How I Became a Hypnotist / Can You Get There From Here?

Just about every day (last night, even) I am asked, “So, how did you become a hypnotist?” (After I answer that, the next question is almost always, “Oh. Does it really work??” I hate that question.)

So, how did I become a hypnotist?

I really didn’t expect this at all. I saw hypnotists on stage when my parents took us to the Catskills for vacation. It was neat, but not a life-changing event.

And, seeing hypnotists in the movies never intrigued me either. So why am I here?

My background is of a kid who found magic. Doug Henning, the magician from the Broadway play The Magic Show was all the rage. Magic was as popular as poker is today.

Johnny Carson had magicians on his show and there were magic specials on TV, which — except for The Magical Land of Alakazam — was very rare.

So, I found a few books and became a magician. It clicked and this wonderful art took me all over the world. Doing shows for the USO, prominent parties and it was a blast.

However, it paid the bills but that was it. There’s an old joke:

Q: What’s the difference between a magician and a pizza?

A: The pizza can feed a family of four.

Ha ha ha.

Unfortunately, it’s pretty much the truth. With few exceptions (trade show magicians, cruise ship entertainers, etc.) magic isn’t a real upscale profession.

It was a good way to meet girls, too

Well, as I got older, I needed to settle down and started working for my father’s business. My dad is an inventor and he’s actually manufactured and sold many of his inventions. One of which was a drapery system for hospital rooms. (Those curtains that go around hospital beds.)

They are called “cubicle curtains” and my dad invented a whole new system that didn’t break (a common occurrence in hospitals).

His business seemed like a good, solid, viable business and I started as his marketing director and I had been studying marketing for a while.

But, as things go, it wasn’t fulfilling for me. I still did my shows and soon I was distracted with many things, namely a new website called About.com. (Eventually, I left the business to pursue my hypnosis career.)

This was in the Dot-Com boom years in 1998 and About.com (originally called “MiningCompany.com”) hired me as their Magic & Illusion expert. (I had some experience owning another website, www.MagicTalk.com, at one point, THE most popular website for magicians in the world. Ah, back in the day!)

About.com was a great living. Those Dot-Com companies had a TON of money and we were sent to Vegas, New York… and treated like celebrities.

One time, I was to be the About.com Expert Guide liaison at the next International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM) convention in Buffalo, NY in August of 2000.

I was hob-nobbing with the celebrities of magic and while we were hanging out at dinner, someone mentioned that she was a hypnotist.

Well, I had been trying to learn hypnosis — unsuccessfully — for a few years. I bought so many videos and books (one video set cost $275.00!!) and nothing worked. They all said to “just go out there and do it”. Right.

So, when this woman said she was a hypnotist, I jumped into the conversation and found out who hew teacher was.

Dr. Scott McFall is probably one of the best hypnotists in the world and I flew to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to meet him. What an experience. I was so excited to meet this guy and he finds me at the airport (those were the days when you could meet people at the gate) and we walked to his car.

Let me describe this car to you: It was an old, rusted, beat-up Cadillac with half-eaten food and old papers in the back seat.

My eyes bugged-out. Uh-oh.

So, we get in his car and we start to talk. I’m trying to impress this guy with my scant knowledge of NLP and marketing and then he asked THE QUESTION. I’ll never forget it.

“So, Bryan,” he asks, “How much money do you have?”

What?!?

Now, I’m screaming in my head, “I’m in #@*&! South Dakota driving with a perfect stranger whom I paid several thousand dollars to already [oh, did I forget that piece of information?] and now he asks me how much money I have?!? Yikes.

Remember how I said he was one of the best? Well, he knew something about me that needed changing. As a “rigid thinker”, I liked things very neat and tidy. I still do, but a hypnotist needs to be less “rigid” in his thinking.

Scott knew that I was a very detail-oriented person and this isn’t a good trait for a successful hypnotist. I later learned that a detailed person has a very hard time relating (gaining rapport) with their hypnosis clients.

And, those clients end up emulating the hypnotist, becoming detailed and judging the hypnosis and hypnotist. This is very detrimental to the client’s success.

So, Scott was trying to get me out the thinking in my head to not caring and judging what was around me. There’s more to this story, but for now, know that it worked.

So, I trained in Scott’s office in Sioux Falls watching him work with clients. Realize, that I wasn’t there to learn clinical hypnotism; I was there to learn Stage Hypnosis and all I did was watch him work on clients and watch a few videos.

Then, he handed me a script for me to learn. Hypnosis scripts are interesting. The one he handed me was the Progressive Relaxation script, to be used in my hypnosis shows.

Ever try to memorize an induction? It’s tough; I kept “trancing out”. I would find myself staring at the pages and have to snap out of it and begin again.

The next day, I was thrown into several offices to do the induction. Even when I read the script, it still worked.

I was truly amazed, but I had a long way to go.

The real teaching was on Day 2 when Scott taught me the pre-talk. For those who don’t know, the pre-talk — whether onstage or in your hypnosis office — is the most important part. Without it, not much will happen. It’s basically the “rules of the game” for the participants and it’s where a lot of the work is done. If you are having trouble hypnotizing people, you may want to look at your pre-talk, if you even have one.

Eventually, I learned what I needed to learn and was on my way home to book my first hypnosis show.

(That’s another story!)

Learning hypnotism is very easy to do. Learning to be a good hypnotist isn’t. Anyone can get certified in hypnosis; you can even do it online (ridiculous, isn’t it?). But I have trained with the best-of-the-best: Dr. Scott McFall, Geoffrey Ronning and others.

When you need hypnosis training, be sure to learn from someone who is walking the walk, not from someone who is a “professional trainer”. Do they have a viable hypnosis business like Scott McFall had?

Do your homework and you, too, may become a real Hypnotist!

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