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What makes hypnosis hypnotic?
Use of the voice
To begin to induce a trance we must begin to slow the voice down, and speak with a softer tone. This sends a message to the unconscious mind that says it is ok to relax.
Nominalizations
A common trick that many good hypnotists use is to pepper their scripts with words called nominalizations. A nominalization is a word that linguists give to a verb or adjective that has been turned abstract noun such as confidence, peace, tranquility and calm. These words mean different things to different people and because of this when a person hears one of these words, they have to turn inward to find out what it means for them
Here is a list of nominalizations to get you started:
Comforting Peaceful Tranquil Calm Pleasant Quiet Serene Love Beautiful Attractive Relax Warm Affectionate Soothing Gentle Reassuring Rest Confident Secure Free Kind Funny Humorous Healthy Good Delicious Interesting Curious Fascinating Enchanting
Exercise two
Come up with some nominalizations of your own, and rewrite the script that you wrote in exercise one using nominalizations to describe the experience. Try recording this and playing it to yourself. You could even read it to someone.
Example
I am sitting outside of a café in southern Italy savoring some delicious pistachio ice cream with a few friends – we are all under a parasol. There is a warm sea breeze that I can feel on my face. The sun is shining, melting the ice cream, so I am having to eat it quickly. As I look out onto the beautiful green ocean I can see a few fishing boats on their way in to land. The sky is a tranquil blue with the odd cloud drifting gently by, and I can see the odd bird flying freely. The beach that is in between us and the sea is busy with people sunbathing, affectionate couples walking hand in hand, and the faint echo of children laughing and screaming in the distance whilst they play. Time itself seems to take on a different meaning relaxing here watching the world go by...
For most people this will be enough to take them into a light trance, but how will you know when you are in trance?
What does it feel like to be in hypnosis?
Here are some of the classic symptoms of being in trance that you may experience as you work through these exercises:
Perhaps the most obvious of all symptoms is the stillness from the muscle relaxation that takes place. Although you can be in hypnosis and not be relaxed, when sitting or lying down hypnotized subjects can go for long periods with little or no movement, often caused by what some people refer to as REM paralysis.
You may experience fluttering eyelids and also rapid eye movements – this is particularly common when a lot of visualization is being done.
Very often, you will find that you will become so focused on an idea that you will forget where you are from time to time. One description that of hypnosis that I had heard recently is "what happens when the room disappears", and this characterizes the idea very well that you can become so absorbed in the day-dream like state.
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