Why Clients Don’t Hallucinate the 5 Senses In A Regression – And Why That Is Just Fine With Us!

by Cal Banyan, MA, BCH, DNGH, A+CPHI, MCPHI, OB

The other day I was going through the comments area on one of my contributions to the 5-PATH IAHP Members Area and I saw something like this “Cal, not all clients can hallucinate. What do you do then?”

I’m sure that the 5-PATHer who wrote that was not alone in thinking that some clients can’t hallucinate even if they are in somnambulism. It is an important question stemming from an all too common misunderstanding. Because of this, I made some notes to myself and recently recorded a podcast with Erika, which will have been posted on www.CalBanyan.com by the time this Journal article is published.

This article was created using those notes… And, this is a longish article. I could have divided it up into two articles, but I thought that I would not make you wait. I dislike holding things back. So here you go!

All Clients In Somnambulism Can Hallucinate

To those asking about if there are people who cannot revivify or hallucinate when in somnambulism and experiencing AR; the answer is anyone of normal intelligence who is willing to follow instructions and is in somnambulism can both hallucinate and revivify. (I am repeating what I teach in class, but, sometimes folks need to hear the same message in other words before it will become either understandable or believable for them – I am like that too sometimes, I get it!)

First, keep in mind that the level and type of hallucination experienced in the age regression can vary from client to client depending on the depth of somnambulism and other factors.

But, in every true age regression there is SOME level of hallucination. It might be that the client hallucinates visually, gustation, Olfaction, audition or is somatosensorial (sight, taste, smell, hearing or touch).

Main Points to Consider

In addition to being able to hallucinate the 5 senses, clients can hallucinate reliving the thoughts, beliefs, emotions and behaviors of the regressed aspect of herself, “the child”. Hallucinating and revivifying the thoughts, beliefs, emotions and behaviors associated with the event that your client is regressed to is much more important than hallucinating the 5 senses, though one or more may be hallucinated.

Rarely do all of these hallucinations occur at the same time, but rather the client tends to hallucinate the experiences of the child that are most relevant to the regression experience. For example, if you are doing a regression on the feeling of fear, knowing what happened (X), what it made them think (M), and how it made them feel (E and F) are much more important than the details of what they may be seeing, smelling, tasting and so on in the regression experience.

Let me extend that example, if your client is regressed to a time when she is 5 years old and she is eating cake, the taste can be hallucinated, if that is what she is focused on. But, if in that event her mother and father are fighting and she is thinking one might hurt the other, or might hurt her, her experience of fear can fully fill her experience. She could have cake in her mouth but not aware of the taste or texture or anything else about the cake.

If the hypnotist in that event insists that the 5 year old girl tell her about the flavor or texture or smell of the cake and she is not focused on that, then the client may fill it in, confabulate it. This is bad for many reasons, but let me tell you that when and if a hypnotist does that, then she is teaching her client who is in hypnosis that it is perfectly alright to just fill in parts of the event. This is one way that false memories can occur.

When working with clients in an AR session, keep them focused on what they are focused on. Ask about the Fab Five. That is what we need to know in order to make maximum use of an AR sessions.

Fixing the “I Don’t See Anything” Issue

Here is another thing that can happen in a session that can lead to a hypnotist to think, “this client cannot hallucinate”. If at the start of a regression where you are starting off with the Gestalt questions (daytime or nighttime? Etc.) and your client says that she is not seeing anything or she is getting nothing, consider this. There are a number of reasons why this can happen when she is fully capable of hallucinating.

1. Your client did not achieve somnambulism in the session. If the pre-talk was insufficient, or the induction was not done well, or something else went wrong like she did not understand the instructions for forgetting the words “deeper relaxed” in the 5-PATH® Induction then somnambulism may not have been obtained. The lack of somnambulism would be the cause of the inability to hallucinate in this case.
2. Your client was in somnambulism but, either emerged partially or completely. Some clients will emerge when they realize that you are regressing them to an unpleasant event. If they are no longer in somnambulism, then they cannot hallucinate. You will either need to deepen your client to somnambulism or re-hypnotize and deepen, depending on whether or not they have just emerged a bit, or have completely emerged.
3. She may not understand the instructions or the instructions was not given properly. We want to stress that we just want the first impression about whether it is daytime or nighttime, indoors or outdoors, alone or with someone. We are only going for a first impression. With that information, we can build the Gestalt and get the client into a revivification. Some clients don’t understand this and need special instructions in which you are more explanatory. Some clients think that they are supposed to instantly be in a full blown dream-like hallucinatory experience when you say “first impression”. This is simply a misunderstanding. Have her open her eyes and explain that you are just asking for her fist impression, she does not have to see anything.
4. Some clients are simply unwilling to “go there”. Most likely if the client is not following instructions when she is in somnambulism and you have clearly given the instructions is that she is not willing to do what you are suggesting. This is when we give them The Talk.

Let me go into a bit more detail here regarding number 3 above. When you have a client that is having difficulty responding with a quick first impression when you ask about whether it is daytime or night time, etc., you can give your client a practice run. These situations are rare, but easily fixed during the session.

If you believe that your client is not responding quickly with a first impression because she is unclear as to what she should do, tell her this, “That is okay. I know exactly what to do. In a moment we are going to do an exercise. I am going to have you respond quickly to a series of very simple questions. There is no right answer to these simple questions. This is just an exercise. I just want you to answer quickly.” By quickly I mean that I’d like you to respond within about one second. That is the only way you get it right. There is no wrong answer so just say whatever first comes to mind.” She must agree right then to respond within one second.

Proceed by saying, “Close your eyes and give me your first impression…”

Then ask these questions:

Green or blue?

Black or white?

Salt or pepper?

Daytime or nighttime?

Indoors or outdoors?

Are you alone or with someone?

Get the fast response as she agreed to. If she cannot do that, then you have a person who is either unwilling or unable to work with you. Let her go, hypnosis work is not for her. We can only work with clients who are able to follow instructions.

I have never had that happen. Using this simple and fast exercise has helped every client so far to understand what we want to do and then they are able to proceed with the regression work.

But, I’ll tell you what I would do if I did have that happen (the client was unwilling or unable to respond quickly and was noncompliant). I would do whatever I could to get her into a state of compliance before I would proceed. Maybe the pre-talk is not done. Or maybe she does not really want to make the change. Or at some level she realizes that if she follows my instructions then she may re-experience some scary times from the past. At this point you need to get her into a state of compliance by addressing these possible concerns. Without compliance, you cannot really help this person at all.

What It Really Takes To Hallucinate In an AR Session and Revivify

In my over 20 years of experience seeing hypnosis clients, I have found that anyone of normal intelligence who is mentally healthy and willing to follow my instructions can reach somnambulism and experience a true age regression with full revivification.

Everything must be done right. You must build confidence. You must provide an excellent pre-talk. You need to do an excellent pre-hypnosis interview. You must properly test for readiness to be hypnotized. You must do an induction designed and proven to induce and deepen to somnambulism. You must correctly convince the client that she is hypnotized. You must covertly test for somnambulism. You must then give them clear instructions about what is to happen next to start the regression experience.

There you go! That is what it really takes to have a successful age regression session. That is what I teach in class and that is how I do it in my office.

Experience It for Yourself

One last thing. If you want to experience 5-PATH® including AR, I invite you to book online sessions with me. Everyone has something that they want to work on. Want more confidence? Want more drive? Want to overcome a bad habit? I know exactly what to do. Schedule a complimentary 30 minute phone consultation so that we can set you up with sessions.