There I was, sitting in the back of a room full of people with their eyes closed. The conference room was filled with people who had gathered from all over to hear the author of their favorite self-help book speak. I had my eyes open because I have this thing about closing my eyes in public. You know, people can totally come up and rob you or stab you in the neck with a knife.

Anywho, I stood in the back of the room and watched the group of people sit in a trance-like state as my boss at the time spoke softly and gave positive reaffirming commands for people to follow when they exited their trance. Deep breathes and soft music played in the background, and I continued to stand there awkwardly in a room full of hypnotized people.

At the end of the group hypnosis session, my boss spoke with the people in the room and then made her way to the back where I was standing.

“Did you feel it?”

“Oh yeah,” I said in the most flat out lie I’ve ever given to anyone. But to give her the benefit of the doubt, I really enjoyed reading her book, and one thing to remember is that one has to be willing to be hypnotized in order to go under hypnosis, let alone have their eyes shut.

“Well I’m glad you benefitted from it,” she said.

We spent the rest of the day tabling at the convention, but she eventually let me wander off for a bit to check out the other booths when the crowd of people had thinned out around her table.

I ran into mystics, new-age thinkers and even a booth with information on Wicca. Colorful stones, charms and non-traditional health materials lined tables where individuals spoke about philosophy, spirituality and new-age religions. It was sort of awe-inspiring to be in an environment like that where you were able to explore and speak freely about all sorts of things. And even though I was never comfortable enough to let someone hypnotize me, I enjoyed my book marketing internship with the hypnotist, and wouldn’t trade that interesting experience for anything in the world.

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