Table of Contents
3.0 Elements of A Stage Hypnosis Induction
3.1 Your First Hypnotic Induction
3.2 Follow-up With Your Hypnotic Subject
3.3 Exercise for Success!
3.4 Exercises for Further Learning
3.5 Summary
3.0 Elements of A Stage Hypnosis Induction
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There are seven elements to a great stage hypnosis
induction.
They are:
1. Expectation
2. Focus
3. Control
4. Relaxation
5. Deepening
6. Post-hypnotic suggestions
7. Awakening
You must become expert of each of the steps in order to be
assured successful inductions on stage.
Memorize each step. You must memorize because you will be
busy watching your hypnotic volunteers on stage. You will be watching the
reaction of your audience.
You will be doing 3 things at the same time.
Each step then, must be memorized. After a few dozen shows,
you may find other things that work well for you. By memorizing each step now and knowing where
you are in the hypnotic process at all times, you will have a very high rate of
success.
1. Expectation
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Your subjects must expect success during the hypnotic
induction. You must expect success and your audience must expect success. The
best way to guarantee success with your hypnotic induction is to set up your
expectations.
As a hypnotist you will find yourself setting up predictions
on what is going to happen at the count of three or when you snap your fingers,
or when you say a particular word. By
setting up predictable outcomes, your volunteers have time to create and
amplify your suggestions in their heads. They have time to create the
situations that you are asking them to create.
For example, one of the first predictable outcomes you
convey to your volunteers is: "You will find this experience to be an
enjoyable one." "You will have fun as the result of your being here
on stage."
Once the show is over, if someone asks on of your subjects
how he/she felt being hypnotized, he/she will say something like, "I found
this experience to be an enjoyable one." "I had fun as a result of
being on stage."
2. Focus
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Hypnosis is concentration. In order for your subjects to
become hypnotized they must be able to concentrate.
The problem is that people around them in the audience and
even on stage will try to distract them.
This is why you must teach each volunteer how to concentrate and get
into the hypnotic state of mind quickly.
You will tell your subjects to concentrate. You will tell
them often in the hypnotic induction. Some
statements you may use to get your subjects to concentrate better are the
following:
"Focus your attention on each and every word that I
say."
"Listen to each and every word that I say."
"You are concentrating on each and every word that I
say."
Hypnosis is concentration. Many people believe it is sleep.
It is not. Hypnosis is a heightened state of concentration. If you keep
reminding your subjects to "concentrate" while being on stage, the
laughter and noise of the audience will not distract them. Each volunteer on stage will feel as if you
are just talking to him.
3. Control
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In order to have a great presentation you must maintain
control.
Sometimes it isn't easy. In fact if it is easy, everyone
would be a stage hypnotist and no one would be able to make a living at it.
The fact that you will conduct yourself as if everything is
happening exactly as planned will separate you from the beginners.
A stage hypnotism show is the most exciting show in
entertainment, because you will never know exactly how things will turn out.
I was performing a stage show at a high school in Illinois many years ago
and I knew I was in trouble when the principal greeted me in the office and
told me that he wanted to surprise all of the students. He did not tell his students that a hypnotist
would be the entertainment during an assembly program. None of these students had ever seen a stage
hypnotist and none had any idea of what would go on.
I gave my usual opening presentation where I explain what
hypnosis is and what to expect. When I
asked for volunteers, no one came forth.
I couldn't believe it! If no one volunteers, there will be
no show.
Finally I told them they would have nothing to fear. I told
them this was going to be fun. I told them by participating in this show they
would get better test scores as a result.
Then I motioned for people to come up on stage.
The entire bleachers unloaded and every student and teacher
ran to the 16 chairs that were set up on stage!
It took about 10 minutes before I could get control and finally
get just 16 people to stay and send everyone else back to the bleachers.
The show finally started and it went well. Always remember,
you need to do everything you can to maintain control.
You control the principal by getting him to announce a head
of time that a hypnotist is coming to the school to demonstrate some funny but
amazing things using student volunteers.
You control the students by explaining that you are going to
ask for "16 volunteers to fill the seats, here on stage."
You control by telling each of your volunteers that you will
make this hypnosis experience an enjoyable one for him.
One more thing, if you find someone resisting you or being a
wise guy as he comes up to volunteer, you need to send that person back
quickly. One person can ruin your show
by pretending to be hypnotized and then as soon as your back is turned he winks
at the audience and lets them know he is making a fool of you.
In every case when I have sent someone back that has been
exhibiting that behavior, your audiences will applause. The audience wants you
and the volunteers to succeed. You will only be successful to the degree you
maintain control.
Remember this line: "When in doubt, toss him out."
Maintain control!
4. Relaxation
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Relaxation is great but it is not necessary for hypnosis! I
bet you didn't know that before.
The major reason you ask for hypnosis during an induction,
is that it settles the volunteer down, it helps you establish control, and it
allows the audience to see contrast with the active parts of the show.
During the stage hypnotism demonstration, you need to keep
the audience interested. You create more interest by using the contrast of
relaxation and movement.
Think of major action movies you have seen. Did you ever
notice that the movies that seem to have the most action also have very slow
moving sections?
The reason you need relaxation in a stage hypnotism show is
to create a more active show!
5. Deepening
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Deepening the hypnotic condition or the hypnotic trance is
something you do often during your hypnotic induction.
You may also use deepening techniques during the show after
you have completed the hypnotic induction.
Hypnosis involves concentration and many times a volunteer
can wake from the hypnotic condition and wonder what is going on. You need to re-hypnotize that individual and
quickly deepen his trance condition.
When you begin your hypnotic induction you want to make sure
you use deepening techniques.
Some methods of deepening the hypnotic induction include:
A. Counting Backwards
B. Touching the subject
C. Using specific words and phrases
D. Compounding suggestion
I will demonstrate with examples for each technique of
deepening. Once you read the actual induction you will be able to quickly
identify deepening techniques. Use a
variety of techniques because you can never tell how subjects will respond to
any one technique.
A. Counting Backwards
-----------------------------
This is easy. During the hypnotic induction you will say
something like this:
"In a moment I am going to count down from 5 down to 1.
With every count you will find yourself going deeper and deeper into
hypnosis"
Or you may say:
"As I count from 50 down to 1, you will find yourself
going deeper and deeper to sleep. 50, 49, 48, etc."
B. Touching the Subject
-----------------------------------
Touching the subject is an extremely effective way of deepening
the hypnotic condition. If you were volunteering to go up on stage and have a
stranger have you do goofy things, wouldn't you want to get to know that person
better?
It can be scary on stage and my touching the subject you can
erase any of his fears as well as establish a close bond with your subject.
I usually touch the subject on the back of the neck, (if I
can reach it) or I may touch subjects on their shoulders.
I will set up the deepening effect by saying the following:
"As I touch you on the back of the neck, you will relax
the muscles of your neck allowing your head to fall forward on your
chest." "When your head falls on your chest you will go deeper and deeper
asleep."
I will be using examples the rest of the lessons on
additional deepening techniques.
C. Using Specific Words or Phrases
-------------------------------------------
You may use specific words or phrases to deepen hypnosis.
For example, you might say, "each and every time you
hear me say the word "relaxation," you will relax instantly, going
deeper and deeper into hypnosis."
You might use a phrase like, "each time you hear me
say, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we are gathered here tonight," you will
go deeper and deeper into hypnosis.
D. Compounding Suggestion
-------------------------------------
You develop a natural deepening in your volunteers as you
compound suggestion.
Just as compounding interest on your savings plan is a good
thing, compounding suggestion in your hypnosis inductions is a good thing.
One way to compound suggestion is to create expectation for
the compounding by saying this:
"Each and every activity that you perform will send you
into a deeper state of relaxation."
"Your success in achieving the hypnotic phenomena will
allow you to go deeper and deeper asleep."
You will see many more examples of compounding as we
progress through the lessons.
6. Post-hypnotic suggestions
----------------------------------------
Post hypnotic suggestions are used in every stage hypnosis
induction.
A post hypnotic suggestion is a suggestion or group of
suggestions you give your subjects or volunteers just before you awaken them
from hypnosis.
You give your volunteers post-hypnotic suggestions that they
will carry out when they are fully awake.
The suggestions are given in a way that tells the volunteer that he will
do something every time he hears or sees a specific cue.
For example, you might say, "after you awaken from
hypnosis, each and every time I point my finger directly at your forehead, you
will go deeply to sleep."
Or you might say, "at the count of 5 you will awaken
from hypnosis. Each and every time you hear me say the word "sleep"
you will instantly go deep into hypnosis."
In the above examples you are setting the up the volunteer
to become instantly hypnotized without a formal induction.
Hypnotherapists use post-hypnotic suggestions to
re-hypnotize their clients quickly for their client's additional scheduled
visits. This allows the therapist more
time to work on their client's problems. They don't have to spend as much time
with the mechanics of the hypnotic induction.
7. Awakening
-----------------------------------------
As you can imagine, the awakening part of the hypnosis
induction is very important. If you
can't awaken your subject, there won't be much of a show.
Awakening the subject is easy. Hypnosis is concentration. If
you walked away for 15 minutes from your volunteers, most of them would awaken
on their own. Their concentration would be broken by the fact that they are
getting no more verbal input from you.
If you had a heart attack and died in front of your audience,
they would awaken on their own rather quickly.
However, you want to create a pleasant experience around
awakening. It is great showmanship as well as it gives your subjects time to
rid themselves of any hypnotic influences they don't want to carry back to
their job or school.
You will awaken your subjects at least two times during a
typical stage show.
You awaken your subjects when you want them to perform a
post-hypnotic suggestion, and you awaken your subjects at the end of your show
to send them back to the audience.
Here is an example of how you awaken your subjects.
You will say, "at the count of five you will be wide
awake." "You will full of energy and you will feel like you are back
to normal." "All hypnosis effects will be removed." All right,
one, two, three, you are beginning to return to normal, four, FIVE." "Wide
awake and alert. You are feeling good in every way."
Note: This is the awakening at the end of the show. If you
are giving your induction during the show and want them to perform, you would
not remove the hypnosis effects.
3.1 Your First Hypnotic Induction
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You are about to give your first hypnotic induction. I am
going to use all of the elements we discussed in your first induction.
You will memorize your first induction. By committing your
hypnosis induction to memory, you will be confident that you are giving the
correct information to your subjects.
Before giving the hypnotic induction use the three waking
hypnosis exercises you practiced in lesson two.
It will be much easier to hypnotize if you begin with the waking
hypnosis exercises and then move into the hypnotic induction.
What you are accomplishing here is the first five activities
of your show.
1. You will use your pre-hypnosis speech in addressing your
audience and volunteers.
2-4. You will give your volunteers three waking hypnosis exercises
that will entertain your audience.
5. You will complete a hypnotic induction.
As you practice your induction on your first hypnotic
subjects, keep in mind the big picture. You will be using the same words and
activities in you professional stage hypnotism show!
Begin With Your Previous Subjects
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To begin, let us use the same 3 hypnosis volunteers you used
during the Waking Hypnosis Experiments.
For this induction you will only work with one person.
Working with only one individual will allow you to notice many of the physical
changes that take place while someone is under hypnosis.
Also, this induction may seem rather short to you. The
reason that it is short is because the earlier experiments you perform on your
hypnotic subjects as well as your pre-hypnosis talk have conditioned your
subjects in a way that will make them enter the hypnotic condition rather quickly.
Remember that you need to begin with the pre-hypnosis talk
followed by the three experiments using waking hypnosis.
Now you are ready to begin our first induction.
This induction will be an eyes open induction. What that
means is that your subjects begin the exercise with their eyes open.
The induction begins immediately after the third experiment
from lesson 2.
Instructions
--------------------
Tell your subject to begin by sitting up in his chair with
his feet flat on the floor, hands resting in his lap or on his thighs with his
fingers separated so they do not touch.
Next, use a glass marble, a crystal ball, or you can raise
the palm of your hand and ask your subject to focus his attention on it.
For this example, lets pretend you have your subject focusing
on a crystal ball.
Make sure that as your subject is watching the crystal ball
that he/she has to look up at around a 45-degree angle. By looking up your subject's eyes will tire
more quickly.
Now here is an induction I want you to memorize that will
contain all of the elements we discussed earlier in this lesson.
Induction 1. Eyes Open
---------------------------------------------
"Focus your attention on the crystal ball as I move it
from side to side" "As you focus on the crystal ball you will find
that your body is relaxing, deeply relaxing" "All of your tension is
just drifting away." "Listen to each and every word that I say."
"Soon you will be slipping into a very relaxing state
of hypnosis."
"Now we are going to take three, slow, deep
breaths."
"Ready, inhale slowly, hold it, now exhale."
"Push all of the tension out of your lungs."
"Let's take a second deep breath." "Hold
it." "Let it go." "Let all of the tension leave your body, now."
"Now take your third deep breath and as you do, close
your eyelids down, shutting out the light." "This will help you relax
even more." "Let all of the tension leave your lungs, now."
"From head to toe, all of your muscles are
relaxing." "Each and every breath that you take is sending you deeper
and sounder into hypnosis."
"Concentrate on each and every word that I say."
"You are relaxing more with each and every breath that
you take and each and every sound that you hear."
"Now as you sit comfortably in your chair, I am going
to count backward from ten down to one."
"With every count you will find yourself going deeper and deeper
into hypnosis."
"Your mind will always be keen and alert as your body
is relaxing, perfectly."
"All right, 10, you are going deeper asleep, 9, deeper
and sounder asleep, 8, 7, 6, relaxing more with every breath that you take, 5
going deeper and sounder asleep, 4, relaxing deeply, 3, going deeper and
sounder asleep, 2, 1, you are deep asleep."
"Nothing will disturb you, just listen to the sound of
my voice."
"In a moment, I am going to touch you on your
back." "When I touch you on
your back, let your head fall forward on your chest." "As your head
falls forward, your neck muscles will relax, sending you deeper and sounder
asleep." (Then touch his/her back)
"Now you are relaxing deeply in hypnosis."
"Even though we have been resting for just a few minutes, when you emerge
from hypnosis you will feel as if you were sleeping deeply for a long time."
"You will emerge from hypnosis feeling wonderfully alive and alert and
better than you have ever felt before."
In a moment I am going to count to five." At the count
of five you will be wide awake, alert, feeling good in every way."
"Each and every time today when I ask you to sit back
down in this chair you will go deeply into hypnosis." "In the future, each and every time I ask
you to sit in this special chair you will go deeply into hypnosis."
"All right, one you are beginning to emerge from this
wonderful state of mind, two, three, prepare yourself now, four, FIVE."
"Wide awake and alert." "You are feeling good in every
way."
"How do you feel?"
3.3 Exercise for Success!
---------------------------------
Congratulations! You have successfully induced hypnosis in
your first volunteer.
If you have successfully drive home the pre-hypnosis
briefing and handled the 6 basic questions you will eliminate most of the
objections centered on the hypnosis experience.
Now you need to follow up with your volunteer to find out
what he/she though of the experience.
Here is a handy form to use.
Notes:
Induction Evaluation Form
Record your reactions and thoughts to this induction by
answering the following questions.
1. What was the first thing you thought about as you
finished the exercise?
2. How did you feel during the exercise?
3. How do you feel now?
4. Did you have any unusual sensations as you were listening
to your voice?
5. List anything that you felt was "memorable"
during the exercise.
END OF FORM
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3.4 Exercises for Further Learning
------------------------------------
A. Record your inductions:
Using a recording device, record your induction. Then play
it back and listen to how you sound.
What would you like to improve in your speech and delivery?
Are you talking loud enough? Are you emphasizing words, like "sleep"
"relax," and other words associated with hypnosis?
If you were a subject listening to this induction what would
you change in the way you deliver each word and phrase? Do you feel you are
talking too fast or too slow?
Record each hypnosis session and then listen to your efforts
once you are away from your volunteers. Use your recordings as learning tools
to get better.
B. Evaluate each volunteer.
After each session while you are working one on one, use the
evaluation form questions to learn more about your volunteers' perception of
hypnosis.
You will learn more from studying these evaluations than
reading all of the hypnosis books you can find.
Every volunteer teaches you something new. I have been
hypnotizing over 26 years and I still learn new things about the hypnosis
experience.
3.5 Summary
----------------------------
Congratulations! You have learned a great deal about the
practice of stage hypnotism in the last two lessons.
This lesson taught you the major components of a successful
stage induction and then you learned a stage induction.
Commit this information to memory because as you work with
groups of people on stage, you will be doing a variety of things that you have
to think about while the basic hypnosis script is just flowing, as it is a part
of you.
As you develop your show in the upcoming lessons, you will
be able to get very creative and not rely on memory.
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