13: Useful and fun tech
There’s a lot more to hypnosis than just suggestions and trance. In this section, we’re going to go over some core concepts and techniques that inform the way that hypnosis works!
Fractionation
In hypnosis, when someone is going between two “states” or experiences (such as “awake” and “in trance”), this contrast tends to emphasize one, the other, or both. For example, a subject that goes into trance, is woken up, and then is dropped into trance again will generally feel like they’re going deeper or more intensely into hypnosis. This is called “fractionation.”
This makes sense—there are a lot of times when a short break from something can make it feel more achievable, fulfilling, or noticeable (like tease and denial, or having your mood change over the day).
This is really useful to us in hypnosis! It’s a great technique to use to “break up” a hypnokink scene—waking someone up and dropping them back down instead of powering through a long trance—and it is a great technique to “deepen” feelings of hypnosis. You can do it fast, slow, or somewhere in the middle—and even someone who’s been out of trance for 15-30 minutes or more can experience some of this intensifying effect.
It’s useful for more than just trance sensations too; think about what other “poles” you could apply this to: frozen and limp? Aroused and not aroused? Smart and dumb? Focused inside and outside?
There aren’t hard and fast rules about which state gets “more” emphasized, but it has some to do with how much you linger on or emphasize one or the other with your words. It’s a little bit like riding an invisible wave—what part of the “wave” are you on when you decide to switch?
Triggers
One of the most exciting and well-known parts of hypnosis for many people is the idea of a “trigger”: When the hypnotist says a word or snaps their fingers, and the subject responds with some sort of pre-programmed suggestion.
Triggers are essentially just associations between any two things (a stimulus and a response). Here are some examples:
Triggers:
Something the hypnotist does (finger snap, clap, wink, saying a word or phrase, touching the subject somewhere)
Something the subject does (closing eyes, clenching fist, gasping, saying a word or phrase, thinking about or remembering something)
Something environmental (hearing a certain sound or song, seeing an image)
Responses:
A sensory experience (a wave of pleasure, a feeling of being spanked, visualizing a body part, imagining/hearing the sound of a vibrator)
A thought (thinking compulsively about the concept of submission, a word or phrase, an exciting memory, an emotion)
An action (saying a word or phrase, touching a body part, making a cat noise)
A hypnotic response (feeling frozen, going limp, feeling a persona shift, going into trance)
Triggers work on the basis of a psychological concept called “classical conditioning.” Classical conditioning is familiar to us in concepts like Pavlov’s dogs. Pavlov trained these dogs to salivate at a sound by playing that sound right before giving them food. The dogs would then naturally drool in the presence of a meal, so by associating the sound with food, a “conditioned response” was created.
Association is a huge part of how all animals process—and especially us humans, who make all sorts of mental connections all the time. When you remember a sexy encounter you had and get turned on, that’s one of those associations, too.
Hypnotic triggers work on this principle. Intentionally creating an association isn’t hard—there are essentially two things you should keep in mind: 1) how to suggest the association, and 2) giving your subject enough “footholds” to make the response feel accessible.
There are tons of ways you could suggest an association. Here are some examples:
“When I do x, you’ll do y”
“I want you to think about how it feels to do y—think really hard about it, and then feel the connection being formed when I do x”
“Now, you’re doing y, and notice how I’ve attached that to x”
For a couple specific examples:
“You’re deeply hypnotized, and I want you to know that you can return to this state whenever I touch you on the forehead”
“Isn’t it fun to be dumb? Whenever I say the word ‘dumber,’ you can feel more of your intelligence leaking away”
Ratifying or reinforcing triggers is pretty important—it helps make the association stronger. You can do this simply by testing the trigger, but remember that ratifying suggestions works best when you give it a little extra “push” and suggest it more as you test it. Keep this in mind, especially if you use a trigger that hasn’t been used in a while. (It’s natural that triggers will fade after a period without use, and for some people it can be very fast.) Here are some ideas for this:
Have your partner imagine what it’ll feel like to respond to the trigger in the future while they’re still in trance
Repeat the trigger several times in a row, suggesting that the response will get stronger every time
Do the trigger and repeat the suggestion
This is something you can start playing with when you have a partner who wants to play with more ongoing elements of hypnosis—having triggers that persist after the scene. But you can also keep trigger play contained within the scene itself—you can use triggers when the subject is still in trance, or play with them after they’ve woken up.
Safety tip: put boundaries on the triggers you leave with your partner! Telling them that the trigger should only work for you and/or when it’s safe and appropriate for them to respond is important.
“Waking” or responsive trance
It’s a common misconception that hypnotized subjects are unresponsive in trance. While it’s true that many people respond naturally to hypnosis by becoming less outwardly responsive, this isn’t true for everyone (and has a lot to do with the person’s preconceived notions of hypnosis, how you frame hypnosis to them, and how the trance itself is and feels).
It’s a great skill for subjects to learn how to be more active in trance—whether they’re moving or talking. For some people, it can feel difficult to muster up the “strength” to do this, or it may feel like they’re “breaking” trance when they do. But this is something you can help them with. Here are some ways to do that:
Give permission: “You can talk and be active in trance, and it can even enhance your experience”
Encourage: “You can stay so deep in trance with your eyes wide open”
Link responses with trance: “You can find that when/after you speak, you feel yourself drifting deeper”
Ratify: “That’s right, you’re getting more hypnotized now, aren’t you?”
Dissociate the feeling: “When you talk or move, it’s almost like watching your body do it without you necessarily putting much effort in”
Condition after they talk: “Now you’re dropping deeper” (after they do something active—associating responding with trance”
Playing with a more “active” trance can be fun simply because the way someone thinks and talks can be different from their “normal” and it can be really interesting. It also affords you opportunities to play more actively, for example:
Being able to keep their eyes open and type to you for text hypnosis
Being able to say mantras or other sexy things while in trance
“Active” sexual (or other physical) interaction while in trance (like giving oral sex)
More immersive transformations or guided fantasies where they can verbally respond to you while they’re still in trance, or you don’t have to wake them up to “complete” a transformation or role-enactment
