Globally renowned hypnotist Alan Bates led a hypnosis session with several readers of The Times, mostly smokers and phobia sufferers. Patrick Cooke and Kristina Chetcuti joined the group and gave hypnosis a try.

There was a pin-drop silence in The Times’ studio as some 20 of us sat down, waiting to be hypnotised. Most in the audience had heart-wrenching stories of their battle to quit smoking and of life-crippling phobias. Hypnosis was their last resort.

Soon Alan Bates strode in. The world-renowned hypnotist is slightly built, with spiky salt and pepper hair. In his pin-striped suit he could easily have passed for a high-flying businessman.

Instead, he was there to lull us into “the most amazing deep sleep” and fix our issues.

Bates was very enthusiastic but almost apologetic beforehand as he warned that not everyone could be hypnotised.

The Liverpudlian explained in his sing-song Scouse accent that he was going to take us into a deep state of relaxation, where the subconscious mind could be manipulated. “I’ll be like the keyboard and you the hard drive,” he said, and he would be “logging in” and “putting in” suggestions.

Meditation music started playing softly on the sound system as he told the audience to clasp their hands tightly together and concentrate on his voice.

Some 15 minutes later, half of the audience could unlock hands, showing hypnotic induction had failed. The rest could not – they had been successfully hypnotised and went on to receive further specific hypnotic therapy.

Smoking session

“From this day on, your addiction is over,” Bates told the group of people battling with smoking.

Six months after suffering a heart attack and five years after beating breast cancer, Isabelle Mahoney was wiping away the tears as her hypnotherapy session came to an end.

Having smoked since the age of 13, the 55-year-old knew she was “playing with fire” if she didn’t quit the habit.

She had been hoping he could turn her into a non-smoker – and he had succeeded. After the group session had ended Bates asked her if she had quit smoking, and she was emphatic.

“Yes, I won’t smoke again,” she said through tears, later saying she was emotional because no one had ever made her feel that she was capable of quitting before.

Fear of flying

Bernice Camilleri, 26, and her boyfriend keep postponing their holidays abroad because she is so terrified of getting on a plane.

Afterwards, she described the hypnotherapy session as relaxing: “I was just hearing Alan’s voice and I wasn’t aware of any other thing.”

Contacted two days after the session, she was still upbeat about the experience. “I’m still feeling very positive. When discussing holidays with my boyfriend I don’t have that feeling of dread that I had in the past, but I won’t know for sure until I get on a plane.”

Snake phobia

Melanie Galea always had an acute phobia of snakes – even a picture of a snake gives her palpitations. Three years ago, she fell in love with a reptile breeder and soon she will be sharing a house with her husband-to-be and his pet snakes. She was desperate for hypnosis to work so she could overcome her phobia.

After Mr Bates brought her out of her hypnotic state, she seemed confident she had conquered her fear, saying the thought of holding a snake “doesn’t bother me at all”.

When contacted two days after attending the session, she was triumphant: “It was very successful. That very same day I handled a corn snake. I’m cured.”

Our reporters on the ground

Patrick’s mission:
to quit smoking

Kristina’s mission:
to stop slouching:

Despite their scepticism, they both manage to pass the first test: their hands won’t unlock after a lulling speech by Bates. In their specific sessions, however, neither falls into a deep sleep.

“I was perfectly aware of what was being said and what was happening,” said Patrick.

“I kept thinking of the phone calls I needed to make and what I fancied for lunch,” said Kristina.

No cartoon-style trance either: they both were fully conscious throughout, if a little drowsy.

Since Monday, Kristina has been sitting straight at her desk, almost giving herself a backache.

Patrick has not smoked a cigarette in three days, but tomorrow it is his day off...

How do they feel as they type this? Kristina feels like a back massage and Patrick really wants a cigarette.

• Mr Bates will be holding two Stop Smoking with Alan Bates Seminars on November 18 and 21. He will also give an exclusive live comedy show at the newly refurbished City Theatre, Valletta on Saturday, November 17 at 8pm.

Tickets are available on www.biljetti.com, or find more information at www.facebook.com/AlanBatesinMalta