One of the things I appreciate about Erickson is his linking of hypnosis with the common everyday trance where we can be reading a book, watching a movie, listening to music, walking in nature. There can be focus, there can be absorption. We’re not calling this hypnosis, and if anyone were to look, it would be apparent that there are multiple examples of this in our everyday life. 

If you are interested, it’s simply a matter of looking at friends or family in their ordinary, everyday experiences when they're watching television, when they're looking out of the window, daydreaming, when they're gardening and absorbed in some activity. You can also look at examples with your colleagues, friends, family, strangers or within yourself when we are engaged in some activity and to observe the focus and absorption in such an experience.

Because the common everyday trance is so common, so every day, and because every person has an ability, in their own way, to focus on something and become absorbed in it, we don’t need to be side tracked with the question of whether someone can be hypnotised or not; whether someone is a suitable subject for hypnosis. 

I've been asked many times, “What are the requirements for someone to go into hypnosis?” And I like to reply, “They need to be breathing.” I've noticed that any person, who is alive has the capacity to focus on something, become absorbed in that something and so we can have the ingredients for any individual to go into hypnosis, not in some formulaic way, but in a way that’s particular to them, to their individuality, to their uniqueness. 

We can then put aside questions of “Can I be hypnotised?”, measurements of hypnotisability, worries about “depth” of trance, since in our individual experiences of everyday trance, our degree of focus and absorption varies. We can be deeply absorbed in reading a fascinating book, and if the phone rings, we put the book aside, answer the phone and then return to the book naturally and easily.

It’s then simply up to us to find ways of helping a client to find something useful and relevant to focus on and become absorbed in, rather than to test them to see if they can be hypnotised. 

Rob