A fellow hypnotherapist recently asked me about a client she had who seemed to fall asleep during an hypnosis session. What should she do?
Here’s my answer….
If you think a client is asleep, give them a suggestion requires them to respond. Finger twitches are good for this (You can set up yes/no ideomotor signals if you like).
For example; ask them to twitch a finger as an indication they’ve accepted a suggestion. People who appear asleep still respond to suggestions but they may respond slowly. So, give them a minute or two of repeating the suggestion and watch closely.
If they respond, you’re good to go. If not, you have two choices…
1) Wake them up to the point where they respond.
2) Work with them while asleep (them, not you).
The challenge in working with them while asleep is rapport. A person who is asleep has very little connection to you or anything else in the “real” world. They just ain’t listening.
So, you have to make a bunch of suggestions to the effect that they can hear you, they remain asleep and they follow your suggestions. You’ve got to keep hammering away, often for a long time before they respond.
That’s why I prefer option #1 — wake ’em up!
That’s it for this tip…
See you soon,
Keith Livingston
How do you recommend waking them up if they don’t respond to your voice at all with an ideomotor response?
I raise the volume of my voice a little and tell them to come up. If need be, and I have permission, I reach over and touch their shoulder. It rarely happens though…