NLP & Hypnosis: Fast Inductions for the Real World

Increasing suggestability in a person you are talking to, such that they will provide information or follow instructions without resistance, is a relatively straight forward process. Such "fast inductions" can be executed one at a time, or in combinations, in order to acheive effects ranging from increased rapport to therapeutic trance.

Pattern Interrupt: Perhaps the easiest way to execute a fast induction is simply to interrupt a process that people always complete without interruption. If you ask someone to sign their name, then interrupt the process, they will wait in a very suggestible state to complete that process. If you reach out to shake their hand then hand them something to hold, or ask them to provide their address and interrupt the recitation, you will find they are very suggestible for several seconds. Experiment with interrupting a pattern, and then issuing an instruction someone might otherwise be somewhat disinclined to obey. You'll be surprised that the instruction is almost always obeyed without thinking. The key thing is to make sure that the operation is fully underway when it is interrupted, and that the instruction is very easy to follow. You can "deepen" the trance by executing another pattern interrupt and then giving an instruction.

Start a Good Story or Great Joke: Let's be clear. People listening to a good story or joke are in a trance state. They are actively listening to you. They have tuned out distractions. They are waiting for your next word. Instructions issued when people are in that state are followed. There is a good reason why the first few minutes of a film usually startle or surprise people, and it is not at all surprising that some films seem to have life changing impacts on people. Milton Erickson, the father of NLP, developed signature methods to trance and transform patients other therapists had given up on. To use this form of fast induction, start the story or joke, then give a suggestion or instruction. To deepen the trance, try starting a second story within the first.

Use Touch: An unexpected touch is a very powerful induction. Coaches and teachers have often used a hand on the shoulder to make a player or student more attentive. Salesmen often execute a "close" after they've clapped someone on the arm. Touch can be a very dangerous induction technique, in this day and age, but it is undoubtably one of the most powerful. Even total strangers will often respond to an instruction given after you have touched them on the arm or back.

Can These Tricks be Dangerous?

One reason to learn more about fast inductions, is so you can teach others about them. Used in a correct and therapeutic way, these techniques can help people step over a lot of road blocks. Teachers can use a fast induction to help increase the effectiveness of their instruction to a struggling student. A doctor seeking to put a patient at ease may find that he can reduce pain in a patient more quickly using a fast induction and a direct suggection that the patient feel "better now".

Less honest folks use fast inductions to hurt people. Pick pockets often bump a victim hard enough to make them stumble, then steal a wallet or watch as they "help" them recover. Con men will often use a confusing story prior to asking someone hand over something of value. Serial rapists and serial killers will typically use a "trick" to widen a window of opportunity. They may follow you to your car at the supermarket and pick up one of your bags (a pattern interrupt) or start a confusing story as they walk toward you.

It is important to understand that almost everyone is more suggestible when confused or distracted. Very confused and distracted people are extremely suggestible. A time of personal crisis is not the best time to make big decisions based on advice from strangers.

You will be very surprised, and perhaps a bit frightened, by just how well these fast induction techniques work with a bit of practice.