Group work brings trance alive in a special way and taps into something as primally human as storytelling around the fire, but it requires certain considerations. I go a bit slower, and make sure I cover all the sense modalities where I might tailor a private induction to my client’s mind. The situation also requires care, as I can’t monitor everyone’s journey from their breathing and subtle eye movements. I take time to give everyone a chance to sink into trance, and I take pains to ensure that we don’t approach anything traumatic with people I may not be able to manage or follow up with. To keep things safe and manageable, I insert certain suggestions during the session to keep the walls of the container solid and to make sure that nothing super heavy is unleashed from the depths.

Within that container, powerful results can be achieved by using “artfully vague” hypnotic language that leaves space for people to fill the gaps themselves. The unconscious is brilliantly intelligent and infinitely creative, which means that every person in a room can go on a journey that is deeply personal while also being a collective experience.

I’ve worked with town planners feeling their way into the electric grid and the sewer system, and IT developers exploring the connections of the wood wide web beneath the forest floor. I’ve taken ecologists into nature, tracked power animals with students of shamanism and explored the magician’s hut with groups of mystics - that was an interesting session, as I passed the baton to one of my hypnosis students and he led us to the magician’s bookcase where I became engrossed in a book.