Over the last week or two, I've had several clients who had difficulty initially going into hypnosis. Most often, I've found this to be with a first time client who doesn't quite know what to expect. The person often wants to make the process work so badly that the conscious mind pitches in to help. The person 'tries and tries' but gets nowhere. That's because the part of the mind that 'tries' is the conscious mind, not the subconscious. To quote Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back, 'There is no try, only do.'
During my pretalk with new clients, I talk about the expectations - what will you most likely experience during hypnosis, how will you know when you are in hypnosis, etc. I explain what hypnosis is and what hypnosis is-not. Specifically, hypnosis is NOT a form of magic. It is also not sleep. While in a hypnotic state, you will probably feel just about like you feel in everyday life. Some may experience a sensation similar to a daydream, or to reading a book. Whenever you experience the sensation of 'time-flies when you're having fun' you have experienced hypnosis.
Another analogy I use is the experience of reading a good novel. When you're really got into that story, perhaps you experienced that same time-flies feeling. Maybe you found yourself identifying with the hero, or maybe some other character in the story. Most of all, you found you were able to build a picture in your mind of the world the author described. For the moment, that is a temporary reality, suspension of disbelief just long enough to accept this temporary world. This, too, is hypnosis.
Technically, hypnosis is merely that bypass of the critical/skeptical factor - that disbelief factor that does a good job of protecting the subconscious mind. It provides our innate discernment against falsehood in our world. It does its job well - often too well and in some cases, the story is one of the few ways to get that suspension of disbelief. While only a short-term reality, the lessons contained within a story are ways in which the subconscious mind can be influenced - or, in other words, one way of bringing about a hypnotic trance.
With first-time clients, after having completed the initial pre-hypnotic interview, and then explaining about hypnosis, I spend the last half of the first session guiding the client into the initial trance experience. Usually this is a combination of a gentle but formal induction, guided imagery, NLP and direct suggestion. It is a time when the client can feel what it's like to move around in trance and it's a time to visit positive memories, empowering events, etc.
Yet sometimes - usually with new clients - I find the traditional hypnotic induction doesn't work as well. Often, even after an extensive hypnotic pre-talk, the person still doesn't know what hypnosis should feel like. At that point, the conscious mind can sometimes step in and make up its own expectations - often wrong. So how do we establish that initial trance state when the client isn't yet ready to go in using a formal abduction. This is when we can fall back on the world's oldest hypnotic induction - the story.
The story (or naturalistic) induction can weave a deep, captivating hypnotic trance state even as the client is carrying on a casual conversation in my office. So for the client who 'can't get there' or 'doesn't feel anything' I sometimes say 'screw the hypnosis. Just tell me a story about when felt..." As the client relates an account of whatever event is most in their mind, they invariably begin to experience hypnotic regression - they are in deep trance in a moment, without doing any kind of formal hypnotic induction.
So in several cases, as formal inductions didn't work the first time, I simply asked the client to "tell me a story about..." Before you know it, the client has slipped into that daydream state, or deeper. It's always a joy (and alot humbling) to see everyone so soon afterwards, just as if I had done a formal induction and soon client is in deep trance.
So, when a ritualized formal induction breaks down, it is critical to be able to haul out your narrative skills. It is a wonderful gift to speak with the inner-child elements within a person. And in this case, we can bring hypnosis to a client, bringing out these skills simply by asking the client to "Tell me a story..."
