Suggestibility 'Exercise'

Now most often you will hear about suggestibility tests but I would prefer to avoid that name, especially when talking about it to a subject. 'Test' indicates that they can fail when in reality they cant. And when you fraze something as a test your giving their mind the option to do it or not. And when you get used to the name it becomes something like that to you on a subconcious level whether you wan ti to or not. So I stick with calling it an excercise.

And in fact when I tel the subject we're going to do it I usually dont even tell them were gonna do an exercise. I get straight into it without an introduction. If the person is particuarly suggestible they will sometimes fall into hypnosis simply from taing part in the test. Thats the definition of an added perk. No extra work for you...

But we'll start again for the beginners. A suggestibility exercise is a small exercise where you can see how suggestable and 'ready' the subject is at that point in time. I personally use it as an indiciation of how strong my pre-talk was in setting up hypnosis. If your pre-talk was good then you will already have a fairly suggestable subject. And of course if they're feeling comfortable then they'll be more likely to act upon your suggestions...

There are a number of suggestibility tests and in fact some adapted exercises you may already know as inductions. Im hoping somebody will post more below.

Magnetic Hands: This is probably the most commonly used exercise and its name is fairly self-explainitory. It involves having the subject hold their two hands in front of them parrallel to each other. The hypnotist starts talking to them about magnets and dropping suggestions. Have them think about how difficult it is to pull apart or 'keep apart' two really powerful magnets. Have them imagine trying to keep pulling two magnets apart and think about how difficult it can be.

 Then you tell them to imagine that their hands are to powerful magnets being drawn to eachother. You keep talking about how difficult it is to keep them apart. As you do this, notice the subjects hands moving. You can tell them not to try to keep their hands apart but to just imagine that feeling. Wheny you say dont 'try' to kep your hands apart your indicating that if they were to try they may not be able to. Basically watch the movements of their hands.

 If the subject is feeling suggestable at the time their hands should draw together. I personally like to have the subject close their eyes while they're doing this and so they stay unaware of how their hands are moving until I ask them to open them and look. Some people will have the subject focus on a certain point like a light.

It usually works well as a convincer when it works. If not then dont worry. it just means they're not responding to that particular exercise at that point in time.

The main reason I do these exercises is because its all part of a ritual. Its been said before but The subject's expectation is what is important so If you look at hypnosis as a ritual or a process yourself rather than individual steps it can be beneficial. Thats just one exercise. Apart from that I can use the exercise to help me gage what induction I should use on the subject. 

Its up to you if you want to use suggestibility exercises but I alwasy include them as an end to the pre-talk. Its sometimes helps induce a light trance from the concentration as well. Please post more below.