Learn How to Hypnotise at our new You Tube channel

I am really excited to announce Head Hacking's new video channel where you can learn how to hypnotise in a series of free lessons.

The channel can be found on You Tube here: http://www.youtube.com/how2hypnotise

The clips are drawn from lectures and trainings we have run around the world and we hope will serve as a valuable resource to our customers. We have included everything from the approach to the wake up and hope you find real value amongst the content. Those of you who are familiar with the book 'Reality is Plastic', 'The Manchurian Approach' DVD and 'The Trilby Connection' DVD will recognise the general structure but I am certain will pick up many subtleties from the demonstrations that will increase your effectiveness. More videos will be added soon including additional techniques, instruction from other hypnotists and much more.

Please share the links with those who have an interest in learning about hypnosis. We will do our best to answer any questions you have based on the clips. Comments and feedback left on the channel would be much appreciated.

If you would like to train with us then our training dates for the year are now finalised.

Head Hacking Training and Lecture dates for 2012:

North Wales Magic Circle - Practical Mesmerism Lecture - 7th February
London - The Cohl Experience - February 24th and 25th
Penang, Malaysia - The Trilby Connection - March 10th and 11th
Las Vegas, USA - HTG-Live with Jay Noblezada - March 23rd to 25th
London - The Trilby Connection - March 31st and April 1st
Amsterdam - The Trilby Connection - April 21st and 22nd
South Staffordshire Magic Society - Practical Mesmerism Lecture - April 30th
Paris - The Cohl Experience - May 19th and 20th
London - The Manchurian Approach - May 26th and 27th
Newcastle Magic Circle - Practical Mesmerism Lecture - 25th June
London - The Trilby Connection - August 11th and 12th
London - The Manchurian Approach - October 6th and 7th

Get full details here: http://www.headhacking.com/training/

Thanks for your attention. All the best for 2012!

Anthony Jacquin
www.headhacking.com

Free Hypnosis lessons from Head Hacking.

I am really excited to announce Head Hacking's new video channel where you can learn how to hypnotise in a series of free lessons.

The channel can be found on You Tube here:
http://www.youtube.com/how2hypnotise

The clips are drawn from lectures and trainings we have run around the world. We have included everything from the approach to the wake up and hope you find real value amongst the content. Those of you who are familiar with 'Reality is Plastic' book, 'The Manchurian Approach' DVD and 'The Trilby Connection' DVD will recognise the general structure but I am certain will pick up many subtleties from the demonstrations that will increase your effectiveness.

More videos will be added soon including more techniques, instruction from other hypnotists and much more.

Please share the links with those who have an interest in learning about hypnosis. Any questions based on the clips will be answered and any comments left on the channel much appreciated.

Anthony Jacquin
www.headhacking.com

Recently I have had the opportunity of filming a new DVD with Alakazam Magic.

The first news about this is can be found on the blog of their new website.

http://www.alakazam.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=7&Itemid=28

Best regards,

Anthony

Magic Convention Guide Interview

Here is a recent podcast interview from the Magic Convention Guide. Great interview with the master of mentalism Docc Hillford too.


http://www.magicconventionguide.com/2009/magic-convention-guide-podcast-180409-anthony-jacquin/

Regards,

Anthony

Website update

Hi,

just wanted to let you know that I have recently updated my website with training dates, video and details of a new course.

www.anthonyjacquin.com

Best regards,

Anthony

Magicseen Interview

You can download it from here.
http://www.magicseen.co.uk/

Anthony

Hypnotist Impersonator - Darren Altman

http://api.ning.com/files/ASu4roqT3EUM7y87tEIV9VsY7X*y2Lf4ddxexM1TvAe8*OeZDU*C4CYuJnbbUxikfBy3DEn9tTXxh5tUFtt65ZhS6iwQ6y24/CelebrityHypnotists.mp3

Made me laugh :)
Have a listen.

Anthony

Post Hypnotic Suggestion and Post Hypnotic Act

Extract from Reality is Plastic - Proper Mental II, Anthony Jacquin

The classic idea about the flow of events we get from watching stage hypnosis is that the hypnotist puts the subject into hypnosis, gives a suggestion, wakes them up and the suggestion is acted upon immediately. This sequence is then repeated.

What happens if you give someone a post hypnotic suggestion that they will act on later at a specified time or on a particular cue?

Milton H. Erickson observed that the hypnotized subject instructed to execute some post hypnotic act invariably and spontaneously develops a hypnotic trance. The trance is usually of brief duration, occurs in direct relation to the performance of the post hypnotic act and therefore is easily overlooked.

In other words when someone is carrying out a post hypnotic act they are hypnotized. Indeed if you were to interrupt the subject midway through executing a post hypnotic act you can give them another suggestion and they will follow it as readily as if they were in a regular trance. Carrying out the act therefore encompasses an auto-induction, hence the title above ‘Invisible Induction’. It is the induction no one can see. No suggestion or instruction to go into a trance is required during the performance.

To make this a little clearer consider this definition of a post hypnotic act from Erickson himself.

A posthypnotic act has been found to be one performed by the hypnotic subject after awakening from a trance, in response to suggestions given during the trance state, with the execution of the act marked by an absence of any demonstrable conscious awareness in the subject of the underlying cause or motive for his act.

A performer using hypnosis does not have to go through a formal process of induction if they have used pre-show hypnosis and given a post hypnotic suggestion. They just have to activate the suggestion. This is done by establishing a clear trigger or cue that will set off the post hypnotic act. It is vital that this is made clear.

The real beauty of people acting on a post hypnotic act as Erickson pointed out in the definition above is that they have no conscious awareness of the motive for their act. This means that if questioned about why they thought of something, made a specific choice or behaved in a particular way they tend to justify it exactly as they would if they had not been given a suggestion. It is as if they are trying to make their new reality fit. They have to consciously justify why they did what they did. Go and test it out. Have fun with it.

Anthony

www.anthonyjacquin.com

Manchurian Techniques - Hypnotism for Magicians and Mentalists

I have a new course kicking off in January.

'The Manchurian Approach - Hypnotism for Magicians'.

A mixture of intensive practical training in the classroom and live practice in the street and bars
with the public. A unique course aimed solely at performance hypnosis and open only to magicians, mentalists and street hypnotists. You will gain the confidence, patter and attitude required to excel.


Day 1: In intensive practical sessions everyone will learn a solid but flexible approach to hypnotizing including the set piece, inductions, suggestion and routines with hypnotic phenomena such as catalepsy, corpsing and amnesia.

Day 2 will cover in depth more specialized knowledge including Hypno Forces and Hypno Peeks, hallucinations, controlling the Post Hypnotic Act, managing reaction, Permanosis and covert pre-show applications. This will be put into the context of typical magic settings including impromptu, street, walk around, stage and TV.


It takes place in Derby on the 17th and 18th January 2009. Good value accommodation is available on site. The introductory price is 250 pounds.

The trainers are Anthony Jacquin and Kev Sheldrake of Head Hacking Ltd.

Details email enquiries@anthonyjacquin.com

NB: this is not a course on traditional stage hypnosis.

Reality is Plastic - Proper Mental I and II

I have just released the second supplement to RIP aimed solely at magicians and mentalists.

You should have received it by now. If not then email me direct.

Anthony

I Know What You Did...

Here is a link to a promo for a show I have been working on.

http://www.eyeworks.tv/en/p48ebaec1d0c4f?movie=48ef6c5182526#flash_player

Enjoy

Anthony

What have you been up to? How are you using hypnosis in your daily ife?

Hi

thought I better post before Google delete this fledgling blog before it has even started because of a lack of activity.

Summer is definitely over for me in the UK. There is a chill in the air and Christmas tat it available in the shops. It has been a busy one. Lots of UKHTC training courses with my father Freddy Jacquin, plenty of creative work on the HeadHacking side with Kev Sheldrake on new ideas for both books, stage and TV has made the last few months really fun and productive. Recently I have had the chance to work on a couple of TV ideas and take hypnosis into new territory, for me at least. I can't say too much on either project but will give you the details as soon as I can. All I will say is one is therapy based and the other is not :)

Amnesia and pain and are two areas I have been concentrating on a lot over the last year . I am using them as a vehicle to get a better understanding about the neurology of hypnosis an area I know little about. What seems clear is that more and more studies are demonstrating clear patterns in the brain when hypnotised and often this comes back to a change in activity in a particular area of the brain the anterior cingulate cortex, often this is a decrease in activity. The same finding occurred in a BBC study into acupuncture. Forget Chi. That needle going in your hand leads to a huge decrease in activity in the part of your brains pain matrix that is 'bovvered'. Not the part that actually communicates the stimulus but the one that dictates the 'emotional' response to it.

I believe Hypnosis has the same effect. The signal is still there but the relationship to it has changed. I am convinced it is exactly the same kind of process when hypnosis is used to give someone amnesia. The information is still there but the relationship with it has been broken/changed. Same with positive and negative hallucinations.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080109173842.htm - Amnesia and suppression of brain activity
http://neurocritic.blogspot.com/2006/07/hypnosis-and-pain-control.html - blog about hypnosi and the ACC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/01_january/21/medicine.shtml - BBC Kathy Sykes Documentary about acupuncture and the suppression of brain activty.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080930/sc_livescience/twistedsciencepaincausesarthritis - article about how pain causes arthitis, not just the other way round.

Another study has demonstrated how pain causes arthritis ot just arthritis causing pain. If this is true then hypnosis has huge potential in this area because one thing everyone can agree on is hypnosis is an effective ay of reducing pain.

How do you deactivate that part of the brain using suggestion?

Well you can start by hypnotizing them and telling their brain 'it ain't bovvered'.

Anthony Jacquin
www.anthonyjacquin.com

Morals and Ethics for the Performer

Interesting article from Craig Browning here. It was partly prompted by Reality is Plastic.

http://www.online-visions.com/craigbrowning/0801ethics.html

Best regards,

Anthony

Keys to The Mind Interview

Here is a link to a recent interview with Nathan Thomas who runs the Keys to The Mind blog.

http://keystothemind.blogspot.com/2008/04/hypnosis-interviews.html

There are lots of other good interviews on there.

Enjoy

Anthony

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