Hypnosis homework, part 2.
Much to my surprise, Denise phoned me the very next day, Saturday. “Hello, Joshua.”
“Hello. I’m glad you called back so soon.”
“Well, it was a ... an interesting experience.” she said. I smiled. A pause. “I’d, I’d like to come over tonight and try some more, are you free?”
Wow. “Yes, yes, that would be wonderful!” I gave her directions, we set a time, and I hung up the phone.
I spent the rest of the day thinking about things to try, things to do, how beautiful she was with her hands holding her hair gathered behind her head, eyes closed, how wonderfully responsive and cooperative she would be ... I wondered what ideas she might have, and how far she wanted to go. I thought I’d ask her to strip for me again, down to her underwear or farther if she was willing this time; have her kneel on the floor, deep in trance. I thought back to how she looked with her eyes closed, relaxed, her long brown hair fallen around her face.
But the one thing I didn’t expect was, of course, what actually happened.
The doorbell rang quite punctually. I opened the door to a tall, broad-shouldered woman with wavy blond hair. “Hi, I’m Heather.” she said. Denise was standing next to her, looking like an elf or pixie by comparison. “And this is Julie,” she said, and I looked over at an absolutely beautiful redhead.
“Um, hi.” I responded, confused.
Denise laughed. “I knew you needed two more people for your homework, so I figured you’d appreciate it if I brought friends. Heather went to the show with me, the same one I saw, so she was really interested.”
Julie piped in, “And I’ve never seen anyone hypnotized before, but I’m still curious about what it’s like.”
I just wondered what Denise had told them about last night! Trying to maintain my composure, I invited them in and offered them something to drink. The unanimous choice was icewater. Heather and Julie sat on the sofa while Denise chose the easy chair. I brought them their drinks, and asked what they would like to experience in their first trance.
Heather looked at Denise and said, “Um, well, to start with, I think I’d like to be stuck in my chair, like the hypnotist we saw did. And maybe something that you trigger when I’m awake, like a signal to make me raise my hand or something.”
Julie said, “Try to get me to do something really silly, like barking like a dog instead of talking or whatever.” She had the most beautiful dark green eyes.
Staring into first Heather’s, then Julie’s eyes, I said “and should I hypnotize one of you first, or both at the same time?” They looked at each other, and as they started to say something I interrupted “Denise!” and she looked over at me, startled. “Sleep now,” I continued, and her eyelids drooped closed beautifully. “Very good. I see you know that here, this is your hypnosis chair ... and when you awaken, you’re going to find your water glass is stuck to that table until Julie tells you that you may lift it.” I counted and snapped my fingers to wake her up.
“What?” Denise said. We just looked at her. “Why is everyone looking at me?”
“He just hypnotized you, and told you to ...” Julie said.
“Told me to what? What?” Denise said, blushing a bit.
“Are you thirrrsty?” Heather asked. Denise shook her head. “Well, take a sip of your water anyway.”
Denise reached for her glass, and tugged, then pulled harder, but to no avail. She chuckled, then tried again, even harder. She shook her head. “It’s futile.”
“You can lift it now, go ahead, try it one more time.” Julie said.
Denise shook her head. “No way, not until he releases me. I just can’t budge it at all.”
“Go on, try one more time.” Heather said, grinning.
Denise shrugged, reached out, and pulled hard on her glass. It flew up with no resistance, much faster than she expected, and she splashed a bit of the ice-cold water on herself before she could stop it.
Heather and Julie laughed. They exchanged glances, then looked at me. “Both at once, let’s go.” Heather said.
I nodded and went to my room to get my spiral fan. I set it to spinning slowly, pulling in toward the center, and asked them to watch it, setting it so that Denise saw it edge-on. I wanted to keep her awake, to see what was going on.
I gave them the same sort of suggestions as I had Denise—no point in messing with a technique that worked so well! I told them that one hand would start to feel lighter, worked on getting their breathing synchronized, timing the lightness with their breathing in. I told them a bit about their eyelids getting heavy. And that the spiral was pulling them in, pulling that hand up in the air, pulling their eyelids shut.
I asked them to imagine balloons tied to that wrist, pulling the hand upward. Heather’s hand immediately responded, twitching and then floating up out of her lap, rising steadily up in the air. “Eyelids so tired, so heavy, as you spiral in deeper and deeper ...” Julie’s eyelids drooped shut nicely, though her hand hadn’t responded yet. I figured it was time to tailor things more specifically to each individual’s responses. Heather already had her arm straight up above her head!
“You are doing very well, very well, deeper and deeper ... and Heather, you feel how much strain there is in your eyes, how heavy they feel, how relaxing it will be when they slowly close soon now ... and Julie ...” I had no idea what to say to her to get her arm to start responding. “You can stop trying to raise or lower your arm now, you can just let your arm drift off on its own ... the weight just flowing away as it floats up and drifts on the breeze ...” Still no response! “Heather, you can let the spiral pull you in allll the way now, let your eyes relax and slowly droop a bit ... and Julie, your arm is beginning to rise now.” It twitched! “Your arm is floating up, floating, rising ... as you both go deeper and deeper with each breath in ... and out, in ... and out.”
I waited and watched as Heather’s eyes very slowly, unblinkingly drooped closed. Julie’s arm floated very slowly upward. Denise was just staring, watching, probably half in trance herself, so I caught her attention and smiled at her. She gave me a thumbs-up.
“Julie, you can imagine the spiral, and just let yourself drift deeper and deeper while I talk to Heather ...
“Heather, you are doing so well, feeling those balloons pulling your wrist right up in the air .... I’m going to untie those balloons now” and I walked over to her and ran my finger around her wrist “and let your arm sink back down slowly into your lap. Very good! And when your arm reaches your lap, you will be wide awake. And when you wake up, you will notice that your chair has a seat belt. That’s right, a seat belt holding you in the chair. And your feet ... you will find that your feet are encased in ski boots, very heavy solid stiff ski boots. And those boots are clipped to the floor, that set of ski bindings in the floor that you didn’t notice before.
“And finally, Heather ... when I ask you to imagine the balloons ... well, you know what will happen. Or if I ask you to look at the spiral ...” Her hand reached her lap, and she opened her eyes, blinked a few times, and giggled. I pointed at Julie, and Heather quieted down, but still squirmed around in her chair.
“Now, Julie. Your arm gradually starts floating down toward your lap. And when it reaches your lap, you will be wide awake. And when you wake up, everything will seem completely normal until I say the word ‘Pinocchio.’ When I say that word, you’ll reach up to check and make sure that your nose is still the right length. And when you touch your nose, your fingers will stick there until I touch your hand.” As her hand neared her lap, she gradually opened her eyes. When her hand reached her lap, she shook her head and blinked a couple times, then started staring at the spiral again.
“OK, Julie, good enough.” I said, turning off the spiral. “Heather, how does it feel?”
“Um, a bit silly, but very, very effective.” She smiled. “I definitely can’t get out of this chair. Or lift my feet.”
“And Julie ... how does it feel to be Pinocchio?”
She reached up and touched her nose, and then tugged, with her fingers sticking. She giggled, nervously. “Oh, I can resist this, I can.” She tugged again, harder, and frowned. “I’m going to pull my fingers away ... now!” she said, and succeeded.
“Well, Julie. You’ve done what you came for, right? Proved that you could resist that silly suggestion?” She nodded. “So what do you want to do now? Stay, and give hypnosis a real chance? Or go home?”
A pause. “I’ll stay, and try it again.”
I nodded, and turned to Heather. “So, Heather. Do you remember everything that happened in your trance?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“You remember what it felt like to have those balloons pulling up on your wrist?”
“Yes, I, oh!” Her arm, led by her wrist with hand hanging limp, slowly lifted up from her lap and rose up into the air until it once again pointed straight up.
“And Denise,” I added, “you can imagine those balloons now too.”
“Yeah.” she said. “The way her arm moves, you can just see them.”
“No, no. What I meant was,” I walked over to Denise and touched her wrist, “you can imagine, Denise, balloons tied to your wrist now too.”
As her arm slowly drifted upward, she sighed “ohhhh.” She watched her hand as it rose, apparently going half into trance, then blinking herself back to reality once her arm was straight up above her.
“Heather, and Denise, there are balloons tied to your other wrist now too.” I told them, with the expected effect. I smiled, pleased with my success and their cooperation. Heather sat, arms straight up, “seat-belted” to the chair, feet stuck to the floor. What to try next? I didn’t know. “Denise, what do you think I should do with Julie and Heather in their next trance now?”
“I think you should put them back into trance first, and then we can talk about it.”
I looked to Heather and Julie, and got small nods of confirmation from both. I turned the spiral fan back on, and Julie and Heather stared at it. As I silently waited, Julie’s eyes quickly closed and her head sagged forward. Heather’s blinking slowed, then slowed further. Finally, she stared glassy-eyed at the spiralling fan, breathing slowly, deeply, and regularly. I removed the “seat belt” and “ski boots” and let her arms sink slowly down into her lap. I took both of them deeper into trance, told them they would keep going deeper with each breath, and that they would wake up when I touched their hand, counted to three and then snapped my fingers. Then I looked to Denise for a suggestion of what to do next.
Denise stared at Heather’s unblinking eyes, her arms still straight up above her head with wrists hanging limp. I walked over to her, touched her hand, and quietly counted to three, then snapped my fingers next to her ear to wake her up.
She started a bit, looked at Heather and Julie, and nodded. “OK, here’s what we should do with Julie. She’s ... proud, she wants to show she’s strong enough to resist, and I want to show her that she can’t.” I nodded, encouraging her to go on. “You know, don’t let her off the hook like you did with the Pinocchio thing. Make her keep struggling to stop.” She paused, expecting me to do something, but I didn’t know what, so I just waited. “You know, it looked like she really had trouble keeping her eyes open. And maybe her arm felt heavy, I know when I’m in trance I feel really heavy and limp and relaxed sometimes, maybe heaviness would be harder for her to resist, especially about the eyes.”
I nodded, and walked over to Julie. I touched her hand, and said “Julie, I want you to think about how heavy your eyes are right now. And how heavy your arms are, how limp and relaxed your whole body feels. And I want you to keep thinking about that spiral fan, spinning on and on and on ... Tell me, do you think you could open your eyes now?”
“Nnn, no.” she murmured.
“I want you to try to open your heavy eyelids now. I want you to feel how heavy and limp every muscle is, how completely stuck closed ... try now, try to open your eyes, try to resist as I command you to keep your eyes closed.” She didn’t even give a visible twitch. “Very good, Julie, you may stop trying now. Later, when you’re awake, I’m going to tell you once again to try to open your eyes. When I tell you that, all the muscles around your eyelids will go heavy and limp, just like they are now. You’ll imagine the spiral, spinning in and pulling your eyelids shut. Your eyes will instantly close, and your eyelids will be heavy and limp. You’ll try to open them, and the harder you try the heavier they’ll get. Each time you think the word ‘resist’ your eyes will feel heavier. Each time you think the word ‘open’ your eyes will stick more tightly and heavily shut. Each time you think the word ‘no’ you will realize that there is no possibility of opening your eyes until I give you the next signal. ... ... Would you like to know what the next signal will be?”
“Mm hmmm.” she murmured, nodding infinitesimally.
“I will tell you something, and when I tell you that something, then you’ll be able to open your eyes again. But when I tell you that something, your arms will feel heavy instead. Just like they are now. Can you lift your arms now?”
“Mm mmmm.” I figured that for a no, since her arms didn’t stir.
“I’d like you to try to lift your heavy, limp arms now, and feel that it’s every bit as impossible as opening your eyes. Try to lift your arms ... your arms are so heavy ... try harder ... very good. You can relax now, you can stop trying to lift your arms now, you know that your arms are too heavy, so heavy. Very nice, very relaxed ... so heavy, your eyes stuck shut, your arms limply, heavily resting in your lap ... but I think you’re probably wondering something. You’re wondering what it is that I’ll tell you that will allow you to open your eyes, and bring such delicious irresistible heaviness to your arms. What I’m going to tell you is that I release your eyes. When I release your eyes, then your arms fall under my spell.
“And what do you think will happen when I release your arms? That’s right, your legs will fall under my spell the same way, too heavy to lift, no way to stand up from your chair. And then, and then ... finally, when I release your legs, I will return to your mind, and you will go deeply and heavily into trance.”
I smiled at Denise, and she nodded. “Um, could you let me lower my arms now, please?” I did. “Ah, thank you.” she continued, stretching. “Well, that sounded very nice for Julie. Step by step, right around in a circle.”
“And for Heather?”
Denise rubbed her shoulders a bit. Wups, I let her leave them up there too long. I would have to be more careful next time. “Well, she’s much more cooperative, I think, and sort of ... amused by the whole idea. She’d probably cooperate, with just about—” she looked at me “—anything.” Another pregnant pause, which I waited out. “I mean, she was at that same show with me. And. I told her some stuff about last night, and that’s why she was interested.” Yet another pause. What had she said? What was Heather really interested in? For that matter, what did Denise really want? And what was her relationship with Heather, exactly? Denise saved me from my spiral of thoughts. “I don’t think you should start any of that kind of stuff right away though. She’s a bit more shy than I am.” She blushed, and looked down. “I mean, uh, you should ... show her one of my trances first.” She looked back up at me. “So for now, um, something a little safer, but ... still a challenge, something that will impress her.” Her tongue slid over her lower lip while she thought. “Um, remember how you made my arms obey you? Well, give her something like that, only more so.”
I nodded, and talked to Heather for a while, relaxing her and re-deepening her trance. I told her that from now on, whenever I named a part of her body, gave it a command, and then said the word “obey,” that command would be completely irresisistible.
I turned off the spiral fan, and then woke them up, first Julie, and then Heather.
Denise said, “So, Julie, do you think you can keep your eyes open now?”
“I can if I want to.” Julie replied, stubbornly. “Even if you turn on the fan again, I can decide if I want to cooperate and let myself be pulled down into trance.”
Denise looked at me, obviously expecting me to use Julie’s first posthypnotic trigger. I looked back and smiled, with a completely different idea.
“Denise,” I told her, “I want you to remember that lovely pose from last night. I really liked the way you stood with your hair gathered up behind your head, your eyes closed ... Denise, I’d like you to stand in just that pose, right now.”
I thought back to that lovely relaxed expression on her face and the beauty of her helpless arms and bare neck, while she slowly stood up. She started to say something, as though she was thinking of invoking her escape phrase. She closed her eyes, and started putting her arms back behind her head, slowly and hesitantly. I didn’t think that the simple suggestion to put her hair up like that would come up against so much resistance; I wondered what she was struggling against so much.
Then I found out.