SUGGESTION METHODS SUGGESTION METHODS SUGGESTION METHODS
DRY MOUTH
As I mentioned earlier, it is extremely difficult for someone to swallow twice in a row without drinking water. The drier your mouth is, the more difficult it is to swallow. It logically follows then, that we can make it more difficult for someone to swallow by convincing them that their mouth is dry. If someone has an open and suggestible personality, various physiological responses can occur as a result of the suggestions that have been delivered to them. For instance, a hypnotized subject who believes she is in a sauna will actually begin to sweat. A person, who believes that his mouth is dry, will actually begin to develop a dry mouth. By simply suggesting to your participants that a dry mouth is a common side effect of the process, many of the more suggestible ones will actually convince themselves that their mouths are becoming drier.
THE STRUGGLE
You explain to your participant that soon, he won’t be able to swallow. You attempt to swallow as a part of your explanation, acting as if it’s a struggle to do so. The simple fact that he has watched you struggle to swallow sends
subconscious suggestions to your participant about what he is about to feel and experience and increases the chance that he will actually experience those things.
CONFIDENCE
It is very important to go into this routine displaying full conviction. Your participants’ expectations will drop the second you doubt yourself or reveal a sense of uncertainty. Of course, the opposite is also true. If you walk into the situation with the mentality that this WILL work no matter what, your participants will sense your confidence and their expectancy will increase, making them more likely to experience an extreme case of temporary dysphagia. This method alone, has brought me plenty of success with this effect, generally for people who have just experienced a moment of dysphagia induced by another method, or for those who have just witnessed somebody else experience dysphagia first.
63 DIFFICULTIES
DIFFICULTIES DIFFICULTIES DIFFICULTIES
There are a few potential difficulties that could cause this effect to fail, though it is at least quite easy to try again should that happen. Thankfully, we have layers of methods that we can combine to make this effect work. It is also worth
mentioning that certain body types will react differently from others when treated with the same physical methods. Here are some of the difficulties you could encounter, as well as various methods by which you can overcome them.
SLENDER NECKS
People with huge Adam’s apples tend to have long necks and you can literally feel and see all the little muscles in their throats. This is a characteristic usually found in tall people or really skinny people and one that makes it more difficult to implement the touch method on someone. The first reason is that their Adam’s apples can sometimes get in the way of the rub and the second is that you are forced to use less pressure on the rub because their throats are more sensitive.
The best approach to use on one of these people is to rub the M&G muscles beneath his or her chin.
CORPULENT NECKS
These people can sometimes be difficult to perform this on because they tend to have thicker skin and more meat on their necks that they don’t really feel
anything in that area. Rubbing on the cricoid cartilage of these people is more likely to work than on people with slender necks, but sometimes neither touch method will work. It is in this situation that I will usually perform the backbone method, because these people tend to be larger and you can usually press a bit harder on their backs with less chance of injuring them. I find this to be the most sufficient method to use on people with these body types.
FAKERS
These are typically the alpha male types who want to heckle you. They do this thing where, when you have them try to swallow they will move their neck like a bird, dipping their head down forward and then up again in a fluid motion, as if they were demonstrating an exaggerated swallow. They will generally follow this by saying something along the lines of, “see, I can swallow.”
I am most likely to receive this reaction when using the hypnosis presentation (described in the ‘Presentations’ section) because when I do perform this routine in a hypnosis context, I intentionally set it up as a challenge. When I encounter these types of reactions, I usually just move on to something else.
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PRESENTATIONS PRESENTATIONS PRESENTATIONS
Over the years, I have come up with several different presentations for this routine. Not so surprisingly, the first one I came up with was the “Force Choke” – the choke that Darth Vader uses in Star Wars. My favorite presentation to
perform is probably “Amnesia.” I often like to skip all of the patter, build-up and suggestion, and go straight for the kill. I suggest that you try all of these
presentations and figure out which one works best for you and your persona.
This effect is extremely powerful and very fun. It would be a shame if you didn’t try it at least once.
FORCE CHOKE
This routine is inspired entirely by Star Wars and was the very first routine I came up with that used this technique. The premise is very simple – I am showing off a skill. There isn’t much depth to this presentation, but it is extremely entertaining all the same. This presentation works best for Star Wars fans, or at least for people who are somewhat familiar with Darth Vader.
“Have you ever seen the movie Star Wars? Do you remember how Darth Vader would choke people without touching them? Well I’m going to try that same thing on you. Don’t worry, I’ll just do it very lightly. In fact, I won’t actually choke you; I’ll just make it so you can’t swallow. Go and stand right there with your feet together and take a deep breath in through your nose. Great. You can swallow easily now, right? Good. You’re going to feel a strange sensation right about here.”(Perform touch move) “Ready?”
This is the moment that I take a few steps back and make a choking gesture with my hand like Darth Vader. I just use my thumb and index finger and act as if I they are trying to squish something. I watch for my participant’s reactions and stop making the gesture just before he looks like he’s about to gain control of the swallow. At that moment I create the illusion that I’ve released him from my grip, by relaxing my finger and thumb.
HYPNOSIS
Often times when I’m performing hypnosis, I’ll encounter someone who claims that they cannot be hypnotized. This is the perfect opportunity to perform this routine. When someone sets me up for a challenge, I don’t ever feel like I need to prove myself or show off. Preferably, I will choose to perform for those who are willing to participate and are already enjoying what I’m doing. Having said that, this is one routine that I will always use if someone challenges me and I feel like shutting them up.
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“There is a common belief that when somebody is hypnotized, the hypnotist can control that person’s mind and make them do whatever they want them to do.
The reason so many people believe this to be true is that it IS true. Hypnosis can and will allow people to control one another. If you don’t believe me, let me show you. Do you feel like you have complete control over your own motor functions?
Try to swallow. You notice it’s easy and normal. Now watch this.”(Perform the touch method and then snap your fingers) “Try to swallow. The more you try to swallow the more difficult it becomes” (snap fingers again) “There. Now you can swallow again.”
Usually after performing this, the participant is ready and primed for real hypnosis. At that point I’ll typically make his hand stick to a table or wall and continue with other hypnosis demonstrations from there.
AMNESIA
This is my favorite routine by far. When I perform this, I don’t present it as an effect or any type of formal presentation; I also don’t give any forewarning that I’m going to do it. I almost always use this when I’m in a conversation with someone and the topic of hypnosis or mentalism comes up.
As I’m talking to him, I’ll just stop mid-sentence and say, “Do you remember that one time you completely forgot how to swallow?” As I say that, I’ll touch his throat. Immediately after I’ll follow up with, “just like that time you completely forgot your name” whilst simultaneously using my finger to tap the center of his forehead and making a pop noise with my tongue.
There are many layers that act together to make this particular routine possible.
This doesn’t work with everyone, but it is well suited for use with people who are extremely interested in you and the magic, hypnosis, or mind reading that you have performed for them already. The people I’m talking about are those who are likely to bombard you with thousands of questions and who are absolutely
enthralled by everything you do. When people start getting inquisitive with me, that’s when I feel most compelled to perform this routine.
As I converse with them and answer their questions, I will usually go into some elaborate, bullshit filled explanation as to how I manage to achieve my feats. As I do this, I am planting suggestions in their mind about mind control and hypnosis and I’ll casually shift the conversation to the topic of memory. I build up their expectations and their belief in hypnotic phenomena. Once I feel that they are primed, I use a pattern interrupt. Not giving them enough time to think or react throws them off completely and for a brief moment, also allows me to bypass their critical mind. After I perform the touch move and suggest that they have forgotten their name, the fact that they actually can’t swallow loops the
suggestion of name amnesia, giving it more credence. It’s a very linear process and again, takes a lot of confidence to pull off.
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JUMPING PULSE
My good friend, Paul Shirley, shared this idea with me. Since the moment I originally showed him how to perform Psycho Dysphagia, Paul has been performing this routine for just about anybody he can get his grip on and I am very grateful that he has given me permission to share his take on the effect here. Paul’s rendition makes use of Bill Cushman’s Jumping Pulse and if you are already familiar with Cushman’s routine, you will immediately understand how it is applied here. I can’t explain how Cushman’s Jumping Pulse works here;
however, I can explain how I use it with psycho dysphagia.
Once the participant has experienced his pulse jumping around from finger to finger, I ask him to imagine and feel his pulse slowly moving up his arm and then across his chest. I then suggest to him a feeling of tightness in his chest and tell him to notice that the tightness is moving up toward his throat. It is as I ask him to imagine the tightness moving up toward his throat that I use the touch technique, disguised as a gesture. I then lay the suggestions on thick and cause him to feel a lump in his throat. At this point, he cannot swallow and just before I sense that he is about to regain control of his swallow, I will synchronize an abrupt snap of the fingers with a jolt to his shoulder (delivered by my hand) serving to release him from the choke.
INDUCTION
When I am performing hypnosis, I like to use Psycho Dysphagia as a waking suggestion or “set piece.” I will start with magnetic fingers and frame it as their body’s physical response to a focused thought. I then ask a participant to focus his attention and awareness toward his throat.
“In a moment you’re going to feel your throat begin to tense up and it’s going to get tighter and tighter. You’ll find that for a few brief moments you won’t be able to swallow. Instead of fighting it, just allow it to happen. When you feel that pressure begin to release, you can allow every muscle and nerve in your body to relax and be completely open and ready for any suggestions. Don’t speak or say anything, just nod your head once you’ve lost the sensation of swallowing. Go ahead and close your eyes. When I click my fingers, you‘re going to feel your mouth start to get really dry. You‘ll notice that this begins with your tongue starting to feel uncomfortable, almost as if you‘ve forgotten how to use it. As you swallow right now you‘ll hear a crackling sound in your ear, that‘s how you know this is working.”
At this point, I perform either the touch maneuver or the spine technique and wait for him to nod. Once he has nodded, I continue:
“Now, as you feel that sensation in your throat you’ll begin to notice a wave of warm energy surging from your throat, down to your feet and allowing you to become more and more relaxed.”
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From this point I will take him deeper into a hypnotic state and continue to loop all of his physiological responses to hypnotic phenomena, building each
suggestion upon the last.
DRINK UP
This idea was actually given to me by my good friend Paul Vigil. I shared my dysphagia technique with him at Luke Jermay’s first workshop in Las Vegas.
Paul suggested that the routine be prefaced with the participant taking a drink of water, in order to prove that he can properly swallow.
Then, he suggested that the participant be directed to take another sip of water, but instead of being instructed to swallow, he should be instructed to hold the liquid in his mouth. It is at this point that Paul suggested performing the touch maneuver and watching the participant struggle to swallow the liquid. I’ve performed this for people and sometimes they end up spitting the liquid out. I don’t do this often, but it’s definitely entertaining and something worth trying.
KEY FOB
When I attended Mind-Vention 2012, I was in the dealers’ room and noticed that pretty much every single vendor was selling some sort of electronic item that used a little remote to control something. I thought it would be funny to convince people that I had just purchased a new gimmick that had been designed to choke people. My stunt-prop was a not-so-futuristic key fob, with a little LED light built in.
Throughout the convention I would explain my new gimmick to people, perform the touch move and point the key fob at their throat. After doing this a few times, I realized that people were really freaking out!! I also told them that the product was still going through a beta testing period and that I was unsure of any long-term damage. After the first performance, all I had to do was point the light at the throat of a subject who had already experienced the ‘choking’ effect and it would work. There is so much suggestion built into this method that it practically works itself.
After using the key fob, I started considering other possible gimmicks and tools that I could use to supposedly induce this choke. It would be fun to create a contraption that looked like it came from a sci-fi movie and to use it to choke people. Power balance bracelets and interesting rings worn by participants also came to mind, as it would be interesting to convince participants that their bracelets or rings were able to give them (or take away) full conscious control over their bodies.