Hypnosis: How Shaking Hands Can Be A Whole New Experience

One of the things that Dr. Milton Erickson, whom we have met before, was famous for, was his handshake. Dr. Erickson describes this in detail, but the simplest explanation is that you would interrupt the normal flow of the handshake, in other words, you would extend your hand to him, the other person would do the same, fully expecting to shake the doctor’s hand. , but instead of shaking the person’s hand, Erickson would grab his wrist.

In this way, you would interrupt an expected pattern and replace it with another. This would create a mild shock and allow you to make therapeutic suggestions.

He would carry out many other maneuvers; very gently stroking the palm of the person’s hand with one of your fingers, allowing his (Erickson’s) thumb to gently stroke the inside of the other person’s wrist, etc. I strongly suggest that you do not under any circumstances attempt this yourself. Dr. Erickson was a teacher. If you or I tried this, we would end up getting cheated!

We briefly chat about the fact that during REM, while we dream, nature prevents us from acting on our dreams. This is further proof that shock quickly pushes us into the REM state and that we experience catalepsy, or muscle rigidity, in the same way that nature prevents us from acting on our dreams.

We’ve all heard or read about people actually freezing with shock. Perhaps we have even experienced it ourselves. It can usually last from a second to a minute in most people, depending on the severity.

When something frightening or completely unexpected starts to catch your eye, an electrical impulse travels from the brainstem, through the midbrain, and into the cortex. This charge is known as the PGO peak, or Ponto-Geniculo-Occipital peak.

“What is that?” you ask. “I have no idea,” I reply.

Yes, actually, I do. They are waves, and can be recorded from the pons and occipital cortex regions of the brain, where these waveforms originate. Pons Varolii is located in the brainstem and is approximately halfway between the medulla oblongata and the midbrain, opposite the cerebellum. These waves appear, and are most prominent, immediately before REM sleep.

Shock hypnosis understandably kicks in much faster than the more usual progressive relaxation hypnosis. Because of this, we are open to suggestions and instinctive programming.

While I was doing my circus act and jumping backwards from that branch, if someone had whispered a hypnotic suggestion in my ear just as I was taking off, it had almost certainly been programmed.

Again, please don’t try this by creeping up behind your spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend like a Sioux Indian and bellowing into their ear. You may have a heart attack and/or you may suffer serious bodily injury yourself!