Activity 1 : Colombian Hypnosis

• Coping with change
• Supporting others
• Working with others in teams and networks
• Managing and leading others

• None

Participants will take part in a movement-based exercise and follow the leader.

Divide the group into pairs of two. If this is not possible, form a group of three participants. 

One participant, the leader, holds his or her hand palm forward, his or her feelers upright and places them about 20-40 cm from the face of another person, the follower. The follower acts as if s/he is hypnotised and should keep his/her face at the same level as the first participant. The distance should always be the same ; the leader starts a series of hand movements (up, down, left, right) and moves to more advanced physical movements. The follower should contort his/her body if necessary to maintain the same distance. After 5 minutes ask them to switch roles. Encourage the leaders to try to get their partner into many uncomfortable positions.

After another 5 minutes, ask half the pairs to join the other half of the pairs, counting as follows: 1 leader and 3 followers.  Every few minutes, ask one group to join another, keeping the same leader. Eventually, the whole group will be hypnotised by one leader.

Boal, A., ( 2002). Games for Actors and Non-Actors . Routledge. New York, NY 

• What did it feel to lead?
• What did it feel to follow? 
• Were there times when you did not want to do what the leader made  you do? How did it feel and why? 
• How did it feel like to be one of the followers towards the end of the exercise when everyone was following? 

Mix age groups and ask each member of the pair to be either the leader or the follower.