The Stage & Street Hypnosis Handbook

INTRODUCTION

You have picked up this book (I assume) because you would like to learn how to use hypnosis to entertain (whether to entertain others, or for your own amusement). Maybe you’re reading this book with a view towards using ‘impromptu hypnosis’ on the street, in bars or at parties, or perhaps you’re considering becoming a professional stage hypnotist (or you are one already)… I don’t know exactly what it is that you’re looking for, but I have written this book whilst bearing in mind a couple of possible scenarios pertaining to you; the reader:

You might already be familiar with some basic hypnosis processes, but maybe you are looking to expand your knowledge by investigating different views, ideas and scripts (always a good idea, in my opinion)…

Maybe you’ve been using hypnosis for a while, even done some of your own street hypnosis demonstrations or stage hypnosis shows and you’re looking for some ideas and pointers to ‘take it to the next level’…

You may even be a practicing professional hypnotherapist, looking for some light reading material (or considering stepping outside your comfort zone and into the world of ‘entertainment hypnosis’)…

Or perhaps you don’t have any knowledge of hypnosis whatsoever, and you found this book in the store and thought, ‘Ah, Hell, why not? I haven’t got anything better to read today’…

Whichever category you fit into, you will undoubtedly gain a great deal of real-world practical knowledge from this book, and hopefully you will be entertained whilst doing so.

I have not written this book to teach you how to set up and run a successful stage hypnosis business, I have written it to teach you how to use hypnosis for fun! So, there’s no business start-up info here. If you wish to learn how to set up your own career in hypnosis, then you should be investing in a small business management course/book. This book wastes no time explaining the merits and hurdles of self-employment, tax, advertising, etc.

The information contained in this book is the result of my many years spent studying and practicing hypnosis – mostly effectively, but occasionally unsuccessfully (hey, even I was a beginner once). So, you can reap the benefits of both my novice mistakes and of my learned successes as you read on.

The scripts and approaches contained in this handbook have been developed and honed throughout my ongoing career as a hypnotic entertainer and as a result of continuously evaluating and developing my own techniques. You can use (and modify) all the scripts in this book so that you are able to achieve the same results that I do. All the scripts in this book are broken down into manageable chunks and use simple language, so that pretty much anyone can use them.

As with my other books, I want to get my point across to whoever is reading, no matter what your background is, so I don’t overcomplicate things. I write the same way I talk, which is (usually) easy to understand and follow, and sometimes it’s even funny! Just as I don’t need to bog you down with lots of complex phraseology and linguistic mumbo-jumbo, so you don’t need to be obscure in your choice of words as a hypnotist, because when getting your subjects to perform entertaining and impressive routines, sometimes simple is best.

Throughout the book, I shall refer to subjects in either a gender-neutral form (them/they) or in the masculine form (he/him) unless a script requires otherwise, so as to avoid unnecessary confusion. This is not due to being in any way ‘un-PC’, but simply a matter of congruence and ease of reading. It’s best to mention these things at the start, as some people are overly ‘PC’, and I wouldn’t want to offend anyone with such a simple misunderstanding. In fact, I’d much rather offend someone with swearing (because that shit is hilarious). Oh yeah, if you don’t like swearing, then it’s quite possible that I might not be the right author/trainer for you. However, if you’re willing to look past (or even applaud and enjoy) my own personal choice of linguistic tools (yes, swearing is a useful tool), and you’re ready to gain a deeper understanding of how to entertain using hypnosis, then do please read on…

THIS IS NOT A HYPNOSIS BOOK!

Confused? Well, let me clarify what I mean. This book is not intended to teach you how to put someone into hypnosis, it’s more focused on what to do with someone when you have them in hypnosis. I have, for the sake of those readers with absolutely no hypnosis experience whatsoever, included two ‘hypnotic induction’ scripts (in the ‘choosing, hypnotising & managing volunteers’ section). Even if you have no experience and don’t have a clue how to hypnotise yet, you can still use these scripts to good effect. That said, I’d 100% recommend further study to really get to grips with how to hypnotise before you attempt the stage/street hypnosis techniques presented in this book, as a good hypnosis demonstration needs a good level of hypnosis in order to work! A great place to start is my book; ‘The Instant Hypnosis and Rapid Inductions Guidebook’, or check out the ‘Rapid Hypnosis 101 – Learn to Hypnotise Fast’ DVD, for a complete overview of how to do hypnotic inductions effectively. Both are available on my website; learnhypnosis.com.

A WORD ON HYPNOSIS SCRIPTS

The majority of this book is made up of scripts, as you may have already figured out. Now, scripts are a huge point of contention in the hypnosis world. Most professional hypnotists (whether entertainers or therapists) don’t tend to use scripts. Some less professional (or less confident) hypnotists rely on scripts for everything they do (most often with hypnotherapists, in fact). Relying on scripts is not something that I’d recommend, because scripts are very limiting. That said, scripts do have their uses, the main one being that they are a great learning tool. I don’t use scripts for any of my hypnosis work these days, however, that’s not to say that I’ve never used them, because I have. I relied on scripts a lot when I first started out as a hypnotherapist, whether reading them or simply writing them out. This is because writing your own hypnosis scripts is a great way to become familiar with the words and suggestions that you’re likely to be using within your hypnosis sessions/demonstrations.

Unlike the ‘scriptnotherapists’ mentioned above, you won’t see stage/street hypnotists holding scripts as they hypnotise people to do fun stuff. The reason for this is that they’ll often have an audience. People generally tend to be watching a street/stage hypnotist, because they are putting on a show for people to watch. In the hypnotherapy office, apart from the hypnotherapist, the only other person there has their eyes closed (usually), so there’s no one to judge the fact that the hypnotherapist might be using a script (though it’ll probably be apparent to the client anyway). In entertainment situations, if your audience (however big or small) saw you reading from a script, how do you think that would affect your credibility? Your performance? Your rapport with the audience? Negatively, is the answer.

When using the scripts presented in this book, your #1 goal is to familiarise yourself with the content of the scripts and then work to stop using scripts as soon as you possibly can. Don’t wait until you’re ‘comfortable’ not using them, start working script-free before you’re comfortable in order to get comfortable. Challenge yourself to actually learn what you need to be saying to people in hypnosis, so that you won’t need the words written down in front of you. That is how you get good at giving hypnotic suggestions and that is how it becomes easy and effortless. To this end, I’ve broken down each script into its key component parts (bullet points), so that you don’t need to learn whole scripts, but instead, when you’re ready to work without them, you’ll just need to remember the ‘key points’ of what it is that you’re meant to be saying. Have faith that you will be able to learn to do this, because if I can, you can.

The scripts in this book have been specifically designed to be as universal as possible. However, as I’m the one writing the scripts, they’re written in ‘Rory language’. No, I don’t mean all swearing, what I mean is, some of the scripts will contain words and phrasing that I personally use that wouldn’t necessarily sound right coming from someone else. I have aimed to cut down on this as much as possible, but there will be times where parts of a script don’t sound right or don’t feel right for you. If this is the case, there’s a super easy solution… change it! If I say ‘let your whole body relax’ and you’d prefer to say ‘allow your entire body to relax’, then say that instead. Obviously, the words you use need to convey the same point/idea, but so long as they do, you can be entirely flexible in your delivery of suggestions. Utilise your own vocabulary, pace, emotion and delivery to make your suggestions fit you. There’s no point pretending to be someone else. You’re not me, you don’t think like me and you don’t talk like me, so feel free to modify any/all of the scripts in this book to suit yourself and your delivery.

So, bottom line: Scripts are useful. Get to know them, learn the bullet points and then ditch the scripts as soon as you are able to …and know that you are able to.

PERSONAL REQUIREMENTS

Pretty much anyone can be a ‘hypnotist’, because learning how to hypnotise people is relatively easy. Hell, you could do it by using a free script that you download off the internet without even learning anything! So, the ‘hypnosis’ part is relatively simple, which is why almost anyone can do it. It’s when you become more than just a ‘hypnotist’, when you actually want to do something with the hypnotised person, that it takes a bit more effort. To become a hypnotic entertainer, for instance, you need to have some certain personality traits, the main one being a good sense of humour.

Now, if you’re not funny, if you have no sense of humour, if you barely ever even crack a smile, let alone a joke, it’s unlikely that you’re going to make a great stage/street hypnotist. That’s not to say that you won’t be able to do it, but as stage/street is all about entertainment, the stuff you’re doing needs to have entertainment value! If you don’t have a sense of humour, at the very least you need a sense of showmanship, because not everything in a hypnosis performance needs to be funny, some hypnotists rely on ‘awe’ rather than humour, by having people do amazing, interesting things rather than looking for laughs. That said, there are many fewer options with awe-performances, and as well as that, the general public (i.e. your audience) tend to expect entertainment hypnosis to be funny, so you really need to give them what they want.

Luckily for the less-funny amongst us, there are things that can be done. Stand-up comedy classes are a great way of finding that spark of humour within us, and I know many stage hypnotists who’ve done (or still do) comedy stuff alongside their hypnosis work. If you can’t afford to attend courses, simply watch comedians (and stage hypnotists) on YouTube, see what they say/do to make people laugh. Model it, replicate it, learn to do it yourself and practice ‘being funny’. Being funny is a gift (some people are just naturally funnier than others), but it’s also a skill that can be developed, and is well worth developing if you have a serious interest in hypnotic entertainment.

Rapport is another skill that is worth developing. To get people to do what you want (such as volunteering for a hypnosis show), it helps if you can get them to like and trust you within a short period of time from first interacting with them.

Rapport is a huge topic and covers such things as:

Good use of body language

Mirroring & matching

Listening & feedback

Use of humour (again!)

Being empathetic

Being non-judgemental

Being genuine/congruent

…amongst other things. This isn’t a book on rapport. However, there are many resources online that will help you learn to build rapport and better communicate with people (Google it). That said, there are a whole bunch of simple, obvious(?) things that will help influence rapport, such as:

Being clean & well-presented

Smelling nice (or neutral)

Not being offensive

Not being inappropriate

Not being a creep/weirdo/pervert

Knowing your subject

Being confident (but not over-confident)

Smiling (genuinely)

Keeping good eye contact (around 60% of the time)

Consider working on any of the above points where you feel you’re lacking, in order to gain better success with your hypnotic interactions. Rapport building is certainly a fundamental skill for a hypnotist to have, because if people don’t feel comfortable enough with you in order to agree to be hypnotised, then you’re not going to get very much practice!

‘Utilisation’ is another useful skill of the adept stage/street hypnotist. This is the ability to ‘think on your feet’ or make quick decisions and changes based on what’s happening at the time. It’s said in the media world to ‘never work with animals or children’ due to how unpredictable they can be... Though not quite as unpredictable, hypnotised people can often do some interesting stuff and won’t always respond as you think they might (or as you would respond to the same suggestions). For instance, you might suggest someone feels a bit annoyed at the sound of the audience laughing (a simply, funny skit) and the volunteer may be a bit grumpy… or they may get up and stride over to the nearest audience member, preparing to deliver them a knuckle sandwich! If that were the case, you, as the hypnotist, would need to intervene. So, being able to adapt to new and ‘interesting’ situations is definitely a required skill, which again, will develop over time when practicing stage/street hypnosis, as a matter of necessity!

It also helps if you have a ‘thick skin’, especially if you’re looking to do more impromptu/street stuff, rather than formal stage hypnosis. If you’re roving about on the streets (or wherever), asking people if they want to get hypnotised, some of them will say no… In fact, many of them will probably say no! In reality, that doesn’t matter, because there are ‘plenty more fish in the sea’, but if you’re not of the right mindset, those ‘negative responses’ can be disheartening. The same thing can happen if you’re doing some hypnosis and the person doesn’t respond to a suggestion, or if they wake themselves up halfway through, or the worst one… if they don’t go into hypnosis in the first place! These things can and do happen. Knowing that they may happen is a useful starting point, but also being prepared to manage your own state when they do is integral. In these situations, knowing how to ‘style it out’ is also handy. I’ve had plenty of these things happen (yes, all of them) and, as such, I cover ‘how to style it out’ when things go wrong, later in the book. You’re welcome. Lol.

Fundamentally, the ability to do stage/street hypnosis is a skill not a gift. All of the skills and knowledge you need in order to be successful at it can be learnt. So long as you are motivated to learn and happy to put in the practice (a lot of practice), you will be able to entertain people using hypnosis in whatever situation you find yourself in.

STAGE & STREET – WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

Before we get started on the nitty-gritty, it’s worth clarifying the difference between stage and street hypnosis, as some of you will want to do one, some the other and some both! Stage hypnosis is where you’re delivering a full ‘hypnosis show’ for a static audience – i.e. they will be there specifically to see your show. A stage hypnosis show can be performed in any environment (theatres, pubs, clubs, festivals, house parties, colleges, weddings, cruise ships, etc.) and generally the show will be expected to last between 30-90 minutes. With stage hypnosis shows, it tends to be relatively easy to get good volunteers to hypnotise. This is because they are there specifically for the hypnosis show and are already in the mindset of getting hypnotised (some will have already made the decision to volunteer before they even get to the show). Also, you will generally have a larger selection of people to choose from, which makes it more likely that you’ll get a number of ‘good subjects’ to work with. There are many different styles of stage hypnosis show, from family-friendly, to adult-themed, all the way through to erotic/X-rated shows.

Street hypnosis is the name given to any impromptu/informal hypnosis demonstration that is intended to entertain. Street hypnosis demonstrations will tend to be a lot shorter than full stage hypnosis shows (between 2-10 minutes) and this is because you are going to be working with random people and you don’t know how much time they’ll have available, or whether they have somewhere else to be (so time management is important here). Also, unlike stage hypnosis shows, you will be approaching people rather than having them come to you, which means you can never quite guarantee who you’re going to get volunteering. Sometimes you’ll get good subjects, other times less good, and occasionally you’ll get people who don’t respond at all (which you will learn to deal with later in the book). Generally, you will be working with 1 or 2 people in a street hypnosis demonstration, or you may do something simpler with all participants of a small group (such as a group suggestibility test). Street hypnosis doesn’t have to happen on the street, it can happen anywhere; in a park, at work, in a bar, in a queue at the supermarket, on holiday, at a friend’s house, on a boat or plane… the possibilities are endless, but all are classified as ‘street hypnosis’ (and that’s just because they’re not stage hypnosis – simple really!).

SAFETY & ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Before we begin exploring how to do stage/street hypnosis, it’s important to learn how to do things safely and ethically. Your top priority as a hypnotic entertainer is the safety and wellbeing of all participants involved in your hypnosis show/demonstration. This has to be the case, because you will be working with real people. People have feelings (both physical and emotional) and by volunteering, they are entrusting themselves, body and mind, to you for the duration of your hypnotic performance. That trust must not be broken, because if it were broken;

Your volunteers could get hurt

Your volunteers could become emotionally distressed/disturbed

Friends/relatives of the volunteers could turn against you

Your entire audience could turn against you

You could get sued for negligence/unsafe practice

You could get a bad reputation (word of mouth is powerful and negative word of mouth is less likely to be forgotten)

Those are all worst-case-scenarios, however, if you’re not practicing safely or appropriately, then it’s likely that any (or all) of the above things could occur in a real-world situation. How then do you avoid all of those things? By being smart, safe and morally/ethically appropriate in your actions and interactions. As such, there are many different aspects that need considering before you even think about putting your hypnotist pants on. The first thing to consider is ‘safety’.

When performing a hypnosis show/demonstration, you must ensure that everything within your control is as safe as it can possibly be and that you are aware of potential hazards. You may think ‘really? Hazards? Isn’t that a bit OTT?’ but no, it’s a must, because it is your duty to be aware of these things for your volunteers’ safety. For example, if you’re doing hypnosis on a street, and you’re right next to a cycle-lane, your volunteer, with their eyes closed, may forget that fact and wander into the path of a speeding bike. If they did, it would be your fault, not theirs. You could even be legally liable if they decided to sue you. So, this safety stuff is serious, please take note!

KEEP A SAFE ENVIRONMENT

The very first thing to consider is your environment. As said previously, we can perform hypnosis in pretty much any location/situation, which means there may be a variety of different hazards present, depending not only on where you are, but also who else is around, or even when you’re there.

If you’re doing a stage show:

Is it a raised stage?

Are there steps?

Is the floor safe? (i.e. is the floor level? Is it dry?)

Is it light enough to move around safely?

Are the chairs safe and sturdy?

Are any loose cables taped down?

Is all your electrical equipment safe? (i.e. microphone, speakers, lights)

Are any props you’re using clean and safe?

If you’re doing a street hypnosis demonstration:

Are there any obvious hazards? (i.e. roads, doors, lampposts, animals, glasses/drinks, stairs, etc.)

Is the floor/surrounding area safe?

Are there any people around that may interfere?

Is anything in the environment likely to change rapidly? (i.e. doing hypnosis outside a theatre, just as a show is ending and the whole audience descends through the doors in your direction, hurriedly trying to get home)

Are you actuallyallowedto do hypnosis in this place?

Consider where you’re likely to be doing your hypnosis show/demonstration… Where in your own local area do you think you’ll be performing? What possible hazards may be present in your chosen location? Check out the location yourself in person, to get a real, tangible feel for it (whether on the street, a bar, or even in a theatre). Obviously, you don’t need to think about hazards that are highly unlikely to happen, such as a meteor strike or a wild tiger attack, but logically and pragmatically consider the potential foreseeable hazards for your chosen location/venue. As you get more practice performing in various different locations, you will come to realise which hazards are more important to manage than others.

One of the main ‘environment-related’ considerations that you will 100% need to manage, is where your volunteers are allowed to go/not go. Wherever you are, ensure that your volunteers have a clear ‘stage’ and that you have informed them of the boundaries of where they are allowed to go. You don’t want a hypnotised volunteer running out of your show or running off down the street when they’re still hypnotised and responding to suggestions. They may be in an ‘altered state’ for minutes/hours if not properly awakened and, as such, could end up in harm’s way. All hypnotised participants must remain with you for the duration of the hypnosis show/demonstration, until you wake them up and remove any unwanted suggestions.

Many stage hypnotists will tell the volunteers that they are not to leave the stage for the duration of the show, unless otherwise instructed (by the hypnotist). If you’re performing a stage show without a formal ‘stage’, then marking out a ‘stage area’ on the floor with black/white/coloured duct tape and telling your volunteers to remain within it, can be a great idea. If you’re performing a street hypnosis demo, you’d suggest that the volunteer would remain in this spot for the duration of the hypnosis, or that they would stay within a couple of metres/feet of the hypnotist throughout. These instructions are simple, but necessary!

DEALING WITH INTERRUPTIONS

Wherever you’re doing your hypnosis show/demo, it’s likely that you’ll have an audience. Whether it’s just 1 person stopping in the street to watch what you’re doing, or 500+ people watching your hypnosis show from the seats in a theatre, an audience is an audience. The only problem with audiences is that you never know who the audience is made up of. Most of the time audiences will be fine and are happy to watch and enjoy the show. Sometimes, however, people will try to interrupt you or screw things up on purpose. It’s sad, but true. There are generally 3 types of audience interruption;

The active heckler – hecklers are annoying, but generally harmless. Active hecklers are those that are making an effort to interrupt/undermine you, generally by shouting comments at you from the audience. Most of the time, if you simply ignore them and carry on with the show, they’ll get the idea (or the rest of the audience will turn on them and let them know that they’re in the wrong).

The passive heckler – unlike the active hecklers, passive hecklers don’t directly challenge you, but instead will often carry out a loud conversation throughout your show. Sometimes this may be accidental, but often it is a sign of disrespect. Yet again, audiences will tend to sort this out for you, by ‘shushing’ the person talking.

The purposeful interrupter (or ‘douchebag’) – sometimes, but very infrequently, someone will actively try and interrupt your show (i.e. coming onto the stage during the show or messing around with your volunteers