Do any of you guys, or gals, use body language as a way to enhance your magic, learn how to read people or even with approaching people?
Body Language
- Thread starter cardmagician
- Start date
i would really like to see a 'tutorial' on body language, because i dont really understand how to do it well
There's plenty of books on the subject, check out waterstones or borders, the consumer book shops - that's your best bet.
D.
D.
You might want to check out Juan Tamariz's Five Points in Magic - Absolute gold in that book I tell ye.
- Sean
- Sean
They have a "For Dummies" book for everything. In fact, no joke, I saw one called "Prostate Cancer for Dummies." Yeesh.
OH YEAHHHHHH!!!!
I use body language ALOT for magic!!!!
Not only in magic but also pretty much everything that involves other people.
I love it!
I use body language ALOT for magic!!!!
Not only in magic but also pretty much everything that involves other people.
I love it!
I practice clinical hypnotherapy. In my training, NLP was part of the learning experience. NLP (Neuro linguistic programming) offers things related to body language such as eye accessing cues, physical and psychological anchoring, and a whole host of other techniques that could be used in magic / mentalism. Some of the NLP ideas are also based on building rapport which heavily involves the use of body language and mimicry.
To see a real pro, who uses body language, NLP, hypnosis, and psychology, go to youtube and check out Derren Brown. Watch the clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vz_YTNLn6w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIIz2FAgwcw
...where he uses body language to build rapport in a very smooth way.
NLP can also be used to psychologically force a card, something similar to what d+m does in one of his vids.
I've used NLP to make a person forget what card they picked - almost right after they told me what the name of the card was. Its kinda freaky.
To see a real pro, who uses body language, NLP, hypnosis, and psychology, go to youtube and check out Derren Brown. Watch the clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vz_YTNLn6w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIIz2FAgwcw
...where he uses body language to build rapport in a very smooth way.
NLP can also be used to psychologically force a card, something similar to what d+m does in one of his vids.
I've used NLP to make a person forget what card they picked - almost right after they told me what the name of the card was. Its kinda freaky.
im good at reading people, so i see what they focus on. also i use my body language, im relaxed when i do magic so i have do my slight before they think i have started, then i start to move about more when it already finished and they think i have started.
btw i love Derren Brown. i love when he does that kind of stuff
btw i love Derren Brown. i love when he does that kind of stuff
I used to be shy a bit when approaching, or performing, which really affects your performance, as well as the mind of the spectator. When I got into my teen leadership/speech class at school over a year ago, I really started to open up, and became confident. My point is that being nervous, shy, or anything like this can affect your performance in a negative way. When I see Danny Garcia occasionally, he tells me about my body language and speech, mumbling is commom, saying "ah, umm, ugh" is common, and when pointed out, it shows how negative it is to a performance. Also, shifting your body from side to side looks bad. I'm really gklad I have good people to help me and correct my magic. =)
To be a great magician you will have to learn how to use your body and how to use your body language for missdirection.
I have been watching Benjamin Earls past midnight this week and he is unbelivable att this. He does the most hardcore sleight of hand you will see and still he looks so extreamly relaxed, you cant catch a thing because before you even knows he has done anything he is already done.
I have been watching Benjamin Earls past midnight this week and he is unbelivable att this. He does the most hardcore sleight of hand you will see and still he looks so extreamly relaxed, you cant catch a thing because before you even knows he has done anything he is already done.
Someone had mentioned Derren Brown. While I do understand he's a studied hypnotist, I don't believe he incorporates much of it into his televised work. The videos posted above, in my opinion, don't have anything to do with hypnotism, NLP, body language, or anything psychological of the sort. It's just pure trickery under the guise of very effective presentation. Derren's presentation is so well-constructed, I think that fellow magicians and mentalists actually often believe the jibberish he offers as legitimate skills. The majority of what he performs can be found in age-old magic books that are probably in most people's libraries here.
In any case, I think body language is a good supplement be familiar with. I don't think it's necessarily something that requires thorough studying, because one can usually obviously tell when a situation's feeling too uncomfortable-- or vice versa-- feeling very interactive. A safe tip is to subtly mirror a person's body language in order to let them feel comfortable in your presence. That's as much as I do on the topic, and the small tip is very effective. As long as you give the audience something worth looking at and interacting with, executing and reading body language should come pretty naturally. The worst thing someone can do is just stand in one place unanimated and uninteresting. It shows no interest in the audience-- and likewise, you'll get no interest from the audience in return.
It's not really practicing psychology in anyway. It's just a way of communicating with people. Since the advent of the internet, I think people started losing touch with the importance of physical interaction. Body language... isn't rocket science.
RS.
In any case, I think body language is a good supplement be familiar with. I don't think it's necessarily something that requires thorough studying, because one can usually obviously tell when a situation's feeling too uncomfortable-- or vice versa-- feeling very interactive. A safe tip is to subtly mirror a person's body language in order to let them feel comfortable in your presence. That's as much as I do on the topic, and the small tip is very effective. As long as you give the audience something worth looking at and interacting with, executing and reading body language should come pretty naturally. The worst thing someone can do is just stand in one place unanimated and uninteresting. It shows no interest in the audience-- and likewise, you'll get no interest from the audience in return.
It's not really practicing psychology in anyway. It's just a way of communicating with people. Since the advent of the internet, I think people started losing touch with the importance of physical interaction. Body language... isn't rocket science.
RS.
With regards to using body language as misdirection, I think Pit Hartling covers the advantages of using the 'offbeat' in a performance really well. He devotes an entire section to such effects in his book Card Fictions. I think people would be thoroughly satisfied with what he offers in the book. One of the best pieces is his take on the card under spectator's wrist watch. It makes use of precise timing and body language to accomplish the effect. Highly recommended.
RS.
RS.
Admittedly, Derren does use trickery for some of his things ("counting buttons" is one good example). I would kindly disagree with saying that he does not utilize hypno/nlp/body language, ect.. with what he does. My position is based on the standpoint of being a clinical hypnotherapist who utilizes NLP techniques as part of my practice as well as a person who also understands magic and mentalism.
There are several vid's that explain his technique......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybmOlQRuaYM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2tGACz6YVM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-BPV-0uVOU&feature=related
..and even though one person claims not to be an expert, the majority of what he says is spot on. There are many other things, however, that are also going on that the average person will not catch, and, are not mentioned on the vid's- words, phrases, gestures, etc... . It is subtle and smooth and much too lengthy to post in a forum setting.
To take it a step further, in NLP, the belief is that communication between two parties is divided up into 3 main categories. 7% of communication is based on words. 38% is based on tonality of the words. And 55% is based on body language. Body language is extremely important when trying to convey what we want to communicate (remember that when performing).
If anyone is interested in learning more about Derren, and, how this all ties in and relates to the main discussion about body language, I would suggest picking up a copy of his book "Tricks of the Mind". As one reviewer writes "Must read if you are interested in memory/hypnosis/unconscious reading/body language/pseudo science/etc.,".