Source: Milton H. Erickson and Ernest L. Rossi

This type of light induction is very useful when working with clients who are plagued with self-doubt. It also works well for recovered addicts (of all sorts), as it gives them back the capacity to learn how to adapt to life without substance abuse.

“Please take a seat on the floor with your palms on your thighs and feet flat on the floor. Now, I would like you to know that you don’t have to talk to me at this time. You don’t even have to leave your current position. In fact, you don’t even have to listen to my voice because your unconscious is already aware of my message.

You don’t need your unconscious mind to do anything because the most important thing is that your unconscious mind listens. You’re not even aware of the changes that are occurring inside of you right now. Your breathing pattern has already shifted. It has slowed your heart rate and your respiration. I’m going to talk to you right now. There is no way for me to tell if you started reading in kindergarten or first grade. However, you had to learn the alphabet first… And trying to make sense of all of those letters seemed like an impossible task.

And you had to know the difference between an A and a B, a B from a D, a M from a W, and a P from a R, as well as upper and lower case letters. Rather, you learned these letters by picturing them in your mind. It was a seemingly insurmountable task to learn script, but you succeeded by creating mental images of the letters in both uppercase and lowercase. As a result, you’ve gained a long-term benefit from that. For the rest of your days, years, and decades. Then there are other things you can learn, such as how to solve problems, and that’s what we will do in a moment.”