People howl at the moon. They play air clarinet. They flee nonexistent rats. And they’re freaked out by imaginary jiggly toys.
No one gets hurt during the hourlong hypnotist act by Mark Yuzuik at 5 and 7 nightly at the San Diego County Fair. It’s just entertainment — all for laughs on a summer night.
But beneath the mysterious process and unpredictable behaviors is a much deeper message aimed at helping people with behaviors they truly want to shed.
“This shocks people like ‘How did that happen? What went on there?’” Yuzuik said after a recent Friday performance.
“The illusion is that it’s about me. I am merely presenting an entertaining show. I use hypnosis for comedy, comedians use jokes, some people use props. … It’s mystifying. And the mystery is why they are driven here.”
“He’s a huge part of the fair,” said fair spokeswoman Linda Zweig, who called Yuzuik (which rhymes with “music”) a fan favorite and institution. “Families love to go see him.”
No matter the gender or age, everyone is susceptible to some form of hypnosis, he said.
While people gasp and laugh at the uninhibited acts on the San Diego Showcase Stage, Yuzuik’s real focus is showing audience members that their behavior can change just as suddenly to improve their lives.
Ashley Ruppert and Catherine Villa were two subjects in a recent show.
“You just sort of zone out,” Ruppert said. “You are very relaxed.” She likened it to hearing the teacher in the background while you daydream in class and then suddenly focus back when called on.
Villa recalled, “I couldn’t hear anything but him. I wasn’t aware to become embarrassed” about her singing and dancing on stage. “I asked myself, ‘Why did I just do that?’ and then thought ‘Why not?’
“I felt like I was in control of my actions. If I was told to do something uncomfortable, I wouldn’t have done it.”
Still the young adults were puzzled and mystified.
“I know that I had a conversation,” Villa said, “but I just don’t know what I said.”
Yuzuik explains: “I never ask them to do anything that is against their morals or is harmful. I always make sure that I do a family show because it’s for the families. Not that it wouldn’t be funny, but why offend one person when you don’t need to offend anybody?”
He added, “Hypnosis removes fear and inhibitions of judgment, so they don’t feel people are judging them. They have no embarrassment whatsoever. That’s why it works.”
Not everyone makes a good subject. But yes, he can tell if someone is faking it by their pulse, facial muscles and body language.
Born in New Jersey, Yuzuik was certified by the Hypnosis Training Institute as a master hypnotist. He toured with Master Hypnotist Terry Stokes, and learned the skill from him.
Now he travels throughout the country and Canada, Australia and Europe. He performs at venues including county fairs, in schools and on cruise ships. He lives in Las Vegas where he is a real estate investor.
Following his current Del Mar stint, he goes on to fairs in Orange County, Oregon, Spokane, Yakima and coastal Carolina.
His wife, model Yolanda Martinez, assists him in the show, watching out for the safety of each subject.
He says he has performed for 24 years — 23 at the Del Mar fair — and has given about 10,000 shows.
Yet Yuzuik said, “So I don’t remember all of the shows I have done, but I do remember all of the times I have helped people and helped change people’s lives.”
But his passion is giving seminars and selling CDs to help people in areas such as weight loss and smoking cessation. He helps people eliminate sweets and snacks, reduce stress, overcome pain and gain confidence.
“I turned 50 last year,” Yuzuik said, “and I decided that in the second part of my life I am really going to dedicate myself to helping out and giving back, to take the talent and the gift that I was given and start doing what my purpose is for and that is to help people out.”
Yuzuik defines hypnosis as “nothing more [than] an influence and persuasion. Somebody says something to you. You see, hear, feel or experience something; you believe it to be true and you act upon it.”
Then he explained what he calls the two types of hypnosis: “On stage, I’m putting them under. I’m giving a direct suggestion to the subconscious so you don’t analyze, so they automatically respond.
“The whole time they are responding, they are thinking: ‘I’m not going to do that — and they do it anyway. And they do it and are wondering ‘Why am I doing that?’ ‘I don’t why I did that,’ and they are talking to themselves consciously and they are just reacting automatically.”
Yuzuik continued with the second form:
What if we can get somebody to understand that and teach them how to give themselves a suggestion so that they automatically respond and get the results that they want, to teach them to help others, so they can live a life that they want instead of a life that is out of default and reaction? They can start to create the life that they want.
Beyond the stage lights, he gives himself the title of hypnotherapist, and believes that people’s self-defeating thoughts and fears keep them from making changes they want in their lives.
People do things because they are getting their needs met, he explains. Even if the need is not good for them and not healthy, they will still do it.
They will jeopardize their values, morals and standards to get certain needs met, he said.
“We do things based on our past experience. It’s the meanings we give them that designs our behaviors,” Yuzuik said.
“Behavior comes from the feelings, based on the thoughts and the meaning that you give the thoughts.”
It’s not hard to hypnotize people, he says. “It’s hard to wake them up from the patterns and the behaviors that they don’t want to do.”
Suppose someone wants to stop smoking and contemplates how to reach that goal, he said. People start thinking about withdrawal symptoms, not being able to hang out with smoker friends and the stress release they get from smoking.
Someone won’t change their behavior if they anticipate pain.
“People are motivated (to change) every day,” the hypnotist said. “Why do they not follow through? What clicks in the brain to help stop the motivation?
“Then the motivation turns to frustration. How do you make that small change? It’s to recognize the pattern of what drives behavior.”
A stumbling block is people are convinced that it’s not easy to make change, he said.
So he said his technique is to find out the story that people are telling themselves and helps them release the fears and change the way you feel about it to get different results.
At the end of his stage performance, he gives the subjects the final hypnotic suggestions: Grow in confidence, never get into a vehicle if you have alcohol in your bloodstream, and don’t text and drive.
How long do his hypnotic suggestions last?
“It depends on the individual and how much they want to make a change. How are they going to receive it? It’s not about me giving the suggestion; it’s how they are going to receive it. And where are they at in life to make a change.”
As for the nightly shows, the subjects are unpredictable because he doesn’t know their personalities ahead of time, and “so many crazy things have happened,” he said.
Does he enjoy his gig?
“I get paid. I get to travel with my wife, and I get to go all over the world. That’s a smoking deal.”
