How Hypnosis Is Performed

Egyptian priests and Indian Brahmins, Mongolian shamans and Zoroastrian magicians used to hypnotize the crowd with twinkling lights, sounds and rhythmically swinging shiny objects.

Obeying the orders of hypnotists, impressionable men and especially women fell into a trance, demonstrating dexterity, walking barefoot on hot coals and having visions believed to be of divine nature.

People believed hypnosis to be a kind of magic or a manifestation of divine will.

First of all, a hypnotist makes a person relax, then fixes his attention on some object or a noticeable sound, and finally gives him a command – the so called rapport.

At the beginning of the XX century, hypnotists often swung a gold watch on a chain in front of the face of a hypnotized person, but any similar object may be used.

The hypnotized person is immersed in a condition similar to sleep – he is relaxed, he cannot control his actions and is subject to the instructions of the hypnotist and usually does not remember anything of what he did in trance.

Hypnosis can remove fear or disgust, relieve fatigue or phobia, make one insensitive to pain or get him to talk about experienced events and feelings.

These simple tasks are easy to perform, but experienced professionals know about some other nuances. Thus, with the help of hypnosis it is easy to determine whether the patient’s paralysis, numbness or lameness are of physiological nature or are the result of trauma.

Experienced hypnotists suggest the right thoughts and even give assignments that person performs sometime after the session ends.

But it is proven that the order to commit suicide, steal something, strip naked publicly, etc. bound to cause a denial or resistance – it is impossible to make a person do things that he would not do with a clear mind.

According to experts, 70% of people are susceptible to hypnosis. A person can be put into a trance during a conversation by touching his body or synchronizing breathing rhythm – these techniques are used by experts in neuro-linguistic programming.

But it is impossible to hypnotize a person who is consciously resisting to it.