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“Now, when I snap my fingers, you will open your eyes, and you will be a chicken.” When most people think of hypnosis, they think of people embarrassing themselves in front of an audience under the influence of a man in a tuxedo. Though this may be the most exciting image of hypnosis, it is not the most important or most common use of hypnosis, according to Axel Shum ’12, president of Princeton Hypnosis.

As strange as hypnosis might seem, Shum explained that it is much more common than most people realize: “A lot of doctors will use hypnosis techniques but don’t necessarily call it hypnosis ... the techniques that a hypnotist uses overlap with meditation.” These techniques are taught at the Princeton Hypnosis meetings every Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. in East Pyne 39.

Princeton Hypnosis was founded by former graduate student Pete Hummon in 2008 and now meets weekly to discuss, learn and practice hypnosis techniques. You can learn how to perform hypnosis on others, use techniques in your own life or get hypnotized. The main difference, Shum says, between stage hypnosis and what Princeton Hypnosis does is in the application: “The goal state of mind that the people are in is the same, it’s just that a stage hypnosis show is purely to have fun, whereas clinical hypnosis is to help people.”

And help it does. Shum explained that hypnosis is useful in helping people handle general anxiety and upcoming stressful situations. “If you want to learn how to swing a baseball bat, you’re probably okay practicing swinging one. But if you want to practice swinging a baseball bat in front of a crowd full of people, you can do that with hypnosis. You can create that scenario mentally.” Hypnosis allows you to rehearse something stressful in a safe environment. It works because real-life situations can be created in your mind without actually harming you in reality.

Though hypnosis may sound foreign, Shum insists that everyone has experienced the feeling of hypnosis at some point and has been in the hypnotic state of mind. You know that feeling where you’re driving home from school and all of a sudden you’re at your house and didn’t realize it? That sort of focused relaxation is just the feeling you want.

So, what can hypnosis do for you? Yes, it can help you stop biting your nails, focus during a major league game or embarrass you in front of your friends if you participate in a stage show, but it can do a lot more. You can use hypnosis to help you prepare for an exam, calm down after a stressful day, or just allow you to have a little down time.

After hearing all of this, I wanted in on the action. So I went to one of their meetings and got hypnotized myself. I was a little nervous at first, because I’ve never done anything like this before, but Shum immediately put my mind at ease. Before I knew it, I had my eyes closed, was breathing deeply and felt completely relaxed. It was incredible. It didn’t take too long for me to feel myself going deeper and deeper into the situations that Shum had me imagining.

For the purposes of this article, I asked Shum to make me do some silly things. He complied by having me imagine that my tongue was growing large — too large for my mouth. After just a minute, I found that indeed my tongue was twice the size it should be and even realized it was sticking out. It truly felt too big for me to contain it inside my mouth. At the same time, I also recognized the ridiculousness of the whole thing, but what could I do?

He then proceeded to embarrass me for the amusement of the future Internet audience by asking me to speak. “What’s your name?” “Alekthith,” “What day is it tomorrow?” “Thurthday.” Needless to say, even our staff couldn’t contain their laughter.

After the experience was over and Shum brought me safely back into the reality of the East Pyne classroom, I felt surprisingly relaxed and rejuvenated. I would definitely recommend hypnosis to anyone who is feeling stressed, or just wants to have some fun.

Princeton Hypnosis will be having an event tonight, Thursday March 24 at 9 p.m. in Frist Campus Center’s East TV Lounge. The event is organized by Center Stage as part of their relaxation night series.