Use of external circumstances
We do not always have the opportunity to practice in a completely isolated and silent environment.
Noise is always more or less present and cannot be blocked out. We should therefore include the environment in the process and, as Milton Erickson said, “utilize” it, i.e. use it to our advantage.
It is about utilizing all external events that occur during induction, such as a ringing telephone, an external noise, a purring cat, rumbling stomach, wind, rain…
In a noisy environment, the following sentences should be included in the therapy
There are several good opportunities to do this:
- shortly after the subject has closed their eyes,
- when you use the Elman induction,
- when dropping the hand, or
- during the application of a deepening technique
(independent of the induction method).
“You will at any point in time,
perceive and register all sounds that surround you.
You are not asleep, you are aware of them, but you are merely becoming more indifferent to them.”
“Any noise or sound (telephone, children, street noise, door noises…),
whatever their origin, they don’t bother you, no, on the contrary,
they will help you to relax even more and let you go even deeper.”
“The only thing you will continue to focus on is my voice,
and my voice will help you to let yourself go further into that indifference.”
It is very important that the subject understands that they are well aware of outside noises.
In a densely populated area, absolute silence is very rare.
And even in the countryside, there are unavoidable sources of noise.
Hypnosis does not require absolute silence to be effective!