Television Shows and Media Events
Jeff has appeared and consulted on major networks such as The Discovery Channel, NBC,
All The Rage,Mystery Hunters,"Myth Busters" including Radio shows "The Fan 590 and CBC
Mystery Hunters Discovery Channel Video Jeff West on Discovery Kids
We get a lot of questions here at Discovery Channel Canada
about myths you'd like too see busted. While Adam and Jamie
can't answer all of these directly, our panel of experts is standing
by to put your queries under the scientific lens.
Question: "Is it possible to hypnotize someone with something
like a walkie-talkie or a baby monitor in their sleep?" Status: True, and debunked If there's anyone who can perform hypnosis through a telephone,
it's Jeff Oatman , who has been touring and entertaining North America with his act for over twenty years. And according to Oatman, who goes by the stage name of Jeff West, it is definitely possible to hypnotize someone over the telephone. In fact, he's done it himself. "It depends on how suggestible they are," says Oatman. "If they've been hypnotized before, it can take as little as twenty seconds. If they haven't, you can still do it, but it takes a bit longer." How does he do it? "We use techniques and skills that we've practiced over time," he says. "Anything in our subconscious
memory can be accessed if we can bypass our critical mind, which can only do one task at a time." It's the second part of the question that proves to be problematic. A person who is hypnotized is not asleep, explains Oatman. In hypnosis, "the mind is actually hyper-alert, and the body
becomes super relaxed. For hypnosis to work on someone who is asleep, the hypnotist
has to move the person from a sleep state into the hypnosis state
by developing a bond with the subject. While a person slumbers, the mind is open to positive suggestion
and "specific repetitive suggestions could be given over a baby monitor each night at a particular time each night," says Oatman. "Over a period of time the person could start to respond and react
to the suggestions if their subconscious believed them to be beneficial." According to Oatman, a person will never do anything
that goes against their moral code.
Website: www.jeffwest.ca Bookings: (519)636-9318