Q: Have you ever been hypnotized? If so, what does it feel like?\nA: I have been, not in a performance venue, but I have been hypnotized. It's a feeling of attachment. There's something called self-hypnosis, which I've done a lot. It's kind of a feeling of dreamy detachment. I get very relaxed and fade out from my surroundings. It's really physically relaxing and there's a nice gentle feeling ... a daydream with tremendous physical relaxation.
Q: Can anyone be hypnotized?\nA: A lot of people are much harder than others. It depends on their desire. What we do during the show is a very deep form of hypnosis. From my experience, which is pretty vast, it really depends on the hypnotist more than anyone else... Still, it doesn't mean you can hypnotize everybody ... Some people say, "Well, I remember everything, I wasn't hypnotized." ... But if you still remember [the experience], that doesn't mean you weren't hypnotized. In one sense, hypnosis is just when you put a suggestion into someone's subconscious ... when you just bypass their analytical mind[s].
Q: After doing hypnosis shows for so long, can you tell which people will be good hypnosis subjects?\nA: I've had people up there doing standing backflips ... or splits. I've had people become so emotionally charged up and just making fun of me. It's the person, their energy level and how much the audience kind of likes them or identifies with them.
Q: How many years have you performed at U.Va.?\nA: Many, many, many. I really don't know. It's kind of a tradition. I used to do the alumni events also.
Q: What keeps you coming back?\nA: Of all the university shows I do, this is the most special one. I don't know if it's the crowd or the tradition ... U.Va. is just the biggest and the best ... It's a really special event for me because the crowd is so huge. I look out into a sea of people and the energy is incredible.
Q: Thousands of students turn out for your show each year. What do you think draws them in and keeps them excited about your visits year after year?\nA: It's not just a matter of hypnotizing people telling people to do this or do that. After 20 or 30 minutes, if there's not some level of creativity there, they lose interest. You always have people who are so interesting that people can't help but watch them ... It's the energy of the crowd.
Q: What's the funniest thing someone has ever done at one of your shows?\nA: My show is silly, goofy, crazy, intense and hopefully very creative ... I do remember some very interesting characters. One guy from several years ago - he was a student - he was so incredibly creative. He just took over the show. He just took the microphone. He was just telling people to leave the Amphitheater and telling people I was this evil creature, and then I would say something, and he would start saying all these nice things about me. I think he later went into advertising. He had such an amazing imagination.
Q: How does one get into the field of professional hypnosis?\nA: I would think just through therapy. If they are a psychologist or a therapist, they may want to they study it [and] they learn from some mentor. As you get into higher levels of training, there are groups that provide different methodologies.
Q: When and why did you start hypnotizing people?\nA: I started hypnotizing people when I was in grad school. I was a psych major and I worked with a psych professor who hypnotized people ... primarily as a way to help people quit smoking. He mentored me... [and] I started doing a show when I was in school as an offset of that.
Q: In what other ways do you use or recommend the use of hypnosis, other than for entertainment?\nA: There are people that do hypnosis for a multitude of problems. I'm not saying it's always the best methodology. It depends on what the problem is; they use it for a lot of things memory retrieval; they can use it to relax people. It's a tool. You use it with many forms of therapy. Some people use it [in] their practice a lot. It depends on the therapist.
-conducted and compiled by Stephanie Waties
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