#hypnotic induction

The steady face that’s expected of me.

The sensible voice, the measured reply,

The man who never asks himself why.

But hidden beneath that careful disguise,

Lives a dream I can no longer deny.

Soft whispers linger at the edge of thought,

Promising freedom that cannot be bought.

I think of silk. I think of lace.

Of becoming someone in a different place.

Not pretending, not putting on a show,

But letting a deeper part of me grow.

And with that thought comes another desire,

A curious pull, a secret fire.

To stop deciding. To stop leading the way.

To surrender the burden for just one day.

To hear a voice and simply follow.

To let resistance fade and hollow.

To drift so deeply into trance and calm,

As every word settles like a soothing balm.

The deeper I go, the lighter I feel,

As layers of certainty slowly unseal.

The constant control I’ve carried for years,

Melting away with old doubts and fears.

Perhaps that’s why the fantasy stays,

Returning in quiet moments and days.

Not power. Not status. Not being admired.

Just becoming exactly what I’ve desired.

To be guided. To be shaped. To be free.

To set aside the version expected of me.

To stop gripping tightly to every demand,

And place my trust in another’s hand.

So here’s my challenge, my dare, my plea—

Could you truly unravel me?

Could you quiet the noise that fills my head,

And guide me where I’ve never tread?

Past caution and pride, past reason and fear,

Past every excuse I’ve held so dear.

Past the walls I’ve built mile by mile,

Until all that’s left is a peaceful smile.

A willing subject. A wandering mind.

Leaving old expectations behind.

Curious to discover what I might find,

If someone could take me so deep…

That, for a little while,

Just imagine - words of thickest rope,

securing extremities, giving lift like the deepest luxury bath,

You land as an erected statue, and now,

there's no restraining my words which flow through this space..

Statues don't think.

Statues don't think.

This space You occupy,

statues don't move.

Statues don't think.

No perception. Just opulent elegance,

unrivaled relevance.

What do you use hypnosis for? ✨

Could you being programmed to do something inappropriate? Or is it your hidden desire to do something inappropriate?

"i can't be hypnotized" is the starting point for everyone i've ever talked about hypnosis with. the idea that you could enter a really different state just from listening to someone, or imagining a certain sequence of ideas, is something that seems unlikely; certainly it wouldn't be something that follows any sort of logic or system that you've encountered before. the idea that, just by a certain sequence of ideas, of imagined things, you could enter a genuinely different state is an unusual one. it's sort of like something elevating into the air, just by running in place. now of course, some things can do that, like helicopters, which in a way spin in place until they're in the air, pushing against the air as the the thing that's there to push against. and so, in that idea, what are you pushing against, what are you moving through, when you think? when you think a certain sequence of ideas? the space of thought. the stuff of the mind. if you imagine moving a hand through your mind, as you do through the air, and feeling the air against your hand, in there, or whatever is in there, which might provide no physical resistance, and yet feel a sort of static prickling or a sort of sound as you move your hand back and forth in your mind. a sort of flurrying of light, of movement. of whatever it is that we see in the mind's eye. of whatever nature that stuff is. that is what, to change where you are, you move through, lift off through. push against to move higher. interesting stuff. it can feel like anything. different things for different people. yet it feels like something. and this is what you're pushing against, when you think your way into hypnosis. and the thing really is, just that it's something. you push against something, and you...move somewhere else. in essence, that's what your imagining, whatever you feel when you move your hand, wave your hand fast through your mind.

and could you imagine pulling yourself forward, with both hands, up through, that stuff? can you climb it, like a thick, clifflike cloud that somehow supports, or that, there being no gravity, in your mind, you move up on just from pushing down in, however thick or insubstantial it is. and if you pull, push yourself up through that something, thick or shimmery thin, you will soon be...in a different place. imagine reaching out both your arms above your head, and parting the cloud, and pulling yourself up...on top. there you are. you're up on top of something. somewhere different. when you wave your hand in your mind now, is it different? slower? shimmerier? is it slightly liquid, like water rippling? is there a sound to it now? a whssh or an electric hum -- vmp -- vmp --as you move it? what is this different place that you're in now? how is it different? is it warmer? is it lighter? darker? are there sparks everywhere in your vision, like the background static is...buzzing at a higher volume?

imagine clapping your hands in your mind now. clap. the next time i ask you to do -- to imagine -- just that, i want you to open your eyes right up and feel full of a jolt of energy -- like lightning running through you -- and still in a different place somehow. and how do you come back here? to the place that's different? on top of this cloud? you can come back here from reading -- seeing and saying -- the word "different" with that red i. if you see different and say "different" to yourself, right back here, right away, eyes, body, mind just as they are right now. whatever that is, different from normal.

clap.

how do you feel? i want you to try something now, which is to say a certain word aloud to yourself when you read it, and then keep reading. the end will take you right back here.

the word i want you to read aloud is "different."

are you right back here now? is it glossy? glimmery? shiny? is it harder at all, or somewhere further from you, to read what's written here? there are only a few more words in this. maybe you're more focused than ever, and it's just me that's tired. i'm yawning actually... it's quite late as i'm writing this. i have to sleep soon, really. maybe you will too, or you might feel full of energy. that would say something about whether you...follow what's said, or naturally...harmonize with me, with the state i'm actually in. you can see what happens -- after you just imagine the one word below, a really really loud

"i'm 1000 years older than you. i've learned every trick. i know what you're going to do before you do it. i've seen it before. you're going to blink in a moment, and nervously look to the right. there. see? next you'll smile nervously, and look right in my eyes. see?

it can quickly become disorienting to have someone say everything you'll do before you do it. you're going to nervously touch your right ear in a moment. there. see? and if i keep predicting, like this, what you're about to do, and i'm correct, you'll quickly and oddly start to feel like it's actually me deciding what you're about to do.

now after thinking about that for a second, you'll blink twice and shake your head. there. see? i know everything you're going to do. next you'll take a step back, and lean a little to the right, too look at me differently -- to see if my eyes follow you. there. see? and you're still looking in my eyes. you'll keep looking in my eyes. by now, you feel transfixed by the contact between us. you'll swallow nervously in just a moment. there. see?

now if i act, i also know exactly what you will do in turn. when you are transfixed like this, if i take a step back, you'll take a step toward me, wanting to keep contact. see? yet if i step closer, you'll stay right there -- your eyes will get a little wider. there. see? eyes quite wide, looking into mine. and since i'm so close now, if i take your right hand by the wrist, you won't look, you won't hardly notice. i can lift it right up above your head and -- let it fall. and it's loose there. your vision, your focus is transfixed, right here in my eyes. you'll now take a deep, deep breath, in -- realizing that -- there. annnd out. there. see?

being transfixed like this, focused like this, right here, takes energy. it takes a lot of energy. your eyes naturally will want a break, to get heavy. it will start to be noticeable in a moment. there it is. see? notice the slight heaviness, the flicker, the fluttering starting there, in your eyelids, while you keep perfect focus? your eyes will close in just a few moments. sooner than you think. and then you can just focus perfectly on my voice, on the shape of my words. letting. each. word. fill. your. mind. as. i. speak. transfixed. i can see that your eyes are very, very heavy now. in a moment when they close, i will tug you by the wrist, an you can follow me, carefully walking where i lead, listening as i speak, focusing on the shape of each. word. as. i. speak. heavy. in just one moment more, at the end of this sentence, i believe your eyes will be so heavy that they're closed all the way, and stuck closed. there. see? try to open your eyes, and you will find that you can't. stuck. they're stuck. too heavy. stuck. there. see? now let me take your wrist -- here -- and step carefully, this way. following my voice. transfixed. another word for this...is hypnotized. did you realize that you were being hypnotized? pay close attention, as you step, and step, forward, the way i'm tugging you -- pay close attention to the feeling, to the place you're in right now. to being hypnotized. now that you know what it's like to be hypnotized, you'll find that you rapidly return to this place, to being deeply hypnotized, whenever you look in my eyes and i say, 'transfixed.' if i ask, 'are you transfixed?' everything will slide out in a moment, deeply hypnotized, so quickly you don't have to worry about answering -- you know that i know that the answer is yes. when you look in my eyes, you are transfixed. when i say the word 'transfixed,' you quickly slide faaar out, waaay in, to an intense, deep hypnotic trance, just like this.

now -- here we are. let me adjust your position a little, by your shoulders -- step sideways, turn, there. now in a moment, i will tap you just lightly, right in the center of your forehead. and the funny thing is, when you're deeply hypnotized, this has a special effect. your eyes will roll up, to look right at where you were tapped, and suddenly every muscle in your body will instantly relax and melt, turning out like a light -- black starry night all in your mind, glittering sparks of light are all that you can see -- and you'll fall, fall backwards. you're in front of a bed, which is an excellent one -- thirty inches thick. now -- " *tap*

"you look completely, perfectly relaxed. my long experience tells me that you are in quite a profound state of hypnotic trance. if you try to open your eyes, you find that they're stuck -- you can't. if you try to lift your right arm, you find that it's stuck -- you can't. if you try to remember your name, you find that it's stuck somewhere -- try, and you find that you can't remember anything like that at all. what were you called? right now, you can let everything you might remember to worry about just fade, dissolving like a fog that the sun is melting away with rays of light, until everything is calm, clear, crystal-perfect in your mind. deeply hypnotized. transfixed. remembering looking into my eyes, and how quickly, almost instantly, you were transfixed, and deeply hypnotized. when i say "sleep," right back here. deeply hypnotized. when i say "transfixed," right back here, deeply hypnotized. when i tap your forehead, right away instantly deeply hypnotized, just like this, right now, completely transfixed, hypnotized, focusing on the shape. of. each. word. that. i. say. one. at. a. time.

now. open. your. eyes. blink. blink again.

hello! how do you feel? do you know where you are? do you remember your name? what are you called? strange feeling, right? in a moment, you'll start to blink, and blink again, trying to recall something you know you should know, and yet it's far away -- there. see? blinking your eyes. trying to remember. you'll shake your head in a second, trying to clear whatever's -- there. see? do you see now that i really do know everything you'll do? forget about it for now. everything will be back to normal soon. you'll blink, and wake up, just where you were before, everything like it was, except now you know what it's like to be transfixed all in a moment, and to be deeply hypnotized, just by focusing on. each. word. for now -- no worries at all. just look in my eyes. are you transfixed again? i see that you are." *snap* "sleep." *tap*.

"you've really never heard of that? of being hypnotized? okay. i can show you what it's like, and in a different way from all that. what it's really like, between two people like this. it's really just a sort of human experience, like feeling carried along with a story someone's telling you while you're listening, closing your eyes now and then to picture what they're saying. or following along with watching a movie, drawn into it so much that when it ends and the screen goes black -- you sort of blink, and shake yourself and come back to reality. that feels really close to what hypnosis is like. being drawn into someone, what they're saying, into looking right where they ask you to look, focusing there, and imagining right what they ask you imagine, so perfectly that it suggests things to your body without you thinking that far. it's really just perfect focus on someone. here. and if you pay close attention. now. to the shape of each word i'm saying. you can actually feel. if you pay close attention. this effect start to happen to you. looking right in my eyes. now. will make it stronger. and looking right here at my hand, just here, a little above you, slowly shifting there, this will make it stronger still. to look right there, to focus right there, to focus on the shape of every word i'm saying. and something unusual now, you can imagine happening. as my hand moves closer, even from this distance away, you can feel somehow...my hand is pushing...down...something that makes your eyes start to feel...just slightly heavy. imagine...as my hand moves closer...a million tiny little weights all along your eyelids, that get heavier...as my hand...is closer...and closer. and if your eyes get so heavy...you close them...just focus, right here, on the shape of my words. closer and closer. heavier. i can see the force. that you need. now. to keep your eyes open. and you can relax. and let them close. when you like. and then you can imagine sleep. you can imagine deep sleep, deep, deep sleep, asleep at night with the stars and the moonlight out up there above you, in the heavy, total darkness of night, sleep. deep sleep. i see that your eyes are closed now, and i see...that you're imagining...deep, deep sleep. sleep. perfect...*snap*...sleep. and this, you now know, is the feeling of being hypnotized. it's like imagining that you're deeply asleep, and you are, except really, just your body is asleep. your mind is secretly awake, listening to me. you are deeply hypnotized. deeply hypnotized. *snap* sleep is the signal, a secret signal between you and me, that you, right now, can be deeply hypnotized, shifting right in just a few moments from upright to relaxed to thinking of sleep to deep, deep, deeply hypnotized, deep sleep. *sleep.*

and on the count of three and the snap of my fingers you'll find your eyes blink, blink, blink open, all the way wide and bright and you're right here, right here with me, knowing that somehow you've just been hypnotized, somehow from focusing somewhere you were just now hypnotized and then 1, 2, 3, *snap* eyes open, right here right now all the way back to reality. hello! so that's being hypnotized. and there you are. is there anything else you're curious about, with being hypnotized? it would take me only a moment to show you quite a lot of further things that are quite intense feelings. have you ever seen, or could you imagine someone hypnotized so...they thought they were perfectly awake and normal, and yet they couldn't move a step from where they are, like they're stuck in place, and yet they just don't know, just can't figure out why, still can't really believe they were hypnotized? do you think that would work, right now, on you? if you're not certain, may i -- for my curiosity -- see, if you have a minute more? wonderful. alright. look right here -- deep breath in, annd ssshhhhwwwww *snap* sleeep. perfect. perfectly hypnotized. you are perfect. and now i would like to start your focus, a focus on relaxation, all the way at the top of your head, right at the very top relaxing that small circle of muscles...and bit by bit, we'll relax downward all the way to your toes, yet for now...just still at the top of your head, a ring of light there like you're being read by something, a relaxing ring of light proceeding down around your head, around your forehead, reaching the tops of your ears and starting to touch your uppermost muscles around your eyes, and already...just here...feeling so relaxed. already imagining perfectly that you're deeply asleep. and you can go even deeper. now."