IT sounds like the trance of a lifetime... hypnotist Ray Ronson will put you under the influence to make you think you're having the luxury break of your dreams.
At £55 an hour his hypno-hols have to be better than forking out thousands to face endless delays at the airport. Or are they?
We went along to investigate if you can get to Barbados and back in an hour...
'I had always dreamed of going to Barbados to swim with dolphins and hit the beach-front nightlife. But Craig-y-Nos, a reputedly haunted castle-turned-hotel in the drizzle-shrouded Brecon Beacons of South Wales, isn't quite what I had in mind.
But I'm greeted there by Ray, 44, who offers "a passport to anywhere in the world without the hassle or expense". He says a session with him means "you don't need to take time off work, pay for new clothes or lose weight for the beach".
But even lying back on a sun lounger, wearing a bikini, with my sun lotion, passport and a fruity cocktail, I can't blot out the thought of the drizzle outside and the musty smell inside. Will this really work?
"Your eyelids are getting heavier... your eyelids are getting heavier... they are, they're getting heavier!"
Ray's sing-song Welsh voice is getting increasingly insistent.
I had booked a one-hour session and asked to be transported to the exotic beaches of the West Indies... That's right - cocktails, sun and sea all without leaving the room. No flight delays, lost luggage or terror alerts.
"You're getting higher in the air, higher in the air - you're 50ft up in the sky, another 50ft up - what can you see? Can you see the beach yet?
"Can you hear the sea lapping at your feet?"
I can't say that I can, but I want it to work so I desperately try to play along. I will Ray's hypnotic voice to fill me with holiday happiness and banish the stress of work.
"Would you like an ice cream?" Ray's soothing voice murmurs.
I screw up my eyes... I imagine a tall, dark stranger is handing me a cool cone, I can almost feel the refreshing vanilla ice cream on my lips. Almost...
But now Ray is talking again.
"When I count to three, you will start to walk towards the pier and see a dolphin on your right hand side. One... two.... three. Now it feels like it's getting closer to you.
"One... two... three... you are swimming through the blue sea. Can you touch the dolphin? You're in the water swimming."
I try to see a dolphin near me in the water, but all I can conjure up is Flipper on the telly. Ray keeps saying "clean and sharp" - I don't know what it means but he is very insistent. "Imagine the dolphin - clean and sharp".
Let's try something else. We head off to a club - another request I'd made. "As I count down - the day will turn to night... three... two... one...
"Now you are in the middle of a club with a drink in your hand - what is it?" It's a tequila, vodka and Red Bull. "OK, relax. Take the cocktail to your lips. How does it taste?"
As I sip my drink, I make my imaginary nightclub start to fill up. Ray says: "Three...two ..one... you are being approached by some celebrities". I look around but the only one I can spot is Jade Goody.
Hardly A-list but we pretend to swap phone numbers and promise to meet up when we both get home.
But as I make my way to the bar, my hour's up. One... two... three... I'm back in Ray's room - almost as if I'd never left it. '
Well I did my best to let Ray take me to Barbados but when it was all over, I can't say I really felt as though I'd been on a dream holiday - and I didn't even come back with any Duty Free OR a tan...
Hypnotist grounds Steve's flying fear
Oct 2 2006 - Sam Burson, Western Mail
A MUSICIAN who has been unable to travel to gigs abroad because of his fear of flying says he has been cured thanks to the unusual combination of hypnotism and theme park rides.
Steve Simmons, from Swansea, was subjected to a series of white-knuckle rides at Oakwood in Pembrokeshire.
The 40-year-old, who also had phobias about heights and roller coasters, was guided through the park's stomach-churners after being treated by celebrity hypnotist Ray Roberts.
Roberts had last week appeared on the Sharon Osbourne Show to help Edna from X Factor turn her nightmare holiday into a holiday of a lifetime.
It took him just an hour to treat Steve, who had not flown since he was nine years old.
He
immediately put his treatment to the test with a flight on
Vertigo, in which the victim is attached to ropes and swung from
hundreds of feet above the ground, and a ride on the Speed
roller coaster, which
is the first in the UK to have a
beyond-vertical drop.
Steve who works at Craig-y-Nos Castle in the Brecon Beacons, said, "I was willing to try anything to overcome my fear of flying and Ray has done the trick.
"I'm amazed at how much I
enjoyed the rides now I've had my phobia lifted. Doing it at the
theme park and going straight on the roller coasters, especially
Vertigo, meant I was able to put my fear of flying, roller
coasters and heights to bed all in one go.
"As a jazz musician I've had
to turn down many gigs abroad. I've always dreamt of visiting
New York, the jazz capital and playing my sax there, but my fear
has put a stop to it.
"Now I'm going to start planning my trip."
Ray Roberts of Capital Hypnotherapy in Cardiff, who has been a consultant hypnotherapist since 1985, said, "Hypnotherapy can effectively alleviate the fear, panic and dread of travelling by aeroplane.
"By the careful use of suggestion and visualisation whilst you are in the relaxed- but-in-control-and-aware hypnotic state the subconscious mind can be, in effect taught to respond and act differently when it comes to flying.
"I've managed to eliminate Steve's old negative thought patterns associated with flying so he can feel in control from booking the airline ticket to actually getting into the plane, taking off and landing on the other side."
