It’s been two years since I posted my first videos on YouTube and so two years since people first started asking me to teach them how to hypnotize.
You can watch those first videos here:
Apologies for the dress sense and nervousness. I like to think both have improved somewhat since then!
The first comment I received was one word “FAKE” which I promptly deleted and disabled comments.
Since then I have trained many new hypnotists and produced my DVDs “Hypnosis Happens” and “Not Another Street Hypnotist” which are currently available at http://quicknotist.com/dvd/
The real reason for this post however is not nostalgia but an email I received from The Netherlands which appears here in edited form (some names and details have been omitted at the request of the writer.)
The email has remarkable similarities to one I sent to my own mentor Jon Chase http://www.jonathanchase.com/ immediately after appearing on the very TV show you see in the videos.
It was really lovely to receive this email, and in spite of all the positive reviews I’ve already received for the DVDs, it’s this kind of response from a subscriber and regular visitor to this site which makes all the hard work over the last two years worthwhile!
So over to Holland’s Newest Hypnotist:
Hi Reg,
I should really go to my bed, it’s very late at night over here (or very early in the morning, actually), but first I just got to tell you this!
I still can’t quite believe it, but today I hypnotized someone for the first time!!! I was visiting my good friend Marie, because she’s very interested in my learning about hypnosis. As we were talking about it, her neighbour came by, and Marie told him I was a hypnotist! Of course she knew I hadn’t hypnotized anyone before in my life, but he didn’t know that, and he believed her. So that was a good convincer to start with! He really wanted me to hypnotize him, after I explained to him a little bit about what hypnosis actually is (looking back on it, that probably was a pretty okay pre-talk!). I just knew I had to try it, this was the perfect moment. Right after I realized this, I got so scared! I had to run to the bathroom to calm myself down, haha. Sad, isn’t it. But I remembered you saying ‘Go for it!’, and since I must have watched your DVDs about ten times now, I somehow found the courage and confidence I needed.
I tried the handlock first, it went brilliantly. He was impressed, and so was I (but I tried to hide that, haha). Then I tried the handshake, at first he just started to laugh, but I somehow used that to make him relax, instead of me panicking. Anyway, a lot of scary moments later, he responded, and went into trance! I couldn’t believe it! I woke him up two times, and made him go into trance again. By then he was really deeply under hypnosis, I believed. So I stuck his hand to the sofa (didn’t work the first time, bit it did the second time!) and after that I got a little bit nervous about what to do next and did the waking up procedure. He thought it was really cool, and stuck around for another half hour just to talk about it. All this time I had to contain myself, and when he finally left, Marie and I started shouting and jumping around like maniacs, hahaha. I nearly cried, I was so happy! Marie said I acted really confident, and she was truly amazed.
I really can’t thank you enough, Reg!! I’m promoting the hell out of you over here. You probably have very little use for being famous in Holland, but still. 
I just HAD to tell you all this! Because a lot of it is thanks to you.
I really should go to bed now, although I probably won’t sleep much anyway after the day I’ve had!
Thank you thank you thank you!
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April 1st, 2010
What a lovely letter Reg. I know exactly how that guy feels, I still get a buzz every time I successfully put someone into trance and it never goes! Glad your hard work is paying off and you’re having positive effects on people all over the world, you deserve it.
April 1st, 2010
Just noticed the date – no, this isn’t an April Fools post!!
April 1st, 2010
Haha! Thanks Darren.
Of course, you’ll know I was only joking about the dress sense.
I’ve always had fantastic fashion sense! It’s only 2 years ago. I mean it’s not like this was the 80s or anything.
Reg
April 2nd, 2010
Loving my new title, haha! Just for Darren I would like to add one word to it though: Holland’s Newest Female Hypnotist.
I want to thank you again Reg. This first successful experience made me hungry for more, and now I’m experimenting with hypnosis whenever I can. I have never felt more confident, and I can truthfully say hypnosis has changed my life already.
Without your DVDs and guidance I probably wouldn’t have had the guts to try it in the first place, so for that I’m really grateful!
April 6th, 2010
Hi Reg,
Recently received your DVDs and just heard your rant on “the Hypnotist” radio show with Jon Chase. I’m new to hypnosis and want to be clear about a couple of things.
In the rant you mention conversational hypnosis and the use of hypnotic language patterns by some of the practitioners you’ve seen on the internet and seem to downplay them. I believe you said it amounts to playing a childish game of “I know you are, but what am I?” It was most amusing when you used the phrase “thats right,” in a mocking tone.
Now in your own DVD you do make reference to the use of presuppositions, adverbs, and other language patterns. Are you just criticizing these internet “entrepreneurs” for not really being able to hypnotize people, or are you saying the written and verbal skills they are using are a bunch of B.S.?
I know Jon Chase doesn’t believe in NLP and the like and am wondering if it is the use of the term “hypnotic language” or communication techniques as is found in “NLP” that you’re both against?
Like I said I’m new to this and have started to study different materials and have found that there appears to be a chasm between the different approaches to hypnotism. I’m just interested in becoming the best “Hypnotist” that I can be and would like to take the shortest, no-nonsense route there.
Thanks for any info and guidance you can offer!
April 6th, 2010
Hi Joseph, Thanks for your comment.
The rant was written with my tongue firmly in my cheek and my ire was exaggerated for comedic effect.
However, I believe the structure of language (as an important part of human communication) IS an important part of Hypnosis.
What I object to is those who state that the use of Language Patterns ALONE produce Hypnosis as if there were nothing else to it.
And yes, I also object to the lack of evidence of these methods actually working.
Whenever I have asked to see demonstrations of Language Patterns working alone to Hypnotize, as is claimed, I always see something else at play.
There are usually three scenarios:
1. The subject becomes Hypnotized by the convergance of the intent of the Hypnotist and the expectancy of the subject (see my “Ripples On A Pond” post.) Once the subject is successfully Hypnotized, the language becomes less important and so, in most demonstrations of so-called Conversational Hypnosis, is superfluous.
Why use indirect suggestion on an already Hypnotized subject when direct language will do the same job?
2. The subject is simply being bamboozled by a language game (akin to “I know you are, but what am I?”) and so the therapeutic work is done WITHOUT ANY Hypnosis.
3. I’m shown videos of Derren Brown using “NLP” when really what I see is Derren Brown performing a magic trick but wanting to appear to be using NLP to misdirect us and the subject away from the real method.
I accept one of the downsides of Internet marketing is that those who produce the sales pitches aren’t always those closest to the material and so claims are often exaggerated. Therefore, I’m not really blaming the originators of the material.
One thing I hope I’m clear about is the methods I outline in my DVDs are the ones I believe work for me.
In reality, the methods work for me not because of the methods but simply because I DO believe in them and because they converge nicely with the expectations of the majority of subjects I meet.
That’s what you need to find.
Cheers!
Reg
April 6th, 2010
Fake!
See I told you everyone will be doing it now!