Tools of the trade: hypnotic language patterns

When I got this set of cards from Salad Seminars I wasn’t sure what to expect. These cards look like a normal deck of 52 playing cards with 52 language patterns taken from the field of NLP hypnosis from the work of Milton H. Erickson, M.D.

People may know some of the language patterns, i.e. the use of …because to elicit compliance, or the three pair enumeration; after all, I mention those in my book also.

But there’s more stuff, too.

“A person might, you know _______”

“How does it feel when you _____”

“I’m curious to know______”

These little seemingly innocent language patterns can subdue people…to your will. The Salad cards may be out-of-print if you wanted the Ericksonian series; the Irresistible influence cards are still sold.

How the “hypnotic slap jack” is played if you have the cards

• The dealer places a card (not a jack) at the middle of the table.
• The player at the dealer’s left makes a sentence using the language on the face-up card. Then they place their top card in the center of the table, and turn it face up.
• When a Jack is played, the first player to slap their hand on top of the center pile wins these cards and adds them face down to the bottom of their pile, leaving the Jack face up in the center.
• If a player slaps a non-Jack, they give the top card of their own pile face down to the person who played the non-Jack. That person adds it to bottom of their own pile.
• When a person runs out of cards, they are out.

I won’t finish this post without giving you a link to other Tools of the Titans.

And a recipe.

How does it look ?

How does it taste ?

Tip of the day: To get a feeling of diaphragmatic breathing, the correct and best way to breath, you can stand straight with your back against the wall and elevate the balls of the feet and toes by a heavy book or a rolled up towel – tip courtesy of Roger Love, vocal coach to top Hollywood stars.