Ask a Hypnotist

I've been studying hypnosis since middle school, and judging by some of the threads that my searches have turned up, some people here are more than a little misinformed about exactly what I do, and what I can and can't do. There are probably better hypnotists out there, and there are definitely some techniques that I haven't gotten the hang of yet--but I can certainly answer most questions on the topic. Any takers?

Just what can a hypnotist do and what is hype or misinformation? I saw one a few years ago and some of the things that he had people do was hilarious and totally out of character for some of the people.

How do you hypnotize people? Can you do it without people knowing that you are?

Well, I actually mentioned a little of that on one of my other posts in my thread, "When Lies Need to be Told."

A second example is the wildly differing stories regarding hypnosis. Laymen typically fall into two camps: the people who see hypnosis as B-movie mind control, and the people who believe that it's just a parlor trick. The truth is, you can make people do some pretty outrageous things under hypnosis. Anything you can talk someone into doing, you can hypnotize someone into doing--and there are people who can talk people into doing just about anything--but all it really does is expedite the process.
Hypnosis only works as a mind control mechanism when combined with conditioning or other brainwashing methods--and that's a bit of a pain to do, since you need consent for the initial induction and multiple sessions before it starts to sink in. But when you explain that to a layman, the immediate reaction is "Oh, no! He can control my mind! Get away from me, you diabolical psycho!" So, rather than inspire paranoia with a complex and easy to misinterpret truth, I allow subjects to believe that I have no more power over them than what they give me--which, technically, is true for most of them.

As for how it's done, there are almost a hundred formal inductions--my personal favorite is a progressive relaxation technique, because it's simple, lets the subject do most of it themselves, and can actually be used over the the internet. Basically, you get the subject to start breathing manually, and start to associate inhaling with gathering tension, and exhaling with releasing it outward. If you do it right, the subject practically hypnotizes herself.
A lot of people talk about/live in fear of/want money to teach you "covert hypnosis," but in reality most of what they call hypnosis is just fast-talk--Bavarian fire drills and the like that take advantage of people's trust in authority.

The one that I saw got a man to stand up and yell "I just wet my pants and I love it" as loud as he could before a crowd of about 2000 people when he heard a certain word.

Ever seen someone orgasm on cue?

You have just got to be good.

So I just cant hypnotize some gorgeous girl and make her fall in love with me and marry me without her knowing it and it being something that she may do any way?

Pretty much--it'd be easier to just charm her like I did. Less risk of getting slapped. :p

Can hypnosis really be used to loose weight or quit smoking? My mom used to have tapes she would listen to at night but they never worked for her.

Well, mine tried it (with a different hypnotist) to control her appetite, and she thinks it worked--remember, it's as much suggestion as anything else. One of the many factors that affect what a hypnotist can do is what the subject thinks the hypnotist can do.

ive been wanting to see a hypnotist for a while now but couldn't find any im my region,

i mainly wanted to find out a few stuff from my sub-conscious,

i heard that when in a hypnotic state your sub-conscious sort of takes over

so is this possible?

Pretty much, yeah--it's sort of like running DOS on a computer.

Can someone hypnotize themselves?

Yeah--I don't know how to do it myself (partly due to a neurological disorder that makes me nearly immune to hypnosis), but I know plenty of people who can.

It would be nice to be able to hypnotize yourself to remember everything that you have ever learned in college, or to have a photographic memory.

Originally posted by MBF
How do you hypnotize people? Can you do it without people knowing that you are?

This jist... you bypass their critical thinking.
Doing it without people knowing it - yes, it can be done, actualy it's done all the time (by you too!) Heck, we all go through many levels of consciousness all day and night. People just associate hypnosis with a deeper level because they equate it with just the 'trance like state' or on stage stuff.

As a cirtified hypnotherapist and NLP tech - I urge everyone to be sure your getting true and real information from someone with the proper education. I worry about the integrety of the field.

Originally posted by Makoto
The truth is, you can make people do some pretty outrageous things under hypnosis. Anything you can talk someone into doing, you can hypnotize someone into doing--

Hypnosis only works as a mind control mechanism when combined with conditioning or other brainwashing methods

Let me correct / add in a bit...
1st, you cannot 'make' people do anything. Hypnosis is not a lie-detector, it is not a 'trace' and it is not a loss of conntrol. (And people can't get 'stuck' in hypnosis iether.)

2nd, Hypnosis is not a mind control anything. The subconscious mind is more open to possitive suggestions when we let the conscious mind drift / wonder / relax etc. If something is against a belief or value, or even if the person just has some issue that we need to deal with first before proceeding on with the session... not only will the subconscious mind 'kick it out', but most people will immediately come out of hypnosis.

Originally posted by MBF
It would be nice to be able to hypnotize yourself to remember everything that you have ever learned in college, or to have a photographic memory.

Actualy, the subconscious mind stores EVERYTHING you've ever read, seen, heard, learned etc. It's all there! Hypnosis can help you access things you've 'misplaced' in the vast memory. It can also help you to better catalog what your learning so you can retrieve it better :-)

Originally posted by AngelaLadyS

Originally posted by MBF
It would be nice to be able to hypnotize yourself to remember everything that you have ever learned in college, or to have a photographic memory.

Actualy, the subconscious mind stores EVERYTHING you've ever read, seen, heard, learned etc. It's all there! Hypnosis can help you access things you've 'misplaced' in the vast memory. It can also help you to better catalog what your learning so you can retrieve it better :-)

So would that mean that a hypnotist can enable you access to this vast database of memories at will?

Originally posted by AngelaLadyS

Originally posted by MBF
It would be nice to be able to hypnotize yourself to remember everything that you have ever learned in college, or to have a photographic memory.

Actualy, the subconscious mind stores EVERYTHING you've ever read, seen, heard, learned etc. It's all there! Hypnosis can help you access things you've 'misplaced' in the vast memory. It can also help you to better catalog what your learning so you can retrieve it better :-)

Can a person hypnotize them self to do this? If so, how?

Originally posted by MBF

So would that mean that a hypnotist can enable you access to this vast database of memories at will?

You bet! It's an awsome thing... one of the most WOW! examples I can come up with at this moment... taking a person that grew up as a small child (birth to 3 or 4) with grandparents that spoke a different language... this person can't speak the language now, but as the small child he/she had learned and was farmiliar with it. Take them back in a regression and bring them back up with the language still intact - that can go under not knowing a lick of the language and come back up knowing how to speak almost fluintly. (I want to do myself for music... I was an awesome piano player but stopped playing for too many years to remember much).

(sorry about the speeling - fingernails are a bit too long and no time to proof read)