"Is Hypnosis Fake?" Hypnotist stuns TEDX crowd

you I just want to say you know as somebody who also works in the fields of hypnosis and stage hypnosis I've always surprised by the way the general public sees it I would I believe that most people probably see hypnosis is really about you know turning people into chickens basically and another thing if you ask somebody who's a little bit let's say a little more paranoid that you'll find out that hypnosis is really about mind control and you talk to somebody who's a little more traditional and you'll find out that hypnosis is really about sin and something's quasi diabolical here's an example of a son Gally who is a 20th century film star who is a evil hypnotist now even among the scientific community there's been studies that show serious studies that show that there is no such thing as hypnosis that the hypnotic state does not actually exist and I think that even if you talk to let's say educated people such as yourselves that you'll find out when you boil it down that hypnosis appears to be some kind of magician's trick mind trick and that when you boil it down it's ultimately completely and totally fake now what if I said to you that if we don't understand hypnosis is it possible that we could be being hypnotized right now you basically don't know so I'm gonna make a suggestion let's call it a hypnotic suggestion i suggest you that hypnosis is entirely real in fact stage hypnosis is real and hypnotherapy is real here's an example of some of the many things that are treated with chemotherapy as well not only that but accelerated learning by hypnosis is real and the hypnotic bar as previously mentioned a bar where people are hypnotized to be completely drunk while they remain absolutely sober is also real hypno surgery where you can be operated on while completely awake is also real and of course absolutely that being turned into a chicken under hypnosis is also completely real maybe I could start off by saying there's good reason why we don't understand hypnosis and these are some of the reasons we go way back in time probably the first hypnotist were shamans aboriginal and native shamans here's an example a real example from 1914 but Shawna's generally didn't share their secrets there's one man who really put hypnosis on the map and that's this guy Anton Mesmer an Austrian doctor he was so influential that the word to be entranced to be mesmerised is from his name Mesmer Mesmer was the talk of paris and in the 1780s more than three thousand people a day would often go visit Mesmer to be healed he would do strange incantations he would appear to knock people out he would give them and hold them with magnets and thousands of people would come to see him regularly now this attracted the attention of the medical establishment of the time and they put pressure on the king of France Louis xvi who actually organized a Royal Commission to investigate Mesmer which was led by this guy Benjamin Franklin now the interesting thing about Benjamin Franklin is at that time he was the ambassador to France and also a great scientist and he and another group of scientific luminaries got together and they investigated Mesmer they concluded that there was nothing to Mesmer's claims that he was not really healing people and as a result Mesmer was treated and named a fraud and a charlatan in fact here's some popular artwork at the time that shows Mesmer being sent to the fires of obscurity by the light of Reason science and justice I would say that till this day as a result hypnosis hypnotism lives in the shadows in fact if you go to a bookstore often in North America or Canada and ask for books and hypnotism you'll usually be referred to the occult section so this is why hypnosis remains in the realm of the fake now if that's true if hypnosis is fake can I propose maybe a simple test that basically we perform right here this is a quasi scientific formula that we perform a series of very simple hypnotic inductions and maybe some hypnotic suggestions and we see what happens if if not if no if hypnosis is fake then nothing will happen if it's real then I guess we'll see is that okay okay alright so if anybody is nervous and there always is a few people that are nervous I can suggest to you that you can avoid this process by simply ignoring my instructions for the next three minutes simply ignore my instructions and you'll be fine for the rest of you I'll just suggest you that right now you put your feet flat on the floor so focus on the center of the spiral and now I'll ask you to take a deep breath in take a deep breath in watch as the spiral moves very good and now take another deep breath in straight up towards the ceiling and now allow your eyes to just slowly blink on the count of three two one you can blink now very good and asking to blink one more time and blink now reopen your eyes and as you do as my hand drops you're gonna feel your eyes getting heavier your eyelids are going to get heavier heavier and a few seconds you'll just allow them to close three two one you can shut your eyes now beautiful as you close your eyes you get a very deep relaxed feeling and that allows you to feel like almost like your eyelids are melting into your cheeks you're so relaxed and calm and in fact your eyes are going to close tighter and tighter that they are now shut very good the more you try to open your eyes the more they will stay shut you can try to open your eyes but the more they stay shut and as few seconds I'll ask you to do a test and see if you can open your eyes but the more you try the more they are shut right now get anybody open their eyes very good now on the count of three you will be opened your eye you will be able to open your eyes if you can't let's go one two three now you can open your eyes beautiful who could not open their eyes just now who could not put up your hand if you don't mind could put up your hand okay good the people who could not open their eyes I miss gesture you come up on the stage for the next part of our experiment you could not open your eyes come on up the stairs are over there the stairs over there come on up you could not open your eyes very good people that are more hypnotizable are often more imaginative some of the greatest athletes in the world are very hypnotizable they're often strong and brilliant and beautiful as these people clearly are so now just gonna do a little bit of an experiment though if you guys don't mind so I'm just gonna ask you to stare at the light that little light at the end of the room right there very good now here's the interesting thing I didn't ask you sir just to put your hand out put your hand out and push down in my hand push down my hand harder harder harder sleep all the way in dropping down all the way relax and sleeping and ask you right back here very good I'm gonna ask you just to push your hands out like this very good don't worry don't worry feels good just push your hands up like this if you don't mind ready go take a deep breath in stare at that light you focus very good focus deeper three two one sip all the way and dropping down to sleep beautiful very good some people are not gonna react now just what your hands go down hand goes down up down and now sleep beautiful very good now this next person very good we do something this is a new induction that we developed for TEDx actually it's called a TEDx induction just stare at that spiral and ask you to put your hands up like this like an X that's right except facing the other way beautiful now stare at the light take a deep breath in and relax hands a little more straight very good as it cut me down it lets you didn't notice that your heart is beating because you're on stage all these people are looking at you look at the light and just focus on the light take a deep breath in relax them sleep all the way in very good rock them down all the way very good relax and calm now I'll explain I'll explain in a second okay sir same thing push your hands out like this deep breath in just watch my hand go down just watch it right here go down down down down sweep all the way up drop him down all the way very good excellent shake your hand breath in and sleep all the way and drop him down all the way very good person okay right now I'm gonna say a word when you understand what that word means it's gonna happen to you you understand so just there at that spiral Sara that lights why right there and I say the word SL e t sleep beautiful very good excellent person I'm just gonna ask both you to stick your hands up like this both of you deep breath in stare at the spiral and everybody sweep all the way up very good nothing a beautiful and you can just rock down and sleep it's okay very good excellent you're so amazing and just say sleeping's gonna happen very good dropping down excellent I'm gonna leave these people up here so you can experience are you okay for being up okay so what these people are experiencing is something that we call hypnotic sleep hypnotic sleep is actually they appear to be sleeping but I'm gonna suggest you that that is not true they are not actually sleeping here's some examples and they show some examples if not its sleep so here's some examples of hypnotic sleep and one of the reasons why we don't understand hypnotic sleep is we tend to focus on the hypnotist and not the people who are actually sleeping so now I'm gonna go a little bit closer take a look I'm gonna suggest to you that these people are in a very interesting state now do they look like they're sleeping and I'm gonna suggest to you that they are actually awake and alert if you can hear my voice and you know what's going on you have the power to lift a finger on your right hand you can do that now if you can hear my voice you can lift a finger on your right hand now beautiful take a deep breath in and relax and now go back to sleep beautiful relaxing all the way they are actually still here they haven't gone anywhere I'm going to suggest to you that right now these people are in a state that is akin to what you might call sleep paralysis sleep paralysis is a state where we feel like we are sleeping but actually every night when you go to sleep you become paralyzed by your own body so that if you dream that you are running or falling or jumping you don't actually jump out of your bed or run out of your bed so this state is right now sleep paralysis you notice that people are quite relaxed and limp okay so let's do a little bit of an experiment let's do a bit of an experiment right now and I'm going to suggest at this point that people are very open to suggestions so maybe I'll start with this fellow read here when you hear the word hypnotism person I'm touching me now when you hear the word hypnotism you will shout it's fake when you hear the word hypnotism you will shout it's fake when you hear the word hypnotism you will start laughing you will shout I am in complete control of all my actions do a bit of an experiment and I must try something else there probably people in the audience right now that are actually in trance so I can ask you to take a deep breath in anybody the audience and you can go right back to sleep beautiful anyone the audience is relaxed and sleepy so anyone in the audience who hears the word hypnotism will also shout it's fake okay very good so now coming back into the room feeling refreshed and relaxed remaining in trance on the count of three two one when I snap my fingers now when I am talking right now about hypnotism fake what I'm trying to illustrate is that something hypnotism is not it's not it's not well understood okay it's not well understood what do you think of hypnotism big if I could just ask this person for a second what do you think of it clearly clearly you do now I'm going to show you something in my right hand I have a sleep gun this is a gun it cannot hurt you but when I shoot you with this gun you're gonna go right back into a deep and relaxing sleep on the count of three two one bang sleep and bang sleep and bang sleep very good so these people are in a very relaxed state these are sort of our all-stars here now I suggest you there's something very interesting going on with these people and it's something if you want to look at it it's actually in the eyes now I don't know if you can see it clearly but you see this person right here can you see it their eyes are actually flickering now why would their eyes are flicking on to suggest something interesting that their eyes are actually rolled up in their heads now why would that happen isn't that kind of weird and I'm going to suggest you let's go back to our friend the shaman look at the shaman his eyes are also rolled up you can look at here is it a little bit closer you can see a little bit closer and now let me show you something else that sometimes when people are in this state you can see his eyes are flickering the people are in this state that they they sometimes remain with their eyes open that looks a little bit like this now look a little bit closer and of course we get an effect that looks almost diabolical in fact this is straight out of the Exorcist and it may explain this stereotype so now let me show something let's go back right here and let me suggest to you that there's probably a reason why this state actually occurs and maybe I'll start with this person right here that is it possible that the original hypnotist to use the stereotype of hypnotist somebody uses a pendulum that goes back and forth but that pendulum going back and forth is doing something particular to the eyes let's do a little bit an experiment this is a induction developed by Mike Mandel a Canadian hammer test I can ask you man if you don't mind if you can just sit up for a second I snap my fingers you can sit up now I'm just gonna ask you just to look at my finger right watch it keep your head steady and watch it go back forth back forth your eyes get heavier and a few seconds they will just close back forth now you can just go relax to sleep beautiful look at her eyes are flickering so she has entered a state and I hope that this is kind of sciency she's entered a state that is very similar to REM now is it possible that what hypnosis is doing is jump-starting the actual REM State now to show you perhaps an interesting example of why this must mat might matter let me show you a video take a look at this [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so I know that's a pretty ridiculous video but let me explain this actually something very profound going on here and that is there's actually a veterinarian rodent wrote an article for the newspaper that explained that what's actually going on here is that cats are actually reliving traumas they're not but here's the weird thing why are cats afraid of cucumbers because cucumbers remind them of what or look like what snakes exactly they look like snakes but hold on a second with domestic cats in North America or in Kingston anywhere like that would they ever encounter a snake no never so why would domestic cats all seemingly be programmed to already be afraid of snakes that they've never met the explanation very simply is that professor Michel Juba experimental medicine the University of Lyon the sixties did a series of experiments he's called the Christopher Columbus of dreams and his theory is that mammals are all mammals while they're in the womb basically enjoy a powerful REM state a dream state that dream state may be essential to programming us to be what we are so cats would be programmed to be afraid of snakes while in the womb that would be an explanation for why they are now afraid of cucumbers even though they never encounter snakes that make sense so now is it possible that hypnosis is us hacking in to this actual dream state and let's take a look here's a here's a here's a common experiment you probably remember the movie the matrix and the matrix neo is programmed to know kung fu it's advanced technology helps them know kung fu and I'm going to suggest to you that we can do something like that today I'll take this person right here you are a kung fu master now and you're going to demonstrate a new form of kung fu in the red dot known as TEDx a powerful dramatic form of kung fu you will always remain safe and you will not push your body beyond its known limits you are also a kung fu master you will perform an even more dramatic form known as TEDx squared you will also always remain safe and you will perform your kung fu exhibition right after the first one so I can ask this person to come back to the room in the count of three two one mice at my fingers please meet the master of Kung Fu right now sure you want demonstrating the rare and beautiful TEDx form hi what he cook Sara coming back to the room now you are a kung-fu master you will beat that come that incredible demonstration that you only heard you're going to perform this is the form now known as TEDx squared thank you now I want to take us from in conclusion maybe back to the the chicken what is really truly amazing actually is that when I do hypnosis shows I used to avoid ever turning people into chickens because it's cliche and silly but then I actually learned something amazing when you do the research there's something amazing about people being chicken so I'm gonna do a demonstration deep breath and relax and sleep beautiful maybe Tara you can go read like to sleep beautiful very good you are a chicken Peck and you say macaw you do all the chickeny things you are a chicken that's right you do all the chickeny things you're a great amazing chicken you madam are a cat you are cat and you're very much like a cat now [Applause] chickens can come out you can step up here now one thing about chickens and cats [Laughter] [Applause] now I'll just ask you remind you as chickens and cats you have been programmed to be mortally afraid of cucumbers if you see an image if you see a picture or an image of a cucumber you will scream you will scream anyone sees a picture of a cucumber here will scream now cat do you see the chickens sure do you see the chickens [Applause] now I'm going to ask all of you you don't mind to direct your attention to the screen [Applause] sorry ok ok it's alright it's alright it's alright go back to your you can go back to your that's right you can go back I'm gonna make a suggestion now [Applause] here's a simple demonstration of hypnotherapy now when you see a cucumber you will no longer scream you will only laugh you'll laugh incredibly hard you'll be unable to stop laughing now [Laughter] [Applause] [Laughter] very good you can have a seat right now so I'm gonna give you Tara I'm gonna give you the sleep gun here's a gun and what we do take this gun I want you to shoot the cat over there I want you to shoot him he won't be hurt you're gonna go into a deep relaxed state and then I'm gonna ask you to shoot yourself okay and go into a deep and relaxed state so here's a sleep gun right now you can just make a loud bang that's all shoot the cat over there if you don't mind go into a deep relaxed state and sleep beautiful very good when you shoot him he'll go into a deep relaxed state very good okay now I know that we all laugh at the guy and has stands for the person that becomes a chicken but actually this shows a very profound and amazing aspect of humanity humans have the ability unlike other mammals apparently to dream just about anything we can imagine ourselves as chickens as aliens as any kind of weird associated thought or or feeling and that really shows why humans have such a powerful and it's a sonnet to some extent limitless imagination I'm going to suggest to you that hypnosis itself remains completely uncharted it is still misunderstood and that the state that these people are in when they come out of the state they're going to feel wonderfully refreshed and relaxed that's because with hypnosis we hack into the fundamental programming state which also happens to be a state that is itself tremendously recuperative this dreaming state is tremendously recuperative and healthy and you're going to see these people will come out of it feeling very healthy relaxed and clear so in conclusion I wish want to say hypnosis is not the preserve of hypnotist or hypnotherapist even it is the common massive and amazing inheritance of all humanity and that's something that the world needs to know so in conclusion the people that are in a hypnotic state and the people that includes the people in the audience if you're hypnotized in a few seconds you'll come back into the room you're going to feel refreshed and relaxed and wonderful you've done an amazing job you're really incredible and magical when you come back in the room you're gonna feel refreshed relax no longer hypnotized there's only one catch you'll have no idea what happened while you were on this stage you will forget everything that happened to you on this stage until you hear me say the word fake then everything will come flooding back to you you remember everything and you will laugh okay so I would just like to say in conclusion I hope today that I have demonstrated that hypnosis is totally and completely fake thank you very much [Applause] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Albert Nerenberg

Views: 9,238,811

Rating: 3.2448206 out of 5

Keywords: Hypnosis, TEDX, Magic, Science of hypnosis, Sleep, Hypnologist, Hypnology, Albert Nerenberg, Hypnotherapy, Trance, chicken, Queens, TEDXQueens, Shock, Laughology, Laughter, Funny, Hypnotic Inductions, Hypnotic Bar, Healing, Dreaming, Dreams, Health, Wellness, Hypnologist.net, Stunning Videos, Crazy, Hilarious

Id: 1RA2Zy_IZfQ

Length: 25min 22sec (1522 seconds)

Published: Thu May 05 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/HereComesParker]

Didnt get through it. Isn't this guy the opposite of what hypnosis should be? Fast paced energetic talking, assertive commands, abrupt snapping without any clear rhythm or pattern?

[u/danblacktie]

I've never felt like the people on the stage were actors more than I did with this guy. Sometimes they did what he said too early and too late. Might be r/woosh ing here, but I did see this guy does shows. So I'm not sure he's the right guy to scientifically prove or disprove hypnosis..
His explanations seemed right though..

[u/majortom12]

TEDx is cheating.

[u/roshaan20043]

If those who could not open their eyes were more hypnotizable, Why did they not open their eyes when the hypnotist ordered the crowd to open them after he snaps. If they were more hypnotizable then they should've opened their eyes as they closed them on his command. There is a big contradiction here