Communication and Hypnosis:
Hypnosis is a word that can almost be guaranteed to get a strong reaction from people. But ask a hundred people what it is and you will get a hundred different answers.
Many times the perception is that hypnosis is what you see when you watch a stage show and you see people in a deep trance slumped in their chairs. People see this and they say “that’s hypnosis!”
Yet in the same show you see people with eyes wide opening following what the hypnotist has suggested as the entertainment, and they appear quite wide awake. Does the crowd say “that’s hypnosis…”, not unless they have seen these same people in the deep trance sleep position first.
The fact is that neither of these are hypnosis. Hypnosis is not a thing. When you see a person on stage clucking like a chicken that is not hypnosis, it is the result of hypnosis. More correctly it is a result of the process of hypnosis.
Hypnosis a process that allows one person (the hypnotist) using language, to get a person into that particular state of mind. If the state of mind happens to be one where the hypnotist is taking them into a deep theta trance… that is just one use of the hypnotic process. If the hypnotist has them forget their name, that is a result of the hypnotic process.
The hypnotic process is the process whereby using language we are able to take a person from one state of mind to another state of mind. This is referred to as inducing a state of mind.
Now that state of mind that you are inducing can be any state of mind.
– moving them from sadness to happiness
– from bored to excited
– it could be a state of curiosity
– it could be a deep trance state
These are all normal states we experience as humans. The deep trance state, is the same state of mind that each person goes through at least twice a day. Once when they wake up, and once when they go to sleep.
So that destination is not hypnosis, it is the process utilized to get the person into that very relaxed state that is hypnosis. If you take a person and move them from fear to confidence… the process used is the hypnotic process.
As you begin to think of hypnosis using that definition, the growing realization that hypnosis is occurring all the time all around you begins to become clear. And most individuals using hypnosis are completely unaware that they are in effect using the hypnotic process to communicate. They cause through their actions, through their words states of mind to be induced in other people.
This is EXTREMELY POWERFUL. The concept that simply by using your skills of communication you can induce a desired state of mind in other people! By using language and body language you are able to influence the thoughts and emotions of those around you.
We can expand this concept beyond just a single person, and look at all the communications around us. Movies are a great example of state induction. All it takes is something as simple as the words “A long time ago in a galaxy far far away” and a whole theater full of people go into an altered state in which they suspend their beliefs and allow the story to take them to that fictional galaxy. It is also likely that now, just by having read those words you thought of Star Wars. It works even in print. Powerful and effective.
So with this new understanding, let us begin to develop the communication skills you already have now.
Since you already understand that hypnosis is a process, you can easily understand that effective communication will be based on process language and not content. Process language is rich with words to enhance the sensory experience. To draw attention to what they will see, what sounds are involved, how they will feel, and can even include smell and taste. As humans we describe our world by our five senses, so it only makes sense to use sensory language in our communications.
In Part II of the article you will learn more of sensory based language, tonality, and the use of vague phrases to enhance process based communications.
Conclusion:
The secret to understanding highly effective communication is hypnosis. Or stated another way, hypnosis is an extremely useful model for understanding human communications If you think about how all of what we understand about the world is codified by linguistic expression and non-verbal cues, this is how we communicate. And if you accept that communication is hypnosis, then it follows that if you want to be really effective with communication, some understanding of hypnosis principles will give you powerful tools to be a highly effective communicator.
Craig Eubanks is an Author, Trainer, and Communication Skills Specialist and is one of the Founders of Act Now International LLC. Sign up for the FREE Success Skills Digest newsletter at the Act Now website. http://actnowllc.com/
