The Principles of Hypnosis – basic hypnosis – Part III

First a shout out to a blog I’ve been particularly impressed by:

A Journey to a Door

The blog is a set of personal stories on humiliation and life experience. I’ve gotten a chance to chat with Marilyn, the author, and I’m impressed with her in many ways. She tells a powerful and meaningful set of stories about humiliation and life experience in simple, easy to read prose. Her writing isn’t stark, but it isn’t pretentious…it’s measured, well paced, and has the strong feeling of reality that goes when an author understands the emotional truth of the thing they are writing.

On different, note, the big section of the handout that I am not reproducing here is the induction. For the class, I reproduced some boilerplate inductions, but I’m working on some of my own and I’ll post those as I get to them. Until then, there are online resources we’ll mention in Part IV where you can get good ideas about inductions.

Today we’re going to get into the core principles that provide a structure for hypnotism.

Principles of Hypnosis

So I have someone hypnotized. What do I do now?. Giving Viable suggestions requires understanding of five basic laws.

    • Reverse Reaction
    • Repetition
    • Dominance
    • Delayed Action
    • Association

The of Reverse Reaction

Reverse Reaction, also called Reverse Psychology suggests that a person will respond to the stronger part of a suggestion rather than the weaker unless they are strongly disposed not to. It reaches both the Critical and Primitive Areas of the mind. It also allows the subject a “way out” if he or she strongly disagrees with a command, but reinforces it if they desire it.

This emphasizes a basic fact. We are not really doing “involuntary mind control” or “brainwashing” here. The more that the subject is on board with and a voluntary participant in the hypnosis, the more powerful and valid it will be.

Very passive aggressive subjects may try to sabotage their own hypnosis, and that is something to be aware of when making use of this Principle.

An example

“Your eyelids are very heavy. You may try to open them, but you cannot. The harder you try the heavier they become.” This presents an alternative, but the mind will instinctively take the stronger option.

The Principle of Repetition

Repetition simply means to repeat things. We do this with exercise, and study. Flash Cards employ the Principle of Repetition. Constant repetition of suggestions strengthens them. We feel that a suggestion has become an almost absolute part of someone’s psyche when they have heard it around 18-28 times.

We naturally understand this. One common defense mechanism is to stop others from repeating things we do not wish to allow past our critical area of the mind. This Principle is why propaganda is often effective on a massive scale even when people wish objectively to disbelieve it. To reject a message that is very strongly repeated takes energy and effort.

We have defensive behaviors to “tune out” repetitions that we do not wish to allow into our critical are of mind. This may be beneficial – for example turning off a racist or anti-sex message rather than listening to it…or it may be be destructive, such as a partner who cuts his or her spouse off before they repeat any criticism, so that they do not have to internalize something which they know objectively is an actual failing.

The Principle of Dominance

Dominance means taking an authoritative tone. It means exactly what you think that it means. Just as a Dom in scene cannot seem weak-willed, or hesitant, the Hypnotist must seem strong and authoritative. Psychology builds a sense of comfort and pushes exchange as equals. Hypnosis sets up an authoritarian structure in which one partner is in control and directs the experience. This concept should be familiar and comfortable to most of us in the kinky world.

The Principle of Delayed Action

The Principle of Delayed Reaction means that you will not necessarily get a reaction immediately. Because inferences pass into the Subconscious mind slowly, bypassing the Critical Area of Mind, it often takes a day, two days, or even a week, before a reaction takes place. It may be triggered by being in a situation that has been described. For example, if you suggest “your orgasms are deeper and more powerful” that may not happen immediately after hypnosis, but instead happen next Thursday. Patience is important.

The Principle of Association

The Principle of Association suggests that whenever we repeatedly respond to one stimulus in the presence of another, they become associated. So the voice of the hypnotist becomes associated with hypnosis. It also means that once a subject has accepted one suggestion they will be far more likely to suggest another. Thus starting with small suggestions and building a “ladder of success” upwards is critical. Reinforcing the Principle of Association will increase it’s effectiveness.

Obviously this has a lot of potential in regards to eroticization, and D/s training in general. Most “training” already relies on what amounts to Hypnosis (overload of stimulus) to produce a suggestible state, and heighten Association.

Applications to WIITWD

The applications of Hypnosis to BDSM D/s and related Play/Work are many and varied. In many cases they are quite obvious. The focus of this class has been to provide a good basic grounding in how to induce Hypnosis in order to allow you to experiment with a consensual partner.
Orgasm and Arousal Control
If Hypnosis can cure impotence in men and women, it can also extend what is already good. Simply put, suggestions about increasing quality and intensity of orgasm are usually very effective. They can be coupled with The Principle of Association to produce….specific effects.

For example, I have used a suggestion on one of my girls that she becomes aroused when a finger or leather crop is touched to a certain place on her body. This creates an ‘instant turn on’

Other people have taken this further and created a suggestion to orgasm upon hearing a certain word. Obviously this needs to be used carefully, but it is a powerful and effective tool if used with some thought and care.

The Principle of Association provides endless opportunities to fetishize or eroticize various activities or objects.

Visualization
Probably the most commonly used method of hypnosis is visualization. This is much like a guided meditation or Pathworking, but because it is guided by the hypnotist, it can become a sort of “hypno-drama” making very real experiences. This may be a way to roleplay fetishes too intense for actual play, or to increase comfort with fetishes that the subject “isn’t ready for yet.” It is a good and enriching tool that creates a demand for more.

Dream Influences
Suggestions to dream on a certain topic are usually effective. In therapy this is used for venting, but erotic dreams can increase comfort level with erotic subjects or simply create arousal.

Anxiety Relief
Many Dominants find that part of their function is to relieve anxieties in their submissives. As a Dominant, I spent…hundreds of hours…working with anxious girls. This technique cannot replace human caring, touch and comfort. But it can allow the Dominant to “get through” and calm and comfort.

The Physical will respond well to physical suggestions…”your breathing is getting calmer.” With the emotional you need to get behind the reasons for the Anxiety “you may tend to notice that you are feeling more confident about your body…”

Eroticization of Anxiety
For many players, Anxiety already carries an Erotic edge. Hypnosis presents a viable tool for converting more Anxiety into eros.

Control
We discussed control above. Without regard to the ethics, obvious the ability to fetishize objects or activities carries over to people. The ability to associate sexual pleasure, or other positives with a given person may certainly create a level of control, but simply put, this is creating a rather strong chain and should not be done lightly.

Which segues neatly to…next…

Later this week…we’ll get into the interesting and fertile ground that makes everybody cream and argue…the Ethics of Erotic Hypnosis and what you can do with it.

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