The stigma of hypnotism
Now, before you jump to any conclusions, Garman is quick to point out that there’s nothing mysterious or dangerous about hypnosis.
“There are a lot of stereotypes associated with it, and in some cases, they are very, very wrong,” he insists. “This is not a supernatural phenomenon. In fact, hypnotherapy is recognized by the American Psychological Association as an effective therapy device. It has a very good track record with smoking and eating disorders.”
Hypnosis is defined on the Mayo Clinic website as “a trance-like state in which you have heightened focus and concentration. Under hypnosis, you’re more open than usual to suggestions, and this can be used to modify your perceptions, behavior, sensations and emotions. Although you’re moreopen to suggestion during … hypnosis, your free will remains intact, and you don’t lose control over your behavior.”
Stage hypnosis, which Garman practices, is strictly for entertainment and usually involves bringing between 10 and 20 people on stage. Through a process called “induction,” Garman leads them through a series of relaxation and breathing exercises. In a relaxed state, it is easier to concentrate on one idea to the exclusion of others.
“Then I lead them through a series of harmless, guided hallucinations like sailing on a boat or suddenly feeling very hot,” explains Garman, whose mellow voice could easily lull someone into a relaxed state. “One way to understand it better is to think about watching a scary movie. You know it’s just a movie and it can’t hurt you, but you trick your brain into thinking it can, and your heart rate goes up, and you feel fear even though you know it’s not real.”
During the exercise, participants have been known to take off jackets because they believe they are very hot or to walk unsteadily, as if they were on a boat.
At the end, Garman says he takes participants through the same series of suggestions in reverse, essentially washing it all away.
“It’s important to remember that hypnosis is a purely voluntary process, in spite of how it appears. The subject has to want it to happen,” Garman explains. “I can’t make anyone do anything they don’t want to do. My wife can testify to that.”
Still, misconceptions abound. “Some people think everyone I pull up on stage is secretly working for me,” he says. “Or someone might go under and never come out. Or that you have to be weak-willed for it to work, which is exactly the opposite because you actually have to be very strong willed to be able to focus so intently.”
Just a regular guy
Garman lives a quiet but colorful life with his wife, Jennifer, the fiddler in the local Irish band The Rovers, and their 7-year-old son, Finn. He teaches theater and guitar at South River High School in Edgewater, and makes occasional forays onto local stages doing everything from political satire to fire eating. He’s a soft-spoken man whose eyes light up at the mention of two subjects—his son and the opportunity to perform.
Early on, Garman, 48, recognized his passion for the stage and never missed an opportunity to act or participate in improve. He eventually tried his hand at magic show, and after a few successful years, he saw a stage hypnosis performance and was hooked.
“Magic is fun, but this was something so much more compelling,” he explains, adding that there is no course of study to learn stage hypnosis, so he mainly taught himself using the few books and resources he could find.
Garman says the three keys to a successful session are finding subjects who can easily tap into relaxation, concentration and imagination.
“The only thing about this show that I’m sure of is that you never know what’s going to happen,” he says. “That’s why I put 20 chairs on the stage. People are radically unpredictable. Some go right in and others not at all.”
So how successful is his show? Each weekend Garman draws a crowd, and he’s been invited back to perform every year for 20 years.
“He got me to marry him, so I guess he’s good,” jokes his wife. “Plus he just has that kind of personality that makes people flock to him.”
Does Garman ever hypnotize her? “I get that question all the time, and the answer is no,” she responds. “I’m just not open to it. I don’t want to be hypnotized, and if you don’t want to be, it won’t happen.”
Garman and his wife agree that their son, Finn, has no concept of what his father does on the weekends.
“He’s grown up in the theater, so he’s always gone to shows and hung out backstage,” says his mother, a former live stunt show performer who now teaches at Wiley H. Bates Middle School in Annapolis. “He doesn’t think his upbringing is any different than anyone else’s.”
Garman agrees, joking, “He’s grown up with it, so it’s all normal to him, which should be deeply disturbing to me.”
As for Garman, he has no plans to leave the stage behind.
“When I work on a show, my mind is uniquely alive, and it fires my imagination. I can’t imagine stopping.”
