Why in the world would you want to subject yourself to being out in front of strangers having the chance of failure? Why would you want to do that? Well, first of all, there is nothing that will add to your confidence and your hypnotic ability like street hypnosis.
This is the toughest type of hypnosis there is in my humble opinion.
When you're working in your office, clients come in for hypnotherapy.
They come arrive ready to be hypnotized.
If you're a stage hypnotist, your show has been advertised in the papers, possibly on radio, and people come to the show to be hypnotized.
But with street hypnosis, you don't have that advantage.
Your subjects were just strolling down the boardwalk.
They were just browsing the shops, and some stranger comes up and asks them if they want to experience hypnosis.
Where did that come from? These people are not prepared for you.
This makes street hypnosis more challenging.
Since you're starting from zero and your people aren't prepped, this is where you really learn skills.
For instance, my tests for hypnosis were perfected on the street.
I do various tests, with my hypnotherapy clients, especially the smokers.
It is important for you to test them so that they know they're in hypnosis because if they doubt they were hypnotized, they will then begin to doubt if the therapy worked.
Years ago my test would occasionally fail, but by doing street hypnosis, I was able to perfect the wording that I use when I test people to prove to them that they are in hypnosis.
Most hypnotists are only in part-time practice and they see only a few clients a month.
That's the sad truth.
A lot of hypnotists are just hobbyists and they're lucky if they get to work with just a few practice partners a month.
So, if you're not in full-time practice, how do you get all that experience in? Well, in street hypnosis, you can go out on a night and hypnotize dozens of people.
Our record was over 50 people hypnotized during a recent outing.
That's a lot of practice! Speaking of getting your wording down on your test, for instance, I had a reporter come in to interview me a couple of years ago and he wanted to experience hypnosis.
I gave him some tests.
I locked his eyes shut, I made his arm so stiff and rigid, and he couldn't bend it.
I glued his hand to the chair and then I went for a little bit further and I had him open his eyes and see that his hand was still glued to the chair.
Unfortunately I had not yet perfected the wording of that test and he was able to lift his arm.
Because of that, he wrote a good article instead of a terrific, glowing article.
This shows the importance of perfecting your technique through street hypnosis.
And that is exactly what I did.
I perfected this test in street hypnosis, and now, everybody's hands stay glued there.
They're not going to lift their hand on me.
So that's one of the beauties of doing street hypnosis, you really get these things down.
Another thing with street hypnosis is that it builds confidence.
For instance, you can give a lecture at a Lion's Club or a Kiwanis or the Ladies Garden Club, or a Ladies Gym and tell them all about hypnosis and the benefits of hypnosis, but nothing wows them like hypnotizing one of their own members right there in front of them and letting them see how deep in trance you can put them.
Nothing really makes them think, "Wow, this guy is a great hypnotist!" like actually showing them.
Well, how are you going to get the confidence to hypnotize these people quickly? This is how you learn -- through street hypnosis.