by Calvin D. Banyan
First, let me get this straight, this is not an article about those funny vehicles that people stand on, has two wheels which they ride on and makes them look like nerds! It is about a technique called the “Segue”. It will get you better results. I’ll explain.
Are you doing insight work with your clients? What is insight work? It is when you go beyond direct suggestion hypnosis, where you simply hypnotize your client and read them a script. When doing insight work, your clients gain a different perspective. This insight helps them to understand the cause of their problem in a different way, or otherwise, shift how they fundamentally look at themselves, or the world. Hypnotic techniques that provide insight, include age regression, parts work, and forgiveness work.
When you do this kind of work, it forces the subconscious mind of your client into a state of reorganization. This insight, epiphany or a-ha! experience causes an instant, and “new knowing” about the situation. The “new knowing” (or belief) overrides and neutralizes previous beliefs that would be to the contrary, and makes your client much more suggestible for a short period of time.
This “hyper-suggestibility” is only accomplished in a hypnosis session when a new insight has been achieved and lasts for the duration of that session.
Let me explain this idea of “hyper-suggestibility”. If we can think of hypnosis as a state of heightened suggestibility, then the level of suggestibility that I’m calling “hyper-suggestibility” describes that state of hypnosis in which suggestions are particularly long lasting or even permanent (without reinforcement). This is because the change in the subconscious mind is not dependent on mere hypnotic suggestion, but rather on insight, which is a permanent change in how our client will look at her history. Unless something occurs to change this new view point, the suggestions received and accepted in this state will continue to be in effect. Let me give you an example.
Let’s say that during an age regression session, you find out that your client has a fear inside of her (experienced as anxiety), and in reaction to the anxiety, she bites her nails. You then continue to “bridge” back using that anxiety to take her back to the cause of the problem.
This first event is called the Initial Sensitizing Even (ISE). In the ISE, the client reports her father being angry with her. The client in the regressed state, is 5 years old and thinks that she did something wrong, and that there is something wrong with her, and she becomes fearful (producing a feeling of anxiety).
Through the use of the regression process (the Informed Child Technique), the age regressed aspect of the client learns that the reason that her father was angry had nothing to do with her. In fact, he wasn’t angry at her at all. He was angry at someone else. With these insights newly known to the regressed aspect of the client, we can also suggest to her that there is indeed nothing really wrong with her (from the perspective of the adult aspect of the client).
Learning that there is nothing wrong with her and that nothing bad is going to happen are powerful insights that instantly neutralizes the old beliefs. She accepts these new insights as true, and becomes more highly suggestible than before, especially for any suggestions that are consistent with these new beliefs.
For some clients, these insights would instantly change their lives without much work on our part. They would instantly stop the behavior of nail biting. Such individuals are our favorite clients. They are smart and insightful. Unfortunately, not all clients are that talented. This can be problematic. Here’s why…
Let’s continue with the example of the client who bites her finger nails and that you go through the age regression procedure like I described. After the session the client becomes angry! She expresses her anger by saying, “I’m angry. You have no right to have done that to me. I came in here to work on my fingernail biting habit, not to work on my issues with my father!“
By using the “Segue Technique” you can avoid this, your clients will be more satisfied with the outcome of the sessions, and you will become more effective overall.
Here is an outline of the all powerful Segue Technique:
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Restate the insight.
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State that because of this insight, she sees herself differently.
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This will make her more successful for what she came in for.
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Give her the suggestion that she came in for.
Example Segue: say something like this, “Now that you understand that your father was not angry with you, and that there was nothing wrong with you (the insight) you see the whole situation differently, and the anxiety has been completely removed (seeing the situation differently, and feeling better as a result). The anxiety that caused you to want to bite your finger nails has been removed. Your desire to bite your nails has been completely neutralized. You are now able to grow your fingernails out just the way that you have always wanted to (suggestion for what she came in for, plus any additional suggestions related to the ending of her nail biting habit).
Using the Segue Technique properly will help you to have clients who fully understand why you did the insight work that you have just done, be it age regression, parts work, or forgiveness work.
