Comedian hypnotist Eric Mina wowed audiences at USM with an act that had USM students making a fool of themselves on stage.
Mina explained that his routine is a simple one and that everyone has the ability to hypnotize themselves. With a bachelors degree in psychology and a certificate in hypnotherapy, Mina told his audience that the most amazing thing in life is the human brain.
“People can see how powerful their brain is and they are excited by it,” said Mina. “I give them the ability to believe in themselves and that is why I say I dare you to dream.” Mina was first introduced to the potential of the human mind when he was 22. He saw a man perform magic and mentalism at his school. He was so inspired by it that he began to read a lot about magic.
“The guy who inspired me came back to my school years later, so of course I showed him everything I had learned,” said Mina. “After showing him all my magic tricks, he said I should become a hypnotist because I’d good at it especially with my background in psychology.”
As his performance began, Mina invited students to come up onto stage and submit to the process of hypnosis by having them inhale and exhale. Mina also told participants to close their eyes and imagine their individual limbs getting warm and heavy.The audience watched in amazement as one by one the students drifted off into a dream like state and began following every one of Mina’s commands.
“I only remember falling asleep,” said sophomore business major Christina Colman, who initially was too nervous to go onto stage but was hypnotized from her seat in the audience. “My friend just showed me a bunch of videos of myself and I don’t remember doing any of it. I woke up on stage a little bit confused.”
Mina had students perform a variety of hilarious stunts. From twerking over chairs to acting like cats and dogs, Mina had the participants and their willpower in the palm of his hands.
“I have a routine I do where I have people come up with weird wacky charities when they are working for Dancing with the Stars, said Mina. “I love when I get people to talk and their own creativity comes out. This all shows just how amazing the human brain is.”
During this segment of the routine, sophomore media and communications major Roosevelt Bishop stated that he was supporting the, “people for the better treatment of paperclips foundation because they are tired of getting bent out of shape.”
“The experience was very relaxing initially and then it became like a game of charades. The events played out like a movie in my head. I don’t want to use the word enlightening, but it was very freeing,” said Bishop.
At the end of the performance, Mina had the students on stage think of a negative aspect in their lives, and then hypnotized them into believing they could change themselves. He suggested that smokers try and quit, shy people become more outgoing and students obtain better study skills.
“The best part of my job is the audience. There are always a few people that get inspired by the part where I say you can better yourself,” said Mina. “I think that for anyone who wants to get into anything, the bigger the why the easier the how.”