Healing and Hypnotherapy Special Mega Annual Issue 21 June 2017 | Page 46

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Secondly, he questioned the idea that mesmerism was the
result of some form of animal magnetism which transferred
from objects such as trees or a barque.
Thirdly, rather than speak of hypnosis as a activity of the
imagination he sought to describe hypnosis as a form of
concentration and thus it is the hypnotic subject who is of
importance in the experience of hypnosis and not that of the
operator or hypnotist.
Faria on the Induction of Trance :
Since Faria denied the idea of animal magnetism or magnetic fluids
this had implications for the induction of hypnotic trance. Firstly, Faria
would ask the client to close their eyes and concentrate and give
repeated suggestions of sleep to induce trance. It is clear here how
Faria advances the induction of trance by means of direct suggestion
which is of itself of historical import in the subsequent history of
hypnosis.
Moreover Faria describes another method of induction, whereby the
hand of the hypnotist is brought slowly toward the face of the subject
and thus inducing trance. Sharma thinks that this induction method
may derive from certain religious practices which Faria would have
been familiar with in India.
"Alternatively, Faria would apply pressure to the forehead, nose,
chest and knees of the subject to induce trance which as a
technique was later to appear in the pressure technique of
Sigmund Freud".
Often in the practice of hypnotherapy we neglect the study of the
historical development of hypnosis, in favour of the pragmatic and