A friend of mine recently told me an account of someone we both know playing a doubles tennis match . He described how this person ’ s doubles partner had accidentally whacked him in the testicles with the tennis racket . I winced .
My wince was a kind of hypnotic reaction . My friend , as he told me this unfortunate true story , didn ’ t directly suggest I wince . If he had , more than likely I would have failed to wince , and he might have felt he ’ d failed in his request .
Instead , he created an environment with his words in which wincing felt natural to me . We do the same when evoking hypnotic responses ( although hopefully around more pleasant issues !).
So by talking about other people ’ s responses I can indirectly suggest you experience the same or similar . If you do , that ’ s great . If you don ’ t , no one has ‘ failed ’, because I was just talking about other people .
If I then place emphasis ( perhaps by slowing the words or deepening the tonality ) on certain parts of the communication that would work as standalone direct suggestions , I am using what we call an embedded command .
For example :
“ Sometimes people ... begin to notice an arm feeling lighter [ embedded command ]... and they tell me that ... sometimes it ’ s right that it ’ s a finger in the right hand that feels lighter than all the other fingers to begin with ... or sometimes they ... start to notice that lightness and lifting [ embedded command ]... in the left arm ...”
If the hypnosis subject responds to this , all well and good , but notice I haven ’ t set anyone up for failure . I ’ ve simply been talking about “ people ”.
Likewise , we can take a questioning attitude . If the subject doesn ’ t respond hypnotically there has been no failure .
“ I don ’ t know ”
“ And I really don ’ t know whether ... those eyelids are going to feel heavier and more sleepy [ embedded command ]... or almost locked together in comfort and calm ...”
This is an example of illusory choice – another hypnotic technique . I ’ ve said “ I don ’ t know ”. If I say “ I don ’ t know whether friends are coming to the party or not ”, I haven ’ t
failed if they don ’ t , because I said from the start that I didn ’ t know whether they would .
“ A person could ”
“ A person could ... begin to notice a comfortable numbness in that hand ... perhaps ...”