A Most Hypnotic Experience
November 22, 2013
By Jillian Owens
November 22, 2013
You’re getting very sleeeeepy…
I used to think of hypnotists as entertainers at best and charlatans at worst. We’ve all seen late-night talk shows with some tuxedoed jerk pretending to make innocent people (who will apparently do anything to be on TV) quack like ducks, eat bulbs of garlic, disrobe, and whatever else has been agreed upon backstage. When I heard coworkers or acquaintances talk about visiting a hypnotist to stop smoking or change their eating habits, I’d have to stop myself from giving them my most over-the-top eye roll. Suckers, I thought.
This all changed when I became friends with an honest-to-goodness-yes-this-is-really- what-he-does-for-a-living hypnotist. He would talk about his work and the people he had helped. Smokers became nonsmokers. Overeaters became just…eaters. More impressively, people who were suffering from depression and PTSD were helped to live healthy happy lives.
I thought all of this was well and good, but I also had no desire to try it out. The mind is a messy and complicated place, and mine is probably doubly cluttered. I was worried that if I let anyone muck about too much, piles of neurosis will fall all over the place leaving a huge mess for me to clean up later. And I hate housework. Also, I was totally comfortable with all of my vices and phobias. I’ve had them for years, and now we’re old friends. When Fredric told me he could cure my marshmallow phobia, I just shrugged. It’s not like those nasty things are actually good for you and it’s not like I really struggle on a daily basis to avoid them. Cookouts and bonfires are miserable, but these are easily avoided as well.
Those of you who are regular MidlandsLife readers already know about how I’m about to dance the Viennese Waltz at the American Lung Association’s Oxygen Ball in their Dancing With the Stars competition. You also probably know (but it’s okay, I’ll remind you) that you can vote for me and help me win/help everyone in the midlands breathe a little easier.
I’ve been terrified, and it’s shown in rehearsals. I couldn’t memorize steps, I looked awful, and I was beginning to regret volunteering for the event. When I met Fredric for lunch last week, we talked about all of this. Fredric listened patiently then slowly said, Jillian, I have a 2:30 opening if you want to come by and see if I can help you.
I showed up at 2:30. I had no idea what to expect, and my only experiences with hypnosis are from bad horror movies and equally bad TV. I went into his comfy office and settled into a cozy recliner. We talked for a few minutes about how I wanted to dance better, what I was worried about, and what was getting in my way.
I can’t make you an expert ballroom dancer, Jillian. But I can help you perform at your personal best. This seemed fair enough.
Then, the actual hypnosis part started. I was handed headphones and some weird sunglasses-like things. Outside noise was traded for a soft, rhythmic beeping sound, soft music, and my friend’s voice. I was told to keep my eyes closed as the weird glasses flashed with a strange light. Through guided imagery I was brought to a bizarrely relaxed state. I was never asleep or really out of it, just very very relaxed. The words, You are getting very sleeeeeepy! were never said, and there was no picket watch pendulum to gaze at. Hypnosis relies on the power of suggestion, and getting your mind to let go of previously held, and often mistaken beliefs. My belief that I would fail was gently replaced with the belief that I was going to dance well. My belief that everyone would hate my performance was replaced with the belief that everyone would think I performed quite well.
When our time was up, Fredric burned me a CD of the session so I could take it home and listen to it on my own. But would it work? Sure, I felt great after my hypnosis, but would any of these good vibes transfer to the dance floor?
I showed up to my next rehearsal without my usual feelings of fear and dread. I got through all of the choreography for the first time. Then we did it again. And again. It wasn’t professional quality, but It was my personal best. I finally felt good about my performance.
The Oxygen Ball is tomorrow night. I’m not scared. I feel like it’s going to go okay. And I know I wouldn’t feel this way if I hadn’t stepped outside of my comfort zone and tried something that seemed a little nutty.
Would you like to give hypnosis a try? If this treatment sounds like something that could help you, you should contact my friend Fredric Mau at Watermark Hypnosis . It just might help you be your personal best.
Jillian Owens is a writer, designer, and eco-fashion revolutionary. A Columbia SC transplant, she graduated from the University of South Carolina with a BFA in Theatre and English. When she’s not gallivanting about, she’s busy refashioning ugly thrift store duds into fashionable frocks at ReFashionista.net. Jillian has been featured on The Rachael Ray Show, Good Afternoon America, ABC Columbia, Jasper Magazine, Skirt, Columbia Metropolitan, The Free Times, Grist, and NYC’s Guest of a Guest. She also reviews local theater productions for Jasper Magazine and Onstage Columbia.
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