Suggestion at a distance – create precise post-hypnotic effects with a light touch.

Post-hypnotic suggestion is spooky. It’s one part of hypnosis that conjures up all kinds of weird and edgy connotations, with Manchurian Candidate styled overtones.

In formal hypnotic settings, it’s actually really easy. You just make a suggestion that something will happen at a later time and place, or that an action will be triggered by a specific set of circumstances. Here are some examples:

Hypnotherapy:
“When you wake up tomorrow, you will feel vibrant and full of ideas…”

Stage Hypnosis:
“When I say ‘where’s your leprechaun?’ you will instantly see a leprechaun in the audience and try to catch it…”

What place do post-hypnotic suggestions have outside a formal setting?

Interestingly, several types of suggestion-at-a-distance are already in conversational use. I describe five of them in my book, Hypnotic Conversations. Let’s look at one of them here.

Inoculation

Often you know something is likely to occur to a person later on and if they are left a completely free choice, they might interpret it negatively.

This form of ‘suggestion at a distance’ is specifically designed to disarm in advance any negative interpretations they may make.

For example, when learning a new skill, it’s inevitable that you may fail some of the time. We all do this when trying out something new. However, some people may interpret this to mean that they are ‘a failure’ and the consequences are that they will stop learning before they can make a breakthrough.

You can inoculate for this by suggesting a more useful interpretation in advance. For example, you might suggest “each time you fail, you’re learning more and are building a solid basis for total success.”

You can also inoculate for other things which can get in the way, such as doubt. “At a particular point in this process, you might have some doubts. That’s absolutely natural and it only means you are moving closer to complete certainty.”

Now you’ve set it up to make positive results inevitable. If they have no doubts, that’s ok. If they have doubts, it means they’re moving towards having no doubts. In either case, the result you will get is the one you want.

The great thing about inoculation is that you can look at any stumbling blocks in advance and suggest they mean something positive which keeps the process on track.

Effective salespeople do this. Good teachers do this. Now you can do it too.

If you want to know more about hypnotic suggestions, or to be led through the hypnotic process in detail, with plenty of examples and practical exercises, get my book Hypnotic Conversations: The Secret Structure Behind Everyday Hypnosis.

Or if you still need more – see the next video, which gives you a peek inside the Hypnotic Conversations book .