James Braid: Eye Fixation Hypnosis Induction
James Briad was a Scottish-born physician practicing in Manchester during the mid-nineteenth century. Dr Braid is the person who gave us the term hypnosis from the Greek god Hypnos, the god of sleep.
This eye fixation induction is one of many and is based on his original induction. Later he developed other inductions:
Take any bright object (Braid generally used his lancet case) between the thumb and fore and middle finger of the left hand (note how absolutely precise he was - obviously he did not understand the principles involved); hold it from about eight to fifteen inches from the eyes, at such a position above the forehead as may be necessary to produce the greatest possible strain upon the eyes and eyelids, and enable the patient to maintain a steady fixed stare at the object (this position above the eyes produces strain and tiredness of the eyes and eyelids as Braid notes - it also tends to get on in pre-alpha ready to enter a trance). The patient must be made to understand that he is to keep the eyes steadily fixed on the object, and the mind riveted on the idea of the object. It will be observed, that owing to the consensual adjustment of the eyes, the pupils will be at first contracted: they will shortly begin to dilate, and after they have done so to a considerable extent, and have assumed a wavy motion, if the fore and middle fingers of the right hand, extended a little separated, are carried from the object towards the eyes, most probably the eyes will close involuntarily, with a vibratory motion. If this is not the case, or the patient allows the eyeballs to move, desire him to begin anew, giving him to understand that he is to allow the eyelids to close when the fingers are again carried towards the eyes, but that the eyeballs must be kept fixed in the same position, and the mind riveted to the one idea of the object held above the eyes. It will generally be found, that the eyelids close with a vibratory motion, or become spasmodically closed. After ten or fifteen seconds have elapsed, by gently elevating the arms and legs, it will be found that the patient has a disposition to retain them in the situation in which they have been placed (that is to say Braid has established arm and leg catalepsy), if he is intensely affected. If this is not the case, in a soft tone of voice desire him to retain the limbs in the extended position, and thus the pulse will speedily become greatly accelerated, and the limbs, in process of time, will become quite rigid and involuntarily fixed. It will also be found, that all the organs of special sense, excepting sight, including heat and cold, and muscular motion, or resistance, and certain mental faculties, are at first prodigiously exalted, such as happens with regard to the primary effects of opium, wine, and spirits. After a certain point, however, this exaltation of function is followed by a state of depression (somnambulism achieved), far greater than the torpor of natural sleep.