There was an excellent query on the Hypnosis Technique Exchange about arm levitation. A fellow asked what others’ experiences were as he noted that when he experiences arm levitation suggestions in hypnosis, his movements are short and jerky, quite unlike the very smooth movements I seem to achieve with trance partners and demonstrate in a number of my online videos. He was curious as to what the difference is between his experience and "BDP" results (as he characterized the smoother levitations).
Typically, short, jerky movements are more likely associated with unconscious processes unless the suggestions are specifically setup to achieve smoothness (the floating sensation of my "happy balloons" patter which is not quite the same as the classic levitation patter).
The querant asked if folks felt that the deeper level of trance is indicated by the slower movements as he noted that when he experiences it everything slows down for him.
I don’t think it’s an indicator of depth in and of itself, although in some cases smooth movements can be a giveaway for someone "pretending" to be in trance (which is why you look for other signs of trance along with the movement and why my patter is based upon other responsiveness at the getgo).
In "deep" trance, the movements can indeed be very smooth.
When I do the "happy balloons" it really isn’t exactly the same as the classical arm levitation test. I typically go for trance via some form of concentrated focus with relaxation (physical response) then I will use the balloons. You will note that often the balloons do NOT immediately rise up, rather they will typically (but NOT always) start slow (ideomotor responsiveness, kinesthetic suggestibility). The folks who were at the walkabout saw how I handle lack of responsiveness. Once the arms are at about one third or so up I tack in the happy balloons patter (emotional suggestibility) at which point the balloons will usually (but not always) become smoother and accellerate. Often, I will then had the person open the eyes and describe the color of the balloons (positive hallucination) and then convert the raised arms into arm catalepsy (stiff arm) followed by a deepener (when I cut the strings the balloons float away and the arms drop and you become even more deeply relaxed). A lot of it is based upon carefully watching the trance partner for responsiveness and timing the suggestions to feedback into the trance partner’s experience.
I’ve experienced both jerky and smooth movements as a trance partner and as a hypnotist . . . the smooth movements are usually based upon a suggestions setup, often experiential, so it really isn’t an variety of apples sort of question but is often apples and oranges . . . in my experience, the smoother movements were more indicative of when I "felt" like I was in a deeper trance while the "shuffle" movements were when I was at a cusp getting into that experience. However, the beauty of hypnosis is that it is both an objective science, an operator craft, and an incredibly subjective experience on the part of the trance partner. No two folks will experience the same suggestions in the same way.
I strongly agree that ideomotor movement is great for the clinic (or anywhere else for that mattter). The use of kinesthetic feedback coupled with emotional responsiveness is one of the ways I deepen the imaginative involvement of the trance partner to heighten their experience. This, along with suggestions that compound and heighten the experience of the state within as many senses as possible is how I typically lead into an experiential trance session as well.
I used the terms "emotional suggestibility" and "physical suggestibility" but they should NOT be confused with the way that John Kappas gives those terms in his work (which I do reccommend, if only so that folks unfamiliar with his model should be exposed to it – as with any and everything they can get their hands on), although there are some similiarities. It’s a form of associative emotional responsiveness.
What I really mean is engaging physical responses and emotional responses within the suggestion pattern so that they feedback on one another, creating a response loop that accellerates one to the other. In my experience, when I can associate emotional responses to the physical responses, both become much more pronounced as the trance partner’s imaginative involvement becomes much more intense and responsiveness to suggestions becomes compounded as the physical and emotional state sets feed off each other, mutually reinforcing responsiveness. Physical response sets are wonderful as convincers but once you tie in emotional state suggestions, you are intensifying more than the physical set, you are developing responsiveness within the emotional realm which is wholly based upon subconscious systems.
My goal is to enhance responsiveness in as many sensory channels as possible. If we have simple kinesthetic responsiveness and then loop that in with emotional responsiveness, we now know that we are well on our way to intensifying other sensory sets – the five senses plus the emotional and mental sets (folks familiar with my explanation of the "eye of experiential trance" will recall that the "mind" is considered the sixth sense over the other five physical senses and that within the mind are conscious and unconscious aspects (number amnesia within the Elman utilizes one aspect of this but I have found that when we furrow in emotional responsiveness we accellerate this process).
When I do experiential processes (esp. for things like the vicarious experiential machine), I will start with this premise and then use a number of setups to maximize the enhancement of sensory experience in as many channels as possible to make the experience as fully experiential as one can experience it within that context (hyperempiria has a similar endgame with a different theoretical explanation and process).
Give it a go with a number of new trance partners to compare. Do classic arm levitation with a few and then do the happy balloons setup with others and note the nature of the experience for the trance partners as well as the way their physical responsiveness increases as well as emotional responsiveness once the emotional associative responses are looped in.
BTW, it looks very much like I will be teaching an experiential hypnosis course in July in Los Angeles. When we have finalized details, I will post them. – yes, we will be doing the vicarious experiential machine with a whole bunch of different contexts among others, including . . . yes, experiential hypnotic roleplay . . . there will be a strong clinical component to this course but the experiential orientation can be used for other contexts as well. I am looking forward to it as this will be the first time I’ve had the opportunity to give a comprehensive course based upon the experiential model (we’ll have other events scheduled as well so it’s nifty keen in that respect too . . . when details are finalized we will definately post them, exciting stuff . . . soon).
All the best,
Brian
(Instant and Rapid Hypnosis Techniques)
See http://www.BrianDavidPhillips.com for details!
Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [phillips@nccu.edu.tw]Certified Hypnotherapist
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
http://www.BrianDavidPhillips.com
