As you learn to think like a hypnotist, you will integrate what you learn much more easily into what you actually do.
Stage hypnosis has been my career since 2004, and in that span of time I've hypnotized approximately 25,000 people. High school students, college students, and adults at corporate events and theater shows have shared the experience with me. My audiences have been as small as 25 people, and as large as 1600. Throughout it all, there have always been, and always will be, naysayers and skeptics. And that's okay.
If you're thinking of getting into stage hypnotism, you should spend some time considering the way that a job like that will affect your lifestyle. There are some great aspects, but some challenges, as with any job.
Wendy Merron trains consulting hypnotists in Pennsylvania. She's a great person, and a dedicated professional. She wanted her students to get some perspective from another practicing hypnotist, so she was kind enough to invite me to a Q&A with her class.
When I speak with people about my profession, I think it's important to be honest and open about all the different aspects of the work we do. I think there's too much secret keeping and question dodging in our community, so when I get these opportunities to speak with students, I don't hold back.
When people ask me, "Is hypnosis real?" I point them to The Stroop Test. The premise is pretty simple.
While researching the topic of safety related to stage hypnotism, I found a news article about an incident I heard about a few years ago. The article included a video I had never seen before, and when I watched it, I didn't feel good about it. When you read the article and watch the video, it might be easy to focus on criticizing Mr. Nadeau, but I would ask that we avoid any rants aimed at him and focus more on the general topic of stage hypnotism as a form of entertainment.
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Hypnotists are just people, and all people have challenges. When I created my reality web series, I wanted to show people that hypnosis is something we can all benefit from, so I figured I should model that myself.
I was recently at a cookout at a colleague's home, and everybody there was a hypnotist. My colleague had purposefully invited only hypnosis business owners for this particular event, as a way to build some new friendships and bring like-minded people together. A few of the people there were newly certified hypnotists, people who had gotten their certification within the past six months. Others, like myself, had been practicing for a decade or more. It was a nice mix of people from different backgrounds and experience levels who all wanted to do good things and create successful practices.
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There's a creative process to being a stage hypnotist. Part of the job is creating content that will entertain your audience and set you apart from other stage hypnotists. How do you do that?
Hypnotizing people requires one set of skills. Creating a stage show that is entertaining requires an additional set of skills. Most stage hypnosis trainers teach you to hypnotize people, and they touch every so briefly on the the business aspects and entertainment aspects of the business. They will often leave you to fend for yourself, in those areas. It's a big part of why so many people who have been trained and certified in stage hypnotism aren't actually out there doing shows.
Past life regression is a popular topic in the world of hypnotism, and it's one of the topics that the broader public is often curious about, as well. I interviewed two practicing hypnotists who offer PLR as part of their practices, and they were kind enough to share their perspective.