The hypnotic voice
The master of conversational hypnotherapy
Milton Erickson was famous for the stories he told to his
patients and students. In 1991 Sydney Rosen brought out a
fascinating little book of some of these tales, called "My
Voice will Go With You". It begins with a quote from
Erickson:
And I want you to choose some time in the
past when you were a very, very little girl. And my voice
will go with you. And my voice will change into that of your
parents, your neighbors, your friends, your schoolmates,
your playmates, your teachers. And I want you to find
yourself sitting on the school room, a little girl feeling
happy about something, something that happened a long time
ago, that you forgot a long time ago. "
"And my voice will go with you… And my
voice will change …" The voice is a crucial element in
trance work. The psychotherapist Stephen Gilligan, a long
time student of Erickson, says that successful hypnotism is
90% non-verbal - that is, tone of voice, gesture, posture
and state. Erickson used his voice with amazing skill and
much of what follows takes him as a model.
Information on voice technique in trance
work is surprisingly limited. If you look up hypnosis or
hypnosis training on the internet you will struggle to find
much detail on the voice at all. Yet the kind of subtle
therapy that Erickson performed demanded considerable
flexibility in the voice.
In what ways does hypnotherapy use voice
techniques?
Relaxation
First, to relax the client. Relaxing
music is usually smooth, slow, not too high in pitch and
free of sudden contrasts; similar qualities in your spoken
voice will induce relaxation – note though, smooth but not
monotonous, slow but not boring. The hypnotist
relaxes to open to possibility rather than to lull to sleep,
and this requires a voice that while soothing is alive and
vibrating, not dead and constricted.
Distinction between trance and non-trance
voice
If you want to have control over hypnosis
you need to know when your voice is sending people into
trance and when it is encouraging conscious brain thinking.
The distinction is not absolute but you do need different
tones for each.
Hypnotic suggestion
One of the key behavioural patterns of
Milton Erickson noticed by the early NLP modellers was his
ability to mark out information especially for unconscious
consideration - mainly by his use of his voice. Embedded
commands and truisms require certain words to stand out
without disturbing the flow. For example: "You may find
it useful to read this page very carefully as you
decide what will work best for you to learn well."
As the client becomes used to the
hypnotist’s voice, they learn to connect certain sounds to
particular ideas and suggestions. Milton Erickson was famous
for the breathy lengthened phrase "that’s right" he
used with clients to encourage certain presenting
behaviours, give reassurance and deepen the trance. The
hypnotist can use distinctive tones for imprinting learning,
relaxing, telling stories, arousing curiosity and so on. The
tone triggers the wanted state.
Compound suggestions and implication
Some of the compound suggestions and
implications a hypnotist offers result in long sentences
which work well if they are spoken in a single breath. For
example,
"Now as you uncross your legs and place
your hands comfortably on your lap then you will be ready to
enter a trance."
Commands and Questions
Indirect commands are often introduced in
sentences that are questions; post hypnotic suggestions are
often straight forward commands. You need to have control of
the rising pitch for a question and falling pitch for a
command and be able to mix them up purposefully.
Levitation
A lighter voice will facilitate
levitation, a heavier one will deepen relaxation. The
hypnotherapist Tad James talks about speaking on the
in-breath to induce arm levitation and the out-breath to
deepen relaxation. Using both induces the trance state. It’s
also useful here to be able to graduate your voice from
full-toned sound to a whisper and back to stronger tones
again.
Rapport
You want to match the client’s voice from
the outset. In trance the voice is the chief means of
connection. You maintain rapport, even when your client is
silent with eyes closed, by cross-matching your voice in
terms of energy and state.
Connection with the
unconscious mind
As you lead the client deeper, away from
conscious thinking (head stuff) into other ways of
understanding/feeling (in the body), it helps to resonate
your own voice from deep in your body.
Something more
It’s important to mention that the
quality of the hypnotic voice does not stem just from
technical ability. What students noticed in Milton Erickson
was his creation of a trance space and connection - and his
voice emerged from that space. He didn’t put expression
into his voice; his voice expressed him:
the sound came from his state. How he achieved this is
central to any discussion of voice and hypnosis, but that is
for the next article. For now, let’s explore a little the
vocal techniques that contribute to success.
Vocal techniques for trance
Breathing
When we are born our breathing is natural
and instinctive: babies breathe, yell and scream with
optimum effect because they use their lungs without
conscious thought. As we grow older some people lose that
breath connection with the body and rush from thoughts to
words using only the upper part of the lungs, taking a
shallow breath instead of a normal one. To breathe for
trance you need to connect with your body. Try this:
Gentle full breath
Sit upright and comfortably with your
feet planted on the floor and take two or three deep breaths
to relax. Each time you breathe out relax a bit more and
continue with this relaxation throughout the exercise.
Half cover your bottom lip lightly with
your teeth as if you are going to say the consonant "f" and
continue to breathe in and out of your mouth letting the air
pass in and out with an "ffffff" sound. As you continue to
feel gentle relaxation, become aware of the breath moving
your belly in and out in and the sensation of the breath in
different parts of your lower body.
The hypnotic voice starts here with the
breath connecting with your own being. Enjoy the sensation
of being in touch with your breathing self. The "f" sound
encourages you to slow the breath; once you know how this
feels you can also breathe through the nose with a similar
feeling.
You use your gentle breathing to
encourage your client to relax and deepen their trance,
first of all by matching their pattern and then by leading
them to breathe deeper. Voice and breath lead the client
away from conscious thinking into fuller somatic awareness
and connection with the subconscious.
Breathing into sound – how to breathe
life into your voice
The next stage is to explore the sounds
that emerge from the full body breath.
Connected sounds
Simply turn your breathing into sounds.
Don’t think of words; just express feelings and sensations.
As you breathe out express full relaxation with an "aaaaah".
How relaxed can you feel?.
Imagine a beautiful peaceful place;
breathe in with the pleasure of it, and as you breathe out
speak gently about your connection with this place and your
sense of its peacefulness.
The sound should emerge from the breath
with a smooth onset. If you feel any glottal stop or
clicking or sudden release in the throat as the sound
starts, go back to expelling air audibly, and then gently
move that into a voiced sound.
Tempo
The speed at which you speak depends on
your breathing. If you want to be able to speak slowly and
smoothly and use longer sentences sometimes you need to
build up your breath control.
Slow recitation
One useful exercise is to recite poetry
slowly and soulfully aiming to breathe only at the end of
the line - if you can do so without strain. Shakespeare is
ideal for this exercise, or you might like to take a poem
with long sweeping lines - by Walt Whitman or T S Eliot for
instance.
It doesn’t matter if you run out of
breath; just use lots of air, feel the music and enjoy the
words, and your capacity will increase with time.
There are also occasions when it’s
appropriate to speak faster, for example to over-ride your
client’s capacity to process your words consciously. Take in
a good free breath and practise speaking long phrases with
the breath streaming out just as for slow speaking.
Emphasis
Erickson used different tones and varied
the speed, volume and direction of the sound for specific
therapeutic purposes. When you want particular words and
phrases to be noticed subliminally you can emphasize them in
various ways:
by making the words louder or more
resonant – without jarring
by lengthening certain vowels or
consonants
by making the words softer
by changing your tone
by pausing before or after a word
by altering the pitch either higher
or lower
Making the words louder
The obvious way to emphasise is by making
the word or phrase slightly louder than its context. To do
it smoothly you may like to think of the air travelling out
faster for the emphasised phrase rather than of putting an
extra weight on it.
Lengthening vowels and/or consonants
One way of emphasis that retains the
smooth flow of a sentence is by stretching out those
consonants that can be lengthened, for example ff, hh, ll,
mm, nn, rr, ss, vv, ww, yy, zz, sh and th. Many vowels can
be lengthened too. Try this:
Long vowels and consonants
Take a sentence - from a trance induction
for instance - and lengthen vowels and consonants to
emphasise certain words. For instance,
"Ffee---- ll your muscles lloo----
ssen as you go dee----p inssi---de, nno----w
... Tha----t’s rri----ght…"
Feel the flow.
Making the words quieter
You can also emphasise a word or phrase
by making it quieter than the surrounding words.
Erickson used this often, for example during induction for
the words, "close your eyes". You need just as much air as
for speaking loudly. You can also whisper – using just air
without engaging your vocal cords at all.
Pausing
You can also mark out a word or phrase by
pausing before or afterwards or both. Try this:
Pregnant Pause
When you pause before the
important phrase you do not need to give any extra emphasis
to it when it arrives; it will stand out anyway. For
example,
"And as you take the time to go … inward
… you can experience how easy it is…"
You can have fun practising this
technique in everyday situations: "And what would you
like for supper kids? Would you like potatoes or beans or …
salad?" See if they choose salad without noticing what
you have done!
A pause after a phrase allows the
listener time to absorb what you have said in the silence.
Pause after a word or phrase you want to go deep into the
subconscious: "This will allow you to find deep learning"
… pause …
Changing tone
You can also change the tone of your
voice. Most of us can change our tone by sensing a different
energy in ourselves: for example, if you genuinely feel
passionate your voice sounds passionate; if you feel
determined your voice tends to resonate in your chest with
clear sounds; if you feel calm and quiet your voice
corresponds. Erickson sometimes changed the tone by making
it more breathy like a half-whisper.
Changing pitch
Finally, you can make words stand out by
changing the pitch either higher or lower. To practise this
skill try this:
Pitch Practice
See how high you can take your voice.
Make a sound that rapidly goes higher and louder: "Wheeeeeeh!
Now made a long sound that goes deeper and darker gradually
changing from "Ah" to "O": Aaa
aooh!
Play "as if". Pretend you are telling a
bedtime story: "Here is the little fairy who says lightly …
now here comes the giant who says in a booming voice … "
Now speak some trance phrases emphasising
certain words by pitching them higher or lower: for
instance, "And now you feel your hand become lighter can you
not?" and "And you can allow yourself safely to enter
deep trance.
Upward and downward inflections
We have already considered pitch in terms
of emphasis; let’s now look at the end of sentences.
Upward inflection: this turns a
phrase into a question. This is useful when you want a
series of yes responses from the client, or to soften
resistance to statements, as when you add "can you not?" or
"is it not?"
Downward inflection: this turns your
words into a command. It can cement everything in place with
a clear instruction.
These variations in pitch at the end of
phrases and sentences can be mixed up to give double
messages or to disorientate for therapeutic effect. Some
interesting things can happen. If you ask a question with
unexpected falling pitch at the end, is it a command or a
question, both or neither?
Voice and connection
Your technique should always remain a
tool and never lead the process. Stephen Gilligan describes
how the voice stems from the hypnotist’s sense of
resonance – a simultaneous connection with self and
partner. The hypnotist becomes a "vibrating tuned
instrument" that is "touched" in some way by the client and
responds to their living pulse. Erickson reports something
similar. There was a connection from the deep part of his
psyche to the deep part of the client’s psyche which was
expressed naturally in his voice. The voice had an inward
feel emanating from deep in the body. The connection felt in
the body resonates in the voice, and you can hear an
infinite variety of subtle tones in the sound.
I have written about how to achieve this
at much greater length in my book "Voice of Influence"
(Crown House Autumn 2009) and in articles on my website.
WHAT NEXT?
Richard Bandler said everybody should get
a voice coach and that’s probably helpful advice! Voice
technique is an important part of hypnosis particularly if
your normal voice has little variety in it. There are also
certain vocal problems such as stiff body patterns, glottal
delivery, strain on the vocal cords and so on that
definitely need professional advice. But deeper learning is
crucial. A shift in your own state of consciousness is a key
part of conversational hypnosis. You will find that as you
learn to change your state - let go for instance of
performance anxiety, self consciousness and conscious
problem-solving, as you trust the process and sense the
connection - your voice will emerge much easier from a place
within you that resonates with your client’s unconscious and
facilitates the transformation that will delight you both.
If you have any questions or comments
arising from this article, I’d be delighted to hear from
you.
Be
confident, more relaxed and in control. Be successful in
love, work and so much more! 
