High five!

I've actually been doing some hypnosis recently, which has been a nice change. As I've had willing subjects I've also been able to experiment a bit, and so I thought I'd share a few of the things I've tried recently.

Here's an induction that I think is brilliant and I've used a few times recently. I was originally shown it by a fella called James Brown in Covent Garden. James Brown, by the way, is an absolutely awesome "close up" magician and mentalist, well worth looking up, and when I say he showed me this induction what I mean is that he needed a stooge to demonstrate it on, and I happened to be nearest.

My interpretation of this is a little different from James', but the principle is the same. Basically the idea is to create a pattern interrupt much like with the handshake induction, but instead by getting the subject to "high five" you and surprising them. It's a splendid induction to use with anybody who is reasonably suggestible and not suspicious, and it also works well as a re-induction off the back of the previous routine.

"Hey you did great! High five!"

So what do you do? Well basically what I do is a high five with my subject, but when my hand meets theirs I grab it and pull it toward me, simultaneously telling them to sleep. I should stress that, if you try this, no extra points will be given if you yank the subject's arm out of its socket or throw them to the ground. Just grab their hand and pull it a few inches away from them and that will be enough of a surprise for it to work! This works best if you're both standing, but be ready to catch them if they are the sort to fold up when they go into trance.

Some of you might have already spotted the flaw of course. "My friends won't shake my hand, so I doubt they will trust me with a high five" might be the obvious comeback.

Well, how about this then: If your subject is the suspicious type and doesn't go for the high five give them the compulsion, as a post-hypnotic suggestion, that they will instinctively go for the high five immediately if it comes up again. Move on with your routine and re-visit the high five later. This works as a nice convincer because hypnosis works best for some people if it catches them off guard. Your subject will be responding and then back into trance before they even realise what's happening.

Great fun!