Hypnosis: is it actually real? What causes its strange effects? And can everyone easily learn to do it?

Since the seminal work of hypnosis pioneer James Braid in the 1840s, the dominant model for understanding hypnosis has been that it is simply a special state (popularly referred to as 'hypnotic trance') that renders people unusually responsive to suggestion. By this model, the practice of hypnosis is simply that of the induction of hypnotic trance, followed by the delivery of suggestions for the desired results.

By summer 2008, James Tripp had been working professionally with hypnosis for 6 years. Whilst he had used what he had learned to great effect with his clients (from manual therapy to coaching and changework), it had become increasingly clear that something was amiss with the traditional trance model—instead of his clients responding to suggestion as a result of entering 'trance', they were apparently entering 'trance' as a result of being given suggestions. The cart seemed very much before the horse.

This led Tripp to embark on a mission to break down and rebuild hypnosis and suggestion work; to uncover how it really worked and also to see if it could be done more effectively and efficiently. To find a suitable laboratory for his research he stepped out of his hypnotherapy office and onto the streets of London.

Across the next year, he developed consistent methods for the effective evocation of classic hypnotic phenomena without using trance inductions; simply structuring suggestions and making requests that worked with people's everyday cognitive faculties to create mind-bending results.

In 2009, Tripp started demonstrating his work and sharing his ideas via the Hypnosis without Trance blog. The content was divisive to say the least—while some traditionalists were upset or angered by the assertions, many others were liberated and empowered by the material.