Mj Rkn Little Black Book e Book

Michael Johns & Richard K. Nongard

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The Little Black Book of Stage Hypnosis Secrets

The Little Black Book of Stage Hypnosis Secrets by

Michael Johns and

Richard K. Nongard 2


The Little Black Book of Stage Hypnosis Secrets By Richard K. Nongard and Michael Johns Foreword by Ron Eslinger Text Copyright © 2007 PeachTree Professional Education, Inc. Cover and Title Art Copyright © 2007 by Paula Nongard Edited by Paula Saxon Nongard, MA

First Printing July 2007 Printed in the United States of America by PeachTree Professional Education, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication or its artwork may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or any other - without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. PeachTree Professional Education, Inc. PO Box 121 Andover, KS 67002 (800) 390-9536 (888) 68-HYPNO www.LearnClinicalHypnosis.com www.HypnosisGurus.com 3


Also Available from www.HypnosisGurus.com Secrets from Las Vegas Insiders DVD Series: Michael Johns Stage Show Induction Michael Johns and Richard Nongard present Stage Hypnosis Exposed Terry Stokes presents The Stage Show Induction: How to Hypnotize Anyone Textbooks: Richard Nongard - Inductions and Deepeners: Styles and Approaches for Effective Hypnosis Terry Stokes - Understanding Hypnosis and Self-Hypnosis, an easy to understand book about hypnosis Nongard and Johns - The Little Black Book of Stage Hypnosis Secrets

Also Available from www.LearnClinicalHypnosis.com On DVD: Learn Hypnosis: How to Hypnotize Anyone Nongard’s Hypnotic Inductions: Methods that Work (Vol 1) Nongard’s Inductions and Deepeners (Vol 2) Improve Recall and Test-Taking Skills with Hypnosis On CD: Nongard’s Theta Level Binaural Trance Music CDs Quit Smoking with Hypnosis Lose 20-100 Pounds with Hypnosis Fly Fear Free with Hypnosis Improve Your Golf Game with Hypnosis Increase Sexual Performance with Hypnosis PMR Therapeutic Relaxation Relaxation and Empowerment with Hypnosis 4


THE SECRET INDEX A Secret Note from Richard and Michael ...............................6 Foreword by Ron Eslinger…………….……...……..…………...9 The Secret Introduction The Secrets to How Do You Do That - And Why? ….…….15

The Secret of First Things First The Secret to What Hypnosis Is and Is Not …….…………..19 The Secret to Why Stage Hypnosis Always Works …….….23

The Secret Basic Mechanics of a Stage Hypnosis Show The Secret Framework of the Show ..……………………….29 Pre-Show Music Secrets……….….……………………………31 Pre-Talk Secrets…….…….....………………………….……...33 Pre-Talk Convincer Secrets..………………..…………………39

Induction Secrets - Phase 1 - Bring on the Trance The Secret of Induction into Trance ………………….……...51 The Secret Styles of Induction ………………………….…….61 PMR (p63), Eye Fixation (p67), Dave Elman (p71)

The Secret to The Michael Johns Stage Show Induction…...75 Show Transcript (p77), Dissection (p87), Side Notes (p95)

Induction Secrets - Phase 2 - The Fun Begins The Secret Convincer, Test and Deepening Skits ………..…101 Convincer Skits (p102), Test Skits (p107), Deepening (p111)

The Secret to The Heart of the Show - Hypnotic Phenomena The Secrets to Skits and Bits ……………………..………..…115 Intellectually Creative Entertainment (p116), Hypnotic Hallucination & Negative Hallucination (p117), Hypnotic Amnesia (p119), Adult Fun vs. Raunchy (p121), Hypnotic Regression/Progression (p123), Emotions (p124), Hypnotic Anesthesia (p126), More Skits, Practice and Preparation (p127)

The Secret to Winding Down The Secrets of Post Hypnotic Suggestions ……………………131 The Secrets to Dehypnotizing and Safety ……………………139

The Secret Concepts Detailed for Stage Show Success…141 Secret Closing Comments……………………………………...149 Two Minute Commercial …………………….….……………150 5


A SECRET NOTE FROM RICHARD AND MICHAEL The Little Black Book of Stage Hypnosis Secrets teaches practical and useful fundamental information on the ins and outs of stage hypnosis and induction - and it is the only official commercial source for obtaining The Michael Johns Las Vegas Stage Show Induction in print - and therefore it is truly a gold mine of valuable information for those interested in performing stage hypnotism. And here is the first secret for your success: Although this text is quite exceptional and comprehensive, this ‘must have’ book is not the only ‘must have’ resource on the subject of stage hypnosis. Learning how to handle abreaction, the complications of participant psychology and other extenuating factors require the conscientious stage performer to actively seek mentorship, continuing education, additional training and supervised experience - before taking on the professional responsibility of performing stage hypnosis. Perhaps the best resource for continued education in the field of stage hypnosis is the National Guild of Hypnotists, at 6


www.NGH.net, and we strongly advise those with a serious interest in hypnosis to become a part of this worldwide organization. We further recommend that all stage performers also receive a comprehensive educational foundation in clinical hypnosis. Many stage performers do not come from a clinical background and thus do not realize how well clinical hypnosis can help prepare you for the many challenging situations that may arise on stage, as well as how it can provide a far deeper understanding of the tools of your stage show trade - hypnotic phenomena.

Feel free to contact www.LearnClinicalHypnosis.com for additional information concerning training opportunities in clinical hypnosis. And please visit www.HypnosisGurus.com for more stage hypnosis training. ~ Richard K. Nongard ~ Michael Johns

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FOREWORD by Ron Eslinger Richard Nongard is an established expert and considered a highly qualified authority on the subjects of both clinical and stage hypnosis. He has written several other books and published numerous DVDs and CDs on the nature of many different areas of hypnosis which are popular in the professional community. Richard has also served as a pioneer lecturer and director of continuing education credits for medical and mental health workers. Michael Johns is at the top of his game in the field of stage hypnosis. For years he has performed nightly on the Las Vegas Strip, a venue long sought after by stage hypnotists the world over and attained by only a select few. Together Richard and Michael have created simply a great text on stage hypnosis - a comprehensive review for experienced hypnotists and a ‘must read’ for the beginner. I have had the 9


opportunity to read their work and watch their DVDs on hypnosis practice, and I welcome the privilege of expressing my personal comments here. It is gratifying to know that Michael and Richard have written a book that dissects the secrets of stage hypnosis and educates on the mechanics in a way that helps the general hypnotist to become more confident and more successful at a higher plane of performance. The Little Black Book of Stage Hypnosis Secrets gives the hypnotist tools that he or she will use in every future hypnotic engagement. Today, more than ever before, individuals are seeking alternative ways of helping themselves. Many TV and mainstream publications now advocate the rethinking of hypnosis as a viable integration into “scientific medicine” for behavioral and medical benefits. Hypnosis is a way to enjoy better health and achieve piece of mind and success in life. Michael and Richard openly share with their readers their secret techniques and scripts that can be used not only for entertainment, but to also help a client reach his or her potential for healthy changes. Their purpose with this text is to acquaint both the beginner and the advanced practitioner with the most up-to-date methods and techniques proven to be successful by professional hypnotists. These are simple strategies that anyone can quickly learn; techniques that make it possible to harness a dynamo of mental energy that will produce the desired outcomes for the person being hypnotized and give confidence to the hypnotist. We only use 10% of our mental capacity. Imagine the potential when we tap into that other 90%. Richard and Michael’s techniques are effective as a key to open the mind’s energy toward making the positive and healthy changes we all need. 10


As a nurse and a practicing hypnotist, I can personally vouch for the many benefits derived from hypnosis, and there are many things a hypnotist can do to help others make life changes by using a book such as this one. Knowing how to manage suggestions successfully and how to develop personal confidence and values as a hypnotist is what this book achieves. It teaches the reader the techniques of utilizing the power of suggestion to help others, even through entertainment. The Little Black Book of Stage Hypnosis Secrets is written specifically for the hypnotist who wants to improve their current skills or to look more earnestly into a career as a stage hypnotist. You, the reader, will share in the knowledge and experience of two masters in the field of hypnosis. Use it well.

~ Ron Eslinger, CAPT, USN, Retired RN, CRNA, APN, MA, BCH, CMI, FNCH Ron Eslinger is the owner of Healthy Visions Hypnosis & Wellness Center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He is a Board Certified Hypnotherapist, a Certified Master Hypnosis Instructor and a Fellow National Council for Hypnotherapy (UK). Ron lectures and writes extensively to medical and nursing organizations and publications on Hypnosis, Stress Management, Anesthesia, HIV/AIDS, and Bioterrorism. He has won more honors and awards than can be listed here in this small space. For more information, Ron can be reached at www.RonEslinger.com

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THE SECRET INTRODUCTION

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THE SECRETS TO HOW DO YOU DO THAT?! AND WHY?? People have a lot of questions about stage hypnosis. What exactly is hypnosis? How does it work? What is the induction and how do you create one? How do you go about putting workable skits together? Why do you use deepeners? How do you dehypnotize someone? Are lights and sound important? Why do the participants sit boy-girl-boy-girl? How do you know if they are really ‘out’ or just faking it? New hypnotists often find themselves frustrated as they attempt to put together their first shows. If you do not know anyone in your real world who does stage hypnosis, learning the behind-the-scenes secrets of how to actually put on and manage a show can be quite challenging. Buying video recordings of other hypnotists’ live shows can be helpful to an extent - you can see what they do - but unfortunately they do not stop during the live show to explain 15


why they chose to do this instead of that and so forth, thus rendering the video practically useless for your needs. Or, maybe you have the basics down, but you want to master your induction - figure out how long to make it, which styles work best in different venues, etc. So, you go to as many hypnosis shows as you can, and you buy more videos of other hypnotists’ shows - and when you get home you sadly discover that they cut the boring parts out and go right into the show itself. Unfortunately for you, that “boring part” was the induction you wanted to see and study. Michael Johns and Richard Nongard know this is the case because they experienced these same aggravations themselves back when they first got started in the business. So, in order to save you some time and frustration and answer all these questions and more, they have put together this introductory textbook full of “secrets” to explain many of the things that hypnotists do on stage. In The Little Black Book of Stage Hypnosis Secrets, you will dissect the mechanics of the stage hypnosis show, starting at the very beginning with the pre-talk and working all the way through to the dehypnotizing and dismissal. You will also be able to study the Michael Johns Las Vegas Stage Induction word by word and analyze each component to understand exactly why he does what he does and how it creates such successful shows. Whether you are simply curious because you have been fascinated by stage hypnosis and wonder why a seemingly normal person would act so crazy up on stage in front of all their friends, or because you want to begin a career in stage hypnosis yourself, this book will provide the “ah ha!” answers you seek. 16


THE SECRET OF FIRST THINGS FIRST

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THE SECRETS SECRET S TO WHAT HYPNOSIS IS AND IS NOT Hypnosis is a natural phenomenon. Every one of us experiences hypnosis on a daily basis. It may be the first five minutes of sleep when we lay our head down at night - where we could open our eyes if we want to, but we simply don’t care to. People laugh all the time or even become teary-eyed and cry when they watch a movie. Obviously, they know a movie is not real, and yet it produces an emotional response. These are states of hypnosis. A stage hypnotist takes these naturally occurring hypnotic phenomena and uses them to create skits to entertain people. The hypnotist does not have any magical powers. He is like the passenger in a vehicle, and the person being hypnotized is the driver. The hypnotist is just the guide with the roadmap telling them to go left or right. Sometimes people refer to hypnosis or trance as an “altered state of consciousness,” but it is not. You have also heard the word “sleep” used with hypnosis. Sleep comes from the Greek 19


word hypnos and is, unfortunately, a misnomer, because sleep is not really what occurs. We do not put our subjects to sleep on stage during a stage hypnosis show. A hypnotized subject simply moves from a state of a high-level of alertness to a state of deep, focused concentration. A short technical discussion may help to explain it a little better. Science has determined that there are four levels of normal brain activity. The first is the beta level. In this level, a person’s brain cycles between eighteen and forty cycles per second (18-40cps). This is a state of alertness, where critical thought occurs. When people come to a stage hypnosis show, usually they are with their friends and trying to make the decision, “Am I going to go up on stage, or not?” They are at a heightened state of alertness. They are thinking about the potential fun and/or consequences. “What if I look silly on stage?” and those sorts of things. This is beta level. The second stage of brain level activity is the alpha state, which is between eight and eighteen cycles per second (818cps). This is where relaxation and light hypnotic trance occurs. The first thing we do at the beginning of a show is have the subjects take a deep breath and begin to relax. Now, it may seem a little paradoxical that in order to have people do exciting and dynamic fun things on stage we must first bring 20


them down to state of relaxation, but this must occur so that we can focus their concentration. We do this by using the induction. You want your subjects to be in the lower levels of alpha and in the next or third level, the theta level of functioning, where creativity is unleashed, where suggestibility becomes a paramount phenomenon, where things like negative or positive hallucinations, hypnotic amnesia and catalepsy can occur. We move the subjects to a theta level of brain functioning, between four and seven cycles per second (4-7cps), with deepening skits. It is important for you to realize that subjects on stage may function at any one of these three levels at any given time. They will go from deep level of trance to a lighter level of trance to a deeper level of trance, essentially cycling up and down throughout the entire show. You can help control these levels by the kinds of deepening skits and language you use. The fourth and deepest level of brain functioning is called delta level, at one to three cycles per second (1-3cps). This is where true sleep and dream states occur. This is not where we want our subjects in a stage hypnosis show, which is one of the reasons why we find it very difficult to work with those who have been drinking heavily or smoking marijuana, because they will easily enter the delta level of brain functioning. This makes for a boring stage show, because they just lay there and sleep.

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THE SECRET OF WHY STAGE HYPNOSIS ALWAYS WORKS One of the biggest obstacles for people doing a stage hypnosis show is the fear in the back of their mind, What if it doesn’t work? Well, you can stop worrying because stage hypnosis always works. Hypnosis is a really easy thing to learn, and a really easy thing to do. It always works because hypnosis is a naturally occurring phenomenon, and the numbers are in our favor.

Stage hypnosis always works because people want to have fun. A stage hypnosis show is successful - people are willing to come up and they actually do the things we ask them to do because people want to have fun. Remember, they paid for your show and they paid to have fun.

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Being part of a stage hypnosis show is one of the most entertaining things a person can do, and people know that. They send their friends up, they send their family up, they send themselves up - to have fun. So, you do not have to worry about people not having fun, because stage hypnosis is fun, and people want to have fun.

Stage hypnosis always works because you perform with confidence. As a hypnotist, you have developed confidence in the way that you present things. People respond to confidence. People are highly suggestible when a person with confidence is giving them directed commands. So stage hypnosis always works because people respond to the confidence that we manifest.

Stage hypnosis always works because the numbers are in your favor. Stage hypnosis is a numbers game. A lady once asked, “How do you really get everybody to do all those silly things on stage?” The answer is in the numbers. If you have 200 people in an audience, and you bring fourteen of them up on stage, and you keep nine of them, can you get those nine people to do some silly things on stage demonstrating hypnotic phenomena? Absolutely. 24


As a matter of fact, you can take a room with 200 people and get nine of them to come up on stage and do silly things without hypnotizing them. The numbers are certainly in your favor.

Stage hypnosis always works because hypnotic phenomena are natural occurrences. Hypnosis is easy for people to do. We ask people to close their eyes, we ask them to relax, we ask them to concentrate, and we ask them to create visualizations. We give them direct suggestions. None of that is particularly difficult to do, and people are comfortable with these natural concepts.

Stage hypnosis always works because you are in control of your environment. This is very important for you to remember, and will be one of the keys to your success. You always control the environment where you work, and your response to it. When you do a stage hypnosis show, a waitress may spill a drink. You may have a drunk in the audience become a heckler, or have bartenders making margaritas in blenders buzzing in the background during the induction. But you have control over these things. You will simply learn to incorporate these distractions into the phenomena that your subjects experience on stage. 25


Stage hypnosis always works when you understand the basic mechanics of hypnosis.

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THE SECRET BASIC MECHANICS OF A STAGE HYPNOSIS SHOW

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THE SECRET FRAMEWORK OF THE SHOW You must put together a framework for your show. The music you select, the way you carry yourself, how you dress for your show - all of these things set a framework to follow for both the participants onstage as well as the audience. It is essential for you to be confident, assertive and directive in the induction, because it creates a structure for controlling the audience as well as the subjects onstage. Remember: This is your show. This is your arena of expertise. When you are on stage, you are the expert. The audience is there to see you and what you ‘make the subjects do.’ Be confident and take charge of the stage. You must define and hone your style. This is done through your dress, through your word choices and through the way you interact with the audience. Some people have a dry sense of humor and others are wittier; some people make jokes about themselves, and others make jokes about others - and these individual characteristics will be incorporated into their style. 29


Richard Nongard, having both a magic and clinical hypnosis background, tends to present a little more formal or mysterious style with his stage show. Richard wears a suit and tie, and keeps things relatively clean. Richard just is not good with jokes - and he knows it - and so he simply does not tell them. Instead, he creates humor simply by having his subjects do funny stuff all throughout the show. Michael Johns, on the other hand, comes from a comedy background and markets his show as “the funniest ticket you can buy on the Las Vegas Strip.” He is a little more casual and wears expensive t-shirts with jeans and a tuxedo jacket, and tells joke after joke between bits. You know who you are and what you are comfortable with, so use these traits to perfect your style. Be yourself, but be the best you you can be.

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PREPRE - SHOW MUSIC SECRETS The pre-show music is the music that plays while the audience comes in and sits down. You are still in the back. No one has come out on stage yet, not even your assistant, if you have one. Pre-show music needs to set the vibe or the tone for the show. It lets people know, “Hey, there’s a party in here! We’re going to have a great time!” You want people to be comfortable when they come in. They may be a little bit nervous because they do not really know what to expect. Maybe they have never seen a stage show before, or maybe they have and are trying to decide whether they will go up tonight or not. The music helps put them at ease and gets them relaxed and ready to have some fun. Some hypnotists use popular rock or dance music that you would hear on the radio. This sense of familiarity helps increase the comfort factor of the audience - they know these songs and they are right at home. Other hypnotists may choose more ‘astral’ or ‘new age” sounding music and that is fine too, as it sets a more “mystical” tone for the show, and increases the audience’s anticipation of something “amazing” to come. Either way, the music should also put you in the groove, pump you up, and get you ready to go on. 31


If the doors open thirty-minutes before the show, you will want to organize the play list so that they “rock up” or become more intense as it gets closer to show time. You have got to be ready to go the instant you are announced, and the music is a really important part of that. The last two songs should really pump up both the audience and yourself.

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PREPRE - TALK SECRETS Once the audience is assembled, the hypnotist is announced. The hypnotist takes the stage and the show begins immediately - with the pre-talk. The pre-talk is truly the most important part of your show because it sets it up. From the instant you walk on the stage, you have just a short amount of time to make the people trust you, make them like you, and get them on stage. And, if you cannot make the audience like you, you must at least get them to trust you. Some nights, no matter what you do, they just do not like you, but if you get some of them to trust you, you can have a successful show. The pre-talk builds rapport with the audience and sets the tone for the night. All the books you read, all the videos you watch, everything you learned about hypnosis is absolutely useless without an effective pre-talk. If you do not do a good pre-talk, you are not going to be able to do a good induction, and the show will go downhill from there. In fact, if you do not do a good pre-talk, it really does not matter if you can do a good induction or not, because no one will bother to go up on stage to be hypnotized.

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Education is important, and the pre-talk helps to overcome myths about hypnosis. People have weird ideas about hypnosis. Everyone thinks they know what hypnosis is, and most really have no clue. All people really know is what they have seen on TV or in movies like Office Space, so they may think they can become stuck in hypnosis, and this kind of misinformation is what they are thinking about when they come to your show. Another myth about hypnosis is that the hypnotist is in total control, like a puppeteer. This comes from the old Bela Lugosi Dracula movies, with lines like, “Look into my eyes, deep into my eyes. You are now under my magic spell.” People have to know the truth about hypnosis - that it is a natural phenomenon, and that the devil is not going to climb inside of their mind and suck out their soul during the induction process. A lot of religious people really believe this, because they simply do not understand what hypnosis is all about. The pre-talk is your opportunity to explain what hypnosis is and how it works, in effort to dispel the misbeliefs of the audience so they will be comfortable enough with the concept to relax and want to participate.

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The pre-talk reassures the audience. During the pre-talk, the audience gets to know you a little and decide if they like you, and if they trust you. This is especially important for women. It is hard to do a funny hypnosis show unless you have boygirl-boy-girl on stage. Men, by nature, do not like to come up by themselves, and women are afraid to come up because of sexual fear reasons. So we have to assure the audience and help them to develop confidence in order to get both men and women up there. You want your potential subjects to know that everything is going to be alright and you are going to take good care of them. They must believe that they will always be safe and you will not humiliate them. The whole point is to just cut loose and have a good time. You should always assure the women in the audience that, “If you want to come up here tonight, I want you to know that during the entire show you will always remain fully clothed.” This is very important. A woman does not want to get on stage and expose herself. Her boyfriend or husband does not want her to expose herself. It is important that we make these little points very clear throughout the pre-talk. Additionally, many venues and most night clubs across the country have laws against public nudity. In Las Vegas, for example, if a guest takes their clothes off during the show, the show owners and the venue will have to pay several thousand dollars in fines.

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Letting the audience know these kinds of legal facts can help assure them that, as the person in charge of the show, you will be taking no liberties or unnecessary risks when they get up on stage.

A good pre-talk explains hypnosis. The more the audience understands what hypnosis is like, the more comfortable they will become and the more willing they will be to do what you ask of them. This is the perfect time to quickly explain that hypnosis is just like driving in a car. “I’m the guy with the map sitting next to you, telling you to go left or right. You can always decide to go somewhere different if you want to.” Or, “Hypnosis is just like the first five minutes when you’re going off to sleep at night. You could open your eyes if you wanted to, but it simply feels so good and relaxing that you choose not to open your eyes.” Another approach is to have the entire audience try a short experiment together. “Now, everyone close your eyes just for a second. Count to three with your eyes closed; one, two, three. Now open your eyes. That is exactly what hypnosis feels like.” These concepts are simple and easy to grasp, and because they increase the comfort factor, they go a long way towards improving the quality of your show. 36


But be careful to not be too clinical. Sometimes new stage hypnotists want to sound like they are very knowledgeable, which is great because knowledge instills confidence. However, instead of being reassuring, they often tend to speak over the audience’s head or sound like they are talking down to them. Pre-talk is the time to inform briefly, not lecture. You have to keep it simple - if for no other reason than the comedy club gave you an hour and fifteen minute time slot. They have another show coming in later and must prepare the room when you are done, and the audience wants to see the silly stuff, not submit to a college lecture, so you cannot spend all your time explaining the history or science of hypnosis.

The pre-talk builds rapport and confidence. You want the audience to know that you are a nice guy or girl. This builds trust, and people do things for people that they like. People buy from salesmen they like. Maybe you do not even have the best product or the best price, but since they like you, they will buy from you. Hypnosis show psychology follows the same principle: You want your folks in the audience and on stage to trust you, because you need that bond in order to get them to do what you need them to do. And, you want them to leave your show feeling good and thinking,

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“Wow, not only was the show funny and amazing, but the hypnotist was just a nice person to hang out with for an evening!” They will tell all their friends about what a good time they had, and whoever booked you will want you to come back again, and again.

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PREPRE - TALK CONVINCER SECRETS Convincers are really just another part of the pre-talk. At the beginning of the show, a lot of people may be sitting on their hands or with their arms or legs crossed, and that is not good body language for the audience to be receptive to you. They paid for the show but we also want them to be emotionally invested in it; we want them involved. So, we use convincers - short activities for the whole audience to do - to get them participating and let them know that they too can be hypnotized. These are just little teasers that help set the tone and increase the comfort factor. For openers, try this: “If you have a drink in your hand, set it down. Sit up and uncross your legs. Take a deep breath and relax. Let your palms rest on your thighs.” This instantly opens the people up and gets them a little more involved. Once a person is open, they are ready to participate in the show. If they follow this simple instruction, they are more likely to follow your other suggestions. 39


Then, as you are explaining hypnosis in the pre-talk, you can give them certain things that they can try for themselves while still in the audience. There are a zillion different convincers you could use, and we will address four of the more classic ones here.

Creating a Physiological Response Consider this classic “Lemon Drop” convincer: “I’m not going to hypnotize you. I just want you to close your eyes and try this little experiment. Now, hold out one of your hands. As you hold out your hand, I’m going to place two lemon drop candies in your hand. You know the hard lemon drop candy, sour on the inside and covered with sugar on the outside? Two pieces of candy are in the open palm of your hand. Now, with your other hand, take those two pieces of candy and put them on your tongue. As you put them on your tongue, feel the sugary exterior begin to melt. Then, as that sweet sugary taste fills your mouth and makes way for the sour inside, begin to experience the taste of the sour inside of the hard candy.

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You can switch that candy to the left or the right side of your mouth. You can even chomp down on that candy if you want to, or you can suck on it and enjoy it, or whatever your preference is. Now, open your eyes.”

Following this demonstration you will want to ask the audience, by a show of hands, who could feel or taste or smell the lemon drops. Could they picture the lemon drop in their mind? Or feel it in their hand? Did they taste the sweetness, the sourness, the hardness? Did they salivate? This is a powerful convincer because it creates a physiological response; it incorporates a person’s sensory perceptions in to the process. If you do this with a group of 200 people, they are going to have all kinds of different responses - and you do not care what those responses are as long as you get a response. When they do experience something - anything - they say, “Wow! I too must be hypnotizable, so I’m going up on stage.”

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The Hand Lock You will want to do this convincer very quickly; pump it up with a high-impact presentation. “Are you ready to have some fun? Try this little experiment. Grip your hands together - like this - and hold them tight, right out in front of you. Feel the left fingers on the back of the right hand. The right fingers on the back of the left hand. Keep your eyes focused on the back of your hands. Imagine that someone has squirted some super, superglue inside your hands and hold your hands tight, tight, tighter together. Not so tight that they hurt, but hold them together tightly. As you clasp them together tightly, try to pull them apart. The harder you try to pull them apart the tighter they lock together. The harder you try to pull them apart, try to pull them apart. The harder you try to pull them apart the tighter they lock together. Excellent. Now relax. You can now pull your hands apart.

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See, they came right apart now, didn’t they?” People in the audience will be scrunching up their faces and groaning, “Grrrr…,” and squeezing so hard and trying to unlock their hands at the same time. And, the people whose hands are locked say, “Wow! I too can be hypnotized. That’s amazing!”

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Finger Lock with Rubber Band (or Magnet) “Take your hands and grasp them together, palm to palm, just like this right here. Now, take your two pointer fingers and point them up towards the ceiling. Put them about a quarter of an inch apart. Now, what you want to do is look at the tips of your fingers. As you grip your hands together, you will imagine that those two fingers are coming closer and closer together. Imagine there is a very powerful rubber band around those fingers (or magnet), pulling your fingers closer and closer together. When those fingers actually touch, they are going to become stuck together in one solid piece. Imagine that. The rubber band (or magnet) holds them together like glue. Now your fingers are stuck together. The harder you try to pull them apart the tighter they stick together. The harder you try to pull them apart, try to pull them apart. The harder you try to pull them apart the tighter they are stuck together. 44


Excellent. Now relax. You can now pull your fingers apart. See, they came right apart now, didn’t they?”

This is a very powerful convincer. It is fun, gets people to relax a little bit and involves them in the show, even before it has started. And, this convincer has nothing to do with hypnosis. It is simply the specific use of the muscles that causes this reaction. But it does demonstrate the power of the mind, concentration, and suggestibility. Some people will say, “Oh, wow. It really worked!” So you say, “Great! If your fingers came together, that shows you the ability to concentrate and focus, and that’s all you need to be hypnotized. So, come on up to the stage!” Then, you will see people who are just trying and trying to keep those fingers apart, but you can make that work to your advantage. You say,

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“There are a lot of people out there who don’t want to have fun tonight. Come on, don’t fight the rubber band; just let your fingers snap together.” And, some people will continue to resist, and will not allow their fingers to come together, and they will tell you so. That is fine, too. You say, “Great! If you didn’t let your fingers came together, that shows you the ability to concentrate and focus, and that’s all you need to be hypnotized. So, come on up to the stage!” Either way, you have new subjects.

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L and a Circle “Take your hand and hold it up nice and high, like this. Stretch it all the way up.” If somebody does not, or just to make a joke, you can make a point such as: “Hey, mister, hold it up here - not down there, that’s a different show - hold your hand way up here! That’s right, much better! Now, take this hand and make an L. Now take your L and make a circle. Ok, now folks, what I want you to do is look at your circle. Look back at my circle. Keep your eyes on my circle. Now very, very quickly, with your eyes on my circle, take your circle and place it directly on your chin.”

As soon as you say “chin,” your hand-circle needs to move quickly and touch your cheek, because they are watching your hand’s circle. This little experiment serves as a perfect explanation of how hypnosis works - the bypassing of the critical factor - because they just did it. 47


They are listening to your words - and watching your hand but you are going to bypass their critical factor by physically doing something different than what you said. As soon as they do this - put their circle on their cheek like you did - instead of their chin like you said to - they were essentially hypnotized for that brief instant. And they were amazed.

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INDUCTION SECRETS PHASE 1 BRING ON THE TRANCE

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THE SECRETS OF INDUCTION INTO TRANCE The induction is the most “mystical” part of the show for the audience. This is where you “put people under” and the magic begins. Our focus in induction is to detach the subject from the world around them - to help them begin to relax - so they can enter a state of hypnosis and we can begin to demonstrate hypnotic phenomena for the audience. Following the pre-talk, following the convincers, we invite volunteer subjects to come up on stage. “Are you ready? Let’s start the show! I need these chairs filled up! Boy-girl-boy-girl would be great. Head on up to the stage!” Now, right off the bat the odds are more in your favor for a successful show because (most of) the people who come up on stage want to be there - they want to be hypnotized. Nevertheless, when people get on stage they are nervous and tense. If you are lucky, you may have one or two people with hypnosis experience, but for the most part, the majority have never done this before. They are probably not used to being in front of people and are a little bit anxious, so you want to relax them and make them feel comfortable. 51


The induction builds on the pre-talk by further developing rapport and trust. During the induction, people become familiar and comfortable with your voice. You are their focal point, and that leads to relaxation of the subject, so you want to assure them that everything you do and say from this point forward is intended to help them go deeper into hypnosis, because you want them to feel good. Now you have ten, fifteen or twenty or so people up on stage, and it is time to begin the induction. Throughout the induction phase your goal is to focus the subject’s concentration on you; you want to remove the audience from their attention and distract them from all the crap going on in their every day life, and to focus them on everything that you suggest to them. You have already assured them in the pre-talk that if they do these things, they will have the best seat in the house - they are going to have more fun than anyone, and they are going to feel better than they have ever felt before. Induction locks the stage subjects onto the pre-talk ideas: You are going to be hypnotized tonight. You are going to enjoy it. You are going to be able to do real well. You are going to feel good. All you have to do is close your eyes and follow my suggestions. You are going to be glad you came up. So, when you ask them to close their eyes for the induction and they follow along, you are off to a great start.

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Testing for Compliance The entire induction is, in a way, one huge test for compliance. We know the subjects want to participate on at least some level, because they have volunteered to come up on stage. However, just showing up does not mean they are willing or able to follow your directions. Throughout the induction we will ask the subjects to do a variety of tasks, from the simple, “Close your eyes,” to perhaps a Muscle Catalepsy demonstration at the end. If someone is not following our earliest simple directions, it lets us know that they are probably are not going to make a good subject for the rest of the show. With each instruction or suggestion you give, you are testing to see who is an eager participant and who is only up there because of whatever hidden agenda they may have. Now and then someone will go up on stage just to “prove they cannot be hypnotized” or that “it’s all fake,” or to engage in some other prank. And then of course other still skeptical people may get up there and just drop like a rock. So during the induction you must continually let everyone know that they can be hypnotized, and watch each subject for compliance. You want to spot those who are going to be your really good performers, and those who probably need to step down. Different people respond to different things at different times. If you are testing throughout, you will recognize the status of your subjects, and, if you are not getting positive compliance 53


from most folks, you know that that you likely need to take your induction a little bit further and try different things.

“Thanks for Playing” Sometimes you will get someone up on stage who is not really “out” - they did not allow themselves to be fully hypnotized during the induction - but they want to remain involved and participate fully. You can tell that, for whatever reason, they are following your directions but they are simply “playing along.” Whether you choose to keep these subjects on stage or not is your judgment call. You will have to quickly make a gut assessment of their character and intentions. If you are short on subjects to begin with and if they seem to be having a good time and do not appear to have any desire to mess up the show, you might take the risk and keep them. If they are in an extremely light level of trance, after another deepening skit or two they may actually go out, and if not or if they become a problem you can always ask them to leave later on. But if you are wary of their agenda up front or do not feel you will have the ability to monitor them as necessary throughout the show, feel free to have them step down immediately.

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Principles of Hypnosis Subjects by Ormond McGill When discussing inductions, we should take a few minutes and talk about some principles from Ormond McGill. Ormond McGill is affectionately referred to as the “Dean of Hypnosis” in the US. He wrote a book titled The New Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnosis, Crown House Publishing, first edition (1996), and this is a book that you must purchase if you are interested in doing stage hypnosis as a business. McGill talks about all different types of inductions and convincers and a variety of different skits. His book is simply a tremendous resource for anyone who wants to understand how and why stage hypnosis works.

Ormond McGill tells us that four things must be present for convincers and suggestions to work.

1) The subject must be locked onto an idea. We have to remove all external stimulation, override the critical factor of the mind, and lock their attention on the suggestion that we are giving. This is the reason for the specifc language used earlier in the hand-lock convincer, “As your hands are clasped together, you can feel the left fingers on the back of the right hand, and the right fingers on the back of your left hand.” 55


You want the subject to be locked into experiencing the phenomenon that you are asking them to experience. Locking their mind onto one task and one task only, focusing their concentration, is key to success.

2) The suggestion must have confidence. We have to present confidence. If you are not a person who is naturally narcissistic or naturally confident, you are going to have to practice it. Here is a concept that may help: Most people believe over 90% of what they are told - even in the face of contrary evidence. “I did not have sex with that woman.” When we present ourselves as a hypnotist, people automatically assign the “expert” label to us. They believe that when we say their fingers are going to be drawn together, their fingers are going to be drawn together. When we say it is like these two powerful magnets and the force is irresistible, the force becomes irresistible to them - as long as we tell them so from a position of full confidence.

3) The critical factor must be contained. The critical factor is the sentry or guard between the conscious mind and the subconscious mind; the moment of critical analysis. The previous demonstration of the visual suggestion overriding the critical factor (L and a Circle Convincer) is a powerful way to demonstrate keeping that sentry at bay. 56


4) The subject must be free from objection. A good pre-talk will usually be able to convince the subject that there is nothing to fear, that hypnosis is natural and fun, and that they will be okay if they give it a try. They should also understand that no one can be hypnotized by you if they do not want to be hypnotized by you. There is a big difference between, “I can’t be hypnotized,” and, “I can’t be hypnotized by you.” The subject has to like you, feel an affinity towards you, trust you. When they do, they will be free from objection. We accomplish this by doing a good pre-talk. The guests are nervous when they get up on stage. Always keep in mind that most people never ever want to be in front of a crowd of people. We must help them to feel comfortable and test them for compliance to create a framework for hypnosis. Try this for a minute. Take a deep breath. Breathe in. Breathe out. You cannot be stressed and relaxed at the same time. We respond first physically and then emotionally to taking a deep breath. Simple things like this can help move our subject from a state of high-level alertness to a state of focused concentration. These four principles of McGill’s are extremely important. Without these concepts in play, we cannot proceed with the stage hypnosis show and expect to be successful.

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Induction is Part of the Show The induction is the part of the show that meets the audience’s expectations. They expect that we are going to do something amazing. They are looking for something “magical” to happen, and the induction - where you are “putting people under” - fits their expectation. But while the audience perceives this as the ‘magical’ part of the show, you and I know different. The pre-talk is the magic where you prime the potential subjects and get them ready to participate. The induction is simply the doorway to the big show. People often ask about rapid or covert hypnosis. Can you hypnotize somebody without a formal induction? Sure, but why would you? The induction is part of the show. At hypnosis conventions, it is common to observe hypnotists competing over who can do the fastest induction. Our advice is: Don’t do it fast - do it right. If you do an induction too fast, the crowd will not believe it is real and they will not be entertained - not to mention that your subjects may not go under as well as they should. An induction should take as long as the induction takes. For some hypnotists, that may only be three minutes, if they are extremely skilled. For others, it may be five, seven or ten minutes. Do not rush through it. Whatever works best for you is what will work best for your show. 58


Induction Focuses Attention Let’s talk about real people for a minute. Always keep in mind that the people in your audience have things on their mind other than the show. Their friends are joking around, teasing, laughing, making faces and so forth. The IRS mailed them a letter earlier in the day. Their ex-wife or husband is threatening to take the kids from them. They are worried that the text message they got might be from a stalker who wants to ruin the date they are on. They wonder if they remembered to turn the stove off or not. These are real things that are really happening in the minds of the people in your audience; they have brought all of this baggage and more with them to your show, so when they choose to go up on stage, they are trying to escape it all for an hour and have some mindless fun. Fortunately for them, a good induction focuses their attention and detaches them from the harsh reality of their world. A great line to use in the induction is, “Your problems are a thousand miles away.” Let your subjects know that they can completely let go - and they will.

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THE SECRET STYLES OF INDUCTION There are a variety of different inductions a stage hypnotist can use to induce trance in their subjects. The art of induction is much like creating fine art. Pretend for a moment that you are a student in an art class, and the classroom has a large window that overlooks a lake. The assignment given to each student is the same: to produce a picture of this lake. You all have relatively the same view of the lake, and you all have the same goal; however, you may each use any medium you choose to achieve this goal. Some students from the class may choose to paint with oils, while others may use acrylics. Still another may choose pastel chalks, charcoal, or even pen and ink. Some may use the corresponding colors of the true scene, and others may chose to produce the scene in grayscale. In the end, however, they hall have produced a picture of the lake. 61


You, as a hypnotist, have these same kinds of options and choices when creating your induction. There are numerous accepted styles and strategies available to choose from or combine, but in the end, they will all (hopefully) induce trance in your stage subjects.

In this section, we will overview some of the more effective and thus more commonly used - induction styles, including Progressive Muscle Relaxation, Eye Fixation and the Dave Elman Induction. Then we will go over The Michael Johns Stage Induction word for word, and also dissect each component of it, piece by piece.

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Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) One of the most frequently used inductions is the Progressive Muscle Relaxation or PMR, so we will address it first. Unfortunately, hypnotists at hypnosis conventions are often teased or picked on if it is discovered that the primary induction they use is PMR, because it is not particularly “complicated,” “fancy” or “spectacular.’ But that is a shame, because it is a good induction. PMR it is non-threatening, highly effective and subjects like it so please do not be intimidated into not using it in your own induction. The PMR induction can be used in various ways. You can take twenty minutes and go through each and every muscle in the body from head to toe, or you can condense it and complete the induction in about four or five minutes, which is generally a better choice for stage presentations. For example: “What I want my people on stage to do right now is close your eyes. With your eyes closed, I want you to simply let your chin tilt forward towards your chest. That will help you to relax. Everything we do that helps you relax will help you go further and deeper into a state of hypnosis.

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Now let go of all of the tension of the day. Any muscles in your body where you are carrying tension, simply let them go loose. You want your body to become loose and limp like a pile of rubber bands. Now focus on the muscles of the brow and around your eyes. The face has over two hundred little tiny muscles in it. Relax all of those little tiny muscles in your face. Feel the muscles in your neck and across your shoulders and simply let them go loose and limp. As relaxation travels from your brow through the muscles of your face and your neck into your shoulders, allow the tension to disappear through your arms and out of your fingertips. Any noises that you hear will simply be noises that reinforce your ability to relax, both mentally and physically. If you need to move in order to be comfortable, that’s ok too. Simply allow yourself to relax and enjoy this time. The muscles in the back and the muscles in the buttocks and the muscles in the thighs, simply let them go loose too. As those muscles become relaxed, you go twice as deep into a state of hypnosis. As the body relaxes, your mind also relaxes. As your body becomes even more limp and more loose, any tension that is left in your torso or upper legs simply travels through your calves and through your feet and out your toes. It’s at this point that you find yourself experiencing a state of complete and total serenity. 64


In a minute I am going to count to three. And when I count to three, you will become fully alert and wide awake, rejoining us again. One…fully alert. Two…reorienting to the room. Three…having been empowered by this brief hypnosis experience.”

This is obviously a highly condensed example of the PMR induction. The type of situation you are in (comedy club, corporate retreat, birthday party, etc) and the responses you get from the subjects will determine how detailed and extended the induction should be. It is good to give the subjects a direct suggestion at the beginning, such as, “Close your eyes and tilt your head forward, and let your chin fall towards your chest.” This helps get them used to following your directions, demonstrates how easy it is to participate, and puts them in a natural, physically relaxing position while sitting in a chair. Generally, because it is familiar to the subjects and helps you not to forget any muscle groups, you will start the relaxation suggestions at the top of the body, and move down towards the toes, but you can go in any order you wish. People carry a lot of tension in their neck, shoulders and back, so those are important areas to address for optimal relaxation. 65


In this PMR example, we encouraged them to double the sensation of relaxation with each suggestion we gave. We told them to let their muscles go limp and loose. One of the most important concepts in this induction is, “As your body relaxes, your mind can relax, too.” People do not know this is an okay or the right thing to do, until you let them know. When you tell them that they can relax mentally, they take the cue to really go under.

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Eye Fixation Induction Another popular induction is Eye Fixation. There are two ways to do this: 1) you have your guests focus on you and your eyes, and 2) you have them focus on a specific point, generally a light source above the stage. You want to be the center of their little universe for the next hour and fifteen or so minutes. You want them to focus on you and your instructions; you do not want them looking at people in the audience or around the room. You want them to pay attention to you, as this ‘eyes on you’ set-up lets you know they are paying attention. If you use a light source for focus, have them pick one of the lights that are overhead and simply stare at it; instruct them not remove their eyes from that spot. After a few minutes eye fixation produces ocular fatigue and this, combined with your suggestion to relax, lets people know, “Wow! I must be hypnotized because I want to close my eyes.” For example: “High above you are the lights that illuminate the stage. Look up there now. Do you see the lights? If you fixate your eyes on one of the lights… Keeping your eyes on that spot without moving your eyes… 67


It could help you to experience trance and relaxation. Very good. Stay focused on that light. Now as your eyes are focused on that light, your eyes may perhaps become heavy… or want to close. Don’t close them yet. Let them remain open as you gaze intently at light high above you. Maybe, even though that light is small, maybe it appears to change colors a little bit, perhaps from white to blue or purple… Maybe it grows lighter or dimmer as your eyes become fixated on the lightness. As you focus your eyes on that light and as they become more tired and more heavy and more fatigued… When you are ready, you can close your eyes. Now, with your eyes closed, you feel a tremendous sense of freedom. A freedom because you have allowed yourself to experience what is most important to you at this very moment in time. You are doing very well and you are enjoying your new sense of relaxation. As your eyes remain closed, part of you knows you could open them if you wanted to, but it feels so good to allow yourself this moment of tranquility. 68


From this point forward, you will simply choose to keep those eyes closed. If you need to swallow or take a breath or even move for comfort, that is okay. In this state of tranquility and serenity, your subconscious mind is able to… do the work that it needs to do to bring you… a sense of security… and a sense of peace. It is perfectly okay to get more comfortable. Every time you adjust or move, it simply brings you in to a deeper state of trance.”

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T he Dave Elman Induction If you do not know who Dave Elman is, we highly recommend you read his book, Hypnotherapy. You can order it on Amazon.com or through any bookseller. It is a great text that really explains the clinical side of hypnosis, how it works, when and why to use certain strategies, and so forth. Dave Elman had no formal medical schooling but he was an exceptional hypnotist and did more training on the use of hypnosis for physicians and dentists in the forties, fifties, and sixties than perhaps anyone else. He used an induction that combines ocular fatigue with a number countdown that overrides the critical factor. Since the Elman Induction became popular, a lot of variations have been derived, but the classic Elman Induction basically starts with an Eye Catalepsy. For example, “Close your eyes. With your eyes closed, what I want you to do is look out of the top of your head. With your eyes closed. There is a window on the top of your head; a skylight on the top of your head. I want you to look straight up, out the top of that skylight, out the top of your head, up into the heavens above.” What you have done with this demonstration is put the subject’s eyes into a position where it is impossible for him to open his eyelids. 71


And now you can start the induction. Or, you could also use a suggestive eyelid convincer at this point, if you wanted to convince the subject that he is experiencing a state of hypnosis. “Now, no matter how hard you try, try to open your eyes, you can’t; you cannot open your eyes even if you try.” Of course, this is a matter of muscular function as opposed to actual hypnotic catalepsy, because with your eyes focused up like that you simply cannot open them due to the muscular pull. Nevertheless it is still quite convincing, and this position also puts fatigue on the optic nerve, which in turn tells your body that it is time to rest and relax. After the eye catalepsy, the Elman Induction then goes into a number countdown to override the critical thinking process. For example: “I want you to close your eyes. With your eyes closed, simply relax. We are going to count backwards. We’re going to count backwards from one hundred to ninetynine, then ninety-eight and so forth. I want you to say, “One hundred, deeper and deeper. Ninetynine deeper and deeper.” You are going to count backwards, and you are going to repeat the words ‘deeper and deeper’ after each number. 72


As you do, this will be a reminder to you to go deeper and deeper into a state of hypnosis. The most amazing thing is going to happen. By the time we get to ninety-four or ninety-three or ninety-five or ninety-one, the numbers will no longer be important to you. You will simply stop counting, because you will find yourself having entered into a deep state of trance. Let’s go ahead and begin counting. One hundred.” Subject:

“One hundred.”

Hypnotist:

“Deeper and deeper.”

Subject:

“Deeper and deeper.”

Hypnotist:

“Ninety-nine, deeper and deeper.”

Subject:

“Ninety-nine deeper and deeper.”

Hypnotist: “Just continue to count backwards, each and every number. As you count backwards each and every number, in your mind or out loud, you will find yourself experiencing a deeper and deeper level of trance. At some point, although you could count all the way backwards to number one if you wanted to, those numbers are no longer important to you. As those numbers disappear in your mind, you’ll find yourself taking a deep breath, allowing yourself to simply go limp and loose and into a deep state of hypnotic experience.” 73


This kind of countdown is quite effective in clinical settings where you are one-on-one with the subject, and it can be a great deepening technique. However, it can be challenging to use this method in a large stage show unless you call out each number to them, because when you have people who are not following specific directions (counting down on their own, at their own pace), they may get their counts off or be distracted by the others, and then you have the group doing different things at different times. But if you have a smaller group of four, five or six people, the Elman Induction can work quite well.

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The Michael Johns Stage Show Induction The Michael Johns Induction is powerful and effective, using a combination of breath work, awareness, fractionation, and an Elman-style number countdown. Michael also uses a tremendous amount of ego-strengthening, more so most other stage hypnotists. He lets his subjects know, “The smarter you are, the harder and faster you go.” Michael uses this combination strategy to more efficiently reach every subject on stage. Some people react better to one kind of instruction, others to another, and Michael’s philosophy is to reach them all, one way or another, quickly and powerfully. If you have ten people up on stage and only five to seven minutes to get them where you need them to go, you want to create and induction that will throw as many different things at them as you can, so that everyone is served. However, until you are experienced, putting together this kind of induction can be tricky, so it is not necessarily recommended for someone just starting out in the business. But, just like Michael has done, you can take specific elements from his induction, or anyone else’s, and use them in your own. Michael has the subjects on stage taking deep breaths from the beginning to the end of the induction. He tells them, “The more you deeply breathe, the deeper you’ll go.” 75


The reason for this is that people generally do not breathe deep enough. Most people go through the day taking only partial breaths and they are all tensed up. Once we get them to take those deep breaths on stage, they automatically start to relax. This is simple science. You cannot be tense and take deep breaths. So get them taking deep breaths immediately. This helps them to both focus on you and know that we are actually doing something, right from the beginning of the induction. What follows is a complete transcript of Michael’s induction taken from a video recording of his live show in Las Vegas, on a randomly selected night. This was not his best night, nor his worst, so it should be a fairly average representation of a typical Michael Johns Induction. We have included this transcript so you can see exactly what Michael says and does in his induction. It is one thing for you to study someone’s prepared script (a ready-made induction written with perfect English 101 grammar and punctuation), but it is quite another to study how it really happens live, when the hypnotist hits the stage. A prepared script gives you the general concepts of what you want to accomplish during the induction, but it does not take into account the reactions from the subjects, or the hypnotist’s actions of studying the subjects for compliance while he is speaking to them, or any adjustments he may feel the need to make on the fly. So, here is a typical version of Michael’s induction script, in full. Afterwards, we will discuss why he does what he does, when, and how, as well as some parts of the induction that may not have been picked up by the microphone.

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The Secret Transcript of The Michael Johns Stage Show Induction “My folks onstage: I just need everybody to put your feet flat on the floor. Put your hands loosely in your laps. Keep your eyes on me at all times. I am your focal point. What I want you to do is keep those eyes on me until you are ready to close them. Whenever you are ready to close them, then let those eyes go closed. Once they are closed, keep them closed. Don’t anybody get up and walk off unless I ask you to, because your safety is my number one concern. What we’re going to do right now is start breathing - all the way in and all the way out. Great job. Fill those lungs up as much as you can. Then let it all the way out. Fantastic. Continue on until I tell you to stop. All the way in and all the way out. Your lips will relax. You’re body automatically relaxes. You can breathe all the way in - and all the way out.

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Now, whenever you’re ready to close those eyes, let those eyes go closed, but continue to breathe all the way in and all the way out. Fantastic. All the eyes are closed. Breathe in as deep as you can. Let it all the way out. Continue that nice deep easy breathing until I tell you to stop. All the way in and all the way out. Never asleep, just relaxed. You can always hear the sound of my voice. Whether you hear the noise in the room is entirely up to you, but you can always hear the sound of my voice. Fill those lungs up as much as you can. Let it all the way out. As we do this demonstration, you are going notice the person next to you, the chair beneath you, the floor beneath your feet. Always you will hear the sound of my voice as you breathe all the way in and all the way out. Fantastic. You are doing a great job. What we are going to do right now is I’m going to count from three back to one as you breathe all the way in and all the way out. I want you to put your focus on your neck muscles. When I get to number one, I want you to let those neck muscles relax completely. Let your head roll forward and your chin touch your chest. 78


Breathe in deep all the way out. Three. Two. And one. Let those neck muscles relax. Fantastic. It takes a lot of energy to hold that head up there. I want you to continue to breathe all the way in and all the way out. From this point on, with every breath you exhale, I want you to let the relaxation double. Let your body get heavier and heavier in that chair. Fantastic. You are doing a great job. Don’t realize the way it’s working for you. Just let it go. Let those bodies get heavier and heavier. Breathe all the way in and all the way out. Every breath lets that relaxation become more and more complete. Now, as you breathe all the way in and all the way out, I want you to imagine you are at the top of an elevator, an escalator, a very long flight of stairs. With every breath, it’s making you go down deeper and deeper and deeper relaxed. 79


You are doing a great job. You always want to fill those lungs up as much as you can and then let it all the way out. Fantastic. As you are breathing all the way in and all the way out, we’re letting that relaxation double. I want you to imagine there is a very heavy weight pushing on the back of your head with every breath you exhale. Let your bodies go. If you want to lean on the person next to you, that’s fine. We’re a team. We work together here. Nobody gets singled out. Nobody gets picked on. Just let it go. Breathe all the way in and all the way out. Feel that weight getting heavier and heavier. As you breathe all the way in and all the way out, the relaxation is automatically doubling. The weight is getting heavier and heavier. I’m going to count from ten back to one. With every number that I count back, we’re going to let that relaxation double again. So, essentially folks, we’re doubling and doubling the relaxation. 80


It’s a synergistic thing. See the smart ones go really quick right now. Breathe it in deep. Let it all the way out. Ten, nine. As I count from ten back to one, we’re letting that relaxation double and we’re going to touch every one of you on the back of the head. When I touch you on the back of the head, it will not disturb you. It will not disturb you. It will not disturb you. It will help you to go nice and deep. When I touch the back of the head, just let your body collapse. Let loose like a rag doll. Ten, nine, eight—deep breath right here. Everybody just sink into the chair. Reach out. Let that body just sink into that chair. Wonderful. Ten, nine, eight---deep breath right here. All we ask is let that body sink into that chair. Fantastic. Let it go. Ten, nine, eight—deep breath right here. 81


All the way out. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two—everybody take in a deep breath. Let it all the way out at once. Let your body melt into the chair. Melt into the person next to you. We’re a team. We’re doing a great job. Now, here is what we are going to do to see who the really good ones are right now. When I say the number one, I want you to take one of your arms. I want you to make that arm totally straight, totally stiff, and totally rigid just like a piece of steel. The tighter you can make that arm, the deeper you go, the deeper you go, the better you are going to feel. Here we go and one. Take that arm now and make it totally straight, totally stiff, and totally rigid. Concentrate on that arm. Great job, you guys. Great job. Breathe in deep. When I say the number two, if you haven’t already, I want you to sit up straight, eyes closed. 82


Take the arm and put it straight out in front of you like you are trying to punch somebody right in the nose. When you do this, make that fist so tight you couldn’t possibly make it any tighter. Here we go and two. Sit up straight, eyes closed, take that arm straight out in front of you. Breathe in deep. With every breath, make that arm more stiff, more rigid. Great job you guys. Great job. When I say the next number, take the arm and put it straight up toward the ceiling. When you do this, make that arm totally straight, totally stiff, and totally rigid. Here we go and three. Take that arm straight up there now. Now here is what we are going to do. We’re going to see the really good ones right about now. They are all concentrating perfectly. They are doing a fantastic job. What I’m going to do right now is I am going to count from three back to one. When I get to that number one, my folks onstage, I want you to try to pull those arms down. 83


If you are doing a good job and you’re concentrating correctly, then your arm will be stuck there, helping you go deeper and deeper, helping you feel better and better. Again, if you are doing a good job, all the arms will be stuck in the position that they are in, helping you go deeper and feel better and better. Breathe in deep. Let it all the way out. Three, two, one—try to pull that arm down. If you are doing a good job it will not come down. If you are concentrating correctly, that arm will be stuck there. Fantastic. Stop trying. What I’m going to do is I’m going to give you a number. When I touch you and give you a number, it is not important that you remember what the number is. Just remember that I gave you a number. When I touch you and give you a number and say the word sleep, let your body go completely limp, completely loose, totally relaxed. You are never asleep, just relaxed. You are one, sleep. Loose, fantastic. Two, sleep, let them loose. Let that body go. Fantastic. Take a deep breath. 84


Three, sleep. Let that body just sink into the chair. Wonderful job. Four, sleep, let it loose all the way down. Fantastic. Breathe all the way in and all the way out. Now listen to me very carefully. On the count of three you are going to be wide awake feeling fantastic, better than you felt all day, all week, all month, all year. Do not open your eyes until I tell you to. When I say number one I want you to sit up straight, eyes closed, take in a deep breath. Here we go and one. Sit up straight, eyes closed. Breathe in deep. Feel that energy come back into your body now. Feel that energy come back into your body now. Feel that energy coming back into your body now. Feel yourself become more alert and more aware. When I say the number two, you are going to feel that energy coursing through your body. You are going to be totally awake and totally alert. Do not open your eyes. Breathe in deep. Feel it, feel it, feel it. 85


Here we go and two. Feel that energy course through that body now. Kind of wiggle around a little bit. Get that blood flowing. Kind of sway back and forth in that chair. You are doing great. Clinch those fingers together. Breathe in deep. When I say the next number, let those eyes pop wide open totally awake, totally alert feeling fantastic. Breathe in deep, deep, deep, deep, deep. Here we go and three. Eyes wide open. You guys are rock stars. Nice job.”

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DISSECTING THE SECRETS OF THE MICHAEL JOHNS INDUCTION Now we will discuss the various components of Michael’s induction. As you likely observed, this induction is very complex and involves a lot of different elements and styles, which makes for a unique hypnosis experience.

B reathing and EyeEye - Fixation Focus plus Confusion The first thing you will notice is the breath work that he uses. This helps the subjects relax and focus. When you sit in a chair and you start to breathe all the way in and all the way out, your body will automatically begin to relax; this is just the way the body works. Michael also uses the breath work to aid the Eye Fixation focusing component. He consistently has the subjects doing at least two things at once, so they must focus and concentrate, and therefore they are unable to think about doing anything else. The multiple instructions he gives - eyes on me, breathe all the way in and all the way out - combine to create an element of Confusion. We want them to be working with their subconscious mind, and we accomplish this by overloading the conscious mind by simply requiring task upon task upon task, which all require a focused level of concentration. 87


A lot of hypnotists have their subjects focus on a specific point for Eye Fixation. Michael does not; he has them focus directly on him and his eyes, because he wants them to pay attention to him. Most showroom spaces, especially like those in Las Vegas, are filled with potential distractions. There are a lot of things around to look at, so it can be hard to keep track of where ten or twenty different people on stage are focusing if you just tell them to “pick a point” and let them choose. But if they are paying attention to you, you can see who is properly focused. This approach works best for Michael; he is in charge, and it is him they should pay attention to.

Ego Strengthening Michael uses a lot of ego-strengthening work in his induction, which is a powerful technique for gaining compliance and acceptance. He uses lines like, “You know the smart ones always go the hardest and fastest,” “If you are concentrating correctly…,” “If you are a smart person…,” “If you are eager to do this…,” along with general praise such as, “Good job,” “Excellent,” “Fantastic,” and so forth. Many people will come up to you before a show and say, “You know what? I don’t think I can be hypnotized. I’m just too strong willed, or I’m too intelligent.” 88


You want people to know they are doing okay. Nobody wants to get on stage and feel like, “Okay, I’m not getting hypnotized; I must be an idiot; I’m stupid.” The ego strengthening helps counter these negative ideas. You want them to know that it is okay - they are smart just like everybody else and they are doing just fine. You are not stupid; everyone can do this. You want to reinforce and make them feel good about what they are doing.

Awareness Michael also incorporates an element of Awareness into his induction. In an Awareness Induction, we take the highly analytical person or the person who is critical of the process and just point out to them the things that they are already aware of, so they know it is okay for them to be aware of these things. In your pre-talk, you can tell the people over and over and over that they will not actually be asleep when they are hypnotized, that they will know what is going on around them. But, at the end of it they will still say, “I knew there was a guy next to me. I knew what was going on. I wasn’t hypnotized.” Well, they are supposed to know these things during the induction, so we want to address the point for those who are more critical. The easiest way is just to say to them, “You are aware of the person next to you.” “You are aware of the chair below you.” 89


“You are aware of the floor beneath your feet.” These kinds of simple awareness statements help remove opposition to the process of hypnosis. Richard Nongard also uses this concept in his Eye Fixation portion of the induction by telling the subjects, “You know at this point you could open your eyes if wanted to, but it feels so good that you decide not to.” So then the subjects say to themselves, “He’s right, I could open my eyes. But this does feel good, so I guess I don’t want to.”

Compounding Compound ing Relaxation A lot of hypnotists will use lines like, “Every time you exhale, you will go twenty times deeper, fifty times deeper, one hundred times deeper,” or something similar many times during the induction. Michael has found that this may cause some subjects to try to do the math in their head, and they lose focus on their objective. So instead, he simply uses the line, “Every time you exhale, the relaxation is going to double,” because this concept is easier for most people to grasp. You do not want them doing calculations or thinking about anything; you just want them to relax. 90


“If I count from ten back to one, with every number that I count back, your relaxation is going to double.” This concept makes the instructions easy for them to follow. Compounding is very important because when you compound a suggestion, you are replanting that suggestion. Every time you plant the suggestion, it becomes stronger and more vivid to the person on stage. If you are doing three or four different techniques at one time, and each one of those techniques is doubling their relaxation, it helps you get them a lot deeper, a lot faster.

Building Blocks Everything that Michael does during the induction builds on everything else that he has done. The breath work comes first; it is the easiest. The ego-strengthening builds on the breathing, as it is easy for people to accept that they are wonderful and doing well. The Eye Fixation is easy to do and it builds on the breathing and ego-strengthening. The conscious mind can only process and focus on five to seven pieces of information at any given time. Michael’s induction essentially fills up or locks on to those five to seven pieces, so the mind is all focused on the process of hypnosis, which then naturally opens the subconscious mind to the further suggestions that you give. One of the most important things Michael ever learned about hypnosis was the question, “How many things can you think about at one time?” 91


We think that we can think about a lot of things at one time. But no, a person can think about only one thing at one time. You can change what you are thinking about in a split second from this to that to this - but at one time, you can only think about one thing. So, Michael’s philosophy is that if he throws several different things at his people on stage, they do not have time to be thinking about anything else, if they are doing what he needs them to do.

Deepening Techniques Michael incorporates a number of deepening techniques into his hypnotic induction. They are powerful tools for helping subjects to go deep and to create fantastic stage show.

Number Countdown and Visual Imagery Deepening The first induction Michael learned was the Dave Elman Induction, and he utilizes elements of this number countdown style for deepening purposes. “I’m going to count backwards from ten to one. With each number --- the relaxation doubles.” You can say whatever you want after ‘with each number,’ but “relaxation doubles” is easy, especially if you are already using that phrase with the breathing portion. 92


Michael also uses visual imagery combined countdown when giving the suggestion.

with

the

“At the top of an elevator, an escalator, or a very long flight of stairs.” You can use any image, but you want them to go down, and it is good to give them a choice of images to visualize. If someone has an escalator phobia or a staircase phobia, you do not want to alienate them, so you give them a choice. And, because a lot of people are not really “visual,” you never want to say, “picture yourself on the top of the stairs.” Instead, you can say, “put yourself at the top of this place or that.” Then they can hear or feel the sound of the elevator or escalator descending, and taking them into a deeper level of trance and hypnosis.

Fractionation Deepening Fractionation is much like when the alarm clock goes off in the morning at seven. You wake up and you feel great, but you do not need to be up that early. So, you hit the snooze alarm. At 7:09 it goes off again. You say, “Oh, I still have more time.” At 7:18 it goes off again and you say, “Man, I should really get up, but just nine more minutes of sleep would feel so good,” so you hit it again. Now it is 7:27. You wake up and you feel horrible. You say, “Oh, I feel really tired now. If I only had nine more minutes of sleep, then I could wake up and feel like I did at 7:00.” 93


So, you hit the snooze alarm one more time. Now it’s 7:35 and the alarm goes off again. At this point you must get out of bed because you have to go to work and you will be late if you do not get up. When the snooze alarm goes off that last time, you now feel worse than you did at 7:00. You think, “I should have just gotten out of bed the first time.” In the hypnotic induction, we use fractionation to take somebody from a level of alertness to a deeper state of hypnosis and bring them back up, again and again. Michael often does this with his number count down. He does not always just go from ten down to nine, then eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. He counts from ten, to nine, to eight, and then he goes back to nine, then eight, then seven. The next time he starts back at ten. When you bring them back up and then take them down again, it takes them down even harder and further. The snooze alarm is really obnoxious in the morning and it irritates us. Likewise, it is irritating for someone to go ten, nine, eight, seven… Let the sensation double. Six, five, four… Let the sensation double even more - then all of a sudden back to nine, eight, and seven… The irritation is what makes it so effective. When you finally get to one, the guests on stage are really ready to just jump off into a deep state of trance. And then you are ready to begin the “fun” part of the show which is, of course, the skits.

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SECRET SIDE NOTES ON THE MICHAEL JOHNS INDUCTION Sorry to interrupt the flow of the show with a written fractionation here, but we want to take a minute to discuss some of the finer points that occur during the Induction process that people often wonder about when they watch a show live or see a video - or read a transcript - of a stage show. (We will cover the very end of the induction - the “Test Skit” segment - in the next section.)

Consistent Phraseology If you watch Michael’s show or Richard’s show, or any other professional stage hypnotist’s show more than once, you will notice that in every single show they use almost the exact same phraseology, through every part, from beginning to end, from the pre-talk to induction to skits to the closing, every time. This is important for a number of reasons. First, you use what works. Once you figure out what you are going to do, you essentially memorize the lines of what works, and then use them again and again. By doing this, there is never any ambiguity. You will feel more confident, relaxed and in control, because you know that you will not be stumbling over words or lose your train of thought due to basic distractions. You know what you are going to say before you ever hit the stage, and you know that it will work. 95


As you become more experienced, you will, of course, refine your patter. If something does not work, you will change it to something that does, and use it from then on. And, you will do this when you decide to shake up your show a little, change out your skits and jokes and so forth. Work it out at home, first. Memorize, and stick with it. Additionally, there are key things that you want to make sure you say to the audience and your subjects in every single show, just to cover yourself. (Yes, we are talking about safety, once again.) If you always run through the same patter every time, you will know that you did tell the subjects to be careful when stepping down from the stage (and hopefully you have an assistant or stage hand to help them down), you did tell them to keep their clothes on, you did tell them that they can now remember all the numbers they have ever learned. You know you told them these things, because you always say them at the same times, during every show. And, if you are video taping the show, you will have further proof.

The Numbers and The Whispery Stuff After the convincer and test skits at the end of the induction (discussed in detail in the next section), Michael - and many other hypnotists - will say to the subjects on stage,

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“I’m going to go around and give you a number.” Then, they put the microphone under their arm or hand it to their assistant, and walk around and whisper some secret stuff in the subject’s ears. The question is, is that when the hypnotist tells them, “Okay, I’ll give you a hundred bucks if you act right and play along”? The microphone is off; no one can hear the hypnotist as they whisper to each subject individually, so what they say does not appear in a transcript either, and it can look a little shifty. So, what really happens at that point? What Michael does during the ‘whispery’ part is this: He gives a number to those he wants to keep, and he simply tells them to take a deep breath and sleep. Sometimes someone may need further instructions to relax, so he may say something like, “Hey, I’m just going to take your glasses so you are more comfortable,” or some positive reinforcement, like, “It’s okay. I’m going to take care of you. You’re doing a great job. Take a deep breath in and sleep.” He gives numbers to the people that he wants to keep on stage because numbers are easy. You do not have to remember what the number is, and neither does the subject - just remember that they got a number. Then, once all numbers are assigned and all the tending has been taken care of, Michael tells the subjects, 97


“If I gave you a number, I want you to stay exactly where you are. Do not move. Let yourself go deeper. On a count of three, if I did not give you a number, on the count of three and not before then, if I did not give you a number I want you to open your eyes, wide awake, and go quickly, carefully, quietly, back to your seat and enjoy the show from there.” That’s all there is to it.

Moving People Around Michael arranges the subjects in “boy-girl-boy-girl” order when they first come on stage, and then he usually rearranges them again after the convincer and test skits. From the first demonstration he has learned who the potential “super stars” will be, and he wants them in the center of the stage for optimal entertainment value. The ones he thinks are going to be a little bit “blah,” he puts on the ends, and the ones who did not comply, he excuses. And now, on with the show!

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INDUCTION SECRETS PHASE 2 THE FUN BEGINS

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THE SECRETS TO THE INDUCTION CONVINCER, CONVINCER , TEST AND DEEPENING SKITS There are two components to a stage hypnosis show. First, of course, are the subjects up on stage, and second, lest we forget, is the audience. As hypnotists, we spend the majority of our time and focus during the show attending to the subjects up on stage, but we must remember that these individuals are functioning merely as a tool to perpetuate the main purpose of the show: to entertain the audience. While you are busy doing the induction, the audience is just sitting there, trying to be quiet for four, five or seven minutes while you put the stage subjects under. The audience is patient, but antsy; the subjects on stage are just sitting there listening to you, and the audience wants them to get on with the comedic craziness they paid to see. So, when considering your induction style, you want to use strategies that will 1) move the subjects quickly into trance, but also, 2) keep the audience entertained. That said, when entering phase two of the induction, you should realize that the next component of the induction - the Convincer Skit - is just as important for the audience as it is for you and the subjects on stage. 101


The Convincer Convince r Skit The skits are, of course, why people go to a hypnosis show. Pre-talk is educational. Inductions can be interesting. But the real show, at least from the audience’s perspective, does not actually begin until you initiate the first skit. However, before you dive right into the more complicated skits you want to make sure that your subjects are ready, or you won’t have a show. So, as you come to the end of your induction, you want to immediately go right into what we call a “convincer skit.” The point of this first skit is to let you know who is going to play along and who is not. In other words, who is suggestible? Who is in that theta level? Who has pushed all their cares and concerns of the day aside and is ready to have some fun? Who are your rock stars? And, who is not going to cut loose and maybe not stick around for the whole show? The convincer skit should be a low-threat experience for the subjects, like a ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ bit or an ‘arm catalepsy’ skit; something simple, designed to let them feel and know, “Okay, I’m hypnotized now and it’s not so bad, actually pretty fun,” so that they are comfortable and will relax even further.

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Richard Nongard often uses the traditional ‘Book and Balloon” convincer, right out of Ormond McGill’s book. He puts a helium filled balloon on one of the subject’s hands and lays a big heavy book on the other. The balloon pulls the first hand up, while the book weighs the other hand down. At the end, you have demonstrated the phenomena of Arm Levitation (rising) on one hand, coupled with Reverse Arm Levitation (lowering) on the other. When the subjects open their eyes, they see the difference in their arms and they are amazed. The audience sees something happening up on stage, and they too are amazed. You - not being amazed because you knew it would work just as it did - are now able to test for compliance. Whatever convincer you use, it should be something that is easy for you to monitor, and not require them to jump out of their chairs and go screaming through the audience or anything too boisterous. Using a hypnotic phenomenon demonstration such as Arm Catalepsy as your induction convincer skit will do at least four positive things for your show:

1) Arm catalepsy - being a physical phenomenon - is quite visually powerful, so it gives the audience something far more interesting to see than the previous zombie-like induction process. At the end of the induction you instruct your subjects on stage to:

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“Hold your arm out in front of you, and make that arm stiff and rigid; stiff and rigid like a bar of steel. Now, raise it up the air, high over your head. Stiff and rigid. Your arm is up high, stiff and rigid like a bar of steel and it will not move. I am going to count from three back to one. If you are doing a good job and you are concentrating perfectly, when I get to number one, you are going to try to pull that arm down. If you are doing a good job, it will not go down. It will stay stuck in the position that it’s in. No matter how hard you try to pull it down, it will not move. Three. Stiff and rigid. Two. Your arm is like a bar of steel. One. No matter how hard you try to pull your arm down, it will not move. Try to pull your arm down.”

The audience is watching intently. “Oh, hey, look at them up on stage with their arms up - they are finally doing something!” 104


2) It shows the audience that hypnosis is real; it actually works like you said it would. If the subjects are concentrating correctly, no matter how hard they try to pull their arm down, they will not be able to. You might have some three-hundred pound muscle guy trying to pull his arm down, and it is amazingly stiff and rigid. He is shaking with the effort to pull it down, sweat dripping off his face, but he is stuck in that position; his arm will not budge. This is an entertaining and powerful convincer for the audience, who now says, “Wow, these people must really be hypnotized because something weird is happening. Their arms are really stuck up there.”

3) Arm catalepsy also lets the people on stage know that something is happening with them. “Gee, I’m really doing this. I must be hypnotized!” This kind of skit is very ‘low threat.’ The suggestion is easy to follow, and no one is going to feel stupid for doing it.

4) It lets the hypnotist know who is paying attention and doing what you need them to do; who is suggestible; who is going under, and who is not. By using this kind of convincer skit at the end of the induction, when you pull on a subject’s arm and it drops, you know they 105


are not concentrating, they are not “out,” and it is time to dismiss them. You want to get rid of the people who are not following your suggestions as early on as possible. If you are unsure about a particular subject, you may choose to keep them through the next skit, what we call the “Test Skit.”

SECRET NOTE: When we talk about muscular catalepsy, we must also talk about, again, our number one concern: safety. Any time you suggest a subject do something with their body, such as make an arm ‘stiff and rigid’ or ‘when you squeeze your hands together they will become stuck,’ you want to also make it clear that they should not do any of these things to a point where they experience pain or discomfort. You, as hypnotist, have no idea of the medical conditions of your subjects. They may have prior joint injuries, fragile bones, low pain tolerance, high blood pressure, and so forth. A lot of the old time stage hypnotists, generally at the end of a show, would create catalepsy in the entire body, so that a person becomes stiff and rigid like a board from head to toe. The hypnotist would then pick the subject up like a statue, suspend them horizontally between two chairs, and have somebody, usually a small girl, walk across them or even jump up and down on them, in order to demonstrate for the audience the power of the phenomenon. This scenario has been done successfully probably thousands of times in years past. But, the one or two times that it was not 106


successful - back injuries, broken bones, intense bruising - a lawsuit comes the hypnotist’s way. There is substantial risk involved, and so for liability reasons, this kind of exhibition is not recommended. But more benign demonstrations - such as arm catalepsy at the end of the induction - do provide a great visual for the audience, a reinforcing experience for the subjects, and indication of trance for the hypnotist. Just take care to caution your subjects to not participate to the point of pain or discomfort.

The Test Skit In the construction of a stage hypnosis show, you generally want to go from easiest to most difficult, low-threat to highthreat. Once you have successfully completed the convincer skit at the end of the induction, you want to move quickly into the next segment - test skit. This will be slightly more advanced or complex than the convincer, but yet still a basic, low-threat skit. The skit you suggest must be an experience that people can easily imagine, not something so far out they cannot conceive of how to participate. Many hypnotists will start out with a high-powered musicrelated skit, using perhaps the William Tell Overture, or La Bamba. They instruct the subjects to - with their eyes still closed - grab their favorite musical instrument and play it once the song begins.

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Unless you are doing a college show or have an audience that you know the specific demographics of beforehand where you can easily select popular music of their particular generation, you want to pick music and routines that people from ages sixteen to sixty are familiar with and can relate to. You don’t want them to panic or freeze up from not knowing the song you have just told them to play along with. For example: “Sit up in your chair with your eyes closed. You are now no longer in Las Vegas (or Wichita, or Springfield or New York, etc). Instead, you are now on the beach of a beautiful tropical island. You are there because you are the greatest musician in the world. And you have come to the island to play a concert. In a moment, you will hear music. When the music begins, you will begin playing your favorite instrument. You are the greatest musician in the world, and you will play your heart out for your cheering audience. The more the audience cheers, the better you will play, and the deeper into trance you will go. Now, get ready. Here’s the music. Pick up your instrument and play, play, play!” 108


This is a great low-threat first skit because everybody can play to music they are familiar with, with any instrument they chose from their own imagination, just like they would alone in their room or the shower. And as for the “test” part, if any subject on stage refuses to participate in this easy, non-threatening, non-embarrassing skit, you know that it is time to get rid of one more person. You hate for it to happen, but removing them now can avoid a lot of problems later on in the show. This kind of silly musical skit is funny, it deepens the subject’s trance level, and it gets a great audience response. Michael Johns often uses a demonstration of the hypnotic phenomenon of hot and cold as his test skit. Through hypnosis, you can take a person who is in a temperature controlled room and tell them they are now in a room that is 37 degrees below zero, and they will physiologically respond to that suggestion. They will automatically begin to shiver and shake, curl up and cling to whoever is next to them for warmth. Or, you can tell them it is now 120 degrees like in the desert, and they will physiologically respond to that by stretching out, sweating, fanning themselves, and even peeling off clothing (so be sure to keep an eye on the ladies!) These kinds of hot and cold skits are simple and nonthreatening. Everybody knows what it is like to feel hot, and everybody knows what it is like to feel cold. And with this skit, not only can you weed out the ones that you want to get rid of for noncompliance, but you can take the ones you want to keep even deeper.

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So whether you have your subjects going hot and cold on a plane, a bus, or hanging out at the beach, this is a great skit for finding out just who your real “superstars” are going to be throughout the show - the ones who really react to the suggestions with great aplomb. The test skit is all about deepening the subjects’ hypnotic trance experience and comfort-level with the phenomena experience. Another way to help this along is to repeatedly use a line like, “Everything I say and everything you do helps you to go deeper and deeper and feel better and better,” during the induction and the first few skits. New hypnotists often begin by developing a single solid routine, with X induction and Y test skit and Z next skit, etc, because that is what they have practiced and have become comfortable with presenting. But as your business begins to grow you will want to quickly master other opening skit concepts and become more flexible, as you may need to adjust the skits you use on the fly for different crowds. If you are doing a corporate show and the people are obviously quite hesitant to get involved due to fear of embarrassing themselves in front of coworkers or their bosses, you must realize that it may take a little longer to get them where you need them to be, so you may want to adjust your plan and instead start with a zero-threatening “laughing” bit, and then work up to having them stretch out or do more physical things.

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Deepening Skits After the test skit when you have decided who you are keeping and who will be excused, you will usually do a couple of deepening skits. One of the most popular is getting the subjects “high.” There are two variations of this, one uses laughing gas, and the other marijuana. Both concepts will help them to feel good and take them into a deeper state of hypnosis. For a show on the Las Vegas Strip like Michael’s, or at most comedy clubs and frat parties across the country, it is perfectly acceptable to pass out hypnotic marijuana cigarettes and get your group high on stage. However, where other hypnotists practice it may be quite unacceptable. Richard, for example, also does clinical hypnosis training. Therefore, he must always be aware that some of the audience members may also see him for clinical reasons. Since he has a history as a drug or alcohol counselor, he never uses a marijuana bit in his show, in order to maintain his professional credibility. Cater the material you use in your show to your client and the type of audience. You would definitely want to choose the laughing gas over the pot smoking skit at a corporate or high school graduation event. There are some hypnotists who earn most of their money for the entire year in the month of May, doing Grad Nights at high schools. They might do four or five shows a night, hopping from gig to gig down Pacific Coast Highway in California. The parents pay them $2,500 bucks a pop, and they make $10,000 a night. If you are able to book $10,000 nights, the last thing you want to do is a marijuana skit with a 111


high school group, because you will not be invited back for next year’s $2,500 gig. But adapting is pretty easy. The concept is the same for both deepening skits; you just change the language and scenario. With laughing gas, you have them kicked back in a dental chair, and when the dentist leaves the room, you have them start sucking on the gas, and then begin laughing like crazy. Even if a subject has never experienced laughing gas first hand, they have seen it on TV and can imagine it. With the pot skit, maybe they are kicked back on the couch instead of in a dental chair. And, if they have never smoked marijuana, they know somebody who has or they have seen it on TV. These are things people can relate to; it is familiar, and therefore comfortable and non-threatening. And the purpose is, of course, to send them deeper and deeper into trance. “With every hit you take, every time you laugh, you more and more, going deeper and deeper into hypnosis.” At the end of the marijuana skit, Michael tells his subjects that he is giving them a gift - they get to keep their buzz for the rest of the show. You can, of course, do this same thing with the laughing gas skit. This lets the participants know that it is okay for them to really let loose now; they have been given formal approval to keep having fun. In a different environment, for a different deepening skit, you might have the subjects climb up a mountain, row across a lake, or even use smells or other sensations to further deepen and enhance the trance experience. 112


THE SECRETS OF THE HEART OF THE SHOW HYPNOTIC PHENOMENA

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THE SECRETS TO SKITS AND BITS Now that things are rolling along - you have done the pre-talk, you have inducted the subjects into trance, have tested their compliance with convincer and testing skits and have deepened their trance - it is finally time to kick it up a notch and have some real fun. People are mystified and fascinated by hypnotic phenomena, which is why stage shows are always successful. Hypnotic phenomena are used to show the audience exactly what hypnosis is all about and some of the interesting stuff you can do with it. As you put together your show, we encourage you to really learn about and understand hypnotic phenomena, and create powerful demonstration skits. With the following examples - divided into sections by the kind of phenomenon used - we are not trying to outline every possible bit or teach you how to create every possible skit; this is simply an overview or discussion of some popular skits used by Michael, Richard and others, combined with some practical professional advice. Because there are only so many phenomena, anywhere you go you will see a lot of different hypnotists doing a lot of similar skits - but nobody wants to go see ten different hypnotists all doing the exact same thing, so it is your challenge to take the phenomena and make it uniquely yours, to make it interesting and entertaining. 115


It is absolutely essential that you develop your own patter or banter, your own routine and your own skits. Our goal is only to expose the secrets of the strategies and concepts behind how and why hypnotic phenomena can be demonstrated for a successful show. Your possibilities now are virtually unlimited, and if you are resourceful and put your imagination to work, you can construct entertaining skits from almost any idea you can conceive.

Intellectually Creative Entertainment Your stage hypnosis show should be as entertaining as a game show blended with “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?” There are a million variations on the same theme, and your job is to create something unique for your own show. Many have seen the popular Martian Language skit, where two or more subjects are now Martians and they talk to nonMartian subjects whose job it is to interpret the gibberishsounding Martian language. Another variation is to become a Chinese or Indian-speaking person (which sounds quite foreign to most American folks). One hypnotist (at least) has taken this idea, put his own spin on it, and created the Martian Wedding skit. One of the subjects is now a Martian minister, and his job is to perform Martian wedding rituals on two other subjects, who are also Martians. One of the guests serves as interpreter. Or, maybe the minister is marrying one Martian and one Non-Martian. Now it’s your show - you decide.

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You must be creative in order to entertain your audience, and this is far easier than you might think simply because people are at their most creative in a theta level of brain functioning. Your job as hypnotist is to take advantage of this state and pull the actor or artist out of your subjects on stage. Another skit that draws on theta creativity is a Spelling Bee. If you are doing an adult show, maybe you want to have an Xrated spelling bee, where you have the subjects spell out various body parts. Or, maybe you have them describe an anatomically correct doll prop, but they must spell rather than say the ‘naughty’ parts, so the girls in the audience will not know what they are talking about, or something goofy like that. You are giving the subjects a license to cut loose and have fun, to use their mind a little bit more than they probably do in every day life, and people will respond to that.

Hypnotic Hallucination Halluc ination and Negative Hypnotic Hallucination There is a video clip on the Internet of a stage hypnosis show where the hypnotist actually has an alligator walking across a lady. She is laying on the stage, and she does not see - or feel the alligator that is climbing over her. This is a demonstration of a “negative hypnotic hallucination;” something that is obviously right in front of their eyes - is not seen, or felt or heard, as the suggestion may indicate. 117


“When you open your eyes, you will not see anything on stage that is not already here right now,” or “When you open your eyes, all you will see is yourself, alone, on a tropical island.” When the subject responds as directed, it absolutely blows the audience away. Michael uses a popular “positive hallucination” in his show; he tells the subjects that they will see something that simply is not there. “When I turn around, you will see that the back of my pants is missing, and my bare, shiny hiney is smiling at you.” When Michael then turns around to face the audience and wiggles his butt at the subjects, they gasp, laugh and point at his bare behind - which is, of course, is still covered appropriately with his pants like it has been from the start of the show. On the next round, he tells them that when he turns around to face them this time, the front of his pants is missing, and his pathetic, extra-small manhood is dangling there. They see it just as he described even though it is not really there - and giggle and poke fun at him. Then, he takes the skit one step further and shows them his extra-large manhood. He uses a Styrofoam swimming pool worm and waves it all around and may even touch them with it. The subjects respond predictably with shock and amazement, and some ladies even cringe.

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More positive hallucinations that Michael, Richard and other hypnotists use include having the subjects believe they are watching a movie (you tell them what they are seeing and they react with laughter or shock, etc), or that the person next to them smells nasty (they respond with disgust, hold their nose, lean away), and then that it is actually they themselves who smell (they are embarrassed, hunch down, try to cover the smell some how). America’s Favorite Hypnotist Terry Stokes does a bit where he has one subject believe they are listening to music on headphones - they just sit there and rock out for 5, 10 or 15 minutes to the music in their head while other subjects are doing different things individually - and every time Terry uses a key word, the music cuts out and the subject hears only static. In order to readjust the frequency, they must reach over and turn the ear or nose of another subject. These kinds of hallucinatory demonstrations are quite powerful and audiences love them.

H ypnotic Amnesia Another amazing phenomenon demonstration is hypnotic amnesia, where you have a person forget their own name, or forget their friend’s name or where they are, or to forget a letter of the alphabet or the number two. As a result, you can end up with some really comical situations and the people in the audience and are absolutely mystified. A lot of hypnotists will never take the risk to use hypnotic amnesia, and those who do may admit that every time they use it in a show, they are just waiting for it to fail. 119


“What if her name is Bertha, and she actually says, ‘My name is Bertha,’ after I tell her to forget her name? That would be a nightmare!” “Or, what if I tell them, ‘From now on you won’t remember the number two; the number two is erased from your memory. Count your fingers. And then they say, ‘One, two...’” Stop worrying. Take the risk. It works, plain and simple. When somebody is in a theta level of hypnosis, they are creative and they are following our suggestions. Hypnotic phenomena, including amnesia, will manifest itself. Now, you definitely want to pick the right person. Make sure you select a subject who you believe, based on their previous participation, is not only highly suggestible but also in a deep state of hypnosis; someone who wants to have a little bit of fun. In other words, you would never start your show with hypnotic amnesia. This is one of those phenomenon that are best used when you get to know the subjects. You can have a lady forget the number two, and then have her count her fingers, her feet, or even her breasts. The question is not if she will mis-count appropriately, but if she will mis-count with, “One…One,” or “One…Three.” You can have a big guy forget his name and only be able to recall it when he sings “Happy Birthday” to himself, inserting his name at the appropriate time. Or, he can sing the “Banana-Ramma-Bo-Bame, Fee-Fi-Fo-Fame, Mee-Mi-Mo-Mame, NAME” song (inserting his name as appropriate). 120


Or a variation of an old children’s song: “Who, who, who am I? The light in my head just won’t shine, ‘til you tell me what your name is, then I can tell you mine,” and then you tell him your name and he tells you his. Or, perhaps he will only remember it when someone else calls him “Honeybunkins” or “Jerk” or “Superman,” etc. You can do a ton of amazing things with hypnotic amnesia; you just have to make it funny and entertaining.

Adult Fun vs. Raunchy Entertainment It is important to note that there is a huge difference between “adult humor” and “raunchy, obnoxious, in-your-face” humor, which, quite often, is just not that funny. You can be silly in an “adult” way without offending anyone. For example, Michael occasionally does a skit where he tells the subjects that they are the world’s foremost experts on sex toys. He lays out on stage what are essentially wacky balloon animals tied in various suggestive or incomprehensible shapes, and has each guest on stage pick one. Their job is to determine just exactly what it is and/or what it is used for. He also tells them that under no circumstances are they to actually attempt to use the toy. The results are generally hysterical as he pushes the line with their creativity. He instructs them to expound on the description, but leaves the actual narrative up to their imagination.

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But, since Michael has set this skit it up so that they are ‘experts’ on the subject, this implies a sense of ‘professionalism’ and they usually tend to carry out that professional persona when giving their explanations - rather than sounding like a bunch of liquored up guys talking trash at a poker game. Think of the way Playboy magazine leaves a little to the imagination versus a hard core porn magazine that leaves nothing to question. The Playboy version is generally what you want to strive for at most shows. Furthermore, if you tell someone to do something specific, it limits their creativity. Let them experiment a little, let them have some fun -- but do not let anybody cross a line that leads to heavy embarrassment or humiliation, either on their own or at your direction. Make sure you tell the subjects up front in the pre-talk that there are some lines that will not be crossed during the show, and reinforce that notion during the more provocative skits. You do not want to do a show where people are afraid to return home without being teased for the rest of their life. If you cross these lines with your guests - and many hypnotists do - word will get out. As a result, you may have a packed house at your next show - if anyone will book you - but you may also have a very hard time getting anyone in the audience who has heard about your reputation to volunteer to go up on stage.

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Hypnotic Regression / Progression Age Regression and Progression is a type of phenomenon commonly used in clinical hypnosis, and it can also be used in a stage hypnosis show to create skits where a person can be brought back to an earlier time in life, or even to act as they might see themselves in the future. Having someone revert back to third grade or even three years old can be quite funny. “You are in third grade, you hate the teacher, and they are on stage with you.” Or, maybe, “You have a crush on your teacher, or another student.” It can be a fun skit. But, there is always a risk with this kind of regression so you want to be very careful. Stage hypnosis is not therapy. If you take someone back to an earlier time, you always want to make very, very clear to them that they are going back to a happy earlier time, because for all you know, their life in third grade may have been tragic or miserable for whatever reason. Heed the above words carefully to save yourself some tense times; most only learn this the hard way after they do it irresponsibly and make damaging mistakes.

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Emotions Emotions, like happiness and anger, are intensified during a state of hypnosis. Using anger or indignation can be hilarious, provided you do it safely. No matter the skit, if you are playing on emotions of any kind you want to always say, “Do not get out of your chair. Do not touch the person next to you. Do not touch me. Nobody ever gets out of their chair and keep your hands to yourself.” You can have the subjects act angry that the person next to them has offended them in some way - by being naked, singing horribly or perhaps they pass a lot of gas. You can suggest that a subject become angry at a person in the front row of the audience because they took something from them - their private parts, their wallet or their name even. You will then resolve this anger by turning it to happiness when the item is returned. These kinds of skits enhance audience interaction, which in turn enhances satisfaction. Some people, when they get angry, bottle it up inside and do not really react. When that person is hypnotized on stage to be angry, you may see their face contort; their fists and teeth clinch, and so forth. Their anger is very visual, and can be funny to watch.

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Just remember to keep a close eye on your angry subjects at all times. Remind them to stay seated and not touch anyone, and do not keep them angry for very long at a time. Fear and jealousy are also popular emotions to exploit on stage. You do not want to use fear in a traumatic way, but you can use intense emotions like fear to highlight a show. Maybe a subject is afraid of the person next to them or something on another person’s shoulder. When Jeff knows there is nothing on his shoulder, but Susan is freaked out every time she looks at Jeff - or perhaps every time you use a trigger word - Jeff responds to Susan’s apparently irrational fear by thinking she is crazy, and likely telling her so, aided by your direction. Jealousy might be demonstrated by one subject who is told to become ridiculously jealous when they see the hypnotist dancing with other people on stage, or maybe they are told to believe one of the other subjects is rich and famous and they are dirt poor. The resulting back-and-forth banters created by these kinds of skits can be quite amusing. Just take care to remain in control so nothing gets out of hand.

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Hypnotic Anesthesia The first time Michael Johns was hypnotized was by the Dave Elman Induction. Afterwards, Michael thought to himself, “Okay, I’m wide awake. I’m not hypnotized.” The hypnotist then took an Alice clamp - one of those things you use in surgery - and put it on Michael’s arm and cranked it down. Michael did not feel a thing. The next day he had a huge bruise where the clamp had been. Hypnotic anesthesia is amazing because it works. We know it works because dentists and baby delivery doctors use it for medical pain control purposes all the time. However, it is not really something we want to use to such an extreme at the average stage show. Some hypnotists think that we should always bruise a subject, just to let them know they were at a show last night. And, a light bruise might be effective for spreading the word around town, if you will be around long enough to reap the benefits of a future audience. However, demonstrating hypnotic phenomena like anesthesia can open you up to huge liability, so be very, very careful if you choose to use it. Richard Nongard’s background is in magic (he studied with Eugene Berger) and psychology (he is a licensed mental health professional), and so his stage show is a little more on “the mystical world of hypnosis” side of things. His qualifications have made him well aware of the limits and risks of ‘mind over matter’ phenomena like anesthesia, and so he does use them occasionally, but only very carefully. 126


More Skits, Practice and Preparation Skit ideas are available all over the Internet; some are free, and others will cost you. As mentioned earlier, Ormond McGill’s book, the New Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnosis, is also a great resource, as it is filled with numerous experiments that can be done with hypnotic phenomena for demonstration purposes. But remember, no matter where you get your basic ideas, it is up to you to make them uniquely entertaining and to keep your subjects safe. You must practice, practice, and practice some more - even if only in your head or on paper. You cannot, obviously, predict every reaction that your future subjects might have to a new skit, but you should attempt to imagine as many different outcomes as possible and be prepared to handle them in appropriate ways. Most of the time the skits will go pretty much as you expect. But, what if a subject does freak out and hit another guest? What if a subject refuses to do what you suggest to them? What if a subject uses foul language at a family-type show or tries to take their clothes off? What you can predict is that at one point or another in your career, things like this will happen, so you must be prepared to think on your feet and handle the situation as swiftly as possible. 127


Go over possible scenarios and consider what you will say to the problem subject, the other subjects, and to the audience as well. Your reaction will make all the difference. If you get mad at a subject and goad him or her for not doing what you asked them to do, the audience will think that you are the jerk. Remember, even under hypnosis the subject still has complete control, and if they refuse, they probably have a reason - a personal line they will not cross or a deep-seated fear or something - so the best approach is usually to just laugh it off and move on to another suggestion or subject. Safety is your number one concern, so if a subject does either intentionally or accidentally injure themselves or another guest, you must respond immediately and attempt to control the situation and take care of any medical concerns first, even if that means stopping the show. You are in charge of the show and therefore responsible for everything that happens on stage, so you must act swiftly and surely to minimize damage from both physical and liability perspectives, by coordinating effective situationally-appropriate responses.

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THE SECRET TO WINDING DOWN

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THE SECRETS OF POSTPOST - HYPNOTIC SUGGESTIONS Post-hypnotic suggestions are designed - like any skit - to further entertain the audience. And, they can either make or break your show, depending on how they are done. Please remember not to do anything with post-hypnosis that is going to hurt anyone, either emotionally or physically. Be very, very careful with post hypnosis.

First and foremost, post-hypnosis is used to remove any prior suggestions. For example, if you used hypnotic amnesia to make the subject forget the number two as a demonstration, you must then cancel out that suggestion by telling them to now remember all numbers they have ever learned. If you use this kind of skit as a brief, one-time demonstration, it is probably wise to give the recall suggestion immediately after the skit is over. If you have the subject demonstrate the phenomenon periodically throughout the show, then you must remember to suggest they now remember everything they forgot at the conclusion. 131


Generally, you will implement the post-hypnotic suggestions for your finale skits about forty-five minutes to hour into the show. There are a couple of ways to go about this, but probably the most common is to give a trigger/key word to the subject. For example: “The person I am touching now - When the show is over and you hear me say the word “blue” you are going to immediately come back up on stage and sing “Blue Sued Shoes” and dance like Elvis Presley.” You can, of course, use any word you like for your key word; it does not have to make any rational corollary sense to the situation, like the use of “blue” does above. However, just to increase the odds for success, you might want be more particular about your word choice. Up-and-coming teenage hypnotist Riley Bragg prefers to use less common words to trigger his suggestions, or words that sound a little funny so they tend to stand out more when spoken in a noisy crowd, such as “penguin,” “exhilarating,” “debauchery,” “quagmire” or “zygote.” These are words that most people have heard, even if they do not know what they mean, but most importantly, they are words that most people do not hear very often, so they are easily able to ‘prick the ear’ and catch the subject’s attention. If you make and sell videos of your show and you have a subject on stage who has been a “rock star” all night and they have a group of friends in the audience, you might suggest to the subject that,

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“When you leave the stage and return to your seat, you will not remember anything that happened tonight during the show.” Then you hint to the friends in the audience, “Won’t they be surprised later when they watch the video?!” And, hopefully they will buy at least one copy, and show it to all their friends. Or, you can suggest to the subjects that, “As soon as I shake your hand and say goodbye, you will instantly remember everything about the last hour you have shared with us up on stage.” When the “Ah ha” moment hits - they suddenly remember all of the silly things they did - the look of shock on their face is priceless. Another use for post-hypnotic suggestions is to send a subject and their friends or partner - away with a little something special at the end of the show. “Okay, Fred, when you get home tonight and your wife squeezes you on the arm right here, you are going to wiggle your butt and say, ‘Honey, it’s all about you tonight!’ and then you will proceed to do anything she wants, for as long as she wants, all night long.” Then, you might wink at his wife in the audience and comment, “Just squeeze his arm right here, honey, and whether you want him doing the dishes or the nasty, it’s all up to you!”

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Before you give a more personal suggestion like this, you always want to make sure you know who the person is with, and get a feel for the quality of their relationship. Ask if they are married or dating, and if so, for how long. You might give an older gentleman the suggestion that later that night he will have the energy level and stamina of a twenty-one-year-old. As a result, everyone in the audience now believes that the couple will go home and ‘do it’ tonight, and they are all happy because the nice hypnotist has helped two older people to feel good. You never want to be degrading or mean. Some people do not take certain kinds of suggestions very well, and so you want to be familiar and comfortable with your subjects before you make any risky or risqué proposals. The audience, however, loves this stuff. Post-suggestions are a potent concept that keeps them guessing; this is the funny part people really remember the next day. “Oh, my gosh! Those people left and this is what they were going to do! I wonder how it turned out?” Again, you want to be very careful with both selecting your subjects and the specific post-hypnotic suggestions to give them. Only use subjects who are clearly in heavy trance, and who have been performing well throughout the show. These kinds of climax skits are fantastic for the audience - when they work. When they do not, it can be confusing, embarrassing, and a huge let down for the crowd.

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To enhance the odds for success, one approach is to use several suggestions with several different subjects at the end of the show. For example: “The person I am touching now - When you hear me say the word “gyrate,” you will immediately return to the stage and perform for us like Elvis Presley.” “The person I am touching now - When you hear me say the word “nightingale,” you will immediately return to the stage and flap your arms, flying around like you are a bird collecting items to make a nest.” You can do a whole group: “The person I am touching now, now, now, and now - when you hear the word “houseplant,” you’ll come back up to the stage. You’ll find that you are no longer you, but you are now a member of the Village People, and you will begin your reunion tour by performing the song “YMCA.” When the show is over, you say goodbye to everyone and send them back to the audience. Then, in your closing comments, you work in the keywords, and the subjects start coming back up on stage to do their suggestions. The audience will forget - or at least forgive - that not everyone goes back up, provided that the one or two who do give a good performance. If you have a rock star “Elvis” subject, then great; there is no need to call anyone else up - unless you feel confident they will perform well too. If you have a mediocre Elvis, then you might say, 135


“Boy, that was a great job, Elvis. Not! A houseplant could have done better.” If you are lucky, suddenly at least some of your four guys with the ‘houseplant’ suggestion keyword will come back up on stage and act out “YMCA,” and the show is on again. And if they also do not perform well, then it is time to end the show. The point is to set up possibilities, then watch your subjects. And, you have to remember that people in the audience will only remember what they remember. If you hand out four post-hypnotic suggestions and two of them work great and the audience is pumped, then why bother doing the other two? Why not end on a high? “Looks like we’re out of time folks. I hope you guys had a great night, and thanks for coming out.” At a lot of events, your timing has to be exact; you cannot run over. If you are pushing the limit, you will have to do the post-hypnosis segment quickly. In this case, these usually end up being “throw away” bits for the audience, more than anything else. It leaves them with fun things to think about throughout the night, even if they never see the results. For example: “When you get back to your hotel room (or house or apartment) tonight, when you cross the threshold, your left foot will stick to the floor like glue. It will not move until you yell, ‘I’m a hottie, yessiree, I’m as hot as hot can be!’

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And, it is fine that the audience will not see or know if the subjects really follow through or not. Whatever the subject is instructed to yell out is entertaining now, and the audience is left wondering, “Are these people really going to do it?” By the way, just so you know, they are quite likely not going to follow through. The majority of the time the subjects derive their ego-reinforcement to perform from the crowd out there clapping and from your voice - because this is how you set it up to begin with. “You will focus on the sound of my voice. You will accept the suggestions that I give you.” “Every time the audience laughs, claps and cheers, you know that you are doing well and you will go deeper and deeper into hypnosis.” When the clapping crowd is no longer there - and neither is your voice - they will not respond. This is why it is so important for you to keep the energy level of the room up throughout the entire show. Sometimes it seems like a rollercoaster; the crowd is really high one minute and the next minute they are totally silent. Your job as an entertainer is to keep that energy level up, which will make your people on stage respond, which will make the act so much better.

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THE SECRETS S ECRETS TO DEHYPNOTIZING AND SAFETY The last element of the stage hypnosis show is dehypnotizing bringing your subjects out of trance - and getting them back to their seats in the audience safely and in a level of alertness. It is not difficult to dehypnotize someone, but it is important that you do it correctly and completely. For example: “In a minute, I am going to count back from three to two to one. When I reach the number one and snap my fingers, you will become wide awake and completely alert. Three. You are becoming more alert, aware of the sounds around you. Two. You are conscious of the people and things happening around you. One. Open your eyes. You are now wide awake, totally alert and functioning normally.” Safety is your number one concern. You must respect and implement the safety factor in every show that you do, 139


because you are responsible for your guests. From the time they leave their seats to get on stage, to the time they are back safely in their seats, their safety is your first priority. When someone comes out of hypnosis, they may be a little groggy or disoriented for a few minutes. You never want anyone to get hurt; it is not a good laugh for someone to fall and break an arm. Furthermore, the number one reason stage hypnotists are sued comes from physical injury - someone remains in a state of trance after the de-hypnotization process and then exits the stage and stumbles around hurts themselves or someone else. Take the time to assess each subject’s level of awareness and alertness before they leave the stage. Ask them their name, shake their hand, look into their eyes, thank them for participating, and lead them to the edge of the stage, where hopefully you have a helper to assist them down the stairs. If someone appears to still be in even a light state of trance, you will give them further personal suggestions to wake completely, until you are convinced of their full consciousness and ability to function appropriately. You will also remove all prior suggestions given during the show as you awaken them. Specifically state that any suggestions, keywords or other commands will no longer work and are erased. If you do hypnotic amnesia and have someone forget the number two, you really do not want them returning to work on Monday as an accountant without first removing the suggestion. It is highly unlikely and improbable that such a suggestion would remain outside the arena of the venue and without the social pressure of the audience to perform, but nevertheless you will want to be attentive to this. 140


THE SECRET CONCEPTS DETAILED FOR STAGE SHOW SUCCESS

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Confidence Confidence will be the number one key to your success for a lot of reasons. No one will get on stage with a hypnotist who is not confident about what they are going to do. If you were to say, “Alright folks, come on up. I hope this works tonight. I’ve never done this before, but let’s see what happens,” the audience will balk and you will have no show. Even if you are nervous you must project confidence. Everyone likes - and expects - a confident performer. However, take care that you do not cross over the line from confidence to arrogance, because there is a difference. It is okay to have an overall persona that is a little bit cocky, but if you are rude or come off as a know-it-all, it will likely backfire on you.

Trust You want - and need - the people to trust you. When they take the risk to get up on stage, they are saying,

“Okay, {insert your name here}, I trust you to hypnotize me. I trust you to take care of me while I’m up here.” Everyone wants to feel safe and secure, and that they will not be humiliated or overly embarrassed. For the subjects to have faith in the process, they must trust you, or they will not take the risk to perform. 143


Comfort of Guests You want your subjects to be as at ease as possible on stage. You want nice, comfortable chairs, even if they are the cheaper, stackable kind. You want the subjects situated ‘shoulder to shoulder’ - enough room to breathe, but not enough to move around too much on their own. Many hypnotists will tape the chairs together at the arms or legs so they do not slide apart. Mental comfort is just as important as physical comfort. Let your guests know many times that everything is going to be alright; you are good at what you do and you are going to take care of them.

Personality Every hypnotist has a different performance personality, and this is fantastic because it means that everyone’s show will be unique, even if some of the skits are similar. You will need to define your own personal style and performance personality - but you have to be genuine; be comfortable in your persona; be your natural stage self. Some people are rather shy in person, but they come to life and simply shine when they are on stage. Others may be a little goofy in real life, but when they hit the stage they turn into “the professor” and drone on with all seriousness about the science of hypnosis and this is what we will do and this is how it works and so forth. And then there are the “party guys” who take every risk they can on stage and really get the crowd going. 144


Do not try to be someone else or copy the style of some other hypnotist. Borrowing concepts from another performer is one thing, but make your persona and your show your own. People respond to genuine people, and they can sense a bad actor from a mile away.

Stage Presence Stage presence is very important. This is your stage. This is your area. You control this time and space. This is your own little kingdom, for lack of a better term. So, have presence. Do not hide behind the chairs or mumble or talk with your head down. Be confident. Use your diaphragm and project your voice when you speak. Interact with the crowd; do not be afraid to get out there and talk to people. This may take practice, so practice. If you have even a little bit of stage fright, work to get over it. Stand in front of a mirror and give your pre-talk a hundred times. 145


Videotape yourself practicing an induction so you can see what you do and ways to improve. Take every opportunity possible to talk to other people about hypnosis or just anything - and be in front of a crowd.

Focus Focus can be many things, but right now we are concerned with your focus on the show. When you are on stage, do not be thinking about the girl or guy sitting on the front row that you want to hook up with after the show. Do not be thinking about making your car payment or where you might go on vacation or your kid’s report card. Do not bring personal problems to the show. Do not let your stomach rumble because you forgot to eat. Do not be drunk or otherwise chemically impaired. You must be mentally and physically prepared and in control at all times. Keep your focus on your people on stage and the audience. You need to know what the subjects are doing now and what they are going to do next. You want to see how they react to different bits. You should always be thinking one, two or even three skits ahead. Pay attention to what the subjects - and the audience respond to so you can adjust future bits if necessary. 146


When the show is over and the last guest has left the venue, then you can eat, fall apart, worry or whatever - but not a moment before.

The Guests are the Stars of Your Show It is always good for your ego when you get up on stage and everyone in the room is paying attention to you. You are doing your thing and it is going really well, and this will naturally make you feel really good about yourself. But it is so important to remember that it is not all about you. Instead, the show is all about the people that came up as your guests. Make them the stars of your show. Give them the chance to be in the spotlight. Do not be an attention hog, or your show will not be successful. Relish in the glory that you are the one creating the show, and make yourself famous by helping your guests on stage give a great performance to the audience.

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THE SECRET CLOSING COMMENTS We hope that you have found the concepts, strategies and suggestions in this book to be helpful. There is so much more to say on the subject, so much more you can learn and master, but we hope to have at least provided enough fundamental “secrets” to aid in your future stage show success. We always appreciate feedback, so please don’t hesitate to contact us at www.HypnosisGurus.com and drop an email with your comments and suggestions.

Wishing you the best of everything always,

~ Richard K. Nongard ~ Michael Johns

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TWO MINUTE COMMERCIAL STAGE HYPNOSIS TRAINING If you are interested in learning more about stage show hypnosis to improve your skills, you should check out our website at : www.Hy pnosisGu ru s .com Richard Nongard (stage and clinical hypnotist) and Michael Johns and Terry Stokes (Las Vegas Strip stars) have joined forces to put together several videos and texts on perfecting stage hypnosis inductions and shows. These instructional videos take you step-by-step through Michael and Terry’s personal strategies for a successful stage show, with detailed explanations by Richard on how and why everything works, and how you can do it, too. Secrets from Las Vegas Insiders DVD Series: Michael Johns Stage Show Induction Michael Johns and Richard Nongard present Stage Hypnosis Exposed Terry Stokes presents The Stage Show Induction: How to Hypnotize Anyone Textbooks: Richard K. Nongard - Inductions and Deepeners: Styles and Approaches for Effective Hypnosis Terry Stokes - Understanding Hypnosis and Self-Hypnosis, an easy to understand book about hypnosis Nongard and Johns - The Little Black Book of Stage Hypnosis Secrets

Our product inventory is constantly expanding, so check back often for new releases! 150


CLINICAL HYPNOSIS CERTIFICATION If you would like to become certified in clinical hypnosis through the International Certification Board for Clinical Hypnotherapy com (ICBCH), check out www.LearnClinicalHypnosis .com. You can complete the coursework for a 20-hour basic ICBCH certification in multi-media independent study format, as well as a 30-hour advanced certification program, entirely through homestudy. Also at www.LearnClinicalHypnosis.com you will find training videos on mastering hypnosis skills, inductions and deepeners, as well as numerous self-hypnosis CDs and DVDs. You can use the CDs and DVDs to improve your own life, play them for your clients, or simply study the scripts to gain ideas for writing your own prescriptive therapy suggestions. On DVD: Learn Hypnosis: How to Hypnotize Anyone Nongard’s Hypnotic Inductions: Methods that Work (Vol 1) Nongard’s Inductions and Deepeners (Vol 2) Improve Memory Recall and Test-Taking Skills with Hypnosis On CD: Nongard’s THETA Level Binaural Trance Music CDs Nongard’s ALPHA Level Binaural Trance Music CDs Quit Smoking with Hypnosis Lose 20-100 Pounds with Hypnosis Fly Fear Free with Hypnosis Improve Your Golf Game with Hypnosis Increase Sexual Performance with Hypnosis PMR Therapeutic Relaxation Relaxation and Empowerment with Hypnosis

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