[bbgapril]

How it's Undone

Hypnosis is a state assumed willingly by the subject, and if they get uncomfortable enough, they will find a way to wake themselves. That's never what you want to happen. But in general, a hypnotized subject wants to obey you, and will do what she can to comply with requests. That includes staying in a trance as long as you clearly want that. It's up to you to definitively end a session. But there's no magic to it; you are simply giving them permission to return to normal cognition. There's no long procedure required. It will take a few moments for the subject to switch gears, so often I'll announce I am going to wake them up, and then call out "Three... two... one... awaken." But I make it clear to them, while they are in trance, that just the word "Awaken" gives them permission to wake. You always want the option of being able to wake someone quickly.

Note that even in an experienced subject, entering and exiting a trance takes a few moments. I don't know what's going on in the brain during the transitions, but my best subject needed about a full second to switch. I could take her in and out of trances mid-sentence in a conversation - and if she was coming out of the trance, the sentence wouldn't get finished - but the pause never got shorter no matter how I lead her in or out. Other subjects took two to three seconds on average.