Reality is Plastic - Free Hypnosis Training Dates

Hi,

Finally I have the dates for the One Day 'Introduction to Hypnosis' Training courses. The courses will be free and are open to anyone interested in learning the practical skills of hypnosis.

The dates are as follows:
28th June in Hurst Green, East Sussex
9th August in Stirling, Scotland
14th September, Derby

I had some great feedback from those that did this course earlier in the year. It is a practical day of hypnosis instruction and exercises. You will learn an approach to hypnotizing that is rapid, direct and effective. The techniques are as valid in the therapy room as they are sports club, pub, party or stage.

Because my book has sold well with performers many of those who do the training were performers in some way, mostly mentalists. That said many of those who do the course have an interest in using hypnosis in their sport, therapy practice or for some other reason. Some are considering doing further training with us. For this reason we include a good mix of techniques and applications on this one day course. Places are limited to 25 to 35 depending on the location. The course is entirely free and open first come first serve to those who have an interest in learning how to hypnotize or who wish to sharpen their skills.

There is no obligation to do further training with us or purchase our products on the day.

If interested please email me directly at enquiries@anthonyjacquin.com

Best regards,

Anthony Jacquin

Some testimonials about the one day Introduction to Hypnosis Training Course follow.

"My wife and I attended the 1 day hypnosis workshop with no prior knowledge, apart from coming away confident in our new found hypnosis skills (we were hypnotising others by lunchtime!). We were also impressed by the professionalism and depth of knowledge of Anthony and Freddy and can’t wait to attend their 5 day course. Many thanks " D Wright

"The Jacquin one day course is one of the most interesting and informative courses I have been on, to call it an introduction to hypnosis would be doing it an injustice.

Anthony Jacquin and his father Freddy make a great team, each with his own insight into hypnosis they have developed a style all of their own, a combination of hypnosis and NLP that works in the real world rather than just in the depths of a text book.

After a short history of hypnosis, Anthony and Freddy moved straight on to the practical skills you’ll need to become a hypnotist and by the end of the second hour every person on the course had practiced hypnotising someone. There was no waffle or need for copious notes everything was presented in a manor that was simple and easy to understand with lots of time available to practice what was being taught.

While I understand that the day was only an introduction to what Anthony and Freddy are able to teach I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of information that was passed on. I would highly recommend anyone with an interest in hypnosis to do this course." Richard Walker, Master Hypnotist

"Thanks so much for the Saturday training workshop, it was great to finally experience some hypnosis. Both you and Freddie done a fantastic job of explaining everything from its origins/history right up to its present use whether it in a therapy/stage or street impromptu, and of course the rapid inductions ." Stephen Plunkett

It was fanfuckingdoublecuntingtastic....is that the word you were thinking of?.....yes!!!....OMG!!

Brilliant day, lovely people, incredible content, staggering generosity.

My first proper intro to hypnosis, I'm glad I waited.

Anthony supervised me while I made a lady think I was invisible !!!

I have previously used 'hypnosis' (on stage) as merely a presentational framework....where it was unimportant whether it worked or not.

I am now a hypnotist, I have no doubt that I will succeed.

Thanks Anthony for a very special day....that for me turned into a weekend.
Steve Durant

"What I fantastic day was had by all at Anthony Jacquin's Hypnosis training day.
My head is still buzzing from this. I have made no secret that Anthony has written THE book on hypnosis for mentalists (Reality is Plastic). I have also had some seek preview as to his thinking for his next project - which will be a very important and exciting piece of work (my pre-order is in!).

Quite a few mentalists toy with the idea of hypnosis, or pretend to do it - whilst is reality we have convinced ourselves that it cannot be done (without risk) and are frankly too chicken to jump in and 'just do it' - anyone suspecting a degree of autobiography here?

Yet Hypnosis is mentalism in it's purist form. We cannot and should not ignore it, or deal with it as a pseudo embellishment to what we do (now I am really blushing!). And frankly, if anyone is going to show me the ropes I cannot think of a more able and practical teacher than Anthony.

The training day took the same no-nonsense approach as Anthony's book. Anthony and his wonderfully charismatic father put together a double headed presentation that was very pacey, highly confident, professional and always utterly engaging.
Within ten minuets - you were given the tools and the confidence to hypnotise. By the time you were served the first morning coffee, you were actually hypnotising people!

I mentioned in my review of Anthony's book - that over the years, I have accumulated such a body of contradictory and confusing fluff regarding hypnosis that it was impossible for me to do anything with it. The book, the accompanying CD and this training day - just blows all of that away - and you are left with a very simple 'bang-bang-bang-there that's how you do it!'
Anthony and Freddy packed so much into the day, that I am still trying to assimilate it. Stage hypnosis, therapeutic hypnosis, phobias and habits, rapid inductions, visualisations and more meditative inductions. Confidence building and so much more.
What is more, the Jacquins put this day on free of charge - it must have cost them a lot of their money and their time. The gratitude from the packed room was palpable.
I certainly want to take this opportunity to thank the Jacquins sincerely for what was a wonderful day (and I use that word 'wonderful' with it's fullest meaning).

Please do support these guys and give yourself the opportunity of having this really rewarding and deeply satisfying experience.
Visit Anthony's website
http://www.anthonyjacquin.com/
Freddy Jacquin's website
http://www.freddyjacquin.net/

Chris Gould

"Well, on Saturday I attended the Derby hypnosis course Ant had previously arranged. Being one of the last to arrive Iwas sat up front which meant I was going to be involved in many of the demonstrations. The day started off taking us all through the set ups and set pieces and after practising in set groups led on to the inductions. After having a friendly chat with Ants dad during a break he pulled me up for a demonstration in front of the group, using information about me that we had previously been chatting about he quickly had me in trance and woke me up to discover my hands glued together!! This was my first experience in hypnosis and a very unusual feeling not having full conscious control over my own actions. I must say I found it exhilarating . We then split off into groups again and concentrated on hypnotising each other which proved to be much easier thanks to the informative session we were all involved in.
The day progressed rapidly as more and more people got involved in their own trances and after having dinner I was tranced by Vince who helpfully locked my arm out in front of my face and then rendered me unable to say my name or the number 3!! (thanks for that ).
The day ended on Ant doing a demonstration on another lady who was there, turning her Japanese and inviting her to sing a famous Japanese nursery rhyme she learnt as a child in Japan (she wasn't Japanese!!!). Then he read her mind by suggesting to her that everything he told her would be her reality to the amusement of all .

Overall the day was amazing and Ant, Freddy, Vince, Kev and the various other people there were friendly, helpful and able to offer information and help through all of the procedures.

To anyone thinking of doing one of these courses I would say "go for it" this was for me a great experience."

Matt

Mythbusting - 7/38/55

Some time back on a forum I use there was a thread about the richness of communication and how it is useful to recognise that when online we cannot see or hear the people we are exchanging with and sometimes this leads to misunderstandings. The richness of human communication is often compromised when only the written word is used. This is of course a fair point and we should all be considered in our use of language when communicating online and in general.

However this was followed by someone stating ‘I agree as words are only 7% of our communication ’.

No doubt many of you have come across this gem of knowledge. If you have done some NLP training or any other course of study involving communication skills, be it for business, therapy or such like it is possible you have heard it, perhaps even said it. I know I have in the past.

Just in case you haven’t, it is said that in normal face to face communication we receive communication through three channels; body language, voice tone and words. Apparently 55% of what we communicate is done through body language, 38% through tone of voice and just 7% through words. This is of course interesting to those for whom effective communication is paramount in their work life and of general interest to us all.

This information is so often repeated as ‘fact’ that it seems to be accepted as true by nearly everyone you ask and just like the phenomenon of ‘100 Monkey Syndrome’ and myth that ‘LSD stays in the body for years’ or ‘Eskimo’s have 100 words for snow’ has dropped into the public consciousness without much examination.

The next time you hear it, ask the person if they know where they heard it or if they know where it comes from. The chances are they will not know, they just repeat the information and expect it to slip under the radar unchallenged – which it normally does. The person saying it appears to know something fascinating and interesting about human nature and the person hearing it feels buoyed by the fact that they already know it. It is as if simply knowing and repeating the information makes one better at communicating or at least interesting and knowledgeable.

The 7/38/55 rule was exposed as untrue by Dr. ‘Buzz’ Johnson, in his article published originally in Anchor Point way back in July 1994 and even the person that started the idea has stated that t say words represent 7% of our communication is untrue and he is constantly misquoted.

So where does the 7/38/55 % rule come from?

Albert Mehrabian, a researcher interested in non verbal communication, was the original source of the theory. He carried out numerous studies in the late 1960’s in this area and published some of the results of his work in two books ‘Silent Messages’ 1971 and ‘Nonverbal Communications’ 1972. The first study that relates to the 7/38/55 rule was in fact very simple.

It consisted of three female voices who had recorded the word ‘maybe’ while altering their voice tone to communicate different attitudes (variations of like or dislike). The tapes were listened to by 17 female subjects who imagined the word was being said to someone else and had to try and guess what attitude was being communicated.

Next, black and white photographs of three female who were attempting to use facial expressions to communicate like, neutrality, and dislike towards another person. Then photos were shown to the same 17 subjects with the instructions that they would be shown the pictures and at the same time hear a recording of the word "maybe" spoken in different tones of voice. "You are to imagine that the person you see and hear (A) is looking at and talking to another person (B)." For each presentation they were to indicate on a rating scale what they thought A's attitude was toward B. The conclusions from this experiment were that the facial components were stronger than the vocal by the ratio of 3/2 as referred to earlier.

They integrated this study with another one. Rather than re-write this information I am copying ‘Buzz’s’ comments from his Anchor Point article here.

‘This second study was reported in the Journal of personality and Social Psychology, 1967, Vol. 6, No. 1, pg. 109-114 entitled, Decoding Of Inconsistent Communications. Here they dealt with inconsistent communication of attitude in two components; tone of voice and nine different words. Three words were selected that seemed to indicate a positive attitude, "honey," "thanks," and "dear." Three were neutral, "maybe," "really," and "oh," and three were negative, "don't," "brute," and "terrible."

Two female speakers were employed to read each of the nine words with each of the three tones, positive, neutral, or disliking of an imaginary addressee. These were recorded on tape which was then listened to by 30 University of California undergraduates.

They were instructed to imagine that each word was being said by one person to another and to judge what the speaker's attitude was towards the imaginary recipient. One-third were told to ignore the information conveyed by the meaning of the words and to pay attention only to the tone. Another third were told to ignore the tone and pay attitude only to the meaning of the words. The last third were told to utilize both the tone and the content’.

The first study found that when subjects used just the vocal tone and the content to discern the speaker’s attitude, they relied more on tone than content.

In the second study, significant effects of both facial expression and tone were found when subjects attempted to judge the attitude of the hypothetical speakers.

In the discussion of this second study, Mehrabian proposed that the results of the two studies can be combined. From this he concluded that judgments of attitude from inconsistent messages involving single words spoken with intonation are primarily based on the attitude carried in the tonal component. He suggested that the combined effect of simultaneous verbal, vocal and facial attitude communications is a weighted sum of their independent effects — with the coefficients of .07, .38, and .55, respectively.

The research was flawed as noted by the experimental team for a number of reasons.

Firstly the experiments were only concerned with communication of attitude. The results are not applicable across the full spectrum of communication. Secondly the experiment was based on single word being used. This does not constitute normal communication and as far as the experimenters were concerned ‘can only be safely extended to situations in which no additional information about the communicator-addressee relationship is available’.

Thirdly the effect does not relate to content transfer simply to attitude communicated.

This third point is where I think the findings are most often misquoted. Many people who quote the 7/38/55 rule seem to be saying it is about content and that by ‘mind reading’ tone or body language you can reveal more content.

Mehrabian himself has this to say about the use of his coefficient, ‘My findings are often misquoted. Please remember that all of my findings on inconsistent or redundant communications dealt with communications of attitudes. This is the realm in which they are applicable. Clearly it is absurd to say that the verbal portion of all communication constitutes only 7% of the message….anytime we communicate abstract relationships (physical directions, technical information, simple descriptions), clearly 100% of the entire communication is verbal. (Mehrabian, 1995, Three Cheers for Language, D. Lappakko, 1999, Communication Education).

However there does seem to be some valuable kernel of truth in the findings so rather than throw the baby out with the bathwater lets look at that statement from Mehrabian.

‘remember that all of my findings on inconsistent or redundant communications dealt with communications of attitudes. This is the realm in which they are applicable.’ Mehrabian.

The point of value in that statement is about congruence in communication channels and not whether one channel is more important than another. Clearly if we are saying ‘yes’ but our tone is a tremulous ‘no’ and are head is shaking, the message is clear. Incongruence in communication channels is what is causing the problem, not dominance of one over another. The research should not limit the value we put on words but instead accentuate the effort we put into congruence in how we express ourselves.

‘Clearly it is absurd to say that the verbal portion of all communication constitutes only 7% of the message….’ Mehrabian.

In a nutshell most of what we communicate is NOT done through tone and body language it is done through words. Tone and body language add colour to those words and can impact on ‘attitude’ communicated. However words remain the higher-level communication system. Without them tone and body language do not have much of a ‘vehicle’ to travel on/with. This is especially so when communicating abstract ideas and beliefs, plans, concepts and meanings and technical information. As someone who is aware of multi-level communication, yes use your instinct and any intuitive sense you have of incongruence not as a cue to ignore what is being said in words or to guess what might be being said but to ask further questions if desired until congruence is achieving communication is satisfactory.

So online bearing in mind that often we are dealing in the abstract, nowhere more so than the hypnosis and nlp forums, all we have is words use them wisely.

To quote one well known expert in communication

"Are you aware of the way in which you use
words?" I certainly am, and I want to emphasize the
importance of that awareness to all of you. In
hypnosis you are going to use words to influence the
psychological life of your patient today; you are going to use
words to influence his organic life today; you are
going to also influence his psychological and organic
life twenty years from now. So you had better know
what you are saying. You had better be willing to
reflect upon the words you use, to wonder what their
meanings are, and to seek out and understand their many
associations.

Milton Erickson - Ericksonian Approaches

The original article from Dr Buzz Johnson can be found here

http://www.coachteam.no/Documents/MytenOmNonverbalKommunikasjon.pdf

Oh and no, the Inuit really do not have 100 words or snow!

http://www.mendosa.com/snow.html

Best regards,

Anthony Jacquin

Reality is Plastic - The Art of Impromptu Hypnosis

Hi,

I am glad to say that after some delay my book is now back in stock.

If you have ordered from me then it will be with you soon.

Thanks for your patience.

If you have the Reality is Plastic Book or DVD please feel free to submit a review here.

Anthony Jacquin

The Set Up: Creating a context for hypnosis

Extract from 'Reality is Plastic - Proper Mental' a supplement to Reality is Plastic aimed at mentalists and magicians.

Many people, who purchased my book 'Reality is Plastic - The Art of Impromptu Hypnosis', with little or no prior knowledge of hypnosis, have simply picked up a few of the techniques and applied the basic approach with incredible results. Success breeds confidence and confidence goes a long way when hypnotizing. I love receiving progress reports of ‘Hypno Attacks’ worldwide. Keep them coming.

However I have had emails from others who simply have not been able to find a variety of people to practice on and are therefore unlikely to build hypnosis into their performances. If you have to pressurize an unwilling or uninterested relative or close friend into having a go then often the hypnotic situation you are attempting to create can collapse before it even gets started as the mood is all wrong. It makes it much less likely you will hypnotize with success. This is hard to take as a fledgling hypnotist when all you really want is to practice your techniques. I have been there.

I was at University when I first started learning about hypnosis. I got one induction under my belt and I just told people I could hypnotize and kept my doubts to myself. I only did therapeutic stuff at that time and just went in well armed - meaning that at first I had it all scripted on paper just past the point of getting the subject to close their eyes. I was fortunate in that my first few attempts went well. In fact disturbingly so, my first ever subject later became my wife! However after I left University it became harder to find subjects. It is easy to get out of practice and lose confidence in your skills. It is also frustrating when you want to practice something new. I realized I had to create opportunities to hypnotize if I was going to improve.

The only answer was to go and find people to hypnotize. To do this you have to create a context for hypnosis. In other words create a reason or opportunity for it to happen. The Subject of course does not need to know you are practicing your latest set piece, induction or routine.

You have choices about how to create a context for hypnosis, especially when you are just at the stage of practicing the techniques. If you already perform in some way then you have even more opportunities than most because you are probably used to finding people to test out your new trick or effect on. I wanted to share a couple of ideas and hope it stimulates some of your own.

The easiest approach is to just tell people you have learnt hypnosis or better still that you can hypnotize or better still that you are a hypnotist and hook them in. The topic of hypnosis itself is a pretty fine hook but you may need to work a bit harder. So find a reason. If the potential subject is tense tell them you will show them a relaxation technique. If they have a monotonous boring job tell them you can show them how to make time fly, if they need to be creative in a music studio tell them you can show them a way of getting in their most creative state, if they have toothache…

I am sure you get the idea. Match your skill up to their needs. This is not deep therapy although of course this kind of thing is therapeutic. As my hypnotist father Freddy Jacquin always says ‘Never waste a trance state, always throw in some positives’. You get to do something potentially of value for someone while honing your approach. Do your set piece, do your induction, plunge them in and give them some nice direct suggestions for how they will be/feel/perform and of course give them a post hypnotic suggestion that you can hypnotize them. This makes it easy to do a re-induction. As I suggested on the RIP video a re-induction with a warm subject is a great opportunity to practice a technique you need to work on. You will soon gain confidence in it this way.

Getting started with hypnosis is a bit like getting started with magic. When you first start you just have to get your cards out and have a go if you want to practice. No one is going to ask you to, especially if they don’t know they are in your pocket. So get your hypnosis out. Seize and create opportunities to hypnotize.

If you want to use hypnosis in your performance then you could simply introduce it after doing some mentalism. Because of the impromptu approach there is no need for a 10 minute discussion about what is going to happen. The fact that you have already done amazing things with your mentalism ensures that your claim that you can hypnotize is no less credible and readily accepted. Keep it brief and light but ensure you are taken seriously. When you have a receptive friendly group of people hanging on your next move they are very likely to become even more fascinated when you throw hypnosis into the mix.

Another way is to simply bring the topic of hypnosis into your explanation or patter surrounding mentalism. If you already do some effects that give the impression they are about suggestion or involve some pseudo hypnosis stuff or trance then use that. My view is that as a magician or mentalist you have carte blanche to use any trick in the book if it helps you trip someone into hypnosis. Pseudo hypnosis is a brilliant aid to facilitate the real thing. So many hypnotists miss this point. Pseudo effects allow you to bring the subject of hypnosis up and immediately gauge who shows the most interest. The most interested is likely to be your best subject. It gives you the natural opportunity to ask if anyone there has been hypnotized or knows anything about it. This is all useful reconnaissance if you plan to use hypnosis later on. If you are not sure then do your effect or Set Piece on a group and use it as a selection procedure. Often I will simply ask people to ‘Close their eyes’ at some point in an effect and say ‘I am not hypnotizing you, I just want you to concentrate/build an image in your mind/go on a little journey’. Often the people that are natural hypnotic subjects give it away by immediately exhibiting signs of hypnosis. Be sure to look at their eyelids for REM and check for any other signs of hypnosis. Mark their card if they are exhibiting them. Later on when you decide to hypnotize someone it will be them that you choose and you can build upon the signs of hypnosis they exhibit.

A simple but effective approach that is a great example of covertly introducing these techniques into your performance was given to me by the performer Nick Belleas from New York. Mid mental set make a written prediction then use the Set Piece magnetic fingers as an induction and a lead into the effect. When the subject is eyes closed and fingers together Nick sends the subject on a journey to a place where they then count a certain number of people or objects. You then bring them out and reveal the information they are thinking of using your preferred modus operandi. Although the hypnosis is superfluous to the effect it gives you the opportunity to see if they are a good subject. If they are not a good subject then yes it is just pseudo hypnosis and standard mentalism but no one knows that. The Set Piece in that sense simply acts as a way of creating mood and gives meaning to what you are doing. If they are hypnotized then you could follow this effect with something genuinely reliant on hypnosis.

Get people fascinated with hypnosis by being fascinated with it and pretty soon you will start to recognize a certain look that some people have who really are interested and up for being a subject. Hard to describe what that look is but you will know it when you see it – the best description I can give is it is a look of fascination, bright eyes, bit of a smile and the full focus of their attention on you. I am sure I have seen the same look when someone is properly foxed by mentalism, an instant ‘believer’. That feeling you get when you just know whatever you say next they will believe.

Once you have really got your Set Piece mastered you have a lead into hypnosis in any situation as explained in the book. You cannot fail because if the subject is not good enough in that moment then you will never get to point where you need to mention hypnosis.

When you have confidence in a hypnotic subject - someone you have hypnotized with success or someone who has said to you they have been a stage hypnosis subject - and you are in public or social situations with them then use them. With the up most respect I refer to such people as HypnoChimps. I have HypnoChimps planted all around the place and an idea of what routine I will pull them into. It is no more underhand to engineer yourself into this position than doing some set up or pre show for magic. You do not have to use stone cold subjects each time you hypnotize. Working with cold subjects is fine and you should be prepared to do that – always have a go. However warm subjects are preferable. Hot subjects are even better. As long as you do not use hypnosis to humiliate this person you will attract other people who actually want to know what it is like to be hypnotized. More practice for you. They are also mentally primed for it once they have witnessed a successful demonstration and seen that you are one of the good guys who makes people feel good. Another tip is to ensure that your good subject goes and advertises for you by dropping them the suggestion that they will tell everyone how amazing it was, how good they feel and to point you out. No doubt hypno marketing is a dark art but one that has to be used from time to time.

Have fun with it. Ensure they enjoy it. Show them the respect they deserve. This is easily done. Tell them how they will feel with your wake up.

Anthony Jacquin
enquiries@anthonyjacquin.com

Review - 'Deeper and Deeper: The Secrets of Stage Hypnosis' by Jon Chase

Review - Deeper and Deeper: The Secrets of Stage Hynosis by Jonathan Chase
Review by Anthony Jacquin
This book is specifically aimed at teaching you how to do Stage Hypnosis. It is written by Jon Chase an experienced stage hypnotist and author. It is in his words the 'first book...that handles the modern style, used by the best hypnotists working the stage today.'


The book assumes no prior knowledge of hypnosis. It is written in an open, frank and candid manner. Refreshingly free of technical jargon. It covers every aspect of putting on a stage hypnosis show from the obvious stuff, like selection procedures, inductions and routines through to equally important aspects of stage hypnosis such as marketing, performance, presence, making money and health and safety.

Deeper and Deeper begins by explaining what hypnosis is and more specifically what characterizes stage hypnosis. It gives advice on how to recognize hypnosis and makes clear 'the big secret' that makes it work. According to the author, Stage Hypnosis works because 'they (the subjects) believe you are THE HYPNOTIST and you can...YOU believe you are the hypnotist and you can, therefore - you can.'

In other words it is all about belief systems. 'Your subjects behave in the way they believe to be correct for the state of mind they believe they are in.'

The author makes clear that anyone can learn hypnosis but points out that to be a good stage hypnotist takes talent. Talent cannot be taught you either have it or haven't. This means that not everyone will be successful. To be good at it you need self confidence, the gift of the 'gab' and the ability to think rapidly juggling four or five things at once.

Regarding the question of 'Is it dangerous?' Jon Chase is refreshingly open. His answer is 'Yes. It can be' both physically and psychologically dangerous. He encourages you to accept the responsibility that being a stage hypnotist brings and encourages due diligence, being attentive and paying attention to details to ensure that the health, safety and well being of everyone concerned is taken care of. He clearly cares about the reputation of 'The Hypnotist' and recognises that reputation is easily destroyed by idiots not paying attention to health and safety. Although the book does not contain many scripts one aspect that he covers clearly and in full is the wake up procedure to ensure that your subjects leave feeling good and with everything back to normal. Jon also gives advice on the use of assistants on stage and outlines their role clearly.

The second section of the book gets into the practical side of stage hypnosis and presumes that you will be working in a decent sized room or theatre with plenty of room and a decent sized audience. Valuable advice is given on setting the stage, using lighting and voice overas well as many hints on ways to raise the emotional expectation of the audience. He then gets into the details of what should be included in 'The Initial Patter'. This refers to the pre show lecture or introductory words the stage hypnotist should use between coming on stage and actually getting people hypnotized. The psychological background to why this is important is made clear. It is not scrpted for you but contains all the important points a stage hypnotist should make.

Jon then outlines in detail three 'Tests' that will be used to give people a reason to come on stage. These include 'The Handlock', 'Index Finger Test' and 'Light and Heavy Hands'. Advice is given on how to wittle down your subjects to a mangeable level - a means fo finding your best subjects.

The book then outlines a number of inductions that all work splendidly on stage. They range from the dramatic 'Drop Back' and 'Chair Drop', to a 'Handshake', 'Hand Snap' and 'Magnetic Hands'.

Instruction is provided on deepening the subjects and giving suggestions including 'The Super Suggestion'. This is nothing new as Jon points out he has a book dated 1867 that uses the phrase almost work for word, but is certainly something many hypnotists ignore or choose not to use. Jon emphasises its value as well as the importance of command and clarity when giving suggestions.


The rest of the book is principally about routines and how to structure a show. He does list many routine ideas but encourages you to think of your own and provides hints on where you can get inspiration from. Valuable advice is given on the use of props, how to create impact as well as other things that can throw a spanner in the works like 'sleepers' and 'fakers'.

In short this book is a 'how to' do stage hypnosis book. It really does provide information on everything you need to do a stage hypnosis show and is written by someone who has real experience and continues to walk the walk. Of course there is always more to learn and much knowledge is gained through experience but if you follow the format outlined in the book then you will have a very good chance of your show being a success. You will certainly give yourself the best chance of success and avoid many of the pitfalls.

I believe the book is now backed up with a DVD that breaks down one of Jon's shows and has background commentary to explain exactly what is going on. His company offer training courses specifically aimed at stage hypnotists that like the book are practical, fun but professional. It is a great little book, good value and I recommend it wholeheartedly. Many people ask me how it compares to the Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnosis by Ormond McGill. Both should be on your shelf. However if you had to make a choice and are serious about hypnotizing people on stage then Deeper and Deeper has my vote.

You can buy it from Amazon or direct from Jon Chase at http://www.shop4hypnosis.com/

Anthony Jacquin

Review Speed Trance - Instant Hypnotic Inductions for Stage, Street and Clinical Hypnosis.

Speed Trance - Instant Hypnotic Inductions

Review - by Anthony Jacquin
Speed Trance - Instant Hypnotic Inductions for Stage, Street and Clinical Hypnosis.
By John Cerbone and Richard K Nongard.

Recently I watched this two DVD set and have found it to be a really useful and valuable addition to my hypnotic library. As an experienced hypnotist who has done stage, street and thousands of hours of clinical work I watched the preview for the product online and must admit wondered if there would be much I could learn from the DVD but after giving it my full attention have found plenty of good stuff in there.

Nongard and Cerbone demonstrate a wide variety of rapid inductions (possibly 10 or more) most of which are in some way original to them. They reiterate over and over the importance of making use of eye fixation, confusion, overload and other hypnotic techniques and encourage you to experiment and personalise the inductions. They explain them, demonstrate them in a broken down fashion and include footage of them used live. They also indicate how they can be adapted and used in a clincial as well as performance setting. By Speed Trance they mean rapid inductions that take 6 seconds or less by the way.

What was refreshing was the emphasis on health and safety - simple tips that if you use them ensure the well being of everyone is taken care of. Also they are not afraid to give examples of how things can and have gone wrong in their early days of hypnotising and what they do now to prevent you making the same mistakes.

The bonus feature is a complete one man stage hypnosis show with multiple skits. If you can't do rapid inductions after watching and absorbing this take up tap dancing.

All in all a quality product and good value.

Anthony Jacquin
www.anthonyjacquin.com

Review - Medical and Dental Hypnosis - John Hartland

Medical and Dental Hypnosis - John Hartland

Medical and Dental Hypnosis and it's Clinical Applications. John Hartland. 1966. Balliere Tindall.

Review by Anthony Jacquin

Contents:
Fwd by Milton Erickson
Fwd by Eric E Wookey
Part 1: The History, Nature and Techniques of Hypnosis
Part 2: The theories and Phenomena of Hypnosis
Part 3: The Clinical Applications of Hypnosis

Fwd by Erickson
As Erickson states in his fwd this book is not one primarily based upon men's ideas with special interpretations elaborately involved to explain the work of others. Nor is it a survey on the current literature on hypnosis. It is rather an earnest and sincere objective account of one medical practitioners experience over 25 years using hypnosis in his medical practice. It details the in a systematic and orderly fashion the learnings he has derived from this clinical use of hypnosis. Erickson states that he read the book with intense interest and personal gain as well as personal satisfaction.

Fwd by Wookey

Wookey was an Honorary Consultant at Royal London Hospital as well as pat President for the British Society of Medical and Dental Hypnosis. He states that prior to 1940 most books on hypnosis tended to be secretive and guarded about the actual techniques of induction and instead were filled with speculative discussions of theory. He nots that Hartlands book keeps no secrets from us, the language used is simple and clear.

The book begins with an intro explaining that hypnosis is (by the time of writing the book) a valid form of medical treatment. Despite this it's possibilities are widely neglected. Given his scientific credentials it is perhaps small wonder that he advises against giving demonstrations of hypnosis to lay audiences because no matter how scientifically it is done hypnosis and it's phenomena will always have strong entertainment value and given that his profession wished to distance itself from stage hypnosis, in fact deplored its use, he believes that such demonstrations do it a disservice.

Part 1:

The Development of Hypnosis
He outlines that healing in a trance state is one of the oldest medical arts and gives a short but interesting bit of history prior to Mesmer. This includes mentions of the Temple of Aesculapius at Epidaurus and the 'touching for the Kings's Evil'. He mentiones Lourdes and also Paracelsus who in 1530 forumlated his theory concerning the effect of the heavenly bodies upon mankind. From this developed the further theory that not just heavenly bodies but man could mutualy influence each other using magnetic powers. Although it was another 200 years before mesmer developed his theory his initial work was based on the theory of Paracelsus. He then gives a wonderful account of Memers work including details of the 'elaborate apparatus' and that his practice 'was attended with a ceremonial similar to that employed at miraculous shrines'. He then brings the history into the 19th centruy explaining clearly the influence of Marquis De Puysegur, LaFontaine and James Braid. Apparently Braid was taken to a demonstration of magnetic experiments and was so incensed by it he stormed on stage to expose it as a fake and was astonished to find the trance was genuine. He then goes into some detail about the work of Elliotson, Liebeault, Bernheim, Charcot, Breur and Freud.

The Nature of Hypnosis
Although he discusses various theories of hypnosis later in the book for ease of undstanding he writes the book from the perspective of what he calls 'suggestion theory'. He defines suggestion as a process whereby an individual accepts a proposition put to him by another without the slightest logical reason for doing so. He also defines it as an idea which is presented to an individual for his uncritical acceptance.

Suggestibility is the degree to which an individual is inclined towards the uncritical acceptance of ideas and propositions. In other words the extent to which that individual will react to ideas presented without emplying his critical faculties.

His working definition of hypnosis is he suggests possibly incomplete but adequate
Hypnosis is essentially a state of mind which is usually induced in one person by another. It is a state of mind in which suggestions are not only more readily accepted than in the waking state, but are also acted upon much more powerfully than would be possible under normal conditions. In other words hypnosis is accompanied by an increase in suggestibility. The reason for this is in the hypnotised state the power of criticism is either fully or partially suppressed. At this point he introduces the concept of unconscious mind. He finishes the chapter by comparing hypnosis to a controlled state of absent mindedness.

General Principles
Hartland outlines the conditions he believes are essential to successful induction of the hypnotic state.
1. Motivation
2. Removal of doubts and fears
3. Fixation of attention
4. Limitation of the field of consciousness
5. Relaxation and limitation of voluntary movements
6. Monotony
7. Suppression of al ideas except the one upon which close attention is to be concentrated

He explains how to set the ground work to ensure that the subject is in the right mood and state to be hypnotised. He outlines three stages of hypnosis Light, Medium and Deep (somnambulism).

Next we get into the meat of the book, clear and precise instructions on how to induce hypnosis
Various methods of eye fixation are explained
1. Eye fixation with verbal suggestion
2. Progressive relaxation
3. Eye fixation with progr relaxation
4. Eye fixation with distraction
5. Direct eye gaze method
6. Ericksons hand levitation method
7. Ericksons confusional technique
8. Whitlows cartaroid artery pressure method (don;t try that at home)
9. The use of drugs s an adjunct to hypnosis (or that).

The next chapter deals with deepening the state by
1. Direct suggestion
2. By relation of depth to performance
3. By counting an dbreathing techniques
4. By the induction of graded responses
5. By visualisation
6. BY Vogt's fractionation method
7. By the dissociation method.

Hartland then outlines word for word his preferred approach that if you have done the groundwork hardly ever fails to produce trance. This is eye fixation by distraction, deepening by progressive relaxation, the induction of graded responses and a counting and breathing technique.

Theories and Phenomena of Hypnosis
This really is the most fascinating section of the book. First he explains nine theories of hypnosis
1. Charcots pathalogical theory
2. The physical theory
3. The modified sleep theory
4. The conditioned reflex theory
5. The dissociation theory
6. The suggestion theory
7. The role playing theory
8. The psycho analytic theory
9. Meares theory of atavistic regression

Then he gets into some great stuff about hypnotic phenomena that are mostly related to the medical field including alterations to the voluntary and involuntary muscles, organs and glands. He goes into real detail and highlights some fascinating experiments regarding alterations in the sense organs.

Chapter 13 is dedicated to somnambulism and the psychological phenomena of hypnosis including illusions and hallucinations, memory, age regression and more. He includes some 'super' sense demonstrations including one classic on the ability to get someone to pick a playing card, the face is noted and its reverse side shown to the deeply hypnotised subject whose eyes are open (obviously). He is told that a black cross will appear on it and that he will raise his hand as soon as he sees it. He is told to study it carefully so that he will recognise it easily. The card is then shuffled amongst 20 others and asked to pick out the one with the 'cross' on it. The subject according to Hartland can easily recognise the card.

Hartland then gives great detail about post hypnotic suggestion and self hypnosis

The final large section of the book deals in detail with direct instruction for dealing with a wide range of applications for hypnosis.

1. General conditions
2. Nocturnal Enuresis and asthma
3. Migraine and Insomnia
4. Speech disorders, tics and other nervous habits
5. Miscellanous Conditions
6. Menstrual Disorders, dermatological Conditions and the use Hypnosis in Surgery
7. Hypnosis in obstetrics
8. Hypnotic Treatment of psychsomatic symptoms and psychological illness
9. Hypnosis in Analytical Psychotherapy
10. The uses of hypnosis in dental surgery
11. General observations on the hypnotic state its introduction, deepening and utilization.

In short if you can put aside any hard fixed notions about hypnotic theory then this book has much to offer. I have read tons of books on hypnosis and consider this one of the best. The theory and history is fascinating. The induction and deepening methods are varied and the clinical applications are hugely impressive. Beyond that he cites many little experiments and exercises that I had never come across before. All in all a super read and instructional on hypnosis.

If you have any questions about any aspect of the above then feel free to ask questions.

Anthony
www.anthonyjacquin.com

Being The Hypnotist

- This is an extract from Reality is Plastic -

To be a great hypnotist it is of key importance that you become The Hypnotist. Not a hypnotist. Not someone who knows a bit about hypnosis but The Hypnotist. You must express absolute confidence, congruence and expertise in your skills, knowledge and abilities. In the beginning this takes a certain amount of front. Pretend and master it.

Believe you are the best, believe you are a natural and behave like you are.

Believe your subject is a wonderful hypnotic subject. Want and expect them to go into hypnosis and do what you tell them. It is often said that close friends and family are your worst subjects because they cannot accept you as the hypnotist.

It is sometimes harder for them to enter into that reality than people who do not know you so well. But do not fret; just have a go at hypnotising everyone and anyone who will put up with you, including close friends and family. It may be that a family member or friend is a superb subject and you will have your own hypno monkey for life.

Anthony Jacquin

Hypnosis - No introduction necessary.

- This is an extract from Reality is Plastic - The Art of Impromptu Hypnosis -

Whether someone believes in hypnosis or not, whether they have experienced it or not, they are still likely to have a strong personal concept of what hypnosis is and how it typically proceeds. This may be based on something they have read, seen in movies or on T.V shows. They may have first hand experience as a subject or spectator or just be relying on hearsay and urban myth. Even most children by the age of 7 or 8 have a concept of hypnosis.

So before we begin it might be useful to ask yourself a few questions and note what you come up with.

Firstly, what do you think hypnosis is? What images spring to mind when you think of hypnosis, hypnotists and the hypnotized? Which words or phrases would a hypnotist most commonly use? What does it feel like to be hypnotized? How do people act when hypnotized? Do you think you can be hypnotized? Can hypnotists make you do things against your will?

When you have learnt more about hypnosis and accept yourself as The Hypnotist it is likely that your ideas about what hypnosis is and how it can be used will be quite different from the view of the general public. It is wise not to forget what most people believe it to be. Using their mental models of hypnosis is fine - even if their not that accurate – just as long as their models do not leave them afraid of hypnosis for some reason. If they do then it is useful to remove their fears prior to hypnotising them and this is simple enough to do.

I have asked hundreds of students of hypnosis, thousands of therapy clients and many hypnotists the question, ‘What do you think hypnosis is?’

The answers vary quite dramatically, even amongst hypnotists. However several common themes run throughout the public perception of this art.

Sleep, a relaxed state, swinging watches, stage hypnosis, getting in touch with the subconscious, telling someone what to do, a comfy chair, a slow sleepy or gravely voice, a snap of the fingers and more recently Little Britain and the phrase ‘you’re under’* are common answers when the general public try to give you a sense of what they think hypnosis is all about. (Little Britain is a British comedy show written and starring Matt Lucas and David Williams. It featured a character called Kenny Craig a cliché caricature; he is an obnoxious and charmless hypnotist who uses his powers to get his own way.)

Images of people slumped in a chair with their eyes closed under the mesmerizing gaze and command of the hypnotist might come to mind. A row of empty chairs, ‘sleeping’ subjects, people doing ridiculous things or experiencing amnesia for their experience are also relatively common ideas.

Even in our modern rather sceptical society popular belief often still ascribes some significance to the devices and rituals of hypnosis such as making passes with the hands, spinning hypnotic watches, spirals, the hypnotic stare and the authoritarian command. A few years ago my wife gave me a pocket watch on a chain as a present. The first time I got it out to show some friends in a pub they scattered – as if looking at it would immediately put them under.

There are dozens of definitions of hypnosis – some more accurate than others and most quite unsatisfactory. Whatever definition is in vogue does not seem to affect a great deal of change in the actual practical application of hypnosis or the phenomena elicited.

Definitions often describe hypnosis as a ‘state’ of some kind. Just what kind of state however is up for debate. A ‘state like sleep’, ‘a unique or special state’, ‘a trance state’, ‘any altered state’ and of course ‘a relaxed state’. These definitions all have some value but upon examination can all be found to be equally unsatisfactory.

Given that we are always in a state of some kind and many studies have found little significant difference between someone in hypnosis and someone in a normal state, critics of these definitions suggest that hypnosis cannot be defined in terms of state. Some go as far to say that because hypnosis cannot be proved to be a unique state hypnosis does not exist. All of that said with recent advances in brain imaging equipment more evidence is coming forward that there are significant changes in brain function when hypnotized.

Another way to define hypnosis is as a process or an art. Certainly it is possible to be an excellent hypnotist without knowledge of psychology or brain function or state theory. Talent, flair and the pure force of personality will take you far as a hypnotist. So will accepting that hypnosis is really just the artful application of suggestion to someone who is in a focussed state.

Hippolyte Bernheim (1840-1919) the Father of 20th century Hypnosis, famously said,

‘It is suggestion that rules hypnotism’

Hippolyte Bernheim (1).

He believed hypnosis was inherently a suggestion based process. It is a useful assumption although difficult to get to grips with scientifically.

Although trance has certainly been used for the purposes of healing and as an aid to creativity for thousands of years we really trace the trance we call hypnosis back to the work of an Austrian physician, Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815). Mesmer came up with a theory and a way of treating people that helped many to health. His ideas were based almost entirely on untested hypothesis and faulty science, but they led to more accurate ideas about hypnosis in the nineteenth century.

Mesmer believed that among all the fields known to science at that time there was another field which might be called an animate field or fluid or life force. He defined good health as the free flow of this field or fluid through thousands of channels in our bodies. Illness resulted from obstructions to the free flow of this fluid. Overcoming these obstacles and restoring flow restored health. When nature failed to do this spontaneously, contact with a conductor of ‘animal magnetism’ was a necessary and sufficient remedy. Mesmer in other words believed that he was a conductor of animal magnetism and that this could influence the flow of the fluid like life force. Mesmer aimed to aid Natures effort to heal. He treated patients both individually and in groups. With individuals he would sit in front of his patient with his knees touching the patient's knees, pressing the patient's thumbs in his hands, looking fixedly into the patient's eyes. Mesmer made "passes", moving his hands from patient’s shoulders down along their arms. Prior to him it was common practice to do this with magnets. Many patients felt peculiar sensations or had convulsions that were regarded as crises that were supposed to bring about the cure (2).

In the nineteenth century the idea that there was some invisible fluid or influence travelling from the hypnotist to the subject crumbled and eventually hypnosis became viewed by many as something that the subject is responsible for, or more accurately capable of, given the right instruction. This eventually led some to conclude that all hypnosis is self hypnosis. More recently hypnosis has become viewed by many as a peculiarity of the social relationship between the hypnotist and the subject – the hypnotist and the subject ‘playing’ their parts as they believe they should. In other words it is social compliance or role play.

The debate has gone on for decades and will probably continue to do so. For our purposes we will first look at the definitions of arguably the most influential hypnotists that walked the planet, James Braid, Milton Erickson and Dave Elman.

James Braid (1795 – 1860) caused a paradigm shift from the mesmerists of the 18th and early 19th century. Braid was a Doctor and after observing a demonstration of mesmerism believed he had figured out why people went into this peculiar state and it had nothing to do with an invisible magnetic fluid. He suggested a physiological basis for hypnosis. It is generally agreed that his initial insightful but inaccurate view was that the mesmerised state (hypnosis) was caused by the tiring of an optic nerve as it became fixated – hence the association with focussing on spinning watches or in his case a silver cigarette case. It seems he missed the fact that his verbal suggestions to his subjects that their eyes would feel tired were also having an effect. Later in his writings he seems to shift emphasis, although does not abandon eye fixation altogether, noting that it is not just the gaze that becomes fixated but the minds eye as well. In other words when hypnotized the mind becomes locked around a single idea.

‘The real origin and essence of the hypnotic condition is the induction of a habit of abstraction or mental concentration, in which, as in reverie or spontaneous abstraction, the powers of the mind are so much engrossed with a single idea or train of thought, as, for the nonce, to render the individual unconscious of, or indifferently conscious to, all other ideas, impressions, or trains of thought.’

James Braid (3).

Note that Braid says hypnosis renders the individual unconscious or indifferently conscious to all other ideas. This is important. When hypnotized you can still have an experience you can reflect on as you are having it and as far as you are concerned a fully conscious experience. For example if you are hypnotized to believe you cannot remove your hand from your face because it has been glued there, you are still able to reflect on the fact that it is stuck and even wonder why it is stuck. However the only reality you have is that it is stuck nonetheless. If you are hypnotized to believe that beer bottle tops are pound coins then even when pointed out that they are bottle tops you will know without doubt or question that they are not bottle tops they are coins and will accept them as such. You are indifferent to ideas other than the one your mind has locked onto as reality.

The hypnotist directs the subject’s perception of reality by locking the mind around ideas.

From the time of Braid right up into the twentieth century hypnosis was typically induced using a direct and authoritarian approach.

In the 20th Century Milton Erickson (1901 – 1980) caused a seismic shift in the way to induce hypnosis, developing a permissive and indirect approach that is very popular with 21^st Century Hypnotherapists. By the end of his career he appeared to simply be having conversations with his patients who would go into trance without any mention of the word hypnosis. Of course Erickson knew exactly what he was saying and what he was doing and why it caused hypnosis. His insights with regard to personal change have revolutionised modern therapy. I encourage you to read his work and you will discover many incredible ways you can use hypnosis. He experimented with hypnosis pretty much every day from 1920 to 1980. He covered a lot of ground. Because his permissive approach to hypnosis is so popular, it is often overlooked that Erickson was a master of rapid direct impromptu hypnosis too and would use it just as readily as the more cultivated covert or indirect approach. It is said he used the handshake induction so often that by the end of his career no one actually wanted to shake his hand. Many of his statements have been quoted as his definition of hypnosis – all are worth reading. What follows is just one of them.

‘A state of special awareness characterized by receptiveness to ideas.’

Milton Erickson (4).

Two things are worth noting from this succinct definition. He emphasises that the mind becomes receptive to the ideas the hypnotist presents. This can be interpreted as a person becoming more suggestible or more open to the ideas being presented to them when they are hypnotized. The emphasis Erickson places on ‘awareness’ rather than on being unconscious, inattentive or unaware is also interesting. It is in line with his thinking that hypnosis allows you to deal with the bigger beast in all of us, the subconscious mind or what he called the unconscious mind. When hypnotized, the unconscious seems to assume more responsibility or come to the fore. The unconscious regulates all of your bodily processes, stores and manages your memories, every learning from every experience as well as the mental patterns and templates that allow us to function. This part of the mind is intuitive. It can call up your potentials and instantly change the way you think, feel and respond. By contrast the conscious mind is limited. It is logical and linear in its approach to problem solving. It is the here and now.

Erickson was not interested in talking to the conscious mind. Neither should you be when you are in the process of hypnotizing. Aim to communicate directly with the unconscious.

Next is one of the most well known and quoted definitions from a modern innovator and perhaps the most influential hypnotist of all time, Dave Elman (1900 – 1967).

‘Hypnosis is a state of mind in which the critical faculty of the human is bypassed, and selective thinking established.’

Dave Elman (5).

Elman refers to a state where ‘…the critical faculty of the human is bypassed…’.

So what is the critical faculty? It does not seem to correlate to any physical part of the brain or neurological process. It is more conceptual – think of it as being a filter between the conscious and unconscious minds. It can be thought of as the sense of judgement. It has certain characteristics. It is rational, logical, it is limited and it is typified by inductive thinking – proceeding from certain facts to a logical conclusion.

The critical faculty is the bit of you that thinks it knows what reality is! It thinks it knows hot from cold. It thinks it knows that a mop is not the person you are in love with. It thinks it will hurt if you stick a needle through your arm. It thinks that you could lift your feet up if you wished to. It believes you do know your own name.

Bypassing the critical faculty does not establish hypnosis, but it does represent, as Elman put it, the ‘entering wedge.’

When the critical faculty is bypassed, your sense of judgement, inductive reasoning and logical faculties become suspended or inattentive. How inattentive and for how long they remain suspended is reliant on the attitude of the subject and the ability of the hypnotist. When attitude and ability are both conducive to hypnosis the unconscious mind of your subject becomes dominant and with further direction from the hypnotist selective thinking can be established swiftly. According to Elman, selective thinking is whatever you believe wholeheartedly.

By unconscious mind I mean everything else other than the conscious critical mind – all of your memories, every learning, resource, pattern and template. By selective thinking I mean a style of thinking where inductive reasoning is suspended and the mind becomes locked around an idea. When this occurs The Hypnotists suggestions will be listened to by the unconscious uncritically. They will be acted upon uncritically.

That does not mean the unconscious cannot refuse to go in your direction, it can. It does not mean the critical faculty will continue to remain bypassed; it can pop back into play. However as The Hypnotist understand and be clear that to all intents and purposes hypnotising someone results in their unquestioning acceptance of the ideas, suggestions and directions delivered by The Hypnotist.

The critical faculty can be bypassed in a variety of ways quite naturally without hypnosis. Experiencing confusion, shock, high emotion, information overload, being drunk or high on drugs, laughter, play and performance are all common instances where are sense of judgement and logic can be temporarily suspended. It is the rabbit in the headlights moment. Whatever follows is generally driven by our unconscious, instinctive, automatic mind.

The Hypnotist can create such moments artificially and utilise the result to establish selective thinking. The techniques that follow in section three will show you how to do that.

It is useful to note that in none of these definitions is there any mention of sleep or relaxation. That is because hypnosis is not sleep and does not require even a smidgen of relaxation. What is emphasised is that when hypnotized the subject’s attention narrows and becomes fixed around selected ideas or a single idea. Wider environmental stimuli are ignored.

Recently a fresh theory of hypnosis and the mind entranced has emerged from the Human Givens pioneers Jo Griffin and Ivan Tyrell (6). They suggest that hypnosis is the result of accessing the REM state. In the REM state we access the imagination, what they refer to as ‘the reality generator’, that is responsible for our dreams. One of the functions of dreaming is to discharge unresolved emotional arousal. In another words it allows us to complete emotional ruminations of the day through the metaphoric imagery and connections of our dream. Its other key function is to update our instinctive templates or behavioural and emotional responses. In other words the learning state is also an REM state. Whenever we act without conscious effort we are reliant on pattern matching, going back to an earlier learned response or behaviour that was set in the REM state. So when we act instinctively we are, in effect, acting on a post hypnotic suggestion. In the same way when a hypnotized subject acts on a post hypnotic suggestion given by the hypnotist they will do so with the same effectiveness, immediacy and instinct they do other unconscious behaviours.

So when we put someone into hypnosis we are simply activating the same processes that the brain activates during dream sleep, including the reality generator - this is what makes it so effective.

For your purposes as The Hypnotist it is useful to keep these definitions in mind. Revisit them in light of your experience. Read the work of those who coined them. However there really is no need to get hung up on exactly what hypnosis is or why it occurs. There is no point being concerned over whether the ’critical faculty’ is something we can pin point physically or not. Even less point trying to prove that hypnosis is real.

The mind exists as a model. Hypnosis exists as a phenomenon. We must use a conceptual model to describe how it works. Hypnosis may not have the reality of a house brick but that is of no consequence to you. The fact is you can hold any of the major views about hypnosis and still be a good hypnotist.

For practical purposes as The Hypnotist think of it this way.

‘Hypnosis is the art of presenting ideas directly to the receptive unconscious mind.’ (7)

Anthony Jacquin

So understand, as The Hypnotist you are presenting ideas and giving directions. You are doing this to your subject’s unconscious mind and it is receptive to the directions and ideas you are presenting. Believe, want and expect that it will interpret them and act on them with a genuine unconscious response.

(1) Bernheim, H. (Herter, C.A. trans.), Suggestive Therapeutics: A Treatise on the Nature and Uses of Hypnotism, (De la Suggestion et de son Application à la Thérapeutique, [Second Edition], 1887), G.P. Putnam's Sons, (New York), 1889.

(2) Pattie, Frank A. Mesmer and Animal Magnetism: A Chapter in the History of Medicine. Edmonston Publishing, Inc, 1994.

(3) Braid, James. Magic, witchcraft, animal magnetism, hypnotism and electro-biology. London. 3rd edition 1852.

(4) Erickson, Milton H. Life Reframing in Hypnosis.Ernest L. Rossi (Editor), Margaret O. Ryan (Editor). 1985

(5) Elman, Dave. Hypnotherapy – Findings in Hypnosis. 1964

(6) Griffin, Joe and Tyrell, Ivan. Human Givens – A New Approach to Emotional Health and Clear Thinking. HG Publishing. 2003.

(7) Jacquin, A. Reality is Plastic: The Art of Impromptu Hypnosis. 2007. Anthony Jacquin

Anthony Jacquin

Welcome

This is the blog of Anthony Jacquin.

I am a Hypnotist. I am a hypnosis teacher, author, therapist and performer. If you are interested in hypnosis, hypnotherapy or mentalism then this is the place for you. I will update this blog regularly and invite comments, thoughts, debate, or ideas. Visit often, and make sure you see the various hypnosis products and training courses at http://www.anthonyjacquin.com/products.html

My hypnosis and hypnotherapy courses and training DVD’s are designed to provide hypnotists with practical and effective information they can use in the real world. This blog aims to support that with free training resources as well as product reviews, advice and anecdotes.

If you take the time to read this then I invite you to leave a comment or question or submit a review. Tell me what you want to read about, products and techniques you want to know about.

Best regards,

Anthony Jacquin
www.anthonyjacquin.com