By Ashley Browning
Jennings County High School conducted a different type of fundraiser for its sophomore class Oct. 27. Rather than a typical one where students sell items to raise money, the high school hosted a comedy hypnosis show open to the community.
The show featured volunteers from the audience as the stars, each hypnotized by Hypnotic Visions’ TG Rivers.
Each of the 20 chairs were filled with volunteers at the start of the show. After 10 minutes, Rivers had successfully guided 18 of the volunteers into a deep relaxation. The other two, who were not successfully hypnotized at the time, were sent back into the audience to watch the show.
Rivers began with simple suggestions to the now-hypnotized volunteers. He told them that the room was increasing in temperature, prompting each of them to fan themselves. He then reversed this order and told them that the room was decreasing in temperature, prompting each of them to shiver and rub their hands together.
Once each suggestion had been fulfilled, Rivers put the volunteers back to sleep, saying, “Each time I put them under, the deeper into relaxation they fall.” This allowed Rivers to give the volunteers increasingly more demanding tasks to fulfill. He then prompted the volunteers to give emotional responses such as laughter and fear before moving them into more physical actions.
Rivers had volunteers play in an orchestra and then conduct the orchestra. He then stepped it up even more by asking the hypnotized to mimic the actions of his stuffed monkey “Chakezy.”
After this, Rivers increased the strain on the hypnotized yet more by giving them the entire stage to act out his commands.
Physical reactions were not all that Rivers asked for, as each volunteer was also asked to provide verbal reactions. Rivers told each of the volunteers that they were to sing their first name to him, and, without fail, each complied to his request.
To a select few volunteers, Rivers planted a trigger action that would prompt a certain response. One group he instructed to stand up and yell “He’s a fake!” any time he said “TG Rivers.” The other group he told to stand up and bow any time they heard applause.
Rivers ended the show by giving the volunteers a final suggestion. They were to feel a renewal of confidence and an increased drive to complete their goals. This suggestion, however, was to bury itself deep in the volunteer’s subconscious and remain even after he took them out of hypnosis.
Ashley Browning is a senior at Jennings County High School
