I CREATE AS I SPEAK

*
LEWIS LE VAL
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the
prior written permission of the author.

I Create As I Speak (Abracadabra) – Intellectual property of Lewis Le Val

Copyright © Lewis Le Val, All Rights Reserved.
 “Words can light fires in the minds of men.
Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.”

– Patrick Rothfuss.
Contents
1. Introduction & What is Suggestion?

2. Paradigm Shift – Your Frame of Mind

3. Finding a Good Subject

4. The Methods

5. Stepping Beyond

6. What if it Doesn’t Work?

7. FAQ from Audience

8. Final Thoughts

9. Acknowledgements
1. Introduction.

Dear reader, please take a moment to try this for me. Take a deep
breath in, and then close your eyes and count to five in your head as
you exhale. Then open your eyes and continue reading.
Do that now!

**********

Why did you do that? Because I told you to? Exactly. That, in its most
basic and simplest form imaginable, was suggestion. In psychology
the definition of suggestion is the action of influencing a person to
accept an idea or belief uncritically. So if, at its core, suggestion is as
simple as that, then how much more difficult can it be to use it as a
form of entertainment or part of a performance?

In these pages I will show you exactly how to do just that. Using a
collection of my favourite techniques, along with elements from other
proven techniques, I will help you to develop and strengthen your
suggestion skills and show you how you can make suggestion based
effects work whilst feeling comfortable and confident performing
them.
What follows is the way I, personally, use suggestion while
performing. This is how I do it, and with enough practice and
understanding, you will be doing it too!

There are many different names for suggestion. Subliminal

suggestion, waking hypnosis etc. I wish to keep your read as simple
and as clear as possible, so throughout the book we will be referring
to suggestion and hypnotic phenomena simply as ‘suggestion’.

Put simply, suggestion works through words spoken, words unspoken

and your actions. It needs all three to work effectively. I will be
giving you as much detail as I can on how you can use suggestion in
your performances or even as performance pieces alone. There is a
wide variety of things you can do. For now though, let’s start from the
beginning.

Many different people have many different theories and explanations

as to how and why they believe suggestion works. What follows is
one of the most popular theories. There are few
hypnotists/hypnotherapists etc who will disagree with this theory, but
it is still one that I believe every user of suggestion should be aware
of and think about when attempting this sort of performing.

It is said that there is a part of your brain known as the Critical

Faculty, or Critical Factor (not anatomical). This is the part of your
brain that passes judgement. It evaluates input from the five senses
and passes judgment on whether that input is valid or not. It acts as a
guard between the conscious and the subconscious parts of the mind.
Any and all thoughts and suggestions directed toward the individual
are analysed by the critical factor. Its job is to accept or reject
suggestions from entering the subconscious mind based on what it
thinks is normal or right. So if you were to just randomly tell someone
that their hand is stuck to the table and they cannot lift it, their critical
factor will reject your statement because it knows the hand is not
stuck. But what if you were somehow able to bypass the critical
factor, and cause your suggestions to slip past it? If their brain is
unable to judge if the hand is stuck or not after being told that it is
stuck, it will simply believe what it has been told as the critical factor
wasn’t there to judge the truth. The suggestion slips right past the
guard and into the subconscious mind. The hand now becomes stuck
to the table because the mind believes that it is. This is what creates
the magical feeling for the person. Consciously they cannot lift their
hand from the table and it feels weird, because subconsciously they
believe that their hand is stuck.

So how do you bypass the critical factor? Well throughout this book I
will be showing you various techniques which, when combined, will
help you to bypass this part of their brain and achieve the results you
want. Before you read any further I will tell you that it is not easy to
do this kind of thing, and you will have to be a little bit bold, but do
not let that put you off. The best way to learn is to just go out and do
this over and over again with different people until you get it down
and you’re comfortable with it. There will be times when it doesn’t
work, so later I will show you some methods that you can use to
remove the appearance of failure. I say appearance because in our line
of work that is all failure is, an appearance.

Before we go any further I would just like to point out my use of the
word hypnosis and hypnotists in this book. When a person is
hypnotised they are given suggestions, very similar to what I will be
showing you but they are delivered in a different way. Although some
may argue that using suggestion alone is technically a form of
hypnosis, I do not wish to over complicate things. So please
remember that I will not be teaching hypnosis or how to hypnotise
people in this book. I am teaching suggestion methods, ways to use
words and actions to create these effects. I only mention hypnotists as
they too use suggestion in their performances and/or therapies.
2. Paradigm Shift – Your Frame of Mind

Words unspoken. By this I am talking about something known as

‘subtext’ (the psychological definition). Subtext is simply what you
are thinking during an interaction or conversation. Now maybe you
don’t believe that this makes a difference, but I promise you it does. If
you are about to attempt a suggestion based effect,
and in your mind you are thinking,
“This might not work, I hope it does, what if I fail?” Then without a
doubt, you will fail. We can sense what people are thinking, and we
do it naturally every day. If your subject or audience can sense any
doubt in you then your suggestion will not work. You need to appear
confident, experienced and professional. You need to appear as if you
know exactly what you are doing, and that you’ve done this a million
times. If you went to see a doctor and they seemed nervous or unsure
of what they were doing, would you trust them? Would you take
medication they gave to you? Probably not. It is the same with
suggestion. Never let anybody know that you are learning to use
suggestion. Even if you are an absolute beginner, from this point
onwards, consider yourself an expert. If you want to get the best
results, you need this. I would also recommend not trying or
practicing suggestion on close friends or family. They know you too
well and could potentially see right through your new found expertise.
It will work best with strangers or people who do not know you too
well.

So before you begin, keep positive thoughts in your mind. Tell

yourself that it is going to work, you do it all the time, it’s going to be
great, you’re an expert. If you go in to this with 100% belief in
yourself and your abilities, it will work. Subtext has such a big
impact on how you are perceived by other people. Use it to your
advantage.

Next I would like to talk to you about authority. Authority is the

power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience.
You will need the same sort of authority over your subject or
audience that a school teacher has with their pupils or students. Think
back to when you were at school. If your teacher told you to stand at
the front of the class, even if you didn’t want to, you still had to do it.
This is important because you will need your subjects to comply with
you. Things will go a lot smoother if they follow your instructions as
and when you give them. There are many subtle techniques you can
use to establish your authority. The simplest technique is to just use
larger hand gestures while talking. This is a technique used by public
speakers. It is the body language equivalent of speaking louder with
more emphasis on what you are saying. If you were to observe a
group of people from a distance, and you see a person speaking and
using large hand gestures, it is very clear that they are the ones
holding the conversation and the attention of others. Think back to the
last time you had an argument with someone and I bet you were using
larger hand gestures than usual, even if the argument took place over
the phone. It is something we do naturally to deliver our message with
a bit more force. Obviously don’t overdo this, don’t wave your hands
around like a lunatic! Just make your natural gestures slightly larger.

Another good technique is to act like you ‘own the place’. By that I
mean pretending, without saying, that the venue or location that you
are in belongs to you. When we go to the house of somebody we do
not know too well, we are always on our best behaviour out of respect
for the person, their house and their belongings. We wouldn’t just
kick off our shoes, lie down on the sofa and start flicking through
their TV channels, but they can certainly do that because it is their
home, their space and their zone or territory. In your mind, the place
you are in should belong to you. Bartenders do this with their bar, DJs
do this with their club, dancers do this with their stage and so on. If
you control or ‘own’ the environment, you control what happens in it.
Just remember to be welcoming to the people in your zone, don’t treat
them like unwanted guests.

An obvious but useful technique to use is to stand and speak while

your spectators are seated. Another is to have a good, firm handshake
with eye contact as you introduce yourself to everyone in the group
you are about to perform for. Try your best to remember people’s
names. If you are one of these people with a weird fingertip
handshake or a limp handshake, please, stop doing that. It’s creepy.
During a handshake I tend to place my left hand on top of the shake as
it is a bit more dominant. Don’t confuse this with the corporate
‘double shake’ were you place your left hand on the other side of the
shake, sandwiching their hand between yours.
3. Finding a Good Subject

So now that you are in the right state of mind to use suggestion, what
do you actually say? Well, one of the simplest and best suggestion ice
breakers is to ask you spectators if any of them have ever been
hypnotised before. This question usually generates mixed reactions.
The most common answers are;

“Yes”
“No”
“I don’t believe in hypnosis”
“Can you hypnotise me?”
“Please don’t hypnotise me!”

Now, it doesn’t matter what they say, but you have now shifted the
conversation to hypnosis and hypnotic phenomena. You’ve also got it
into their minds that you’re about to perform something of a hypnotic
nature. If any of your spectators say they have been hypnotised
before, ask them about their experience and what happened. If they
tell you it wasn’t very good and they didn’t go under, it’s probably
not a good idea to try suggestion with them. If they tell you they went
right under and were doing crazy things, then you should try your
suggestion with them as they will be a good subject. The same goes
for if they have ever had hypnotherapy. NEVER ask them what the
therapy was for unless they tell you, but still ask them how it was and
if it was effective or not.
Normally after you ask your spectators if any of them have ever been
hypnotised before, you will get asked a lot of questions. If you
already are a hypnotist and you know what you’re talking about then
please feel free to answer their questions. If not then I recommend
you do not try to answer their questions.
Simply say something along the lines of,
“Now I am not going to hypnotise anyone, we are going to try
something similar to hypnosis, but nobody will be going to sleep.”

It is now time to select your subject. If any of your spectators have

told you they have been hypnotised before and it worked well, then
you should choose them. If not, look around the group for somebody
who clearly wants you to choose them. Maybe they’re making direct
eye contact with you, sitting forwards and slightly leaning towards
you or appear to be a bit excited after you mentioned hypnosis. Their
eyes will usually be open wider with pupils dilated and less blinking.
Make sure you have their full attention.

The Personality Changer

This can be used before performing to alter the personality of your
subject for the duration of your time with them. If you assume that
someone has a positive personality trait, they will almost always agree
to having it. So if I said to you, “Hey, you seem fun and
interesting!” You’re not going to reply with, “Actually I’m terribly
boring!” Are you? If I asked you, “Are you interesting?” There is
an opportunity there for you to say no. But if I already assume that
you are interesting, it is much easier for you to agree with me. So
anything you need your spectator to be, just assume that they are and
tell them! Even if they’re not, they will agree with you. Remember,
don’t ask them if they have these traits, just assume that they have
them. For example:
“You seem fun and interesting.”
“You look like you have a really good imagination.”
“I get a strong feeling that you’re the type of person who is always
up for new experiences.”
“You seem like the type of person who is very interested in this
sort of thing.”
There are thousands of things you could say. The best part about this,
whatever they agree to, they have to remain like that for their entire
interaction with you, otherwise they will look like they are lying! For
example if you said, “You seem like quite an intelligent person”
and they agree to it, they want to appear intelligent now because they
have just agreed that they are intelligent! See how a few simple words
can alter a person’s behaviour so quickly? It is like when a ‘psychic’
says to someone, “Has anyone ever told you/do you know that you
have a psychic ability too?” They always say yes regardless of what
they thought previously! Because they want to have these traits or
abilities, or at least they want people to think that they have these
traits or abilities. People will agree to just about anything if it makes
them sound good. The Personality Changer can be used in many
creative ways to mentally prepare your subject and to make sure that
you have their full attention, which is always important when using
suggestion. If you are interested in learning more about how this
technique can be used, I recommend looking into the work of the very
talented and very clever dating coach, Adam Lyons, and his work on
‘qualification’.

You don’t have to mention hypnosis if it doesn’t fit with your style or
performance, you can just go right in with the suggestion. However I
believe it will help if you can lead the conversation towards hypnosis,
hypnotic phenomena or anything of that nature. I prefer not to
mention suggestion to them as I don’t want them to know that I am
about to try it with them, even if they are unaware of what suggestion
is. If you don’t want to mention hypnosis, you could swap it for
imagination, and tell them you’re going to test their imagination and
how strong it is.

Once you have selected your subject it is time for the fun and slightly
bold part! Words in bold are spoken by the performer.

“I will do this with you. What is your name?”

Wait for response.
“Nice to meet you, are you ok to do this?”
Wait for response.
“Fantastic!”
*Performer reaches for a handshake*.
The above should be said in a friendly tone. Now, although it is only
3 lines, there is a lot going on here. I will attempt to break down the
psychology of what just happened.

“I will do this with you.” The word ‘do’ being a key word here. It
implies that something is about to happen. If you were to say, “I will
try this with you” the word ‘try’ says that there is a possibility of
failure and could put doubt in your subject’s mind. A doctor would
never say they will try a procedure. It is always do.
Also, this line is a direct statement, not a question.
You’re not giving them a chance to say no.
“I will do this with you. What is your name?” If the person responds
immediately with their name, it means they’re quite happy to take
part. It is a bit like a confirmation from them that they’re happy to
continue. So now it is highly unlikely that they will say no when you
ask, “are you ok to do this?” Getting you two yeses from only one
question! Finally, finishing with “fantastic!” or “great” or “that’s
good!” is a nice cue for a handshake when you reach for one.
4. The Methods

Your right hand is extended, your subject’s hand is on its way to

yours as they’re expecting a handshake. Instead of completing the
shake, you’re going to take their hand as you would with a handshake,
bring your left hand to their forearm and use both hands to raise their
arm up slightly. Their arm should be no higher than chest height and
try to keep their hand almost palm down. Maintain a light grip on
their arm and hand while you do this, this action should not be
forceful. Practice this a few times on a friend until you can do it
smoothly whilst maintaining eye contact with them as you raise their
arm up.

Here’s the important part. If you feel their arm start to pull away from
you at all, you should stop. There is a big possibility that it will not
work if they start to pull their arm away. However, if you have done
all of the previous steps correctly and chosen the right subject, it is
rare that they will pull away from you at this point. What you are
aiming for here is for their arm to support its own weight, so if you
were to let go of them their arm would remain in the air. You can do
this by slowly letting go of them to feel if their arm will stay where it
is. If it feels like you are still supporting their arm, keep hold of them
a little bit longer until you feel the weight lift and you can let go. A
great tip given to me when I was just 13 years old was from mentalist
and violinist Marc Carney of the Liverpool Magic Circle. He said that
during the process of waiting for their arm to support its own weight,
you should gently tap the palm of their hand with the thumb, index
finger and middle finger of your right hand in a random sequence.
This will slightly confuse your subject, as they will be wondering
what you are doing! Confusion is a great element to add to any
suggestion or hypnosis work. Put simply, when the human mind is
confused, it is a bit like it is drowning, and it will take the next
available piece of information that it can make sense of and hold onto
it like a float, in order to escape from the confusion state. Meaning if
your subject is in a state of confusion when you deliver your first
suggestion, there is an even greater chance of them accepting it and
acting upon it. Confusion can also help to bypass the critical factor.
We will talk more about using confusion in the ‘What if it doesn’t
Work?’ chapter.
Keep in mind you do not need to do this tapping, as you’ve already
created a lot of confusion with a classic pattern interrupt with the
handshake and then the holding of their arm. However it can help so
it’s up to you if you decide to use it or not.

The whole handshake process usually takes no longer than 5 seconds.

A word on the use of handshakes for hypnotic phenomena.

Through history there have been many people who have used and
developed handshake techniques to induce hypnosis, hypnotic trance,
suggestion etc. Most notably are Dave Elman, Milton Erickson and
Richard Bandler. I would strongly recommend taking a look at their
work if you’re interested in developing your skills even further. The
technique above was originally inspired by Erickson’s legendary
‘Ericksonian Handshake’. While most handshake techniques may
appear similar, they have all their differences and are used to achieve
different results. The above technique is something I have used for
many years and developed over time, and it has proven over and over
again to work exactly as needed for this type of performance.

So now you’ve done the handshake and their arm is supporting its
own weight. We are going to begin by making their hand, and then
their arm become completely stiff, as if it’s been frozen in time.
Words in bold are spoken by the performer.

“focus on the back of your hand, you will notice it becoming

stiffer and stiffer, like every muscle and bone in your hand is
completely locked in to place.”
*Gently touching the back of their right hand*
*Begin to snap (click) your fingers frequently*
“You’ll notice the more I snap my fingers, the stiffer your hand
will get. It locks in to place tighter and tighter and harder and
harder and when, and only when you know your hand is
completely stuck, I want you to TRY and move your fingers, and
you will find that you can’t. The more you try to move your
fingers, the less you’re able to.”

At this point you will know if it has worked because they will react!
Most people begin to laugh as they try to move their fingers! You will
be able to see them physically struggling. Now you do not need to say
the above script exactly as written, please feel free to play with the
words slightly. I just want you maintain the same structure. Some
direct commands followed by “…when, and only when you know
your hand is completely stuck, I want you to TRY and move your
fingers, and you will find that you can’t.”

I love this line! You’ve just told them not to try and move their
fingers until they know that they’re stuck! So even if it takes 5
minutes (it never will) for their fingers to stick, during this time, they
won’t move because you’ve told them not to. So for anybody
watching, it already looks like they’re stuck! Then when they feel
they are stuck and they try to move them, they won’t be able to. Then
we have the next line, using another of my favourite techniques,
“The more you try to move your fingers, the less you’re able to.”
So now they’re stuck in a loop. They will keep trying to move their
fingers, so if your suggestion for them to become stuck has worked,
then this will also work! Keeping their hand locked.
Ok! Now I think we should recap before we go any further!

1. Frame of mind. (A particular mood that influences one's attitude or behaviour)

Subtext / positive thoughts / instant expert / authority

2. Ask a question that will shift the conversation to hypnosis or

hypnotic phenomena e.g.
“Have any of you ever been hypnotised before?”

3. Select a subject (Person to perform your suggestion with)

Somebody who has been hypnotised in the past with good results, or
somebody who appears to be paying good attention to you, making
eye contact with you, leaning slightly forwards etc.

4. Begin your opening script to begin the effect.

“I will do this with you. What is your name?”
Wait for response.
“Nice to meet you, are you ok to do this?”
Wait for response.
“Fantastic!”
*Performer reaches for a handshake*.

5. Take their hand.

Instead of completing the handshake, bring your left hand to their

forearm and use both of your hands to gently lift their arm up slightly,
again, no higher than chest height. Maintain eye contact with them as
you slowly begin to let go of their arm, seeing if the arm will support
its own weight. You can also do the three finger tapping as mentioned
earlier here if you wish. If their arm starts to pull away from you, use
an out. (See ‘What if it doesn’t work?’ chapter).

6. If their arm stays, begin your first suggestion script.

You don’t have to memorise the scripts in this book, just use them as
a guide to create your own scripts. It should be natural and in your
own words.

7. Turn them into a statue! Make their hand freeze in time!

At this point, it is good to use your first suggestion on making their
hand become completely stiff and locked into place.
“focus on the back of your hand, you will notice it becoming stiff,
like every muscle and bone in your hand is completely locked in
to place.”
*Gently touching the back of their right hand*
*Begin to snap (click) your fingers frequently*
“You’ll notice the more I snap my fingers, the stiffer your hand
will get. It locks in to place tighter and tighter and harder and
harder and when, and only when you know your hand is
completely stuck, I want you to TRY and move your fingers, and
you will find that you can’t. The more you try to move your
fingers, the less you’re able to.”

Don’t worry about repeating yourself. You can repeat yourself as

many times as you need until you get the results you want. If it
doesn’t look like its working right away, just repeat yourself with a bit
more force! Tell them that the more you snap your fingers, the stiffer
their hand will get. If you need to, tell them when you clap your
hands, their hand will get ten times (10x) stiffer until it completely
locks into place! If your subject starts to panic or looks a bit scared,
just tell them that it won’t scare them and it won’t hurt or be
uncomfortable in any way.

8. Step back and look at your work!

When they’re completely stuck, stop talking and let them experience
what is happening! It can be quite amusing, even for the performer, to
watch your subject as they struggle to move their fingers or their
hand! Usually they will begin to laugh as they try to move. You can
ask them what it feels like and tell them to describe the feeling to their
friends.

*Performance tip*
Every time I perform this, at some point, I like to do this. Feel free to
do this also as it adds to the ‘show’.

“Now as your hand is completely stuck, you might think that if I

left you like this, eventually you will become unstuck right? And
your hand will go back to normal? Well it’s actually the opposite!
You will see that the further away I get from you, the stiffer your
hand will get and it locks in to place even more!”
Now slowly walk backwards, away from them and watch their
reaction as their hand locks into place even more! You can throw this
in at any point in your performance. You can do it here or save it for
later, the choice is yours!

You can now take this further. You see, if you have gotten this far
with good results, there is no reason why you can’t do more! Your
subject and any other spectators will now have a growing belief in
you. You have now successfully demonstrated what you can do. They
have witnessed you ‘create as you speak’, which is the definition of
‘Abracadabra’ (I create as I speak). You are literally creating as you
speak!

The simplest way to begin taking this further once their hand is stuck;
“Now your hand will remain stuck, but this feeling will also begin
to spread up your arm to your elbow, then up to your shoulder, as
your whole arm becomes completely stuck, completely frozen!
Every muscle and every bone in your whole arm is now stuck, and
the more you try to move it, the less you’re able to!”

As you say the above, it is a good idea to place your hands on either
side of their arm, without touching them, maybe keep your hands 4-5
inches from their arm and move your hands up their arm slowly,
acting as if there is an invisible force going from your hands and into
their arm. This creates a great visual and also creates an apparent
process. The process of making their hand lock was the unusual
handshake and the touching of the back of their hand. The process of
making their arm lock could be the above. You see, unless you’ve
hypnotised the person, words alone won’t be enough to ‘sell’ the idea
to them that you’re actually doing something. So to create more belief
and more results, create a process for your subject to see, and they
will believe that this is what you need to do to make these things
happen to them.

If an Artist stands before you with a blank canvas and within seconds
a painting appears on it, you’d have a hard time believing that they
have just painted it right in front of you. However if you see them
take out a brush and paint and begin painting, you are seeing the
process, after that there is no reason why you wouldn’t believe they
have painted it. It is the same with suggestion, allow them to see you
painting the picture. Allow them to see your process.

After a few minutes of having a locked arm, you should probably

break your ‘spell’ and make their arm go back to normal.
To do this, you can do anything you want. I simply say,
“In a moment I will touch the back of your hand, and when I do,
your arm will return to the way it should be. Back to normal in
every way with no stiffness or locking.”
*Touch the back of their hand*
“And your arm is back to normal now, you can move it, it’s not
stuck anymore!”
Some people will be able to move their arm again instantly, with
others it looks like they’re slowly getting the movement back in their
arm. This is all in their head, but whatever they do, just go with it and
allow it to happen.

Congratulations! You have now successfully done your first

suggestion effect! When I am performing, after I have done all of the
above, I tend to just do only one or two more suggestion effects with
the person. There are a number of reasons for this.

1. Less is more. I like to keep it quite mysterious and just do a little

bit. If you do a lot, your audience will think they have seen
everything. If you only do a little, their imaginations will run wild as
they think about what else you might be able to do and what you
might be capable of. In their eyes this makes you an even greater
performer, as they will believe you can do things that they’ve only
thought of!

2. Time. As good as it may look, and it feels amazing to do these

effects, don’t take up too much time with them. Keep them short and
snappy. In this day and age, most modern audiences have such a
short attention span. So keep it quick, don’t lose their attention, which
will happen if you drag the performance on too long, no matter how
good it is.

3. After you’ve done one or two suggestion effects it won’t be long at

all before other spectators are asking you to do this with them.
There’s nothing more annoying than being half way through
something with someone, and another person interrupts you to ask
you to do it with them. It’s good to be finished with one person before
you move on to another. I tend to just do this with one person in a
group, but you can do it with others, especially now because they
have seen what you can do, they believe in you now. If they appear to
be open and willing to try, then by all means do something with them
too.
5. Stepping Beyond
So where can you go from here? You can do anything you want! Just
remember to start small until you’re confident enough with suggestion
to do bigger effects. Usually after I’ve done the arm lock, I will take
their hand, place it on the table with my hand on
top of theirs, applying gentle pressure as I say,

“STICK your hand on the table for me. Now with imagination
anything is possible. If you wanted to, you could imagine an
elephant is standing behind me. Can you do that? …Great! You
have a strong imagination! Now I want you to imagine that you’ve
just put your hand in some of the world’s strongest superglue and
it’s drying as we speak! This is the strongest glue in the world and
it’s beginning to stick your hand harder and harder to the table!
In a moment when I lift my hand you find that your hand is stuck
to the table and you’re unable to lift it! The stronger you can
imagine that glue, the harder your hand will become stuck to the
table! It just sticks more and more and NOW! Your hand is stuck
to the table! TRY to lift it!”

As I place their hand on the table I begin with saying “Stick your
hand on the table for me.” This is a direct command and if your
subject is suggestible enough, this first line will begin the process of
their hand sticking to the table, even if to them it just sounds like
you’re asking them to put their hand on the table. I keep my hand on
top of theirs until I tell them what will happen when I take my hand
away. I then start to talk about imagination, this is the beginning of
my process. “Anything is possible with imagination.” This line opens
up the idea of something happening if they use their imagination. I
then ask them to imagine an elephant standing behind me. I say this
very casually, as I don’t really want it to look like it is part of the
effect. The reason for the elephant is if they can imagine it well, it
gets their imagination fired up and also, if they can imagine the
elephant, they will have no problem imagining the next part, the
world’s strongest glue! I also have them imagine the elephant
standing behind me as it’s quite amusing to see them lean to the side
to look behind you to see an elephant that’s not even there! This is an
indicator that they have a good imagination. It is also a sign that you
might be able to do even bigger suggestion effects with them later on!
You will see in the script above that I said many times about their
hand getting stuck, I do this because I want to be sure that when I lift
my hand off theirs, their hand is stuck. Again, don’t worry about
repeating yourself, repetition can help you a lot. If, on the off chance
that their hand does begin to slowly lift from the table, I act like I
meant for that to happen. I just continue with,

“That’s great, and as I snap my fingers you hand will just get
heavier and heavier until it sticks back down to the table. The
next time your hand touches the table it will be completely stuck
and you will be unable to lift it.”
If I really have to, I will push their hand back down to the table and
say,
“As I push your hand down that glue just gets ten times stronger
and your hand sticks even harder to the table now!”

When their hand is stuck to the table, again step back and let them
experience it, ask them how it feels. If you wanted to, you could do
the walking away idea here, and leave them sticking more and more
to the table as you get further away from them.

*Performance Tip*

Through the years of performing this particular effect, I’ve seen

people misunderstand the reason why the subject’s hand is stuck to
the table, and they’ve reached over and pulled the hand up from the
table to try and prove that it isn’t really stuck. Idiots. So to avoid this,
early on in the effect when the subject’s hand first becomes stuck, say
to the other spectators or the rest of your audience,

“Now obviously if we try to lift his/her hand from the table, we

could because it’s not really stuck, however, the mind controls the
body, so in his/her mind that hand is stuck, so it’s his/her mind
stopping him/her from being able to lift it.”

Again, to release their hand from the table, you can do anything you
want. I just use the touch on the back of the hand as explained above.

You could use the imaginary glue presentation for this effect or make
up your own, it is up to you. If you decide to make your own, just
make sure it has a visible process to get the hand to stick.

I would recommend trying the handshake with the arm lock as your
first suggestion effect, as this is very good for ‘opening the gate’. It is
a good way to start your suggestion smoothly and quickly. Then if it
works well and you’ve got a suggestible subject, you can create
almost any effect you want. Physical effects are easy, such as the arm
lock, sticking their hand to the table, sticking their hands together in a
prayer position, making their arm float up by its self then they’re
unable to bring their arm down. You could have your subject get
stuck to the chair they’re sitting in so they cannot stand, or if they are
standing you can cause their feet to stick to the ground so they cannot
move! Some bolder effects could be making them unable to speak, or
unable to say their own name, forget numbers or letters etc. The
possibilities are endless, it just depends on how suggestible your
subject is, how confident you are at doing this and delivering your
lines or scripts well. The best way to get good at this is to just do it!
Throw yourself in at the deep end! If you’re already a performer of
some sort, then do a bit of what you normally do first until you feel
comfortable with the people you’re performing for, then after you’ve
gained some rapport with your spectators you could try some
suggestion. I promise it will not look out of place. You don’t need to
be a mentalist or a hypnotist to do this after performing your usual
material. You can do suggestion effects after card routines if you
wish. I did for three years.
Try creating a process, or presentation for the above effects. I
purposely didn’t include presentations for them in this book as I want
to encourage you to create your own in your own style! When you’re
creating your scripts, just make sure they have a similar pattern to
those in this book. Say them with a bit of force and meaning. Believe
in what you’re saying because if you don’t, nobody else will.

When creating your presentations it is always good to try and include

some participation of other spectators. So for example, you could
have your subject’s arm float up in to the air by itself and they can’t
pull it down no matter how hard they try. Then have them imagine a
piece of string tied to their wrist and when someone slowly pulls the
string down, their arm will go down with it, then when the string is
released the arm will float back up. As long as you tell your subject
that this is what will happen, it will work. So now you can have a
spectator control your subject’s arm!

There is a recent video of me performing the handshake, arm lock,

hand stuck to table etc on YouTube, so you can see the whole process
here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JkJJF2Td6Q

This was filmed at a café I was performing at. There were two guys
sitting at the table and I had been there for a few minutes doing
normal routines before I decided to do some suggestion. I opened
with my normal question, “Have either of you ever been hypnotised
before?” They both said no and one of them asked me if hypnosis
only works on weak minded people. I have a great answer for this
which we will talk about later. They both seemed quite sceptical
about hypnosis so I changed my approach to this. I turned to one of
the guys and said, “Do you believe you have a strong imagination?
Ok, let’s do a little experiment involving your imagination. Do you
mind if we film this?” I then handed my phone to his friend to start
recording. You will notice low audio in the video until around 3:35,
as the guy filming had his finger over the microphone. Listen with
headphones if possible so you can hear what is being said. You will
find that a lot of what I say has been covered in this book. Also my
performance in the video is a little rushed, you can take your time
with what you are doing, I was in a loud venue with a lot of tables to
get around and I was full of energy, hence the fast talking. I saw the
opportunity to get a quick video and took it. My handshake in the
video appears fast and a bit forceful. Keep in mind you can do it as
slow or as fast as you want. In the performance you will also be able
to see how easy it is to transition from one effect to another. Once I
knew his hand was stuck I knew my other suggestions would work
too. You will also see my use of large hand gestures and exaggerated
body language. This was not for the table I was performing at, but for
any other table or group watching me. This goes back to what we
were talking about earlier with authority etc.
6. What if it Doesn’t Work?
There will be some times when you get right up to delivering
suggestions for their hand to lock in to place, and then you tell them
that they cannot move their fingers, but suddenly they start to move
their fingers with no locking. Now don’t let this put you off, it
happens to all of us. After you’ve had some practice and you get used
to suggestion and dealing with people in this way, you will start to be
able to make better judgements on each situation you find yourself in,
and this alone will get you positive results more frequently. But for
those times that it doesn’t quite work, here is a little toolkit you can
use to reframe the situation.

1. I.P (Insist and Persist)

This is a bit of a bold move, but repeat yourself. This time with a
more forceful tone of voice. Do not raise your voice or get angry, just
insist that it will begin to lock more and more (or whatever effect you
are doing). Your persistence will make the spectator start to believe
that it is their fault that their hand isn’t locking. They feel slightly
more awkward and uncomfortable, and you might start to get results
from there.

2. Concentration Ploy.
You could say, “Now I want you to close your eyes, it will help you
to concentrate. As I snap my fingers your hand will begin to lock
in to place even more. When you feel your hand start to lock in to
place and you cannot move it, you can open your eyes and have a
look. Until then, just keep them closed and concentrate.”
This can help for obvious reasons, but there is also something sneaky
at work. With the above sentence, you have basically told them to
close their eyes and not open them until their hand is locked! I’ve
been using this since I was 17 years old and I have used it many times
to get the results that I want. If your spectator is in an uncomfortable
position with their arm in front of them or their hands up or something
else, and you ask them to close their eyes and they’re not allowed to
open them until something happens, you can bet that it won’t be long
before you start to get results. People don’t want to be sat in public
places with their eyes closed for too long, so whether consciously or
unconsciously, they will make your suggestion work. If you choose to
do this, remember that your subject might be faking the effect just to
get it over with so they can open their eyes again. If this happens you
should just thank them for taking part and compliment them on how
well they did. This keeps them happy to continue pretending that the
suggestion worked. My aim is to never make people fake suggestion,
if it isn’t working on them I would rather know, but don’t forget what
is important, the appearance. If you have an audience watching, it is
better that they see that something happened rather than something
not working.
 3. Confusion
As mentioned earlier, confusion is a great tool that can be used when
doing effects based on suggestion. When someone who we have even
an ounce of respect for is talking to us, and they have our full
attention, we listen to and understand what they are saying. The
moment they say something that doesn’t quite make sense, our brain
scrambles to try and make sense of it. The moment they say
something that makes sense again, psychologically we relax, our train
is back on the track. So if you have your subject’s full attention and
you deliver quite a confusing sentence or question, give them some
time to think about what you said, as this is when the confusion
builds, but don’t leave them with enough time to answer you, so after
a few seconds you should continue talking. Usually one or two
sentences is enough, when you can clearly see that they are confused
you can start giving suggestions and instructions that make sense, as
this is what they will hold on to. It is their life vest while they’re
drowning in the sea of confusion. A good confusing sentence or
question doesn’t have to be a mind blowing piece of language, just
something that sounds like a genuine question but doesn’t quite
makes sense and takes some thought to try an understand. It could
even be some instructions that you give them that aren’t quite clear
enough to understand right away. If they cannot make sense of the
instructions they will be waiting for you to deliver them again with a
bit more clarity, they will force themselves to pay closer attention.
Their mind is open at this point. Here is a good place to drop your
suggestions.

4. Compliance tests
Once you have chosen your subject, before you start your suggestion
you could do some compliance tests with them. This will get them
used to following directions so it will be a bit easier for them to
accept suggestions later, and will also give you a chance to see how
well they can do what you ask/tell them to do. Compliance tests can
be as simple as asking them to sit up straight, place their hands on

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their lap, look at you etc. If you can do a few of these before you start
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you will be conditioning them to follow your instructions, so you will
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increase your chances of the suggestion working when you apply it.
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Try not to use the same tests every time. Change them up a bit
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depending on the situation you are in.

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5. Belief
Make them believe in you! You don’t have to convince them that you
have special powers or abilities, but you do have to convince them
that you are an expert in what you are doing, you’ve done it many
times before and that what you are doing really happens. You can say
and do anything you need to make them believe. Using the techniques
at the beginning of this book you will be able to do this.
 6. Dead!
This is my go to out. I used to use it as a standalone piece, but now I
only ever use it as an out if my suggestion isn’t really working. This is
a suggestion based pulse stop, however the suggestion is used in a
clever way.
Imagine you have done your handshake and given your suggestions
for the hand to lock in to place, and you get nothing. No stiffness
whatsoever and they can move their hand just fine. Step back and say,
“Ah ok, that is interesting. You felt nothing at all? That’s
strange.” Then select another person in the group, subject number 2.
You should select someone who also fits the criteria of a good,
suggestible subject. Don’t put too much thought into your choice as
this, for me, works 99% of the time regardless of who I choose. Ask
them to take the wrist of subject number 1 and feel their pulse. Ask
them to tap their fingers on the table in time to the pulse and say,
“You are tapping in time to the pulse just so that we can all see
what happens. If the pulse speeds up, you speed up and if it slows
down, I want you to slow down.” Hold your hand above subject 1’s
wrist in a slightly theatrical manner and say to subject 2, “Ok, don’t
skip a beat, but you will feel the pulse begin to slow down now!
Each beat will get softer and slower, and in a moment you won’t
be able to feel any pulse at all. The pulse will stop, now!” Moments
later, the pulse stops. After leaving a short space for reactions, you
then say, “When I wave my hand over your wrist, the pulse will
come back again.”
So what is happening here? The suggestion is being used on subject 2,
but you are acting as though what you are doing is being used on
subject 1. After doing your handshake and putting so much emphasis
on your subject’s hand, if your suggestion doesn’t work it is good to
at least do something with this person’s hand. If it suits your style you
could go in to a palm reading demonstration at this point, but I urge
you to try this pulse stop as it feels like you’re doing real magic!
Subject 2 doesn’t know that you are doing anything to them, they
believe that everything you are doing is for subject 1. This means that
their guard will be down. They are not making any judgements as
they think that they’re only there to take the pulse. They are not aware
that something is happening to them. Some would call this a form of
‘covert hypnosis’.
Subject 2 has three things they have to deal with, and as you talk you
are giving them more things they have to keep track of. Sooner or
later their mind kind of overloads, and to deal with the situation their
mind just picks the key instruction to follow, which is that the pulse
will stop, and forgets the rest. Of course the pulse never actually stops
but subject 2 just stops feeling it. So let’s take a look at what they are
dealing with. Firstly, they are touching someone and feeling their
pulse. This is weird enough for them, especially if they do not know
the person. Secondly, they have to tap the fingers of their other hand
on the table in time to the pulse, one tap for every beat they feel.
Thirdly they are trying to pay attention to what you are saying. Now
you’re about to throw a psychological spanner in the works.
“…If the pulse speeds up, you speed up and if it slows down, I
want you to slow down.” When you say the words ‘I want you to
slow down’, try and say it as if wasn’t the original end of your
sentence. Almost as if they were going too fast and you’ve had to stop
what you were saying to tell them to slow down. Then there is your
hand gesture. Just hold it up as if you are doing something. This is
your process. In the eyes of the spectators, this is what you need to do
to make the pulse stop.
“…Don’t skip a beat…” Or you could say don’t ‘miss’ a beat. This
works in the same way that old trick ‘don’t think of a black cat’
works. Before we go further, I’d just like to clarify how that actually
works. When you hear the words ‘don’t think of a black cat’ what do
you do? You think of a black cat. This is not because the words ‘think
of a black cat’ are there in the sentence, your brain isn’t hearing a
secret command to think of a black cat, it is just verbal imagery.
Descriptive words that naturally create a picture in our minds. Your
brain conjures up the image and shows it to you to try and help you
better understand what is being said. So by saying ‘skip a beat’ or
‘miss a beat’ you’re putting the idea in their head whilst disguising it
as a normal sentence. You are then telling them what is going to
happen. After that you are telling them that each beat will get slower
and softer. There you have another two things they’re trying to notice
or be aware of. Sometimes they stop almost instantly and say they
cannot feel the pulse, others take a little while longer. If they are
taking longer, just keep going with your script!
“It will just get slower and slower, each beat will get softer and it
will stop!”
Once again the pulse won’t actually stop, they will just stop being
able to feel it. When the pulse stops, tell them to keep hold of their
wrist because you need to bring the pulse back. A beautiful
presentational point that I use at every opportunity is if you can cast a
shadow over the arm of subject 1 with your hand, do it! Then bring
the shadow of your hand slowly down their arm, as you say,
“Watch my hand and you will feel the pulse come back now!”
Time your wording so that as you say the word ‘now’ the shadow of
your hand passes over the person’s wrist. It will look like your
shadow brought the pulse back.

If you like this pulse stop, and you like the idea of stopping a
spectator’s pulse, I recommend that you also check out Luke Jermay’s
amazing pulse stop called For Andruzzi, which can be found on his
DVD Skullduggery.

7. Bail out!
If you absolutely have to, you can just say, “Ok great! That is
interesting, this tells me a lot about how your mind works. I think this
will be perfect for you. You have the right mind for this.” Then just
go right in to any other effect that you perform. Don’t worry about
saying this, just keep it short and sweet. Don’t turn it into a big long
cold reading and don’t add too much justification as to why it didn’t
work. If you make the above script any longer you will make it
memorable. You don’t want them to remember the time you weirdly
shook their hand and nothing happened. Just move on quickly. Also
never admit that it didn’t work. If you say something didn’t work, you
are telling them you failed. Just leave them to think that it’s
something you had to do in order for your next effect to work with
them.
 8. FAQ from Audience
Some questions you will often get asked when doing this kind of
thing and some answers you can give.

Can you hypnotise me?

Unless you actually can, you could mysteriously answer with:
“You’re already hypnotised.”
Or:
“Everyone hypnotises themselves every single day. Daydreaming is a
form of hypnosis, and I want to show you something based on that.”
Then use them for your suggestion if they look like they’re genuinely
interested.

Can anyone be hypnotised?

“Everyone can to a certain extent. It depends if you’re using it for
therapy , entertainment or anything else.”

Does it only work on weak minded people?

I hate this question. You can answer with:
“There’s no such thing as strong or weak minded and Hypnosis has
nothing to do with intellect.”
Or you could say this. I love this line. I first heard it from my friend
and psychic entertainer Jon Scotland. I do not know who the line
originates from, so if anyone reading this does happen to know, please
let me know so I can give proper credit. The line is:
“If you are of average or above intelligence, you can be hypnotised.”
Take a look at what you are saying with this line! You are saying that
if they are unable to be hypnotised, they’re stupid! Of course they are
not actually stupid, but nobody wants to appear unintelligent. So after
saying this you will find that suddenly you have an audience full of
intelligent people who, of course, can be hypnotised!

I don’t believe in hypnosis.

Not really a question but it can still be answered. Now there are
hundreds of responses to this. Enough to write a book on. Maybe I
will some day. Anyway I don’t want you to get into too much of a
conversation about hypnosis when you’re about to use suggestion, so
you could answer with:
“Most people have only ever seen hypnosis in movies or cartoons,
and in those movies or cartoons the hypnosis is exaggerated or
changed drastically into something that it is not. So when you say you
don’t believe in hypnosis, really you’re saying you don’t believe in
what you think hypnosis is. So tell me, what do you think hypnosis
is?” Wait for their answer, and then whatever they say, respond with,
“Exactly! I wouldn’t believe that either!” Unless they’ve studied
hypnosis, no layperson will ever give you an accurate description of
hypnosis. If they then turn around and ask you what is hypnosis? You
can briefly say “Hypnosis is a state of mind. I won’t bore you with the
details so let me give you an example.” Then proceed with your
suggestion.
Don’t allow your spectators to corner you in to a question and answer
session, you’re not there for that. It has happened to me many times in
the past and it is very annoying. Don’t talk for too long with your
answers or you will be there forever. Be ready like a machine gun to
deliver short and rapid answers to their questions, then when you find
a gap, quickly jump in and carry on with your performance. I can’t
count how many times I’ve been stuck answering questions. I
understand that people are intrigued about hypnosis and want to know
more, but you’re not an educator, you’re an entertainer, a performer,
an artist.
 9. Final Thoughts

It is bold, it is scary but if you go out armed with the information

from this book you will be fine. Know what you are going to do
before you do it. Practice in your head, practice out loud when you’re
alone and believe in yourself. Don’t worry too much about finding the
perfect subject. People want to see performers and they want you to
succeed. If you have a mysterious talent or ability, people want to see
it and experience it. If in their eyes you are a professional, you capture
100% of their attention and you direct them properly, you won’t have
anything to worry about! It does seem like there is a lot to learn in this
book, but once you’ve read through it and you understand it, and
you’ve had a bit of practice, it becomes second nature. A lot of the
techniques in this book can be used with other things and I’m sure
while you were reading you found something that would work well in
other aspects of your performing or even your life! Once you start
doing suggestion, you get hooked! It is addictive, it feels like real
magic. If you want to learn hypnosis this is a great starting point. The
problem with hypnosis is, there are so many misconceptions and
different beliefs that it can all get in the way of your subjects actually
allowing it to happen. Suggestion is like a little hypnosis baby and it
cuts past all of the baggage that comes with hypnosis and allows you
to perform more with more people. So learn this first, then move on to
learning hypnosis! Earlier on we mentioned bypassing the critical
factor. Well anything that your critical factor does not reject, goes in
to your subconscious mind and essentially, becomes a part of your
belief system. So if your subjects believe in you, then that is you, the
performer, past their critical factor. Then all that is left is for you to
present them with these ideas and suggestions, and if they’ve not seen
them before then they cannot judge them. It might not seem logical to
them, but the subconscious mind works off of emotion, not logic, so if
you can give their conscious mind enough reason for what you say
and do to be true, then in their subconscious mind it will become true.
The subconscious doesn’t know the difference between real and
imaginary, that is why dreams feel real. Neither does it understand
past and future. It lives in the present. So if you can tell someone’s
subconscious mind that their hand is NOW STUCK, you will find that
their hand becomes stuck. And so, by definition, you are creating as
you speak. Abracadabra.

Lewis Le Val.
 10. Acknowledgements
Due to the psychological nature of what is taught in this book, there is
only a certain amount of ways it can be taught, with the main
differences coming from opinion, belief, interpretation,
understanding, technique and experience. This book contains a variety
of techniques, some of which may not be original. I have discovered
these techniques through my own studies and experience, and
development of public domain knowledge. In my professional,
working performances I use all of the techniques in this book and
more, which may be released in a follow up publication. I have taught
some of these techniques to enough performers who have made great
progress with them, to have confidence that you will also make great
progress. If you need any advice or have any questions, or need to
contact me for any reason, please do not hesitate to email me at
lewis@lewisleval.com or contact me through my website
www.lewisleval.com

If you’re interested in learning impromptu hypnosis, I recommend

you take a look at Anthony Jacquin’s work. He has many products in
different formats, all dedicated to teaching you hypnosis.

James Tripp also has some brilliant material out there you should take
a look at. Notably ‘Hypnosis Without Trance’.
Dee Christopher has many effects, techniques and subtleties through
his work using genuine suggestion. He also has some pseudo
suggestion methods, to create the illusion of suggestion and hypnotic
phenomena. All of which would go hand in hand with the techniques
from this book.

If you are interested in learning more suggestion routines you should

take a look at Luke Jermay’s work. He has many incredible effects
involving suggestion that feel like real magic to perform.

Fraser Parker has an amazing DVD/book combo called ‘True

Mysteries’ available from www.the1914.com. Fraser teaches many
effects that look like hypnosis and suggestion without the need of
hypnosis or suggestion. I highly recommend it.
Thank you;
Marc Carney
Dave Elman
Milton Erickson
Richard Bandler
Dee Christopher
Daniel Madison
Gianni Vox
Peter Turner
Steven Palmer
Ben Seward
Marc Spelmann
Anthony Jacquin
Luke Jermay
Fraser Parker
The 52
Cassandra
&
Thank you reader.
WWW.LEWISLEVAL.COM