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COMMENT
from Zach Brill (werpennst03@earthlink.net)

I wasn't sure if I was really hyptnotized because I had complete control over my actions. I didn't really feel some of the things you said I should've felt when u scratched your head. But I didn't feel any embarassment. At any point I could have opened my eyes and just acted but I wasn't quite sure if i was really acting.

COMMENT
From Garth Libhart (pianoplayer589@comcast.net)

Dear Ramelle,
I was at the Hempfield High School Post Prom on May 13, 06, and you hypnotized me. I have been to many stage hypnotism shows in the past but this is the first time that I have proved a successful subject. When you suggested I was watching a hilarious comedy movie, I could not stop laughing, and felt like I was a part of whatever situation you conjured for me. Thanks for a wonderfully entertaining and insightful show!

COMMENT
From Ryan J Burkhart (RyGuy21688@yahoo.com)

I didn't immediately think I had been hypnotized because I had thought I remembered everything. But after watching the video of my class hypnotism, I realized I didn't remember every detail, leading me to believe I was hypnotized. I went into it thinking I was going to be put to sleep, but it was just a deep relaxation. I'm glad I did it, and it's very convincing to see a whole bunch of classmates that were hypnotized rather than strangers.


COMMENT
From: Seth Smith (crazydragon9@yahoo.com)

No I don't think I was hypnotized because I was laughing inside and I accidently blinked when I was supposed to be asleep.


COMMENT
From Jenn (lilmzinnocent329@aol.com)

I was a volunteer at the ACCHS post prom party at Ozzy's. At first I didn't think I was hypnotized because I remembered everything, but after reading your FAQ\'s I realized that I actually was hypnotized. I felt really relaxed and felt conscious of my surroundings and what I was doing but felt like I had to and wanted to do what I was being told to do.


COMMENT from Tallak Behm

I am not sure what to believe. I want to believe that I was hypnotized, but I can remember everything from while I was supposedly hypnotized. You told me that my name was Glub Glub, and I can remember thinking, "I know my real name is Tallak but I''ll go along and say Glub Glub."

However, when I was walking around the room asking people what my name was I was more forceful than usual. Normally I am a fairly passive person and would not do any kind of public stunt. If I were not hypnotized I think I would have either been too shy to insist that my name was Glub Glub, or would have been laughing the whole time at the ridiculous name.

You also told me that whenever you said "pins and needles" I was supposed to jump out of my chair in pain, as if I were sitting on pins and needles. When you said "pins and needles," I remember jumping out of my chair, kind of instinctively, but I didn''t feel any pins or needles or pain.

The more I think about it, the more I think I was actually hypnotized, I just didn't really know what it was like. Thank you for coming to my school and performing for our classes, everybody enjoyed the show.

From: Adam Gilson (adam@adampages.com)
Message:
I first saw Ramelle perform when I was an 8th grader, back in the early 90s. I saw him perform again years later when, for a college project, I tagged along with him during a trip to DuBois, talking to him about his amazing and varied backround. Every part of this guy is as fascinating as the next!

Reply: Thanks, Adam. Weren't you writing a paper on hypnosis? I'd like to see it.

Message:
As a known Red Sox fan, isn\'t there *something* that you could have done to help Derek Lowe and Mark Bellhorn a few years back??? Clearly those guys could have used some positive suggestions! Or would hypnosis fall under the same catagory as doctoring the ball and corking the bat?

REPLY:
I would have liked to try! One of the reasons that more people do not utilize hypnosis is that many, perhaps most, of the people who use it successfully do not believe that it really worked. One example: several years ago the teen age daughter of a friend who knew that I had banished her mother's migraines asked if I could keep her from stop biting her fingernails. I hypnotized her and gave her a couple of suggestions including one that there would be an awful taste if she bit her nails. When I snapped my fingers she immediately proclaimed: "It didn't work with me. I heard everything you said. You said my nails would taste bad. Didn't work. I wasn't hypnotized."

A few weeks later I saw Amy and asked how her nails were. Proudly displaying her hands she exlaimed: "Aren't they beautiful?"

"Think you were hypnotized, Amy?"

"Oh no! I was never hypnotized. I just decided to stop biting my nails." And she believed it. Very typical.


From: Cindy Gingrich-Baker (cgingrich@charter.net)
Message:
Can you tell me more about hypnosis and migraines? I believe and follow the idea of David Buchholz, in which migraine sufferers have certain stressors (weather changes, foods, dehydration, menstrual cycle, stress, etc.) and get headaches when they go over a threshhold with a combination of these. One can sometimes prevent a headache by trying to keep the total of these under control, e.g,, drinking lots of water at times of weather change. Is it your finding that stress has a larger influence than other stressors? I assume it would be the only one controllable with hypnosis (or is that not true??)

Reply:
Thanks for the message, Cindy. Since I'm not an M.D. I try to be careful not to be accused of practicing medicine without a license. Concentrating on reducing stress shields me from such accusations. And, for whatever reason, I have found hypnosis--and, presumably, the reduction of stress-- to be remarkably effective in relieving migraines. My success rate with migraines is much higher than with smoking or weight loss. Since you are obviously knowledgeable about migraines you deserve a much better answer. Sorry that I can't give you one.