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An Overview of the Art of
Hypnosis
We have all seen the hypnotist on stage asking an unwilling member of the
audience to come up on stage to be a volunteer in his act of ‘hypnotism’. There
has also been enough number of movies where the hypnotist waves a handkerchief
or dangles a pocket watch in front of the dazed individual and claims: You are
sleepy, very sleepy. Hypnotism is much more than what Hollywood or any magic
show has told us. Here is a brief overview of the art of hypnotism.
What exactly is hypnotism? It is nothing but the art of altering the state of
consciousness by which the critical faculties of the brain (mind in the
conscious mode) is set aside for another set of selective and acceptable
thinking mode to be established. Finding it difficult to understand? To put it
very simply, through hypnosis, we can go past all our normal (conscious)
abilities to reason, evaluate, judge and rationalize. The basis of hypnosis is
that it works with our subconscious. Have you ever faced a similar situation
where after driving to some destination you cannot remember how you arrived at
that place? If you imagine your brain to have an aware side which makes it
cognizant, and allows you to think and act rationally, it is this side which
made you drive safely where you could evaluate and judge the process of driving.
The reason for forgetting the event is due to the fact that this cognizance is
bypassed. The process of hypnosis is very much the same, when you by pass the
cognizant or conscious mind. You could equate to the feeling of day dreaming.
Hypnotics are usually experts in this activity and they are confident of what
they are doing. Since you are trying to learn “How to hypnotize someone” it is
suggested that you get in touch with a professional hypnotist to learn this fine
art, though, admittedly, it is rather difficult to find a good teacher of the
subject. The reason could be attributed to some ethical factors of one
professional teaching his art to his pupil. Especially when a professional is
earning his livelihood through this art, he obviously would not like to increase
competition!
Points for consideration in hypnosis: There are some fundamental facts behind
hypnosis which you must keep in mind when you are learning more about the
subject. They are:
1. You cannot hypnotize everyone.
2. The effect of hypnotism varies from one individual to another.
3. A person who has a very high self-esteem and an egotist will be
difficult to hypnotize. On the contrary, it is easier to hypnotize a person who
is subdued and carries a low-profile.
4. The resistance to hypnosis varies according to age, sex and individual
brain power.
5. Though still under debate, you will commonly not be able to hypnotize a
person if he or she does not wish to be hypnotized.
How to hypnotize:
Keeping the above limitations in mind here are some basic steps on starting the
process of hypnotizing.
The first step is to find out how ‘suggestible’ the subject is. To gauge his
level of being ‘suggestible’, you could deploy any of the two methods:
Ask him to roll up his eyes as high as possible. The less the colored part which
is visible, the more chances are that he can be hypnotized.
Ask him to look at a small light in a dark room. Then pretend to move the light
and ask him whether the light is moving or not. If the person says ‘yes’ to your
question, you can easily hypnotize him.
The hypnotizing environment should be quiet and soothing. All noise should be
eliminated like music or television which can disturb the process of
concentration for you and your subject.
Do not try to control the mind of the subject. Instead try to make him follow
your tacit instructions.
Ask your subject to close his eyes – follow it with a short and silent gap,
which could extend to 1 minute or less, depending on the ‘suggestibility’ of
your subject. This period of silence can help the person to become tranquil and
comfortable.
Talk to your subject in a very soft-spoken manner; request him to do some simple
tasks like lifting a hand or moving a finger.
The next step is when you take command over the situation. You could ask your
subject to do various tasks like blink his eyes, clap his hands, etc. In fact,
it is not difficult to make your subject to do even more difficult tasks, like
behaving like a child, trying to fly like Superman, etc.
Your end objective as a hypnotist is to help your subject relax, take his mind
away from his immediate surroundings and make him obey your instructions.
Thus in summary, to hypnotize, select a soothing and silent environment and
start with simple instructions gradually moving on to more difficult tasks.
There are many people who feel scared of getting hypnotized as they fear losing
control of their normal senses. This is not true at all. Imagine the last time
you cried inconsolably when seeing a movie. You had, for all practical purposes,
lost your mind and all sense of rationality. Yet, within a few minutes you could
come back to your ‘rational’ self when you stopped crying.
Hypnotization is a similar process after which, you can easily get back your
bearing.
You may be hypnotized by a movie or a hypnotist – because you are letting
yourself be hypnotized. The truth of the matter is that if you believe that you
can be fully in charge of your emotions at all times, you can resist hypnosis
and you will no longer be hypnotized by any one or even a movie. You have then
the power to resist. It is very common to see that some people give up their
controlling power partly, as they misinterpret who has the power. Of course, in
stage shows, etc, some people can be fooled into believing that they have lost
their mind control, but certainly it does not mean that you would lose it too.
Come to think of it, all hypnosis is actually self-hypnosis. You let your mind
get hypnotized by a sight or a suggestion and the same you can resist it also.
Thus it is wrong to say that someone can hypnotize you – because you can only be
hypnotized, if you let yourself be hypnotized. No one is in better control of
your mind than one person – and that is you.
Article Source:
http://www.hypnosislab.com |
