Weird how unexpected search results can take you down some interesting paths. While doing some research on insurance, I went Googling for Balducci (an Italian actuary). Turns out that those levitations you see the TV magicians do is called 'Balducci's levitation'. And there's instructions online on how to do it!

Here's the wiki entry on how to do this levitation yourself:
Balducci's Levitation
and a Google video that shows it live:
Balducci's Levitation video
where you can clearly see how the levitation (and the misdirection) is performed.

Yes, you can try this at home!