Students get hypnotized to help Sound Factory band

Written by Katia Macklin, Staff Writer

As a fundraiser to help pay for the Newton High School Sound Factory’s trip to the Louisiana for the Sugar Bowl, the band presented a hypnotic comedy show at Porter Auditorium last month.

Certified clinical hypnotherapist Sean Wheeler reached out to 14 volunteers on stage to perform the act of hypnosis.

“Not everyone can be hypnotized. It does not mean something is wrong with you; it can just mean your will-power to not undergo hypnosis is too strong,” Wheeler said.

While getting started, Wheeler had the many volunteers listen to soft music and focus on his voice while putting them into a deep trance, but not everyone found themselves asleep.

One of the first to leave the stage was Assistant Principal Tracey Curtis, and soon after, the 14 full chairs dropped to only eight.

“One hour of hypnosis is equal to six hours of deep sleep,” Wheeler said, “so after this, the contestants feel well rested.”

According to renebastarache.com, daydreaming is a hypnotic state that is much deeper than most people would realize. It is actually the same level of hypnosis you would be in for painless childbirth or to have dental work done without anesthesia.

The daydreaming state is dominated by your imagination and is accompanied by a state of amnesia. This is why when you daydreaming in class you do not remember what was being said during the period of time that you were daydreaming.

Not soon after the show started, Wheeler picked out his “star of the show”: senior Ashley Morgan, who acted as if she was an alien from outer space.

“I really don’t remember that much, I just felt well-rested but the whole time I felt out of my body,” Morgan said. “It was a weird experience.”

Wheeler eventually woke up the eight volunteers, after a two-hour show full of many different scenarios, by telling them they will not remember a thing until they exited the building.

“The only thing I remember was acting like an alien,” Morgan said. “People kept telling me stuff I did, but I just can’t picture myself doing it, so I’ll just wait until I see the recording.”

Some audience members found it hard to believe that all of the people on stage were, under a deep sleep like they said they were, such as senior Rolando Bredwood.

“I really think that most of them were hypnotized. I only thought like a few were not, like maybe two. Some of the people looked so lost and dazed, you could see it in their eyes. I think it was good show though,” Bredwood said.

We all practice some act of hypnosis everyday but we may not have noticed.