You're about to learn the closely guarded secrets of covert hypnosis that professional hypnotists, advertising gurus and politicians alike have used to persuade, coerce and control people's minds for decades. The decision of what you will do with this information is yours. You can use covert hypnosis to secretly hypnotize people without their knowledge, or, you can learn these methods to protect yourself from having them used on you. Regardless of what you decide, realize that intense psychological power is obtained in these techniques, and you should always use care to use this power ethically.

The least known secret of covert hypnosis is that it doesn't require you to obtain deep hypnosis (commonly called 'sleep hypnosis') states in your target to use mind control, or to convince their mind to think in the way you want it to. Only slightly hypnotic states are needed to control both someone's thoughts and feelings. It's crucial that you know this fact in order to inject thoughts in your subject correctly.

The proper way to influence and / or inject thoughts into a target can be achieved in everyday, seemingly normal conversation. The goal is to communicate to the subconscious mind, without the conscious mind detecting it. Most people don't realize how easily this can be accomplished. You give the conscious mind something to focus on, such as telling your target a story, while using commands that speak directly to the subconscious mind.

That, in fact, is also the second step of covert hypnosis, never attempt to make your subject take a 'giant leap' in the hypnotic process. Make it as easy as possible for them to follow your lead. The goal is to create a sense of little stepping stones (commands) for them to follow, one at a time. Starting small, and working up to the big ones.

The very first command should be so seemingly normal and effortless to follow, that they will undoubtedly follow it without a second thought. Make this command something that their conscious mind will not protest in any way. Once you've got them following these little commands you are creating rapport, or a sense of their subconscious mind getting used to following your commands. This is also known as conditioning.

The problem that most novices face is that they try to get people to follow a command that is so out of character for them right off the bat, without first establishing rapport with their subject, which causes their initial attempts to fail. They attempt to make their target go so far off the deep end after one or two small commands have been followed, thus waking up the conscious mind into thinking "wait a minute!", and they break their own control over the subject. If they had just taken longer and eased in a few more small commands, gradually building in their intensity, they would have accomplished their goals without question.

We're not saying here that you can make anyone do anything, however you can make people do things that they never would have consciously agreed to if they thought about it, providing that you use baby steps in your approach.

The next secret you must learn is that body language plays a huge role in covert hypnosis. This includes both your posture and gestures, as well as your tone of voice. Some professions even argue that these factors are as important, if not more so, then your proficiency at secretly implanting commands to the subconscious in casual, everyday conversation. Without the proper body language and tone of voice, your attempt at hypnotic influence will surely fall flat.