Hypnotist Wows Students At Hernando High

BROOKSVILLE - Getting several hundred high school students to pay attention to someone speaking about brain power can be difficult.

But not when the speaker has several dozen classmates under his spell.

On Thursday, world-renowned hypnotist Brian Imbus visited Hernando High School in Brooksville for an afternoon assembly in which he had every student paying attention.

Even those who weren't aware of it.

"You have no worries, you're on your favorite beach and you're putting suntan lotion on," Imbus told student volunteers sitting in chairs, after taking them through a relaxation exercise.

The students squirted imaginary bottles of sunscreen, some rolling over in their chairs and others fanning their faces, taking their shoes and jackets off and turning their chins sunward.

"Now it's getting cold. Its 40 degrees and you're starting to shiver," Imbus told the students, as they huddled together for warmth, teeth chattering.

"Now, you smell the worst (stench) you've ever smelled in your life, and it's coming from the person next to you," he continued.

The students' classmates laughed uproariously from bleachers as 15 of their under-the-influence peers - seated on the school gym's floor - crinkled their noses and eyed their neighbors in horror.

Sponsored by the Brooksville chapter of the FFA (formerly known as the Future Farmers of America), Imbus was in town for a longer show that evening, held in the school's auditorium.

But first, he got the students thinking about what their minds are capable of.

"Perception is reality," Imbus told the students. "We only use about 20 percent of our minds. Just imagine if we could use the other 80 percent."

Other antics during the hour-long assembly included the volunteers believing they were contestants on TV's Dancing With The Stars - flailing their limbs as they performed a country western dance, Hawaiian hula routine and Irish jig - as well as a male student answering to the name "Betty Boop" and another believing he was glued to the floor.

The school assembly was meant to pump students up for the upcoming Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, the annual high-stakes test for students that takes place each February and March.

And amazingly, it seemed to work.

When the assembly ended, students crowded around Imbus, 32, to ask questions, both about his Dubuque, Iowa-based, hypnotherapy practice and the presentations he orchestrates across the nation.

They also flocked to the participants, who after "waking up," retained no memory of their behavior only minutes before.

"It really worked! It feels like I just sat down," said sophomore Aviante Thomas, 15.

Friends dissolved into giggles as they showed Thomas footage of himself dancing, taken with a student's camera phone.

"That's you, man. You're a dancer and everything," one of them said.

Imbus said the afternoon's presentation was meant to show students what they are capable of.

"They realize this couldn't have been faked," he said. "I first do the entertainment to grab their attention, and then I (move into) the motivational and educational messages."

FFA adviser and teacher Rick Ahrens marveled at Imbus' ability to captivate the ordinarily hard-to-please student audience for more than an hour.

"I think it shows the power of the mind," Ahrens said. "We've got kids who are intelligent, and hopefully this will help them focus and concentrate a little better."

To learn more about Imbus, visit www.hypnotism.com.