I talked with my friend Allen a couple of days ago and it certainly was an interesting conversation. I hadn’t seen him for a couple of months and he seemed different, more poised and even fit. He told me he’d been working on some personal issues and that he was making progress. I found that interesting.

One thing that stood out with Allen was the way he talked. He was far more animated than I’d ever noticed in the past. Some of what he was saying almost didn’t make sense, but then in an odd way, it somehow did make sense.

Finally, I just had to ask my old friend what was different with him. Al smiled and answered with a single word… hypnosis. He’d been studying various hypnosis techniques for his own self-improvement and as a means of influencing other people. It seems that Allen had just taken a sales position with a big electronics company and was moving up the ranks quickly using what he referred to as conversational hypnosis.

He didn’t go into a lot of detail about it but said the practice could be very helpful in persuading people. He must have read my mind and quickly added that it was absolutely impossible to persuade anyone to do something they wouldn’t ordinarily do otherwise and that covert hypnosis, another name for conversational hypnosis sort of helped folks along in the decision process.

But there was more. He said that he’d also gotten into self-hypnosis and that he was losing some weight and feeling much more motivated to do the things he’d always wanted to do. One of those things was to become a successful sales person. When I asked him about the unusual rhythm of his speech he just laughed a little and said he was sort of practicing conversational hypnosis.

So it looks like Allen is on his way thanks to self hypnosis and conversational hypnosis. And since talking to him, I’ve actually begun to find some real value in hypnosis too. I’ll keep you posted.

So how does all of this apply to conversational hypnosis? First, conversational hypnosis is nothing more than a method or persuasion using mild confusion and perhaps some distraction. How would that work? Remember that for suggestions to get past the conscious mind we need to keep it occupied. Confusion does just that. Of course, these techniques take practice.

Rapport
Before being able to influence anyone in even the slightest way one must gain rapport with the individual. This is often accomplished by identifying common ground such as similar interests, goals, careers, etc. More advanced rapport building might incorporate mirroring and matching the subject. You might subtly move, breath and speak as the subject does which subconsciously leads him to believe you are like them. People tend to like people that are like them.

Confusion and Suggestion
With rapport, the next thing the practitioner will want to do is create some mild confusion while speaking. Let’s say we have a coach that wants to motivate members of the team or a single individual. He might say something like this:

“I’ve looked long and deep with gladiator halos are using and picking up the eight-ball magic wands, running logical conclusions avoiding rainbow punishment, slaying dragonflies with inspired wind through your sails. Keeping it real here guys while trickster Trojan is in the yard.”

Sound nuts, huh? Well, it’s a bit exaggerated but the essence of confusion is certainly there. Notice the metaphoric references in what the coach is saying. “gladiator halos” “eight-ball magic” “running logical conclusions” “avoiding rainbow punishment” slaying dragonflies, “inspired wind” “trickster Trojan…”

All are subtle references to making the right moves and plays during a game, and the beauty of such language is that you’ll never have to even mention any one strategy particular to any sport because each phrase is able to stand alone with its underlying meaning. Let’s analyze a little of the language:

Avoiding rainbow punishment refers to not being penalized, trickster Trojan might be a decoy or head fake play, logical conclusions is a reference to simply getting it done, inspired wind might refer to perseverance or endurance, slaying dragonflies pretty much speaks for itself. The beauty of such language is that the players will all perceive it in a slightly different way while still receiving the overall message. Confusion and suggestion.

The team might wonder what the heck has come over the coach (keeping the conscious mind occupied) while the subtle suggestions find their way into the subconscious minds of the players. As I’ve already mentioned, it takes practice to pull this off. The practitioner will also want to vary the confusion with rational talk intermittently to avoid losing rapport. And don’t forget, keep your gladiator halos shining.

To many, hypnosis is a dark and mysterious thing, however nothing could be further from the truth. Hypnosis is a natural state that nearly everyone experiences daily. How could that be? Let’s take a look.

In an effort to make sense of how humans behave observers have decided that we have two minds, the conscious mind and the subconscious. The conscious mind is on duty to evaluate all input and to keep us safe. The subconscious mind acts more as an archive and switching station for our inner thoughts and beliefs. People receive these beliefs from the input we constantly receive from family, friends and other influences in our environment.

People sometimes run into problems when they absorb thoughts and attitudes that don’t serve them well. There are many ways to pick up non-supportive ideas and these notions often serve to make us unhappy unless we do something to change them. That’s where hypnosis comes in.

How Hypnosis Works
Hypnosis is really simple. If the subconscious mind has absorbed beliefs that don’t serve us then we need to replace them with beliefs and attitudes that do. Let’s say that you lack motivation and you decide to change to a person of action. You begin to repeat positive affirmations like, I’m a person of action, and I’m an extremely motivated person.

Those are both positive statements and will be helpful under the right circumstances. But remember the conscious mind? Its duty is “to evaluate all input and to keep you safe.” When you repeat something that doesn’t ring true to the conscious mind it’s likely to scoff and you’ll hear your inner voice saying, You? A person of action? Yeah, right!

That’s its job, to keep you straight. So what can we do to get the suggestion past the conscious mind? Keep it busy, that’s what. And that’s what the traditional relaxation hypnosis induction does, it occupies the conscious mind so the subconscious may accept supportive suggestions. That’s it.

Earlier I mentioned that people experience the hypnotic state daily. It’s true. We most often drift through hypnosis just before dropping off to sleep and just after waking. These are both excellent times to give yourself nurturing suggestions.

Believe it or not, successful covert hypnosis is based in creating mild confusion in a subject. It’s true. But before I get into the mechanics of covert hypnosis let’s take a look at the foundations of hypnosis for better understanding.

Two Minds
Humans all come equipped with two minds, the conscious mind and the subconscious. The subconscious mind acts as sort of a command post for our beliefs and behaviors. We acquire these beliefs starting at birth from our families, our social networks, the media and society at large.

If we receive nurturing and loving impressions as we grow it’s likely we’ll develop into well balanced and relatively happy individuals. If we receive less than favorable impressions, it’s likely that we’ll have less than favorable attitudes and behaviors.

The Conscious Mind
The conscious mind is on duty to evaluate input of all types. It’s there to keep us safe and well. Let’s say that you long for a better life. You realize that you’ve acquired some beliefs that don’t serve you and you want to change them.

Maybe you’re a smoker and want to quit. Or maybe you’d like to lose some weight. You understand that your subconscious will deliver to you exactly what you want so you attempt to feed it supportive suggestions. You might repeat, “Today, I’m a non-smoker.

But your conscious mind is standing guard and says, “Oh, yeah? You know you want a cigarette right now.” See, that’s its job. To point out the truth. And that’s also where hypnosis comes in. The standard relaxation hypnotic induction is designed to get the conscious mind out of the way so new and positive suggestions can replace the non-supportive beliefs. That’s it. That’s how hypnosis works in a nutshell.

Covert Hypnosis Techniques
With covert hypnosis, which is also referred to as conversational hypnosis, the relaxation induction is replaced with confusion or distraction. And confusion can do a very effective job of keeping the conscious mind busy. The only difference is that covert hypnosis is often used for persuasion, though there are many hypnotherapists and medical professionals that use it as part of their repertoire for therapeutic purposes.

Rapport
No hypnosis can be effective without the practitioner first gaining rapport with the subject. This may be as simple as exchanging a few words or might need to be developed over time through finding commonalities. But make no mistake, rapport is necessary.

Confusion
There are particular speech patterns that facilitate covert hypnosis. As mentioned above, these are designed to cause confusion. Let’s look at an example where a doctor is seeing a patient in his office. The patient is about to undergo a grueling course of treatment and it’s the doctor’s intention to ‘install’ certain internal resources to help his patient through the ordeal.

He might say something like this: “You know Mr. Daily, in dreaming you are a caterpillar proud and sure, of one ultimate iron, fortitude, aptitude, attitude, latitude, endurance and many feet, one standing proud on a journey storm through windmills and wisdom. And as the wind fierce through the tunnel flows, out comes the glorious butterfly. Such a dream it will be…”

That may sound pretty strange but there are many doctors who could pull something like this off without even drawing a side glance. In fact, Milton Erickson was a physician as well as the father of covert hypnosis and used language much like this virtually every day he practiced.

Suggestions
Notice the butterfly dream above was also a metaphor for a successful transformation. The transformation comes about after enduring a storm, an apt analogy for the upcoming course of treatment. Suggestions will almost always be blended with the confusing patter. And the confusion needs to be modulated with rational speech intermittently or else the practitioner will lose rapport and lose the opportunity for persuasion.

There you have it, the foundation for covert hypnosis. Obviously, it isn’t something you’re going to read about once or twice and practice with proficiency right away. But with a bit of study, you too may find yourself one standing proud on a journey storm through windmills and wisdom… the glorious butterfly.