Barnyard animals? No....but still pretty funny!

I was sitting in a meeting in Atlanta. The speakers were great but I was preoccupied with an upcoming trip my family was taking in three weeks.

I was supposed to fly in a small twin-engine airplane over the Grand Canyon. The idea was to fly to the Grand Canyon land then take a helicoptor down into the canyon and ride the rapids. Then of course we would fly out in the helicoptor and back to Vegas in the small plane.

Did I mention that I do not like to fly?

I am slightly claustrophobic and afraid of heights. Flying in a small plane gives me the best of both worlds! I can handle short commercial flights but the idea of getting on a tiny twin-prop airplane made my stomach cramp.  Due to my fear, I had scheduled the Grand Canyon excursion and cancelled it twice.

So here I was three weeks before this escapade attending a meeting in Atlanta. One of the speakers was a hypnotist. He entertained the audience by getting people to act like barn yard animals and famous people while 'hypnotized'. It was funny but I was skeptical. I guess he saw my face or maybe read my mind; either way he asked if I believed anyone could be hypnotized. I answered no. I did believe you could plant ideas in someone's head but to take control of them?

No.

He was kind of spooky. He asked if I had something weighing on my mind. (like who doesn't).
I answered yes. He asked if this problem had anything to do with a phobia. Now that caught my attention. I answered yes. He asked if he could hypnotize me to help me deal with the fear. The fact that I was at that moment considering cancelling the Grand Canyon trip for the third time I figured 'what the heck-maybe it will help'.

He said I did not have to come up on stage. He did not even need to know the fear. As a matter of fact he was going to hypnotize the whole audience at once. If anyone had a fear they wanted to conquer they were invited to participate.

The lights went dim. Someone turned on that spooky 'monk satanic' sounding music. . The speaker asked us to close our eyes and get comfortable in our chairs. He started the relaxation meditation speech that I am sure you have heard before. 'Relax your toes, move up your legs and relax your knees.....yada, yada, yada).

After we were marshmellows in our chair he told us he wanted complete silence for five minutes.

Five minutes is a long time. At first people were sniffling and coughing but after a minute everyone became eerily quiet. During that time I thought about how stupid this whole thing was.

However I was enjoying the power nap.

Very softly he asked us to think of that one thing that scares us most. He described how that fear affects our body. Increased pulse rate, sweaty palms, heart slamming and perhaps a little nausea.

I started thinking about the way I feel when I am stuck in that tiny seat on the airplane. The door is closing and there is no escape. The air is funny and I can't catch a good breath. Then the plane takes off and there is nothing under my feet. I look down at the earth and realize that I am thousands of feet in the air and I cannot open the door and walk out. There is no escape. It is tight and hot in here! I don't like the swaying motion! I am not on steady ground!!! My pulse is racing, hands are sweaty and stomach is turning!!

The hypnotist is getting louder and louder. He is yelling. I am a little freaked out about all this now. Then someone started giggling. The hynotist is no longer yelling. The music has stopped and there is giggling. A little at first then more. Then the giggling turns into laughter.

I realize the laughter is some form of cd or tape. The laughter becomes louder and more out of control. Some people around me start to snicker. The more I listen to the laughter the better I feel and start to giggle myself. After about 3 mintutes everyone in the room is laughing uncontrollably. Tears are streaming down my face and the woman next to me has collapsed against me.

Suddenly the lights come on and the canned laughter stops. We struggle to gain control of ourselves - looking around at each other and wiping our tears. As we settle down the hypnotist asks how I feel. I respond through chuckles that I feel ok but I was not hypnotized. I was aware of everything that happened. I never lost control. He smiled at me and asked if I at least had fun. I stated yes ...thank you - it was fun. The meeting was over.

Three weeks later we arrived in Las Vegas. The big day was approaching. Freddy was watching me out of the corner of his eye as the deadline to cancel was approaching. I knew he was waiting for me to back out.

The morning came and we took a bus from the hotel to the airport. We stood in line to get weighed and find out where we would sit on the airplane. We were informed the plane was so small that we had to distribute our weight.

Freddy smiled knowingly at me - I didn't say a word. I knew he was waiting for me to back out.  I felt slightly ill and very tired.

We were asked to take a seat in a small, hot waiting area. A woman announced through a microphone that due to high winds we were not able to take the helicoptor and rafing part of the trip. If we wanted to cancel and get a refund please form a line. This was my chance to back out and safe face...but I didn't really care.

We were led out onto the tarmac. Planes were standing all around with the propellors twilling.
The noice was deafening. Brooke took my hand-not because she was afraid but to comfort me.  We went through an incredible tiny entrance to the plane and crawled into our seats. There were three rows. One seat on each side and an aisle in the middle. The last row had three seats across. Freddy was seated ahead of us and I was between Dalton and Brooke in the last row. The pilot and copilot were in the first row. They were not separated from us at all. We could watch everything they did. They instructed us to put our headphones on and listen to the Safety Message. Freddy kept looking back at me and smirking. I'm sure my eyes were as big as saucers.

The plane took off and up we went. Freddy had a window seat and kept snapping pictures out the window. I wanted a picture of the Hoover Dam from the air but did not plan to look out the window and he had promised to get one for me. About 5 minutes into the flight we hit some pretty bad turbulance. Bad enough that at times we were jerked up out of our seats a couple of inches. Brooke and Dalt were making little wimpering noices and Freddy stopped taking pictures out of the window.

The pilot's voice came over our headphones and stated that the winds over the mountains played havoc with these small planes. Suddently it felt like the plane dropped 30 feet in one second. I felt this little giggle erupting in my stomach and looked over at Freddy. He looked pasty white and his hands were gripping the seat arms. The camera hooked around his neck was bouncing up and down on his chest.

Brooke grabbed my arm and yelled that she didn't like this and I started laughing.

I laughed and laughed. I laughed so hard I could not catch my breath.

Dalton was looking at me as if I had lost my mind. I remember Freddy yelling at me to calm down. I struggled to get composure and told the kids everything would be alright between gasps of air. Brooke said she was going to be sick and Freddy looked back at her. Sweat was pouring down his face and although I felt terrible for them I started cracking up again. At one point I asked Freddy for the camera and started taking picures while leaning over Dalton so I could see out of the window. I think was the only person in the plane who cared when we flew over the Hoover Dam.

Once we landed Dalton and Brooke shakenly got up and crawled out of the plane. I got out of the plane and looked over at Dalton who was talking to a tour guide. At that time Dalton was a shy little guy and rarely initiated conversation with adults so I went over to see what they were talking about. The guide was explaining to Dalton there was no road to get out of here...the plane was the only way out. Dalton looked me straight in the eye and said there was no way he was getting back on that plane. Which of course he did after I doped him, Brooke and Freddy up with Dranamine.

So how do I explain this?
I can't. Was I hypnotized?
I don't know but I do know that I can fly in tiny planes now and even fly alone.
I need a refresher course though - I still have claustrophobia issues.