Since this is your first session, things should be pretty straightforward, but here are a few tips to make all of your sessions smoother to get in and out of.
Anything written down in this format is optional reading. Except this one. This one’s mandatory.
Prepare to Avoid Bullshit
Make sure you won’t be interrupted by notifications, your body needing a bio-break, or your phone for a little bit. This is also a good time to check in with yourself and ensure you’re not pressured into something you’re not ready for or don’t want. Don’t get bullied into being someone’s next drop.
Take a leak, mute notifications, go on red if join requests distract you, and consume your meds. Go make sure your roommate isn’t going to yell through your headset and ask if you want to get some Taco Baco. Avoid anything that would be jarring to you or your subject.
In a recent session, I took a subject off to the side in a semi-private location. I wanted it to be open so folks could watch (or, frankly, provide feedback.) Folks were respectful! But even just watching someone adjust their avatar position in the background was enough to knock me out of my train of thought. So be aware of your own distractions, too.
Also - check your head. Make sure you actually want to do this. Are you doing this because someone talked you into it? Are you sober? Are you comfortable with your subject? A little (or - if you’re me, moderate) anxiety is OK, but check in with yourself and acknowledge how you feel. Even if you don’t feel like you’re a hypnotist yet, for the next 20 minutes, you will be their hypnotist.
FWIW, if you’re anxious, you will build confidence as you go along.
Safety Third! Pre Talk (AKA - Negotiation)
In kink, negotiation is planning out what you want to do to each other. So long as both of you are sober, you can get consent and get rolling. While you’re getting permission, you’re also throwing in the expectation that they’re going to go into trance later when you’re done.
Check for topics to avoid. They’re probably piloting a meat-mech; check and ensure they’ve used the restroom. If they’re a Protogen, ask them if they need a quick oil change before you get started. If they can’t take a joke, don’t play with that toaster.
Doing the Thing (an overview)
Our game plan for our first few times putting someone under hypnosis is pretty simple. We’re going to:
- Make sure they’re comfortable
- Go through an induction
- A deepener, if you feel ready for it
- Gently bring them back up
- Check for feedback
Strapping in for the ride
Outline what you’re going to do for your subject. Since you’re just practicing your induction, letting them experience some time under hypnosis, then gently bringing them up, you don’t have a whole lot to detail. Be sure to get some sort of affirmative answer from them before continuing. Ask them if they have any questions.
Next, ask them about their immediate area. Ensure they won’t slump and fall off their chair or bed. Tell them that when they enter hypnosis, they may notice their body becoming deeply relaxed, and slipping off a chair or bed isn’t much fun. Ask them to ensure they won’t be interrupted in their physical space. Ask them to remove their phone from their pocket and stick it out of the way for the duration of the session.
So, we’ve laid out the structure of everything we’ll be doing in this short session. Because they’ve agreed to your requests and your plan - you’ll meet less natural resistance dropping them.
Induction
Finally - the good stuff.
A PMR (progressive muscle relaxation) induction is an excellent first induction to learn. Many ‘tists will avoid it because it can take a long time and has an absolute zero for its flex value. However, this is also about making you feel comfortable and confident putting someone into hypnosis.
Another bonus of the PMR induction is that it’s flexible and hard to fuck up. You’ll be fine as long as you gradually keep telling your subject to do something and suggest that following that instruction is somehow relaxing them or deepening their trance.
Here’s a PMR induction I wrote! Don’t feel compelled to copy it - use it as a starting point. As soon as you’ve asked your subject if they’re ready to go into trance, you can start the induction. Simplified PMR Induction Script
Do not feel you need to take more than five minutes with this induction. If you’re going after that, you’re taking too long. Regular subjects will usually get bored and start thinking, “get on with it” at this point. You can optimize later when you have more content.
Unlike this document, your induction should be short. Don’t stress the time too much, but you need to cut some content if you’re going over five minutes on the induction itself. If I don’t brain fart too much, my PMR inductions run about three minutes before getting into a deepener.
There are plenty of little details like Modalities and induction categories you can get hung up on. Worry about all that crap later; just get one or two inductions butter smooth, and work out from there.
Also, whatever you do, don’t read these inductions verbatim. They’re not spellbooks. Memorize the significant points and jump off from there. You will give about 20% instruction and leave 80% of your time improvising and providing suggestions. You don’t need lube, but you should go slow, speaking slowly… with confidence… giving time for each and every suggestion to sink in…
At the most, you should be at the four- or five-minute mark finishing this induction. If you’re practicing, find a timer and actually walk through these instructions and improvise. It’s a bit weird, but if you find a stand-in or an image you can improvise to, it helps you act more like you’re doing this to someone rather than trying to talk to a monitor or sheet of paper.
Also - another tip - if you need a moment to collect yourself after the induction (or your dog ripped a massive fart, and you need to mute and put yourself together), you can say something to the effect of “Just relax and enjoy this feeling for the time being… just sinking deeper into the moment.” Anything can be a deepener, even your dog farting. (But god, please don’t.)
A Briefener About Deepeners
A deepener is optional, but it can be the whole selling point for a new subject, since, for me, you really start to feel the effects of hypnosis for the first time. Even if you need to stretch yourself a bit, I’d add a deepener just for the sheer entertainment value.
I’ll cover the details in the next chapter. Feel free to simplify the wording a bit for now. Still, the critical parts are suggesting they imagine the feelings and scenery in detail, letting feelings of relaxation and comfort build, and sinking deeper in trance marked by each floor.
Simplified Elevator Deepener TODO LINK
The elevator itself in this deepener isn’t even relevant. It keeps your subject’s mind busy as you guide them into deeper relaxation and trance. You can use anything - walking by signposts, seeing clouds pass by as they sink down for fly by them, stairs as a classic. It all works.
After you’ve taken them down, you can walk them back up the numbers one by one and then go back down. Pulling them in and out of trance this was is a perfectly acceptable way to fractionate someone.
A Short Break
Since we’re doing a beginner’s session, all you need to do after the induction is tell them to notice how comfortable they feel, the feelings of their body, how easy it is to just let your thoughts flow in, how pleasant and wonderful of a time they had, how relaxed they are, how easy their breathing is, and how little they want to come out. You can improvise a bit here, but… Give them space to enjoy the trance you’ve put them into.
Bringing them back
Bringing your subject back up out of trance is straightforward.
If you’ve had someone deep in trance for more than ten minutes, give them a nice slow ten count to get them out. If they’ve only been taken down for maybe… a minute or two - you can give them a three-count for coming up.
Because I’m tired of writing scripts I’d like you to practice giving instructions in your own style. Here’s an outline of how to take them out of trance.
Give them an ‘instruction bundle’ (‘in a moment, but not just yet, I’m going to ask you to’) of the following:
- Tell them you’ll bring them [out of trance/hypnosis] and back to [normal].
- You’ll be counting from 1 to [something] [bringing you entirely out.]
- You’ll feel [good, comfy, refreshed] and [remember everything we’ve discussed and what a good experience you had]
- They will keep their eyes closed and only open their eyes on [the ending number].
Ask them if they are ready to come out of trance, and tell them that if they are ready, they can give you a slow nod. Slowly, start to count them back up. Spend about fifteen seconds on each number. The technical term for that is about one or two rambly, slow sentences.
Start them out by suggesting how they’re starting to feel a bit more aware of their body. Mention how they’re coming up as if they just had the best nap of their life. Continue on up, suggesting they should let their body stretch on if it needs to, and how you’d become more and more aware of their surroundings. Finally, end on a nice treat like “And ten, awake… aware, and wonderfully refreshed…”
If they just had a good session, expect them to be blissed out for a while. Tell them you’ll give them a few minutes to just come back and enjoy the sensations after their trip.
Aftercare
Resist the urge to ask for feedback immediately - enjoy watching just how satisfied your subject is as they come back. If you’ve established that touching is okay, facepets feel amazing coming right out of trance. If you get a rumble and a “thank you,” they had a great time.
Give them all the time they need for them to become more conversational. A very occasional “How you feeling?” is perfectly all right, and it’s kind of cute to watch them search for the words if they got hit pretty hard. Wait for them to be refreshed, and if they’re not already telling you about their experience, go ahead and ask for feedback and enjoy your freshly melted subject.