In a modest apartment behind his daughter’s house in downtown Woodbury, M.C. Radford chats with a visitor about his life’s work: his career as a hypnotist has spanned over six decades.

“Heaven is within; people just need to let their consciousness get out of the way,” Radford said. “A genius is someone who lets go of the ego, and lets ‘the big mind’ do the work.”

A few old office chairs, stacks of cassette tapes containing self-help courses and peaceful music, a desk and a woodburning stove accent the minimalist surroundings.

But a simple conversation in a simple setting is sometimes all that is needed to drastically alter the course of someone’s life.

“The first 19 years (of my career) I just used hypnosis to entertain people,” Radford said of his time as the type of performer frequently found at circuses, retreats and county fairs. And while those types of shows can bring laughter and amazement, Radford said he found he wanted more, that he had the desire to help people, physically, mentally and spiritually.

Hypnosis is effective for weight loss, phobias, quitting smoking or alcohol, increasing confidence in one’s business life or love life, and finding inner peace and calmness, Radford said, emphasizing that he does not want to control anyone’s mind. The subject in a hypnosis session does not “lose control” or enter into a trance, they are more self-aware than ever, he said.

“No one will do anything under hypnosis that he would not ordinarily be willing to do,” Radford wrote in his 2006 book Hypnosis, Cybernetics, Metaphysics, Parapsychology and Everything in Between. “Suggestions must be accepted.”

Photos by Scott Walker

He said he wants to be the guide, like a boxing coach, offering suggestions from a perspective outside the ring, and to allow the individual seeking help to discover the answers they seek on their own.

Relaxation and tuning out noise and distraction is crucial in effectively analyzing one’s life situation, he said.

Many carry tension in their foreheads, neck, back and shoulders. “Let go of this tension and free your body and mind up for more creative work,” writes Radford in his book.

He said he believes humanity is on the cusp of a great spiritual awakening.

“People are so bogged down in the physical world, they don’t see the spiritual. There’s so many people just waiting for someone to teach them,” Radford said. “We have advanced tremendously over the last century technologically. These next 100 years we are going to advance spiritually.”

Furthermore, the medical industry doesn’t operate with the goal of making patients healthy and at peace, Radford claims, but rather to bill insurance for as much as possible, and to sell medication.

“A good doctor can’t do what he knows how to do; he has to push that dope,” Radford said.

However, according to the veteran hypnotist, many diseases and ailments will vanish if the individual will put aside negative, disease-filled thoughts, replace them with healthy, happy visualizations and allow the body to heal itself, as it is designed to do.

“A busy mind can’t be depressed; people who are depressed don’t have a goal,” Radford continues. “I’m 85 years old. The only thing that makes life worth living is learning something new each day.”

He recommends work by Napoleon Hill, Hulda Clark and Charles Haanel, and studies the life and teaching of Jesus.

“Jesus was a master hypnotist,” Radford said. “Jesus just taught plain ol’ common sense.”

He understands that many in conservative-Christian Tennessee frown on hypnosis (saying that perception is largely based on misinformation and myth anyway), but Radford likewise frowns on many of the religious leaders in the area, saying many of them are “selling fire insurance” more so than legitimately promoting the teachings of Jesus.

Many in the hypnosis community point out that in many cases when Jesus helped heal a person, he insisted in faith and believing one could be healed before the healing took place. The power of positive thinking. Mark 10:52 does not say that God heals, a miracle heals, Jesus heals or magic heals, but rather “your faith has healed you.”

Hypnosis can go by many names—prayer, meditation, positive thinking, focus—but all have similar meanings and results, said Radford, citing Thomas Edison as an example of a genius who used the power of the unconscious mind to uncover solutions.

When faced with a challenge, Edison would rest for a few minutes for what he called a catnap; he would relax and let his subconscious figure out an answer, a process Radford calls self-hypnosis.

Nearly everyone is already familiar with a form of hypnosis, Radford said, calling daydreaming a “light stage” of hypnosis.

“Meditate for 10 minutes on what you want in life,” he tells a man eager to improve himself.

Visualize it, focus on it, and it will come.

For more information on hypnosis, or to set up an appointment with Radford, call (615) 351-2939.

Radfordisms:

“Don’t use ‘don’t’; focus on what you are going to do, not what you are not going to do.”

“Stop blaming everything and everybody for your situation. Realize your thoughts have brought you to this very instant.”

“Our thoughts become our future . . . think happy, healthy thoughts.”

“To live right, you must think right.”

“Expand the self-image and you expand the area of the possible.”

“One of the greatest therapies is laughter. Every time you have a hearty laugh, the healing power shoots through every cell in your body . . . attitude is everything.”

“An ounce of ink can color a gallon of water. A negative thought can color your whole day.”