Hypnotic Thoughts.

Study Suggests Hypnosis Helps Relieve Hot Flashes

Exciting news this week in the clinical world for a positive application of hypnotism.  A study at Baylor University suggests that hypnotism can help women reduce hot flashes.  The study involved 51 women who were breast cancer survivors.  26 were given sessions for hypnotic relaxation, while 25 were given nothing.  Of the women who had hypnotic relaxation, 68% reported having less hot flashes.  They also reported a decrease in anxiety, depression, and insomnia.

The results were promising enough to earn the researchers a grant from the National Institute for Health to conduct a new study with more people.  They will now test a group of 180 post-menopausal women to see how many can have their hot flashes reduced.  This new study will also look more closely at the actual physiological changes that occur to show how the hypnosis is helping women reduce their hot flashes.

Clinical trials like this are a vital part of creating a greater mainstream acceptance of hypnotism, and it's exciting to see them happening.

I love Catawba College and the Waffle House

I'm a little punchy right now, but I'm going to write this blog anyway.  Just got back from the Waffle House after a show at Catawba College in North Carolina.  Tired but happy.  It was my second visit down here, and the students at Catawba have great energy and are just so nice to work with.  This is particularly meaningful to me coming off a show last night in which I really thought, for the first time since I got into hypnotism, that I was going to have to walk off stage. 

I won't mention the school's name, but it was a school I had been to before and done just fine at.  Not so much, this time.  They were unbelievably disrespectful, talking over me while I was trying to do my pre-talk, and then being so loud in the beginning of my induction process that I had to re-start three times.  I finally told them that I was going to start over one last time, but that if they interrupted the process again I was leaving, and that seemed to settle them down just enough to let me do my job.

I understand that people get excited and this makes them chatty, but people also have to understand that hypnotism is a process which, in a stage setting, needs certain variables to be in place for it to be successful.  Most of those variables are reliant on the audience and the volunteers more than the hypnotist. 

I can usually tell how this dynamic is shaping up before showtime.  Catawba is another good example of this.  Before the show I had several nice chats with students who asked intelligent and genuinely curious questions about what I do and how I do it.  This tells me that they really want to explore hypnosis and come to a better understanding of it, which leads to a good show because they're engaged.  That's the thing about stage hypnotism: it's an interactive form of entertainment.

My thanks go out to Jan and Emily and Aly and all the crew at Catawba for another wonderful visit.  I hope you all had as much fun as I had.  Don't be afraid to load those videos up from the show.  I know you got 'em!

Bridgewater State College Show

Last night I made my first visit to Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts.  The students at Bridgewater love stage hypnotism, so there was great attendance.  They actually had to go get a bunch more chairs for folks.  A great group of volunteers found their way to the stage, and we had a bunch of fun together. 

Students started showing up as early as 30 minutes before showtime, which is unusual.  It gave me a nice opportunity to spend some time chatting with students and learning about their views on hypnotism and what their experiences with it have been.  Most have no experience, or have seen it only in an entertainment setting.  It's so important that we get the broader public to raise their awareness of what hypnotism has to offer them.  So many people would benefit if they brought hypnosis into their own practices for health and wellness.

Thanks so much to Rachel and the students on the Programming Committee at BSC.  It was great to be able to visit your campus community.  Hope I get to see you again sometime.

United Way Promotion

I'm in South Portland, Maine, today performing for Wright Express as part of their rally for the United Way of the greater Portland area.  The folks at Wright Express wanted to make sure that the folks attending their rally got to have some laughs and see something interesting, so here I am.  Well, right now I'm actually at a Panera, but you get what I mean...

After doing the early show, and seeing the whole presentation that gets made to folks at the rally, I was really struck by the good work that folks in this community are doing, and the good work that the United Way does all year long, year after year.  So I got to thinking, and I came up with an idea that I think is a win-win for everybody.  Here goes.

Until September 26th you can purchase any hypnosis product at my store and use the code "united" at checkout to get 20% off of all products.  Then I will give $5.00 of every purchase to the United Way.  Just think about it: you can get yourself or someone you love a relaxing hypnosis audio program and help people in need at the same time.  Pretty cool, right?

Stoneleigh Burnham Show

Last night I headed south for my second visit to Stoneleigh Burnham.  It's a unique event for me, in that it's the only all-girls high school that I perform for.  It's always interesting to see how slight changes in the venue like this affect the way the show works.  The girls at Stoneleigh Burnham are intelligent and creative, and have terrific attitudes, so they do well with the actual hypnosis part of the show.  In fact, after last year's show got them used to seeing live hypnotism, this year's show saw even more of them go into trance effectively.  We had a really big volunteer group.  In no time I had them forgetting their names, auditioning for a movie role, and dancing their booties off.

Thanks so much to everyone at Stoneleigh Burnham for another nice visit.  I hope I get to see you again next year!

Lyndon State College Show

Just got home from my first visit to Lyndon State College in Vermont.  My three hour drive took me right through Franconia Notch, which is a beautiful, beautiful place to drive through.  The campus is right up there in the mountains, and you couldn't ask for a better place to study if you enjoy skiing, hiking, and mountain biking.  Pretty cool.

There was great attendance and a fantastic volunteer group for the show.  It was a really nice student group, and my hosts Laura and Stephanie were great.  Thanks so much to everyone at Lyndon State who came out for the show and made my first visit there so pleasant.

New video on YouTube.

I put together a really quick video from my visit to Goucher College last week.  The young lady in it was firmly convinced that she was not hypnotized, but soon came to realize that she was.  This kind of spontaneous stuff is one aspect of what makes my job so fun.

New England College, Goucher College Shows are FANTASTIC.

My relatively intense stretch of nine appearances in 12 days wrapped up with a trip to New England College Sunday night and Goucher College Monday night.  Both schools are annual visits for me, and the tradition that's been created around the show produced strong attendance at both schools.

One thing that's a real treat for me is to be able to return to schools like these and do new material.  Audience members tend to have "favorite" bits from my show, and I do enjoy hearing the buzz through the crowd as people realize that one of their favorite bits is coming up, but I am also really proud to be a hypnotist who doesn't do the exact same show year after year.  I had the chance at NEC and Goucher to use some newer material, and I think they really enjoyed it.

Now that I'm home again, I have a ton of video footage to get through, but I'll definitely be putting some new stuff up on YouTube soon.  There's just too much fun that's been caught on tape at these shows not to.