In this episode of Hypnosis and Beyond, we had the extraordinary privilege of sitting down with Mike Mandel — widely regarded as the world’s greatest hypnotist — for a conversation that was equal parts history lesson, personal revelation, and masterclass in human potential.
Watch the full episode on YouTube:
🎧 Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
Who Is Mike Mandel?
With a career spanning over 50 years in stage and clinical hypnosis, Mike Mandel is the co-founder and head trainer of the Mike Mandel Hypnosis Academy (MMHA) — broadcasting from what he and his business partner Chris Thompson famously positioned as “the hypnotic world epicenter” of Toronto, Canada. Together, they’ve trained nearly 9,000 students worldwide, including psychiatrists who’ve flown in from Singapore, Australia, and France specifically to learn from Mike’s unique, practical approach.
It All Started With a Book — and a Boy Named Wayne
Mike’s journey began in the summer of 1965, when at just 12 years old, his father let him choose any book from a Toronto bookstore. He picked The Key to Hypnotism by Walter B. Gibson, memorized it, and promptly went looking for his first subject — the neighbor’s kid, Wayne. What happened next — a spontaneous somnambulistic trance, a hat pin through a finger, and zero concern from Wayne — set the course of Mike’s entire life.
5,000 Shows, Three Continents, and Alanis Morissette
From that first TV appearance in Edmonton in January 1975 to over 5,000 hypnosis shows across colleges, universities, corporations, and bars on three continents, Mike built one of the most remarkable careers in the history of the craft. He retired from the stage after 43 years — but not before hypnotizing Alanis Morissette, and quietly helping a grieving Irish woman on a plane to Boston find peace after losing her husband.
The Mike Mandel Hypnosis Method: What Makes It Different
What makes Mike’s Architecture of Hypnosis five-day training so transformative? As Jennifer — who has attended multiple times — puts it: “You come home and think, my life will never be the same.”
Mike’s approach: obsessive preparation (reading 30–50 hypnosis books per training cycle), intermittent fasting on teaching days for peak mental clarity, and a razor-sharp commitment to helping ordinary people become excellent general practitioners of hypnosis — fast.
Self-Work, the Enneagram, and a Teddy Bear That Healed Everything
Perhaps the most moving part of this conversation is Mike’s unflinching honesty about his own inner work. A bullied child who resolved early to become “smart enough and tough enough that no one could do this to him again,” Mike talks candidly about discovering his Enneagram Type 8 personality, confronting his shadow, and the childhood wound he didn’t even know he was carrying — until his wife Heather gave him a teddy bear for Christmas, and a four-year-old ego state he’d buried for over 30 years finally came home.
“That bear sleeps in my bed with me every single night,” he shares. “That childhood ego state still believes the world is a magical place.”
Beyond Hypnosis: Jiu-Jitsu, Backgammon, and the Enneagram
True to our podcast’s name, we always go beyond — and Mike delivered. From his British Jiu-Jitsu system rooted in wartime Camp X training (yes, the Ian Fleming connection is real), to his obsession with backgammon and his new love of piano, Mike Mandel is as multi-dimensional as he is masterful.
Key Takeaways from This Episode
- * Hypnosis is, at its core, excellent communication — there is no universally agreed legal definition of it
- * The phenomena of hypnosis can create the trance — you don’t always need deep trance first
- * Self-work isn’t optional for hypnotists — the more transparent you are, the more effective you become
- * Everyone responds to suggestion differently; there is no single “correct” hypnotic response
- * The Enneagram is a powerful self-knowledge tool Mike recommends to all his students
Resources Mentioned
- 🎓 Mike Mandel Hypnosis Academy
- 📚 The Wisdom of the Enneagram by Riso & Hudson
- 🎙️ The MMHA Podcast (270+ episodes)
Jennifer attended the Architecture of Hypnosis training and the Master Course at MMHA. Dana and Jennifer co-host Hypnosis and Beyond, available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
