Table of Contents -...

Table of Contents

7The Four Levels of Attention

You are probably familiar with and associate magic with the term Mis-direction. However, it is not about misdirection: it is about direction.

It is about how the direction and attention of your spectators are dealt with. This is one of the areas that translate across all forms of interaction and communication.

20The Secret Art

of Mentalism

Mentalism is a way to open up our curiosity for how we think and ex-perience the world. It highlights and evidences how we experience our surroundings, and how we make choices in our lives. Men-talism can have a direct impact on the expectations we all hold.

“We do not rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the lev-el of our training” - Archilochus

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MINDSWAYS PRISM - JAN 2018

Hello & Welcome The Neuroscience of Psychological Artistry

Tricks of Mediums

Number Puzzler Make Me Care - Story Corner

04 28

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16 35

16The Way Things

Used To Be

In this, we’ll go through our own per-sonal archives and highlight some fascinating, charmingly derelict and odd pieces of magic, mentalism and performance that gives you an idea of The Way Things Used To Be.

It’s our aim for you to take these ideas and run with them. I know we could all do with a zap of old timey energy, so let’s have a look!

Your Book Test38

Also In This Issue:

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Hello&

WelcomeWelcome to the first ever edition of Mindsways’

Prism!

This is an exciting endeavour! Like all great adventures, it will help us all if we know why we’re doing this. And it all starts with the name: Prism.

A prism is a scientific instrument that Isaac Newton used to convert a single beam of light into a rainbow. This discovery, that light is not a singular entity but is a complex, multi-faceted and interchangeable series of elements, changed how people saw the world forever.

That’s exactly what we’re looking to do with our Prism: Change how you see the world forever.

In this first edition, we’re going to look at The Art of Mentalism, and how applying it to what you do changes everything. In our Feature piece, you’ll find out about The Four Levels of Direction. Then, in The Way Things Used To Be, you’ll get your hands on some Tricks of the Mediums and a wonderful Coding system. On top of this, you’ll get a amazing Book Test, some ideas from the Neuroscience of Psychological Artistry and, in our Story Corner, Three Steps to Make Me Care.

So here’s to a brand new adventure, and changing how people see the world forever!

Alexander Rowley

Editor, Director of Mindsways Ltd.

Our aim with Prism is deceptively simple: Change the way people see the world forever!

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THE FOUR LEVELS OF DIRECTION

We are always paying attention to something.

The question then becomes: “What shall I pay attention to now?” If you can gain and hold attention, you can educate.

Since a large part of what I consider here is theory, it seems right to first examine what role theory has in your practices. For me this brings up the quote that “Knowing is good, willing is great, but doing is vital.”

So, the theory is good to have, but goes nowhere unless we do something to use it.

In neuroscience terms: “use it or lose it”. We must take any theory and use it to develop our own skills and talents.

Think of your talent as an uncut diamond. To show its true brilliance, it needs to be worked with and polished.

The best way we have of polishing our raw talents is through smart deliberate practice. We build, enhance and develop our skills.

This of course also means building, enhancing and developing our mental states.

This can be summarized into three steps: Learn, Apply, Achieve.

Attention and DirectionYou are probably familiar with and associate magic with the term Misdirection. It is not about misdirection, however, it is about direction. It is about how the direction and attention of your spectators are dealt with.

This is one of the areas that translate across all forms of interaction and communication.

The knowledge and theories developed in the magic arena, built to help magicians and mentalists capture and hold attention, can benefit us in many different areas.

We are always paying attention to something. The question then becomes: “What shall I pay attention to now?” If you can gain and hold attention, you can educate.

"Think of your talent as an uncut diamond. To show its true brilliance, it needs to be worked with and polished."

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Think clearly from the outset about what your audience is paying attention to.

You are probably familiar with and associate magic with the term Misdirection. However, it is not

about misdirection: it is about direction. It is about how the direction and attention of your spectators are dealt with. This is one of the areas that translate across all forms of interaction and communication. The knowledge and theories developed in the magic arena, built to help magicians and mentalists capture and hold attention, can benefit us in many different areas.

In looking at building our delivery (it doesn’t matter whether its through communications directly, presentations or the written word), it is thought best to weave in from the outset the ideas behind attention. The whole area of Neurodesign focuses on what we produce and how it directs and sustains our attention.

There was once an excellent magician called Slydini. He used the metaphor that his magic pieces were like a piece of

cloth. For him, creating his presentation was like weaving together threads of communication from the very beginning.

This is very different from producing your cloth, then realizing it must be patched up and mended with additional material.

So, thinking about attention and where you are directing attention is much more effective at the design stage than as an afterthought.

The four areas of Attention we’ll look at are: Constant Direction, Relaxed Attention, Concentrating Direction, Mental Concentration

"Thinking about attention and where you are directing attention is much more effective at the design stage than as an afterthought."

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Translating these areas into your work adds a useful layer to your

delivery. By examining these, you will uncover strategies that, just like the magicians, adds to your performance.

The four areas listed above are not separate. Although we will look at them one by one, to truly understand and make the most out of them, you must understand how they work together. The best way to do this is by applying them practically in the real world.

This is the one that we are all probably most familiar with. In films, theatre, presenting and any form of interaction, we are looking to get the story or message across in the most direct manner.

However, to enjoy a film or theatre play, we

as the audience don’t have to be familiar with the techniques being used to direct our attention or to aid our understanding. The production team (directors, producers, writers, actors, stage hands, set designers etc.) or presenters, though, must know how to do this. They must be able to get their points across effectively as well as keep the audience’s attention.

This balancing act is what we call Constant Direction.

It is our job, as presenters or performers to unfold our message, highlighting important details along the way and keep our intended meaning throughout the time we’re on stage. The danger is that if attention is allowed to drift, or our direction is becoming too complicated, it takes people away from the core message.

Constant Direction

Learn, Apply, Achieve: A model for success in business Create a sense of Constant Direction

We can end up with confusion and inattention.

Constant Direction means we need to look at how we are controlling attention and how, just like magicians, we keep the focus where we want it and communicate only what’s important and relevant at the time. We talk much more of the technical details of how this is done when we talk about MMI’s and the Enthusiasm Quotient.

Relaxed Attention

There will be times when you need people to relax, reflect or just breathe after the more

intense moments of focus. At this point, people’s attention can drift and broaden away from direct focus on you.

This broadening of attention is vital if we want to hold attention for quite long periods. Our cognitive load has limits.

Think of how our attention works as a babbling countryside stream. Sometimes it meanders gently towards its destination, sometimes it rushes heavily downhill all at once. Too much water and it will overflow its banks, causing flooding and chaos. Too little and it will become dry, dusty and stagnant.

Relaxing attention can help us by allowing some of the processing to take place and limit the dangers of becoming overwhelmed.

Whilst we have more control over the other three aspects of attention, we have the least direct control here. What we do have, however, is the ability to construct points of relaxation. We can ask people to think of the ideas, how they apply your message to their lives, as well as adding in humour to release tension.

Relaxed attention can be enhanced by heightening and intensifying moments of tension and focus. The release after these moments is likely to be much greater.

Confusion is the enemy of attention.

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Like a pendulum swinging in motion, the greater our attention and focus is on one element, the greater the release will be.

Another way to achieve this is by producing a surprise. The greater the surprise, the greater the likelihood of a period of relaxation. That's why magic is so powerful.

Of course, like everything else discussed here, these activities can work together quite naturally but can also work individually.

Creating a moment of surprise, mixed in with a good joke, can lead to a significant length of Relaxed Attention, relieving a huge amount from the cognitive load.

A balance is required in regaining attention.

Like all these aspects, they can act as a double-sided sword. Too much relaxation and we are in danger of losing control, proving too much to get people back on track.

This is where subtlety and design come into play, keeping the relaxation moments brief and well timed, as well as considering the intensity of the moments.

If you do find yourself in a situation where the attention has become so relaxed the focus has gone, you must think of a strategy to bring it back. This is where the original design process must have possible attention recovery threads woven in. Whenever possible, we should have a chance to return attention to the situation just after the relaxation occurred.

Create moments of Wonder and Surprise

"The greater the surprise, the greater the liklihood of a period of relaxation. That's why magic is so powerful."

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This is doing the opposite of relaxing attention. Whilst relaxed, attention is relatively out of our

control. In this Concentrating Direction, it is under our complete guidance. When focusing very narrowly on one point, all attention is drawn to that point.

The point you are concentrating on here must have enough interest and be related directly to your relevant idea. If you have made a leap of logic without taking your audience through these steps (something that happens a lot in presentations, when the presenters incorrectly assume their points are obvious, or in movies when plot holes develop along the way), then your moments of Concentrated Direction will be meaningless and ineffective. If these moments are irrelevant to your message our your audience, they will be just as likely to be ignored or forgotten after you’ve finished.

Beware here that because of our cognitive abilities, this point of concentration must be long enough to hold attention to get your point across, but cannot be held for too long. If we hold a high-tension point of focus for too long, we will fatigue the observers and they will either drop into relaxation mode or will lose focus altogether.

Similar to the relaxation mode, subtle and short and well-timed out is the best policy.

No matter what we say or do, we will be mentally creating pictures, stories and

actions internally in people’s heads.

These are influenced by every everything we say, everything we do, how we look and behave. This is also about the thoughts we suggest, the questions we ask, the images we conjure up and the ideas we raise. We must be aware of this fact and take into account how it affects our audience.

Mental Concentration starts and ends with the Internal processes of your audience.

What questions are you asking that help them interpret your material? Are you leaving enough space to process your message? Can they see clear examples of how your message relates to real life? Do they have actions or exercises to take away from your presentation that will help them develop these examples, or reinforce your message, or help them develop their own skills?

These are some of the areas you can look at that will help you refine and enhance your periods of Mental Concentration.

Concentrating Direction

Mental Concentration

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"What questions are you asking that help them interpret your

material? Can they see clear examples

of how your message relates to

real life?"

creates the wave that informs the Constant Direction.

From this emerges your communication or performance rhythm. The control of this wave, consisting of Concentration (both Mental and Physical), Relaxation and MMI’s, dictates the level of interest people invest in you. Because they are interested in you, they follow you and every pulse of the wave you create for them. When they are in this state, your message will definitely get through.

Once you establish this wave, people will acclimatize to it. Be careful not to cause too much disruption to it. Imagine your favourite standup comedian; they all have their wave and rhythm. Just think what it would be like if they suddenly changed it half way through their set.

Always be looking for ways to incrementally improve. Remember you can hear falling trees, but growth is silent, creeping second by second.

Take action by learning, applying and achieving through these ideas.

As we said, although these aspects can all be viewed separately, they all interact. Because of the nature of how

we mentally process ideas, the amount of concentrated and mental direction is a limited commodity. After every wave of concentration comes a lull of relaxation and reflection.

This is why we talk about multiple moments of Interest, Interaction and Insight (MMI’s and our Enthusiasm Quotient). This combination

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Your Communication Rhythm

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“Entertain their minds with variety and

delight” - Francis Bacon

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THE WAY THINGS USED TO BE

Welcome to this semi-regular segment of The Way Things Used To Be. In this, we’ll go through our own personal archives and highlight some fascinating, charmingly derelict and odd pieces

of magic, mentalism and performance that gives you an idea of The Way Things Used To Be.

It’s our aim for you to take these ideas and run with them. I know we could all do with a zap of old timey energy, so let’s have a look!

Number Puzzler

First is a piece from the Demon Telegraph Machine, in and of itself a wonderful name for a publication. No. 145, published in 1951, Douglas Francis writes

about some tricky number puzzles that still stand up today.

Tricks of the Mediums

Here, from Dunninger’s Complete Encyclopaedia of Magic, are some tricks that were veritably ancient, even by the time the book was first published in 1967. First up, there are some sly deceptions

from those trying to contact the dead in seances. What may seem a bit hooky nowadays caused great waves of belief in the late 1800’s.

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What Happens In The Dark...

Second, we have an expose on how pinching was felt, demonic whispering heard,

and the spirit lights seen. All very mischievous and all very uncanny.

Perhaps some of these tricks are still being used today? Surely mediums of today would never be so deceptive...

Playing FootsieLastly, here’s a clever little system used by psychics and mentalists that we’ve seen a variation of put to good use on a certain well-known talent show.

Note how, though incredibly inappropriate today, the performer is dressed as an Egyptian Pharaoh.

This was, for quite a long time, a fashionable trend for magicians claiming powers from the Ancient Orient.

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THE SECRET ART OF MENTALISM

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THE SECRET ART OF MENTALISM

Mentalism is any kind of demonstration that is designed to amaze, baffle or surprise, using any aspect of the mind

and how we think. By its very nature, it provokes our belief systems to be stretched and challenged.

Magic, whether it is mental magic or conjuring, is not about the tricks. It is about how it makes people feel, it is about the drama and the theatrical experience, it is about questioning the nature of the world. It is showing the impossible to be possible. Magic does not fool the eye – magic fools the mind.

When we effectively deliver a mentalism effect, we are offering the experience of inexplicable phenomena. Using mentalism, we explore both fact and fiction that cultivates a deep fascination.

This means we have a route to communicate insightful messages using its ability to impact almost everyone. When a model of reality changes the way you operate, the world also changes.

Mentalism is a way to open up our curiosity for how we think and experience the world. It highlights and evidences how we experience our surroundings, and how we make choices in our lives.

Mentalism can have a direct impact on the expectations we all hold.

Mentalism is the art and science of using your five senses to give the appearance that you have a sixth. It’s about shifting your audience’s perspectives and using entertaining, enlightening and enlivening metaphors to impart lessons, increase learning, develop deep connections, get your

message heard and become more popular.

“We do not rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training” - Archilochus

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Our aim for Psychological Artistry Live! is to give you something unique, memorable and easy-to-learn, but don't take our word for it! Just look at all of the fun people have been having on our Open Workshops!

“Spending the day with George and Alex is one of the best things you can possibly do! The

Psychological A r t i s t r y course that they ran was superb in every way - I had a huge amount of fun and learned a few things along the way too!” – Adele B.

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Being out of control is often the worst feeling we can have. Sometimes it’s just the very threat of losing control that

can make us act completely irrationally and damage our reputation and those around us.

Learning mentalism gives you a better understanding of human psychology and teaches you principles where you can never be wrong. You can become clearer in your goals and your attitude can become more positive, leading others to look up to you and respect you more.

On the Psychological Artistry Day, we look at giving you a model to understand how other’s think, as well as giving you tools and ideas that allow you to guide conversations and make use of powerful metaphors, ensuring that you always feel confident, comfortable and in control.

Control – The Power to Always Be In Charge

WHAT DOES MENTALISM GIVE YOU?

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"Their enthusiasm to help others add a bit of magic into their repertoire is infectious!" - Lorne M.

Always be in charge Always think outside of the box

Creativity is sadly missing in a lot of people’s lives. Without it, we feel pent up and frustrated, as if

someone has taken a part of our soul away. We need to be creative and express our passions, even if it’s just every so often.

Learning mentalism is the perfect excuse for being creative and beginning to introduce elements of fun, innovation and play back into what you do. By being more creative, you have more energy, feel more fulfilled and can solve problems in a more effective and enjoyable way.

On the Psychological Artistry Day, we promote the innate drive you have for creativity. We look at how you can tap in to being your most creative self,

thinking of challenges from a different perspective and channeling what makes you special into your day-to-day life.

We are social creatures, and we desperately need to connect with other human beings. This is

something that’s easier to ignore now more than ever. Even in these days of amazingly fast technology and streaming services, Facetime just doesn’t beat face-to-face time.

Learning mentalism means that you have access to a huge variety of tools that make the most out of being in the same room with someone. Not only this, but you’ll also become more memorable by adding a touch of the mysterious and amazing to your most important meetings.

Creativity – The Power to Always Think Outside the Box

Connection – The Power to Always Communicate Effectively

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Always be able to influence

On the Psychological Artistry Day, we have 7 distinct magic effects and 5 powerful conversation starters that you’ll learn which can lead to strong and meaningful connections in network meetings, pitches, coaching and therapy sessions, on romantic dates or with your friends and more.

To be able to persuade and get your message heard, you must have a clear understanding of who you are (your internal and external brand), what you’re saying (your message) and who you’re saying it to (your audience).

By understanding and controlling these areas, you have greater influence.

Learning mentalism gives you a set of tools to help determine and broadcast who you are (your character, your script, your background), what you’re saying (what you’re demonstrating) and who you’re saying it to (what your audience is seeing, thinking and remembering).

On the Psychological Artistry Day, we break down a lot of the theories and ideas behind why magic and mentalism works. This gives you a rich resource of understanding to pull from and helps you better predict how your audience reacts, in turn giving you greater levels of persuasion and influence.

Persuasion – The Power to Always Influence

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Preparation is perhaps the key principle behind all of mentalism. By being

able to prepare for what’s about to happen, to think beforehand and cover all the outcomes, you are immediately a step ahead of where most people are. This is why most magic tricks works, because magicians are always prepared.

Learning mentalism means that you have a tool belt of ways to prepare yourself. It’s not a guarantee that the situation will go the way you want or thought it would, but it is an underlying confidence that whatever happens, you are in control.

On the Psychological Artistry Day, you’ll learn many ways to enact our ABC Principle: Always Be Covered.

The day will give you the mindset that whatever happens, you have an answer or you can find a way to make it work to your advantage. This is the primary benefit of the Magician’s Mindset.

Mentalism relies almost solely on the ability to understand, predict

and positively influence people’s psychology. By doing this, you not only increase the chance of success in business, social and romantic relationships, you also get a greater understanding of how you think, act and behave.

Learning mentalism gives you the keys to unlocking much of human psychology. The mind is a labyrinth of learning, misconceptions, assumptions, prejudices and rules of thumb that we have developed over a lifetime, and mentalism offers a map to any daring adventurer who wishes to brave this path.

On the Psychological Artistry day, you get a small peek into the mysterious ways of our minds. By understanding our mindfoolness, you become aware of many pitfalls in our thinking, and how to avoid them, plus how to work with others to avoid theirs.

To start making use of this information, book your place on the Psychological Artistry Day here: www.mindsways.com/PA/

Preparation – The Power to Always Know What to Do

Psychology – The Power to Always Know What Someone’s Thinking

"Well done George and Alex - I can't imagine anyone attending this course and not having a most enjoyable day. I know I did!" - Tim A

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USE PRISM10 TO GET 10% OFF EVERYTHING!

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THE NEUROSCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ARTISTRY

“It’s biology, not opinion.”

This is a shift in thinking about the causes, interpretations and repercus-sions of our behaviour.

“I t’s biology, not opinion.”

This is a shift in thinking about the causes,

interpretations and repercussions of our behaviour.

Our central premise is that our mind, our body, our environment are utterly intertwined; There is no longer a debate between nature or nurture, it is the complex relationship between the two which defines our behaviour.

Emotions filter the nature and accuracy of our experience. Which is why, when our emotions get distorted through mental health issues, so does the nature of our experience.

This instability means that we become unsure of our place in the world, our identity and the level of control we have over our circumstances. We become agitated and unsettled, leading to greater emotional fluctuations. This uncertainty then feeds back into the instability, creating a series of self-fulfilling prophecies which limit the perceptions we have of ourselves, those closest to us and those who are attempting to help us.

For example, what neurobiology show us is that we learn our fears, send the chemical imbalance into the amygdala and then act on those fears.

When we stop fearing something, it’s not that we forget that it exists or that our memories of it change. Instead, we actively learn that it is no longer a threat to us. Our intervention involves creative ways of making this shift; rewiring and relearning our old ways of thinking through new and effective methods.

By their very nature, our mentalism and magic methodologies are untypical and non-traditional. It is this approach that makes our methods (introducing new perspectives, exploring the power of different perceptions, learning entirely new ways of thinking and doing so in safe, secure and reflective environments) powerful and long-lasting.

We leverage our natural, in-built, biological tendency to learn and enjoy novelty to teach, create new emotional memories, amplify learning points and greatly increase the chance of effective change.

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"Emotions filter the nature and accuracy of our experience. Which is why, when our emotions get distorted through mental health issues, so does the nature of our experience."

The biggest change that the last 10 years of neuroscientific research has brought about is the key principle of

Neuroplasticity.

This means, simply put, we can all change. Our brains can change. Most importantly, our brains can change themselves.

The neuroscience evidence shows us how in adults, our experience can alter the number of synapses, dendritic branches, remap circuitry and even stimulate new neurons (neurogenesis). Overall, these effects can be big enough to actually change the size of brain regions.

Therefore, over the space of months, our experiences can cause long-lasting

changes in the number of receptors, neurotransmitters and hormones, which means that deliberate practice can have direct implications on our health and hormonal fluctuations.

These changes can work for us, or against us.

We can either use them for positive effects (more detailed memory recall, a faster reading speed, greater visualisation skills etc.) or have them negatively affect us (lower energy levels, worse perception of our bodyweight, lower levels of control over our wellbeing and fitness).

The neurobiology goes even further, in stating that:

Our brains can change themselves. Changes in the number of receptors, neurotransmitters and hormones

Neuroplasticity - The World's Ninth Wonder

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“Stimulating environments, harsh parents, good neighbourhoods, uninspiring teachers, optimal diets – all alter genes in the brain. WOW.”

It’s not just the brain regions which we can alter at will. It’s the chemical, electrical and genetic makeup of the brain that can be stimulated, altered and changed.

“Thus, for our purposes, genes aren’t about inevitability. Instead they’re about context-dependant tendencies, propensities, potentials and vulnerabilities. All embedded in the fabric of other factors, biological and otherwise…”

In summary, the convergence of current thinking from psychology, neuroscience and behavioural insights is that our wellbeing is contributed to when we are engaged, engrossed, challenged, stimulated and playing. Magic and mentalism naturally achieves all of these states by providing something new and different to the training environment.

"Genes aren't about

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Psychological Artistry is the act of taking psychology, neuroscience, behavioural

insights and merging it with the art of magic and mentalism. Psychological Artistry takes the building blocks of the neuroscience we’ve just talked about and puts them into practical, understandable and entertaining bundles.

Psychological Artistry is about imparting these amazing ideas behind psychology, neuroscience and behavioral insights to as many people as possible, so that you can use them to show people what you do, what makes you different and demonstrate powerful and entertaining skills.

All of this is brought to you by weaving together overlapping Psychological Artistry principles, such as:

Psychological Artistry is based on the power of perspectives. This is the basis of building a relationship between you and your clients. Understanding why people have different perspectives is the first part of connecting with anyone.

Through understanding these principles, you can learn the power of that mindset has over us and how we think, as well as how others see the world.

Though each of the Psychological Artistry principles are unique, together they act as a network to build towards a greater chance of success. It’s by building these links that you can begin to develop yourself and building you.

It’s not just about teaching you the skills, it’s about unlocking your capabilities, your mindsets and your potential.

Before you can think differently about things, you must do some things differently. That is the key lesson from Neuroscience and Neuroplasticity. You must make a determined effort to put yourself into new environments and experience different things.

Psychological Artistry is the perfect way of doing this, combining old secrets with cutting edge neuroscience, pushing you out of your comfort zone and teaching you brand new ideas that could reshape your genes themselves.

Where does Psychological Artistry come in?

• Psychology

• Influence

• Public speaking

• Behavioural insights

• Charisma

• Performance

• Confidence

• Story Telling

• Thearte

• Magic tricks

• Engagement

• Complexity

• Neuroscience

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MAKE ME CARE - STORY CORNER

I’ve read dozens of books, seen hundreds of films, written thousands of words and presented for hours on stories. Why do stories matter? They

do one thing better than anything else: Make Me Care.

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about your message?

Well, in my experience, there are three stages to making people care.

1) Find something you care wholeheartedly for

2) Create a character or persona whose every cell in their body is about that thing you care for

3) Send them on a journey where that thing is stressed, strained, pulled, beaten and almost entirely broken, but ultimately proves why you care about it

If you do all three of these things, you will have a story people care for.

Here are a few questions to get you started:

For the past 5 years, I’ve surrounded myself with one thing: Story.

I’ve read dozens of books, seen hundreds of films, written thousands of words and presented for hours on stories. Why do stories matter? They do one thing better than anything else:

Make me care. How do stories do this, and more importantly, how can you use stories to help you make others care

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The Secret to Good Stories

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Step One: Find Something You Care For• What is a cause or charity you’ve worked for or donated to?• If you won the lottery and no longer had to work for a living, what would you spend your time doing?• If you could pass on a lesson to your younger self, what would it be?• If you could pass on a lesson to the next generation, what would it be?

• What was a lesson you learned from a parent/grandparent/teacher/mentor that has helped you?• If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?• If you could solve any problem in the world, what would it be?• If you had to write an autobiography, what would you want the person reading it to feel by the end?

Step Two: Create A Character

Step Three: Send Them On A Journey

• What would your friends and/or family say was your strongest trait?• What would your friends and/or family say was your weakest trait?• What was a defining positive moment in your life?• What was a defining negative moment in your life?• In relation to what you care about, does this person have same beliefs, slightly different beliefs or the complete oppo-site beliefs?

• In relation to what you care about, does this person go about doing the same things as you do, slightly different things or completely opposite things?• In relation to what you care about, how did this person realise they cared about it?• In relation to what you care about, does this person know they care about it, or do they have to be taught to care about it?

• Where does this person come from? What is their home like? What are their friends like?• What makes them go on this journey? Why do they need to go? What moment changes everything?• What do they think they want from this journey? What do they really need?• Where do they go? What do they look for? What do they find there?

•How can you push their limits? Make them doubt themselves? Create inter-nal and external conflict? What event, person or circumstance (or all three) al-most breaks the thing they care about?•What do they take away from the jour-ney? What do they achieve? How do they transform? •How does the journey prove why you care and what’s important to you?

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YOUR BOOK TEST

This effect is very powerful and can completely baffle and astound people. I have used this so many times in both informal and training settings.

The Effect

You bring out a book and talk about how rapport and connection can be built very

quickly, even to the point where you can tell what the other person is thinking. You hand the book to your spectator and pick up a pen and pad. Ask the person to flick through the book and say how many pages are in it, then ask them, or someone else if another person is present, to name a random page number.

Ask them to turn to that page and look at the first words and remember them. You turn your back as they’re doing this, to make sure you couldn’t even get a glimpse of what words are on the page. If another is present, ask your spectator to show them those first words and then close the book.

Once the words are remembered and the book is closed, turn around and build rapport with the individual (This will be addressed in The Performance section). Then you write a word or two on your pad. Say that you are now committed, and ask the person to say out loud the word they were thinking of.

You turn the pad around and it matches their thought of word.

The Method

The basic method used here is what is called a Crib.

You may have come across the term before or even used one yourself, but a crib is basically a cheat sheet with the relevant information you need, hidden in a convenient place for you to look at whenever you need it.

For this effect, you prepare a crib of every first word on each page with the page number next to it. This is then printed off and stuck to your pad. Of course, you make sure that your pad it is never seen by anyone beforehand and discarded quickly afterwards. If you perform it right, no one will question the pad, as to them, it’s just an ordinary pad of paper.

When you turn your back, saying that you don’t want to see any words in the book in case they think you’re cheating, all you do is flick to where you’ve got the crib stuck to your pad, find the page number and remember the word or words written next to it.

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They can pick almost any word out of the book and you'll get it. But how is it done? Magic? Psychic powers? Trickery? That's where you decide!

Preperation

TTo prepare the crib, the best way I find is to go through the book and type up in Microsoft Word or other

similar software, the first word of each page as a list. If they happen to be a small phrase, including things like ‘a’ or ‘the’ or ‘I’, I tend to write the phrase as a whole as well.

Then I just number bullet point them, making sure the numbers match up with the page numbers.

Depending on how many pages the book has, I then put these into columns and change the size to match the pad I am going to use. I have found that a reporter’s notebook works very well, as it does not look out of place in most settings.

Subtleties and Process

I also find that this effect works best if the book in question has been on display and is related to either your interest or topic under discussion. It can then be introduced almost casually as something we can demonstrate or experiment with.

Have your pad ready with the cribbed information two or three pages down. After the book is handed out, don’t say anything but just casually flash the empty pages on top. You can do this by relaxing your hand and letting a few pages fall open.

As you ask for the page number, just pick up your pen, turn around and without drawing attention to it, turn the pages so that the crib is now visible to you. There are a few points to note here:

Our brains can change themselves. Changes in the number of receptors, neurotransmitters and hormones

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1) The more relaxed you are whilst doing this, the less people will be paying

attention to what you are doing

2) Most people’s focus will be on the book and your spectator anyway, as that’s the

interesting bit

3) Unless you’ve said otherwise, most people won’t even know you’re going to

try and guess the word. They won’t know what you’re about to do, so they won’t be expecting you to be doing anything funny.

4) For most people, they won’t even suspect you’ll have the words written

down (because who would go to such an effort?)

5) With your back turned to your spectator and/or your audience, as long as you

keep the pad about chest height and few inches away from you, no one will be able to see what you’re doing.

All of this is to say one thing: Don’t run if you’re not being chased. Relax, take your time, no one is watching you at this point, so just do whatever feels best and enjoy the moment.

As the number is called and you turn your back to them, you look down and glance the appropriate word/s, commit these to memory, (even if you get it slightly wrong, say “opened” instead of “opening”, it will still be very impressive), and whilst your back is still turned, just turn over a few pages so you’re back to where you started.

"Don't run if you're not being chased!"

The Performance

You now know the word or words and have a blank sheet on top of the notepad. All that remains now is for you to reveal this using whatever method or script that you prefer. I prefer writing the word down and then getting the individual to reveal it out loud, then you turn your pad around with the word that matches.

Ultimately, like any trick, the magic is in the performance. It’s how you choose to build rapport with your audience member and reveal the word that really makes the difference. There are a few ways I’ve done it in the past, use these as starting points and develop your own approaches:

- By talking about representation and visualization, I’ve asked the person to project the alphabet in their mind and gone through the letters one by one.

- I’ve asked the person (if the word or phrase is emotional or evocative) to pretend to feel that way or experience that thing. From there, I’ve used cold reading techniques to read the type of person they are and associate their word or words with their personality.

- I’ve used pendulum reading in a similar way, with the pendulum swinging back and forth for true/false, orbiting clockwise or anti-clockwise for getting closer to the word or further away, or for a visual representation of muscle reading.

- If the word is an object, or something they could represent as an object, I’ve asked them to draw it and proceeded to draw something similar. It won’t ever be exact, of course, but it’s a different way to present the trick.

- In what is called pre-show, before a training event or show has started, I’ve gone through the same process with someone but asked them, instead of revealing it then, to either write down the word or remember it for later on when it becomes important. I’ve then presented the effect during the show or event as if the spectator’s word was plucked out of thin air by using a term such as “Now, everyone is thinking of a random word, but you, (spectator’s name), have a very important word you’re thinking of, don’t you?” This obviously only works with a larger audience and you’ll have to be discerning with whom you choose to use.

I hope you have as much fun with this effect as I have had over the years!

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Thanks For

Reading!So, that’s it for the very first edition of Prism!

I hope you’ve got some interesting things out of it, had your mind stretched a little and found something at least a little fun, funny or unique.

Thank you so much for reading!

Have a happy holiday, whatever you’re celebrating, and we’ll see you next year!

Kind regards,

George and Alex Rowley

Our aim with Prism is deceptively simple: Change the way people see the world forever!

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