Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Hypnotic Paralysis - Not Pretending

There was an interesting article yesterday in USA today about a study that used scans to reveal what was actually occurring in the brain undergoing a hypnotic suggestion of paralysis.
You can read the article here: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2009-06-24-paralyzed-hypnosis_N.htm

Basically, as was commonly theorized, it was shown to be different from someone just imagining that their hand was frozen. Part of the brain thought to be responsible for mapping one’s own body is getting involved in the process. The motor cortex prepared to move the subject’s hand as it normally would, but the precuneus gets involved; apparently full of imagery resulting from the hypnotic suggestion.

Similar effects have been shown in previous studies investigating hypnosis’ effect on Stroop Interference.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Closing Your Eyes

It might be a bit low class of me, but I’m a big fan of having the subject close their eyes at the beginning of an induction.

Many people out there will say that it’s not necessary, and that’s entirely true. In fact, when hypnotizing a person face to face, having them keep their eyes open allows you to see their eyes, and pay attention to the focus of their eyes and the characteristics of their blinking.

Much of my hypnosis these days, however, is not face-to-face. When I write scripts for iHypnoU.com, I have to create a script for a session where I never see the person. It’s one of the hardest things in hypnosis.

A hypnotist’s best tool for putting someone under is his or her ability to change the session to fit the subject. It’s often said that only a certain percentage of the population can be hypnotized. I think that’s crap. The better way of putting it is that a given induction will only work for a certain percentage of the population. So generating a .mp3 that works for the biggest percentage of people possible is quite a tall order.

With an .mp3, I don’t have the subject focusing on a video, so rather than have them stare at a spot on the wall or something, it is much more effective to have them close their eyes and focus inward on a visualization that I give them. Some people would have no problem with being hypnotized without ever closing their eyes or having a visual focus, and would go under with their eyes open staring off into nothing. For anyone visually oriented, however, a lack of a focus is a major dealbreaker.

So I tend to start my .mp3s with having their subject close their eyes. It may be stereotypical and a little campy, but it’s effective.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Hypnosis Safety

Yesterday I put up a video on YouTube talking about ways to be safe when viewing videos made to hypotize you. Quite a few videos are posted that have Dominance/Submission themese when they proclaim on their description to just be a little relaxation. (Honestly, this is because quite a few of them are using scripts written by someone else.) Most of the videos are pretty low quality, but just in case they work, it's important to be safe if you aren't looking to be someone's internet slave.

Some of the main tips I covered:

When you open a video page, pause the video and let it download fully in the background. While it's downloading, you can check out some of the other things I suggest, and once it's downloaded, you can scroll through it using the timeline to see exactly what text it is going to show you.

While you're waiting, check out the comment section. You might see that the video is wanting users to post their real name, or call the video uploader 'master', or other clues that it is trying to get you to do things it doesn't mention.

Also, check the video uploader's profile. A lot of times they'll be more up front there. While there you can also see the comments people have left on his or her profile, and see the other videos he or she has uploaded. These can all tell you whether it's a straightforward experience.

On the other hand, most of these videos with objectionable suggestions will only work if you really are looking for what it's truely offering, so there's not too much to worry about.

As I've said before, I have a website over at iHypnoU.com where I have a quick induction .mp3 that has no gimmicks or master/slave stuff in it. You'll also find a Tips page where if you are wanting a hypnosis video or mp3 to work, you'll find some info that will help.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Phobias

When people think of hypnosis in relation to phobias, most people would think of using trance to get over the irrational, debilitating fear. When I think of phobias and hypnosis, though, another thing also comes to mind.

Imagery.

One of the most important parts of hypnosis is imagery – it’s one of the most used and useful tools in a hypnotist’s arsenal, but it can harm as much as help the trance process.
One of the important things to cover with a subject in a pre-hypnosis talk is to ask them about fears and phobias that they have. If the goal of the hypnosis session is to alleviate some of these irrational fears, then some are apparent. Otherwise, though, a hypnotist might not think about what their subject is deathly afraid of, and that can be dangerous for the rapport and trust that the hypnotist is working so hard to build.

Imagine someone has just completed an induction, and proceeds into a staircase deepener. Rich imagery helps this deepener greatly, and often the staircase is described as a spiral staircase.
Fun fact: I once cried for 10 minutes at a tower in Casa Loma when my parents tried to drag me up a spiral staircase. Now, I was probably five years old at the time, but the point is that you don’t always know what will push people out of their comfort zone, and when you’re running a hypnotic induction, you’re definitely want your subject nice and comfy.

This goes for people looking to be hypnotized as well. Especially if you’ve had problems in a previous experience, make sure you let your hypnotist know about phobias or fears like claustrophobia before you start.

Full disclosure of phobias can make a hypnotic trance more enjoyable for both the subject and the hypnotist.

Monday, June 1, 2009

I Think I Have My Answer

Over the weekend I went to DejaVu with some friends to see Tony Lucero's erotic hypnosis show.

The evening was mostly enjoyable. We got in just as volunteers were coming onstage and were there for the whole show, which lasted about an hour.

As I surveyed the volunteers on stage, I began to sort them into a few catergories. There were the eager to please, the doubters, the uncomfortable, and the general poor responders. My intuitions were well founded as the three I had tagged as doubters were off the stage during the first set, the uncomfortable left during the set where the hypnotist suggested they try the imaginary weed he was handing them, and the eager to please girls had outrageous responses to his suggestions throughout several sets.

What probably surprised me the most throughout this performance was how little Lucero had to do in order to get them to follow along. This is the wonderful thing about having a self selecting group. On top of the fact that they volunteered to be on stage, they all came from an audience who came to see an erotic hypnotist, including the bachlorette party that showed up to the club in a van covered with penis drawings.

The other thing that surprised me was a sort of awe that some of the volunteers had for what was happening. I suppose I've seen similar responses in my vanilla, one-on one hypnosis, and it makes sense that the shock would be slightly bigger when rather than say, having your hand locked in the air you're working your way towards an orgasm without any touching.

This was sort of concerning to my friends who have the "They're in his power" view. One of my friends even likened it to "mind-rape of the feeble" and said her faith in humanity was ruined by the way the audience responded to it.

I thought it seemed to me the people on stage were having a wonderful time; particularly the girl with the cucumber halfway down her throat and the woman compelled to dry hump anyone who congratulated her after the show.