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Perhaps the most powerful method of covert hypnosis is to tell a simple story.  The theory goes like this:  If you tell an engaging story to somebody else, the only way that other person can make sense of the story is to somehow relate it to him or herself.  As they do this, they enter a state of trance and get a message from the story.  This is as old as mankind, and if you read any children’s book you’ll notice the stories are really covert hypnosis with hidden (positive) messages for children.

Stories are the perfect covert hypnosis tool.  They occupy the conscious mind (because the listener is busy listening to the details) and the unconscious message is free to be delivered and understood.

If I knew a friend who seemed depressed, I might tell him a story about a cousin of mine who had a job that was a good paying job, but it was horribly boring and gave him no enjoyment.  I would then proceed to explain how much he hated the job, and I’d use vague language so that it would force the listener (the depressed friend) to search for his own meaning of what I was saying.   I’d go on to explain how my cousin got some really great advice from a trusted advisor.  I’d tell him that the advice was, “You need to find out what makes you happy and just start doing a lot more of it”. I’d tell my friend that about two weeks after hearing this advice, he happened to get offered the job of a lifetime doing exactly what he loved doing. 

Now let me explain a few of the things that make this covert hypnosis.  First, if you grab the attention of your friend and establish rapport, you know you can engage him in a story.  When he is fully paying attention to the story, it alters his state because he is relating to the story on a personal level.  This altered state is hypnosis.   When I  explain to my friend the advice that was given to my cousin, I’m really marking that advice out to my depressed friend.  He just doesn’t realize consciously.  But his unconscious will get the message.  Finally, by telling my depressed friend what the outcome was for my cousin in his job situation, my friend will get the message that if he spends more time doing what makes him happy, he’ll stop being so depressed! 

The story is told in a very conversational way, which is why it works as covert hypnosis.  You don’t pull your friend aside and say, “Hey Jim, I need to tell you an important story that will help you with your depression”.  That would wreck it!  Never explain the meaning of a story.  Ever. 

Try it out on somebody today.  Just tell any engaging story and have something burried within the story that will be helpful to the listener.  But don’t explain it.  Just tell it casually.  That’s covert hypnosis.

As a student of covert hypnosis, it’s essential that you build up a toolbox of words and phrases that can have multiple meanings.  For example, the word “right” can mean “correct” or it can be used to mean “the side other than left”.  When you use one of these ambiguous words multiple times in a communication with someone else, you create a state of confusion.  This is useful for covert hypnosis because confusion creates openness to suggestion.  In other words, if you want to do covert hypnosis then one of the tools you want to use is confusion followed immediately by a suggestion. The suggestion will often be followed be followed and the subject will likely not clue into the fact that you provided the suggestion in the first place. 

I found a great article discussing this topic here.  It’s worth checking out.