The Transparent Hypnotist

Elman. It is a name that reads like a mantra for hypnotists. It is bandied around, nonchalantly in various interviews (do a search on this blog and it pops up often), articles, and scripts for inducing hypnosis. If you are a regular reader here, very often the hypnotists featured in the 10 Questions mention Elman as a most fabulous technique. I even posted my favorite five modified Elman inductions last week.

But for many reading this blog, it is a name like any other, just something to pass over quickly and forget. In many beginning hypnotists circles the name is also just a word, maybe slightly tinged with mystique. So the question is – who was Dave Elman and why is his name a modern mantra?

There are a few articles (see sources at the end of this post) that provide a decent biography. In these you will find the story of a boy who watched his father suffer the pains of cancer. A family friend who was a hypnotist helped the elder Elman find relief and this impacted Dave greatly. However it would take several more years before he would make a mark in the hypno world. He was a musician (not only did he play the violin but also the saxophone), an entertainer, a writer, went into radio and even advertising until at the age of 49, then going into hypnotism full-time. How odd to encapsulate a person’s life in such a sentence. There is definitely more to it than I mentioned, but for the sake of time, I will move on with this post.

Here is one of the important things to know about Dave Elman - his magic lies in creating a hypnotic induction that works rapidly and deeply. This came about during his experiments with doing hypnotism as entertainment. He wanted to find a way to induce hypnosis that would be fast and effectual. The results were that he created an induction that both mentally and physically relaxes the client and suspends that little critical voice we all have playing in our consciousness (the one that says, I can’t be hypnotized, this will never work, what is going on – you get the idea). Components of his induction include eye-lock (the client’s eyes remain closed and they feel unable to open their eyes), repetitive deepeners (or re-inductions that provide a deeper state of hypnosis), arm dropping (used to help create physical relaxation), and fading numbers. It also happened that a member of the medical community saw him do a stage show using such inductions and was so impressed that he asked Dave to teach him and his colleagues how to do hypnotism. This sparked his career in teaching dentist and physicians hypnotism, propelling his name forward is hypnotism fame and respect.

As this is just cursory, I have two sources you should visit. Both explain the induction in greater detail and provide wonderful background information on Mr. Elman.

Sources:

• Heroes of Hypnosis - Dave Elman by Tom Connelly
• A Tribute to Dave Elman: (1962) from Paul Durbin’s‘ web site

Photograph by linh.ngân

 I am going to take three puffs on this cigarette. With the first puff your eyes are going to get tired, the second puff you’re going to want to close your eyes, but wait until the third puff, at which time close them – from Dave Elman during a teaching session (pre-1967).

Well, I could not really let this week go by without providing you with a few more hammers, screwdrivers, and saws for the old hypnosis tool box. As Ramone reminded us last Friday in his answer to the most fabulous technique that he uses, we must consider the work of hypnotist Dave Elman. Elman is a magic work among hypnotists because he pioneered inductions or ways to help clients access a state of hypnosis.

I am having some trouble actually finding a link to a pure Elman script (I have them in my records, but I must respect the copyright on them). Instead, I though it would be useful to bring back Ellie’s Favorite Five and share with you some decent adaptations of the Elman inductions.

1. David Mason, a transparent hypnotist guest blogger and 10 Question alumni member, has a delightful and concise version of a multi-stage trance induction.
2. Howard Hamilton’s Two Finger Elman Induction (on Joseph Bennett’s web site).
3. Donald Robertson’s Elman Induction.
4. Zali Segal’s The Modified 7 Steps Dave Elman Induction.
5. James Ramey’s Subconscious Override and Complete Anesthesia (I cannot find where I found it, but I read that this induction is based on an Elman). This is a PDF file, by the way.

*Elman quotation from daveelman.com.

The hypnotist looms before you. Maybe you are lucky and you have been given a few pointers on how to relax or maybe you are still a bit jittery with nervous energy. Maybe you are even wondering why you are here. You have been given instructions to hold your head straight and level. You are then asked to move only your eyes so that they are looking up toward your eyebrows. Now take it a step farther and roll your eyes up even more, as though you are looking up into the crown of your head. Perhaps your eyes are now feeling tired, maybe even slightly strained, but you must keep your eyes in that position for a few more moments and there is one last thing you must do before this hypnotic eye torture is over. With your eyes in that same position, begin to close your eyes. No, do not lower your eye balls. They must remain looking up as you close your eyes.

Okay, take a break for a moment. This little exercise is one that some hypnotist use to get an idea about your hypnotizability. My own training did not cover this approach, but it appears in various hypnosis text and is apparently still used by a few people. I was reminded of it several Monday’s ago when reading an interview about another hypnotist who uses it. So, it seemed like a good idea to really look at it.

This hypnosis susceptibility test was created by Herbert Spiegel, MD, a clinical professor at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. Basically, a hypnotist will look at the white area (sclera) of the eye between the lower eyelid and the cornea that can be seen at the end of the process described above. According to Spiegel, the more white space, judged on a scale between one and four (if there is a squint involved this is evaluated and the points added to the score), the more susceptible a person is to hypnosis. This method works 75% of the time, he said in an article in Time Magazine (1977).

I am not sure why I did not learn this little bit of historic hypnosis susceptibility (does anyone teach it now?), but I suspect there were some issues to it. There is the whole you-cannot-be-hypnotized-if-you-do-not-want-to-be thing, so even if you do well with the eye test and do not want to be hypnotized, well, this test is meaningless. And even if you do not do well on the eye roll test, but want to be hypnotized you will still get positive results.

Whether you use this tool as a hypnotist, it does show up in various inductions (very clever). There is a particularly nice one mentioned in Kaplan and Sadock’s Synopsis of Psychiatry. Hypnotists, you should check it out.

So, have you just asked someone in your vicinity to watch you do this and look at the white space? What are the results?

It has been a really long time since I have experienced an alcoholic hangover. But I learned this weekend that pulling an all-nighter at my age produces similar results. Though I have caught up on sleep, as I sit here typing this, several cups of Darjeeling later, it feels just like I have over indulged.First let me thank Josh for the wonderful posting yesterday, who managed to get out the posting even when he had his own things of which to deal. In honor of his question about rapid inductions, I thought I would actually center today’s post around it a little more and perhaps clear up the question of why anyone like me would pull an all-nighter. LOL.

Hiking - I have a certain affinity for it. I love it - the feel of the world around you, a sense of balance with nature, and the quietness of the soul. But, I am also often open to adventure. A friend suggested that we try night hiking in the mountains (an easy hike, no real climbing or need to belay). Our guide was experienced in night orienteering, so I am not sure I would recommend newbies to try this on their own.

Now you maybe saying to yourself, I am reading this post because I want to hear about hypnosis, not hiking. Good point. So here is the twist in the story. Around 3 am, one of my other friends who had come along developed blisters (for God’s sake, when you hike, take the time to invest in a decent pair of well-fitting hiking boots), really gruesome and seemingly painful blisters. I hung back with him on a down hill, and offered to try to help him with the pain until we could get back to civilization to properly care for his feet. Now this is no stranger to me, and someone who has helped me a few times when I have needed help.

It was as though he had not even heard my offer. He continued talking about what he would do once we were done with the hike. So, I left the subject for a little while.

Enter the real dilemma. At 5:30 am, we arrived at a junction. Most of us had chosen this hike for the idea of watching the sunrise off a particular ridge. We had time it to get there about twenty minutes before the anticipated event. At 5:30 am, we could continue to that point or take a short route back to our vehicles. Needless to say my blistered friend was all in favor of aborting our plans (I cannot blame him). But…the question was to go on anyway, leave him at the junction (he would have had trouble navigating the short cut), or throw away our hours of dark meandering and head home.

Another friend suggested that I do a quick induction and a little pain relief hypnosis at this point, as the caterwauling about the blisters was reaching a peak. I smiled and stepped forward. I had pretty much decided even with the hypnosis, though, walking a lot more might not be smart for him.

He was still a no go, totally ignoring the idea. Others in the group have used me for various things so they prodded him. And yes, he and I had discussed the reality of hypnosis many times. So, I finally stopped the whole thing by telling everyone to just leave him be. If he did not want to use hypnosis, that was fine (I resisted the passive aggressive urge to add in that if he wanted to be in excruciating pain, so be it). I was about to agree to hang back with him while the others went ahead, but then a kind soul, who was a paramedic, came forward and offered to stay with him. He had a few supplies he thought would help. And so, I continued to my sun rise, a little miffed at my friend’s resistance. I take it for granted now that hypnosis is a fabulous tool and forget that others may feel differently (insane, though they are…LOL).

As I watched the subtle tones of the sun beginning its ascent, another friend sat down beside me and said, “Remember last year when we were on holiday and I got that horrible rash? Well, when you did that funny little hypnotic thing (rapid induction and suggestions to decrease the itch until again, we were back in civilization), it was really great. Buddy is just trying to be macho and impress you with his forbearance of manliness.” We both laughed and I felt better.

Upon returning to the junction, we found the paramedic reading and Mr. Manly sound asleep under a tree. Apparently, the paramedic had used progressive relaxation to help my friend stop obsessing over the pain (the paramedic had taken an emergency hypnosis class, and had used the pain tranced-state to just relax my friend). The paramedic said it was one thing to miss the sunrise; it was another to listen to the constant complaints.

As hypnotists our jobs are to help people with everyday problems they are having within their life. This could be anything from Smoking Cessations, Weight Loss, Sports Improvement, etc. Usually we are the last ones our clients visit as they haven’t been able to be helped by their doctors or other licensed professions. So when a client comes to us they are hoping we can help them when no one else can. They have come to us as a final solution for their problems. So when they book an appointment with us and pay the price we are asking they have now committed to the process. So when they come to our office we talk to them a little, give them a good pre-talk and begin our progressive relaxation inductions.

The client has paid us to work on their situation and they are expecting to get their money worth for each session. Yet, some hypnotists waste a good potion of time that could be committed to helping the client on the Progressive Relaxation Induction. We as hypnotists should know that hypnosis isn’t relaxation. The induction doesn’t do anything, but help a person to get to hypnosis. Technically the moment the person enters our office they are in hypnosis. So in reality, the only real important parts of the process are the intake, pre-talk and the actual work. So why are we as hypnotists wasting the client’s money and time with these long inductions?

We have the ability to get people into hypnosis within 4 seconds to 4 minutes and I’m talking about a deep level of hypnosis where the work we do becomes much more powerful. Now don’t get me wrong Progressive Relaxation Inductions work well for stuff such as relaxation, stress management and a few other items and they can serve a purpose. Yet, when it comes to dealing with the issues that require deep work and time why are we not using instant and rapid inductions. Why are we not spending more time on the parts that actual help the client. I believe in giving the client’s what they paid for and for that to happen we must have the time needed to deal with the situation.

Some of you may respond that they can come back for multiple sessions. I stick to a goal of one to two sessions at the most. These people have already spent everything they have in their prior attempts for help. So what is better for profession? Getting paid more money or affecting serious change within the person in the least amount of time? Imagine the word of mouth referrals from people who have stopped smoking in one session or whatever the situation may be. When dealing with issues that require basic direct suggestion remember the law of compounding. Imagine if your induction was only 10 seconds long. Imagine how many more positive suggestions you could give your client within that extra time. Understand that if you use Progressive Relaxation Inductions and they work for you that’s fine, but I’m just trying to give you something to think about here.

So my question I pose to you is the following: What is your view on using instant and rapid inductions in a professional practice?

Joshua Houghton

www.whatsonmybrain.com

You have to love the classic, now cliche, spinning disk as a hypnotic tool. You know the one - the disk is divided into four parts, two black and two white that merge together when spun. Simply mesmerizing.

Well, in the interest in studying the famous masters of this art form and our talk about Charcot’s hypnotic sessions, I was hoping to find an induction that he used. I have not given up on it, but it is taking some time. But what I did come across was a reference to a tool he or his assistants may have utilized for hypnotizing his patients. Indeed it was a spinning disk. However, it is described as being a four-inch long cylinder that is about one and half inches in diameter. Within this is a little spinning disk, black and white segmented as mentioned above. Without spinning the disk, it is placed three inches away from a midpoint between the eye brows (eye fatigue inducing). After a few moments there is a button on the cylinder that starts the revolution of the disk. The patient is told to concentrate on it. The theory is that as the patient does this it causes a state of suggestibility.

It is good to know that somethings don’t change.

Source:
Hypnotism by L. W. deLaurence

Since we are exploring the subject of analytic minds, here are my five favorite analytical scripts (this week) with you. When you look at these, you may notice that they are a bit different from the progressive relaxation inductions I posted a few weeks ago. These involve a form of giving the conscious mind a task to focus on or adding an element of confusion to the mix and thus stopping the mind in its tracks and causing it to take a coffee break.

1. Healing Stories and Scripts - Chaplain Paul G. Durbin - An Induction for the Analytical and Indirect Suggestible Client. This is Paul’s adaption of a script by Gordon Boyd. It is based on the idea of referencing the client’s experience of the hypnotic process and with a touch of little guided imagery suggestion.
2. Alliance Self-Empowerment, Inc. - Roy Hunter - Inductions for Analytical Resisters - Roy is one of my personal heroes in the world of hypnosis. I have learned so much from all his books that I just had to include him. This link takes you to his theories and ideas about analytic resisters and how to create an induction for them. It is not a straight script in that you can just print it out and read it to your next client, but it takes each section of the induction and explains it.
3. Hypnosense.com - Terrance Watts - Seven Plus or Minus Two. Michael and I are both big fans of this particular script. It is based on the idea that the conscious mind can hold a certain number of separate thoughts at one time. There is much thinking and maintaining in this induction.
4. Andy Moore Hypnosis - Double Dice Deepening or Induction. Andy presents an interesting script here that keeps the mind occupied with visualizations and tasks, along with suggestions for relaxation.
5. The Blackboard. This is one of my favorite inductions that I actually use for a deepener. It works really well for most people, no matter what personality. You will notice no link to this. It is because I could not find a free version of it in which to include. Just do an internet search for it and consider buying it from someone. It involves visualization, asking the client to pay no attention to your words, and suggestions for relaxation.

If you have been reading the comment section for the recent discussion on analytic typing in hypnosis, you will know that Bill and I are honing in on the semantics of this idea.

So, this has me wondering if any of you other hypnotist out there test for people who are more susceptible to analytic hypnosis inductions? Or if you are a person who has experienced hypnosis, do you prefer analytical inductions? If so, we would love to hear your thoughts or experiences with an analytic inductions.

When you think to yourself, do you want a cup of coffee because it is warm and comforting or do you want a cup of tea because it is refreshing, your decision is based on a series of analytical processes. For instance, I am drinking tea this morning because my analytic prowess’s say that I am too lazy to make a pot of coffee. LOL.

When I learned about various hypnotism theories, it was stressed that there is an analytical scale on which everyone can be charted. Finding out a client’s place on this chart would help the hypnotist know what sort of induction to use that would benefit the client. If the client was found to be very analytic, relaxing in general might be difficult for that person, so progressive relaxation would not be the best way to begin to bring about a state of hypnosis.

The Analytical Scale
On one side of the analytical scale is a person who is a hundred percent analytical, which seems to mean totally rational and not so prone to uses of the imagination. On the other side is the exact opposite of this. It is a person who is extremely creative and very imaginative. Often this is shown as a line chart, but I think the idea of scale is much better. A scale has to balance and it creates a whole. In a line chart, this does not matter and so how can a person be balanced?

Testing for the Analytic Client
Sounds ominous, does it not? Really, it is very simple stuff that is more fun than not. This sort of thing may also be called testing for hypnotizability (is that even a word?), which is often done during stage hypnosis shows. Perhaps you have seen or experienced the whole “clasping your hands together and not being able to separate them” phenomenon?

The Old Balloon and Sand Bag Test
One of the most famous test is that of closing your eyes, holding your arms straight out in front of the body, one palm turned up and the other down. Imagine or think about a balloon being tied to the wrist of the hand that is facing upwards. It is light and airy and begins to pull that arm upwards. Now, on the other wrist facing downwards, a bag of sand is looped over it and the weight drags the arm down. Mind you, the hypnotist guides you through this, also employing his or her voice to give the suggestions of the balloon pulling the arm up and the bag of sand pulling the other down. You are then asked to open your eyes and look at your arms. If the balloon arm is higher than then the sand one, it is believed that you are able to bypass the analytic side of your mind and use your imagination to image the weight changes. If your arms remained the same, it may mean that your analytic mind kicked in and said something to the affect of “there is no balloon or bag of sand, so why move the arms?”

So, what does this all mean? If the hypnotist believes that you are more analytical, the suggestion work of the session with revolve around giving your conscious mind tasks to focus on and occupy it while the hypnotist inputs the suggestions.

Also, confusion may be added into the mix on purpose to help bring about a new state of consciousness. What these procedures do is more of less catch you off guard and move you rapidly into a hypnotic state. They work on an element of surprise. Another confusion techniques is to overload the conscious mind to a point where it basically gives up critical thought processes and essentially takes a coffee break.

Where Words Fail
Some hypnotist use a form of hypnosis they term analytical hypnosis. To the transparent hypnotist, this would mean using the idea of keeping the mind focused on certain activities to create change. However, in researching this a bit, it sounds more like a hypnotherapy process of analysis, rather than analytic process. So, I will not be discussing “analytical” hypnosis because I disagree with the terminology, though I may cover the same concepts under a different title.

What say you?

For those who are celebrating the Thanksgiving Holiday, I wish you most digestible day! It seems like the perfect time to consider more relaxation and this is a great way for us to begin exploring the various forms of hypnosis.

I present to you my current favorite five progressive relaxation scripts (if the links do not work, please let me know). These are based on a Google search, ease of finding the script, no hidden strings - meaning they are free, and I just had to find them appealing.

Progressive relaxation is a therapy onto itself, where one literally progressively relaxes each part of the body to create a feeling of relaxation. A large amount of hypnosis is based on deep relaxation and this is a classic way to get there. I think it has surpassed the swinging pocket watch. There are several hypnotist who do not use them because there is a potential for putting someone to sleep rather than in a hypnotic state.

Also, these are what are called scripts. Scripts are fairly common in hypnosis, especially traditional hypnosis. There are pros and cons to using such things, but for those who do not use them, they are always a good source for fresh inspiration.

So, here they:

• Maryann Laraia - Hypnosis Improves Life - Very basic script involving body awareness.
• Hypnohut - A nicely guided progressive relaxation.
• Arthur A. Leidecker - APA Recommends - Fairly intense progressive neuro-muscular relaxation induction involving the tightening and releasing of areas of the body. Please note that there are some people who find discomfort in this or have medical conditions of which it may conflict. This is rare, but I have to say it anyway. Also, this is a PDF file. http://aparecommends.com/hypnosisscripts/ProgressiveNeuro.pdf
• Roger Bergman - A very in depth progressive relaxation involving counting, breathing awareness, and imagery.
• Terrance Watts - Hypnosense.com - This is his soothing, body conditioning progressive relaxation.

Enjoy! Also, if you have one you really like, please feel free to share it.