Pattern Interrupts

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Permalink Reply by James Hazlerig on November 30, 2009 at 1:39pm

I had a client a few weeks ago who wanted to get over issues of not feeling loved by his mother. So I got to do my best Freud impression as I said, "Tell me about your mother."

He went over the whole tale of woe, and I practiced my active listening, making appropriately sympathetic noises. Then the first time he repeated something he'd already told me, I changed my body position and said a little curtly, "You've already told me about that."

His eyes widened, and he stopped in mid-sentence with his mouth hanging open. That's when I began the formal induction process.

Sometimes a pattern-interrupt serves multiple purposes . . .

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Permalink Reply by Hugh Cole on November 30, 2009 at 3:27pm

I was in New York several months ago with Justin Tranz and we were talking about street hypnosis, covert inductions, and hypnosculpture as we were walking into the subway. In response to my question about using pattern interrupts.. Justin walks onto the subway platform, finds someone reading a paper and proceeds to ask them if they have a good memory. Then he asks them if they can remember a time when they easily forgot something. As they access their memory of forgetting, he casually anchors the memory by swooping his hand in front of their eyes. After asking for a couple more memories of easily forgetting and strengthening his anchor, he asks him what stop they will be getting off at. The instant they begin to access, he swoops his hand abruptly in front of their eyes, causing a pattern interrupt while simultaneously activating the established anchor of how to forget easily. The bewildered and sudden, trance type of look on the guy’s face is remarkable because the entire process took place very rapidly. He later explained to me that was a routine Martin St. James had taught him about the practical uses of eye accessing cues.
It was interesting (at least for me) to note that for the majority of the “performance” the the person was in rational volitional thinking. As he began to access the information about the stop.. his eyes moved upward indicating the internal unconcious transderivational search and non volitional (unconcious) processing. That was the point where the pattern interupt and the anchor could be stacked effectively.

Hugh Cole
The Pretty Goodest Hypnotist on the Planet

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Permalink Reply by Connor Wyatt on December 1, 2009 at 10:28am

Thank you this is exactly what I was looking for, so how could you interrupt the pattern? Can it be verbal?

Conca

James Hazlerig said:

Conca,

I think this is a great topic, and I get the feeling that you haven't received the specific kind of reply you're looking for.

Look for any automatic behavior, a moment when a person's mind is on auto-pilot, and then interrupt it. For instance, when you and a friend are getting into a car, stop your friend just as he or she is putting on the seat belt.

Steven Heller relates a story about stopping a waiter just as the man was about to pour Heller's coffee. Heller then said something like, "I'm so sorry that you've forgotten that wonderful night you spent with that special person, that night that's now flooding back into your mind so strongly as you sink down into the memory of how wonderful you feel this night with this glorious special person." The hypnotist got great service the whole evening.

Another one is to ask someone's name, then ask it again as though you didn't quite hear it, then look confused and ask them to spell their name. On the second letter, interrupt the pattern.

Elsewhere on this site, Cleesattel posted this induction based on expectancy and pattern interrupt. I hope he will not mind me reposting it here:

"You say it's okay to hypnotize you? Good!
In a moment I will say a hypnotic word, when I do, you will feel yourself slipping into a deep trance. You will instantly become very relaxed and totally limp, but will be able to stay upright in your chair without any problems, and is going to feel better than anything you can imagine. Is that okay with you? Great! But first, I'd like to do a little test to see how fast your brain works. Ready? What year were you in the sixth grade? (When you see them go internal to figure it out) Sleep. (snap)"

I've been toying with the idea of getting someone to sing a familiar song with me, and then interrupting the pattern. Or calling out, "Oh, I wish I was an Oscar Meyer--SLEEP!"

Hmmm, speaking of advertising, the original Energizer Bunny ads operated on a pattern interrupt. I wonder if that was intentional.

So, anyone else want to pitch in with some good autopilot patterns to interrupt?

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Permalink Reply by James Hazlerig on December 1, 2009 at 11:08am

Verbal or physical--whichever is appropriate. Both if possible.

In the Steven Heller story, he reached out and lightly blocked the waiter's hand by touching the waiter on the wrist, thus interrupting the act of pouring the coffee.

Oh, another way I use pattern interrupt is to combine it with a hand-drop induction. I say, "I'm going to count down from 10 to 1, so press down harder on my hand with every number I count down from 10 to 1. When I say sleep, you can just let go and slip into a state of deep relaxation." I almost never get to 1, even though I've implied that's when I'll be saying sleep. Instead, I wait till I see that glazed expression, and then say sleep. It usually happens somewhere around 4.

At Cerbone and Nongard's workshop, they did something similar with magnetic hands, doing an arm yank and sleep command before the arms managed to touch.

I guess those aren't the kind of real-world patterns you're looking to interrupt. It might be interesting to go through a day and try to notice how many things happen on auto pilot--that might be a good way of getting a list of patterns to look for in others.

James

Conca said:

Thank you this is exactly what I was looking for, so how could you interrupt the pattern? Can it be verbal?

Conca

James Hazlerig said:

Conca,

I think this is a great topic, and I get the feeling that you haven't received the specific kind of reply you're looking for.

Look for any automatic behavior, a moment when a person's mind is on auto-pilot, and then interrupt it. For instance, when you and a friend are getting into a car, stop your friend just as he or she is putting on the seat belt.

Steven Heller relates a story about stopping a waiter just as the man was about to pour Heller's coffee. Heller then said something like, "I'm so sorry that you've forgotten that wonderful night you spent with that special person, that night that's now flooding back into your mind so strongly as you sink down into the memory of how wonderful you feel this night with this glorious special person." The hypnotist got great service the whole evening.

Another one is to ask someone's name, then ask it again as though you didn't quite hear it, then look confused and ask them to spell their name. On the second letter, interrupt the pattern.

Elsewhere on this site, Cleesattel posted this induction based on expectancy and pattern interrupt. I hope he will not mind me reposting it here:

"You say it's okay to hypnotize you? Good!
In a moment I will say a hypnotic word, when I do, you will feel yourself slipping into a deep trance. You will instantly become very relaxed and totally limp, but will be able to stay upright in your chair without any problems, and is going to feel better than anything you can imagine. Is that okay with you? Great! But first, I'd like to do a little test to see how fast your brain works. Ready? What year were you in the sixth grade? (When you see them go internal to figure it out) Sleep. (snap)"

I've been toying with the idea of getting someone to sing a familiar song with me, and then interrupting the pattern. Or calling out, "Oh, I wish I was an Oscar Meyer--SLEEP!"

Hmmm, speaking of advertising, the original Energizer Bunny ads operated on a pattern interrupt. I wonder if that was intentional.

So, anyone else want to pitch in with some good autopilot patterns to interrupt?

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Permalink Reply by VelvetMallet on December 1, 2009 at 4:39pm

Hugh, I love that subway story!

VM

Hugh Cole said:

I was in New York several months ago with Justin Tranz and we were talking about street hypnosis, covert inductions, and hypnosculpture as we were walking into the subway. In response to my question about using pattern interrupts.. Justin walks onto the subway platform, finds someone reading a paper and proceeds to ask them if they have a good memory. Then he asks them if they can remember a time when they easily forgot something. As they access their memory of forgetting, he casually anchors the memory by swooping his hand in front of their eyes. After asking for a couple more memories of easily forgetting and strengthening his anchor, he asks him what stop they will be getting off at. The instant they begin to access, he swoops his hand abruptly in front of their eyes, causing a pattern interrupt while simultaneously activating the established anchor of how to forget easily. The bewildered and sudden, trance type of look on the guy’s face is remarkable because the entire process took place very rapidly. He later explained to me that was a routine Martin St. James had taught him about the practical uses of eye accessing cues.
It was interesting (at least for me) to note that for the majority of the “performance” the the person was in rational volitional thinking. As he began to access the information about the stop.. his eyes moved upward indicating the internal unconcious transderivational search and non volitional (unconcious) processing. That was the point where the pattern interupt and the anchor could be stacked effectively.

Hugh Cole
The Pretty Goodest Hypnotist on the Planet

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on December 2, 2009 at 6:58am

FYI-
I posted this on the Abandonment and Lonliness discussion -

Hi Gayle, et al,

In "Ellnerian" hypnosis the transformation starts in my pre-talk... Example, I have found that a simple pattern interrupt is often all that is needed to help snap a client out of the: "My childhood justifies all of my unhealthy behaviors trance..."

Remember, timing is everything - So you simply breathe with and passively listen to your client's story and when it feels right, you simply smile, make eye contact and lovingly interrupt the client's tale of woe.

"So in other words - You were a survivor and you were able to cope with some very painful losses and challenges Right?" As soon as you see the "Whaaaat, what" look in your client's eyes (And you will) Go with the flow: "I mean there is absolutely nothing about your childhood experience that justifies punishing yourself for the rest of your life for something THAT WAS NOT YOUR FAULT! -- Right? And when you think about it would be unforgiveable if you did not forgive yourself and let yourself heal --Right? ---Now close your eyes and lets make peace with your childhood and give yourself the love, credit and appreciation YOU really deserve..."
Any self-affirming hypnotic ritual can be effective at this point...

Feel the purrrrr.. =^..^=

http://www.hypnothoughts.com/forum/topics/abandonment-and-lonliness...

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Permalink Reply by Calvin - The Hypnotist on December 7, 2009 at 7:27am

how very well put... thanks

John Cleesattel said:

To answer your question: (although it appears you are looking for some covert inductions) The interrupt must cause their mind to stop and analyze what it just heard. Thus the trance state.

Example: "Hi, how are you?" reply: Pineapple Cigar.

Basically, any response that will cause the subject to get that funny look and go "Huh?" That is your 1-2 second window.

John

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Permalink Reply by James Hazlerig on December 7, 2009 at 8:19am

Nice!

James

Michael Ellner said:

FYI-
I posted this on the Abandonment and Lonliness discussion -

Hi Gayle, et al,

In "Ellnerian" hypnosis the transformation starts in my pre-talk... Example, I have found that a simple pattern interrupt is often all that is needed to help snap a client out of the: "My childhood justifies all of my unhealthy behaviors trance..."

Remember, timing is everything - So you simply breathe with and passively listen to your client's story and when it feels right, you simply smile, make eye contact and lovingly interrupt the client's tale of woe.

"So in other words - You were a survivor and you were able to cope with some very painful losses and challenges Right?" As soon as you see the "Whaaaat, what" look in your client's eyes (And you will) Go with the flow: "I mean there is absolutely nothing about your childhood experience that justifies punishing yourself for the rest of your life for something THAT WAS NOT YOUR FAULT! -- Right? And when you think about it would be unforgiveable if you did not forgive yourself and let yourself heal --Right? ---Now close your eyes and lets make peace with your childhood and give yourself the love, credit and appreciation YOU really deserve..."
Any self-affirming hypnotic ritual can be effective at this point...

Feel the purrrrr.. =^..^=

http://www.hypnothoughts.com/forum/topics/abandonment-and-lonliness...

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