talkmagic.co.uk

Hey guys,
I hope I am putting this in the right place, still new to this whole forum concept!
But for a while now, I have always been intrigued in hypnotism.
Now I've had my doubts let me tell you, such as stooges and the rest of all that.
But when word reached my ear that a friend of a friend could 'Make a person forget their own name' and other similar 'hypnosis' trance routines, that just kick-started my investigation off into hypnosis.


Do any of you know where I may buy/learn some amazing feats of hypnosis?
Are there any begginner books to hypnosis around?
I've seen such things as Kenton Knepper, Japanese memory re-inforcement etc, but I am really fond of putting people in a 'trance like state', as i think that this will stretch my boundaries of my repotoir!

Any help on this is much appreciated!
Thanks in advance,
Mr Ben.

I'd suggest as a starting point using the search function. This has been covered in depth a number of times.

Yes I have noticed that...

But at the top of this topic you can also see "Reccomendations"

i'd say re-read all the previous posts, and realise the differences between suggestion, trance, hypnosis, stage hypnotism, kentonism and various other -isms...

plus...you're in the wrong section...this is for making a review, not asking for help...

I recommend Ormond McGill's 'New Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnotism' which you can purchase from Amazon. It's expensive, but if you're serious, well worh it.
Also Deeper and Deeper by Jonathon Chase is worth reading but McGill covers it very well.
I take it that it's the stage hypnosis you are interested in rather than hypnotherapy?

I'm a trained hypnotist... The whole concept of hypnotism is to basically relax someone's state of mind.

This has a process (depending on the person), of up to 20 minutes to get them into the 'trance' like state. For more impressive feats, they have to go even deeper - but this is all a process which takes place during performances.

I agree with Lord Freddie - The Ormond McGill book is a great read and teaches a lot. But I would also say try and invest in hynosis course - I did a weekend one with Phillip Holt... He's friendly, will teach you from the very basics to 'instant inductions' (which don't really happen to be fair) and routines, etc.

His website is www.nlpnow.co.uk

Good luck with it!

P.S. - You'll probably get fed up of people saying "oh, can you stop me from smoking" - no, I can do hypnosis, not hypnotherapy!

I completely agree with timlic, a proper course is the way to go. Learn about it properly, from someone who knows what they're doing - it's not something to be messed around with carelessly.

I agree completely. A hands-on course is the way to learn hypnosis properly. You need to know what a hypnotic trance is like yourself, too, you see. And you need to learn about handling abreactions in subjects, testing depth of hypnosis, trust issues, etc. Ormond McGill's book is great for ideas, but excellent once you know what you're doing.

The point I was making earlier is that this has been covered numerous times, and the advice won't change.

Naturally my advice will be the best on the matter. You must immediately purchase the Mark Lewis Hypnosis Course which consists of three 60-90 minute videotapes (possibly soon to be on DVD) and a 90 minute audiotape.

This combined with the Ormond Mc'Gill book is all you need to know. Oh, except one thing. I shall give that to you now for free.

Hypnosis is a load of baloney and doesn't exist. I will concede that the various daft people you get on stage will think it is real and will go into what they think is "trance". However they have just conned themselves and you have helped to con them into conning themselves.

Various silly people will disagree with me but I am right and they are wrong. After all I am MARK LEWIS and they aren't. I have done thousands of stage hypnosis shows and am very thankful that one of the greatest stage hypnotists of the twentieth century (now retired) told me that the whole thing was a load of cobblers.

Many a stage hypnotist believes what they do is for real. However they are just as daft as their subjects. Besides you will get much faster results if you know beforehand that nothing whatever is happening to the minds of the people on stage.

When you read Ormond Mc'Gill's book you will get the impression that Ormond believed in it because of all the pseudo scientific language. He didn't. He was merely an old showman who knew how to spin a yarn even in his books.

He once in an unguarded moment at a magic convention after giving a lecture on stage hypnosis gave the game away when someone asked him

"Ormond, you don't believe any of that stuff you just told us do you?" With a twinkle in his eye he said "of course not!"

Another legendary hypnotist who has written scholarly books on the subject for hypnotherapists and is considered an icon in the field is still alive so I can't name him. However Martin Breese once told me that this fellow admitted privately to Martin that the whole thing was a load of baloney. If the hypnosis community heard who it was they would be shocked.

The Amazing Kreskin doesn't believe it is real either. People think he says this for legal reasons but this is not the reason. He has said it privately too. For years he has stated that the "trance" state does not exist.

And of course the greatest authority of all on the matter has stated that it doesn't exist.

Me.

Oh for crying out loud. Here we go again.

Is anyone else up for learning from experience and voting to lock this thread now?

As a silly person who believes in hypnosis, yes! I couldn't care less what various people have said about hypnosis, what I care about is the evidence that there is for the existance of trance states.

Giving statements which were made before the evidence which now exists today does not make for a valid argument.

Whether you believe in it or not depends on how good you are.
If you're really good then you know it's for real.

Obviously some people are more prone to suggestion than others..and these are the best subjects for a live show.

Back to the original question: I recommend reading as much as you can about the subject before you attempt it. A good book regarding the history of hypnosis (and covers all the debates) is 'Hidden Depths' by Robin Wakefield. You can also get this from Amazon.

It's also worh reading 'Sleight of Mind' if you want to mix it with magic.

The "evidence" that "exists today" consists solely of daft studies made by the sort of people who did studies on Uri Geller and concluded he was the real thing.

Some twaddle about brainwaves altering and such like. I do not accept it and if some busybody sceptic were to enquire into it in a more thorough manner they would soon find something wrong with it.

Since books are suggested I will again mention "They call it hypnosis" by Robert Baker. This will explain fully that the whole concept is bunkum.

If you think about it getting people to imagine they see invisible canaries and fall in love with broomsticks is beyond common sense. It is OBVIOUS that they are not in any state of "trance". How can they be? Think about it.

As for believing in the baloney is a test of whether or not you are any good or I would mention to Lord Frederick that some of the best stage hypnotists in history didn't believe in it. And come to think of it the best 3 stage hypnotists I ever saw told me the thing was a load of bunkum. Great showmen too.

Sure the eyes flutter and the arms go limp and all that. Sure the people do all sorts of daft things that it would seem that no normal person in their right mind would do. But it ain't "hypnosis". It is just a bunch of ninnies thinking they are hypnotised. And the biggest ninnies of the lot are hypnotists who have led sheltered lives and actually believe in this stuff because they are too clever for their own good.

As for "abreactions" and other twaddle that is merely a function of the spectators nuttiness rather than the "hypnosis" itself. Just be careful you don't get crackpots on stage and any good showman should be able to weed them out before they come up. And if they do come up then get rid of them. Hypnosis can't be dangerous since it doesn't exist in the first place.