The connection between hypnosis and acting runs deeper than most people realize.
In one of our most-watched episodes of Hypnosis and Beyond, Jennifer and Dana sit down with Michael Givens — a four-decade veteran of the film industry with 70 feature films and over a thousand commercials to his name — to explore one of the most fascinating intersections of hypnosis and human performance we’ve ever encountered.
Watch full episode on YouTube:
🎧 Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
When Method Acting Meets Hypnosis
Michael’s journey into hypnosis began in childhood, sparked by a brilliantly curious older brother who handed him books on the subject early on. But it wasn’t until he arrived in California at 20 — studying cinematography at Brooks Institute — that everything clicked.
Enrolling in a Lee Strasberg method acting class to better understand the language of actors, he noticed something immediately: the techniques being taught — progressive relaxation, sense memory, affective memory — were a millimeter away from hypnosis. That realization sent him down a 15 to 20 year path of research, experimentation, and refinement that would eventually become his signature approach.
The Deep Character Identification Protocol
At the heart of Michael’s work is what he calls the Deep Character Identification Protocol— a technique originally developed by Russian researchers and expanded upon by authors Sean Carson and Jess Marion in their book Deep Trance Identification. The premise: through hypnotic trance, a person can deeply identify with another individual — absorbing their mannerisms, thought patterns, emotional landscape, and even physical presence.
For actors, this means going far beyond surface-level imitation. It means becoming the character from the inside out — whether that’s a historical figure like Joan of Arc, an animal channeling raw instinct, or even a force of nature like a hurricane.
Michael shares one of cinema’s most surprising examples: Robert De Niro’s iconic scene in Taxi Driver, where he reportedly channeled a chicken to portray explosive, unpredictable movement. Counterintuitive? Absolutely. Effective? Watch the scene and you’ll never unsee it.
What This Means for You — Beyond the Film Set
Here’s where this gets deeply relevant for anyone interested in personal transformation, not just actors:
The same principles Michael uses on set — sensory anchoring, trance states, regression, and parts work — are the very foundations of clinical hypnotherapy.
When Michael regresses an actor to a specific emotional memory and anchors it to a trigger word, he’s doing exactly what a skilled hypnotherapist does with a client working through anxiety, grief, or a limiting belief. When he installs an “off switch” so actors don’t take their character home with them, he’s demonstrating the importance of context-bound suggestion — a cornerstone of ethical hypnosis practice.
One story captures this beautifully: a crew member with a lifelong nail-biting habit rooted in childhood anxiety asked for Michael’s help. One session, one regression to the root cause, one act of self-forgiveness — and years later, that person still reaches out annually to say the habit never returned.
That’s not a party trick. That’s transformation.
Directing Is Hypnosis
Perhaps the most thought-provoking insight Michael offers is this: directing IS hypnosis.Whether he’s guiding an actor into an emotional state, planting contrasting emotional realities in two actors without either knowing, or simply speaking to a crew member in a way that bypasses resistance and reaches the heart — he’s doing what every skilled hypnotherapist does.
He creates the conditions for change. He removes the barriers to authentic expression. He makes transformation feel safe.
The Bigger Questions: Past Lives, the Subconscious & What Is Real
True to our podcast’s spirit of going beyond, this conversation ventures into past life regression, reincarnation, and the nature of reality itself. Michael shares his experience of an unexplainable connection to a centuries-old room in France — and his inability to work creatively in a brand new space with no history — as evidence that something far larger than technique is at play in human experience.
He recommends Many Lives, Many Masters by Dr. Brian Weiss — a psychiatrist whose accidental discovery of past life regression through a patient’s hypnosis sessions became one of the most compelling books ever written on the subject. If you haven’t read it, add it to your list immediately.
Key Takeaways from This Episode
- Hypnosis and method acting share the same neurological and psychological foundations
- The subconscious mind cannot distinguish between a real memory and a vividly imagined one — and that’s a feature, not a bug
- Anchoring emotional states to sensory triggers allows performers — and therapy clients — to access consistent emotional responses on demand
- Every good director, leader, teacher, or therapist is using hypnotic principles whether they know it or not
- Installing an “off switch” is not just good stagecraft — it’s ethical practice that protects the whole person
- Past life material, whether literally true or not, gives the subconscious rich new material to work with
Resources Mentioned
- 📚 Deep Trance Identification — Sean Carson & Jess Marion
- 📚 Many Lives, Many Masters — Dr. Brian Weiss
- 🎬 MGA Acting and Film Institute — Michael Givens’ acting school
Dana and Jennifer co-host Hypnosis and Beyond, available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Dana is a certified hypnotherapist trained at the Mike Mandel Hypnosis Academy.
