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• Method 2 of 2: Performing focus

1 Learn the basic principles of sleight of hand and illusionism. Penn and Teller, two prominent American illusionists, identify seven basic techniques for sleight of hand. Some of these techniques have a lot to do with our focus, so this article explains some of them in detail.

• "Theft". You should try to get the object (coin) while pretending that you are doing something else.
• "Palm". You must learn to hide an object in the palm of your hand. This means that you must be able to discreetly hold an object in your open hand by contracting your palm.
• Distraction. While not all illusionists use this technique, you can use it to distract the audience's attention from your hands.

2 Practice different techniques. There are different techniques, some of them are described below.

• The classic way to hold a coin in the palm of your hand. This is the ability to hold an object (coin) by contracting the muscles of the palm. Place a coin in the palm of your hand. Close your hand very slowly and hold with the contraction of the palm. You will be able to move the brush freely and the coin will stay in place. The inner side of the palm should be facing downward so that the audience does not notice the coin. This technique is quite difficult to perform, but it can impress the audience.
• Holding a coin with your fingers. Try to hold the coin with your middle and ring fingers. Your fingers should be slightly bent. This method is quite simple to implement.
• Holding a coin with your thumb. Hold a coin between your thumb and forefinger. Try to keep your thumb relaxed. Although this is a fairly simple method, it is very effective if you want to hide an item.

3 Think about the relationship between focus and mind. Keep in mind that many tricks involving tricking the viewer are successful for two reasons. One of them is the viewer's inattention (he makes assumptions about what is happening), the second occurs when the viewer is simply distracted (and does not notice the most important thing). Illusionists pay attention to the connection between successful tricks and the limits of human cognition. If you feel like you already have some skill, but still feel insecure, you will have to spend more time thinking about how the brain processes complex information.

• Successful illusionists claim that arched arm movements are a better distraction than straight arm movements. Investigating this, scientists concluded that arcuate movements required more concentration than straight movements, which is natural for most people. If you want to perform this trick, this information is very useful to distract the viewers' attention.

Method 2 of 2: Performing focus

1. 1 Grab a coin. Discreetly take a coin (a quarter / medium-sized coin works best) from your pocket and pinch it with two fingers (thumb is best).
2. 2 Hold the coin with your palm muscles. Using one of the methods described above, hold the coin with your palm. Hold the coin so that others do not see how much the muscles in your arm are tense.
3. 3 Choose a target. Approach someone from the group with a coin clamped on the back of your hand.
   • If you want to distract the viewers' attention, pay attention to the following information. To distract the attention of the audience, make vigorous hand movements. If the coin is in your right hand, use different movements with your left hand to shift the attention of the audience from the right hand to the left. Also, your speech can be a distraction. Communicate with your audience and they won't notice how you made the focus.
   • Maintain eye contact. Look into the eyes of the audience while focusing.
4. 4 Make a move. Extend your arm up so that it is behind your target's head.
5. 5 Slowly move your hand downward from your target's ear while making the coin slide from the back of your hand to the front.
   • You can use your middle and ring fingers to pull out the coin.
   • Act quickly, but soundlessly. You should easily get the coin out so that the audience doesn't get suspicious.
6. 6 Flip a coin up for everyone to see and say something like: "She / he has a coin in his / her ear!" or "Ta-Da!" ...
7. 7 Bow down (optional).