Magician blends magic and humor with advice on stress

Apr. 17—LENOIR — Professional magician Lyndy Phillips will perform a magic show to benefit Yokefellow Thrift Store on Saturday, April 22.

With more than 35 years of experience, Phillips offers a show that combines amazing magic tricks and clean humor with important advice on how to reduce stress.

Phillips grew up on a farm in a small town in Texas. As a boy, he used to pore over magazines about magicians.

"It intrigued me, so I ordered magic tricks and things, and I got hooked," he said.

Being raised on a farm, Phillips taught himself how to perform impressive magic tricks with every day objects such as money, eggs, cards and ropes.

He performed his very first magic show for his hometown of 350 people and fell in love with being on stage and making people laugh. He continued to pursue acting and magic as a hobby well into college, where he was studying Speech Communications. His professor suggested he combine his love for magic and entertainment with his talent for public-speaking.

"When I started doing that, I realized a lot of people retained a lot more information with the visuals," he said.

Phillips and his wife relocated from Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas to West Jefferson, North Carolina in 2020 after their first grandchild was born in Boone.

Phillips's show, "Laugh More, Stress Less," delivers an engaging and funny presentation to reduce stress immediately and motivation to reduce stress long-term.

Phillips was previously a youth minister for 12 years. He said he got "burned out" due to stress and not taking care of himself.

"I left after 12 years and went into sales," he said. "After I recovered from burnout, I began to look at stress and read up on it, and I began to realize that is what had affected me. Then when I went into full-time speaking at conferences and conventions, I was encountering a lot of people in the corporate world who were stressed. I began to develop this 'Laugh More, Stress Less' keynote to talk about stress, where it comes from, how it affects our bodies and hits our immune system.

"What really got me fired up was studying extreme stress," Phillips continued. "A lot of people I was speaking to were experiencing high rates of stress for a long period of time, which is the most dangerous ... I began to talk to people, especially men, who said they wish they'd heard about it years ago because some of them had actually suffered heart attacks. Nothing but stress caused it. That's how this whole thing took off."

Visit www.laughmorestressless.com to find out more about Phillips and his performances.

Yokefellow's Thrift Store Coordinator Philip Mattheis met Phillips six months ago after his performance at 1841 Magic Cafe in downtown Lenoir. The two struck up a conversation, and Phillips offered to help Yokefellow with a fundraiser.

"He's very nice and personable," said Mattheis. "I like that he includes the audience in his show ... I hope people come away entertained, and if they can learn something about stress, I think that would be great. I'm hoping that some families come out and get to see the store who may not have come to Yokefellow yet."

Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children ages 12 and under accompanied by an adult. Tickets can be purchased at Yokefellow, located at 202 Harper Ave, Lenoir. Doors will open at 5 p.m. and the show will begin at 6 p.m. Guests are invited to arrive early and peruse the great deals available at Yokefellow.

All proceeds earned from this fundraiser will go to benefit Yokefellow in their primary mission to serve human needs in the community. Yokefellow is a crisis ministry assisting Caldwell County residents in immediate need of food, clothing and/or financial assistance.

For more information, visit www.yokefellow.org or follow Yokefellow of Caldwell County on Facebook.

"I'm looking forward to being with this wonderful organization, I love what they do," said Phillips. "I hope people come out and support Yokefellow."