He Put Me Under His Spell. Kind Of.

Steve the Hypnotist

This is what happens when you grow older: You volunteer to get on stage at the county fair and agree to be put under and possibly do some silly things in front of a crowd of people of whom most you don't know. It also helps that you are with a friend who has also temporarily forgotten to put her brakes on her sense of decorum.

Yeah.

It starts with said friend, aka the Evil2win  saying "I want to see the hypnotist perform." And, then saying "I'd like to be hypnotized."  And, me saying, "Me, too."

So, slowly, we and our companions‚ all six young old fogeys, mosey over to the main stage just in time for Steve the Hypnotist to introduce himself. He proceeds to test the audience's potential to see who is easily gullible. Our friend, Davey Hogg, who says he can't be hypnotized easily did what was suggested. Ha! Not me. But, I went up anyway. I've done hypnotherapy so know that I can follow the swinging gold watch.

As I went up, I called to the Evil2win who gave no second thought to going up  to the stage. We obviously were not thinking that day.

Steve the Hypnotist proceeded to put 12 volunteers under his "spell", which was mostly focusing on his voice and listening to what he was suggesting. It was then a matter for me to really, really relax and to be willing to go along with his suggestions while I was very relaxed. As Steve the Hypnotist said in the beginning, anything he suggested that we would not want to do, we won't do. Even in a state of hypnosis, we are still aware of our surroundings and what we are doing.

In the 30 or so minutes we were up on stage, Steve the Hypnotist,weeded out those who were unable to relax into a state of hypnotic suggestions. By the end of the performance there were five or six of us, including Evil2win.

So, what hypnotic suggestions were given to us.

• It was very cold. Do whatever you need to do to stay warm. The person next to me was so hot, I never felt cold.
• It was very, very hot. Get cool. I found myself talking off my over shirt and my purse, and sprawling open-legged on my chair. It's a good thing I was wearing jeans.
• Steve the Hypnotist would say a certain word and each time he said it, we would see him partly naked. I didn't see anything like that, but I also didn't want to open my eyes.
• Hold out your hand for a shot of 150 proof alcohol and drink it all up. I drank mine and gladly held my arm out for a couple more shots. I was loose as a goose and felt good. When told to put our glass aside, I threw mine over my shoulder. When told to get up, I found that I could not do so. 

All throughout, I knew I was not totally relaxed. I made sure of that. Steve the Hypnotist was right when he described me as someone who could be easily suggested. There was a reason after all why my hypnotherapy sessions worked for me. If anything, I came away from the stage feeling rather relaxed, almost the way I felt after my sessions.

Steve the Hypnotist gave us posthypnotic suggestions for when we were sitting back in the audience.  I was to bark when I heard him say "Fido".  I did feel like barking when he said it a few times,  but I didn't. Throughout the afternoon, the husband would suddenly say "Fido" in hopes that I would. I guess I could've, just to make him happy. Rffff! Rffff!

If you'd like to see a bit more of our county fair, click here.