If you’re a hypnotist, you already have an awesome set of skills. You can help people to make huge changes with hypnotherapy. You may be able to put on amazing stage hypnosis shows and performances. You can probably make changes in your own life using self-hypnosis. But does hypnosis have to be all about helping, performing, working through problems and earning a living? No, it sure doesn’t – in fact, sometimes you can use hypnosis to have fun! So, this blog will show you how you can start using hypnosis for your own enjoyment and entertainment.
Hypnosis can be fun!
When you think about having fun with hypnosis, you might think of ‘street hypnosis’. Now, street hypnosis involves going out and hypnotising random people in public environments and having them do fun stuff whilst hypnotised, such as sticking them to lamp posts, or making them think you’re a celebrity. However, for many hypnotists, this can be a little far outside of their comfort zones (especially for those who’re not hypnotic entertainers by trade). So, this blog isn’t about street hypnosis, instead, it is more about things that you can do in the here and now, and even in the comfort of your own home, to have fun with hypnosis. That said, if you’d like to learn more about doing proper street hypnosis, I wrote another blog on that topic!
Not-on-the-street hypnosis
So, similar to street hypnosis (but slightly different), you might simply hypnotise your friends for a bit of fun. This takes away the unknown factor of having to find someone to hypnotise ‘on the street’. You might do this with a group of friends, using a suggestibility test to find which of your friends will be the best subjects, then choosing the most responsive ones to hypnotise, or you may do it one-on-one, and work within the limitations of what that person can do in hypnosis. As you likely know, all people respond differently in hypnosis, so you will get some good subjects who’re able to achieve many different types of ‘hypnotic phenomena‘, and others who will respond less well. Just simply having a play around with hypnotic suggestion, and seeing which kinds of suggestions people will respond to in hypnosis can be a lot of fun.
As an example, you may start off with suggestions for catalepsy (not being able to move a body part), then move onto amnesia (forgetting something, such as a forgetting their name), then move onto suggestions for anaesthesia (reduction of sensation/pain, which you might test with a ‘pinch’ on the back of their hand), then finally moving on to hallucinations (getting them to see something in the room that isn’t actually there). For more details on different types of suggestions that you could use, and when you should use them, check out my book, the Stage & Street Hypnosis Handbook (which also has a whole bunch of scripts in it too)!
The hypnotic holiday
A great, fun way to use hypnosis, is to give someone a ‘hypnotic holiday’. Hypnotise your subject, and take them, in their imagination, to a holiday destination. You can discuss with them beforehand the place that they’d love to go to, and what they’d like to do there, so that you can include specific details during the hypnosis session. Otherwise, you can simply keep it very broad and allow them to ‘fill in the blanks’. For example:
“Imagine that you’re now in your ideal holiday destination… Take a moment to soak up the surroundings… Enjoy being there, in your own way… Get a sense of the sights, sounds, smells and feelings there in that place… Take a moment to appreciate everything you notice, and just how good you feel… Now, I’d like you to imagine that you’re about to do your favourite holiday activity, whatever that might be… Imagine yourself there now, doing that thing that you want to do… enjoying that activity and getting the very most from it… With every second that passes, the enjoyment grows and grows… Take a little time now, to simply enjoy doing that…”
As you can see, that example didn’t go into detail about anything specifically, so it could be applied to pretty much any holiday destination, from Barbados to the North Pole, and any activity, from getting a tan by the pool, to bungee jumping out of a helicopter! A key thing to remember with this, is to give your subject enough time to enjoy the experience. Don’t whizz through it, take time to pause, and if you’ve asked them to imagine doing something, give them ample time to engage with it (you’re allowed to be quiet whilst they do it, so don’t feel you have to fill in the silence the whole time).
The great thing about the hypnotic holiday is, you will always have people that want to volunteer for it, because it’s great fun! Also, you might even record your own hypnotic holiday session, and use it to take a short break away from reality yourself! In fact, I’m off to the beach right now…
An ‘adult’ experience
Similar to a hypnotic holiday, you might hypnotise a romantic partner for fun, and with a ‘sexier’ end result. Erotic hypnosis can be used to give participants a pleasurable experience, and as I’m sure you’ll agree, erotic experiences are likely to be quite fun (so hey, we’re still on-topic, lol). From simple imaginary sexual scenarios through to much more adventurous and kinky applications, there’s nothing stopping you from using hypnosis in the bedroom (or anywhere else for that matter) with another consenting adult. Hypnosis can be used to create imaginary scenarios (aiding role play), to heighten sensation (or reduce it, as appropriate), or to simply create pleasure ‘on tap’. In fact, many stage and street hypnotists use the ‘hypnotic orgasm handshake’ as a quick way to do this!
Though erotic hypnosis is not for everyone, many people do use hypnosis in the bedroom. If it’s something you’d like to consider, speak to your partner about it beforehand and chat about what you’d both like to get out of it, and then have a go at using hypnosis to spice things up a little. If you’d like to learn more about what you can do with erotic hypnosis, check out the book ‘Mind Play: A Guide to Erotic Hypnosis‘ by Mark Wiseman – it has great reviews, and will give you a solid foundation of information that will help you to safely and responsibly engage in using hypnosis for sexy time.
Triggered responses
Finally, another fun thing you can do with hypnosis is to experiment with hypnotic ‘triggered responses’. Give your subject the suggestion that when ‘X’ happens, so ‘Y’ will happen. This is similar to the story of Milton Erickson (a key figure in hypnosis history), who told one of his clients in hypnosis, that when he got home he would feel an irresistible urge to mail (post) him a dollar bill, and that it would play on his mind until he actually followed through and did it. The client reported that he resisted and resisted (for days and weeks), but eventually he just had to do it so that he could stop thinking about it. Dr Erickson had a great sense of humour, and love to push the boundaries of what could be done with hypnosis. So, why not have a go at this yourself? You have the opportunity to be super creative, and you can see how your subject responds. Here are a few examples to get you thinking:
“When you touch your nose you will go back into hypnosis.”
“When you go into the kitchen to get food, you will immediately forget what you were looking for.”
“Whenever you go on your mobile phone, you will immediately message me with a random word.”
When setting up triggers, ensure that they’re safe, and that they are ‘time limited’ if necessary. So, with the first example above, you would want to be with the subject when this happens, as you don’t want them just going into hypnosis randomly somewhere else, as that could be dangerous. Also, with the second example, you might want to put a time limit on it, or suggest that it only happens the first time, otherwise they may end up getting pretty hungry if they keep going into the kitchen and coming back out empty handed!
Now go and have some hypnotic fun!
Whatever you choose to do in order to have fun with hypnosis, always ensure that the safety and well-being of your subject is at the forefront of your mind, because you want your subjects to have a fun experience too. By ensuring that the people you hypnotise go away feeling good, you’ll get lots of positive feedback, and they will happily tell other people how good it was when you hypnotised them, meaning you’ll get more people volunteering in the long run!
