Okay, so I am a sucker for a good voodoo doll (or voodoo wawa as it’s known here in Taiwan) gag for a stage hypnosis show. Heck I have a whole slew of various types of voodoo dolls and I’ll whip those puppies out for entertainment and recreational hypnosis . . . double heck, if truth be told, I’ve actually used voodoo dolls and even action figures in the clinical setting!
The trick to a good voodoo trick is expectancy . . . and an excited imagination.
In this video, I’ve already got the group of trance partner volunteers hypnotized and responsive . . and you can see that I am playing a bit with them. Now, I am a bit what one might considered a bit beyond twisted so with adult groups I may do a bit where I say something along the lines of “I would never do this” as I do something a bit on the creepy side like lick the underarm of the voodoo doll so that they trance partners feel it. Now, here’s the thing about that bit of weirdness . . . and this is an important principle . . . even the low responders tend to respond to that sort of thing as it hits most of us right there in the “man that’s disgusting” center of the imagination . . . and, if they respond to that suggestion, they will tend to respond more powerfully to others that follow . . . ain’t the law of compounding grande! So, you’ve got a great – if a bit creepy – sight gag and you’ve got a mechanism to compound suggestions.
Now, you don’t have to do the lick the underarm thing, you can lick any other part of the anatomy . . . like behind the left knee or go right up there between the legs . . . I don’t recommend the latter unless it’s a show that’s been advertised as an adult show and your volunteers are up for such experiences and even then keep it gentle.
Okay, here’s one example from a recent show of mine at the Comedy Club in Taipei . . .
Now, in that clip you may have noticed that I handed the doll over to an audience member. I called her by name as we’re friends and folks who are familiar with my various youtube videos or my Core Skills DVD set will recognize her as the Drinking Finger gal as well as the Ideomotor gal . . . she volunteered for one of my shows once and we hit it off . . . but anyhoo, she brought some friends to the show who were volunteers for this one and I trusted her to be playful but not painful with her friends. Even so, I was right there ready to take the doll away if things strayed too far. If you do any audience interaction bits like that, you really have to watch out for your trance partner volunteers as sometimes things get a bit beyond out of hand. A friend used to do a “voodoo dildo” bit where the dildos he used as props were connected to the penises of the volunteers who would then feel everything that happened to the dildos. He would then have volunteer ladies come up from the audience who would then do what they would to the penises . . . usually kisses, sucks, and caresses . . . which is all well and good and very entertaining to all concerned . . . until a lady came up and took a dildo and whacked it hard against the edge of the table . . . fun was no longer being had by all and while she in her perverse sadistic mind thought it was great fun, the poor trance partner volunteers (btw, this can be done with males and females with similar effect) were writhing about in agony . . . and that is NOT the makings of a very entertaining comedy hypnosis show.
Always . . . always . . . always care for your volunteers! You can cross all sorts of lines and be amazingly cutting edge but you must never violate the sacred trust of caring for your volunteers. Seriously. That’s as uber-important a principle as they come.
Of course . . . folks who take my upcoming seminar in Hong Kong on STAGE AND SPEED HYPNOSIS (http://www.briandavidphillips.com/training/hkspeedstage.html) set for Feb. 11-13 will be getting a LOT more than just this one simple induction and how to do it right . . . although they will be getting that too.
They will also be getting a whole slew of other inductions along with gags and bits . . . what to do with folks once you’ve hypnotized them . . . the material is great for anyone who wants an edge on entertainment or recreational hypnosis but I will also be demonstrating how to take the material and apply it in the clinic for therapeutic application as well as other contexts.
This is high quality stuff . . . seriously, these are skillsets that go a long way . . . AND . . . folks who sign up NOW get my very comprehensive SPEED HYPNOSIS DVD set, the full thing, as well as the DEMONSTRATIONAL STAGE HYPNOSIS DVD as an added bonus . . . that’s right, an amazing amount of high quality video training YOURS for FREE . . . just for signing up early . . . the bonus videos alone are higher value than the actual Early Bird cost of the tuition . . . yes, you get over US$550 worth of free bonus items AND get an amazing low price for registering for the seminar early . . . for a program that in and of itself is already an incredible high value.
Check out the webpages to get all the info NOW!
For correspondence, information in Chinese, or for questions regarding Chinese interpetation, please contact Lorraine Yuk-Lan Law Phillips at lorraine@briandavidphillips.com.
Chinese Information
http://www.briandavidphillips.com/chinese/c_training.html
English Information
http://www.briandavidphillips.com/training/hkspeedstage.html
