Adept Stage

The goal of this stage is to learn the fractionation induction, establish a deep trance, and introduce a trigger and establish it as a post-hypnotic suggestion.

This is not entry-level. You and your partner should be familiar with what it feels like to hypnotized and follow suggestions before introducing triggers. In particular, the depth of trance and sudden effectiveness of the trigger can lead to your partner feeling out of control if it’s introduced too soon.

A fractionation induction uses the concept of fractionation and repeatedly brings the subject in and out of trance repeatedly, resulting in a very deep trance. The fractionation is then used to introduce the idea a reinduction trigger, practicing dropping into trance. At the end of the session, the reinduction trigger is turned into a post-hypnotic trigger that can be used for other sessions.

A trigger is an action that the hypnotist makes that results in the subject following a suggestion. A trigger should be short, clear, and memorable. If it’s common, such as a word like "sleep", then you may want to disambiguate it by pairing it with a particular gesture or action. A trigger can be tied to any action, and are frequently used to reinduce hypnosis, also known as a reinduction trigger. Reinduction triggers are the greatest: they’re straightforward, look visually dramatic, and are endlessly versatile.

This is a training stage for both you and your partner. Your partner is learning how to go into trance faster and deeper, and you’re learning how to work without a script and interact more with your partner.

This stage also focuses more on a profoundly altered mental state. Many subjects describe this induction as a "sledgehammer." Unresponsiveness and post-hypnotic amnesia are more common here, as is a period of post hypnotic "wobbliness."

If you feel you have more to learn from the journeyman stage, you can keep doing that until you’re comfortable with it. Go at your own pace.

  1. Checklist

  2. Pretalk

  3. Induction

  4. Check in

  5. Deepener

  6. Check in

  7. Suggestion establishing post-hypnotic trigger

  8. Wake up

  9. Aftercare

  10. Debrief

Pretalk

For this stage, you’re establishing a post hypnotic trigger. This is a level of control that requires trust and commitment from your partner and so any concerns should be addressed before you do this. If your partner does not want a post-hypnotic trigger, that is completely valid. They are not a requirement for recreational hypnosis, and you can do instant inductions perfectly fine without them. You can also make the trigger conditional. For example, you can say that the trigger has an effect when your partner has previously agreed to be hypnotized, and has no effect otherwise.

Also discuss safety concerns of the re-induction trigger with your partner, and make it clear that the trigger is locked. Locking your trigger is a good safety feature. Say that it will only work when it is safe and appropriate to do so, and they will not "flop" anywhere it is unsafe to do so. Go through some examples with them. They will not flop to the ground unsafely if they are standing up. if they are carrying anything or are in an unsafe position, the trigger will not take effect. If they are driving, the trigger will not take effect.

Write everything down, so you can go back through everything when you are giving the suggestion. This is useful in general as you can use your notes for reinforcement and signoff. Getting a logbook is a great way to track progress as well.

Ensure that your partner does not need to go anywhere in a hurry after the session, and understands that they will need some time to come back to themselves after the session is over.

Induction

In this stage, we’ll do a fractionation induction as described by Mark Wiseman. This is also known as a Vogt deepener.

Fractionation is a well known but often assumed technique when it comes to hypnosis, and is a great technique to know, because it opens the door to waking trace, and it trains your partner to go into trance more and more quickly. Marnathas has an excellent overview that I’ll quote from.

So to put it simply, the idea of fractionation, is that if someone goes in and out of a hypnotic trance repeatedly within a decently short time (or consistently over a longer period of time), the effects of the trance change, and tend to get stronger. In short, putting someone into trance repeatedly will result in a deeper trance. Pretty simple. Now let’s explain the gory detail of it! So what’s the mechanism going on here that produces that kind of effect I mentioned last paragraph? Well basically, the idea is if you bring someone in and out of trance repeatedly, they start coming out of trance a bit less, and deeper back into trance each time. At a basic level, it means if you spend a few minutes taking someone in and out of trance a few times in a row, you end up with a pretty deep trance, which makes it a great tool just for getting someone to nice deep state. It’s broadly similar to how going into trance is a learned skill, that you get better with by practice, just condensed.

The fun part is where I said they start coming out of trance a bit less each time. If you keep it up, the subject can get to a stage where even when you tell them to wake up, they don’t really wake up, and are still basically in trance and suggestible. That starts opening up more ways to play around, because all of a sudden you can start giving them suggestions without explicitly putting them in trance much more effectively. And along with that, they obviously start feeling all the signs of trance even when they’re awake, so they might have a much harder time putting thoughts together, or feel much more relaxed, or so on. I’ve yet to even hear of a subject who doesn’t like fractionation, simply because it takes all the nice parts of trance, and starts making them feel it even when they’re out of trance.

— Marnathas

Here’s a demo by the Secret Subject.

If you’re looking for something a little less intense, you can do Graham Old’s PHRIT, which uses a very gentle reinduction technique.

You should rehearse the fractionation induction and not rely on a script or written notes. The fractionation is self-explanatory, so it doesn’t matter exactly what words you use. The important bit is the opening and closing of eyes, and confirming their experience. You should be looking at their eyes and face the entire time. You’ll notice your partner showing signs of trance fairly quickly, and this induction generally produces deep trance.

Check In

Once your partner is well and truly fractionated, check in with them. If they answer but seem to be doing it after a time lag or sound very dreamy, you’ve got it right. If not, add more fractionation.

Deepener

For the deepener, we’ll be using a closing the mind’s eye deepener that is found in Yapko’s Trancework. This is a natural follow-on from fractionation, only instead of closing the physical eyes, you’ll be leading your partner into a different mental state.

The deepener in the link as described goes for a count of ten, and this may be a bit much for your partner after fractionation. Describe the concept, start with three, and then leave the mind’s eye closed and suggest that any thoughts are the mind’s eye opening very slowly, becoming heavy, and then closing again, and to nod when the mind’s eye is so relaxed it will not open, calling back to the eyestick in the Elman induction. Your partner will get the idea and self-fractionate until the mind’s eye is closed.

Once you’ve finished the deepener, if your partner has not nodded after a while, then check in again. A fractionation plus a mind’s eye deepener produces a very deep trance, and your partner may become unresponsive. If this happens, use a modified version of the grounding exercise described in the risks section. Tell your partner you’re going to tap their leg and count upwards from 1 to 10, and that they will count out loud with you every time you tap. With every tap, they will speak the number out with you more firmly and clearly, more and more focused on listening to your words and following your suggestions.

Suggestion

For the suggestion, we’re going to establish waking trance and use a reinduction trigger repeatedly. Doing the same thing over and over again and establishing a connection between a trigger and a response is called conditioning. Conditioning feels natural because it’s essentially the same thing as everyday training and learning, and you depend on conditioned responses every day. However, hypnosis makes conditioning far more effective.

We’ll use "sleep" with a finger snap to establish a reinduction trigger.

Start simple and establish a direct path between signal, response, and reward.

In a moment, I’ll tell you to open their eyes, feeling wide awake, and then, when you say "Sleep" and click your fingers, your eyes will close, their body will relax and your mind drop back into trance.

You’ll do this several times, and every time you hear you say me sleep, you’ll drop instantly and automatically.

Every time, you’ll go even deeper and it will even feel better. Every time, the more natural, easy and automatic it becomes, sinking in until it is something you don’t even think about, a reassuring and relaxing habit they can enjoy on a level below consciousness.

And you can nod your head when you understand and accept the suggestion.

You give them a short command to open their eyes.

"Eyes open, wide awake!"

Then you drop them as soon as their eyes are open.

Sleep!

When they drop, reward them with praise and suggest falling back into trance feels good, reinforcing the suggestions above.

Repeat this three times, then start drawing it out. Every time you tell them to open their eyes, you make it a bit longer, and you make them wait for the drop. Extending the period brings them into a state called waking trace.

Eyes open, 1..Sleep. Good.

Eyes open, 1..2..Sleep. Excellent.

Eyes open, 1..2..3..Sleep. Letting everything happen just as it should.

Eyes open, 1..2..3..4..Sleep. Every time, it feels even better to sink into trance.

Eyes open, 1..2..3..4..5..Sleep. Letting everything sink in.

After the first few times, you can ask them how they’re doing and even hold a conversation with them, although you should not ask them to do anything that would engage their critical faculties.

After you’re done, bring them into sleeping trance, and discuss the trigger with them. Explain that they since they’ve been conditioned to associate this trigger with going into trance, you can establish that the trigger will work exactly the same way even after the session is over, and will not be affected by a "wiper", but will only take effect when it is safe and appropriate to do so, according to the terms and conditions that you discussed in the pretalk. This is one place where you want to be fairly explicit, so it’s okay to refer to your notes and go through everything point by point.

Ask if this is acceptable, and get feedback, such as a nod or a smile. Once they indicate yes, then ask them to nod their head to indicate that they’ll do this in the future. After that, you can do the wake up.

Aftercare

At this point, your partner may be extremely mushy and will need some time to put themselves back together again. Make sure they’re awake and alert before they try doing anything complicated.

Do not let your partner perform any dangerous tasks, especially driving, until you are sure they are fully recovered.

Debrief

Checking in with your partner after a deep trance can be an interesting experience. Your partner may not remember very much, or may confuse events. That’s fine. The point of this stage is to get familiar with deep trance phenomena and conditioning, and see how that feels. If your partner goes too deep, you can take out the deepener and reduce the number of fractionations until you’re both comfortable.

At this point, with your partner’s consent, you can use the trigger again. This is after the wake up, so it is now technically a post-hypnotic trigger. Validate that they are correctly following the bounds of the trigger.