I CREATE AS I SPEAK 2

HYPNOSIS
*
LEWIS LE VAL
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written
permission of the author.

I Create As I Speak 2 (Hypnosis) – Intellectual property of Lewis Le Val

Copyright © Lewis Le Val, All Rights Reserved.

“I cannot be held responsible for any misuse
of this knowledge. Use with caution.”

- Lewis Le Val.
Contents

Introduction

1. Introduction/Pre talk
2. Test for suggestibility
3. Find a subject
4. Induce hypnosis
5. Deepen
6. Test
7. Perform
8. Debrief/Clear/Remove hypnosis
9. After talk

Performance Tips

Television

Final Thoughts
Introduction.

As I write these words, I do not know how the rest of this book will be. I have
decided to just open the floodgates and spill my experiences into these pages.
Nothing will be held back. What follows will be a detailed account of the
techniques that I have used countless times, all over the world and even on
international television. I will also share my mistakes so that you don’t make
the same. This book will also contain my own personal thoughts on hypnosis,
some of which other hypnotists may disagree with, but if we were all in
agreement then there would be no discussion, and no further progress could be
made. So join me, follow my words and by the time you finish reading the last
sentence of this book, you will have everything you need to become a
Hypnotist.

You are your own Hypnotist.

Those close to me have asked me why I would share the secrets to what I do.
But the truth is, there are no secrets, only knowledge and understanding. This is
not magic or mentalism, although it can be used alongside it. Magic and most
mentalism is creating only an illusion of what you say you are doing. You are
using a secret, something the audience doesn’t know, to achieve the illusion you
are creating. With hypnosis, you are doing exactly what you say you are doing.
There are methods, but no secrets. So even if every last detail was a grain of
sand, I could give you a beach and you would still never be me, just like I
would never be you. Your individuality, personality, character, style, thoughts,
actions and beliefs are what will bring these methods to life. You are your own
Hypnotist.

How I began.
I know it may be tempting to skip ahead to the “how to” part of this book, but I
recommend you read every section. I would not include anything that I didn’t
think would be worth you knowing.
I was 16. A street magician performing mostly with cards. This was long before
I decided to exclusively perform mentalism. My best friend at the time was also
a street magician, at around the same skill level as me. We had both gotten
pretty bored with performing, we couldn’t even be bothered practicing
anymore. It came to a point where we would either give up on magic and
performing entirely, or learn a new skill set, something totally different from
what we had previously been doing. I decided to try hypnosis, having no
previous experience or knowledge of it at all. I spent a few weeks worth of my
student allowance, (the college I was in granted each student a ridiculously low
amount of money each week to spend on travel, supplies, lunch etc) on any
hypnosis material I could find. I read it all. Some of it was great and very
informative, some of it was just terrible, out of date or impractical, but the
knowledge was still there. I spent just days memorising and soaking up as
much information as I could, until I was ready to give hypnosis a try for the
very first time. I called my friend, who came to my house and we spent the
afternoon and most of the evening discussing hypnosis, and debating whether it
was possible to actually hypnotise someone or not. Plenty of beers and two
giant pizzas later, we decided to see if anybody we knew would be willing to
come to the house and be my first “subject”. I signed in to MSN (the best
instant messaging service at the time) to see if anyone was online. It was pretty
late, but a female friend of mine who I hadn't seen in quite a while was online.
After some casual conversation, there came the awkward moment of asking,
“Will you get dressed and come to my house right now so me and my friend can
try and hypnotise you?” Yeah. Weird. Creepy. Of course she said no, but I
remembered that she was quite a spiritual person, and was very interested in
New Age stuff, especially the way it is portrayed in movies. An interest we both
shared. So I reframed my question. “Well we can leave the hypnosis out but as
it is a full moon tonight we thought we’d try some spells and this really cool
visualisation technique we have learnt.” Thirty minutes later, she arrived in a
taxi.

I had all of the necessary paraphernalia to set the theme; tarot cards, candles,
crystal ball etc, and I began my first attempt at hypnosis, without actually using
the word “hypnosis”. With a hand full of cheat sheets and the clumsiest,
stumbliest scripting EVER, I had managed to induce a trance state, and had
both of her arms eerily raise up in front of her. Sat in a chair with her head tilted
down, her long brown hair covering her face and both arms suspended in the
air, she resembled Samara from The Ring. This was so cool! But was it too
cool? Was it too good to be true? We were sure she was faking it. I had a cruel
but definite way of testing it. And no, we didn't make her take any clothes off!

I asked my friend to go and pour a small amount of vinegar into a glass and
bring it to me. I instructed my subject, “In a moment I will snap my fingers and
you will be wide awake. It will be a really hot, sunny day and you have a cool,
refreshing drink in front of you. You should take a sip.”
I snapped my fingers, she opened her eyes, looked at the glass for a moment,
picked it up and drank all of the vinegar without even flinching! She then asked
for more. This moment confirmed for me that this was real. I know I should not
have done that, but it was a life changing moment for me. I had now decided
that hypnosis was what I wanted to do.

I then encountered my first failure. I asked her if there was anything she would
like to experience, and she asked about a spell the witches do in the movie, The
Craft. In a part of the movie, the witches use a spell to change their eye colour
and hair colour. I asked her what colour she would like her eyes to become, and
she said purple. I re-induced the trance and said, “In a moment when I snap my
fingers, you will be wide awake again and when you look in the mirror, you will
see that your eyes have changed from blue to purple.” I should have left it at
that, but I went on and on about what she had seen in the movie and that she
was about to do it for real. I snapped my fingers, she opened her eyes, and I
asked her to go and look in the mirror and tell me what colour her eyes are. She
said purple, then seconds later followed with, “Oh no, they're blue.” By talking
too much, I had overcomplicated the suggestion and ruined it. I then “cleared”
her of any hypnosis, and we sat and talked about the experience.

The next day I went in to college and tried again with a few different people,
here I encountered my second failure. I just could not get any of my suggestions
to work, at all! I went home and replayed everything in my head, thinking about
what I had done and said. It was at this point I realised I was over complicating
my suggestions and talking too much.
The next day when I went back, I hypnotised 5-6 different people with 99%
success.

A few things I learnt from this:

- Never make anyone ingest anything, ever. At least not without letting them
know what it really is first. You never know what allergies, reactions or dietary
needs your subject may have. Luckily my subject was fine after drinking the
vinegar, but that was the last time I ever made anyone drink/eat anything
without letting them know first.

- You can hypnotise someone without telling them it is hypnosis.

- You can make someone do something that they may not normally do.

- Clever scripting is not as important as simplicity and clarity. If you train

yourself to speak with simplicity and clarity now, it will become a good habit
that will also be very handy in the future if you ever hypnotise somebody who
has difficulty understanding your accent or if their first language is not your
own.

My friend thought about hypnosis for a while and considered possibly trying it
one day, but then made the decision to give up everything. Magic, performing,
hypnosis, everything. I chose to immerse myself in hypnosis. I definitely made
the right choice.

I then spent years practicing hypnosis at every available opportunity. When I

lived in Cyprus, I was performing walk around magic 7 nights a week in
different venues, and due to the heat, props, especially cards, wouldn't even
survive one gig, so I started arriving at my gigs with nothing but my hypnosis,
and performing it as walk around in the same way I did with magic. Loud
nightclubs, quiet bars, restaurants, the venue and volume didn't matter.
Hypnosis works everywhere.

After 9 years of performing hypnosis in countless venues, different countries,

events, festivals, therapy rooms and even TV shows, and also teaching hypnosis
to others who have then gone on to become full time, professional hypnotists, I
believe I am now ready to put everything in writing for anyone who is willing
to learn this incredible art form.

What is Hypnosis, really?

I can only answer this with opinions. I believe that hypnosis is simply, belief.
Your subjects don't necessarily have to believe in hypnosis, but they do have to
believe in you. The definition of belief is “an acceptance that something exists
or is true, especially one without proof.” So if you can give someone a good
enough reason to believe that what you say and do is true, then it becomes true.
For years I thought that to do hypnosis, you had to follow a specific set of
actions, and you do, but for different reasons than I had previously thought. I
thought that hypnosis wouldn't work if you didn't do A, B and C. But honestly, I
think the main purpose of each of those steps is just to increasingly convince
your subject that you are hypnotising them, and if you can find a quicker way of
doing that, you can definitely shorten and sometimes even skip some of those
steps.
If you are a beginner or new to hypnosis, I understand that it may be a little
strange that I am teaching you step by step hypnosis, but I am also telling you
that you can skip steps, so allow me to explain.

If a person already knows that you are a hypnotist, and maybe they have even
seen you work before, you do not need to repeat the same “start to finish
hypnosis process” with them, as part or even most of the belief needed is
already there.

There is an old video of me on YouTube called, “The Lynx Effect”. In the

video, a younger, skinnier, emo looking me can be seen spraying on a scented
body spray, and then telling an unsuspecting participant that the moment she
smells the spray, her eyes will close, her head will drop and she will fall into a
deep state of hypnosis, and to not worry about falling because I will catch her. It
looks incredible, but the truth is, although I hadn’t pre arranged anything with
her, I was performing in that venue on that night as a hypnotist, and if the guy
holding the camera had turned more to the right, you would have seen a 5ft by
3ft sign saying, “LEWIS LE VAL, HYPNOTIST, HERE TONIGHT!” I had
also already done one hour of walk around hypnosis in the venue before I even
approached the table of people that I approach in the video. They had seen me
work, so in their minds, it was set that if the hypnotist approaches you and does
something to you, it will hypnotise you. This showed me that I didn't have to
repeat the exact same start to finish process each time I hypnotise someone.

Here is a link to the video.

I need to give you two more important examples of times I have skipped some
of the steps.

When I went to London to film the pilot episode of The Mind Control Freaks,
the production company had found 12 participants, all willing to be hypnotised.
If you can find people who have made the effort to go to a hypnotist, they are
always your best subjects. I arrived at the venue and was introduced to the
group. I then began testing for the most suggestible subjects (more on this
later). I found that ALL of them appeared to be equally as suggestible as each
other, so I began with the hypnotic process on one person. I purposefully chose
to not hypnotise the whole group at once, as I was ready to test this idea of
skipping steps.

After hypnotising 3 of the people with my usual process, I began to speed up

with the rest, eliminating everything but the words, “Close your eyes, now
SLEEP!” After hypnotising the first 3, the remaining 9 had already seen what I
do, they’d seen that I can hypnotise people, they believed I am a hypnotist. That
was all I needed to successfully hypnotise them all.

Around a year ago I was sat in a bar with a fellow hypnotist. We were sat at the
bar and the bartender was asking the other hypnotist when he would hypnotise
her, as she wanted to experience it. He was still under the impression that to
hypnotise her he would have to go through the whole process, which can get
very tiresome when you are doing it numerous times every evening. So he told
her maybe some other time. The bartender knew that I was also a hypnotist, and
that was good enough. I stood up, walked around to the side of the bar, called
her over to me and said, “Take a deep breath in, as you breath out, close your
eyes and SLEEP NOW!” She was now hypnotised and ready to produce
hypnotic phenomena.
Your subjects do not need to have previously seen or heard of you to be able to
do this. I will talk more about this later.

In the past when I have taught hypnosis to people, I have written this list down
for them.

1. Introduction/Pre talk
2. Test for suggestibility
3. Find a subject
4. Induce hypnosis
5. Deepen
6. Test
7. Perform
8. Debrief/Clear/Remove hypnosis
9. After talk

Here is a quick explanation of what each of those points are before we get into
details.

1. Introduction/Pre talk - I believe this is the most important part of the whole
process. If you mess this up, you will make it more difficult to achieve the
results you want. With this short talk you will accomplish a few things. You will
establish yourself as an experienced professional (even if you are a total
beginner), you will explain briefly what hypnosis is and that it is a genuine
thing that can be experienced within a few moments, and that it is not some
sort of mind control or nonsense work of fiction from movies. It allows you to
eliminate misconceptions, and stop anyone from thinking the aim of the game is
to fight against the hypnotist and try and “beat” the hypnosis.

2. Test for suggestibility - Suggestibility is not a fixed state and can vary
depending on your introduction, the environment you are in, the people you are
with, their first impressions of you and how comfortable they feel with you.
There will be a few things for you to look out for with your spectators, and
there are some small compliance tests you can do to see how well they follow
your instructions. I have also included my favourite suggestibility test.
3. Find a subject - This can be as simple as asking who would like to be
hypnotised, or you may have to choose somebody based on any good indicators
of suggestibility.

4. Induce Hypnosis - The most nerve-wracking part for beginners, the

“Hypnotic Induction”. Don’t worry too much about this. A lot of people think
that the induction has to be some sort of special mind bending trick with careful
scripting, but honestly, all inductions work equally. They can be kept simple,
and you can even invent your own. We will talk more about inductions later and
discuss their different advantages. Sometimes your induction can be as simple
as saying, “Close your eyes, SLEEP!”

5. Deepen - Strengthening the hypnosis and “adding more”. This is a

suggestion in itself. After the Induction, the subject knows they are being
hypnotised. The main purpose I believe the deepening serves is to let the
subject believe they are going further “in” to the hypnosis. It simply creates a
higher level of concentration and also allows them to get comfortable with this
new state they find themselves in. In some situations, right after the induction,
your subject will let out a nervous laugh, especially if their friends are
watching. This deepening process allows any nerves or laughter to subside, and
helps you gain 100% of their attention. They are listening to you in a different
way now, and are more focussed on any instructions you give them. For a long
time I used to spend way too much time on this. I thought that by doing 3-4
minutes of deepening, I would increase my chances of achieving the hypnotic
results I wanted, but really only a few lines and around 20 seconds of this is
necessary. It would be different if you were doing relaxation or therapeutic
hypnosis, but for quick, entertaining performances, you don't need to spend too
much time on this. Personally, I don't believe there is any “depth” to hypnosis, I
believe you are either hypnotised or you are not, but people don't know this, and
it can also be used as an out if you don't start to achieve the results you are
looking for. More on this later.

6. Test - At this point you are ready to begin testing your work with some
simple suggestions. Your tests will determine if your subject is ready for much
larger and more impressive suggestions, or if your deepening/convincing needs
more work. This part of the process will also give you an idea of how well the
rest of the performance will go.

7. Perform - If you have reached this part, you have successfully hypnotised
your subject and are ready to have some fun! This is where your creativity can
flourish! There as some very important dos and don’ts here though. More on
this later.

8. Debrief/Clear/Remove hypnosis - The part you need to take most seriously.

Although you can leave a person hypnotised and nothing bad will happen, and
they will never be “stuck” hypnotised, this is more for your subject’s peace of
mind. If you fail to properly inform your subject that they are no longer
hypnotised and there are no side effects, you could land yourself in plenty of
trouble. Your subject MUST know for sure that they are back to their normal
self in every single way and will no longer be affected by any hypnosis.
Hypnosis cannot cause anything negative to happen, but it can easily be
blamed. Should your subject feel weird, fall ill, have an accident, commit a
crime etc, hypnosis is easy to point the finger at. There have been many cases of
people trying to blame hypnotists for something that had nothing to do with
them or the hypnosis. When hypnosis is used on television, a secondary camera
and microphone is almost always used to document every moment the subjects
spend with the hypnotist/s, should anything ever happen.

9. After talk - This is also a part of the previous step. You should also use this
time to answer any questions that your subject may have about their experience.
The Hypnotist.
If your spectators know that you are a beginner, expect beginners’ results. I
know that as a beginner, it may seem ok to get those results, but this will hinder
your progress.

In all other art forms, a beginner can exceed expectations by producing great
work, but unfortunately hypnosis does not work like that. If you are not an
expert in the mind of your subject, your hypnosis will not go far at all. How do
you solve this problem? Simple. From this moment onwards, you, the reader,
are an expert hypnotist.

People only know of you what you tell them. I travel on planes a lot, at least
two flights a month. When people sat next to me on the plane make
conversation with me and ask me what I do, I tell them something different,
each time. For two reasons. One, because it’s difficult to tell anyone that you
are a magician or mentalist without them then asking you to show them
something, which I never feel like doing on planes. And two, because it is fun
to say something totally different and then try and answer any questions they
ask about it! There are people in this world who think I am a chef in a high-end
restaurant, so I am sure if I contacted them and told them I would cook them a
dinner, they would jump at the chance! But would they do that for a beginner?

So if you let people know you are a beginner hypnotist, that is what they will
see you as. If you let them know you are an expert, they will see you as one. So
in the mind of the spectator, which of those two would they think can do more?

If people believe they are dealing with an expert, their thoughts will be,
“He/she is going to hypnotise me!”

If they think you are a beginner, their thoughts will be,

“Let’s see if he/she can hypnotise me.”

If they have any doubt in your abilities, it isn’t going to work.

Because hypnosis is something happening to them, people need to feel

confident in your abilities to actually do it, to keep them safe and to also “get
them out” of it. They want to know that they are dealing with someone who
knows what they are doing and is experienced.

Here is a character. This character is called, The Hypnotist.

The hypnotist is professional, calm, confident, charming, experienced, the best
in the business. The Hypnotist has successfully hypnotised many people before
with incredible results. With the hypnotist, people are excited about their
experience, and are left feeling great and positive about the whole thing, and
themselves.

Now don't just play that character, become that character.

At this point, please take a moment to go back to ICAIS1 and read the chapter
called, Paradigm Shift - Your Frame Of Mind. Refresh your memory of those
techniques and now instead of applying it to suggestion, apply it to hypnosis.
After that, you are ready for the next section of this book.
1. Introduction/Pre Talk.

No matter where you are or what you are doing, the moment you say the word
Hypnotist, the whole vibe of the group will change. It is important that the
group/individual feels comfortable with your presence before you mention any
hypnosis. It is a bit like when you are performing magic for a group for the first
time. It starts with them being quite unsure of you, maybe sometimes even
hoping to be able to catch you out, but then after a few effects, they are on your
side and want to see you succeed. So if you wish to start with a bit of magic or
mentalism first as a warm up, you can do. For anyone thinking hypnosis cannot
follow magic or would be out of place, I went through a phase of opening every
set with a single, mentalism card effect, then moving in to hypnosis. If you wish
to perform just hypnosis, take a look at the opening script I use.

“Hello, how is your evening? Great! My name is Lewis, I have been invited
here tonight to entertain you. This will take 5 minutes of your time and then I
promise I will go away! I am a Hypnotist.”

You don’t have to copy the above script, but let’s take a look at the structure of
it.

A hello and a polite, casual question to break the ice and get an immediate
response from the group. I then tell them my name and that I have been invited.
So even if you are not gigging or have not been hired by the place you are in,
the word invited sounds as though you have, when really you could have been
invited by a friend. I say 5 minutes, but usually I am there longer, but it is good
to add a time constraint so that the group know you don't plan to hang around
them all night. The line, “I promise I will go away” is said in a fun tone and
usually gets a gentle laugh. I then tell them what it is I do. As soon as you say
Hypnotist, you will almost always get one or more of the following responses:
“Can you hypnotise me?!”
“Please don't hypnotise me!”
“I bet you can’t hypnotise me.”
“I don’t believe in that shit.”

It’s always the same, which is great because the next part of your introduction
will address all of the above.

“Now I know what you might be thinking, but hypnosis is not like it is in
movies. It is not a form of mind control or anything like that, it’s not scary, and
you certainly won't fall asleep. It is a form of concentration that can be
achieved within minutes, that will allow you to do some pretty amazing things.
You remain aware of everything at all times and can stop whenever you like. I
can even show you what it feels like to be hypnotised first, without any hypnosis,
just so you know what it’s like, and you will see that you can have a lot of fun
with it. I won’t do anything to upset or embarrass any of you, and you certainly
wont be removing any clothing!”

As before, let’s take a look at the structure of the above script.

“Now I know what you might be thinking” - Shows that you are already aware
of the common ideas that laymen have about hypnosis.

“hypnosis is not like it is in movies. It is not a form of mind control or anything

like that, it’s not scary, and you certainly won't fall asleep.” - People have seen
hypnosis portrayed very inaccurately in movies, the thought of being
hypnotised can be scary for some people as they do not know what to expect. A
lot of the time people do think it is some sort of mind control and that you will
make them do things that they do not want to do, or that you will be able to get
inside their heads and know things that you shouldn't know. As the word sleep
is used in hypnosis, people associate this with literal sleep, and think that when
hypnotised, they will be unconscious or unaware of what is happening to or
around them.

“It is a form of concentration that can be achieved within minutes, that will
allow you to do some pretty amazing things.” - Concentration is impossible if
you are unaware or un-alert. People need to know that they will always remain
present and in the moment, rather than slipping into some sort of dream state.
By telling them it can be achieved within minutes lets them know that it isn't a
long process that will take half an hour of deep relaxation. Unless you are in a
therapy room, people don't want that. By explaining that it will allow them to do
some pretty amazing things, makes the whole idea a lot more interesting for
them as they will be the star of the performance, not you. People are always
curious to know what their minds may be capable of.

“You remain aware of everything at all times and can stop whenever you like.”
- Another reminder that they will be aware of everything that is happening and
wont turn into some sort of zombie/puppet. It is also good to let them know that
they will be able to say stop at any time and it will stop, so they don't think that
if they agree to be hypnotised, you will have them under your spell for the rest
of their lives.

“I can even show you what it feels like to be hypnotised first, without any
hypnosis, just so you know what it’s like, and you will see that you can have a
lot of fun with it.” - When a person is being hypnotised, they wont feel any
different from how they would if they were to just sit with their eyes closed.
You could of course tell them that, but I believe it is much better to show them
rather than tell them, so you can try a quick visualisation exercise with them,
which is basically having them close their eyes and listen to you, which is
exactly what will happen when you hypnotise them. I will talk more about this
exercise in a moment.

“I won’t do anything to upset or embarrass any of you, and you certainly wont
be removing any clothing!” - Two of the biggest fears most people have about
hypnosis is the thought of you making them do something embarrassing or
making them take any clothing off. When I first started doing hypnosis, for a
long time I was all about entertaining the audience, but now I believe it should
always be about entertaining the person who is being hypnotised. Your focus
should always be on making sure your subject has a good time and enjoys their
experience, as the audience will be entertained anyway. Your audience should
always be watching and thinking, “wow I want to be next” or “I wish that
would happen to me!” Never, “Wow I’m glad that’s not me!”
Question Time
Before we proceed, I would like to cover some common questions people may
ask at this point of the introduction. The answers I give usually change
depending on how the question is asked or who is asking, but these are my most
common answers.

Q: Is it real?
A: Well hypnosis is not some sort of special power or extraordinary claim.
Everyone hypnotises themselves every single day, without even realising. All
hypnosis is self hypnosis, so a hypnotist just knows how to get you there and
make it happen now so that you can be fully aware of it and experience this
wonderful, natural state.

l. om
Q: What if you can’t get me out of it?

m
ai .c
co
A: If I can get you in, I can get you out. But it is also impossible to be stuck
gm ic
hypnotised, it changes just like any other state of mind. You will only be
hypnotised for as long as you stay focused, so even if I hypnotise you and then I
c@ ag

fall over and get knocked out, you will be just fine.
gi am
ma in

Q: Does it only work on weak minded people?

ve ch

*This question irritates me to my very core! I hear it a lot, and you will too. It is
lo 52

always asked with a tone of arrogance too.*

to w.

A: There is no such thing as weak minded or strong minded. But it is actually

easier to hypnotise sharper or more intelligent people as they are better at
ww

paying attention to what I am saying.

(The above answer is true. This may sound quite harsh but I did say at the
beginning of this book I wont hold anything back. In the past I have attempted
to hypnotise some shockingly stupid people who had the attention span of an
earthworm, and gotten terrible results. Your subject needs to be able to pay
attention to what you are saying and doing. But! You must also develop the
ability to adjust your scripting to suit your subject so that it may be easily heard
and processed by them without any confusion or without them having to ask
you to repeat something.)
Q: (Disguised as a statement) I bet you can’t hypnotise me!
A: A lot of people think that hypnosis is a sort of “battle of wills” and they must
fight against the hypnotist who is trying to get in their head and control them,
but the truth is, if you want to experience it, we have to work together to get
you there. If you don't want to be hypnotised, you won’t be hypnotised.

(Everybody wants to believe that their mind is a fortress that is strong enough to
block out any outside influence, so you must be ready to explain to people that
this isn't an attempt to take control of their mind, but a method of bringing
something out in them that will allow them to explore things that they didn't
know their mind could do. This is for them to gain something from, not you.

Q: Can anyone be hypotised? / Does it work on everyone?

l. om
A: Everybody can be hypnotised to a certain extent. Would you be interested to

m
ai .c
co
see if you are one of the lucky ones who can experience it fully?
gm ic
Q: (Statement) I don't believe in hypnosis.
c@ ag

A: (Taken from ICAIS1 and edited) “Most people have only ever seen hypnosis
gi am

in movies or cartoons, and in those movies or cartoons the hypnosis is

ma in

exaggerated or changed dramatically into something that it is not. So when you

ve ch

say you don’t believe in hypnosis, really, you don’t believe in what you think
lo 52

hypnosis is. So tell me, what do you think hypnosis is?”

to w.

Wait for their answer, and then whatever they say, respond with,
ww

“Exactly! I wouldn’t believe that either!”

Unless they’ve studied hypnosis, no layperson will ever give you an accurate
description of it.

“If hypnosis was a cake,

your mind would be the ingredients,
and I would provide the utensils.”
A quote I write in the notebook of everybody I teach hypnosis to. It is quite a
nice line that can be used to quickly give people an idea of how they would
need to cooperate with you in order for them to experience hypnosis.

If you are new to hypnosis, but are experienced with performing any basic
mentalism, if you want to, in your introduction you can do a couple of effects to
warm the group up to you and demonstrate quickly that you do have some sort
of psychological skill. You could use the line, “Now as hypnosis is purely
psychological, I first need to learn a little bit about how each of you think. So
we will start with a couple of fun experiments.”

I usually tend to just go straight in with the hypnosis, but in the past when I
have started with a mentalism piece, I have done the following:

l. om
I take out a deck of cards and say, “Now the first thing people think when they

m
ai .c
co
see me with cards is that I am going to do magic, but that’s not the case. I use
gm ic
playing cards because they are all numbers and shapes that we are all familiar
with. So I want to see if we can communicate on an unconscious level. As I
c@ ag

spread through the cards, instead of taking one out, I want you to just touch the
gi am

back of one.”
ma in
ve ch

I display the deck face up when I mention the numbers and shapes, then turn
lo 52

them face down and spread through them. I don't have a card removed from the
to w.

deck because it will make this look like even more of a magic trick than it
already does. I have them touch a card, I lift up that half of the spread to show
ww

them the card they touched, then place the cards back onto the other half of the
deck and keep a pinky break below their selection. I then do a classic pass so
their card goes to the bottom, then put the deck back in the box and peek the
bottom card as I do so, being careful not to flash it. The cards then go back into
my pocket.

I then reveal the card in a way that looks like I am reading it from the person (I
never mention body language, it’s tacky and outdated). Instead I ask them to
think of each part of the card individually and reveal each time e.g. Colour, suit,
value. I never give any pseudo explanation as to how I am gaining the
information, I just make it seem real and natural in the moment, as if I have
ways of knowing if they are thinking of red or black, hearts or diamonds, odd or
even etc.

You could make this even simpler and have a stacked deck, have them cut the
deck and take the card they cut to while you peek the card that was above it,
then you will know what their card is as it will be the next one in the sequence.

I always have 5 marked ESP cards in my wallet, so if I don’t have playing cards
with me I can just use those and achieve a similar effect. Sometimes it can be
even better to use ESP cards as they’re not instantly recognisable as a tool for
magic tricks.

Any propless mentalism is also good. Even if it fails, it doesn't matter, your

l. om
spectators just think this is your process of learning how they think.

m
ai .c
co
gm ic
Use whatever works for you, or nothing at all. The choice is yours, just go with
what feels right in the moment and you can’t go wrong.
c@ ag
gi am
ma in
ve ch
lo 52
to w.
ww
2. Test For Suggestibility.

As I said earlier, suggestibility is not a fixed state. To borrow a line from

ICAIS1: In psychology the definition of suggestion is the action of influencing a
person to accept an idea or belief uncritically.

So if after your introduction the group don't feel comfortable with you, or don't
feel that you are the expert you appear to be, or still don’t feel you can do the
things you claim to be able to do, then they may not be as suggestible as they
could have been. It is ok if they are a still a bit sceptical, but they must be with
you on this, and be willing to accept what you are bringing to them. This goes
back to what I said earlier. They do not necessarily need to believe in hypnosis,
but they need to believe in you.

A couple of years ago I was taking a long distance train from London to
Liverpool, and when I found what I thought was my reserved seat, there was a
man sat in it with his friend next to him. Convinced that they were in my seat, I
made them move. It was a completely full train and there was nowhere else I
could sit. So they looked at their ticket, looked at mine, agreed to move and
apologised. I wasn't aggressive with them, I just spoke politely but firmly. After
they moved and I sat down, I looked at my ticket again and realised I was
completely wrong! Total mistake, and I felt awful for making these people
move from their seats, but it just goes to show that no matter what people think
or believe, if you say anything with enough conviction, with a determined
frame of mind, people will take onboard what you are saying. I also believe
confusion played a part in this. When the mind is confused, it will take the very
next clearly understandable piece of information and use it to escape the
confusion. You can use this to your advantage, more on this later. You can also
read more about how confusion works with suggestion in ICAIS1.

So take the above example and apply the same thinking to your introduction. Be
convinced, believe yourself and others will follow.
The next step will be the visualisation exercise I mentioned earlier. Now some
hypnotists will tell you that this isn't really a suggestibility test, but I disagree. If
any of your spectators cannot complete the following test, it may not be a good
idea to attempt to hypnotise them. Maybe it would work for them in another
time or place, but in the moment you try it with them, if you don't see results,
I’d recommend not trying to hypnotise them.

I choose to disguise this test as a way of showing my spectators what it feels

like to be hypnotised, before I hypnotise them. You don’t have to do it this way,
but I have found that by showing them that there really isn't anything to worry
about, they are much more likely to volunteer to be hypnotised afterwards.
It also shows them that their subconscious mind listens to what you say and acts
upon it. They get to see it. It literally becomes a quick “sample” of hypnosis
which also acts as a convincer and builds expectations for the hypnosis itself.

This test impresses people you try it with, and they usually react to it in the
same way they would with a magic effect. There are many of these tests
available, but this is the one I use most. It is also used by many other hypnotists
around the world.

“Magnetic Hands”, not to be confused with “Magnetic Fingers”. The magnetic

fingers technique relies on a natural body reflex, which I do not like, and is a
trick used by children in playgrounds. I personally, don't use it as it may be
recognised by some people as the trick they did when they were kids. They are
much less likely to have tried “Magnetic Hands” before.

Before trying the test, it can be good to add a few small compliance tests too,
just to see how well your spectators follow your instructions, and will also help
to condition them to do as you say. You can do all of this step with the whole
group or an individual.

Script:
“Stand/sit up straight, put your feet flat on the floor, relax your shoulders and
look at me.” Small compliance tests said in a friendly but firm tone.
“In a moment, I will ask you to place both arms out in front of you like so. Then
I will ask you to imagine that you have a powerful magnet attached to the palm
of each hand. I will then ask you to close your eyes and just allow those
magnets to get stronger and stronger.” As you say this, demonstrate what you
will ask them do by holding both of your arms directly out in front of you at a
90 degree angle, fully extended with your palms facing each other, shoulder
width apart. Hands wide open, fingers together.

“So do that now. Hold your arms out.” Readjust their hands for them if
necessary.

“Imagine those magnets are in place” Touch the palm of each of their hands to
indicate where they should imagine the magnets are.

“Take a good look at the space between your hands, now close your eyes. Now
just allow those magnets to get stronger and stronger, and they will pull your
hands closer and closer together.” If you say imagine the magnets are getting
stronger, they might only imagine it. By saying allow them to get stronger, they
will be allowing these imaginary magnets to actually have an effect on their
hands. You will find that their hands will slowly start to get closer and closer
together. This is what you want.

“Now I don't want you to fight them apart, or force them together, just allow
your hands to naturally be pulled together by those magnets, which are now
getting stronger and stronger, and in a moment your hands will touch together.”
I started using this line after seeing that some people think that they have to try
and keep their hands apart.

You should be talking the whole time. Keep telling them that the magnets are
getting stronger. You can even snap your fingers a few times and say they are
ten times stronger now, and that it will pull their hands closer and closer
together. Keep speaking in this way, don't give these imaginary magnets a
chance to lose any of their strength.

At this point, you may notice one of these things:

1. Their hands move fast and touch together quickly.
2. Their hands move incredibly slow but are moving.
3. Their hands move at a nice, steady pace, in time with what you are saying.
4. Their hands don't move at all.

Here are some notes on each of those:

1. They’re either super suggestible, or they think they had to consciously move
their hands together. Be weary of this as they may not have followed your
instructions clearly.

2. This is fine, just keep talking and making those magnets stronger. Even if
they are still far apart, tell them that their hands are about to touch.

3. This is the best, no problems here.

4. Red flag. They’re either not paying attention, don't want anything to happen
and are fighting against it, or just aren't as suggestible as you'd like them to be
in this moment. If this happens, move your focus to someone else, or just have
them open their eyes and relax their arms.

If their hands are moving slowly, you can use the Concentration Ploy from
ICAIS1, which can be found in the chapter: What If It Doesn't Work.

When your spectator’s hands touch, ask them to open their eyes and take a look,
then they can relax their arms. They will usually react as if it was magic, and
often have comments about how it felt. Let them speak, it’s fun to hear what
they say.

The above exercise can also be done by simply telling your spectators that it is
a small exercise that will get them to concentrate, and give them an example of
what it’s all about.

There are many, many suggestibility tests that are widely available which you
can online, but this is really the only one that I use, when I decide to actually
use one. If it works well, and other people see it working, this can also heighten
their suggestibility too.
3. Find a Subject.

During the above exercise, I observe the hands of everyone taking part. I am
looking for anyone who is closest to description number 3 as mentioned earlier.
These people will be my first choice to offer the hypnosis to. This does not
mean you cannot choose any of the others, but I believe you will get off to a
better start by choosing someone who fits description number 3.

It is much like the process stage hypnotists use. They invite as many people as
possible to join them on stage. They then do a suggestibility test on all of them,
and send the less responsive/suggestible ones back to their seats. They then
proceed with a group induction. During the induction they will send even more
people back to their seats, leaving only the most suggestible on stage for the
show.

I agree that the Magnetic Hands exercise works almost all of the time, and
someone who does well with that may not always be the best hypnosis subject,
but following the above formula will certainly help you make decisions on who
you will attempt to hypnotise first.

There is no way of being able to just look at someone and know if they will be a
good subject for hypnosis or not, so my best piece of advice is to just do it!
Throw yourself in at the deep end and go for it. I will however share a few
things with you that I look out for when I am choosing a subject.

- A person who is excited about the idea of hypnosis, and maybe already asking
me if I will hypnotise them.

- A person whose full attention I have. Looking right at me and blinking less.
Dilated pupils and paying close attention to my every word.

- A person with no questions for me and answers everything I ask with a happy,
“Yes”.
 - A person who has been hypnotised before and the experience was positive
and they enjoyed it. You can find this out simply by asking.

- A person in a higher (positive) emotional state. Don’t hypnotise anyone who

looks like they are about to have a panic attack or burst into tears, but if they are
happy, excited, or even little bit nervous, this emotional state may increase their
suggestibility.

Once you have selected a subject, you are ready for the induction.
4. Induce Hypnosis.

Here is my own personal opinion on inductions. I may be totally wrong, but my

opinion doesn't stop me, and won’t stop you from being able to hypnotise
people.

When a person plays a guitar, we know what that looks like. We can see what
they are doing to produce the sound. When a person makes a phone call, we
know what that looks like, we can see what they are doing to make the call.

When a person hypnotises someone, what does that look like? It can’t really
look like a normal, every day action, because we know normal and every day
actions don't produce these weird hypnotic effects. What does the process of
hypnotising a person look like?

I believe an induction is simply a small act to show the hypnotic process to the
subject and audience. Another convincer of what you are doing. The more work
you put in to your introduction, the less elaborate your induction needs to be.

There are hundreds of different inductions that you can learn. Although some
may have advantages over others, they all do the same thing. I am going to
show you the only three that I ever use, in order of how often I use them.

First, The Handshake Induction.

I use this more than any other, simply because I think it looks cool, and it is a
good “all-rounder” that can be used in any situation. There are many handshake
inductions, the three most popular being credited to Milton Erickson, Richard
Bandler and Dave Elman. Richard Bandler’s version is the one I use. It was a
variation of Milton Erickson’s version that you learnt in ICAIS1.

Before I proceed with the induction, I have my selected subject stand next to
me in front of the group. I say to them, “Stand up straight, get comfortable.
Although you will have your eyes closed you will not fall over, your legs will
support you. You will know what is happening and will still be aware of
everything around you. Are you ready to be hypnotised?”

This can also be done seated, but if your subject is standing, remember to tell
them that their legs will support them. The amount of times I have forgotten to
mention this in the past and have had to literally hold people up as their legs
turn to jelly. People won’t always fall if you forget to mention this, but it can
happen as some people think that their whole body is supposed to go
completely loose.

By reminding them that they will still be aware of everything, you eliminate
any last minute worries they may have. They will also know that it is normal
after the induction when they realise that they are still aware of everything. This
stops them from thinking it isn't working.

Asking “are you ready to by hypnotied?” obviously confirms that they are, but
is also an indicator of total acceptance of what you are about to do. After they
answer, it is a perfect cue for a handshake.

Bandler’s Handshake Induction.

1. Respond to their answer with a quick reply, such as “That’s great!” then
reach for a handshake. Your subject will automatically respond by reaching for
your hand. Next comes the “pattern interrupt”. This is simply taking an
automatic, unconscious action and breaking the pattern by not completing what
their brain was expecting. This creates a nice amount of confusion in your
subject. In this state, your subject will quickly accept your next set of
instructions. They were expecting a handshake, but instead you…

2. Stop just before the hands touch. Gently take hold of their wrist with your
left hand and raise their hand to just above eye level with their palm facing
them, about 30cm away from their face. Take one step closer to them so that
you are almost by their side.

3. As you raise their hand, quickly say “Look at your hand!” and point to it
with your right hand. Follow immediately with, “look at the lines on your hand,
and notice the changing focus of your eyes as that hand moves closer to your
face”. Very gently begin pushing/guiding their hand closer to their face. You
can also slowly release your grip and notice that their arm and hand supports its
own weight, meaning you don't have to take the weight of their arm to hold it in
the air. This is very similar to the moment in the handshake from ICAIS1 where
the hand supports its own weight, without your help. As your subject will
struggle slightly to keep their eyes focussed on their hand as it moves closer,
they will begin to concentrate a lot more on your instructions.

4. You don't want them to do a complete face palm. And if your subject is
female with a face full of makeup, they wont want to put their hand flat on their
face either, so moments before their fingertips touch their face, say, “As your
hand touches your face… Close your eyes and SLEEP now!” As you say close
your eyes, lower your right hand and stop pointing. Just as their fingertips touch
their face is when you arrive at the word SLEEP, which is said with a bit more
emphasis, almost like a command to a disobedient dog. Don’t shout it, but just
raise your voice a little.

5. You can bring your right hand back up to the back of their head, and just use
your fingertips to gently tilt your subject’s head down.

6. Continue talking (you will immediately go in to your deepening script,

covered in the next section). It is rare that your subject will say anything at this
point, but keep talking so that they don't have a chance to. This is the most
crucial moment, so your subject desperately needs more instructions
(deepening) at this point.

The whole induction takes just seconds to do, but don't rush it. It doesn't need to
be some sort of ninja fast process, just swift and fluent. So if you need to slow
at down a bit to ensure that all of your instructions are clear and understood,
you can do so.

Don’t muddy the instructions by adding words that you don’t need to say. This
is not a conversation. Beginners tend to add extra words while they think about
what they're doing, but practice this alone, as many times as it takes until you
can deliver those instructions cleanly. Every word that you say during the
induction is listened to intently by the subject.

“What I’d like you to do…”

“If you could just…”
“Ok? And now I will…”

None of that. Clean and simple instructions are all you need.

“Look at your hand! Look at the lines on your hand, and notice the changing
focus of your eyes as that hand moves closer to your face. As your hand touches
your face… Close your eyes and SLEEP now!”

You may see other hypnotists doing this induction by using different words, but
the plain and simple instructions/commands are always the same.

Your subject will now be in the beginning stages of a hypnotic trance. You may
be wondering what will happen if your subject just opens their eyes and lifts
their head back up after this, while very very rare, it can happen, so I have some
further tips on this to share with you, but I will save them for the “Performance
Tips” section of this book. Learn the inductions first, then we will worry about
all of the tiny and extra details afterwards.

Erickson/Arm Pull Variation Induction.

While this induction is very simple, it can feel a little bolder to do. I suggest
only trying this induction once you have already hypnotised a few people
successfully using the previous induction, as I believe this induction should
only be used when you become a little bit more experienced with hypnosis.

I know where the basics and the ideas behind this induction came from, but I
cannot locate it’s exact source. This is something I have been doing for years
which has developed over time from my understanding/misunderstanding of
other inductions. It works just as good as any other, and looks very cool!
1. You have just asked your subject if they are ready to be hypnotised, and
responded as in the previous induction. Reach for a handshake and proceed
with the Ericksonian handshake as detailed in ICAIS1. Your subject’s hand/arm
should now be supporting its own weight.

2. “Look at my eyes. In a moment I will ask you to close your eyes. When your
eyes close you will relax into a deep state of hypnosis.” Re-grip their hand into
a handshake.

3. “So take a deep breath in… and out.. now close your eyes… and SLEEP!”
Give them a moment to inhale a deep breath, then exhale. As they are exhaling,
ask them to close their eyes, and the very second their eyes close, say the world
SLEEP in the same tone as explained in the previous induction. As you say
SLEEP, gently but quickly pull their right arm forwards from the handshake. It
should be just like a nudge. Do not pull them out of their seat or hard enough
that they have to take a step forwards. This pull shouldn't be uncomfortable for
them, but will just give them a little shake and encourage their head to tilt
forwards.

4. Continue immediately with deepening.

When you say “Look at my eyes”, refrain from saying, “Look into my eyes”.
This annoying cliche will only invoke a comedic response which you do not
want in this situation. The reason for asking them to look at your eyes is to give
them a point of focus, and for you to monitor where there attention is. If they
break eye contact with you, maybe lift their hand and continue with the
previous induction from this point instead. This arm pull induction is only as
good as the amount of focus you have from the subject.

After saying the world SLEEP, you can reach the back of their head with your
left hand and use your fingertips to gently tilt their head forwards.

This induction does not have the same confusing element as the pattern
interrupt in the previous induction, but it does have the same sort of arm
catalepsy*, which is a strong indicator that you can continue to hypnotise the
subject.

*Catalepsy, in hypnosis, is an unconscious rigidity of parts of the body,

characterised by a trance-like state. So when your subject’s arm remains in
place, supporting its own weight after these handshakes, this is catalepsy.

Magnetic Hands to Induction.

This induction I use least often. It takes just a little bit longer than I’d like, and I
don't think it looks as cool as the other inductions.

This is another induction that I have taken off the rails from its original source,
that has developed into what it is now. It is my go-to induction when
hypnotising more than one person at a time, but that is a rare occasion for me as
I prefer to hypnotise people individually.

1. Perform the Magnetic Hands test as before, but as your subject’s hands begin
to touch, say, “Now as your hands touch, keep your eyes closed and interlock
your fingers. Those magnets are getting stronger and stronger, as your hands
stick together tighter and tighter. I will count from one to ten, and on each
number those magnets will get stronger and stronger and your hands will lock
together tighter and tighter.
One… Magnets are getting stronger!
Two… Even stronger now as those hands lock together
Three… Tighter and tighter
Four, five six!
Seven… Completely locked together now!
Eight… Your hands will begin to shake
Nine… Your hands shake more and more as they become…
Ten… Completely locked together now.”

I don’t expect you to remember all of the above, but after each number you say,
add more suggestion that their hands are increasingly locking together. Notice
how after Two, I go from talking about the magnets getting stronger to their
hands locking together. I also add the suggestions that their hands start shaking
so I can visibly see who is becoming stuck and who isn’t.
From this point, you could either go into the induction, or;

2. “When, and only when you know that your hands are completely stuck, you
can open your eyes and try and pull them apart, but the more you try, the more
stuck they become.” This is an impressive hypnotic effect in itself. You have
also told your subject/s not to open their eyes until they know their hands are
stuck, so when they open their eyes, this is them accepting that their hands are
stuck together. It is fun to watch them try and pull their hands apart. Just
remember to keep talking as they do.

If you do this with a group of people, you will have some that are stuck and
cannot separate their hands. These are who you should hypnotise. If you do this
for one person and they open their eyes and can separate their hands, just
behave as though that was supposed to happen. If they separate their hands, just
say, “Great! You did very well! How did that feel?” If they separate their hands,
don't be discouraged, you should still try to hypnotise them as your suggestions
were working until that point. If they feel from you that it didn’t work as you
wanted it to, nothing else will work afterwards. If you keep them believing that
everything is as it should be, the convincer of the Induction will help you to
bring them back to a suggestible state. If they question it, or if you’d like to use
this line anyway, you could say, “See, even without hypnosis you were able to
do that! So, are you ready to be hypnotised and see what else your mind is
capable of?” Because remember, you told them that this will only show them
what it feels like to be hypnotised. They aren't aware that any hypnosis is
supposed to have taken place yet.

You could also not have them open their eyes and just continue with the
following induction. If you have anybody with their eyes open and hands stuck,
continue with:

3. “Now close your eyes again, take a deep breath and relax. I will count down
from five to zero. On each number your hands will loosen, those magnets
holding your hands together will go and you will be unstuck. On each number,
as those hands loosen, you will begin to relax into a deep state of hypnosis.
When I get to zero, you will feel me push your hands down. When this happens
you will be in a total, wonderful state of hypnosis.
Five… Hands relax and begin to loosen
Four… Entering a deep state of hypnosis now
Three… Your hands stay together but are no longer stuck
two… Deeper into hypnosis now
One… Your hands relax, all tension is gone, eyes remain closed and
Zero… SLEEP NOW”

As you say SLEEP, use one hand to push their hands down. They may separate
or stay together, either is fine. The motion of their hands/arms going down has a
similar effect that the arm pull has in the previous induction.

4. Follow immediately with deepening.

When you get to One, tell them that their eyes will remain closed. If you get to
zero and say SLEEP, they may think that there is supposed to be a noticeable
chance in how they feel. This may cause them to open their eyes so it is good to
remind them that they should keep their eyes closed.

Millions
Maybe not millions, but there are definitely countless different inductions out
there. You don't need to know them all, and you will be wasting your time if
you try to learn them all. Have one main one that you use and familiarise
yourself with, and maybe one or two more in the back of your mind as backups.
They all do the same thing! Although some may have minor advantages over
others, no induction is stronger than another. Remember, YOU hypnotise
people, not your inductions. Youtube is a good source to see any inductions in
action before you try them. But do not try an induction without learning it
properly.

Common sense
Stay away from silly inductions. For example, inductions that involve a person
falling down. Fallback inductions look good on stage, but be sure you can
actually catch the person if you choose to learn and do this. I recommend
staying away from any inductions with potential injuries or embarrassments. I
once saw a hypnosis show where the hypnotist used a fallback induction
(involves a person falling backwards, true trust fall style), and while the
induction was performed flawlessly, and the hypnotist did a great job, accidental
positioning of a female subject on the stage floor left the entire audience with a
clear view up her skirt for over five minutes. She was obviously not very happy
about this when she found out after the show. Would she ever let anyone
hypnotise her again? Probably not.

Use common sense when it comes to choosing and using different inductions.
Hypnosis and fire breathing are the only performance arts (that I am aware of)
that can cause injury to an audience if proper precautions are not taken.
Hypnosis injuries are completely avoidable if common sense is used.
5. Deepen.

Whether I choose to do the most elaborate induction or the simplest, my

deepening is always the same. It is probably the only part of the whole hypnosis
process that I do not change. I may add a line or two depending on the
environment I am in, but for the most part, it is always the same. As I said
earlier, I don't believe there are any levels of hypnosis, but I do believe in using
everything I can to make sure my subject remains focussed at all times.
Deepening is the perfect tool for this.

Hypnosis is less about relaxation and more about concentration. The more you
can use to hold and strengthen your subject’s concentration, the better your
results will be. You don't want a subject that will just switch off as soon as their
eyes are closed, you want them paying as much attention to every word you say
as possible. I have performed hypnosis in some of the loudest and craziest
venues with as many different distractions as you can think of, so I used them to
my advantage. More on this in a moment.

Immediately after saying the word “SLEEP” in my induction, I follow with this
exact script. It is only exactly as it is because of the amount of times I have said
it. It has just become stuck in my head. Other hypnotists use different scripting,
you may use different scripting, but the main points to get across to your subject
are always the same.

“…And SLEEP now, deeper deeper deeper. That’s great. Everything you can
hear, everything you can feel will send you deeper and deeper and deeper. You
are aware of what is happening, but you will continue to SLEEP now deeper
deeper deeper. Every muscle and every nerve in your body relaxes as you go
deeper and deeper. All of the sounds around you will send you deeper and
deeper. Take a deep breath in, and out and the deeper you breathe, the deeper
you will go. You are doing great!”

Before I continue, let’s take a closer look at what I have just said.
Immediately following the word SLEEP are the words “deeper deeper deeper”.
Repetition is important in everything you say from this point onwards. In your
deepening, instructions and suggestions. This helps you to be perfectly clear in
what you want, and leaves no room for misunderstanding or contradicting
thoughts from the subject. It is also a bit like how a personal trainer or a Drill
Sergeant will constantly repeat themselves to motivate their client, rather than
just saying something once and then leaving them to get on with it.

“Everything you can hear, everything you can feel will send you deeper and
deeper and deeper” This creates a sort of “anchor point”. Your subject will hear
things and feel things, and you have just linked it to them them going deeper. It
will also let them know that it is ok to hear what is happening around them, and
rather than them being distracted by it, you have taken it and used it as part of
the process. Even if you are not in a loud venue, there will still be sounds
around you. I remember performing in a quiet restaurant once and at this
moment, right next to us, a waiter dropped the biggest stack of plates that have
ever been dropped. Thunder whispers compared to the sound that made. So I
was quick to take that sound and use it to send my subject deeper.

“You are aware of what is happening, but you will continue to SLEEP now
deeper deeper deeper.” Some people may still expect to feel weird or different
now that they are being hypnotised, and when they don't feel different, they
may question if it is working or not. Reminding them that they are aware of
everything lets them know that this is what should be happening. They are
supposed to be aware. Followed by another SLEEP command and “deeper
deeper deeper” again.

“Every muscle and every nerve in your body relaxes as you go deeper and
deeper” Although this is not relaxation, you still want your subject to
completely relax and be comfortable where they sit/stand. You don't want them
to be tense, and you don't want any of their attention to be required elsewhere,
e.g. holding a drink or a phone, or sitting uncomfortably so they have to hold
themselves in a certain way. You want them to be as loose as they would be if
they were unconscious. If your subject is standing, you can say, “Although your
legs will support you and you will remain standing, every muscle and every
nerve in your body relaxes as you go deeper and deeper”.
“All of the sounds around you will send you deeper and deeper” It has just
become a habit for me to repeat this, but I always say it again anyway.

“Take a deep breath in, and out and the deeper you breathe, the deeper you will
go” Deep breathing will help them to relax, and also subtly tricks them into
going deeper. On some subconscious level, they will be thinking wow, that was
a deep breath, I must be going really deep now! A very strange, surreal
comparison would be if I asked you to drink a large amount of liquid, and when
you had nearly finished it I told you, “the more you drink, the drunker you will
get!”

“You are doing great!” Compliments are important, add them frequently. Your
subject needs to know that they are doing things right. You never want to leave
them thinking, “I’m not sure if I am doing this properly”.

Remember, this is all about creating the highest level of concentration you can
with your subject, and also giving them enough time to adjust to the new state
they find themselves in, whilst delivering one instruction after another. If you
give them things to do, one after another, they will follow your instructions
better and better as their concentration strengthens. Leave them for too long
without something happening, and their mind may start to wander, and some of
that concentration may slip away. At this point I am usually ready to begin
“testing”, but there are also some extra things you can do during the deepening
process.

Fractionation
Usually associated with the Elman induction, but it has its place here too.
“In a moment I will ask you to open your eyes, then close them again. When
you close your eyes you will go ten times deeper into hypnosis than you are
now. Open your eyes… Now close them and SLEEP now even deeper. We will
do that again, open your eyes… Now close them and sleep, even deeper! One
more time open your eyes… Now close them and sleep now! Great!”

This has such a lovely effect. Each time they close their eyes, you can see them
physically “getting more into it”. There’s also a lot of deepening in the script!
Other hypnotists use this in different ways and in different words, but this is
how I have always done it. Quick and reliable. It also anchors the word SLEEP
and maybe even a snap of the fingers, to them closing their eyes and going
deeper into their trance.

Deep Snap
Very simple. “In a moment I will snap my fingers, and when I do you will go ten
times deeper into hypnosis than you are now. *snap* that’s great!”
Before you ever do anything, let them know first. If you are going to snap your
fingers, or touch or move your subject, tell them first, you don't want to startle
them.

REM
You will often notice your subject’s eyes flickering. This is REM (Rapid Eye
Movement) which usually occurs during the dream stages of sleep. If you
notice this during any stage of hypnosis, it is a good indicator that your
suggestions and instructions are being accepted by the subconscious mind of
the subject. You can even, and quite often, see this during suggestibility tests
too. If you notice REM during the deepening, you can say, “You may notice
your eyes beginning to flicker, and as you become aware of that you will
continue to sleep deeper and deeper. The more your eyes flicker, the deeper you
will go.”

Laughter
If your subject begins to laugh, especially right after the induction, this is only a
nervous laugh and only really happens when they know their friends are
watching. You can use this, and you can get rid of it in the process! “You may
find yourself laughing now and that is totally normal, that wonderful feeling of
laughter will help you go deeper and now as that laughter begins to fade away,
you feel find yourself in a deep, calm and relaxed state of hypnosis”. This line,
for me, has never failed to stop the laughter.

There are plenty more things you can do during the deepening process, but any
more than the above and you are doing too much. As I said earlier, I used to
think that by spending ages with the deepening, I would get better results with
the hypnosis. But over time I found that I could keep it short and sweet, and still
get the same incredible results as I would if I spent a long time with it. A lot of
beginners tend to spend a lot of time with the deepening as they are unsure of
when they are ready to continue, but the first 20-30 seconds are the most
important, so get all of the deepening done in this time and you will be ready to
start “testing”.

A short amount of time spent deepening also allows you to use an out if you
don't get the results you want. For example, if you manage to do a few minor
hypnotic effects, but some of the bigger suggestions don't work, you can simply
say, “So with a light form of hypnosis, look at what you have been able to do! If
we spent even more time on this, getting you even deeper into that trance, there
would be no limit to the capabilities of your mind! You did very well, thank
you!” This is completely justified if you don't spend too much time with the
deepening. If you take a long time to do the deepening, and then have to use the
above line, it won’t make sense as two minutes of deepening will feel like a
lifetime to the subject or anyone watching. Remember, your subject and
audience don't know what you had planned or what your intentions were. They
don't know what hypnosis is or how far it can go. So even if you only get as far
as magnetic hands and an induction, they think they have seen hypnosis. They
are satisfied with the experience. If it takes a long time and they don't get much
from it, it will have the opposite effect and seem like a bit of a waste of time.
“All of that, for that?” Is what they will be left thinking.

During the induction, I get closer to my subject and stay there. When their eyes
are open, I get them used to me touching them on their shoulder or hands. Then
if I have to do it again when their eyes are closed, it wont startle them or seem
weird. I usually keep one hand on their shoulder or back during the deepening,
and even gently rock them from side to side or back and forth. This helps with
the relaxation and also keeps them aware that you are there, right next to them
at all times. The subject is also trusting you to take care of them during this
process, so by having you right with them at all times is comforting for them,
especially if you are in a busy, public place.

Also, if you need to get into someone’s personal space, don't do it while making
eye contact. This can be a very strange feeling for them. All three inductions in
this book involve your subject’s hands, so if you need to step closer to them, do
it whilst looking at their hand.
If your subject is slumped over in a chair, this can be uncomfortable. You can sit
them back in their chair, just remember to tell them first that that is what you
are going to do.

If you have done the Bandler induction and the subject’s hand is still close to or
touching their face, you can say, “Allow your hand to slowly drift down to your
side/lap, and as that hand drifts down, you will also drift down into a deeper
state of hypnosis.”

You can help your subject to loosen up a bit by gently taking each of their arms,
one at a time, by their elbow and gently shaking it as you mention their muscles
and nerves becoming relaxed. Their arms should appear loose and lifeless when
you move them. You can also tell them that their head will tilt forwards or down
as they relax.
6. Test.

You are now ready to begin testing to see how well your subject is hypnotised,
and if you are ready to start applying the fun suggestions. There are plenty of
things you can do, but I do the same thing every single time. I did this with the
very first person I ever hypnotised, and have used it every single time ever
since.

“In a moment I will touch the back of your hand, and when I do, your hand will
start to rise up, all by itself towards the sky. The higher your hand goes, the
better you will feel, and the better you feel, the higher it will go. I will touch
your hand now *touch* and it will begin to lift itself all the way up.”

This works exactly as it reads. You tell them what you will do and what will
happen, then you do and it happens. With some people, their hand will fly up
quickly and uncontrollably. Be careful with this, I’ve gotten a few accidental
smacks in the face when this happens! With other people their hand might go up
at a steady, spooky looking pace. This is great, it is definitely my favourite
when it’s like this. Other times it will go incredibly slow. If this happens, just
tell them that when you snap your fingers, it will go even higher and even
faster. Sometimes, very rarely, their hand won’t move at all. This isn't a good
sign. It is an indicator that something has gone wrong somewhere. Maybe the
subject isn't hypnotised and they are just sat there with their eyes closed,
expecting or waiting for something to happen. In the moment, it is incredibly
difficult to quickly think about what went wrong and where. Some hypnotists
will just tell you to insist that their hand will go up, but if it doesn't start to
move almost right away, I believe something has gone wrong. Maybe I didn't
have 100% of their attention, maybe my instructions weren't clear enough,
maybe they're not as suggestible as I thought. It is difficult to figure out when
you are there on the spot, so if this ever happens I will usually back off a bit,
have them open their eyes and say, “Maybe this will be better for you with your
eyes open.” And then proceed with the handshake, methods and effects taught
in ICAIS1. I never show any signs of failure, I just make it look as though I am
adjusting what I am doing to better suit the subject.
So your subject is now sat/stood there with one arm in the air. Some people’s
arms will go all the way up, some may stop at eye level, and some somewhere
in-between. Any raise of the arm is good, no matter how high it goes.
Depending on a person’s body type or how they are positioned, that might be as
high as their arm can comfortably go without them having to make an effort to
let it go higher. They are not consciously raising their arm, meaning they are not
entirely aware of how high it actually is.

“The higher your hand goes, the better you will feel, and the better you feel, the
higher it will go” This creates a nice loop. You want your subject to feel good,
they want to feel good too. Meaning this raising of the arm will be a good,
positive experience. Their subconscious wants this, so it may help even more to
raise their arm higher. And as they start to feel better, their arm will go higher.

I then provide more compliments on how well they are doing. Always
remember to compliment when they do something right. I follow with, “In a
moment I will snap my fingers, when I do, your hand will drop back down to
your side/lap. When your hand drops, you will go even deeper into hypnosis
than you are now. *snap* your hand drops now.” Be ready to catch their arm if
it is about to land on a table or the arm of a chair, as sometimes their arm will
just drop from the air, and sometimes it will slowly drift down. Both are fine,
but they cannot see what their arm may land on. Most times it will come down
safely, but in the past I have had people knock drinks over etc.

If the above exercise is successful, I am completely confident that the rest of the
hypnosis will go well.

I used to complicate this by saying it will be like there is a large balloon tied to
their wrist that will lift their arm up, but try and avoid this. Keep it nice and
simple. A good place for this line would be if you had good results with the
Magnetic Hands test, but their arm is raising too slowly in this test. Getting
them to imagine something again like they did with the magnets could help.

I have seen some hypnotists do this arm raise, and before having the arm drop
again, they suggested that the subject’s arm becomes completely stiff and locks
into place like the arm of a statue. This is good and of course you can do this
too if you want to, but personally I do not want this part to go on any longer
than it has to. A benefit of doing this though is it gives you a chance to try out
another suggestion, another test before you start with some of the bigger
suggestions. It can also allow you to throw in a few more deepening points.
Here is a script for this that you could use;

“When your arm reaches the highest it will go, it will become stuck and lock
into place. Completely stiff and solid like a metal bar. The more you try and
move it or bend it, the less you are able to. It becomes completely stuck and
locked into place now! Every muscle, every joint and every bone in your arm
and hand locks into place now! The more your arm locks, the deeper you will
go. That’s great! Now in a moment I will snap my fingers, and when I do, your
arm will unlock, it will become completely flexible and loose again and will
drift back down to your side/lap. When your arm drifts down, you will go even
deeper into hypnosis than you are now. *snap* your arm becomes loose again
and drifts back down now.”

If your suggestion works, you will be able to see physical tension in their arm
as it begins to lock into place.

There are other tests you could do instead of the arm raise, but what I like about
the arm raise is that it gives me a clear visual of how well the subject is
accepting my suggestions. Also, for the audience, it becomes the first “thing”
they see you do with your newly hypnotised subject.
7. Perform.

The best part! Before you start having fun with suggestions, you will need to be
able to “wake” your subject up and re-induce the trance at any time you wish.
This is all very easy to do.

A nod of agreement
For years I used the line, “Nod your head if you understand me” after every
suggestion. It is a nod of agreement from your subject that your suggestion has
been taken and accepted by them. A fellow hypnotist then pointed out to me
that I should remove the word “if” from the line. The word “if” gives your
subject a chance to choose whether they nod or not.

By removing the word “if”, you get the line;

“Nod your head, you understand me.”

You now have two quick suggestions/commands, rather than offering a choice,
whilst still retaining the original purpose of the line; to have your subject nod
with acceptance of the suggestions.

To wake your subject

“In a moment, I will wake you up. Your eyes will open and you will be wide
awake, but you will still be hypnotised, nod your head, you understand me.
Perfect! Eyes open, wide awake.”

Notice how often I use the words, “in a moment”. This is to inform your
spectator of what will happen, and what they should expect when it happens,
instead of springing everything upon them instantly, which can be confusing for
them.

“Your eyes will open and you will be wide awake, but you will still be
hypnotised” This is self explanatory, but it is good to tell your subject that they
will still be hypnotised, as some people will think that the moment they open
their eyes again, they will no longer be hypnotised. By also telling them they
will be wide awake, stops them from thinking they are supposed to be held in a
sleepy, zombie, dreamlike state.

Re-induce Trance
At any point during your performance, you can re-induce the trance state very
easily. This is much simpler than the first induction as your subject is already
hypnotised, so you do not need to induce hypnosis again. A re-induction is
simply a suggestion to cause your subject to close their eyes, drop their head
and return to the trance state. You can get creative here and do anything you
want, as long as your subject knows what you need them to do. For example,
don't just clap your hands with the intention of re-inducing the trance, without
first informing the subject what this action will do.

I use this;
“In a moment I will wave my hand in front of your eyes. When I do, allow your
eyes to close, your head to drop, and you will go even deeper into the hypnosis
than you where before. Look at me, *wave hand, Jedi style* and sleep now, even
deeper, that’s great.”

I choose to do this because I like how it looks, and people think that the wave of
the hand has some sort of effect on the subject, when really you can substitute
that action for anything.

You can re-induce the trance however you want, just remember to use verbal
suggestion to let the subject know what is supposed to happen. This can be as
simple as saying, “The very next time you close your eyes, you will go back into
your trance, even deeper than before. Close your eyes and sleep now.”

Sleep Snap
The classic snap of the fingers with the word “sleep!”
I used to love this. I used it all the time, but over time my style has changed and
I now prefer the wave of the hand mentioned above. But, the Sleep Snap is very
useful if you plan to use a lot of different suggestions in your performance,
which may require your subject to drop in and out of trance quickly while you
remove one suggestion and add the next.
If you have established a good state of hypnosis with a subject who responds
well to your suggestions, when they are in trance, you can use the following
script or wording;
“From this point onwards, every time I touch you on the shoulder and say three,
two, one, eyes open wide awake, you will be wide awake, feeling energised and
will instantly act upon any instructions I have given you. When you hear me
snap my fingers and say the word sleep, your eyes will close, your head will
drop, and you will return to this state, going even deeper than before. Nod your
head, you understand me.”

If you don't want to say “act upon any instructions…” incase people think you
are just telling your subject to act, you can say, “Carry out any instructions…”
instead.

The counting down from three to one in the wake up, simply lets your subject
know what is about to happen and informs them that you have finished giving
your instructions or suggestions. It is a bit like saying “over” after speaking on
a walkie talkie. Using numbers also leaves a nice break, and disconnects the
words “eyes open, wide awake” from any suggestions you have just given,
avoiding any confusion.

Pro Tip
After applying the above suggestion, when you decide it is time to re-induce the
trance by snapping your fingers and saying sleep, it is good to lead up to it with
an exaggerated “and” to give your subject a second to know what is about to
happen; “Aaaaandd sleep!” They will hear this and have a split-second chance
to prepare themselves before you say the word sleep. This avoids them from not
noticing or missing the command if they are caught up in whatever suggestion
you have applied.

It is a bit like saying “catch!” before throwing something to someone.

Now you are ready to start applying suggestions for entertainment.
When you reach the point where you are about to start applying obvious
suggestions, don't worry about them not working. This is not the first time you
will have used suggestion with your subject. Everything you have done up until
now has had suggestion within it, and your subject’s ability to instantly act upon
those suggestions without any hesitation are what got you to this point. So
although this next part may seem a bit bolder, you have already done the
necessary groundwork to condition your subject and get them accepting your
suggestions.

I could sit here and triple the length of this book by writing a suggestion script
for each and every hypnotic act I could possibly think of, or I could save you
some time, and share a formula with you that will allow you to write your own.
If I can help you to focus your efforts in a direction that will be of more use to
you, I would rather do that than just ramble on for pages and pages with scripts
that you could easily put together yourself.

First, I will share with you the exact, first set of suggestions I use when I am
performing. It may help you if you just do what I do until you are comfortable
enough to start changing things up a bit.

So I have just done the arm raise/drop to test my work,

and I have now awoken my subject from their trance
using the wake up method detailed above. I continue as
follows;

“That was great, how do you feel? Do you wish to continue? Fantastic. I have
just done something, and now that your eyes are open I will do it again so that
you can see it too. See, if I take your hand… And snap my fingers… It will lift
itself up towards the sky, all by itself! It will go up and up and up, and the more
you try and pull it down, the less you are able to. TRY now, it will go right the
way up and get stuck! How does that feel? Weird isn't it! And the more you try
and pull it down, the less you will be able to.”
I hold out my hand and they always, every single time, give me their hand like
an object right after I say “If I take your hand…” I then snap my fingers with
my other hand, and their hand will begin to lift off mine. I also point up and
glance up for a second, then back at my subject. Their arm will start to raise.
They will either start laughing, or look very confused.

Ask them how it feels, any audience you have will be desperate to know how it
feels for your subject, and they will want to hear it from your subject, not you.
This is their friend/relative/partner, let them hear it from them.

If you want them to be unable to bring their arm down, you have to tell them
they won’t be able to, don't just expect it to get stuck. If this works well, I know
that the rest of the performance will be plain sailing. I continue with;

“Strange isn't it?! If I snap my fingers again, your other arm will start to go up
too! It will get higher and higher all by itself and when it gets all the way up, it
will get stuck too! Both arms are now stuck! The more you try and take them
down, the less you will be able to!”

Here is a nice line that I usually use at this point, but you can add it in to any
part of your performance;

“Now you may think that if I was to leave you like this, then eventually it would
wear off and you won’t be stuck anymore, right? But it is actually the opposite.
See, the further away I get from you, the more your arms will get stuck in the
air!”

Take a few steps back and watch them react!

You will most likely be hearing laughter at this point, from your subject and any
audience you may have. Another small suggestion I often add here, that usually
gets another laugh, is;

“As your arms are stuck, when I snap my fingers again, your nose will start to
itch, intensely! It will be extremely itchy, and get worse and worse, but you wont
be able to reach as your arms are stuck! *Snap fingers*”
Watch them struggle to wiggle their nose and fight the itch for a few moments,
then put them out of their misery by saying;

“When I snap my fingers again, your nose will no longer be itchy, and your
arms no longer stuck. You will be able to bring them down and move them
again as they go back to normal. *Snap fingers*”

Start small
I recommend always starting small with your performance suggestions. Even if
your subject is already set for some of the more advanced hypnotic phenomena,
it is good to show them that the hypnosis is in full swing, first. Let them see that
everything you say, instantly happens. Show them that you now have a direct
line of communication with their subconscious, and it now instantly acts upon
all of your instructions.

After the above suggestions, which I do the same every time, I may choose to
do something from this list that sits in my mind:

Glue (Sticking) - Have their hand stick to the table, or have them stuck to their
chair they're sitting on, or spot where they are standing.

Amnesia - Have them forget a number, then maybe their own name.

Minor visual hallucination - Have them see the lines on their palm move,
shapes form in clouds, etc.

Or I may re-induce the trance and apply a suggestion that will help to jump-start
any of the bigger suggestions that I plan to do. You can do this by simply
suggesting that your subject accepts ALL of your suggestions from this point
onwards. Suggest that they are now even more suggestible!

Suggestion Boost - I usually say;

“You have now reached the most exciting part of this experience. From this
point onwards, every single thing I say will instantly, and automatically become
your new reality. Your mind will do this for you, and it is now applying
everything I say. You will see, hear, feel, do and know whatever I say you can,
and your mind will instantly make this become your new reality, to give you the
best experience it can. Now matter how strange or silly it may seem, from this
point onwards, everything I say will instantly become your reality. Nod your
head, you understand me.”

When I very first started using suggestion to make my subjects accept all my
suggestions, I used Anthony Jacquin’s fantastic “Super Suggestion” script,
which can be found in his book, Reality Is Plastic. I got comfortable with his
script, then began making changes after a few months to better suit what I
wanted from it. So let’s take a look at the structure of the script I use now.

“You have now reached the most exciting part of this experience.” I say this just
to let my subject know that this is the good part, the exciting part. It builds
some expectation.

“From this point onwards, every single thing I say will instantly, and
automatically become your new reality.” Feels a little bold to say, but make
sure it is clear and understood. For some subjects, the thought of this may be a
bit too much, so the next part of the script is used to soften the blow, whilst
retaining the impact. With this line I also let my subject know that what I say
will take effect instantly and automatically. I do not want them thinking they
will have to wait for, or do something to make it work.

“Your mind will do this for you, and it is now applying everything I say. You
will see, hear, feel, do and know whatever I say you can, and your mind will
instantly make this become your new reality, to give you the best experience it
can.” I want to make this more about their mind than my skills as a hypnotist,
for a few reasons. I want my subjects to know that their mind is working with
me here, and I haven't somehow hijacked it. If people believe their mind is
doing this for them, they are less likely to panic and think I am trying to control
them. It also allows me to put more pressure on them, and less on myself. If at
any point now any of my suggestions don't work, it looks like it was their mind
that couldn't or wouldn't do it for them, and not me failing. If something doesn't
work and people think it was because of you, their expectations of your abilities
may lower. If it looks like it was because of the subject, then people will still
ask you to hypnotise them, as they think it may “work better” on them.
Also, when I say, “You will see, hear, feel, do and know whatever I say you
can” it is said in an uplifting way that feels like you are saying, “look at all
these things you will be able to do!” And not in a way that feels like direct,
strong orders.

“Now matter how strange or silly it may seem, from this point onwards,
everything I say will instantly become your reality. Nod your head, you
understand me.” One final, clear reminder of exactly what I want, with a
confirmation nod at the end.

Sometimes, if all is going well, I will just shorten the suggestion to, “You are
doing so well! From this point onwards, everything I say will become the
complete and total truth. Your mind will now make this happen. Every single
thing I say will instantly become the truth, without any doubts, questions or
hesitations. Nod your head, you understand me.”

I usually follow one of these scripts with proof for the subject that everything I
just said is now taking place. This can be anything. I usually go with, “In a
moment I will wake you up, and the moment you open your eyes, you will
realise that you are completely stuck to your chair, and the chair is stuck to the
floor. The more you try and stand, the less you will be able to. Just like you have
sat in the world’s strongest superglue! When you open your eyes, you will be
stuck to the chair and unable to stand. Nod your head, you understand me…
Fantastic! Three, two one, eyes open, wide awake!”

Building a script
Your suggestions don't necessarily need to become scripts. If they did, you
would have a lot of memorisation to do, and should you ever decide to try
something new, you don't want to get stuck not knowing how to deliver the
suggestion.

The key to suggestion in hypnosis is to be perfectly clear about

what you want with simple, direct sentences.
Here is my S. A. F. E. R. formula for applying suggestions, with continued
examples for each point. Although I have not seen this anywhere else, I do not
claim to have created it. These points are commonplace among hypnotists, but I
wrote the SAFER formula a number of years ago to help me teach hypnosis to
others. It can help you a lot if you are a beginner, or if you are mid-performance
and want to try a suggestion that you have not done before or have no script for.

Start with an action that will trigger the suggestion, e.g.

“When you wake up…”
“When I tap you on the shoulder…”
“Every time your partner sips her drink…”
“The moment you see your hands…”

Add what will happen. This will be your main suggestion, e.g.
“You will find yourself unable to stand.”
“You will begin to laugh uncontrollably.”
“You will begin to feel the effects of her alcohol.”
“The lines on them will start to move like water.”

Fill with any extra information needed to help the subject to better understand
the suggestion, but do not overcomplicate with too much detail, e.g.

“ You will be completely stuck to your chair and the more you try to stand up,
the less you will be able to!”

“Everything around you will just seem to be hilarious, and the more you laugh,
the funnier it will get!”

“You will instantly feel the effects of every sip, only ten times stronger, making
you more and more drunk with every sip!”

“They will flow and move and grow and shrink, as if you were looking at the
sea.”

Explain how it will make them feel and/or how they will react. The most
unpredictable part of the whole process is how your subject will respond or
react to your suggestions, so take as much control over their reaction as you
can. Be very careful with this, and stay away from negative extremes. Never tell
your subject that something will be unbearable, excruciating or terrifying. If
you are doing something scary, tell them they will be completely safe. If there is
a risk of them running away, tell them they won’t leave the room or get up out
of their seat. If you are suggesting something that could make them angry, tell
them that they won’t get violent, etc.

“It will feel very weird, and you won’t understand why you cannot stand up.”

“It will be a wonderful feeling of joy, the greatest feeling in the world.”

“You will feel more and more drunk with each moment that goes by. It will feel
great, and you will not be sick!”

“It will be the most amazing thing you have ever seen! You will want to show it
to everybody in the room!”

Repeat any important points that you would like to emphasise or have your
subject pay particular attention to. I usually just repeat the script again using
only the most important points, before ending with a confirmation nod.

You don’t have to stick to this formula exactly as it is written, but perhaps use it
as a basic structure for your suggestions.

Here are two example scripts using the above formula. The first is something I
would use during the beginning phases, after the double arm raise. The second
is one I would use after enough smaller suggestions, and the Suggestion Boost.

Number Amnesia
“In a moment I will wake you up. The very second your eyes open, the number
Seven will completely vanish from your mind. The more you try and remember
that number, the less you will be able too. It will be completely gone from you
mind. You will not be able to say it, speak it or even think about it. The moment
your eyes open, the number Seven will completely vanish from your mind. It no
longer exists.”
Let’s take a look at where SAFER fits in.

“S In a moment I will wake you up. The very second your eyes open, A the
number Seven will completely vanish from your mind. F The more you try and
remember that number, the less you will be able too. It will be completely gone
from you mind. E You will not be able to say it, speak it or even think about it.
R The moment your eyes open, the number Seven will completely vanish from
your mind. It no longer exists.”

And with a more bold suggestion (we will take a look at when to apply these
bigger suggestions in the next section).

Invisible Hypnotist - A suggestion I used to do all of the time because I think it

is amazing, but have not done lately as it doesn't fit in with my current style.

“In a moment I will wake you up, and I will be completely invisible. You cannot
see me or anything that I am wearing, it will be as if I’ve walked away and left
you here. You will still be able to hear my voice and feel my touch, and you will
be able to see anything that I move. No matter how scary or strange it will be,
you will not get up from your chair. When I wake you up, I will be completely
invisible. Nod your head, you understand me.”

Again, let’s take a look at where SAFER fits in to this script.

“S In a moment I will wake you up, and A I will be completely invisible. You
cannot see me or anything that I am wearing, it will be as if I’ve walked away
and left you here. F You will still be able to hear my voice and feel my touch,
and you will be able to see anything that I move. E No matter how scary or
strange it will be, you will not get up from your chair. R When I wake you up, I
will be completely invisible. Nod your head, you understand me.”

Bringing out the big guns!

As I said earlier, start small with your suggestions. If you jump in too quickly
with some of the bigger, bolder suggestions, they may not work. Do enough to
show and convince your subject that the hypnosis is in full swing first. The
more they believe/realise it works, the bigger you can get with the suggestions.
You don’t need to spend too long doing lots of smaller ones, just do enough
until you can see that your subject understands now that everything you say,
instantly happens and hypnosis works. When they are no longer sceptical and
are completely settled into this fun, hypnotic experience, you can start to apply
bigger and crazier suggestions! Use your imagination, you can literally do
anything imaginable! Just remember to keep your subject safe, mentally and
physically, and always ensure that they are enjoying it as much as you are.

Use this structure until you are completely comfortable with hypnotising
people from start to finish;

Put them in a trance > apply a suggestion > wake them up > see what happens >
Re-induce trance > remove old suggestion > apply new one > wake them up >
see what happens, and so on.

You don't have to remove each suggestion before you add a new one, but to
avoid confusing your subject and/or yourself, remove the old one before adding
a new one. Suggestions can be removed simply by telling your subject that it is
no longer true. For example, “When I snap my fingers the number Seven will
come back to you. You can remember that number now *snap* and it is back
with you as it always has been.”

You don’t have to re-induce the trance before applying a suggestion, but again I
would recommend it until you are completely comfortable with hypnosis. I
usually go from suggestion to suggestion without re-inducing trance, but if I am
going to apply a bigger suggestion, I always re-induce the trance as I believe
this will allow my subject to pay closer attention to what I am saying, and the
trance state will shut them off from any distractions e.g. looking at their friends
laughing while I am trying to apply an important suggestion.

Remember that scene in Nightmare Before Christmas when Jack is in the forest
and there is a circle of trees, and on each tree is a different door to another
world? Think of the trance state as like being in that circle, and different
suggestions being the doors on the trees. Bring your subject back to the circle
before taking them through another door.
The Third Act Of The Sleeper Man
At the time of writing this (2017), this is how I use hypnosis in both casual and
professional settings. If it is for television, stage or therapy, I do things
differently, but in a normal performance setting, this is what I do now.

I go through phases of how I use hypnosis and what suggestions I use. My

attitude towards it changes all the time. For the last couple of years, I have been
doing what I call, The Third Act Of The Sleeper Man. I won’t go in to too much
detail about this, as I would be repeating a lot of what has already been covered
in this book, but I will share the structure of the performance with you.

I do everything from the introduction to the deepening, exactly as I have

explained. I then begin;

Act 1
After waking my subject, I proceed with some simple but fun suggestions. The
main purpose of this is to show hypnosis in action, convince the spectator that
hypnosis is indeed possible and they are experiencing it, and prepare them for
some more advanced hypnotic phenomena. I re-induce the trance.

Act 2
I wake them and proceed with some bolder suggestions. This is for the
entertainment of my subject and audience. It also allows me to learn some
things about my subject, and I may even include some of my usual, mentalism
material. I re-induce the trance again.

Act 3
This is where the main difference is. This part is not for entertainment. I keep
my subject in their trance for a while. I use this third act to give my subject
something from their hypnotic experience that they would not have gotten if
they hadn't have met me. Of course they will have their memories of the
hypnosis and how fun it was etc, but I want to leave them with something more.
This is something that they haven't asked for, and it certainly isn't therapy, so I
do not get too deep here, but I like to leave them with an answer/solution/
something from within themselves that could potentially be something that they
need right now. Here is an example script of something I might say;
“I want you to keep your eyes closed and imagine that the sun is shining and
you are walking out into a big open desert, carrying nothing but a spade. Keep
walking, as far as you can go. There is nothing but sand and sky in every
direction. In a moment, when you feel ready, and take all the time you need, I
want you to stop walking and begin to dig a hole in the sand. Imagine this with
as much detail as you can. Feel the sun shining down on you. Feel the weight of
the sand on the spade after each dig. Keep digging. As you dig I will explain
what is about to happen. Keep digging and eventually you will come to a box,
about the size of a shoe box. In this box you will find whatever that one thing is
that you may need in your life right now. Maybe it will be an answer, a solution,
a direction, a change, a thought, the last piece of a puzzle that you have been
searching for. Whatever it may be, it will be purely positive, and will not have
any negative effect on you or your life at all. When you find the box, do not
open it yet, but let me know when you have it. Describe the box to me. *Subject
describes box* In a moment when you open the box, the desert will fade away.
You will come flying back through space and time to the present moment where
you can open your eyes, take all the time you need to do that now. *After a few
moments, subject opens eyes* fantastic! Now you might not immediately know
exactly what was in the box, but you have opened it now. You have found
something you need from within yourself and brought it to the front of your
mind, and in the next few days when the time is right, your mind will reveal this
information to you, and I can guarantee it will put a smile on your face. Thank
you.”

I then proceed to close the hypnosis as I normally would, making sure my

subject knows that they will take away all of the good things from their
experience, including whatever they found in the box.

I have different versions of the above script. I like the idea of sending the
subject on a little journey into an abstract part of their mind to retrieve
something they need and bring it back with them. Now I can’t prove that they
actually find anything or not, but after this experience, the very next time
something good happens for them mentally, they will be thanking the hypnosis.
If you do this, you will always find that this is the part people are most
interested in. If you do this once, be prepared for everyone who sees it to ask
you to hypnotise them next. Just make sure that your subject knows that
whatever they find will be positive, and won’t have any negative effects on
them or their life. You don’t want them to open their eyes and get upset, and
definitely do not give them any direct advice. Just treat this as giving them a
different perspective on finding a helpful and healthy solution to whatever is
currently on their mind.
8. Debrief/Clear/Remove Hypnosis.

The simplest, but possibly the most important part. I mentioned this earlier, but
I will say it again. Although you can leave a person hypnotised and nothing bad
will happen, and they will never be “stuck” hypnotised, this is more for your
subject’s peace of mind. If you fail to properly inform your subject that they are
no longer hypnotised and there are no side effects, you could land yourself in
plenty of trouble. Your subject MUST know for sure that they are back to their
normal self in every single way and will no longer be affected by any hypnosis.
Hypnosis cannot cause anything negative to happen, but it can easily be
blamed. Should your subject feel weird, fall ill, have an accident, commit a
crime etc, hypnosis is easy to point the finger at. There have been many cases of
people blaming hypnotists for something that had nothing to do with them or
the hypnosis. When hypnosis is used on television, a secondary camera and
microphone is almost always used to document every moment the subjects
spend with the hypnotist/s, should anything ever happen.

I bring the subject out of all hypnosis with one simple script. You can say
anything you like, as long as you make it perfectly clear to them that they will
no longer be hypnotised.

After re-inducing trance;

“In a moment I will begin to count from one to ten. On each number you will
begin to wake up more and more. When I get to ten, your eyes will be open and
you will be wide awake and full of energy. You will be back to your normal self
in every single way, and there will be no hypnosis left in your mind. You will
take with you all of the positive memories of your experience with hypnosis, but
when I get to ten, you will no longer be hypnotised.
One, starting to wake up now, two, three, all hypnosis is leaving your mind
four, five, six, starting to feel great and full of energy, seven, eight, feeling
refreshed, nine, eyes start to open now and ten, wide awake and back to your
normal self in every way!”
Up until this point, any counting I have done has been counting down. All at
points that will bring the subject further in to hypnosis. As this final wake up is
all about taking them the opposite way and bringing them out of hypnosis, I like
to count up. It adds a nice contrast. This moment should be all about uplifting
your subject and filling them with energy, rather than bringing them down in to
something. In the script I also make it clear that after this, they will have
nothing left to do with hypnosis, except for having the positive memories of the
experience. I even say the words, “there will be no hypnosis left in your mind”
This of course, is nonsense, as there cannot be any measures or quantities of
hypnosis remaining*, but people do not know that. The amount of times people
have asked me, “what if there is still some hypnosis left?” Or “what if you
didn't get it all?” So I added this line to my wake up script so that people would
no longer have these questions in mind.

*You can leave a person with the effects of hypnosis, and you can leave certain
suggestions with them, which is often used for therapy, but if you are doing this
for entertainment, just clear them of any effect you may have had on them and
leave them with nothing but a good feeling and a positive experience. That way,
neither you or your subject will ever have to worry about anything you may
have left behind.
9. After talk.

Be ready to answer any questions your subject may have about their experience.
It is always a good idea to leave them with your business card or contact details
too.

Do not fall into the trap of becoming their temporary psychiatrist. If you
perform hypnosis well, people will often bombard you with all kinds of
questions that you may not have an answer to. They may ask you about physical
or mental health, things they think you might be able to help them with, they
might even ask you to help them stop smoking, biting their nails, eating junk
food etc. Unless you are an expert, avoid ALL of this. Seriously, do not get
involved. Nail biting, for example, might seem like an easy problem to solve
with a few suggestions. But there will be a deeper issue causing the nail biting,
and if you just suggest that they stop, the deeper issue will still be there and
they may replace the biting with skin scratching or hair pulling. So unless you
have taken the time and effort to study and train with hypnotherapy, I strongly
suggest you stay away from people’s problems. Remember, you are an
entertainer.

During your after talk, just let your subject know that they will go on with their
life as normal and there are absolutely no side effects to hypnosis.
Performance Tips.

- Hypnosis starts at your introduction, not your induction.

- Always be the “experienced, professional Hypnotist”. If anything should fail,

let it appear as though it was because of how your subject’s mind responded to
the hypnosis, and not your skills as a hypnotist.

- Don’t try to practice hypnosis on close friends or family. They know you too
well, and in their eyes you will always be “you”, and not the experienced
hypnotist you have suddenly become.

- You will almost always know if someone is faking. Nobody is that good an
actor, and they would not know what to fake in order to try and convince you.
However, do not be discouraged if your subject appears to be faking it, because
think about it; In order to fake it, they would have to listen to, and pay close
attention to every single thing you say. This attention alone could be enough to
actually hypnotise them. If from the very beginning, they appear to be an idiot
who only wants to ruin it for you, just say to them, “I actually think you will
enjoy this more if you watch me hypnotise one of your friends. You will even be
able to help me decide what we make them do!” This also works very well if
you are faced with the loud “alpha male” of the group who always wants to be
the centre of attention. Let them think they will have more fun if they join you
in helping to hypnotise someone else.

- Hypnosis is only scary to begin with because of a fear of failure. Just force
yourself to do it. You will only get past that fear by practicing at every
opportunity you get. The moment you start to see your own progress, you will
feel much better about trying. This isn't something that will take weeks. I
promise after you have attempted to hypnotise at least 3 people, all of your
fears will disappear. As soon as you get a good taste of hypnosis and realise that
you can do it, it will become your new obsession. You might still get a bit
nervous, but nerves will not stop you from being able to hypnotise people. The
only thing that will stop you is not trying. That is the only thing that will hold
you back. Nobody has ever hypnotised a few people and then thought, “no, this
isn't for me.” Most people quit at the first hurdle, but guess what? The first
hurdle is the only hurdle!

- If you are worried about not remembering what to say, take a couple of hours
and practice on an invisible person. You don't need to memorise scripts, just
learn the key points that you need to communicate at each stage.

- Be careful what you wish for. If you plan to use any scary suggestions, make
sure they do not include anything that your subject may have a phobia of. It is
always worth just asking them if they have any phobias before you apply your
suggestion.

- If you do not acknowledge the trance after waking your subject, neither will
they. Upon waking, it will feel for them like they only had their eyes closed for
a second, and if they try and recall what you said to them, it will just feel like
they are trying to recall a dream. So as they open their eyes and look at you,
keep talking as if you had been in conversation with them the whole time, they
won’t notice!

- If you want your subject to have no memory of being hypnotised, just suggest
it.

- What if you are half way through your induction or deepening and your
subject opens their eyes, looks at you and says, “it’s not working.” Well, how
could they possibly know?! This is rare, but it can happen. From what I can
remember, it has only happened twice to me in the last 9 years. I have also only
seen it happen twice, both times with different hypnotists, and as I have been
writing this paragraph, I messaged a friend of mine who is an experienced
hypnotist, and he said it has only ever happened once to him. So it is likely that
you will encounter this at some point, so it is good to be prepared. A number of
years ago, the following script was born in a conversation I had with a good
friend of mine, magician and hypnotist, Ben Francis.
“You are doing great. Trust me, I will get you there. Now close your eyes and
sleep again, even deeper now, pay close attention to my words. You are doing
well.”
If this ever happens to you, it will be because your subject was expecting to feel
an actual, physical difference. Using the magnetic hands test in the way I have
explained in this book will help to eliminate this expectation from your subject.
If you make it clear to them how it will feel/be, and they still say it’s not
working, it is because they’re not paying enough attention. They will prove to
be a difficult subject to work with as they cannot follow instructions or
directions as well as you would like them to.

- I know that this book comes with a lot of cautions, but remember to have fun
with this. Try things, experiment! You will make mistakes, you will do things
that maybe you shouldn’t, but it is all part of the learning process. As long as
you keep your subject happy and safe at all times, you can’t really go wrong.

- People often say that you cannot use hypnosis to make people do things that
they wouldn't normally do. I disagree with this. Take a look at this passage from
ICAIS1, edited to better suit the topic at hand:

It is said that there is a conceptual part of your brain known as the Critical
Faculty, or Critical Factor (not anatomical). This is the part of your brain that
passes judgement. It evaluates input from the five senses and passes judgment
on whether that input is valid or not. It acts as a guard between the conscious
and the subconscious parts of the mind.

Any and all thoughts and suggestions directed toward the individual are
analysed by the Critical Factor. Its job is to accept or reject suggestions from
entering the subconscious mind based on what it thinks is normal or right. So if
you were to just randomly tell someone that their hand is stuck to the table and
they cannot lift it, their critical factor will reject your statement because it
knows the hand is not stuck. But what if you were somehow able to bypass the
critical factor, and cause your suggestions to slip past it? If their brain is unable
to judge if the hand is stuck or not after being told that it is stuck, it will simply
believe what it has been told as the critical factor wasn’t there to judge the truth.
The suggestion slips right past the guard and into the subconscious mind.

Hypnosis bypasses the Critical Factor, which is why the suggestions work. The
CT is not standing in the way to make judgements about the suggestions. So if
the part of the brain that judges hot from cold, right from wrong, natural from
unnatural, is not taking any notice, then nothing is in place to reject any
suggestions that the person wouldn't normally do. Without the CT, the brain
doesn't know any better.

- You are not making anybody do anything against their own will. You are
changing their perception of reality, which can change their will. Free will isn't
as solid or as defining as people think it is. It is simply what a person is or isn't
willing to do. Think back to the story from the beginning of this book about the
first person I hypnotised. She wasn't willing to drink vinegar, but she was
willing to drink the cold, refreshing drink that she believed it was.

**********
The limits of hypnosis lie with the morals and ethics of
the Hypnotist. Not I, or your subject, but YOU are
responsible for setting the boundaries.
**********
Television.

I would now like to talk to you a little bit about my experiences with
performing hypnosis on televsion, using it as methods for magic or mentalism,
and television work in general.

Getting noticed
Your skills alone as a hypnotist/magician/mentalist will NOT get you on
television. Of course you should always be improving your skills and be the
best you can be, they will never put an inexperienced performer on TV, but
what will really set you apart from the rest is your character, image and style.
When it comes to skills alone, no matter how good you are at something, there
is always someone somewhere in the world who is even more skilled. So why
should you be chosen over the more skilled performer? Because your character,
image and style are more suited to the project.

Months, sometimes years before performers are selected, television shows are
written with a specific theme or feel. If you do not suit the show that was
written, you won't be selected. So don't take it personally if you are a street
magician who doesn't get selected to perform in a show about old, Victorian
theatres. Sometimes, shows are inspired by specific performers, so it is
extremely important that you do your best to develop yourself and your own
character, because no matter how inspired you are by other performers, being
too similar to them will not get you noticed.

Put good, quality work out there. It is now easier than ever to make videos and
get them seen online. When a TV show is in need of a performer, they will seek
them out. If you constantly google television producers and email them out of
the blue, you will most likely be ignored. For this approach to work, they would
have to;

1. Be currently working on a magic/mentalism/hypnosis project.

2. Be at the exact point where they don't have a performer but are looking for
one that just so happens to match your character and style.
3. Immediately contact the network to see if they want you for the show that
they are paying for.

The requirements are much too specific for this approach to be of any use to
you. Emailing them to just introduce yourself for the next time they need
someone like you probably won’t work either. Of the hundreds of emails they
receive weekly, the chances of them reading your email and then remembering
you specifically, years later if they ever end up in a position where they can
choose a performer to include in a pitch for a show, the chances are almost non-
existent. Unless you meet them face to face and make a genuine connection
with them, and they like you and what you do, and you don't chase them in the
hope that they will put you on TV one day, randomly contacting them and
hoping they will remember you just will not work. This is not because they are
rude or not interested, this is just the way it is.

Instead, I would recommend that you focus your efforts on developing your
skills, character and style and make good quality content to show off your work
and get it seen by as many people as you can. This is a much better way of
spending your time than sending out endless random emails.

The Mind Control Freaks

This was my first main TV series in which I was a host/presenter. It was and is
still shown in over 224 countries and territories worldwide on Discovery
Channel, Discovery International and Discovery Science. It was produced by
Objective Productions (now Objective Media Group) who previously produced
Derren Brown’s television shows, The Real Hustle and Breaking Magic. They
also produced Killer Magic, starring Dee Christopher, which was filmed around
the same time as The Mind Control Freaks.

I could go on and on about how good it was to film TMCF, or I could give you
some real, useful information that you may be able to take something from.

After over a year of first being told about the concept of the show, the
production company had narrowed the selection of performers for the role of
the Mentalist down to three hypnotists, myself included. It was then time to film
tasters of each hypnotist which would be cut into the pilot (first) episode of the
show and shown to the network (Discovery Networks International) so that they
could make their choice of who they would like to have as the Mentalist for The
Mind Control Freaks.

The network wanted the hypnotists to be able to do the impossible. They had a
list of requests that were just too complicated e.g. hypnotise a person to be able
to instantly and fluently speak another language, or cause them to be able to
solve a Rubik’s Cube. In a phone call with my contact at the production
company, I chose the Rubik’s Cube idea. They asked me if it was something I
could do, to which I said yes. In reality, I had no clue how I would do it!

The day came to travel to London to film me hypnotising a person to make

them solve a Rubik’s Cube. I was to approach a person in the street, hand them
a cube and ask them to try and solve it. They would fail, I would take it back
from them, do my thing, hand it back to them and they solve it. And that is
exactly what I did. Here is a link to the original footage.

The method, I came up with on the train on the way there. Using hypnosis,
there is no way of giving a person knowledge that they did not previously have.
I was also not allowed to use a person who could already solve a Rubik’s Cube.
I arrived at the venue as mentioned earlier in this book and hypnotised all of the
volunteers. The producer then chose who to use in the clip. He chose Lydia, the
girl you see in the video.

I took her to one side of the venue, and taught her a “trick” to be able to solve
any Rubik’s Cube. Really, I had a cube set so that it could be solved in 4 moves,
very similar to some of the techniques that were released in magic stores a
couple of years later. I told her how to hold the cube, and exactly what moves to
do to solve it. I just had to make sure she was holding a cube that was set up in
the correct way each time.

I then re-induced hypnosis, and suggested that she forgets learning the moves,
but not the moves themselves, and that when asked if she had ever solved a
cube before, she would say no and believe that it had been a long time since she
had tried. I tested my work by waking her from the trance and asked her if she
had ever solved a cube before, and she said no. I then gave her the cube that
was set up to be solved in 4 moves, and she solved it within seconds,
automatically doing the moves I had taught her. She reacted as if it was the
most amazing thing she had ever seen/done. She was then ready to be filmed.

I re-induced the trance again and repeated the same suggestion I used moments
earlier; that she cannot remember learning the moves, but will automatically do
them whenever handed a Rubik’s Cube, and that she will believe that she has
never been able to solve one before and it had been a long time since she tried.

I then took my position down the street, and she was told to walk with her
friend towards where I was standing, and was told that the performer (me)
would stop them on their way. This is what you see in the video.

I stop them, and hand her a cube that wasn’t set to be solved. She automatically
did the moves that I had taught her, but obviously they didn't work because the
cube wasn't set. So of course she didn’t think anything of it, she thought she
was genuinely having a little go at solving the cube.

I took the cube back from her, then pretended to do some sort of hypnotic
gesture and scripting. Really, this was me trying to misdirect her and her friend
from noticing the painfully clumsy action of me switching the cube in my
pocket for one that was set to be solved with the 4 moves. This is also why the
camera operator took a few steps closer to me just before I did the switch, to
keep the cube switch out of the frame.

When I handed this new cube to her and told her to try again, she did the exact
moves again and of course, solved the cube.

So this was me using hypnosis to cause a person to solve a Rubik’s Cube, but in
a very different way from what it looked like. I believe it was this clever
thinking that helped catch the attention of the network. They liked that I could
hypnotise people, but loved that I could work well under pressure to achieve
what they wanted from me.
The biggest mistake I made with the whole project, was
that I should have discussed having more creative control over the content of
my parts of the series.

The network chose what I wore. The directors chose how I spoke and behaved
on camera. The writers chose what I actually did.

The only thing I chose was the method in which I would achieve each effect.
The network wanted to capture the actual “trigger” moment of the hypnosis,
rather than it being as misleading as the Rubik’s Cube effect. So when I caused
people to forget their pin number, feel the pain of me stabbing a voodoo doll,
eating painfully hot chillies as if they were tasteless, the actual moment you see
on camera was the moment I made it happen. Of course after suggesting during
trance, off camera, the moment that the suggestion would take place, e.g.
“Later on when I touch your hand, you will no longer feel the burn of the
chillies…” The network also wanted to show any pre-show hypnosis that I may
have done, which was in every single episode. So I had to find ways of
achieving the effect whilst maintaining some mystery while they filmed and
showed parts of the pre-show.

Due to the nature of hypnosis, every second of it is not always shown on TV.
They usually just show it from re-inductions or the trigger moments that
suggestions take place. Which I think is great. It can be very boring to
repeatedly watch the process of a person being hypnotised, and only fun to see
the results of the hypnosis, but this is also what makes people think it is fake. If
it looks too clean or too quick, viewers are quick to dismiss it as fake. Which is
a shame when you spend years developing your art, then spend hours on set
with teams of people for months, all working together to make it happen, only
then for people to believe it is fake.

I think if hypnosis has any place on TV in the future, it has to be shown in a

way that doesn't hide anything as there are no secrets that need to be protected,
unlike with magic and mentalism. It is ok for people to see or know that real
hypnosis is being used, because it is real, let’s show them! It must also be
entertaining and enjoyable to watch, even if it is written in a clever way, such as
the Rubik’s Cube effect, with any unnecessary or dull moments cut. The
attention span of a modern audience is much shorter than it used to be, so we
need to find a way of keeping everything quick and snappy, without giving
them a reason to think that it is all fake.

The only time I think hypnosis should be hidden is if it is being used as a

method for magic or mentalism, as all magic and mentalism methods should be
hidden. For example, I was asked to consult on a specific effect that a UK
mentalist was going to do in an episode of their new series. I cannot tell you
who the mentalist was or what it was for, but I can tell you that it was not
Derren Brown. Although he has done a similar effect to this in one of his shows,
it had nothing to do with me and I do not believe that this was the method that
he used.

The mentalist I was working with was to hand a spectator an envelope

containing a prediction. The spectator was to then walk to a specific location in
London, taking any route they wish. They could walk down any street, turn any
corner, go a long way around, take a short cut, however they wanted. When
they arrive at the location, the mentalist would be there to greet them. The
envelope would be opened, and it would contain a map with the exact route
drawn on it that the spectator had just walked!

There was two methods. One we didn't use, which involved switching the
envelope. We chose not to use this as it would involve separating the spectator
from the envelope, even for just a few seconds, while we switch it. We would
also have to watch the footage from the drone that was filming from above,
draw it on the map, then get it ready to do some sort of switch when the subject
arrives at the location. It would have involved too much messing around. So
then we chose method number two;

The spectator would be hypnotised and instructed to follow the red dot of a
laser pointer, being controlled by a member of the film crew, walking behind
the spectator. They would then just walk the route that was outlined on the map
that the spectator was carrying in the envelope, occasionally turning the laser
off to make the spectator look around for it, as if they were trying to decide
which direction to take. Just before they arrive at the location, the hypnotist
(me) would re-induce the trance, and suggest that they believe they had not
been following a laser point, but had in fact chosen the route they took
themselves, and they would believe every step in every direction they took was
their own decision.

It would then be cleverly filmed so that the cameras on the ground would not
see the laser point or the crew member walking behind, and the drone camera
could not see the laser point.

We also planned to not use the laser, but to have the subject follow a crew
member instead, as if they were a secret agent following a suspect. This didn't
go as well as we thought it would, as the footage ended up looking like a low
budget spy comedy!
Final Thoughts.

Thank you for joining me on this journey. As I write the final words in this
book, I am sat in a tiny cabin in the middle of nowhere in Sweden. I have my
girlfriend waiting for me to go for a walk with her through this crazy electrical
storm we are experiencing right now, and I have the worst fever I have had in a
long time! So please excuse any weirdness in my writing!

I wanted to keep this book simple and to the point, whilst including some of my
own stories and experiences. I could write for weeks about all of my
experiences, but I have specifically chosen some of the ones that you may be
able to learn something from. I know I learnt from them.

I wanted to write the book I wish I had when I was learning hypnosis, and I
believe this may be it, including ICAIS1. Your learning doesn't stop here
though. Soak up as much information from this book as you can. Read ICAIS1
again and apply all of that knowledge to hypnosis too. Then with all of this in
mind, I would then recommend watching as many hypnotists perform as you
can. Live on stage or up close, on video, YouTube, everything you can find,
watch it all. As with every other skillset, take the time to learn and absorb these
methods. Let hypnotise be your new art form, and practice at every opportunity
you get. If something doesn't work or goes wrong, analyse your performance,
find what went wrong and then you will know what to do for next time. Some
people either can’t or won’t be hypnotised well enough for you to get a
performance out of it. This doesn’t matter, you are still a hypnotist, just move
on and find another subject. A doctor cannot save every patient they get, but
they will always do their best and keep going no matter what. Fortunately, we
don't have that kind of responsibility, we have a different kind. We are
hypnotists, and we, create as we speak.

Lewis Le Val, 2017.

Due to the psychological nature of what is taught in this book, there is only a
certain amount of ways it can be taught, with the main differences coming from
opinion, belief, interpretation, understanding, technique and experience. This
book contains a variety of techniques, some of which may not be original. I
have discovered these techniques through my own studies and experiences, and
development of public domain knowledge. In my professional, working
performances I use all of the techniques in this book and more. I have taught
these techniques to enough performers who have made great progress with
them, to have confidence that you will also make great progress. If you need
any advice or have any questions, or need to contact me for any reason, please
do not hesitate to email me at [email protected]

www.lewisleval.com

Thank you
Jim “JC” Conway - Rest in peace my friend <3
Marc Carney
Dave Elman
Milton Erickson
Richard Bandler
Dee Christopher
Ben Francis
Peter Turner
Daniel Madison
Anthony Jacquin
Luke Jermay
Lilja-Alexandra

&
Thank you reader.