Magic, mentalism, stage hypnosis

[Feck]

I am interested to see how how it compares to chemically altered states. I'm very resistant to actually giving in and going with flow when bits of my brain are off on their own trying to make stuff up .

@ Dev there is someone inside the shop ..the card is covered by an advert "stuck" to the window the advert is pulled out the way with a length of fine line .....
Hey presto the card is visible to the outside .........And I think you knew that

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I have a question. Why is David Baine?

[GeneticJen]

How about one of you start a "How does this trick work?" thread somewhere, if there isn't already one?

[dinoboy]

...

You're making it into some kind of challenge to not take part and make the performer fail. Generally, people take part because they want to be involved, not to see the performer fail. You don't pay for a band and hide their instruments. But each to their own. The people who come up and give it a go, but warn that it won't work on them, are the ones that are easiest to hypnotise. More so than people who would be described as having "weak" minds.

This has always interested me ("could I be hypnotized?").

I casually figured the answer is no, not because I feel I have a "strong" mind, but primarily because I instruct critical thinking skills and logical fallacies to students (so I feel I might have an advantage over many). That said, I then feel that this would make me a perfect candidate through my perceived overconfidence, as it were (Isandlwana comes to mind).

Do you find that certain character traits make hypnosis easier for you? Or for that matter, do you think by being skilled at "influencing" people in such a subtle way, that there is something to be learned about not being influenced by others (like marketing techniques)? Or are we all pretty much hopeless?

[Magicziggy]

I would have said "never get me" until about 20 years ago a seikh in Bangkok conned me out of 20pounds.
I was able to reflect afterwards that it had been worth the money because it made me very aware of my own susceptibility.
My mistake was assuming that I couldn't be hypnotised. Don't assume that.

[CookieJon]

By the way, what book is it? As far as I'm aware he hasn't published a book on the basics of anything and I'm pretty sure I have all his books/lecture notes ... If he has, my mega library is missing something and I won't rest until it is discovered.

I could be wrong, but I thought he gave a lot of techniques from his old repertoire away in The Devil's Picturebook. (I think it's a DVD, not a book)

[DRSB]

We are apparently subject to hypnosis all the time. Advertising and mass information make ample use of some of the techniques. The words "as", "and", "because" and "so", for example, are great for creating the "flow" and the "association" that are basic keys to hypnosis. NLP is increasingly being used in negotiation and persuasion courses.
I'm very interested in the subject, does anyone have a first-hand experience?

[Rum]

The book is Tricks of the Mind. He has sections on how to hypnotize, sleight of hand, cold reading, memory tricks, NLP and a great final section on scepticism and atheism.

Odd that NLP (neuro-linguistic programming)is included. It is a well recognised set of skills to do with counselling and communication and building rapport. Not quite in the same category as sleight of hand etc. I would have thought.

[GeneticJen]

By the way, what book is it? As far as I'm aware he hasn't published a book on the basics of anything and I'm pretty sure I have all his books/lecture notes ... If he has, my mega library is missing something and I won't rest until it is discovered.

I could be wrong, but I thought he gave a lot of techniques from his old repertoire away in The Devil's Picturebook. (I think it's a DVD, not a book)

It is a DVD and it does teach some of his card tricks. But we were talking about teaching the basics, and I wouldn't agree that's a DVD covering the basics. I don't think someone could learn card magic for the first time from that.

[GeneticJen]

The book is Tricks of the Mind. He has sections on how to hypnotize, sleight of hand, cold reading, memory tricks, NLP and a great final section on scepticism and atheism.

Odd that NLP (neuro-linguistic programming)is included. It is a well recognised set of skills to do with counselling and communication and building rapport. Not quite in the same category as sleight of hand etc. I would have thought.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-ling ... ontroversy

[Geoff]

We are apparently subject to hypnosis all the time. Advertising and mass information make ample use of some of the techniques. The words "as", "and", "because" and "so", for example, are great for creating the "flow" and the "association" that are basic keys to hypnosis. NLP is increasingly being used in negotiation and persuasion courses.
I'm very interested in the subject, does anyone have a first-hand experience?

I tend to agree with this...in fact one reason I believe I would be a poor hypnosis subject is that I'm pretty much completely resistant to advertising, other than those that just present facts about their product. For example, I will, almost always, choose "own brand" products over heavily advertised "big name" brands.

One thing that interest me is how Derren Brown seems able, almost at a glance, to select those people he thinks will be susceptible to his manipulations. I'm confident, for example, that I wouldn't have fallen for the "giraffe" tricks that he used with the lady in the toy shop (if you're familiar with that episode).

[DRSB]

We are apparently subject to hypnosis all the time. Advertising and mass information make ample use of some of the techniques. The words "as", "and", "because" and "so", for example, are great for creating the "flow" and the "association" that are basic keys to hypnosis. NLP is increasingly being used in negotiation and persuasion courses.
I'm very interested in the subject, does anyone have a first-hand experience?

I tend to agree with this...in fact one reason I believe I would be a poor hypnosis subject is that I'm pretty much completely resistant to advertising, other than those that just present facts about their product. For example, I will, almost always, choose "own brand" products over heavily advertised "big name" brands.

One thing that interest me is how Derren Brown seems able, almost at a glance, to select those people he thinks will be susceptible to his manipulations. I'm confident, for example, that I wouldn't have fallen for the "giraffe" tricks that he used with the lady in the toy shop (if you're familiar with that episode).

Yeah, he says in the book: those that pay attention and scrutinize are easy to hypnotise; those that are half way interested only, they are the dificult ones, they spot the manipulation instantly.

[Feck]

A professional Hypnotherapist failed to make any in roads into my head ( and a couple of shrinks and a pschologist and the CBT lot and 4 normal doctors and lot's of Pschiatric nurses ) ... But we do need to drag Peter to a Meet !

[Gawdzilla Sama]

You have to "play along" with hypnosis for it to work. Surrendering to someone else is not something I do easily.

[Feck]

You have to "play along" with hypnosis for it to work. Surrendering to someone else is not something I do easily.