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| A group of exceptional students give hypnosis a try. |
I was fortunate to have lined up this Labor Day holiday weekend three opportunities to introduce hypnosis to people who expressed an interest in learning how it can be used for stress management, academic excellence and athletic performance. Here's a recap of each session:
Georgetown University's Midnight Carnival
What a wonderful event! It was produced and hosted by two rising juniors as part of the school's welcome week for new and returning students.
Held on campus this past Friday night, Midnight Carnival featured food, games, rides and interesting entertainment -- DJ, fire juggler, pie eating contest and me (the hypnotist).
I've developed a unique approach for performances at community events, fairs, carnival, parties, etc. Rather than a traditional comedy hypnosis show, I weave together a bit of stand-up comedy, an educational overview of hypnosis and its positive applications, a hypnotic induction for volunteers and then a set of entertaining suggestions.
Turn-out for Midnight Carnival was exceptional and I had a dozen volunteers. I kept four on stage for most of the hour long show with two young ladies sticking it out through the end. They went the deepest into hypnosis and were the most suggest-able.
The highlight was one of the women under hypnosis doing a wonderful rendition of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" to win the fictitious $10,000 Georgetown University American Idol competition.
I have a message in to the event hosts to see if I can get a couple of photos to post.
Helping Fix a Flawed Shoulder
The wife of a guy I play basketball with from time-to-time has had a tough go of it during the past few months due to a significant shoulder injury. She has dealt with a couple of surgeries and is now in the middle of physical therapy, which can be incredibly painful.
She quickly entered hypnosis which allowed me to use one of my favorite visualizations - wash the pain away. She emerged from the process energized, relaxed and focused on a successful recovery.
Amen to that!
Gathering of an Exceptional Set of High Schoolers
I very much enjoy working with young people to help them focus on academic achievement, successful test taking skills and athletic performance. In fact, I conducted a number of informal sessions last month while on vacation at the beach with college and high school athletes.
Earlier today, a friend was kind enough to invite me to her home to introduce hypnosis to her daughter and a group of her friends. They were all bright, smart, social and athletic. I suspect they comprise the popular group at school, yet each acknowledged a level of stress that comes with dealing with pressures of this age.
The demonstration went well and everyone found the process relaxing, yet none of the participants actually went deeply into hypnosis. This happens from time-to-time and is often attributed to distractions in the environment. (In this case, there was a younger brother who raised a bit of a ruckus.)
Additionally, I suspect that because the kids are all such good friends there was a social element to the gathering that may have limited the hypnotic experience. Next time around I'll probably sit the kids farther apart, rather than having them lounge comfortably on a couch.
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| Smart, stylish, athletic and popular...yet still faced with stress. |
