Handshake induction

The handshake induction technique has been developed by Milton H. Erickson and than popularized by other hypnotist (such has Richard Bandler). The basic premise of this technique is that people do certain movements unconsciously but consciously think of them as a single move. Handshake greeting is one such thing. In the Western culture (mind you that other cultures, for example Japanese,have different greetings) people usually greet each other by shaking hands, and in the conscious mind of the person doing the act of greeting,is doing just one thing. When doing a handshake induction (called also a handshake interrupt), hypnotist can utilize the fact that the handshake greeting actually consists of several moves.

The goal is therefore to interrupt the pattern and induce trance like state. The induction starts with a normal handshake greetings, but just before hands are joined, hypnotist removes his hand and with the other hand's finger points to the subjects hands. He thus sets the subject's attention to his hand and tells him to see the changing focus in his hand. He continues by saying that there is an attraction between subject's hand and his face and when the hand touches the fact, the subjects will fall into a deep trance. After that is achieved, hypnotist can use some should use his hypnotic voice to deepen the trance.

In some cases, hypnotist can give subject amnesia for the time of the hypnosis. When bringing the subject out from the state of hypnosis, if he continues with the handshake as if the handshake hypnotic induction did not occur, some subjects will not remember the hypnosis at all. Combined with suggesting the subject not to remember the hypnosis when he is being hypnotized provide for a greater chance of success of amnesia.

The beauty of a handshake induction, besides its simplicity, is that even if the subject knows this technique, he or should could still be put into a trance using this technique. This makes a handshake inductions a great tool to use when trying to put people into a trance.

Below is a youtube video example for this method. There are some variations of this hypnosis induction technique, so there are different variations, but the basic premise is the same- to interrupt the unconscious patterns.