Learn Hypnosis--Postural Sway Test

[0:04]So, um, what you're going to do with postural sway test is contrary to what I told you before that with most of these you'll have them put their feet apart, because there's a pivot element here you want to put them have them put their feet together. You want a central pivot point. You don't want them to be stable. All right? So what you're going to do is direct them to put their feet together, and also contrary to what I said about all the other ones we'll typically do, you want them to lock their knees out, because you want them to be like a board. So you're going to direct them. You say, just stand facing me, put your feet right together. Excellent. And then lock your knees right out. And if you would, just imagine, you can either say that there's a board running from your feet all the way up your back to your head, or you can say that there's a steel rod, whichever you think conveys that sense of, well, you want to convey a sense of stiffness and rigidity to them. So you say, imagine you have a steel rod that runs right up the back of your legs, up your spine, up to the top of your head. Now, what I'd like you to do is just close your eyes, and in your mind imagine that you're standing on top of like a beach ball, a nice big beach ball, or one of those uh, Swedish workout balls. Some people are more familiar with those. And you're standing on that ball, and you're perfectly balanced. But of course, because it is a ball, that ball can rotate. Now as you're standing balanced on that ball, you will feel, and you're probably aware right now, that you have a gentle sort of swaying as you, your body's balancing on that ball. And that's fine. You're always aware of yourself and in control of yourself. Now, I'm going to take great care of you, but what I'd like you to do is just imagine, just imagine that you are rotating that ball forward. And as that, and when I tap on the back of your shoulders, that ball just rotates forward. It rotates. That's right and there. Okay? That's really it. Now, the, the, the variants in the exercise is, um, first of all, how do you make them picture it? Is it a ball? Is it a plank? You know, are you standing on the edge of a ledge? Some people will freak out, you know, there's, but there's no one way. There's lots of ways you can do it. You want it. I, I like the ball the best, because people seem to really have an easier ability at imagining that ball rotating forward, and they can correspond a feeling to what would happen if the ball rotated forward. Okay? So, so that's all you're really doing, is you're doing your best to describe and create for them a sense of being on this thing that can change their access, basically. And then you are telling them in advance that you're going to tap on the back of their shoulders towards you, and that when you do, to just let it rotate and that you will catch them. Now, Do you tell them that you're going to catch them? Yeah, absolutely. All right. So let's, we'll go back and we'll break it down literally step by step. Always, always, always, the first thing is to get physically safe. So we get them with their feet together and their knees locked out. But what you want to do before you have them close their eyes, is you want to show them that you are going to take good care of them. So you don't say anything, you don't, you can, if you want. I don't say, I just make it very clear. I tend to purposely kind of hike my pants up and show them that I'm getting a wide base, so that they know I'm ready. I'm going to take, I'm going to be here for them. And this is not just a show. This is what you need to do when you do this exercise. You need to get your feet wide, one leg in back for bracing, one in front and open so your hips are open and you've got strength. Because if you're doing this with a bigger person, when they tip, if they fully trust you, their weight's coming at you and you need to be able, you don't really want to catch them with your arms. Your strength is going to come from your legs and your hips. So you want to be able to get them and really brace in with your legs and make sure that you've got them. If you're off to the side, you risk having them twist and roll away. You know, that could happen in either direction. If you front up on them perfectly square, and somehow they kind of get you by surprise, you risk going and having them go with you. So that's why you widen your base and get the back leg out so you've got real strength in the back leg. It, so you're doing that for a very functional safety reason on the one level, but you're also doing it to inspire trust. And show them that you know what you're doing and you're ready and you're going to take care. And if I don't do this very often, when I do, I make it a point to verbally say, I'm going to take great care of you. And I look them right in the eye when I say that, because I want them to feel my commitment to them. So I say, well, we're going to do this exercise together. Would you be willing to do that with me? Yep, great. Okay. Listen, I'm going to, look at me. I'm a big strong guy. I'm going to take great care of you. Here's what we're going to do. And then I get them, feet together, and I get them physically set, and then I have them get the eye closure, go inward, watch the movie in their mind of themselves standing on the ball. When I tap your shoulders, the ball's going to rotate forward, and just let yourself tilt with that ball as it goes forward. Now, what you're looking for is a commitment to you and a trust in you. You've asked them to put their feet together, and you've asked them to make their body rigid. So the successful way of completing this exercise is to keep all that the way it is, and literally, think about a person who's like that, they should pivot at the ankles. The feet should stay flat on the floor, the ankles should tilt forward, and they should go. And they should stay committed if they trust you, so that the feet stay together, and you catch them. When you're doing it, you're positioned close enough so that you know you've got them. As you tap here, you tend to engage with people face to face, right? You're talking and watching and all this. But what you need to really do is as you start getting into the visualization process, you're watching the shoulders because that's where you're going to see the tipping occur, so that you're ready for it. You're watching the shoulders. You will see them start to come forward as the person goes. And then, when you're ready for that, as you watch the shoulders tipping and your hands are ready to receive them, you want to check down at the feet. Because if they don't trust you, and they don't give themselves fully to the exercise, a foot is going to pick up and come forward to save themselves. And that's how you know, that's fail. If the foot gets picked up and placed forward, they failed and they don't trust you and that now you could still decide, I'm going to continue with them. Do you try it one more time? Because what if they're the first person that does that? Well, they're all actually, they're all, they're lined up. They're lined up and their eyes are closed. Okay, so they won't see that. Right. So it really comes down to and again, this is an exercise that you would do after you've given a pre-talk, after you've given them a sense to get a sense of who you are, that you're competent, that you're caring, that you're a good person. If you haven't won them over by this point, you're probably not going to. Have you already done another suggestibility test? You could. Okay. You could, and that might be a good idea to do. Yeah. Okay. But bottom line, if you've done what you're going to do and gotten them to this point, and and they're not doing it, if, you know, they're probably not going to go any further with you. So that's what you're looking for. So again, so we're getting them physically set, we're physically set. Excellent. Take a nice gentle breath in. Breathe out with your eyes closed. We get eye closure and then right off we engage and we start the procedure and we're building it. Now again, this is where we go to pattern. And everybody's pattern is a little different and there's no right or wrong. You pattern what your pattern needs to be. Be economical, give the maximum visual help to imagine what you need them to imagine in as few words as possible. Be efficient and economical in your language, and and get them to that point. Then create expectancy. Once you've created the image of being on the ball, then we load the expected outcome. In the moment I'm going to tap on the back of your shoulders toward the sound of my voice. And when I tap on the back of your shoulders, it makes you tilt on that ball just enough so that you start to tilt forward and let yourself tilt forward and come toward me, and I will catch you. And then, now again, some people are really cognizant about not wanting people to be afraid. So they'll only let them tilt maybe two or three inches and then they'll catch them. To me, I'm like, well, that doesn't really show much. How do I know if you really trust me then? Now, by the same token, stiffen up, Johnny. I don't need to let Johnny come so far forward that I'm catching him like this and really having to load myself. Something in between, you know? Something in between that range, where it's clear to me that you really must have let yourself go and I've got to catch you. You really want that point. Like if like if I tap Johnny and he only comes forward to about here, right now, I can let him go and he's not going anywhere. So there's no commitment there and he can sit. You want to get them to that point where they were tipping point. So I have a question. Um, you know, I'm always concerned about how I come across to people, um, about with girls. Yep. You know, I'm I'm concerned that somebody in the crowd doesn't say, oh, he's just doing this cuz he wants to have the girls lie on him. Mhm. Mhm. I don't do it at all. I'm just teaching it to you because it is out there and I'm like, it's your choice. I don't do it at all. To address your question, I don't do it at all because I find that every a lot of people genuinely want to be hypnotized, but are a little nervous, right? And they've just met me. And part of me is like, no matter how good my pre-talk is, there's probably, I don't know, let's say, 20% of the people in the audience who really are open to being hypnotized, but they don't even know me. And here I am asking them to do this. It seems a little bit aggressive to me in terms of, give me your trust, right? It's a little, so I just don't do it because I don't like putting them in that position. The first time I ever saw this done in a real stage hypnotism show, was in an R-rated stage hypnotism show. And and this is interesting. He did this and and made it a joke, because it was R-rated, right? And everyone who comes to it knows they're getting into an R-rated show. So he works the line. He does it with a guy. He does it with a guy. He does it with a gal. He's doing it. Then he gets down on the line that his lady with really big breasts, right? And he on purpose, he goes he lets her come down all the way to here, and then he goes, "Oh, we can stay here all night." And he's bouncing her like this, right? And it's an R-rated hypnosis show. So everybody chuckles, and it actually sort of worked for him, because again, there's this premise that, well, if you go to an all adult R-rated show, I guess that's what you're going for. But I sat there and I was kind of thinking, gosh, how do you not get, like how do you not get someone's boyfriend if you're doing that joke every night, if you're picking the one lady, you know, and do it, to like come at you and deck you? Like, to me, I was just like, I just would never, ever. But again, it's all about what people's expectations are. And I guess when people go to shows like that, they kind of expect that kind of humor and so I, you know, again, I don't think it's so much about right or wrong as about what you feel is professional and and puts you in the most positive light that you want to be in. So for me, I don't do this test because of those kinds of issues. I don't, um, I just don't do it. You know? I, but again, if I did do it, if I, if I, if I did it, I would do it, knowing that I had the best of intentions. And if I did it with a woman and she actually really committed and came forward to the point where her chest touched mine, to in my mind, I'd be like, that has nothing to do, like we're all adults. We're grown-ups. And I know my, I have the best intentions and heart. I'm not doing it for that. So I tend to just be like, I can't control other people's thoughts. I'm not, you know, like we're doing this and it's done and it's moving on. I think you've got to do what you feel comfortable with. Okay. Yeah. I'm glad you asked though.