Taking art to the streets of London

BBC Learning¹ EnglishPeople and PlacesUnusual jobs – the HypnotistAndrea: Welcome to "People and Places" – where we meetinteresting people and findout about more about them – right here onbbclearningenglish.com. Hello, I'mAndrea Rose.
　　Paul McKenna‘For everybody it’s different. But usually it’s deeprelaxation. People find that instead of being aware of lotsof things we tend to focus on one idea at a time.’
　　Andrea: Can you guess what Paul McKenna does for a living? Hehas a rather unusual job. Yes, he’s a hypnotist. Hehypnotises people. In fact, he’s one of Britain’s bestknown hypnotists. He mesmerises people into doingextraordinary things. So what’s it like to be hypnotised?
　　Paul McKenna‘For everybody it’s different. But usually it’s deeprelaxation. People find that instead of being aware of lotsof things we tend to focus on one idea at a time. You canprobably compare it to meditation³ or in business people do athing called strategic⁴ planning where they relax and imaginewhat their company will be doing, what product or servicethey will be offering in the future, what their competitorswill be doing. That seems for me to be the same as hypnosis.
　　All the great creatives throughout history – Einstein,Mozart, Tessler, Goethe, Walt Disney – lots of greatcreatives have referred to that reverie, that creative statewhere they get their ideas from, in similar terms when theydescribe it, as hypnotists would to hypnotic trance.’
　　Andrea: Paul compares hypnosis to deep relaxation². You feelvery relaxed when you’re hypnotised and you can focus on onething rather than lots of thoughts. Paulalso compares it to meditation or even strategic planning –like in business when plan how you want to run things. Hesays that lots of famous thinkers or creative people –‘creatives’ – talk about their great thoughts orcreativity coming from a dream-like state – ‘reverie’. Hesays hypnosis is just like that. Another word for hypnosis isa trance. When you’re hypnotised it’s like you’re in atrance. But is being a hypnotist quite what we imagine?
　　Paul McKenna‘The archetypal Hollywood image – you know the man withswinging watch, black suit, goatee beard, and malevolentintentions has played a part in creating an image in thepsyche of lots of people. But I'm hoping to dismantle⁶ that. Iwant to avoid all the psycho-babble. ooger-booger esotericassociations because really hypnosis is just another word forthinkingand when we use hypnosis we can get extraordinary outcomes,but it’s really just another way of thinking.’
　　Andrea: Look into my eyes and relax……yes, that’s the imagewe associate with hypnotists. But Paul says they’re notquite like that! We imagine a hypnotist to be someoneswinging a watch in front of someone until they fall asleep,or wearing a black suit and having a goatee beard. This isthe archetype of a hypnotist. This is the archetypalHollywood image. We also think of hypnotists as people whoare dangerous and who have bad intentions. The word Paul usesis malevolent⁵. In fact, according to Paul, hypnotists can dowonderful, extraordinary things. It really is an intriguingand interesting profession, so how did it all begin for PaulMcKenna?
　　Paul McKenna‘My first experience of it was that I was a radiobroadcaster and I was interested in yoga and meditation. Iwent one day to interview the local hypnotist and I had aparticularly bad day – I’d split⁷ up from my girlfriend, thepeople in the apartment where I was living were making anoise and I had a row with my boss at work – and so Iarrived at this interview fairly stressed.
　　And I said ‘do your weirdy, mindy thing on me’, and I satback. I was sceptical, benevolently⁸ so and said ‘let theprocess begin’. And I borrowed a book from this guy and Iwent home and read it. And then I began to hypnotise myfriends to help them quit smoking or lose weight or overcomephobias and it pretty much worked.’
　　Andrea: Paul was a radio broadcaster. He was doing aninterview with a hypnotist.
　　Three bad things had happened to him that day. Did you catchwhat they were? He had split up with his girlfriend, hisneighbours were making lots of noiseand he’d had an argument or row with his boss. At first hewas sceptical that the hypnotist could help him. Sceptical –he didn’t believe it. But the hypnotist made him feel somuch better after the session⁹, that he decided¹⁰ to borrow abook and learn how to do it himself. Soon he was helping¹¹ hisfriends stop smoking, lose weight and even overcome theirphobias or fears – all through hypnosis. It changed hislife.
　　Let’s quickly recap of some of the language Paul used:
　　relaxation meditation reverie trance archetypalmalevolent intentions scepticalUntil the next time, it’s goodbye frombbclearningenglish.com

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 relaxation   

n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐

参考例句：

• The minister has consistently opposed any relaxation in the law.部长一向反对法律上的任何放宽。
• She listens to classical music for relaxation.她听古典音乐放松。

3 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。

4 strategic   

adj.战略（上）的，战略上重要的

参考例句：

• The army moved for strategic reasons.军队作了战略转移。
• The bridge is of strategic importance to us.这座桥对我们至关重要。

5 malevolent   

adj.有恶意的，恶毒的

参考例句：

• Why are they so malevolent to me?他们为什么对我如此恶毒？
• We must thwart his malevolent schemes.我们决不能让他的恶毒阴谋得逞。

6 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

7 split   

n.劈开，裂片，裂口；adj.分散的；v.分离，分开，劈开

参考例句：

• Who told you that Mary and I had split up?谁告诉你玛丽和我已经离婚了？
• The teacher split the class up into six groups.老师把班级分成6个小组。

8 benevolently   

adv.仁慈地，行善地

参考例句：

• She looked on benevolently. 她亲切地站在一边看着。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 session   

n.会议，开庭期，市盘，学期；adj.短期的

参考例句：

• This matter will go over until the next session.这件事将留待下次会议讨论。
• Congress is now in session.国会现在正在开会。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。