A couple of weeks ago a man came to me for a consultation and after a few minutes started talking about politics and asked, "Would it be possible to get a politician, right in the middle of a speech, to just start barking like a dog? Assuming he was joking, I explained to him the concept of covert hypnosis and how you can, for instance, engage a person's imagination into an interesting story, which puts a person into a light state of hypnosis, and covertly embed suggestions into the story that with a certain trigger, or in a certain situation, they will feel compelled to bark like a dog.
In order to illustrate this phenomenon, I told him a true story of an experience I had in the early 1990's. I was having a long lunch with the late great hypnotist, Dr. Al Krasner, at the Radisson Hotel next to John Wayne Airport in Newport Beach, California, where they were hosting the annual convention of the American Board of Hypnotherapy. There were several young men having lunch at a table nearby who weren't part of the convention, but they saw our nametags and began looking over and chuckling among themselves, obviously amused. Finally, one of them turned to us (he must have drawn the straw), looked at Al and asked with a grin, "Can you make me bark like a dog?"
Without missing a beat, Dr. Krasner became very serious, put his fork down, looked right at the young man and asked, "Well, I don't know. You know there are many types of dogs and they don't all have the same kind of bark. What kind of dog do you want to bark like?" He then proceeded to engage the young man in a detailed question and answer session about the type, size, color and age of the dog he wants to bark like. After drawing him into all of the details, he then said, "You know, I've never seen or heard of a dog quite like that, what does he sound like?" Yes, you guessed, it. The young man barked like a dog! Then Dr. Krasner turned around, picked up his fork, and began eating as if nothing had happened.
After telling this story to the man in my office, he seemed very intrigued. He said, "You mean if you get someone involved with telling a story, you might be able to get them to bark like a dog as part of the story and they won't even realize how rediculous they look?" Well, it's certainly possible. But the person would have to really believe that it's integral to the story. He thanked me and said he would call after he gets back from Reno.
The man left my office and I never thought anything else about it until yesterday when I saw a news story on a political channel and they showed a video of
Hillary Clinton giving a speech in Reno, Nevada, telling a story and barking like a dog!
OH MY, WHAT HAVE I DONE?
In order to illustrate this phenomenon, I told him a true story of an experience I had in the early 1990's. I was having a long lunch with the late great hypnotist, Dr. Al Krasner, at the Radisson Hotel next to John Wayne Airport in Newport Beach, California, where they were hosting the annual convention of the American Board of Hypnotherapy. There were several young men having lunch at a table nearby who weren't part of the convention, but they saw our nametags and began looking over and chuckling among themselves, obviously amused. Finally, one of them turned to us (he must have drawn the straw), looked at Al and asked with a grin, "Can you make me bark like a dog?"
Without missing a beat, Dr. Krasner became very serious, put his fork down, looked right at the young man and asked, "Well, I don't know. You know there are many types of dogs and they don't all have the same kind of bark. What kind of dog do you want to bark like?" He then proceeded to engage the young man in a detailed question and answer session about the type, size, color and age of the dog he wants to bark like. After drawing him into all of the details, he then said, "You know, I've never seen or heard of a dog quite like that, what does he sound like?" Yes, you guessed, it. The young man barked like a dog! Then Dr. Krasner turned around, picked up his fork, and began eating as if nothing had happened.
After telling this story to the man in my office, he seemed very intrigued. He said, "You mean if you get someone involved with telling a story, you might be able to get them to bark like a dog as part of the story and they won't even realize how rediculous they look?" Well, it's certainly possible. But the person would have to really believe that it's integral to the story. He thanked me and said he would call after he gets back from Reno.
The man left my office and I never thought anything else about it until yesterday when I saw a news story on a political channel and they showed a video of
Hillary Clinton giving a speech in Reno, Nevada, telling a story and barking like a dog!
OH MY, WHAT HAVE I DONE?
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