Category: Hypnosis on Television and radio

1. Why did I not feel Hypnotised?

   Posted on 12:00pm Thursday 23rd Feb 2017

   How do You define Hypnosis?

   I often have people who visit me and tell me that they already saw a hypnotherapist in the past, and yet they did not feel that they “were under”.

   It’s interesting how people define what hypnosis feels like. I feel that if someone saw someone else and felt that they were not hypnotised then this means that the person they saw simply did not explain what it is. It is nothing like you see on TV and Stage. If you think you will be in a deep sleep and then forget about everything then you are expecting the wrong thing.

   Our subconscious mind is more open to suggestion when we let go and relax, but in fact it is open to suggestion all of the time. All we do in hypnosis is find the best way for you to be more open to exactly what you want. No one can make you do anything that you do not want to do. You are always in control, you can move and you will most likely remember everything that happens.

   

   How do hypnotherapists define hypnosis?

   I thought a good way to show how everyone speaks about the experience differently would be to give some examples of other hypnotherapists and how they explain how hypnosis feels to their clients:

   Other people’s ways of talking about hypnosis...

   My viewpoint on hypnosis being 'not a state of eyelids', a state of focus, and a natural state that everyone goes in and out of at multiple times of the day. 

    

   Quietening and focusing the mind, allowing the resolution of an issue or issues, it may not necessarily be the only thought heard, but the one being focused on, for me this is shown by the fuzziness of all other thinking at the point of hypnosis, i know it is there, but do not follow it. so, i think,
   allowing a single focal point to be achieved in the storm of noise

    

   I suppose it's kind of an altered state of focused concentration. That is, if it really exists. 
   
   Perhaps it's more of an altered state of perception either negative or positive which is determined by the level of engaging / ritualistic performance of the operator.

    

   Hypnosis is our most natural state of mind where everything is ok and in which we accept this truth. So that we can create problems or solve them we have to have a vacation from it.

    

    In my world there is no such "thing"as hypnosis. There is
   1. Now
   2. Neurology (state)
   3. Results
   I seem to meet the "he could not put me under" most from smokers who have already seen a hypnotist and not achieved the result they think they want. I say something along the lines of:" if you want to be put under, go and see an anaesthetist. My work is the opposite of this. It is about waking up: coming out of the dopey trance you are putting yourself in and finding the freedom you seek to make good choices, and then carry them through.

    

   I define hypnosis as the art of getting real results from imaginary or suggested events.

    

    

    

2. Amazing Historical Hypnotism posters

   Posted on 2:45pm Tuesday 7th Feb 2017

   Hypnotist posters from around 1900

   These fascinating posters give some insight into how hypnosis was used as entertainment over 100 years ago. They also show that people were more open thinking than you may give them credit for!

   This set of amusing turn-of-the-century hypnotism posters show hypnotised people up to various strange shenanigans: a group of men wield brooms and umbrellas as though musical instruments; women ride men like horses; and (remembering that it is more than a century ago) a man dresses in women’s clothes, and two men canoodle. With its roots in “mesmerism”, the phenomena of hypnotism began to gain momentum with the work of Scottish surgeon James Braid (1795–1860), an early pioneer of the practise, paving the way for it to hit the mainstream toward the end of the 19th century.

   There is not much information available about these five images below only that they were the product of The Donaldson Lithographing Co. based in Newport, Kentucky and seem to be from around 1900. They were discovered by The Public Domain Review

   You can see that the top has a blank strip which would have been used to write up the name of the performer and venue when they were posted up around the city where the show was to play.

    

   This first one is fascinating because apart from showing a man who thinks he is fishing, there is also another man who is dressed in ladies formal wear, with a dress and a hat that is covered in feathers. For an image over one hundred years old it's quite remarkable that the cross dressing man would be used for publicity. We may think that years back this may put people off, but clearly it may also attract and even bigger audience. You can also see that there is someone riding some chairs as if they are a horse. This seems to be a theme to these pictures.

   

    

   This second picture also has the popular image of someone riding a horse. This time the lady is actually riding a gentleman who has a bit between his teeth and she even has a whip in her hand. In the foreground we see another gentleman who is playing a broom like an instrument. This may be somethign we think of from the 70's and a cliche of hypnosis stage shows, but this shows that the idea came about a lot earlier than that.

   

    

   This next one has yet more horse riding antics. In fact the gentleman riding this chair is not unlike the ex racing commentator John McCririck, with his busy moustache and hat. The old favorite of instrument playing also takes place here.

   

   As you may be noticing there are certain themes that run through, and so we have more musicians playing, although this time the lady riding a man seems to be floating in the air, so perhaps levitation is also playing its part.

   

    

   This final one seems to be suggesting that perhaps there is also some sort of mentalist act happening. Maybe the blindfold is part of the act and the man with the blackboard will write down what the angles speak to his assistant. 

   

    

   It is surprising that the act of stage hypnosis and magic may not have seemed to move on as much as you would have imagined.

   If you want to watch me speaking about the latest version of hypnosis in entertainment on Television with TV shows like "You're Back in the Room" or the US version called "Hypnotize Me" you can take a look at the youtube video below....