Hi all,

After reading quite a few posts here and going over and over again if I would even post I decided to register and post. My name is Rawb, I am 30 years old, I enjoy water sports and I am not looking to have any more children as I already have all that I need! Oh, Wait this isn’t that site… Never mind, well you have my basics at least.

Here I am. I have never been into magic really. I would post this in the newbie section but I am not here for the magic. I’m simply here to see into the world of hypnotists. My story with hypnosis, Well I’m an n00b obviously it’s nothing I can or even desire to hide. When I was a little boy around 8 years old I remember going to the state fair. At the state fair my parents walked by this show and I asked them to stop. I was completely fascinated by what I watched that night. It was a well-known hypnotist doing a show that is still in the game today, in fact he is in Vegas now. Every year I would return to the fair just to watch his show and when I was 18 I was finally able to see his adult show which was incredible! As a teen I purchased several books on hypnosis that I would read and play with. I did a couple suggestibility tests and had some fun but never knew how to even get into this field. In fact until the last couple years I had no clue that so much was out there on this subject.

So here I am at 30, established in life and bored. I have decided to pursue the fascination that has captured me since a young boy. Over the last several months I have purchased 3-4 online and DVD sets on hypnosis. I have read countless e-books and Mailing list emails etc… In fact I came across this vary website while watching an on line program by someone who posts here… probably a suggestion who knows! Lol… Oh add several books to that too! I wish that I could say that I could get through the new encyclopedia of stage hypnosis but the trust is that I think I either go into trance or sleep when I read it for more than 30 minutes. I love the content but find it hard to sit and read.

My experience so far has been with my 9 year old son. I am fairly confident that I had him under by the time we had our nice pre talk and the awesome suggestibility tests and the fantastic demonstration of the hand drop induction. After I had him just a bit deepened I didn’t know what to do!!! So I gave him the suggestion that he would feel great and fantastic etc., have the confidence of a sports star and the most concentration that he had ever had in his life! Then awoke him. I was stoked! I mean I don’t know if he was playing along but I don’t think he was… He seemed to me to be under at least. Well a few hours pass and I watch more stuff read more files! Then I go to do it again… Well here is my big fail!!! Same thing to a T except for now when he went under my poor little boy smashed his face onto his knee and popped right back up as soon as he did so saying “OUCH” with kind of big eyes! Well I chuckled as any good parent would be and then said I was sorry. Just in case I awoke him for safety but was rather sure he didn’t go anywhere near hypnosis at that stage. Now my son kind of plays along when I try to do stuff with him and isn’t interested in hypnosis as a subject however he is clearly showing interest in it with curiosity. My gf is scared ****less of letting me do anything passed compliance and suggestibility tests. She responds so well to them too! I have stopped trying to even play with her at this point since the last pre talk ended up argument!(don’t ask) I call that situation the anti pre talk!

My hypnosis goals are to learn and use impromptive and stage type hypnosis. I would love to use them for entertainment and to show people a good time. I have no plans of being a famous stage hypnotist but hey stranger things have happened. I do however own and operate a business full time so I don’t exactly have time for that right now!
So that’s my “pre talk” on who I am and what I am. I have seen several new people post in my time lurking here and always see them told they need to supply info. This is my attempt to cover all bases on my first real post so that no one has to ask! Sorry for the biography!

My question is simple… I feel that I have a strong understanding on the basics and structure/process of hypnosis. I do lack a touch of the confidence that I should have and of course mostly lack experience. I have tried looking up people local to me to see if there are any entertainment hypnotists but there don’t seem to be. I find myself in a position that I could really use a mentor. Does anyone have any sound advice on how I may go about finding one and any advice on further training? I feel that real life straining should be my next step however I don’t have several thousand dollars and months of time to plop down on long extensive hypnotherapy classes. That isn’t my true interest at this time. Eventually yes that would be great to learn but my true fascination lies in the entertainment aspect of hypnosis.

Please don’t take this as one of a million people who comes along and says “Hey teach me hypnosis please for free and ummm right away!!!” I do understand money makes the world go round but any time I have talked to anyone who is in the field the third sentence is ”I have this training coming up and there are only two spots left if you buy one of these spots tonight …” Fill in the rest… That makes it hard to trust… Anyways Thanks for your time in advance to all who are helpful!

Welcome. That's the way a newbie poster should present themselves from the beginning. It is good to see someone who has an ongoing continual interest in hypnosis, rather than someone that just was introduced to it and wants to ;earn all the cool stuff now, right away.

I'm not sure I advice trying to hypnotize your kid, and leave your girfriend out of it too, but you seem to have the self-education and basic research part of things covered. You made me laugh with your comment on reading anything as it puts you to sleep in 30 minutes. To this day I am the same way with books or dvds on hypnosis or mentalism. Even though I am greatly interested myself, they put me to sleep, usually before the 30 minute mark.

Obviously as much as you don't want to hear it, some type of live training is what you need next to continue from the self-educating point you are currently at and take the next legitimate step. If you are not ready or there yet in terms of time or money, wait until you are. To me if you've read, watch dvds, books, and purchased at home training courses and been watching live shows for 15 years, actual training is the logical next step. Even if you don't want to do it professionally, which I don't buy, as I believe it's one of you inner thoughts and desires whether you've admitted it to yourself yet or not, or care to mention it on this forum. Your interest seems more than a passing fancy, so this is they next step. When you get a bit of cash to invest, there are some great trainings in California and Las Vegas when you're ready and the time is right.

Stick around here as if you can wade through the wave of the many "want it now" newbies, and the street/impromptu and European mentalities and approaches, you will actually learn a few things and add to your education base in both stage and impromptu hypnosis.

Good luck with your journey.

"That's the way a newbie poster should present themselves from the beginning." - What for? Your appraisal?

"the next legitimate step" - I'm not a betting man, but somehow I bet that it's you who gets to decide if something is legitimate or not.

And finishing with the obligatory slagging off of anything outside of your small world.

"European mentalities" Oh add xenophobic as well!

I hope that you just don't realise how you come across as if you do, then it worries me a great deal.

Hi, Rich, and welcome.

I'd like to begin by saying you will probably get all sorts of responses, both positive and negative. My primary response is that it is fantastic you are interested and don't stop learning, don't give up what you're doing. Many people learn hypnosis just for the reasons you state and there is nothing wrong with that at all. There is no group, the Lords of Hypnosis, observing this planet determining who can hypnotize and how they should use their skills as a hypnotist.

That being said, one of the challenges of learning alone is that one has to do a lot of guesswork and assumptions combined with no knowledge of the accuracy, modernity, and relevance of the on-line and DVD sets you've purchased. They may be fantastic. They might also be the imagination of someone with little training, knowledge, or experience. How do you or any purchaser/user know? Sadly, it's caveat emptor...let the buyer beware.

Rich, I have no doubt that from the things your studied and the practicing you've done you believe yourself to have "a strong understanding on the basics and structure/process of hypnosis." Further, I have no doubt that when you look at the things you've done this is absolutely true. Respectfully, however, from the words you're using, I'm not so sure. People can go "under" a table, but they don't go "under" a natural state. People "awaken" from sleep, but since hypnosis is not sleep, people don't awaken from it. People enter and emerge from hypnosis.

Trying to hypnotize friends and family can be particularly challenging. They know you from all of the experiences they've had with you. A quick pre-talk is often not enough to get them through a "he's just the family cut-up so I don't want him running around in my brain" mind-set.

Hypnotizing children is vastly different from hypnotizing adults. Children are constantly going in an out of various trance states, and it's easier to lead them into such a state with a story or catch them when transitioning from state to state rather than giving them a pre-talk and formal induction. While it is clear that you have no desire to do hypnotherapy, I would respectfully suggest that you get some specific books on hypnotherapy with children (there are several listed on amazon.com) to learn methods of helping children to achieve a hypnotic state.

You wrote, "I don’t know if he was playing along but I don’t think he was [hypnotized]." That, too, is not an indicator that you have as strong an understanding of the basics as you think. Besides easy tests known as "convincers" that will indicated if a person is hypnotized, there are also a wide selection of physiological indicators including physical repositioning, aspects of breathing, skin color, etc.

Further, as you've seen, perhaps the number one important thing a hypnotist MUST (IMO) do is watch out for the safety and well-being of the people you have hypnotized. Nobody when you hypnotize them should ever smash their face! Period.

I strongly applaud your interest and drive. Keep it up! However, I would also suggest that although you certainly know more about hypnosis than most people, you may not know quite as much as you think.

I am a strong supporter of in-person training combined with books, videos and DVDs as a supplement to that training. However, I do not think that stage hypnosis training is your only recourse. Hypnotherapy is much more widely taught, and even a weekend training will be valuable. The "therapeutic" aspects won't be of use to your goals, but the knowledge of them will give you greater insight to the functioning of the mind from a the viewpoint of modern hypnosis. THEN continue to watch videos of performances (and attend them, too) to see what people are doing. Continue to get books on the types of hypnosis that interest you.

For learning that confidence you might try taking a community course in public speaking. Or, since you own a business, you might try going to Toastmasters International meetings.

Having a full-time business really does take up a lot of a person's time. I like to say that people don't run businesses, they marry them! And it's absolutely true and a good reason that you don't have a lot of time because of the business you have to run.

Just something for you to consider: another word for "reasons" is "excuses."

As one of my teachers used to say, "You'll never find the time. You have to make the time."

If you want this--REALLY WANT THIS--make the time and achieve excellence!

Rich, welcome, and best of luck on your journey.
I have a different attitude to most of the guys here. I believe in diving in and learning by experience. I did my first show within a week of reading my first book on the subject. I am not advocating my approach, by the way.
I will offer this word of advice. Join your local Toastmasters club. To become a good stage hypnotist you need to be a good speaker. And no one trains you better than Toastmasters. The real key is confidence, and that comes with the training you will get at a speakers club.
Don't waste your time trying to hypnotise friends and family. You need to go beyond that and try strangers. There are several great resources out there for learning stage hypnosis. But if you want to start doing inductions and getting experience under your belt before your first stage show (and it is not necessary, believe me) then Anthony Jacquin's Reality is Plastic is a good starting point.
Best wishes. Tony

MindPro, thank you… I made an attempt to leave no other information needed… I suppose it was a bit long but people here seem to enjoy a decent read and what is more fun to read about than a father trying to hypnotize his 9 year old into a nice black eye! I too agree that the next big step in my path of hypnosis would be hands on approach. Especially since rather than just being ok I would prefer to be one of the “greats” rather than “The random guy at the party who made the blonde chick stick her hand to the wall.” As far as professionally, I am honestly not sure but this would be the side that I would choose if it were an option at some point later in life. I fully intend on sticking around and I will get to know you all! At least I hope that I can get to the point that I can add to and offer perspectives on some issues in time. I appreciate your warm welcome and look forward to learning and contributing anything that I can!

DmKraig, Thank you as well. I completely agree with you as far as the on line courses. It seems everyone and their mother has a course available now and they are all the latest and greatest easiest and best of their kind! I have yet to buy any courses or videos that I have not been completely happy with for the most part. In fact I find each one I learn a bit more on how to add to something I learned from another person. I did use terms like under and awaken in really general and generic terms as to avoiding any complicated language. I must add I had drank a few last night and that post is what came! I have no illusion that I am merely at the very beginning of a life long journey in the knowledge that is to be absorbed in hypnosis. To clear anything up I meant to basically say in a short version that I have obtained a basic understanding beyond what is common perception and assumption. I honestly won’t claim to know anything on the subject until I am able to practus my intentions with subjects and obtain the goals I set out to obtain. At that point I will feel I have an understanding of the process but I don’t think this is a subject that any one person really ever can fully grasp and that’s part of what fascinates me I suppose. I also didn’t give much detail to the induction that I did try on my son. I did check for relaxation and noticed his eyes tended to twitch a bit, the relaxation was rag doll type and honestly I was also scared and so happy that I didn’t do too much with him. I hope someday to be able to work with him a bit. If there were anyone in life that I would want to help it would be my children. I will add this though. After the first time he played a video game for about two hours and got farther than he had previously been able to. Who knows  I also agree that some therapy class type stuff would do no harm at all and be nothing but good for me. If I were to ever take that route I would want to do a complete class and they seem to be in the $5,000+ range here in CA and at this time I don’t see the point in that investment specially with the amount of time they take to complete. I own and operate a retail store and a Screen printing business. My time is ran by the business just as you pointed out… Thanks again for your time I really appreciate your welcome and insight!

TonyB, Thanks I completely admire your bravery and ambition, I wish that I had the same confidence to do the same! I have looked into some of Anthony’s stuff and as of yet not been able to pick anything up but I do suspect I will in the future. Right now I am mid-way through Igor Ledochowskis stuff. I have found it quite interesting and fun! He obviously knows quite a bit and I believe that he worked or had something to do with reality is plastic. That is if my memory serves me correct. I read so much right now that I do get some stuff mixed up…

Thanks again everyone and I look forward to being a productive member of this community.

I shall give you my crash course in hypnosis right here and no doubt it will irritate the various long winded pontificators and supposed experts in this section.

The very first thing you must do is to ignore everybody completely and only listen to me.

The second thing you have to do is realise from the very beginning that hypnosis is a load of old cobblers and does not exist in the first place. Most stage hypnotists believe it does but they are wrong. They are just kidding themselves. As are many of the subjects. Some stage hypnotists pretend they believe in it and a tiny few will come right out and admit that the whole thing is bunkum. However, this lack of belief will not interfere with you putting on a good show. In fact you will do a better show since you will not be hampered by belief and will know exactly what is going on.

The third thing you should do is NOT practice on friends and family. They know you too well. It won't work on people that know you are a beginner. Under no circumstances should your subjects know you are a beginner. And especially don't do it on children. That is asking for trouble. As Corinda once said the words "children" and "hypnosis" should never be in the same sentence together.

The fourth thing you do is avoid all those expensive courses and personal "training"

The fifth thing you do is get any book by Ormond McGill and ignore all the naysayers who say it is dated and old fashioned. You can also get Jerry Valley's book too since it has 3 full stage shows described and that can be very useful.

The sixth thing you do is learn a specific show and practice it thoroughly to the tables and chairs at home. Make sure you get your patter right.

The last thing you do is the hardest and will take a lot of nerve. Find an audience somewhere and just do the show you have rehearsed. No doubt it will die a complete death. So you try it again and again until it works out.

There. You don't need any of those courses any more. I have just saved you a lot of money.

On a lot of levels Mark makes a bit of sense. Shocking as it is to write that.

It would certainly take some of the pressure off to apply what he says!

I have to endorse 100% everything Mark says. It works.

Dear Mark,

could you recommend some literature or other resources for this?

Best,

Lexa

Naturally my own DVD course which sells for a mere $150 is the best source but you may think I am a bit biased in the matter. Please excuse me. I have been using Harry Lorayne as a role model in always mentioning my own products when someone asks me to recommend something. The trouble is that I don't have that many products so that messes up my objective somewhat.

However, if you really insist on ignoring my blatant advertising then I recommend thoroughly Ormond Mc'Gills work. Not everyone likes his material but I bloody do. You have to have the skill to sift through it all to find the good stuff but it is a fascinating search. I also like Jerry Valley's little book. There is something by Dr Svengali which is pretty good too. But of course, I already have mentioned most of this.

I am in a reasonably generous mood this morning and will offer for free something you may find useful. I have been trying to write a book on stage hypnosis but procrastination has set in and I will probably have to finish it in the spirit world. I have got up to a massive 34 pages. However, if anyone wishes to read those 34 pages they should contact me by private e-mail and I will send the 34 pages in an attachment. For this reason I should be contacted direct at my e-mail address which will be found on my website rather than the Magic Café private message system, as quite frankly this will be far too much work for me. I reserve the right to get fed up sending these out and may change my mind when it starts to drive me up the wall.

There is definitely one book I will recommend which is not about stage hypnosis. However, it is an important book because it will convince you of my theory that hypnosis is baloney. It is called "They Call it Hypnosis" by Robert Baker and is published by Prometheus Publishers (or something like that anyway-I wish they had an easier name.) Once you realise what hypnosis actually isn't I believe it helps you to do a better show since you are not hampered by belief and can act accordingly.

Hi Mark,
thanks a lot for the response.
Send you an email.

All the best,

LeXa