Hypnosis And The Swinging Watch
Author: Barrie St John

The whole idea of eye fixation has some merit. It's true that
concentration and focus are key ingredients in achieving
hypnosis. And eye fixation was in fact used commonly, decades
ago, in inducing hypnosis. The desired state of a hypnotic
subject is to have them completely relaxed, eyes closed, so that
their focus is internal, rather than external. To really shut
out the external channels, you need to eliminate your visual
sense temporarily, your external visual sense that is.
Eliminate what you see on the outside, so that you can focus on
what you see inside your own psyche. So that means having your
eyes closed. Eye fixation achieves this. It helps someone's eyes
to become tired, and eventually close. A hypnotist might ask a
client to focus on any specific object or point in the room.
Obviously something above eye level will tire the eyes more
quickly, and that's the whole point of using eye fixation.

Some clients expect that I will ask them to look straight into
my eyes during an induction, or that I will produce some sort of
visual tool like a swinging watch to induce hypnosis and begin
their therapy session. I personally do not usually employ this
method of induction. The theory that there needs to be complete
visual focus in order to achieve hypnosis is essentially false.
It doesn't get you there any faster nor does it induce a deeper
state of trance. In the event a client expects to be subjected
to that visual focus, or believes it will help in some way, I do
carry around something in my briefcase, which I have in fact
used once or twice.

The image of the swinging watch is a visual reference that most
people readily associate with hypnotic induction. It's a pop
culture classic, really. That's because it's been frequently
used in television and movies, and for many people who've never
experienced hypnosis or self-hypnosis, they know only what
they've seen or been exposed to. Watching an induction on
television would be rather boring if it didn't have some sort of
visual element for the audience to witness and capture. Watching
someone lying silently on a sofa with their eyes closed is not
nearly as engaging as the image of the swinging watch. A viewer
almost feels like he is part of the experience too. There have
been many variations represented as well, it's not always a
watch or pendulum, but all have the same basic premise, which is
that eye fixation is the route to achieving that hypnotic state.
In the movies it's always done in such a way that it suggests an
element of strangeness, or mystery, almost fear.

I personally believe that there is a strong connection between
the eyes and the brain. But I don't think eye fixation is
necessary to induce hypnosis. In fact I know that it is not.
I've induced hundreds of clients to various levels of hypnotic
depth without the use of any visual concentration off the top.
None of our recordings dictate any kind of eye fixation, either.
It's a method that hasn't been used in years. In fact, rather
than advancing the hypnotic state, it actually takes longer to
achieve it when you use eye fixation because you are starting
with the eyes open. Most current methods of induction simply
require that the client start by closing their eyes. This
essentially bypasses that whole stage, the whole process of
getting the eyes to shut.  We skip right over that and go
straight to vocal induction with eyes already closed, thereby
achieving hypnosis much more quickly and deeply.

There are many different methods of induction. Verbal induction
can sometimes include what I call the internal external
experience, to help with hypnosis. This is where I might suggest
to my client during induction that he should concentrate on how
the palm of his hand feels, for example, as he listens to my
voice. No matter the approach, the common practice in inducing
hypnosis is progressive relaxation. The more relaxed your
subject becomes, the deeper the hypnotic state they will
achieve. And progressive relaxation can be achieved in different
ways, including with the use of eye fixation.

When someone asks me about eye fixation or the swinging
pendulum, I just tell them what I truly believe: that it's an
old fashioned approach, and that it takes time, and has no
benefit in terms of improving the outcome. It may have been
thought to be necessary at one time, but it isn't so in modern
times, and can be bypassed in favor of a simpler and more rapid
execution. There is absolutely no benefit to the results in
using eye fixation, nor is there any compromise in not using it.


About The Author: Barrie St John is an expert in the field of
hypnosis. He is the creative author behind the self hypnosis CDs
and downloads at http://www.HypnoShop.com