In the wee hours of the morning, today, we lost our dear friend and a master magician in his own right: Master Chintan. Five years younger to me to the day (we shared birthdays!), my memories of Chintan are that he was always kind, humble and smiling. And an unbelievably fantastic magician!
He was one of those child prodigies that I always hoped would go on to compete internationally and win a FISM award for us. After all, even as he was in his teens, he had won everything there was to win on stage in India. …
Nakul Shenoy writes about the deep connection between managers and magicians and ponders on some of the common traits that are integral to both their success
A couple of years back, I had the unique opportunity to present a keynote address with the India head of a global corporate, addressing the challenges faced by leaders of the company. After detailed discussions for a few weeks, we successfully collaborated and jointly presented a magical keynote, delivering a unique motivational message to the company’s senior managers: “WE ARE ALL MAGICIANS!”
In working towards this presentation and in the time since that well-received talk, I have been pondering on the interlinkages between the characteristics of a magician and a leader. …
A simple and easy way to check and expose the mid-brain/third-eye activation humbug
“The first and worst of all frauds is to cheat one’s self. All sin is easy after that” – Pearl Bailey
I had barely settled in my seat and was preparing for the flight to take off, when my wife leaned over from the adjoining aisle seat and handed over the JetWings – the inflight Magazine of Jet Airways. It was the Numerology page forecasting the future for anybody that cared a read. But that is not what Vishakha was drawing my attention to. The author’s bio read “Numerologist and Vastu consultant with activated Third Eye”!
I immediately took a…
The author of Smart Course in Magic lists what he sees are the intrinsic advantages of learning magic as a hobby — in addition to the omni-present fanfare of being a magician.
I am often asked the real-world benefits of learning magic. For clearly, everybody may not see themselves performing magic on a stage or wish to develop/pursue a career as a magician.
Here then, is a quick top-of-mind list created by me about the various ways in which knowledge and training in magic can help any individual. I hope this encourages many more to learn and adopt the art of magic as their creative obsession.
Benefits of Learning Magic
Some of the numerous benefits of picking up magic as a hobby or learning it as a performing art are,
- Self-Confidence sees a strong boost
- Develops…
Social Media has well and truly arrived to rule the minds and digital lives of our people, having evolved to be the primary source of information and emerging as the de-facto mode of communication. Be it Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat or the time-tested blogs — the average netizen is spending an increasing amount of time seeing, reading and posting mundane, everyday updates on various social media platforms. We are all creating information (and knowledge) at unprecedented levels, surpassing the traditional modes of media and communication many times over. Personal posts via social media tools far outnumber the messages people…
In a recent corporate seminar, I was espousing the thought that everything we did – or not, was linked to the mind. We are in a constant state of conflict with the mind, our mind – to take on the challenges that come our way in this modern-day world. And more often than not, the battle is lost even before it starts owing to the thoughts of doubt and the baggage we carry.
To illustrate the state – and just how much our thoughts control us and our results – I got people to visualise that their hands were stuck…
A Magician’s Perspective on the Mid-Brain / Third-Eye Activation Scam
Circa 1848. Two sisters — Kate (12) and Margaret (15) Fox, convinced their elder sister Leah (38) that spirits were communicating with them by tapping the table, and soon took the world by storm. The Fox Sisters became the most famous mediums communicating with spirits via mysterious taps on tables and are largely credited to have kickstarted the spiritualist movement across the world.
Numerous investigations, including those by renowned scientists and thinkers of the time, expressed belief and showed potential in their communication with the spirit world. …
But is it too late?
A feature most requested — begged even — is now here with Medium enabling the writing / publishing ability to the iOS devices.
Having been used to typing out my thoughts — my book even — on the iPad this was a feature I missed much, and am extremely happy for it to have been provided. Yet, I can’t help but wonder if this is coming a tad too late.
Has the inability of typing and posting to Medium directly changed our habits in ways that requires a relearning of sorts? …
Nakul Shenoy explores the mysterious connection between Magic and Science and shares the secret of how each draws on the other.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
One cannot delve on the topic of magic and science without quoting this immortal line by Arthur C Clarke — a simple statement that is layered with many meanings.
At the basic, it refers to the understanding that magic is perceived to be beyond the realms of science, while also establishing that advancements in science are taking it closer to magic — and fantasy.
It is equally intriguing to look at…
Why don’t we remember?
The human mind is a fascinating subject that one can immerse into for an entire lifetime and only manage to scratch the surface. Yet, that is when you look at it from the outside.
Interestingly, we each have a personal exhibit of this immensely challenging topic, that we can study intently — using the mind to analyse itself.
One of the more spoken about topics of the human mind is the way the human memory operates. …
Nakul Shenoy
Master of the Mystic Arts. Indian Mentalist. Author: ‘Smart Course in Magic’.
