Jonathan Chase (hypnotist)

Infobox Celebrity
name = Jonathan Chase


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birth_date =
birth_place = Cannock, Staffordshire, England
occupation = Hypnotist
website = http://www.jonathanchase.com
footnotes =

Jonathan Chase is an English hypnotist, author, speaker and edutainer. He was born in Cannock Staffordshire, England in the 1950s, the fourth son of his coal miner father and his mother who was a hairdresser.

Education

[http://www.findmyschool.co.uk/schooldetails.aspx?id=24048 Bridgtown Primary School] and Calving Hill Secondary Modern now [http://www.cannockchase-high.staffs.sch.uk/index.htm Cannock Chase High school]

[http://www.portland.ac.uk/ Portland College] for the disabled in Mansfield Nottinghamshire attaining a Royal Society of Arts grade 1 in book-keeping.

He was asked to leave following the incident in the girls dorm-room with the young lady who was to become his first wife.

Disability

Jonathan was born with a genetic peripheral neuropathy called Charcott Marie Tooth disease.

Biography

Jonathan spent his teenage years watching Wolverhampton Wanderers and working in several jobs which included being a roadie and sound man / stage hand for local bands Jon was intrigued by the actions of an American Mentalist on TV called the Amazing Kreskin whose claim there is no such thing as hypnosis, just suggestion was upheld in American courts.

Two weeks after his 18th birthday Jonathan was persuaded to undergo operations to lessen the effects of what was then thought of as a simple congenital deformity as CMT had not yet been diagnosed. He left hospital just three weeks before his 19th birthday and was told he would never do a job which involved standing or walking for long periods. He subsequently went on to walk the full length of the soon to be built M54 motorway whilst working as a chain man for a land surveyor until he attended college.

In the early 70's moved to Glasgow where he entered nursing, a career cut short by the worsening of his condition. It was at this time his interest in Hypnosis became strengthened by watching stage hypnotists like Robert Halpin from Ireland and Australian Martin St James. At the time Jon was using self taught hypnosis to alleviate pain and stress in the spinal injury patients he worked with.

1985 saw him adopt the stage name Jonathan Chase after joining the variety artists division of EQUITY. At this time his most notable engagements were on the Channel Isle of Jersey in the final summer season show at the Hawaiian Cabaret bar on the island before it was almost destroyed by the Great Storm of 1987. The following summer he worked at Caesars Palace and at the Chateau de Pleasure in 1988 working with Joe Pasquale.

Jon had been inspired to take up stage hypnosis after watching a demonstration by Robin Colvill a member of a comedy show band The Grumbleweeds who had taught him the fundamentals of stage hypnosis. His other stage mentor was a ‘red Indian’ knife thrower from Liverpool the great Cetan Mani or Jay Ruffley to his friends.

Although a primarily a stage hypnotist Jonathan also studied hypnotherapy and became a Certified Master Hypnotist registered with the then British Guild of Hypnotist Examiners in 1989 and studying with Charles Tebbetts from the Hypnotism Training Institute in Seattle Washington state, who was the first hypnotist to put forward the theory that all hypnosis was self hypnosis, a theory Jonathan was later to question and refute in his second book, 'Don't look in his eyes', Jon became registered as a Master of Mind Integration Therapy in 1990.

It was the same year that Jonathan became the first British stage hypnotist, possibly the World's first, to present a live four hour comedy hypnosis show on radio for Wolverhampton's Beacon Radio. On the Ian Perry 'Midnightline' a feat which he copied the next year for Manchester radio station, Picadilly Radio on the James Stannage show Which was the most listened to commercial radio show outside of London.

Later that year Jon returned to Beacon to present a twelve week series of live past life regression shows using volunteer members of the general public.

In 1991 Jon served on the committee of the now inactive British Council of Professional Stage Hypnotists (BCPSH) alongside his contemporaries Paul McKenna and other notable stage stars such as Andrew Newton and Delavar. Jonathan was responsible as Parliamentary Officer for the BCPSH and as such secured the appointment of the then Cannock MP Gerald Howarth as Parliamentary representative for the Council on matters referring to the 1952 Hypnotism Act

In 1993 Jonathan was recognised by the Club and Institute Union in Leicester and given an Award for becoming the most prolific fund raising act in a Special Command Performance after having raised more than 50,000 GB Pounds in his shows.

Later that year he became part of the most common stage hypnosis myth falling from the stage at a club in Corby Northamptonshire suffering a shattered femur which cost him 17 weeks in hospital.

1994 He starred in a Supreme magic showcase along with Jimmy Carlo and was supported by an up and coming young conjurer called Derren Brown

In 1997 he co-founded the Rollers Theatre company set up to integrate both physically disabled and able bodied performers. Privately funded he co-wrote under his pseudonym of Jay Watling the script for a musical called Laughter and Tears. He wrote the lyrics for all the songs and also Directed and Produced the show which premiered at the Prince of Wales centre theatre in Cannock in December of that year. Sadly the company disbanded due to the lack of disabled performers and the refusal of Art Council funding.

In 2001 Jon and his Partner Jane Bregazzi started the School of Stage Hypnosis and a year later Osis Training to teach remedial hypnosis. These two companies have now become the Academy of Hypnotic Arts

2001 also saw the publication (first edition} of his book “Deeper and deeper - the secrets of stage hypnosis” in e-book format Now in it’s second edition as a printed book isbn number 978-0-9547098-1-0 which is the first British authored book to out sell the genres hitherto definitive Encyclopaedia of Stage Hypnosis written by American stage hypnotist Ormond McGill

Jonathan has also written “Don’t look in his eyes” which concentrates on the remedial and motivational side of hypnosis. isbn number 978-0-9547098-3-9

In 2001 Jonathan and Jane Bregazzi developed Chinosis a simplified form of meridian therapy based loosely on both TFT Thought Field Techniques and EFT Emotional Freedom Techniques. Chinosis uses both meridian or Chi energy manipulation and hypnotic symbolism to apparently remove or change unwanted or unproductive emotional response patterns of behaviour.

Currently Jonathan is still teaching with the Academy and is a founding director of PROZPA limited - a new online network set up to connect those seeking prosperity.