Paul McKenna

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This article is about the British hypnotist. For the British footballer, see Paul McKenna (footballer).

Paul McKenna (born 8 November 1963, in Enfield, Middlesex, England) is a British hypnotist, author, and television personality.

His major activities at present including giving seminars through his training company, Paul McKenna Training, the production of books and multimedia products, using hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming and other personal development techniques, and television shows, such as I can change your life. Some of his training courses and products are focussed on achieving general life improvement such as his book, Change your life in 7 days and NLP Practitioner courses. Other products and trainings are application specific, for example, for the purpose of quitting smoking, assisting weight loss, and increasing confidence.

1 Professional Career
2 Controversy
3 Trivia
4 Published Works
5 Sources and further reading
- 5.1 General
- 5.2 Legal Coverage
6 See also

[edit] Professional Career

Paul McKenna's original calling was as a radio disc jockey; he cites Kenny Everett as one of his inspirations. After leaving school he joined 'Radio Top Shop' at its Bond Street store, leaving in 1982 to start his own business supplying music and chat tapes for stores such as Woolworths. It was during this time that he first became interested in the power of stage hypnosis, having heard about the hypnotist show Andrew Newton was doing at that time. He moved to Chiltern Radio in the mid-1980s, where he became known for his personality and sense of humour, before moving to Capital Radio in London.

During a radio show, Paul McKenna interviewed a hypnotist, and became fascinated by hypnosis, which he then began to study. While working as a DJ, he began experimenting with small hypnotic shows. The early performances were first for the amusement of friends, then for paying audiences in pubs and clubs. He promoted his shows on Capital and soon played large theatres in the UK, USA and Ireland. While the primary focus of his hypnotic shows was entertainment, he began to gain clients for professional one-to-one hypnotherapy.

In the early 1990s, he left Capital and briefly joined BBC Radio One, before leaving radio to concentrate exclusively on hypnosis. In 1993, his Celador series, The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna, aired on ITV. This entertainment show featured audience members who volunteered to by hypnotised, to act in silly ways and participate in comedic sketches that sometimes included celebrities. (It was later re-run on the UK's Bravo channel.)

During this time, Paul continued to study and refine his skills in hypnosis, including studying neuro-linguistic programming with Richard Bandler, the co-creator of neuro-linguistic programming.

In mid 1990s Paul McKenna set up a training company, McKenna Breen Ltd with Michael Breen. Through this training company Paul McKenna co-presented seminars on neuro-linguistic programming and hypnosis.

Paul McKenna released a range of hypnotic tapesets and videos. He later ran a television series called The Paranomral World of Paul McKenna wherein he interviewed and explored the claims of people described as having unusual skills or powers.

Another television series, Hyp the Streets, used similar sketches applied in his stage shows in street settings, such as shops.

In 1993 he won the Television & Radio Industry Club award for ‘Best TV Newcomer’.

From 2000 onwards, Paul McKenna has continued to run seminars on NLP, Hypnosis, Weight Loss and Overcoming Phobias, through his company, "Paul McKenna Training". He often co-presents seminars with other trainers such as Michael Neil, John LaValle and Richard Bandler through this company.

In 2003 The London Times named McKenna as one of the world’s leading and most important modern gurus, along with Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama.

In 2004 Paul McKenna gained his Ph.D from The International Management Centres Association (IMCA) ( http://www.i-m-c.org/imc) a business school accredited by the British Accreditation Counsel (www.the-bac.org). The title of his thesis was (The Effects of Fixed Action Patterns and Neuro-Linguistic Programming in Determining Outcomes in Human Behaviour). His examiners were Dr Richard Dobbins (IMCA) Dr Brian Edwards, University of Sheffield ( http://www.shef.ac.uk) and Dr Robert Parkinson, London Guildhall University. ( http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about).

In 2005, McKenna's Sky One show, I Can Change Your Life, showed him applying hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming, and other techniques to assist people with phobias, such as agoraphobia and addictions to gambling and shopping. (Sky Three plans to repeat the series.) In 2006, another Sky One programme, I Can Make You Thin, debuted, showing the hypnotist helping people lose weight.

In the same year it was reported that Paul McKenna signed the largest ever British non-fiction publishing deal with Tranworld Publishers for £3million ( http://www.independent.co.uk)

McKenna has produced a range of self-help cassettes and books. In addition to UK best sellers such as Change Your Life in 7 Days, he offers several training programmes on weight loss and NLP seminars with Richard Bandler and Michael Neil. McKenna is also known for working with celebrity clients, including Hollywood stars, although he scrupulously avoids naming names.

It has been reported that his celebrity clients include: Daryl Hannah, Ellen DeGeneres, Robbie Williams, Naomi Campbell, Elle McPherson, Sarah Ferguson, Sophie Dahl, Ronan Keating, David Bowie, Gabrielle, Geri Halliwell, George Michael, Jerry Hall, Dave Stewart, Ronnie Wood, Sheila Hancock, Roger Daltry, Peter Bowles, Tara Palmer-Tompkinson, Greg Rusedski, Nigel Benn, Andy Cole, Nick Faldo, Frank Bruno, Roger Black and Ronnie O'Sullivan.

[edit] Controversy

In 1998, Paul McKenna won a court case, initiated by an ex-participant of one of his stage shows.

In the commentary within the ruling, Justice Toulson, summarised:

'The defendant provided what was intended to be a form of family entertainment, in which the plaintiff willingly participated. I do not believe that he can be fairly criticised for his conduct of the show, or that he or anyone could reasonably have been expected to foresee the disastrous consequences which it is alleged to have had for the plaintiff.'

Paul McKenna was cleared and found not liable for the charge that his stage show led to one of the participant's psychological problems.

[edit] Trivia

When he was invited by the BBC2 motoring show Top Gear to be the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car, McKenna was also set the task of hypnotising one of the three presenters. McKenna's victim was Richard Hammond. Hammond, after being hypnotised into not knowing how to drive a car, made a fool of himself being asked by McKenna to do a lap in an Alfa Romeo; afterwards, he was tricked into believing that a pedal car was his brand new 911.

McKenna set a time of 1:48 in the Suzuki Liana, tied with 5 other people.

[edit] Published Works

Change Your Life in Seven Days, ISBN 0-593-05053-3 (with Hugh Willbourn)
How to Mend Your Broken Heart, Bantam Press: 2003. ISBN 0-593-05055-X
The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna, Faber and Faber: 1994. ISBN 0-571-16802-7
I Can Make You Thin, Bantam Press: 2005. ISBN 0-593-05054-1
Instant Confidence, Bantam Press: 2006. ISBN 0-593-05535-7
The Paranormal World of Paul McKenna, Faber and Faber: 1997. ISBN 0-571-19245-9
Paul McKenna's Hypnotic Secrets , Boxtree: 1995. ISBN 0-7522-0192-1 (with Peter Willis and Clare Staples)
The Power to Influence, Nightingale-Conant: 1998. ISBN 1-905453-56-6 (audiobook with Michael Breen)
Quit Smoking Today Without Gaining Weight , Bantam Press: 2007. ISBN 0-593-05536-5 (not yet published)

McKenna has also released a number of audio recordings including Sleep Like a Log, Eliminate Stress, and Stop Smoking for Good. He also wrote the foreword to Nikolic, Seka and Sarah Tay, You Can Heal Yourself: Bio-energy and the Power of Self-healing, Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd.: 2006. ISBN 0-283-07038-2.