Ken Owens and Hypnosis

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Ken Owens and I met a few months ago—I was performing in Phoenix, and he was there with a friend of mine to see me perform. At the time, I didn’t know that Ken was a comedic hypnosis performer or that he was a former clinical therapist who had used hypnosis to help people. 

When I learned this, I had to learn more about hypnosis. I thought of fifty different questions to ask Ken, and, amazingly, I was able to whittle those down to the best five. Now, let’s learn about something that probably intrigues most of us: hypnosis.

Why did you start working as a clinical therapist? Did you start as a therapist using hypnosis? And, if not, when did you start learning about hypnosis?

This summer is actually my 20th anniversary as a certified clinical hypnotherapist. It started as a fluke: two friends of mine were taking a hypnosis certification course and invited me along. They never practiced hypnosis after the course, but I went on to get my master-level credentials and even became an instructor to certify other professionals. 

I also trained as a certified stress management consultant with the International Association of Counselors and Therapists, after which I taught corporate workshops to reduce workplace stress. My story is a good example of followingintuition: when an opportunity is presented to you, you never know where it might lead or how it might have a long-lasting impact on your life. 

The ability to help other people during their lowest moments is truly a rewarding gift.

While you were learning about hypnosis, did you try to hypnotize yourself?

Yes, many times. Part of learning to hypnotize people is being hypnotized yourself so you know exactly what the process feels like and are able to recognize when something is wrong. Professional hypnotists make the best subjects—they go into a trance state quickly because they’ve been hypnotized so many times in the past.

What was your most memorable hypnosis experience and why?

My most rewarding experience using clinical hypnosis was when I was able to help a friend prior to surgery. She had a tumor on the side of her neck the size of a grapefruit; the tumor had numerous tentacles that were wrapped around her carotid artery. I did three sessions with her prior to surgery, during which she visualized the tumor shrinking and the tentacles unwinding themselves from the nerves and arteries in her neck. All of this was done with the OK from her surgeon, who, at the time, was Chief of Neurosurgery at the University of Michigan Hospital.

After her surgery, the doctor told her it was a huge success and took less time than he had originally thought. The tumor shrunk from the size it had been in the original x-rays, and the tentacles were no longer attached to any nerves or her carotid artery as the original x-rays had indicated. He was able to go in and “pluck out” the tumor, just like we had worked on in the three hypnosis sessions.

Did you ever think about working as a clinical therapist?

Actually, I started out as a clinical hypnotherapist before moving to stage performance. I had a therapy office in Michigan, where I used hypnotherapy to help people with weight loss, smoking, and phobia issues. But, I got tired of whining clients coming in and looking for a quick fix; they didn’t want to put any effort into their own transformations. So, I decided to move away from one-on-one therapy and into comedy and stage hypnosis.

You told me about an underground culture in which people use hypnosis for sex with bondage, S&M, and heightened sensations for explosive orgasms. Are there other ways hypnosis is used for sex?

Yes, there are several—both positive and negative. Many psychiatrists and therapists use hypnosis to remove fears and phobias to help clients relax during sex and to make it more enjoyable. 

Similarly, mental health professionals use hypnosis to unlock memories of childhood abuse that have been buried deep in their clients’ subconscious due to excessive trauma. By unlocking this trauma, healing can occur, allowing people who were once frigid and abstinent to open their hearts and feel love. 

But, like any powerful tool, hypnosis can be used for good or bad; it depends on the intent of the person using the tool. For example, people have used hypnosis as a “mental date-rape drug” for rape, torture, and even illegal imprisonment in human trafficking.

In the LGBTQ community, there is an underground use of hypnosis by amateurs for bondage, dungeon, and dom/sub scenarios—and even fisting, extreme toy play, torture, and body modification. A few years ago, I was contacted to teach erotic hypnosis techniques at a gay weekend retreat in Las Vegas. I declined because I didn’t want to be responsible for showing amateurs how to use fast tricks to hypnotize others. 

Today, there are online resources on YouTube and even Amazon. When practicing hypnosis, you are in direct communication with a person’s subconscious mind, and, in the wrong hands, hypnosis can inflict long-term negative damage.

I hope it’s clear that hypnosis is not magic. Magic is about making illusions appear to be supernatural; Ken Owens has absolutely done the things he has said he has—both as a clinical therapist and as a performer. What Ken does isn’t an illusion; hypnosis can actually change the minds and thoughts of people.

When I told Ken that I was writing this article, he asked if I would like to try hypnosis. I thought about it but ultimately decided I couldn’t do it. I have worked vigorously to make sure that I have control over my emotions and thoughts at all times. The truth is that I’m petrified of the idea of not having control of myself, and giving Ken control over my mind made me uncomfortable and even afraid. Ken assured me that a person will not do anything in hypnosis that is against their personal will or morals. So, if a hypnotherapist asked you to rob a bank, you wouldn’t unless you were already a bank robber.

I can’t be the only person who feels this way. I bet that a lot of you feel like you don’t have control over your life and are scared of the idea of someone else having this control. But, I’m sure other people are completely fine with the idea of giving another person this kind of power over their minds. These people are the ones who do whatever their therapists tell them to do without question. 

This was definitely one of the most interesting articles that I’ve written, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. If you’re interested in talking to Ken Owens, his website is http://www.TheKenOwens.com/, or you can watch a video of Ken performing.