Sometimes people make the art of covert hypnosis a lot more complicated than it really is.  It doesn’t always involve doing sneaky things to drop people into deep trances.  Sometimes all you need to do is tell a simple story to drop your message directly into the subject’s unconscious mind.

Think back to the last time you watched a movie.  Was there a particular scene that completely engaged you, and had you on the edge of your seat?  Why did your body respond this way?  Were you hypnotized?  Yes, in fact you were.  And it was done covertly.  A movie is a great example of covert hypnosis by telling stories.

In hypnosis, stories are also known as metaphors.  The easiest method to teach is the simple metaphor.  Imagine you wanted to convince a friend to go somewhere with you, but you anticipated the friend would hesitate.  You could simply tell a story about someone who did something they didn’t think they would enjoy, but it turned about to be fantastic.  At the end of the story you might want to explain how this made-up person learned that it can be a lot of fun to try new things.

After you tell the story, you change the subject briefly, and then in a few minutes, using the same tone of voice as with the story, you ask your friend to join you on the excursion.

The story that you tell can be true or fictitious.  It doesn’t matter.  So long as you embed a message within the story that will be obvious enough for the unconscious mind to understand, you’ll accomplish your goal.
Covert hypnosis is a powerful communication technology.  If you have positive intentions and use the skills ethically, you will find yourself feeling very good about what you’ve learned.  Story telling is one of the easiest methods of hypnosis to learn for a beginner.

I highly recommend Igor Ledochowski’s course called “The Power of Conversational Hypnosis” to learn exactly how to use stories, along with many other advanced techniques.  The money back guarantee really protects you.  Click here for details.

If you’re reading this article then I’m going to assume you are curious about the topic of hypnosis, and particularly covert hypnosis.

I’ve been involved with hypnosis since the early 1990s, and to me, covert hypnosis is identical to the skills used in therapeutic hypnosis, except that you don’t tell the subject what you are doing. This simply means that you need to be a bit more crafty about how you bring up certain subjects in ordinary conversation, because you won’t be telling the subject that you’re about to begin hypnosis.

Great stage hypnotists are masters of covert hypnosis. The volunteers from the audience thing they are simply being given some background about hypnosis, when in fact the hypnotist’s preamble is actually a trance induction. The subjects are in trance before the show really gets started. They just don’t know it.

The best way to learn about covert hypnosis is to get one-on-one training. But this can be quite expensive. When I first got trained in Ericksonian Hypnosis I paid nearly $2000 for a two-weekend course. Not everyone can afford this.

The next-best alternative is to purchase training material over the Internet and study on your own, or with a friend. There are several courses available. Igor Ledochowski has a superb audio course. These tend to run you around $200, but usually come with a money-back guarantee. Whatever you buy, make sure you have a guarantee to protect you.

The last option I’d recommend is training through books. This is definitely the cheapest way to go, but you will miss out on the audio component. Your own voice is your most important hypnotic tool, and learning how to use it is hard to do with a book. Books are better for advanced students because books can present you with new ideas to try out after you’ve already mastered the use of your own voice and language patterns.

I do not recommend random Internet surfing to learn about covert hypnosis. You’ll end up learning incorrect techniques, and other useless information. Stick to learning from professionals who know what they are doing. You get what you pay for, after all.

One course I recommend is The Power of Conversational Hypnosis, by Igor Ledochowski. I’ve gone through the entire course and he teaches some seriously advanced stuff along with the basics.  And it comes with a 60-day money back guarantee. Click here for more details.

If you are doing any work in covert hypnosis then you absolutely have to start using the quotes technique as a way to embed commands.  It’s simple, brilliant, and effective.

Here is how it works.  You simply decide up front what you want to embed as a command.  Then you make up something that someone *else* could have said where that command is built-in as part of the sentence. Finally, you deliver the command to your subject.

Say you wanted to ensure that your friend cleared his schedule on Friday night so that he could help you plan an event.  You know he has something interesting going on, and will probably try to avoid it if you just ask him directly.  After building rapport you might say:

“I was reading a really interesting newspaper article this morning.  The columnist had done a tone of research on the importance of giving.  He interviewed a bunch of people who were really generous with their time or money, and then he interviewed a bunch of people who were really stingy about helping others.  Here’s what he said that really made me think.  It’s important to dedicate enough time to help people.  It always comes back to reward you in the end” (italics marks out the embedded command).

…and then you can subtly shift gears to another topic.  A minute or so later, you simply ask for help and you’ll very likely get it.  So if your friend was originally going to say “no” and make his other event seem much moe important, you’ll have seeded a feeling of “need to help” within him.

This doesn’t classify as what most people would consider “hypnosis”, because there is no formal trance induction.  I say who cares!  The point is that you’ve used covert techniques to manipulate someone else’s state of mind and his or her behavior.  That’s what you’re after, right?

Whether we’re talking about covert hypnosis, stage hypnosis or therapeutic hypnosis, people are always asking, “is hypnosis real of fake”.  It never ceases to amaze me how people will ask this question even when faced with obvious evidence that hypnosis is very real.  My belief is that people will often refuse to acknowledge the power of hypnosis simply because they don’t understand it, or because they think it is something they cannot control and would therefore rather avoid discussing.  It is these people who will say hypnosis is fake, a big show, blah blah blah.

Here is how I know hypnosis is very real:

• When I first saw a stage hypnosis show in the 1990s by one of the best hypnotists in the world, a guy literally peed his pants because he thought he was on a planet that was about to blow up, and “Scotty” from Star Trek would not beam him up because he was on a coffee break.  This guy was an ordinary guy and not an Oscar-winning actor.  He couldn’t possibly have acted this well (or he’d be a movie star)
• I witnessed a guy getting his memory back after another stage hypnosis show where the post-hypnotic suggestion was to forget everything only until entering the washroom.  Then all memories would safely and enjoyably come back.  We took the guy into the washroom and he literally looked like he walked into a brick wall.  As soon as he got past the door he stopped and started blushing in a way that cannot be consciously controlled.  You have to think about these things to realize people cannot fake these reactions.
• When my wife was pregnant with our second child the morning sickness was unbearable for her.  We were about to go on a trip.  I took her to a hypnotherapist who was trained by my teacher (it’s often hard to to therapeutic hypnosis on someone you know, better to take them to an “authority”).  After that day my wife had no more morning sickness for the rest of the pregnancy
• I’ve been using self-hypnosis for years now.  I have put myself into some VERY deep trances and had some very wild experiences.  I don’t need any more convincing than this

I could go on and on about hypnosis and how I know with absolute certainty that it is real.  But if you still need convincing then ask yourself if you have ever noticed, while watching a movie, that your entire body was tense during a scary scene, or an action scene.  Why would your body become so tense?  The only explanation is because you are unconsciously reacting to the movie as if you were actually in it.  Your mind sees the movie, gets into a particular state, and then physiologically responds as if you were in that movie.  There is a level of separation, you won’t get the same adrenalin rush as if someone was actually chasing you, but you get a milder version of this response.  That is, in a sense, a form of hypnosis.

Covert hypnosis is simply one method for using hypnotic skills.  You learn the skills and you employ them in regular conversation.  The goal is to induce trance, or to simply cause a state change within another person and implant a particular suggestion.

Some people are naturally skilled at covert hypnosis and they don’t realize it.  If you are one of those people, fantastic.  But if you are not, and you’d like to become a better communicator, then you should consider learning these skills.

You can always get access to 3 free audio CDs about hypnosis by subscribing to my email newsletter.  It’s totally free, you’ll learn useful stuff, and the list is managed by a reputable company (aweber), so you know your info is never shared and you can always unsubscribe with a single click of your mouse if you don’t like what you get.  But you’ll enjoy it.  I have a lot of experience on this topic, and I think you’ll benefit.

You don’t always need to use covert hypnosis to get people to do what you want them to do.  Not every interaction has to be about you (the hypnotist) being Mr. Trance.  Sometimes you are just using simple persuasion techniques.

Here is a recent example.  Last night my wife and I had to go out to Home Depot to buy some hardware before our dinner date (having a babysitter once a week is awesome!).  We had a few small items in hand, and were ready to check out but we remembered we wanted to also buy a gift card for a Christmas present.  The gift cards are not sold at the cash, but at the service counter.

We asked the girl at the service counter to sell us a gift card, and let her know we also had to pay for these other items of hardware that we had with us.  She told us that she could sell us the gift card, but that the other hardware would have to be paid for at the regular cash.

We were not in a rush, there were few lineups, and I guess I wasn’t naturally in a mood to get my way.  So I was about to just comply with her answer.  But my wife said to her, “I’ve paid for things here before when I bought gift cards in the past”.  I heard her say this and instantly switched into “persuasion mode”

The girl behind the counter basically said, “We aren’t supposed to do that”.  Now, here is the magic that you must recognize if you want to get good at persuading people.  When someone says, “not supposed to”, or something to that effect, what you should hear is “it’s possible - I can do it but I’m told to say no”.

Here’s the thing:  People will take the lesser of two evils when given a choice.  Naturally, she did not want to allow us to check out at the service counter because it was against policy.  All I needed to do was to make it awkward for her to say no to me.  The possibility of a minor problem with her boss would then be less than the guarantee of awkwardness with me.

So let’s get back to the story.  She had said “I’m not supposed to”.  I calibrated in her what seemed like a small moment of confusion.  I jumped at it.  I immediately smiled, and politely said to her, “Oh, well just check us out for these small items with the gift card because we are in a bit of a rush”.  I then actually handed her the items we had to pay for and pulled out my credit card.

I never gave her the opportunity to say no.  I noticed my moment of opportunity and jumped at it without being rude, or seeming like a jerk.  I was very nice to her and thanked her for the help.  I wished her a nice evening and a great weekend.

Let me point out one last thing:  The word “because” has magic powers of persuasion.  Notice above that I said to her “well just check us out for these small items BECAUSE …”

The format is important.  There are three parts to the sentence.  Part 1 is a command.  It is not a request such as “would you be able to” or “can you”.  It is a polite order.  “Just do xyz”  Part 2 is the word “because”.  Part 3 is your request.  If you use this tactic the unconscious mind simply hears the word “because” and is programmed to understand that there is a reason.  Any reason will do.

When I first learned this back in 1993 the guy who taught it to me said you could literally use ANY reason after the magic word “because”.  It’s true.   You can almost say anything.  It works very often.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: persuasion

Here is an easy language technique you can use to slip in an embedded command when you are having a conversation. You may already understand how to use an embedded command by marking out a fragment of a sentence. In case this is new to you, it’s simple. As an example, you could say, “It’s easy for some people to sleep easily at night”. The words “sleep easily at night” would be marked out differently by tone, tempo, or by looking directly in the person’s eyes when saying it. The unconscious understands the marking.

To enhance the power of the technique you can add a word such as “tonight” to the end of the sentence. But, to make it ambiguous, and therefore allow it to slip past the conscious mind even more effectively, you continue with another sentence. The idea is to have the word “tonight” serve as the last word of the first sentence, and the first word of the last sentence.

Full example: “”It’s easy for some people to sleep easily at night … tonight … I am probably going to go to bed early and I look forward to the rest”.

So you can notice how the embedded command is used, followed by the word “tonight”, which bridges the first and second sentence. This is a classic Milton Erickson technique. The conscious mind spends time wondering how to interpret the sentence, while the unconscious mind understands the message.

Check out the free hypnosis CD downloads available by clicking here.

If you are interested in the subject of covert hypnosis, then it’s natural to want to learn covert hypnosis language patterns. I have an awesome deck of playing cards (actually 3 decks) from Jamie Smart.  Jamie is a UK-based expert in NLP and Ericksonian Hypnosis.  The cards were recommended to me by a friend.  I bought them and have kept them with me every day.  They are a fantastic way to learn covert hypnosis language patterns.

If you look up Jamie Smart from Salad Consulting on Google you’ll find them.  They are not really cheap, but they are good quality and come with a nice plastic case.  If you have friends who want to learn hypnosis, then you can easily use these while playing poker, blackjack, or any card game - you can just play with the following rules.  Any time a card is put down, the person to the left must use the language pattern on the card in a sentence.  The play will be slow, but you’ll learn a lot about covert hypnosis language patterns.

Naturally, the fastest way to get good at these language patterns is to actually invest in a proper course such  as The Power of Conversational Hypnosis by Igor Ledochowski.  Here is a link to his fantastic audio course in covert hypnosis.