It is a cold but sunny afternoon as my friend and I are hanging out together in my flat. She is sitting on the couch that is placed against one of the walls of my bedroom. I, on the other hand, pulled up a chair to sit in front of her. If an outsider looked in on the scene, he might wonder why I am swinging a pendulum around in front of my guest. Especially since it looks like it was bought for five dollars in a random gift shop. Which, incidentally, it was.
This has sadly not escaped the attention of my friend, as I try to get her to focus on it.
"I need you to follow the movements of this pendant," I begin, motioning to the accessory.
She looks at it with one raised eyebrow. "Where did you even find that?" She chuckles, "It looks so garish!"
Right now, she is making fun of everything I am asking her to do. She is a very rational person, so her amused reaction is expected. It's actually even a good sign, because it improves the chances she will be at ease during my experiment.
I am going to try to hypnotize her.
When I think about it, it is unbelievable I actually managed to talk her into this. I guess I am pretty lucky she has always been of the competitive sort. The simple idea of proving me wrong was extremely enticing to her. Teasing me when I inevitably make a fool out of myself is just an added bonus. She accepted to cooperate, but in case of failure, I am pretty sure she will never let me hear the end of it. Unlike her, though, I don't expect this afternoon to be a bust. I went through a lot of preparation. I plan to make sure she does not notice that, though. I prefer her rationalizing what is happening, so I continue to play into the naive dolt image she has of me.
"Can we just assume you are a gullible fool, so we may proceed to the mocking part?" she asks, sarcastically.
I respond on the same tone: "Yeah, your two-minute attention span would be a truly hilarious subject."
She starts pouting, but goes back to her cheeky comments pretty quickly. I only act annoyed so that she feels in control of the situation. I can't really make any progress if she becomes defensive. I ignore her further remarks and keep swinging the pendulum in front of her nose. She retains her mocking grin, but she is following it with her eyes.
My friend maintains her focus for increasingly longer stretches of time. I can tell she is looking at the pendant, because her eyes make small left-right movements. After a while, she starts sounding a bit displeased when talking. She says she is growing pretty bored of my little hypnosis session. I soothe her, and tell her I will only try for a little longer. As she cannot get a raise out of me anymore, she switches to muttering quiet complaints. I know I am making progress. To avoid coping with the boredom, her mind will force her to tune out and think of anything else. It's a natural reaction.
I have been watching the eyes of my friend moving in tune with the prop for a while now. Her body is motionless with the exception of her eyes, which helps me notice when she suddenly misses a beat. I wait a little more, and sure enough, she misses another one, then another. It is becoming hard for her to keep up. This means she is now gently going down the path of induction. I start talking again, but I keep a level, "boring history teacher" tone. I don't say anything very specific. I talk about how I found out about hypnosis on the internet, and explain it is rooted in real medical science. I then go on about all the books I read on the subject. She sometimes gives me a little hum to signify that she is listening, but I know this one-sided conversation is pretty dull to her. That is my goal, I want her to tune out my voice too.
As I keep droning on, I notice my friend is slowly sagging to a more comfortable position against the cushions. Her eyelids start to droop just a little. I take the opportunity to change the subject, encouraging her to go deeper.
"When I relax, I like to imagine a warm place, like a beach in the summer. Nothing beats lying in the sun, listening to the sea."
Her expression softens, as tension seems to leave her face, little by little. I assume she is picturing the scene I am describing.
"You can feel the sun on your skin, and the hot sand supporting your body. It feels relaxing and comfy, don't you think?"
She lets out a happy sigh in response to my inquisitive tone.
"You can enjoy the feeling and relax in the sun. You don't have to think about your troubles in a place like that."
Her mouth corners curl up to my suggestion. "...don't think," she murmurs. Her eyelids flutter as she loses focus of the pendant.
I continue talking to her but she becomes slower and slower in her reactions. When I ask something, the only thing I get are some slurred words.
My friend is now lying back in the couch, nestled snugly between the cushions. She has one arm splayed across her lap, while the other is lying beside her. Her chest moves rhythmically with her breath. She has a dreamy expression, with a dopey grin and half-lidded eyes. Once in a while, she blinks drowsily. She looks really cute, relaxed like that. I put the pendulum down as I don't need it anymore. In her current state, she is open and suggestible.
"You seem comfortable, sitting in there," I tell her, "how does the couch feel?"
After a pause, she answers: "comfy..."
"That's right, its comfy and warm," I nudge her on, "isn't that because of the cushions? How do you find them?"
She answers again: "warm..."
I continue: "But are they comfy, too?"
She repeats: "comfy..."
Anything I say or ask will easily affect her thoughts. She won't even realize I am talking to her in her trance.
"How are you feeling?" I ask.
"...warm ...and comfy," she voices, tiredly.
My friends eyelids are drooping even more, now. She is probably only a few suggestions away from closing them completely.
I approach her ear, and ask softly: "Are you sleepy?"
She lets out a deep sigh and nods heavily.
I follow up in a playful tone: "Do you think that's because my hypnosis is working?"
I can see her expression changing. She frowns, as if she is pondering a hard question. Even in her trance state, she could never imagine being manipulated.
She finally answers: "...not hypnotized," and attempts to sit up a little straighter. She pushes on her hands, raising her hips about half an inch above the couch, then plops back down in the exact same position.
I figured as much.
"That's weird," I say, "it's like you are acting strange somehow. Don't you feel a little bit different?"
She shakes her head sluggishly while looking in my general direction. "...feel ...fine" she manages to say.