Deepening & Depth Testing
Once you've entered trance, deepen it for more powerful results — and learn how to measure your depth.
Why Deepen?
After induction, you're in a light trance. Deepening takes you further — from light to medium to deep states. The deeper you go, the more receptive your subconscious becomes, and the more profound the results.
Key Insight:
Depth is NOT required for results. Light trance is sufficient for the vast majority of therapeutic suggestions. Many people get excellent results at light levels. Don't chase depth — chase consistency. Depth comes naturally with practice.
That said, deeper states are needed for certain applications: pain analgesia, age regression, and past-life work require medium-to-deep trance. So it's worth learning deepening techniques.
The 3 Stages of Hypnosis
1. Lethargic (Light) — Alpha state
Physical relaxation, eyelids heavy, pleasant drowsiness. Sufficient for most habit change, confidence, stress reduction, and sleep onset. ~80% of therapeutic work happens here.
2. Cataleptic (Medium) — Deep alpha/early theta
Body feels heavy or floating, partial muscle catalepsy (can't move limbs easily). Strong suggestibility. Ideal for habit change and most emotional work.
3. Somnambulistic (Deep) — Theta state
Deep trance, possible amnesia for the session, profound analgesia possible. Required for pain blocking, age regression, and exploration work. Only ~20% reach this naturally; it takes practice.
Deepener Library
A deepener is a technique used after induction to take you deeper. Most use imagery + counting. Even if you're already deep enough, using a deepener improves the experience and builds the conditioned response.
🛗 The Elevator
Imagine standing in an elevator at floor 10. Count from 10 down to 1 (or 0). With each number, feel yourself going deeper as the elevator descends. When you reach the bottom, the doors open to your peaceful place.
🪜 The Staircase
Visualize a beautiful staircase — 10 or 20 steps — leading down to a peaceful place. Count each step as you descend. With each step, feel yourself going deeper. Feel your body growing heavier and more relaxed with each step.
☁️ Clouds Across the Sky
Imagine lying on your back in a meadow, watching clouds drift across a blue sky. With each cloud that passes, you go deeper. Count 10 clouds drifting by. By the tenth, you're deeply relaxed.
🏖️ Stairway to the Beach
Imagine a staircase leading down to a beautiful, warm beach. Count each step down. When you arrive, use all senses: feel the warm sand, hear the waves, smell the salt air, feel the breeze. The sensory richness deepens trance naturally.
💧 The Waterfall
Imagine standing under a gentle, warm waterfall. Feel the water flowing over your head, down your face, neck, shoulders, and body — washing away all tension. As the water flows, you go deeper and deeper with each breath.
📏 The Imaginary Yardstick (LeCron)
Imagine a yardstick with 36 inches. Tell yourself: "I will use this yardstick to measure my depth. 1-12 inches is light, 13-24 is medium, 25-36 is deep." After a session, ask your subconscious (using ideomotor signals) how deep you went. This gives you concrete feedback on your progress over time.
The Feedback Technique (Powers)
Melvin Powers identified a crucial technique for amplifying trance: when you notice any response beginning, verbally reinforce it.
For example, if your eyelids start feeling heavy, don't just notice it — say to yourself: "My eyelids ARE becoming heavy... they're getting heavier and heavier..." This feeds back the existing condition, amplifying it. It's not lying — you're describing what's actually happening, and the description strengthens it.
Apply this to any sensation: warmth ("my hands are getting warm"), heaviness ("my arms are getting heavy"), floating ("I'm drifting deeper"), tingling ("I can feel the tingling spreading"). The subconscious responds to your descriptions by making them more true.
The 3-D Visual Imagery Technique
Dr. S.J. Van Pelt's "3-D Technique" — described by Powers as the essence of making self-hypnosis work. Words alone are weak. Words + vivid imagery = 10× power.
Imagine a movie screen in your mind. See yourself on it — not from inside your body, but watching yourself from outside, like a character in a film. See yourself the way you want to be: confident, calm, healthy, successful. Make it vivid — "3-D," real, detailed. See yourself walking, talking, and acting as the person you want to be.
If you can't picture yourself as confident because you've "never been that way," borrow traits from someone you admire — a real person or a composite. See yourself with those qualities. These images, repeated in trance, become part of your conscious personality.
Depth Scales (Clinical Reference)
Clinical hypnotists use standardized scales to measure depth. You don't need to memorize these, but knowing they exist helps you understand your progress:
• Arons 6-Level Scale — The most widely used. Levels 1-2 (light), 3-4 (medium), 5-6 (deep/somnambulistic).
• Davis & Husband Scale — 30-point scale with specific testable phenomena at each level.
• Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale — The research standard, Forms A, B, C.
• LeCron-Bordeaux Scale — Uses a 50-point system for precise measurement.
For self-hypnosis, the simple yardstick method (1-36 inches) is most practical. Track your average depth over weeks to see improvement.
Progressive Depth Tests (Powers' Ladder)
Powers outlined 15 progressive tests — each confirms you've reached a certain depth. These are optional and mainly for curiosity and feedback. Don't get stuck trying to "pass" them — they're not required for therapeutic results.
Light (Lethargic):
1. Eye closure — involuntary eyelid closing
2. Swallowing — irresistible urge to swallow at a count
3. Hand tingling — numb/tingling sensation in hand
Medium (Cataleptic):
4. Foot heaviness — legs feel too heavy to lift
5. Hand levitation — hand floats up to chin involuntarily
Deep (Somnambulistic):
6. Fly hallucination — feel a fly crawling on your hand
7. Cigarette taste aversion — posthypnotic vile taste
8. Temperature (sun warmth) — feel warmth on skin
9. Breeze/olfactory — feel and smell ocean air
10. Handclasp lock — can't unclasp locked hands
11. Arm rigidity — arm becomes stiff as steel
12. Eye lock — can't open eyes
13. Auditory hallucination — hear music
14. Dream induction — have a suggested dream
15. Analgesia — pinch without pain (never use pins — just test pressure)
Safety Warning:
Never use pins, needles, or sharp objects to test analgesia. This can cause injury and infection. Test with a gentle pinch only — if you feel pressure but not pain, that's a positive result. Always suggest normal sensation returns afterward.
The Posthypnotic Deepening Suggestion
Every session should end with a suggestion that makes the next session easier and deeper:
"The next time I relax and count to three [or use my key phrase], I will enter a deeper, sounder state of self-hypnosis more quickly and easily than before. Each time I practice, I go deeper. Each session is more effective than the last."
This compounds over time. The conditioned response strengthens with each session, making it progressively easier to enter and deepen trance. This is why consistency matters more than any single session's depth.
Depth Stages
14-30 Hz — Waking
Normal Consciousness
Your everyday alert state. Logic, analysis, critical thinking fully active. The conscious 'guard' is on duty, filtering all incoming information.
Indicators
- •Full critical thinking
- •Analytical mind dominant
- •Suggestions mostly rejected
Technique
No suggestion work possible. Use this state to prepare your scripts and set intentions.
Depth Scale & Deepening
Choose a deepening technique to guide your descent:
Which depth stage did you reach in your last session? What deepening technique worked best for you?