Rapid and Instant Inductions: How to Increase your Success Rate

Hey Everyone,
This is an article from my blog, but I thought it would fit in good here. I hope you all enjoy.
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I have been working with some other hypnotists outside of the Columbus, Georgia area lately. I have been helping them out, teaching, whatever you may call it. One of the first things most people ask me about are the ever so popular Instant and Rapid Inductions.

Instant and Rapid Inductions are a technique some hypnotists use to get a person in hypnosis within just a couple of seconds or a few min. Typically instant inductions take about 10 seconds or less and Rapid Inductions are 4 min or less. Anyone who has been to a decent stage show has more than likely seen these techniques use. They are real and no it isn’t something the Hypnotists does to fool the crowd.

Instant and Rapid Inductions are great for a number of reasons. One reason is they save time. Progressive relaxations can take a while and hypnosis is not promised when you use this method. Thus the word relaxation. Still when I’m doing street hypnosis or working with a client I want to give them all the time possible for change. So quicker inductions work for me. In some cases I will use some type of relaxation induction as such when I work with clients who have some form of discomfort or clients who have some type of medical conditions which keeps me from using a faster style induction.

Now I got a little off track, but hey knowledge is knowledge correct? Now when hypnotists in training ask me about Instant and Rapid Inductions they always start asking me about the procedures. They want to know how fast to move their hand from the clients hand? What angle do I need to use when doing a arm pull? Do I need to stroke the back of their neck, head or whatever? They ask all these questions in attempt to learn the induction, but in reality they are just making it harder on themselves. Yes, technique does play a part in the induction process, but a very small part in my opinion. Instant and Rapid Inductions look hard, but in reality they are quite easy. They do look as if they would be complicated so I can understand someone asking a million questions.

Do I recommend someone to watch a youtube video and go out and start doing these inductions. The answer to that question is a simple no. It is true that some people will be able to successful hypnotize someone if they mimic a video and watch it enough, but I promise you that your overall success rate will not be that high. You may see someone shake someones hand and yell sleep and witness the person drop to the floor or slump into his or her seat, but their is so much more involved. Trust me, I’m a hypnotist, I know. I recommend a person have some type of hypnotic knowledge beforehand, at least some basic understanding of suggestion formation, safety and how to control the situation.

Once again I went a little off track, but that’s okay. So when people ask me all these technically questions I tell them the simple truth “The stuff you are asking me doesn’t matter at all” Some may feel like their money has been wasted……until I tell them why the stuff they are asking doesn’t matter. I explain to them that in reality inductions don’t even exist. I tell the people I’m working with I could show you hundreds of inductions. I could show you every little movement, but a induction is nothing more than a ritual. They are steps we go through to convince ourselves it’s working and to convince the person we are hypnotizing. Technically anything can be a induction when the properly set up is in place.

I could drop a pen to the floor and send 100 people in trance. I could walk up to someone and just move my hand down his eyes and get hypnosis. How you ask? How can anything become a induction? It’s easy and here is what must be done. You must set up the induction. The induction is the easy part. The set up is where a little bit of work and knowledge comes into play. Now, I’m not saying everyone will go into hypnosis just by you saying sleep, but if you set up everything properly than you will find that you now have a freedom you never had before. You will find your success rate increases as well as your confidence. You will find it easier to perform re-inductions and more. The freedom to look at any induction and break it down, the ability to create your own inductions on the fly. A master of your own inductions. Now how cool is that one?

1. You must talk with the person beforehand. We call it a pre-talk. I covered this before on this blog, but you must talk with the person you are working with. It is important to talk to them about hypnosis, explain the truth behind it, help them to understand the process and remove any fears they may have. The truth is some people fear hypnosis more than death, seriously. Now in a office setting a pre-talk can last anywhere from 15 min to 30 min, but when you are doing street hypnosis you should try to keep it to about 1 min to 2 min. In the beginning if it takes you longer that’s okay. As you get better you will be able to give a faster pre-talk. Hypnosis is just like anything out it requires practice.

The main points you want to cover are some of the fears people have about hypnosis such as getting stuck in hypnosis which isn’t possible. Telling their deepest secrets, which also won’t happen, doing something against their morals or ethics, which also won’t happen. You just want to touch on these subjects and than make sure to ask if they have any questions. Make them feel comfortable about hypnosis. This will also help in building rapport as they will look at you as the expert. It may be your first time, but be confidence and you will be find.

2. You must build build expectation and set it up where the client is looking forward to entering hypnosis. Let them know that just entering hypnosis can have benefits such as relaxation, reduced stress and etc. Let them know it going to feel great. I mean whatever you want to say is fine, but you must build up expectation. This is a very important step and don’t skip over it. In a way expectation makes it where the client is happy to do as you ask because they can’t wait to see what hypnosis is all about.

3. The next thing you need to do is obtain permission, consent or implied consent. It’s very easy to do and a step many people forget. I like to simply ask the person if they would now like to be hypnotized and if they say “yes” I than ask them to give themselves mental permission to enter hypnosis. Do you have to do it this way, no, but it works for me. I have found that telling the client to give “themselves” permission is much more powerful than me asking permission to hypnotize them. See, they are giving themselves permission and this works great. Once you get permission, which you can work into your talk you have just increased your success rate.

4 & 5. The next two items actually are done throughout the whole process. The step above is actually the last step before performing your induction. These following steps are very important and for some reason two of the hardest steps. The first one is Confidence. You must have confidence in yourself and your ability as a hypnotist. I will tell you now, you may be able to hypnotize a couple of people without confidence, but you will have a poor success rate. The person you are hypnotizing will be able to tell in most cases if you are not confidence and would you let someone who didn’t look comfortable or confidence in their abilities hypnotize you? I wouldn’t that’s for sure.

Remember you are the Hypnotist. You are the one running the show. Most times a person will be primed for hypnosis just because you are “the hypnotist”. They figure you are the expert and they are giving up some form of trust to you. So if you don’t have confidence, imagine you are confidence or pretend what it would be like to be confidence. Imagine this person entering a deep level of trance and everything going well. The next step and final step is take control.

Now I’m not talking about being mean to the person or being aggressive. Taking control means you are in control of the situation. For instance, if you are on a slope or a hill you may want to control the situation and ask the person to move with you to a better location. Now if you are in a office just make sure the client is comfortable and safe. You can choose to be direct with the person or you can choose to be passive. How do you know which style to use? Time will tell and practice. If one thing isn’t working then switch it up. Either way choose and take control. Remember you are the hypnotist, not the other person. They need you to take control and make this happen.

Now, if you follow these tips I promise you your success rate will jump through the roof. This is the method most of us use to get the results we get. You will also find that each person you successfully hypnotize will boost your confidence. In most cases it will become easier and easier to perform a induction with the person if they are pre-conditioned as well. Now will you still be able to hypnotize some people without following these steps, maybe, but you will not have a very high success rate. Now does following these steps mean you will be able to just say sleep, no. It may take some conditioning, but when doing these steps you are stacking the cards in your favor.

So in reality you really don’t need to know every movement of a induction down to the smallest details. Just set it up correctly and copy the induction to the best of your ability. Even better, take the time, study, practice and start creating your own. Report back to me and let me know what you think up. I’m just a e-mail away if you ever need help. Well I know if you have found this blog and read this article you are one step closer to mastering instant and rapid inductions.

If your interesting in learning more about instant and rapid inductions than keep an eye out because I will be releasing a DVD soon with my business associate Taylor Sherman that will change the way you view instant and rapid inductions.