Beware the Over Anxious, by Michael Ray
Greetings to all who share a piece of the world of hypnosis. Those of us who are performing, or soon will be, will experience (if they have not already) those who are more than willing to become a participant in your show. BEWARE!! Use caution while choosing your on stage candidates! They can cause much trouble for you.
The most common type is the natural show off. There are at least two problems associated with this type of individual.
First, they can disrupt your induction technique by over acting. When you ask for a deep breath from the group, this person is sucking air in the most animated way possible. This person is already trying to entertain his/her friends. Needless to say, this is the worst time to have your volunteers distracted. Distracted not only by the loud exhale of the volunteer, but also by the laughter of the few “buddies” in the audience.
Second, If the subject is actually kept on stage, he/she will tend to overact during every skit! Sometimes this can be very funny (here is where the judgment call comes in). Other times it is often perceived by your audience that the person is not under but merely being their natural “actor” self!! The greater the CHANGE in character, the more convincing the hypnotic influence. Needless to say, if the comic is being funny……….
THIS ONE SCARED ME. At a recent show at a high school in Upstate NY, The president for the FBLA, who was female, almost killed my reputation!! Following the induction, direct suggestion deepening techniques were being used. (helium balloons, etc.) She slid out of her chair and onto the floor. A minute later she excused herself from the stage. I could see from the stage that she was upset for some reason. Though I hate to break the flow of the show, I went to her seat to investigate. She was in tears. I calmed her and returned to the stage. I addressed the audience explaining that some people make a conscious effort to fight the process and can be at odds with themselves.
Throughout the performance I could still see a problem in her area. The show continued. Following the performance, I was beckoned to her by her friends. She was still obviously shaken. I re induced her and calmed her. I let her know that she was scaring her friends and this worked to bring her back to normalcy. As I was breaking down my equipment, her friends came to me an apologized on her behalf. It seems that she had ingested a handful of UPPERS just prior to the show. NO WONDER SHE COULDN’T RELAX!!! To make matters worse, I was informed that the school was aware that there was a group of the extremely religious who already had a bad taste in their mouth for that “EVIL” Hypnosis. The school principal was sure that they would have representatives attend just looking for one hint that I too was evil and to justify their beliefs.
It was not in the least my fault but it could easily have been misconstrued as such. I later found that neither the audience or school administration had any misgivings regarding the incident and I was asked to return to the school to perform again.
Naturally, using your best judgement in choosing your volunteers is the best combatant. The only thing that will help you to create this character judgement is actually encountering these “problem people.” It is only though experience that you will be able to gain the ability to make the spot decisions regarding this matter.
Hypnotically Yours, Michael Ray, for Hypnostage Magazine
You can become a hypnotist too, and learn how to hypnotize someone easily, in fact more easily than you may think!