Mindreader, Clairvoyant possessing foresight and telekinesis abilities, these are words chosen to describe a practitioner of this branch of magic… of course, everything is a trick but it’s an amazing trick that will leave you speechless.
Have you ever heard of a mentalist? A mentalist is someone who performs mind-reading or other feats of apparently psychic ability.
So proficient in his art it will seem like reality is being bent right before your eyes.
Mentalists are not to be confused with magicians, whose performance usually employs tricks and techniques that are the result of illusion, deception, or sleight of hand.
Some people have claimed that they can read minds using telepathy! Do these claims hold any truth? Tune in for more information about this interesting topic!
Below you can find examples of products to get you started, and what they normally cost.
Impromptu Mentalism
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What Every BODY Is Saying
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How To Analyze People and Know What They Secretly Want
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Can Mentalists Read Your Mind?
No, mentalists are not able to read people’s minds, because if they could do that then why would they need to put on a show? They would instantly rule the world.
The truth is there are many different ways mentalists trick their audiences into thinking they have this ability.
They range from using cold reading techniques all the way up to outright scams and hoaxes by taking advantage of human psychology.
Even though some mentalists might be really good at what he or she does it doesn’t mean they actually possess any supernatural abilities whatsoever.
This means no real telepathy, clairvoyance, or other types of psychic capabilities either.
We know for certain now these skills don’t exist in humans even though we still find ourselves wondering how exactly do they do that.
Another reason people might think mentalists are able to read minds is because they work extensively to develop the skill of reading body language.
One of the best ways mentalists learn about what people do in their heads during certain situations is by studying body language.
Body language has been shown time and again in research to be an accurate predictor for how we feel or think without actually saying anything out loud.
This could lead others (and even sometimes us) into thinking that when someone seems like they’re “reading our mind” it might just be because they know all about our nonverbal cues!
Understanding these subconscious signals certainly helps mentalists figure out more details when learning about others.
There is no official world record for speed reading your mind, however there have been some impressive guesses made in under a minute.
One mentalist named Apollo Robbins guessed the names of 52 random audience members within 30 seconds at TED 2015!
He only missed one person’s name and it took him less than 45 seconds to complete his task.
Another mentalist named Banachek has claimed he can guess someone’s birthday by just looking them over twice with their eyes closed!
That would require knowing about 365 different birthdays which seems impossible unless you’re psychic or clairvoyant.
10 Facts to help you perform your best mentalism
1. What is The Difference Between Mentalism and Magic?
A magician is best known by definition to perform magic tricks, being tricks the keyword here, you as an audience know that it’s not reality and the magician is not trying to make you believe that it is real.
A Mentalist, on the other hand, wants you to believe he/she possesses higher mental abilities, telekinesis, psychic abilities, mind reading therefore their “tricks” have the most powerful effect on people.
2. Performance.
Mentalism is about 80% performance, you have to become really convincing, to the point that people that actually know you and are aware you don’t possess special abilities, will doubt themselves for a second and say, wait a minute…
Being afraid or scared is not part of the deal, you have to really be honest with yourself and think if being a mentalist is really suited for you, any sign of weakness or trembling of your voice will make your whole act crumble.
The most successful mentalists are the ones who can project confidence with ease, appearing to be in control even if you’re not will make the difference between being called a con artist or a master of your craft.
3. Decide Your Style.
Sleight of hand techniques that can take long periods of time to master are often disregarded, with all the free time why not create your own style, have fun with it make some videos wearing some intriguing and mysterious attire, and post them on YouTube for fun.
Impress your girlfriend/spouse and friends, you’ll be surprised how much bigger the impact will be if you’re wearing a (costume/uniform) I’m not saying flashy, can even be a simple suit or a haircut, something that differentiates you from the crowd and triggers an emotional response.
4. Mentalism Trick Example.
It’s actually not hard to perform these tricks it’s all about know-how and being smart, knowing the secrets is the key, I’ll give you an example:
Think of a number.
Add the next highest number to that first number.
Then add nine.
divide by two.
subtract the original number.
Are you ready for this??
The answer is 5, it will always be 5, now combine that with a hypnotizing performance and you’ve just become a mentalist… Not really, but you know what I mean…
5. The Mystique Behind Mentalism.
Mentalists do not want to be perceived as tricksters, the mystique of the art and why it is so fun to watch is because deep down people want to believe what they’re witnessing is indeed “special powers“.
The mentalist wants to provide just that, by creating the perfect illusion of achieving the seemingly impossible, mentalists are not satisfied with simple tricks.
The goal is to make a lasting impression, if not then it’s not even worth doing it, and because of these reasons they normally ever mix conventional magic tricks into their routines.
Other Hobbies to try
6. Connect With People.
The more you understand people the better you can predict what they’re going to think given a specific situation or scenario
Practice reading people, heighten your sense of observation and really try to understand others, it will make your routine much more convincing if you know how to manipulate people’s minds into making them think what you want them to think.
7. Playing Probabilities.
Mind reading really boils down to playing probabilities, and knowing the most likely answer.
if I ask you to think of a country whose name starts with the letter D, most likely you’ll think Denmark because there aren’t many countries that start with the letter D, and considering the fact your response has to be quick you’ll pick the first thing that comes to your mind.
8. Subliminal Programming.
Using your hands to imprint an image on people’s minds is another common mentalist technique, there’s vocal stimulation of the brain and there’s visual stimulation of the brain, if you draw a square in the air with your hand’s people will automatically picture a square in their head.
Now think of a another geometric shape that goes inside the square but isn’t a square, “most likely you’ll think of a triangle” (Vocal stimulation)
Now think of another shape around that shape and draw a circle with your hands. (Visual stimulation)
This would be the most Likely Outcome.
9. What Is Cold Reading?
Cold Reading is observation to the extreme, observing your subject and noticing small details, like a tattoo, or a scar, and trying to come to the most obvious conclusion about them.
If you’re at someone’s home notice details in the environment that might give away something about the subject’s personality, we’ve all seen it on detective shows and movies, it’s one of the mentalist favorite strategies.
10. What Is Mirroring?
Mirroring is the art of subtly copying the subject’s behavior in order to create a deep connection.
Copy speech patterns, hand gestures, body language, everything that will put your subject at ease to make him trust you, the ultimate goal is hypnosis, I’m not going to lie this is a tricky one that requires a great amount of training and dedication!
But with hard work and dedication who’s to say it you wont be able to achieve it, how cool would that be…
Now that you’re equipped with the information:
It’s up to you to decide if this is the hobby you want to pursue, remember the hardest step is to start, hobbies have a way of filling our lives with joy and excitement.
if you’re interested in mentalism, here’s something you might be interested in.
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