Ok ok, there is thousand of posts about this topic. I just thought I had some specfic questions.

I have a book on hypnosis but I didn't learn anything. I saw a hypnotist that could pass his hands over someone's face and they were asleep. Can someone point me to a book that I can learn this? Also, in Kentism there is an effect were you "put a spectator into a trace when they look at your business card. Is this hypnosis or more like a trance?

Thanks for your input

There are two books I would suggest, each approaches the subject from a different angle.

1. The New Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnotism - by Ormond McGill.

This seems to have become a standard reference work for stage performers, and contains LOTS of hypnotic induction techniques.

2. The Art of Hypnosis - by Roy Hunter.

This is more of a primer for hypnosis for hypnotherapy purposes. This book subscribes to the view (which I agree with) that all hypnosis is actually self-hypnosis.

After reading these, or any other decent book on the subject, you'll come to realise that what the hypnotist physically does, or what props he might use, is not really important. It's more about how it's done, since hypnosis is a cooperative state based around suggestion, belief and expectation.

So you could do just about anything to induce hypnosis, provided the other person is receptive and decides to go along with it.

There have been several posts asking about how to learn hypnosis, so this is a copy-and-paste from my post to another such thread:

To really understand NLP, it's a good idea to read the works of its creators, Richard Bandler and John Grinder (who incidentally are no longer working together and have recently been involved in lawsuits with each other).

Their original book was "The Structure of Magic" (2 vols.), aimed at therapists and somewhat difficult reading.

More accessible is their "Frogs into Princes", a transcript of one of their workshops.

To study hypnosis from a show business perspective, a good place to start is Ormond McGill, "New Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnotism" and Jerry Valley, "Inside Secrets of Professional Stage Hypnotism".

From a general and therapeutic point of view, the number of books is absolutely colossal. A fairly good introduction for those new to the subject is Paul McKenna, "The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna", by Britain's leading stage hypnotist, who is also a therapist and trainer.

For the study of old-fashioned direct, authoritarian hypnosis (in a therapeutic context), I would recommend Dave Elman,
"Hypnotherapy", based on transcripts of his seminars for doctors and dentists, and Gil Boyne, "Transforming Therapy", which is mostly transcripts of actual one-to-one hypnotherapy sessions between the author and various clients.

Dr Milton Erickson was the father of the contemporary style of therapeutic hypnosis, which is based on indirect methods, tailored to the individual client. The best parts of NLP were derived from his work. Good introductions to Ericksonian hypnotherapy are Richard Bandler and John Grinder,
"Trance-formations", and Rubin Batttino and Tom South, "Ericksonian Approaches". Erickson's voluminous writings are assembled in "Collected Papers on Hypnosis" (4 vols.), edited by Ernest Rossi.

It also seems as if a new history of hypnosis, from Franz Anton Mesmer in the 18th century to the present, comes out practically every year. Having looked through most of them, it's difficult to single out one as being better than the others. The most recent, "Hidden Depths" (2002) is by Robin Waterfield, who was advised on stage hypnosis by my sometime co-performer and good friend Ron Alexander ("Sleepy Sam").

Richard Webster put out a complete video course on it. "Richard Webster's Hypnotism Show".
Available from Richard or at a real discount from the estate I am helping to liquidate. contact me at dfmagic@optonline.net

For a user friendly set of lessons in Ericksonian hypnosis, let me suggest Solution Oriented Hypnosis by Bill O'Hanlon, a former (kind of redundant, sorry) student of Erickson.

Pyro_magic,

Actually, you learned hypnosis long ago and began doing it every day without realizing so. I could give you examples, but instead I'll just cast another vote for Trance-Formations by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. It's a fantastic book on Ericksonian hypnosis.

And as Grinder said in Frogs Into Princes, "All communication is hypnosis."

- Richard

Don't ever stop learning. Pick up as many different trainings as you can. You never reach a point in any endeavor where you have 'arrived', you are always learning.

I wish everyone would stop referring to Trance-formations. It’s out of print and second hand prices are ridiculous. !!!!!

Howard

As "Trance-formations" is virtually unavailable, two good books which cover much the same ground (i.e. they are a general survey of Milton Erickson's hypnotic methods) are:

Bill O'Hanlon - Solution-Oriented Hypnosis (referred to by Bill above)

Ericksonian Approaches - Rubin Battino and Tom South

They are both in print and should be easy to get at Amazon, etc.

Dr Omni,
Thanks for that info. There are so many books on the subject it is difficult to know which to get.
I have seen those two referred to before. Worth a look then.

Howard

An excellent and very cheap book worth getting a hold of is Auto Hypnosis by Ronald Shone published by Thorsons.
I got mine a while back(1990) I don't know if its still in print. But it has a great description of what hypnosis is and how to use it on yourself. Its great value. And its not Ericksonian!

If you are starting out learning hypnosis keep away from the complex inductions and techniques of Erickson until you have a basic understanding, or it will just confuse you. Once you have a good grounding a lot of Erickson's stuff becomes more obvious.

I read the book above and was hypnotising my self and inducing a lot of hypnotic phenomena. For me that's a good way to understand something try it out on me!

I could induce trance, key-reinduction, catalepsy, I experimented with listening to music while in trance in a very intense way almost like taking drugs without the drugs. Learn from the inside-out


Another book in the same catagory is Self Hypnosis by Charles Tebbets...

You want to learn Hypnosis start basic experiment, experience then move up gradually.

Ericksonian Hypnosis is brilliant and powerful but you'll grasp it easier starting with simple basic techniques.

It will also help when learning to hypnotise others.