It can be easy to get discouraged when you're working with someone whom you just can't seem to get under. It can be equally frustrating when you know your subject really wants to experience hypnosis but for whatever reason, just does not seem able to respond to you. Toss in the whole thing happening in a public setting with people watching, and you can really find yourself in a nerve-wracking situation you may want to walk away from. Unless! You remember that hypnosis is a gift, and our focus must always remain on our subject. Take at look at this video of me trying desperately to work my magic on my new friend Danny during a summer street fair. Danny would love to be hypnotized, but boy-o-boy, is he nervous. Take a look:



Now, you can see that eventually Danny does go into trance like a champ, but notice how long it took to get him there. I used humor, side conversations, distractions, reassurances, and even a pretalk about ethics while referencing his friend who had gone into trance before him, all to lead up to Danny finally finding his way into hypnosis.

If we give up at the first sign of difficulty with a willing and interested subject by saying, "You must be really nervous and can't relax" or "It's really noisy out here and you may be distracted", remember that we are not only cheating ourselves of the chance to work with a new person, but we are cheating that person out of a wonderful and life-affirming experience by being hypnotized. Keep your patience, keep your wits about you, and keep at it!