Here is a video demonstration of hypnotherapy training - Arm Levitation
- This induction leads naturally into deepening, and is a very effective means of convincing a client that they are entering trance.
- Ask your client to look at their non-dominant hand as it rests on their lap. You then give suggestions of their arm becoming lighter and lifting/floating up.
- Always give suggestions for lifting and lightness on your client’s in-breath.
- Repeat the suggestions for lifting until the hand has lifted all the way off your client’s lap, then continue with suggestions of relaxation and sleep.
- Repeat the suggestions for lifting until your client’s hand touches their face and their eyes close.
- Then continue with the deepening as you give deep relaxation suggestions and the hand lowering back to their lap.
This technique is a great induction process to use as a convincer, or ratifier to demonstrate to someone sceptical of hypnosis that it actually works. it works well with kinaesthetic individuals. It is a great induction process to use when treating nail biting, smoking and eating disorders.
Arm Levitation Induction & Deepening Process
• This induction leads naturally into deepening, and is a very effective means of convincing a client that they are entering trance.
Contraindications:
• Do not use if your client experiences pain when moving their shoulder, arm or back.
• It's useful for kin-aesthetic patients, children, teenagers, smokers, binge eaters, etc.
Induction Script
• Ask your client to look at their non-dominant hand as it rests on their lap.
• When positioning the clinet for a hand levitation technique you can arrange their hand by raising their wrist very slightly so that only the fingertips are in contact with the surface below – or suggest that they can position themselves so they can feel the fabric beneath their fingertips. Demonstrate this by doing it yourself. Some practitioners touch the client's wrist to adjust it, but it can just be shown.
• Research has shown that if the practitioner assists the arm to rise it helps to get a levitation (Burkhard et al 2013). This requires gaining permission to touch the client before trance is initiated.
“… as you continue to look at that hand … it is perfectly natural … for your vision to distort … but what I really want you to pay attention to … are the feelings … the physical sensations in the hand … in any part of the hand … you may notice a slight tremor in one of the fingers … or the thumb … there may be a slight movement of the whole hand … as an elbow muscle contracts … you may experience a numb … wooden sensation in the back of the hand … and it really doesn't matter just what feelings develop in the hand … the important thing for you to do … is to sense fully … whatever sensations develop … and in a few moments’ time … I will ask your unconscious mind … to make your hand feel … very … very light … and … for your unconscious mind to lift that hand off your lap … and the hand will feel lighter and lighter all the time … and the lifting … will occur slowly … hesitantly … jerkily … the movement will be uncertain … and I want you to notice … how with each breath you are taking … your hand is lifting … lifting just a little bit … lifting higher and higher … becoming lighter and lighter all the time … lifting … lifting …”
Always give suggestions for lifting and lightness on your client’s in-breath.
• You can use imagery suggestions of balloons, air cushions, etc. to help the hand lift.
• Keep repeating the suggestions for lifting until the hand has lifted all the way off your clinets’s lap, then continue.
Optional (if the hand is lifting well)
“… as your hand continues to lift … you will notice … that the hand … is beginning to move towards your face … lifting … lifting … (repeat as necessary) … and soon … your hand will touch your face … and then … your eyes will close … and you will go into a deep … very deep state of relaxation … but your hand … will not touch your face … before you are ready … lifting … lifting …”
• Repeat the suggestions for lifting until your clinets’s hand touches their face and their eyes close.
• If the hand only lifted a little off of the lap, it is still a levitation and just continue with the deepening, lowing the hand.
• If the hand does not appear to lift and you are out of time then you can either assist the lift (if you have permission to touch) or you can just continue with the deepening.
Deepening:
“… and your hand can now slowly return to your lap … and with every inch or centimetre it drops … you are going deeper and deeper … more and more relaxed … all the way deep
down relaxed … and when your hand reaches your lap … it will rest there (use your clinet's name here) … comfortably rest there …”
• You could use any additional deepening process to further deepen the trance if necessary.
