Covert Metaphor

A good hypnotist can openly or covertly influence the direction of the autonomous flow of thoughts associated with trance.

In a therapeutic setting, the hypnotist is usually focused on getting the subject to physically relax. They may tell the subject to keep still, stop talking, and close their eyes. These are direct suggestions, but if the subject is already relaxed, they may find the indirect approach easier to accept.

“You don’t have to talk or move or make any sort of effort. You don’t even have to hold your eyes open.”

In a relaxed or trance state the subject is already predisposed not to do anything, so by suggesting they don’t have to do anything, makes it that much easier to accept. You have of course actually suggested they shut up, keep still, and close their eyes.

In terms of persuasion, I haven’t seen that much written or applied using suggestions of not doing or not knowing. I tried thinking of direct suggestions which could be turned into indirect suggestions of “not doing”, but then it occured to me that people use these type of suggestions all the time with each other.

“It’s only 11:00pm. You don’t have to go home just yet.”

“You don’t have to worry about it. It’s only money after all.”

“You can just sleep over here tonight and not worry about driving home tired.”

I’m sure you can think of many other examples.

After some time you’ll begin to see how all these patterns begin to build upon each other.

I don’t know whether you’ll read all of my posts today, tomorrow, or throughout the week or just make frequent visits to this site, because you don’t have to learn this material all at once, which means you can just take your time and read through slowly and enjoy yourself now.

That last sentence consists of an illusion of choice, several presuppositions, cause and effect, not-doing indirect suggestion, conjunctions, and embedded commands. Again, it works better spoken than written. The more you practice writing and talking these out, the easier it gets to construct them on the fly. It’s almost like learning a new language, but once you get it to flow, you’ll be surprised how easy you’ll be able to apply it to any situation.

I hope by now you can begin to appreciate your acceptance of the decision to commit yourself fully to learn conversational hypnosis, metaphor, and persuasion using this site. You’ve come a long way.

admin :: Aug.06.2007 :: advanced language patterns, covert hypnosis, hypnosis, persuasion :: No Comments »

Here is an excellent example of reframing conveyed through metaphor:

There is a story of a farmer whose horse ran away. That evening the neighbors gathered to commiserate with him since this was such bad luck. He said, “May be.”

The next day the horse returned, but brought with it six wild horses, and the neighbors came exclaiming at his good fortune. He said, “May be.”

And then, the following day, his son tried to saddle and ride one of the wild horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. Again the neighbors came to offer their sympathy for the misfortune. He said, “May be.”

The day after that, conscription officers came to the village to seize young men for the army, but because of the broken leg the farmer’s son was rejected. When the neighbors came to say how fortunately everything had turned out, he said, “May be.”

admin :: Aug.04.2007 :: NLP, metaphor :: No Comments »

Recently, a friend and I were discussing the possibility that a few readers may not understand that what I write about are just models to guide one in the right direction. These models of covert hypnosis and persuasion are not one-pill solutions. Each person and every situation is different. What may work on one person may not work on another. Tweak a little here, tweak a little there, and eventually you find the right spot; covertly that is. You have to play with this stuff. You have to actually go out and use it. Reactions may not always be positive, but with experience you’ll be able to divert their conscious attention very quickly, and come in at a different angle.

And now something completely different, maybe. I think it was in Bandler and Grinder’s Frogs into Princes, Bandler stated that everything is hypnosis, and Grinder disagreed by saying, “all communication is hypnosis.”

Not all conversations have the same effect, but we’re basically hypnotizing each other every time we speak. Hypnosis is not, as so many people falsely believe, a state where you lose control of your will and start clucking like a chicken. Or as the late Steven Heller says, “There’s no such thing as hypnosis.” because hypnosis is just a word to represent a myriad of different states of consciousness. Maybe I will say something to you that your mother always said, something which made you furious, and presto! You instantly relive that state. Could that be hypnosis?

Ever hear the phrase, “Fake it ’til you make it?” If you pretend something, most people will pretend along with you, but it’s possible you’re the only one who is aware of it. This reminds me of a story Milton Erickson told either Bandler or Grinder, I’m not sure.

“You don’t consider yourself a therapist, but you are a therapist.” And I said, “Well, not really.” He said, “Well, let’s pretend . . . that you’re a therapist who works with people. The most important thing . . . when you’re pretending this . . . is to understand. . . that you are really not . . . You are just pretending . . . And if you pretend really well, the people that you work with will pretend to make changes. And they will forget that they are pretending . . . for the rest of their lives. But don’t you be fooled by it.” And then he looked at me and he said: “Goodbye.”

Think about that one for a bit. When you think you got it, then go ahead and apply this advice to any situation you want to.

This makes me think of an old TV series called The Pretender about a character who could integrate himself into any walk of life.  Some of it may have been a little far fetched, but it is really amazing how far you can go when you pretend, and those surrounding you pretend right along with you.

admin :: Aug.04.2007 :: covert hypnosis, hypnosis, persuasion :: 2 Comments »

This is similar to an Illusion of Choice, but instead of only two choices, your subject is given a small range of possibilities. Depending on the objective, each response should fit within your chosen frame.

Perhaps you are interested in using these techniques at work, in your daily conversation, with friends or family, or just to be more persuasive in your intimate relationships.

All the reasons I have just given may have absolutely nothing to do with why you are interested in these techniques, but if you had made any of those choices they would have been acceptable for me.

I have often used a class of responses in past interviews:

Would you need me to begin with project management, the network, perimeter security, or haven’t you made the decision on where I could begin positively supporting your team?

Milton Erickson is famous for using hand levitation:

Shortly your right hand, or it may be your left hand, will begin to lift up, or it may press down, or it may not move at all; but we will wait to see just what happens. Maybe the thumb will be first, or you may feel something happening in your little finger, but the really important thing is not whether your hand lifts up or presses down or just remains still; rather it is your ability to sense fully whatever feelings develop in your hand.

When you are given those range of possibilities for movement, you have to obviously pick on of them, which most likely will lead you deeper into trance.

I don’t know whether you will integrate all of these techniques that I write about, pick only what is relevant to you, or concentrate only on a few of my posts at a time.

admin :: Aug.03.2007 :: advanced language patterns, covert hypnosis, persuasion :: No Comments »

There are so many ways you can learn conversational hypnosis. People can, you know, visit this site often and have many experiences learning this fascinating subject just by reading the posts. But now I’ve decided to expand on my teaching methods.

I’m currently working on a video using conversational hypnosis and hypnotic induction that will last around 30-40 minutes. I’ll either host it locally or upload it to a site like youtube.com. I will mostly base the patterns off the Milton Model, that is Milton Erickson and his methods of hypnotic induction. By the time I finish this video I should have covered every well-known example of Milton Erickson’s indirect suggestion methods in my posts.

That way, by the time you watch the video, you should be able to follow and recognize what I am doing. I believe this is a very entertaining way to learn conversational hypnosis. If there is interest, I may even make some DVDs. Personally, I don’t find watching little videos on the web all that fun. As you imagine learning this material through crystal clear video and audio… Ah, nevermind.

Anyways, this post is really about Open-Ended Suggestion.

Open-suggestion patterns do nothing more than plant ideas in the conscious and unconscious mind, which may be used instantly or developed at a later time. There are many ways to use open-ended suggestions. You aren’t suggesting anything specific because there are numerous ways to approach an experience. The listener is free to interpret and choose their own actions.

I typically use open-ended suggestions in the beginning of a hypnotic induction, but there are a lot of ways you can integrate this into your everyday speech.

“There are a variety of ways to finish this project.” The wheels begin turning in your desired direction.

“There are so many ways you can wear this dress.” Let them think of the possibilities, not you.

“There are so many experiences a family can have with this Hawaiian vacation and travel package.” Oh, the beach, the restaurants, tours. So many possibilities.

You can be resourceful in so many ways when you use open-ended suggestions.

By the way, I will continue the Myth and Metaphor posts later this week.

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment, now.

admin :: Aug.01.2007 :: advanced language patterns, covert hypnosis :: 2 Comments »