He takes control of the session by "directing" the subject to her seat. He has the subject look at him in the eyes.
"I understand that you've never been hypnotized--but that you are interested?"
"I think the best way to begin is to get right down to work."
"How much are you willing to learn?" (Indicating to the subject that the session results depend on her.)
"There's no reason to be nervous. All you have to do is let things happen, and it will happen.
"Are you forgetting about_______? You CAN forget about it.
"I'm going to take hold of your hand in a moment or so." (He then takes hold of her left hand and places it above her left knee and then takes hold of her right hand and places it on her right knee.)
"Now as you watch your hands, (he directs her to look down at her hands) resting there . . . and do you know about the feelings you have . . . and did you ever put on the brakes when you were in the back seat of the car?"
"Yes." (subject)
"Now I would like that same kind of automatic movement--now look at my hands. The right hand can lift and lower. And the left hand can lift and lower."
(Erickson now looks the subject in the eyes and has her look at him.)
"Now I'd like you to understand that you have a conscious mind, and you know that, and I know that, and you have an unconscious mind, or subconscious mind, and you know what I mean by that. Now you could lift your right hand or your left hand consciously, but your unconscious mind can lift one or the other of your hands . . ."
(Erickson points to her hands with his right hand and looks at her hands, causing her to look at her hands instead of him.)
"Now I'm going to ask you a question and you do not know the answer to that question consciously and you'll have to wait and see what the answer is. I'm going to ask you which of your hands is your unconscious mind going to lift up first, the right or the left. And you really don't know, but your unconscious knows.
(Erickson watches for any movement in her hands and when he sees slight movement upward of the right hand, he says:) "That's right. And it's beginning to lift right up, lifting, lifting, lifting, now watch, that's right. Lifting, lifting, now keep watching the hand and watching."
"And if you wish you can close your eyes and just feel your hand lifting higher and higher, that's right, lifting, lifting. Now close your eyes and feel it lifting higher and higher, that's right."
(Erickson takes hold of her left hand [the non-moving hand] and lifts it up and away from her body toward him. Then takes hold of her right hand.) "And the other hand is lifting, lifting, lifting up, that's right."
"Now I want to know which hand is going to go down. One or the other will go down, that's right." (Observing the right hand lowering) "That's right, that's right, down it comes, down it comes, it's coming down still more, a little more, down it comes, down it comes. And as it comes down I want you to go deeper and deeper into the trance. So that when your hand reaches your lap, you go deeper and deeper into the trance. You're beginning to learn how now to go deeper into the trance, that's right."
"Now take a deep breath. Let it seem to you that many minutes have passed. Now I'd like you to look at me and come to me. Now open you eyes, (subject opens her eyes) that's right. And you're beginning to learn to go into a trance. (He looks pointedly at her) Do you realize that?
"I think so." (subject)
"How does your hand feel?" "Heavy." (subject)
"Now watch that hand (the left) as it gets closer and closer to your face. (subject looks at left hand) That's right."
Video 2
(Speaking very slowly, drawing out the words) "And I'd like to have you pay attention to the sensations of the movement of your arm, the bending of your elbow, and the way that hand is getting closer, closer to your face, and very shortly going to touch your face. But it's not going to touch your face until you're ready to take a deep breath and close your eyes go way deep sound asleep. Almost ready, almost ready. That's right, that's right. And it's moving moving, that's right. And you're waiting for it to touch your face. Getting ready to take that deep breath, and waiting to go down deep asleep into the trance. Almost touching, that's right. Almost touching now. And it isn't going to touch until you're ready to take that deep breath."
"Your eyes will close, that's right. Getting closer and closer, elbow bending more, finger about to touch your chin. That's it, that's it. Almost there, almost there. And now your head starts bending forward, that's right, and you take a deep breath (he takes hold of her right hand and lifts it gently). (He touches the left arm) And now this will come down and rest on the arm of the chair. That's right (noticing her left arm bending down), the elbow can bend just a bit more rapidly. And now your right arm will begin lifting up and your elbow will start bending, that's it, and the left arm is coming down more and more."
"And your right elbow is bending, that's right. (He gently helps the right arm to lift up) Lifting, lifting, that's it. (As he sees the right arm beginning to lift more) Lifting, lifting, lifting, that's it, elbow bending. (Touches right arm) And this arm is straightening."
"And now I'd like you to very slowly, slowly, open your eyes and look at your right hand and then look at your left hand. (Subject looks at right, then left hand) That's right. And notice the difference in the movement. That's right. And I want you to try, just try to stop the downward motion of that left hand. (Subject smiles) That's right. And down it comes."
"And now I'd like to notice that you can't stop it from lifting up. (Erickson moves his right hand up and touches his cheek)
"Now (he looks at her right hand and subject looks at it as well) look at your right hand lifting up toward your face. And try hard to stop it, but up it goes, up it goes, up it comes, and keep watching. Up it comes."
(Erickson put up his left hand with his index finger extended) "I'd like to have you watch, look at my finger now (subject looks at his finger). I want you to notice (while she's looking at his left finger, he moves her left arm up so it touches her chin) what happens to you. (Erickson slowly lowers his left hand and subject closes her eyes)
Take a deep breath, close your eyes, that's right. And you're beginning to feel that you're learning more and more." (Erickson lifts her right hand up and then let's it remain in mid-air)
"As soon as your right hand touches your face you'll take another deep breath (speaking more rapidly) and to deeper asleep. The closer your right hand gets to your face, (Erickson begins her left hand moving downward) the more your left hand will move away from it. And up goes your right hand, that's right, up it goes. And your left hand is moving down. A little faster. That's it. A little bit faster, and still faster. And faster and faster and faster. That's it." (Subject is slowly raising right hand and somewhat more rapidly lowering the left hand)
"And now I want you to open your eyes and look at me. And now I want to teach you something more of importance. As soon as your right hand touches your face, it will start moving away and your left hand will start moving toward your face. (Erickson demonstrates by moving his left and right hands up to touch his face, one coming up as the other is going down) Do you understand?"
"And Rose, I want you to discover something else. (Erickson moves her right hand so it touches the side of her face) I'm going to guide your hand. I want you to discover the difference between your thinking and your dreaming, and that is this. You know how to nod your head (he nods his head up and down) and you know how to shake your head. (he shakes his head left to right) And you know your first name is Rose. And no matter what I say or won't say or anybody else says it won't change your name and won't change the fact that you're a girl and won't change the fact that you're sitting down."
"I can say anything and you can think anything; it doesn't necessarily interfere with facts. Is your first name Rose? (Subject says yes quietly) That's right. Are you a girl? (subject says yes quietly) Just shake your head or nod your head. Are you sitting down? (Subject shakes her head yes) All right. Now I'm going to ask you some other questions and you will nod your head your head in answer. Is your name Ann? (Subject shakes no) And you will nod your head in answer (Erickson nods his head yes) Is your name Ann? (Subject nods yes) That's right. Are you standing up? (Subject nods yes) That's right. And are you a body? (Subject nods yes) That's right."
"And now I want you to shake your head no. (Erickson shakes his head no) You aren't a girl, are you? (Subject shakes her head no) And you aren't sitting down, are you? (Subject shakes her head no) And you aren't in a trance, are you? (Subject shakes her head no) And you aren't answering, are you? (Subject shakes no) And you aren't going to answer me, are you? (Subject shakes no) That's right."