Hypnosis / NLP in Mentalism

KeithH · **Joined:** 15 Oct 2009 **Posts:** 3

Hi Guys,

Does anyone know any books/publications that apply hypnosis and/or NLP to mentalsim?

Whist I'm on the subject, what are people's opinions on using hypnosis/NLP/psychological techniques to perform mentalism effects versus just using straight-forward trickery? I know lots of people say "why bother using psychological techniques, which don't even always work, when you can just use a trick". I like the psychological side of mentalism and am interested in trying out combinations of magic and pyschology, such that there is a safety net if the psychology doesn't work! Any thoughts?

Cheers

miniserb725 · **Posted:** Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:28 pm

Building Blocks by Luker Jermay is a great place to get some foundations of suggestion in your work.

-JT

akirafist · **Posted:** Tue Nov 10, 2009 6:15 pm

http://www.penguinmagic.com/specialorde ... p?ID=11664

Quote:

The Manchurian Approach by Alakazam - DVD

The Effect
Whether it is to satisfy a fascination with hypnosis, the desire to mix hypnosis with your magic or you want to be able to perform impromptu hypnotism this DVD is for you.

Aimed at amateur and professional magicians and mentalists, this unique DVD is aimed solely at performance hypnosis. As well as interview-style explanations and training we include footage of taking these skills to the street and public bars. You will gain the confidence, attitude, patter and techniques required to excel including:

* Handshake Induction
* Hypno Force
* Hypno Peek
* Covert Pre-show
* Reverse Mind Reading

Anthony Jacquin has over ten years experience as a hypnotist and is the author of the best-selling book: "Reality is Plastic – The Art of Impromptu Hypnosis" On "The Manchurian Approach" he shares a new genre of magical performance. Mixing his love of mentalism with his hypnotism skills, together with Kev Sheldrake he has created a performance style and technique capable of producing some of the most mind-blowing mental effects.

On this three-disc set you will learn, in detail, Anthony’s approach to impromptu hypnosis – no prior knowledge is required – the first part of this set will guide you through everything you need to know in order to become the hypnotist. The second part takes the format of a discussion forum where Anthony is joined by mad genius, Kev Sheldrake and fellow hypnotist and magician Amit Badiani. In this section you will get a detailed look at some of the principles and applications of the techniques taught to magic and mentalism performances.

Hypno forces and hypno peeks are examples of the covert pre-show techniques that are available to a hypnotizing mentalist. The Reverse Mind Reading effect takes these concepts a step further, producing an unlimited ability to read a mind with the minimum of hypnotic pre-show work.

Concepts

* Become The Hypnotist. Learn an observation/attitude-based hypnosis model.
* Learn how to perform with hypnosis. Apply it to magic and mentalism.
* No history and theory lessons. Just tuition and demonstration
* Mixture of interview-style discussions and public performances.

Contents

Part 1:
Through clear demonstrations you will learn a solid but flexible approach to hypnotizing. This is covered in detail in the following segments:

* Introduction and approaching a group
* Subject selection
* Set Up
* The set piece – magnetic hands, magnetic fingers & the heavy card
* Inductions – eye to hand fixation and the handshake induction
* Fractionation
* Testing
* Re-Induction
* Suggestion
* Catalepsy
* Corpsing
* Amnesia

Part 2:

Further explanation and demonstration to cover in-depth more specialized knowledge and the applications of hypnosis to specific genres of magic and mentalism including:

* Hypno Forces
* Hypno Peeks
* Hallucinations
* Control
* Post-Hypnotic Act
* Managing reaction
* Permanosis
* Covert pre-show applications
* Reverse mind reading

bucky310 · **Posted:** Tue Nov 10, 2009 8:35 pm

KeithH wrote:

Hi Guys,

Does anyone know any books/publications that apply hypnosis and/or NLP to mentalsim?

Whist I'm on the subject, what are people's opinions on using hypnosis/NLP/psychological techniques to perform mentalism effects versus just using straight-forward trickery? I know lots of people say "why bother using psychological techniques, which don't even always work, when you can just use a trick". I like the psychological side of mentalism and am interested in trying out combinations of magic and pyschology, such that there is a safety net if the psychology doesn't work! Any thoughts?

Cheers

For an NLP beginners book, get Sleight of Mind... should be sold here.
In regards to my opinion on using NLP alongside mentalism... it cannot hurt. However, you NEED that out in case it does not work. The way I like to use NLP, if at all, with my mentalism is to possibly enhance an effect when performing it one on one. Hypnosis can definitely help an effect if you use it properly, but to get to that point takes a lot of study and practice (I for one, just leave hypnosis alone, I know the theory behind it, but I just don't use it). If you were to use those methods instead of just trickery, you are going to fail a lot. Provided you do not follow my above recommendation and leave yourself an out.
The people who say "why use it when it doesn't always work" are right to say it. An effect presented properly will have the exact same reaction generated by a spectator as one performed with only hypnosis or nlp. I know you are intending on using the safety net, but it basically sounds like you've seen some Derren Brown sort of stuff and you want to perform things like him. If that is the case, it might not be... I'll give you that, Derren VERY rarely uses hypnosis on people and has never admitted to using NLP on people. Lots of the time there is pre-work done before the cameras are rolling and it is done on someone who he has selected, basically a person who is easily hypnotized and re-tranced. From there on out, it is just trickery that he uses, just presented with a clever "psychological" view on it.
So basically all I am saying is, do not rely heavily on hypnosis and nlp to produce effects similar to those that mentalists can do with trickery. Hypnosis can be a very entertaining stage show on its own, if presented as hypnosis; NLP very rarely can stand on its own and often times needs a safety blanket such as trickery; and finally, psychological effects really don't do much, and most often need to have trickery behind them as well. But it is always a good idea to read up on these things and educate yourself about them. At the very least you have 2 benefits out of it 1) you can explain, with a good confusing quality, how you are able to do the things you can (e.g. by saying "well it's all just neuro-linguistic-programming")... usually people just accept such things and move on and 2) it gives you a good background on these subjects which, in turn, allows you to better your performing ability. So good luck with whatever you end up doing.

PGoutis01 · **Joined:** 24 Mar 2007 **Posts:** 233

The first two that came to mind were:

Sleight of Mind (book)
The Manchurian Approach - DVD (or the book Reality is Plastic by the same author)

But if you want "pseudo hypnosis" which is just as effective and is what is used more often (in my opinion) when it comes to mentalism - Kenton Knepper has a few books on the subject. To name the ones that I have:

Kentonism (start with this one)
Twists and Trance (I really enjoyed this one)
Trance This!
Signs of Influence (I would call this Kentonism 2 - it's basically the same with a bunch of new routines and props)

If you like Kenton's thinking you can take his X principle and Q and make that all into hypnotism style mentalism. In fact Q addresses that specifically.

And there's the classic that most of this stuff is based off of - Telepathy in Action by Orville Meyer.

Keep in mind that the Kenton stuff and the Orville Meyer book aren't real hypnosis. But from the audience's perspective it looks like people are hypnotized and that's why you're able to read their minds. From the helper's point of view - they can't figure out what's going on and how you know so much. So even they start to question their state of mind.

I'm not sure if this answers your question. But it seems that this is safer and looks the same. I like using this kind of stuff on people that say they can't be hypnotized. And when you're "bringing them out of it" you add a line about how they will never recall being hypnotized and no matter how much people ask them - they will know that they weren't hypnotized. Or something to that effect. It's a double bind and they really can't say or "expose" anything. Especially since they still don't know how the magic was done.

KeithH · **Joined:** 15 Oct 2009 **Posts:** 3

Thanks every one for the suggestions/replies. There's quite a few that look really interesting and I shall be looking at. I shall be really busy! :-)

@PGoutis01,
I like the idea of psuedohypnosis, I'll definately take a look at the Kenton Knepper books.

@bucky310,
thanks for your thoughts on NLP/hypnosis in mentalism. You make some good points I found myself nodding along to. I think though, that in a show it might be ok to do a trick or two that have no safety net (!). I reccon if it fails or only half works it will make the whole performance seem more genuine (even the tricks). What I like about Derren's work is that he mixes the trickery and psychology/hypnosis to an extent that you can't be completely sure sometimes what you are looking at. I do agree though that much of the hypnosis he does is presented out of context somewhat.

Hypnosis / NLP in Mentalism

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