Hypnosis Trance Levels and Testing for Depth
by: ttcoupe
Total views: 190
Word Count: 800
There are also four different stages of brain wave activity. The first stage of activity is the “Beta” stage. Beta is upper level thinking, that’s where you are right now. You are aware, rationally thinking and awake, it’s the analytical state. “Alpha” is the next stage. This is a relaxed, daydream state. It can happen in any environment and a misconception of hypnosis is that we need a quiet, calm and relaxed atmosphere for it to occur, this is not true. The “Theta” state is a dream like state where we are not completely asleep or unconscious but almost, consciousness just above sleep. And finally there is the “Delta” state, where we are unconscious and sleeping.
Testing for Depth
It’s a good idea to test to see what level of hypnosis your subject is in because your regressions, taking people back in time, will not work unless they are at the third level of hypnosis called somnambulism. At this level you have all the necessary tools to do your job. You’ve most certainly heard the word “Trance” when you hear people speaking of hypnosis or the phrase “Depth of Trance.” I don’t really like the word trance because it stirs up all kinds of images of someone being controlled or out of control and that most certainly is not the case. Trance to me is just someone with his or her eyes closed and relaxed, I don’t put any more on it than that.
Okay, so they appear to be in hypnosis, now is a good time to test for depth. There’s a million ways to do this. One of the ways I test is to give a suggestion of amnesia. “In a moment you’ll count out loud from one to ten but this time there just isn’t anything between four and eight.” I have modified this lately as some people just skipped the numbers because I told them to. Now I tell them that the numbers between four and eight will be there in their mind but they’ll be unable to speak them, “You will be unable to articulate the numbers between four and eight, they are just unspeakable numbers.” They smile and continue counting at nine or get confused because they can’t understand why they can’t say the numbers. Sometimes I’ll just regress them back to being three years old or some other very low age. I think regressing a person is the best way to test because it won’t work unless they are in deep hypnosis or somnambulism.
This testing for depth is important. When I was a newbie hypnotist I would sometimes spend a lot of time deepening the trance state before I was certain the person was actually hypnotized. I would then launch into some sort of therapy and it wouldn’t work. When it didn’t work I would then have to launch into yet another induction (using multiple inductions without the subject knowing is referred to as “Pyramiding”) then test, and then deepen. This is a gigantic time waster!
Now I deepen for a few minutes, then test to make sure my subject is indeed in hypnosis, then deepen much more. I can usually tell if the person is hypnotized by just looking at them, so about half the time I don’t even test anymore. Getting to this point just takes experience. Also some people fail the “Losing the Numbers” test but are hypnotized. This used to shake me up but I now just continue because I know they are hypnotized just by looking at them, they just don’t want to lose the numbers.
Article Source: http://www.ArticleStreet.com/profile/ttcoupe-5984.html
About the Author
Author Tim Bartley Excerpt from the book Hypno Healing by Tim Bartley http://ThoughtBecomesReality.com
Rating: Not yet rated
Latest articles contributed by "ttcoupe"
1: Illness = What Emotion? Part 22: Healing with Hypnosis
3: The Regression Healing with Hypnosis EXAMPLE – Part 2
4: Healing with Hypnosis EXAMPLE – Part 1
5: How does Hypnosis Heal? Part 1
6: Deepening Trance State
7: Waking Hypnosis & Suggestibility Tests
8: Mental Expectancy with regard to Hypnosis
9: The Feeling of Hypnosis
10: Hypnosis Fears & Misconceptions