Hypnosis at the Museum of Fine Arts

Ever since the adventure with the kinetic sculpture gallery, I've wanted to combine art appreciation with hypnosis again, so I was very pleased when Cassi told me she had thought of me on a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts, and would like to go back with me and look at paintings while hypnotized.

So we finally made it happen, only days before my big move out of the country. It was fun to be in the lobby with Cassi knowing we had a secret mission - again, I feel lucky that this interest is something I can pursue in unusual locales, including out in plain sight, without being discovered or imposing on other people.

We found a closed-off nook with its own painting, and went through some warmup trances. As on the other occasion, I had her practice going into trance standing up, and then with her eyes open. I gave her a discreet post-hypnotic trigger that when I pointed to a painting and tapped her on the shoulder, her eyes would close, she would go into trance, and then open her eyes and become extremely engrossed in that painting. It would become more and more real and vivid to her, and more and more fascinating. The painting would seem to surround her and become her world. Then another trigger would gently bring her out of it.

Cassi's reaction when we practiced with the painting in the nook was interesting and surprising to me. After going into trance, she took a couple of steps forward, and I could see her eyes moving around the painting - things that I didn't think people in trance could do, of their own volition. Her face went through a whole cycle of expressions, mostly in the vein of happiness and awe.

So to an observer, she would have only looked like someone who was really, really into a painting. Great. On the other hand, I felt confident that she was really going into trance, because of a few external signs:

•  Her blinking rate went way down.
•  When awoken, she blinked and reoriented herself.
•  She swayed a little. (I would whisper suggestions in her ear that her unconscious would take care of her balance for her)
•  No checking back with me.

Being pleased with this, I proposed another post-hypnotic trigger I had thought of just that day. When I said the phrase "attract mode on", she would enter a state that would be superficially unchanged, but her subconscious would be on the lookout for artworks that she would enjoy trancing in front of. When she spotted one, she would lose her train of thought, fixate on it, and walk helplessly towards it. Once at a good viewing distance, she would go into a trance as with the other trigger. And this would keep happening, never selecting the same artwork twice, until I said "attract mode off".

She liked this idea, so I took a little time to install the trigger and reinforce it, and we set off into the museum!

Carpenter's Wheel, Gerald Roy

I had some misconceptions about what she wanted at first, which shows the importance of listening and readjusting as a top. I said we should go and check out the exhibit of brightly coloured and geometric quilts first, since many already seemed to have striking hypnotic patterns in them! We tried the first trigger successfully with a few of these, but then she explained that what she really wanted was to lose herself in natural scenes - representational art rather than op art. She also said that she wanted to bring herself out of the art trances rather than have me decide how long to leave her there. That had been my first instinct, because I thought it would place an extra burden on her to monitor the time she was taking, and that she wouldn't want control over that. But in fact her unconscious was easily able to tell when she was ready to be done with a painting.

Lake Nemi, 1872, George Inness

So we went to the Impressionist galleries - walking briskly through rooms of dour, dark religious art - and then to general 19th century European and American galleries. Cassi had strong ideas about which paintings she wanted to trance to, and rejected many of them before settling on one. Which was important, since there was a significant time investment for each one - difficult to estimate, but probably in the ballpark of 5 minutes - and sadly we only had a couple of hours in the museum.

Over time, Cassi told me many interesting things about what it felt like to be in trance with these paintings. She said she knew she was in a different state because she had no desire to read the explanatory text, which she usually reads first. She also said she had no awareness of the frame, which she also usually noticed quite a bit. Instead she would really feel herself in the scene, hearing sounds, smelling things, and even feeling emotions.

Rocky Coast and Gulls, 1836, Winslow Homer

In one striking case, she told me upon awakening, "I was so worried about that boat!" And I said, "What boat?" And she pointed it out to me (in the painting below), nearly invisible on the horizon. Her hyperfocus had discovered it and made it an integral part of the emotional content.

Running Before the Storm, 1870, unknown

I found that it was a wonderful experience standing next to her and looking at the paintings (while checking on her from time to time). I almost never look at paintings that long, and I found myself losing myself in the brushstrokes and feeling of space just like Cassi. I think I'll always remember at least some of the paintings we looked at.

At one point I happened to look across the room at a tour group, where the guide was pointing out her standard list of observations for a painting. Some technical notes, and a few historical and biographical facts. This seemed very wrongheaded to me all of a sudden, and I felt like the hypnotic response must be much closer to what the artist would have wanted: a totally nonintellectual, nonverbal, sensual immersion in the painting.

Mother and Child in a Boat, 1892, Edmund Charles Tarbell

Then with only a little time left, we agreed to use "attract mode". We walked quickly through a bunch of rooms, chatting, while I surreptitiously eyed the paintings coming up and wondering when one would "activate" her.

Then in the 3rd room we went into, all of a sudden she broke off what she was saying and walked wordlessly away from me to a painting on the far side of the gallery. Apart from the enjoyment I get out of observing any trance, this was the one thing that afternoon that I found a little sexy in the hypnokink way. I liked that she was captured and compelled by the art.

This happened about three more times, on one occasion extremely briefly. On one memorable occasion, we were chatting normally close to a big painting, when she fell silent - the painting hadn't done it for her at first, but then at some point tipped over to activating a trance. The unconscious is mysterious!

Gulf of Spezia, 1884, Henry Newman

We both wished we could have had a few hours more, but it was still terrific. I had an idea as we were about to part ways, for who knows how long. Sitting in the car with her, I said, would to be able to turn "attract mode" on for yourself, as a permanent post-hypnotic trigger? And Cassi loved the idea.

I had never set out to give someone a permanent post-hypnotic suggestion before, and it was both solemn and exciting. I dropped her back into trance, and gave that same suggestion, except with more repetition, and triggered by her saying the phrase silently to herself. Then I added more safety suggestions, such as that it would turn off by itself automatically in case she forgot, that it would not be active while driving, and so forth.

I told her, in trance, that it's a myth that post-hypnotic suggestions have to fade. In fact, if you enjoy them, they can stay just as strong, days, weeks, and even years later, and might even get stronger with time. I asked her to imagine the suggestion working just as powerfully for her years down the line. She told me afterward she had even pictured herself on her deathbed, asking for a painting and going into trance viewing it. Wow.

A couple of weeks later, she told me that she had taken another trip to the MFA, and it worked! Even though Cassi and I were not romantic partners, I feel very good about having this strong, permanent connection with her. It's such a strange thing, but a beautiful thing too. And learning hypnosis made it possible.