PULSE R  ATE

M  ATT M ELLO
ELLO

Copyright © 2012 by Matt Mello

All rights reserved.

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Effect:
By merely looking at a spectator, no contact ever involved, you can predict their
 pulse-rate with 100%
100% accuracy!

Introduction:

Our pulse is something that we always have on us, and being a huge fan of always-
ready effects, I wanted to use it in some way. It is our direct link to life, so messing
around with it can be a bit scary for some spectators, but this is why it gets such
great reactions!

I should clarify that this demonstration is in no way 

way  dangerous for you or your
 participant—as some pulse effects can be—and once learned, can be performed
anywhere with no setup!

Usually I’ll use this as a lead-in to a variety of mind-reading routines, as it really

helps to build a connection between yourself and the spectator.

Use it well!

Presentation and Method:

“Many psychics believe that our pulse is directly connected to our aura…our
‘life force’ . This suggests that by tapping into your pulse, I can cause a brief
link between the two of us,” I say, turning to my spectator with a smile,

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“hopefully allowing for some fun things to happen. I just need one piece of
information for this to work, something to help us both visualize. Do you have
a favorite color?” I ask.

We’ll assume the spectator, hereafter called Julie, answers, “Blue.”

“Perfect, can you find your pulse for me?” I say, gesturing with two fingers on
my wrist. “Now I know this will sound strange, but every time you feel your
pulse beat, I want you to imagine a blue liquid pulsing out of your body,
starting in your center and then flowing out of your skin into the air
surrounding you, over and over. Don’t move, or give anything away while you
do this, just imagine it. Okay?”

Julie nods her head in understanding, closing her eyes as she focuses on the
unusual task, her fingers pressed into her wrist. I take a step towards her, my eyes
not focused on her  but
 but the space around her, as if really searching for the invisible,
 pulsing aura. After a few more seconds of watching, I scribble “72 B.P.M.” on an
index card and place it writing-side down on a table next to Julie.

“When I say, ‘Now’, I’d like you to start counting your pulse aloud,
continuing until I tell you to stop. Just give me a moment, please….”  I stare at
my watch, and after a couple of seconds, call out, “Now!”

She begins counting her pulse aloud…. “1…2…3….”

And now we’re in a predicament. For me to get Julie’s pulse rate to match my
 prediction (72), I have to force things in my favor. This is done very simply and
deceptively through a time miscall, used in a way that’s never been applied before.

 Nearly everyone knows that to take a pulse rate, you find the pulse, count it for
fifteen seconds, and then multiply the number of beats by four to get the count for
a full minute.

All you have to do here is look at your watch and  pretend to keep track of fifteen
seconds, but really you just let the spectator count until they get to eighteen,
regardless of the actual timing! Eighteen times four ALWAYS equals seventy-
two, which always matches
always matches the prediction!
p rediction!

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So Julie’s sitting there holding her wrist, counting aloud, and when she finally
says, ‘Eighteen’ I instruct her to stop. Looking up from my watch, I’ll usually ask
her to repeat the number as if I’d been too focused on the time to pay attention to
what number she was on.

When she repeats, ‘Eighteen’, I smile and nod, “That’s a healthy pulse. So in
fifteen seconds, it beat eighteen times. And if we multiply eighteen by four,
we’ll get your pulse rate for a full sixty seconds. Eighteen plus eighteen is
thirty-six. And thirty-six and thirty-six is seventy-two. Seventy-two beats per
minute. Take a look at what I wrote….” I point to the index card lying next to
her and she turns it over, instantly reacting to the perfect “72 B.P.M.” match!

With a connection now established to her pulse/aura, you can move on to any type
of mind-reading you can do, knowing that they will be much more
much more involved and
engaged after this process. I usually just do a simple billet/center tear after, but any
mind-reading will suffice!

 Additional Thoughts
Thoughts and Ideas:
I deas:

--The “72 B.P.M.” prediction can be altered; you just have to adjust how long you
let the spectator count for. For instance, if you wanted your prediction to be “80
B.P.M.” rather than stopping the spectator at ‘Eighteen’, you stop them at
‘Twenty’, regardless of how many seconds it takes to get there.

All the while you just stare at your watch, waiting for them to get to the number.
Just don’t get too extreme with the rate. Stay between 68 and 80—which would
mean you interrupt their count on 17, 18, 19, or 20, depending on your prediction.

--As an interesting side note, this pulse prediction was actually in consideration for
one of David Blaine’s shows, around the time of his Drowned Alive special.

The routine I submitted involved having a spectator hold their breath for as long as
they could, and then take their pulse after and see how holding
h olding their breath affected
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it. I would then flip over my two index cards to show my predictions of both to be
accurate.

It was just a simple one-ahead, using the pulse force (72 B.P.M.) as the ahead. I
would write 72 B.P.M. while the spectator held their breath, then write the number
of seconds they held their breath (42 sec…etc) while apparently predicting the
 pulse rate.

The presentation made sense after David held his breathe to challenge the world
record. But, the effect never made the show—I think it was submitted a bit late.
Fate must have wanted you to have it all to yourself, without it having to be that
‘David Blaine’ trick!

--I’ve also predicted the color they choose for their aura and their pulse rate using
the one ahead in the same way as above. Have them think of their favorite color
and write “72 B.P.M.” on a card. Then when they name the color, write it down
 before the spectator counts out their pulse.
pulse.

I would then end by doing a color reading based on their color choice, using stock
cold readings.

--You could also pretend to take your pulse, write down 72 B.P.M., then force the
spectators pulse to match yours. This way it seems like your pulses are
synchronizing and beating at the same
s ame time.

--Alternatively, rather than sync your pulse with a spectator’s, you could sync the
 pulses of two spectators, pretending to take the pulse rate of spectator one, then
forcing the pulse rate on spectator two.

You could then go on to perform a two-person telepathy effect with the connection
established between the two of them instead.

--Should you, for some reason, absolutely despise wearing watches, you could use
the stop watch function on your phone instead, pretending to stop and close the
application at the necessary number.

--Sometimes I’ll perform a liar/truth teller effect after this routine, apparently
‘seeing’ their pulse, acting as if I’m reading the pulse rate to tell if they’re lying or
telling the truth. This is a very fun and interesting take on the p lot.

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--I’ll end with a warning note. There is, as with everything, a possible downside to
this effect. That is if someone in the audience keeps track of the time and calls you
out on it.

I anticipated this being a possible problem, but in all the years I’ve used it—nearly
ten—I haven’t run into it once. I assume it’s because most people are more caught
up in the effect rather than trying to figure it out, but there are other factors as well.
It could be that they aren’t a hundred percent sure of what’s happening and when,
so that makes it hard to keep track of.

But one other consideration when performing this effect close-up is to borrow a
watch from a spectator, and only use your own should you need to. Usually if I’m
at a table, there will be three or four people seated. I’d say on average, at least one
of them will have a watch on. With the increase of cell-phones over the years, very
few people need to wear watches anymore. But, if someone is wearing one, you
might as well get it out of play if you can, and remove the chance of them keeping
track of the time themselves.

If anyone asks why you aren’t using your own, just tell them you want everything
to be as fair as possible, so that they’re certain you aren’t using some type of
gimmicked watch. This type of excuse always flies when you’re supposedly
“thinking of the spectator”. I love these types of excuses!

Credits:

Luke Jermay, Docc Hilford, Tony Andruzzi, Paolo Cavalli, Andrew Gerard,
Kenton Knepper, Wayne Houchin, Bill Montana, Jerome Finley and I’m sure
many others have, in some way, utilized the control of a pulse in a
mentalism/magic routine. Their work is something that should definitely be looked
into should you enjoy and wish to learn more about this kind of effect. Type any of
their names and ‘pulse’ into Google and you’ll find more info on pulse control then
you’ll ever need in your lifetime.

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Aside from his pulse work, it should be side-noted that Jerome Finley also utilizes
the idea of connecting auras, which is a very powerful concept. His methods are
different than mine, but are very out-of-the box and clever.

I know that Keith Barry specifically synchronizes his pulse-rate with a spectator
too, to allow a connection to occur for mind-reading, but our methods are different
as well.

Further influence comes from Banachek’s, “Psychokinetic Time” in which he also

uses a miscall with a watch, but in a completely different way, with a completely
different purpose. I won’t go into details due to exposure.

In regards to miscalls in general, I would think David Hoy deserves a huge nod, as
the miscall technique has surely garnered most of its popularity due to David, and
is actually where I was introduced to the idea of miscalling, in “The Hoy Book
Test” and “Tossed Out Deck”.

If I’ve missed anyone in this crediting, or if you have any questions, please send an
inquiry to: mtricks16@aol.com and I’ll be sure to make any necessary changes or
answer any questions I can.

Thank you!

Matt Mello