Hypnosis is a deep and complicated process where the hypnotist and subject must have a wide rapport to support.  When you participate in conducting a hypnotic trance your unconscious will be opened to them.  Because of this it is important to have the experience you wish them to partake in at the forefront of your mind when starting the rapport.

Hypnotic rapport is a time tested relationship. It has been present since people have been in existence. It is not fully understood and may never be, but it is very powerful. 

Rapport is powerful in the sense that anytime a person around you experiences a trance they will inevitably take on a deeper connection with you and your unconscious mind.  This deepens the trust between the participants and offers a sense of comfort in your company.

Going first, or ‘go first’ concept is an important one to become highly familiar with.  In ‘go first’ you as the hypnotist must first enter the environment and experience you want your subject to have. 

The reason you need to enter the experience before your hypnotic subject is so they will pick that experience up from your subconscious as they are in trance.  Because every time a person goes into trance around you they develop an unconscious connection with you, if you have the experience at the forefront of your mind they will bring it back with them after the hypnosis is concluded. 

As you begin to make hypnotic connections with other people you will be unconsciously exploring their mind as they will be making a connection with your unconscious as well.  This is a powerful part of hypnosis.  It allows each person to explore thoughts and ideas they never knew they had until that precise moment.

An example of this is prevalent in our everyday lives.  We have all met people that we have a difficult time connecting with.  You may have the same conversations over and over with little success in a real connection.  It may seem that there is some sort of barrier up between the two of you.  You never quite get past the small talk questions because you are not comfortable enough to advance into a deeper relationship.

This relationship is skewed because on an unconscious level these people are sub-communicating their sense of distrust and non ability to be comfortable around you.  This atmosphere within in a person you are trying to connect with will shut down your thoughts and ideas.  This will happen even before those thoughts and ideas have even had a chance to properly develop and come to your conscious.

On the other hand you probably meet people that you seem to have an instant connection with.  In these situations it can seem that the thoughts and ideas are flowing from you endlessly.  Ideas you never even realized you had come easily and seamlessly carry your listener.  You are charismatic with these people, your ideas are good, and they come out well.

Split personality?   No.

This is the way most people work.  Those who are confident, comfortable and trusting in themselves often send out unconscious signals to others that produce the same effect in others.  People who are not sure of themselves or comfortable will unconsciously cut off successful communications before they have had a chance to even try.

In hypnosis you will want to have the effect of the second situation.  If you have a good rapport with your subjects and they feel comfortable and trusting around you they will be able to easily open up to you.  You can aid in this process by making the mental environment even more comfortable by using the ‘go first’ method in hypnosis.

It is important to remember that hypnosis is no casual relationship.  You want your clients and the people around you to feel as if they have known you for years and can open up to you anywhere. 

Developing and instant rapport with a complete stranger is a skill that will attribute to your success as a hypnotist.  This is established through good rapport.  Good rapport can be established through different methods such as the ‘go first’ method.

A fundamental understanding of what makes up a good rapport between two people will help you to create the type of deepened relationships you require as a hypnotist. Rapport will build trust and comfort between you and your clients.

Rapport is the close relationship that you will develop with your subjects. It is a harmonious relationship including 2 or more people that understand one another’s feelings and ideas. Rapport also includes the important skill to be able to communicate those feelings and ideas thoroughly.

A fact about rapport is everyone knows how to develop rapport in a traditional sense. As long as you live outside of a cave, you do it daily.

You have a rapport with your co-workers, clients, friends and family. Those rapports may differ; in fact they should be different as the relationships with each are different. These rapports are the basis for the comfort you feel in interacting with these people on a regular basis.

Traditionally you build rapport with others by finding common interests, being nice, complimenting another as well as the similar experiences you share. These are all good ways to develop rapport on a normal basis.

Knowing how rapport works will help you in nearly every rapport building situation. Many do not understand how rapport works and use traditional rapport building means during inappropriate times. This can cause the relationship to backfire and sometimes fail completely.

When you are looking for rapport in any situation it is paramount that you remember that other people enjoy being around people like themselves.

The idea of experiencing a similar situation as another really works here. As this creates a connection on a deeper level, experiences are important to people. They are what make up our lives, a series of experiences linked together.

This creates a safe environment for most individuals to open up within.

To be able to create a safe and comfortable feeling for your subject is fundamental. After you have successfully started the rapport in this way the quicker you will be able to dig deeper into the relationship. This technique will make the relationship stronger and more trusting.

However, developing a rapport in hypnosis is anything but traditional. Here you are looking to achieve a deeper relationship much quicker than developing a normal rapport with an acquaintance.

Refining the development of traditional rapport can make this a valuable and powerful skill for your practice in hypnosis. Fractionating, wide rapport, story telling and ‘matching and mirroring are ways to build rapport with in conversational hypnosis.

Fractionate rapport helps your subject work to keep the rapport going. In this skill you give your attention full to the subject. Then take it away, get distracted.

If the person try’s to re-engage you, you have successfully founded the beginnings of a rapport. Then you start the process over again. Each time you give your complete focus the person will develop a deeper trust and comfort with you.

Another way to strengthen rapport is through wide rapport. Wide rapport is when you offer a subject many different experiences of you in different environments. This can be done literally by going to different locations to see one another. It can also be accomplished through story telling.

Story telling is a great way to build rapport with someone. Through the telling of stories you can create many different realities in which your subject becomes comfortable interacting with you. This builds trust and allows them to open up their mind to you more quickly. You can use story telling to develop a wide rapport with each person you meet.

Another way to improve rapport is to know how to use Matching and Mirroring. This is a technique that when done correctly, will help your subject feel more comfortable very quickly.

Matching and Mirroring is when you mimic the actions, body language, hand gestures and signals to create an unconscious connection with another person. This needs to happen on an unconscious level for it to work.

Once a person realizes on a conscious level that you are mirroring them it can cause them to feel annoyed and uncomfortable around you. They may even feel that you are making fun of them. This is not a good way to build rapport and can be damaging.

On the other hand if you are successful in matching and mirroring, and your subject is unaware on a conscious level that you are mimicking them it can build a very strong connection with the person quite quickly.

Remember this technique works only when it is unconsciously perceived, outside normal awareness.

Matching and mirroring studies have shown that when the participants included in the study did not recognize the imitation a strong rapport was created. Those who discovered they were being mimicked were less persuaded by the entire presentation, and the rapport was damaged.

The key here is to learn to match and mirror unconsciously. If you do this you will be more likely to go undiscovered by the other person you are interacting with.

Matching and mirroring is a powerful technique for building rapport and therefore a powerful technique in improving your hypnosis. However, it does have limitations and you should have other means for developing rapport as well.

Hypnosis is a very different form of communication. It requires different techniques to develop a substantial rapport that the relationship can firmly stand on. Building the rapport with your subject through fractionating, wide rapport, story telling and matching and mirroring is fundamental.

For more information please visit http://www.conversational-hypnosis.com.