Miss forcefem's ramble, an informal primer on hypnosis
This guide assumes a solid base of knowledge in non-hypno kink. for a primer on that, see the new topping book and the new bottoming book.
For more on hypno, look for learnhypnokink.com, and Mastering Erotic Hypnosis.
I think the thing to keep in mind for hypno kinda, is that a lot of it, and of like, good hypno framework is just, rites and rituals
like, a thing that's often said is that hypno isn't real, in the sense that there isn't a thing that makes hypno work, like a hypno neuron receptor or a hack that hypno does. But hypno is real in the sense that it's as real as the other things we do, as the rituals we invent.
That means that a lot of the limits of hypno is, pretty much, belief.
I think a hypno session, to its purest is, more or less, defining a concept such that the subject grasps the idea, then working together with the subject (working together here used loosely, what matters is that you use the subjects brain to change the subjects brain (pchess in a sense)) to convince the subject of that idea.
Obv that's a birds eye view, but it's i think a useful framework, and notably gives us insight into what makes good hypno
Traditionally hypnosis exists in a sort of three act form. introduction/drop, deepener, suggestion (thenplay with the suggestion, sometimes usually, then wakeup)
The structure isn't needed (and often restrictive & time consuming when you could just, snap fingers drop), especially with experience, but the structure is a structure which means than by rites and rituals rules it has power, because it means playing into something that is well known As hypnosis, which means that you have an easier time convincing them That it's hypnosis.
The introduction drop i think can be understood as like, a way to open in a sense the hypnosis. it's like a sign that says hypno begins here, and it sets the tone, mood, expectation. It also helps set up the subjects kind of headspace, id say, bringing their attention to you, and making them notice what they focus.
For said intro i think you want to basically rip off classic hypno. Get relaxed, comfortable, think about your body, how it's sitting, how [go through bodyparts, usually going up]. focus on the hypnotist, feel that focus and its strengh and how much more relaxed you are than before, and how easier that makes it to focus, then a drop.
For the bodypart point i can examplify what i mean about setting tone mood expectation (which i think is true of any beginning, you want to lightly start presenting the mood at the start, unless you explecitely want like a change halfway or something), like you could do it classicstyle, toes, feet, leg, and such; or you could do it sexystyle and have more like, sensual or something descriptions, or you could do it pervert style and name some stranger places, knees, the bottom of the foot, just below the ribs. How you describe it also influences it. It's usually a pretty sensory focused thing, but, doesn't have to be at all.
Most schools of thought will tell you that you basically want to alternate between focus on the mind (being relaxed, calm, focused, feelings emotions and such), and focus on the body (described above). I'd say that's a very good method, though it's not The only way, it does help a lot reach a trancelike state, which can be pretty helpful.
Additionally, there's commonly the concept of inferential versus direct suggestibility. I think the framework describes something real but is probably wrong in the reasons it describes it. The idea is that when talking to an inferential suggestible (which i allegedly am), you want to, well, talk in inferences, that is, not say for example, you feel x thing, but rather, say something that allows to infer feeling x thing. the classic is, instead of saying you feel sleepy, to say, your eyelids feel heavy. It's a complicated subject, but i think inferences are always a safe bet, because notably they still work on direct suggestibles. Though, more complicated than that yadda yadda
There's some schools of thought that also say that like, slight discomfort helps, though I'm not sure why that is, I forgor. Maybe because it puts you in a state that's not like, your default relax state, and forces some activity, which is useful as a subject? I truly don't know, but for example it's better to make subjects sit than lie down (usually, and mostly just for new subjects?). I think it does help an (unused) subject find a trancelike focus
Then you have the deepener, its main goal is basically convincing you that you're suggestible (aka making you suggestible), by putting you in a state that is both understandable as suggestibility (use of metaphors and parallel ideas), and a strong trance state.
Finally the suggestion phase. I do actually have a good amount to say about this because i think a lot of people do it is, subpar? At least i think that the way I do it has some parts i'd consider important.
The goal of the suggestion, is, well, as i said, build an idea, and make it real. The steps to making that are, of some important, but, I think it's first off important to remember that, like. Hypnosis is easy. I know it sounds silly but like, for a lot of things, esp at the start, a lot of the difficulty is just, in convincing yourself, aka belieiving that it works.
For things like memory play, reality alteration (like the somewhat common example of making everything you see slightly pinker), it's going to be harder, but also no. One of our personal kinda like, ways to examplify this, is that, while like, an actual forget trigger can be hard from the ground up, making someone forget a number? trivially easy. making someone forget their name after you've done that? easy. I do mean it, ive done it as a first session at least a few times.
So like a lot of it depends on the specifics. But i think it depends a lot also on the framework! like as i said, making a forget trigger? rly hard! but if you like, build up the idea, like by showing how to forget other things for example, i think it's already much easier.
So yeah, i htink that a lot of the hard part is, creating an idea that is real. And that what's important is finding good tools to do this, good frameworks. Another one, is just, pretalk about how to do it. if you talk about how the sub understands themselves you can both use that to your advantage.
The most usual trick is building a stories. Our brain loves stories, and so using them works rly well. That's applicable for every part of this, i think a lot of hypno is storytelling. Telling a story about the drop, say, being on an ocean shore, walking in the water, then about the deepener, about falling or being dragged in the depths, and then, being in the depth, and telling a story about whatever you want to change. The subjects appearance or how they see themselves? some kind of mirror for example. Dog tf? turn em in a dog. want control over someone's mind? you can literally do that. use whatver narrative device you want
Good hypno is good storytelling, often, but even more, i think something that provides a non negligeable bonus is like, really tailoring your story to your sub. It's not needed, you're gonna end up doing Some of that anyway, of course, but, the more you do it, the more foundational you get with it, the more it can help. Though, once again, not needed, and it's easier sometimes to get a bit formulaic. But of course, it's always important to tailor what you do to your sub.
Reminds me of something as an aside, i forget the name, but basically theres a hypnosis technique for when you're trying to get a suggestion across. Like, the thing is you don't want the subject to fail. You want your story to be reality, after all, so if you say close your eyes and that doesn't happen, it can be unhelpful. One way of making sure that doesn't happen, is, tailoring your rhythm. Using more permissive sentences for the suggestions, especially at the start, can help.
You want your story to be reality is a good thing to keep in mind, i think.
That's a lot what tailoring means, you're building a different reality in a sense. That's why it's helpful to understand how your subject's mind works, what works better, even at a simple level. What ideas or metaphors might be potent too, or relatable. You basically wanna tell a story that makes sense, in the end.
For scared subs, what wed do is like, give them my hand. They can hold it, and if they feel unsafe, they can release anytime. And so i can walk them into the sea/in the forest
My real trick though, is one that's honestly stupidly simple, but works too well for how little it's used, is the fact that like, a lot of the time, you can just straight up, tell the subject to imagine what it would be like if [suggestion] was real, what their reality might be like. It serves to build expectation about the effect of [suggestion], by describing what theyd imagine, and building a concrete idea in their head.
There's two that you might like, because they help the hypnotist a lot.
The first is how to do check ins during a session. That's often a little hard, because like, a lot of the traditional ways might be, immersion breaking, and that's something that ive found is a little scary to do in hypno? so it's i think easier to incorporate those things into your story (not necessarily like, deeply woven, but more as in, As a part of the hypno). I don't have a specifc example that ive done before, but for example, it might be of instead of like, asking the subject how they are, to be like, within the language and mode of the session, to effectively ask that, by for example saying, you might take a moment to collect yourself, feel calm coming back to you, and feel your own mind (ik poorly worded, in actual session like improv'd that kind of relative clunkiness is absolutely fine), and you may take my hand/nod if you feel a want to continue.
One other note on clunkyness, is that you can get away with a lot more than you think you might. pauses are often pretty fine, and repetition is far from bad, and can often be actively helpful, mantra style, so it's fine if you get a little circular and slow, while you're searching for the next idea. Same goes for anything else clunky you do as for pauses, it's pretty fine. If you say the wrong word or whatever, or use wierd wording, hardly anything will happen. The most that can happen with awkward wording though is getting the wrong idea across, which is why i think it's crucial to like, hammer the idea of the suggestion in, like repeating it, and describing it multiple times if needed from different angles. That's the part where you might like repetition and circularity too.
Anyway, the second one tends to help a lot to feel safe, and it's basically what i'd call a safety suggestion. It's effectively a reminder to both the hypnotist and the subject that things are okay, and that if something goes wrong it'll be okay, and usually takes the form (during the late intro/early deepener (sometimes reinforced in the late deepener) of a suggestion being like, "and even though it might feel hard to move your body, you can notice that your ability to speak is left untouched, and you can know that, if there is anything you feel the need to voice, you will find it easy to do so, and to want to do so."
