Mentalism Center

"A professional is a member of a profession or any person who earns their living from a specified professional activity."

There are basically two types of Mentalists in terms of focus, goals and approach:

Social/Casual/Amateur Mentalist

Professional Mentalist

and inside the category of "Professional Mentalist" there are the ones that dedicates full time to perform and others that offer part of their time.

(as a side note, Bob was never comfortable with the idea of an "Amateur Mentalist". I understand his point, but I disagree with him. You can still create the reality of Mentalism while doing casual performances)

So, if you offer your performance as a professional service, you are a Professional Performer.

Personally, I am not just a Professional Mentalist part of my time, but also a Psychologist and Creative.

How are you, according this observation?

This concept of "Professional" is misunderstood sometimes, using it as synonym of "quality", which doesnt have a direct relation.

You know a "Professional Performer" that offers a terrible show? I am sure you do.

You know a "Social Performer" that offers a fantastic moment of mystery and entertainment? For sure!

So as you can see, money is not a factor in terms of quality. Obviously it is expected that a Professional behaves in certain way and that no matter what, he can offers a good show, sadly that is not always the case.

It doesnt matter if you are one type of other type of Mentalist, it doesnt matter if you charge money or not, ALWAYS you need to treat Mentalism as something important. Not serious perse but important.

I have meet several "professionals" that dont use a script! That is just mediocre attitude. In other case, there are several amateur Mentalists that takes Mentalism as a very important practice in life, and they show that dedication.

So, if you are a "Professional Performer", dont observe our amateur brothers as less at all. Yes, they maybe dont know the business side, but they can teach us a lot!

The professionals can teach the amateurs how to deliver a good performance no matter what, and the amateur can offer us the constant passion that comes from doing something that you truly love.

We always need to keep that loving heart in Mentalism, no matter what.

Sometimes I heard that "I dont have time to study, I am busy performing"... If you have this narrative in your life, please study our "Effective Performer Lecture", and specifically the 7th principle

Dont brag if you perform for a living, but let your good work speak for you.

If you are a professional, you know that we communicate our congruency everytime we move, everytime we take a prop, and everytime we interact, and for that reason I just release the "Walkaround Act", which will teach you several ideas and principles of showbusiness, so you can charge money in your next gig accordingly to your real value as performer.

So, always love Mentalism, always do it the best you can.

Dont strive to be professional, but to be competent.

This week, my mentor Kenton Knepper and this fantastic quote from his "Wonder Words" (which you can get in HERE)

It is known in Psychology the relevance of effective communication in every aspect of human interaction. Constantly we are communicating, it is impossible to NOT communicate, and obviously in performance this is highly relevant.

It is known in esoteric schools and practices that words creates reality.

A "spell" is that.

A new construct that you create with words that allow a new experience to occur, an experience that is real.

Remember the first Hermetic Principle, the "Principle of Mentalism" (reflect about that and your understanding of this art)

So, in theatrical terms, your "script" has fundamental importance in the creation of the reality that you desire.

Linguistic Patterns (or Linguistic Deceptions as Kenton call them in the context of performance) are effective because they are constructed with specific strategies, and these techniques are highly important in various different situations in performance.

Let say that you want to create the idea that you are good.

First of all, you NEED to be good. No words will cover mediocrity.

Lets compare this two pieces of script:

"Hello, my name is Theo and I can read minds..."

"Hello everyone, I am very glad to be here, my name is Theo and although I can read minds, it is very important that you experience this with an open mind..."

The first line is a classic example of a direct command. This can be effective in some occasions if you have a powerful presence (if you want to learn more about this, I can recommend you the book Presence by Amy Cuddy), but most of the time, it is relevant to state this ideas that can create resistance in our audiences, especially at the beginning of our performance, in a more indirect manner, like in the 2nd script. As you can see, the idea that you can read minds is embedded, hidden from conscious resistance, so people will accept that claim in an easier manner.

It is imperative that your non-verbals are congruent with your verbals. No magic spell will be effective if you dont communicate your genuine confidence and enchantment.

In communication we have the form, the external and the content, the internal. They are BOTH important, and in our first interaction with our participant and audience, our form it is more important. We need to be conscious about it so we can create a good impression and offer a likeable expectation. ONLY THEN people will be interested in our content. So again, it is essential that you actually have content, if not, you are just being superficial, offering "techniques" without real inner value.

So, if you will use these techniques to really "cast a spell on your audience", observe first your inner strengths and processes to have something to say.

If you need assistance about this, you can check our "Online Services"

There are so many examples of "Linguistic Deceptions", that if you are interested in more, I highly recommend you to study the work of my mentor at his site Wonder Wizards.

He is one of the most under-rated modern living legends in Mentalism, and he deserves our attention and support.

And while you have a great week, remember that you can be awesome!

Kreskin is truly amazing, for several reasons.

I saw him this year in Philadelphia (twice) and let me tell you that he is unique and mystifying.

Lets learn a few interesting aspects that we can apply in performance. Again, core methods in here doesnt matter, lets focus in the most important aspects of performance, the ones that are the true secrets.

First of all, notice his casual but truly polished script. I saw this routine live (twice) and he follows the same structure of his narrative. In that aspect alone you can feel true professionalism, his script is so rehearse, that he can improvise. Always remember that the best improvisation is the one that you rehearse.

Playing Cards have inherent themes, one of themes is obviously card games. Notice how he explictly says this, to create relevance and meaning to his demonstration. He is not just naming card because he knows how, but he leaves the door open to fantasies about cheating at cards using "Kreskin-esque" powers and other opportunities that people would love to have.

Also you can see how the handle his shuffle at the beginning. People are not stupid, and they can see our actions. Dont say "I will shuffle the cards now..." while you do it. People can see that you are doing it and offering that action into a more indirect manner allows you to communicate in a better manner the idea that the deck is shuffle.

If you put much attention to something, it is because it is important. You have the power of words, use it wisely.

The idea to reference other people, a big experiences is classic Kreskin script. If this fits your style do it! It is a powerful tool to use aphorism or "quotes" from other people, as Kenton teaches us in "Wonder Words"

As soon as the demonstration of Remote Viewing starts, he doesnt explictly say "Now, focus in the cards because I will try to see thru your eyes..." blablabla

Again, people is not stupid. If you are to explicit, you lose a lot of subjective potential. Let people understand however they want.

They can understand the idea that you are reading her mind, that you are watching in real time through her eyes, or other phrasing. He is Kreskin, and he does marvelous things with the power of the mind.

As soon as the revelations start, realize how he doesnt just reveal the WHAT (the cards) but also the HOW (real time mindreading). If you do mindreading in this manner, it not also creates deeper drama and mystery, but also can even serve as an indirect cancellation. People can say after "I can get how he knew the cards, but how he know that she was watching at that moment that precise card!"

Thats the idea, to let people do the cancellations for you.

You can feel that this routine is really part of his master repertoire. Take some routines that you love and work them as much as you can. You dont need to do more, but always is good to do better.

At the end, always give your participant onstage some love from yourself and guide the applause for him/her as well. Without your participant, you are not a Mentalist.

Thanks Kreskin for everything!