And for an encore...

"I have made your arm completely rigid, stuck the palm of your hand to your head, and stuck your other hand to your thigh. For an encore, would you like me to hypnotise you?"

Recently I carried out my first non-induction hypnosis session with a subject I'd never hypnotised before. I have to say that the experience left me on a complete high as a hypnotist and I am looking forward to trying out on more people. Of course it is a nice demonstration of the view that in hypnosis the induction is more a ritual for the benefit of the subject than anything else.

The way I approached this most recent session was that I dropped my usual routine of trying a new subject out with a set piece like magnetic hands and then moving on to an induction like the rehearsal induction. This time I felt that I should be a lot bolder and just go straight in for some waking hypnosis before I even did an induction.

I should say that my inspiration for my method was mostly taken from demonstrations I have seen done by Simon Goodlad and James Tripp, who writes the Hypnosis Without Trance blog. They really know their stuff, and seeing these guys at work at various hypnosis meets over the last year or so has been absolutely awesome and a real education in itself.

So what did I do? Well, I started with something like this:

"Okay, before I do any hypnosis let's just start with a little exercise. Let's see how good your imagination is. Just go with this and we'll see what happens. Give me that arm, that's good."

I took my subject's arm, supporting it with both hands.

"That's it, just relax your arm, give it to me; That's right, completely."

"Now, I want you to imagine what it would be like if that arm was actually made of something very stiff. What if it were made of wood, or perhaps solid stone..."

At this point I was engaged in the process of putting their arm in mid air. This is the process of inducing catalepsy, making someone's muscles become stiff and rigid, and it is quite easily achieved if you direct someones attention away from that part of the body, whilst at the same time manipulating it ambiguously such that it becomes unclear who is actually supporting it. Obviously I started off taking all the weight of the arm, but by gradually removing that support whilst keeping the arm in place it is possible to get the subject to take the weight back without even realising it. Tapping on the ends of their fingers and along their arm helps this along.

"...just imagine that arm is getting stiffer and stiffer. Imagine what it would be like if you could not bend that arm..."

I kept this up and after about a minute the arm was happily supporting itself and as I tapped it various points along its length I could tell that the muscles were all locked tight. Time to test it.

"In a moment you're going to try to bend that arm and what you're going to find is that you can't; in fact, the more you try to bend it the stiffer it will become."

The arm was locked tight, it didn't bend one bit.

I wasn't even sure my subject was trying, but trying they were. I moved on to say that they couldn't move it, but I could, and it would stay where it was put, which it did. Next I bent the arm and stuck their hand to their head, then took their other hand and stuck it to their thigh. I kept this up for a minute or so, but then I told them that when I snapped my fingers they would come free.

"Well, that was fun. It seems that you have a great imagination. Now, would you like to try hypnosis?"

it was from here that I went into the 8-word induction and my subject dropped like a sack of potatoes. Of course they did; they were already hypnotised.

I think that there is an important lesson here, because I have spoken to a couple of hypnotists in the past who have told me of times that they used a rapid induction like the 8-word induction and that when they did it failed to hypnotise the subject.

Hypnosis isn't about some magic effect generated by a specific set of actions, and it doesn't happen because there is anything special about what is said and done during an induction. Hypnosis is about the relationship between the hypnotist and the subject. It's bond formed from a healthy mix of context, anticipation, expectation, imagination and positive rapport that comes out of every piece of interaction between these two people.

On numerous occasions I have seen both Simon and James have subjects with their hand completely stuck to something, unable to remember their name, and all sorts of other crazy suggestions whilst at the same time insisting that no, they haven't been hypnotised. They demonstrate so well that no formal induction is needed to get these amazing results, and of course you can use it as a springboard to go into a more conventional routine.

I think this approach has several advantages. Firstly there is no pressure on the subject when you induce a suggestible state in them because "this isn't hypnosis, it's just a exercise for your imagination". It gives the subject a chance, that isn't intimidating, to try out the foothills of hypnosis before deciding that they want to take things further.

Secondly it means that when you, the hypnotist, come to do your "induction" you are all but guaranteed an excellent response. You can use a rapid induction and your audience will see you putting someone "under" in an impressively short instant. It's good for the subject too; I got a real kick when a subject once told me that my hand drop induction had been an incredible rush for them, like jumping from a cliff.

There is also, of course, the advantage that if it doesn't work you haven't "failed to hypnotise" anyone. In fact this approach, "let's see how good your imagination is", challenges the subject to use their imagination, and of course the subtext here is that if it has no effect the problem lies with the subject and not the hypnotist.

So for any hypnosis I find it's best to think about it like this: Engage with your subject to achieve the hypnotic state first, and then, only after that, do your induction - if you feel you even have to.