Don't yell at me...

I'm going to get in SO MUCH trouble for this - I don't believe in hypnotism. At least in the way most people think it works. IOW.. you can't make someone think they're an astronaut... or a Chihuahua, or suddenly have an impulse to break out in the Hokey Pokey. I think it's a conscious and voluntary participation in the hypnotist's instructions.

In college I volunteered to be hypnotized... at the time 'fully' believing in it. They kicked me off the stage about 2 minutes in. I wasn't going to remove my left shoe, pass it to my right, then put on the shoe being passed to me from my left.

Yes I DO believe it can be relaxing, maybe. But I think it's simply a self-induced state.. like day-dreaming, and the hypnotist himself, or herself, irrelevant other than perhaps as stimuli like a nice song playing or the sounds of ocean waves.

I'm not adamant about this... so no-one get all upset with me.