Saw a post on one of the various internet hypnosis community type forums I sometimes inhabit in which a fellow was bragging about how fast his induction is for his stage hypnosis show. Ten minutes . . . not counting pretalk and audience suggestibility effects and all the rest. Well, I had a show last week . . . so you know it's going to happen . . . yep, here's my induction!

If you can't see the video, then go to my damned blog at https://briandavidphillips.net/ or the youtube page at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mzK-w9jLeQ where you can see it in glorious bigass high definition.

Yes, that youtube timer thingie says two minutes and seven seconds and that includes the time used up by the front and back title cards and the set up so compared to the amazing speed of a ten minute induction it certainly sails along.  In all fairness, this was actually slower than it could have been as I was working through interpretation and so had several beats where I had to wait for the Chinese translation to finish. Also, in all fairness, I did have a pretalk and I did do some playful suggestibility effects with the audience before having these folks sit on stage and do the induction proper . . . but this was indeed the entire hypnosis induction.

Of course, for a stage show, it's not really how fast your induction is that matters . . . it's whether or not you're being entertaining and fulfilling the expectations of the audience and then surpassing those expectations. The effects don't even have to be jaw-droppingly difficult . . . they can be simple and elegant and still be jaw-droppingly entertaining.

Speed is NOT the goal of a hypnosis shows.  Heck, hypnosis isn't even the primary goal.  The primary purpose of any hypnosis entertainment is to ENTERTAIN, pure and simple . . . so be competent at hypnosis (I've tons of kool products at http://www.briandavidphillips.net/store that can help you in the regard and certainly taking live courses from me will turbocharge those skills) but you also need to be entertaining . . . you can't skimp on the hypnosis or the entertainment.

Fast inductions impress other hypnotists but unless you are doing them with some flair or have other entertaining bits then they have no real entertainment value.  Likewise, slower inductions can be very entertaining but you need to make sure you are delivering more entertainment than induction.  The ritual alone is not enough.

I have set pieces that I almost always do but for the most part get the feel of the audience.  Sometimes I will work with individuals and use separate inductions and sometimes will do some slower group bits or a speed bit that takes us right into the gags.  I read my audience and then go with it.

However, while I am certified DGH (Damned Good Hypnotist), it isn't just the hypnosis that folks have come for when they come out for my shows . . . they're also there for the entertainment so I do suggestibility gags, waking hypnosis, influence setup demonstrations, and tell a lot of jokes (I have a natural improvisational conversational style so I don't use canned material, ever – I do teach communicative public speaking and influence at a major university so it's not like I don't know what I'm doing and in addition to being an Associate Professor at that university with a PhD from another high falutin' university, I am also a professionally trained actor with both undergraduate and graduate degrees in theatre and communication so I am no stranger to the two boards and a passion – side note, I do teach professional workshops for actors that employ trance techniques and I use improvisational comedy and standup comedy techniques as part of my course programs at the university).

In any case . . . that's my induction from last weekend.  It is substantially faster than some ten or seven or even five minute induction . . . yes, I do indeed rock, but if I couldn't deliver a punchline in a natural or engaging way, my show would suck . . . which it doesn't . . . because . . . as I might have mentioned in my own clightly more than a whole lot narcissistic way previously . . . I rock . . . lots.

Please note . . . some of this post may have been written with tongue planted firmly in cheek.

All the best,
Brian

(If you are reading this blog post via a stream, go to https://briandavidphillips.net/ to access the full post with any videos or photos included.)

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com] 
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard 
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan