HypnoticSpeech.com

Technically, conversational hypnosis is simply any induction that is done using voice instead of objects. But I’m not going to talk about trance induction “scripts.”

Instead, I am going talk about how you can use your words to influence people on a subconscious level.

So let’s begin with a brief overview of two different methods of conversational hypnosis that can be used in daily conversations.

The Milton Model (ak.a. Ericksonian Hypnosis)

Milton Erickson was a great hypnotherapist who changed pioneered a method of trance induction that worked with the clients, not on them. In other words, he paid a lot of attention to the way people spoke, learned about their values, then tailored his speech in a way that was most effective on them.

His model was one that focused on general speech patterns that moved from the high level concepts to the deeper meanings of those concepts.

This can be confusing, so let me give you an example of Milton Model speech patterns used in conversational hypnosis:

Subject: “You know, it is impossible to meet these objectives in such a short period of time!”

Therapist: “I know. These objectives are tough. But if you were [emphasize] going to meet them in this short period of time, how would you do it?”

This conversation may seem contradictory. And it is! And that is the point! The intent of the therapist question is actually to distract the conscious mind which says “I can’t!” and begin to look inward for the solution.

And this works! In fact, the conversation above was one I had with one of my employees from when I worked for Rolls-Royce in the UK.

It was amazing how after saying he could not meet the objectives he was able to come up with several possible solutions… but only after he got beyond his conscious mind and started listening to his more creative subconscious mind.

And the suggestions came within seconds. In fact, this person came to me a couple of days later, after he had started working some of his ideas to meet the objectives, and told me I “tricked him.”

And I guess I did… I tricked him into getting away from the conscious mind and listening to his subconscious.

The Milton Model uses many different types of speech patterns that access the subconscious mind.

Some more examples are:

Conversational postulates: These are patterns that appear to be simple questions on the surface, but are actually hidden commands. (The underlined parts of the examples are the command)

“Do you know how to go into trance?”
“Can you tell me how you can do it?”
“Do you know how to do the laundry?”

Embedded commands: These are commands that are embedded in sentences. (The underlined parts of the examples are the command)

“I don’t know if you will mow the lawn now…”
“I know these objectives are tough, but I know you will achieve them.”

Tag questions: These are questions you add to the end of statements that encourage agreement. These are very powerful as they move the subconscious towards agreement and action.

“You can do that, can’t you?”
“You really want to succeed, don’t you?”
“You don’t want the yard to be messy, do you?”

These are only the most basic methods used in the Milton Model. If you are interested in learning more, you may pick up a book on NLP. (Did you notice the embedded command?)

This entry was posted on Monday, March 2nd, 2009 at 3:28 am and is filed under Conversational Hypnosis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.