The Transparent Hypnotist

Cyber Location: www.anthonyjacquin.com

(This is Kevin’s web site of choice)

1. Are you a full time hypnotist, part-time or hobbyist?

I would probably say I’m somewhere between hobbyist and part-time. I do make some money from hypnosis (stage hypnosis), but it’s not my primary source of income. I also tend to perform hypnotherapy for free for friends but lack the time to turn it into a business at the moment.

2. Do you specialize in any type of hypnosis?

Hypnosis is hypnosis. I use NLP patterns inside a trance for hypnotherapy but am moving more and more into the Human Givens approach. I write and produce for a stage hypnosis act (Anthony Jacquin) and I’m a driving force behind HypnoAttack which is filmed and youtubed street hypnosis.

3. Is there any type of hypnosis you do not do? Why?

Past-life regression because it’s nonsense. Hypno-analysis because I think it’s damaging and unnecessary. I’m also very anti energy healing which I believe to be hypnosis in disguise. Why bother with the ritual when you can use logic and reason to hypnotize?

4. Do you use self-hypnosis regularly in your life? If so, how?

Not regularly, but when I feel I need to. I’ve used NLP patterns such as the fast phobia cure / rewind technique, the Swish and the 6-step Reframe on myself for habits and less-than-ideal memories. On a training course I was given a post-hypnotic suggestion that I could re-enter trance by thinking the word “Relax” four times. It works and provides a useful trance to undertake self-hypnotic work. I can also generate catalepsy in myself very quickly, from a stuck hand to full-body.

5. Describe your hypnosis office or work setting.

Anywhere and everywhere. If someone comes for hypnotherapy then I’ll usually let them sit on the sofa in my lounge and I’ll sit on a separate chair, facing them. If it’s in the pub or on the street, then it could be sat down or stood up, whatever is most appropriate.

6. Describe a typical day in your life.

Get to work about 10am where I work as an information security consultant (I own half the business). A couple of hours of business administration, as must reading and research as I can find time for, a bit of hacking for a customer, a bit of work on some consultancy assignments, lunch is a sandwich from our local shop, several games of table football with the others in the office, maybe a pint or two in the pub opposite after work. Back home around 6.15pm where I catch up on personal emails, the derren-brown forum on yahoo UK and uncommonforum.com’s hypnosis board.

7. Where did you get your training in hypnosis and are you certified?

Jon Chase’s Stage Hypnosis Masterclass and the UK Hypnotherapy Training College’s 5-day hypnotherapy course (both certified). I’ve also been on numerous weekend workshops run by Anthony Jacquin and his father, where I help out and practice skills.

8. Most fabulous hypnosis technique you use?

Testing. It’s far too easy to go through the motions, believe someone is hypnotized, give them suggestions and then ‘wake them up’ and send them on their way. Lots of hypnotherapists do it. I believe that the only way to know that someone is hypnotized is to test your work. Give them a suggestion, such as arm levitation, and then challenge them to stop it from happening. If they can’t, then they’re zapped. If you don’t test, then how can you possibly know if they’re not just bored and relaxed?

9. Worse moment ever in a hypnosis setting that ended up being a valuable learning experience.

Ant once said, “Moonwalk back to your seats” and most of the subjects at the show returned into the audience instead of sitting in the row of hypno-chairs. At the time, we both thought we’d lost the subjects and so he continued with the ones that remained. On the way home, we realized that in their minds, “your seats” meant “your seats in the audience”! They were still zapped, but the suggestion was ambiguous. We work to make the suggestions very precise now.

10. Any words of advice to potential clients or other hypnotist.

Potential clients: ask how the hypnotist will prove to you that you’re hypnotized. If they don’t know, don’t care or simply can’t, then you may wish to see a real hypnotist instead of a Charlatan.

Hypnotists: get training, get zapping and test your work every time. There are so many bad books written about hypnosis that if you simply read and read instead of practicing and testing then, statistically, you’ll be worse off. That said, “Reality is Plastic” is a short book about getting out there and doing it.

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