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I went to a really interesting show tonight with a hypnotist. No, I did not volunteer to be hypnotised (as I have explained several times to my brother this evening, I trust no one enough to give them that much power over me), but there were about 15 people up there and it was really interesting to watch. He had said that the most important part of hypnosis was the willingness of the subject and there were a few people that didn't make it deep enough into a trance to go on with the show. There were 11 people that did get that far, and he did things like make one woman unable to say her name and another unable to say the number 6. Then he told people to say certain things when he said a word, like when he said "fun" one woman had to say that she was "the last of the red hot mamas". Another guy would think that his sweater was on backwards every time the hypnotist said the word "hypnotism". At one point he had the women act like male bodybuilders and the men act like ballerinas. He had one guy he instructed to announce that he was Tinkerbell whenever the word "hypnotise" was said. All the instructions were cued to end when the person left the room. After the session one of the volunteers was asking about what she had done, and because she hadn't left the room he was still able to say the cue words and she would feel compelled to say the phrase he had instructed her to say.
There was also this other woman who looked like she had come out of the trance halfway through the show and she totally lost it afterwards. She was just bawling on her husband's shoulder. The people under a trance had been told to accept the laughter and applause as cues to relax further. Imagine suddenly losing that and being up on stage and realizing that you were being laughed at. It was really subtle, but her posture changed. She suddenly became much less relaxed and the hypnotist stopped asking her to do things. She still played along, pretending to fall asleep when instructed and all that. Which is a really interesting psychology lesson in and of itself. I wonder what she would have done if he had called on her to do something.
At the end when he pulled everyone out of their trances he told them that they would wake up each day with new energy and focus on their goals and I wished for a moment that I had volunteered. But I still don't think I would have been able to let go of myself enough to enter a trance. I don't trust people with simple things in everyday life, there's no way I could give someone that much power over me, especially when the potential for abuse is so astronomical. I don't trust anyone that much. Which is an interesting study of who I am, I suppose.
There was also this other woman who looked like she had come out of the trance halfway through the show and she totally lost it afterwards. She was just bawling on her husband's shoulder. The people under a trance had been told to accept the laughter and applause as cues to relax further. Imagine suddenly losing that and being up on stage and realizing that you were being laughed at. It was really subtle, but her posture changed. She suddenly became much less relaxed and the hypnotist stopped asking her to do things. She still played along, pretending to fall asleep when instructed and all that. Which is a really interesting psychology lesson in and of itself. I wonder what she would have done if he had called on her to do something.
At the end when he pulled everyone out of their trances he told them that they would wake up each day with new energy and focus on their goals and I wished for a moment that I had volunteered. But I still don't think I would have been able to let go of myself enough to enter a trance. I don't trust people with simple things in everyday life, there's no way I could give someone that much power over me, especially when the potential for abuse is so astronomical. I don't trust anyone that much. Which is an interesting study of who I am, I suppose.
