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First Printing July 2007 Printed in the United States of America by PeachTree Professional Education, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication or its artwork may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or any other - without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. PeachTree Professional Education, Inc. PO Box 121 Andover, KS 67002 (800) 390-9536 (888) 68-HYPNO www.LearnClinicalHypnosis.com www.HypnosisGurus.com
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The Secret Concepts Detailed for Stage Show Success141 Secret Closing Comments...149 Two Minute Commercial ..150
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www.NGH.net, and we strongly advise those with a serious interest in hypnosis to become a part of this worldwide organization. We further recommend that all stage performers also receive a comprehensive educational foundation in clinical hypnosis. Many stage performers do not come from a clinical background and thus do not realize how well clinical hypnosis can help prepare you for the many challenging situations that may arise on stage, as well as how it can provide a far deeper understanding of the tools of your stage show trade - hypnotic phenomena.
Feel free to contact www.LearnClinicalHypnosis.com for additional information concerning training opportunities in clinical hypnosis. And please visit www.HypnosisGurus.com for more stage hypnosis training. ~ Richard K. Nongard ~ Michael Johns
opportunity to read their work and watch their DVDs on hypnosis practice, and I welcome the privilege of expressing my personal comments here. It is gratifying to know that Michael and Richard have written a book that dissects the secrets of stage hypnosis and educates on the mechanics in a way that helps the general hypnotist to become more confident and more successful at a higher plane of performance. The Little Black Book of Stage Hypnosis Secrets gives the hypnotist tools that he or she will use in every future hypnotic engagement. Today, more than ever before, individuals are seeking alternative ways of helping themselves. Many TV and mainstream publications now advocate the rethinking of hypnosis as a viable integration into scientific medicine for behavioral and medical benefits. Hypnosis is a way to enjoy better health and achieve piece of mind and success in life. Michael and Richard openly share with their readers their secret techniques and scripts that can be used not only for entertainment, but to also help a client reach his or her potential for healthy changes. Their purpose with this text is to acquaint both the beginner and the advanced practitioner with the most up-to-date methods and techniques proven to be successful by professional hypnotists. These are simple strategies that anyone can quickly learn; techniques that make it possible to harness a dynamo of mental energy that will produce the desired outcomes for the person being hypnotized and give confidence to the hypnotist. We only use 10% of our mental capacity. Imagine the potential when we tap into that other 90%. Richard and Michaels techniques are effective as a key to open the minds energy toward making the positive and healthy changes we all need.
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As a nurse and a practicing hypnotist, I can personally vouch for the many benefits derived from hypnosis, and there are many things a hypnotist can do to help others make life changes by using a book such as this one. Knowing how to manage suggestions successfully and how to develop personal confidence and values as a hypnotist is what this book achieves. It teaches the reader the techniques of utilizing the power of suggestion to help others, even through entertainment. The Little Black Book of Stage Hypnosis Secrets is written specifically for the hypnotist who wants to improve their current skills or to look more earnestly into a career as a stage hypnotist. You, the reader, will share in the knowledge and experience of two masters in the field of hypnosis. Use it well.
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why they chose to do this instead of that and so forth, thus rendering the video practically useless for your needs. Or, maybe you have the basics down, but you want to master your induction - figure out how long to make it, which styles work best in different venues, etc. So, you go to as many hypnosis shows as you can, and you buy more videos of other hypnotists shows - and when you get home you sadly discover that they cut the boring parts out and go right into the show itself. Unfortunately for you, that boring part was the induction you wanted to see and study. Michael Johns and Richard Nongard know this is the case because they experienced these same aggravations themselves back when they first got started in the business. So, in order to save you some time and frustration and answer all these questions and more, they have put together this introductory textbook full of secrets to explain many of the things that hypnotists do on stage. In The Little Black Book of Stage Hypnosis Secrets, you will dissect the mechanics of the stage hypnosis show, starting at the very beginning with the pre-talk and working all the way through to the dehypnotizing and dismissal. You will also be able to study the Michael Johns Las Vegas Stage Induction word by word and analyze each component to understand exactly why he does what he does and how it creates such successful shows. Whether you are simply curious because you have been fascinated by stage hypnosis and wonder why a seemingly normal person would act so crazy up on stage in front of all their friends, or because you want to begin a career in stage hypnosis yourself, this book will provide the ah ha! answers you seek.
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word hypnos and is, unfortunately, a misnomer, because sleep is not really what occurs. We do not put our subjects to sleep on stage during a stage hypnosis show. A hypnotized subject simply moves from a state of a high-level of alertness to a state of deep, focused concentration. A short technical discussion may help to explain it a little better. Science has determined that there are four levels of normal brain activity. The first is the beta level. In this level, a persons brain cycles between eighteen and forty cycles per second (18-40cps). This is a state of alertness, where critical thought occurs. When people come to a stage hypnosis show, usually they are with their friends and trying to make the decision, Am I going to go up on stage, or not? They are at a heightened state of alertness. They are thinking about the potential fun and/or consequences. What if I look silly on stage? and those sorts of things. This is beta level. The second stage of brain level activity is the alpha state, which is between eight and eighteen cycles per second (818cps). This is where relaxation and light hypnotic trance occurs. The first thing we do at the beginning of a show is have the subjects take a deep breath and begin to relax. Now, it may seem a little paradoxical that in order to have people do exciting and dynamic fun things on stage we must first bring
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them down to state of relaxation, but this must occur so that we can focus their concentration. We do this by using the induction. You want your subjects to be in the lower levels of alpha and in the next or third level, the theta level of functioning, where creativity is unleashed, where suggestibility becomes a paramount phenomenon, where things like negative or positive hallucinations, hypnotic amnesia and catalepsy can occur. We move the subjects to a theta level of brain functioning, between four and seven cycles per second (4-7cps), with deepening skits. It is important for you to realize that subjects on stage may function at any one of these three levels at any given time. They will go from deep level of trance to a lighter level of trance to a deeper level of trance, essentially cycling up and down throughout the entire show. You can help control these levels by the kinds of deepening skits and language you use. The fourth and deepest level of brain functioning is called delta level, at one to three cycles per second (1-3cps). This is where true sleep and dream states occur. This is not where we want our subjects in a stage hypnosis show, which is one of the reasons why we find it very difficult to work with those who have been drinking heavily or smoking marijuana, because they will easily enter the delta level of brain functioning. This makes for a boring stage show, because they just lay there and sleep.
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Being part of a stage hypnosis show is one of the most entertaining things a person can do, and people know that. They send their friends up, they send their family up, they send themselves up - to have fun. So, you do not have to worry about people not having fun, because stage hypnosis is fun, and people want to have fun.
Stage hypnosis always works because the numbers are in your favor.
Stage hypnosis is a numbers game. A lady once asked, How do you really get everybody to do all those silly things on stage? The answer is in the numbers. If you have 200 people in an audience, and you bring fourteen of them up on stage, and you keep nine of them, can you get those nine people to do some silly things on stage demonstrating hypnotic phenomena? Absolutely.
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As a matter of fact, you can take a room with 200 people and get nine of them to come up on stage and do silly things without hypnotizing them. The numbers are certainly in your favor.
Stage hypnosis always works because hypnotic phenomena are natural occurrences.
Hypnosis is easy for people to do. We ask people to close their eyes, we ask them to relax, we ask them to concentrate, and we ask them to create visualizations. We give them direct suggestions. None of that is particularly difficult to do, and people are comfortable with these natural concepts.
Stage hypnosis always works because you are in control of your environment.
This is very important for you to remember, and will be one of the keys to your success. You always control the environment where you work, and your response to it. When you do a stage hypnosis show, a waitress may spill a drink. You may have a drunk in the audience become a heckler, or have bartenders making margaritas in blenders buzzing in the background during the induction. But you have control over these things. You will simply learn to incorporate these distractions into the phenomena that your subjects experience on stage.
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Stage hypnosis always works when you understand the basic mechanics of hypnosis.
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Richard Nongard, having both a magic and clinical hypnosis background, tends to present a little more formal or mysterious style with his stage show. Richard wears a suit and tie, and keeps things relatively clean. Richard just is not good with jokes - and he knows it - and so he simply does not tell them. Instead, he creates humor simply by having his subjects do funny stuff all throughout the show. Michael Johns, on the other hand, comes from a comedy background and markets his show as the funniest ticket you can buy on the Las Vegas Strip. He is a little more casual and wears expensive t-shirts with jeans and a tuxedo jacket, and tells joke after joke between bits. You know who you are and what you are comfortable with, so use these traits to perfect your style. Be yourself, but be the best you you can be.
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PRE- SHOW MUSIC SECRETS PRE The pre-show music is the music that plays while the audience comes in and sits down. You are still in the back. No one has come out on stage yet, not even your assistant, if you have one. Pre-show music needs to set the vibe or the tone for the show. It lets people know, Hey, theres a party in here! Were going to have a great time! You want people to be comfortable when they come in. They may be a little bit nervous because they do not really know what to expect. Maybe they have never seen a stage show before, or maybe they have and are trying to decide whether they will go up tonight or not. The music helps put them at ease and gets them relaxed and ready to have some fun. Some hypnotists use popular rock or dance music that you would hear on the radio. This sense of familiarity helps increase the comfort factor of the audience - they know these songs and they are right at home. Other hypnotists may choose more astral or new age sounding music and that is fine too, as it sets a more mystical tone for the show, and increases the audiences anticipation of something amazing to come. Either way, the music should also put you in the groove, pump you up, and get you ready to go on.
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If the doors open thirty-minutes before the show, you will want to organize the play list so that they rock up or become more intense as it gets closer to show time. You have got to be ready to go the instant you are announced, and the music is a really important part of that. The last two songs should really pump up both the audience and yourself.
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PRE- TALK SECRETS PRE Once the audience is assembled, the hypnotist is announced. The hypnotist takes the stage and the show begins immediately - with the pre-talk. The pre-talk is truly the most important part of your show because it sets it up. From the instant you walk on the stage, you have just a short amount of time to make the people trust you, make them like you, and get them on stage. And, if you cannot make the audience like you, you must at least get them to trust you. Some nights, no matter what you do, they just do not like you, but if you get some of them to trust you, you can have a successful show. The pre-talk builds rapport with the audience and sets the tone for the night. All the books you read, all the videos you watch, everything you learned about hypnosis is absolutely useless without an effective pre-talk. If you do not do a good pre-talk, you are not going to be able to do a good induction, and the show will go downhill from there. In fact, if you do not do a good pre-talk, it really does not matter if you can do a good induction or not, because no one will bother to go up on stage to be hypnotized.
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Education is important, and the pre-talk helps to overcome myths about hypnosis.
People have weird ideas about hypnosis. Everyone thinks they know what hypnosis is, and most really have no clue. All people really know is what they have seen on TV or in movies like Office Space, so they may think they can become stuck in hypnosis, and this kind of misinformation is what they are thinking about when they come to your show. Another myth about hypnosis is that the hypnotist is in total control, like a puppeteer. This comes from the old Bela Lugosi Dracula movies, with lines like, Look into my eyes, deep into my eyes. You are now under my magic spell. People have to know the truth about hypnosis - that it is a natural phenomenon, and that the devil is not going to climb inside of their mind and suck out their soul during the induction process. A lot of religious people really believe this, because they simply do not understand what hypnosis is all about. The pre-talk is your opportunity to explain what hypnosis is and how it works, in effort to dispel the misbeliefs of the audience so they will be comfortable enough with the concept to relax and want to participate.
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Letting the audience know these kinds of legal facts can help assure them that, as the person in charge of the show, you will be taking no liberties or unnecessary risks when they get up on stage.
But be careful to not be too clinical. Sometimes new stage hypnotists want to sound like they are very knowledgeable, which is great because knowledge instills confidence. However, instead of being reassuring, they often tend to speak over the audiences head or sound like they are talking down to them. Pre-talk is the time to inform briefly, not lecture. You have to keep it simple - if for no other reason than the comedy club gave you an hour and fifteen minute time slot. They have another show coming in later and must prepare the room when you are done, and the audience wants to see the silly stuff, not submit to a college lecture, so you cannot spend all your time explaining the history or science of hypnosis.
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Wow, not only was the show funny and amazing, but the hypnotist was just a nice person to hang out with for an evening! They will tell all their friends about what a good time they had, and whoever booked you will want you to come back again, and again.
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PRE- TALK CONVINCER SECRETS PRE Convincers are really just another part of the pre-talk. At the beginning of the show, a lot of people may be sitting on their hands or with their arms or legs crossed, and that is not good body language for the audience to be receptive to you. They paid for the show but we also want them to be emotionally invested in it; we want them involved. So, we use convincers - short activities for the whole audience to do - to get them participating and let them know that they too can be hypnotized. These are just little teasers that help set the tone and increase the comfort factor. For openers, try this: If you have a drink in your hand, set it down. Sit up and uncross your legs. Take a deep breath and relax. Let your palms rest on your thighs. This instantly opens the people up and gets them a little more involved. Once a person is open, they are ready to participate in the show. If they follow this simple instruction, they are more likely to follow your other suggestions.
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Then, as you are explaining hypnosis in the pre-talk, you can give them certain things that they can try for themselves while still in the audience. There are a zillion different convincers you could use, and we will address four of the more classic ones here.
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You can switch that candy to the left or the right side of your mouth. You can even chomp down on that candy if you want to, or you can suck on it and enjoy it, or whatever your preference is. Now, open your eyes.
Following this demonstration you will want to ask the audience, by a show of hands, who could feel or taste or smell the lemon drops. Could they picture the lemon drop in their mind? Or feel it in their hand? Did they taste the sweetness, the sourness, the hardness? Did they salivate? This is a powerful convincer because it creates a physiological response; it incorporates a persons sensory perceptions in to the process. If you do this with a group of 200 people, they are going to have all kinds of different responses - and you do not care what those responses are as long as you get a response. When they do experience something - anything - they say, Wow! I too must be hypnotizable, so Im going up on stage.
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See, they came right apart now, didnt they? People in the audience will be scrunching up their faces and groaning, Grrrr, and squeezing so hard and trying to unlock their hands at the same time. And, the people whose hands are locked say, Wow! I too can be hypnotized. Thats amazing!
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Excellent. Now relax. You can now pull your fingers apart. See, they came right apart now, didnt they?
This is a very powerful convincer. It is fun, gets people to relax a little bit and involves them in the show, even before it has started. And, this convincer has nothing to do with hypnosis. It is simply the specific use of the muscles that causes this reaction. But it does demonstrate the power of the mind, concentration, and suggestibility. Some people will say, Oh, wow. It really worked! So you say, Great! If your fingers came together, that shows you the ability to concentrate and focus, and thats all you need to be hypnotized. So, come on up to the stage! Then, you will see people who are just trying and trying to keep those fingers apart, but you can make that work to your advantage. You say,
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There are a lot of people out there who dont want to have fun tonight. Come on, dont fight the rubber band; just let your fingers snap together. And, some people will continue to resist, and will not allow their fingers to come together, and they will tell you so. That is fine, too. You say, Great! If you didnt let your fingers came together, that shows you the ability to concentrate and focus, and thats all you need to be hypnotized. So, come on up to the stage! Either way, you have new subjects.
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L and a Circle
Take your hand and hold it up nice and high, like this. Stretch it all the way up. If somebody does not, or just to make a joke, you can make a point such as: Hey, mister, hold it up here - not down there, thats a different show - hold your hand way up here! Thats right, much better! Now, take this hand and make an L. Now take your L and make a circle. Ok, now folks, what I want you to do is look at your circle. Look back at my circle. Keep your eyes on my circle. Now very, very quickly, with your eyes on my circle, take your circle and place it directly on your chin.
As soon as you say chin, your hand-circle needs to move quickly and touch your cheek, because they are watching your hands circle. This little experiment serves as a perfect explanation of how hypnosis works - the bypassing of the critical factor - because they just did it.
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They are listening to your words - and watching your hand but you are going to bypass their critical factor by physically doing something different than what you said. As soon as they do this - put their circle on their cheek like you did - instead of their chin like you said to - they were essentially hypnotized for that brief instant. And they were amazed.
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The induction builds on the pre-talk by further developing rapport and trust. During the induction, people become familiar and comfortable with your voice. You are their focal point, and that leads to relaxation of the subject, so you want to assure them that everything you do and say from this point forward is intended to help them go deeper into hypnosis, because you want them to feel good. Now you have ten, fifteen or twenty or so people up on stage, and it is time to begin the induction. Throughout the induction phase your goal is to focus the subjects concentration on you; you want to remove the audience from their attention and distract them from all the crap going on in their every day life, and to focus them on everything that you suggest to them. You have already assured them in the pre-talk that if they do these things, they will have the best seat in the house - they are going to have more fun than anyone, and they are going to feel better than they have ever felt before. Induction locks the stage subjects onto the pre-talk ideas: You are going to be hypnotized tonight. You are going to enjoy it. You are going to be able to do real well. You are going to feel good. All you have to do is close your eyes and follow my suggestions. You are going to be glad you came up. So, when you ask them to close their eyes for the induction and they follow along, you are off to a great start.
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from most folks, you know that that you likely need to take your induction a little bit further and try different things.
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Ormond McGill tells us that four things must be present for convincers and suggestions to work.
You want the subject to be locked into experiencing the phenomenon that you are asking them to experience. Locking their mind onto one task and one task only, focusing their concentration, is key to success.
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You, as a hypnotist, have these same kinds of options and choices when creating your induction. There are numerous accepted styles and strategies available to choose from or combine, but in the end, they will all (hopefully) induce trance in your stage subjects.
In this section, we will overview some of the more effective and thus more commonly used - induction styles, including Progressive Muscle Relaxation, Eye Fixation and the Dave Elman Induction. Then we will go over The Michael Johns Stage Induction word for word, and also dissect each component of it, piece by piece.
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Now let go of all of the tension of the day. Any muscles in your body where you are carrying tension, simply let them go loose. You want your body to become loose and limp like a pile of rubber bands. Now focus on the muscles of the brow and around your eyes. The face has over two hundred little tiny muscles in it. Relax all of those little tiny muscles in your face. Feel the muscles in your neck and across your shoulders and simply let them go loose and limp. As relaxation travels from your brow through the muscles of your face and your neck into your shoulders, allow the tension to disappear through your arms and out of your fingertips. Any noises that you hear will simply be noises that reinforce your ability to relax, both mentally and physically. If you need to move in order to be comfortable, thats ok too. Simply allow yourself to relax and enjoy this time. The muscles in the back and the muscles in the buttocks and the muscles in the thighs, simply let them go loose too. As those muscles become relaxed, you go twice as deep into a state of hypnosis. As the body relaxes, your mind also relaxes. As your body becomes even more limp and more loose, any tension that is left in your torso or upper legs simply travels through your calves and through your feet and out your toes. Its at this point that you find yourself experiencing a state of complete and total serenity.
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In a minute I am going to count to three. And when I count to three, you will become fully alert and wide awake, rejoining us again. Onefully alert. Tworeorienting to the room. Threehaving been empowered by this brief hypnosis experience.
This is obviously a highly condensed example of the PMR induction. The type of situation you are in (comedy club, corporate retreat, birthday party, etc) and the responses you get from the subjects will determine how detailed and extended the induction should be. It is good to give the subjects a direct suggestion at the beginning, such as, Close your eyes and tilt your head forward, and let your chin fall towards your chest. This helps get them used to following your directions, demonstrates how easy it is to participate, and puts them in a natural, physically relaxing position while sitting in a chair. Generally, because it is familiar to the subjects and helps you not to forget any muscle groups, you will start the relaxation suggestions at the top of the body, and move down towards the toes, but you can go in any order you wish. People carry a lot of tension in their neck, shoulders and back, so those are important areas to address for optimal relaxation.
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In this PMR example, we encouraged them to double the sensation of relaxation with each suggestion we gave. We told them to let their muscles go limp and loose. One of the most important concepts in this induction is, As your body relaxes, your mind can relax, too. People do not know this is an okay or the right thing to do, until you let them know. When you tell them that they can relax mentally, they take the cue to really go under.
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It could help you to experience trance and relaxation. Very good. Stay focused on that light. Now as your eyes are focused on that light, your eyes may perhaps become heavy or want to close. Dont close them yet. Let them remain open as you gaze intently at light high above you. Maybe, even though that light is small, maybe it appears to change colors a little bit, perhaps from white to blue or purple Maybe it grows lighter or dimmer as your eyes become fixated on the lightness. As you focus your eyes on that light and as they become more tired and more heavy and more fatigued When you are ready, you can close your eyes. Now, with your eyes closed, you feel a tremendous sense of freedom. A freedom because you have allowed yourself to experience what is most important to you at this very moment in time. You are doing very well and you are enjoying your new sense of relaxation. As your eyes remain closed, part of you knows you could open them if you wanted to, but it feels so good to allow yourself this moment of tranquility.
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From this point forward, you will simply choose to keep those eyes closed. If you need to swallow or take a breath or even move for comfort, that is okay. In this state of tranquility and serenity, your subconscious mind is able to do the work that it needs to do to bring you a sense of security and a sense of peace. It is perfectly okay to get more comfortable. Every time you adjust or move, it simply brings you in to a deeper state of trance.
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And now you can start the induction. Or, you could also use a suggestive eyelid convincer at this point, if you wanted to convince the subject that he is experiencing a state of hypnosis. Now, no matter how hard you try, try to open your eyes, you cant; you cannot open your eyes even if you try. Of course, this is a matter of muscular function as opposed to actual hypnotic catalepsy, because with your eyes focused up like that you simply cannot open them due to the muscular pull. Nevertheless it is still quite convincing, and this position also puts fatigue on the optic nerve, which in turn tells your body that it is time to rest and relax. After the eye catalepsy, the Elman Induction then goes into a number countdown to override the critical thinking process. For example: I want you to close your eyes. With your eyes closed, simply relax. We are going to count backwards. Were going to count backwards from one hundred to ninetynine, then ninety-eight and so forth. I want you to say, One hundred, deeper and deeper. Ninetynine deeper and deeper. You are going to count backwards, and you are going to repeat the words deeper and deeper after each number.
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As you do, this will be a reminder to you to go deeper and deeper into a state of hypnosis. The most amazing thing is going to happen. By the time we get to ninety-four or ninety-three or ninety-five or ninety-one, the numbers will no longer be important to you. You will simply stop counting, because you will find yourself having entered into a deep state of trance. Lets go ahead and begin counting. One hundred. Subject: Hypnotist: Subject: Hypnotist: Subject: One hundred. Deeper and deeper. Deeper and deeper. Ninety-nine, deeper and deeper. Ninety-nine deeper and deeper.
Hypnotist: Just continue to count backwards, each and every number. As you count backwards each and every number, in your mind or out loud, you will find yourself experiencing a deeper and deeper level of trance. At some point, although you could count all the way backwards to number one if you wanted to, those numbers are no longer important to you. As those numbers disappear in your mind, youll find yourself taking a deep breath, allowing yourself to simply go limp and loose and into a deep state of hypnotic experience.
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This kind of countdown is quite effective in clinical settings where you are one-on-one with the subject, and it can be a great deepening technique. However, it can be challenging to use this method in a large stage show unless you call out each number to them, because when you have people who are not following specific directions (counting down on their own, at their own pace), they may get their counts off or be distracted by the others, and then you have the group doing different things at different times. But if you have a smaller group of four, five or six people, the Elman Induction can work quite well.
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The reason for this is that people generally do not breathe deep enough. Most people go through the day taking only partial breaths and they are all tensed up. Once we get them to take those deep breaths on stage, they automatically start to relax. This is simple science. You cannot be tense and take deep breaths. So get them taking deep breaths immediately. This helps them to both focus on you and know that we are actually doing something, right from the beginning of the induction. What follows is a complete transcript of Michaels induction taken from a video recording of his live show in Las Vegas, on a randomly selected night. This was not his best night, nor his worst, so it should be a fairly average representation of a typical Michael Johns Induction. We have included this transcript so you can see exactly what Michael says and does in his induction. It is one thing for you to study someones prepared script (a ready-made induction written with perfect English 101 grammar and punctuation), but it is quite another to study how it really happens live, when the hypnotist hits the stage. A prepared script gives you the general concepts of what you want to accomplish during the induction, but it does not take into account the reactions from the subjects, or the hypnotists actions of studying the subjects for compliance while he is speaking to them, or any adjustments he may feel the need to make on the fly. So, here is a typical version of Michaels induction script, in full. Afterwards, we will discuss why he does what he does, when, and how, as well as some parts of the induction that may not have been picked up by the microphone.
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Now, whenever youre ready to close those eyes, let those eyes go closed, but continue to breathe all the way in and all the way out. Fantastic. All the eyes are closed. Breathe in as deep as you can. Let it all the way out. Continue that nice deep easy breathing until I tell you to stop. All the way in and all the way out. Never asleep, just relaxed. You can always hear the sound of my voice. Whether you hear the noise in the room is entirely up to you, but you can always hear the sound of my voice. Fill those lungs up as much as you can. Let it all the way out. As we do this demonstration, you are going notice the person next to you, the chair beneath you, the floor beneath your feet. Always you will hear the sound of my voice as you breathe all the way in and all the way out. Fantastic. You are doing a great job. What we are going to do right now is Im going to count from three back to one as you breathe all the way in and all the way out. I want you to put your focus on your neck muscles. When I get to number one, I want you to let those neck muscles relax completely. Let your head roll forward and your chin touch your chest.
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Breathe in deep all the way out. Three. Two. And one. Let those neck muscles relax. Fantastic. It takes a lot of energy to hold that head up there. I want you to continue to breathe all the way in and all the way out. From this point on, with every breath you exhale, I want you to let the relaxation double. Let your body get heavier and heavier in that chair. Fantastic. You are doing a great job. Dont realize the way its working for you. Just let it go. Let those bodies get heavier and heavier. Breathe all the way in and all the way out. Every breath lets that relaxation become more and more complete. Now, as you breathe all the way in and all the way out, I want you to imagine you are at the top of an elevator, an escalator, a very long flight of stairs. With every breath, its making you go down deeper and deeper and deeper relaxed.
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You are doing a great job. You always want to fill those lungs up as much as you can and then let it all the way out. Fantastic. As you are breathing all the way in and all the way out, were letting that relaxation double. I want you to imagine there is a very heavy weight pushing on the back of your head with every breath you exhale. Let your bodies go. If you want to lean on the person next to you, thats fine. Were a team. We work together here. Nobody gets singled out. Nobody gets picked on. Just let it go. Breathe all the way in and all the way out. Feel that weight getting heavier and heavier. As you breathe all the way in and all the way out, the relaxation is automatically doubling. The weight is getting heavier and heavier. Im going to count from ten back to one. With every number that I count back, were going to let that relaxation double again. So, essentially folks, were doubling and doubling the relaxation.
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Its a synergistic thing. See the smart ones go really quick right now. Breathe it in deep. Let it all the way out. Ten, nine. As I count from ten back to one, were letting that relaxation double and were going to touch every one of you on the back of the head. When I touch you on the back of the head, it will not disturb you. It will not disturb you. It will not disturb you. It will help you to go nice and deep. When I touch the back of the head, just let your body collapse. Let loose like a rag doll. Ten, nine, eightdeep breath right here. Everybody just sink into the chair. Reach out. Let that body just sink into that chair. Wonderful. Ten, nine, eight---deep breath right here. All we ask is let that body sink into that chair. Fantastic. Let it go. Ten, nine, eightdeep breath right here.
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All the way out. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, twoeverybody take in a deep breath. Let it all the way out at once. Let your body melt into the chair. Melt into the person next to you. Were a team. Were doing a great job. Now, here is what we are going to do to see who the really good ones are right now. When I say the number one, I want you to take one of your arms. I want you to make that arm totally straight, totally stiff, and totally rigid just like a piece of steel. The tighter you can make that arm, the deeper you go, the deeper you go, the better you are going to feel. Here we go and one. Take that arm now and make it totally straight, totally stiff, and totally rigid. Concentrate on that arm. Great job, you guys. Great job. Breathe in deep. When I say the number two, if you havent already, I want you to sit up straight, eyes closed.
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Take the arm and put it straight out in front of you like you are trying to punch somebody right in the nose. When you do this, make that fist so tight you couldnt possibly make it any tighter. Here we go and two. Sit up straight, eyes closed, take that arm straight out in front of you. Breathe in deep. With every breath, make that arm more stiff, more rigid. Great job you guys. Great job. When I say the next number, take the arm and put it straight up toward the ceiling. When you do this, make that arm totally straight, totally stiff, and totally rigid. Here we go and three. Take that arm straight up there now. Now here is what we are going to do. Were going to see the really good ones right about now. They are all concentrating perfectly. They are doing a fantastic job. What Im going to do right now is I am going to count from three back to one. When I get to that number one, my folks onstage, I want you to try to pull those arms down.
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If you are doing a good job and youre concentrating correctly, then your arm will be stuck there, helping you go deeper and deeper, helping you feel better and better. Again, if you are doing a good job, all the arms will be stuck in the position that they are in, helping you go deeper and feel better and better. Breathe in deep. Let it all the way out. Three, two, onetry to pull that arm down. If you are doing a good job it will not come down. If you are concentrating correctly, that arm will be stuck there. Fantastic. Stop trying. What Im going to do is Im going to give you a number. When I touch you and give you a number, it is not important that you remember what the number is. Just remember that I gave you a number. When I touch you and give you a number and say the word sleep, let your body go completely limp, completely loose, totally relaxed. You are never asleep, just relaxed. You are one, sleep. Loose, fantastic. Two, sleep, let them loose. Let that body go. Fantastic. Take a deep breath.
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Three, sleep. Let that body just sink into the chair. Wonderful job. Four, sleep, let it loose all the way down. Fantastic. Breathe all the way in and all the way out. Now listen to me very carefully. On the count of three you are going to be wide awake feeling fantastic, better than you felt all day, all week, all month, all year. Do not open your eyes until I tell you to. When I say number one I want you to sit up straight, eyes closed, take in a deep breath. Here we go and one. Sit up straight, eyes closed. Breathe in deep. Feel that energy come back into your body now. Feel that energy come back into your body now. Feel that energy coming back into your body now. Feel yourself become more alert and more aware. When I say the number two, you are going to feel that energy coursing through your body. You are going to be totally awake and totally alert. Do not open your eyes. Breathe in deep. Feel it, feel it, feel it.
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Here we go and two. Feel that energy course through that body now. Kind of wiggle around a little bit. Get that blood flowing. Kind of sway back and forth in that chair. You are doing great. Clinch those fingers together. Breathe in deep. When I say the next number, let those eyes pop wide open totally awake, totally alert feeling fantastic. Breathe in deep, deep, deep, deep, deep. Here we go and three. Eyes wide open. You guys are rock stars. Nice job.
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A lot of hypnotists have their subjects focus on a specific point for Eye Fixation. Michael does not; he has them focus directly on him and his eyes, because he wants them to pay attention to him. Most showroom spaces, especially like those in Las Vegas, are filled with potential distractions. There are a lot of things around to look at, so it can be hard to keep track of where ten or twenty different people on stage are focusing if you just tell them to pick a point and let them choose. But if they are paying attention to you, you can see who is properly focused. This approach works best for Michael; he is in charge, and it is him they should pay attention to.
Ego Strengthening
Michael uses a lot of ego-strengthening work in his induction, which is a powerful technique for gaining compliance and acceptance. He uses lines like, You know the smart ones always go the hardest and fastest, If you are concentrating correctly, If you are a smart person, If you are eager to do this, along with general praise such as, Good job, Excellent, Fantastic, and so forth. Many people will come up to you before a show and say, You know what? I dont think I can be hypnotized. Im just too strong willed, or Im too intelligent.
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You want people to know they are doing okay. Nobody wants to get on stage and feel like, Okay, Im not getting hypnotized; I must be an idiot; Im stupid. The ego strengthening helps counter these negative ideas. You want them to know that it is okay - they are smart just like everybody else and they are doing just fine. You are not stupid; everyone can do this. You want to reinforce and make them feel good about what they are doing.
Awareness
Michael also incorporates an element of Awareness into his induction. In an Awareness Induction, we take the highly analytical person or the person who is critical of the process and just point out to them the things that they are already aware of, so they know it is okay for them to be aware of these things. In your pre-talk, you can tell the people over and over and over that they will not actually be asleep when they are hypnotized, that they will know what is going on around them. But, at the end of it they will still say, I knew there was a guy next to me. I knew what was going on. I wasnt hypnotized. Well, they are supposed to know these things during the induction, so we want to address the point for those who are more critical. The easiest way is just to say to them, You are aware of the person next to you. You are aware of the chair below you.
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You are aware of the floor beneath your feet. These kinds of simple awareness statements help remove opposition to the process of hypnosis. Richard Nongard also uses this concept in his Eye Fixation portion of the induction by telling the subjects, You know at this point you could open your eyes if wanted to, but it feels so good that you decide not to. So then the subjects say to themselves, Hes right, I could open my eyes. But this does feel good, so I guess I dont want to.
If I count from ten back to one, with every number that I count back, your relaxation is going to double. This concept makes the instructions easy for them to follow. Compounding is very important because when you compound a suggestion, you are replanting that suggestion. Every time you plant the suggestion, it becomes stronger and more vivid to the person on stage. If you are doing three or four different techniques at one time, and each one of those techniques is doubling their relaxation, it helps you get them a lot deeper, a lot faster.
Building Blocks
Everything that Michael does during the induction builds on everything else that he has done. The breath work comes first; it is the easiest. The ego-strengthening builds on the breathing, as it is easy for people to accept that they are wonderful and doing well. The Eye Fixation is easy to do and it builds on the breathing and ego-strengthening. The conscious mind can only process and focus on five to seven pieces of information at any given time. Michaels induction essentially fills up or locks on to those five to seven pieces, so the mind is all focused on the process of hypnosis, which then naturally opens the subconscious mind to the further suggestions that you give. One of the most important things Michael ever learned about hypnosis was the question, How many things can you think about at one time?
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We think that we can think about a lot of things at one time. But no, a person can think about only one thing at one time. You can change what you are thinking about in a split second from this to that to this - but at one time, you can only think about one thing. So, Michaels philosophy is that if he throws several different things at his people on stage, they do not have time to be thinking about anything else, if they are doing what he needs them to do.
Deepening Techniques
Michael incorporates a number of deepening techniques into his hypnotic induction. They are powerful tools for helping subjects to go deep and to create fantastic stage show.
Michael also uses visual imagery combined countdown when giving the suggestion.
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At the top of an elevator, an escalator, or a very long flight of stairs. You can use any image, but you want them to go down, and it is good to give them a choice of images to visualize. If someone has an escalator phobia or a staircase phobia, you do not want to alienate them, so you give them a choice. And, because a lot of people are not really visual, you never want to say, picture yourself on the top of the stairs. Instead, you can say, put yourself at the top of this place or that. Then they can hear or feel the sound of the elevator or escalator descending, and taking them into a deeper level of trance and hypnosis.
Fractionation Deepening
Fractionation is much like when the alarm clock goes off in the morning at seven. You wake up and you feel great, but you do not need to be up that early. So, you hit the snooze alarm. At 7:09 it goes off again. You say, Oh, I still have more time. At 7:18 it goes off again and you say, Man, I should really get up, but just nine more minutes of sleep would feel so good, so you hit it again. Now it is 7:27. You wake up and you feel horrible. You say, Oh, I feel really tired now. If I only had nine more minutes of sleep, then I could wake up and feel like I did at 7:00.
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So, you hit the snooze alarm one more time. Now its 7:35 and the alarm goes off again. At this point you must get out of bed because you have to go to work and you will be late if you do not get up. When the snooze alarm goes off that last time, you now feel worse than you did at 7:00. You think, I should have just gotten out of bed the first time. In the hypnotic induction, we use fractionation to take somebody from a level of alertness to a deeper state of hypnosis and bring them back up, again and again. Michael often does this with his number count down. He does not always just go from ten down to nine, then eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. He counts from ten, to nine, to eight, and then he goes back to nine, then eight, then seven. The next time he starts back at ten. When you bring them back up and then take them down again, it takes them down even harder and further. The snooze alarm is really obnoxious in the morning and it irritates us. Likewise, it is irritating for someone to go ten, nine, eight, seven Let the sensation double. Six, five, four Let the sensation double even more - then all of a sudden back to nine, eight, and seven The irritation is what makes it so effective. When you finally get to one, the guests on stage are really ready to just jump off into a deep state of trance. And then you are ready to begin the fun part of the show which is, of course, the skits.
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Consistent Phraseology
If you watch Michaels show or Richards show, or any other professional stage hypnotists show more than once, you will notice that in every single show they use almost the exact same phraseology, through every part, from beginning to end, from the pre-talk to induction to skits to the closing, every time. This is important for a number of reasons. First, you use what works. Once you figure out what you are going to do, you essentially memorize the lines of what works, and then use them again and again. By doing this, there is never any ambiguity. You will feel more confident, relaxed and in control, because you know that you will not be stumbling over words or lose your train of thought due to basic distractions. You know what you are going to say before you ever hit the stage, and you know that it will work.
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As you become more experienced, you will, of course, refine your patter. If something does not work, you will change it to something that does, and use it from then on. And, you will do this when you decide to shake up your show a little, change out your skits and jokes and so forth. Work it out at home, first. Memorize, and stick with it. Additionally, there are key things that you want to make sure you say to the audience and your subjects in every single show, just to cover yourself. (Yes, we are talking about safety, once again.) If you always run through the same patter every time, you will know that you did tell the subjects to be careful when stepping down from the stage (and hopefully you have an assistant or stage hand to help them down), you did tell them to keep their clothes on, you did tell them that they can now remember all the numbers they have ever learned. You know you told them these things, because you always say them at the same times, during every show. And, if you are video taping the show, you will have further proof.
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Im going to go around and give you a number. Then, they put the microphone under their arm or hand it to their assistant, and walk around and whisper some secret stuff in the subjects ears. The question is, is that when the hypnotist tells them, Okay, Ill give you a hundred bucks if you act right and play along? The microphone is off; no one can hear the hypnotist as they whisper to each subject individually, so what they say does not appear in a transcript either, and it can look a little shifty. So, what really happens at that point? What Michael does during the whispery part is this: He gives a number to those he wants to keep, and he simply tells them to take a deep breath and sleep. Sometimes someone may need further instructions to relax, so he may say something like, Hey, Im just going to take your glasses so you are more comfortable, or some positive reinforcement, like, Its okay. Im going to take care of you. Youre doing a great job. Take a deep breath in and sleep. He gives numbers to the people that he wants to keep on stage because numbers are easy. You do not have to remember what the number is, and neither does the subject - just remember that they got a number. Then, once all numbers are assigned and all the tending has been taken care of, Michael tells the subjects,
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If I gave you a number, I want you to stay exactly where you are. Do not move. Let yourself go deeper. On a count of three, if I did not give you a number, on the count of three and not before then, if I did not give you a number I want you to open your eyes, wide awake, and go quickly, carefully, quietly, back to your seat and enjoy the show from there. Thats all there is to it.
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THE SECRETS TO THE INDUCTION CONVINCER, CONVINCER , TEST AND DEEPENING SKITS
There are two components to a stage hypnosis show. First, of course, are the subjects up on stage, and second, lest we forget, is the audience. As hypnotists, we spend the majority of our time and focus during the show attending to the subjects up on stage, but we must remember that these individuals are functioning merely as a tool to perpetuate the main purpose of the show: to entertain the audience. While you are busy doing the induction, the audience is just sitting there, trying to be quiet for four, five or seven minutes while you put the stage subjects under. The audience is patient, but antsy; the subjects on stage are just sitting there listening to you, and the audience wants them to get on with the comedic craziness they paid to see. So, when considering your induction style, you want to use strategies that will 1) move the subjects quickly into trance, but also, 2) keep the audience entertained. That said, when entering phase two of the induction, you should realize that the next component of the induction - the Convincer Skit - is just as important for the audience as it is for you and the subjects on stage.
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Richard Nongard often uses the traditional Book and Balloon convincer, right out of Ormond McGills book. He puts a helium filled balloon on one of the subjects hands and lays a big heavy book on the other. The balloon pulls the first hand up, while the book weighs the other hand down. At the end, you have demonstrated the phenomena of Arm Levitation (rising) on one hand, coupled with Reverse Arm Levitation (lowering) on the other. When the subjects open their eyes, they see the difference in their arms and they are amazed. The audience sees something happening up on stage, and they too are amazed. You - not being amazed because you knew it would work just as it did - are now able to test for compliance. Whatever convincer you use, it should be something that is easy for you to monitor, and not require them to jump out of their chairs and go screaming through the audience or anything too boisterous. Using a hypnotic phenomenon demonstration such as Arm Catalepsy as your induction convincer skit will do at least four positive things for your show:
1) Arm catalepsy - being a physical phenomenon - is quite visually powerful, so it gives the audience something far more interesting to see than the previous zombie-like induction process.
At the end of the induction you instruct your subjects on stage to:
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Hold your arm out in front of you, and make that arm stiff and rigid; stiff and rigid like a bar of steel. Now, raise it up the air, high over your head. Stiff and rigid. Your arm is up high, stiff and rigid like a bar of steel and it will not move. I am going to count from three back to one. If you are doing a good job and you are concentrating perfectly, when I get to number one, you are going to try to pull that arm down. If you are doing a good job, it will not go down. It will stay stuck in the position that its in. No matter how hard you try to pull it down, it will not move. Three. Stiff and rigid. Two. Your arm is like a bar of steel. One. No matter how hard you try to pull your arm down, it will not move. Try to pull your arm down.
The audience is watching intently. Oh, hey, look at them up on stage with their arms up - they are finally doing something!
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2) It shows the audience that hypnosis is real; it actually works like you said it would.
If the subjects are concentrating correctly, no matter how hard they try to pull their arm down, they will not be able to. You might have some three-hundred pound muscle guy trying to pull his arm down, and it is amazingly stiff and rigid. He is shaking with the effort to pull it down, sweat dripping off his face, but he is stuck in that position; his arm will not budge. This is an entertaining and powerful convincer for the audience, who now says, Wow, these people must really be hypnotized because something weird is happening. Their arms are really stuck up there.
3) Arm catalepsy also lets the people on stage know that something is happening with them.
Gee, Im really doing this. I must be hypnotized! This kind of skit is very low threat. The suggestion is easy to follow, and no one is going to feel stupid for doing it.
4) It lets the hypnotist know who is paying attention and doing what you need them to do; who is suggestible; who is going under, and who is not.
By using this kind of convincer skit at the end of the induction, when you pull on a subjects arm and it drops, you know they
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are not concentrating, they are not out, and it is time to dismiss them. You want to get rid of the people who are not following your suggestions as early on as possible. If you are unsure about a particular subject, you may choose to keep them through the next skit, what we call the Test Skit.
SECRET NOTE:
When we talk about muscular catalepsy, we must also talk about, again, our number one concern: safety. Any time you suggest a subject do something with their body, such as make an arm stiff and rigid or when you squeeze your hands together they will become stuck, you want to also make it clear that they should not do any of these things to a point where they experience pain or discomfort. You, as hypnotist, have no idea of the medical conditions of your subjects. They may have prior joint injuries, fragile bones, low pain tolerance, high blood pressure, and so forth. A lot of the old time stage hypnotists, generally at the end of a show, would create catalepsy in the entire body, so that a person becomes stiff and rigid like a board from head to toe. The hypnotist would then pick the subject up like a statue, suspend them horizontally between two chairs, and have somebody, usually a small girl, walk across them or even jump up and down on them, in order to demonstrate for the audience the power of the phenomenon. This scenario has been done successfully probably thousands of times in years past. But, the one or two times that it was not
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successful - back injuries, broken bones, intense bruising - a lawsuit comes the hypnotists way. There is substantial risk involved, and so for liability reasons, this kind of exhibition is not recommended. But more benign demonstrations - such as arm catalepsy at the end of the induction - do provide a great visual for the audience, a reinforcing experience for the subjects, and indication of trance for the hypnotist. Just take care to caution your subjects to not participate to the point of pain or discomfort.
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Unless you are doing a college show or have an audience that you know the specific demographics of beforehand where you can easily select popular music of their particular generation, you want to pick music and routines that people from ages sixteen to sixty are familiar with and can relate to. You dont want them to panic or freeze up from not knowing the song you have just told them to play along with. For example: Sit up in your chair with your eyes closed. You are now no longer in Las Vegas (or Wichita, or Springfield or New York, etc). Instead, you are now on the beach of a beautiful tropical island. You are there because you are the greatest musician in the world. And you have come to the island to play a concert. In a moment, you will hear music. When the music begins, you will begin playing your favorite instrument. You are the greatest musician in the world, and you will play your heart out for your cheering audience. The more the audience cheers, the better you will play, and the deeper into trance you will go. Now, get ready. Heres the music. Pick up your instrument and play, play, play!
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This is a great low-threat first skit because everybody can play to music they are familiar with, with any instrument they chose from their own imagination, just like they would alone in their room or the shower. And as for the test part, if any subject on stage refuses to participate in this easy, non-threatening, non-embarrassing skit, you know that it is time to get rid of one more person. You hate for it to happen, but removing them now can avoid a lot of problems later on in the show. This kind of silly musical skit is funny, it deepens the subjects trance level, and it gets a great audience response. Michael Johns often uses a demonstration of the hypnotic phenomenon of hot and cold as his test skit. Through hypnosis, you can take a person who is in a temperature controlled room and tell them they are now in a room that is 37 degrees below zero, and they will physiologically respond to that suggestion. They will automatically begin to shiver and shake, curl up and cling to whoever is next to them for warmth. Or, you can tell them it is now 120 degrees like in the desert, and they will physiologically respond to that by stretching out, sweating, fanning themselves, and even peeling off clothing (so be sure to keep an eye on the ladies!) These kinds of hot and cold skits are simple and nonthreatening. Everybody knows what it is like to feel hot, and everybody knows what it is like to feel cold. And with this skit, not only can you weed out the ones that you want to get rid of for noncompliance, but you can take the ones you want to keep even deeper.
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So whether you have your subjects going hot and cold on a plane, a bus, or hanging out at the beach, this is a great skit for finding out just who your real superstars are going to be throughout the show - the ones who really react to the suggestions with great aplomb. The test skit is all about deepening the subjects hypnotic trance experience and comfort-level with the phenomena experience. Another way to help this along is to repeatedly use a line like, Everything I say and everything you do helps you to go deeper and deeper and feel better and better, during the induction and the first few skits. New hypnotists often begin by developing a single solid routine, with X induction and Y test skit and Z next skit, etc, because that is what they have practiced and have become comfortable with presenting. But as your business begins to grow you will want to quickly master other opening skit concepts and become more flexible, as you may need to adjust the skits you use on the fly for different crowds. If you are doing a corporate show and the people are obviously quite hesitant to get involved due to fear of embarrassing themselves in front of coworkers or their bosses, you must realize that it may take a little longer to get them where you need them to be, so you may want to adjust your plan and instead start with a zero-threatening laughing bit, and then work up to having them stretch out or do more physical things.
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Deepening Skits
After the test skit when you have decided who you are keeping and who will be excused, you will usually do a couple of deepening skits. One of the most popular is getting the subjects high. There are two variations of this, one uses laughing gas, and the other marijuana. Both concepts will help them to feel good and take them into a deeper state of hypnosis. For a show on the Las Vegas Strip like Michaels, or at most comedy clubs and frat parties across the country, it is perfectly acceptable to pass out hypnotic marijuana cigarettes and get your group high on stage. However, where other hypnotists practice it may be quite unacceptable. Richard, for example, also does clinical hypnosis training. Therefore, he must always be aware that some of the audience members may also see him for clinical reasons. Since he has a history as a drug or alcohol counselor, he never uses a marijuana bit in his show, in order to maintain his professional credibility. Cater the material you use in your show to your client and the type of audience. You would definitely want to choose the laughing gas over the pot smoking skit at a corporate or high school graduation event. There are some hypnotists who earn most of their money for the entire year in the month of May, doing Grad Nights at high schools. They might do four or five shows a night, hopping from gig to gig down Pacific Coast Highway in California. The parents pay them $2,500 bucks a pop, and they make $10,000 a night. If you are able to book $10,000 nights, the last thing you want to do is a marijuana skit with a
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high school group, because you will not be invited back for next years $2,500 gig. But adapting is pretty easy. The concept is the same for both deepening skits; you just change the language and scenario. With laughing gas, you have them kicked back in a dental chair, and when the dentist leaves the room, you have them start sucking on the gas, and then begin laughing like crazy. Even if a subject has never experienced laughing gas first hand, they have seen it on TV and can imagine it. With the pot skit, maybe they are kicked back on the couch instead of in a dental chair. And, if they have never smoked marijuana, they know somebody who has or they have seen it on TV. These are things people can relate to; it is familiar, and therefore comfortable and non-threatening. And the purpose is, of course, to send them deeper and deeper into trance. With every hit you take, every time you laugh, you more and more, going deeper and deeper into hypnosis. At the end of the marijuana skit, Michael tells his subjects that he is giving them a gift - they get to keep their buzz for the rest of the show. You can, of course, do this same thing with the laughing gas skit. This lets the participants know that it is okay for them to really let loose now; they have been given formal approval to keep having fun. In a different environment, for a different deepening skit, you might have the subjects climb up a mountain, row across a lake, or even use smells or other sensations to further deepen and enhance the trance experience.
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It is absolutely essential that you develop your own patter or banter, your own routine and your own skits. Our goal is only to expose the secrets of the strategies and concepts behind how and why hypnotic phenomena can be demonstrated for a successful show. Your possibilities now are virtually unlimited, and if you are resourceful and put your imagination to work, you can construct entertaining skits from almost any idea you can conceive.
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You must be creative in order to entertain your audience, and this is far easier than you might think simply because people are at their most creative in a theta level of brain functioning. Your job as hypnotist is to take advantage of this state and pull the actor or artist out of your subjects on stage. Another skit that draws on theta creativity is a Spelling Bee. If you are doing an adult show, maybe you want to have an Xrated spelling bee, where you have the subjects spell out various body parts. Or, maybe you have them describe an anatomically correct doll prop, but they must spell rather than say the naughty parts, so the girls in the audience will not know what they are talking about, or something goofy like that. You are giving the subjects a license to cut loose and have fun, to use their mind a little bit more than they probably do in every day life, and people will respond to that.
When you open your eyes, you will not see anything on stage that is not already here right now, or When you open your eyes, all you will see is yourself, alone, on a tropical island. When the subject responds as directed, it absolutely blows the audience away. Michael uses a popular positive hallucination in his show; he tells the subjects that they will see something that simply is not there. When I turn around, you will see that the back of my pants is missing, and my bare, shiny hiney is smiling at you. When Michael then turns around to face the audience and wiggles his butt at the subjects, they gasp, laugh and point at his bare behind - which is, of course, is still covered appropriately with his pants like it has been from the start of the show. On the next round, he tells them that when he turns around to face them this time, the front of his pants is missing, and his pathetic, extra-small manhood is dangling there. They see it just as he described even though it is not really there - and giggle and poke fun at him. Then, he takes the skit one step further and shows them his extra-large manhood. He uses a Styrofoam swimming pool worm and waves it all around and may even touch them with it. The subjects respond predictably with shock and amazement, and some ladies even cringe.
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More positive hallucinations that Michael, Richard and other hypnotists use include having the subjects believe they are watching a movie (you tell them what they are seeing and they react with laughter or shock, etc), or that the person next to them smells nasty (they respond with disgust, hold their nose, lean away), and then that it is actually they themselves who smell (they are embarrassed, hunch down, try to cover the smell some how). Americas Favorite Hypnotist Terry Stokes does a bit where he has one subject believe they are listening to music on headphones - they just sit there and rock out for 5, 10 or 15 minutes to the music in their head while other subjects are doing different things individually - and every time Terry uses a key word, the music cuts out and the subject hears only static. In order to readjust the frequency, they must reach over and turn the ear or nose of another subject. These kinds of hallucinatory demonstrations are quite powerful and audiences love them.
H ypnotic Amnesia
Another amazing phenomenon demonstration is hypnotic amnesia, where you have a person forget their own name, or forget their friends name or where they are, or to forget a letter of the alphabet or the number two. As a result, you can end up with some really comical situations and the people in the audience and are absolutely mystified. A lot of hypnotists will never take the risk to use hypnotic amnesia, and those who do may admit that every time they use it in a show, they are just waiting for it to fail.
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What if her name is Bertha, and she actually says, My name is Bertha, after I tell her to forget her name? That would be a nightmare! Or, what if I tell them, From now on you wont remember the number two; the number two is erased from your memory. Count your fingers. And then they say, One, two... Stop worrying. Take the risk. It works, plain and simple. When somebody is in a theta level of hypnosis, they are creative and they are following our suggestions. Hypnotic phenomena, including amnesia, will manifest itself. Now, you definitely want to pick the right person. Make sure you select a subject who you believe, based on their previous participation, is not only highly suggestible but also in a deep state of hypnosis; someone who wants to have a little bit of fun. In other words, you would never start your show with hypnotic amnesia. This is one of those phenomenon that are best used when you get to know the subjects. You can have a lady forget the number two, and then have her count her fingers, her feet, or even her breasts. The question is not if she will mis-count appropriately, but if she will mis-count with, OneOne, or OneThree. You can have a big guy forget his name and only be able to recall it when he sings Happy Birthday to himself, inserting his name at the appropriate time. Or, he can sing the Banana-Ramma-Bo-Bame, Fee-Fi-Fo-Fame, Mee-Mi-Mo-Mame, NAME song (inserting his name as appropriate).
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Or a variation of an old childrens song: Who, who, who am I? The light in my head just wont shine, til you tell me what your name is, then I can tell you mine, and then you tell him your name and he tells you his. Or, perhaps he will only remember it when someone else calls him Honeybunkins or Jerk or Superman, etc. You can do a ton of amazing things with hypnotic amnesia; you just have to make it funny and entertaining.
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But, since Michael has set this skit it up so that they are experts on the subject, this implies a sense of professionalism and they usually tend to carry out that professional persona when giving their explanations - rather than sounding like a bunch of liquored up guys talking trash at a poker game. Think of the way Playboy magazine leaves a little to the imagination versus a hard core porn magazine that leaves nothing to question. The Playboy version is generally what you want to strive for at most shows. Furthermore, if you tell someone to do something specific, it limits their creativity. Let them experiment a little, let them have some fun -- but do not let anybody cross a line that leads to heavy embarrassment or humiliation, either on their own or at your direction. Make sure you tell the subjects up front in the pre-talk that there are some lines that will not be crossed during the show, and reinforce that notion during the more provocative skits. You do not want to do a show where people are afraid to return home without being teased for the rest of their life. If you cross these lines with your guests - and many hypnotists do - word will get out. As a result, you may have a packed house at your next show - if anyone will book you - but you may also have a very hard time getting anyone in the audience who has heard about your reputation to volunteer to go up on stage.
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Emotions
Emotions, like happiness and anger, are intensified during a state of hypnosis. Using anger or indignation can be hilarious, provided you do it safely. No matter the skit, if you are playing on emotions of any kind you want to always say, Do not get out of your chair. Do not touch the person next to you. Do not touch me. Nobody ever gets out of their chair and keep your hands to yourself. You can have the subjects act angry that the person next to them has offended them in some way - by being naked, singing horribly or perhaps they pass a lot of gas. You can suggest that a subject become angry at a person in the front row of the audience because they took something from them - their private parts, their wallet or their name even. You will then resolve this anger by turning it to happiness when the item is returned. These kinds of skits enhance audience interaction, which in turn enhances satisfaction. Some people, when they get angry, bottle it up inside and do not really react. When that person is hypnotized on stage to be angry, you may see their face contort; their fists and teeth clinch, and so forth. Their anger is very visual, and can be funny to watch.
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Just remember to keep a close eye on your angry subjects at all times. Remind them to stay seated and not touch anyone, and do not keep them angry for very long at a time. Fear and jealousy are also popular emotions to exploit on stage. You do not want to use fear in a traumatic way, but you can use intense emotions like fear to highlight a show. Maybe a subject is afraid of the person next to them or something on another persons shoulder. When Jeff knows there is nothing on his shoulder, but Susan is freaked out every time she looks at Jeff - or perhaps every time you use a trigger word - Jeff responds to Susans apparently irrational fear by thinking she is crazy, and likely telling her so, aided by your direction. Jealousy might be demonstrated by one subject who is told to become ridiculously jealous when they see the hypnotist dancing with other people on stage, or maybe they are told to believe one of the other subjects is rich and famous and they are dirt poor. The resulting back-and-forth banters created by these kinds of skits can be quite amusing. Just take care to remain in control so nothing gets out of hand.
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Hypnotic Anesthesia
The first time Michael Johns was hypnotized was by the Dave Elman Induction. Afterwards, Michael thought to himself, Okay, Im wide awake. Im not hypnotized. The hypnotist then took an Alice clamp - one of those things you use in surgery - and put it on Michaels arm and cranked it down. Michael did not feel a thing. The next day he had a huge bruise where the clamp had been. Hypnotic anesthesia is amazing because it works. We know it works because dentists and baby delivery doctors use it for medical pain control purposes all the time. However, it is not really something we want to use to such an extreme at the average stage show. Some hypnotists think that we should always bruise a subject, just to let them know they were at a show last night. And, a light bruise might be effective for spreading the word around town, if you will be around long enough to reap the benefits of a future audience. However, demonstrating hypnotic phenomena like anesthesia can open you up to huge liability, so be very, very careful if you choose to use it. Richard Nongards background is in magic (he studied with Eugene Berger) and psychology (he is a licensed mental health professional), and so his stage show is a little more on the mystical world of hypnosis side of things. His qualifications have made him well aware of the limits and risks of mind over matter phenomena like anesthesia, and so he does use them occasionally, but only very carefully.
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Go over possible scenarios and consider what you will say to the problem subject, the other subjects, and to the audience as well. Your reaction will make all the difference. If you get mad at a subject and goad him or her for not doing what you asked them to do, the audience will think that you are the jerk. Remember, even under hypnosis the subject still has complete control, and if they refuse, they probably have a reason - a personal line they will not cross or a deep-seated fear or something - so the best approach is usually to just laugh it off and move on to another suggestion or subject. Safety is your number one concern, so if a subject does either intentionally or accidentally injure themselves or another guest, you must respond immediately and attempt to control the situation and take care of any medical concerns first, even if that means stopping the show. You are in charge of the show and therefore responsible for everything that happens on stage, so you must act swiftly and surely to minimize damage from both physical and liability perspectives, by coordinating effective situationally-appropriate responses.
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First and foremost, post-hypnosis is used to remove any prior suggestions. For example, if you used hypnotic amnesia to make the subject forget the number two as a demonstration, you must then cancel out that suggestion by telling them to now remember all numbers they have ever learned. If you use this kind of skit as a brief, one-time demonstration, it is probably wise to give the recall suggestion immediately after the skit is over. If you have the subject demonstrate the phenomenon periodically throughout the show, then you must remember to suggest they now remember everything they forgot at the conclusion.
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Generally, you will implement the post-hypnotic suggestions for your finale skits about forty-five minutes to hour into the show. There are a couple of ways to go about this, but probably the most common is to give a trigger/key word to the subject. For example: The person I am touching now - When the show is over and you hear me say the word blue you are going to immediately come back up on stage and sing Blue Sued Shoes and dance like Elvis Presley. You can, of course, use any word you like for your key word; it does not have to make any rational corollary sense to the situation, like the use of blue does above. However, just to increase the odds for success, you might want be more particular about your word choice. Up-and-coming teenage hypnotist Riley Bragg prefers to use less common words to trigger his suggestions, or words that sound a little funny so they tend to stand out more when spoken in a noisy crowd, such as penguin, exhilarating, debauchery, quagmire or zygote. These are words that most people have heard, even if they do not know what they mean, but most importantly, they are words that most people do not hear very often, so they are easily able to prick the ear and catch the subjects attention. If you make and sell videos of your show and you have a subject on stage who has been a rock star all night and they have a group of friends in the audience, you might suggest to the subject that,
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When you leave the stage and return to your seat, you will not remember anything that happened tonight during the show. Then you hint to the friends in the audience, Wont they be surprised later when they watch the video?! And, hopefully they will buy at least one copy, and show it to all their friends. Or, you can suggest to the subjects that, As soon as I shake your hand and say goodbye, you will instantly remember everything about the last hour you have shared with us up on stage. When the Ah ha moment hits - they suddenly remember all of the silly things they did - the look of shock on their face is priceless. Another use for post-hypnotic suggestions is to send a subject and their friends or partner - away with a little something special at the end of the show. Okay, Fred, when you get home tonight and your wife squeezes you on the arm right here, you are going to wiggle your butt and say, Honey, its all about you tonight! and then you will proceed to do anything she wants, for as long as she wants, all night long. Then, you might wink at his wife in the audience and comment, Just squeeze his arm right here, honey, and whether you want him doing the dishes or the nasty, its all up to you!
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Before you give a more personal suggestion like this, you always want to make sure you know who the person is with, and get a feel for the quality of their relationship. Ask if they are married or dating, and if so, for how long. You might give an older gentleman the suggestion that later that night he will have the energy level and stamina of a twenty-one-year-old. As a result, everyone in the audience now believes that the couple will go home and do it tonight, and they are all happy because the nice hypnotist has helped two older people to feel good. You never want to be degrading or mean. Some people do not take certain kinds of suggestions very well, and so you want to be familiar and comfortable with your subjects before you make any risky or risqu proposals. The audience, however, loves this stuff. Post-suggestions are a potent concept that keeps them guessing; this is the funny part people really remember the next day. Oh, my gosh! Those people left and this is what they were going to do! I wonder how it turned out? Again, you want to be very careful with both selecting your subjects and the specific post-hypnotic suggestions to give them. Only use subjects who are clearly in heavy trance, and who have been performing well throughout the show. These kinds of climax skits are fantastic for the audience - when they work. When they do not, it can be confusing, embarrassing, and a huge let down for the crowd.
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To enhance the odds for success, one approach is to use several suggestions with several different subjects at the end of the show. For example: The person I am touching now - When you hear me say the word gyrate, you will immediately return to the stage and perform for us like Elvis Presley. The person I am touching now - When you hear me say the word nightingale, you will immediately return to the stage and flap your arms, flying around like you are a bird collecting items to make a nest. You can do a whole group: The person I am touching now, now, now, and now - when you hear the word houseplant, youll come back up to the stage. Youll find that you are no longer you, but you are now a member of the Village People, and you will begin your reunion tour by performing the song YMCA. When the show is over, you say goodbye to everyone and send them back to the audience. Then, in your closing comments, you work in the keywords, and the subjects start coming back up on stage to do their suggestions. The audience will forget - or at least forgive - that not everyone goes back up, provided that the one or two who do give a good performance. If you have a rock star Elvis subject, then great; there is no need to call anyone else up - unless you feel confident they will perform well too. If you have a mediocre Elvis, then you might say,
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Boy, that was a great job, Elvis. Not! A houseplant could have done better. If you are lucky, suddenly at least some of your four guys with the houseplant suggestion keyword will come back up on stage and act out YMCA, and the show is on again. And if they also do not perform well, then it is time to end the show. The point is to set up possibilities, then watch your subjects. And, you have to remember that people in the audience will only remember what they remember. If you hand out four post-hypnotic suggestions and two of them work great and the audience is pumped, then why bother doing the other two? Why not end on a high? Looks like were out of time folks. I hope you guys had a great night, and thanks for coming out. At a lot of events, your timing has to be exact; you cannot run over. If you are pushing the limit, you will have to do the post-hypnosis segment quickly. In this case, these usually end up being throw away bits for the audience, more than anything else. It leaves them with fun things to think about throughout the night, even if they never see the results. For example: When you get back to your hotel room (or house or apartment) tonight, when you cross the threshold, your left foot will stick to the floor like glue. It will not move until you yell, Im a hottie, yessiree, Im as hot as hot can be!
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And, it is fine that the audience will not see or know if the subjects really follow through or not. Whatever the subject is instructed to yell out is entertaining now, and the audience is left wondering, Are these people really going to do it? By the way, just so you know, they are quite likely not going to follow through. The majority of the time the subjects derive their ego-reinforcement to perform from the crowd out there clapping and from your voice - because this is how you set it up to begin with. You will focus on the sound of my voice. You will accept the suggestions that I give you. Every time the audience laughs, claps and cheers, you know that you are doing well and you will go deeper and deeper into hypnosis. When the clapping crowd is no longer there - and neither is your voice - they will not respond. This is why it is so important for you to keep the energy level of the room up throughout the entire show. Sometimes it seems like a rollercoaster; the crowd is really high one minute and the next minute they are totally silent. Your job as an entertainer is to keep that energy level up, which will make your people on stage respond, which will make the act so much better.
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because you are responsible for your guests. From the time they leave their seats to get on stage, to the time they are back safely in their seats, their safety is your first priority. When someone comes out of hypnosis, they may be a little groggy or disoriented for a few minutes. You never want anyone to get hurt; it is not a good laugh for someone to fall and break an arm. Furthermore, the number one reason stage hypnotists are sued comes from physical injury - someone remains in a state of trance after the de-hypnotization process and then exits the stage and stumbles around hurts themselves or someone else. Take the time to assess each subjects level of awareness and alertness before they leave the stage. Ask them their name, shake their hand, look into their eyes, thank them for participating, and lead them to the edge of the stage, where hopefully you have a helper to assist them down the stairs. If someone appears to still be in even a light state of trance, you will give them further personal suggestions to wake completely, until you are convinced of their full consciousness and ability to function appropriately. You will also remove all prior suggestions given during the show as you awaken them. Specifically state that any suggestions, keywords or other commands will no longer work and are erased. If you do hypnotic amnesia and have someone forget the number two, you really do not want them returning to work on Monday as an accountant without first removing the suggestion. It is highly unlikely and improbable that such a suggestion would remain outside the arena of the venue and without the social pressure of the audience to perform, but nevertheless you will want to be attentive to this.
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Confidence
Confidence will be the number one key to your success for a lot of reasons. No one will get on stage with a hypnotist who is not confident about what they are going to do. If you were to say, Alright folks, come on up. I hope this works tonight. Ive never done this before, but lets see what happens, the audience will balk and you will have no show. Even if you are nervous you must project confidence. Everyone likes - and expects - a confident performer. However, take care that you do not cross over the line from confidence to arrogance, because there is a difference. It is okay to have an overall persona that is a little bit cocky, but if you are rude or come off as a know-it-all, it will likely backfire on you.
Trust
You want - and need - the people to trust you. When they take the risk to get up on stage, they are saying,
Okay, {insert your name here}, I trust you to hypnotize me. I trust you to take care of me while Im up here.
Everyone wants to feel safe and secure, and that they will not be humiliated or overly embarrassed. For the subjects to have faith in the process, they must trust you, or they will not take the risk to perform.
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Comfort of Guests
You want your subjects to be as at ease as possible on stage. You want nice, comfortable chairs, even if they are the cheaper, stackable kind. You want the subjects situated shoulder to shoulder - enough room to breathe, but not enough to move around too much on their own. Many hypnotists will tape the chairs together at the arms or legs so they do not slide apart. Mental comfort is just as important as physical comfort. Let your guests know many times that everything is going to be alright; you are good at what you do and you are going to take care of them.
Personality
Every hypnotist has a different performance personality, and this is fantastic because it means that everyones show will be unique, even if some of the skits are similar. You will need to define your own personal style and performance personality - but you have to be genuine; be comfortable in your persona; be your natural stage self. Some people are rather shy in person, but they come to life and simply shine when they are on stage. Others may be a little goofy in real life, but when they hit the stage they turn into the professor and drone on with all seriousness about the science of hypnosis and this is what we will do and this is how it works and so forth. And then there are the party guys who take every risk they can on stage and really get the crowd going.
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Do not try to be someone else or copy the style of some other hypnotist. Borrowing concepts from another performer is one thing, but make your persona and your show your own. People respond to genuine people, and they can sense a bad actor from a mile away.
Stage Presence
Stage presence is very important. This is your stage. This is your area. You control this time and space. This is your own little kingdom, for lack of a better term. So, have presence. Do not hide behind the chairs or mumble or talk with your head down. Be confident. Use your diaphragm and project your voice when you speak. Interact with the crowd; do not be afraid to get out there and talk to people. This may take practice, so practice. If you have even a little bit of stage fright, work to get over it. Stand in front of a mirror and give your pre-talk a hundred times.
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Videotape yourself practicing an induction so you can see what you do and ways to improve. Take every opportunity possible to talk to other people about hypnosis or just anything - and be in front of a crowd.
Focus
Focus can be many things, but right now we are concerned with your focus on the show. When you are on stage, do not be thinking about the girl or guy sitting on the front row that you want to hook up with after the show. Do not be thinking about making your car payment or where you might go on vacation or your kids report card. Do not bring personal problems to the show. Do not let your stomach rumble because you forgot to eat. Do not be drunk or otherwise chemically impaired. You must be mentally and physically prepared and in control at all times. Keep your focus on your people on stage and the audience. You need to know what the subjects are doing now and what they are going to do next. You want to see how they react to different bits. You should always be thinking one, two or even three skits ahead. Pay attention to what the subjects - and the audience respond to so you can adjust future bits if necessary.
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When the show is over and the last guest has left the venue, then you can eat, fall apart, worry or whatever - but not a moment before.
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