Earlier this month, a weekend of hypnosis sessions and workshops was held at the Craig-y-Nos castle, Brecon Beacons. In an effort to make our staff more diligent and amenable, we sent Owe Carter along as a guinea-pig. With a new-found work ethic implanted in his subconscious, he returned and told us this:

The weekend of hypnosis ominously began on Friday, May 13th, and was hosted by Dr Ray Roberts, a professional hypnotist based in Cardiff.

Friday night focussed on hypnosis for comedy, for which Ray adopted his stage name Ray Ronson. He assured me beforehand that no item of clothing would be removed during the performance, which was the weekend's primary disappointment.

A person will usually not realise the level of awareness that one maintains while hypnotised, until they actually undergo this process. In fact, the word 'hypnosis' is something of a misnomer, as the procedure involves no actual sleep; the subject can more rightly be said to be in a trance.

This state is not unlike daydreaming; you are fully absorbed in what you are doing - possibly even hyperaware - and removed from other factors to which one might normally pay more accord. It is contended that the subconscious mind takes a more active role, and your naturally inhibitive conscious mind takes the back seat. As such, you are always aware that proposed situations might not be strictly real, yet nonetheless you may be emotionally affected by them.

Although the process of hypnosis will allow the participant to become more suggestible, the hypnotist cannot ever compel his subject to act in a certain way. The subconscious mind retains its values, and thus one cannot be made to do something that you simply would not do. I found that an interesting effect of not being able to reverse what one inherently believes is that one may snap out of a trance altogether.

During the stage show, I could not be made to think that an imaginary movie I was watching that featured all of my favourite comedy characters, such as Charlie Chaplin, and Tom and Jerry, could possibly be the funniest film ever, and found myself totally conscious once more. If anybody suggests that I wouldn't normally subsequently lap-dance for a random man in his 40s or 50s in an audience, I should argue that I was doing it in the name of research.

Ray told me that to continue with the act after you no longer feel hypnotised is common, as a form of social compliance. By this time, your inhibitions have dropped anyway. You've been given a licence to let your hair down. Another of the subjects, Darna Sanders, was successfully hypnotised throughout. She told me later that she felt the audience had been a long way away. I also felt removed from the other participants. Darna was also called upon to attempt to remove the hypnotist's trousers when a certain piece of music was played. Beyond the frivolity of hypnosis for comedic purposes, it is claimed that it can be used to break habits, address personal issues and even overcome phobias.

Addressing such disorders goes down one level further again, and is a form of reprogramming. The theory is that an idea is embedded in the subconscious, and it is affecting one's conscious behaviour in some way. Usually, one will react to the subject of their phobia in an extreme fashion, but there will seemingly not be any memory directly associated with this fear. The experience is too deeply entrenched. Hypnotherapy then acts as a way to uncover and single out the root cause.

I was told by previous patient Kelly Burnell that Ray had helped her overcome her fear of clowns. Since undergoing this hypnotherapy, Kelly was no longer afraid of going into McDonalds. I decided to attempt to tackle my fear of drops, and batophobia - the fear one gets when looking up a building or natural feature that is very high. Under hypnosis, I was regressed to a time I felt this feeling, and recalled standing terrified at the bottom of the Sears Tower in Chicago, and literally felt the associated nausea. I was then regressed to the first time I felt this feeling, and saw myself in my first house. I was at the bottom of the stairs looking up and trembling. I felt myself shaking as I relived this experience. I knew I had fallen down the stairs when younger, but had never made an association between that and my phobia.

I was asked to return to this scene with the knowledge and wisdom that I have attained today. When asked how I felt, I responded that I now felt rather foolish, and a bit of a plum. Ray told me that this would now be embedded in my subconscious, and now, when I experience what might normally provoke the fear and nausea, I would instead recall this memory and feel like a plum instead. I have yet to put this theory to test.

I had seen a good range of what being put in a trance could apparently achieve. However, I was quite unprepared for what happened when a workshop investigated the claim that hypnosis can help one access past lives...

To be continued.