A Young Married Party That Was Unique!

During the 1970's, Paula and I were at a young married party at Bruce and Sherrill Kerr's home in Edmond. There were a lot of young couples there from Wilshire. Someone in the bunch knew that I spent some of my days in high school and college hypnotizing friends, and asked if I would hypnotize some of the people at the Kerr's home. I reluctantly agreed, because people sometimes get a little crazy at the thought of people being hypnotized --- they will usually have one of the following reactions: 1. not believe it's 'real' (meaning it's all faked) 2. not believe that I know how to pull it off (safely) 3. not trust that someone won't 'take advantage' of them while they're hypnotized 4. fear that they will say/do something embarrassing 5. wonder if they will somehow be permanently 'marked' or 'damaged' or 'permanently under someone else's control....and so on. Knowing that comments like these are inevitable, and knowing that I would have to address each of them made me not want to spend my fun evening with friends having to explain and reassure people. None of the guys wanted anything to do with it...I guess it was a macho thing...who knows? Maybe they didn't trust me and thought that I was some kind of nut. Who knows? Maybe I AM a little nutty. Anyway, six or seven of the young women wanted to be hypnotized, so I got their husbands and/or girlfriends to 'watch over' each of them, and we began.

Without boring you to tears, I will cut through the process, since telling it is a real snoozer. To make a long story a little shorter, several of the ladies could not relax and concentrate and did not make good 'subjects.' Several of them did. I won't tell the names here but if you have lived in Edmond very long, you know of a couple of these ladies, since a couple of them are fairly well-known. A couple of them have husbands who are very well-known locally. We were all young marrieds in the Wilshire congregation in OKC.

There are always a lot of skeptics when hypnosis is performed in settings like this---people who really don't believe it...or don't want to believe it. You can imagine.
There are conservatives who believe that it is the work of Satan. Some people believe that it is only the 'weak-minded' who could possibly be hypnotized. I've heard it all over the years, and for this reason, this was one of the last 'group' sessions I've had anything to do with.

As the ladies 'progressed' through what I call 'layers' of receptivity to suggestions of relaxation, it was apparent that the skeptics were going to see manifestations of the ladies' receptivity to suggestion. I asked several of the ladies who were not involved directly in the session to pick up one of the ladies and place her head on a Samsonite chair and her heels on another samsonite chair (don't worry -- she was wearing jeans -- no embarrassment for anyone) and while they had her suspended momentarily, I gave this one lady suggestions that her body was as stiff as an ironing board. She responded appropriately. I then asked the ladies who had lifted her to release her and everyone saw that she was now suspended between the two chairs, with no sign of tension or trembling. She appeared to be asleep, but was not. She was very much awake, and her senses were not hyper-sensitive. She heard everything, but had her eyes closed. (Later on she disclosed to everyone that she thought she was 'going along with the whole thing', and could have decided to not cooperate at any time). The couples in the room were shocked and in disbelief!

I then gave her suggestions that she would only hear the sound of my voice. At that point, she could no longer hear the giggles and laughter, and expressions of awe and disbelief from the other onlookers around the room. They watched her remain motionless between the two chairs -- head on one and heels on the other -- stretched out like an ironing board. If you think this is not difficult, try it. It's imposssible for someone in the 'waking state' to do such a thing.

There were still a few skeptics, so I then asked another lady -- Kathy McDonald (the wife at the time, of Mike McDonald) to sit on the lady's mid-section. She did, and the lady who was stretched out there as stiff as a board, did not even show any strain at all. Then I asked the lady upon whom Kathy sat, to sing a song. She did so, with no strain in her voice. This convinced even the die-hard skeptics. Again, this is impossible for someone in the natural state to accomplish. Your body won't allow it!

We then let the 'ironing board lady' relax, and went on to one of the other ladies, and asked her to recall things earlier than her 'waking memory' would allow. We asked her specific questions, and later, when she was 'awakened', we had her call her mother to question her mother about events in her life prior to age 2. Her mother verified what her daughter had told us, and everyone thought that was cool.
All that stuff is in ones' mind, waiting to be recalled! Under hypnosis, peoples' ability to recall is astonishing.

We did some other things that were fun and I told them about another time we had done this with some of the high school kids when we hosted a class party in our home. These were high school kids at Wilshire where we were involved with the youth. There were probably 30 or so high school kids there on a winter night. On young man -- 'Mark' (we'll call him Mark, since that was his real name) came in from running around outside with a couple of the other guys, doing what high school guys do when there are a bunch of guys and girls together at a party ---showing off! He came in, hot and sweaty and wanted to be hypnotized. So we did just that. It was 'suggested' to Mark that he was becoming very, very cold...and in a few minutes, his lips and finger tips turned cyanotic (bluish), and we could not detect a pulse. His skin turned a waxy color, when, moments before, it was reddish, from all the running around outside. Then we threw a handkerchief over his shirt and told him that it was an electric blanket on 'high' and he was burning up from the heat. Immediately the flush returned to his face and he began sweating profusely. As usual, when we were ready to return someone to the waking state, we always gave suggestions that the person hypnotized would awaken refreshed and feeling great. He was given suggestions that when this was over he would awaken, refreshed. When he returned to the 'waking state', he said that he felt that he had been asleep all night! He felt great.

We had other kids memorizing pages from magazines and doing some other 'mental' things that cannot be faked, just as Mark's response to the 'cold' and 'heat' suggestions could not be faked.

It has always been amazing to me that our God, who made us the way we are, put into each of us such a vast, largely untapped reservoir of potential. We barely understand the rudiments of the workings of our bodies and our minds, and hypnosis offers a tiny glimpse into the power of our minds over our bodies.

I wanted to share this, since hypnosis is largely understood. It is often cloaked in mystery and fear and will, many times, evoke a sort of nervous disbelief when it comes up in conversation with people. I suppose that, like many other things --that if 'I didn't experience it, then it's not real'! People, it's REAL. It's interesting. It's fun. Check it out!

Gene