Once again I am going to be jabbering on about Hypnosis again. So if you have not noticed by now hypnosis is something that is of great interest to me, and I think having at minimum an understanding of hypnotic language is a valuable addition to your social engineering toolset.

So just a quick history to bring us upto date. I had read a couple of books on hypnosis pre 2009, but things had never really hit home. Then I think it was March 2009 I stumbled across Anthony Jacquin‘s “Reality is Plastic” on a magic forum, and read about the success this guy was having with hypnosis since following the concepts discussed. Well it had me sold so I bought it, and thanks to this book I became The Hypnotist. I also studied other writings, online information and DVDs  from Anthony, as well as speaking with him and his business partner Kev Sheldrake helped me develop my skills. I call the method of Hypnosis I learnt from Anthony “conventional” hypnosis, in the sense that it involves the concept of trance, inducing sleep and deepening. I have, and continue to get great success with this approach, and I love it to bits. The only negatives I have found is that if you don’t set up the context right, success issues occur, but that’s a hypnotist issue, and the other is using it from a social engineering perspective, you have to be more creative, and that’s no good if your lazy.

So as mentioned before when I was at the Blackpool Magic convention with Anthony and Kev, I was introduced to James Tripp, and he told me about his Hypnosis Without Trance method of Hypnosis. We spoke about what I do, and the social engineering aspects and we agreed that there is some possible clear benefits. Since Blackpool I have had various online interactions with James, and studied some of his online material, and then began utilising his approach in combination with “conventional” Hypnosis with great results. I didn’t feel as confident with the non trance approach to some extent, I think in a way because I had not officially read, or studied the approach, as a result there was some internal doubt. This was part of the reason for attending the No Fail Protocol Special, and looking to attend James’s Hypnosis Without Trance Workshop.

So fast forward to the 15th May 2010 and I am sat in Regents College in London on the Hypnosis Without Trance Workshop, ready for a weekend of educating my grey matter as well as hacking some :)

What can I say, it was an excellent two days. I really enjoy James’s teaching approach, its very casual, he gives lots of background, explanation, has no issues with interruption and questioning or challenging. Obviously as you would hope for there is also the actual doing of hypnosis and learning as you go with your fellow class mates. The class had a great selection of people, and everyone got on well. I would say about 50% had the ability to hypnotise to some degree already using “conventional” methods, so this made for good discussion and education for everyone involved.

The main objectives of the course for me were to take steps to mastering this approach and building on what I had observed and practised to date, and I would say I achieved this as I had great successes all weekend. I wanted to discuss and examine possible limitations for my work from a social engineering perspective, and how I could utilise the conventional skills I have already, and as always to meet new people, and willing subjects to practice some head hacking with, and share my thoughts and opinions. I met, and possibly exceeded these objectives. So where from here for me? Well my approach to education and developing my skills is to expose myself to information and knowledgeable people on topics I think will be of benefit me, I then take all the various information and form my own opinions and approach. So moving forward I can see myself really utilising the Hypnosis Without Trance approach, and replacing alot of the “conventional” hypnosis methods I use as I think the non trance is more covert for the lack of a better word. It will also make me become a better hypnotist, and utilise both skills sets I have at my disposal. I would certainly like to work with James again, as I have got to know him even better over the weekend, he’s not only a great guy, he has lots of good insight, and NLP knowledge (in a good way, I have NLP hang ups), and I enjoy the discussions we have.

So if you want more information on Hypnosis Without Trance visit James’s website, you can sign up for his free paper on his approach, and no need to worry he isnt a spam king. Also check out Jame’s blog for more tit bits of information and videos. If you cant make a training, its worth considering the study at home Hypnosis Mastery Programme. I have not looked at all the material myself at this stage as I attended the workshop, but the content I have seen looks excellent.

Finally I will just share a final experience from the weekend, that for me showed the benefit. I know someone who in the past I have tried to Hypnotise with “conventional” hypnosis and I never had any success. In his own words, his brain is just to powerful. First time I tried it with the Hypnosis Without Trance approach, I had multiple phenomena. Hand stuck, feet stuck, arms locked, and name amnesia. Its a powerful approach, and it works. Just imagine what can be achieved with the knowledge of both. The mind is a power tool, make sure you keep it with you, and don’t walk around in a mindless state.

After the last class on Sunday, one of the attendees was kind enough to be videoed as I carried out some grey matter hacking. This was my first time being recorded, and it wasn’t really planned, so the nerves kicked in a little, and my cold didn’t help. However, great successes, and just gives an example of what this looks like. I was unsure if I would share this, but I think it shows me where I need to develop further, and will force me to get some decent planned non amateur footage, and help measure progression.

These three video clips are all using the Hypnosis Without Trance method, no sleep, no deepening, just direct, powerful hypnosis.

If you are also interested in the courses and DVD’s offered by Anthony Jacquin in addition to the RIP booked I mentioned already, please check out his Head Hacking site, for more information on his Manchurian Approach and Trilby Connection. Please let Anthony know how you found about about his products.

Earlier on in the year I attended the Blackpool Magic Convention, it was a great event and I met some great hypnotists and magicians. Whilst I was there I was introduced to a guy called James Tripp. James came across as a nice approachable guy, and it turned out he was a hypnotist as well, but he had a slightly different approach to hypnosis. James was all about hypnosis without trance, and this was interesting, so we got talking, and its really very interesting, but I will tell you more about this next month after I attend his official course.

So why have I told you a little about James, well he asks an interesting question. What would you do with hypnosis if you knew you couldn’t fail? Its an interesting thought provoking question. Well James looked to answer this question with a one off exclusive course, called the No Fail Protocol, and I was lucky enough to attend. The day was recorded, and its my understanding that even though this day will not be repeated, the DVD of the day will be available from James’s website at a reasonable price in the future (I will keep you posted).

So what is the no fail protocol? James defines it as the following:
A code of ‘correct’ conduct that when followed allows the hypnotist to operate to his / her fullest extent 100% free from any perceivable failure!! Its an insurance against failure.

This is exactly what we achieved on the course, working examples and demonstrations to give an approach / strategy that gets you thinking out of the box and planning ahead. What this gives you is opportunity and manoeuvres, and I guess what they say in the magic world to some extent multiple outs. It really does then get you thinking about what you could achieve via hypnotic methods if you knew you couldn’t fail. When you approach hypnosis looking to learn from failure, as opposed to looking for success you may also find your results are not quite as you expect, give it a try.

So from a social engineering perspective, it can really get you thinking and challenging yourself. What information can you really extract from an individual using hypnotic suggestion. Why go to all of the trouble of brute force cracking a password, when you can simply ask and be told? What are the boundaries, practically and also ethically?

If you are interested in the No Fail Protocol, and the Hypnosis without trance (HWT) methods I encourage you to head over to James’s site for more information. If you decide to contact James, or attend one of his courses, please let him know where you found out about it. I think the HWT really can be of benefit over conventional hypnosis for the social engineer, but I will discuss this more after I attend the official course, and put it to use in the field. James also has a blog, where he posts his thoughts, and some videos, its worth a look also.

When conducting hypnosis there are various critical moments. These critical moments are formed from within the frame you are setting up. When a critical moment occurs the normal experience is success or fail. However if we ensure we have manoeuvrability we have both the option to jump over to the next critical moment, or execute an exit strategy.