RIP to a legend in his lifetime!

Jon Chase

My introduction to the world of hypnosis took place in 2008, when I trained with Jonathan Chase in ‘Original Hypnosis.’ Talk about jumping in at the deep end! The man oozed presence and a certain kind of animal magnetism that was wonderfully apt for the task at hand.

I drove home from that training and went straight to my brother’s house. I hypnotised him and had his hand stuck to his lap in the blink of an eye. I was so astonished to see this stuff really work out in the ‘real world’ that the two of us went into town and repeated the same simple exercise in a couple of pubs. I was hooked.

Over time, I began to feel a slight disconnect between how I was using hypnosis and my own personality and temperament. I began to wonder if I was doing little more than impersonating Jon – and providing a poor imitation at that! So, I trained with other people and learned that there was more than one approach to this fascinating art. I now practice hypnosis in a way that could not be further removed from Jon’s approach, much to his chagrin. However, I owe it all to him and although few would see me at work and presume Jon had any influence on me, I have gladly pointed people in his direction for the last decade and a half.

My condolences to Jane Bregazzi and the rest of Jon’s family and loved ones.

You can still learn from Jonathan

If you want to learn from Jonathan Chase – and I thoroughly recommend that you do – you can still do so. He has a couple of books and a video that I would particularly recommend.

Deeper and Deeper

Deeper and DeeperJon’s first book aims to provide a complete instruction course in Stage hypnosis, covering everything from setting up the venue to turning the lights off as you leave. Jon offers his thoughts on volunteer selection, as well as rapid inductions and deepeners. He also shares his insights on stage routines in the kind of clear and concise way you can always expect from a master of his craft.

Jon also includes his ‘Super Suggestion,’ which I have elsewhere described as “hypnosis on cheat mode.”

As Barry Thain has written, Deeper and Deeper ‘is written with great weight and authority because it is the distillation of decades of real life experience, devoid of speculation or theory. Everything Jon writes can be done, has been done. And it doesn’t take much imagination to recognize the practical applications for the consulting room.’

Don’t Look In His Eyes (How To Be A Confident Original Hypnotist)

This book aims to be the definitive guide to becoming a self-assured and innovative hypnotist ‘equipped with the knowledge and techniques to captivate minds and effect positive change.’ This is essentially the book version of the initial training I did with Jon.

The late Jeff Stephens offers a succint and accurate review of Don’t Look In His Eyes:

‘Jon Chase is an amazing hypnotist and a brilliant teacher. And this volume is truly a work of art. The straight dope with no nonsense or wasted material. It lays out all that any person desiring to be a hypnotist needs to know. It does not cater to the would-be hypnotherapist or psychoanalyst. This book presents the facts and how-to for those who are desiring to get back to what the founders of this art used successfully for many years. Induce, test, apply remedy , and bring em out feeling better than they went in. Having read far more books on hypnosis than I care to count, this one is among the most useful I have ever seen. I recommend it highly.’

Hypnosis Installed

Finally, if you want to see Jon in action and learn some really useful techniques, you cannot go wrong with Hypnosis Installed. I picked it up as a DVD, though I have just checked and it is available as a download here.

I would say you can safely ignore the ‘installation’ idea, but don’t let that lead you to dismiss the value of the rest of the content. The hypnotic symbolism Jon teaches is something I have used for a number of years and even combined with some other ideas for some of the work I do around acceptance.

If you want to support the work of the Academy of Hypnotic Arts, show some respect to Jonathan Chase, or simply learn some genuinely useful material from one of the legends of contemporary hypnosis, you are going to want to pick up Hypnosis Installed.

Jon, thanks for the smiles, the arguments and for igniting that spark in me that sent me running off in the opposite direction! 🙂

Rest in peace!