I love that stuff. Do you get snacks and drinks and stuff?
S: Yeah, we always get the big tub of popcorn. [Some how]
These questions are interspersed in fluff talk so that the interview doesn't feel like 20 questions and get uncomfortable.
Ideally, we would want at least three behaviors for End-Result Imagery, so when you’ve got enough detail on this behavior, you ask again. “So, what else will you be doing when you ______?”
Now, once you’ve hypnotized your subject and done the convincers, you’ll read back their End-Result Imagery. Here’s an example of how it would sound based on the answers in the previous example:
And I'd like you to begin to imagine... Imagine a time in the future... You and your brother are hanging out at the cineplex. Just like the good-old times… But something is different this time... Something... Yes, you're a non-smoker now... You and your brother grab some popcorn and a couple of drinks and head in to watch the new action movie. Sitting there, in the dark, watching the movie, you begin to realize that you feel wonderful and the urge to smoke is all gone... Now. It feels great to know that you can sit there, in those big comfortable stadium seats... You can sit through that entire movie. And you can stay inside through the whole movie because you're a non-smoker now. Just allow yourself to experience that for a moment.
As you can see, end-result imagery creates powerful, customized imagery for the subject. This level of future pacing is a great way to install the subject's new, resourceful strategies, as well as providing an important "test" of their new behaviors before they leave your office.

NLP: Neuro-Linguistic Programming
NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming, was created mostly by John Grinder and Richard Bandler, and it started out as a technique to model excellence. The specific applications of NLP came about by modeling successful psychotherapists, family therapists, hypnotists, leaders, writers, philosophers, business men, sales men, seducers, persuaders, and more. The list could go on forever! Excellence in nearly every field has been modeled by NLP Practitioners over the 30+ years, since its creation.
The clinical, therapeutic techniques were created by modeling three amazing therapists:
• Milton Erickson, the father of modern hypnotherapy
• Virginia Satir, an amazing family therapist who created change almost magically
• Fritz Pearls, the creator of Gestalt Therapy
NLP goes way beyond clinical training. It’s a set of tools, techniques and beliefs that can help to propel you toward success in any area of life.
While studying NLP, you will learn Ericksonian hypnosis, so you can hypnotize anybody just by having a conversation with them. You’ll learn the art of rapport and how to gain rapport with anybody you want to in just seconds or minutes. You’ll learn to read a peoples’ physiology so that you can discover how people think. You’ll learn powerful language tools for becoming a powerfully persuasive and influential communicator. You’ll learn tools and techniques, such as the Five-Minute Phobia Cure, Mapping Across technique for changing limiting beliefs instantly, and the Swish Pattern for instantly eliminating bad habits and installing good habits.
NLP is well beyond the scope of this book. When you’re ready discover more about NLP, visit www.transformdestiny.com/nlpp to find out more.

Should I Work With Everything?
For the beginning hypnotist, there is an overwhelming desire to go out and "cure the world." Hypnosis is an amazingly powerful tool. It has helped people with everything from nail biting to bedwetting, depression to cancer. There are many issues to consider when performing hypnotherapy. There are moral, ethical and legal concerns.
The largest concern is the ecology of the patient. You must be sure that your suggestions are safe. It's fairly obvious that a sane person will reject a suggestion stating, "you can fly." However, a simple, harmless sounding suggestion such as, "you will eat less," can be interpreted very literally by the unconscious and may produce symptoms such as extreme as anorexia in some clients. Your suggestions need to be formed and delivered in the most direct way so as not to leave room for interpretation.
Another great concern is that, symptoms that seem easy to cure using hypnosis could be hiding a much more serious illness. For instance, the most extreme cases of nail biting could be a symptom of self-mutilation, which should obviously be treated by a qualified and licensed psychotherapist. If you take away the nail biting, the self-mutilation could manifest itself as hair pulling, cutting, or something worse. If a body builder comes to you and says his muscles hurt, you might feel inclined to take away that pain, until he lifts too much one day and tears a muscle. Sometimes pain is simply a nuisance, but sometimes it’s a warning that lets us know our limits.
As you can see, learning what to work with and what not to work with is a balancing act and something you should think about before committing to work with anyone.
I provide the table on the following page only as a general guideline, and it is not to be taken as direct professional and/or legal advice. Neither the author nor the publisher can be held responsible for any actions taken as a result of reading this book or this chart. If you are a licensed mental health specialist, doctor, dentist, or any other licensed practitioner, this guideline may not apply to you. In your case, you know your scope of practice much better than I do, so use your own best judgment.
Safe Gray Area Needs Referral
Self Improvement
Relaxation
Improve Study Habits
Test Anxiety
Smoking
Weight
Self Hypnosis
Increase Focus
Sports Performance Exercise
Past-Life Regression
Age Regression
Diagnosed illnesses
Insomnia
Depression
Allergies
Drug Addiction
Alcohol Addiction
Sexual Problems
Table 3.1 – Should I Work With Everything? (Adapted from information obtained through the International Board of Clinical Practitioners, www.ibcponline.com)
In cases such as overcoming fears, improving self-esteem, bettering study habits, etc., you are usually perfectly safe doing therapy. For the more serious category, the most important rule to remember is this: Ask if they have seen a physician, therapist, counselor or whatever is appropriate for their symptoms. If they have not, send them on their way and ask them to come back once they have. If they have seen someone, give them a blank referral form and have them get you a referral from the person treating them. Then, WAIT until you have a referral from them. In many cases, it is the law, so heed this rule.
Referral forms, admission forms and other necessary forms are available to students of our hypnotherapy courses. If you’re interested in practicing clinical hypnotherapy, come and get certified in as little as three days. Visit www.transformdestiny.com for more information.

Overview - Read This
Whew... You've learned a lot in this chapter. If it seems overwhelming, it should. After all, if you choose to become a hypnotherapist, you'll be dealing with people's conscious minds. This is a subject that should not be taken lightly.
At this point, you may feel like you're ready to go out, open your own practice and start healing people. Granted, you've learned a lot, but in my opinion, it would be extremely irresponsible to start a practice without at least getting some hands-on training. This book has given you a great head start and you'll likely breeze through the training, learning many new things along the way. There are many places to conduct your training, including Transform Destiny and other institutes approved by the International Board of Clinical Practitioners.
I hope you have enjoyed this chapter and have learned a lot in the process. Now that you've learned how to use hypnosis to help others, be sure to check out Chapter 4 to learn how to use it to help yourself, using self-hypnosis in every aspect of your life .

Chapter 4 - Self-Hypnosis
Overview
Even though the term, "Self-Hypnosis,” is a bit redundant (since all hypnosis is self-hypnosis), it can grow be one of the most beneficial things you can do in your everyday life. It's easy to learn, feels great, and it's good for you too! Here you'll learn about how you can use hypnosis in your everyday life.

How can it Help You?
Self-Hypnosis can be used to relieve stress, rid yourself of unwanted habits, work on higher self-esteem, improve your memory, gain better rapport with your subconscious mind, take a short rest (it’s better than a power nap!), and many, many more things. The possibilities are limitless.
For instance, I have hypnotized myself to quit speeding on the freeway, to have better memory, to use my NLP skills subconsciously in my everyday life, and to quit biting my fingernails. These are just some of the big ones... There are many, many more, because I hypnotize myself every single day, for at least fifteen minutes a day.

How to Use Self-Hypnosis
Self-hypnosis, sometimes called Auto-hypnosis, is just like regular hypnosis, except that you lead yourself into trance. You’ll also convince yourself and give yourself suggestions. When you’re done, you’ll also count yourself up.
So, how do you do it? It’s easy! You already know how, because you read the first part of this book.
First, pick a place where you won't be disturbed by anything such as children, dogs, the television, or the phone. As you get better, you'll be able to do it in less peaceful situations, but for now, find a nice quiet place where you can relax.
It's best to pick a place where you can sit that has ample support from armrests to ensure that you won't fall out of the chair. While falling down during self-hypnosis is rare, you might as well be as safe as possible, this first time. A couch is a great place to sit.
Types of Inductions
Self Relaxation + Staircase
My favorite is the self-relaxation induction, because it can be done anywhere, almost instantly. For this induction, you'll pick one very simple suggestion, stated positively. For example, "Every day, I am moving toward my ideal weight," or the classic, "Every day, in every way, I'm feeling better and better."
This form of self-induction essentially follows the first progressive relaxation script I gave you back in Chapter 2. Simply relax every muscle, every nerve and every fiber of your body, starting from the crown of your head to the tips of your toes.
You can do this a variety of ways. You could imagine the same scene that you visualized when you listened to the sample MP3 in Chapter 1.
Or you could step through each area of your body as a rubber balloon, as each section blows up really big, and then totally deflates in a rush of air as the muscles relax.
Or you could imagine your body as thousands of tight rubber bands, as each body part just lets go, and the rubber bands get loose & floppy. The possibilities are endless!
My favorite relaxation is to tighten every muscle of my body for about five seconds, then I let go. And I mean really let go, so I slump down, as if someone had just cut the strings on a puppet.
Next, imagine yourself walking down the staircase with 10 stairs... and at the bottom is pure relaxation: deep, deep hypnosis.
Next, do a convincer on yourself, as you learned in Chapter 3. After all, you need to be convinced, too, when you’re the subject! I like to do heavy eyes, because it’s the simplest.
Finally, repeat your suggestion to yourself, like a chant. You can choose to do it as many or as few times as you like, but I would suggest at least 10 repetitions.
The trick is to keep your suggestions short and sweet so that they can be repeated many times without much conscious effort.
When you're finished, it’s time to come back to wakeful awareness. You can walk back up the stairway, or you can count yourself back up. I wouldn't suggest that you drift off to sleep at the end, as that might develop into a habit that could be hard to break.
Pre-Recorded Inductions
The next type of induction is hypnosis recordings. These tapes, compact discs, and streaming audio files can be found in new-age stores, stage-hypnosis shows, and on the web at sites, such as mine at www.tranceout.com.
I actually got my start in hypnosis because of a tape I bought at the county fair. Some are good, some not so good. If you want to buy such inductions, my advice is that you buy them from www.tranceout.com, or from someone else you know and trust. That way you know you’re getting a quality product.
Self-Recorded Induction
Guess what? You are a hypnotist now! With a blank tape and a little creativity, you can actually record your own pre-recorded sessions! All you need is a tape recorder or a computer.
Tape recorders and tapes can be bought almost anywhere. Radio Shack® is probably as good a place as any. Using your computer may require extra software to record your own session and optionally burn it to CD. There is a program I highly recommend called Audacity which works on Windows, Macintosh and Linux. It is community developed – rather than being made by a corporation – so it’s free. You can download it at http://audacity.sourceforge.net
When Not to Use Self-Hypnosis
Since self-hypnosis is, essentially, focusing your attention inward, there are certain places that you should not use it. Do not use self-hypnosis while driving, operating machinery of any kind, watching over someone who is immediately dependent on your attention or care, etc. Use common sense. Self-hypnosis should only be used at times when you can sit quietly by yourself. Self-hypnosis is not an replacement for traditional medicine.

Chapter 5 - Stage Hypnosis
Overview
Ok, we've all seen a stage hypnosis show, right? If not, find one and go see it. Stage hypnosis shows can be some of the most entertaining and mind-boggling shows you've ever seen.
What makes them so great? The fact that everyday people, like you and me, are called up on stage to do some of the most outrageously funny and totally baffling things you've ever seen. Seemingly normal people are "caused" to do utterly un-normal things. Because of this, many people think that stage hypnotism is fake. They couldn't be farther from the truth. Stage hypnosis is very real and a lot of fun if it’s done right.
In this chapter, I'll tell you the four big secrets that will make any stage show practically run its self. We'll also explain the rapid induction and give you some great ideas for routines that you can use on stage.
This chapter is not meant to make you an expert stage-hypnotist. It is merely a starting point. To read some great books that focus on stage-hypnotism, read the Bibliography in Appendix IV.

OK, so what's the secret?
You're probably one of those people who think hypnosis shows are all fake, right? Well, think again! There are four big secrets that make stage hypnosis work:

Volunteers: Always pick volunteers who are the most enthusiastic about coming on stage. These will be the "hams" in the audience. The ones most likely to perform for you – hypnotized or not. After all, the point of the show is not necessarily to hypnotize people, but rather to entertain the audience. Work with a large crowd and pick many enthusiastic volunteers.
Attitude: Never make hypnosis a challenge, or you will attract nay-sayers who will do everything in their power to resist. Instead, frame it as a series of experiments, and if they succeed, everyone will have fun. This puts them into a frame of mind where they will strive to do well to meet the expectations of you, their fellow volunteers, and the audience.
Paring down volunteers: Excuse volunteers back to their seat at the first sign of loss of trance or any kind of mischief. It is important to delicately handle the egos of these volunteers. After all, you’re performing to entertain, not to make anybody feel bad. This can be easy easily accomplished by saying something like, "Sir/Miss, I think you will enjoy this show better from your own seat. Thank you... Let's give him/her a big hand..."
"As-if" principle: Structure your suggestions using the As-if principle and they will be more readily followed. For example, instead of saying, "When I count to three, your feet will be stuck to the floor." say, "When I count to three, you will feel as if your feet are stuck to the floor." This is much easier to follow, because even if they don't accept the suggestion that their feet will feel "stuck,” they will still have the suggestion to act "as if" they were stuck.
How do they do it so fast?
After reading most of this book, and experimenting with your new knowledge on friends and family, you may be wondering how stage hypnotists can get a whole group of people deep enough into trance to do all these crazy things in a matter of just a few minutes. After all, the induction you've learned in this book is long and drawn out, involving relaxation and imagery. While those types of inductions work well in therapy, they would make for a very long, boring show.
The answer is the rapid induction. Rapid inductions work extremely well for stage-hypnosis, and are based on the exaggeration of the five important principals of a successful induction:

Authority/Prestige: It is imperative that you demonstrate your authority in the area of hypnosis. Proper display of authority will create prestige, which will bring expectancy and rapport with it.
Rapport: Rapport and, more importantly, trust is key to your volunteers' acquiescence.
Expectation: Your volunteers' expectation of what is about to happen will be one of the largest factors for them going into trance. In some cases, when the expectation is great enough, all that is needed is a yank on the arm and a loud "SLEEP!" to do the trick.
Contract: Under most circumstances, a sort of a verbal contract is important for rapport in hypnosis. For example, "Is it OK if I hypnotize you now?" In the case of stage hypnotism, volunteering makes for a strong contract.
Even with this contract, it is safe to ask the group as a whole if it's OK to proceed after sufficient explanation of hypnosis.
Desire: Most of your volunteers will already have this. They are volunteers, after all!
With these five principles in place, you can speed up the induction to two- to four minutes and get great results. Here’s an example induction.
Sample Stage Hypnosis Induction

Stage ideas
A full break down of a stage-hypnosis show is well beyond the scope of this book, but I've included a few ideas that you can use to get you started once your subjects are in trance. Bear in mind that you will usually not know the names of your subjects. In order to address them with their eyes closed, it is necessary to place your hand on their head/shoulder/arm/leg and say something like, "you, who I'm touching..." Also, most of these "experiments" require you to wake your volunteer up to carry out the suggestion, so be sure to implant a post-hypnotic suggestion to go back into trance on command, once it's done.

Cannot stand/sit: You who I'm touching: On the count of three, when I will wake you up, you'll be surprised to find out that you can't sit down! No matter what you do, you have lost the ability to sit down. 1, 2, 3, WIDE AWAKE!
Forgot the number 4: In a moment, when I wake you up, you will completely forget the number 4. It will just vanish from your mind completely. It will be as if the number four was never there. One, two, three, wide awake. How are you feeling?
Subject: Good.
Hypnotist: Excellent. Sir, can you tell me how many fingers you have?
S: Ten
H: Ten, that's right. Can you do me a favor and count them?
S: Sure. 1-2-3-5-6-7-8-9-10-??-uh- eleven?
H: That doesn't sound right! Try it again.
S: 1-2-3-5-6-7-8.... (puzzled) I don't get it... I used to have 10...
H: I have an idea... Let's try this. What's seven minus three?
S: (Perplexed) uhh...
H: Very good... SLEEP!
X-Ray Spyglass: (This experiment requires a piece of cardboard cut out in the shape of a magnifying glass about 2 1/2 to 3 feet long.) When I awaken you, you'll notice an object in your lap. This object is an X-Ray Spy Glass capable of seeing right through everyone's clothes but mine! You will be able to see through everybody's clothes but mine when you look through this X-Ray Spy Glass, however, if I catch you using the spyglass, I will take it away, so be sure to hide it from me if I turn around to look your way. Again, I will take the spyglass away from you if I catch you using it, so be sure to hide it when I'm looking.

There are many other great skits and scenarios. See the Bibliography for other books specifically on Stage Hypnosis and hypnosis for entertainment.

Appendices
Appendix I: The History of Hypnosis
Hypnosis spans back as far as written time in one form or another. Ancient Egyptians used sleeping temples in order to revitalize their spirits. Buddhists have been using mediation ¬¬- a phenomenon very similar to hypnosis - for millennia.
Modern Hypnosis, however, began in the 18th century with a man named Franz Anton Mesmer. It was curiously tied to magnetism, which still has a following today.

Old School
Franz Anton Mesmer (1734 - 1815)
Focus on This!
To this day, the term “mesmerized,” derived from Mesmer’s name, is used to describe someone in a captivated trance.
Franz Mesmer was a physician and a graduate of the famed Medical School of Vienna in 1776. After studying with a Jesuit priest, Mesmer became interested in magnetism. Magnetism was a holistic medical practice where magnets were passed over the bodies of patients to promote healing. The results were fabulous and Mesmer became Europe’s foremost expert.
Mesmer believed that each living being had an invisible magnetic “fluid” that ran throughout its body. It was his theory that a person with enough of this magnetic fluid would be strong and healthy. If a person had a lack of magnetic fluid he would become very ill and possibly die. This was termed “Animal Magnetism,” coining the popular phrase.
Mesmer routinely practiced his magnetism, becoming very famous. One day, while tending to a patient, he discovered that he did not have his magnets. Wanting to perform, Mesmer went through the motions without his magnets, not expecting his session to be successful, but to Mesmer's surprise, the patient was cured of his ailment. Mesmer declared that he no longer needed the magnets for he had enough of the fluid within him that he could administer the healings himself. This, along with his claim that women need not suffer pain during childbirth, caused a terrible blow to his reputation. He moved from Vienna to Paris in 1778 to escape constant reticule.
As Mesmer’s popularity grew in Paris, he inevitably became over-confidant. He insisted that King Louis XVI establish a panel to prove the reality of his practice and quiet his detractors. This was a grave mistake.
A panel of noteworthy men was commissioned at the order of the King. Antoine-Laurent de Jessieu, a famous botanist, Dr. Guillotin, inventor of the guillotine, Antoine-Laurent Lavosier, a chemist, and Benjamin Franklin, serving as an American Ambassador in France, were set to the task. Benjamin Franklin spoke for the commission when he wrote “This fellow Mesmer is not flowing anything from his hands that I can see. Therefore, this Mesmerism must be a fraud.” His reputation ruined, Franz Mesmer died a poor and lonely man in Germany in 1815.
Some time later, Marquis de Pusseguyr continued the study of Mesmer’s work and later coined the term somnambulism, which we still use today to describe a deep state of hypnosis.

James Braid (1795 – 1860)
Focus on This!
Hypnosis was originally called Neurohypnotism, meaning Nervous Sleep. It almost became Monoideaism, meaning to hold one idea, but luckily that name didn’t stick.
A surgeon in Manchester, England, James Braid was the first person to accurately describe hypnosis as more than magnetism.
In 1841, he set out to discredit Mesmerism at a public demonstration by the traveling mesmerist, Lafontaine. Instead he became convinced of Lafontaine’s young volunteer’s deep trance. This fascinated Braid to no end and he began studying its usefulness in relation to surgery.
In 1843, James Braid published the first book on Hypnotism, which gave it its name, titled “Neurohypnotism”. His focus was on using hypnosis for pain-free surgery.
James Esdaile (1808 – 1859)
Before the discovery of Chloroform or other anesthesia for surgery, the mortality rate was alarming. Up to 50% of patients died during major surgery from fear or shock alone. Not the most pleasing odds.
James Esdaile, a Scottish surgeon working in India, beat those odds hands down. Esdaile would spend up to two hours preparing a patient for surgery. Using eye fixation, sounds, and slow, sweeping motions Esdaile would put his patients into a deep hypnotic state, causing full anesthesia throughout the body. His mortality rate dropped from 50% to between 5% and 7% - Something unheard of at that time.
Esdaile performed over 1000 operations using hypnosis as his only anesthesia - over 300 of them major surgeries, and 19 of them amputations – before he was tried by the Medical Association of England, losing his medical license.
Liebault & Bernheim and the Nancy School for Hypnotism
Ambroise A. Liebault (1823 – 1904) was a French Physician living near Nancy, France. Commonly known as the “Father of Suggestive Hypnosis,” Liebault moved to Nancy where he worked for free to avoid persecution from the detractors of mesmerism. As long as he didn’t charge for his services, they could not call him a "quack". In 1866, he published the culmination of all his hard work titled “Du Sommeil”. Only one copy was sold.
Leibault’s work went largely unrecognized until he teamed up with Hippolyte Bernheim (1837 – 1919), a professor at the Nancy School of Medicine. Bernheim was a more logical and scientific man than his predecessors. He didn’t make extravagant claims about hypnosis, but merely stated the facts. He published these facts in his work “Suggestive Therapeutics: A Treatise on the Nature and Uses of Hypnosis”. They soon opened the Nancy School of Hypnosis where many of the future hypnotists of the world were trained.
Jean-Martin Charcot (1825 – 1893)
Charcot was a neurologist in Paris in the 1800’s specializing in the study of neurological disorders. He is probably most famous for first documenting and studying what later became known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.
His initial conclusions about hypnosis were not favorable. He believed that hypnosis was an abnormal behavior, and furthermore, was a state of hysteria. He was later discredited by Bernheim because of this belief and went to study with him at the Nancy School of Hypnosis.
Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939)
The father of Modern Psychotherapy, Sigmund Freud, then a physician in Vienna, began taking an interest in hypnosis as it gained popularity and became more mainstream. He went to France to study with Charcot at the Nancy School of Hypnosis. When Freud returned to Vienna, he began to practice and research hypnosis with his partner Dr. Breuer.
Eventually, Freud denounced hypnosis – a crushing blow that would destroy its reputation for years – when he claimed that a young lady suddenly jumped up and kissed him on the lips while in trance. The actual story is a little less exciting than all that.
Freud frequently used cocaine leaves between his cheeks and gums to control pain, a common practice at that time. This eventually led to the destruction of his gums, which caused his dentures to fit poorly. Because of this, Freud slurred and could not speak clearly enough to lead people into hypnosis. Regardless, his public “story” severely damaged the credibility of hypnosis in the medical field.
He later credited hypnosis for driving him in the right direction. From his studies of hypnotism, he began to formulate his theories of “talking therapy” and the concept of modern psychology was born.

The New Fathers of Hypnosis
Hypnosis enjoyed a revived interest in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. Approved as a valid treatment medium by the American Medical Association in 1958, physicians, dentists and therapists began, once again, to experiment with and study hypnosis.
Milton H. Erickson (1902 - 1984)
Born in Aurum, Nevada and raised in Wisconsin, Erickson became interested in hypnosis after witnessing a demonstration by Clark Hull. He was so impressed that he met with and hypnotized Hull after the show! He taught himself hypnosis from that point on.
Erickson had a great understanding of the human mind. While a Psychologist and a Psychiatrist, he received his most important training at a younger age. He explains in this quote taken from “Dr. Erickson's Personality and Life” by Jay Haley - 1967:
"I had a polio attack when 17 years old and I lay in bed without a sense of body awareness. I couldn't even tell the position of my arms or legs in bed. So I spent hours trying to locate my hand or my foot or my toes by a sense of feeling, and I became, acutely aware of what movements were. Later, when I went into medicine, I learned the nature of muscles. I used that knowledge to develop an adequate use of the muscles polio had left me and to limp with the least possible strain; this took me ten years. I also became extremely aware of physical movements and this has been exceedingly useful. People use those little telltale movements, those, adjustive movements that are so revealing if one can notice them. So much of our communication is in our bodily movements, not in our speech. I've found that I can recognize a good piano player not by the noises he makes, but by the ways his fingers touch the keys. The sure touch, the delicate touch, the forceful touch that is so accurate. Proper playing involves such exquisite physical movement." -
Milton H. Erickson essentially revolutionized the field of hypnosis. While there are those that promote and teach a pure Ericksonian technique, elements of Erickson’s wisdom are present in almost every hypnotists style these days. While a proper discussion of Ericksonian techniques are beyond the scope of this book (there are, in fact, entire books written on the subject – Check the bibliography).
Dave Elman (1900 - 1967)
As a young boy, Dave Elman had to watch his father, a stage-hypnotist, dying a terribly painful death from cancer. A week before his father was to pass away, a friend of the family, also a hypnotist came and put his father into trace to take away his pain. This was the last time the Dave Elman saw his father peaceful, playful and in good spirits. It made a lasting impression.
Elman spent the rest of his life dedicated to teaching hypnosis to healing professionals. Doctors, psychologists, dentists, pediatricians and more flocked to his classes week after week as Elman traveled the country with his wife. Elman specialized in a rapid induction that worked very well much of the time. This opened the door for medical applications where the doctor did not have the time to spend ten to twenty minutes inducing the patient into hypnosis. Word of mouth spread fast and Elman’s class was a success. He wrote one book that describes it all before he passed away. In my opinion, it is a must read for anyone… medical or not. Check the bibliography for more information.
Ormond McGill
The Dean of Modern Stage Hypnosis, Ormond McGill has been described as "…one of the true giants in the history of hypnotism” by hypnosis greats such as Gill Boyne. Beginning in the late 1920s, McGill developed a stage style that is unrivalled even today. Many of today’s great hypnotists have gotten their start or honed their style at Ormond’s seminar. His book, The Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnotism is a must read for anyone that aspires to perform hypnosis.
Richard Bandler and John Grinder
Bandler and Grinder are the co-founders of NLP, also known as Neuro-Linguistic Programming. NLP is loosely related to hypnosis in one form or another and is based, in part, on theories of “quick change” in psychotherapy. NLP has become a favorite tool of many hypnotists because of its rapport building abilities and the ability to squash phobias and cause change quickly in the subject.
Richard Bandler was a mathematics and computer science major studying at the University of San Jose in the early 70’s. He became interested in psychotherapy while editing a book written by Dr. Pearl and approached John Grinder and professor and master or linguistics to propose a study of the structure of the language patterns that therapists use to cure patients. The combination of Bandler’s structured logical thinking and Grinder’s breakdown of language was something that therapy had not seen before. By studying the patterns of noteworthy, successful therapists (Fritz Pearl, psychologist; Gregory Bateson, Linguistics/General Semantics; Virginia Satir, Family Therapy; Milton H. Erickson, hypnotist), they developed a set of “cookie cutter” therapies that anyone could use to cause change.
While NLP has taken many directions, we will look at its benefits of healing and hypnosis. NLP has also been applied to everything from persuasion to power writing to selling anything to seduction. There are many resources available in the Bibliography.

A.M. Krasner
Founder of the American Board of Hypnotherapy (originally called the California Council of Hypnotherapy), Dr. Krasner has pioneered and taught many of the techniques used in modern hypnotherapy. His simple, no frills technique for putting the subject at ease (and then putting the subject into trance) is documented well in his book (see the Bibliography). His style is taught at the American Pacific University, endorsed by the American Board of Hypnotherapy. Dr Krasner’s contribution was so great that he was selected for inclusion in the Directory of Distinguished Americans for outstanding contributions to the field of hypnotherapy.

Appendix II: Glossary
• Amnesia: Total forgetting of a specific event or subject.
• Anesthesia: Complete loss of sensation in a particular area of the body.
• Analgesia: Loss of pain sensation, but retention of pressure and heat sensations
• Auto-Hypnosis: Self-Hypnosis
• Catalepsy: A perfect balance of the opposing muscles in the area of the body, keeping an appendage or the whole body rigid.
• Cessation: The act of removing a habit, such as smoking cessation
• Congruence: Behaving in a way that is in line with the words that you speak.
• Direct Commands: Commands given to a subject in a direct manner, such as "stand up,” or "you will quit smoking".
• Eye Fixation: Having the subject stare at a spot until the eyes become so tired that they close on their own.
• Fractionation: Bringing the subject out-of and back in-to trance repeatedly to deepen their trance.
• Glove Anesthesia: Anesthesia that begins in the hand and can be transferred to any part of the body through the hand.
• Intervention: The act of "curing" a person using suggestions and other modalities such as NLP.
• Metaphor: A short story tailored to the situation of the subject.
• NLP or Neuro Linguistic Programming: A modality for creating generative change in your subject using many techniques.
• Pace: Following your subject with your body language, movements, tonality, tempo, or choice of words.
• Pattern Interruption: A technique whereby the hypnotist can interrupt a common movement in the subject to rapidly induce trance.
• Post-Hypnotic Suggestion: Suggestions to be carried out after the subject has been awakened. Sometimes triggered by a specified event or word being spoken.
• Rapid Induction: An induction which utilizes the five traits of good suggestions to rapidly induce trance in a subject.
• Rapport: A feeling of comfort and trust shared between the hypnotist and the subject.
• Suggestion: Words formed in a way such that the subject feels compelled to act out the command.
• Tempo: The speed and rhythm of the words you speak.
• Tonality: The pitch, or relative high-ness or low-ness of your voice.
• Yes Sets: Stacking realities, where each portion of the yes set requires the subject to answer yes, so that a yes outcome for the desired part is more likely.

Appendix III: Scripts
These scripts are public domain, available on the Internet in many locations. They are compiled here for your convenience.
Inductions
Here are a few of the more common inductions used today. See the Bibliography for information on other books that focus solely on scripts.
Relaxation Method I
Turn loose now, relax. Let a good, pleasant feeling come all across your body. Let every muscle and every nerve grow so loose and so limp and so relaxed. Arms limp now, just like a rag doll. That's good.
Now, send a pleasant wave of relaxation over your entire body, from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. Just let every muscle and nerve grow loose and limp and relaxed. You are feeling more relaxed with each easy breath that you take.
Droopy, drowsy and sleepy. So calm and so relaxed. You're relaxing more with each easy beat of your heart ... with each easy breath that you take ... with each sound that you hear.
Relaxation Method II
Your arms are loose and limp, just like a rag doll. As I raise your hand, just let all of the weight hang limply in my fingers. An when I drop it, send a wave of relaxation all across your body. As you feel you hand touch your body, send that wave of relaxation from the top of your head all the way down to the very tips of your toes.
And as you do, you find that you double your previous level of relaxation.
Now, once again, with the other hand. (Repeat with other hand)
Staircase Method
In a moment I'm going to relax you more completely. In a moment I'm going to begin counting backwards from 10 to 1.
The moment I say the number 10 you will allow your eyelids to remain closed. The moment I say the number 10, you will, in your minds eye, see yourself at the top of a small set of stairs.
The moment I say the number 9, and each additional number, you will simply move down those stairs relaxing more completely. At the base of the stairs is a large feather bed, with a comfortable feather pillow.
The moment I say the number one you will simply sink into that bed, resting your head on that feather pillow.
Number 10, eyes closed at the top of those stairs. Ten ...
Nine, relaxing and letting go. Nine ...
Eight, sinking into a more comfortable, calm, peaceful position ...
Seven ....
Six ... going way down ...
Five ... moving down those stairs, relaxing more completely.
Four ...
Three ... breathe in deeply ...
Two ... On the next number, number one, simply sinking into that bed, becoming more calm, more peaceful, more relaxed ...
One ... Sinking into that feather bed, let every muscle go limp and loose as you sink into a more calm, peaceful state of relaxation.

Stiff Arm Method
Raise and stiffen you arm. Make a fist. (Help subject achieve this position, then let go) That's good. Just like a steel bar, stiff and powerful. So stiff and rigid and so powerful that the more you try to lower or bend your arm, the stiffer and tighter it becomes. Try to lower or bend your arm and find it locking stiff; stiff and rigid. The harder you try, the stiffer it becomes.
That's fine. When I touch your forehead, your arm drops limply down and you go deeper in sleep. (Tap forehead)
Arm-Drop Method
Instructions to Hypnotist:
The subject is asked to raise an arm so that the hand is slightly above the head and given suggestions. There are a number of aspects of this induction which are worthy of special notice. First, the arm is placed in such a position that fatigue will eventually bring it down. The downward movement is tied into going "down" into a "deep state of relaxation." The harder the individual keeps fighting to hold it up, the more he is committed to the proposition implied by the statement that, "You will not go into a deep state of relaxation until the arm is all the way down." This means, of course, that, "You will go into such a state when the arm comes all the way down."
Spoken to subject:
(Have subject raise arm so that hand is slightly above head) Stare at one of the fingers, either the index or the middle finger. You may continue to look at it, or, if you wish, close your eyes and visualize it in your mind's eye. As you fixate your gaze on it you will notice that the other fingers tend to fade out of focus and that your entire arm begins to feel heavier and heavier. The longer you concentrate on that finger the heavier and heavier your arm becomes. But you will not go into a deep state of relaxation until the arm has come all the way down. Keep concentrating on that finger while the arm gets heavier and heavier and heavier. (When downward movement become apparent) Notice that as the arm is getting heavier it is slowly coming down, down, down. But you will not relax into a deep and profound state of relaxation until the arm is all the way down. Going down, down, down, deeper, deeper, deeper. (Continue deepening comments: The suggestions must be timed with the actual movement of the arm)
Arm Levitation Method I
Instructions to hypnotist:
This induction (or deepening) technique requires that the hypnotist gauge the pace of the suggestions to the response of the subject.
Spoken to the subject:
I'm going to count from one up to twenty. As I do, a light, easy, pleasant feeling moves into your right hand and into your right arm. As I continue counting, that feeling grows stronger and stronger. Soon you'll feel the first slight movement of your fingers, a twitching of the muscles. (At this point, grasp the subjects arm and demonstrate how it will move as you continue with the following suggestions). Then your hand begins to lift. Your arm begins to lift. It continues moving, lifting, and rising until it comes to rest upon your body.
Now when you feel the movement in your hand and in your arm, don't try to resist. You could resist if you chose to, that is not why you are here. Just let your subconscious mind do its perfect work. All right, now we are ready to begin.
Number One - The first light, easy sensation moves into the fingertips of your right hand.
Number Two - The feeling is spreading around beneath the fingernails.
Number Three - It is moving up to the first joint of the fingers.
Number Four - Spreading to the large knuckle across the back of the hand.
Number Five - the first slight movements begin to start taking place. Slight movements of the fingers, a twitching of the muscles.
Number Six - The light sensation spreads all across the back of your hand.
Number Seven - Spreading over and into your thumb.
Number Eight - Moving now all through the palm of your hand.
Number Nine - The light sensation spreads up and into your wrist. Think of your left hand now. You'll see by comparison, your left hand is beginning to feel very, very heavy.
While on Number Ten your right hand grows lighter and lighter with each number I count; just as light as a feather floating in the breeze and even lighter. As light as a gas-filled balloon. Just as a gas-filled balloon will rise and float towards the ceiling, in the same way, by the time I reach the count of twenty, your right hand is moving, lifting, rising and floating.
Number Eleven - The light sensation has moved beyond your wrist now, spreading into your forearm.
Number Twelve, Thirteen - Once again, think of your left hand. Your left hand has grown so heavy, it feels as though it were made of marble or stone.
Number Fourteen - That light sensation is spreading up toward your elbow.
Now on Fifteen - From the fingertips all the way up to the elbow your hand has grown light, light and free. It's beginning to lift. It's moving, lifting, rising and floating.
(At this point, if the hand is not moving, gently lift the hand to get it started)
All right, Sixteen - Now your arm is moving and lifting and rising. And as your arm is lifting, you're going deeper and deeper into hypnosis.
Seventeen - Your hand continues moving, lifting and rising now until it comes to rest over on your body.
Eighteen - Moving, lifting, rising, floating. Right on over now and when your hand comes to rest upon your body, at that time your eyelids lock tightly closed. Your eyelids lock so tightly closed at that point, the more you try to open them the tighter they're locking closed.
Nineteen - Your hand is getting ready to come down and rest upon your body.
Twenty - Now your hand has come to rest upon your body and at the same time, your eyelids are locked so tightly closed, the more you try to open your eyelids the tighter they are locking closed.
That's fine, stop trying and go deeper into trance.
Confusion Method
The basic message to this induction is the conscious forgetting, and the subconscious knowing. This message is drawn out and repeated. Separate directions for the conscious mind, and separate directions for the subconscious mind. Maintain the subconscious attention, while dismissing the conscious attention both by the suggestions and the pauses and mental fatigue.
Have the subject sit or lay in a relaxed position, with their eyes closed. Read the text slowly and rhythmically
Spoken to the subject:
(Read only first time, do not repeat) Just close your eyelids and let your mind drift where it will.
You are aware of everything, and yet you are not aware. You are listening with your subconscious mind, while your conscious mind is far away, and not listening. Your conscious mind is far away, and not listening. Your subconscious mind is awake, and listening, and hearing everything while your conscious mind remains very relaxed and peaceful. You can relax peacefully because your subconscious mind is taking charge, and when this happens, you close your eyes and let your subconscious do all the listening. Your subconscious mind knows, and because your subconscious mind knows, your conscious mind does not need to know and can stay asleep, and not mind while your subconscious mind stays wide awake.
You have much potential in your subconscious mind which you don't have in your conscious mind. You can remember everything that has happened with you subconscious mind, but you cannot remember everything with your conscious mind. You can forget so easily, and with forgetting certain things you can remember other things. Remembering what you need to remember, and forgetting what you can forget. It does not matter if you forget, you need not remember. Your subconscious mind remembers everything that you need to know and you can let your subconscious mind listen and remember while your conscious mind sleeps and forgets. Keep your eyes closed, and listen with your subconscious mind, and when you're listening very, very carefully, your head can now "yes".
As you continue to listen to me, with your subconscious mind, your conscious mind sleeps deeper and deeper, and deeper, and deeper. Let your conscious mind stay deeply asleep, and let your subconscious mind listen to me.
(Repeat. Begin at paragraph two)
(Use a deepening technique and test subject)
Dave Elman Method
Gil Boyne Version (Two-Finger Technique)
Spoken to the subject
For the moment, rest your arms limply on your thighs, just like this (demonstrate position to subject). Now I want you to look out here at my hand. In a moment I'm going to bring my hand up in front of your eyes like this. (Demonstrate bringing index and middle finger of right hand, in a pointing V position, to a position just above their eyebrows) When I do, I'll pass my hand down in front of your eye. Keep your eyes fixed on my fingers. As I pass my hand down, let your eyelids close down. (Bring hand straight down, one finger moving down over each eye)
(Move fingers to a pointing V position just above eyebrows so they have to look up at an angle to see fingertips) All right, now fix your eyes on my fingers. Now I'm passing my hand down in front of your eyes, and as I do, let your eyelids close down. (Move hand straight down, one finger moving down over each eye)
Now your eyelids are closed down. I want you to relax every tiny muscle and nerve in and around your eyelids. I want you to relax them so much that they wouldn't work even if you wanted them to.
Now, when you know that you've relaxed them that much that they wouldn't work even if you wanted them to, test them; you'll see you've been completely successful. Now, relax them so much that they wouldn't work even if you wanted them to. Now test them; you'll see you've been completely successful. (If they open their eyes, tell them to relax them again, this time more completely and test again. If they don't open their eyes, pause three seconds and continue)
All right, that's fine. Now, stop trying and just relax and go deeper now. Now I'm going to raise your hand. I will do it by grasping your right thumb in my fingers like this. (Grasp thumb between thumb and index finger -- make sure you grasp the correct thumb) As I lift your hand, just let it hang limply in my fingers (Optional: slightly rock arm back and forth) Then, when I drop it, let it drop like a wet, limp rag. When you hand touches your body, as it drops, send a wave or relaxation from the top of your head all the way down to the tips of your toes. That will double your present level of relaxation.
(Lift hand, optionally rocking it) Now, I'm raising your hand. That's it, let it hang limply. That's good. Now, when I drop it, let it drop like a limp, wet rag, and as it touches your body, send a wave of relaxation from the top of your head to the tip of your toes. (Drop hand) That's good.
Now, we'll do that again with the left hand. Now I'm going to pick up your left hand, and as I take your thumb, just let it hang limply. (Optional: slightly rock arm back and forth) That's good; now you're getting the idea. When I drop it, let it drop like a wet, limp rag. When it touches your body, send another wave or relaxation from the top of your head to the tips of your toes and double your present level of relaxation. (Drop hand) That's good.
Now, your body is relaxed and I'm going to show you how to relax your mind. Listen very carefully. The next time I touch your forehead, I want you to begin counting from one hundred backward in this way: One hundred, deeper asleep. Ninety-nine, deeper asleep. Ninety-eight, deeper asleep, and so on. After counting just a few numbers, by the time you reach ninety-seven, or ninety-six, or maybe, at the most, ninety-five, you will find those numbers disappearing. You will find your mind has become so relaxed that you'll just relax them out of your mind.
All right, get ready now, three, two, one. (Tap subject on forehead) Begin counting. (Listen to them count down. Based upon the rate of speed, you may say the following statement) Good, slow them down now. (After each count, say one of the following) good/fine. (After the count of ninety-seven say) Start relaxing them out of your mind. (After several more counts, based on how the subject is performing, say) Let them relax out of your mind right now. (After another count) Let them fade away completely.
(After subject has stopped counting, continue with) That's fine, You've relaxed your body; you've relaxed your mind; you've gone into a much deeper state of hypnosis.
(Use a deepening technique and test subject)
Forest And Stream Method
Instructions to Hypnotist
For this induction it is helpful to have background sounds of water, birds, and other forest sounds, but do not start the sounds until indicated in the induction
Spoken to the subject
To prepare yourself for this enjoyable, helpful experience, be sure you have all tight clothes loosened, and then get yourself in just as comfortable a position as you can ...
Now close your eyes and inhale deeply and hold it for three or four seconds and then exhale slowly ... (Pause as subject responds)
Again breathe in deeply and exhale slowly ... keep doing that 5 or 6 more times ...
As you inhale, you bring more oxygen into your body, and as you exhale it causes your body to keep relaxing more and more ... (Pause and observe)
Now you can continue breathing easily and freely, and can feel yourself becoming more calm and peaceful ...
You are revealing signs that indicate you are moving into a very deep, peaceful state of relaxation ... as I continue talking to you, you can keep relaxing more peacefully ... not caring how deeply you relax, just happy to continue becoming more calm, more peaceful, and more at ease ... continuing to breathe easily and freely ...
Your subconscious mind will always be aware of what I'm saying to you, so it keeps becoming less and less important for you to consciously listen to my voice ...
Your subconscious mind, and all levels of your inner mind can hear and receive everything I tell you, and your conscious mind can relax completely ...
You are continuing to experience perfect peace of mind, and can feel yourself moving into the situation I describe to you ... it's going to happen automatically, and you don't even need to think about it consciously ...
(Optional: Start background tape of birds and water. Pause about 30 seconds after starting background sounds)
Now I want you to imagine yourself lying in a comfortable position near a stream of fresh, clear water, in a beautiful forest on a perfect summer day ...
There is a warm, gentle breeze, and the air is fresh and clean, the sound of the peaceful stream is very relaxing ...
It keeps becoming less important for you to consciously listen to my voice because your subconscious mind and all levels of your inner mind are hearing and receiving everything I say ...
In your mind, you are enjoying the beauty of nature, as the sunlight shines through the trees and you listen to the gentle flow of water and the birds singing cheerfully ...
You are lying there, comfortably relaxing ... it is so peaceful that you continue feeling more relaxed than ever before in your entire life ...
As you continue enjoying this peaceful, pleasant experience, a soothing drowsiness is coming over your whole body, from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet ...
You continue feeling calmer, more relaxed and more secure ...
And now, as you lie there with your eyes closed, you are so relaxed and comfortable and happy that you continue moving into a more peaceful, more detached state ...
It may seem like you are drifting into a state of sleep ...
There may be times when it seems like my voice is a long distance away ... and there may be times, when I'm talking to you, that you will not be consciously aware of my voice, and that's okay, because your subconscious mind is still receiving every word I say, and is making true everything I tell you ...
From now on you will be influenced only by positive thoughts, ideas and feelings ...
The following thoughts come to you ... I am calm, secure, and relaxed ... I am comfortable and at ease ... I am in control of myself at all times ... I am responsible for my body, and will always treat my body well ... my mind enables me to be relaxed and calm as I go about the activities of my daily life ...
(Note: The following paragraphs can be used for therapy)
Your subconscious mind, and all levels of your inner mind can now review and examine what has caused that problem, and can assess that information and work out a solution that is pleasing to you ...
And you will be pleased to notice yourself improving more each day, and you can be sure it is permanent and lasting ...
When your inner mind understands what has caused that problem and realizes that it is okay for you to get rid of that problem, one of the fingers on your right hand will lift up towards the ceiling and will remain up until I tell it to go back down.
(Note: as the subjects mind is reviewing the information and you are waiting for finger to lift, give suggestions from an appropriate prescription pertaining to the problem)
Hand to Face Method
Instructions to hypnotist
Tell subject to get as comfortable as possible with their arms resting on the arms of the chair. Show subject how you would like them to hold their hand in front of their face. Palm of their hand facing in towards their face, with fingers pointing upward pressed lightly together. Hand should be about eye level. Have subject close their eyes and begin with progressive relaxation and then proceed with the Hand To Face induction.
Spoken to subject
In just a moment, when I ask you to, I am going to have you bring one of your hands up in front of your face, fingers extended upwards and pressed together. I am then going to have you try to open your eyes, and pick a spot on your hand. It may seem difficult to open the eyes, and keep them open, which is only natural since you have been relaxing so far. I am going to want you to try, and open your eyes, and with a little effort you will at least be able to get them open.
Now, the one thing that you must accomplish is that I want you to remain totally relaxed, and at ease even with your eyes open, and your hand in this position.
Remaining relaxed, and at ease, move your hand up in front of your face with the fingers pointed upward, and pressed together.
Now, attempt to open your eyes, and pick one spot on your hand, and begin to concentrate on it.
As you concentrate on that one spot, and one spot only, your fingers are going to spread apart.
You do not have to make them spread, but do not try and stop them ... concentrate, and allow things to take place.
Feel them spreading apart now. Automatically separating now ... It is beginning to feel as though there was a string tied to each finger pulling them apart. Separating further, and further.
(Once the fingers have separated, proceed in the following way)
Now, please do not let it disturb you that the drowsy, heavy feeling in your eyes is becoming stronger now that your fingers have spread apart.
It is a very normal, natural sensation. As I begin to count from 5 down to 1 that heavy, drowsy feeling will continue to grow stronger.
(Continue with deepening technique)
Interventions
Here are a few of the more common interventions used today. See the Bibliography for information on other books that focus solely on scripts.
Anger / Temper

See yourself in a situation where you might have lost your temper in the past. This time see yourself in control You no longer respond with anger. You respond with understanding and are calm. You no longer fee a need to retaliate.
You can now allow people to be themselves and allow them their own priorities. You no longer get angry because they do not agree with you. The only value someone else's opinion has, is the value you give it. You no longer get angry because their opinion is different from yours. You are in control of your own emotions and reacting with anger is negative. You are now choosing to be positive. You will never again react with uncontrolled anger.
Instead of becoming angry, you can now see their view. You now react with understanding and care and are calm. You react with positive thoughts and emotions.
(Find what triggers anger most and have client visualize a similar situation while maintaining a calmness.)
Insomnia
Visualize that you are a sponge being wrung of stress, down and out your toes. Take 3 deep breaths and "sleep now". Hear my voice only until your relaxation therapy is complete, then you will go into a deep easy natural sleep.
Because you want to get a full nights sleep, and because you want to awaken in the morning feeling completely refreshed, rested and full of pep and energy, each night as you retire you relax every muscle in your body by taking 3 deep breaths. After each breath you say to yourself sleep now. An let every muscle and nerve go loose and limp. After the third breath you are so completely relaxed you immediately drift off into a deep and restful slumber which remains unbroken until morning. Only an emergency awakens you and if this happens you return to bed after attending it and go to sleep within 60 seconds. It is easy for you to relax and go to sleep because you expect to sleep. Throughout your sleep, you are contented and pleasantly relaxed.
You always relax completely upon taking 3 deep breaths and at bedtime you always go to sleep as you relax. You sleep soundly and comfortably and without effort. Throughout your sleep you feel calm, contented and relaxed and you carry this calm, contented sense of relaxation over into you waking hours. You always awaken at your usual rising time and feel wonderful! Completely relaxed, rested, alert and cheerful! Your eyes open, you sit up and put your feet on the floor immediately, you stretch, and you feel good. Really ready for another wonderful day. You thoroughly enjoy your deep restful sleep and at bedtime you just take 3 deep breaths and think "sleep now" after each breath, and you go to sleep automatically. All of these thoughts come to you when you relax and say "sleep now".
I am now going to bring you through the colors of the rainbow. The colors are red/orange, yellow/green, blue, purple/lavender, and white. As I go through the colors you will go deeper and deeper into natural sleep. On the color white you will easily and gently reach over and turn off the machine that is playing this tape. After you turn off the machine, you will go into a very deep and very relaxed state of natural, normal sleep.
Red/orange ... slowly, calmly, easily and gently going into deep, normal sleep.
Yellow/green ... every nerve and muscle in your body is loose and limp and relaxed, as you go deeper and deeper into natural sleep.
Blue ... from head to toe you feel good, you feel perfect in every way, you go deeper and deeper into natural sleep.
Purple/lavender ... your mind and your body are now going into a very deep and healthful slumber. You feel good, and at the next color, you gently and easily, without disturbing your restful slumber, reach over and turn off your machine, then you go into deep restful and natural sleep for the entire night.
White ... easily and gently now reach over and turn off your machine that is playing this tape. Sleep now. Sleep now. Sleep now.
Alcohol

You are relaxed now, and because you are so relaxed you begin to feel free from all tensions, anxiety and fear. You now realize that you are more confident and sure of yourself because you have taken the enormous first step toward helping yourself.
You begin to feel this strength from within, motivating you to overcome any and every obstacle that may stand in the way of your happiness, social life and home life.
You will find that from this moment on you are developing more self control. You will now face every situation in a calm, relaxed state of mind. Your thinking is very clear and sharp at all times.
You begin to feel that your self respect and confidence are expanding more and more each and every day in every way. You now realize that in the past drinking was an escape and weakness that you are replacing with confidence, strength and self control. You are becoming a happy person now, with a positive attitude toward life. You are succeeding now, and you have all the abilities for success.
Bust Development

As a child your breast tissues and glands were not developed. During puberty your breast tissues started to develop. Your breast tissues stopped developing before they reached the size that you desire.
Recreate the situation and circumstances just before your breasts stopped developing. Now stimulate the hormones in your body to develop the breast tissue.
Visualize yourself how you want your breasts to look in your clothes.
Now increase the blood flow to your bust area, stimulating your breast tissue to develop into the size of bust you desire, appearing the way you want to look in your clothes.
Now visualize the pectoral muscles and the muscles around your breast area developing to hold your bust firmly to prevent sagging.
Constipation

Go deeper and deeper to sleep. Deeper and deeper to sleep. You know that your whole gastro-intestinal system is simply a muscular tube which is coiled round and round inside your body. Various parts of this tube have various purposes, just like the specialized departments in a factory. The mouth is the receiving department where goods are accepted and unpacked. The throat and esophagus are the conveyer system. The stomach is a processing room in which the materials are prepared for use, and so on throughout the whole system. And finally we have the useful products which go into the body itself, and the waste products which we must eliminate.
This whole factory has a continuous conveyer system. The tubes which make up this conveyer system are composed of rings of muscles. These muscles in their contractions and relaxation push the material along through the factory just like the assembly line chain in an automobile factory. When we start the relaxation at the throat, that is automatically followed by the natural rhythmic alternate relaxation and contraction of the muscle. These contractions occur in waves always traveling from the receiving room down toward the waste disposal departments.
The wave of relaxation which we started a few minutes ago in the mouth and throat, is now moving down through the stomach towards the duodenum. Following the wave of relaxation comes the peristaltic waves - alternate relaxation and contraction of the muscles down through the stomach, the duodenum and into the intestine. Your whole intestinal tract is becoming relaxed and soon these waves will reach through the colon to the rectum. The colon is a kind of storage bin, just like a waste basket. We don't run to empty a waste basket every time we get something in it. We do empty it when it gets full. That is the way your body functions too. These peristaltic waves carry the waste material through the colon and into the rectum where it is stored. As soon as it becomes full, an automatic signal is sent out, and you realize you are about to have a bowel movement. As soon as you have that feeling, you go to the toilet. When you sit down on the toilet, the contact of your body with the toilet seat automatically sends a signal to the round muscle which keeps the valve closed the rest of the time. This round muscle we call the sphincter. The waste valve we call the anus.
When you sit down on the toilet, the sphincter muscle relaxes. It becomes soft and flexible and stretches easily. And these waves of muscular contraction in the colon and rectum force the material out. These waves are working on down through your intestines now. And soon after you leave here you will feel the urge to have a bowel movement. When you feel this urge, go to the toilet, sit down and wait. Make no effort. Your body will take care of that part automatically and without effort. Make absolutely no effort. Your body can dispose of its waste material perfectly, if you do not interfere. Make no effort at all. Simply sit on the toilet and wait. The act of sitting on the toilet will be a signal to your unconscious mind. The sphincter muscle will relax. The rectum will empty itself easily and automatically.
Every time you eat, your jaws automatically tense and relax. Eating is an automatic signal which starts the entire process in motion. You eat. Your throat swallows the food, alternately relaxing and contracting. The wavelike action proceeds all through your stomach, duodenum and intestines. Soon after eating, you feel the urge to go to the toilet. When you feel the urge, you go. The act of sitting on the toilet is automatically a signal to the sphincter muscle. It relaxes. The whole muscle relaxes. There is no effort on your part. The whole process is automatic. When you eat, the relaxation starts. Soon after eating, you experience the urge to go to the toilet. You go to the toilet. You go to the toilet immediately when you feel the urge. When you sit on the toilet, that is automatically a signal for the anus to relax and become soft and flexible. Then the colon automatically empties itself. There is nothing for you to do consciously but go to the toilet when you feel the urge. All the rest happens automatically and naturally.
Shortly after you awaken, you are going to have the urge to go to the toilet. When you have that urge, go. And you will have an easy, natural bowel movement. Every time you eat, it is automatically the start of the process that will bring about an easy, natural bowel movement. When you have the urge to go to the toilet, go immediately. Your body will take care of the rest. You are going to have a bowel movement shortly after you awaken, and you will have another one after your next meal.
Depression: That Was Yesterday

As you continue to drift and float, all other sounds fade away into the distance. You pay attention only to the sound of my voice. I want three points about depression to become firmly established in your mind. For that is what we are going to discuss, and each point about depression is the absolute truth to you. Now the first point is, that you have a right to be here. You are as good as anyone. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees or the stars. You have a right to be here, and whether or not it is clear to you, the universe is unfolding the way it should be. Therefore, you can accept that there is a universal plan, greater than any man, greater than any one of us, and so, you can be at peace with yourself. You can be at peace with yourself if you want to be ... and that comes to the second point.
For in that plan that affects everyone in this universe, outside of natural disasters, all depression is subconsciously self-inflicted. That is the second point. All depression is subconsciously self-inflicted. Now, each emotion of the mind is reflected in the electro-chemical balance of the brain. Prolonged feelings of depression can cause chemical imbalance that, most times, corrects itself. With my clinical experience, I can usually tell who will respond successfully if I place them on medication right away, and who can respond successfully without it. In either case, you will be successful in conquering depression. When you do feel well again, you may do so for only a matter of minutes or hours, and then depression may return, and it may be another several days or even weeks before you again feel well. There may be a half dozen of such ups and downs before the symptoms are gone for good.
Now the third point has to do with time and the absolute necessity to live, not just in the present, but the moment of here and now. The third absolute truth has to do with the necessity to live each moment of the here and now. For example, yesterday you were depressed but today is a new day. Every day is a fresh beginning. Every day is a fresh beginning, and every morning is a world made new. Today is our most important day. Yesterday is gone. We cannot live in the past, else we cannot go forward, because living in the past dulls the keen edge of our imagination. The past, even yesterday, can be of value only as we glean lessons and profits from our experiences. For as Longfellow wrote, "Nor deem the irrevocable past as wholly wasted, as wholly vain, if rising on its wrecks, at last, to something nobler we attain." Have you ever felt circumstances crowding in upon you because of failure and disappointment and depression and said, "If I can only get a break, an opportunity to start all over again?" Well, then, remember what Walter Mallone wrote about opportunity - "They do me wrong who say I come no more, when once I knock and fail to find you in, for every day, I stand outside your door and bid you wake and rise, to fight again. Though deep in mire, ring not your hands and weep. I lend my aid to those who say, 'I can'. No shame-faced outcast ever sank so deep, but yet, might rise again and be a man." Yesterday, the sun sank behind the horizon at the close of the day. The sky was overcast, no stars appeared within the firmament, and you were downcast, depressed, because the day had brought only frustration. Today, you awaken with the sunlight pouring in through the window, a new day is at hand, a new opportunity to build upon the lessons learned from yesterday's failures. Now, each of us is here to accomplish something, some particular phase of the universal plan that is greater than man, greater than each and every one of us. This universal plan or life force goes on whether we like it or not. When we face life as a whole, and try to realize that every experience is leading us towards fulfillment of that plan, when we take each day and endeavor to make the most of it, then, things come out alright. Someone has said we must listen for life to happen, listen expectantly. Now, you have not been listening expectantly. You really have not been listening at all. You have been concentrating on your problems and as long as you concentrate on a problem, then you have a problem, because you are what you concentrate your mind upon.
You are what you are greatly concerned with. Now, when you let go of that concern, when you let go of that problem, by changing your thinking, when you say, "To heck with the problem!" then you begin to see the solution to your problem, because your mind is free, and therefore, when your mind is free, you can utilize it to be effective to make it work. You must say from now on, "I let go of my depression. I develop and maintain a happy disposition each day. Each day I reject the negative and see the positive in all things." Because the only reason that you have been staying depressed is that you have not learned yet how to deal with your negative thoughts, to allow in the positive thoughts of truth and love and hope. Every day is a challenge, a new opportunity to prove yourself in reality, to be a believer in truth, and love and hope, that you do not need to feel helpless and hopeless, that you can separate off and distinguish the vast difference between those events in your life and your reaction to them, for they are vastly different. They are not the same at all and you must separate off from those events in your life and your reaction to them. The problem is not whether you need a new job, whether your wife or your husband has gone or left, or that someone else did right or wrong, or that you did right or wrong, or the terrible things that occurred in your life. It is not any of those things at all. It is your reaction to them. It is the sentences you say in your head, such as, "Oh, my husband is gone! I cannot live without him!" Or, "I've got a terrible pain in my back! I'll never live a normal life again!"
That is really the problem for when you give yourself those negative thoughts, then you are bound to feel depressed so you have to learn how to turn those sentences around, turn them around completely: "OK, so I made a mistake, but I won't again" Or, "OK, so my wife died and I miss her but I can start over with a new life." Whatever it is that you say to yourself about those past things makes you depressed because you have not learned to turn them around and when you are depressed, when you are in this frame of mind, you are dead! That is death! Remember Lot's wife was told, "Don't look back for you will turn into a pillar of salt!" But, she just had to look back. Now, you must not look back. You are through looking back. You can only live the very moment you are living, and you can live that to the fullest, and enjoy it by the proper thinking. Hasn't there ever been a desire, an urge, to accomplish something you never attained? Think about that. Take each day as it comes, and enjoy the sunshine, the song of the birds, the laughter of the children. See all those positive things.
Let each day crowd out yesterday's sorrows completely. Remember that "he that climbs the ladder must begin at the first rung" - Robert Scott said that. The Chinese say, "A thousand miles journey begins with one step." As we seek higher and wider vision, each new day becomes the next rung upwards, a new opportunity to rise above yesterday's sorrows, frustrations, depressions and failures, to a world made new, so that the Oriental poet urges us: "Look well, therefore, to this day." Look well, to this day.
Now, in your mind's eye, I want you to visualize a sign, a sign, hanging right in front of you, and that sign has three words on it, and the words are: That was yesterday. That was yesterday, when things didn't go right. That was yesterday, when you failed to turn your negative thoughts around. That was yesterday when you gave up hope. That was yesterday, when you didn't decide to start over, like you should have, and that was yesterday, when you were only thinking of yourself, instead of the happiness of others, and what you could do for them. That was yesterday, when you made a mistake. That was yesterday, when you know you said the wrong thing. That was yesterday, when you know you did the wrong thing. That was yesterday. That was yesterday, when you hated yourself, but every day is a fresh beginning, and every morning is a world made new, and the past is not wholly wasted. It is not in vain, rising on its wrecks at last, there is something nobler you will attain. By replacing negative thoughts with positive thoughts, every new moment is a new opportunity, and as you accept this truth, you feel the warmth of truth and love and hope course through your heart, you relax completely, confident that there IS a plan for you, and that, even though you can't understand, you must go through these learning experiences that you are going through, in order to satisfy that plan. You are, nevertheless, perfectly willing to go through whatever experiences you need to go through, so that you can allow yourself to be the master of your own fate, to be in control of your own feelings, for this dawn of a new day only comes after the night. You cannot have a mountain without valleys, otherwise, everything is all a plateau.
The brightness of the sun would mean nothing, except by comparison to the darkness of the night. It's only by contrast that we can understand life, and so, instead of reacting adversely to the problems and frustrations of yesterday, you hang on them that sign. That sign that says, That was yesterday - you see the sign in your mind's eye. You lift those problems from your shoulders and hang them upon that sign and leave them there, because, as a result of the faithful practice of your self-hypnosis, and the learning to control your thinking in a positive way, every day, as a fresh beginning, and every morning is the world made new, and this is a new day for you, and a new morning - a day without depression, a day without frustration, a day without failure, a day in which you are more effective in every single area of your life, than you have ever been before, and why? Because you have let go of your problems. You have stopped letting them handle you. You are handling it, by turning those negative thoughts around, because it is not the events of your life that are affecting you. It is your reaction to them, and you are through letting negative thoughts create negative reactions to the experiences of your life, which depress you and run you ragged, run your every moment, every moment of your life. You are going to learn to relax comfortably, in the knowledge that you can and will do your part and will continue to do your part.
Pain Control

Pain is a warning device from you body. You do not need to be warned about your (specific pain problem) any more. You know the problem is there and you are correcting it.
If you need to know about a change, if you need to be warned, you will feel a tingling in the area instead. You will then see that any new problem is taken care of.
You no longer feel any pain connected with (specific pain problem) but this in no way alters your warning pain signals for any other reason.
I want you now to concentrate a healing light in the area where you desire the pain to go away and stay away. Set up rapid and instantaneous healing with the healing light. Feel all tension leaving the area. All pain is completely gone from the area. Feeling soothed, relaxed and painless. As though the entire area has been anesthetized without taking away any motor response what-so-ever. You have complete muscle and motor response but the area has no pain.
Do no call back the pain. You do not need it. You do not want it. It no longer belongs to you.
Self Confidence I

You are relaxed now, and because you are so relaxed you begin to feel free from all tension, anxiety, and fear. You now realize that you are more confident and sure of yourself because you have taken the enormous first step to helping yourself.
You begin to feel this strength from within, motivating you to overcome any and every obstacle that may stand in the way of your happiness, social life and home life. You will find that from this moment on you are developing more self control. You will now face every situation in a calm and relaxed state of mind. Your thinking is very clear and sharp at all times
You begin to feel that your self respect and confidence are expanding more and more each day in every way. You now realize that in the past you felt helpless and overwhelmed and you are replacing that with confidence, strength and self control. You are becoming a happy person now with a positive attitude towards life. You are succeeding now in all that you do and you have all the abilities necessary for success.
(Explain value judging and resisting.) Realize that unhappy relationships are caused by value judging and resisting yourself and others. Love is a natural state of being and you are naturally in a state of loving when you accept yourself and others totally and unconditionally. Realize that you do not have to approve of anyone's actions, behavior or appearance in order to willingly accept and love them. Our actions are but the means we choose to satisfy our dominant needs to feel good. You feel warm and loving towards yourself and others, despite any undesired actions, behavior or appearance.
Weight Reduction Script

This script may be recorded for a subjects use at night. It may be very helpful to have the subject engage in visualization as well.
I desire to become strong and slender.
I am dissatisfied with my weight as it now stands.
I want to become more slender. Because I want to become more slender, my appetite is now easily satisfied with a much smaller quantity of food that I have become accustomed to eating,
I know that my body needs protein for strength, so I enjoy eating a small quantity of lean meat.
I enjoy a single slice of dark, coarse bread.
I enjoy eating green, leafy vegetables.
I enjoy eating all the body building foods which give me strength and a proper balance of minerals and vitamins.
My body already has in storage an abundance of fat.
My body has no need for additional fat.
My body is now ready to use this fat that I have stored up.
As this fat is used, I feel the way I want to feel; strong, energetic and vigorous.
Because my body has no need for fat now, I have no appetite for fats, sweets and starches.
I dislike the fat in meat, I have no desire for butter or cream.
I dislike ice cream, I dislike candy and pie, I have no desire for cake.
I do not like potatoes or white bread.
My dislike for these foods is becoming so great that soon it is impossible for me to eat them.
My body has no need for these foods right now.
My tastes correspond to the real needs of my body.
Food substances that are not needed are actually unpleasant to me.
I am now finding a new pleasure in eating the foods that my body needs.
I eat slowly.
I take small bites,
I relish each bite as I chew it.
I am now taking time to actually taste the flavor of the foods that I eat.
I am rediscovering the subtle and enjoyable differences between foods.
I enjoy the taste of the lean meat, and a very small quantity makes me feel full and satisfied.
I enjoy the taste of the leafy vegetables.
I enjoy the taste of cheese.
I enjoy the taste of skim milk which brings so many valuable minerals.
I enjoy the taste of fresh fruits.
I enjoy the taste of green vegetables.
I enjoy all of these so much, that a very small quantity of them makes me feel as though I've eaten a Thanksgiving dinner.
I am completely satisfied with the quantity of food that contains about (specific count) calories.
I now weight (Specify current weight) pounds.
I wish to weight (Desired ending weight) because at that weight I will feel very much better and be much more attractive.
I am going to consume the excess fat from my body at a rate of (Specific lb. value 2 - 5) pounds per week.
In ten weeks I am going to weight (10 weeks times lb. per week) pound s less.
In ten weeks I am going to weight (Starting weight - 10 week loss) pounds.
Each week I consume (Specific lb. value 2 - 5) pounds of fatty tissue; I do this because I want to be more attractive.
I do this because I want to feel stronger and more vigorous.
I do this because I want to be healthy.
I do this because I want to be well.
I desire to be strong, vigorous and healthy. That desire is so great that it easily and unconsciously controls my appetite; and I automatically eat only the foods that my body needs in the quantities that my body requires.
Once the weight loss has started, the following suggestions can be added to the script.
I am now eating the foods that my body needs.
I am eating only the food that my body needs.
I am eating only 1000 calories a day, and I am enjoying every single byte that I take.
In my daily activities I am consuming the reserves of fat that have been stored in my body.
This fat is being consumed from my entire body, but it is coming especially from my abdomen and my hips.
My hips are becoming smaller as the fat is consumed.
My stomach is becoming flatter as the fat is consumed.
Already I am feeling stronger and more healthier.
Already, I am looking much more attractive.
My hips are becoming smaller.
My stomach is becoming flatter.
Soon my figure will be more suited to my height and my bone structure
More scripts are available on the web.

Appendix IV: Bibliography - Other Books and Products
Books
Hypnosis
• Hypnosis: A Comprehensive Guide by Tad James
• Hypnotherapy and Hypnosis by Calvin S. Banyan, Gerald F. Kein, Calvin D. Banyan
• The New Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnosis by Ormond McGill
• The Wizard Within: The Krazner Method of Hypnotherapy by A. M. Krazner
• Tranceworks by Michael D. Yapko
• Handbook of Hypnotic Suggestions and Metaphors by Corydon Hammond, et al
• Fun with Hypnosis: The Complete How-To Guide by Professor Svengali
• Training Trances by John Overdurf, Julie Silverthorn, Tad James
• Trance-Formations by Richard Bandler and John Grinder
Self-Hypnosis
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Hypnosis by Roberta Temes
• Hypnosis for Change by Josie Hadley, Carol Staudacher
Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)
• The Magic of NLP Demystified: A Pragmatic Guide to Communication and Change by Byron A. Lewis, et al
• Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Volume I by Robert Dilts, John Grinder, Richard Bandler, and Judith DeLozier
• Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson Volume I by Richard Bandler and John Grinder
• Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson Volume II by Richard Bandler and John Grinder
• The Structure of Magic Volume I by Richard Bandler and John Grinder
• The Structure of Magic Volume II by Richard Bandler and John Grinder
• The Sourcebook of Magic by L. Michael Hall
• Modeling with NLP by Robert Dilts
• Changing Belief Systems by Robert Dilts
• Timeline Therapy and the Basis of Personality by Tad James
• Using your Brain… For a Change by Richard Bandler, et al
• Heart of the Mind by Richard Bandler, et al
• Reframing by Richard Bandler and John Grinder
• Therapeutic Metaphors by David A. Gordon
• Frogs into Princes by Richard Bandler and John Grinder
• Personality Selling: Using NLP and the Enneagram to Understand People and How They Are Influenced by Albert J. Valentino
• Instant Rapport by Michael Brooks
Motivational
• My Voice will Go With You: The Motivational Tales of Milton H. Erickson
• Chicken Soup for the Soul and other related titles by Jack Canfield
Music for Hypnosis
• Hypnotic TranceScapes Volume I – Mystical Forest Specially designed by the Author of Learn Hypnosis… Now!
• Across an Ocean of Dreams by 2002
• Wrapped in Stillness by Various Artists
• Native Trance and Wind Trance by Christopher Wayne Morrison



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