Ron Diamond said a hypnotist doesn’t actually hypnotize anyone.
And he would know.
He’s been a hypnotist for 38 years. And for nearly 20 of those years, he’s “hypnotized” hundreds of Iowans at the Iowa State Fair.
Now, the spell of show business is finally starting to wear off for Diamond, and he said he’s going to stop coming to state fairs — including the Iowa State Fair — in 2028.
“I would be retiring when I’m not doing this fair because there’s not one that is going to replace this one,” Diamond said in an interview while sitting on the couch of the dressing room trailer behind the Anne and Bill Riley Stage, away from the heat of the day.
It was a moment of peace in Diamond’s busy schedule, with around 450 performances a year.
Now 69, he first came to the Iowa State Fair 18 years ago, hired after performing at the Kansas State Fair, and has stuck around ever since.
His entry into hypnosis came after he worked at Walt Disney World when it first opened in 1971. Following a head injury, he went to school for clinical psychology and became certified in medical hypnosis.
But he just couldn’t leave the entertainment industry.
“I didn’t want to sit in the medical field just dealing with one-on-one,” he said. “I wanted to use it for entertainment. And that’s what I turned it into.”
And it’s stayed that way for almost four decades.
Now, he plans to do some one-off shows, but is giving up the big, annual events.
“It wears you out, all the constant walking and setting up,” Diamond said. “It’s strenuous to perform because you’re not just dealing with remembering stuff and running your show; you’re dealing with how to work with the people on stage and the audience.”
People don’t understand what hypnosis is, Diamond says
Hypnosis is a state of mind, and a hypnotist just unlocks it, Diamond said.
Even the average person can get into the state of mind known as hypnosis, sometimes by accident.
“There’s a lot of mythology,” Diamond said. “I break down the myths. Everyone’s done hypnosis. A hypnotist is just trained to help people get into a state of mind.”
But what he does on stage, he said, isn’t really hypnosis.
“Hypnosis is how I make them feel while they’re on stage, doing stuff on stage,” he said. “It’s already inside them. The state of relaxation I put them into lets them focus on the adrenaline and the endorphin release it gives them.”
To have a successful show, he said, he needs a minimum of 14 volunteer participants. He said that by the end of a show, he usually loses around half.
Diamond said there are three types of people. One type of person wants to be hypnotized so badly that hypnosis can’t happen. Another type of person tries it out to prove hypnosis can’t be done. The others are extroverts and are the best candidates for hypnosis because they aren’t shy in front of a crowd.
As for Diamond, he said he would much rather “be in the show than doing the show. It’s so much fun.”
Kyle Werner is the breaking news and public safety reporter for the Register. Reach him at kwerner@registermedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Hypnotist Ron Diamond prepares to end longtime Iowa State Fair run
Reporting by Kyle Werner, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Kyle Werner, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
