i guess to explain this it's gonna be a stupid long post.
right around 1992 i went with a couple friends who wanted to be hypnotized so they could quit smoking. i smoked at the time and said i'd go and participate for the fuck of it, all the while being a hayuge skeptic and not really wanting to quit smoking. it was a combo smoking cessation + 'quit whatever bad habit you want to quit' seminar.
we were three of about 100 people in a carpeted conference room in a hotel in washington DC. the first part was an "introduction to hypnosis" session that lasted about 30 minutes. during this session, the hypnotist asked for a show of hands for how many people thought there was no way they could be hypnotized and stated he was introducing everyone to what "real hypnosis" is and feels like. about 2/3's of the crowd raised their hands to say they didn't believe. the second to last thing i remember him saying before he had everyone lie down and close their eyes was not to worry because at any moment anyone could consciously decide to stand up and walk out...that being under hypnosis isn't a condition wherein one has no control over their thoughts and actions. the very last thing everyone remembered him saying before the introductory session officially began was, "when i have everyone under hypnosis, i'm going to tell everyone a phrase, make sure that everyone has heard and understands the phrase, and then i'm going to tell everyone to forget that phrase so try to remember it!" at this point my attitude was: ok, dude, get on with it cause i really want a cigarette right now.
he had us lie down, close our eyes, and just listen to him talk; it was the typical quiet, very methodical, monotone, repetitive-phrases speech pattern that many have heard of or seen demonstrated before. it was none of this rapid talking, 'when i snap my fingers you'll be totally under my control' or swinging pendulum bullshit. a few minutes into it i don't remember the specifics of what he was saying but then he interjected with "and many of you right now will feel your dominant hand being detached from your wrist and floating into the air...at that exact moment i realized that my motherfucking right hand felt like it was about five feet off of the ground and i remember chuckling to myself when i realized that this dickhead really was hypnotizing me/us.
so he goes on and on, says he has us on the verge of deep hypnosis, did a few more demonstrations like the hand thing (not every one of them worked but most did), and then said "ok, now i'm going to tell everyone that phrase that i said i would and everyone is going to try to remember it but nobody is going to be able to recall it." i also remember him saying that if anyone felt uncomfortable they could stand up and walk out and i tested this by opening my eyes and sitting up. there were about two peeps leaving and a few more like me, sitting up, eyes open. i resumed the position and followed along, waiting for the phrase that i knew i'd remember.
just after that he 'woke us up' and had us sit up. he asked for a show of hands of how many people remembered the test phrase and laughter broke out around the room as everyone looked around to find nobody holding their hand up. then he told us the phrase, most people got an 'oh shit, that's it' look on their faces, and he told us to take a 15 minute break and stretch our legs. my two friends and i went for a short walk and laughed more because we couldn't remember the fucking secret phrase that he had JUST revealed to us not two minutes prior; the fucker had really done it, he had really hypnotized me and i was a little stunned that i couldn't recall that stupid phrase.
so the next session was deep hypnosis and it took about 30 mins to get everyone into whatever qualifies as deeply hypnotized. then he took us--in our minds of course--into a grocery store. he described all the details he wanted to and we all (at least me and my friends) saw exactly what he was describing. we walked up to a booth where a lady was slicing lemons to let people sample the lemons they had for sale. he had us pick up a slice, pop it into our mouths, and bite down...fucking instantaneous mouth watering in real life just like i had bit into a fucking lemon. it was surreal.
so the big finale where everyone would get out of this whatever they came for was to walk up to an old timey switch board, an old telephone switchboard with all the wires plugged into those rows of holes. --before the session he had a couple interns with note pads and had people call out things they wanted to quit like smoking after eating and smoking after sex and eating icecream in bed while watching late night teevee and shit like that-- so he walks us up to the switchboard and said something like "this first wire is for smoking after sex and if you want to stop that habit then reach up, grab that plug, and pull it from the switchboard. drop the wire and you'll never have a craving for smoking after sex anymore; it will be completely gone from your life." he was obviously reading off of the lists compiled by the interns and if a certain wire didn't pertain to you then you simply didn't have to reach for it to unplug it; you'd just ignore that one.
when the seminar was over we had zero nicotine cravings and were actually repulsed by the smell and thought of smoking even one drag. one of the parts of the deep hypnosis prior to the virtual switchboard was him droning on and on and on about how every time you'd think about smoking your mouth would taste like you poured stale beer in a full ashtray and were having a nice quid of vinegar beer plus bottom of old ashtray taste with a few old butts thrown in for good measure...and it really did taste like that for a couple days upon any thought of smoking.
10/10. would definitely do it again just for the experience. another part of the experience was that he told us we'd all feel like a million bucks, like we'd spent a week sleeping followed by a week of good food in a perfect atmosphere followed by a week of massages 24/7. i'm not sure my body has felt that good at any time afterward, even on massive doses of opiates lols.
tl;dr: yes, i've been hypnotized and it was p fucking awesome.
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