When working with a subject, either as a performance/demo subject or as a client, you can increase your chances of success through escalation.

What do I mean when I say escalate? Well, basically, it means starting with smaller, simple suggestions and working your way up to more complex suggestions.

For example, let’s say I want to have someone hallucinate. Unless they are a natural somnambulist, I’m not going to jump straight into an hallucination suggestion. I’ll first start with a series of simpler suggestions and work my way up, starting with the compliance testing at the very beginning.

The process may go something like this. Give the subject a few instructions to follow; “stand over here”, “look at me”, “take a deep breath” and so on. Then I’ll induce trance, immediately followed by a series of deepeners and some fractionation. I’ll give some simple suggestions about remembering a pleasant experience and then observe them to see if they experience a state change. I won’t move off of this suggestion until I see proof that it’s working. Test, test, test.

Then I’ll give some suggestions for catalepsy of the small muscles of the eyes, for example, the eye lock suggestion. I won’t move from here if I don’t get eye lock. Once I have eye lock, I’ll move on to a larger muscle group, say arm lock for example. Again, waiting until I have success here before moving on.

This deliberate progression from easier to more difficult suggestions is important, because along the way I’m getting feedback on the subject’s responsiveness and their compliance. Also, the subject is getting feedback on the success of each suggestion. These progressive experiences compound on each other, creating more intensity (depth), more success references and more fractionation. We are simply building a “success ladder”, also known as a “yes set”, where each step provides proof of success, and therefore pre-supposes that the next step will also be successful.

So, with this history of success as a reference point, when we get to the suggestions of positive or negative hallucination, then we have a much higher chance of success, than if we just jumped straight there at the beginning.

This escalation approach can also be applied in a therapy session, especially in cases where you require multiple sessions to accomplish a behavior or state change. Start with the low laying fruit. Build up their self-esteem and confidence. Give them triggers for accessing power states or relaxation. Each successful suggestion compounds the one before it and sets up the next one for more success.

But don’t take my word for it. Try it out and see for yourself. I’m sure you will be amazed at the increase in success you will experience.

That’s all I have for now.

Michael C. White, C.Ht.