MAY I HAVE THIS TRANCE?

It’s Saturday morning. As a warm body presses up against my back, I suddenly realize that I’m sleeping with a woman whose name I don’t know.

It’s not what you think.

In a large auditorium, 1,200 people are sprawled across each other in their seats, not asleep, but in deep hypnotic trance. That is, except me. I appear to be the one person who hasn’t responded to the subconscious suggestions that enable one to enter this altered state. My wife would say it's proof of a Not Open to Suggestion sign.

I’m in the middle of a day-long seminar designed to help people break through whatever’s holding them back from what they want in their lives; greater wealth, changed behaviors, improved relationships. The program is being led by a motivational speaker who’s also a master hypnotist, an interesting cross between an inspirational life coach and Vegas lounge act. Imagine Tony Robbins channeling Robert Goulet.

When it comes time for the first group hypnosis, I’m eager, yet anxious. As we sit with our eyes closed, the lights dim and soft music plays, repeating the same melodic pattern, over and over again. As he paces slowly across the stage, the instructor directs us to clench different parts of our bodies and then, release them. Gradually, he lowers his voice, dropping it into a steady, mesmerizing cadence.

“Focus on your breath, you’re feeling totally relaxed. Keep relaxing even more deeply, just let go and relax.”

“Enough already,” I say to myself, “I am relaxed!”

“You’re doing great. Now, imagine a set of stairs and see yourself slowly descending these stairs. At the bottom is the most comfortable bed in the entire world and as you sink down into it, you feel completely at ease.”

“That’s it, you’re doing perfectly. Next, when you hear me say the words, ‘sleep now,’ you will fall asleep instantly.”

“SLEEP NOW!”

Suddenly, I feel the people on each side of me slump over, passed out like rag dolls. Not wanting to look foolish, I do so, too, yet remain totally aware that I’m only pretending. With others apparently entered into trance, I’m left wondering how much this extremely unnatural posture is going to cost at the chiropractor, since the head of the woman next to me feels like a cannonball pressing on my spine.

This goes on for ten minutes and as the audience is gradually brought back to conscious state, I’m extremely disappointed. Why didn't I succumb to the power of suggestion? During a follow-up Q & A, the speaker says that going into trance is a learned skill, which comes more easily to some people than others. Rather than comparing your experience to someone else’s, he urges us to simply act as if the process is working, until at some point, it does. “Fake it ‘til you make it” is the way he puts it.

“Is that Dr. Phil or Dr. Ruth?” I whisper to the woman who just minutes earlier had been glued to my back. She doesn’t respond. So much for the afterglow.

Later that day, there’s a little surprise. We’re told that we are going to learn how to eat fire, which was definitely not in the course description. Six participants at a time, we go up on stage and are handed a small, skewer-like rod with a piece of gauze on the end that’s been soaked in a flammable liquid. We’re then directed to breathe in and out rapidly and vigorously shake our arms and legs to help enter into a trance state. This will apparently enable us to overcome our fears, which at the moment seem rather sensible, since putting too much wasabi on my sushi is about as close as I usually come to fire-eating.

Once the rod is ignited, you lick our lips and without inhaling or exhaling, stick the mini-torch in your mouth. At that instant, one of the seminar staff takes your picture with a Polaroid camera and then, you extinguish the fire by simply closing your mouth. This all happens so fast that I don’t consider its deeper meaning until later. Left with a lingering taste of lighter fluid and a photo of me looking like I’m about to swallow a burning marshmallow, I realize that I‘d just done something that in my right mind, I’d never agree to.

Our next exercise (another surprise) is literally a breakthrough experience. We’re given a piece of wood, 10” by 10” and ¾” thick, and told we‘re going to break it with our bare hands. To access our subconscious, we again prepare by shaking our arms and pumping our legs, but this time, we also chant, “Power, Power, Power!” getting louder with each repetition. With my board wedged firmly between the seats of two chairs, I stand with an open hand cocked by my shoulder and listen intently as the leader shouts out last-minute directives.

“Focus all of your attention on the center of the board. Focus! Now, feel that power. Get ready. GO!”

I let out a fierce shriek, drive my arm downward and roar “POWER!” at the top of my lungs. To my surprise, the board snaps cleanly in half (thank goodness, because so does the one shattered by the gray-haired grandmother behind me). We’re told to take our board home as a reminder of the power lying dormant within us and I sneak out a few fresh ones to break in front of my children. With Daddy making like Mr. Miyagi, maybe it won’t take ten requests to get their teeth brushed.

When it comes time for the next group hypnosis, I’m even more determined to join in. Following the same pattern of subconscious suggestion as before, this time I’m able to stay focused, and at “SLEEP NOW!” I’m more relaxed. I still have some doubts about this whole hypnosis business, but after ingesting flames and shattering lumber, my suspicions have been nudged into submission.

This time, we’re told to lie down on the floor, which allows me to let go even more. When instructed to laugh as if we’d heard a side-splittingly funny joke, I actually find myself chuckling. Not the hysterical, nitrous-oxide type laughter I hear echoing around me, but at least, some level of mild amusement, like reading the morning comics.

The next command is that one of our fingers will start to move and curiously, my left thumb twitches a few times. Am I finally going into trance? At that moment, it’s as if my brain is processing information using a slightly different operating system. I’m aware of what’s happening and could stop at any moment, yet somehow, I want to keep going.

“Now, imagine that your wrist is being held up by balloons. As these balloons increase in size, your arm begins to rise up towards the ceiling.”

The leader’s voice rises to an evangelical pitch, echoing across the room.

“As these balloons keep expanding, stand up, with your arm rising and soaring, soaring and rising!”

I focus on an image of a large bunch of balloons supporting my right arm and slowly, it begins to rise. I honestly can’t say if I’m faking it or making it, but either way, I don’t resist. My internal skeptic has been temporarily neutralized.

With our arms still in the air, we’re told to open our eyes. Looking around, I see over a thousand people with their arms raised, quite a revelation. But as we’re told to sit, my mind kicks back into gear and resumes its habitual pattern of analyzing and judging. My brief excursion from rational thinking is over.

As I leave the conference, I’m still a bit dubious, but have to admit that the idea of consciously accessing my subconscious is intriguing. Eating fire may be a relatively simple challenge compared to increasing your income, creating healthier habits or developing better relationships, but maybe they’re all really about overcoming limiting beliefs. If self-hypnosis is the key to unlocking hidden potential, who wouldn’t want to be shown the door?

Sure, it might put a few therapists out of business, but I say let them bust their own boards for a while.

Of course, that’s just a suggestion.