The following is a transcript from interview I did for FA on February 11, 2007:
FA: Hello Wayne,
I know we haven't spoken in a while, but I seriously need your help. I'm writing
a speech on hypnosis and I needed to interview a hypnotist. This is where
you come in...if you could help me, I'd greatly appreciate it.
1. Could you tell me a brief history of hypnosis?
Back in ancient Egypt, hypnosis was called “healing sleep.” The subject was really awake but with eyes closed and listening to a person’s voice. Healing sleep was used to help people get over illnesses and mental anguish.
In the late 1700s, Fran Anton Mesmer, an Austrian, observed a Catholic Priest laying hands on a parishioner to overcome healing. Mesmer thought what was realy going on was that the person was surrounded by a magnetic field and that the Priest was sending out magnetism and that God was not really intervening in the process.
Mesmer thought that if he would use 2 large metal rods, he could create the same kind of magnetism that would help patients overcome their illnesses.
In 1792, Benjamin Franklin from the US, was called to Paris, France to observe Mesmer working on patients using the magnetized rods.
Franklin concluded that the people were using their own minds to cure themselves of illnesses. They were using their own imaginations.
This is what a hypnotist really does. He helps people use their own minds to fix what is wrong with them.
2. Important figures in hypnosis and their contributions.
James Braid who was a Scottish physician in the 1880s first observed other Scottish physicians using a form of meditation on Indian subjects during the British Indian Wars over in India.
Many surgeries were performed at that time with hypnosis as the only anesthetic.
Later John Elliotson, a Scottish Physician who used hypnosis techniques in surgery, invented the stethoscope and brought it to America where American Doctors began using it.
In 1906 over 40,000 stomach surgeries were performed by the Mayo Brothers, doctors from Rochester, Minnesota, where each patient was hypnotized before given ether for their anesthetic for surgery.
This was because 1 in 400 people who had routine stomach surgery would die on the operating table from the use of ether rather than the surgery itself.
The Mayo doctors found that by hypnotizing the patient first and relaxing them prior to surgery, they could cut the dosage of ether down by a third to one-half.
In over 40,000 surgeries they had no one die on the operating table as a result of this new procedure.
3. What it feels like and whether it's natural or supernatural.
Being hypnotized feels different to different people. Most people feel very relaxed, however they feel that they are always under control.
Some people will think they are sleeping and remember very little of the experience.
Most people however, will feel normal, and feel they can get out of hypnosis on their own at any time.
4. What are its' uses and how it's important for us to learn about it.
It is used to reinforce weight reduction programs
Reduce stress
Build self-confidence
Help people quit smoking
Help with stuttering and other speech related problems
Improve sports ability
Prepare for medical surgery
Replace traditional anesthesia
Improve memory
Lower blood pressure
Reinforce diabetic prescriptions and reduce the need for insulin
Overcome road rage
Improve personal relations
5. If so, how has it impacted you?
I become an entertainer back in 1976 using hypnosis. Even though at the time I really wasn’t interested in helping other people with personal issues, it became an natural outcome of my entertainment.
I performed at high schools and colleges throughout the United States, and found people eager to learn more about hypnosis.
Now, I work with companies to help their employees reduce stress at home and in the workplace.
Reduction of stress allows employees to be more productive and the same time, remain healthy and happy.
6. How do you become a hypnotist?
Since there are no 4 year colleges that have any programs in hypnosis, you have to learn it on your own.
I learned from a personal mentor, Ormond McGill who just died back in October at the age of 92. He worked with others and taught hypnosis up to 3 days before he died.
It took me a couple of years to find him. At the time I lived in Illinois and he lived in California.
Most people learn from reading books, taking weekend courses held by other hypnotists, or listening to CDs and tapes.
There are no four year professional hypnosis training programs in the United States where I live.
This makes it hard to enter the profession. You have to go out and find training.
I now train people one-on-one to become a professional hypnotist under my mentoring program and offer audio CD training for those who cannot afford the one-on-one training.
7. And if you can tell me anything else, it would be great.
You can lean more about hypnosis by talking to your school or city librarian.
Also, you will find many articles at the following links:
http://www.wayneperkins.net/hypnosis/free.htmland:
http://wayneperkins.blogspot.comWhere can I get a program that will teach me how to hypnotize other people?
Click here now!
Where can I get a program to teach me how to overcome my problems by hypnotizing myself?
Click hereWayne F. Perkins
Hypnotism Education WebsiteMaster Hypnotist Trainer and
Stress Management Expert
"My mission in life is to help you achieve your mission in life."
