Run Your Own Hypnosis Text Study!

Hi everyone! I’m hard at work on a big Hypnovember project -- a magazine with tons of my writing, art, and other stuff! Here’s a new article that I wrote for it :) My goal is to have it finished by the end of November, so I’ll keep you updated when it’s available!

By the way -- I'll be running an Erickson-based text study at Charmed 2025! Look forward to it!

Run Your Own Hypnosis Text Study! by sleepingirl

What is a text study group?

Books and writing about hypnosis (especially historical material) can be dense -- especially if you are not used to the language that the specific text uses! And even if you’re a seasoned veteran of educational hypnosis literature, with a more close and careful read with other people, you can interpret really interesting ideas from the text that are “behind” the surface of the words.

This kind of text study is lovingly borrowed from Jewish spaces, and can be done with a pair of people or a small or large group. It is not really like a book club, where people are expected to pre-read a large amount of material. The idea is to take a page or a few paragraphs of text from your source and study them closely. Participants break off into pairs or smaller groups and each person takes turns reading the text aloud in chunks, with careful attention given to different possible meanings of each sentence. They may address some prepared discussion questions or have a long, meandering conversation about the material. Finally, everyone rejoins the larger group to share what they talked about and push the conversation further, collaboratively.

Why run a text study?

• Everyone, no matter experience level, can learn and share something

A text study group benefits from a variety of perspectives. Someone who has read the entire material before can both share their background knowledge and learn new things by nature of the text being read again in a different perspective. Someone who is only familiar with novice hypnosis concepts may find this a good way to gain exposure into technical texts and produce insights that more “experienced” participants overlook.

• It is an excellent icebreaker and “get-to-know-you” activity

While it’s always a little scary to talk to new people, doing it in the context of low-stakes collaborative learning is a very “safe” way to make it happen. There’s no play or “speed dating” element -- only two or more people coming together from a shared curiosity of the text at hand. There is something really special about cold meeting someone and seeing what kinds of learning you create together!

• It can be facilitated with less “expertise” or preparation of material

Preparing a fully polished lecture or workshop is intimidating, and people new to teaching may not want to jump into that style of class for their first experience facilitating a class. It still takes effort and care to run a text study, but it is more approachable and can be done even by people who do not feel they have full knowledge of the material themselves -- they can learn along with the group!

• It fosters love and ownership of the texts/information that influence our sex acts

We have the honor and responsibility of engaging with intimate hypnosis in an informed way. Hypnosis texts are ours to explore as practitioners, and there should be nothing stopping us from digging into the multi-layered origins or journeys of modern concepts that we take for granted. For many of us, this is a big part of our sex life and how we connect with other people. Modern hypnosis is built upon the foundation of all influences that came before it -- we should respect how we engage with it!

How to run a text study

• Decide between in-person or online

The benefit to this format is that it works very well as an in-person class but also runs smoothly over Zoom and potentially even Discord at smaller sizes. Because it is a non-sexual, non-play class, it may be easier than other kink events/classes to find a venue to hold it in in-person (even doing it in a park would work in warmer months!). On Zoom, you have the capability of breakout rooms for small groups/pairs, and you can macgyver this with voice channels on Discord (and of course it’s more accessible online).

• Decide on formats based on group size

The number of participants will partially define how you run this group. You don’t need to know exactly how many people are attending ahead of time! You can always decide once the class is getting started -- it’s not a big change -- but just understand your options.

• 2-3: Purely partnered study

You and a partner (or two) can approach the material together informally, with less need for preparation from you. In this format, you are more of a participant and less in the role of facilitator. If you like, each participant can bring a small selection of text and a question or two!

• ~4-9: Group only, or pairs

With a small group, you have options. You can study together just as a small group -- this is more informal and requires less time, but is a little more unwieldy and gets less in-depth. Or, you can have people break off into pairs and study that way first before reforming your group -- the biggest benefit to this is the way multiple streams of information are created, and momentum coming back into full group discussion. It’s also a great way to get people to meet each other!

• ~10+: Breakout groups/pairs

Once your group gets larger, it won’t be able to handle studying without breaking into smaller groups. You can either have people split into small (~5-6 people) groups, or pairs. Small groups might be easier for shy people and better if you don’t have a large enough physical space to comfortably hold pairs (especially if your class size is very large). Pairs are a better way for everyone to be able to have a voice in the conversation. After smaller study time, you should facilitate a large group discussion based on what people learned in small groups -- make sure to take hands and speaking order with a larger group.

• Pick your excerpts

Deciding what text and which part(s) you want to study are your first choice when actually building the class. As the facilitator, you should have some familiarity with the whole of the material you are picking from -- a book or long essay you’ve already read at least some of -- so you can answer questions about the surrounding context of your excerpts. You can pick a book you’re passionate about -- even one you don’t like! -- or one that you think has a lot of different interpretations or jumping-off points. Non-modern texts might be the most interesting ones to study, but that’s not a requirement.

About one 8.5x11 page of excerpts and questions can keep a pair or small group talking for approximately 30 minutes, give or take 10 minutes or so. When picking excerpts, it’s helpful to choose passages that together contribute to an overarching theme or concept -- for example, excerpts from Hypnotic Realities that all are about “utilization.” They can be from the same place or from all over the book -- they do not need to specifically mention your theme but should be a contributing piece to the puzzle. Ambiguous or confusing excerpts are great choices to get a group thinking, but should be supported by excerpts that are a little more clear.

Here is an example of two excerpts chosen from Hypnotic Realities:

We recently outlined the utilization theory of hypnotic suggestion as follows (Erickson and Rossi, 1975):

Trance is a special state that intensifies the therapeutic relationship and focuses the patient's attention on a few inner realities; trance does not ensure the acceptance of suggestions. Erickson depends upon certain communication devices . . . to evoke, mobilize and move a patient's associative processes and mental skills in certain directions to sometimes achieve certain therapeutic goals. He believes that hypnotic suggestion is actually this process of evoking and utilizing a patient's own mental processes in ways that are outside his usual range of intentional or voluntary control.

The effective hypnotherapist learns to use words, intonations, gestures, and other things that evoke the patient's own mental mechanisms and behavioral processes. Hypnotic suggestion is not a kind of verbal magic that can be imposed on patients to make them do anything. Hypnotic suggestions are effective only to the degree that they can activate, block, or alter the functioning of natural mental mechanisms and associations already existing within the patient. Erickson likes to emphasize that hypnotic suggestion can evoke and utilize potentials that already exist within patients, but it cannot impose something totally alien. Hypersuggestibility is not necessarily a characteristic of therapeutic trance as he uses it.

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This utilization approach, wherein each patient's individuality is carefully studied, facilitated, and utilized, is one of the ways "clinical" hypnosis is different from the standardized approaches of experimental and research hypnosis as it is usually conducted in the laboratory. It is in the clinician's ability to evaluate and utilize patients' uniqueness together with the exigencies of their ever-changing real-life situation that the most striking hypnotic and therapeutic results are often achieved.

• Write your guiding questions

Form questions that are open ended and based directly on the text. It’s best to pick questions that do not directly have a single, factual “right answer” -- instead, acknowledge that we are often trying to suss out what the author’s definitions are and formulate our own for subjective hypnotic concepts.

You want to encourage people to draw from their own knowledge, but also to use the text to support and study itself. Try to guide people into nailing down what specific terms or phrases mean in the text!

Groups need not use your questions, but 4-5 for a page is a good amount to give to provide guidance if needed.

Here are some examples of questions based on the above excerpts:

• What are someone's “own mental processes/mechanisms?” Can you give both specific examples that apply to one person, and universal examples that apply to everyone?

• How would you define Erickson’s “utilization?” Is “trance utilization” different from “utilization theory of hypnotic suggestion?”

• Work on how to introduce the material

Part of your job as facilitator is to give some background context on the source and author for people who are not familiar with them. 1-5 minutes of material right before studying is plenty. A short bio of the author (take from Wikipedia!) and their history in hypnosis is helpful, and you should aim to be able to “pitch” the book as a whole as well as speak a little about your overarching theme.

• Work on how to introduce the format

Since a lot of your time as facilitator will be hands-off, arguably the most important thing you need to do is explain how the class and study should run. Most people will never have done something like this before!

In your ~5 minute schpiel, you want to hit:

• An overall look at what to expect is going to happen in the class format

• Direct instructions/tips for attendees to follow to facilitate small study time on their own

• Encouragement so people are excited and less nervous

Here’s an example of how you might introduce this to a large class:

To give an overview of what we’re going to do here, we’re going to be looking at some selections of text in small groups and then bring our insights into a larger group discussion. After I’m done talking, I’m going to have everyone form a group of about 4-5 people. Take a couple minutes to introduce yourselves, schmooze, and then get into studying!

People should take turns reading the excerpts aloud for the group -- then give the text a moment to breathe while you read it over again silently, and start discussing. See if you as a group can rephrase the excerpt in your own words. Ask yourselves what Erickson means when he is using the specific language he is using. I put some questions on the sheet to guide you, but you can go wherever your conversation takes you! Use your own knowledge and rely heavily on using and reading the text itself -- you CAN talk about personal examples but it’s very easy to get off track with those so keep them to a minimum. Feel free to use Google to get various word definitions, historical context, etc.

All perspectives in this room are valuable, and everyone has something to bring to the conversation because we all have a different experience with the world -- be confident about that! There is always something new to learn or share. This isn’t a debate or about being the “most right” -- this is about all of us being both teachers and learners, and allowing each other to collaborate on new insights. Make sure you are actively listening, and asking each other supportive questions about your perspectives! And make room for the quietest or more marginalized voices in your group. 

It can be scary to meet new people, but everyone here is motivated to learn together, which is a really magical experience!

• Run the class!

Make your text excerpts and handouts into a printout and shareable Google doc. If you have a way to legally/ethically provide a copy or two of the entire book to use as a reference for groups, you can do that too. (Do not share full book PDFs of living authors to your class!)

Once you are in the class, your job is as a guide. Tell people before they get into groups/pairs that you will come around to check in, and that if anyone has questions to raise their hand and you will come to help out. You should be available for content and format questions, but it’s always OK if you don’t know the answer -- you’re in this space as a learner too. Set a timer for the small groups/pairs, and give a warning when there’s 5 minutes left.

Running a large group discussion can be intimidating, but it’s a great opportunity to synthesize ideas. Once everyone rejoins the group, give a couple for everyone to get their bearings and take a break. Remind everyone that their perspectives are valuable and that you are all there to collaborate and push the conversation together -- and then start off with a question.

Here are some potential “icebreaker” large group questions:

• What’s the most interesting thing you discussed in your small group/pair?

• What’s your “hot take”?

• What’s one thing you still don’t understand about the material?

You can also use one of your guiding questions.

Unless your group is small and informal, it’s a good idea to ask people to raise their hands before they speak. Like any discussion group, if multiple hands raise, tell people who you will call on first and then take an order of who will talk next. Prioritize people who haven’t talked yet, or voices who are often marginalized.

Your job as facilitator is to guide but also to offer context if you have the extra knowledge. When a person shares, you may want to speak after them supportively -- tell them that they made a good point, offer some supportive information on the point they made from your knowledge of the book or concepts, etc. Don’t be a “dead fish” discussion leader; model the kind of excitement and interest you want everyone in the group to have.

It is great if the discussion goes on tangents as long as they are somehow still relevant to the group learning things about hypnosis. But if things get way off track off the text, or bogged down in personal examples -- or if the group runs out of steam on a given thread -- feel free to grab one of your guiding questions to restart the conversation, or a question based on what someone else has said so far.

When there’s 5 or so minutes left, take a couple last comments, and then call it. Don’t forget to thank everyone for participating!