How to Perform stage Hypnosis

First, you have to understand what hypnosis IS. There are a lot of misconceptions about it, and as a hypnotist, you have to learn to rise above these to learn what you are really doing when you are hypnotizing someone in your show.

Hypnosis is a natural phenomenon. Every one of us experiences hypnosis every single day. When we go to bed at night and first lay our head down — we could open our eyes if we want to, but we simply don’t care to. People laugh all the time or even become teary-eyed and cry when they watch a movie. Obviously, they know a movie is not real, and yet it produces an emotional response. 

These are all states of hypnosis. 

A stage hypnotist takes these naturally occurring hypnotic phenomena and uses them to create scenarios to entertain people. 

The hypnotist does not have any magical powers. 

He is like the passenger in a vehicle, and the person being hypnotized is the driver. The hypnotist is just the guide with the road map telling them to go left or right. 

This information is important for you as a hypnotist to remember and never ever forget. It is also important that you relay this information to your audience in any way you see fit. Have fun with it, make them laugh. Remember they PAID to be there, to be entertained, so don't drone on and on about the technical aspects, but instead, make it a funny and entertaining bit in the beginning of your show, when you tell them a few facts that will put them at ease and allow them to let go and come up on stage for you. YOU HAVE TO BE TRUSTWORTHY! MAKE THE AUDIENCE LIKE YOU, OR THEY WONT TRUST YOU. IF YOU DON'T HAVE THEY'RE TRUST, YOU HAVE NOTHING!!!! Read that part again, until you know it by heart.

Remember that confidence is KEY; no one is going to be hypnotized by a hypnotist that is confused about what they're doing. If you walk out on stage and say "Well, I've never done this before but lets see how it works out!", you're not going to have a good show, and you'll probably never be called again.

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Confidence! Confidence!

The key to getting confidence is learning and practicing. You have to learn what goes into a typical hypnosis session. With stage hypnosis, the sequence usually goes:

-You are introduced, and go on stage.
-You give your PRE-TALK (the explanation we talked about before)
-Give your CONVINCER (next section)
-Pick your subject(s)
-The INDUCTION
-The TEST SKIT
-SKITS and BITS
-WINDING DOWN

We will talk about all these in order.

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The Convincer

After you give your little talk about what hypnosis really is, you want to do something called a convincer. This is a short activity you do with the whole audience while they are all in their seats still.

First, tell everyone to sit with their feet on the floor in front of them, no crossed legs, and tell them to put down their drinks and stuff. Here's an easy convincer for the whole audience. Say something like this:

"Ok everyone, now I want everyone to put their hands out in front of them, arms stretched out in front of your chest. Clasp your hands together, fingers inter-weaved, tightly as you can. Feel your right hand fingers n the back of you left hand, fell your left hand fingers on your right hand. Now your hands are glued together with super glue. Feel your hands getting tighter and tighter, locked together as if they are one solid piece. Now slowly start trying to pull your hands apart. You will find that you are unable to do so."

Now the point of this is to show the audience what hypnosis is like, but also, its for you to be able to look out into the audience and see who is REALLY stuck. These people are going to be your "rock stars", the ones you want on stage. Just keep an eye out. You can vary this convincer, or even come up with your own easy little skit for the audience, but doing a convincer is always good, since it gives the audience a chance to feel a little taste of hypnotism, and put them at ease. But its also good for you, so you can spot the people you want to call up on stage should they volunteer. 

After a few minutes, let them put their hands down and move on with the show.

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Picking your subjects.

Ask for your volunteers. Whether you do one at a time or many is up to you, but this is the time you try to remember who the good subjects were when you did the convincer. You can weed out people later if they aren't good subjects, so don't panic.

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Induction.

Now there are lots and lots of free resources for inductions. You want to memorize the one(s) you want to use. I will give you one example of an induction that should be used to induce the trance state with your subject(s) sitting on a chair onstage.

"Now place both feet on the ground in front of you, your hands held loosely in your lap. Look up at the stage lights, and pick a light. Stare at that light and look at nothing else. Allow that light to become the center of your universe. As you look at that light, with all the focus you have, begin your body begin to relax. Your eyes start to relax and want to close (staring at the light will cause ocular fatigue, which will make the subject want to close they're eyes). As your eyes close, your chin drops down onto your chest, allowing your neck muscles to relax. Feel all the tiny muscles in your face to loosen..."

Now continue telling them they feel all their muscles, moving from the neck to the shoulders, to arms, to torso and so on, until you are down to their toes and they are completely relaxed "as limp and loose as a handful of loose rubber bands."

Now this is just ONE of a million inductions you can use, but you get the idea, an induction is to relax the subject, to get them to the point where the ONLY stimulation they feel or hear is YOU. YOUR voice, YOUR instructions. This is why trust is KEY. After your subject is in a trance, you can move on to a test skit.

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Test Skit.

The test skit is a short, easy bit you do with a newly tranced subject to see if they are truly under. Again, there are a million of there available to see on the net, but ill give you one.

Your test skit is the first real entertainment for the audience, so make sure you make it fun. Don't forget the audience, they are there to be entertained.

The skit you suggest must be an experience that people can easily imagine, not something so far out they cannot conceive how to participate. 

Many hypnotists will start out with a high-powered music-related skit, using perhaps the William Tell Overture, or La Bamba. They instruct the subjects to - with their eyes still closed - grab their favorite musical instrument and play it once the song begins. 

This will be fun for the audience, but its easy and non threatening enough that your subjects will be able to comply. If you have more than one subject on stage, and one or two aren't doing well, or seem to be just "playing along", you now have a shot to identify them and excuse them from the stage after you complete the test.

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Skits and Bits.

These are all up to you. This is the part of the show that YOU write, but be careful to never make someone hurt themselves or the others on-stage. Keep it simple at first, and move into more complex bits as the subject goes deeper and deeper into the trance. Remember to assure them that any sounds, laughter, clapping they might hear will only serve to push them deeper and deeper into the trance they are in, and that the only sound that truly matters is the sound of your voice. Have fun with this, but remember to be careful!!!!

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Winding Down.

Once you're done with a subject, allow your subjects to sit back down, or stand in the trance state as you speak to the one last time. Once again, I'll give you one last example:

"In a moment, I'm going to count from 5 to 1. When I reach one, you will be completely awake, completely aware, and feeling better than you've ever felt. You will go back to your seat and enjoy the rest of the show (or night if the show is over). 1... feeling a bit more awake... 2... breathing deep, feeling great.... 3.... 4.... deep breath, coming back now... and 5, feeling wonderful and eyes open, how do you feel?"

Sometimes a person will remember the hypnosis, sometimes not. Excuse the subject, and if you have an assistant, have them help them to their seat.