220.08 - Analyzing Inductions and Scripts

So, here’s the point where I’ll give you some examples of how to break down scripts. When I was brand new, I had no effing clue how ‘Ericksonian’ inductions worked. Now, I just see this specific one as a permissive and straightforward excuse to zone out. Let me show you how to start taking the magic out of these scripts and replace it with understanding.

🦈 “Anything can be an induction!”

Sometimes, you’ll hear the phrase ‘anything can be an induction.’ If you’re new - that’ll leave you in one of a few places:

• Yeah I totally agree! Hypnosis is simple.
• Bullshit. I can’t show someone a banana and have them drop into a trance.
• Yeah… Maybe? That sure doesn’t tell me how to turn my banana into an induction.

A better way to put it would be…

“Anything that does what an induction does, can serve as an induction.”

Well when you say it that way - no shit.

Another angle of the dangle of an induction is to see it as a ritual of suggestion to improve hypnotic response. Or - think of it like before a huge showdown in JoJo’s Bizarre adventures where the villains flex all over the hero’s faces before fucking with them.

Let’s take a moment to think about how JoJo villains cream all over the Joestars what happens before a battle.

• They establish the context of a battle.
• They’re not just a villain - they’re your adversary, demanding your complete and undivided attention. This builds (a weird type of) rapport. (Okay just work with me here.)
• They display competency. This builds expectation.
• They’re so damn showy that they create absorption, priming your imagination for what they’ll do next.
• They motivate you to fight back.

I’m leaning a bit into the performance aspect of this - not just so I can talk about JoJo characters creaming all over the place, but to awkwardly highlight a point. In order for you to care at all about them, the villains have to put on a bit of a show. Similarly, in most contexts, you’re going to have to convince your subject that you’re a competent hypnotist to boost expectation, or you’ll have to collaborate with them to do the work. (Preferably, you should be doing both! But depending on your experience, and the subject’s experience and disposition, you can make do with just one.)

Okay, so what’s up with the cream joke? Wordweaver came up with this cool concept CREAM - literally doing analysis of academic research to pull out some of the biggest determinants of hypnotic response. (In addition, Binaural Histolog remixed it as C(REI) => C(S) in their guide on the components of hypnosis.) You should go read both those… but to recap - you’ll want to…

• Set up a hypnotic context - present yourself as the hypnotist, and part of that is your subject should try to respond automatically, as well as follow your instructions.
• Build rapport with your subject. Y’all on the same level and got a vibe going? It can be D/s, collaborative, therapeutic, or playful, but you need some sort of connection.
• Increase expectation. This is usually part of the induction - PMRs gradually zonk your subject, until things start to feel like they’re happening automatically. This lets the subject expect other things can happen as well, or that they can make those things happen.
• Encourage absorption. Your subject isn’t going to feel shit if they’re checking their phone. You don’t need intense amounts of focus, but they shouldn’t be doing the dishes while you’re whipping out your finest suggestions.
• Your subject should have some motivation. Again, this doesn’t need to be collaborative. Are you doing to bully them with dominance? Are they going to submit to social pressures in stage hypnosis? Are you in a setting where it’s not therapeutic, but they want to have a nice relaxing session after a rough day? All these are fine.

Good inductions make you CREAM… Or - anything that makes you CREAM can be an induction. And while creaming an induction can be fun, they’re not mandatory for a good time.

So What About Inductions

That’s the million dollar question - eh? Really though - the script will either ask the subject to do something directly or indirectly, provide imagery hopefully creating an effect, or have an overarching structure and goal. You’ll improve at picking up how these work and wonder why these things were confusing in the first place.

This isn’t all inclusive, but here’s some goals with inductions:

• If you subscribe to state theory: Create a special state of trance, and have your subject experience all the subjective effects of trance a byproduct of that state of mind.
  • If you don’t subscribe to state theory: You can create a a trance-like mental state, and then experience all of the subjective effects of trance as a byproduct of their cooperation and your suggestions.
  • If you sit on the fence like I do: You can have your cake and eat it too - you can either create trance or create the experience of trance, and you’ll end up with a trance.
• Play Simon Says with them long enough that they start to respond automatically
• Make their brain do enough cool tricks that expectation (and therefore response) builds.
• Give dissociative suggestions - also increasing expectation because it’s that “woah weird” feeling. This is part of the selling point of an Elman or Dr. Flowers induction.
• Use challenges (EG you can’t move your arm) - building expectation.
• Give your subject a fun ride - this really is a solid part of an induction!
• Help your subject relax or focus - giving them space to enjoy the session and go along with suggestions.
• Prevent failure - Suggestions that thoughts can settle down in their own time can remind them that if they think “what’s for dinner” it’s not the end of the session.

Or, a few tips from Graham Old from their book Therapeutic Inductions:

• Teaching compliance. (Which… Graham said was unlikely, but in the recreational space, I think it’s quite possible. This is pretty close to the Simon Says idea.)
• To build rapport.
• To take the role as The Hypnotist.

Or, if you’re playing with D/s sorts of behavior, Anthony Jacquin might tickle your pickle:

An induction technique is a vehicle for your confidence, your persona, your intent to hypnotize.

-Anthony Jacquin

🦈 Blah blah fish thoughts blah…

At the time of writing this guide, I’m still reading through Therapeutic Inductions. I don’t agree with everything in there, but it’s solid food for thought, and is quickly becoming one of my favorite books. I’ll probably write a little bit more on inductions later after finishing. I’ll need to mull mull over how to reframe the wisdom Graham drops into something useful for recreation.

Offhand Examples

So, sticking things into generic buckets…

• PMRs (progressive muscle relaxation inductions) play a game of Simon Says and relax your subject, to the point where things feel automatic
• Dr. Flowers fractionates and relaxes your subject, dissociating them and letting them focus inward
• The Elman induction gives a demo on how convince yourself you’re responding (with the locked eye closure,) suggests relaxation, then uses fractionation to dissociate, then checks for compliance with the arm drop, and then uses amnesia as another convincer
• Rapid inductions surprise the shit out of people and then directly suggest a trance-like state, very much playing off expectations of trance. (If someone’s never heard of hypnosis before and you try this on them, expect nothing to happen.)
• Awkward handshake inductions distract and ‘weird out’ the subject to the point where they focus on everything you say, and then become compliant because not following your instructions would be weird.
• Fixation inductions - they give your subject something to focus on visually. Usually as they do, their eyes tire, and you can use this physiological effect to increase the expectation that they’re entering a trance.

Analyzing Scripts

Here’s some breakdowns of a few chunks of inductions. The VAK is there to show the intentional rotation through sensations, and the ‘type’ is there to highlight the language pattern or intent.

Mark Wiseman’s generic Ericksonian induction:

As mentioned earlier, this one confused the hell out of me when I started. Really, it’s super simple. The magic is in assuming it does more than it actually does - it’s your subject that does the rest. (This is out of the Mind Play book.)

Suggestion	Type	VAK
Close your eyes now and relax yourself as best you can.	Compliance.	K
You can feel yourself settling into the chair	Pacing	K
and you can hear the sound of my voice	Pacing	A
and perhaps soon begin to notice how your body can relax	Leading - permissive language	K
because right now, there is nothing in particular you need to do.	Non-sequitur, direct suggestion.
You don’t need to move…	Pacing	K
you don’t need to speak…	Pacing	A
you don’t even need to consciously listen to the sound of my voice.	Leading - indirect suggestion that focus is not required
What’s important for you right now is to listen to your own voice…	Compliance, pacing	A
your own thoughts…	Pacing
those mental images that flash through your mind.	Pacing	V
You know how one thought leads to another…	Pacing
and another… and another…
and it’s okay for you right now to follow those thoughts.
Just drift, and float, and follow those thoughts wherever they may lead you.	Gentle Overload, Direct suggestion	K
Taking the time right now to relax… to release … to rest…	Direct Suggestion
That’s right.	Rapport building. ”Natural deepener.”

Sensory Overlap:

Some components of a Graham Old’s Sensory Overlap induction, with some gentle overload.

We start off by rotating through sensations your subject might notice as they’re doing the session - and instead of fighting them, invite them to notice them, and bring their attention back to the sound of your voice.

Suggestion	Type	VAK
“As we go on, you can become aware of the other sounds around you…	Direct suggestion
the gentle in and out of your own breath…	Pacing	K
the sounds close-by…	Pacing	A
the ticking of that clock in the background…	Pacing	A
the creaks and groans of the heating system…	Pacing	A
as well as the sounds outside that come and go…	Pacing Indirect suggestion (awareness coming and going)	A
those every-day normal sounds that tell us that life goes on as usual…	Direct suggestion	A
as you continue to listen to the sound of my voice	Pacing	A
and the sounds of my words…	Pacing	A
Later in the induction, after building a lot of momentum, we finally suggest that they can just relax. We shift the focus of noticing all the distractions from our voice over to the idea of drifting off and relaxing - reframing these previous sensations that may have been annoying as comfy and normal.

Suggestion	Type	VAK
“And maybe those gentle steady breaths can remind you of those times you ignore everything…	Permissive direct suggestion	K
as you settle down to sleep,	Indirect suggestion to relax
to let go…	Direct suggestion
and allow your mind to drift away…	Direct suggestion
dreaming, sinking, floating…	Indirect suggestion
like a dream-cloud taking over,	Indirect suggestion, priming
enjoying the feeling of release… and calm…	Direct suggestion	K
Everything can settle down in its own time…	Direct suggestion
settling comfortably now,	Direct suggestion	K
those sounds relaxing you… soothing you…	Direct suggestion	AK
as you pay attention to the sound of my voice	Pacing	A
and your body continues to relax…	Direct suggestion	K
deeper and deeper…	Direct suggestion
sinking further and further,	Direct suggestion	K
into that pleasant dream…	Direct suggestion