Bored with lack of success

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I'm bored with being completely useless with every file I try.

Some people report first-time successes, I have trouble even knowing if I'm going into trance or not.

I go about as far as pleasant relaxed sensations and anaesthesia on my arms and legs.

I always wonder how I should go about. Every piece of advice I've seen conflicts. People say not to concentrate too hard on it, EMG's induction tells me to concentrate on it, some people say it helps to mentally repeat the words to yourself as they're said, some people say it's best that your mind drifts. I have no idea who is right. I do know one thing, and that's that whatever I'm doing is horribly wrong.

No file so far works. It's annoying that I know I'm awake when I'm told to wake up. A little off-topic, but if I lie on my side, my earphones make my ears ache. If I lie on my stomach, my head is in a very awkward position. If I lie on my back, I sometimes get an almost irresistable urge to move. Add that on top of every distracting itch and noise, and you have one very full and distracted mind.

I once tried and failed to do wake-induced lucid dreaming, although it seems nobody can get that method of lucid dreaming to work anyway.

Anyway, sorry if I ramble and *please* do not tell me that trance is unique to each person, there must be something in common with each subject.

I'd really appreciate if someone could give me a little guidance which isn't self-contradictory. That, and a file that I could notice easily, works easily, and doesn't show itself from anyone else's point of view - just so that I know I'm making progress. I need some definite milestone to work with because I feel like my current progress is severely lacking. Yes, I listen at least once every day to a file (not always the same one, but hey), just before I go to sleep, and I will either remain painstakingly conscious or fall straight asleep when I listen.

[blahblah2]

I feel your pain man. I haven't had any success either. I try to listen more often but then it gets so boring.

[Hypnosisdragon]

Well, what files are you trying? Some files, like the transformation files, require either an extremely deep trance, or repetitive listening.

And the reason for conflicting info, is cos different things work for different people.

[whatthe75]

[pyroid]

Hypnosis in a nutshell

Its guided suggestion. A large percentage of who we are and how we feel is mental. thats why its possible to stop smoking with hypnosis. I'll bet a couple files have sunk in its just you have given them the time to take affect. When I first started nothing work, but as I let that go and tried to practice at it instead of giving up I noticed it was more fun and I could go into trance quickly. Trance is different for everyone but I think from experience and what others told me it starts out similar. It's like rolling in and out of a dream ( a reason for the feeling of weightlesness and forgetting fractions of the file ) your not quiet alseep so some of the information is retained.

I suggest try some simple files like arm lift induction or a behavior file, something that does less physical change and more personal change. Do something thats close to home or just listen to different inductions till you find a hypnotist you like ( EMG and Cardigan as my personal fav's )

Another bump could be your worries. Do you live in a crowded home where you feel someone might disaprove of your actions? I feel that way in my house, I live with my grandparents ( I rent I don't free load ) and I worry they might stumble into something embarressing so I lock the door to my appartment or I leave a note saying I'm tired from work, be down in a couple hours. Something to lower the likely hood of them popping in uninvited.

[dottie]

The body positioning issue is obviously not going to help. I recommend finding a comfy chair you can lie back in, or a bed/sofa where you can prop up your whole upper body, head & neck into an incline with gobs of pillows & blankets so it is comfortable.

Listen to several induction styles to try them out -- While arm-lift inductions work for lots of people, they don't work for me at all. Confusion inductions work well for me, but I find that I'm more likely to twitch. So I listen to a relaxation induction coupled with the trance body files in a media player playlist. Try a few styles and see which style brings you deepest. If you tend to go under then wake back up, try a file with binaural beats - they tend to keep the mind in a relaxed state.

[url=http://www.isabellavalentine.com/2007/09/22/free-hypnosis-video-dont-watch-this-video/]This one (from another site)[/url] was probably the first thing I tried that worked. But I also [url=http://www.isabellavalentine.com/2007/07/10/experience-a-deeper-trance/]read this[/url] the same night and that helped a lot. Specifically the part about pretending that it is working even if you have doubts.

Yes, a common induction technique asks you to concentrate on the voice of the hypnotist, but don't kill yourself to do so. If your mind is drifting off, then your trance is actually deepening. The "focus on my voice" instruction will usually bring you back. But the basis of hypnotism is in giving suggestions directly to the subconscious, and to do so, the conscious mind needs to get out of the way.
There are several ways to do that -- you can be bored into a stupor (relaxation induction), you can overwhelm the mind (confusion or arm-pull), you can distract it (counting induction).
The "focus on my voice" instruction of an induction/deepener is really an instruction to the subconscious. Let your mind wander, and then let that instruction bring you back to the hypnotist.

[Alien4420]

I was puzzled by those different suggestions too, and tried this and that, until I finally realized that it doesn't really matter very much *what* you do! The focusing or not focusing, etc. are just means to achieve an end, a trance state. And a trance can in many cases be effective while it's still light, the visualization files to which you referred being one of the main exceptions and probably not a good thing to start with.

Going into trance is a skill, something that we all do naturally as for example when we watch a movie and forget that the action isn't real, or when we daydream. But it isn't normally something that we enter consciously, so the trick I think is to teach the conscious mind where the switch is that puts us into one. I agree that you should probably try working with a real life hypnotist. Your brain will learn that way how to reach the trance state, and you should be able then to do it with the inductions, and eventually without.

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[KaynaEcho]

One thing I'd keep in mind is your definition of "awake." Granted, I'm currently at the point where I only respond to suggestions that involve definite body movement or sensation, but when I'm trancing, I'm not totally out. I'm definitely not fully lucid, but I'm still aware enough that I am aware of the sound of a light fan in the background (for example). I may or may not remember what happens while I'm in the trance, but I'm not out.

I also have a "full and distracted mind," and I'd recommend Blink's Basic induction. It uses a story combined with idle musings that give you a lot to focus on and actually *listen* to. If audiobooks get your attention, this might too.

Also, part of the whole "busy mind" thing: for me, right before bed is kind of a time for me to "settle accounts" with the day. I have most of my idle thoughts around that time, and as such, can't trance. If you're at all like me, I'd try a different time.
o
Finally, keep a good attitude about it. Hypnosis is essentially self-deception evolved to the highest point. As dumb as it sounds, you have to want it. Just as hypnosis doesn't work if you don't want to, it doesn't work if you think it will fail. Also, just because it doesn't work now doesn't mean it never will. Files that have failed for me before work for me now.

Best of luck. Once you succeed it is such a boost.

EDIT: As for the comfortable body position, a lot of that will come with experience. Try non hypnosis meditation or relaxation exercises to get your body and mind used to a total relaxation. Use odd itches to help you focus. Mind over matter. I find that when I focus on the speaker's voice in a file, the itch fades after a few seconds.

[ekluise]

It took me about a year of practice to be able to go into a deep trance. Trance is a skill. :)

[Alien4420]

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[Blink]

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[zapnosis]

*sigh*

You know, some things just come naturally to people, some things don't. I was trying to trance for 4 years before I really went under, 4 LONG YEARS, and even now I'm not sure if I've gone as far under as other people on here, or whether they would be amazed if they knew how deep I had gone. It's a personal journey. Fact is, for me it was worth it. If it isn't worth it for you, try something else.

This is psychology not magic, despite what some of the hypno-hippies say, and when it does happen it almost certainly won't be what you were expecting. Those are the facts of life. However, from what you have said you seem to have experienced some of the sensations of trance, so you are getting somewhere. Enjoy that feeling. Try different things and practice with what works best. Concentrate on relaxing as much as possible, NOT on how much the file is affecting you. File effects are something you have to work for and wait for and if you are lucky enough to experience some then it's all bonus. After all, what have you lost?

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[FloridaPuppy]

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[Ladon]

That's the sort of thing a live hypnotist would be better at, unfortunately its less than easy to find a live 'tist open to the kind of things WMM does, besides the discomfort many of us would feel disclosing our darker fantasies to someone. There, the trust issue comes into play, and further complicates things.

There are some things a recording just can't duplicate, like pacing, and compensating for resistance. That's not to say it won't work, a live person is just more effective.