About two and a half years ago, Hypno Bro did a stage performance at my university. If you’ve never seen a hypnotist, they usually invite several people from the audience to come on-stage and participate in the show, and will sometimes encourage the audience to try and participate in the trance as well. I wasn’t picked to come up front, but I’d never been hypnotized and I really wanted to try it, so I just sat in the audience, following the hypnotist’s relaxation chants, and hoping for the best.

“Relax every muscle in your body, from your head to your toes…” (Disclaimer: I’m paraphrasing.)

“Concentrate only on the sound of my voice…”

“10… 9… 8…”

“As you wake up, you realize that it’s getting kind of warm in here, isn’t it?”

Huh? Wake up? B-b-but, I haven’t fallen asleep yet!

“It’s getting really hot now; you’ll need to fan yourself!”

Did I even– Naw, I definitely don’t feel anything…

“It’s like a sauna up in this place!”

Umm… no it’s not. I guess I’ll just keep trying to relax and hope something comes out of it.

The next thing I knew, someone was bringing me up to the stage. I remember uttering some initial protests. “But- But I’m not-” Oh well, I thought, he obviously knows more about hypnosis than I do. Maybe I really am in a trance and don’t even realize it.

There were no empty chairs, so Hypno Bro laid me down on the floor — center stage! At that point, I knew I had no choice but to pretend I didn’t know what was going on. Maybe he would notice soon and dismiss me (like he’d done earlier for some folks who weren’t really “into it”).

But he didn’t notice, and very soon I felt like a huge phony… but it sure was fun! I felt like I had total control over my actions during the entire show, and I remembered every bit of it afterward. There were even a couple of things I didn’t want to do (such as dancing ballet), so I spent that time doing stretches. You’ve got to stretch first to prevent injuries, don’tcha know? My friends were also surprised at my ability to use reason even while seemingly “under a trance” (I wasn’t too surprised at this, obviously). At one point in the show, we were told to speak to Kim Jong-il on our “phones” (shoes). While everyone else started chatting away, I walked right up to Hypno Bro and asked him if he spoke Korean. (No, he didn’t.) Then I pointed at one of my friends in the audience and asked the same question (and got the same answer).

While I did feel as if I was acting the entire time, I had an argument with myself over it later…

Self: There’s no way I was actually hypnotized. I had control over everything!
Other Self: But you don’t exactly have anything to compare it to, now do you?
Self: I still felt like I was acting.
Other Self: Oh, c’mon. You couldn’t act if your life depended on it!
Self: … Good point.

So, readers, what do you think? Genuine trance? Hidden talent? Or something in between?

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