Just got back to Cornwall and wanted to drop you a line to say thank
you for such an awesome weekend. I have really enjoyed the last two
days and got more from just these two days than all the private study
I've done over the last two years. I think you've got a great format
and a great bunch of guys to assist you in the teaching and
mentoring. Particularly enjoyed going out last night and proving
that I can do it on my own with a complete stranger.

Just to let you know how much I enjoyed the course. It was a real "eye" opener for me as I heard about on how it was claimed on how a fast induction can be done- but having seen it for myself and I personally had some success on the streets of Liverpool, now I am a believer!

I visited your RiP/ Manchurian Approach-Lecture last November in Cologne (actually it wasn't in Cologne but in Kirchen).
Since then nothing is as it was before. World changed.

What can I say? Everything worked out fine. He couldn't
move, talk and count, nor remember his name. And about
three hours later he was absolutely sure to select the
Three Of Hearts by his own free will. Ever since then it worked out fine. So, thanks again for
you lecture!

I want to thank you once again for the truly fabolous seminar. It was great! All the attendees were impressed by yourself and your abilities!

Hi Anthony and Kev
all I can say is WOWWWWWWWWWWWWW - 2 of the best days and nights I have ever had.....even though I am your bitch now.

Hi Anthony

I just wanted to drop you a mail to say thanks so much for an absolute
amazing course this weekend. I think I can safely say its been one of
the most mind blowing weekends I have ever had, and the only substance
involved was guinness!

Thanks for being so straight and down to earth with us about what's
involved with hypnosis, so supportive about getting us doing it, and
designing such a hands on experiential weekend which everyone got so
much out of. I am still reeling from the fact that I actually
hypnotised someone, and am so confident in doing more of it (we zapped
a girl on the train on the way back!). It was really useful to have
you and Kevin on hand to guide us through when we were actually doing
stuff in the classroom and bar as it helps us get a sense of how to
develop and where we can improve and everything.

Just got back to Cornwall and wanted to drop you a line to say thank
you for such an awesome weekend. I have really enjoyed the last two
days and got more from just these two days than all the private study
I've done over the last two years. I think you've got a great format
and a great bunch of guys to assist you in the teaching and
mentoring. Particularly enjoyed going out last night and proving
that I can do it on my own with a complete stranger.

http://www.magicweek.co.uk/magic_reviews/review_event_the_manchurian_approach_2.htm

A beautiful sunny weekend, a conference centre in Derby, a world-class hypnotist and 15 willing participants – it could only be ‘the Manchurian approach – hypnotism for magicians’. I was not a hypnotist before I arrived at the Derby Conference Centre and had no experience whatsoever in hypnosis. Indeed, it would be fair to say that I was actually quite ignorant as to what hypnosis actually is. The course was run and delivered by Anthony Jacquin (pronounced rather un-exotically as ‘Jack Quin’), a professional hypnotherapist and entertainer with many years of experience and thousands of subjects under his belt. Imagine Ewen McGregor in a Dr Who suit and you will have a good mental Polaroid of Anthony. I was first attracted to the course as I had bought and read Anthony’s book ‘Reality is Plastic’ (reviewed in MagicSeen) which I thoroughly enjoyed but thought ‘there is no way that I could do this for real!’. Therefore, when I saw the course advertised in the same issue, I took the plunge and booked myself a place. There were sixteen people in total which included Anthony himself, Kevin Sheldrake (his business partner and assistant on the course) and a few previous course attendees (Amit Badiani, Ben Cardell and Vince Lynch), who had popped in to help out with some of the practical sessions. Most of the rest of the group were all hypnosis virgins although a few people had dabbled. Anthony is a firm believer in the ‘get out there and do it’ approach to training which was reflected in the format of the first day. The morning was spent going through some of the theory of hypnosis but focussed on a series of practical exercises where we rehearsed the exercises, learnt the patter and had a go at hypnotising our fellow attendees. This was very interesting and I was amazed to see how simple the actual hypnosis process is – the set pieces, the induction, the main act and then the exit. The exercises were interspersed with Anthony hypnotising a few of us in front of the class which was nothing short of breathtaking! It is one thing seeing hypnosis on a YouTube clip or even on stage, but for me there is always that nagging doubt concerning set-ups and stooges. When you see it done in front of your eyes in under a minute, it is incredible! I thoroughly enjoyed the morning and would have been quite happy going home at that point with what I had learnt and still considered the course good value – but the best was yet to come. We went out and hypnotised the good folk of Derby. We all headed into town to eat lunch in a food mall and where a few of the guys started to hypnotise fellow diners. Just walk up to someone, introduce yourself to them and, to quote Anthony, ‘Bosh’ them in. This is what we were told to do – and we did it! We went out into the high street in small teams and started to stop people and basically ask people if they would like to be hypnotised. This inevitably led to different people having different degrees of success – I, for example, happened to stop a professional hypnotherapist on my first attempt which did wonders for my self-confidence. Surprisingly, probably about half of the people were happy to give it a go. The thing is though, bearing in mind what I said about my own ignorance of the subject, the simple truth is that most people have no idea of what it is either. It is possible to go through the set pieces (set-up exercises) with people, to stop at that point, and the subjects are, without exception, really impressed. This is despite not actually having hypnotised them! This was a real confidence boost for me as it gave me the perfect out and people were still pleased with the result, yet had no idea that you have cut the whole process short. The street hypnosis was just the starter-for-ten, as we then moved into a local bar (with prior arrangement with the manager) and proceeded to perform magic and hypnotise people. The bar was quiet when we arrived with just a few groups of drunken Derby fans (they lost that day) to practise on, but as the evening progressed the bar got busier and louder. Anthony’s theory is that if you can hypnotise a drunk stranger in a loud, jam-packed bar, then you can hypnotise anybody anywhere. And guess what, I finally did it! After a few near-misses, I found a young lady who was out with a group of her friends, we did the set pieces and the induction, and I stuck her hand to her head. She was absolutely delighted with the whole process and I was euphoric. It may seem like a small start but within a few hours of learning the techniques, I became ‘The Hypnotist’. Day two was back to the class-room environment with an emphasis on how to use hypnosis, or give the impression of using hypnosis, for magic. This was terrific. After the intensity and excitement of the first day, the second day really put things into perspective and allowed us to appreciate many of the subtleties of the hypnosis itself and its implied use. Anthony gave a demonstration of a routine that he had developed and, all in all it was another outstanding day. The course itself was delivered at the Derby Conference centre which had excellent facilities and offered basic, cheap (read: student) accommodation. The course cost £275 which was, in my opinion, outrageously cheap. Be prepared for a very long day on day one (9.00 am until 4.00 am for some!) so get there the night before. We finished at around four on Sunday afternoon after a ten o’clock start which allowed everyone to get back at a reasonable hour. The good points of the course – excellent tuition, fantastic experiences (reverse mind-reading being my favourite), pragmatic experience and great value. Bad points – I’m really struggling to find any. Perhaps the cost of the course could have included a copy of the book but, to be fair, most of us had already bought the book and that is why we were there. Overall, I can thoroughly recommend this course for mentalists and magicians, but be prepared to be thrown in at the deep end. Get on this course before Anthony sees sense and puts the price up and become a Jacquinnian! © Jon Holt, September 2009 Jon Holt is an engineer by day and a mentalist by night. He is based in Swansea in South Wales.

http://www.magicweek.co.uk/magic_reviews/review_event_the_manchurian_approach.htm

A weekend in Derbyshire like no other…on a slightly overcast Friday afternoon I found myself driving up the motorway on route to attend a two-day course entitled “The Manchurian Approach.” Although I did not know it at this stage, it was to be a weekend that I would never forget. Anthony Jacquin has become well recognised in the magic world over the last couple of years, following the publication of his fabulous book “Reality is Plastic: The Art of Impromptu Hypnosis.” Having always had a fascination with hypnosis I decided to order the book and try and get to grips with this slightly elusive art. Well, the book arrived along with a free DVD full of instruction and tips on many of the techniques from the book. The book is an excellent read and is certainly a “page-turner” in the sense that once you start reading it, it is very difficult to put down, due to the clear, precise and very understandable style in which it has been written. What is also worth mentioning here is the superb correspondence that Anthony provided after I bought the book. Always on hand to give advice and answer any questions that one may have regarding any of the techniques set out in the book, this is indeed very kind and immensely useful. I was very excited by the book itself and immediately wanted to express my feedback to the author and after a period of correspondence, the topic of “The Manchurian Approach” came up. “The Manchurian Approach” is a two-day course aimed solely at magicians and mentalists. It is an intensive training weekend that runs as follows: Day one kicks off early with a detailed classroom training session that focuses on the approach, set piece and very quick induction that will allow you to literally approach anyone and put them into a hypnotic trance in just a few short minutes. Having spent a considerable number of hours in the classroom setting, learning and practising the techniques, it is then time to hit the streets and the bars to put the newly learnt skills into practise - in the trenches - so to speak. Day two starts off with a discussion about the night before and the experiences that people had as well as some consolidation on the techniques themselves. This is followed by a detailed examination of the applications of hypnosis to the world of magic and mentalist performances. With some very specific practical applications along with countless tips, ideas and brainstorming, the imagination is pushed to the extreme and opens up a whole new realm of performance possibilities. In my opinion, this was one of the most fascinating and worthwhile weekends ever. Anthony Jacquin is an outstanding teacher and makes the topic of hypnosis, not only very clear, but also very approachable. Although I had read the book beforehand, I had not yet been brave enough to try out any of the techniques and this was part of my motivation for attending the course. So on the first day myself and a small group of magicians and mentalists were collected from a nearby hotel by Anthony and driven to the Derbyshire Conference Centre, to begin the training. What was particularly brilliant was the fact that as the techniques were being taught, we were all then encouraged to practice on each other and this was aided by Anthony and his team, all of whom were extremely helpful and friendly. I should take this opportunity to mention that along with Anthony himself, were the following guys, all of whom were tremendously helpful throughout the learning process. Kev Sheldrake, Amit Badiani and Vince Lynch are all very accomplished hypnotists and their knowledge and experience was particularly inspiring as well as being a very valuable resource to answer any queries and questions that anyone had throughout the course. So back to day one; having completed the classroom training and feeling confident with the hypnotic techniques that we had learnt it was time to head into town for some lunch before hitting the streets to hone the skills. I think it is fair to say that there was a alight air of nerves and tension as we headed out to start hypnotising the public. However, with Anthony and the team on standby for moral support and also to give us some backup it did not take long before the whole group was hypnotising strangers on the streets of Derbyshire city centre. What was particularly fascinating to behold was the huge amount of interest that hypnosis creates from passers-by. It certainly does not take long for a crowd to assemble. Having spent some time on the streets hypnotising unsuspecting strangers, we headed to a popular local bar where we assembled and regrouped, ready to move onto the evening training. I was particularly excited to learn throughout the course of the evening that hypnosis does not require a silent, clinical room in order to be effective. Anthony quickly proved that this was not the case and had the whole lot of us hypnotising unsuspecting drinkers into varying states of hypnotic trance. It was a great way to end day one and I think everyone left that night with much excitement about what was still to come the following day. So after a few hours sleep, we were back at the conference centre for further training and some discussion and tutorial on how hypnosis can be weaved into a magic or mentalist performance, creating a unique type of performance that gives the character of the performer another, slightly darker but intriguing side. Anthony set out some fantastic practical applications as well as demo-ing his brilliant routine, “The mask of Sanity.” Anyone that attended the recent Tabular Mentis meeting in London will have seen how strong this performance piece is live. The second day also provided an abundance of opportunities for some one-to-one discussions with the training team and I think that the fact that the course is limited to just a small number is great as it really does allow for that personal advice and feedback, which is invaluable. I think that everyone got some very valuable skills out of this weekend and I was genuinely sorry when it wrapped up on Sunday. It had gone by so quickly and been so enjoyable and I met a great bunch of people, many of whom have become friends since the course. It has been great to be able to discuss the techniques with Anthony and his team since the course and I can honestly say that anyone with even a curiosity about this genre of performance should definitely get involved in “The Manchurian Approach” when it comes to a city near you. Just be careful if you decide to shake hands with Anthony or Amit! I will explain… Some of the more avid readers of the Alakazam Magic mailing list may already have seen the YouTube video but in case not, then I want to give the link for it here. For me, a personal highlight of the whole weekend course was being hypnotised by Anthony himself. I never realised how susceptible I am to being hypnotised and for your enjoyment, you can check out the video Here. Having now watched it back, I draw the conclusion that reality really is plastic and that Anthony Jacquin is the most dangerous man in Britain!!!! I wholeheartedly recommend “The Manchurian Approach” to anyone with an interest in hypnosis and how it can be applied to a magical performance. No prior knowledge is required and the courses run at various locations across the country throughout the year. Check out www.anthonyjacquin.com for details on up and coming courses. I will definitely be up for doing more in the future, not only to consolidate what I have already learnt but also because the guys are great fun to hang out with and the whole weekend is tremendous value for money. © Chris Harding, May 2009 www.chris-harding.co.uk