Mentalism Center

Armando Coda-Spoon Bending

Armando is a fantastic Mentalist and a friend of mine, which has a beautiful work in Spoon Bending.

The performance is in Spanish, but PKMB is an universal language.

Enjoy!

Quote of the Week: Tenkai

This week, we feature a beautiful and profound idea from Tenkai (Teijiro Ishida), a Japanese magician that left a legacy not just of useful mechanical techniques but also philosophy, as we can see.

Our world is full of rich cultures, and sometimes, we tend to forget the wonderful eastern traditions. It is beautiful to see Magicians from the eastern and oriental traditions, not just because of their own aesthetics, but also for the deep respect and higher appreciation of the magical traditions.

The work "Tenkai" has implication in Buddhism, and this quote is highly interesting if you compare it with the Taoism teachings.

In our case, I feel in the same way. Mentalism is not tricks, but a way.

Mentalism is not the goal, but the path.

Now, the question for you is...

If Mentalism is a way....what is the final destination?

What is the purpose of your performance?

Balance is fundamental. Sometimes if we focus too much into the deeper aspects, we can lose ourselves. With this observation I dont deny our wonderful set of secret techniques, but as soon as we realize that they must be perceived just by ourselves in our Inner Reality and not the Outer Reality (which is perceived by our audience) , we can be present to the fact that Magic and Mentalism is much more than just tricks.

Thanks Tenkai for this succinct lesson, which is highly needed in the present state of the art.

What we can learn about: Kenton Knepper-Touches

Did you watch the performance?

Did you felt that it was a "Mentalism/Magic Show"?

It is something different, right?

My mentor Kenton Knepper pushes the boundaries, no doubt. Thats one of the reason some people in our community dont get his approach or his ideas. From my own personal experience, I can assure you that his work is spectacular, highly practical and powerful BUT you need to change your paradigm.

If you try to see something that is not visible with the lens that you have already, you will not see it, right?

It is obvious...

Thats the reason why you need to open your mind to new understandings.

If you dont want to do it, it is completely valid, but you will not be able to truly observe and appreciate the beauty that Kenton offers, and specifically in this performance, you can see that this is NOT your normal multiphase PK Touches (thats the reason why I label this as "Touches").

He is REALLY touching people in emotional and spiritual ways.

This is NOT about the mysterious touch, but HOW that TADA small moment supports all the other ANTI-TADA approach to this neo-classic routine.

Yeah, but he didnt did the trick correctly the first time!

What a boring performance!

ONLY ONE touch? I can do 12 with my electronic!!

If you cant understand, dont worry! The most important thing is to be open.

Both trick and symbolic performance are valid.

No one is better than the other. Both are tools. You could do an entire show just with trick techniques or just with legitimate techniques, or both.

Our shaman ancestors used secret techniques to create the symbolic experience, because they understood this.

The Inner Reality is not important. The Inner Reality is not perceived.

The Outer Reality is important. The Outer Reality is perceived.

As soon as you apply this principle, you will realize that you can be a trick performer but offering powerful moments in the Outer Reality.

You can apply Realism even if you use secret techniques.

Realism is not about the Inner Reality, but the Outer one.

You dont need to have PSI abilities to create a mysterious experience.

This performance is an example of it. Kenton used the classic technique for PK Touches, but that technical element is just one part. You can realize that EVEN without that technique, he could create a connection experience using legitimate energetic sensations.

Mentalism is not the goal, but the path for something bigger.

Human connection is essential, and we can create a wonderful metaphor with PK Touches as you just saw.

Do you want to learn more about this approach to performance? Do yourself a favour and study Kenton´s work. You can get some of his work at Mentalism Center (CLICK HERE) and also at his site (CLICK HERE)

If you are interested, especifically in powerful realistic approaches to PK Touches, you can study Kenton Touches techniques that you can find in this video, and also Carlos Emesqua-Emesqua on PK Touches

Thanks Kenton, for being real.

Elements & Zodiac Signs

If you want to use themes in performance such as zodiac signs, elements, palm reading and others which are related, it is not enough to just learn stock lines (as a matter of fact , dont do it!) or just your favorite anagram.

REALLY study this arts and mystic knowledges.

Save this graphic in your phone and TRULY learn each element and their zodiac signs, it is not difficult at all if you find a good mnemonic technique.

I will offer you one of my own visual mnenomic techniques:

For AIR: Imagine a balance and each place on the balance has one face. On top of this a floating guy throwing water.

At Mentalism Center we have several "Zodiac Mentalism" routines that you can learn, and in my new book "Telepathic Artifacts", I offer my "Explorgram", which is an interesting approach in the use of Anagrams, which features also my Progressive Anagram that has interesting options.