Three years of reading, no years of trying

[SubIgnition]

First of all, hi. This is my third post so don't expect a miracle.

I'd like to start by saying I'm not really a skeptic; those three years ago when a friend in middle school introduced me to the discipline, he was already creating psiballs and I could feel them (his were cold, somehow)

But I never seriously devoted time to trying to do it, in spite of the fact that I'm definitely a believer (also in fate and a bunch of other strange stuff)

So I've decided that now is the perfect time in my life to try for real, due to circumstances beyond my control giving me a whole bunch of extra time (don't ask.)

This is the part where I cut the introductions and rattle off questions for you guys to laugh at and hopefully answer. Go easy on me, DA

1. Should I practice in silence? I can't decide whether to work in silence (to focus more easily) or with background noise (to learn how to concentrate by filtering out the environment).

2. I've read that psionics is a very physical discipline; does that mean I should definitely not practice just after aerobic exercise?

3. The aforementioned friend had a rather unique problem; he sometimes had trouble where his psiballs wouldn't disappear. I can remember once one stayed in the air for about 20 minutes and we could still feel it there afterwards. Is this a common problem?

4. Do you have any personal advice as to what subjects/abilities to explore if/when I get psiballs down?

[neveza]

1. Depends, many will go to silence as silence helps them concentrate. Some will listen to music while doing so. Personally, I'd go for some calm music in the background.

2. I don't know what truely goes on with the physical body when psionics is done, but to be safe, could wait an hour or 2 before psionics. Or do psionics during the aerobic exercise, that'd be something I'd do. Just be observant of your feelings and symptoms, I mean, if you feel like you're going to die or pass out, stop.

3.I've been in chatrooms with people with such problems, it's not really a common problem I've seen. I think it's just the lack of skill and possible ignorance of what they're doing.

4.Keep practicing and most importantly, use your brain.

[innerfire]

1. I prefer silence, you should probably go with that to when you're starting out, don't make things harder on yourself.

2. Probably a safe bet, same deal, make things easy on yourself when you're starting out.

3. I've actually never heard of that. Either way it can be fixed pretty simply, the way I shell my constructs basically instructs them to stay in one piece only until I give the command to do otherwise. It ensures a dependable and efficient way of disposing of them.

4. Energy Manipulation is always a great starter to spend some time on. Its fairly easy for most people, and it builds up your "energy levels" for lack of a better word if you practice it enough, which will make other, more intensive skills easier to pick-up later. So yea, mess around with constructs some more after you get psiballs, I highly recommend at least knowing how to make shields if not using them all the time.

[The Devil's Advocate]

I usually do go easy on new people unless they are blatantly fools or equally blatantly here as hecklers (Skeptics are fine, hecklers are not), all I ask is you don't take discussion as persecution. Or disagreement as an insult. Now to your questions.

1) Practice where you are comfortable. If you find it easier to concentrate balancing on one hand on a tight rope, more power two you. More seriously, if you find soft music helps you focus, by all means put some on. Play with it until you find an environment where YOU are comfortable. Especially at the beginning.

2) Psi impacts the physical, the physical impacts psi. That being said, I've been throwing up shields, psi balls, and empathic projection while I am physically at a dead run practically since I started. Your mileage may vary. Again, find where you are comfortable. If you find yourself hyped and energetic 15 min after a good work out, there's no reason you should not practice. Where as when you are drained and tired, whether you have worked out or not it's probably not the best time to practice. Again as you gain experience you will have to be less careful about when you do and do not practice.

3) It can be if the main method of 'getting rid of' psiballs is simply letting them dissipate. Sometimes you have to actively 'clean up after yourself' psionically. It's usually more of a problem for people who are starting to get into the long-term construct programing. Not hugely common in my experience, but hardly unheard of.

4) Shielding and scanning are good starting places. Other than that, what are your interests? Do you have any natural aptitudes? Follow those first and see where it seems logical or interesting to branch out to.

~The Devil's Advocate

[SubIgnition]

Grr. I decided to sit down earlier in the afternoon and have a go; and I think I was getting somewhere, if only my sister hadn't decided to bust into my room at that EXACT moment! I don't think I was as focused as I should have been though. The room was too dark.

I will keep trying as silence becomes available, and hopefully see some results..

"all I ask is you don't take discussion as persecution. Or disagreement as an insult. Now to your questions."

Don't worry about that, I try to be open-minded. I hope I don't become an annoyance or anything.

Uh, quick stupid question: I've read that sometimes psi can manifest as a sort of magnetic effect; does that have anything to do with actual magnetics?

[The Devil's Advocate]

It's not actual magnetics to my knowledge. Just a common perception is of the same kind of resistance you get when you push like poles of a magnet together, but never try to make them fully touch.

~The Devil's Advocate

[TC]

The magnetic feeling, as well as many other feelings, are just your minds way of interpreting psi. Judging whether psi is affecting the physical or the mental can sometimes be tough, but with practice, you tend to be able to differentiate the two. Usually when you program psi with a sense though, your mind is merely interpreting psi using the only "physical" senses it knows. For example, if you wanted to program a construct to "taste" like chocolate, it's not really going to physically taste like chocolate. But since you programmed it that way, the psi is telling your mind that this is what this construct "is" or "is made for".

I hope that made sense to you.

[The Devil's Advocate]

Made sense to me, though TC something to consider. The 'resistance' is something that has been described to me repeatedly, even without outside influence. So I raise a question for thought. (It is not appropriate for deep discussion in THIS thread though may be later in another section of the forum.) Are we actually percieving psi in the same manner, but simply lack a uniform vocabulary to describe it? Most people can point at an object that is bright red and say 'that is red' because we have a word for it. Just food for thought. If we want to go farther down this discussion road, I'll start a new thread, in Advanced or General Psionics.

~The Devil's ADvocate

[TC]

I'd like to discuss this further, but I'll leave that for you to decide. I think I understand what you're saying, but I'm not positive...

[SubIgnition]

This feels a lot like when I was eight and I learned how to cross my eyes when a doctor got bored during an eye test. The capability was always there, but until that day I lacked the knowledge of it and the control to do so. All it took was my undivided attention towards the pen light, and that attention being (in that case) inadvertently directed in a way it had never been before.

I imagine that learning these abilities will be more difficult, taking into consideration that discovering the method, in this case, is self-directed, but I am confident that I will get my mental eyes crossing with enough effort.

Still no results yet. The weekend holds a promise of extra time, if not solitude, so with any luck my persistence will pay off.

[confuded92]

1. I personaly dont care about the noise. I filter it.

[wolfdancer]

subignition: yeah, I think that is a pretty accurate analogy for it. Even with the articles, a lot of the ability skills are still self-directed. Few people are fortunate to have other psions available locally to coach them or even via the internet due to time constraints.

[SubIgnition]

Well, it's been a while.

Last night I was too awake when I was trying to go to bed. Couldn't get comfortable, all that. So I decided to try progressive relaxation. It was amazing. Worked like a charm. In a few minutes I was calm and settled (but still mentally awake.)

But, after my muscles had stopped being so tense, I felt something else. A definite tingling. It wasn't all over, though. It felt like it was pooling near my abdomen and hip (I sleep on my side)

And then I moved it, a little. Concentrated on a part of my leg that was tingling. Made it stop. It was a strange kind of concentration, too. Normally when I think about something I can picture it in my head. This was different. It was more like.. pushing my mind towards that body part. It was almost as if the kinesthetic sense (the one that tells you where your body is in relation to itself and in space) was blurring and the distance between my head and my calf was shorter.

It wasn't even my head, though. It was like my consciousness. It's really hard to describe in words, really.

So, I felt tingling collecting along the side of my body that was facing down. Stopped it momentarily in a place. Managed to move it down my leg a bit, then up closer to my shoulder. Couldn't move it UP, though. Couldn't move it into my other shoulder, or my other arm. It was like I couldn't fight gravity with it. If gravity even applies. Dunno.

I suppose it figures that the one time I'm really NOT concentrating on making something happen.. something happens. Murphy's law.

[confuded92]

Not a mod, but double posting...

Oh, so people wont think i just gain count post like this, are you doing self hypnoses?

[SubIgnition]

I was so tired when I posted that I forgot the rule :/

It's not really self-hypnosis, I think, it's just forced/concentrated relaxation.