by Marc Hogan
www.persuasion-skills.co.uk
Well, last months article caused quite a stir...
I've had so many requests asking for more info on Derren Brown and NLP; I've decided that the quickest way to reply to all these queries was a follow up article!
It’s based on a something I wrote for on an Internet group, and provides you with lots of info on Derren's effects, and how I have replicated them using NLP & Hypnosis.
I’ve received a couple of complaints as they feel I‘ve given too many secrets away, however they then preceded to take on some private NLP coaching (Now that’s how you reframe)!
Enjoy....
As you may know I occasionally perform mentalism and Hypnosis at Private Parties, and all the effects I have outlined below I have performed...
I have met Derren on a couple of occasions and talked to various famous mentalists via email over the years, including Ian Rowland, Ford Kross, Richard Busch and Banachek (he liked my website!).
Whilst its fair to say that these people use a mixture of Psychological and Sleight of Hand Techniques, this article focuses on their psychological techniques.
To really understand how Derren uses NLP & Hypnosis, I am going to collate a number of techniques:
Hypnosis
Slight of Mouth
Psychological Forcing
Suggestion / Waking Hypnosis
Dual Reality
Cold Reading
Anchoring
Lets Start with Dual Reality
This is a technique where the subject (person doing the trick) and the audience are hearing the exact same words, however because the language is vague (slight of mouth) the audience believes that mind reading is happening whilst the subject believes he is being asked to do something else.
Kenton Kneppers Wonder Words uses this principal.
Psychological forcing / slight of mouth
By Using Words and gestures such as "chose a card see it brightly and in colour" (most people will see a red card).
For other examples I recommend Derren Browns Pure Effect and his Devils Picture book video I would also recommend Banachek's Psychological Subtleties.
Cold Reading
A technique used by Fortune Tellers / Palm readers to tell people about there innermost thoughts again by using vague Language and slight of mouth.
Ian Rowland's Full Facts of Cold Reading is an excellent read.
Suggestion / Waking Trance
As you know I perform Mentalism and hypnosis, and some people are more suggestible than others.
Once people have seen a number of effects the most suggestible member of the audience can be made to believe that there hands are stuck together...that there like stone..., that there jaw is tight....that they can no longer talk....
The New Encyclopaedia of Stage Hypnotism by Ormond McGill is excellent.
Hypnosis
As you can see from suggestion this is really a form of Hypnosis and Derren’s Handshake Interrupt is a way of inducing a deeper Hypnotic Trance...
Tranceformations By Bandler and Grinder is excellent.
Hypnosis Mind reading & Anchoring
I don't know if this is How Derren does it, but this is how I do it!
I performed this recently at a party:
When I was upstairs preparing a person came into the room.
I handshake interrupted him and put him in a trance and told him when I said the word sleep he would immediately would return to Trance!
I woke him up and he remembered nothing.
We carried on talking and I said "sleep", he immediately returned to Trance.
"Sleep" is an "Anchor" for more info about anchoring you can visit the articles page on my site.
Once He returned to trance I told him when I click my fingers I want him to remember something about his childhood...
I then asked him to tell me what it was he told me it was about his dog Barney in alot of detail....
I then walked him to the bathroom and told him he would wake up when he heard the bathroom door close.
I closed the door behind me and I went down stairs to do my show.
5 minutes later he appeared wide awake from trance, with total amnesia.
I then preceded to do my show including the effects above at the end I asked him up on the stage and said I was going to perform some mind reading.
I asked him to think of a memory and clicked my finger.
I then asked him to whisper this memory to someone at the back of the audience which he did....
After this I read his Mind about Barney his dog and how he'd bit him....
His face and the girls face where absolutely priceless.
I then looked at Him and said "I believe we have a powerful connection".
He looked at me in awe and I said the word "sleep" he immediately went into trance and the crowd went wild...
So how is this useful?
The Handshake Interrupt
Whilst I demonstrate the Handshake Interrupt, I personally don’t find it particularly elegant, so I teach a more subtle everyday technique.
The level of trance is not as deep, however I find the results to be very effective.
Language Patterns and Sleight of Mouth
Language Patterns and Sleight of Mouth are excellent tools for:
Reframing objections, very useful in Sales and Arguments!
Placing people into desired states, i.e. moving you from anticipation to motivation…
And where appropriate influencing them to make certain choices and of course, placing them in a light trance conversationally.
AnchoringLearning spatial anchoring will allow you to:
Influence a person’s choices i.e. make them pick one product / candidate, over another.
Cause certain reactions (feelings of relaxation, happiness, and what ever else pops into your minds)!
Or quite simply creating a trigger that returns a person a pre determined state when ever you require it.
I’m sure you can begin to imagine the applications…
Cold Reading, Derren Brown & The Art Of NLP & Hypnosis To Read Minds