Mr. Michael Brody, hypnotherapist, visited the high school Monday, Nov. 23.

In the auditorium, Brody selected 16 students to be hypnotized, while many other students from the high school’s sociology and psychology classes watched.

Before the fun could begin, Brody first cautioned students.

He urged them that if they were tired they should not participate because hypnosis would cause them to be groggy the rest of the day.

Brody also told them that if they took daily prescribed medications for learning disabilities, such as ADHD, they should also not participate because the hypnosis may cause their medication to not work for the day.

After this, Brody explained what hypnosis was and how it works.

Against common beliefs, those that are hypnotized still have free will and are actually hyper attentive. They are very much awake and alert the whole time.

To be able to be hypnotized, Brody explained that the student had to be relaxed, imaginative, and open to suggestion.

To see who could easily and quickly be hypnotized, Brody had the students do a quick test.

They rubbed their hands together and focused on that action while he explained what was to happen.

As the students continued to quickly rub their hands together, they were to feel a magnetic attraction between their hands as if they were two magnets trying to come together.

Based on the student’s performance of doing this, they were either chosen to be hypnotized or sent back to the audience.

Senior Tyler Frasher was sent back to the audience after the hand test.

“I was disappointed that I was not chosen to be hypnotized,” Frasher said. “It was pretty cool, though, to watch the show, so after a while I was not as disappointed.”

After the test, those who remained on stage were asked to sit down and relax in order to complete the four stages of hypnosis.

The first step was for the students on stage to close their eyes.

In order for the hypnosis to work, the students were required to want it to happen and be relaxed.

They had to focus only on Brody’s voice, so the audience was asked to be quiet until the students were in a deep state of hypnosis.

In the second stage, the students furthered their level of trance.

To help this along, Brody would soothingly touch the students and say something along the lines of, “Every time I touch your arm, you will go deeper and deeper into a calm, relaxed state,” or he would use his trigger word, which was “sleep.”

Brody then continued to stimulate the unconscious by heightening the student’s level of relaxation.

He had them imagine being on an exotic, beautiful island where they smelled the sea air and bathed in the sun.

Brody even influenced them to do actions, like put on suntan lotion that really was not there, which made the audience laugh.

Senior Payton Cantrell enjoyed the show and all of the humor that it included.

“At first I thought it was just going to be kind of boring, but once it got going it was actually pretty cool and even funny to watch,” Cantrell said.

That was not the whole show though. After the students went into a deeper state of hypnosis, they were influenced to do even more silly actions.

Brody would walk up to a student and say something like, “If I am tapping my fingers against you, you will make a farting noise anytime I say the words Michael Brody.”

Then after hearing the words Michael Brody, that hypnotized student would automatically make a farting noise.

Due to similar hypnotic suggestions, every time Brody snapped his fingers during the show, senior Zeric Hutchinson felt as if someone pinched his butt.

Every time senior Mariah O’Leary shook Brody’s hand she could not remember her name.

Many other students experienced similar and embarrassing things.

One of the most entertaining actions the students were influenced to do was imagine Brody as their favorite singer or actor.

Junior Hailey Baltosser and senior Brianna Finley believed Brody was Zac Efron, so they ran up to him and touched his stomach to try and feel what they believed were abdominal muscles.

Senior Reyana Rivera thought he was Katy Perry and started to cry from excitement.

“When he (Brody) told me to get up, it was not the hypnotist anymore, but it was really her (Katy Perry), and I just went speechless and fell to my knees crying,” Rivera said. “It was awesome because I was meeting my favorite celebrity in my realistic imagination.”

Senior Syerra Burene and O’Leary believed the hypnotist was Channing Tatum. For fun Brody further hypnotized them to think someone in the audience was actually Tatum, so they ran up to that audience member, excitedly hugging that student.

There were many other comical actions the students were influenced to do, like dance around and act as if they were playing the piano.

After all of the fun, Brody continued to the final step, which was to end the session.

While counting to five, he canceled out his hypnotic suggestions from earlier in the show and made them open their eyes and return to their normal state of consciousness.

Brody did leave them with one hypnotic suggestion, though, which was for them to feel happy and energetic for the rest of the day.

The show lasted almost two hours and was well worth the time spent watching it.

Both those who were hypnotized and just watching had fun.

It was a humorous show, making it an enjoyable way for students to start off their Monday.