At the Hypnosis Technique Exchange, Wilma Keppel posts about her process on How to do Walking Somnambulism . . . that is, full on eyes wide open deep trance effects. You know . . . breathe in, breathe out, sleep and eyes wide open walkin’ around deeply hypnotized but completely awake.

This is actually fairly straightforward.

Those familiar with Jerry Kein’s "Light Switch Self-Hypnosis" technique who have also gone on to his "Advanced Self-Hypnosis" methods will recognize a familiarity as Jerry has adapted the light switch to a third middle setting for waking somnambulism. If you are experienced and/or bright, you can reverse engineer his process but you can also take a short cut and just get the original straight from the horse’s mouth at his site as it were.

Dr. Barbara Debetz uses an interesting variation of the arm levitation induction in her book "Erotic Focus" that has an eyes-open component so folks can feel free to go into state with their eyes open while on a bus or train or whatever . . . whatever including having sex (albeit, the book is heavier on the therapeutic than other books on recreational hypnosex). Her book is quite interesting in that any competent hypnotist will recognize the Erickson arm levitation induction or the Spiegel Eye Roll Suggestibility Test but even though the book is most definately one of using hypnosis to enhance sexuality, therapeutically and recreationally for couples to enhance their relationship, the word "hypnosis" is never actually used in the piece. Go figure. In any case, one eyes-open hypnosis variation is there.

When I first learned how to use hypnosis, I would play with going into state in just about any and every location. The joys of being a trance junkie. While it can be interesting, having a context and outcome goal gives it much much more than just a novelty feel.

My own "Vicarious Experiential Machine" process is also based upon an eyes-open somnambulistic state. That’s the deep trance modelling process that I use with folks for skill improvement. See the archives at the exchange or at Life of Brian (in the Experiential Trance and Hyperempria categories as well as a bit in the Erotic and Sexual Hypnosis section). There is also a simple description of the process as I first developed it in Zali Seagal’s "Hypnotize This" book, albeit the current process is a bit stronger. The "memory machine" process in the free MP3s section at http://www.briandavidphillips.com employs one variation of that process.

As some of you have enjoyed the "Conscious Unconscious Communication" process by Burt Borkan which he placed in the files archive at the exchange ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HypnosisTechniqueExchange/files/) . . . you may notice that it can easily be adapted to an eyes-open somnambulism set (which is what it is when the "unconscious opens the eyes" but I would suggest moving the conscious backward and forward with the unconscious also hyper-aware – essentially, changing the position of the conscious and unconscious so that your trance partner has the sensation of the one moving forward or backward into the background for awareness and finding the point of highest effectiveness . . . in workshop, we moved them to both to the fifty-fifty position to "see what would happen" and the resulting state was satisfactory. It is a different sort of metaphor set for this type of thing than say Jerry’s light swtich or my slipping into another reality metaphor but it works.

Of course, you can also just give the suggestion straight on. Boom, you’re home. Nothing fancy, just do it. Works wonderfully well and cuts out a LOT of the esoterica of this stuff.

"Walking" or "waking" or "eyes open" functional somnambulism is not all that unusual. Anyone who has seen a competent stage hypnotist has seen a demonstration of the phenomenon (albeit, a competent stage hypnotist is also working with the more highly suggestible folks in his audience and has eliminated non-responders).

If you’ve ever done any online hypnosis with a text-based message program (not audio or video which is a bit easier), then you know you can do a lot of things related to state changes and suggestions that many folks don’t realize.

Folks who do anything with hyper-acuity based upon post-hypnotic suggestions are using the state whether they’re aware of it or not.

Here’s a fun exercise you can go ahead and do . . . pick an induction, any induction, it can be one you have never done or it can be your all time favorite induction. Now, run the process with a trance partner but do it with suggestions for eyes to remain open but all other suggestions for trance and/or phenomena remain the same. Another nice way to do this – shades of hyperempiria mixed with hyperacuity here – is to run your typical relaxation inductions that go for eye closure and floaty happy happy joyness and run the process cold but change all eye closure statements to keeping the eyes open (so the eyes closed lock test becomes an eyes open lock test and "deeply relaxed" becomes "deeply alert" and all suggestions that focus the trance partner inward become a focus outward to the environment) . . . run the process and notice the state experience and notice that all of your "hypnotic phenomena" are completely accessible.

Play with some of the hyperempiric inductions by Dr. Don Gibbons the same way (either his books still in print or the example book he kindly placed in the files archive at the exchange or see his personal site at http://www.hyperempiria.com for some ideas).

Of course, there are both therapeutic and recreational benefits to doing this sort of thing. I use it primarily for modelling identification ans well as concentration and learning states but it can also be a very nice kicker for those who play games . . . really play games . . . say, turning a role playing game into a full-on holographic novel type experience or the like . . . see the earlier post on Tranceplay: Hypnotic Holonovels and Games and Art (Trance-Based Hypnotic Virtual Reality) as well as the linked articles there for a plethora of ideas along those lines. Good stuff, Maynard.

Formal hypnosis is not merely eye closure and relaxation, it is walking around and jumping, it is having sex fully into the experience, it is reading a book completely absorbed . . . it is the experience of a state change but that state change is not merely slumping down into a wonderful slothiness of deep relaxation, it is far more direct and wonderful . . . "consensual guided intensified imaginative involvement to bypass the critical factor of the conscious mind and establish appropriate desirable selective thinking."

Eventually, I will approach this topic in the hypnocast – http://briandavidphillips.libsyn.com – as it’s one of the "things" I get a more requests about, albeit I will most likely discuss it in terms of deep trance identification sets and the like. Of course, many of the imaginative suggestibility games we use with folks are such that they immediately establish so-called eyes-open hypnosis at the get-go (see the sample protocol set in my piece on
Suggestibility Games for the Imagination: Imaginative Suggestibility Games (Creative Thinking Suggestibility Tests) for a whole slew of the beasties, listed in the order I use them).

The quick and easy way to do this . . . 1. GO INTO HYPNOSIS followed by 2. OPEN YOUR EYES. Depending upon your experience and trance ability, your individual mileage will vary. The steps Wilma gives are fairly straightforward and will be very helpful to folks less familiar with this sort of stuff. You can increase your odds of success and of getting more "so-called" advanced hypnotic phenomena through practice, belief, and all the other things we do with others when guiding them into hypnosis.

Go into hypnosis . . . personally, I would suggest your results will be more consistent if you have someone else hypnotize you so you know the feeling and then use a post-hypnotic suggestion for instant self- reinduction based upon a trigger, breath, thought, or image.

In that session, also play with the idea of opening the eyes and hanging on to state . . . tends to work better if you have an outcome goal related to this practice rather than just walking around feeling loopy or in a highly suggestible state during the mid-day rush at the Mall. Kein says he teaches folks the initial self-reinduction trigger first and has them practice that a week or two before he does the next step which is to modify it from the original setting of full-awareness and full-somambulism with body pretty much out of it to an additional middle setting of being in mental state but body active. I would suggest that your timing will depend upon purpose and availability.

You can do the whole bit in self-hypnosis, especially if you are already familiar with the feelings and how to process them. One difficulty some folks have with installing the initial trigger sets in autosugesstive state is they have trouble letting go and allowing the feelings when they’re in the driver’s seat of the trance session. Your mileage witll vary.

All the best,
Brian

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