Translator: Tanya Cushman
Reviewer: Peter van de Ven If I could choose one superpower, well, that would be time traveling
because I would never be late again. But if I could choose two superpowers, well, that would be mind control. My life would be so much easier,
especially that I'm in business. Just imagine: And now you realize
you want to buy my product. (Laughter) Do we have any Strategy& guys?
Please raise your hand. Yeah, seriously, like ... And now you want to give me that job - (Laughter) as a partner. (Laughter) Hello, sweetheart: dinner tonight. Strategy& is paying. (Laughter) So, you imagine my excitement which I felt when I heard
that hypnosis actually works. I was 17, so I turned
that excitement into reading books, attending workshops, practice, practice, and finally, performing. And before my retirement
at the age of 22, having hypnotized over 1,000 people, I actually realized that it works. And you have to know
that I'm a very skeptical person. And that five-year career
as a professional hypnotist also showed me that hypnosis
is much more than just entertainment. We can use hypnosis to help ourselves, to improve our lives. Another thing that I learned was that we still have so many people who are afraid of hypnosis
or who just don't believe in it. And that is why, we asked you today to give us a word or a phrase
that you associate with hypnosis. So, let's take a look at what we have: Well, "MindControl," "Control," thank you, thank you, "Bullshit," oh, thank you, "Therapy" - Okay, those who wrote
therapy can leave now, but "Devil" - the devil
is quite interesting because at almost every single show that I organized,
and I organized a few of them, I always had to have at least one person
who wanted to interrupt me because he or she thought
that we were doing devil's work. Well, you know what? Let's do a short exercise. Can you all please stand up? Great. Great. You're already hypnotized. (Laughter) And can you please all
put your hands like this, with your left palm facing up, with your right thumb facing up. And I want you to imagine that you put a huge, huge
30-kilo kettlebell on your left palm, and you attached helium balloons
to your right thumb. And of course you know
that if you really had those objects, your hands would go like this,
as helium balloons are lighter than air. And now I want you to close your eyes, close your eyes and start imagining
that huge, huge kettlebell and those helium balloons
that are going higher and higher with every second,
with every word, with every breath. And now I want you - don't move
your hands but open your eyes. Look at your hands
and the hands of your neighbors, and you can sit down right now. And some of you moved ... (Laughter) Are you alright? (Laughter) Some of you - I saw someone here, hands were like this. Some people, probably
you didn't move at all, it's probably because a 30-kilo
kettlebell is nothing for you. (Laughter) But what I want you to know
is that that essentially was hypnosis. This power of your imagination that changes, for example,
your body movement. Another thing I want you to know is that every single person
in this room could be hypnotized. Sometimes it would take
just a couple seconds, like we did a minute ago
to start a very light state of hypnosis. Sometimes it takes a couple hours
or a couple of sessions, but every single healthy individual
can be hypnotized. And of course, right now
some of you may think, "Oh, come on, Daniel,
I'm a well-educated person. I couldn't believe
that you'd hypnotize me." And that is why we decided
to record a short experiment with a few people who had
never been hypnotized before. So, I want you to meet Sarah. Sarah is a co-chair
at TEDxLondonBusinessSchool, she's an MBA, 2016,
at London Business School, and she's a very smart,
young professional. However, she's not an athlete. Let's take a look. (Video) Man: When I say three, I
want you to start pushing your hand down. When I try to push it back,
you want to push it down. When I say sleep,
close your eyes and relax yourself. Harder, harder, harder. And more and more and sleep
and just go deeper, deeper and deeper. And now I want you to imagine that your body is getting stronger,
stronger and stronger, and you will feel more
and more comfortable with every second,
with every breath you take. Super, super calm. Super, super, calm. Daniel Robaczewski: And of course,
some of you may think right now, "Well, I'm not an athlete,
but I go to the gym from time to time, and I could do that without hypnosis." Well, I'd like you to meet
Marie and Daniella. They both are Masters in Management
students at London Business School, and when they were
three, four, five years old they acquired a very important skill: counting from one to ten. Let's take a look. (Video) Man: Count from one to ten. Woman: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10 Man: Can you please count
my fingers one by one? Woman: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 - it doesn't work. Man: Can you quickly count
from one to ten? 2nd Woman: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10 Can you quickly count from one to ten? 3rd Woman: 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Laughter) DR: Well, that's a very
important skill to have, so we have to teach them
again how to do that, and we have a proof of that: (Video) Woman: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Man: Sarah, how do you
count from one to ten? 2nd Woman: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Laughter) DR: And Marie, well, she's not a mathematician. (Laughter) And usually, now I would get, "Okay, Daniel but if it's not black magic, how does it work?" So, in order to say
that you were hypnotized, you would have to have two things: First of all, we would have to establish
an acceptable selective thinking. If I told you right now
that when I snap my fingers, you will forget your name, you would probably think, first of all, "How is you snapping your fingers
connected to me forgetting my name?" And secondly, "How could I forget
my name? It is my name after all." In hypnosis, you would focus only
on one aspect of suggestion, one selected aspect of a suggestion. And secondly, we have all forgotten
some obvious things in life, for example, this formula at math exam
or a date on a history exam or some anniversary. So, in hypnosis, if I asked you
to forget your name, when I ask you after hypnosis
"What is your name?" you would just have this emptiness; the same emptiness that we all know when you forget something
extremely obvious. The second thing we would have to have is to bypass a critical
factor of our mind. And in order to know
what is a critical factor, we have to understand
how our mind is constructed. So, first of all,
we have a conscious mind. It's some sort of a personal computer that analyzes and rationalizes
everything we do or think about. It's also an excuse generator. We smoke because we like it, but did you like your first cigarette? We eat at night
because we're super hungry, but is that cookie a perfect thing
to eat at midnight? And finally, we cannot finish our project because that ketan video
on YouTube is so fascinating. But would you watch that video
when you're with your friends at a party? That's what I thought. Beneath that we have
the subconscious mind. It's like a core part of our brain where all the emotions
and habits are coded, without those excuses. So, for example, you may smoke because as a child you saw someone smoking surrounded by many friends and you associated smoking
with a social status or with something that adults do. And finally, we have an unconscious mind, which takes control
over our automatic functions, for example, digestion or heartbeat. And a critical factor is, we can say, a bodyguard of our subconscious mind. It rejects all the suggestions that are not coherent
with our subconsciousness. And you may think it a good thing because you don't want to forget
your name when I snap my fingers; however, how many times have we all tried to change
something in our lives? For example, quit smoking,
stop procrastinating, etc., etc., etc.. All those suggestions are not coherent
with our subconsciousness and they go to the power of will, which is not that powerful, so when we want to stop procrastinating, we usually do that tomorrow,
and tomorrow never comes. And, of course, in hypnosis, without the critical factor, the suggestion goes straight
to subconsciousness with your consent, so we can change something much quicker. Another interesting thing about hypnosis is that when you connect
your brain to an EEG, you will see that your brain
emits Theta brainwaves - the same brainwaves as you have
in the first stage of sleep. So, although you hear
everything that's going on, you have a full control and you can open your eyes
at any point you want, your brain emits the same brainwaves
as if you were sleeping. But if I wanted you to remember
one thing about hypnosis, it wouldn't be Theta brainwaves, it wouldn't be critical factor, I would like you to remember that hypnosis
is a very strong feeling of inner focus - [Focus] focus that can change
the movement of your body; focus that can change
your perception, for example smoking; focus that can improve your life. And we have multiple examples
how hypnosis can improve your life. In 2007, Professor Montgomery
published a clinical study on 220 breast cancer patients, and he proved that 15-minute
sessions of hypnosis every day reduce post-surgical pain, reduce fatigue and reduce discomfort. Just words. Just imagining that you are moving
to a distant, distant location in which you can calm down, relax, feel comfortable. And as it is TEDxLondonBusinessSchool, I have to also mention that he proved
that using 15-minute sessions of hypnosis brings $772 in savings by patient, (Laughter) thanks to less time in surgery
and less anesthetics used. And by the way, how many
people here smoke cigarettes? Please raise your hand. And how many of you
have ever tried to quit smoking, but you still smoke? Please raise your hand. Right. Well, I'm bringing you good news. In another study,
it was proved that hypnosis is three times more effective
than nicotine replacement methods, and it is 15 times more effective
than trying to quit alone, just with the power
of our not-so-powerful will. Another question - anyone here doing cocaine? (Laughter) Just kidding. You don't
have to raise your hand, but let me rephrase that question: Do we have any investment bankers here? (Laughter) (Applause) I hope my boss doesn't see that. Well, in another study published in 1993, a study on a cocaine addict who was taking five grams
of cocaine every day - and by the way, I'm not
a proficient cocaine user, but five grams of cocaine? (Laughter) That used to be 500 bucks per day, and that's for the drinks after TEDx. Anyway, at some point,
she decided to quit cocaine. She had three sessions of hypnosis,
for several months, and hypnosis was the only
treatment method that she had. And in 1993, when the study was published, they said that she had been
drug-free for nine years. Just words. Just imagination. Just the power of our mind. And some time ago, I heard another story, a story of a Guinean singer, Alama Kante, who had a throat tumor,
and she had to have it removed. And her surgeon knew
that one small mistake - one millimeter right or left - and he would end her career. And he decided to be less conventional; instead of putting her
into full anesthesia, he hypnotized her. He hypnotized her, and he told her to imagine she's
moving to a distant, distant location where she can calm down, relax herself, where she can sing. And during the entire surgery, Alama Kante was singing. And thanks to the vocal cords movements, her surgeon knew where to put his scalpel, and where not to. The surgery was successful. It was covered by major news, such as BBC, the Times, Le Figaro. And that leaves me wondering if a cocaine addict can kick
her addiction out from her life, if a professional singer can sing
during surgery with her throat cut open, why aren't we using hypnosis to overcome small and bigger challenges in our lives? Phobias, lack of motivation, public speaking fear, procrastination. And now I would like you all
to close your eyes. Close your eyes, relax yourself, and I'm going to count from one to three. On the number three,
you will open your eyes. But before that: One, now when you know that hypnosis is a legitimate, psychological tool, I want you to, two, start imagining what could you overcome with hypnosis? I want you to think what challenges you could keep from your life. And now, I want you to get more
and more motivated and excited, and more and more curious
about the upcoming talks, and, please, three, open your eyes and thank you very much. And this is how, ladies and gentlemen, how I hypnotized 500 people
to give me all their money. Thank you very much. (Applause)
