Pueblo Colorado Sign

Traveling Hypnosis Road Show

and

OPEN-ENDED SUGGESTIONS

Every year for the past several years I have enjoyed the privilege of working for John Morgan Seminars. Right now, from early January until sometime around early spring, I’m on the road presenting Hypnosis seminars for Smoking Cessation and Weight Loss. As I mentioned in a post from September 2008, these seminars are a very effective means for people to accomplish their goals in these two areas. This even when participants face the challenge of the seminars being presented to groups that average about 50 people at a time. Last week in Colorado Springs we had 110 or so in the Smoking class. This is not exactly an ideal scenario for an Neo-Ericksonian approach that emphasizes the uniqueness of the individual.

How can it work then?

Soon to be ex-smokers in Wheeling West Virginia

I think one of the way it works is through the use of open-ended suggestions. Open-ended Suggestions are ones that are so general purpose that they’d apply to virtually any one. Statements like Coue’s famous “Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better…” could be true for anybody.

You’ll hear Milton Erickson use a lot of open ended suggestions in the second half of his video-taped session with Monde and Nick. In the second half of the video Erickson’s primary patient is Nick, about whom Erickson has very little information. Since Milton doesn’t know Nick or his presenting problem he can be nothing but open ended with Nick.

As an example, Erickson says to Nick,

It’s always a pleasure to do good work

and to do good work with good material

It’s a pleasure

Pikes Peak from Colorado Springs

Another example of open ended suggestions are used in what is referred to as “cold readings.” You’ll see this in psychic readings where the “psychic” simply makes statements that could be true for anyone.

I remember reading about an experiment done by the amazing Randi where he took a room full of college students and told them he was going to do a computerized astrological reading for all of them. He gathered all their birth times and locations and loaded it into a computer. Soon the computer spit out individualized horoscopes for each student.

They were amazed at how accurate these readings were. They felt the readings uncannily fit them to a “T”. They became convinced that there must really be something to that astrology thing after all. They felt that way, at least, until they exchanged papers and discovered that ALL of the horoscopes were exactly the same! The descriptions were universal enough to fit anyone. Statements like, “you have wide ranging interests and your true potential is not being fully realized.”

So, in these seminars, when I say to people that they have many patterns that are subconscious and now they can begin to outgrow the old way and grow into a new way, it really is true for everyone in the room.

This fine title is being brought to you by the department of redundancy department. “Unspecified Nouns” and “Unspecified Referential Index” are the same thing. They are both either unspecified people, places, or things.

What is so trancy about that, you ask? Well, whenever the listener has to go inside to wonder what exactly you’re talking about, you take a little slice of their consciousness momentarily. You are also giving them the opportunity to relate what you’ve said to themselves.
It may be a small thing but small things add up.

“People can learn these patterns rapidly.”

“It will be a delightful experience.”

“And you can drop down into that good feeling.”

They are also very useful when doing group trances because when you use unspecified nouns people can interpret what you’re saying in the way that works best for them.

“…and then you step out into the that beautiful place

so peaceful and serene

drink in your surroundings… the colors - so vibrant

listen to the sounds - are there any living creatures nearby?

reach down and feel the textures between your fingers…” 

You know, sometimes it’s fun to go out and practice these language patterns on actual people in actual situations. You know? Being respectful, of course. Write out a dozen or so examples first if you like, then go. Be daring. Do it.

Make the world a better place and put smiles on people’s faces. Notice when people are in naturally occurring trance states (elevators, cars, buses, classrooms, waiting rooms, etc.) and just speak. Make casual observances. Like, “Morning. Looks like somebody got some new shoes! Nice! You always feel like a million bucks with new shoes, don’t you?  My mother always said,  ”just stop and realize you can feel good for no good reason.” You know, like when you just don’t care what anybody else thinks and you just find yourself smiling inside? She’s right. It’s nice to do that sometimes, isn’t it? Anyway - this is my floor - have a nice day!”

Ericksonian Hypnotic Language Patterns
We all know that words alone are only a small fraction of communication. The way those words are said constitute a much higher percentage of the communication received. In the same way, Hypnotic Language Patterns are hugely effected by the way they are said. The tonality with which they are said and the tonal shifts used to emphasize particular words or phrases (as addressed in a previous Blog post) are crucial. Also vital is the pacing and tempo of how you speak.

In today’s Blog Post we’re going to take a look at the use of…

PHRASING
In our last post we touched on Christina Hall’s exquisite use of punctuational ambiguity, but I’d like to also point out her brilliant use of phrasing.

Below we have the complete statement we quoted last week that Ms. Hall attributed to Richard Bandler. However, in the first example, we’ve altered the phrasing to be more the way most people would say it. Each phrase is essentially a complete sentence. 

Read these two examples out loud to yourself noticing what happens with the difference in how they’re phrased.

“Well, you know that you can sometimes feel confused and not know…

yet continue to learn…

because your conscious mind is very smart…

and your unconscious mind also learns in a variety of ways…

so why not let it do the work for you for a while?”

- or-

“Well, you know that you can…

sometimes feel confused and not know…yet…

continue to learn   because…

your conscious mind is very smart   and…

your unconscious mind also learns in a variety of ways  so…

why not let it do the work for you for a while?”

NOTE: Chris will vocally emphasize the conjunctions and always pays exquisite attention to the inflection of her voice. (Remember the upward inflection implies questions, a downward shift is congruent with a command, etc.)

To me, when I read the first paragraph, at the end of each line my brain gets to agree or disagree; the speaker has offered a complete thought or suggestion that I get to vote on. In the second paragraph I have no such opportunity. My imagination is captured by the speaker throughout because I’m continually wondering what’s coming next.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to experience first hand the importance of this. The issue of using Hypnosis for Pain Management was to become very personal to me, as I had elected to undergo surgery without anesthesia. In preparing for the operation my colleague and I discovered that when the suggestions were delivered as in the first example below it was less effective than when delivered as in the second.

Imagine yourself in the Operating Room, all prepped and ready to go. You hear the voice that says,

“You are deep in trance.
You will experience nothing but comfort.
You will breath easily and normally.
You will experience no discomfort.
You will have minimal bleeding.
You are floating in the middle of nowhere.

Well here’s what my brain would say at the end of each line:

“You are deep in trance. (No, not that deep really.)
You will experience nothing but comfort. (OK, I really hope you’re right about that.)
You will breath easily and normally, (Doing my best! In…out… in… out)
You will experience no discomfort, (OW! What the hell was that?!)
You will have minimal bleeding. (I’m bleeding?!)
You are floating in the middle of nowhere, (I wish! But right now I acutely aware I’m in a nightmare.)

Fortunately it didn’t come to that. While I can’t quote exactly what was said because I was in a pretty decent trance, I can tell you my experience of what was said was more like this;

“And, as you float gently down
into a deep and comfortable trance
you might find that you can
follow your breath in…and…
out. That’s right…
relaxing deeper
because you know a lot about how to
go into a trance… and
you don’t even have to try…to
listen to every word  I say…
You don’t
even have to be   here
You can go…in your mind’s eye…
To a beautiful beach… with many
beautiful… people and things
to   focus your attention
there now

Another great advantage of shorter phrases is you can create a nice rhythm with your speaking that itself facilitates trance. (This is especially true if you time the pauses to your client’s breathing.) 

Here’s an Idea:
For practice and for the fun of it, write out a script of your own and use all the different language patterns we’ve learned up to now. Now, of course, this is just for practice. You would never really do this in real life. These patterns are best used when you have a good reason to use them in the service of your therapeutic goal. But you know that, I’m sure.

In classes that I teach, I recommend to my students that they fold a piece a paper in half vertically and write your script in phrases down one side of the sheet of paper first and then down the second half.

Maybe you’ll want to do that too. Won’t you?

By the Way: We highly recommend the NLP work of Chris Hall. 

You can reach her here:  www.chris-nlp-hall.com

Ericksonian Hypnotic Language Patterns
As pointed out by Dr. Robert Cialdini is his excellent book “Influence,” the word ‘because’ has an almost magical persuasive effect on people. It lends emotional credibility to whatever goes before it.

“You can use this pattern and have a tremendous effect, because people love to hear reasons for things.”

“You may find that it is easy to learn to use this pattern because ‘because’ is so powerful it almost doesn’t matter what you say afterwards.” (Really. See the section in “Influence” about this. It’s remarkable.)

A. As a strong closing, add a ‘because’ on the end of a double bind.

“I don’t know if you’ll want to stop smoking now or if you’ll want to stop in the morning, because this important development is really between you and your own unconscious mind.”

It further strengthens a because if you can successfully relate it to the person’s values. i.e. have a reason that really is important to them. As an example, if you know that the person you’re dealing with places a high value on freedom, you could say something like, “…because its your freedom that’s really on the line. (The freedom to live a long and healthy life, etc.)”

So now, I would like to suggest, like I do every week, that you stop now and write out your own examples of this language patterns and then use them in your real life today and tomorrow. Because I know you really want to gain fluency with these skills, don’t you? And, of course, the more you write them and the more you use them, the better you’ll get at them.

Have fun.

Ericksonian Hypnotic Language Patterns

Double binds are sentences that suggest your listener to do one of two things. This, however, is actually an illusion of choice because either choice is in the direction you want them to go.

As an example, if you say to your client,

“Would you like to enter trance now or would you like to try to keep your eyes open for a little longer while that delightful sense of comfort continues to fill your body?”

either way they choose to go leads them into trance.

Here is a classic example from the on-going trance world called parenting:

“Child, do you want to go to bed now or watch 5 minutes more of your video before you go to bed?”

Milton Erickson is quoted as having said to a client:

“I think your unconscious mind knows more about this than your conscious mind does, and if your unconscious mind knows more about this than your conscious mind does, then you probably know more about this than you think you do.”

Now, you can continue reading and learn more or you can write your own examples.

Someone once said repetition is the Mother of skill. Someone else said “Practice Makes Permanent.” How did your review go from last week?   We’ve now learned a dozen language patterns. That’s quite a lot, really. You know, if you were to take a therapeutic metaphor and figure out how to insert each of the patterns you’ve learned so far into it you might be pleased at how much it adds, or not. The only way to know for sure would be to test it out.

That reminds me of a story…

Ericksonian Hypnotic Language Patterns

Negative Commands/Suggestions
Before we look further at this category of language pattern a quick word…
By the term “Negative Suggestion” we don’t mean something nasty. We’re not in the business of suggesting negative things to people, like suggesting to someone that their nose will fall off.
What we’re instead doing is giving a positive suggestion hidden within something that sounds like you’re not saying that.
Confused? Great. So glad I could help.

Maybe this will be better…
The brain doesn’t compute negations. If you say to someone, “Don’t think of the color purple,” what do you suppose they begin to think about? What color are you thinking about? So you can direct your listener’s attention by saying “don’t do” exactly what you’d like them to do.

A. Don’t _____too quickly (or too soon)…

“Don’t use these language patterns too soon to empower others now.

“Don’t go into a trance too quickly, Monde.”

B. I wouldn’t tell you to _______, because…
(more about the word ‘because’ in future entries.)

“I wouldn’t tell you to practice these patterns everyday, because you might just get too good.’

“I wouldn’t tell you to go into a trance now, because it’s important for you to discover for yourself how quickly or slowly is right for you.”

C. I could tell you that_____ but…

“I could tell you that learn these patterns will be far easier and fun than you probably imagine, but I would rather let you enjoy that discovery yourself.”

This is another great way to avoid resistance. (Note also that in this example we have sacrificed correct grammar so the sake of a good command.)

Now, I wouldn’t tell you to write your own examples, because as you discover your best way of learning, you’ll know the best way to learn is by doing. Write them out. Practice. Say them aloud to a human being with the proper tonal shift.

I could tell you to go out there and use them, but I know you’d rather see for yourself.

Ericksonian Hypnotic Language Patterns

Tag Questions —
are little questions added on to the end of a statement that change it into a question. They are also referred to as “tie downs.” Tag Questions are similar to the previous pattern the “Resistance Dodge,” but different.

Rather than dodging resistance, with tag questions you are endeavoring to get agreement, aren’t you?
They soften a statement into a question, don’t they?
They can be very useful, or they can be overdone and obnoxious, can they not?

Tonality is again a HUGE component in the same way we talked in the earlier post entitled: “Patterns of Indirect Suggestion.” If you lift the pitch of your voice at the end of the sentence, it is heard as a question. Tag questions are, of course, questions, I know, but they are responded to as a question when you lift your pitch upwards like a question. Specifically meaning the person tends to go inside their mind and search around to find whether they agree or not. Conversely, if you drop your vocal pitch toward the end of the sentence, it is responded to as a command. The listener will tend to do less internal processing and simply agree.

Do it for yourself and see what I mean.

Say the above examples first with the question tonal shift up and then with the command tonal shift downward. Notice the difference.

(Now do this: read the last two sentences aloud, starting with “Say the above…”, and as you say the last sentence lift the pitch of your voice upwards at the end so it sounds like a question. “Notice the difference?”
And then say those two sentences again but drop the pitch of your voice right at the end so it sounds like a command, “Notice the DIFFERENCE.”

Can you begin to appreciate the vast difference that makes?

There are times when you WANT the question effect and other times when you want the command effect. Notice what happens in your own mind when you hear them in the different ways. Imagine when and how those differences will be useful.

Time Shifts
You can also use tag questions to very subtly shift time perception.

In the following example how I begin by pacing the client’s experience, use a tag question to shift the time frame of the client’s issue from the present to the past… and then utilize tag questions to shift the focus:

“Yes, that is a terrible problem, wasn’t it? It’s nice to be getting some distance from it, haven’t you?”

Many people enjoy changing the time frame from present to the past, or past to future, etc, haven’t they? Won’t you?

Now, write your own examples. The best way to learn is by doing. Write them out. Practice. Say them aloud to a human being with the proper tonal shift.

Write at least ten and then use them. Use them on salesmen, use them on your children, use them with clients or your boss. Just go out there and use them! See for yourself. And remember, when you use them you own them, don’t you?