Exploring Hypnosis in Las Vegas

I'm fantastic. I'm fantastic. I'm fantastic. I'm fantastic.

I'm fantastic. I'm fantastic. I'm fantastic. I'm fantastic.

Okay, we need to get over to the other lane.

Las Vegas, Nevada,

a show business capital built in the desert.

I'd heard about a new generation of entertainers who've been transforming

people's lives using the mysterious powers of

hypnosis.

They form part of a multi-billion dollar personal growth industry.

My mission, to see if their techniques could transform me.

My first contact, Dennis Lowry, director of the American

Academy of Hypnosis. How are you doing?

I'm doing fine. And you?

Are you Dennis Lowry?

I'm Dennis Lowry.

Good to meet you. I'm Louis Theroux from BBC 2.

Okay, nice to meet you, Louis.

You are a master hypnotist.

A master hypnotist, right.

Is that true?

Yes, it is.

Is hypnotism really real?

It is.

Is it real?

Like, the mind can make you happy, the mind can make you sad.

Yeah.

The mind can make you rich, the mind can make you poor.

We have the most powerful tool in the world and it's right here in our head.

Could you hypnotize me, do you think?

If you're in a very relaxed mode at this point, we might be

able to do it in two minutes.

What, right here with the noise around you-

Right, you can-

... you could do it right now?

Right, we could be able to.

Could you start to do that? I just wanna get like a beginning feeling

of what that

feels like.

Okay. Even though there is traffic out here,

there's tourists all around us from

around the world, there's fascinating buildings, all of this

is not important because you are tuned into me, I'm tuned into you.

And that's basically what hypnosis is, is getting in control of our

own minds. And we can communicate with each other

by not even using our own voice.

Later that day, I dropped in on Dennis at the headquarters

of the American

Academy of Hypnosis.

He'd asked me to join a class to see how susceptible I was to

hypnotic techniques.

Hi, how are you, Louis?

Hi, Dennis.

Okay.

Can I sit down and just-

Sure, join us

... join the class?

Great. I want everyone to stand. Take your hands and put them

up like this. I want you to take your right hand

and the thumb go up in the air. In your left

palm you have the world book and psychopedia.

Attached to your right thumb is a helium balloon.

The right hand is going up, up, up and the left hand is going

down, down, down. The last, left hand is so heavy.

It's so heavy with that book. So heavy.

It's hard to hold the book in your hand.

Your hands are stuck like glue. They're stuck like glue.

They're getting stuck more and more.

Your hands are very stuck like glue.

Now I want you to try to pull them apart. Try to pull your hands apart.

Try to pull them apart. Stop trying.

Just relax

and just go. Let your hands come apart very

easily. Very easily. Yes, sir.

On that one I felt like it, the, you know, it felt like they were stuck, right?

But then when you said try to pull them apart, like in

a way I was trying but in a way I wasn't trying.

Right.

Do you know what I mean?

Right. I definitely do.

Like I could feel a resistance-

Right

... but I was also aware that at any moment I could go like that.

Right. Uh-huh. But you chose not to separate them,

and this shows you would have followed directions under hypnotherapy.

Really?

Uh-huh. Right. You would have followed the directions we

were giving

for change.

And what is this room in here?

This is where we do our hypnosis.

You've got a mirror here, right?

Right.

Now, is that so that if you need to you can hypnotize yourself?

No. The reason for the mirror-

Could you do that?

You could.

Could you hypnotize yourself now?

All I have to do-

I'd like to see what that looked like

... all I have to do is sit down, snap my fingers and I go into hypnosis.

Can we see you do that?

Sure. Because I have practiced enough over

the years that it just automatically happens.

And you will see maybe the eyelids flickering and fluttering.

You will see a total relaxation and things of that nature.

Can I put you in the trance?

You can, yes.

So, um, is there anything when you're under

that would be a good thing to

say?

You're a wonderful human being. You have the potential within you to

accomplish anything you want out of life.

Okay, I'm gonna say that.

Okay, great.

Okay.

I'm going to put a dot on your finger. Can I mark on you?

Yes.

Okay, good. Okay, what I want you to do, I want you to move that

to where I have to raise my eyes up.

Now, if we both go under-

Uh-huh

... what do we do then? Should one of these people take over?

Okay.

'Cause then we're in trouble.

All right. I don't ... You're the hypnotist,

so basically you're not-

Yeah

... going to go under. Why don't you put me under?

Okay, just slow down just a little bit.

And now just say you're getting very relaxed.

But before, can I just, can you come out of it again?

I'm gonna say you're a wonderful human being. And what was the thing after that?

You're a wonderful human being and you have the potential within you to

accomplish every goal you so desire in life.

Okay.

You're feeling very relaxed.

You're very relaxed.

You're very relaxed.

You're very relaxed.

Your eyelids are heavy.

Your eyelids are very heavy.

Your eyelids are heavy. Your eyes are closing.

You're a wonderful human being

and you have the potential to accomplish everything you should so

desire.

You are a wonderful human being and you have the

potential to accomplish any of the goals and

objectives you so desire.

You're a wonderful human being.

You're a wonderful human being. On the count of three you're

gonna come out and you'll feel very positive about yourself

and you will feel like you're a wonderful human being.

One,

two,

three.

Okay.

I didn't wanna come back. I wanted to stay there.

It's a wonderful feeling to be there.

Thank you

for the trip.

Really good.

Thanks. Louis, how are you?

I mean, a real eye-opener. Seriously. I never knew that you could do so much.

Right. The mind is very powerful.

Yeah. Yeah.

As you found out today.

So I'm gonna carry on with the- Yeah. Now I'm gonna carry on with the mission.

Okay, great.

Yeah.

Fantastic.

Dennis had opened my eyes to the power of hypnosis.

Now it was time to meet the man who was using it to transform people's

lives, the world's fastest hypnotist, Marshall

Sylver.

My greatest challenge in helping people with their lives is getting them to take

that first step in the right direction.

Maybe you've gone through tough times and it feels like your life is beating you

up. Maybe you never thought you really could

have the things that you wanted.

Then it gets harder to take that first step

A stage performer turned self-improvement motivator, Silver has

developed a new hypnotic system called Subconscious

Programming. He not only claims to make you happier

and healthier,

you can also become a millionaire

Ha

I'm looking for-

Hello

... Marshall Sylver.

Marshall is not here at the moment. My name is Michael.

How are you doing, Michael?

Fantastic.

I'm Pat Williams.

Pat, Louis.

Pat, Louis. Nice to meet you.

How you doing? Yeah. Good to meet you, too.

Michael and Pat were helping to set up a day-long free seminar for

local business people in which Marshall would demonstrate how

hypnosis could transform their sales.

This is big.

Yes, it is.

Wow.

We don't want it entirely too large because you lose personal touch.

No.

So-

But this is large, though.

Correct.

What is Marshall about? What is the organization about?

Helping people.

Helping people.

Bottom line, helping people.

Helping people.

Correct.

How?

People helping people.

People helping people.

Correct. See, everybody lives, when they live, they go up to a

certain standard during their life and then they become complacent

and we help

take their lives to the next level.

Take your life to the next level-

Correct

... and become a more fulfilled-

Correct

... human being.

Correct.

So is it a moral mission or is it, or is it about making money?

Moral mission.

Really?

Money just comes naturally afterwards.

Really?

Correct.

Is that Marshall?

Yes, it is.

Yeah. Marshall's here now.

Correct. I believe Marshall's seen me develop as

through his

seminars from the bottom person first coming to his first seminar all the way up

to his, uh, Millionaire Mentorship Program.

I had the dubious honor to be one of the mentors of, uh, his mentorship

program, his first cycle of that. Correct.

You were a mentor in something called the Millionaire Mentorship Program.

Mentorship, correct.

That helps create millionaires.

Correct. That's our whole goal.

Are you a millionaire?

Close to it.

The people are gonna be walking in in about 30 seconds and we need to crank up

the

sound that gets the atmosphere of the room going.

Atmosphere, okay.

So I don't mean to-

Yeah. No, no, no. That's fine

... cut anything short, but-

Is everything going okay? Is everything going according to plan?

Everything is, everything's going very smoothly.

Am I gonna meet Marshall?

He's coming.

Yes.

Where has he gone?

He wants to meet you. Actually you were filming and he, you know,

he didn't want to

interrupt you guys.

Really?

Yes.

Is that his real name?

Marshall Sylver, correct.

Yeah. Sylver with a Y.

Yes.

Correct. Instead of an A. So let's, uh-

Okay

... let the games begin.

A lot of people.

So what's in it for Marshall, then? Is he also hoping to what?

Sell, sell stuff to these people later?

Correct.

Yeah.

See, you notice later on where after you give

to people, they'll want

more and you give them what they want, they'll pay the price.

I spent tens of thousand dollars on Marshall Sylver, on his seminars.

You have?

Correct.

Tens of thousands?

Correct.

So what is happening? We got-

So-

He's, he's on in what? Eight minutes.

Correct. He's preparing. He does a prayer.

He goes out there and he, you know, he-

Can we see that?

... prays. That's a private thing. I don't think he will allow that.

Okay.

So I, I do, I'll go in there and I'll make sure

that he has a couple minutes for

you and, uh, we'll see.

What should we do? Should we come with you?

Actually it would be best if you stayed right here and, uh,

'cause I don't want to

intrude on him either. You know, it's a breaking-

Yeah

... that I'll have to do.

Yeah.

I'll be back in one flash.

I'll just stay here. Thank you.

As I waited, the sound recorders continued to pick up

Michael's

backstage conversation with Marshall.

BBC'd like to know if you have a couple minutes.

No.

And do me a favor.

Mm-hmm.

It's very bad to step in on another guy's gig, so don't monopolize.

I heard you talking about your other businesses talking to BBC.

He, sure, he asked me.

Don't tell them.

I, I, I understand.

I work for Marshall. That's what I do.

Correct.

'Cause you just made us both look like idiots.

You look like you're trying to worm in on my territory and I look like an idiot

'cause I'm employing somebody that has a ton of other businesses.

So I mean, we both lost. Just keep that in mind.

So if they ask any more questions like that, say, "You know what?"

Correct.

"Talk to Marshall. Talk to Marshall."

Correct.

That way we both look better for whatever it's worth.

Right. Unfortunately,

Marshall is in his trance session.

He's in, he goes and prays and he goes in a trance session to where

he basically

gets prepared. He does say that as much time as you need for,

uh...

Okay. I'll be back in just a

second. They just said you asked for them?

Yeah, real quick. Please forgive me for kind of biting your

head off just now.

Just trying to get to the point and juggling a lot of things that

are not quite-

I understand

... the way they normally are.

I understand.

Forgive me. I grabbed you and I, and I just thought about and my,

my heart was

very, um, heavy right after you walked away and

that wasn't handled well.

I love you.

Love you, too. I mean, I'm here to support and-

I know

... I'm learning.

You are.

I'm learning.

God bless you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Everything good?

We're back again. Everything's fine.

Uh, Marshall, as I was saying earlier, is getting ready for this whole event and

then what'll happen is he'll go out to the, uh, stage

and he'll relax and he'll

have, and all, some energy will be out there

and everybody'll have fun.

So can we go see him now?

No, not at all.

No.

Not at all. It's kind of closed doors.

Uh, i- it's barely a, a judgement-

Is everything okay back there?

Everything is perfect. Everything's right on schedule.

It's all a, it's all a scenario. You know like a, a routine?

He's in his routine. Basically he's in his routine.

Great.

Uh, so we're gonna have some fun and we're glad to have you guys here and-

Thank you

... it's awesome.

Hope we haven't done anything wrong.

No, not at all. Not at all.

Yeah.

You guys are perfect.

Okay. Excellent.

You guys are perfect.

Excellent.

I now want to bring out probably one of the most dynamic

sales trainers I've ever met and, and you're just gonna be blessed with

information

that you can go back and we're guaranteeing that

if you use this

information on a daily basis you'll double your sales.

So I wanna give a great big Las Vegas welcome-

Hoorah. Hoorah

... to Mr. Marshall Sylver.

Hoorah.

Sylver was selling two different programs: a weekend of

personal growth called Turning Point and the Millionaire

Mentorship Program, a 10-week course in becoming a

millionaire.

Make yourself feel good. If you want more money, stand up.

Say, "Oh, yeah."

Yeah.

If you're still seated you're not gonna get it.

Stand up for me.

I got a question for you. Who wants to be a millionaire?

Yeah.

Well, what if I told you exactly how to become a

multimillionaire, how many of you

would be willing to do it?

Okay. I've got, I've got 95% of you are liars.

95% of the population is led around by their noses by the other

5%.

95% of all the money on the planet is controlled by 5% of the population.

Half of all the money on the planet is controlled by 1% of the population.

Pretty scary thing, huh?

Can we come with you backstage and watch it from backstage?

Yeah.

That would be amazing.

I'm gonna bring somebody up on the platform.

I'm gonna give them a great gift.

Uh, who wants to be that person?

Me.

Okay.

When I meet him should I call him, what should I, how should I address him?

Marshall's fine.

Not Mr. Sylver?

No, you can just call him Mr. Sylver.

I want you to get something. I'd like to give you a great gift.

Anything that would inhibit me from making your body stiff and rigid laying you

across two supports and then standing on you?

Would that be okay?

Okay.

Does that mean yes?

Yeah.

Good. Make her feel awesome.

Right this way, PJ. PJ, in a moment I'm gonna relax you.

It's going to take less than a second.

The moment that I do, your eyelids close, breathe in deeply, your body relaxes.

Sleep. Wave.

Much like your heart beats of its own accord, your hands now spin of their own

accord, spinning and turning.

Does that have anything to do with, um,

uh, becoming a better salesperson or a better human being?

Yes, he's showing influence.

Hypnotic techniques?

Well, hypnotism is the, is the height of influence.

How many of you would like to program your mind to automatically go to the gym?

Put your hand up.

He's, he's hypnotizing the audience right now.

Has he got them in the palm of his hand?

I would say yes, right now.

How many of you believe that when someone else believes in you,

it's almost easier

to believe in yourself?

And everyone in the audience is watching Marshall right now.

They're not writing, they're not reading, they're not taking notes.

Eyes are fixed on him.

Stiff and rigid as a steel bar.

Okay, here he goes.

There you go.

You got it. Let's hear it.

And that was amazing. How many of you would be willing to trust

me to see

if together we can't make your life better and, and get rid of tho- tho- that, that

bondage that's been holding you back?

When you enroll today, we will give you everything on the table

for free

when you're one of the first 50 people who enrolls in the program.

We take cash, check, or charge. Once again, the discount

is good through this

break, so go ahead and move very quickly. They will take care of you.

Pretty successful?

I think the count was 22, but I'm not sure.

What, 22 what?

22-

Millionaire Mentors?

Yeah, 22 Millionaire Mentors.

What about Turning Points?

Turning Points we were over 70. 70 Turning Points.

Wow.

So it's kind of exciting.

That's a good day.

Yeah, it's a really good day.

And as far as Marshall, I still haven't got to see him.

He wants to see you, so.

Does he?

Yeah, he wants to see you.

Yeah. I would love that.

Are you enjoying the seminar?

I'm purchasing the program.

Are you?

Yes. Mm-hmm.

At a, at a price of how much?

Uh, 500.

Is there anything specific you're looking to accomplish?

Confronting fears and getting rid of them.

Um, that's what I'm looking forward to.

Uh, those, those beliefs that brought us up from a small child

till now is erasing some of those negative values

that stop us from doing things.

Hey, Pat.

Hey, what's going on, bud?

So how's it going? Can we see Marshall?

Yes, you wanna see him right now?

Can we seriously?

Great, yeah. Let's go.

Is he, are you sure he's ready to see us?

Uh, I, I'll give him the secret knock.

Oh, will you?

Yeah.

Is it, is it...

Good to see you. Thanks for taking the time to speak to us.

Of course.

Thanks for inviting us to your event.

I'm so glad you're here. Welcome to Vegas.

It's amazing. I, I feel like you've got quite a powerful

effect, you know? You've, you've got a very steady gaze.

Oh, you're just saying that.

No, no, seriously. But actually what's weird

is I find it hard to concentrate on

what you're actually saying.

Because it feels like you might just relax-

Because I feel like I'm falling into your eyes

... and fall over.

Do you know what I mean, though?

Of course not.

No. Does it, does that... I, I can't work out if that's, like,

a reaction that's

particular to me or is that something that you're actually consciously doing.

Well, you know what I've, uh, discovered, Lou, is that highly intelligent people

are always extremely responsive.

And as I speak to you and you hear the sound of my voice,

as your eyelids now begin

to close, close your eyelids now.

No, I'm gonna re- Marshall, I'm gonna resist being hypnotized.

Maybe because I know, uh, that you teach influence

and you teach persuasion-

Mm-hmm

... and self-empowerment, I'm aware that there's a danger that am

I being influenced, am I being persuaded, I guess.

What do you think?

I think yes.

Mm.

'Cause you have a very unusual way about you.

Hypnosis isn't magic. It's simply teaching a process of

influence, and that's what

most people don't understand.

What was today as far as your total program, the Marshall Sylver

system, today represented how much?

A day.

A day?

Yeah.

Thank you very much.

You're loved.

Yeah. Thank you.

Welcome. Glad you're here.

Yeah. Me too.

Thanks so much for having an, an interest.

I may have been loved, but I felt puzzled.

I still didn't know how Sylver's techniques worked or even

if they did work.

See you later. So I decided to sign up for the Turning

Point seminar in a couple

of days' time.

Meanwhile, I had a rendezvous in Marina del Rey,

California, with a

hypnotist offering to improve my personal life,

speed seduction specialist Ross Jeffries. How are you doing?

Hello.

I'm Lou.

My name-

You're Ross?

I am indeed.

Good to meet you.

Welcome to Tabitha's house.

Thank you.

This is the one female who has me totally manipulated, and I don't mind.

My beautiful cat.

This is her n- $800 cat tree that I got her for Christmas two

Christmases

ago. But Tabby deserves it. She says, "Daddy, that's hardly

enough of a present for me. I need more."

I understand you teach something called speed seduction.

Correct.

Which is what exactly?

Well, speed seduction is a, a method, a series of techniques, a way

of thinking about women that allows a guy to get past a woman's

first initial impression, which is usually based on his looks or his

money or his social status. It opens up a deeper, much

more imaginative, much more suggestive part-

Wait, why are you, yeah, you're, like, holding my eyes like they're on beams.

Right. Yeah.

Because I've been learning a little bit about techniques of persuasion and

influence as well.

Yes. Yeah.

Are you doing that?

Absolutely.

I'm talking to you in a way that indicates I mean what I say.

Yeah.

And you have to pay attention to what I say.

These two boards here.

Yeah.

These little white boards.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, what's going on there?

Uh, keeping-

Lot of women's names on here

... well, I'm keeping track of women I'm seeing,

or women that want

me to see them, or women I'd like to see.

These are very-

Have you got more than one woman on the go then?

Yes. This is a pre-

That doesn't seem... See, that's, by conventional ethics, wouldn't that be,

um-

No, I'm honest about it.

Really?

I don't pretend to want monogamy if I'm in a phase in my life where I

don't.

So what are these-

These are different language patternings I'm experimenting with.

What do you mean language patterns exactly?

For example, this phrase, "Can't help yourself." One of the themes I

like to

develop with women is to talk to them about times in their

lives when they just had

to take action and they couldn't help themselves. All right?

I want them to step into that state of mind with me so their normal

social

inhibitions aren't applying.

So how would you rate this place, a gym, for, uh,

as an area of, of, of opportunity?

Gyms in general I think are excellent.

Do you see anything looking around now?

Well, I see, uh...

No comment. But yes, the answer is yes.

Go

on.

Uh, there's someone here who I'm, like, this close to, uh-

Who?

I d- I don't want her on camera. I don't want to blow it.

It's something I've been working on for a while. Uh, but she is here.

She's very hot.

And no comment beyond that.

I'd heard that sometimes what you can do is use words and phrases that sound a

little bit lewd.

Here's how it works. If I'm having a discussion with a woman

and she's feeling

strong emotions, if I then use a word that could be interpreted either way,

her unconscious will interpret it to match the emotion she's feeling.

Yeah.

Do you get it?

No, give me an example.

If I then start talking about moving in a new direction, am I saying

nude erection or new direction?

That really works.

Don't you worry that you're not really relating to the women as human beings-

But I am relating. I'm, I'm touching people-

... uh, because you're just running a script-

I'm not running a script

... like a pattern in your head?

No, I'm touching people on a deeper level. Half of it's memorized.

Half of it is knowing what

states I need to put the person and lead them into,

and I'll make it up on the spot

using what they give me. There's a lot of toned,

hard bodies in here.

Well-

I've never seen her in here before.

You just... Seriously?

She's hot.

Where? Let's see. Where?

She is ripped. Look at her.

Let's see.

See that?

Yeah.

See, I like that. That's what I like in a woman, muscle.

It's, uh, five minutes to 4:00. What's going on exactly?

Is this a good time to, uh-

Not really.

No.

This place will get busy. This place is busy between noon and around

2:00, maybe 12:30.

Here's a supermarket. What about that?

Saturdays between 10:00 and 2:00, 2:30.

Women come on Saturdays to do their shopping. It's packed.

Where are we now, Ross?

This is The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, one of the primo places in the marina to

pick

up women. Right around now it's not bad.

The rush hour was about a quarter, about, started about a quarter to

4:00.

Yeah.

It's now about a quarter to 5. So we're a little bit late, but there's,

you know,

it depends. But I like this place. I like to come in here and

I sit in what I call the catbird seat.

That's the seat where these guys are sitting over here-

Yeah

... because you can make eye contact with

everyone in line.

Yeah. Shouldn't, I mean, I would think you'd have better luck in

discos or bars or

like-

No, I won't go into a disco and bar.

Really?

Too loud. Women are there to reject men

and get free drinks.

I have to shout to be heard. It sucks.

But this is a nice friendly place. People are off their guard, you know.

And, uh,

you know, see, as you sit right in that seat right there-

Yeah

... and I can make eye contact with anyone

coming in, it's great.

I've picked up lots of women here.

What's happening here? What's happening here?

I don't know what's happening here.

He's, he's-

No, I'm fine, thanks

... I don't know what's going on here.

Is he trying to pick you up?

Um, no. I don't know many people. I just moved here yesterday.

Talk to me.

But you're from the Midwest.

Yes, I am. How could you tell?

Uh, you're from Chicago or Wisconsin.

Detroit.

Detroit. But close, huh?

Yeah.

First of all, my name's Ross.

I'm Jen.

Okay.

Nice to meet you.

Hi.

Nikki.

Nikki. Okay. I'm gonna tell you something about

yourself.

You make imagery in your mind

very,

very vividly. You're a very vivid daydreamer.

And in fact, see, you're smiling 'cause you know I'm right.

You can look at someone and they can think you're listening,

and usually you are

listening.

Okay.

But if you're bored, you can be looking right at them,

and even though you're

looking right at this person, you could be a million

miles

away in your favorite ideal fantasy vacation

spot. True?

You're, you're right.

I'm absolutely right.

You're right on.

Yeah.

How'd you know that?

I do a very

rare, very unusual, hardly anyone knows about it, it's a form

of hypnosis-

Wow

... that involves no sleep. None.

Mm-hmm.

I call it blissnosis.

Did Ross just try and pick you up?

I didn't think of it as him picking me up, but we had a great conversation,

and we're gonna have coffee sometime.

Did he, did I understand about you on a much

deeper level than most people?

Yeah, I felt it.

Yeah. And you know what? You know that feeling, right? Better.

Better.

Even better right now.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. The more you focus in, the more intense, the more-

Am I on Planet Lala?

No.

What is going on?

Does that feel good?

Are you, do you want to be on TV or something?

Does it feel good?

A little bit.

Is that what this is about?

On a scale of one to 10, how good does it feel?

10.

Are you, are you an actress?

A 10. Did you hear that?

Are you an actress?

Did you hear that?

No, I'm not.

What do you do?

I work for an airline.

Really?

Yep.

And you, so you're not just trying to be on TV,

right?

No, no. I just moved here.

Because if he was just doing some voodoo

on your arm-

Doesn't matter-

... that was just nonsense

... 'cause she feels good, right? Did it feel good?

Right. I feel great.

Yeah. Good.

See, it doesn't match your experience of what's

possible for you, so you're not

believing it even though it's right in front of your face. But that's typical.

It's okay.

Thank you very much, Jennifer.

Okay.

See you later.

Bye.

Bye.

Was that real?

Yeah, totally real.

Was that real, seriously?

It's totally real, dude. No, me-

You know, she looked like you'd hypnotized her.

I did hypnotize her. We need to work on what representations

you

give yourself when you see a woman.

So you're probably making a sound in your head, like, "Eh," or, "Ah."

I see a woman, I go, "Hmm," or, "Ooh, this is gonna be fun."

I don't know. But I feel like I'm gonna throw up.

You don't. You're lying.

I do. No, I seriously do.

Although I had some misgivings about Ross's techniques, I was impressed with

the results.

The next day I signed up for a one-on-one consultation.

This is an incredible prop, this book, for picking up women.

This is called The Glow in the Dark Night Sky book, and what I found when I show

this to women is it takes them back to when they were little girls looking up at

the stars. And if they like dogs, they'll go, "Oh, I love dogs."

Or one girl I

showed this to loves unicorns.

Right.

This is a great little prop. We'll see if we can work with it.

Well, how, how does that work?

Oh, we'll show you. We'll play with it. This is a good little prop.

We're gonna take this.

So what are we gonna do now?

Well, we're gonna sit with you and do a little bit of reprogramming.

Taking on a mask.

Yeah, exactly.

You're basically saying, "Can I take on a mask-

Yeah

... and, and become someone else?"

Yeah. And just temporarily you and I are gonna step onto a stage where we

create a new role, a new and different person.

Now put it here. Put it here and go-

Hi

... "Hi."

Hi.

"My name's Louis."

My name's Louis.

"And I'm so nervous."

And I'm so nervous.

"I am such a loser."

I'm such a loser. Hi, my name's Louis and I'm confident.

Can I ask you a question?

Can I ask you a question?

What's your-

What's your-

... favorite constellation?

... favorite constellation?

Okay.

Here we go.

Hi.

My name's Louis.

Hi, Louis.

Hi.

Hey.

My name's Louis.

Hi, Louis.

What's-

I wanna talk. Thanks.

Hi, my name's Louis.

Hi, my name's Louis

and I just wanted to ask you a question.

What's your favorite constellation?

I'd rather get back to work.

Okay.

You're not doing the sequence. It's compliment, introduction,

question. CIQ. You've gotta get the sequence right.

Should I hold out my hand?

That's normally what you do, yeah, when you introduce yourself.

I don't know, but I don't wanna violate anyone's

boundaries.

That's not violating anybody.

Hi.

I just wanted to say you have the most amazing energy about you.

Oh, thanks.

My name's Louis.

Jane. Nice to meet you.

How are you doing?

Oh.

What happened?

The light changed, but you were doing great with that la-

Okay, okay

... Hold on, hold on, hold on. That last one, great.

You just didn't get a chance to stop and ask the question.

Yeah.

So you're two-thirds of the way there.

Okay.

Keep going. You're doing much better.

Keep going. Okay. Do you ever look at the stars?

Occasionally, yeah.

Do you? What's your favorite constellation?

Well, I can't say that I know too many.

I mean, I know Orion, 'cause you can see him pretty easily.

Someone else said Orion. I love Draco the Dragon.

This is the coolest book because it, you can look at things at night

and it sort of

glows in the dark. It's for kids, but I'm basically a kid at heart as well.

Right on.

Anyhow, well, can I take your number?

Well, you can give me your number, but-

Okay

... I can't give you mine.

Yeah.

Here we go.

She liked you. Here's what I would've done different.

I teach my students never say, "Can I have your number?" But instead say,

"What steps can we take to make sure we get a chance to talk again?"

I'm proud of you. You did much better. I would call it a day, dude. You did good.

Oh, we gotta keep going.

More confident.

Nice to meet you.

What's your name?

Karen.

Karen.

Yeah.

What can we do to take this further?

Um,

uh,

I, um, I'm always in the promenade.

Really?

Yeah.

Maybe I'll see you there.

Nice touch holding onto her hand and not letting go.

Mm.

You're getting good at this. You're getting really good.

You have the most amazing energy about you.

Hi.

How are you doing?

Good.

I'm Louis.

What are you selling?

No, this is just a book I enjoy. I'm not selling anything.

Oh.

Selling myself.

Hi.

What's your name?

Sydney.

Do you have a favorite constellation so we can take-

Pegasus.

Pegasus? Seriously? That's my favorite too.

Would you enjoy coming out maybe one night and looking at the stars with me?

I'll give you my cellphone number.

It was nice running into you.

Nice running into you.

Yeah. See you later.

Bye.

Da, da, da, da.

No, I don't wanna give a high-five.

But you, but you, but you get it.

Because I feel weird about that.

But you get it. Wait a minute.

I feel weird.

You approached a complete stranger and you di-

No, because you know why? She seemed really nice.

She was nice, and you were nice to her.

I'll give you this, Ross. It's a powerful tool,

but in the wrong hands-

Of course

... that could be, like, a complete disaster.

But it's, but it-

Because you can manipulate people-

Of course

... and you can, just by having the confidence to go up to

them, suddenly,

like...

I don't know. It just seems like it could be really

destructive.

You met someone today. You made her feel great. Who did you hurt?

Nobody.

Yeah, it does make you feel powerful.

Yeah, doesn't it?

I've gotta go to a hypnosis seminar with Marshall Sylver's people.

Mm-hmm. Is Marshall conducting it?

Yeah.

He's great. Tell him I said hello.

Is he?

Yes. Marshall is awesome.

Okay.

Thanks so much, Ross.

My pleasure.

Yeah, see you later.

Have a great time.

I left Ross feeling newly confident, but also oddly troubled.

I wondered if all I'd learnt was how to use people and not feel guilty.

Finally, it was time for my turning point

experience back in Las Vegas.

En route, I stopped by Michael's house for a private

introduction to some of his

self-empowerment secrets.

How are you doing?

Good. How are you?

Good.

Long time, no see. Yeah.

I notice you have a lot of Star Wars memorabilia.

Mm-hmm.

Big fan?

Oh, yes.

Is that related to self-improvement in any way?

Uh, Yoda had said, "Do or do not. There is no try." Try to take Yoda

out of my hand.

Try. Go ahead. Try.

I am trying.

Are you trying? You're not taking it out. Try. It's a cop-out word.

Does that mean you will or you won't?

Now it was time for my dream board.

A dream board is something which is gonna help me visualize my

goals.

Correct. What's my outcome? I want to do this.

I want to look like this. I want to achieve this.

I wanna drive this.

Now, what if I wanted to look like Tom Cruise,

for example?

He's a chiseled-

Sure

... windswept, rugged... He's a nice-looking man.

Correct. He's fit. So what we would do here,

maybe you would cut this picture out

there, and may that inspire you to go to the gym

every day.

Here, look, here's, uh, Jack Kerouac. I'd like to be writing.

Maybe it's something like this.

Yeah, I do like camping.

Things like that can choose.

Will you chop that out?

Yeah.

That's a fizzy. I wanna work on my relationships,

you know, with

friends and loved ones.

What does this look like? A couple having fun. You know,

a relationship.

Earlier when we were upstairs, I said something and you said, "Oh,

no challenge."

Mm-hmm.

And i- in a way that I thought you wanted to say,

"No problem."

I don't wanna say, "No problem."

What, yeah, why... People normally say, "No problem."

Mm.

They don't normally say, "No challenge."

We don't say problem, because nobody likes problems.

We don't wanna deal with problems.

Yet we'll run to and take hand and go full force and, uh,

challenge and make it work. It's what you tell yourself.

It's all personal development.

If you always say, "I'm happy, I'm happy, I'm happy, I'm happy, I'm happy," do you

know what I mean?

Mm-hmm.

Then would you always be happy?

More than if you're not.

Now, let's say I'm under the weather.

Yeah, what if you feel, like, really shitty?

I've, uh, I'm having a rotten day. Everything's just not working right.

Yeah.

Right?

Yeah.

So how you feel?

How, how do you feel?

Uh, challenging, but getting better all the time.

What about if you had just discovered

that you'd got cancer? How are you doing?

Awesome,

because that's where I wanna be.

What about if you'd just been knocked over by a car, right, and you're on

the gurney-

Mm-hmm

... and you're bleeding profusely and you've probably lost several limbs?

Uh-huh.

How are you doing?

Awesome. I'm alive. I'm breathing. I'm alive.

I'm doing awesome. Reality is what you make it.

What do you choose to be?

Awesome.

Guaranteed, whenever you've personally totally

committed and saying, "This is what

I want to do," it just got done, didn't it?

What if you change your mind?

You change your commitment, don't you?

My problem is I change my commitments all the time.

Well, do you want a problem in life or you want a challenge?

That's my challenge.

What do you want to be, then?

I'm the wolf that's outside the pen. That's life.

See, the sheep are l- all penned up.

And when one sheep goes left, they all go left. Well, that's the masses.

Now the wolves have all the freedom. They got the entire woods.

They got the entire everything out there.

They come in and play when they want and leave when they want.

They have all the freedom.

But the wolves eat the sheep, don't they?

They come and choose when they want to.

Yeah, they come and actually

kill and eat the sheep.

The, uh, Millionaire Mentorship program, you did that for, for the, for the full 10

weeks or whatever?

Correct.

And are you a millionaire yet?

I'll be a millionaire in, within two to three years.

You've gotta believe that, haven't you?

No, I, uh, well, yeah, first you have to believe it.

If you believe it, you'll achieve it.

Since 1995 when the program was, was started,

as far as you know, has there been a single millionaire

created?

You'd have to ask Marshall.

Yeah.

To your knowledge-

I mean, he's created some. He wouldn't have said it unless he has.

You might wanna give him center lane.

Have you, have you met, have you met any?

I mean

...

He hangs with a very wide, broad bunch of very

influential, powerful people. Maybe I have met 'em, you know,

through his

development of his program.

Yeah, no worry.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

No, seriously.

Yeah.

That's just the way it is.

No, it's just a no challenge.

Uh-huh. It's just that I don't-

No, no challenge, seriously

... get in front of everybody that he knows.

Yeah.

I was just curious if you'd met one.

I'm here to see, uh, well, Marshall Sylver and the Turning Point

event.

I don't know if that's what it's called. Mental Focus.

Okay. Are you registered yet?

I don't know.

You, you were with him on Tuesday, right?

Yeah.

At the cafe?

Yeah.

See if we might have you here. That's no challenge.

Will you?

Sure.

That's no... Did you say, "That's no challenge"?

Right.

Not a challenge.

How many of you are willing to do exactly what you're directed to do, even if you

don't get it? Your arms are sore, you're getting angry,

you didn't go fishing.

You're willing to do exactly what you're directed to do.

Some of you say that. Some of you are lying. I want you to win.

If all you're doing when I clap my hands

is putting your hand in the air and you're

wondering, "What, what's not changing for me?

Why am I not getting what I want?" It's because you're not doing exactly as you've

been directed to do.

Even if you think we're only telling you to do it for our personal gain, how many

of you are willing to trust us and follow through

and do what we tell you to do?

Put your hand up nice and high. There you go.

The day I said, "Oh my gosh, I'm a multimillionaire whose money has not

yet been

deposited in my bank account," the stress went away.

It was no longer, "Am I gonna be a multimillionaire

or now a multibillionaire?"

It's a given.

What has attacked your self-esteem so much?

What is it that brings the tears up inside of your heart?

What is it that makes you emotional right now, almost feeling like you can't be

real in front of people that love you?

I know it's just like right within, right within my grasp to have everything I

want. Won't put enough effort into it to go out

and get it or do it,

and then I feel defeated again, and it's becoming a really vicious cycle.

Wow.

And it's starting to take a toll on me.

You're afraid right now that, that time is running out, aren't you?

Yes, I am.

Thank you. That's the fear.

What would be wrong

with, uh, getting everything that you wanted starting this weekend?

Nothing. That's why I'm here.

Okay. Do you want a wife?

Yes.

And you're afraid.

You're afraid you won't be able to be productive enough to keep her.

You've tied productivity into having a relationship.

No.

You need to produce first. You did it, not me.

What do you want?

Confidence.

Okay.

One of the things I want you to get, Mark, is you are a multimillionaire.

How would a multimillionaire address another multimillionaire?

How would a multimillionaire look at another multimillionaire?

How would a multimillionaire think as he was addressing and being with another

multimillionaire? Would they be equals?

Yes.

Thank you. Okay, a multimillionaire does not look down

when he speaks to a

multimillionaire. A multimillionaire smiles,

holds himself open.

One of the things I'm gonna put to you is that you guard yourself a lot.

Let me see you because if I cannot connect with you,

I cannot give to you.

Okay?

Did you grow up poor?

Um, yeah.

Okay. Are you a focused person?

No.

Thank you. So what do you want? You don't want financial stability.

You wanna live better, don't you?

Yes.

You want more money.

Yes.

Okay. It's okay to want more money.

You work as a host- hotel custodian.

Yes.

Have you thought about doing the Millionaire Mentorship Program?

I think one came up this, earlier this week,

but I couldn't get off work in time.

So if another one comes up, then I-

'Cause that one's $5,000.

Whoa.

Really?

Yeah, it's 10 weeks, though.

You always have an opportunity to choose love.

You always have the opportunity to make that connection.

Yes.

You want your massage business to take off?

Yeah.

Yes, I do.

It's not a financial challenge. It's a challenge of the heart.

Let yourself love now.

Okay. Thank you.

Mm-hmm.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

Thank you for allowing me to be a part of it.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

You're into hugs.

Yes, I am. Very much so.

Okay.

Very much so.

Mm.

Thank you.

I'm glad we could connect.

Appreciate it.

You bet.

Oh.

Excuse me. Rocky.

Yes.

You just worked a little magic there.

Miracles can happen at any time.

Thank you guys for sharing.

Definitely.

I really appreciate it. What did you just do?

It was just a matter of taking a look at-

What they thought the fear and the pain was and

letting them see where it really was within them so that she could create a

new change and a new pathway in her life

I feel a little bit like, ah, there's peer pressure on me to put my hand

up

Mm-hmm.

It's part of hypnosis

He's kind of hypnotizing us

Oh yeah

That may be a little uncomfortable

What if it were true that Marshall lived in a mobile home

and was on

welfare?

What if it were true that he's never even kissed a girl in his

life

Yeah. And he goes off the stage and cackles and says, "Those suckers."

Right

Yeah. What about that?

Well, what if that were true and yet because of their perception of

what he is

they changed their life and they became millionaires

and they had successful

relationships.

Is that a good person or a bad person?

To me the results are miraculous just because of the

perception

So you're saying even a charlatan can create real

results

Oh definitely

And that's the important thing

As long as that degree of faith is in there.

I mean-

Of the people

Oh sure. There are charlatans as you say and yet

if it's a charlatan that creates a miracle the key is

that the miracle

was created

I never knew my father

Uh-huh

Um,

sorry. She's, she's just been awful

t- to me my whole

life

Mother I have something to release

Okay Lewis

Thank you for being there when everything,

all the secrets came out

I was hurt that when the time we were growing up you could not

spend the time that fathers generally do with their, with their children

I don't like my brother very much

Father there's something I'd like to release

Father there's something I'd like to release

I listen

You came down on me pretty hard when, um, when you, when you found out I'd been

smoking joints and I think, I think you overreacted

Thank you

Deep sleep. Body relaxes

I was surprised by the power of the emotions felt by the people around me.

I found myself being drawn into the rituals, taken in

almost against my will

For instance if I was to grab your hand here Lewis

and look at me and just let that

smile, yeah you know what's gonna happen now

Yeah

Yeah. It's called sleep. Body relaxes and you just let yourself drift right on

down into this person right here. As this arm drops right here you just let

go

and the feeling, the wave and the pleasure just goes all the way

down from the head

all the way down to the toes. The moment the arm drops into the

body of the next person over you find your whole mind drifts

down backwards, backwards, backwards in time into a pleasurable

pleasurable

experience around six years old. Now I want you to describe

what that kid is doing there. The sound of your voice takes you deeper

into trance

Um, I'm running around in, in a park

with my parents.

Mm-hmm.

And we're playing hide and seek.

As you relax now, I want you to feel and experience all the pleasure of

that young

six-year-old kid right there at that time.

As you go through today, you'll continue to have the feeling

and the pleasure

of the childlike kid that you are now feeling right now.

That stays in your system and becomes a part of you

that stays with you to make

your day playful and fun throughout the rest of the day.

You'll awaken on the count of three feeling fantastic in every way, feeling a

playfulness and a feeling of energy all through your mind, body, and spirit.

One, two, three, wide awake.

Pretty cool, huh?

Yeah.

Yeah.

That was great.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Awesome. Good. Give him a hand. Excellent.

I wasn't sure what had happened, whether I'd been hypnotized or just too

embarrassed not to play along.

Defenses down, I had to face the hard sell of Marshall

Sylver's

Millionaire Mentorship Program.

I don't want you to just be a millionaire, I want you to be a happy millionaire.

How many of you realize, though, that in order to do all that,

you're gonna have to

trust somebody? And how many of you realize you can trust

me?

Put your hand up. Nice and high. Nice and high.

I've done my job, and you can trust me. If I were you, I'd stand up. Absolutely.

Move to the back. They'll help you get enrolled.

They'll help you fill out the forms. They will take care of you.

Tomorrow we will not offer this.

I could see, like, the c- it was very moving,

some of the reaction in the crowd.

But what I wondered was how, how much of that actually sticks with

people?

You know, the Millionaire Mentorship Program,

what it is is we talk to people

daily. The more they live in it, the more they expand,

the more they start using it

daily and getting results-

Yeah

... the more it sticks.

And how many millionaires have you actually created?

Well, I've got 10 people that I've created right now.

Yeah.

We've got a- I've got a plan to create 100,

if you've read any of my literature.

Yeah.

100 over the course of the next four or five years.

I w-

I think we're gonna be way ahead of that, actually.

I don't, you know, I've, I've probably got, like, a,

an unhealthy sort of skeptical

mind, but I w-

That's true

... it would help me to sort of see if you involve those people.

You know, like, do you, have you thought about bringing them on

stage or getting

testimonials from them?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, we have.

And so why don't you do it?

Because the skeptics won't do the program anyway.

Really?

Yeah. What you can do, Louis, is let go of the skepticism.

It doesn't serve you.

You're not being helped by it.

Does the Millionaire Mentorship Program really work? Really?

No.

No.

Not for you.

No?

Would never work for you. 'Cause you have to have the faith of a

mustard

seed, and you have none.

So are you saying I could never be a millionaire?

Not in your present state.

Really?

No. I can teach you skills. You still have to get over your

skepticism,

which is something you learned, by the way.

Yeah.

It's not something that you were born with.

You learned to be a skeptic.

Your parents were probably skeptics.

So as much as it seems like your skepticism is healthy-

Yeah

... my belief in something is also as scary as your skepticism

is scary to

you.

He hasn't created a single millionaire. You know that.

Yes, he has.

He hasn't.

Yes, he has.

He hasn't.

Yes, he has.

Why won't he bring them out? No, seriously.

Seriously, he is.

You can level with me, Michael. He hasn't.

I am level with you. Don't be such a skeptic.

Well-

Does it serve you to be negative?

I don't know if it serves me, but if you're saying do I, would I rather have

the truth or a lie that gives me hope, then I'd rather have the truth.

How do you feel after that? Pretty good?

Awesome. You wanna be better as a person.

Oh, please.

How much are you gonna work?

Will you just relate to me as a human being?

I am relating. I am relating to you. This is the way I am.

Really? What am I now, a sheep or a wolf?

You tell me.

A sheep.

You're a sheep. Do you wanna be a wolf?

Not much.

Not really?

That's your choice.

But you do have the ability to become a wolf if you choose.

I'm too tired to be a wolf.

Then you are.

What you say is true.

Good luck to you, brother.

Hey, thank you.

See you on.

How soon will you be a millionaire?

Two to three years.

Two to three years.

Two to three years.

Multi-millionaire?

Maybe a year after that.

A year after that, maybe? You're already building in doubt.

No, I'm not.

Be awesome.

Take care. Be careful.

Your mind knows how to heal.

Your mind knows how you felt before

the arthritis set in.

Is, uh, Maxwell in a trance?

He basically is, yes. Uh-huh. It's amazing the power of the

mind.

Go calm and easy.

Calm and easy. You're a wonderful dog, aren't you?

Hmm. You have the ability within you.

Your mind knows how to heal. You have the power within you

to make wonderful changes in your life.