The Wall of Hypnotic Fame
World champions, Hall of Famers and tour winners who trained their minds with hypnosis. Every name comes with its proof: the athlete’s own words, or at least two independent published sources. If we could not prove it, it is not on this wall.
Started at about 14
Under Cus D’Amato he was hypnotized regularly as a teenage fighter, from about 14 until he became world champion. He has said so himself, in two separate interviews.
“They sinked all that into me when I was younger.” — Mike Tyson
ProofBleacher Report, Jan 18, 2019 (Joe Rogan)
Ambrosia For Heads, March 2020 (Snoop Dogg)
Started as an amateur
Jay Brunza, a Navy psychologist who caddied for him as an amateur, trained his concentration through hypnosis and self-hypnosis, long before the majors.
ProofCigar Aficionado, June 27, 2008
Publishers Weekly, 2002
Kirkus Reviews, Feb 1, 2002
Golf.com, Jan 25, 2019
2024 World Champion
He thanked his hypnotist on the way to the 2024 World Championship final. He worked with hypnotherapist Chris O’Connor in weekly sessions before the title.
“It’s just about emptying your stress bucket.” — Kyren Wilson
ProofAFP in the Taipei Times, May 6, 2024
GB News, April 18, 2025
PGA Tour winner, 2024
He started working with hypnotherapist Grace Smith a few weeks before winning the 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic on the PGA Tour.
“I started working with a hypnotherapist a few weeks ago.” — Cam Davis
2015 World Champion
The German breaststroker worked with a hypnosis coach to get into the right flow before the biggest races of his career.
“With hypnosis I can find out where there are still hidden problems.” — Marco Koch
ProofSwimSwam, 2015
Hall of Fame hitter
In 1975, hypnotist Harvey Misel helped Carew play through a hamstring injury. Misel went on to work with some 200 major-league players.
ProofSlate, July 28, 2006
Chicago Sun-Times, July 13, 2019
SABR Biography Project
Hall of Fame pitcher
Deep in a 1974 slump, he saw Los Angeles hypnotist Arthur Ellen.
“I credit Ellen for giving me back my ability to relax.” — Don Sutton
Rebuilt his career
After he was dropped from the Premier League, he turned to hypnotherapist Chris O’Connor and rebuilt his game.
“He taught me to try to take my mind away from darts.” — Stephen Bunting
ProofSky Sports, April 3, 2025
The Guardian (via inkl), Dec 12, 2025
Back after a loss
After a 2019 loss he worked with a hypnotist and came back declaring himself back.
“It’s not like he waves a watch in front of you.” — Eryk Anders
2015 BDO World Champion
The world champion listens to a recording from his hypnotherapist at night, the same way a client keeps a pocket session.
“He sends me a 20-minute MP3.” — Scott Mitchell
In his own words
He turned to hypnotherapy to fight “dartitis,” the freeze that stops a player releasing the dart.
“I was dead sceptical at first. He changed my life.” — Nathan Aspinall
Eight sessions
The veteran took eight sessions of hypnotherapy with Chris O’Connor to get past dartitis.
“I thought: well, I’ve got nothing to lose!” — Kevin Painter
We looked. In these sports, nobody is on the record yet. The first athlete with before-and-after readings sets the standard.
The earliest start on this wall is 14. That is the age young drivers are racing karts and dreaming of Formula 1. The mind can be trained as early as the reflexes.
Dr. David Spiegel of Stanford, who founded the Reveri application and wrote Trance and Treatment, has studied hypnosis for his entire career. He has been on the Stanford faculty since 1975. In a study of 84,395 Reveri users published in npj Digital Medicine in December 2025, stress went down session after session. In his own words: “you’ve got my voice on your smartphone.”
That proves the point we build on: a voice in your pocket works. No one voice is right for everyone, though. Some voices pull you in and some push you away. His voice reaches millions. Mine is built for the athlete in front of me: your sport, your moment and your words, so it is there whenever and wherever you need it.
Proof: Stanford Profiles · Reveri · npj Digital Medicine, December 18, 2025
Every athlete here, Dr. Spiegel and Reveri are named as public record only, from the sources linked. None of them is affiliated with or endorses HEKA TRANCE-formations.