A week later they were in a motel room in Nowheresville, Tennessee, recovering from a run-in with a Civil War ghost. Dean watched as Sam settled in, running through a familiar sequence of precautions and unpacking necessities like knives and toothpaste.

Finally, he cleared his throat. "Hey, Sam?"

"Yeah, Dean?" Sam replied, still rummaging through a duffle for his razor.

"I, um, I've been looking through that book you gave me," he managed.

Sam stopped. He looked at Dean. "Yeah?" he asked cautiously, "How was it?"

"Well," Dean replied, trying to ignore the tight feeling in his chest, "I think I might be ready to try some things out."

"Really?" Sam grinned. He moved the bag to the floor and perched on the edge of the bed. "That's great! I wasn't really sure you were going to read it, or how long it would take you to get through it, or how you would feel about it, or-"

"Okay, stop," Dean interjected. Sam stopped. "Good. Now, I can't promise this is actually going to work, because I've never tried it before and according to your book some people don't even go into trance, but I'm ready to give it a try. It's not gonna work if you're talking the whole time though."

"Right. Sorry. I understand. Tell me what to do."

Dean looked at his brother, perched on the edge of the bed and staring at him. "First off, relax. Lay down or something."

Sam did as he was told.

Dean took a deep breath and went over what he had learned from Chapter One: An Introduction to Induction. (Keep your voice even so you sound confident. Speak slowly. Pause often. Start with a simple instruction to focus your subject's attention.)

"Alright, Sam. Focus on your breathing."

(Now elaborate on that to guide them into relaxation.)

"You're taking deep, calming breaths. In... and out.

"Notice how easily your breathing settles into a regular rhythm. This happens naturally, with no effort at all."

(Encourage them to relax their body, starting with one specific area.)

"As you focus on your breathing, you can feel your body start to relax. It starts at your shoulders."

(Describe what form this relaxation takes.)

"You can feel all the tension melting out of your shoulders, leaving them feeling warm and loose. Tension melting away easily."

(Talk about that relaxation spreading through their body from that starting point.)

"This feeling starts to spread. It moves down your arms... across your chest and back... down into your stomach..."

(Be sure to remind them how this affects them.)

"It melts away tension wherever it goes. Leaves your muscles feeling warm and loose.

"It continues down into your thighs,

"Descends into your calves,

"Makes its way out through the tips of your toes,

"Leaves your whole body feeling warm and relaxed. All the tension gone from your muscles. Feeling loose and heavy."

(Now you can work on relaxing their mind.)

"As your body relaxes, so does your mind. Stress and worries melting away just like the tension from your muscles.

"Stress drifting out of your mind each time you exhale,

"Replaced by a sense of peaceful calm each time you inhale.

"Exhaling stress,

"Inhaling calm."

(Start talking about how good this feels.)

"It feels so good to relax like this. To let go of your tension.

"It's such a pleasant feeling, just letting your mind go blank.

"So nice to relax, to let your mind drift lazily and just focus on my words."

(By now, your subject is probably in trance. Ask them a simple question to check.)

"Doesn't it feel good to relax like this?"

"Mmyeah," Sam mumbled. Aside from his half-open eyes, he looked for all the world like he was asleep. Breathing slowly, body relaxed.

"Good."

(You can now work on deepening the trance.)