CAIRO - Do you believe in hypnosis? I do and that is why I attended a lecture on Friday at Al-Azhar Conference Hall about it. Although the lecture discussed other things, it focused on hypnosis and ironically enough the lecturer hypnotised everyone there! I'm serious. Before I move on to my favourite subjects - music and annoying you - let me tell you a bit about hypnosis and Mohamed Tareq who gave the lecture. History indicates that Ancient Egyptians were the first to use hypnosis and used it in their temples. Thousands of years later, hypnosis is being revived in Egypt by Mohamed, who is a Certified Trainer and Master Practitioner in that field. I had a few words with him after the lecture he said, “Hypnosis is being applied in many ways. It is commonly used on people who want to quit smoking and those who want to lose or gain weight. Now it is also used to relieve labour pain during child delivery without the need of any medication. “It also helps people who want to increase their self-confidence and level of concentration, or have a more powerful character. Anything related to personalities or abilities can be improved by hypnosis." So if hypnosis helps in quitting bad habits, will it stop me from being my obnoxious self? I really wish I had asked him that question. What is mysterious to most people is used in other countries in the field of self-improvement. Hypnosis is used to increase self-confidence and physical abilities. While hypnosis is used on a wide scale abroad, Egyptians are not familiar with it yet. However, many tend to find it intriguing and the number is gradually increasing. These are not my words it is what Mohamed said and he added, “I have been practising hypnosis in Egypt for eight years and I know that others were doing the same here many years before me. “When I first started, people didn't accept the concept and until now some still don't, but other do and many are aware that hypnosis could be used to improve their lives on the professional, personal and social levels. “Although nowadays many accept this, some still have reservations, because their knowledge is based on what they see in films and things that we have in our culture that have nothing to do with hypnosis." For the final part of his lecture Mohamed hypnotised the attendees. The crowded hall was packed with approximately 1,000 people, some of whom were completely hypnotised. Frankly I wasn't, but I did feel very calm and relaxed. After this strange experience I wanted to see how someone else felt, so I asked the man who was sitting next to me in the hall, engineering student Karim Ahmed, who said, “On my way to this session, I was convinced that nothing would affect me. I wasn't convinced by the concept but in the middle of the hypnosis session I tried to wake up but couldn't. I even smelt the sea during the session. I didn't believe it at first but when I tried it I really did." I guess the ability to be hypnotised differs from one person to another. Some artists have been easily hypnotised, while others warn us of the dangers of this procedure. American artist R. Kelly belongs to the first group. He proudly said, “I believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky, I think about it every night and day, I spread my wings and fly away?" But where is Mr. Kelly now? He has either crash landed or is still waiting for permission to touch down. He should know that Cairo Airport might have a power problem and it's not safe to land in the dark. It is hard to imagine human beings having wings. However, there can be miracles, ‘When You Believe'. Don't argue, because two of the world's finest singers American divas Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey have drawn our attention to this fact. Believing won this track the Best Song Academy Award. Guess what... it is taken from the animated movie, The Price of Egypt. That must have been before the power problems. American icon Cher knew how important it is to ‘Believe'. I know that she was asking “Do you believe in life after love?", but I think that believing in herself makes her look somehow good, although she is 180 light years old. British legend Elton John also stressed that to ‘Believe' is a vital issue. I ‘believe' he ‘believes" what he wears looks good. He should ‘be leaving' those fur coats behind and wearing something proper for a change. Until recently, many people used to think that hypnosis could be performed by looking in someone's eyes. Members of Sweden's finest band, Abba, claimed, “Looking into his angel eyes, one look and you're hypnotised." They even warned us, “Don't look too deep into those angel eyes." Fine... whatever you say. I will not look but I will keep listening to your song called ‘Angel Eyes'. Mmm... ‘Angel Eyes'. Isn't that also the name of a different number by British band Roxy Music? Yes it is, but it seems that these guys didn't have a hypnosis problem with the eyes they fell in love with. Before I go, I would like to try my hypnosis abilities on you. Listen to me... hear every word I say and obey it. You love me and you adore my articles. Now call the editor and tell him to give me a raise. This will solve all my problems... I mean all your problems. Is my hypnosis working on you? Apparently it's not. OK. I guess I will go now and try to hypnotise myself. Send me to sleep: [email protected]
