So I went to a stage hypnosis show, with the eager goal of going on stage and experiencing it. I wanted to have a greater appreciation of how stagecraft, lights, audience and unpredictability affected things, as well as to experience being a hypnotic subject with a seasoned professional.
Unfortunately, the night didn’t live up to my expectations, but I found myself learning a lot by negative example. Read More
@steven, you're not alone in that matter. a lot of people were also afraid at the start including me. I…
One of the most common things I hear about hypnosis is “It’s not real though is it?” and “I don’t think I could be hypnotized”. If this sounds like you then good – because a) it means you’re normal, and b) it means I get to share some thoughts and ideas that will hopefully blow the lid off of hypnosis for you. Read More
Just came across your website when googling for self-hypnosis. Glad I found it, some quality material here. I also agree…
I recently read Richard Bandler’s “Make Your Life Great” (2008). It reawakened my frustration with NLP as a whole, and how it preys on a crowd hungry for hope (the customers) or power (the practitioners) to perpetuate its inflated promises and flimsy doctrines. Here’s an example of the kind of bullshit I’m talking about:
“I had one case that was even more bizarre. Somebody had grabbed the victim from behind and covered the victim’s eyes. The police weren’t clear about what happened, so [in hypnosis] I slowed the [mental] movie down, froze it just before the hands touched the victim’s face, and magnified the image. Then I had the victim draw the fingerprint – and the police found the attacker. That’s how precise the mind is. Now I’m not saying that was quick by any means. That took me hours to do. The person concerned was a good hypnotic subject and could also draw pretty well. The image wasn’t perfect by any means, it was only what they call ‘a partial’, but it was enough to get a match” (p230)
I saw a hypnosis demonstration recently in a lecture hall of professionals. The speaker asked for a volunteer, then selected one based on their prior suggestibility. As the volunteer stood up, the speaker said “and you can just go into a trance right now… as you come up to the stage”. The guy shuffled along, slowly like a zombie, obeying the speakers every command. Gasps from the audience. Read More
On most occasions, when I’ve met highly reputed hypnotists, I’ve had that realisation of “oh, they’re just people too”. What was I thinking? Many seem to become these almost mythical figures, wielding some special power that isn’t available to anyone else. Its all hype of course – suggestion and influence being the very thing that they’re using to market themselves as gurus.
Here are the common things used to build hype: Read More
There are a few theories that attempt to explain hypnosis, all with their own strengths and weaknesses. I don’t particularly want to get into them all here to prove anything, but I will touch on a few that resonate with my intuitions and experiences the most.
Recently through studying the idea of conscious will being an illusion, I got to thinking about how:
the feeling of conscious will and voluntariness,
and
the nature of imagination and automaticity…
…tie together. Read More
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