Stealing Hypnosis… Featuring Jorgen Rasmussen!

April 2, 2011

Hello HWTers!

So… have you ever seen a hypnotist ‘stealing hypnosis’ from another hypnotist? Well, neither had I until last year at the Change | Phenomena conference when it happened to me!

I was delighted to witness the incredible Jorgen Rasmussen bringing up on stage a volunteer that I had previously ‘hypnotised’ several hours before, then rapidly re-orientating him into the original experience as a set up inducing visual hallucination. To me this was a true joy to watch… a thing of hypnotic beauty, from a true genius of hypnosis and changework.

Now, fortunately, you don’t have to just take my word for it, as Anthony Jacquin and Kev Sheldrake of Head Hacking Research (who organised the conference) have given me permission to show you the clip (heisted from their DVD of the event).

So check out the video and do share your thoughts and ask you questions in the comments section below!

If you are interested in training with Jorgen, he is here in the U.K. later this month!

And you can see the rest of his presentation at Change | Phenomena, along with my own, on the official Change | Phenomena 2010 DVD Set.

P.S. – If you like this post, please ‘LIKE’ it! ↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

About The Author

James Tripp

Hypnotist and Transformative Facilitator. Creator of Hypnosis Without Trance.

Paul L
Log in to Reply April 2, 2011

Hi James

Good video, although I think someone should point out that Milton Erickon once upon a time used the words “tell me what kind, what breed, about what age is that dog there” to induce hypnosis, he called it the suprise technique and did numerous variations on it. Erickson set this up with a pretalk about various hypnoic phenomena and inductions, whilst Jorgen instead did indeed reelicit your hypnosis (I really want to say trance here!), most sneaky.
- James Tripp
  Log in to Reply April 2, 2011
  
  Hi Paul
  
  True, similar to Erickson’s words… beautifully delivered nonetheless!
  
  J
  - Joergen Rasmussen
    Log in to Reply April 3, 2011
    
    Hey James.
    
    thanks a lot for this …. much apppreciated.
    
    i am enjoying your blog , its great , although I have to say that this was my favorite piece so far.
    
    Btw , I have been playing with a new utilisation of your hand stick technique where I use it as a metaphor with people who are seriously depressing or stuck in some sort of symptom.
    
    i will show it to you in doncaster , looking forward to seeing you there.
    
    Jørgen
    - James Tripp
      Log in to Reply April 3, 2011
      
      Cool! I often use the card stick as a transforamtive tool for dealing with ‘stuckness’. We’ll have to compare and contrast.
      
      Looking forward to Doncaster greatly.
      
      James
- Joergen Rasmussen
  Log in to Reply April 3, 2011
  
  Hi Paul.
  
  You are correct. This is a variation on Milton Erickson s old surprise technique and he certainly deserves credit for it…. I have been massively inspired and influenced by his work.
  
  What I wanted to demo was the following : a lady had asked about anchoring in relation to hypnosis, so I decided to utilise spatial anchoring by moving the guy into the exact location on the floor where James had done his demo as well as moving his arm into the same position as well.
  
  AND I wanted to demostrate that it is possible ( with a very responsive subject ) to go right into the “deeper ” phenomena like positive and negative hallucinations without any set up or “warming up” with lighter phenomena first.
  
  Jørgen
disa
Log in to Reply April 2, 2011

hehe funny stuff really I do wonder if by written word alone you can remind someone James of the deepest hypnosis state they”ve ever been, would be kinda funny in my opinion to have someone reading this and drop into a “trance” state to bad I cant see it :(. Anyways an intresting video will have to check Jorgens book.
- James Tripp
  Log in to Reply April 2, 2011
  
  Hi Disa
  
  The book is well worth getting. Not for the feint hearted though!
  
  All the very best
  
  James
Lenny Deverill-West
Log in to Reply April 3, 2011

Really like this clip, great utilisation.

Joergen’s book is great too!

Cheers

Lenny
Gary 'Smiler' Turner
Log in to Reply April 4, 2011

Brilliant work, really good work on so many levels…thanks James for putting it up, and Joergan of course for your entertaining and informative ‘genius’…
- Joergen Rasmussen
  Log in to Reply April 12, 2011
  
  Thanks Lenny and Gary for the kind words.
Brian Halliday
Log in to Reply May 25, 2011

Just looking around. I like blog looks really good. However a few points. If you if engage someones cognitive process and lead them somewhere then that is an induction. If you lead someone from one place to another which you appear to do using your own terminology “hypnotic loops” then that is an induction. Just because they do not go through the physical behaviour of closing eyes etc does not mean you are not leading them into a trance. It just means you are using a different induction.

Stealing someone’s hypnosis is really nothing new. I remember Tad James describing this on a hypnosis training about 15 years ago. Ross Jeffries has talked about it and created many techniques and models around this for at least 20 years. Hijacking trance is not a new idea. I have also seen it and used in a MUCH more sophisticated way.

Any hypnotist should know that not only is this possible it is usually a bad thing to hypnotise someone in a public demo or show and leave open the possibility of someone stealing the trance hypnosis or whatever. Even the old stage hypnotists knew this and was probably one of the most important things you need to learn.

Im curious as to what a “much better hypnotist” looks like. Much better than who or what? What exactly is it that you believe you are doing better? AllI can see is very very basic stuff.

Thanks

Brian
- James Tripp
  Log in to Reply May 25, 2011
  
  Hi Brian
  
  What’s your agenda here? It comes across like some kind of positioning exercise.
  
  My perspective on hypnosis is that there is no special state called trance that renders people more open to suggestion (If there was, it would be called ‘trust’ not trance). I am not saying that peoples states don’t shift. HWT is about taking people directly into experiences rather than some mythical state first. Each experience could be said to have its own unique state correlated with it, so you could think about shifting states, but I prefer to think about shifting experiences (IME this makes for less ambiguity in direction of process).
  
  You are quite at liberty to disagree with all that, but in the context of that perspective, in what way is ‘induction’ a useful term or concept?
  
  And you are right, stealing hypnosis is not new… so your point is?
  
  Now I loved this:
  
  “Any hypnotist should know that not only is this possible it is usually a bad thing to hypnotise someone in a public demo or show and leave open the possibility of someone stealing the trance hypnosis or whatever. Even the old stage hypnotists knew this and was probably one of the most important things you need to learn.”
  
  Really? Which old stage hypnotists, specifically? Did you know them personally, or is this written down somewhere?
  
  I guess if you think there is a ‘trance’ that any untrained person could steal and use to bad ends, then this makes sense. But there is no trance to steal, only a process to ‘hijack’ and utilise, and this takes some skill and knowledge (which Jorgen has). And I am most pleased for you that you have seen it being done in a “MUCH more sophisticated way – perhaps you could point us all to the video?
  
  I’m not sure what you are talking about with the “much better hypnotist” reference, as you have left out the context. However, I’ll guess…
  
  In my experience, when hypnotists stop operating by old mythologies and start really paying attention to what is happening, they get better at shifting people into the experiences that are traditionally called ‘hypnotic phenomena’.
  
  Of course you see basic stuff! Hypnosis is ALL basic stuff! That’s probably why people like to make more of it than it is. And it takes skill and insight to do that basic stuff well and elegantly, which is what Jorgen demonstrates here.
  
  Brian if you can’t admit that something is being done well, when it clearly is, then how can people expect to take your observations seriously?
  
  Sorry if I seem a little terse, but I feel a lot like you are here ‘trolling’ my blog, rather than actually making constructive observations.
  
  All the very best
  
  James