"That's right, it's time to practice being hypnotized again. Time to go deeper. I know many people think of going into trance as something passive, something that's done to you, but you and I both know that you need to train your mind to focus your concentration completely on another person's words, relaxing more and more deeply until you reach the point where you follow along effortlessly and automatically without thinking. You need to train your mind to stop thinking about anything but what I'm saying right now. You need to train your mind. So much. And I'm going to help you.
"The best way to learn, of course, is through repetition. Going over something again and again helps to fix it deep into your mind, pressing it into your memory like a groove in a record until every time you think, sooner or later your mind travels along the groove until it reaches that same spot. That's why you've come back to learn with me again, so that I can guide you back into the lessons you've already learned so well. And now we're going to learn them again together.
"Because learning and repetition aren't passive any more than hypnosis is. You can only learn so much by listening. You're a better learner when your mind is actively engaged with the lessons. You focus better. You concentrate more perfectly on my words and my voice, and the understanding sinks in deeper. And we both know you want to sink deeper, don't we? Of course we do. You love to sink deeper and focus on my words and my voice. It helps to hypnotize you, and that's exactly what you're here to do.
"So to help you really concentrate on my words, and the way that they relax your mind and center your focus on the sound of my voice, I want you to picture a pen in your mind. Let's make it a pretty pen, made from a soft black feather that shimmers with just a tiny bit of iridescent beauty every time it moves in your hand. Since this is our imagination, you can pretend that it flows easily and effortlessly with ink as it scratches across the paper. Or if it helps, you can imagine dipping it into vivid, lustrous red ink every time I pause, so that you can be ready to write the next thing I say on the blankness of your mind.
"That's a good start, honestly. After all, you can't fill up a sheet of paper that's already full, can you? Go ahead and picture your mind as a smooth, white, blank sheet of paper. If it seems like your head is too full of distractions, you can imagine turning the page and leaving them all behind so that all you see is that blank, calm surface. The other thoughts are still back there, of course. We can return to them later. But right now blank is best. Take your pen, now, and imagine your hand writing the words, 'Time to go deeper.'
"And as you hear the words coming from my lips, you can imagine yourself writing them more and more vividly, every single time. You can hear the soft sound of the pen scratching the paper, see the liquid ink flowing out and filling the fibers of the pulp with a rich, warm red color. You can feel your hand tracing out the words just as I say them, holding the pen comfortably and moving easily. 'Time to go deeper.'
"And with every repetition, you feel your hand and arm learning the movements, feel the words sink into your mind more deeply. The words come into sharper focus every time I say, 'Time to go deeper,' because you can see them as well as hear them in the blankness of your mind, because they fill your thoughts line by line until they stretch down the page. 'Time to go deeper.' You feel them in your muscles now as you write it again and again. 'Time to go deeper.'
"You understand now how easy it is to learn like this. It's so much easier to focus on everything I say when you can picture yourself repeating them, the quill in your hand moving swiftly and easily to inscribe my words in the white space where your thoughts go. When you write, 'I am going deeper,' you can feel your thoughts tracing every word out carefully, letter by letter, 'I am going deeper.' You can actually see the sentence, the bright and sensual red standing out against the blankness-'I am going deeper.' It's so much easier to concentrate on it when you write it out like this. 'I am going deeper.' It focuses your attention so wonderfully, doesn't it? All you think about now is that phrase, 'I am going deeper', and it feels so nice.