Board Thread:False Info and Speculative Discussion/@comment-186.155.122.100-20141201000911/@comment-4091815-20141201002503

There is no canonical reason given for this.

The Hales method was taught since childhood and had the added mystique of the "ancient" artifact built in.

If parents teach their children to believe in something from a very young age and they see the process work on others, strengthening the belief, then the psychosomatic effect is strong and will likely carry over.

Liam had no such conditioning so the simple (and to him meaningless) chant had no effect.

Satomi's mantra is based on philosophy and requires higher brain functions to be active to figure out the meaning. This isn't just a jumble of words - it's like a riddle and solving that riddle, thinking about it and what it really means, takes thought and gives those saying it something to focus on.

Again, it's not canonical. As far as the show is concerned - one worked the other did not.