•Awaken them from the trance state
Although there are different methods of putting people into the hypnotic trance through an induction, the basics are the same for all methods.
•Expectancy and Belief – Confidence was mentioned in an earlier chapter and this stage of the induction is why your confidence is so important. They need to expect and believe that you are a hypnotist and can put them in a hypnotic trance. Their expectation and belief in your abilities make it easier for you to put them into a hypnotic trance. If you try to induce a hypnotic trance and you do not exude confidence, it will not work because the subject will never be able to get past the first stage of the hypnotic induction.
•Confusion and Disorientation – When somebody is confused and disorientated, it is easier to get their mind to turn control from the conscious to the unconscious. This stage allows you to begin to put them in the trance. Often, the hypnotist will describe physical sensations that will help them go into trance and because they expect to feel these sensations, and they will. Even a brief moment of confusion will help induce a hypnotic state.
•Repetition and Suggestion – Once you get them ready to be induced and they are entering the trance state you use repetition and suggestion to further trick their mind into going into the trance. This is the stage where the hypnotist will repeat often that they are going deeper into the trance; the subjects hear this and they will most likely go further into the trance because they are already entering a state where they are more suggestible.
•Relax and Sleep – This is the stage where the hypnotist puts the subjects into a relaxed state, and the sleep suggestion will put them into the trance fully.
No matter if you use instant inductions, slow inductions or rapid inductions, the four stages above are part of all of them.
The first stage sets the scene because if they do not believe that you can hypnotize them then you will not be able to. Even if you are not 100% confident in your abilities, you need to fake it until you are because without that, you will have more failures than successful inductions.
Does the speed of the induction matter? Sometimes, yes. If you put somebody into a trance using a quick induction, they will come out of the trance quicker.
If you use a slower induction, it will be a slower process to take them out of the trance. Street hypnotists use instant inductions but the subject can awaken very quickly out of the trance state. The quicker your induction, the more important it is to deepen their trance state to prevent them from exiting the trance state when you do not want them to.
When using instant inductions, confidence is even more important. Your demeanor should be demanding, commanding and confident to the point of almost being arrogant and when combined with the induction itself, you are guaranteed success.
Attitude is everything when you are putting anybody in a trance, and especially with instant hypnosis.
Instant methods are very appealing to stage hypnotists and street hypnotist because they are sudden, so sudden that it almost appears as if they were magically introduced into a trance.
Remember to deepen that trance though or they can come out of it very quickly.
As a hypnotist, you are responsible for the suggestions that you implant. You need to always be ethical.
All it takes is one bad apple to help hypnotists be painted with a bad reputation and because hypnosis has come a long way in the last few years, that would be very bad indeed. Here are some basic rules to follow:
•Always be confident in your skills and abilities. There is no room for doubt onstage or when performing therapeutic hypnosis.
•You need to not only be confident in yourself but you need to be so confident that everybody else has absolute confidence in your abilities and skills. They have to have zero doubt that you are confident and able to hypnotize them.
•Repetition of words and phrases are vital. You need to use repetition in your inductions, throughout all of the stages in order to make your induction work. All hypnosis is based on repetition.
•Your voice is what your subjects listen and respond to. Not only must you sound confident but also you have to have a commanding tone in your voice. Your voice needs to carry the feeling of authority. You cannot expect to use a wavering, small voice when hypnotizing, you need to speak clearly and with enough force that they focus on your words so that they listen.
•Practice makes perfect.
Think of hypnosis as if you are the director and your subjects are the actors. They expect to be hypnotized and so they are. Part of your act is that you make sure that they know that they can be hypnotized.
Your voice guides them through the induction but basically, their belief that they are being hypnotized makes it possible. Your suggestions are directing their actions.
Hypnosis is very easy to do, your induction relaxes them and through repeating words that invoke a feeling of sleepiness, heaviness, and relaxation which helps the induction process.
Quick or slow, your steps are going to be the same. At the forefront of your mind is that important first stage, that they expect you to be able to hypnotize them and they believe that you can.
Stage hypnotists and street hypnotists encounter some factors that those performing hypnosis for therapeutic reasons often do not. These factors can usually be used in your favor though.
Peer Pressure
When you have a group on stage, you will always have to deal with peer pressure. Those on stage feel like they will be seen as failures by their friends in the audience or on stage if they fail to be hypnotized and so the peer pressure of that actually helps them to be more open to going into the hypnotic trance.
Flattery Works Wonders
Weave something into your opening act, before you even ask for volunteers that states that the best subjects are those with a lot of imagination, intelligence and the ability to concentrate. Once you state that, anybody who volunteers will be keeping that in mind and if they do not go into a trance, they will look like they lack both imagination and intelligence!
This is a nice little mental preparation trip that helps to make the audience prepped for being put in a trance before you even begin. It is a very subtle psychological trick that works wonders and the best part is that they never even know that you have said that deliberately to help them be more open to being put into the trance.
Karaoke Stars
You get a lot of these when you do a stage show. These are people that crave being the center of attention and the cheers of the crowds while they are in the act are right up their alley.
They want to perform and love to perform and they love the idea of being hypnotized. They can satisfy their need to get attention from the crowd and then can use the hypnosis as an excuse for cutting loose on the stage.
These are the people that use your show as an escape; they want to do something fun and perhaps they would not ever dare to get on the stage in front of hundreds normally but they are excited at the thought of shedding those inhibitions through hypnosis.
They secretly dream about being a star and thanks to your show, they can realize their dream. These people make great subjects because they are eagerly expecting to go into the trance and being able to have a good time on stage. They have no qualms about making a fool of themselves on the stage and are actually excited for the chance.
These are going to be the people who are overly excited to be picked as a volunteer. They will likely be jumping up and down, always pick a few of these people because they will ensure a very entertaining show.
Follow the Leader
Whenever you have a stage show, you get the follow the leader effect. If one person is slower to go into the induction than the rest of the people on the stage, they will realize that they are about to be the only person on the stage who is not going under.