I honestly felt myself slipping toward a sleepy state. Then he said “you are all now in my power” and… I wasn’t. I was 100 percent awake and in control.
That's about as far as I got into it too, which is why I never participated.
The reason I found it convincing wasn't my former classmates being told to act this way or that way. It was a part where he had some people hold various poses. One person was doing something similar to planking (before that was ever a thing) and they were not the kind of person you would think could hold that kind of pose as well as they did, and especially not for as long as they did. The Hypnotist would push on them and try to get them to move and they just wouldn't. It was honestly like seeing the sort of discipline you would see from a monk, but in someone you would really not expect to see that in at all.
If it was an elaborate ruse, it was prepared months in advance for sure, and kept very, very secret.
That's about as far as I got into it too, which is why I never participated.
The reason I found it convincing wasn't my former classmates being told to act this way or that way. It was a part where he had some people hold various poses. One person was doing something similar to planking (before that was ever a thing) and they were not the kind of person you would think could hold that kind of pose as well as they did, and especially not for as long as they did. The Hypnotist would push on them and try to get them to move and they just wouldn't. It was honestly like seeing the sort of discipline you would see from a monk, but in someone you would really not expect to see that in at all.
If it was an elaborate ruse, it was prepared months in advance for sure, and kept very, very secret.