Skeptics are usually my best subjects.

How to renew hypnosis in front of a large hall with your new show “Hypersensoriel”?

Technology helps me renew myself, while I’ve been doing hypnosis shows for thirty years. We appeal to all senses and I am now using virtual reality thanks to the helmets. Spectators will be able to enter into a state of hypnosis and live very intense adventures…

How to renew hypnosis in front of a large hall with your new show “Hypersensoriel”?

Technology helps me renew myself, while I’ve been doing hypnosis shows for thirty years. We appeal to all senses and I am now using virtual reality thanks to the helmets. Spectators will be able to enter into a state of hypnosis and live very intense adventures. It’s the first time this has happened in the world. Prove that with a virtual helmet you don’t even need to be hypnotized anymore, it’s the helmet that will hypnotize them by means of pictures and tricks I will give them. On the giant screens of the podium, the audience will see what hypnotists will see. They will understand what they are going through. It’s an amazing number.

How to appeal to all senses?

I appeal to the sense of smell, for example, by spreading the scent of oranges in the room. He proved that thanks to the sense of smell, one can enter a state of hypnosis. We go further. We can feel things by sight, touch, or by eliminating a sense such as taste. We can enjoy on stage with all our senses.

It’s easy with convinced onlookers, but with skeptics?

People often come in skeptical and think the show is cheesy. They’ve seen it on TV, but when you see it in a room with your family and friends, it’s different. Skeptics are generally my best subjects. They are very skeptical, and say they do not believe it. But they don’t stop themselves by telling me: “Your nonsense, I don’t believe it.” This is often the easiest for me. Without knowing it, they leave the doors open everywhere and facilitate hypnosis. And then they’ll talk about it for weeks. The show works with skeptics who are convinced.

I have more problems with someone who is afraid of hypnosis and doesn’t want to leave it. At the time, he withholds, doesn’t want to listen to me and is focused on something else. So it is more difficult.

How can you prove it’s not fake?

I enjoy when someone tells me that. I started hypnosis at the age of seven, and I’m 50 years old today. Since 1995 I’ve been doing shows, if I had partners I would need 50 actors who would follow me from town to town to take to the stage every evening. They actually talked and were going to ask me for money so I wouldn’t get rid of everything! This is the beauty of a live performance. It is without a network. Every night I don’t know who will go up on stage.

“Every night I don’t know who’s going on stage”

Can you give us some clues to tell us how it works?

My goal is to induce a state of hypnosis, a semi-conscious state that we feel several times at night and several times a day. We often think about us: people are talking to us around the corner and we can no longer hear them. I try to achieve this state with the techniques I have. It’s close to a sleepwalk. You are on the stage between dream and reality. When I wake up you have vague memories. But many do not remember it. My goal is to bring back memories from the subconscious to the subconscious, to create funny moments.

“It’s close to a sleepwalk. You’re on the stage between dream and reality”

You talk about technology. What is most important: gestures, words?

The techniques I use go through all of the senses that are used to stimulate them and to evoke a state of hypnosis. Through my voice, by the way I speak to the audience, the way I move and how I touch them. I can’t explain my techniques, they are well-kept secrets, and serve to provoke this second case. Speech is very important, people should understand what they expect from me. At the same time, something is happening in the invisible. You will feel something, even without me talking. I work on the crowd without talking to them.

How do these things work? With subliminal messages intact? visuals?

That’s not all, there are no hidden sounds or images. It happens between me and the onlookers. That’s right, there is a trick. Sensitive people feel it in the room. I’m working on the audience even before the show starts. To understand it, you have to come and experience the show.

Did it happen to change the lives of the onlookers?

Yes, people who did not believe in hypnosis and became more relaxed afterwards. Discover the power of the subconscious mind that guides us. Then they can get a good night’s sleep. Thanks to hypnosis, they calm down and relieve stress. People would like to be treated with gentler and less chemical techniques. I had a practice, once, where I helped people free themselves from phobias, addictions, and mental disorders.

Now I perform. For ten years, in France, 1.5 million people watched me on stage and 6 million in programs broadcast on TF1.

Have you worked with scientists?

Doctors have successfully combined traditional medicine and spirit medicine. You can do miracles with that. I worked with the CNRS to try to understand what hypnosis was, and why some were more receptive than others. I also have a study team in Quebec. Technology helps us understand what is going on in the brains of people under hypnosis, as well as in my own. I’m very curious. The results of these studies will be published.