I was recently inspired by a YouTube video by Nick Davies, Mind Magician, where Mr. Davies asks a willing volunteer to pick a card from a deck, and he attempts to “read her mind” to identify the card. The setting is informal. It’s in someone’s home, and with the gleeful squeals children’s voices in the background, there is no pretense of actually reading her mind. In fact, it appears that Mr. Davies is coaching someone else in the camera’s frame on how to perform this feat.

The premise here is that when we communicate, the words we use in conversation actually amounts to about 40% of all the information that is actually being conveyed, (J. Navarro, M. Karlins, What Every Body Is Saying; Harper-Collins, 2008.) The rest is all non-verbal communication. As in Ikebana, the venerable Zen-like art of Japanese flower arranging, the spaces in between and around the subject is an integral component of the whole composition, and therefore, has significance. By using our awareness and developing our abilities of perceptual acuity, we can train to perceive and register minute details. We can learn how to see the facial tics, hear the pauses, watch the eye movement, pupil dilation, changes of skin color, nods, shrugs, micro-expressions that last for tenths of a second, among many other “tells” that we are largely unaware of doing, and therefore, almost never see.

The Structure of the Exercise

Because I had just been talking about expanding one’s perceptual acuity, I adapted this and brought a deck of cards with me to a recent Hypno MeetUp. After settling into our seats, I produced my deck of cards and explained how we would try this exercise. By using an ordinary deck of playing cards in an experimental and playful setting, we would create a non-personal context where micro-expressions can be elicited, observed and used in “guessing” a target card. What looks like ESP or mind-reading is actually doing “a read” on someone’s non-verbal communication.

The task of the reader is to try to observe any cues that give away the identity of the card as the reader mentions the various attributes of the deck. The task of the subject is not to mask or thwart the attempts of the reader to pick out genuine micro-expressions of the face and body. The objective of the subject is to mentally project a thought, in this case, a playing card. There is no competition or testing. It’s merely a skill-developing exercise, comparable to practicing scales on a piano.

Pick A Card. No, Not That One!

I had NM pick a card and look at it. I coached him to say the card, silently to himself. I encouraged him to shout it silently to himself. Picture the card. See the card, and expand it to the size of a poster, or a painting in a museum. Blow it up big, really BIG. Silently bellow out that card, turn it into a cheer! Shout it, silently in his mind and make the colors and the details of the card brighter, more vivid. And as he held that impression of the card, I began to talk about the choices I could make about the attributes of the card that he picked. Whether it’s a  RED card or a BLACK card. I kept repeating variations of that choice until I think I see an unconscious signal. Then I made my choice and asked him directly if my choice was correct.  Was it a RED card? And then I continued. A number card, a face card. Odd, even, male, female, what suite it is, high numbered or low numbered. Many of us got to participate in the fun, experimental exercise. And most of us faired about an 80% success rate in getting the right card with very few wrong attributes.

As a scientific experiment, this protocol is quite flawed. But as an exercise, it was fun to do and we all learned a few things after having done it. Doing more exercises of this type can help increase one’s perceptual acuity, not to mention one’s confidence, that such skills can be developed and used to help hypnotists and NLP practitioners alike.

This week I was inspired by some videos of a Japanese hypnotist. All I can gather is that on Google videos, he’s referred to as Red, as in “Red Hypnosis DX-9″ and all the videos of him that I found had a theme of erotic hypnosis. Red induced trances by fixing the subject’s gaze with a pocket penlight, similar to what a physician might carry in their breast pocket. In other inductions, Red also used a red, Zippo lighter by using the flame and the loud, distinctive metallic click of the lighter’s lid snapping shut. See the video below. It’s entirely in Japanese. No subtitles.

When I got ready to go to the HypnoMeet, I decided to give this approach a try. I don’t have a Zippo lighter or a working penlight. So instead, I brought my Infinity Trance Projector with me. This device is nothing more than a child’s toy that I purchased last Autumn at a greeting card shop. This $3 novelty is a series of battery-operated colored LED’s with 5 blinking patterns. One pattern is a slow, cycling morphing of all the colors. I bought it that day because I thought that it would be a goof to use it for hypnosis some day.

Core Group Braves the Cold To Get Their Hypno-Fix

The news weatherman said it was going to be the coldest night of the season so far. Altogether, nine people defied the icy winds to come out to the HypnoMeet.  There were couple of faces present that we hadn’t seen in awhile, E and also V, the founder of the group. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these hypno-junkies from getting their weekly fix. Ha ha.

Soon after claiming a table and settling down, we got into a discussion about Dr. Herbert Spiegel, a clinical professor at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. He’s the person who came up with the Eye-Roll Test that reportedly can gauge a person’s susceptibility to being hypnotized.

The Debut of The Infinity Trance Projector

We went on about whether the Eye-Roll Test was a real test or yet another pre-induction induction (set-piece) like Magnetic Fingers and the like. I thought, what a great lead-in to try out my Infinity Trance Projector! I withdrew it from my pocket and showed it to D. I have never used this before in a hypnotic context. The timing couldn’t be better. I held it above D’s eye level from across the café table, turned it on, and began a patter. In less than a minute or two, I had eye-closure and I began to deepen his trance. I gave him some suggestions about accessing his learnings from his recently completed hypnosis seminar and then I brought him out. He verified that it was an interesting experience and that the device was a fun way to be led into a trance state.

Soon after, M showed up and she was curious to be caught up on what she had missed from arriving late. Well, I thought, what a great lead-in to try out my Infinity Trance Projector! Again, I withdrew it from my pocket and showed it to her. Her fascination with the mysterious, alien-looking chrome device soon gave way to nervous jocular skepticism; always a good sign with M that we’ve got her on the run! So I turned it on to show her and despite her giggling, I finally got her to look inside of it, deep inside of it. When I saw her eyelids flutter, I had her follow my Infinity Trance Projector with her eyes as I brought it down in front of her and got eye closure. I immediately began to deepen her trance, gently rocking her to and fro as I spoke softly and insistently to her, directing her to let go and relax. I brought her out and back in again, repeating this fractionating process three times before I felt that she was finally focussed on my voice. I gave her some suggestions for enhancing her experience at the HypnoMeet, and clearing her head and feeling clear and alert. Then I brought her back out. She seemed to have enjoyed that, as well.

NLP me, baby!

Meanwhile, there was alot of NLP-type activity going on at the table. There were at least three experienced NLP practicioners at the HypnoMeet. V worked on M2 and attempted to work on M with this new variation of EFT. I didn’t catch the full name. If anyone from the HypnoMeet is reading this and can remember it, please put it in a comment below. Then J worked with M for a bit, trying to get her to loosen up a bit more because she declined an invitation to do an induction. Also, M3 worked with D for about an hour, accessing a resourceful state and anchoring it, as D has just experienced some recent life changes. M3 is a licensed hypnotherapist and it’s very generous of him to provide that sort of experience when he comes to the HypnoMeet.

All in all, I had another awesome night at the HypnoMeet.

At last night’s HypnoMeet, D was hypnotizing R at the table. D just got certified as a hypnotist and I can already see the impact it is having on pumping up his confidence. His delivery is more sure and his cadence is more even. He had R going pretty deep when I returned to the group with my cup of hot green tea. It seemed that I had returned just in time to catch some more deepening techniques which included fractionation and lifting and dropping R’s limp arm. Then D tested the depth of trance with a stuck hand suggestion. Now, R is very new to all this. Last night was only her second time at the HypnoMeet and she is still a little skittish about losing control, even though she seems to be an excellent subject; perhaps even a natural somnambulist. Her hand did not stick. With her eyes still closed, she acknowledged the event with spontaneous giggling. D moved on and soon brought her out of trance and back to the café.

Utilization As A Possible Save

During the recap, we discussed how it felt and how it all went and what we observed and learned. One of the things that I mentioned was that perhaps D might have stuck with the hand stuck part a little longer. I suggested we really don’t know how deep R was at that point; how much of her mind was still in trance. I offered that he might have tried utilizing the turn of events by saying something on the order of; “Perhaps the right hand to stick to your thigh is the one you left behind and you can relax now and enjoy the sensation of being aware that your other hand is firmly glued to your leg and you can laugh about that too because it’s really OK that you have one hand that’s stuck while the other hand is free. You wanted see if you could move that free hand, and you did and yet your stuck hand remains on your thigh and you want it to be stuck there until I give you the direction to make it unstuck.”

When we were brought out of trance, C was sitting at the table. He’d stealthily insinuated himself beside D just before we were emerged. Never heard him coming! Soon after, K and K arrived and the conversation got animated again. We got to talking about cold-reading and mentalism and automatic writing. I had wanted to do an abbreviated progressive muscle relaxation induction on M but time slipped by and we were soon saying farewells to M and D.

By the way, if any of my fellow HypnoMeet people read this blog post, I welcome you to add what ever I may have unintentionally deleted, or give further color to your contribution to the events that I try to reconstruct and describe here.

Not that  it was a bad thing, not at all! Throughout the evening, we indulged in very animated conversation. K has a lot of experience with the Seduction Community. I believe she’s also certified as a hypnotist and NLP as well, and has done some coaching on pick-up and seduction skills. K and I have never really spoken that much with each other before about hypnosis and NLP. She seemed curious to hear about what I had to say. In a way, I felt as if I was now coaching her on my perspectives regarding covert hypnosis,  NLP techniques such as sliding anchors, having a clear intention, and future pacing in a business meeting. We talked nearly non-stop about opening sets and intent and utilization, among all sorts of other things. H seemed fascinated and participated with enthusiasm.

Then K brought up the induction that I do that I call “Sliding Thumbs.” Apparently, C told her about it and had demonstrated it on her. She then tried it on a friendly bartender and she swears she got 3 free drinks as a result of it! Now she wanted to see it done again and she wanted me to demonstrate it on her friend. I asked H if she wanted to be hypnotized and she gave her enthusiastic consent. So, I did “Sliding Thumbs” and she dropped. Did a little deepener and soon brought her back out, feeling better than she had before.

It turned out to be one of those nights that sped by. We stayed until the café closed and that’s when C met up with us outside by the big, glass doors. They were going to go to a diner and talk some more, but I had some work to do back home, so I said my farewells and separated there.

We had a good turn-out at D&D Café tonight. Seven folks, all together. I arrived with S and discovered that hypnosis was occurring already. C had M in a hypnotic trance while the others just chatted. M was very pleased with his hypnotic session; something to do with pacing himself at his work. C was utilizing M’s marathon runner experiences and anchoring that to an object of M’s choice that could be found at his office. Very nicely done. M2 asked me to put D under hypnosis and give him a marijuana high. I’ve never done that before but I saw Derren Brown’s video about hypnotically making some guy intoxicated. I briefly interviewed D about his previous experiences with pot and then I start my induction. I got D into a trance with an induction that I developed in the bath. More than a few routines are composed by me while I’m in the bath. So I do this slow-hand hypnotic induction and D goes into trance.. After I deepen his trance, I get him to access his memories of recent, pleasant experiences of being stoned. We do a walk through of rolling a joint and taking his first hit, and I alter his time perception to speed up the process a bit. Then I had him indicate to me just how high he felt. On a scale from 1-10, he said that he was a 6-7. Then I did a post-hypnotic suggestion involving my pen as a roach. Every time I casually bring it up to my lips, he feels more stoned. Then I had him open his eyes. They looked stoned! We talked about the experience. He said his mouth was dry and his hearing was peculiarly acute. Then he was about to say something but he forgot what he was going to say! We all laughed about that. As we continued our group’s conversation, I occasionally brought my pen to my lips and watched as his eyes tracked my pen. He later told us that although he remembered hearing the post-hypnotic suggestion, and he did feel more stoned when I did that, as if he wanted to “go with it”. That was very rewarding.

“Your Hand Is Stuck To The Table!”

Then I rejoined M, S and C and we were talking about hypnotic phenomena. We started talking about how I came up with a way to force four fingers into being stuck to the table when I asked C if he would give me his hand for a moment. I proceeded to go into a demonstration of setting up a person’s hand for a hand stuck and I saw an opportunity to trance C so I took it. I just started doing it. I never had C close his eyes. I felt myself go into trance as I got his hand stuck to the the table. At one point, I could of had C close his eyes and go deep but I was digging on doing this with his eyes totally open and S and M just sat there, amazed. Then, I unstuck the hand. It worked great. I definitely owe a nod to James Rolph who I first heard and saw do this technique on his informative blog. You can see for yourself if you go to his hypnosis blog at http://hypnosiswithouttrance.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/hand-stick-mystery/

D and M2 were doing a stoned induction and M2 was sad that D ended it. So I put her under hypnosis by having her close her eyes and tapped her on the forehead while getting her to imagine a movie screen. I had her replay D’s induction and gave her back her buzz. For a while, anyway.

The party set-up was way less than ideal. In a crowded lounge, we had a tiny corner by the entrance of the room. One sofa and two chairs for our group of over a dozen meant that we were standing around, jockeying for a place to sit like we were playing Musical Chairs. The “interesting subjects” were ensconced and out of reach, leaving me to talk to some IT-type guys. My girlfriend and I migrated to the bar and perched on the last two remaining bar stools. Then it got really crowded. Like rush-hour subway car crowded! Everyone was either shouting or texting into their phones because the DJ had the volume cranked up really loud. I read somewhere that if a bar plays music loud enough to make normal conversation impossible, they actually will sell more drinks. Well, that looks like the operating principle of NYC bars who draw a 30-and-under clientele.

The lesson that I came away with tonight was that attitude and confidence are so important to the mindset of a hypnotist. If these elements are not in a positive place, if I’m not jazzed up about doing it, it makes the opportunity to hypnotize someone, anyone,  almost seem like an insurmountable task.

Needless to say, I didn’t allow myself a real opportunity to consult my cheat sheet and go to town on unsuspecting patrons. I think I’ve got to work on adjusting my attitude going in and just start doing it.

Small turn-out at the MeetUp tonight. Just D, C and myself.  We started out mostly talking about new inductions and NLP and stuff in general. then I did the Hand Spread Induction on C. I didn’t follow up with any suggestions after he went under. He soon opened his eyes as I started to bring him out. I should have utilized that to fractionate him then but it didn’t occur to me until after the fact. I got too occupied with “Oh, his eyes opened before I finished counting.”

Then we started the “That’s right” exercise, since we had three people. It was C’s first time to do this excellent exercise. I think he dug it. He went under first, in less than 130 seconds. When it was my turn, I was able to let go further than ever before. Maybe because it was C, I don’t know. I do remember considering his utterances of “That’s right” to have felt so reassuring, so “OK”, that I could drift off a little better than usual. I remember almost grinning a few times. We later talked about laughing and utilizing laughter and giggling as part of the induction. I am satisfied that I can hold my own with these guys.

The language student was at the café tonight as well but by herself. She sat next to our tables. It was the only available table. Turns out, she’s the teacher. And her student was a no-show. So I got to tell her what sort of craziness was going on at our table. She seemed politely interested, yet eager to talk.

Near the end of our meeting, one of the guys from the NLP MeetUp showed up, trying to get us to join up for a seminar. He seemed to click with C, as C has also studied NLP. They share a common vocabulary.

M was already there at a 2-person table. All the other tables were fully occupied and I marveled at how full the café was. Perhaps it’s because the weather is much cooler and daylight is already gone, some more people who would be outside by the fountain are now taking refuge inside.

After some introductory conversation, M asks me if I’m ready to go, meaning, start doing inductions. I say “Sure”. Then neither of us say anything else and we’re just staring at each other from across a little café table. It had begun, but I’m still unsure about who’s trancing who. I start playing around with uptime trances and trying to focus my eyes behind his head. I see two eyes, then three eyes, then one eye. So I try to see if I can observe pupil dilation. I can see his pupil, but it’s hard to tell through his glasses. Occasionally, my vision, while peripherally expanded, sometimes begins to get milky around the edges and I feel sleepy. Then it passes and his cyclopian eye turns to triples again then for a second it’s back to normal vision. I’m pacing him and nodding silently to his every twitch and blink. We must’ve done this Elmer Fudd vs Bugs Bunny hypnotic duel for about 7-10 min and then I say “Sleep!” For a microsecond, M hesitates, the faintest smirk on his face as if to say, “Yeah, ok, I’ll give this one to you”, and then his eyelids close. I begin doing deepeners for a while and then bring him out. I’m still not sure if that was a dueling eye-gaze induction or what.

With S, I used the Hand Spread Induction and that worked pretty well. As it turned out, it was his first time experiencing hypnosis. I like to do that one by having someone look at their watchband at eye level and S was the only person besides myself wearing a watch.

When L arrived, I began to talk about an induction that I just composed only a few hours before. It’s an abbreviated progressive relaxation induction from the neck up. I got eye closure just before my induction mentioned her eyelids. After this point, I did some deepeners and then did my first attempt at what I learned from Nathan Thomas‘ blog about Igor Ledochowski’s suggestion about Magic Moments. Basically, it’s content-free changework, using the opportunity of access of the subconscious mind to let it actually select an issue or challenge and allow it to work it through. I’ll have to post that induction up here soon. One of the things L said afterwards was that she liked the metaphor that I’d used for going deeper. Something about a pebble in a lake.