Hi all
I'm looking for some advice on where to go from here. I've been experimenting with self hypnosis for about a year off and on (not consistent) and am both very frustrated with it and yet longing more and more for it to work.
Ultimately, my goal is to be able to program myself into experiences (not sure how else to say it). I don't much care how. Whether that is through positive hallucination or setting-up triggers for sensory experience or programming lucid dreams, whatever. And maybe my lack of a single path is what's keeping me back, I dunno.
I am fairly convinced that in order to achieve any sort of goal I need to be able to go into a medium-deep somnambulistic state. In theory, alone (through self-hypnosis). Of course part of the problem is knowing when I've reached that state.
As far as deepeners and hypnosis-level tests, I respond very well/easily to eye closure, and decently to hand tingling and temperature sensations. I find any sort of movement very difficult, and the more 'involved' the test is the worse I do at it. I've never achieved arm-raising, leg-freezing, feeling a fly crawl on you, etc...
I have also experimented a bit with self-hypnosis mp3s, of different types. I'm always able to go into (what I feel) is a light trance, but not much deeper. Maybe it's my own disappointment with it that is preventing me. I'm never able to get a hallucination or anything, which is my goal.
Can anyone offer me some suggestions? I'm really not sure what to try and I want a 'road-map' before I invest a huge amount of time doing the same tests over and over. As an example, I read an article somewhere about a guy who had deep positive hallucination triggers built-in so that whenever he went to eat a chocolate bar, it would appear all gross and moldy, so that he didn't want to eat it (to lose weight). Weight loss isn't a goal but I want to be able to give myself some 'programming' like that.
And no, 'seeing a therapist' is not an option, both for monetary reasons and because I am moving out of the country in a month.