Photograph courtesy of Ricky Kalmon
Ricky Kalmon used to be the teenager who would do a magic show at your kid’s birthday party. Then this West County boy discovered hypnotism, started hypnotizing people onstage for laughs, and gradually became one of the most requested hypnotists in the country. For 24 years, he’s done corporate gigs, casinos, cruise ships, and comedy clubs, and a few years ago he created the TV Guide Network’s Seeing Stars program, in which he corralled pedestrians and hypnotized them into thinking they were celebs like Donald Trump and Paris Hilton.
We’ve all made those 2011 New Year’s resolutions; is there a snowball’s chance in hell that we can make them stick? Kalmon (rickykalmon.com) thinks we can, if we consider hypnosis and the power of the subconscious mind. —B.K.
• Being hypnotized is not like you see in movies and books. First, I explain what the process is. Then, I ask them to close their eyes, and we use a breathing technique to help them enter a relaxed state of mind. What I’m doing is distracting people from their daily activities. When you’re in a relaxed state, you erase the clutter on the chalkboard of your mind.
• There’s no need to use a swinging pocket watch to hypnotize someone, like in the movies. That’s purely theatrical, but it could help you focus. It’s no different than looking at a spot on the wall—it’s misdirection for the mind.
• Everybody can go under. Some are faster than others, though. You can have a person who really wants to go under, and they might not be able to. Even in a therapeutic setting, it might take a few sessions to get them to go under. If somebody says, “I can’t be hypnotized,” they’re right. They’ve hypnotized themselves into believing they can’t be hypnotized! It’s no different than an athlete saying, “I’m going to lose the game today.” Guess what: He probably will.
• They say you can’t make a hypnotized person do something against their own real moral values. However, if you work with someone every single day and tell them the sky is green, eventually, you can make them believe the sky is green. You could probably call that brainwashing. Could I put somebody under and make them do things they don’t really want to do? No. You know somebody that sings in the shower, but clams up around people? Under hypnosis, that wall of judging yourself can be taken down, and your true passions come out.
• Hypnosis can really remove negativity and stress, which allows the individual to empower themselves. Self-hypnosis techniques can be the key to unlocking the power within our subconscious mind. Look at it this way: If you’re an athlete and your mind is clear and focused, you’re going to perform in the here and the now. If you want to lose weight, you have to redirect your mind for the best results.
• For self-improvement, our minds need to hear certain reminders as a part of a program. For instance, if you want to lose weight, you already have a basic idea of what to do and not to do. Don’t eat for emotional reasons, eat more slowly, start to exercise more, et cetera. Everybody knows these things—they’re stored in the computer of our minds—but hypnosis allows us to remind ourselves of this advice daily and constantly. It never leaves the desktop of the mind.
• All hypnosis, to me, is not really what I’m doing to them [the hypnotized], but what they’re doing to themselves. You unlock your subconscious and you run with it. I call it “the subconscious makeover.”
• Some people can rewire after one hypnosis session, and other people might need to go back for more sessions. People are not perfect machines—it’s a process, not a quick fix.
• How often have you woken up from a dream, but you only remembered the dream later in the day when something triggered a memory? Some people might remember everything from a hypnotic state, but many remember bit by bit as they are reminded of little things later. Your subconscious is always running. Hypnosis is like a controlled daydream.
• In my stage show, the people in the audience become the stars of the show. A guy thinks he’s Donald Trump and starts firing everyone in the theater. Somebody believes napkins are $100 bills. Somebody thinks he’s driving a NASCAR race car.
• I’m in two to three cities a week, mostly corporate and private events. Sometimes I do a two-day event with a show the first night and a workshop about self-empowerment and mental wellness the second day. Most of my programs are customized to my clients’ needs or the theme of the event.
• The No. 1 question I get is “Can I hypnotize my wife?” Parents also want me to hypnotize their kids into minding them better. They’re serious.
• Recently, I went to a gig, and we do a lighting check, and the guy shows me all the lights and they have a projection of a spinning spiral, and he thinks it’s just perfect for me. I told him we’re not going to use that because it’s a cliché—it’s the stereotype of a hypnotist portrayed in movies and fiction.
• Often in my show, there’s a segment where I tell everyone they’re holding a pet that will be competing against everybody else’s pets onstage. Then they open their eyes, and they start caressing their invisible pets and encouraging them. It’s truly hysterical—you never know what will happen. One time, unbeknownst to me at first, behind me, two volunteers working for the show had been accidentally hypnotized. They started talking to each other about their pets. One said, “My parrot wants to ride on your pet elephant’s back.” Then, together, they watched the elephant run around onstage with a parrot on its back. They had these amazed looks on their faces. They truly were in a different reality. What’s even funnier to me is that the audience looks around for the elephant and the parrot, too. It’s the power of suggestion.
