Hypnotic Tattoo Experience

I didn't get a tattoo myself, but now I kind of want to!

On May 9, 2012, a friend of mine volunteered himself to do two things: 1. be hypnotized by me, and 2. get a tattoo. Of course, he was hypnotized while he got the tattoo. The goal? To anesthetize his arm to the point that he would feel absolutely no pain during the process. And the real test was that he got it on the elbow - one of the most sensitive areas to get tattooed.

The verdict? An incredible success! He genuinely did not feel a thing.

HYPNOTIC PROCESS

• Very simple pre-talk: I had hypnotized him before.
• Elman induction
• Catalepsy
  
• Progressive anesthesia of right arm. Starting with simple physical phenomena including tingling and feeling a pulse in the finger tips.
• Continual deepening and reassurance of safety, comfort and amnesia (so as to not remind him that he was getting tattooed).
• I also set an anchor for safety: his left index finger and thumb were to be squeezed together. He was informed that for as long as his left index finger and thumb were touching that he was communicating to me that he was comfortable.

Good thing the anchor was set. He woke up from the trance just once with a kink in his neck (after ~1.5 hours). He got back in he chair and the tattoo artist worked on him for about one minute, while he indeed felt the pain. So, we put him back into hypnosis and finished the tattoo. He didn't budge. The tattoo work took about 2 hours all together.

See it on Facebook!