Another person with trance troubles

[MadDameButterfly]

So I've been trying for a few months now, listening to any files I like the sound of, usually a few times a day, or day after day, hoping that maybe one of them will affect me. However, I get the same results every time: While I'm being told to relax I have absolutely no trouble, even though I'm being way too analytical and finding problems in just about everything being said, but when I get to the part where I'm supposed to be in trance, I feel totally aware of myself, can't shut off my mind at all and have real trouble staying focused on the voice. Normally I either get lost in my own thoughts while still feeling wide awake, and jump back to the voice every few minutes, or I fall completely asleep because I was too tired that day and I do all of my hypnosis in my bed.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Do you think I might have achieved trance the few times I thought I fell asleep? One time I was interrupted and the other I woke up as the file, which I had looping, started over, and there was no gap at the end of the file after the awakener so it started pretty much instantly. Could that have been it? I did just feel like I'd gone to sleep, though, and I was really, really tired that day and in need of a good nap.
I don't know what I can do to help myself. I try to leave my mind as blank as possible, only focusing on the person speaking to me, but I have so much trouble staying focused. Am I just trying too hard?

Any help or advice you could offer would be much appreciated, because I'm really starting to lose hope.

[bandler]

So I've been trying for a few months now, listening to any files I like the sound of, usually a few times a day, or day after day, hoping that maybe one of them will affect me. However, I get the same results every time: While I'm being told to relax I have absolutely no trouble, even though I'm being way too analytical and finding problems in just about everything being said, but when I get to the part where I'm supposed to be in trance, I feel totally aware of myself, can't shut off my mind at all and have real trouble staying focused on the voice. Normally I either get lost in my own thoughts while still feeling wide awake, and jump back to the voice every few minutes, or I fall completely asleep because I was too tired that day and I do all of my hypnosis in my bed.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Do you think I might have achieved trance the few times I thought I fell asleep? One time I was interrupted and the other I woke up as the file, which I had looping, started over, and there was no gap at the end of the file after the awakener so it started pretty much instantly. Could that have been it? I did just feel like I'd gone to sleep, though, and I was really, really tired that day and in need of a good nap.
I don't know what I can do to help myself. I try to leave my mind as blank as possible, only focusing on the person speaking to me, but I have so much trouble staying focused. Am I just trying too hard?

Any help or advice you could offer would be much appreciated, because I'm really starting to lose hope.

First off, I have to ask, did you look through the forum and read the dozens of posts just like the one you posted?

If you did, you read how common it is to "feel totally aware" of yourself in trance.
If you did, you read how common it is to get lost in your own thoughts while still feeling wide awake, in trance.
If you did, you read how common it is for people to listen to files that promise the moon and the stars and feel disappointed when the file ends because their body is not measurably different than it was when the file started playing mere moments before.
If you did, you read how people who adjust their expectations and start small and persist experience great success eventually.

But if you did not.

Then I wonder if you are really serious about wanting an answer to your question.

[MadDameButterfly]

Life lesson 1: Act like a tool and you just ain't cool.

If you read my title topic, then you would realise that yes, I am aware that there have been other threads on this issue. The fact that I am able to spell correctly and use grammar should give you some indication of my intelligence.
If you read my post, you would understand that while I have read these, I am still confused and wish to know other people's opinions on whether or not I have gone into trance.
And if you listened to your mother, you would know that acting like a complete wanker when someone asks for help, does not do anyone any good. Especially not you, and especially not the person you are supposed to be helping.

I'm sorry if you misunderstood me. What I actually meant to say was, "I'm confused, stressed and would like some help on this issue because I'm confused and don't know if what I'm doing/achieving is right." Perhaps what I actually said was, "Are you a troll? Are you bored? Come on down and flame me, then!"

But rest assured, I'm sure the view is lovely from your high horse.

[qv]

Life lesson 1: Act like a tool and you just ain't cool.

If you read my title topic, then you would realise that yes, I am aware that there have been other threads on this issue. The fact that I am able to spell correctly and use grammar should give you some indication of my intelligence.
If you read my post, you would understand that while I have read these, I am still confused and wish to know other people's opinions on whether or not I have gone into trance.
And if you listened to your mother, you would know that acting like a complete wanker when someone asks for help, does not do anyone any good. Especially not you, and especially not the person you are supposed to be helping.

I'm sorry if you misunderstood me. What I actually meant to say was, "I'm confused, stressed and would like some help on this issue because I'm confused and don't know if what I'm doing/achieving is right." Perhaps what I actually said was, "Are you a troll? Are you bored? Come on down and flame me, then!"

But rest assured, I'm sure the view is lovely from your high horse.

OH BUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNN


...yeah, I was considering condemning bandler's post, but I was hoping someone else would do it for me. Now that you have, I suppose I might as well weigh in. :wink:

See, the thing is that it sounds like you're worrying too much about it. Losing hope is a bit excessive, don't you think? Especially if you aren't sure if you are or aren't entering trance.

From what you've described, I'd say you probably are experiencing trance, though it might not be that 'mindless zombie blank-stare Hollywood' kind of trance. Tell you what, grab a hypnofile with some really small effect, no hallucination triggers or anything, then just sit there and let your mind wander. Don't worry about focusing on the voice, just because you're not consciously listening doesn't mean you're not subconsciously listening.

So maybe see how that goes, and if you zonk out for the duration, that doesn't necessarily mean anything; the question you should be asking is whether the suggestions worked. Trance can be hard to pin down, hypnotic suggestions are not... unless you say nonsense like "It only worked because I wanted it to work". It worked, that's all you need to worry about.

So I hope this helps, it's not an ideal solution by any means, but it should hopefully tell you what you're trying to figure out.

[MadDameButterfly]

Okay, thank you very much. I'll give that a try. And thank you for the support as well, it was much appreciated. I was actually dreading coming back here because I thought the reply was another attack. Phew!
Anyway, I'll definitely make sure to try something simple. I just had to distract my friend for an hour after she listened to the Demoness file. Now she's just saying "Oh my God" over and over. I'd rather not have this work on something like that. XD

[qv]

Okay, thank you very much. I'll give that a try. And thank you for the support as well, it was much appreciated. I was actually dreading coming back here because I thought the reply was another attack. Phew!
Anyway, I'll definitely make sure to try something simple. I just had to distract my friend for an hour after she listened to the Demoness file. Now she's just saying "Oh my God" over and over. I'd rather not have this work on something like that. XD

Oh wow, yeah, that's... wait, how did you distract her?
Ahem, this question is purely for science, of course.
:twisted: <-(Artistic rendition?)

And as far as bandler goes, she (or possibly he, I'm not about to make assumptions) is usually fine, but sometimes just says things that I disagree with, or in this case, says things in a way that I find disagreeable. Truth be told, it's probably just frustrating to a lot of hypnotists here that there are people that don't know what hypnosis is like. With lives so immersed in it, it gets hard to imagine that there are people who don't know what to look for in a trance, because it's obvious once you know you've been in one.

So good luck! If you have trouble finding something relatively small and unobtrusive, I'd suggest ocntrl's Alternate Induction, since it has sort of a trance test in it. I have a soft spot for that one, probably since it's the only file I've come across that actually speaks directly to my subconscious mind, and my subconscious really enjoys being acknowledged like that. It's like, egomania, only... idmania? I dunno, it's sort of weird.

[MadDameButterfly]

Well, thank you very much for the suggestion. I tried it out, didn't worry about focusing on the voice but actually had no trouble today, experienced... semi(?)- tunnel vision, and I did feel the changes in my body in response to the questions, and what felt like a change in control later. However, after the switch, I still had the 'hidden' piece of knowledge, and I could answer the questions without any confusion.
So, would you say this is a small achievement and I should just work on this file a bit more? Or would you say the punchline's kind of ruined now? Seeing as the info is temporarily hidden, I'd guess it wouldn't matter because even if I knew the punchline, I wouldn't be able to remember what was missing anyway... I suppose I won't give up hope. I consider it progress. I suppose I'll try the file some more, and maybe work on other simple files like you suggested.

EDIT: We actually ended up just asking her heaps of questions and doing whatever we could to waste the hour for her without giving her what she wanted. Oh, and trying to keep her off of Omegle. She was mortified today. So obviously I teased her mercilessly. She's deleted the file and promises to be more careful next time. :3

[qv]

Well, thank you very much for the suggestion. I tried it out, didn't worry about focusing on the voice but actually had no trouble today, experienced... semi(?)- tunnel vision, and I did feel the changes in my body in response to the questions, and what felt like a change in control later. However, after the switch, I still had the 'hidden' piece of knowledge, and I could answer the questions without any confusion.
So, would you say this is a small achievement and I should just work on this file a bit more? Or would you say the punchline's kind of ruined now? Seeing as the info is temporarily hidden, I'd guess it wouldn't matter because even if I knew the punchline, I wouldn't be able to remember what was missing anyway... I suppose I won't give up hope. I consider it progress. I suppose I'll try the file some more, and maybe work on other simple files like you suggested.

EDIT: We actually ended up just asking her heaps of questions and doing whatever we could to waste the hour for her without giving her what she wanted. Oh, and trying to keep her off of Omegle. She was mortified today. So obviously I teased her mercilessly. She's deleted the file and promises to be more careful next time. :3

Okay, now I'm really intrigued. Were you just asking about the 'demoness' about herself or something? Because that is kicks ass.

...agh, not relevant, gotta stay focused...

hnnnnnnngggggg


Okay, so that definitely sounds like an improvement. You could keep working with this file to see if your subconscious mind can take a bit more control over hypnotic amnesia, but you could just as easily try out this method you've discovered with other files. Again, other files have different inductions, so it'd be worth trying to see if not worrying about the voice would work for other files too. Besides which, semantic memory is different from episodic memory anyways, so....
Yeah, I lost my train of thought again.
Protip: Staying up until sunrise is a bad idea if you're working with 4 hours of sleep per night.

[ocntrl]

Seems you are making progress, and that is nice to hear.

The major misunderstanding about hypnosis is that you should not remember anything and be in zombie like state.

Nothing is less true.

Most people will, with files, especially at first, be aware of and remember everything.

That said, hypnosis is also about allowing to suspend you disbelief for a moment.

Let me give you an example.

Most likely you can recall a movie that touched you in a strong way. Maybe to the point you shed some tears, started yelling at a character or anything else.

You did so because you were in trance. And in order to go in trance you suspended you disbelief for a while.

You ignored the fact it was actors, a staged setup, that someone recorded it, cut it up, added sound effect... you just elected to experience the movie at an emotional level although you knew it was not real.

You allowed it.

Same goes for files. Especially files because they are one-way. The hypnotist can not measure and react to your behavior. So if something phrased in is not in line with what you experience there's this instinctive reaction of 'that's not happening' and you jump then to 'so i must not be in trance'.

So for files it is critical to give the words the meaning that works for you. If it talks about a tingle in you hands, it's ok to feel it in your feet or feel a numbness, because that's how it translates for you.

If it is stated you go 10 times deeper, don't analyse what does 10 times feel like, just accept that whatever change you feel, as little as it may be, is success.

You may want to try the Deep Trance (extended version) file I created, helping people to get a better understanding of trance.

And again, at first, it won't feel like anything special. Just a feeling of calm and maybe slowness.

All the best. Be safe and have fun!

[MadDameButterfly]

Phew. So, in the end I tried listening to every file I could, but it was Calimore's Mystifying Spiral that got me. But something did get me in the end. I'm so incredibly happy I've finally managed to do it, and also that it was like I was expecting.

Thank you all so, so much for helping me out, and I'll be sure to keep working on it so I can utilise ocntrl's amazing files.