London Meet

If there has been any single factor that has helped me keep my enthusiasm for learning hypnosis it has been the constant contact and support I have had from other hypnotists, of various levels, via an online message board called Uncommon Knowledge.

Several weeks ago somebody floated the idea of having a get together and actually meeting each other in person. In the end it was a guy under the alias of "Benwha" who snapped first by actually getting us organised, and so eight of us converged on the Archduke restaurant near Waterloo station in London. The table was booked under the name of Erickson.

(In spite of our consistent teasing the waitress agreed to take a picture of us, yours truly on the far left - Picture courtesy of Paul Longhurst)

I will admit to being quite nervous on the way to the meet. I hadn't met any of the others who would be turning up before, nor had I even met other hypnotists before. As it turned out I need not have worried at all. I found myself having a fun evening with a great bunch of like minded people and it was great to put names to faces. I learned quite a few ideas and tips too, and not least which books and DVDs should be on my Christmas list.

The whole evening went by without anyone even attempting to do a handshake pattern interrupt; that's how nice everyone was! Although I did have an odd moment when a jug of water I was trying to lift off the table with the handle at an awkward angle turned out to be slightly heavier than I was expecting and for one irrational split second I found myself thinking "Bugger, someone's got me!"

This evening was also interesting for me because, believe it or not, it was the first time I have ever seen hypnosis done (or at least attempted) in person without being the hypnotist myself, although admittedly not as much hypnosis as you'd expect with eight hypnotists present went on whilst we were at our table. There were other party tricks though. Paul, the guy sat opposite me, clearly knows his stuff when it comes to magic tricks and wowed us with an illusion where he somehow managed to pull one rubber band through another between his fingers. In keeping with the spirit of this I was able to give drunken girl's necklace trick a bit of an outing.

(I have been trying that rubber bands trick today and so far I have only managed to fire them across the room about five times, which frees my hands but I don't think that's exactly the point.)

(Paul sticking Chris's hand to the table)

Having eaten and failed to persuade the waitress that she really wanted to be hypnotised we moved downstairs to the bar, where one of the other guys, Chris, had somehow found a couple of women who wanted to give it a try. Very brave people if you ask me; three months ago I'd certainly have been just a little bit uncomfortable joining a group of hypnotists in a bar.

(Ben giving his pre-talk)

One woman was successfully hypnotised by Paul, but the other didn't seem to be having any of it in spite of a spirited effort on Ben's part. The lesson of the evening being that it's very hard to get someone to concentrate on the magnetic fingers trick if they can see their friend over your shoulder being zapped by one of the more theatrical rapid inductions (Cerbone butterfly I believe) and then slumped forward completely motionless.

Something else we discussed was the possibility of going out and finding people for a bit of impromptu hypnosis. To this end we even tried a few of the bars in the local area, but 10pm on a Thursday evening near Waterloo didn't seem to be a good time or place. I found myself wishing that we were in Oxford with it's quiet pubs that I know well to be brimming with relatively sober and inoffensive students at that time of the evening. More than a couple of us decided that a Sunday afternoon might be a better time if we were going out with impromptu hypnosis in mind.

In any case I had a really good evening, met some really great new people, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next meet up.