Top Hypnosis Expert Reveals How to Remove the Fear of Clowns (and avoid Embarrassment!)

,Just in time for Halloween Stephen King’s film IT (#IT) is set to open on September 8th.  We can be sure that Throughout the U.S. there be a resurgence of  Scary Clowns invading communities and terrorizing people.  In the past, these reports included attempts by some to lure children into the woods.  The Scary clowns have people afraid, police and sheriff’s departments scrambling, and reports of physical attacks on innocent pedestrians.

Every year, about this time, I receive a few phone calls from people with a special fear.  The technical term is CoulrophobiaThe Fear of Clowns!  This fear seems to haunt more people in Gen-Y and Gen-X than prior groups and there appears to be some strong indicators as to why this is.

The boomer generation grew up with clowns such as Bozo and Clarabel during the 1950’s and 60’s.  These clowns were associated with fun, laughter and cartoons, the pacifier of the generation.   That, however changed dramatically in the early 70’s with the infamous – Killer Clown – John Wayne Gacy (Pogo the Clown).

Originally, clowns were more an adult entertainment going back to the “court-jesters” or “fools”.    Beginning in the late 18th and 19th centuries, the appearance of clowns began to shift and the first appearances of the painted white face and exaggerated expression (makeup) entered the scene.   These exaggerated expressions, which hide true, and recognizable facial features are in large part the reason for the fear.

Olivia Goldhill, former features writer for The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/halloween/11194653/Why-are-we-so-scared-of-clowns.html) sums up the reaction of many in regards to clowns:

“The more you stare at a clown’s perpetually smiling face, the more it warps into something more sinister.

Clowns are supposedly figures of innocent fun – brightly colored jesters to entertain our children and slip on banana skins in exaggerated displays of slapstick comedy.

But the manic joy, the mask of make-up and the excessive familiarity are just a hair’s breadth away from terror.”

It is the grotesque, unnatural appearance of the human face and body, which triggers the fight/flight/freeze mechanism deep within our brains.  We get a sense of unease which is often amplified by the clown character acting in ways that would otherwise be socially unacceptable.  It is this very sense of discomfort and unease that authors such as Stephen King and director Stephen Spielberg tap into in the film IT  with the character PennyWise, or the character Twisty the clown in American Horror Freak Show, or the Joker in Batman.  In each of these, the clown embodies evil. The fear that often develops in young children who are sensitive to this odd, unfamiliar face (exaggerated features and hair) in a familiar body.  Historically, the actual people who have played clowns are themselves, sad, tragic, and often times sadistic people.

Children are taught, from the earliest ages, to avoid strangers.  It’s common for children to think that “bad strangers” look scary, like the villains in cartoons.  This is a natural growth that results from both the experience of seeing scary scenes, and creating them within their own minds.  This taught response, along with the stories reported in the news and social media have heightened the concerns and level of angst parents and communities are having.  Schools are reinforcing the warnings, especially among younger children.

While a small percentage of the U.S. population would actually be classified as coulrophoic (having the fear of clowns), they nonetheless do exist.  It is particularly difficult for these people during the Halloween season, when there is a greater number of people dressing up as clowns, and is further amplified by constant and increasing number of reports.

Fears or phobias are generally the result of unresolved processing of a traumatic experience.  Through hypnosis, the person suffering from the fear often plays a self-reinforcing, though unhealthy, mental loop that confirms the feeling.  I have helped a significant number of clients remove a host of fears and phobias that have previously paralyzed them.  Hypnosis is a powerful and useful tool in helping people overcome fears and phobias by helping them address and resolve the originating event that is the basis of their behavior.  Clients are then able to enjoy life.

Whether you fear clowns, heights, bridges, snakes or spiders, isn’t it time you made a positive change in your life with hypnosis?  STOP being controlled by your fear!  START living life free of anxiety.  I can help you with hypnosis.  SEE how!  Contact me at – info@hypnomarc.com or visit my websited – www.hypnomarc.com to request more information and to schedule your appointment – RIGHT NOW!

 

Marc Marshall, CH CHMI, is a certified consulting and stage hypnotist, author and motivational speaker with offices in Summit, NJ and Shaftsbury, VT.  He has helped people make dramatic improvements in their lives through his pain management, smoking cessation, weight loss, reducing stress and anxiety, and resolving fears and phobias programs.  Learn more today.

Elite Daily Show Hosts TrashED by NJ’s Comedy Hypnotist

What’s it like to be hypnotized on your own show? That is exactly the question the Elite Daily’s star hosts – Kelli Boyle ( #kelliboyle ) and Katie Corvino ( #katiecorvino )can now answer. Corvino and Boyle who host the extremely popular show on Elite Daily’s Facebook Live Channel – TrashED, contacted me because they had never experienced hypnosis and really wanted to. I could tell you all about it…but here’s a link to the press release from Trust Media Bureau and a link to the video. Enjoy it, Share it, Tell your Friends, BOOK the Hypnotic Hijinks of Hypnomarc for your event, TODAY!

https://www.prlog.org/12588091-elite-daily-show-hosts-trashed-by-njs-comedy-hypnotist.html

https://www.facebook.com/EliteDaily/videos/1276859069032389/

Setting Goals / Meeting Challenges

This has been a busy, but highly rewarding week.  This week, I have met two very significant challenges presented to me by my mentor and made possible through my practice of motivational hypnosis.  I don’t share this to brag or blow my own horn, but rather I share it with the belief that someone else will find a spark within themselves to accomplish something different in their lives.

Many of those who come to me for personal improvement work through hypnosis find themselves stuck.  They have a closed mindset that keeps them mired in the past or paralyzed for fear of the future.  They lack confidence and a vision.  Regardless of whatever a client comes to me for assistance with, the first thing that I teach them is a simple mindfulness meditation exercise, which I ask them to commit to for a short period every day for a month.  It is not like I am asking them to devote hours each day.  Rather, the entire process is less than 15 minutes daily and the benefits lifelong.

Through the mindfulness practice, my clients gain important health benefits of stress reduction, lowered blood pressure, and relaxation.  Equally beneficial, is the results they obtain in making significant and positive changes in their lives.  It is in those few minutes every day, that those clients who adopt the practice are able to step back from the insanity of daily living and gain the clarity necessary to focus on goal setting and attainment.  The fact is, those clients who take up mindfulness meditation are the ones who develop the habits that result in rapid and lasting changes for the things they were looking to change through our hypnosis sessions.  When clients are mindful about their food, they eat better and meet weight loss goals.  When clients are mindful of being non-smokers, they achieve those lifelong benefits.  And, the list goes on.

As we approach the weekend, it is a good time to reflect on the week.  Did you have any goals for the best week that you were working towards?  Did you make progress on those goals?  Can you visualize and imagine how good you will feel as you accomplish those goals?  If, the answer to these three questions is not YES, then I challenge you to set a simple goal that you can accomplish in the next week or so.  Then I challenge you to focus on a longer term goal.  And if this is something that you struggle with, I invite you to text me by sending the word MOTIVATE TO 44222 and let me help you begin the process of motivating yourself and becoming the person you know you can be.  It is really a simple process, if you want to see real results and positive change.

Change Your Thoughts

I’m sure that most of us have heard this quote from Mahatma Gandhi

“Your beliefs become your thoughts, Your thoughts become your words, Your words become your actions, Your actions become your habits, Your habits become your values, Your values become your destiny.”

During my time as a high school teacher in an alternative high school environment,  I had the challenge of changing the way my students viewed themselves, their abilities to achieve their goals, and move their lives from that of chaos and confusion to a more orderly and sane life.  As part of the work that I did with them, I developed some exercises and lessons based on Sean Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens.  Those habits – “1) Be Proactive, 2) Begin with the End in Mind, 3) Put First Things First, 4) Think Win-Win, 5) Seek First to Understand Then to Be Understood, 6) Synergize, and 7) Sharpen the Saw” – were completely foreign concepts to them, as to many adults I encounter. 

You are probably asking yourself what any of this has to do with hypnosis?   I promise that I will tell you in a moment.  Along my journey to perfect my skills as a hypnotist, I came to fully understand the power of language in shaping our thoughts, emotions and behaviors.  In simple terms, picture your mind as an iceberg.  The part that you see above the water, about 10% is our conscious mind.  The conscious mind is the rational mind that judges the information we are receiving and deciding whether it is true or false, whether we should believe it or not. This is where our short-term memory resides.   The other 90% of our mind, the subconscious mind, is like a hard-drive that is switched on at (or before birth) and records everything that goes on around us.  It notes every experience and feeling.  It regulates our body functions, and does not require us to be aware of its functioning.  This is the emotional mind.  Our behaviors are controlled by our subconscious mind.  This is important since our subconscious mind, that part of our mind that makes up 90%, relates all behaviors to emotions.  As a hypnotist, I work with language to help my clients reach their maximum potential by replacing negative emotions and behaviors with positive habits.   These changes bring about dramatic impacts in the lives my clients who are dealing with things such as anxiety, stress, pain, fear, inability to stop smoking, or lose weight, or want to perform better in work or sports.

It is our focus that becomes our reality.  If we are focused on negative outcomes, we surely will miss the positive opportunities.   I had a sign in my classroom that read: “THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FAILURE – THERE IS ONLY FEEDBACK!”  That does not mean that students did not earn D’s or F’s, but rather the grades they earned gave them feedback about what they needed to do to improve their performance.  Did they need to study?  Did they need to come to class?  Did they need to spend time with me asking questions on things they did not understand?  That was their job and my expectation.

A friend of mine, Colin T. Fisher, who is also a Master Hypnotist and Law of Attraction Coach from the UK (www.TheRealLawOfAttraction.com), shared with me his book – Dreams into Reality.  The book consists of a series of 12 poems that take you on a journey of self-discovery and reinforces what I have demonstrated to clients, the incredible power of their minds to achieve anything they focus on.  As a hypnotist, I work with you to create positive feelings that replace the negative ones that hold you back. 

Begin focusing on the positive, today.  Do what I teach all my clients to do, begin with a simple practice of mindfulness meditation and see how your life will improve.  Here’s a link to my simple guided mindfulness meditation recording that has helped my students, my friends and my clients.  

Mindfulness Meditation Practice - Week 1