So Uri Geller has appeared in the news offering to hypnotise the CEO of Fortnum and Mason, Ewan Venters, to stop him selling foie gras.

This scheme is a press release dreamt up by PETA.  Here is what they have said...

"Uri has written to Venters on PETA UK's behalf offering to use his powers of hypnotic suggestion to help the F&M chief rediscover his compassion and, presto-change-o, stop supporting the force-feeding of geese that's too cruel for the UK. (Foie gras production is illegal in the U.K., which is why F&M buys the foie gras it sells from France.) Writes Uri:

Let's hope Mr. Venters is getting veeeeery sleepy. After which, he awakes refreshed and forgetful about why he ever wanted to make a few pounds off the grotesquely bloated livers of tortured geese."

I am not sure if this is supposed to be a joke or not?!

Whilst I applaud the imaginative use of the press and a MAGICIAN to get some publicity about something that I am sure many people would agree would be better off stopped, It's just wrong and not possible.

Uri Geller is a master showman and excellent at getting himself publicity for his magic tricks and illusions. But, is he a clinical hypnotherapist? Does he have the interests of hypnotherapists in mind at all? Does he think about what this may mean for people thinking about hypnosis? No.

No Clinical Hypnotherapist would suggest that they could change someone's mind to think something that they don't. It is irresponsible and plain wrong....oh and also...it can't be done.

If the boss of Fortnum and Mason wants to make profit and puts that first then you are not going to be able to change his mind because you do not agree. What Clinical hypnptherapists do is to help people, we don't go around changing people's minds.

If you want help with an issue then that's what we do. We don't sit around thinking of ways to make people think things that we think they should think, because we can't do that. We can't make people do things they don't want to.

So Uri, well done on the spoon bending tricks, but stick to the magic eh !!

More about Myths about hypnosis.

“Can you help me to juggle with hypnosis?”, has to be one of the more unusual requests that I have heard! Being a clinical hypnotherapist means that I help people with so many different issues. You probably think that I spend most of my time helping people to stop smoking with hypnosis, lose weight and overcome their fears and phobias. I also spend a great deal of time working with people on managing the stress and anxiety of life and even teaching people to control and turn down pain.

But, I also get involved in things that you may not even have thought about before. I help people to learn how to control blushing so that they do not have to live in fear of what happens to their face when they feel a little anxious or embarrassed. This works wonders in stopping blushing brides from actually blushing.

One of the most unusual things that I have done recently was to help someone to become a better Juggler!

Jane Deane is an actress who has appeared on Kids TV, in the series Justin’s House where she played the unicycling Dee Livery. You may think that unicycling is tough but Jane was working with me on her juggling skills! She performs for children and adults live on a regular basis, and has been juggling for more years than she cares to remember. As a three or four ball juggler Jane is very accomplished and has no problems. She also uses clubs and can juggle away to her heart’s content.

 However, when it comes to five balls she admits that she struggles to keep up that swirling pattern of balls before gravity takes over.

Juggling is actually an excellent way to take yourself off to another place, and believe it or not to reduce stress! This may seem counter intuitive but in actual fact, even though it may seem hard to juggle once you learn, you never forget and the interesting thing is that when you are juggling you can only concentrate on one thing because you are using both sides of the brain at the same time. This is why it works so well as a stress reliever.

I worked with Jane on helping her to visualise exactly what her juggling would be like when she used all five balls and also relaxing herself so that she does not put too much pressure on herself to get it right. As she works in a fun and comical environment it is fine for her to drop the balls sometimes.

Now all she needs to do is go away with an MP3 that I made her so that she can listen and reinforce what she is learning and before long she will be juggling all five balls...with a bit of practice too of course !