Here’s a quick demonstration of the most reliable hypnosis deepener: fractionation. Fractionation relies on a basic hypnotic phenomenon, so with a willing subject, it always works.

What is fractionation? It’s the process of repeatedly taking someone into hypnosis, leaving them there very briefly, and taking them back out again.

The whole process only takes a minute or two, and always gets them into a deep, somnambulistic trance. Watch the video now, and I’ll say a few more things about it below.

It Can Even Be Used for Self-Hypnosis

While it’s normally used to help other people go deeper, you can see in the video that simply by demonstrating fractionation, I fall into a moderate trance myself!

Built-In Testing

One thing I like about fractionation is that it builds in a lot of testing. For example:

• On the first few rounds, when clients open their eyes, they refocus on you. But as they go deeper, they usually stop doing this and look straight ahead, leaving you in their peripheral vision.
• As they go deeper, their eyelids become perfectly still while closed. In the video, mine never get to this point, so you know I’m not super deep (one of these days I’ll do a video while in a somnambulistic trance…). Eyelid flutter in light hypnosis is a good sign, but it almost always vanishes as yo go deeper.
• Then there’s the explicit test. Once they enter somnambulism, the subject stops anticipating your next action, and simply waits for it. So when I break the rhythm of “three, two, … one,” they not only don’t open their eyes early, their eyelids don’t even twitch. So you know you’re there.
• On that last round, I like to wait at least ten seconds before saying “one,” because it seems to send them even deeper that way.
• It’s no big deal if you do the test too early and they open their eyes before you say “one.” If you’ve seen any of the other signs, they’re in at least a moderate level of hypnosis, and you can just say, “Sleep! … You’re doing very well,” and smoothly move on to your second-favorite deepener.

Where Did Fractionation Come From?

Fractionation is attributed to German physician Oskar Vogt, who realized around 1903 that subjects tend to go into hypnosis faster and deeper in each successive session, and so he tried bringing them into and out of hypnosis many times, very quickly, to give them a zillion sessions’ worth of practice in just a couple of minutes. It worked! Continue Reading...

I did a short video on a simple hypnotic induction starting with what’s called an “eye roll” in the biz, and ending with suggestions that your eyes are so relaxed that they’ll refuse to open (which is from the classic Dave Elman induction).

You’ll find this works with a little practice. Just follow along with the video until you have the steps memorized, and you’ll be able to do it on your own for self-hypnosis, or amaze your friends (or perhaps irritate them) by trying it out on them.

Hypnotic inductions are easier than people think, since hypnosis is a natural state we all go into and out of every day, and all an induction needs to do is get you just deep enough that you’ll accept a suggestion to go a little deeper.

What’s Next? Deepening

Once you’ve got that working, the next step is to go deeper, followed ideally by using the power of hypnosis to facilitate a useful change. Which I cover in my post (with video) on the sure-fire fractionation deepener. Continue Reading...

I was just featured in a local newspaper, The Corvalls Advocate, in “Alternative Health in Corvallis: Six Professional Profiles.”

Journalist Stevie Beisswanger not only interviewed me, but experienced my services at first hand: she received a full hypnosis session and desribes it in the article. So if you’re wondering what an unbiased source thinks, take a look!

Another of the featured alternative practitioners is Michaela Lonning, “the counselor next door” (literally: her office is right next to mine). Michaela is particularly gifted at working with highly intelligent or highly sensitive folks who have bounced off traditional therapy or couldn’t bring themselves to give it a try.

Four other practitioners are also featured. Sadly, I haven’t met any of them:

• Chiropractor Jason Young
• Naturopath and acupuncturist Deborah Nixdorf
• Acupuncturist Leyna Jensen
• Yoga instructor Lisa Wells

None of the folks featured in the article are “alternative” in the sense of “never see a physician ever again.” That would be nuts! My clients understand this already. They all see their doctors first for doctor-y things. (Sometimes their doctors send them to me for hypnosis-y things.) Continue Reading...

Figure 1. Superliminals are everywhere!

Do you wonder if there’s anything to this “subliminal messaging” thing, where you’re being influenced in ways you don’t detect? Well, you are! But not in the ways you think.

People think about subliminal messages in terms of images that flash on the screen too fast to notice consciously, or words spoken too softly to notice consciously. The idea is that the message will be picked up by the unconscious mind (or subconscious mind—same thing), but the conscious mind doesn’t notice. Sort of like hypnosis, but in a context where, instead of getting assistance with the issue of your choice, you’re ambushed by someone else’s agenda.

So here are five things you should know about subliminal messaging:

1. Before Worrying About the Subliminals, Notice the SUPERliminals

For an example of the superliminal vs. subliminal issue, look at Figure 1. Because this pinup calendar picture was distributed to machine shops and garages across the country, the depiction of a lathe is relevant and sensible. But the scantily clad young woman doesn’t belong there (if she did, she’d be wearing steel-toed shoes, not ballet slippers). The concept of superliminals is to add an element that is powerful yet irrelevant, hoping for a response like: “What a great company, to put out calendars like this!” With superliminals, all subtlety is cast aside. You’re supposed to notice. Continue Reading...