Skip to content
yourinductionsucks.fyi

200.02 - Introducing Hypnosis

An Explanation

If your subject is new to hypnosis - I like the following two frames.

“Volitional actions are experienced as involuntary… and imagination is experienced as reality.”

-Zoltan Dienes (Lecture Available Here)

Hypnosis is a combination of guided meditation and the children’s game Simon Says.

-Binaural Histolog - Introduction

Anything involving science (unless you’re actually a scientist) will do one of the following:

  • Make you look like a know-it-all.
  • Make your subject realize they know more than you do.
  • Make your subject realize you don’t know what you’re doing.
  • In case of someone analytical, they’ll ask you for your sources to call you on your shit.
  • If you’re credentialed, your conversation may go towards credentialism and defending your credentials. That’s not a great way to create a chill vibe.

For beginners - hypnosis is something you make happen together - unfortunately we haven’t perfected mind control yet. Or, for something accurate and mystical, you can call hypnosis a ritual of suggestion, fine-tuned by scientific and academic examination.

What Hypnosis Isn’t

Hypnosis isn’t…

  • Mind Control. But don’t worry, we can make it feel that way. Admittedly - hypnosis is a strong tool for coercive persuasion, but you don’t directly project mind waves into the subject.

  • Speaking directly to the subconscious (if this was true, I’d be a math genius after I was overloaded.) Hypnosis is more about unconscious intentions and automatic response than speaking to the subconscious.

  • Roleplay. I won’t get into the details, but hypnosis can feel like roleplay - but isn’t that what mind control would feel like? On the flip side - hypnotic analgesia responds differently than placebo analgesia. Moreover, expectancy helps but does not predict hypnotic response, so we know hypnosis isn’t just roleplay.

    If your subject is concerned about it feeling like roleplay - let them know that sometimes it’s normal for it to feel that way, but every once in a while an experience will be so intense that they’ll have no doubt something automatic and very real happened.

  • Passive. Your are an active participant in this experience. Consider - you could read inductions all day and nothing would happen. You may have even had the same experience trying to respond to files. The intent to respond automatically and be hypnotized is important.

Another way to handle this is to do a demo - loosely covered in the next section.