Fractionation 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.
If you feel you have more to learn from the elman induction, you can keep doing that until you’re comfortable with it. Go at your own pace.
Checklist
Same as PMR checklist. You should have your partner sitting up for the fractionation induction, but there are no arm movements.
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." Schedule appropriately and don’t make any big plans.
Pretalk
Same as PMR pretalk.
Suggestions
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.
Induction
A fractionation induction brings the subject in and out of trance repeatedly. The fractionation is then used to introduce the idea of 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.
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.
Fractionation is a well known but often assumed technique when it comes to hypnosis, and is a great technique to know, because it trains your partner to go into trance more and more quickly. 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.
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.
Example Script
This script uses the same knots and snarls metaphor used in previous deepeners, but focuses on relaxing the mind rather than the body. This emphasizes a mental shift rather than a physical shift, and sets up the reinduction trigger for "waking trance" in the butterfly stage.
I want you to pick a spot, maybe on the ceiling or the upper part of the wall, so that your eyes are slightly turned upward. Now, I want you to allow your gaze to soften. In other words, look through that spot, or just relax your eyes into that gaze.
In a moment I’m going to start to count down from 10 down to 1. And I’m going to ask you, between each count, to open and close your eyes. And I’d like you to just imagine that each time you close your eyes, a wave of relaxation flows through the mind, relaxing all the thoughts in the mind.
Now… close your eyes… 10… and imagine that wave of relaxation relaxing the thoughts in the mind. That’s right.
Open your eyes… and close your eyes. 9. Good. Notice how that wave of relaxation feels better, more relaxing, each time you open and close your eyes.
So you open… and close your eyes. 8. Feel this wave of relaxation even more. Each and every time you open and close those eyes it deepens that state.
Open your eyes… and close your eyes. 7. Allowing that relaxation to open up and loosen any knotted thoughts in the mind. Very good.
Open your eyes… close your eyes. 6. Knots turning into snarls as they open up.
Open your eyes… close your eyes. 5. Letting snarls be smoothed out by relaxation.
Open your eyes… close your eyes, 4, feeling thoughts drifting loose, filled with relaxation.
Open your eyes… close your eyes, 3, more and more thoughts coming loose and sinking all the way down to the bottom of the mind.
Open your eyes…. close your eyes, 2, mind becoming still and calm and quiet.
And open your eyes, close your eyes, one, that’s it, every single thought completely relaxed.
PHRIT
If you’re looking for something a little less intense, you can do Graham Old’s PHRIT, which uses a very gentle reinduction technique.
Suggestions
Super Suggestion
You can give a shorter super suggestion here and reinforce the safety suggestion.
And now, the mind can be still and calm and quiet, and can focus easily and naturally on following and accepting each and every single suggestion, letting every suggestion sink in and become reality.
If I give you any suggestions that do not feel right to follow, you will let me know immediately by making an unhappy sound and not following the suggestion, and I’ll work through it with you.
Check In
Whenever you have something to say, or I ask you to check in, you’ll find it easy to speak, and easy to articulate what you would like to say. You’ll be able to respond and say what you need to say, and you’ll find that doing so relaxes you even deeper.
Good Feelings
Fractionation involves lots of shifting back and forth, so it’s a good time to take a breather now and reward with good feelings. Let your partner recover a bit before going into the reinduction trigger suggestion.
We’re going to bring you some good feelings. I’m going to count down from five to one, and we’re going to add a feeling with each number, each number feeling more and more wonderful as I count down.
Five, feeling a sense of ease. Four, adding a sense of relief to that ease. Three, adding peace to that relief and that ease. Two, feeling happiness added to that peace, relief, and ease. One, feeling contentment, happiness, peace, relief and ease, completely wonderful to be hypnotized.
Reinduction Trigger
For the suggestion, we’re going to establish a reinduction trigger that can be used in later 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.
The reinduction trigger is not terribly different from fractionation in execution, but the intent here is to set up a response set around this activity so that there is "muscle memory" that can happen outside of this session.
We’re going to set up a reinduction trigger.
In a moment, I’ll tell you to open your eyes, feeling wide awake, and then, when I say "Sleep", your eyes will close, and all the thoughts in your mind will relax.
We’ll do this several times, and every time you hear you say me "Sleep" all the thoughts in the mind will relax faster and deeper. 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 and those thoughts will just drop out of the mind instantly and automatically.
You’ll know that whenever you’re ready to be hypnotized, you can relax all your thoughts completely and sink into deep relaxation when you hear me say "Sleep."
This suggestion will last between sessions and will not be affected even if I tell you "all suggestions are cancelled" — however, if you do not feel comfortable with the sleep suggestion the safety will apply and you will let me know and not follow the suggestion. Nod your head if you understand and accept the suggestion, or check in if there’s something I need to know.
Good. We’ll start now.
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.
Good. Now in a moment, you’ll open your eyes and you’ll feel completely awake and can talk normally. We’ll chat for a bit, and at some point I’ll say sleep and all the thoughts in your mind can drop out of the mind automatically.
<talk for a bit, then bring them down again, reinforce the trigger, and do a wake up.>
Conclusion
Wakeup
As PMR wakeup.
This can be a bit confusing as you do need to tell them to sleep before you wake them up again, so the difference between a proper "the session is over" wake up and the fractionation they’ve been doing can take a while to sink in.
Aftercare
Your partner may be fuzzy after a fractionation and may 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. You can now use it in other inductions.