Ok, so after running the first weekend of my latest hypnotherapy diploma… I am getting asked ‘those’ questions… Similar questions that I get asked following a speaking event, or a seminar…
“Were you doing hypnosis on us while we were not expecting it?”… “I felt funny after you spoke, were you doing something else while you were speaking?”
Those brave and knowledgeable ones don’t ask questions, they make statements…
“I saw you doing a tapping thing with your toes, that was hypnotising us, wasn’t it?” or “I could tell you were using your hands in that particular way to make us feel different, weren’t you?”
Hmmmmm…
In my field, when you are inherently using all that you know, it is not a case of ‘consciously applying’ these things on purpose… They are just happening. Any good communicator, trained or not, gets asked these things and because of my specialist area of interest, everyone is asking me about Barack Obama… Let me explain…
Many people have highlighted Obama’s Denver Democratic National Convention 2008 speech in which some believe he uses commands as he is programming the audience to vote for him on November 4th.
Obama’s wonderfully hypnotic command that “a light will shine down from somewhere, it will light upon you, you will experience an epiphany, and you will say to yourself, ‘I have to vote for Barack’”
I love it! My point is, what else is he supposed to say? It is beautiful, elegant language that you would expect from any person who may be president of the USA. Yet many people are saying he is unfairly using hypnotic techniques…
I remember when the boxing community were complaining that is was unfair the Nigel Benn had seen Paul Mckenna for hypnosis. Hahaha! Do they think that hypnosis was somehow sneaking anabolic steroids into his bloodstream. How was it not fair? The guy was still the guy — just with a better and enhanced mindset.
Obama is an incredibly talented speaker — even if he is using hypnotic techniques on purpose — so what? He is simply amplifying and doing what many people do anyway… It is an impotent argument to suggest that it is somehow unfair… It verges on laughable to suggest such.
So, back to that speech… He said:
“a light will shine down from somewhere, it will light upon you, you will experience an epiphany, and you will say to yourself, “I have to vote for Barack”’
If we take the sentence apart… notice how voting for Obama is made absolutely compulsory with the words “have to” — precisely as a hypnotic command. He creates a compulsion…I wish some of our politicians would use some of that kind of urgency… He is not asking for a vote — he is telling his audience how they will vote. He is moving them into the future, he is illuminating their future ith light and having them feel like they made a good decision… Fabulous stuff.
Notice the language “light shining down”, and “it will light upon you” a description of some almost supernatural (perhaps subconscious?) force… He is using very visual language to connect with his audience… I find it awe inspiring… I find it to be hypnotic… He paints a picture with heavenly qualities… Do you think I am hypnotised by him?
Some have highlighted this speech as an example of Obama using hypnotic hand gestures too, followed by what we refer to as an anchor.
Obama, while saying this sentence uses both his pointing gesture as a supposed hypnotic command implantation, and his thumb and forefinger gesture as a hypnotic anchor, back to back.
In fact, when you watch any video clip of this speech, many interpret Obama as using hypnotic hand gestures.
As he says “you will say to yourself” — he points up into the air, pointing is a hypnotic gesture for commanding someone to do something, to perform a specific act. Then, he uses his typical thumb and forefinger hypnotic anchor for the words “I have to vote for Barack.” Brilliant. Good for him. Making his audience feel good.
I find Obama to be incredibly congruent while he speaks and that resonates well with me… Regardless of whether or not he does any of this stuff on purpose as many of his opposition believe…
There is so much more that he does that is beautiful to watch and to highlight what makes him such an engaging and influential speaker — lots that in my fields we notice… But these fields are often built upon modelling.
Heck, we see what other people do well and do more of it… That is what Obama does well… I like seeing these hypnotic processes, I liked watching Martin Luther Kings speeches, JFKs speeches, Winston Churchill’s speeches, Nelson Mandella’s speeches … These are brilliant people at work and we can learn much from how they communicated. I am pleased Obama’s abilities are being analysed and questioned, and I hope he wins.
Fascinating – thank you!
Thanks Tom… Lovely hearing from you.
I miss attending t your seminar , but the above are facinating raj
I haven’t seen the debates with McCain, but someone told me he was definitely using stage anchoring – apparently every time he referred to President Bush, he stood in the spot that McCain had used for his answers!
It’s good that the Democrats have finally cottoned on to connecting with peoples’ emotions effectively – I’m currently reading Drew Westen’s “The Political Brain” http://tinyurl.com/6b5qwt (review coming in my blog soon – suffice it to say it’s fascinating) and some of the ads that the Republicans have used in previous campaigns were chillingly effective. Apparently they used a subliminal in one of them!
Raj, good to hear from you… Hope you are doing well.
Andy, I’ll be interested to see your review…
I got a fabulous quote today from David Shephard when he read this, he said:
It all reminds me of a quote from a great book, Mark Fisher’s The Instant Millionaire. “Most people mistake a highly developed skill for cheating”
Very true 🙂
I got the 67 page hypnosis download from a friend who is also rapped up in many conspiracy theories. She loves anything on rapture, the coming of days, revelations and everything biblical
I also read The Political Brain–very insightful, fascinating. I think the Democrat party finally took some time to ask themselves, “Hey, why do we keep losing? And what can we do about it?”
I’m glad we have a presidential candidate that is educated and not an embarrassment when he speaks. The DNC finally gets someone who is a good orator without disracting body mannerisms.
Hypnosis of the people, my @ss! What’s next? Seriously?! What is next by these divisive evangelical and/or fundamentalist Christian-Obama haters?
I have read most everything I can possibly read, watch many videos, news . . . . and listened to AM radio to try to examine this political race from all different kinds of angles and opinions. I have learned so much.
What Obama has had to go through, what he’s going through and what he will experience will take a strong person. I hope that he wins this election and will be about to demonstrate to doubters and haters that he will not only persevere, but thrive and help our econmically troubled nation start to put itself back together.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth