Students were hypnotized last week when APB hosted a hypnotism event. The hypnotist was Michael C. Anthony, and I was excited to witness hypnosis before my eyes. Many students came out as well to view the mysterious phenomenon in the CUB.

Anthony had a very charismatic and comedic approach to his art. It seemed to come naturally to him, and you got the feeling that he really loved his craft. He started his 30 volunteers with his first trance state, claiming, hypnosis works on absolutely everyone. Of course the volunteers had to be willing to drown out distractions, as hypnosis cannot be forced.

In this first state, he had the volunteers close their eyes and listen to his semi-meditative phrases. He told them that they would feel, see and touch realistic hallucinations, much to our entertainment.
After gaining the trust of the volunteers he had them extend their arms out. He coerced them with a heavy dictionary placed in their left hand, and a helium balloon in the other. As he continued to describe these objects the disparity in the hand levels expanded, as some volunteers winced at the weight of the book.

The next state was an even deeper trance. Anthony specified that trance is in fact not the same as sleeping. He reinforced his relaxing melody of meditation that caused students to melt in to their chairs — some fell to the stage. In this trance, Anthony assured us that the volunteers could hear the sounds of our laughter, but that they simply did not care. He backed up this statement and asked his participants to wave to the audience. The students laying on the chairs, each other and the stage all gave a half-hearted wave to us — which made me laugh hysterically.

The final act of the hypnosis was Anthony’s journey into the imagination. He took his volunteers to a relaxing beach in the Bahamas, causing the students to lounge, wave to friends and enjoy the scenery. He continued further by describing the attractive females in bikinis — the boys sat up right in their seats — and the hot muscular guys — the ladies parted their hair. All of the different places he took the participants were very entertaining.

For some people, all of this might sound like hocus-pocus. And to those people, I would suggest watching a hypnotist perform because seeing is believing.

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