When
someone mentions the word "hypnotist", images of a caped magician with a
long goatee jump to most people's mind. The hypnotist has laser rays
that shoot from the eyes or lightning bolts from the fingertips. The
camera zooms to the hypnotist's eyes which are enhanced with light,
while the rest of the body and face loom in darkness. At least this is
the image that Hollywood portrays of hypnotists. A movie portraying the
truth about hypnosis would be a hard sell, because it is much less
dramatic than it seems.
The truth is that all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. It
is something that happens to a person internally and is not the result
of overpowering someone with a special magical force. In order for
hypnosis to occur, the person being hypnotized needs to allow the
process to happen. A hypnotist merely guides someone into a hypnotic
state using verbal techniques. Hypnosis is a team effort between the hypnotist and the person being hypnotized with a common goal of allowing
the person to escape into a wonderful feeling of complete relaxation.
This deep relaxation which starts in the body and continues into the
mind is what causes hypnosis.
But stage hypnotists seem to have complete control
over the audience, right? They tell someone to cluck like a chicken and
the person does it without question. You are right, it does seem like
this is what happens, but I can ensure you this is not the whole
picture. There are many things that aide a hypnotist to appear as if
they have special powers. I will explain this further in my future
article about stage hypnotism. There is one thing that is important to
understand. Each person that is hypnotized on stage has made the
decision to allow hypnosis to happen. Hypnosis was not forced on them
unwillingly. If any one of them didn't want to participate, there is
nothing the hypnotist could do to hypnotize them.
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