My wife contacted a quasi-local hypnotist and signed me up for an introductory session. I have a serious thing about heights that’s reared its ugly head during a few family vacations, so she figured maybe hypnosis could help me out. The Grand Canyon’s not so grand when your partner in crime is curled up in the fetal position in the back seat of an economy-class rental car. Go figure.
I have plenty of other issues too, don’t get me wrong. But my wife’s main idea was this: Let’s start off by tackling my fear-of-heights, and then if hypnosis actually does me some good, maybe we can use it to go hunting for some more elusive game.
“Why not give it a try?” I said to myself. “What’s the worst that can happen?” I asked the face in the mirror.
What follows is what I’ve learned so far.
I’m Susceptible!
We’ve all probably heard the following: Some people are more susceptible to hypnosis than others.
The hypnotist with whom I met confirmed that this has indeed been her experience to date. She said she’s seen it all regarding the ease and difficulty with which people “go under.” Additionally, she described some observed correlations between susceptibility and where people fall on the introvert/extrovert spectrum. Apparently, Introverts are generally tougher nuts to crack, while extroverts tend toward being pushovers.
I’m a hard-left introvert. I already knew this going into the session, but it was again confirmed by my answers to a brief intake questionnaire. As such, she indicated that I might be a hard case, that it might take a couple of sessions to get trained to enter a hypnotic state.
As it turns out, I dropped in fifteen seconds flat.
When I reemerged – about an hour later, I reckon – I only had the vaguest outline about what had been happening to me. What can I say? I’m the flippin’ when-you-hear-me-snap-my-fingers-you’ll-believe-you’re-a-chicken guy.
After the session, the hypnotist said, “I expected that to be tougher for you, but you achieved a hypnotic state quite easily.”
“Um…OK…I guess that good, right?” I tentatively asked.
“Yes, yes. It’s good.”
“How could you tell I was hypnotized?” I had to ask.
“Well, you were twitching a little. And your eyes were darting around, like R.E.M.,” she answered. “Those are signs.”
“OK. Interesting.” I didn’t remember any of that.
“Do you meditate?” she asked.
“Huh?”
“Do you meditate regularly? I mean, that could be one explanation for how someone with your . . . ummm . . . introverted disposition might be able to go under so easily.”
“As a matter of fact, I do. Every day,” I answered.
The next day, as I lay down for my morning meditation, I thought about that. I wondered if it’s a good thing or a bad thing for me to be readily susceptible to hypnosis. I mean, I suspect there are plenty of opportunities to “get hypnotized” nowadays by the The Man’s clever machinery – so would I be better off staying inside my introvert shell, where I’m presumably shielded from the worst of it? I also wondered about all the extroverts in the world, wide open to uninvited energetic manipulation. I wondered how things must be going for them.
These are open questions. I don’t know the answers yet. But I can say this: It feels good to wonder, and I’ve been feeling really good since my hypnosis session. Really good. So, I’m going to go back for more.
Woodstock ‘99
After my session the hypnotist invited me to sit down for a brief chat. I think it was mainly so she could assess whether or not I was back in my head and able to function in the conscious world again. She wanted to make sure I could walk and talk, and – god bless her – be able to drive myself back home.
Our chat included her rap about her model of the various levels of consciousness. The gist of it was that we are actually drifting in and out of hypnosis all the time, throughout each and every day. She mentioned, by way of example, how watching a movie or reading a book can actually hypnotize us. Evidence for this is that these simple external sensory experiences can tickle our subconscious realms and trigger real emotions to bubble up from the depths.
Then she mentioned, sort of offhand, how she had attended Woodstock ’99, and how that was another decent example.
“Woodstock ’99? You mean the music festival thing?” I asked.
“Yeah. I was totally into the hippie vibe back then,” she answered.
“What was hypnotic about it? Do you mean like the live music experience of it all? Being a part of a swaying ocean of people? That sort of thing?”
“No, not exactly,” she offered. “I mean, you’re mentioning things that can be experienced at almost any concert or mass gathering – and that’s all a good point. But what I’m referring to, specifically, are some things that occurred at that particular event. Things that I can now recognize to hypnotic suggestion.”
“OK, I have to ask you. What’s an example?”
“Do you know anything about Woodstock ’99? I mean, have you watched the Netflix or HBO documentaries or anything? Or read anything about it?” she asked with a certain measure of trepidation. I figured she was probing to see if I had any preconceived ideas about it.
“No,” I answered honestly. “I know zilch about it.”
“Well, OK. Good,” she continued. She relaxed her shoulders a bit. I hadn’t noticed how they’d climbed up.
“The documentaries got it all wrong. They want to describe it as a white boy frat party gone wrong with lots of violence and injuries and destruction. But it wasn’t like that at all. There really was this mass feeling of community and a really palpable desire by everyone to get into the peace and love vibe. I mean, I did see a couple fights break out on the first day, but they didn’t devolve into the usual ‘ring of watchers and cheering squad’ situation,” she said with some added air quotes. “The fights I saw were stopped quickly by friends, and ended with handshakes, apologies, and hugs.” She paused and shifted her seating position a little. “What I witnessed was mass manipulation that turned a bunch of otherwise happy people into a raging mob. A dangerous mob.”
You know me, dear TPD readers/listeners: Both my ears perked when she said that. “What do you mean by manipulation?” I had to ask.
“Oh, there was a bunch. I knew it was odd at the time. I mean, I could intuitively sense it. But I didn’t fully recognize the techniques until years later when I was studying hypnosis.”
I didn’t dare say anything. I just sat there, put on my Good Listener hat, and hoped she’d continue. “For one thing, the event didn’t take place in a green field out in the country somewhere. It took place at an abandoned military base. The whole base was surrounded by a perimeter fence, and it was not easy to get out once you were in . . .”
While I sat there wide-eyed, she continued for a good five minutes about all the wacky stuff she had experienced at Woodstock ’99. The military base was just the tip of the iceberg, believe me.
She recounted how . . .
- Anyone trying to leave the facility was met with shrugs of “leave at your own risk / you might not be able to come back in” by the people off the street hired to act as event security. “Security” would not allow original (stub-torn) tickets for re-entry. They said they had hand stamps “somewhere, but not right now, so you’ll have to check back later.” Later on, people did start abandoning ship – but that was after the shit had hit the fan.
- No food or drink was allowed to be brought into the facility. It was strictly searched for and confiscated. You had to purchase all food and beverages at the facility-operated tent city food court.
- Although “security” was able to find and confiscate all the food and drink, somehow tons and tons of drugs made their in. Drugs were being offered out in the open, all throughout the crowd, without fear of punishment – or even reprimand. Purchasing marijuana was expensive. Most other drugs, such as LSD and Ecstasy, were being offered (distributed) for free.
- There was “free, public water” available at first. But the water spouts were located right next to the porta-toilets, and were shut down after the first day due to “contamination.” This meant that the only way to get drinking water was to purchase it.
- The cost for a bottle of water on Day 1 was $4, and it ratcheted up over the course of the event. By Day 3 it was $15 per bottle. (There were multiple ATMs on site.)
- Most of the facility was paved and it was boiling hot, with ambient daytime temperatures in the upper 90s during all three days. Oddly, there were no reported cases of heat stroke.
- Most of the music acts began their sets by whisper-chanting, “Water, water, water” into their microphones.
- Most of the music acts repeated phrases such as “Are you going to take this?” and “Why don’t you do something about this?” at various times when speaking to the crowd.
- Et cetera.
Talk about staging. That’s all pretty creepy, right?
I’d say this topic is definitely worthy of a more thorough, TPD-style research dig. Watching the Netflix and HBO “documentaries” might be interesting, for starters. I’m quite curious to see what their spin might be. I also invite your comments below – especially if you attended Woodstock ’99 yourself and have similar recollections. If there’s more to uncover I’ll certainly report back, either here in blog-space or in an upcoming TPD podcast.
Anyway… In the hypnotist’s professional opinion, all the above points a micro experiment in mass hypnosis.
I believe her.
Phil’s Two Cents
Around 200,000 people attended Woodstock ’99, so you may think that that’s hardly a “micro” experiment. But I’d say it definitely is micro level compared to, say, the mass social experiments performed on entire nations of people. I’ll have more to say about that topic in next month’s blog . . . so, make sure to stay tuned for that! . . .
But you may be wondering why is any of this important? Who cares about a hypnosis experiment that may have occurred at a lackluster music festival over 22 years ago?
I think it’s important for several reasons, about which I could ramble at length. But mainly I think it’s because of this: Looking at any specific occurrence of mass hypnosis is a way to exercise our truth muscles, help us strengthen our core as it were. Thus strengthened, we can be better prepared to face whatever daily challenges we might encounter, and be able to call bullshit when we see it.
– “Phil”
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