In a discussion at Hypno-Sex which continues in the Hypnosis Technique Exchange, Richard Rumble wrote:

With any stage show.. the EXPECTATION of the group that gets them into the hypnosis.. NOT the induction you use…. If you have really preped up audience that is ready to go… you can tell them that as they come onstage and sit down they will find themselves falling into trance as soon as the butt hits the chair….

Ah, shucks, there you go, you done and did it! Folks, Richard has just revealed the Most Inner Secret of the Hidden Order of Really Good Hypnotists Who Don’t Suck . . . this principle isn’t just for stage hypnotists, it is the guiding light for any rapid or instant or long drawn out induction set. It is the reason why Elman and any other hypnotist worth his salt says that “anything” can be used as an induction. Anything.

This is what separates the chafe from the wheat.

Inductions are ritual sets . . . they create a context for hypnosis but it is the imaginative involvement that is the key, not the induction. One reason the Elman works so well is that it relies heavily upon tests and convincers, they are there to allow the subject to realize something new and different is going on which exponentially increases their imaginative involvement and accelerates the process of critical factor bypass. Wham, bam, thank you, . . .

Excitation of the imagination through anticipated expectation . . . or, imaginative involvement. Get it, and the rest becomes a simple game that you play with the subjects. You can make that game a long drawn out boring struggle . . . or, a playful fun imaginative one.

All the best,
Brian

Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [phillips@nccu.edu.tw]Certified Hypnotherapist
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
http://www.briandavidphillips.com