Graham Old - The Hypnotic Handshakes

Graham Old’s Induction Components:

1. Gain Consent / Get Contract
2. Create expectancy
3. Absorb attention/awareness
4. Engage the imagination
5. Arouse emotions/feelings

A handshake in itself gets some degree of consent, the interruption creates expectancy, the eye focus on their hand absorbs their attention, and your suggestions engage their imagination. Interrupting the handshake will arouse emotions, and your verbal suggestions will arouse emotions as well.

The Floating Hand Variations

1. Interrupt the handshake by grabbing their wrist with your other hand.
2. Instruct them to look at their palm as you present their own palm to them.
   1. Suggest the palm moving towards them.
   2. If you notice it moving, great. If not, imperceptibly begin to tilt the hand towards them.
   3. Utilize with positive reinforcement, pace and lead the hand moving closer to closing the eyes
   4. If the eyes do not close automatically, suggest a deep breath, and when they exhale their eyes will just close, until you just allow it to happen…
3. Suggest the arm becoming heavier and dropping down as they drop into relaxation/heaviness/trance
4. Deepen by lifting the other wrist, suggesting it is heavy

Or more simply:

1. Look at your hand
2. As that hand moves towards your own face
   1. (With or without assistance)
3. Your eyes will begin to change focus
4. And when you begin to become aware of your eyes
   1. (wave hand down in front of eyes)
5. Close your eyes…
6. And sleep… If you shift their hand manually, use only your forefinger, and try to only move it a few millimeters, as if it’s moving behind the hand. Shifting the gravity should be enough to utilize the bend in the arm.

The Falling Hand

Hand Redirection Exercise

…Stand up and allow your hand to swing at your side a couple of times… the hand will likely swing in front of you so much that the back of your hand almost touches your forehead.

Repeat this one more time. However, just as your hand is swinging in front of your face, use your other hand to apply the slightest touch to the back of the swinging hand, in line with the little finger. You will likely find your hand twisting and end up with your palm in front of your face.

… the handshake does not need to be interrupted at the usual point… you can allow the hands to meet after they have dropped slightly, and when they are rising up again… you can… take hold of the hand… you respect the energy that your partner is putting into the upward handshake and simply redirect it.

Old, Graham. The Hypnotic Handshakes: Mastering The Handshake Inductions of Bandler, Elman and Erickson (The Inductions Masterclass Book 4) (p. 35). Plastic Spoon. Kindle Edition.

The point of this table is to highlight the flexibility of this induction - utilize what feels right.

Post Interrupt Hand Position	Hand Weight	Variation
Above head	Light	Falling hand, frozen hand
Level with eyes/nose	Light	Floating hand to face, frozen hand
Below nose	Light	Frozen hand
Above head	Heavy	Falling hand
Level with eyes/nose	Heavy	Falling hand deepener Hold their arm up, under the elbow, focused hand
Below nose	Heavy	Falling hand deepener Hold their arm up, until they take over, focused hand
If you have plenty of Expectation and you’re showing up, try the fast-hand variation.

What the fuck are all these floating hand variations!

The Floating Hand: Their hand floats up to or towards their face [Think of this as the magnetic forehead!]

The Falling Hand: Their hand falls down to their face (or sometimes their side) [Think of this as the gravity variation!]

The Frozen Hand: Their hand remains cataleptic, in front of their face, where you placed it after the handshake. Usually followed-up with a falling deepener [This is the cataleptic Bandler original]

The Focused Hand: No handshake is used. You simply ask your partner to look at their hand. This can result in either of the three outcomes above [This is Jonathan Chase’s “Shapes” version]

The Fast Hand: This is the Derren Brown rapid variation [Think of this as the flashy or face-palm version!].

The Frozen Hand

Dead easy. Put the hand in front of their face, and instruct them to look at ‘that spot on your hand.’ Pace the changing focus of their eyes. Tell them “they can close now.” Allow yourself to (suggestions of focus/peace/calm.) (Let go of the hand when you’re confident it’ll stay up on its own.) Make a tacit contract that as the hand comes down to rest, they can come down to rest as well.

The Focused Hand

Witch-doctor if they’re right or left-handed. Ask for permission to borrow the hand. Instead of asking them to focus on a spot, ask them to focus on a shape in the hand. Ask them what the shape is. Tell them to go into the shape, right into it. As you see ETI’s, just have them go into that shape and start to pace and lead.

The Fast Hand

(On this variation, you’ll need a bunch of expectation to do this.)

Interrupt the handshake, put their hand in front of their eyes. “Look at your hand, let your eyes close.” Move the hand until it’s an inch or two in front of their face. Have your other hand ready to go at the back of their head. Lightly and purposefully tap their head with “Sleep!” Suggest depth.

Pattern Interrupts

Instead of considering these as jarring interruptions, perhaps bucket these as times of ‘expectant waiting,’ as if you were the more experienced player and a game and did something that appeared to be outside of the rules, causing attention and focus.

Graham Old suggests thinking of this like akido - where you take your sparring partner’s weight and use it to your advantage. Avoid clashing with your partner’s intentions.

…a pattern-interrupt is simply a convoluted way of saying ‘act in an unexpected manner, causing someone to look to you for an explanation.‘

Story/Metaphor Structures

This is surprising, but this is actually covered better by MMHA courses. Nest a few stories, and in the middle in there, deliver your direct suggestion, then close your loops.

1. Story 1
   1. Begin story 2
      1. Begin story 3
         1. Provide direct suggestion
      2. Close story 3
   2. Close story 2
2. Close story 1

You can use pattern interrupts to create anticipation. Such as - when a client starts to sit down in a chair, and you interrupt them right before sitting down and saying “oh, not that chair, that’s for when you go into hypnosis later. Please, take (n chair.)… Let’s decide how we’re going to work together first.”

“I should just let you know that one successful client once described my style of therapy as being ‘playfully provocative.’ So, if at any point, you think I’m being rude or idiotic, just presume it’s all part of the therapy and we’ll get along just fine!”

Old, Graham. The Hypnotic Handshakes: Mastering The Handshake Inductions of Bandler, Elman and Erickson (The Inductions Masterclass Book 4) (p. 65). Plastic Spoon. Kindle Edition.

A client said one time that it was ‘silly’ that they only smoked 10 a day. As they continued talking, Graham marked the world silly quite obviously by using it in conversation, occasionally chuckling after using it.

When she finally objected with “It’s not silly! It could kill…” He slammed his hard on the desk and said “You’re absolutely right! Sit in the other chair and let’s stop this.”

The Elman Handshake

Deliver suggestions in Elman’s style on what they’ll do on each hand-shake.

1. Allowing yourself to relax… what it feels like to let go… want that and you can have it…
2. You will relax so much your eyes will want to close but fight it… don’t let them just yet.
3. You can close your eyes and let go and go completely inside. You can interrupt on the 3rd with a “sleep” and a tug and tell them to go completely inside.

This seems fun and ballsy! I have to give this one a go.

Expectancy

The Response Expectancy Model

According to Response-Expectancy Theory, ‘when we expect a particular outcome we sometimes unwittingly behave so as to produce that outcome.’

Given that some responses are automatic, they will assume many of your suggestions are automatically followed and therefore will follow your therapeutic suggestions automatically, and create conditions to make it happen.

Expect More

‘When we expect something to happen, when we anticipate an outcome, our Imagination automatically reacts to it and prepares us for the expected event. …Our Imagination treats it as an impending reality, then starts adapting our body to cope with the reality of it, and then just waits for the start of the anticipated event.’

John Cleesattel

In short, if you imagine something about to happen, you’ll ‘brace’ for it. For instance, seeing a car slam the brakes in front of you, you’ll brace for impact.

Mentalism Techniques

• With authority, tell them they’ll have a new thought. Ask them to say it when they have it.
• Tell them their body will think ‘I want to relax.’ Let me know when it does, and then let it.
• Repeat with further relaxation suggestions. Maybe follow it up with an Elman “eyes are so relaxed you can’t open them.”
  • To “demonstrate the power of their mind” ask them to try to open them, and when they do, they relax more.
• In a moment, I’m going to put one more thought in your head. Your response will be automatic.
• So get ready. I will say the word ‘now’ when I do it. (Restate what will happen.)
• Build tension. “NOW.”

The Erickson Handshake

[[Milton Erickson - Hypnotic Realities Handshake]]

1. Ask the subject to count backwards from 20 (optional.)
2. Apply pressure to different parts of the hand as you slowly end the handshake.
3. Gaze into the distance, away, over their shoulder.
4. Ask them if they’re awake.
5. Don’t budge, reinforce sleepiness.

Pantomime Induction

1. Slowly, awkward withdrawal from the handshake as he stopped smiling.
2. Alternated finger position during the withdrawal to create ambiguity.
3. Started withdrawing the hand leaving no clear-cut answer as to what the last thing they did to their hand was, almost leaving it there.
4. Looked behind them, as before, into the distance.
5. When her pupils dilated, he completely withdrew his hand, leaving it midair. He slightly raised it with some gentle pressure to keep it cataleptic.
6. He gave a nonverbal cue to close their eyes.

Overloading Confusion

(I would eject so god damn hard if someone did this to me.)

1. Start with a handshake.
2. Suggest a memory that’s got strange conditions to get to. (They suggest their ‘earlier happiest memory,’ not their happiest memory, but they mention both to add a layer of confusion. Yuck. )
3. Start doing the weird kinesthetic confusion shit with the handshake.
4. Suggest something to add on - they use ‘their favorite song’ overlayed on this memory.
5. Start weird shit with the handshake as you continue talking.
6. “I can only wonder how much joy it would bring those people who love you the most to relive this happy memory with you. Seeing what you see, hearing the sounds, feeling all of those positive sensations…” 🤮 (I’m not transcribing more of this. This is just too weird.)

You can add different overloads, like counting back from 1000, or imagining yourself drawing “a” while you say “z”, and have them converge. Or just ask them to start spelling something backwards on the outbreath.

Kinaesthetic Confusion

(I didn’t find anything useful in this chapter. This may have been revelatory to me last year but this is a rehash of content in [[Graham Old - Hypnosis with the Hard to Hypnotize]].)

Troubleshooting

They’re just staring at me 😓

Just keep pacing and leading. They’re looking at you in the WTF state, try using it. It’s not being out of time, or a problem with following your partner’s lead, just you wasting your time reinforcing that you’re just as confused as they are.

Won’t they feel me pushing their hand?

Only if your pre-talk is to the contrary. If it looks like you’re trying to trick them, it won’t go well. Just don’t shoot yourself in the foot in your pretalk.

What do I say when I’m pointing at their hand?

Up to you bro. Look at your hand, look at that shape, look at that one spot, look at your pinki, whatever.

They resist my pattern interrupt

You may be directly opposing their movement. Try redirecting (‘circular movement’) instead of pushing back.

If they’re trained in martial arts, handshakes might be a poor choice in general, perhaps possibly the focused hand variation.

If your partner is resisting, it might be because it’s an ‘unwelcome type of weird’ going on and they don’t know it’s part of hypnosis.

Their arm is heavy and does not stay up

Utilize their response. Coach engagement.

Well, I can see that your subconsicous is alert and active. (Smile) … And we can use that.. So, let’s do this another way… You’ve got this…

Fuck it’s still not working

Try something like the wet-dishtowel approach, shaking the wrist, suggesting it relax. Coach engagement during the process.

I’m too nervous to use Erickson’s Handshake! (Been there…)

You can use a more familiar patter. Have fun with it!

They always end up with heavy arms

Do the two-handed businessman handshake.

This dude is insecure and has a power handshake

Let them have it. Then ask to borrow ‘that’ hand pointing to the other one and just go for a focused hand induction.

[[Graham Old - PII Induction]]