Poke A Stick (Dirty Rotten Trick) Technique

The Poke-a-Stick Technique is a "Dirty Rotten Trick' (DRT) you can use to bring up a feeling to bridge back to the causal event.  There's no need for a formal induction.  Just use these 5 steps to bring up a feeling and you'll be "off to the rodeo!"

Here’s how it works.

1. Tell the Story

First, get the client to tell you the Story about what happened to trigger them. Just talking about this will bring up the feeling.  So, all you have to do is watch for it.

Watch for the emotions to start coming to the surface.  They might already be there on the surface but talking about it gets the client focusing.  And this will bring up more of the feeling.

2. Locate the Feeling in the Body

Ask the client to locate the feeling in the body.  Where do they feel that fear or anger or sadness in the body?  What you’re after is an actual emotion.  Emotions are targeted and express in the torso - primarily in the throat, the chest, and the gut.

3. Take a SUD

Once you have located the feeling in the body, take a SUD on the feeling.  SUD stands for Subjective Unit of Distress. 

To take a SUD, ask the client to focus on the feeling in their body.  Then ask, “On a scale of 1 – 10, where 10 is the strongest it’s ever been, how strong is that feeling (in your gut) right now?” 

If it’s a seven or higher you have enough intensity for Affect Bridge.

If it’s a twelve you don’t even need a formal induction!  The stronger the emotion, the deeper the client is going into the Subconscious Mind.  So, if there’s a strong emotion present, you already have deep hypnosis.

This is another time-saving technique you can use by piggy-backing your induction onto the preliminary uncovering procedure.  You can induce hypnosis simply by poking a stick at the feeling.  If the SUD level is a seven or more, you’re good to go. 

If you’re going to use a formal induction, just confirm that you have permission to proceed with the hypnosis.  Once you have deepened the client into hypnosis, have the client focus on the feeling.  

Make sure they’re still feeling it. Just ask, “True or false, you feel the feeling?”

If they lose the feeling, just have them tell you the Story, again. This will bring up the feeling, again.  All you need to do is watch for it.

Cool, right?