Covering All Possibilities of Response
When working hypnotically with a client, there are times when it is beneficial to offer suggestions that cover every likely type of response they might make.
On the face of it this may appear imprecise, yet in practice it becomes a highly effective, “fail-safe” approach: almost anything the client does can be framed as a hypnotic response and used therapeutically.
This is particularly useful when:
- You do not yet know the client well.
- You are still exploring how they respond to suggestion.
- You are identifying their particular “hypnotic talents” – the ways in which they most naturally and easily go into trance.
Instead of aiming for one very specific response (“your right hand will lift up”), you create a set of suggestions that allows for multiple possibilities, all of which you will treat as successful.
In doing so, you define the frame: whatever happens is hypnosis.
Why Cover All Possibilities?
When you cover all possible responses, several things happen at once:
- You remove pressure from the client.
They do not have to “get it right” or “make something happen.” There is no single correct reaction they must produce. - You reduce resistance.
Because there is no implied failure state (“if your hand doesn’t lift, it didn’t work”), the client does not need to fight, doubt, or “test” the hypnosis. - You create a permissive space for curiosity.
The client is encouraged simply to notice what happens, which naturally draws their attention inward and deepens trance. - You give yourself diagnostic information.
By watching what happens (movement, stillness, heaviness, lightness, etc.), you discover how this client’s unconscious prefers to respond.
In essence, you are inviting the unconscious mind to “show you” how it works, while ensuring that any outcome is both acceptable and useful.
Example: A Hand Response Suggestion
Below is a simplified template of a “cover all possibilities” suggestion focused on the hand. Notice how every possible response is accounted for, and all of them are framed as interesting and valuable:
“In a few moments you may begin to notice something happening in one of your hands.
It might be your right hand, or it might be your left.
One of them may begin to feel a little lighter and start to lift,
or it may become heavier and gently press down,
or it may simply stay exactly where it is.
You don’t have to try to make anything happen;
you can just pay close attention and notice, with real curiosity,
what that hand begins to do all by itself.
Perhaps you’ll first notice a sensation in one of your fingers –
it could be the little finger, or maybe the index finger,
or it might be some other place in the hand or wrist.
>What matters is not how it moves, or even whether it moves,
but that you become more and more aware of
the subtle changes, feelings, and impulses in that hand
as your unconscious mind begins to respond in its own way.”
Every line is structured so that:
- Multiple outcomes are suggested (right/left, light/heavy, move/still).
- No outcome is “wrong.”
- The focus is consistently brought back to awareness and observation.
The Hidden Implication
Behind this style of suggestion is a powerful, yet gentle implication:
“Whatever you notice is important and is a sign that the process is working.”
You are not demanding a specific hypnotic phenomenon; you are installing a frame of exploration. The client is guided into:
- Noticing internal sensations.
- Trusting their unconscious responses.
- Recognising that small changes (a tingle, a pull, a sense of weight) are meaningful.
In this way, even apparent “non‑response” (no visible movement) becomes redefined as:
- A valid hypnotic response (e.g. heaviness, stillness, numbness, warmth).
- An opportunity to continue to deepen awareness of inner experience.
Practical Use in Session
You will find this pattern particularly effective:
In early sessions, where you are still mapping the client’s responses.
With anxious or performance‑oriented clients who worry about “doing it wrong.”
When you want to build confidence in their ability to respond to suggestion.
The key is to:
- Offer broad, inclusive possibilities.
- Keep the tone calm, permissive, and curious.
- Reframe whatever happens as successful, hypnotic, and useful.
By doing so, you gently teach the client that their unconscious mind can respond freely, without judgment, and that you are there to guide and utilise whatever emerges.