Introduction

This induction belongs in the same family as the Tension Observation and PMR induction. The Clench was originally developed as a means of self-hypnosis. However, it functions just as effectively as a traditional induction.

The Clench makes good use of hypnotic principles and physiological responses that are well known, such as fractionation, pacing and leading and more.

Transcript

I will explain what I’m going to do first and then – as we go on to do it – I’ll explain each step as well.

Okay?

— “Yes.”

Basically, I’m going to have you clench your fist and put all of your body’s attention and tension into that fist. And you’ll close your eyes, take a nice deep breath. Hold it for five seconds and then let it go.

Sounds simple enough, right?

— “Right.”

So we’re going to clench the fist, close our eyes at the same time, take a deep breath and hold it for five seconds. And let it go. Then, for the following few seconds we’ll think about what that feels like for the rest of our body.

[Round 1]

So if you go ahead now clench your fist, as your eyes close whilst you… 
Breathe in nice and deep, hold it for 5 seconds and then let it go as you breathe out.

Open your eyes and let that fist relax…
And just for a couple of seconds, with each breath, just feel that relaxation in your body. And notice how nice that feels… 

Now, we’ll go ahead and do it again.

[Round 2]

Clench your fist as you take a nice deep breath and your eyes close.
Hold it for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and… 
Let it go, breathe out, open your eyes and… let that fist relax… 

And just for one or two breaths, notice that relaxation throughout the rest of your body.

[Round 3]

Once again, clench the fist as you breathe in and close your eyes…
hold it for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and then let it out…

And as we progress through this, you may reach a point where your eyes want to stay closed.

That’s absolutely fine as you just breathe and carry on feeling that spread throughout your body… noticing how natural it is for you… how easy that can be.

[Round 4]

Go ahead again and take a nice deep breath, closing your eyes and clench the fist. Hold it for five seconds, then let go… 

And what some people find is that the fist kinda becomes so relaxed it almost can’t unclench, it doesn’t want to…

…or it just hangs their limp and that’s perfectly fine as, for two or three breaths, you allow that to spread throughout your whole body.

[Round 5]

One last time now, take a nice deep breath, eyes closing as you clench that fist – if you still can – hold it for five and let go…

And if your eyes stay closed and that fist stays relaxed, that’s perfectly fine as your body becomes attuned how easily, how naturally, you can relax in this way…

every breath, it’s like you take-in more calm, easily… 
every breath out, that relaxation spreads throughout your body.

And you know now how easy it is for you to relax and to let go…

…breathing, relaxing, un-tensioning, letting go and letting your mind and body go where they so naturally want to go.

Sometimes, some people, we can almost fight to keep ourselves stressed and tense, but we know deep down that our body and our mind want to relax to float even deeper into that ease…