Deepener Ideas

(I’m reworking this page. :|)

Overall:

Deepeners aren’t necessary. They probably don’t even do anything. But they are fun!
They’re a treat for your subject! 🍨
They can prime for a direction you’re heading.
Since they’re a treat, you can be as playful as you want. This is a place to have fun.

Pretalk:

Ask the subject to give feedback on the deepeners

Generic:

“You may notice what you’re feeling… Maybe some heaviness in your body, or that your eyelids have become heavy and relaxed, or even feeling a bit pleasantly distant in your mind. All these things can intensify… become stronger… improve… or become more profound. You may even just become more aware of these feelings, becoming aware of new ones, letting these feelings happen and take over.”
Metaphors - they’re indirect. (See - Mind’s Eye deepener.)
Ideomotor - have them hold their arm out comfortably like they were getting their nails done… And as they sink in, their arm can fall as their feelings of depth increase.
Present future present pacing.
“Deeper and deeper” is fine if your subject is responding.
Stack inductions - so long as they match the direction you’re going.
Staircase - but the numbers are just an excuse to re-suggest something, or provide imagery.
Floors of a building. Theme appropriately, stairs are a nice metaphor.
See yourself in 3rd person going so much deeper. (Tipping from as deep as you’d like, to far deeper than you expected, even to resisting, finding your resistance just sends you deeper.)
Body becoming heavier.
Use a fixation.
Fractionate the fuck out of them.
Esdaile
Passive vs deliberate
Continue hypnotic patter
Suggestion of entrancement
jaxo tap

Nice suggestions:

I don’t want you to force for fight anything, I just want you to feel what you feel, hear what you hear, and see what you see, from your mind’s eye.
And all these thoughts can settle down in their own time…
You know how one thought goes from one thought, to another, to another, to another… And all you need to do right now is just let that happen… as thoughts flow, as feelings happen, and (something) becomes more and more (intense.)

Testing:

Tests really don’t have to do with depth.
A good place to do small tests for small versions of the phenomena you’d like to create.
A list of nine things (Mind Play Study Guide)
Safe place (Mind play study guide)

Resources:

I have something important to tell you here, and I’ll need a bit of your focus, even though you’re just reading this web page page. As you focus, you may notice your flow as you continue to read… and I may or may not have challenged your idea on a hypnotic state… that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun with it… or even begin to notice that these longer sentences draw you further into the flow of reading. If we look at an induction through the lens of being a pile of starter suggestions… We could begin to realize the deepener is a continuation of the induction.

The ambiguity is real, but the understanding that the line is blurred is truly powerful.

It’s up to you if you want to add a deepener.

How to Make Suggestions

If you feel up to doing a deepener, great! You’ll need to make some suggestions. This is reading ahead, but you can check out these guides for things I think would be useful in making deepening suggestions. Or just wing it! That’s fine too.

Links Loops Chains Bombs - Loops and Chains
Imagery with Intention - The bits about Indirect Suggestion and Framing
Sets, Pacing and Leading - Pacing and Leading is a safe bet for building suggestions
Direct vs Indirect - At this point, direct or indirect language should work
Future Pacing - Fantastic for strengthening an experience

Easy mode:

Learnhypnokink.com 9: Suggestion style intro

Learnhypnokink.com 10: Utilization and cold reading

(Less work, more tools, less understanding.)

Nerd mode:

Binaural Histolog - Suggestions

(More work, less tools, more better understanding.)

🦈 I want to add a deepener. What should I be suggesting here?

Traditionally - this is where you’d throw in a staircase deepener. This will feel out of place if you go the fractionation route - your subject is probably plenty fucked up. But, I’ll give you a few quick tips on disassembling these suggestions.

Common points for staircase deepeners:

These start with absorption and imagery suggestions. This just gives your subject something to do.
“In a moment” is a daily-driver way to structure something for your subject to do. Do x thing when I say y.
These deepeners include direct and indirect suggestions to relax and let go. Going “down” is an indirect suggestion to increase “depth,” and leaves the interpretation (and the work of figuring out what deeper means) up to the subject. Check in on what they experienced after your session.
Each number is bound to the idea of either relaxing more or going deeper. The imagery descriptions provide time for your subject to either implement these suggestions, or to find that they’re happening automatically. Each time you say a number, you’re giving your subject the opportunity to relax or let go.

Modifying a staircase deepener is a great way to start fiddling around with suggestions. Rebrand it as an elevator. Change how you suggest relaxation. Add temperature changes. Fuck around and find out. But… during your exit interview, ask…

Did anything during the deepener take you out of the experience?
What was most memorable?
What was your favorite part?

And for your internal consideration - it’s up to you if you want to directly or indirectly ask about these…

How effective were your suggestions?
Did you brain fart a number? Did you stumble over a word? Did your subject even mention it? (Usually, they don’t even notice. If they did, the impact was likely minimal.)
What did you observe with your subject’s body language during the deepener?