General  »   Induction help please!

Please read the scenario and give me your feedback. sorry for it being lengthy but i feel its necessary to give as much info as possible.

So last night was my first attempt to hypnotize someone. The subject was one of my best friends from college. I picked him as my first subject because he sleep walks an last time he was sleep walking I asked him if he wanted to be hypnotized and he nodded and said "Yea." So I figured he would be a little more suseptable then the average person. So anyway I played some alpha binaural beats in the backgrounds and had him sit on my couch and relax. I guided him through relaxation which worked really well. he kept on smiling and opening his eyes and telling me that it felt awsome like he was becoming wieghtless and heavy at the same time. I kept on speaking to him and guiding him through relaxation using common analogies like the staircase and the waves of relaxation which seemed to work very well. This built my confidence greatly. But to get to the point when I went to do my induction it failed. I did the "butterfly fingers" with the arm tug shock rapid induction. Then I tried again after relaxing him again with the 8 word which also did not work. I have some theorys why it didn't work.

1) he was reclined in the couch so I feel like his body naturally wanted to lean back and I was tugging him forward which would cause him to naturally resist relaxation and letting go by dropping forward into hypnotism like most subjects.

2)He was really anxious before we began because he was so exited to go into hypnotism. (He Really really wants to be hypnotized). This anxiousness caused him to always come out of relaxation and say how great he felt.

3) when I was going through the relaxation process I ran out of things to say so I just let him listen to the relaxing alpha binaurals that I had going. He later commented saying that when I stopped talking he came out of the deep relaxation a bit becuase he starting thinking about random things instead of having full attention on my voice.

Overall I think the whole experience was a small success because he felt legit deep relaxation and he said it was one of the best feelings he has felt. which I think caused him to get more anxious and excited and also why he kept coming out of relaxation to tell me how awesome it was. so please give me feedback about things that you might have done differently or promblems that I haven't identified.

Cheers,
Stevsie

So let me get this straight, you did a progressive and it worked but when you tried an instant, it didn't?
Well, uh.. When you do a progressive then I would recommend telling him to keep his eyes closed and "let his thoughts float around". You don't need to use the exact wording, just keep the meaning in mind.

An instant induction, try again once you have more confidence and remember, it doesn't really matter what you do as long as you guide your subject through it.

Cheers,
Theo

I tried the butterfly technique and the hand drop. the butterfly he said he felt a sensation throughout his body when I did it. The progressive relaxation didn't put him into a trance I just used it to get him to relax and ease the anxiouness he had. Ill be trying a again soon. thanks for the input.

Binural beats is not as certain of a science as it is made out to be, Chris, and there is no clear evidence for hypnosis being linked to any particular neurological state. Indeed, many hypnotists say that there is no such thing as hypnosis, because of this lack of neurological evidence.

As to inductions, there is a ton of information on the site here, both in this forum and in the lessons. If you haven't checked all of that out yet, it is your best bet, and you will likely find that most of your concerns are answered. The biggest thing I can tell you, though, is that whatever response the subject shows, realize that it can easily be used in creating trance. If you remain calm, a subject who looks up at you when you are expecting them to drop down is exhibiting a response that still comes from the unconscious mind, and recognizing this, you can learn to utilize this just as readily as you would your expected response. It is a matter of being certain that this response is still just fine, and reassuring your subject. The subject does not always know what to expect, so when they respond, if you accept that as a natural and normal part of the process, instead of being thrown, you will rapidly discover that the hypnotic experience of the subject is rarely compromised so long as you stay on track throughout the process,

Will