Ronning Guide to Modern Stage Hypnosis

by David Botsford, Geoffrey Ronning, Wendy Ronning

Improve Your Performance, Boost Your Bookings & Income You hold in your hands a key to your success. One that unlocks your stage hypnosis potential and propels you into being better at what you do.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0971292981
• ISBN13: 9780971292987
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Westward Publishing
• Length: 386 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great book on Sta...GEOFFERY RONNING...ge Hypnosis

I'll explain the bizarre nature of the title of this review in just a moment, but first, the book. As far as books about Stage Hypnosis go, this has to be, without a doubt, one of the best and comprehensive ones I've come across. But it's important you understand exactly what this book is about; it may not be what you're looking for. If you're simply searching for Hypnosis, there's a strong possibility that what you're really after are Induction scripts. And, if you've already got that under your belt, you're most likely looking for clever ideas once people are under. Yes, you'll find them both, tersely spread across about 15 pages in an otherwise thick book. But then again that's not really what this book is about. This book is an excellent resource about performance: how to market yourself, how to handle a booking, how to build rapport with the audience, how to arrange your stage, how to select a sound system, how to deal with disruptive people, what to do if something goes wrong, and most importantly not to use a precanned script or static show. The author, correctly, emphasizes that learning hypnosis is the easy part, but to be entertaining requires you understand the bigger picture of what you're doing so well that you don't do rote memorization. That's what this book is all about, and it's filled with fantastic information about _that_ subject. The only distraction I found was that the author comes across as loving the sound of his own name, and interjects it -everywhere-. And his wife's, Wendy. And the pages are punctuated with low resolution, bad quality photographs of the two of them on location. Perhaps this is the point, get your name out there, but if I had any complaint, it would be that I didn't have a nickel for every time the words Geoffery Ronning appeared on the page. Hence the title of this review.

The nuts and bolts about hypnosis

What I wouldn't have given to have this book when I started out in stage hypnosis. There is no fluff, it's right to the point and gives you the true nuts and bolts of performing stage hypnosis. I know many people, myself included, jumped at the chance to pay a lot of money, take off work for a week, hop on a plane and travel to in my case Seattle, just to study under Geoffrey and Wendy Ronning. He absolutely didn't hold anything back and you get it all in the comfort of your own home for a ridiculously low price. My only complaint is that he didn't charge more money for the book to keep the curious away. I really do love everything about this book, but the one subject I find to be priceless is what to do when no one gets hypnotized. I think it is the biggest fear of every beginning hypnotist. I know that it was mine. I still remember beginning to learn about stage hypnosis and literally going on a quest to discover a plan B when the show goes wrong. I E-mailed every hypnotist I could Google and only got one response. His solution was to bring some magic tricks along with you and if all else fails, turn your hypnosis show into a magic show. I didn't think a corporate client would find that very acceptable after they just flew me across the country when they could have just hired a magician instead. I remember traveling twelve hours to attend a hypnosis seminar from a noted stage hypnotist specifically to find out what to do when no one was hypnotized but still didn't get a satisfactory answer. I just couldn't believe that all these hypnotists got hired to do a show, just threw fate to the wind, and had absolutely no plan B to go with when things went wrong. And I don't care who you are. If you do anything enough times, eventually things will go wrong. Geoffrey gives you a very detailed solution so you will never have to worry about what you are going to do if no one will volunteer, if no one gets hypnotized, or if none of the volunteers will respond to your suggestions and you have no show. Now you get a plan B that turns what could be a very awkward situation into a great show. I know first hand it's a solution that works because I have personally used this technique to save my reputation, and my dignity, and my show. As far as I am concerned, this information alone is priceless, as is everything else in the book. Run and get this book. I highly recommend it!

THE NEW GOLD STANDARD

Geoffrey Ronning has written the book all others will be compared to. The field of Stage Hypnosis has not seen a book quite this good ever before. One part detailed instruction manual, one part exercise work book, and one part collection of secret tips and inside tricks learned from a lifetime of practice as a full-time performing Stage Hypnotist, this book is the modern classic on the art of Comedy Stage Hypnosis. There are only a handful of good books on Stage Hypnosis. While Ormond McGill's books, such as The Art of Stage Hypnotism and The New Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnotism are classics to be admired, they aren't particularly useful for the individual who wants to quickly learn Stage Hypnosis and begin performing shows. Jonathan Chase's Deeper and Deeper is a very good book, but it is nowhere near as thorough or complete as this new work by Ronning. Well written, comprehensive and filled with immediately actionable tools and exercises, Stage Hypnosis by Geoffrey Ronning would be the # 1 recommended book I would suggest to the individual wanting to learn Stage Hypnosis and get started performing shows quickly. It's been said that you can't learn to ride a bike by reading a book. And that is certainly true. But you can learn a great deal about Stage Hypnosis from this excellent book. I would say it's much more than a book, it is a Training Manual. If you will diligently study and apply what Ronning teaches in this book, you will have enough knowledge to begin performing Stage Hypnosis shows. Then get out there and perform a few shows to earn enough money to take Ronning's live training. The live training will give you confidence you cannot get from a book. Highly recommended.

an A+ stage hypnotism book

I agree with the basic reviews above and will take a slightly different approach here. I will look at specific items that interested me as a stage hypnotist. First, the EKG Induction...I wanted to see if this is the same induction I bought many years earlier. It is the same induction and is taught very well. My experience with the EKG is it is a very, very good stage induction. In this book you get an induction that is either taught at his expensive seminars or you buy separate for a couple hundred bucks. It is an incredible value to have in a stage hypnotism book. I was also interested in how he handled the two boogeymen of stage hypnotism...what do you do when no one volunteers for your show or no one gets hypnotized. These are things you will run into eventually. They are far less common than you might think but still need to be prepared for. His advice for getting volunteers is practical and time-tested. It won't work 100% of the time but it will work enough so that this doesn't become an issue. Once in a great while, maybe once every several years if you do shows, you won't get volunteers ( a little more often with image-conscious groups). With his strategies even these few times will be minimized. So what do you do when no one goes into trance? Ronning gives four strategies that eliminate this as a concern for me. I was also interested in skit development. This is a tough section as I haven't seen a writer or video that has satisfied me on this. An example...I recently watched a person demonstrate amnesia...he had the girl forget her name. He had a number of bits of business in his routine that may be standard to him but were new to me. Here I would have liked to see more in the book. He lists a number of good routines. He does discuss development better than most anywhere I've seen so far but I was still hoping for more. Still, it is better than what else is out there so it is a step forward. Ronning does do a wonderful job structuring a show though and suggests what skits could go in what show positions (first skit, second skit...) for good effect. This is very valuable advice for the person just starting out in stage. I was also very interested in his claim that you can have as many bookings as you want in 21 days. He suggests a very bread-and-butter hypnotism market and how to approach it. The market is a good, proven market. Many successful hypnotists still work this market on a regular basis. I thought Ronning's treatment here good but a little glossed-over. My initial impression is there is a bit more to working this market than he examines. However this is dealt with at the end of the book. Ronning has several guest writers just write about whatever they wanted to at the end of the book. Some of it is a bit rambling but overall this is a very nice section. The gem is when Chris Frolic prints his posts of how he started in stage hypnotism with this entry-level market that Ronning suggests. Th

This is the real stuff.

When I heard Geoffrey Ronning had published this book, I rushed to buy it without question. I have taken several Ronning training courses, have purchased many of his stage hypnosis products. There was no question I wouldn't consider not having this book. This book covers in detail what it takes to make a successful career in an extremely rewarding field. In the years I have been working with Geoffrey, my business has grown, most importantly the quality of my hypnosis shows has dramatically increased. All that I have spent years on learning is now in this book. I hesitate to call it a book-it is more a WORK-book, with the emphasis on WORK. This book not only details what, why, and how to be a stage hypnotist, it is more importantly full of exercises that MUST be done to benefit from the material covered. This is not a book to be read (reading will not teach you much), it is a book to be experienced and applied. I know that for a fact. Applying the tools and exercises taught here, will definitely boost your abilities and career in the amazing world of hypnosis. Bravo to Geoffrey and Wendy for a major work in the craft of stage hypnosis.