Ideodynamic signalling

At the last meet in London Ben demonstrated this technique, which he's been working on recently. I think it's pretty cool, so I asked Ben whether he'd like to write about it in a guest post for BlackMeridian. He said he would, so here it is.

Ideodynamic signalling
- hard to say or write, but easy to do!

by Ben White.

Just a quick observation before we get in to the article/exercise: On writing this, I discover that “pre-talk” is just another word for “introduction”. I find myself wondering what else in my life could be improved by formulating my introductions more carefully...

“Hypnosis happens when you concentrate and imagine something so strongly it becomes reality,” Reg Blackwood

OK Pre-talk over lets get in some hypnosis:

The exercise in this article uses ideodynamic signalling to allow you to experience control over your state by consciously communicating with your unconscious. Sounds like a mouthful, but couldn't be easier.

This is also a great exercise for those who find it difficult or easy to enter trance alike, so follow the instructions below and enjoy the experience.

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Get comfortable and take a deep breath and just take a moment to focus on yourself: how you're sitting, your shoulders and generally how you feel.
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Now hold up a hand in front of you at a level that you feel represents how alert and awake you feel. There's no right or wrong here, so just allow it to sit at a level that feels appropriate.
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Excellent, you can already see that your unconscious mind has chosen a place somewhere in the middle.
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In a moment, I want you to ask your unconscious mind to allow your hand to go up just a little, hold it for a moment and then come back down to the normal level. I want you to notice what it feels like to be more alert for a moment!

Go ahead and do that now and afterwards, tell your keyboard (or leave comments) what you noticed about being even more alert and awake than normal.
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You just discovered how to make yourself more awake by raising your arm and then, you made yourself less awake by bringing it back down! Have another go if you like – ask your unconscious mind to take your hand a little higher, before bringing it back down to the normal level.

You have just learnt how to manipulate your state! How exciting is that!? Next time you feel yourself falling asleep at your desk, try that out again and see how much more awake you feel.

The next part of the exercise is to ask your unconscious to allow your hand to come down a little bit to allow your unconscious to show you what its like to go (further?) in to trance. Remember to allow your hand to go back up to normal. Go ahead and do that now: ask your unconscious to allow your hand to drop a little to experience a light level of trance before bringing it back up to normal.
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So what did that feel like? Did you notice any changes to your vision? How about sound? Perhaps you didn't really notice anything at all or perhaps you'll realise what happened a bit later. Whatever you did or didn't notice; it doesn't matter because you're now learning to go into and out of trance at will!
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So far, you've asked your unconscious to show you a more awake state and a light level of trance.

Now ask your unconscious to take your hand down a little lower this time, experience the trance state for a moment and then bring your hand then higher to the normal level. Do it now and describe your experience once again.
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What happened that time? Perhaps a slight change in your vision? A quietening of the surrounding room or was your concentration so focused internally that you didn't even notice?
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OK, so you can see where this is going: once again I'd like you to ask your unconscious to drop your hand again this time even further, before once more allowing it to rise to your normal level. Go ahead and do it now.
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How did that feel? Are you starting to get an understanding of how your unconscious already knows how to go in to trance?

Feel free to repeat the exercise, however I would advise you to set yourself a positive outcome and time limit - “take my hand down for 1 minute so that I can relax and really learn how it feels to be hypnotised so I can enter trance at will or under instruction from a hypnotist I trust, before raising my hand back up to normal wakefulness.” or something from your own excellent imagination.

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As a practitioner of trance myself, I love this exercise and I use it regularly as a really excellent and relatively quick way of allowing someone to enter trance. It is an induction, deepener and sits (in my opinion) very much in line with the classic rehearsal induction. You will often find that after each repetition that the hypnotic's hand will not actually return to the same level as they originally started at – that's because each time they go in to trance, they're not coming back up as far, thus easing themselves into trance: fractionation!

I also like it because it raises (in my mind at least) many interesting questions about hypnosis:

Is “trance” a different state? If your unconscious mind chose a level of wakefulness that was in the middle of the possible range, then are you in fact existing in some permanent form of trance? If not, then does hypnosis really exist?

What of the unconscious mind itself: Was that your unconscious taking you up and down, higher and lower or your conscious command? Do you really need a metaphorical lever to change your state?

I can heartily recommend Rossi and Cheek's “Mind Body Therapy” (US link) which is where the idea for this came from.

Thank you for reading and please feel free to leave comments or discuss your experiences with us online at Uncommon Knowledge or my YouTube channel.

I would also like to thank Parkey for asking me to be his first guest writer: I am honoured!

Ben White
http://www.practitioneroftrance.com/