How to Make Suggestibility Work With Hypnosis

Hypnosis is the ability to received and transform suggestion into movement or recollection. Often used in stage performances and psychotherapy, hypnosis can be a powerful tool. But not everyone can be hypnotized.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Perform the muscle relaxation test. Ask the subject to raise his left arm to chest height and to place the right forefinger directly under the center of his left palm as if the finger is holding the extended arm.

2. Ask the individual to focus on relaxing the left arm and convince him that the only support of their left arm is the right finger.

3. Tell the individual to move their right finger away on the count of three and measure the results of what happens to the left arm. If the arm remains extended the person is unable to relax and cannot be hypnotized at the present time.

4. Ask the individual under consideration for hypnosis to imagine themselves picking a fresh lemon and eating it. Provide enough detail covering all five senses to give the person enough information for their imaginations to work. Those who seem to salivate or taste sourness is their mouths are very suggestible.

5. Make individual put their right arm straight out in front of them and close their eyes. Be sure to emphasize the importance of keeping the arm completely locked and straight. To suggest that the joints at the wrists and the elbow have disappeared is helpful at this point.

6. Repeat the suggestions regarding the stiffness of the right arm and its inability to bend anymore. Keep repeating the same things over and over again for a minutes at least.

7. Allow the individual to go ahead and try to bend their arm. If they are unable to do so or find it difficult to do, they are suggestible. Those who's arms bent instantly will make bad subjects for hypnosis.