Another fairly common issue when you are first learning to use the Elman induction is that when you lift up your client’s arm, it is not heavy, or does not drop down. There are a couple of ways to tackle this.

The first thing I do is tell them not to help me. I would say something like, “No, let me lift it,” or, “Don’t help me. Just relax it completely”. As I am saying that, I may gently sway their arm from side to side, by the wrist, as if I am shaking the tension out. This kinaesthetically reiterates to them what a loose and relaxed arm would feel like.

The second way to address this comes up if their arm does not drop when you let it go. This can be because they sensed a challenge in what you were saying. Alternatively, they may not be sure what was expected of them. In cases like this, you should avoid implying failure and either lower their arm and repeat the suggestion, or switch to a stiff-arm.

My preference, as their arm is already up in the air – and they may be responding to a presumed challenge – is to congratulate them and reframe the occasion into a stiff-arm catalepsy by saying something like:

Excellent. Now, I’m going to take your arm and I want you to extend it and make a fist. That’s it. [Taps end of fist.]

Now, make it rigid as I count to three. Make that so rigid you can’t bend it. One – make it rigid – two, like steel – three, solid. Now when you know that that arm is unbendable, you can’t bend it no matter how hard you try. Just go ahead and try and bend that arm and find that it just won’t bend.

Now you can stop trying… And as I shake the arm like this [shaking arm by the wrist] it just becomes limp and loose and relaxed, like a wet dishcloth… That’s it.

And as I drop your arm into your lap, you can just go even deeper… [drops arm] …all the way down.

If you find that you regularly face the issue of your client’s arm not being heavy, it is worth examining what you say before you pick their arm up. It may be that you are not clear enough in saying what you expect to happen. Remember, this is about achieving catalepsy by suggestion. So, you might want to pre-empt this stage by saying something like:

I’m now going to lift your left arm up by the wrist and if you’ve followed the instructions up to this point – and I think you have done really well – that arm will just be loose and limp like a wet dish cloth and will just drop into your lap when I let go.