Fuerza Cortante Norma Sismorresistente 2003: Tabla 41: Cortante basal Dinámico

‘Prepare’ means to have your subject sitting comfortably, ready to relax. While there is no need for soft music or a dark room, it’s best to avoid bright lights or noisy surroundings. Where possible, take the phone off the hook, switch off mobiles, and make sure that you won’t be disturbed for half an hour or so. Your subject should ideally be open to whatever will happen (they don’t need to ‘believe’ in hypnosis), not too nervous but not bouncily overenthusiastic either. Bear in mind that you are not really inducing a special state, although you will talk as if you are. Instead, you are utilizing the subject’s expectations and beliefs. So if you appear unconvinced at the start that he will be a good subject, the chances are that he won’t respond well. You must be confident, unflustered, and act as if you’ve done it a hundred times before, even if you haven’t.

INDUCE LIGHT STAGES OF TRANCE METHOD ONE: TENSION/RELEASE

This is a simple, direct way of kicking off a hypnotic session. It works well with groups, where one-on- one suggestions would take too long, as would waiting for each person to drift off. Have the subject close his eyes and tense up every muscle in his body. Tell him to make sure that he keeps breathing normally, but to tense the muscles in his feet, legs, stomach, chest, shoulders, arms and fists. Have him hold it like that, then tell him to relax. As he relaxes, there will be a certain response you know he will experience. You can pace the fact that his body will grow heavier in the chair, then lead this into behaviours you want at this stage. For example, ‘And as your body grows heavier and your breathing becomes relaxed and regular, so too you can listen to me as you sink down in the chair and let yourself start to drift off comfortably.’

METHOD TWO: EYE CLOSURE

Alternatively, have your seated subject look up at a point near the top of the wall in front of him. This is to make sure that his eyes are looking upwards, but not uncomfortably. Instruct him to relax as he looks at that point. This is a classic clinical induction used by many therapists, who sometimes like to use an odd

or flamboyant object to induce the trance in this way, rather than just a spot on the wall.

Pace the fact that he is sitting there, listening to you, looking at that object, and lead into the desired behaviour. This is like the watch example earlier. Use the same sort of language. You know that eventually his eyes will grow a bit tired and want to blink, so don’t be frightened to predict that behaviour, but instead make it sound like the onset of a trance in your seamless flow of layered suggestions. As he listens to you and looks at the wall, so too he can allow that relaxation to spread over his body and allow his eyes to grow comfortably heavy as he continues to sit there, and as he feels his arms on the chair he can feel his eyelids wanting to close, and as they blink he can allow himself to relax more into a nice trance . . .

DEEPEN THE TRANCE

Remember, there is no real trance to deepen. However, the idea of going deeper into a special state is easy for the subject to visualize, and engages his imagination in the right way. So, once you can see that the subject is a little slumped, has his eyes closed and has clearly relaxed, you need to amplify that relaxation.

The easiest way is to have him imagine himself at the top of a staircase. Tell him that each step down will relax him more and take him deeper into the sleep. This is a good point to allow for any future confusion the subject might experience. He is not going to become a zombie, and he will remain aware of what you’re saying throughout. If he expects actually to fall asleep, or to experience something extraordinary, he will be disappointed, and might decide that it isn’t working. Again, we see that the importance lies in working with the subject’s belief, for he must be convinced that he is indeed going into a trance and that everything is proceeding as planned. So it’s a good idea to tell the subject that as he finds himself going deeper into the trance, he will still hear and understand everything you say, and will be aware of himself going into the trance. This phrase nicely utilizes the fact that he will remain aware of what’s happening and focuses that awareness on a useful aspect of the proceedings.

Tell him you will count from one to ten as he walks down the stairs, and that when you reach ‘ten’ he will be at the bottom of the stairs and in a profound state of relaxation. Have him walk down, and pace everything that is happening (as I count, as you take each step, as you breathe, as you listen to me, so each step, each number, each word can take you deeper).

CARRY OUT YOUR HYPNOTIC WORK

For now, let’s use this staircase to create a useful place for our subject to return to whenever he likes. This will also allow you to practise well without worrying about failure.

At the bottom of the stairs, tell him to see a door in front of him. Explain that this door leads out to a beautiful garden; a perfect, idyllic setting that will be his very own to return to whenever he wants. Tell him to take hold of the door handle and get ready to open it. Now instruct him to go through, and immediately begin to describe a multi-sensory experience, while allowing him to find details for himself. Don’t talk about paths or specific components of the garden, or, if you do, clarify that you want him to place those things in there. Remember to include the things he can feel, hear and smell. Tell him to feel the warmth of the sun on his face, and the gentle breeze that keeps the temperature at a perfect level. Emphasize that he should make this garden as delightful as possible, so that he can relish coming back here whenever he wants.

INTRODUCING PHYSICAL SUGGESTIONS

that will provide you with feedback and help you deepen the trance even more. Suggest that there is a nice chair in the garden in just the perfect spot, and that he should go and sit in it. Have him then notice that his right arm is very heavy, so heavy that he can imagine it stuck to the arm of the chair. Have him imagine a force binding his arm to the arm of the chair, and then have him try to lift it in a way that presupposes failure on his part. For example, the words ‘try as hard as you can to unstick your arm’ create a powerful suggestion: now he is putting effort into trying, which presupposes that he won’t be able to do it, and the words ‘stick your arm’ will effectively echo in his mind.

He may at this point a) lift the arm in the air, b) struggle to lift it but fail, or c) sit motionless as if he is putting no effort into it at all. Option b) suggests the best type of subject, and is the clearest and most useful pointer to you that he is responsive. Where he does not move at all, you can presume that he is so relaxed that he has taken the suggestion to mean that he simply can’t summon up the effort even to try. If he just lifts his arm, he will hopefully at least find it heavy. In which case, treat it like a success, and say, ‘Excellent – and as you notice how oddly heavy that arm has become, let it take you down now even deeper into the state as you bring it back down and just let go and relax . . .’ See what you did? You’re even acknowledging his confusion or tension which might have resulted from it not working, and offering him the chance to ‘let go’ and relax by going deeper into the trance. He should accept this with relief and go with it, even if you find that he’s not a terrific subject.

If this suggestion has proved successful and you want to take things further, now tell him that his other arm is getting lighter. Have him imagine a helium balloon tied to his left wrist and all the natural heaviness draining out of his arm – as he starts to notice how light it is becoming. Presuppose the increasing weightlessness, talk about it becoming ‘lighter and lighter’, and have him wait for it to start moving up in the air all on its own. When the instructions to allow the hand to rise slowly into the air are mixed with plenty of pacing, this can be a very effective suggestion. Because you are working against the natural heaviness of the hand following all the relaxation that has taken place, this might take a while to get going. However, it is important to be constantly encouraging, so remember to pick up on every movement that happens and build on it, incorporating it into the pacing. Pace the feeling of the hand coming away from the arm of the chair. Pace and lead and presuppose that hand into the air. If the hand twitches its way upwards, tell him to wait for the next twitch that will send it rising. Let him feel that it’s really working and it will.

When the hand has risen as high as you feel it will go, you can then have the subject allow it to come down, and in doing so suggest that he will sink deeper into the trance. The relief that the subject feels as the arm levitation concludes is enough to make this ‘deepening’ technique very effective. When you find that you can make this work well, you can use it as a way of starting the induction from a waking state. I would generally use this ‘arm levitation’ at the start of the session, as it can be very convincing for the subject and a nice way for me to tell how responsive he is. I have the subject keep his eyes open as his hand comes up to his face, and then have him close his eyes and drift into a sleep as it comes back down again. When the hand first moves he will often laugh or express surprise, but by the time it has picked up speed and come up to the face, he should appear dazed and dreamy; my levitation instructions are accompanied by a flow of suggestions that the subject ‘need not drift off into a profound and comfortable trance until that hand touches you on the face and your eyes can finally close properly’ (a massive and layered presupposition that the trance will occur and that the eyes will meanwhile grow heavier and heavier and close as a final expression of relief). What works to make the arm move, seemingly of its own accord, is the fascinating phenomenon of ‘ideomotor movement’, which we discussed earlier.

As we are using this session and the imaginary garden to offer our subject a useful technique to use himself whenever he likes, we must also explain to him now that he can re-create the trance for himself. Have him lie on the grass in the garden, and re-create all the wonderful feelings and sensations that accompany it. Then tell him that by finding a quiet time when he will be undisturbed, he can close his eyes

and imagine the staircase once again. Explain that by imagining himself going down the stairs and through the door he will be able to return to the garden and enjoy the benefits of the relaxation it offers. He can use this to ‘re-charge’, to clear his head or to help him get to sleep. He can use it while revising for an exam, as it may help to be able to review his revised material in such a relaxed state. Talk him back through the procedure and also assure him that when he uses this on his own he will be able to open his eyes and wake up whenever he wants.

Finally, emphasize the importance of his using this regularly at first, in order to lock it in the mind. If he neglects it, it will be difficult to bring back.

FULLY AWAKEN THE SUBJECT

The final stage is to bring the subject fully out of the state and make sure that he is fully refreshed. I would have him imagine walking through the door and back up the stairs as I count back from ten to zero, as this will further cement in his mind the idea that he can go back down at a later date to return to the garden. Explain that as he walks up the stairs he will feel all the drowsiness and heaviness leave him, but that he need not open his eyes until he reaches ‘zero’, which will be at the top. Then slowly take him back up the stairs and allow your voice to become more natural and chatty as you reach the very top. Instruct him to open his eyes and be fully wide awake.

Use this time to get further feedback from the subject. Was the garden real for him? What did it feel like? Ask him how long he felt it took: a good subject will tend to think it took far less time than it did. It’s not uncommon for an hour-long session to feel like ten minutes. Reiterate the importance of using the self-hypnotic technique regularly until he can slip into it easily, and you’re done.