Chapter 9
Inductions
I cane in and we talked some more, about other things. Beth’s mom, Barbara, came out of her bedroom. She was dressed in a pair of shorts and a tube top. “Hi kids,” she said.
Beth said “Hi mom. I see you’re still not smoking.”
“It’s amazing. I’ve had the cravings, but I’ve been able to resist.”
Beth turned to Charlotte and Danielle. “Ben hypnotized my mom last night. He gave her commands to make her stop smoking.”
“I didn’t know you knew how to hypnotize people,” Danielle said.
“I’ve studied that in my psychology class.” To Barbara I added, “I can remove the cravings for cigarettes, if you like.”
“Would you?”
“Sure. have a seat.” Barbara sat on the couch next to me and Beth. I looked into her eyes. “Barbara, I want you to concentrate on my eyes. Focus all your attention on my eyes. You are getting very sleepy. Very sleepy.” Barbara’s eyelids drooped a bit. “Sleep for me, Barbara.” Barbara fell into a deep hypnotic sleep.
“Way cool.” Danielle said.
“Now Barbara, listen to me very carefully. You no longer have any craving for cigarettes. Whenever you have a craving for a cigarette, you will put your hand on your stomach and your craving will instantly disappear. Do you understand, Barbara?”
“Yes, I understand.”
“What will you do if you get a craving for a cigarette?”
“I will put my hand on my stomach.”
“The craving will then instantly disappear, won’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Say it.”
“The craving will then instantly disappear.”
“Very good, Barbara. Now I am going to wake you up now. On the count of three you will become awake and alert. You will not remember anything that I have just said to you. When you open your eyes you will suddenly have a terrible craving for a cigarette. You will then remember all of what I have told you, and you will put your hand on your stomach. Your craving will instantly disappear. Do you understand, Barbara?”
“Yes.”
“Good. On the count of three, you will become awake. One, two, three.” Barbara sat up, opened her eyes. “How do you feel?” I asked.
“God, I need a cigare...” Barbara stopped, blinked as the memories came back, and placed her right hand on her smooth tummy. “Wow! That really worked. I don’t want a cigarette at all, now. Thank you, Ben.”
“At your service, madam.”
“Now you, Charlotte.” Beth said.
“All right. What do I do, Ben?”
“O.K. You need to sit back, and just relax. Relax and listen to the sound of my voice.” I positioned myself so I was looking into her eyes. “Let every muscle in your body go completely limp and loose. Breathe in deeply and hold it in.” I paused a few seconds. “Now let it out, and let every tension in your body flow out as you exhale.You’re feeling drowsy now. Very sleepy.” Charlotte’s eyelids began to droop. “Keep starting at my eyes. In a few seconds you’re going to fall into a wonderful, realxing sleep. You can hardly keep your eyes open now. You’re mind is drifting away.” Charlotte’s eyes closed. “When I say the words ‘Sleep for me, Charlotte’ you will fall into a deep, deep sleep. Sleep for me, Charlotte.” Charlotte’s head drooped forward. “Charlotte, you’re arm is becoming very light. So very light. It’s lighter than air, Charlotte. You’re arm is drifting up, slowly drifting up.” Her arm twitched, then slowly moved up. “Lighter and lighter, Charlotte. You can feel it drifting away.” By now, her arm was moving over her head. I turned to the others. “Well, what do you think?”
“Is she really under?” Danielle asked.
“Of course.”
“What else can you make her do?”
“Actually, I’m not making her do anything. She’s doing it all herself.” I turned back to Charlotte. “All right, Charlotte, your arm is gradually regaining it’s weight. It’s sinking back to earth. Let your arm return to normal.” Her arm slowly drifted back to the armrest. “Now, Charlotte, I’m going to wake you up now. You will remember everything that has happened to you while you were asleep, except the following. Whenever you hear your name, it will seem the funniest thing in the world to you. It will be so funny that you won’t be able to stop yourself from laughing. You’ll laugh and laugh until I scratch my ear. Then you’ll stop. You won’t be able to remember what was so funny. Do you understand? Nod your head if you understand.”
Charlotte’s head slowly nodded.
“I’m going to wake you up now. The next time I want to hypnotize you, you’ll go under much easier than this time. In fact, whenever you hear me say the words, ‘Sleep for me, Charlotte,’ you’ll fall asleep instantly. Nod your head if you understand.” Again her head nodded. “All right, Charlotte, get ready to wake up. On the count of five you’ll become totally awake and you’ll follow all my suggestions. One, you’re starting to wake up. Two, more and more awake. Three, becoming alert. Four, you’re almost awake now. Five, you’re awake.” Charlotte’s eyes opened and she sat up. “How do you feel?”
“I feel fine.”
“Do you remember what happened?”
“I remember getting really drowsy, then my hand was floating. It really felt like it was weightless.”
“That’s fine, Charlotte.” Charlotte’s face broke into a wide grin, then she started laughing.
“What’s so funny, Charlotte?” I asked. Charlotte was laughing too hard to answer. After about 15 seconds, I scratched my ear. Immediately Charlotte’s laughter stopped.
I motioned to Beth, “Charlotte,” she said. This started Charlotte off again. I let her go this time, and soon, Charlotte was on the floor holding her sides. I scratched my ear and she stopped again.
“What was I just laughing at?” she asked, still lying on the floor, when she regained her breath.
“Don’t you remember?” Barbara asked.
“Um. No. But it sure was funny.”
“Tell her, Beth,” I said.
“Ben gave you a post-hypnotic command. He made it so that you’d laugh whenever you heard your name.”
Charlotte said, “What, Charlotte?” Instantly she was rolling on the floor, laughing uncontrollingly.
“Sleep for me, Charlotte.” I said. Her eyes closed and her breathing became slow and regular. “Now, you’ll no longer laugh when you hear your name. Do you understand? Tell me what will happen when you wake up.”
“I will no longer laugh when I hear my name.”
“Good. Now on the count of three you’ll become completely awake, and this time, you’ll remember everything that has happened both times you were asleep. One, two, three.” Charlotte’s eyes opened. She blinked a few times as the memories came back, then said, smiling, “I never realized how funny my name could be.”
“Charlotte,” Danielle said.
“No, I guess it’s not so funny after all,” she said eventually.
The hypnosis tape was affecting Danielle, who said “Me next!” Soon I had her in a deep trance. “Danielle, you have never seen a pair of shoes before. You don’t know what shoes are. You will look down at your feet and see these... these things on your feet. You don’t want to have these things on your feet and you’ll try to take them off. Of course, you don’t know how to take them off, so you’ll have to ask for help. You won’t be able to relax until you’ve freed your feet from those confining, restricting things. Do you understand, Danielle?”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Good. Now once you’ve freed your feet, you’ll want to free all of our feet as well. You’ll know how to take shoes off now, and you’ll remove all of our shoes as well. You won’t be able to rest until you’ve freed all of our feet. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“You will remember what shoes are when you hear me say the word ‘cobbler’, but you will forget all about being hypnotized. Now, I’m going to wake you up now. When I count to five, you’ll become completely awake. You’ll be much easier to hypnotize next time. In fact, whenever you hear me say the words ‘Sleep for me, Danielle’ you’ll fall into the deepest possible trance. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“One, you’re starting to wake up. Two, becoming more awake. Three, awake and happy. Four, almost awake. Five, wake up.” Danielle opened her eyes. “How do you feel, Danielle?” I asked.
“Fine, I guess. Hey, what are these things on my feet. Did you put these things on me while I was hypnotized?” She brought her foot up and looked at it, first the top, then the sole. “What is it?”
“It’s a shoe, what else,” Beth said.
“A ‘shoe’, eh?” she started tugging at it. “How do you get the stupid thing off?” We watched as she pulled and pushed the thing around her tiny foot. Finally she turned to us and said, “Can someone help me get this thing off my foot?”
I said to Barbara, “Barbara, would you help Danielle take her shoes off?” Barbara went over to Danielle and untied and removed her shoes.
“Ahh, that’s better.” Danelle rubbed her feet. Then she looked at our feet and said, “You’re all wearing those things, those shoes, too.” With that, she slowly, awkwardly removed first Barbara’s, Beth’s, Charlotte’s, and finally my own shoes. As she removed each shoe, she rubbed and caressed our feet.
After she finished, I asked “Danielle, you know where shoes come from?”
“No.”
“From a cobbler.” As I said the word cobbler, Danielle face froze for a instant, as the memories came back.
“Oh, now I remember shoes.” She paused, then said “How could I have forgotten shoes?”
“You were hypnotized to forget about shoes.”
“Hypnotized? I wasn’t hypnotized.”
“Ladies,” I said turning to Beth and Charlotte.
“Yes, Danielle, you were really under,” Charlotte said.
“That’s right,” Beth added.
“Yeah, right. Sure I was.”