Hey everyone,

How do you all practice the art of hypnosis? Who do you practice it with?

Just asking for curiosities' sake

Audience members and people who show an interest in hypnosis.

About a week ago I hypnotized my friend's daughter and a couple nights ago I did some demonstrations at my favorite bar.

Take an improv class. I know this isn't the fun answer and it involves work and not trying to show off who you can hypnotize. Taking an improv class will help you write and generate new material and get you practice speaking clearly in front of a group.

If on the other hand you mean how do you practice hypnotizing people:
A) Get together a group of people to do a free event in your basement
B) Fundraiser shows for different community groups in your area

Once you have your show together have a gathering of your friends friends. Once removed from your circle. People who do not know you other than you will be doing a hypnosis demonstration. This puts them far enough from you that there are no preconceived notions that you can't do this.

I agree Bar and pubs are great place to practice, people are more loose and generally more open to try new things.

Caveat - There's a fine line betwen "loose and open to try new things" and "drunk".

I have had a lot of success with the first, not a lot of success with the second. Focus is important.

I wouldn't dream of hypnotizing anyone in a bar for any reason. Just an opinion.

I would appreciate if you would elaborate on that, Danny. You and I have different approaches to hypnosis entertainment, and I am interested in your point of view from your experience.

I can clarify.

I worked the Funny Bone for decades and all manner of comedy club. I work at all inclusive resorts hundereds of times a year. All are bars on one level or another.

All have stages and lights and sound and shows are intended to be in the space. It is theater work where booze is available.

I would not consider for a second being in a neighborhood bar and hypnotizing anyone for any reason. I did not and would never encourage anyone to practice in such a way.

Many do, and that is totally cool. Nothing wrong with it I am not soaking against it in the least. I simply would not do it.

Ok so if I'm reading that right - You're saying that you would never practice hypnosis in a random bar that you were at, because you are a stage performer and your work is intended for that environment - and by that I mean it is optimized to work the best in that environment.

Am I reading that correctly?

Sort of.

The fact is I would never randomly do magic tricks for people either. It is an extension of that.

I do not think it is entertaining to randomly hypnotize people. It just does not work for me.

As for practice I believe it is of little practical value unless you want to hypnotize random people in bars. It has very little to do with entertainment. It is actually a great way to pick up absolutely horrible habits.

Only an opinion and your mileage may vary.

Fair enough. Thanks for the info.

To clarify again I say it is just an opinion. What others do to practice and of how much value it is to them is entirely subjective. My opinion is only correct for ME. Everyone has their own and it is just as valid for them.

Many hypnotize random people in bars and it is not wrong. I think that it is important to respect that in each other. I am not making an all encompassing pronouncement of any sort.

Oh certainly. I was curious about your opinion, that's all.

Danny is there some inherent danger or what sort of bad habits might a hypnotizer be picking up by doing this for an acquaintance in a bar?

Not speaking for Danny, but I can postulate a bit.

The environment in which you practice will dictate certain necessary behaviors. Off the top of my head, you'll probably have to speak louder, you'll have more distractions around, you'll probably be interrupted by wait staff, and you have a lot more to worry about vis-a-vis the subject's personal safety.

If you practice in the bar and develop the habit of compensating for those factors it will be detrimental to working in other environments. On the other hand, if you practice in more conducive environments that still translates easily to the bar environment.

Basically, practice in as close an environment as you plan to perform in, whenever possible.

This is probably try of all sorts of magic; I have also heard this about studying for a test. I just asked because I really did not see the harm in doing this in this environment, and the response seemed to have some dire warning about not doing so....? Yeah I guess this would make it hard for someone trying to casually enter into trying hypnosis.

There's also the factor that you don't want people who are drunk. Or at least, I don't. No focus whatsoever.

The thin blurry line....

Hypnosis is not magic! So many things not right or in the best interest of doing this in bars. Failure rates can be much higher, will likely only be seen as a bar trick, not the best atmosphere for a subject to focus, concentrate and relax with everyone around them watching, noise, tons of distractions, and many things that work against hypnosis. This works against the hypnotist as well as the subject. Performance dynamics need to be controlled in favor of success and that is not present in a bar or street ambush situation, which is why these types of performers end up doing things that really aren't hypnosis but rather suggestibility tests and such, and claim they are hypnosis. As Chris mentioned behaviors and just the overall state of mind people have in a bar, drinking, socializing, recreating, etc. is not in the best interest of hypnosis. You would have better luck going to a library!