have told you, "I had a belief in hypnosis
and I tried it and it worked for me.
Therefore, here in this moment with you Mr.
Hypnotist, I have a tremendously high
mental expectancy. My imagination is
already excited. Don't expend a lot of time
on me doing all of those preparatory things,
I've already told you my story. I went to a
hypnotist and got good results."
Take one more step and say, "That is
wonderful. Now, tell me, do you remember
how you were hypnotized, what method was
used, what can you tell me?" They will tell
you whether it was someone who believes in
swinging a watch or using flashing lights or
just what the experience was, or you might
ask
"Have you ever been hypnotized?"
They reply, "No, I have never made an
effort to be hypnotized."
"Have you ever seen anyone
hypnotized?"
"Oh, yes. My friend was hypnotized on
the stage, and - .
Now you have some input. "What did
you think of all that?"
"I just could never understand how she
could get up there and sing a song. I know
her and she is quite shy. I could not figure
out if she was faking it or what."
This is an opportunity for re-education.
You say, "The reason she was able to sing
on stage, is that the critical factor of her
conscious mind was temporarily closed
down because she was in trance. The part of
her mind that says, "you are making a fool of
yourself, everyone is looking at you and you
should feel embarrassed," was silent.
Because she did not hear that voice within,
she was able to do something that is quite
within the natural capacity of any human
being, to sing a song or do a dance. It had
nothing to do with her values, which
includes her character attitudes, her religious
beliefs and her moral principles."
They often reply, "Oh, I never thought
of it that way. I just thought they would tell
me that I would not normally do anything
under hypnosis that I would not normally do
and I would never normally get up in front
of a crowd and sing a song."
Now you have communicated and you
are into the process of re-education.
When you ask, "Are you ready for me to
hypnotize you?" you can get a great deal of
information from their answer.
"Well, if you think you can?" or maybe,
"O.K, good luck." or "Yes, I hope so." and
sometimes they may say to you, "No - I'm
not ready!"
"Alright, if you are not ready, tell me
about it."
"I did not come today to get hypnotized.
I think I will just talk to you."
"That's all right. You have reserved the
time and we can spend the Lime talking and
I am not going to hypnotize you until you
tell me that you are ready for me to
hypnotize you."
They may say "No" just to test you to
see what will happen and five minutes later
they might say, "I am ready now... I was
anxious before, but now I feel more
relaxed."
At this point, it is time to hypnotize this
person using whatever methods that seem
appropriate to you. Whatever methods you
use on that first session, I suggest that after
the induction of trance, you begin a
relaxation process because you want to get
the full discharge of accumulated tensions
and make the First session the best session.
In the first session there is no attempt at