I was asked a question by email today. Someone was looking for a hypnotist to work with. He wrote that he was not successful when on stage with the stage hypnotist, and, was concerned he “won’t be very susceptible to hypnosis”. He thought a comfortable office would be better than the stage.
Here is my response:
Stage hypnosis is not like hypnotherapy. In hypnotherapy there is no pressure to go into a trance. You can relax and slip in to trance slowly, like when you go to sleep, and faster. Can you imagine a fully relaxed mind and fully relaxed body? Can you imagine the conscious mind placed on hold and connected to your sub-conscious mind? It is a “heightened” awareness, certainly not sleep. Yet, can you imagine your conscious mind on pause and shrinking away as your sub-conscious mind mind moves and expands? Really enjoying trance is learned, we all have our process each different yet similar. Ten to twenty percent of people find it very easy to experience trance. As you can imagine, there are about ten to twenty percent of people that are not very easy to hypnotize. In the middle fall most of us. We learn to relax into a trance for the benefits of healing our thoughts. An ideal for hypnotherapy would be living our lives to the fullest. If you accept that there may be an art and a science to hypnosis in a therapeutic model, you may also see the need for learning the art and science of being in a trance, and using that consciousness, in a manner that benefits come to you.
I sometimes use a Electrical Skin Resistance Meter ESR. It indicates the level of arousal or relaxation of our body because it responds to the autonomic nervous system. It was a creation from the collaborative work of C. Maxwell Cade and Geoffrey G. Blundell. It is designed specifically for biofeedback with two very useful ESR parameters.
This instrument combined with the Lesh States (discovered by Doctor Terry Lesh at the University of Oregon) is a simple useful means of determining brainwave activity.
There are six Lesh States that are indicated by readings on the Omega1 ESR. It has a part that simply rests against the palm of the hand.
Yes, a comfortable office is much better for deep therapeutic trance. It is notable that one reason people do go into deep trances on the stage is because of all the people in the audience. In such a situation being offered a way away from being on stage, and having so many people, and the lights on you, is to close your eyes and let go. I have never done stage hypnosis. If I thought I could be helpful to many people at once I might consider it. I am often asked if I make people cluck like chickens.