Comparative As
This is a form of a presupposition that uses the sentence structure listed below. What is being presupposed is a comparison that is non-specifically stated, but that gets a bit overlooked because of the “as” used twice.
(as………as)
I don’t know anything as powerful and profound as Ericksonian Hypnosis.
It is very hard to find a treasure trove of Hypnosis Information as profound as www.ericksonian.info.
There has never been a TV show as far-sighted as Star Trek.
Comparative
(er, more, less)
The more you study Sleight of Mouth the less slight of mouth you’ll be.
She’s sweeter in the morning.
It’s faster to fly when you have the time.
Ordinals are words like first, second, third, next, another. Words that imply more than one. This is one of my favorite categories of presupposition.
I think we’ve made some great progress in our first session, don’t you?
OK, one thing you are going to love about this new car is its styling.
I was cutting the grass when another rabbit ran out from under a bush.
This category also refers to time.
Complex Adjectives
are words like “new, old, present, former, and previous.”
Once you’ve mastered complex adjectives you’ll never go back to previous skill levels.
We are trying to return our house to its former glory.
Avid NLP learners rate dougobriensblog.com as the new must-read web site.
Hypnosis is about out growing old ways of thinking.
One can’t imagine the present standard lasting long.
Here’s another simple presupposition. This one has to do with time.
Subordinate Clauses of Time
Like these: before, after, during, as, since, prior, while, yet, now, again
I have noticed that as people practice they gain greater fluency.
While kids text constantly their attention is bifurcated.
When you find friends who stand by you when the going is hard, cherish them.
She rode the horse which sold for the highest price that year again.
It’s Tuesday. Has the guy that always wears cowboys boots comes in yet?
After you read this you will find you want to use these skills daily.
Here’s another simple presupposition (where what is being presupposed is essentially the existence of the thing.)
Relative Clauses These are complex noun phrases where the noun is followed by a phrase beginning with who, which, or that.
I have noticed that people who practice their skills become most proficient.
It’s the kids who text constantly who worry me the most.
When you find friends who stand by you when the going is hard, cherish them.
She rode the horse which sold for the highest price that year.
Tuesday afternoons the guy that always wears cowboys boots comes in.
Reverse Meta Model
A “Presupposition” is something that is pre-supposed or accepted to be true in advance of any discussion. So if you and I were arguing about whether the moon were made of green cheese or not (everyone knows it is swiss cheese) it may not even be NOTICED that we’ve both accepted as a fact the existence of a moon. If one of us were from Mars we might not be aware of moons as a thing. It is actually pretty amazing how much we presuppose. How much we believe without seriously calling it into question.
Of course, when we hear other people doing this with their language, we can use the meta model to call it into question. (I guess “calling it into question” might be another name for the meta model.) As the therapist, however, we sometime may choose to deliberately presuppose certain things into our communication. Thus we reverse the meta model.
SImple Presuppositions
Bandler and Grinder’s book, “The Structure of Magic” is a treasure trove of incredibly useful presuppositions. Here are five “simple presuppostions:”
1. Proper Names
(Presupposing that this specific person exists)
Won’t you be delighted when Agent Scully walks through that door?
2. Pronouns
(…that this general person exists)
Won’t you be keen when she walks in?
3. Definite Descriptions
(this specific thing exists)
I liked the woman in the blue uniform.
4. Some quantifiers
(all, every, some, few, many, none, each)
Everyone has many potentials that they are unaware of, yet are there.
5. Generic Noun Phrases
(Noun phrases standing for a whole class)
I have often considered the great communicators of our time to be poets.
I suggest you write out several examples of each one above. Because, when you write them, you know you know them and they will be yours to use. Or perhaps I am wrongly presupposing that that is of interest to you.
Neo-Ericksonian Approaches
Comparisons
I am blessed with having stellar dentist who took time from his vacation to see me last week. Seems I had a bit of a dental emergency and needed a root canal. Fortunately, I was on a staycation and could easily travel to see him. He fixed me right up, gave me a script for penicillin and made an appointment for a few weeks from now.
And – as great as that is – did I mention I had a root canal?
Them mothers hurt.
So as I was driving back from New Jersey I reflected on how amazingly fortunate I was. As little as a hundred years ago dentistry was pretty barbaric. Throughout the 19th century, there was no separate field as dentistry and tooth extractions were done by barbers! I’ve been barbers who hurt me when they cut my hair! But seriously. people DIED from complications of dental problems such as mine. They’d get an infection in a tooth – pull it out to try and save the patient, but without things like penicillin, people would frequently die from these infections. Heck, Bayer only invented aspirin in 1899. I had been given four ibuprofin.
So I started to feel pretty good driving along the Garden State Parkway. I mean I was in pain but the ibuprofin was starting to kick in, I was ALIVE, I had a prescription and a positive prognosis.
I was reminded of a simularity between Milton Erickson, MD, the great Hypnotherapist you may have heard of, and Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Zen Buddhist Monk, teacher, author of Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life.
In both these great teacher’s teaching, the both make use of the common experience of a tooth ache. Milton was once doing a session with a client and asked her, “Do you have a toothache?” She said no. He said, “Isn’t that nice?”
Thich Nhat Hanh has pointed out that when we have a toothache, we focus a great deal of our energy upon it and wish it would go away. When it finally does we can be very happy.
What if could feel that way all the time?
A friend of mine, for a few days once, thought she had breast cancer. She was certain of it. Then was told that she did not – that she was clean. Don’t ya know the rest of her day went pretty well? Nothing else matters after that. Life is good.
I had a client just recently with whom I used similar a sort of comparison. She was feeling limited in her choices, so I said I knew how she felt. I told her that I’d worked for a few years in the Department of Complementary Medicine at New York’s Columbia/Presbyterian Medical Center and would make my rounds of the 6th floor transplant wing, where the guys were all waiting to get a new heart. They couldn’t leave that wing because of the extreme fragility of their condition. I described how on certain holidays, like New Year’s eve, hopes ran high cause hearts often became available on those days.
I didn’t, of course, leave the discussion there, but by the time we both left the office that day, we were both really grateful to be able to walk under our own power and happy to enjoy the life we’d been given.
A reminder:
In NLP the “meta model” is Bandler and Grinder’s name for the wellformedness conditions of the surface structure of the English language. As Bostic and Grinder put it, it is “… designed for the express purpose of challenging the limitations in the mental maps carried by clients who seek professional assistance in changing themselves through the processes of therapy.” (Whispering In the Wind.)
In Hypnosis we sometimes chose to deliberately violate these wellformedness conditions (”reversing the meta model”) in order to be purposefully and artfully vague.
Presuppositions
All sentences require certain things to be presupposed. As an example, the sentence, “The bird landed on the post,” presupposes many things, but clearly it presupposes the existence of a bird and that of a post. It also presupposes that the bird was flying in order for it to land, although there may be other circumstances wherein that could happen.
In a therapeutic context, clients will be presupposing a variety of things that may be part of the reason they need therapy in the first place. It’s really good for the therapist to recognise them and be able to question them when they appear. That’s where the meta model comes into play.
As the therapist, however, you can make good use of presuppositions for good purpose.
In Hypnosis, you can purposely use presuppositions to create responsiveness. In the examples below, in order to make sense of the communication, one of the things the client must accept is the Hypnotist’s presupposition of the existence of trance. By the way – there are at least five things presupposed in each sentence that will spring out at you if you stop to look for them. How many can you see?
Examples:
“As you listen to the sound of my voice you can float down even more deeply into trance.”
“And when your hands finally do touch, you may find that you automatically take a deep breath before you drift all the way down into a very deep trance.”
There is a famous example from the Ericksonian literature I’ll paraphrase here.
A man came in to see Erickson to quit smoking. Erickson looked at him and said, “How surprised will you be when you wake up tomorrow as a non-smoker?” When the man answered, “I’ll be very surprised!” Erickson dismissed him, knowing the therapy was complete. The man, in fact, did successfully quit smoking the next day. How did Erickson know? Because the man didn’t question the presupposition in Erickson’s question. His answer was not “I don’t think that will happen,” his answer was, “I’ll be very surprised (when it does).”
NOTE: The subject of presuppositions is a huge one. I’ll be writing more about them in the near future. For more information and insight, see the article by Robert Dilts on the “Articles” section of our web site, www.Ericksonian.info.
I’d like to invite you to be among the first to visit a new web site. It’s called ‘Stories from the Outside Inn.”
It’s a joint venture between myself and Nick Kemp. The official website is now live and you can download unique Hypnosis and NLP mp3s created exclusively for this site by Nick Kemp and Doug O’Brien.
As a member of the site (which is totally free) you get to access other downloads not available to the public. This is a very different type of site and we encourage you to scroll around the front page and explore the sections for video, audio downloads as well as the UK November workshop.
http://www.storiesfromtheoutsideinn.com
This project began from a conversation Nick and I had last December when I was over in Leeds to teach Sleight of Mouth. I told Nick about how when I was jogging recently, I had my iPod on the shuffle mode. This feature randomly plays selections from your collection of songs. I had a mix of different sorts of music and spoken word including hypnotic trance inductions. It was a wonderfully eccentric experience to go from listening to a song by the Beatles to a talk by Stephen Gilligan to Bach’s Goldberg Variations to Richard Bandler to Dave Mathews.
Nick told me about a book he’d read called “Not Quite What I Expected.” This book is a collection of six-word memoirs – a collection of entire life stories sumed up in only six words. It’s a fascinating book.
This led us to thinking about creating a web site where these sorts of brief story/trance experiences could be featured and people visiting could create their own experience by clicking around the site.
Please see how it turned out and join us.
Did we mention it’s free?
A simple deletion is when an important element in a statement is missing. This is different from the earlier category of “unspecified nouns” because in the latter case the sentence has an object, it’s just unspecified. Here, it would be missing entirely.
Here are some examples of how a client might use them and thus inspire us, as therapists, to employ the meta model to recover information lost from the surface structure of their sentences:
I don’t know… it’s just awful.
This happens every time I go.
My Dad told me, and he was proven right over and over again.
And here are some examples of how we can purposely simply delete, for positive purpose:
“I know you are wondering.” (about what? – The listener must fill in the blank.)
“And as she drifted into trance she listened carefully.”
“Deeper and deeper. That’s right.”
In NLP’s “meta model,’ a “comparative deletion” is when the speaker leaves unstated what things are being compared and/or how that comparison is being evaluated.
As an example, if you’re speaking with someone and they say something like ”it’s better,” you would have no idea what they’re talking about. And, instead of assuming or hallucinating some meaning that may not be true, it’s better to ask questions. Like – “What do you mean?” or “What’s better than what?” Or “In what way is it better?” ANY of these questions will elicit more precise information from the person.
Examples:
Sugar’s sweeter. Love takes me higher. Bill is the smartest. Rail is faster. TexMex offers more.
AND – as you know by now – as hypnotists, we get to deliberately violate this meta model restriction in the service of artfully vague language that we employ to assist our client in a therapeutic way.
“It’s better to go into trance with your feet on the floor.”
“This is going to be the best one yet.”
“The best communicators have studied Ericksonian language patterns.”
So, as you continue to evolve as a communicator, isn’t it nice to know that you’re learning and growing and truly becoming better?
(Sometimes it’s good to just smile and say yes.)
This is an old Chinese Taoist story. It is a wonderful metaphor.
Once upon a time there was a village that was experiencing a terrible, prolonged drought. The elders of the village had heard of a Rainmaker, a man who could induce the rains to come. So they sent word that they wanted this man to come to help them.
When finally he did arrive at their village there was much rejoicing because their long collective hardship would soon be eased. They threw out the red carpet for this man. They gave him a tour of their village. They asked him, “What do you need to do your magic? Do you need a bonfire? A sacrifice? Drummers? Tell us what you need and we will provide it.”
He said, “No. Your village is very out of touch with the Tao. I only need a quiet place to stay that is outside the village, please.”
They provided him this and he moved in. The first morning he rose with the sunrise, swept the front walk of the house, gathered wood for his fire, made the fire in the hearth, prepared his tea, cleaned up after his morning meal and later went to bed within an hour of the setting sun.
The next day he rose with the sunrise, swept the front walk of the house, gathered wood for his fire, made the fire in the hearth, prepared his tea, cleaned up after his morning meal and later went to bed within an hour of the setting sun.
On the third day he again flowed with the rhythms of the day.
On the fourth day it rained.
A “Selectional Restriction Violation” is when someone ascribes to a thing something, usually a feeling, that is technically impossible for it to possess (at least as far as we know). So if you hear someone say something like, “the grass was feeling annoyed at the moles.” We might be tempted to employ the meta model to clear up this distortion. “Precisely how do you know what the grass was feeling?” We also might be tempted to suggest that our client lay off the grass for a while.
But, when we reverse the meta model, it can be very useful to violate a selectional restriction.
As an example if, in the course of my telling a therapeutic metaphor, I were to say, “You can listen to the cheerful trees and sit on this noble divan while your hands decide which of them will lift up first,” I’d be employing this pattern three times. First, with the “cheerful” trees, second, with the “proud” divan, and thirdly with the hands being able to decide for themselves what to do. This pattern is especially useful while telling metaphors.
Because the listener realizes on some level that the selected thing can’t actually feel these feelings, they will personally identify with the feelings. This is especially true when the speaker uses a shift in tonality consistent with an embedded command. This is referred to as an interspersal technique.
Readers who have read Bandler and Grinder’s “Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson M.D., vol. 1″ will remember the section (pp.26-50) about the farmer named Joe who was suffering from cancer. Erickson spoke to Joe about tomato plants and how they feel good and comfortable when they grow.
That little seed, Joe, slowly swells, sends out a little rootlet with cilia on it…
…they must make the tomato plant feel very good, very comfortable…
So you, dear reader, are probably thinking that you could write a trance induction of your own using this and many of the other language patterns explored this year.
What a terrific idea! I wonder how much fun you could have doing that? Tell you what, send in your happy finished product and I’ll post it. Providing it’s appropriate content, of course… I reserve the right to not post it. Keep in mind, that while I can promise I won’t use it, other readers will have no such obligation. The possibility exists it might be “borrowed.”
An unspecified verb is one that offers only a vague description of an action. When we use the meta model we endeavor to gather more precision by asking good questions.
As an example, if we heard someone say, “she went to the party,” we would have no idea exactly how she “went,” so we’d ask a question. We might ask, “Precisely how did she transport herself to said social gathering?” Or we might ask, “How’d she go?” Either question would serve the purpose of eliciting more information and a more precise description of her action.
Of course there are other things in this sentence we’re can’t be sure of either, like who she is, what party she was going to, etc., but for our purposes here, we are focusing on the unspecified verb.
By the way – it should be noted that ALL verbs are unspecified to a certain degree. No verbal description can ever completely convey the actual physical act. So if the answer to our above question was “she ran to the party,” we’d know much more than we did, but do we know if she sprinted, jogged, rushed, loped or cantered? No.
So that’s how you use the meta model. To “reverse” the meta model (itself an unspecified verb), we will be purposely vague. As hypnotic speakers, we can choose to deliberately be nonspecific in our verb choices so the listener can have more freedom to let their internal imaginings take place.
In the following “artfully vague” examples, we deliberately can say things that contain unspecified verbs:
“Go into trance now.”
“People can learn these patterns rapidly.”
“You may enjoy a delightful experience.”
“And you can drop down into that good feeling.”“…and as you read these words
you may begin to discover
that you are learning
so rapidly
in ways that you were not even aware of … yet
are there and are yours
to keep and appreciate
how you can utilize these skills
as you practice everyday.”
This fine title is being brought to you by the department of redundancy department. “Unspecified Nouns” and “Unspecified Referential Index” are the same thing. They are both either unspecified people, places, or things.
What is so trancy about that, you ask? Well, whenever the listener has to go inside to wonder what exactly you’re talking about, you take a little slice of their consciousness momentarily. You are also giving them the opportunity to relate what you’ve said to themselves.
It may be a small thing but small things add up.
“People can learn these patterns rapidly.”
“It will be a delightful experience.”
“And you can drop down into that good feeling.”
They are also very useful when doing group trances because when you use unspecified nouns people can interpret what you’re saying in the way that works best for them.
“…and then you step out into the that beautiful place
so peaceful and serene
drink in your surroundings… the colors – so vibrant
listen to the sounds – are there any living creatures nearby?
reach down and feel the textures between your fingers…”
You know, sometimes it’s fun to go out and practice these language patterns on actual people in actual situations. You know? Being respectful, of course. Write out a dozen or so examples first if you like, then go. Be daring. Do it.
Make the world a better place and put smiles on people’s faces. Notice when people are in naturally occurring trance states (elevators, cars, buses, classrooms, waiting rooms, etc.) and just speak. Make casual observances. Like, “Morning. Looks like somebody got some new shoes! Nice! You always feel like a million bucks with new shoes, don’t you? My mother always said, ”just stop and realize you can feel good for no good reason.” You know, like when you just don’t care what anybody else thinks and you just find yourself smiling inside? She’s right. It’s nice to do that sometimes, isn’t it? Anyway – this is my floor – have a nice day!”
Nominalizations
The Meta Model teaches us that nominalizations are verbs that have been changed into nouns. In other words, they are a process that has been changed linguistically into a thing. As an example, we hear people speak about their “relationship,” instead of “how they are relating to their partner.”
It’s really good to recognize them because clients use them all the time. A person seeking therapy may complain of “their depression.” They are speaking as if depression was a thing rather than the act of acting depressed. Dave Dobson taught that a useful response to them would be, “what are you acting depressed about?” This way of responding effectively turns their nominalization back into a verb.
You’ll notice that the ending “ion” is common for nominalizations.
discussion, completion, objection, consideration, decision, evolution
But there are many of them that do not have that ending.
discovery, movement, resistance, reaction, hope
(If you’re not sure about a particular word, use the wheelbarrow test: Can you put it into a wheelbarrow? As an example – a relationship may seem like a thing, but can you put it into a wheelbarrow?)
So then, how can we reverse the meta model and use nominalizations artfully and purposefully? Notice all the ones in the following example:
and you can feel that feeling
of trance deepen as you
drift down and allow
your unconscious
to find exactly the right resources
to create the perfect solution
and let that understanding
permeate your spirit
now
or in sales:
The experience of this car’s responsiveness will cause you to feel a surge of elation that starts … right … there … and then spreads out and fills you with that intoxication of adventure that means you must possess it now.
Remember the rule, “The client must never be vague, the hypnotist — always.”
Here’s an example of an unspecified adjective:
”Feel that special feeling.”
“Special?” How specifically is it special? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Is it special because of it’s rarity? Are you saying “special” because it’s sinfully wonderful but you can’t say that? Especially with the unspecified noun that follows (a nominalization, actually), the speaker is leaving a LOT of room for interpretation.
Because it is unspecified, the speaker will not know exactly how the listener will interpret that sentence, but can be confident they will chose something special. In fact, if you’re doing a group induction everyone will feel something “special” and it might well be different for everyone, and yet they all feel as though you are talking directly to their experience.
Some other unspecified adjectives: (it is arguable that all adjectives are somewhat unspecific. Even if a person said “that was fantastic chile,” We wouldn’t really know exactly how good it was. Some adjectives are, however, more unspecified than others. Tonality will play a big role in the meaning communicated.)
fine (Melissa saw it in fine detail.) memorable (They had a memorable evening.) interesting (Helen had an interesting experience.) challenging (Joel had a challenging teacher.) fun (Annie sent a fun memo.)
You get the idea. Your being nonspecific does two things for you: 1. Your client will need to resolve the confusion that is engendered and 2. you will not be inadvertently speaking contrary to their experience.
Now go out there and practice with people. And have fun.
Modal Operators of Necessity/ Possibility
A “Modal Operator” is a word like “should.” As in, “I should lose weight.” If a client uses them with us we might use the meta model to elicit more information. We could ask questions like, “What would happen if you did?” or “What’s been preventing you from losing weight?”
People use modal operators all the time and they have varying levels of emotional impact. As an example, notice the difference in yourself if you think of an activity you’d benefit from doing and say to yourself, “I should do that.” Then do that again but replace the modal operator “should” with “must.” “I must do that.” Notice the difference. We have shifted from a model operator of possibility to one of necessity.
Speaking hypnotically, we can purposely use modal operators with great effect.
“You don’t have to listen to every word that I say, you can just listen to the sound of my voice as you drift down deeply into trance.”
Some modal operators are: should / shouldn’t / must / mustn’t / can / can’t / have to / will / won’t
Here’s an example from Milton Erickson, after his client said he didn’t want to come back from a trance:
“No, you don’t want to come back from a trance, you don’t want a charming movie to end, you don’t want a flower to wilt, but you do like reality!“
Chaining Modal Operators
You can chain them together in fun and creative ways.
“I know you think you can’t do it on your own, but when you feel you can’t, you must try, and when you try you’ll find that you can find new possibilities opening up to you that you will be able to take advantage of.”
You could practice your language skills and have fun, or your might practice your language skills and feel confident that you’re improving rapidly. Either way, you must admit, practice makes perfecter, don’t it?
Universal Quantifiers
One of the things we do to make sense of the world is generalize. It makes survival so much easier. However, the process also is limiting to our experience. As an example, if a person meets an aggressive dog and generalizes “all dogs are mean,” they’d miss out on many sweet moments with our canine friends. It might keep them “safe,” but so would an ability to discern between aggressive dogs and tail wagging friendly dogs.
One of the chief functions of the meta model, then, is to question these generalizations and thus lead to a richer, more functional representation.
Examples: All, Every, Never.
“All women are empathetic and good listeners.”
“Everyone knows I am a wonderful dancer.”
“I never have any fun.”
Of course, if someone said something like that to us we’d immediately employ the Meta Model to challenge their generalization.
“All women are empathetic and good listeners.” – “Really? I had an aunt who was a real witch and never listened to a word anyone said.”
”I never have any fun.” – “Never? Remember last weekend when we went to six flags amusement park? You rode the monster coaster 11 times.”
Or we wouldn’t. Sometimes we’d hear the client’s generalizations and decide to leave them alone. Just because you have a tool doesn’t mean you have to use it. If the generalization works for them and is ecological, you might choose to leave it as it lays.
“Everyone knows I am a wonderful dancer.” – “Well, you worked hard and earned it.”
However, we’re talking more about how we can use these patterns for therapeutic purposes. We’re talking about REVERSING the meta model and PURPOSELY using generalizations with good intent.
“With every breath you’ll go deeper into trance.”
“All cigarettes taste the same… horrible.”
“You never need be concerned, using this process to go into trance.”
It’s the very nature of a post-hypnotic suggestion, is it not?
“Every time you see the color red you’ll know you are a non-smoker.”
If you practice and have fun, you’ll always get better and better.
So have fun practicing!
Reality – what a concept.
A long time ago a friend said “reality is just a crutch for people who can’t handle drugs.” But I think it is more than that.
The nature of reality is a fascinating topic that has long captivated the human imagination and could easily take many more pages of writing than anyone would want to read. After all, the question of what is real vs. what is imagined seems simple at first.
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Or “Seeing is believing,” are two commonly used phrases that express this.
This is until you begin to recognize just how complex something as seemingly simple as vision really is.
We assume that when we open our eyes in the morning, the world is all out there in front of us and seeing is effortless and instantaneous. In fact, when you look at an object, you get a distorted, upside down image in your retina that excites the photoreceptors which sends the messages through the optic nerve to the brain where they are analyzed in THIRTY different visual areas in the back of your brain. And then finally, after analyzing all the individual features, you identify what you’re looking at. You piece it together and identify it in a place in your brain called the fusiform gyrus. That’s when your conscious mind pops in and says, “I know that face.”
More over, there are BILLIONS of bytes of sensory input happening at any given moment and the reason we aren’t just totally overloaded by it all is that our other-than-conscious mind distorts, deletes and generalizes all that information and we, consciously, focus on just a small sliver of all that. It’s a byte-sized bit we can handle.
And what we distort, delete, and generalize is based on our pre-conceived beliefs about what’s important to pay attention to.
So many times, our, “Seeing is Believing” idea is really, “I’ll see what I want to see and believe what I already pretty much do believe already.”
I actually think it’s kind of funny to think that we create our own reality.
Because, on one hand, we do… in the way I’ve described above… our perceived reality is based on our internal map of the world we’ve created in our minds.
But, on the other hand, there is also objective reality. As an example, tonight, before you go to bed, rearrange your furniture. Then in the middle of the night, when you get up to get a glass of water, your shins will remind you that the map in your mind did not put the coffee table back where it belongs. You do not create the objective reality; you do create your response to it and the map of how to interact within it.
This is where the Ericksonian concept of pacing and leading comes from. Erickson realized that this individual model of the world we live in is unique to each of us. There are many commonalities, of course, but the gestalt is unique to each individual. So he would attempt to enter into a person’s world (to pace their experience) and then gently lead them to an expanded way of looking at the world.
So while I think it is useful to visualize what you want and state it in the positive, don’t expect a genie to simply plop it in your lap. You might want to get out of bed and take some actions steps towards its creation.
At least, that’s the way I see it.
By the way, my friend and colleague Hali Chambers stimulated this discussion on a blog post she wrote last week. She’s added to the discussion on a more recent post. It’s excellent. Have a look. Here’s a link
Complex Equivalence
A complex equivalence is a statement of a belief. Famously, in some people’s model of the world, it is one of the two forms of a belief that is used in Sleight of Mouth. (Cause/effect is the other)
The simple structure of a complex equivalent is “X means Y.” This means that. They are equivalent.
“Your trance experience means you are changing.”
“Your listening to my voice means you will go into trance.”
Of course, if someone said that to us, we’d be all over statements like that. We’d whip out our knowledge of the Meta Model or Sleight of Mouth, and say “Really? What makes it that way?”
“You’re saying that simply hearing your voice makes me go into trance? How specifically does it mean I’ll go into trance?”
But as hypno-guides, that’s exactly what we are saying. We are purposely being vague and fuzzy with our language (purposely violating the meta model) in order to influence the client. And as the client hears our statements and accepts them, off they go into trance. Of course, it’s not the only thing we’ll be saying. One language pattern alone may not do anything particularly dramatic. But as one of many suggestions offered along the way, they have an effect.
In a similar fashion, Erickson has been quoted as once saying the following:
“You have a conscious mind and an unconscious mind. And I have a conscious mind and an unconscious mind. And we are both sitting in the same room together, so trance is inevitable.” (That’s more of a Pacing and Leading statement, really, but it is similar in effect. To fit the specific complex equivalence pattern it could be stated thusly, “…and our sitting in the same room together means trance is inevitable.”)
Here’s an example in sales, “Your desire to keep your family safe means you’ll buy this car.”
I’d like to put forth the notion that much of what we do in Neo-Ericksonian Hypnosis is alter beliefs. And, a complex equivalence is a statement of belief, so you’ll use this pattern a lot. Keep in mind that, as Erickson and Rossi point out in their book Hypnotherapy, “there are three basic phases (in hypnotherapy) that can be outlined and discussed for didactic purposes: Preparation, Therapeutic Trance, and Ratification of Therapeutic Change.” So it is critical that after the client has an unusual experience in Hypnosis, that you “ratify their therapeutic change” by directing them to make a meaning out of that experience that is positive and useful. You want them to come away with a belief like, “That odd experience means I will achieve my outcome.”
Lost Performative
“Lost Performative” is a category within the meta-model in which evaluative statements (where something is judged as “good” or “bad”) don’t the identity the person doing the evaluating. A natural Meta-model response would be “Says who?”
As a meta model example, if someone said, “It’s good to eat pizza.” You might respond, “Really? Who says so?” or “According to whom?”
For our purposes as hypno-guides, when we reverse the meta model and purposefully violate the rules, we can say things like, “That’s right, trance does feel good.” The client is left to challenge the statement (”Who says trance feels good? Let me see the data supporting your claim.”) but they usually won’t. Therefore they are accepting your suggestion, expressed in the form of a presupposition.
“It’s so nice to relax, let go and let someone else do the talking for a while.”
“It’s not imperative to keep your eyes open, and you can close them, now.”
Or in a business or sales situation (you see, I haven’t forgotten you), you could say something like,
“It’s good to feel secure in a new car.”
It’s best to practice your own patterns to really own these skills. I’d strongly suggest you stop, write out several of your own that you could use this week, and use them. Use them with your clients, of course, and also throughout your everyday activities, with co-workers, friends, news boys (It’s good to stay off the grass), etc. And listen for the meta model violations in other people’s language. It’s fun!
Reverse Meta Model
In NLP the “meta model” is Richard Bandler’s and John Grinder’s name for the wellformedness conditions of the surface structure of the English language*. (*- for more on this see their book “Structure of Magic.”) It’s based on the recognition that all language has presuppositions, deletions, distortions and generalizations. The meta model was employed to expose those and enable the listener to discover the deeper structure of the sentence. The astute listener would utilize directed questions to derive the more specific meaning the speaker intends.
In Hypnosis we sometimes chose to deliberately violate these wellformedness conditions in order to be purposely and artfully vague. This enables the listener to fill in the blanks themselves and creates a more seamless and deep trance experience. Over the next few weeks we’ll examine how we can employ this “reverse Meta model” to deliver these meaningful sounding and purposely vague statements. Note that in many of the examples it would be easy to also mark out an embedded suggestion or two.
Remember: “The client must always be specific. The Practitioner? Never.”
Reverse Meta Model: Mind Reading
Mind reading is acting as if you know the internal experience of the other person.
It is often easiest and most effective to be nonspecific. For example, say “I know what you’re thinking” rather than “you are thinking about how you lost your father’s car keys when you were in the second grade.” Or “You are feeling some tension” rather than “your lower left abdominal muscles and your right adductor is in spasm.”
“I know you’re curious about hypnosis. At first people always wonder how deeply you will go into a trance now. Then they realize that however it works for you is perfect and you can just relax, and enjoy the process.
“You’ll be delighted to discover you can let that feeling of excitement spread to the far corners of your body and your mind.”
“That’s right, you’re really learning rapidly and well, deep inside.”
I can tell that you are really beginning to have fun with language, aren’t you?
Ericksonian Hypnotic Language Patterns
We all know that words alone are only a small fraction of communication. The way those words are said constitute a much higher percentage of the communication received. In the same way, Hypnotic Language Patterns are hugely effected by the way they are said. The tonality with which they are said and the tonal shifts used to emphasize particular words or phrases (as addressed in a previous Blog post) are crucial. Also vital is the pacing and tempo of how you speak.
In today’s Blog Post we’re going to take a look at the use of…
PHRASING
In our last post we touched on Christina Hall’s exquisite use of punctuational ambiguity, but I’d like to also point out her brilliant use of phrasing.
Below we have the complete statement we quoted last week that Ms. Hall attributed to Richard Bandler. However, in the first example, we’ve altered the phrasing to be more the way most people would say it. Each phrase is essentially a complete sentence.
Read these two examples out loud to yourself noticing what happens with the difference in how they’re phrased.
“Well, you know that you can sometimes feel confused and not know…
yet continue to learn…
because your conscious mind is very smart…
and your unconscious mind also learns in a variety of ways…
so why not let it do the work for you for a while?”
- or-
“Well, you know that you can…
sometimes feel confused and not know…yet…
continue to learn because…
your conscious mind is very smart and…
your unconscious mind also learns in a variety of ways so…
why not let it do the work for you for a while?”
NOTE: Chris will vocally emphasize the conjunctions and always pays exquisite attention to the inflection of her voice. (Remember the upward inflection implies questions, a downward shift is congruent with a command, etc.)
To me, when I read the first paragraph, at the end of each line my brain gets to agree or disagree; the speaker has offered a complete thought or suggestion that I get to vote on. In the second paragraph I have no such opportunity. My imagination is captured by the speaker throughout because I’m continually wondering what’s coming next.
A few years ago I had the opportunity to experience first hand the importance of this. The issue of using Hypnosis for Pain Management was to become very personal to me, as I had elected to undergo surgery without anesthesia. In preparing for the operation my colleague and I discovered that when the suggestions were delivered as in the first example below it was less effective than when delivered as in the second.
Imagine yourself in the Operating Room, all prepped and ready to go. You hear the voice that says,
“You are deep in trance.
You will experience nothing but comfort.
You will breath easily and normally.
You will experience no discomfort.
You will have minimal bleeding.
You are floating in the middle of nowhere.
Well here’s what my brain would say at the end of each line:
“You are deep in trance. (No, not that deep really.)
You will experience nothing but comfort. (OK, I really hope you’re right about that.)
You will breath easily and normally, (Doing my best! In…out… in… out)
You will experience no discomfort, (OW! What the hell was that?!)
You will have minimal bleeding. (I’m bleeding?!)
You are floating in the middle of nowhere, (I wish! But right now I acutely aware I’m in a nightmare.)
Fortunately it didn’t come to that. While I can’t quote exactly what was said because I was in a pretty decent trance, I can tell you my experience of what was said was more like this;
“And, as you float gently down
into a deep and comfortable trance
you might find that you can
follow your breath in…and…
out. That’s right…
relaxing deeper
because you know a lot about how to
go into a trance… and
you don’t even have to try…to
listen to every word I say…
You don’t
even have to be here
You can go…in your mind’s eye…
To a beautiful beach… with many
beautiful… people and things
to focus your attention
there now
Another great advantage of shorter phrases is you can create a nice rhythm with your speaking that itself facilitates trance. (This is especially true if you time the pauses to your client’s breathing.)
Here’s an Idea:
For practice and for the fun of it, write out a script of your own and use all the different language patterns we’ve learned up to now. Now, of course, this is just for practice. You would never really do this in real life. These patterns are best used when you have a good reason to use them in the service of your therapeutic goal. But you know that, I’m sure.
In classes that I teach, I recommend to my students that they fold a piece a paper in half vertically and write your script in phrases down one side of the sheet of paper first and then down the second half.
Maybe you’ll want to do that too. Won’t you?
By the Way: We highly recommend the NLP work of Chris Hall.
You can reach her here: www.chris-nlp-hall.com
