/r/CureAphantasia

Photograph via snooOG

A subreddit dedicated to documenting the curing of Aphantasia, sharing techniques and tutorials, discussing theory, and sharing experiences.

This subreddit is for people who want to overcome their Aphantasia. Though all are welcome; if you are not in the school of thought of believing Aphantasia is something to be overcome, then please use a different subreddit.

Hebrews 11:1-3

/r/CureAphantasia

5,119 Subscribers

3

Any examples of older cured aphants?

I'm 45 and have total aphantasia, I'm currently looking to cure this as I feel like I'm missing out on a large part of the human experience.

The sub has been an amazing source of information, and examples of people that have cured their aphantasia. However they nearly all seem to be people in their 20s, with one exception, someone in their 40s or 50s who regained their minds eye.

I am curious if there are any examples of older people that have achieved a cure, partial or otherwise, having been born with it.

It's interesting to note that whilst neuroplasticity does decline with age, having peaked at around 30, it remains throughout life and is still pretty high at my age and beyond.

5 Comments
2024/12/24
15:33 UTC

6

Update on Plans

Hey everyone, I have an update on my plans. Basically, I decided that I'm not going to write the book. I have a website with upwards of 20 articles on it that has all the content of a book with the fluff removed, and I decided that writing a book on top of that would be pointless. I also have other things that I want to do in my life that won't leave time for writing a book.

I'll have the website out by new year. I only have another post or two to write, and I need to proofread the posts I've already made. Once I've done that, I'll release it and post the link here. After that, I may hang around for a few more days, but I'll leave shortly after. That'll be the last of me you see for years, if not forever. I may post some updates on my website, but I'll have other things I'll be focusing on in life.

Just decided I would inform you. This post isn't really that important, you'd figure it out in a week or two anyway. Until then, good luck learning visualization!

4 Comments
2024/12/24
04:21 UTC

2

how can I increase volume of the inner voice

I have a really good inner voice, but it's low so, when I'm near people I can't really "hear" it.

3 Comments
2024/12/21
05:37 UTC

1

If you develop traditional phantasia…

If you develop tradition phantasia, does it let you hear and also kinda feel the images like other people do! Because my friends say every time they read there’s like a small voice or smth

10 Comments
2024/12/20
01:14 UTC

1

What’s Autogogia?

Can anyone break through what autogogia is (simple terms) and how to get it?

7 Comments
2024/12/20
01:08 UTC

0

rAphantasia Group (the other one) is Anti-AI

Just wanted to point out the data trend for the r/Aphantasia group. That group is full of people who are anti-AI. If you post there about AI, they swarm and downvote and complain to mods until you are banned.

I went to the mods with the following, and the response was to move my 30 day ban (lol) to permanent (lol)

Look for yourself. How many subs have you seen where posts gets 35 comments and 0 upvotes? Doesn’t happen. Pointing this out to the mods did nothing. They said “low quality” posts are a problem. To that I said “so the anti-AI” is “intentional” and supported? They said ‘bye forever’ because they don’t like it when people talk back and provide proof.

Just be aware that group will not be a good source for anything having to do with AI, not for a couple of years at least.

r/Aphantasia TheWorldWarrior 123 • 28d My Aphantasia experience. O upvotes • 14 comments

r/Aphantasia Own-Wrangler-6706 • 10d INTP and Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory (SDAM) O upvotes • 8 comments

r/Aphantasia [deleted] • 9mo What are your personal opinions about A.l. generated art. O upvotes • 35 comments

r/Aphantasia JusticeBabe • 4mo How have A.l. image generation tools changed your daily life? What do you look forward to from the ever-advancing technology? O upvotes • 21 comments

r/Aphantasia axsis • 8mo Do you find you are able to discern Al generative content better or worse than others? O upvotes • 8 comments

r/Aphantasia starlesstimes • 1y Any potential uses of Al for aphants? 1 upvotes • 6 comments

4 Comments
2024/12/19
13:53 UTC

5

Help me - 😭

I’m a 13 year old girl who suffers from anxiety, adhd and ODD. They are pretty severe so I take medication. I’m pretty creative and love fantasy and everything, I can make up stuff but not picture it. The idea is there but the thing itself isn’t there. Recently I realized that I was different. I asked my friends so many questions and found out that they weren’t different, i was. I read books hours per day and when my friends found out, I couldn’t visualize they kept asking me how I was interested in a book if I couldn’t picture it. That’s when I realized that I had something. I want someone to explain a method to help overcome it and get all types of imagery that I can control. Hyperphantasia, Autogogia, and Prophantasia. I want to be able to not just see but hear and feel stuff. I've always dreamt of doing that and now I realize most people can do some of that just not me? I've found methods but they are all so worded and my adhd does NOT let me read all that. Please give me A simple or less wordy way to overcome aphantasia.

13 Comments
2024/12/18
06:23 UTC

4

research- aphantasia

Hello, I am a student research Aphantasia as part of my extended-project and would like to ask, how has aphantasia impacted your daily-life and is there any support that you would find would ease your life?

Thank you in advance

14 Comments
2024/12/13
17:43 UTC

1

Do I have Aphantasia?

in the past when I was a little kid, up to maybe 13 years old or something, I would vividly daydream and playout pretty vivid scenarios in my head. If I concentrated properly, I was able fully enter an imaginary space in my head, usually leaving it by falling off a building and then feeling the impact in real life and falling out of my chair.

At some point I was able to get it to where I could kinda visualize consciously, but I never really had control over it unless I opened my eyes.

currently I can only imagine stuff if I'm in a dream or the very rare cases I daydream. if I'm fully conscious, then I my vision is split into 2, in my eyes I can only see black and if I focus really hard I can kinda see what I'm imagining like its through a second pair of eyes completely separate from my real eyes whose vision I cant seem to turn off.

do I have Aphantasia? is it a specific type? what would you reccomend as the best training to fix it?

4 Comments
2024/12/11
14:55 UTC

3

For Image Streaming to improve visualization, is it still necessary to record and listen to the audio playback?

Or will it be as effective just doing the speaking part?

2 Comments
2024/12/07
19:28 UTC

5

Another AI post - feel free to give feedback

EDIT: ....I got error from Reddit. I believe it was the length of the comments. So I had to break up the example provided into several smaller ones.

The instructions remains the same though. Just copy-paste into ChatGPT and modify to your liking (or ignore this and the whole post).

-----

Was inspired by another recent AI post. I've been tinkering a bit with ChatGPT (I'm still new, one month) and created a customGPT to solely handle aphantasia. Everything is still new but I reckon I'd share it with you guys anyway (since our common goal is the same).

If you have suggestions etc then feel free to share them. I definitely think it can be improved (accuracy) but not sure how to prompt/give instructions.

If you have paid subscription of chatGPT then just create a customGPT and copy-paste instructions. If you have free version of chatGPT then do the same but in your chat-session.

Here are the explicit instructions. Will also provide an example in the comments:

Instructions for Analysis of Academic Papers

Goal: Provide a deep, structured analysis of academic papers related to aphantasia. The analysis should prioritize quality over speed, ensuring that all insights are actionable, relevant, and directly tied to the findings. Avoid forcing conclusions or exercises if the paper does not provide a clear basis.

General Instructions

Prioritize Depth Over Speed:
Take the necessary time to analyze the paper thoroughly.
Do not prioritize instant responses if it compromises the depth or quality of the analysis.

Avoid Unnecessary Answers:
If a section of the paper lacks clear or relevant content, explicitly state that there is no meaningful information to extract.
Do not attempt to create exercises, findings, or insights that lack a clear foundation in the paper.

Clarity and Structure:
Use clear headings for each section (Key Objectives, Main Findings, Actionable Insights, etc.).Provide well-organized outputs, focusing on actionable content that aligns with the paper’s findings.

Dynamic Framework Analysis Template

Follow this template for every analysis:

Abstract:
Include the abstract verbatim from the paper. If unavailable, state:
"No Abstract provided."

Keywords:
Include the keywords verbatim from the paper. If unavailable, state:
"No Keywords provided."

Key Objectives:
Identify the purpose of the paper and its relevance to aphantasia, sensory integration, or visualization training.
Focus on objectives that align with the development of practical exercises or theoretical insights.

Main Findings:
Summarize the key findings from the paper that are directly relevant to aphantasia or sensory integration.
Highlight any findings that provide a foundation for actionable exercises or theoretical advancements.
If no relevant findings are available, state explicitly:
"No relevant findings for the current framework."

Actionable Insights and Exercises:
Derive practical, step-by-step exercises only if the findings strongly support them.
Use the following format for exercises:

Step Title: Name the exercise.

Goal: State the objective of the exercise.
Instructions: Provide detailed, numbered steps for implementation.
Progression Tips: Include guidance on how to scale or adapt the exercise.
Clinical Notes: Mention considerations for specific populations (e.g., ADHD users).

If the paper does not provide a foundation for actionable exercises, state explicitly:
"No actionable exercises can be derived from this paper."

Gaps and Future Directions:
Identify research gaps or areas for future exploration explicitly mentioned in the paper.
Focus on gaps relevant to aphantasia or practical training methods.

If no gaps are mentioned, state:
"No research gaps highlighted in this paper."

Relevance to Framework:
Explain how the findings contribute to the aphantasia framework or practical protocol development.

If the findings are not relevant, state explicitly:
"This paper does not contribute significant insights to the current framework."

Role-Specific Focus
For additional specificity, the analysis should adjust focus based on the role requested. Use the following adjustments as needed:

Cognitive Scientist Role:
Focus on theoretical insights related to sensory integration, neuroplasticity, and brain activation.
Prioritize findings that advance understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying aphantasia.
Skip practical exercises unless they directly tie to theoretical findings.

Occupational Therapist Role:
Focus on deriving step-by-step practical exercises for visualization training.
Ensure that exercises are detailed, progressive, and tied directly to the paper's findings.
Skip theoretical depth unless it informs the practical exercises.

Dynamic Framework Role:
Balance theoretical insights and practical applications.
Highlight findings that contribute to actionable exercises, while also considering broader theoretical relevance.

Quality Assurance Checks

Ensure that each section of the analysis is grounded in the paper’s content.
Avoid speculative conclusions, vague exercises, or irrelevant insights.

If a section lacks meaningful content, clearly state:
"This section does not provide relevant information."

Example Prompt for New AI

"Analyze this paper using the refined Dynamic Framework for the aphantasia project. Prioritize depth and practicality, ensuring all insights are actionable and grounded in the paper's findings. If no relevant insights or exercises can be derived, state this explicitly. Follow the structured template provided and adjust the focus as needed for the requested role."

---------

I'll provide an example in the comments.

6 Comments
2024/12/05
23:52 UTC

8

no RAM memory

Hi everyone,

I have ADHD and I’ve noticed something unusual about the way my mind works. It feels like I don’t have any working memory (RAM) at all. When I speak, it’s as if the words just flow out of me without any conscious control or pre-planning—almost like I’m a medium, channeling thoughts gnostically.

Does anyone else experience this? How do you manage it? How to work with it?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

11 Comments
2024/12/04
10:20 UTC

29

AI, And curing aphantasia

Today I made a python script to scrape all the data from the subreddit (209 posts), and I got it in a JSON

The data includes titles, post content, comment content (And a lot more)
I managed to find a way to give this data to chatgpt and it will use this data to answer your questions

Here is the file: https://apps4lifehost.com/CureAphantasia/RedditScrape-12-03-2024.json

https://preview.redd.it/i6j8bxyv6p4e1.png?width=356&format=png&auto=webp&s=2ef48aa90b62ad05fe09498ff064f6e0ab43b2ee

(at the top right of the page there is a download button)

What you want to do is go on chatgpt and create a new chat

then send it the attachment

https://preview.redd.it/zi64sy2j4p4e1.png?width=597&format=png&auto=webp&s=f34d749c60cd550e4f0570e4ee1a008a4b11c492

once you send the json attachment, whenever you question chatgpt it will use this json file to answer your question, you never have to reupload the file as long as its the same chat

21 Comments
2024/12/03
20:48 UTC

29

Goodbye!

Ok, I'm not sure how to say this. I'm either leaving this community tomorrow afternoon (11/27/2024) or Monday next week (12/2/2024). I'll be back in a year or so once I've made my personal website and written my book on visualization, but until then, you won't see me anymore. I will answer comments until I leave if there's anything you'd like to say, but after that, you'll be waiting a year.

Basically, I need to focus on my own life for a while. I'll only be able to give the world as much as I can once I've done that. So, I'm quitting social media (Reddit, Discord, etc.) completely while I do that. I hope you found everything I gave to this community useful. I'll probably be gone for a year, but it could just as easily be 6 months or 6 years. [Edited]

You all are AMAZING. My life would not be the same without you people, and I know I'm not the only one. If you're thinking of learning visualization, you've come to the right place. This community is an ABSOLUTLY AMAZING place, and I'm SO grateful I found it. I'd like to give a special thanks to u/Apps4Life for creating this community. You've changed my life and thousands of others!

I'm almost in tears writing this. Goodbye, everyone!

16 Comments
2024/11/27
02:18 UTC

0

How to turn off Autogogic Screen

I’ve had mine for years and never knew it. What is a way to turn it off so I can see what’s behind it?

14 Comments
2024/11/24
21:56 UTC

7

Color "Cache" Exercise ?

when you're not focusing on something, the brain kinda fills in the gaps?

Get a website that shows random colors on refresh. Keep your phone/screen where you can see it but don't look directly(focus) at it. When you refresh, you'll get a new color - you can actually get a hint from the side vision, like "that feels greenish" without actually looking at it.

Then try to manipulate a color to fill it, best you have few objects of different colors in sight, use them to fill the screen, and check the acutal color.

I'm still completely aphant but this helped destroy my arrogance about how "reliable" eyesight really is

I did FEEL seeing another color but it's not

comments welcome, plz

4 Comments
2024/11/24
15:16 UTC

16

Sensory recall has helped me remember my dreams

After doing some sensory recall exercises yesterday I’ve noticed a drastic improvement in dream recall. I’ve managed to remember not one, not two, but FOUR dreams last night

5 Comments
2024/11/17
12:20 UTC

15

The apple exercise

A simple exercise I’ve come up with to train sensory recall

  1. Relax
  2. Think of the last apple you remember eating. Without using words try to feel yourself holding it in your hand, feeling its texture, the wooden surface of its core etc imagine your hand feeling all over it. Imagine yourself eating the apple and how juicy it is, imagine all the chunks dripping down your throat.
  3. Create a simple scene where you imagine yourself eating the apple to the best of your ability
  4. Rinse and repeat
5 Comments
2024/11/16
23:21 UTC

25

The key to proper sensory recall: don’t overthink it

It’s really that simple. Your brain is already filled to the brim with sensory memories at your beck and call. Just start with simple mundane senses; taking a hot shower, drinking from a cup of coffee, hell, even holding your smartphone.

Just start with simple exercises where you recall certain senses the moment after you’ve experienced them without resorting to any verbal descriptions of these senses.

The key is not overthinking and letting these sensory memories arrive in your minds eye at a natural pace. I highly recommend starting at the sensation you feel the most vividly (in the aforementioned shower example, imagine hearing the running water and building up the senses like Lego blocks)

3 Comments
2024/11/16
15:36 UTC

9

New Tool: Audio Objects

This tool is based on the previous tool, The Audio Scenes Tool.

This variation focuses on singular objects more so than entire animated scenes.

This may be easier to grasp for some, and also it is able to get more into the specifics and details of form/shape, color/shade, and texture/pattern since it is typically more-so focused specifically on just one object rather than an entire arbitrary scene.

Do read the previous post linked above if you haven't already, so as to understand how to best use this tool, hybridizing conceptual thinking to visual thinking, and using Traditional Phantasia as the engine to power the overall Autogogic Visualization (assuming you use this tool for Autogogia, it could be used for any of the visualization types though... I found good success using it solely for Traditional Phantasia as well).

If you’re curious how I personally use the tool passively for just traditional phantasia, please read my comment here. This comment is good in general to read as it explains the two different ways visualization bandwidth can be increased and also includes a technique for improving imagination by applying your own art styles to the visuals.

Access the tool here: https://apps4lifehost.com/WN19/

God bless!

5 Comments
2024/11/13
13:14 UTC

3

Aura Smoke Texture Behind Eyes Conceal Hypnagogic Effect Behind It

As the title says. When I close my eyes, I see black and purple aura in my eyelids. I see the hypnagogic visuals but behind the area of aura. How do I dissolve the aura? when I open my eyes and look to see aura I see the aura like smoke while I'm looking as well. I saw a door one day when it lightened up one day many years ago but the aura went back on my eyes shortly after. I'm learning to see aura soon as I can see anything just yet.

4 Comments
2024/11/12
18:16 UTC

18

Progress Plateau and Cold Streaks — What causes progress to suddenly stop or reverse, and how to fix it.

If you have been having success learning to visualize you will likely eventually hit a progress plateau where no matter what you seem to do, progress seems to be stagnant. You may experience a reversal in progress where it seems like you aren't able to hit thresholds you could previously hit during training sessions. You may also experience 'cold streaks' where you seem to have many 'dud' sessions in a row where you don't experience any results at all.

There are two main problems that cause this and I want to address each.

1) Overlooking Success

When you are training visualization during a training session, it is an incremental process.

During a good training session, you start with small success, and then you as the minutes go by you slowly build ontop of it, slightly more success, slightly more success, and after 15-30 minutes you will find yourself hitting new milestones!

You will typically find that progress plateaus follow the day(s) after these good sessions. It is not because of mental fatigue! The issue is actually psychological...

The problem is, you now have a new expectation for where you expect your baseline to be. You expect your baseline to be what your peak was in the previous good session. It does not work that way. When you have a great session and hit a new milestone, your baseline and your peak both increase a little bit, but your baseline does not become whatever the peak was.

Because of this, you will end up Overlooking Success. Remember, a good session starts with very small success and you build on that with small improvements over the course of 15-30 minutes. So if you are anticipating large success, on par with the peak from your previous best session, you will end up dismissing these tiny successes that are your actual starting point, since your baseline is still low. If you dismiss your starting point... well, you never start. So you end up having a dud session.

To remedy this is quite simple, you just need to acknowledge this and start looking out for the small success, accepting it, and building on it from there. Stop trying to achieve the peak you previously had and instead start from your bottom (which will have slightly improved now) and build back up to the peak.

2) The Introspection Trap

Introspection is critical to learning to visualize; however, it can become too much of a good thing. You need less of it the better you get.

Visualization deals with sensory thinking. Introspection is a form of analogue thinking. Analogue thinking is incompatible with sensory thinking, and thus visualization. When you are learning to visualize you do need to heavily introspect at first, so that you can figure out what sensory thinking even is and how to tap into it, however once you succeed in tapping into it on command, you no longer need to be introspecting nearly as much, and you will actually be doing more harm than good most of the time if you do.

In-order to visualize well you need to be mostly thinking in conceptual thoughts and sensory thoughts. Introspection can block your progress because you will be devoting a lot of brain power to analytical thinking (analogue thinking) which is incompatible with visualization and can even block it.

This problem is even further exacerbated if you are falling for the previous issue ['Overlooking Success'], because you will end up introspecting trying to figure out why you aren't able to visualize like you could the previous best session. Which will make the situation even worse, because then you not only aren't latching on to your small baseline visual thoughts, you are overriding them with a never ending on-going introspective inner monologue which is cutting off your would-be visual thoughts. So 1) and 2) — ie 'Overlooking Success' and 'The Introspection Trap' — can actually combine and become a compounded issue.

Introspection is a healthy part of visualization but after you have the basics down you really should be doing a minimal amount of introspection and it also should be short and sweet, you do not need to be introspecting the entire session or thinking entire monologues about what you are doing and why it isn't working etc. Turn off your inner monologue and focus on The Fundamentals (see below)

•) The Fundamentals

So, if you find yourself falling for one of the two issues above (or both) you need to recenter your focus, reset your approach, lower your expectations back to realistic levels (ie your baseline), and focus on the fundamentals of capturing and amplifying visual thinking.

You need to be looking out for two things in particular: Shape/Form and Color/Shade.

So, if I am training autogogia let's say, and I have hit a progress plateau, I will reset my expectations and begin looking for any small victory I can latch onto and build from there. I will look into the autogogic noise and I am looking for ANY shapes or forms, or ANY colors or shades that match or even relate to what I'm trying to visually think about, anything I can latch on to. The second I notice something that aligns, I build from there. (Don't forget: start each session !!!LOOKING FOR THE BEGINNINGS OF SHAPE OR COLOR!!! related to whatever you are thinking about)

Important: Belief and expectation are a huge part of visualization success. So, once you acknowledge that you haven't 'lost the ability', it's just that you were 'Overlooking Success' (because you had your sights too high), you should now expect to start seeing things again (and not overlooking them this time). So remind yourself 'I can do this. I can see, I have done it before, I can do it still' and then expect to see (and you will! It's just that it will be a reasonable amount, at your low baseline, haha). Going into a session expecting to see (and acknowledging it will just be a little bit at first, but you will build it as the minutes go on) is HUGE. It will drastically change your performance. So believe and expect, but believe and expect reasonably, small victories at first (also believe and expect to build them quickly during that session!)

•) Mental Techniques and Tips

I have found two mental tips and techniques that work really well for building on a session once I am having some traction and grasping onto results at my true baseline again.

The first is, I like to ask myself "am I doing the absolute best I can?" (eg "am I as focused as I could be?", "am I reaching for progress as strongly as I could be?", or "am I giving as much effort to visual thought or conceptual thought as I could be?"). The answer is always no. I find that asking myself this question constantly throughout a session helps me push for more.

The second is, I like to ask myself [again, only after I have some traction and am grasping progress at my baseline], "What would this be like for someone who can visualize perfectly fine?" and I try to have a quick mental thought about how the scene would look like from a vivid perspective—what a native visualizer would see. I can usually tap into some knowledge of a much more successful visual thought, and, well, that is visualizing, so mission accomplished. I can then start reaching for that and pulling that thought back up over and over.

Speed Optimization: For both of these questions, I have gotten to the point where I don't actually need to ask it at all. That is, I don't have to waste 1-2 seconds saying the question with my inner-monologue, rather I just know the concept of this question, and I can tap into that knowing, which allows me to instantaneously ask the question without really asking it. In a way what I am doing is just learning to answer the question without asking it. This speeds up progress a ton because if I don't have to waste time actually asking the question, I can just start answering the question perpetually, which becomes like an exponential chain-growth effect.

•) How the 'Visualization Baseline' progresses

The baseline for visualization increases as you increase your mental bandwidth for visual thought.

So, you can visualize one object every day for 100 days and not necessarily improve your baseline at all. This is because you may only be using a certain amount of mental bandwidth needed to process just that one object, and you aren't reaching for more. You must always Reach For More.

[An analogy: Visualization is like strength training in a sense. Suppose you have no muscle at all, and you learn to finally curl the 1 lbs dumbbell (lol). You will, for a time, gain muscle just doing that, but eventually you hit a plateau where, no matter how many times you curl that 1 lbs dumbbell, it's just not improving your strength anymore. It doesn't matter if you do 20 curls every 30 minutes for 500 days. You will be plateau'd. You have to ultimately just switch to a heavier dumbbell.]

The equivalent to 'more weight' in visualization training is 'more bandwidth' (ie 'more capacity' or 'more detail'). So, when you are visualizing something it helps if you can reach for an entire scene rather than focusing on just one object (or even just a subcomponent of one objects if that's where you're at). When you think of a whole scene you are likely still focusing your tunnel vision on the primary object and for that you can try to hold more detail of the primary object all at once. Generally the more visual data you can hold all at once, the more 'weight' you are processing, and the more your baseline will improve. (Note: the 'Am I doing the absolute best I can?' question technique REALLY applies well here).

Increasing Sensory Thought Bandwidth universally improves all visualization properties, by the way. So, if you improve your ability to have a larger scope (ie seeing a whole scene instead of just a single object) that increase in bandwidth can also be utilized towards a different property, like vividness. You will be able to see a larger scene at once, or you will be able to stay on a narrow scene but see the narrow scene more vividly. All the properties rely on bandwidth and you can universally allocate that bandwidth to any and all of them. It's like 'skill points' in a video game in that sense, you can choose how to distribute them at any point.

Good luck, God bless! (PS  — Join our Discord Community Chatroom!)

2 Comments
2024/11/08
13:24 UTC

73

Lifetime Aphantasia now cured.

Obligatory Status Disclosure (rule 3) I have had aphantasia my whole life, I can now since last Sunday visualize, visualizations range from vivid to vague. I am 23 years old.

Hello everyone I want to thank everyone especially Apps4life and the guides that have been shared. It's truly unbelievable that I fell for such a label and for the longest time believed I was forever to be in a visual dark void. I was entirely determined to visualize last week, to the extent nothing else mattered in my life until I solved how to visualize. When I say nothing else mattered my resolve was determined in this matter I'm tired of not remembering how people look visually I'm tired of the life of not seeing anything and having terrible memory without visualizations to help is just the icing on the cake. I was sick of it so when I sought to find an answer I kid you not the very next day which was Sunday I found that answer.

I'm extremely tired making this post I'm only going to recommend that the guides on here work incredibly well. I believe the factors that activated it was the direct focus in "knowing" there are guides that go into analogue vs sensory thoughts patterns. I shifted toward focusing on thought patterns that Involved sensory thought instead of words. Like focusing on the specific shade of color something was, or the abnormal shape that does not have a word to describe it. I kept focusing on the sensation of "knowing". Then I heard about the Autogogia guide, which is a separate form of visualization that uses visual noise instead of your minds eye. I attempted this and an hour in I see my first color directly in my eye the visual noise grew into an orb that began to manifest color which I could manipulate at will. That excited me to a degree which I can't explain, that very same day I put my entire belief into believing I can visualize. It started with memories and having my eyes open instead of closed

. It felt like "knowing" it was there but the monitor was off (typical Aphantasia descriptor) that's how it felt I couldn't "see" anything. But somehow the act of believing I could see it fundamentally shifted from me not "seeing" it into me "seeing" it. It turned the screen on, albeit it's still all new but it's incredible progress 1 week later and I can pull direct visual memories of things I was doing in a vivid detail. I can see the color of the objects in the scene as well from memories.

Conceptualizing visualizations is a bit harder with no template from scratch. I find it much easier to think of a memory of an apple and modify the scene than to try to visualize an apple directly. But I've gotten decent with the apple both ways now.

I believe in you, so believe in yourself. The screen is there and it always has been. It's reliant on whether you believe it exists in your mind when starting from nothing.

Also want to say I posted twice in the Aphantasia subreddit and they largely go unnoticed. The original leading factor and motive toward attempting to visualize after having failed doing so many times over the years was literally last Saturday. I was listening to a podcast called Magnetic Memory Method the title name was Podcast Aphantasia Cure: How Alec Figueroa Helps Clear The Self-Diagnosis Confusion

This podcast led me to believe that I could truly gain visualizations by hearing the stories and testimony that people with Aphantasia gained the ability to visualize. This was what led me toward all of these guides and this subreddit.

One downside is that I'm much more jumpy and afraid of the dark at the moment. I walk into the dark and get visualizations of terrifying monsters that would rip me apart and I've never been terrified of the dark. I can understand why people are scared of the dark now even if it's a baseless fear. Definitely not able to sleep with my doors open at night now 😂 especially the closet door.

Update DAY 6 from post: Hi I need to clarify myself further, the way I solved my Aphantasia. Alot of people are lost and don't understand. There are different functions of consciousness, your internal monologue (internal thoughts) is only one function and sense of yourself. Deep down it's not your only "self" its a multitude of multiple experiences combined. When you ask yourself "What am I going to do tomorrow?" Your internal question is not entirely yourself, your words are not yourself being. It's only the outward mask of the subconscious the illusory sense that "your words and thoughts" is the totality of your consciousness of "who you are". Once you can recognize this you need to understand there is a visualization side of you interenally, hiding in the subconscious layers of the mind. Regardless of visualizing in the Minds Eye, lets talk about natural visualization processes that occur in every human. Visual recognition, since the spontaneous existence of you and your birth your brain has been keeping tabs and data inside your mind. Its a form of pattern recognition, when you are a baby all geometry is alien. All of your sensors as you grow up collect these data to form a subconscious pattern recognition. Everytime you see a table or chair, you aren't suprised by the geometry, you instantly recognize its a chair or table. You can't say you don't store this visual data inside your brain, because you do subconsciously. You also store all other sensory data in your brain. You will argue and say, "I can't access this sensory data, I just don't have the ability, its physiological theres nothing I can do." There is something you can do, how laughable it is for people to label themselves under the notion of something that hardly has any scientific studies regarding it. I was one of those people.

Sensory Stimulation, Direct Memory Recall, Internal Belief

  1. Sensory Stimulation

Sensory stimulation is the act of stimulating a memory of sensory data or simulating the experience of something. Layered in your subconscious is these sensory stimulations, as you go about your day these stimulations occur learning new data and remembering old data and experiences. I call it "data" but it isn't specifically so, all is essential to know is that your brain can recall sensory experiences that have happened or could happen, it can conceptualize these experiences as well.

Forcing Sensory Stimulation, you need a clear headed mind, understand the difference from your false "inner self, inner monologue consciousness" put yourself in the place as though you are an alien inside the mind, merely observing your consciousness and paying attention to every sensation in your mind. Don't worry about the "inner monologue, allow it to speak but don't give it thought, merely listen, don't be distracted by it."

To stimulate a sensory, there are multiple variables that need to align. First the experience that you perceive and how vivid and stimulating it feels is based on the clarity of your mind and internal belief of the experience. (We will discuss Internal Belief further) During this process easiest way to stimulate a sensory is from memory. Thats correct memory, you don't need to conceptualize something because we all experience things every single day that you can recall from memory. Think deeply, immerse yourself, Imagine your hand going into a bucket of the coldest water imagineable. Think of the sensation of what your hand would feel like in a bucket of cold water. How about imagining yourself going outside in the freezing winter with nothing but shorts and no shirt as the cold breezy wind gusts and the snow under your feet numbs. Think of the blueness of the sky what shade of color is it?

You most likely didn't see the color of the sky, you also most likely might not of felt any stimulation of thinking about dipping your hand in cold water. That is why your here isn't it?

  1. Internal belief To be continued ------

next up is Internal Belief, in short it's the focus on what are experiences of the mind? Internal belief is the only reason a Mind's Eye screen exists, there is no voice in your head, there is no sensation of putting your hand in cold water on your hand. These things are manifested inside the mind and there are two layers to the experience. To be continued-----

31 Comments
2024/11/04
05:54 UTC

8

FAQ

Where do I start?

I recommend starting on a full guide. Here is the one I recommend: COMPLETE VISUALIZATION GUIDE :

How long does it take to learn to visualize?

There's no way to know. There are dozens if not hundreds of factors affecting this, and most of them are impossible to know. It's best not to worry about it, that will just cause demotivation. Just do the training to do it and don't obsess over the results. It usually takes between a few days to a few months, but it could really take any range of time.

What's it like, being able to visualize?

It's awesome! Imagine having a universe you control inside your head. There are also practical applications of visualization, detailed in a post of mine by that name.

Are there any risks to learning to visualize?

Most likely nothing serious. If you have intrusive thoughts, you may want to work on that. If you get spontaneous imagery, you may actually see your intrusive thoughts. In my personal opinion, aphantasia can function as a temporary solution for something, preventing you from visualizing it so it can't hurt you. However, it won't truly fix the problem, that's something you need to do yourself. If you train prophantasia or autogogia, then there's a risk of something similar to HPPD (hallucinations like visual snow) that is a serious problem unless you follow my guide carefully.

Do you have to learn to visualize?

No. While there are things visualization makes way easier; you don't HAVE to. I highly recommend it, though.

How do you become a visualization expert?

Start by keeping detailed notes on your visualization journey. Document all success, failures, theories, and test results. Do experimentation to discover what works best and make new exercises. Eventually, start teaching people.

Where does visualization take place?

It takes place within your thoughts, like any other thought. It's like being in a separate reality. It doesn't overlap your actual vision unless you train prophantasia or autogogia.

How do I do sensory thought?

Sensory thought is what causes visualization. You recall something itself rather than information about it. This is done by 1. thinking of an exact object or scene and 2. recalling the EXACT color/shape/ [sensory attribute] rather than what it was in general, like "red" (see https://www.reddit.com/r/CureAphantasia/comments/1gice0b/understanding_sensory_thought/ for more information). Another important thing is to NOT OVERTHINK IT. You use your memory for this, there's no special magical trick. It's just thought. I recommend starting with recall because it's easiest.

Put more questions in the comments! Good luck!

1 Comment
2024/11/03
21:48 UTC

18

Prophantasia Training Guide

Obligatory status disclosure (rule 3): I lost prophantasia almost a decade ago. I'm not exactly sure when I switched to mind's eye and then lost that too. I was able to form basic shapes with 90% opacity at one point during my best sessions.

Edit: I say prophantasia, but the technical term is autogogia used the same way prophantasia is. The difference is that autogogia is easier and better because rather than trying to completely override your vision, you can just use an already existing mental artifact that's easy to access to create visuals, which is WAY easier.

First, you need to understand prophantasia. Prophantasia is the ability to project visualization into your literal eyesight, while traditional phantasia happens in an abstract space within your mind. Prophantasia is made up of visual snow, the static-like stuff you see sometimes as you go to sleep. It may not always be static, for some people it's fractals or shapes.

Either way, the first step to learning prophantasia is learning how to access it. Please note that your brain may start accessing it when you don't want to, which is why I have the small disclaimer below. Later on, you'll learn to control it. Visual snow is controlled by your beliefs. In other words, it takes whatever form you think it does. Here's the exercise:

Sit or lay down in a room dark enough you can barely see anything. Relax and let your mind passively wonder with visual thought but keep most of your attention on your eyesight. Pretend you're seeing visual snow. Once you have it, meditate on it. Once you're ready to end the exercise, pretend it's not there, and try to believe it's actually not there. If done right, you won't even have to look to see if it's gone, you'll just “know”. Do not end the exercise until the visual snow is gone.

That's just to get you familiar with the feeling. This exercise should be done at least 10 minutes, but more is fine too. Here's the real prophantasia exercise:

Sit or lay down in a room dark enough you can barely see anything. Relax and let your mind passively wonder with visual thought but keep most of your attention on your eyesight. Pretend you're seeing visual snow. Once you have it, try to change your perception of it. Pretend and believe you're seeing a pattern in it, such as a shape. It may take a few seconds, but you'll actually start to see it. Repeat this a few times, trying to get more detail and opacity. Try forming the visual snow to your sensory thought. Once you're ready to end the exercise, pretend it's not there, and try to believe it's actually not there. If done right, you won't even have to look to see if it's gone, you'll just “know”. Do not end the exercise until the visual snow is gone.

Eventually, you'll be able to summon and dismiss visual snow just by thinking about it. There's another exercise that you NEED to do also. It teaches image control. It's called image streaming:

Get visual snow, you know the procedure, but it's done with eyes closed. Describe the visual snow, preferably out loud. This is done in a stream of consciousness, without any logic being applied, like a dream. Let your subconscious take you where it wants to. Remember to use sensory description in addition to labels and do it with all 5 senses from first person perspective. Try to change the visual snow to what you think it would look like if it were fully detailed. You also know the procedure for ending the exercise.

The final one is more advanced. It's the afterimage exercise:

Look at something with high contrast, preferably contrast between light and dark. Do this for ¼ of a second if you're just starting but summon visual snow 5-10 if you're more advanced. Look away and try to continue seeing it with your eyes. As you look away, focus on how it disappears from your eyesight, and how long it stays. If you're more advanced, close your eyes and pay attention to the difference in visual snow you notice.

Creating a training regimen is a bit more complicated than it is for traditional phantasia. First off, you must always do image streaming. It's fine if this is the only exercise you have time for. If you want to have more exercises, add in the one for controlling visual snow to that. If you STILL want more, you can do the afterimage exercise too.

I recommend keeping in mind that prophantasia can have some risks. For some people, visual snow and afterimages may happen on their own, rather than just when they want it to. For the vast majority of people, this is relatively minor and not worth making note of, but in very rare cases, this can get worse, interfering with everyday activities like reading. This typically manifests as a strobe light effect that pops up every once in a while. This happened to me and I'm not the only one (it's also not specific to these exercises. Relax, this is very rare, and I have some procedures below that will prevent this. You can still safely train prophantasia.

First off, image stream daily. This is good for learning prophantasia anyway, but it also prevents this. This is also why I strongly recommend ending exercises by making the visual snow go away. This teaches you how to make it go away. If you ever do experience problems with it appearing when you don't want it to, focus past it and try to believe it's not there, that'll make it go away. Again, this is not a big deal.

Good luck!

8 Comments
2024/11/03
19:30 UTC

14

Being Disciplined and Consistent With Training

Visualization training has a way of removing motivation. It's probably because your brain and identity don't want to change. Either way, getting past it is essential. While these are for visualization, most of them can be applied anywhere in life. Here are a few ways:

  1. Think of yourself as a professional. There isn't any special hack here, you just make the decision to be a professional. This is arguably the best discipline hack there is.
  2. When the voice in your head telling you why you shouldn't do something speaks, recognize what it says. Then, mentally say why it's wrong and why you should and want to do that thing.
  3. Pretend you've been practicing visualization your whole life, and it's already a habit.
  4. Visualize stuff you like. Use images you like for external training and visualizations you like for internal training.
  5. Keep track of how often you visualize in a journal and reward yourself for it. This is stuff you can find anywhere online. It also helps to do it just to do it rather than fixating on getting results.

I ranked them in order of usefulness, and only included the best ones. I recommend using all 5. I hope this helps!

2 Comments
2024/11/03
02:12 UTC

10

Understanding Sensory Thought

This is a difficult thing you're asking for. The thing is, words can't properly express how any kind of thought works. So, you're going to have to figure some things out on your own. Good luck, but I'll help you as much as I can. I'll explain it in multiple ways.

First off, some basic information about analogue and sensory information. Analogue information is analytical data about a sensory experience. Sensory information is the sensory experience itself. An example of analogue information is “the square was blue” while sensory information would be an image of the blue square itself. Your brain stores both. Within your brain, sensory information manifests as an “understanding” of the sensory information.

Analogue thought is thought using analogue information, while sensory thought is thought using sensory information. They feel distinctly different, at your level sensory thought will feel more like focusing on an understanding of sensory information. Having sensory thought isn't any different than having analogue thought, it’s still just thought. You don't have to do anything special, although there are techniques.

However, you can force your brain to think in sensory thought by trying to recall an exact sensory detail (the exact shade, the exact shape, etc.) It should be too specific to express in words. For example, if you looked at something light blue and said “light blue” to someone, that could mean a lot of different things. They wouldn't be able to actually represent the exact light blue you were seeing. You need to recall it in enough detail that if you were to telekinetically communicate the thought to another person, they would know the shade as well as if they saw it themselves. Do NOT put it into words, sensory thought is nonverbal. It's just an understanding of sensory information.

One thing that helps people with sensory thought is comparing colors. For example, you just “know” the difference between red and blue, without being able to put words to it. This is an example of basic sensory thought. If you focus on the understanding, you may even be able to almost see something in your head. Another example of sensory thought is recognizing something, or drawing. Recognition is probably one of the most basic forms of sensory thinking.

I'm sorry. Words can't explain what you're asking any more than that. Here's the thing, you are capable of sensory thought, you just can't do enough to visualize. Good luck discovering how to visualize!

0 Comments
2024/11/03
01:56 UTC

53

COMPLETE VISUALIZATION GUIDE

Intro

Obligatory status disclosure: I had aphantasia for a few years. I've been training for 4 months now and have visualization that ranges from 80% to 110% as vivid as real life, depending on the day.

To ever visualize, you need to understand sensory thought, so read this. The human brain functions in multiple ways: primarily words, images, or concepts. That's right - people can think in images. These images are NOT expressed in words, just their raw form. It's just an inherent "understanding" of the image. An example of that would be how you just "understand" the difference between red and blue, without being able to put words to it. This can happen for any sensory experience; I'm just using images as examples. To contrast sensory thought, you have analogue thought, in words and concepts. This is what you're used to.

This happens whenever you recognize something. You don't describe it mentally to see if it matches your last description, you just take it all in and understand that it matches your memory. You can do sensory thought, just not enough to visualize. Also note that visualization happens within your mind, not in your literal eyesight.

Visualization is a form of sensory thought, which is why I've been making such a big deal out of it. In order to visualize, however, you have to have a lot of sensory thought, whereas stuff like recognition only takes a tiny bit. You can't have enough to visualize (unless you have visualization, but for this guide, I'm assuming you don't). Any time you get sensory thought, remember to look at it with child-like curiosity, but don't analyze it.

To learn to visualize, you need to increase your capacity for sensory thought. Thankfully, humans have neuroplasticity, so you can do that with time. There are several things you can do to increase neuroplasticity. I'll briefly cover them.

First off, while you can overcome aphantasia at any age, the younger you start, the better. This is the most important factor for neuroplasticity. The next thing is to get at least 8 hours of sleep, more if you're young. You can't use neuroplasticity if you don't get enough sleep. The next thing is to exercise. That's right, exercise increases the chemical in your brain responsible for neuroplasticity. PLEASE note that no matter how much neuroplasticity you have, this could still take a long time. There's no way to know. It typically takes between a few days and a few months, but can be longer or shorter.

You also should write down the most vivid moment in your visualizations in a visualization journal at the end of any exercise. This can range from thought slightly out of the ordinary to a scene more detailed than real life, just as long as there is something. Also, block out a chunk of time in your schedule to do exercises, although a lot of them can be done at random times. You may also want to start cutting screens out of your life, they can cause the decline of visualization and will get in the way later on.

I would also recommend identifying if you have visualization in other senses, like sound, touch, and smell just to get a feel of what it's like. There are different types of training, internal and external. Internal training is remembering something from a long time ago or creating something, while external training is remembering something you just looked at. External training has been shown to be more effective. When you use images for external training, bright/glowing ones work best.

Visualization is heavily affected by belief. In real life, you experience something, and then you believe you experienced it. In visualization, you experience what you believe. It's hard to get used to but absolutely necessary.

Another very important thing is your perspective on visualization training. You need to think of it like a child playing a game. Do it to do it rather than focusing on the results you want and look at everything with curiosity. I'll put an exercise to get into that state in Aphantasia -> Hypophantasia.

Aphantasia -> Hypophantasia

If you skipped the intro, you made a mistake and will be unable to do anything in this guide. Skip the first paragraph, those are unimportant. Everything else is.

Here's probably the most important part of learning to visualize. It's not an illusion or self-deception; it's using one of the most useful attributes of visualization: it confirms to your beliefs. Drop the idea of having aphantasia. Believe you can visualize with hyperphantasia, even if you can't, just pretend you can. This should be done in addition to everything else, but it can be done alone if nothing else works.

To overcome aphantasia, you have to increase your capacity for sensory thought. To do that, you need to try to have more sensory thought than you're used to. I created an exercise called basic phantasia training for that here:

  1. Look at something for a few seconds. Experiment to find a good time, but for me, any longer than a few seconds lets the logical parts of my brain activate, which ruins it, but that’s just me. Don’t try to name or otherwise label it, just accept it.
  2. Look away.
  3. Recall an exact sensory detail from the object. For example, rather than recalling the color “red”, recall the exact shade of red, or instead of just a word for the shape, recall the exact shape. This makes sure you’re thinking in sensory. It may not feel like sensory, but as long as you recall the exact sensory input, it is.
  4. Try to believe that the sensory thought is as real and detailed as real life, even if it isn’t. This makes your brain try to make it like that, because thoughts conform to your beliefs about them.
  5. Repeat

This is the only exercise I used to overcome aphantasia. If there was only one exercise I could recommend, it would be this one. It's really the only exercise you truly need, but others will be helpful. Edit: I recommend alternating between eyes open and closed when recalling for this. You need to be able to do both.

Sensory attributes are too detailed to put into words. This is why I say to recall the exact shade. You're supposed to recall it specific enough you can't put words to it. There's no special technique to this; you just recall it. If you still really feel like you can't, start with words, and slowly get more specific (Example: red, light red, slightly light orangish red with medium brightness, this color). You can also do the exercise below.

One of the great things about this exercise is how it can be done practically anywhere. Do it on walks, public transport, in line, or any other time you normally pick up your phone cause you're bored. I actually set my phone wallpaper to a reminder of that yesterday. I'd also recommend blocking out some time in your schedule to do it, though.

Visualization will happen naturally during step 3 once you increase your capacity for sensory thought enough to do so. If you can't seem to recall the exact attribute, try recalling something less specific and slowly getting more specific. It may not feel like thought, at first it may feel more like an understanding, but that’s just that you're not used to it. There's another exercise I just came up with for understanding sensory thought:

  1. Think of two different sensory inputs of the same type (2 colors, 2 textures, etc.)
  2. Mentally think of how they're different (the difference between red and blue, etc.) Remember not to put it into words, go deeper than words can express.
  3. Pay attention to your “understanding” of the difference This is a good sensory thought exercise. While it isn't as good for visualization as the first one, it'll help you understand sensory thought much better. Continue to do this until you understand sensory thought.

Of course, learning sensory thought isn't the only part of learning visualization. You also need to learn to have the proper perspective on visualization, as specified in the intro. This is going to do when you're stressed, or any other time, not just when you're practicing visualization. Here it is:

  1. Sit/lay down
  2. Passively pay attention to sensory experiences, like what you hear or feel
  3. Let your mind wander about it, but stay in the present moment Continue until you feel completely relaxed

Of course, you need to learn how to create objects in your mind and think of scenes and objects. Here's an exercise for that, using conceptual thought (you are capable of that), so once you can visualize you know what to do. Here's the exercise:

  1. Think of the concept of an environment/scene. No need to visualize it.
  2. Think of the concept of things in it, and pay attention to their positions. This is the area where visualization takes place.
  3. Move stuff around in the scene, and make it feel alive.
  4. If you're feeling up for a challenge, find a point of view and start assigning sensory attributes of the objects

This won't teach you to visualize, but it'll teach you how to create mental scenes, which is VERY important. This will make everything go faster and teach you where your visualizations are.

If you still REALLY don't understand, there's a brute force exercise created by a person called ala. I highly recommend against this”, but if nothing else works, it's better than quitting. When I say “analyze”, I mean break it down and commit each piece to memory, without assigning words to them. Here it is:

  1. Choose a main image
  2. Choose 10 others and do 2 rounds of analyzing them each for 1 minute.
  3. Analyze the main image. It's recommended to do this for 5 hours, but it can be done for anywhere over an hour. This is why I hate this exercise.
  4. Think about it afterwards

Again, it's a last case resort. It can be done at any point in your visualization journey, not just while trying to learn the basics.

Please remember that the only way for any of these exercises to work is to do them. You won't get any results reading this. Stop researching how to learn visualization, create a training regimen, and do it.

Hypophantasia -> Common Phantasia

Naturally, belief still affects visualization. At this level, you theoretically could visualize at any level if you were good enough at pretending you can. Stuff is really the same as in Aphantasia -> Hypophantasia, just a bit more advanced.

The first thing you need to understand is the more advanced version of phantasia training, advanced phantasia training. It's exactly what it sounds like. Here it is:

  1. Look at something for a few seconds. Experiment to find a good time, but for me, any longer than a few seconds lets the logical parts of my brain activate, which ruins it, but that’s just me. Don’t try to name or otherwise label it, just accept it.
  2. Look away.
  3. Recall seeing it and try to mentally put yourself in the memory of seeing it. You should feel like you’re there, seeing it, to some degree. Add more senses if you feel comfortable.
  4. Try to believe that the sensory thought is as real and detailed as real life, even if it isn’t. This makes your brain try to make it like that, because thoughts conform to your beliefs about them.
  5. Repeat

This really can't be done with aphantasia, your brain wouldn't have the capacity to put yourself in the memory. However, it works great with hypophantasia. Like basic phantasia training, it can be done practically anywhere.

There are modified versions here:

Animated phantasia training: A more advanced version of phantasia training for once you can already visualize, but want to improve:

  1. Perform steps 1-4 of phantasia training
  2. Once you have an image of what it looks like, make it move, or move your view
  3. Repeat

Scene phantasia training: As advanced as animated phantasia training, only instead of animating things, you create a scene around the thing you chose to look at:

  1. Perform steps 1-4 of phantasia training
  2. Once you have an image of what it looks like, create a scene around it. Look around in this scene. Remember to look back at things you’ve already seen, and make sure they’re the same. This teaches your brain to store parts of the scene you’re not actively looking at.
  3. Repeat

Focused phantasia training: An exercise to increase immersion:

  1. Perform steps 1-4 of phantasia training
  2. Have some distraction, such as a noise and/or a hard surface you’re sitting on to practice tuning out. Tuning out reality is a skill you will need to master if you ever want to go anywhere above common phantasia. This is there the whole time.
  3. Repeat

Described phantasia training: A cross between image streaming and phantasia training, NOT recommended for beginners.

  1. Perform steps a-d of phantasia training
  2. Describe what you see, using sensory details in addition to conceptual labels. You can take this one step farther and not use labels, using only the steps of visualization training.
  3. Repeat

Now we can get into more advanced exercises. The next one is called Imagery Training, and it's a cross between ala’s method and Phantasia Training:

  1. Find an image or object quickly. This is the “item”. No need to search forever. Switch (as close as you can to) purely to sensory thinking. This should increase your brain’s ability to pick out sensory details and suppress parts of your brain that will get in the way. This can be done by perceiving your thoughts as purely sensory.
  2. Stare at the item for 5 or so minutes, taking in as much sensory information as you can. Perceive and remember, don’t analyze.
  3. Meditate on the sensory memory of the item. Try to increase detail, vividness, and field of view. No analogue thought until you’re done.

Don't worry about the “no analogue thought” stuff, just try to have as little as possible. Keep all your attention on visualization.

The next thing is scene creation, a type of internal practice. It's one of the first exercises I created, and it's very effective:

  1. Lay down (or sit). The less you notice real sensations, the better. Keep in mind you aren’t supposed to fall asleep, so you should have some real sensation going on.
  2. Chant a mantra, play the sound of water or white noise in your head, or do something else to ensure you have no analogue thought. You need to do this the whole time to ensure you stay focused. Visualize a scene. This should be an imagined scene or one you studied heavily beforehand.
  3. Let the scene come into your mind naturally, like it’s growing. Give your full attention to it. Don’t try to force it, but focus on how real it feels, and try to fully immerse yourself in the scene. Try to picture it existing on its own.
  4. Add other senses. Ideally, you should use them all (except taste if you’re not eating anything)
  5. Focus on adding detail. Add lighting and shading, texture to things like leaves and cement, etc.
  6. Expand your field of view. Look around you, at the whole scene.
  7. Continue to explore. The more you explore, the more real it feels.

It's a good exercise. It helps with immersion and creating areas. There are variations on it, such as having a distraction to practice ignoring, that can be helpful. Basically, any of the variations of phantasia training can be applied to this one.

If you feel like something's holding you back or you're not making as much progress as you used to, chances are you're becoming complacent. This happens when your brain thinks it can change so it doesn't have to try. Do regular checks to see if you're visualizing.

Common Phantasia -> Above

There's not much special to do here, just grind. One thing that is different is that phantasia training is no longer effective.

Imagery Training and Scene Creation will be your main tools here. There are variations of them you can use, mainly ones where you describe what you see.

One very important thing is to think of your visualization as alternate universes that you’re in rather than visualizations.

I'll start with modified imagery training. It's basically where you do imagery training but describe it. Here it is:

  1. Find an image or object quickly. This is the “item”. No need to search forever. Switch purely to sensory thinking. This should increase your brain’s ability to pick out sensory details and suppress parts of your brain that will get in the way. This can be done by perceiving your thoughts as purely sensory.
  2. Stare at the item for 5 or so minutes, taking in as much sensory information as you can. Perceive and remember, don’t analyze.
  3. Meditate on the sensory memory of the item. Try to increase detail, vividness, and field of view. Describe it in detail. Start with the general scene and slowly get more detailed. Get down to the individual shadows until the timer goes off. Try to hold the whole image in your head while you do this.
  4. Try to increase the amount of visual information, even if it’s imaginary and wasn’t in the original image. Continue to push yourself, adding one more “layer” of sensory information than is easy while continuing to look at the whole image at once. Continue to describe it in “passes”, adding more detail with each pass of description over the image.

You can also do this with scene creation. That's called image streaming. Here are the steps:

  1. Lay down (or sit). The less you notice real sensations, the better. Keep in mind you aren’t supposed to fall asleep, so you should have some real sensation going on.
  2. Visualize a scene. This should be an imagined scene or one you studied heavily beforehand.
  3. Let the scene come into your mind naturally, like it’s growing. Give your full attention to it. Don’t try to force it, but focus on how real it feels, and try to fully immerse yourself in the scene. Describe everything and remember to use sensory attributes. Try to picture it existing on its own.
  4. Add other senses. Ideally, you should use them all (except taste if you’re not eating anything)
  5. Focus on adding detail. Add lighting and shading, texture to things like leaves and cement, etc.
  6. Expand your field of view. Look around you, at the whole scene.
  7. Continue to explore. The more you explore, the more real it feels.

Another GREAT exercise is scene replaying. It targets immersion and all 5 senses:

  1. Do something quick, like walking around. Pay attention to all senses during this time. Repeat this a few times, doing the exact same thing each time.
  2. Play it in your head repeatedly afterwards, trying to get as much sensory detail as possible.
  3. Try to really put yourself in the memory, as if you were really there.

It's pretty useful. One thing you may want to do is do the scene a few times over before you visualize it.

Another thing you can do is switch entirely to sensory thinking. This is done by always thinking in things too specific for words to represent, usually in scenes. This is very helpful but very hard. Believing you're a sensory thinker also helps.

That's about it. If there's stuff you're still confused about, look at the references. Remember that the only way for any of this to work is for you to do it.

References

Thought Categorization

Terminology

Understanding Sensory Thought

Being Disciplined and Consistent with Training

Full Prophantasia/Autogogia Training Guide

Practical Applications of Visualization

FAQ

[DEPRICATED] Old Full Guide

18 Comments
2024/11/02
15:02 UTC

19

New Tool: Audio Scenes

I've created a new tool called: Audio Scenes


This tool is designed for autogogia but can be used for various visualization types.

It works by utilizing conceptual thinking which is a thought style particularly compatible with visualization (visual thinking).

The tool consists of 25 sensory-rich descriptions of 3D animated scenes. It will read the descriptions to you so you can close your eyes and begin to conceptualize the scene spatially, as you do this you can tap into your Traditional Phantasia based recollection of the various shapes, textures, colors, and motions described in the imagined scene. This creates a synergy which causes your autogogic conceptualization of the scene to slowly blend in visual properties creating and enhancing autogogic visualization.

The main purpose/goal of this tool is to increase sensory-processing bandwidth so that you can hold more active visual info in your thoughts at once. Every scene contains various components that are 'in motion'. Conceptualizing (and visualizing) animation is very beneficial for working on persistent thinking (as visualization has on-going persistence, as opposed to analogue thinking which is serial). The concept of motion is easy for the mind to naturally keep persistent focus on, as it tracks the spatial properties of the motion.


I strongly recommend hybridizing conceptualization in addition to visualization when working with this tool.

To do this, keep a 3D spatialized conceptualization of the scene ongoing in your mind at all times. Shift your mental-gaze (not your ocular gaze) around in the 3D space beyond your closed eyelids as you shift focus to different components in the scene, so as to actually shift your focus and attention around in 3D space. Then, gradually tap into traditional phantasia with half of your attention/mind to access visual information, but with the other half of your attention/mind retain your persisting 3D conceptualization at all times (including any motion or animation going on in the scene).

The system will first read a one sentence title to set the concept of the scene as a whole, then will get into spatial-visual descriptives


Access the tool here: https://apps4lifehost.com/WN18/


Thanks, God bless!

5 Comments
2024/10/29
16:43 UTC

19

Full Guide 2 EA

This is a smaller version of a bigger post I will make. I explained what happened to the big post in my last post. This is only the intro and the guide to first learning to visualize, the rest will be out within a week (I hope). Here it is:

Intro

To ever visualize, you need to understand sensory thought, so read this. The human brain functions in multiple ways: primarily words, images, or concepts. That's right - people can think in images. These images are NOT expressed in words, just their raw form. It's just an inherent "understanding" of the image. An example of that would be how you just "understand" the difference between red and blue, without being able to put words to it. This can happen for any sensory experience; I'm just using images as examples. To contrast sensory thought, you have analogue thought, in words and concepts. This is what you're used to.

This happens whenever you recognize something. You don't describe it mentally to see if it matches your last description, you just take it all in and understand that it matches your memory. You can do sensory thought, just not enough to visualize. Also note that visualization happens within your mind, not in your literal eyesight.

Visualization is a form of sensory thought, which is why I've been making such a big deal out of it. In order to visualize, however, you have to have a lot of sensory thought, whereas stuff like recognition only takes a tiny bit. You can't have enough to visualize (unless you have visualization, but for this guide, I'm assuming you don't). Any time you get sensory thought, remember to look at it with child-like curiosity, but don't analyze it.

To learn to visualize, you need to increase your capacity for sensory thought. Thankfully, humans have neuroplasticity, so you can do that with time. There are several things you can do to increase neuroplasticity. I'll briefly cover them.

First off, while you can overcome aphantasia at any age, the younger you start, the better. This is the most important factor for neuroplasticity. The next thing is to get at least 8 hours of sleep, more if you're young. You can't use neuroplasticity if you don't get enough sleep. The next thing is to exercise. That's right, exercise increases the chemical in your brain responsible for neuroplasticity. PLEASE note that no matter how much neuroplasticity you have, this could still take a long time. There's no way to know. It typically takes between a few days and a few months, but can be longer or shorter.

You also should write down the most vivid moment in your visualizations in a visualization journal at the end of any exercise. This can range from thought slightly out of the ordinary to a scene more detailed than real life, just as long as there is something. Also, block out a chunk of time in your schedule to do exercises, although a lot of them can be done at random times. You may also want to start cutting screens out of your life, they can cause the decline of visualization and will get in the way later on.

I would also recommend identifying if you have visualization in other senses, like sound, touch, and smell just to get a feel of what it's like. There are different types of training, internal and external. Internal training is remembering something from a long time ago or creating something, while external training is remembering something you just looked at. External training has been shown to be more effective. If you use images for external training, bright/glowing ones work best.

Visualization is heavily affected by belief. In real life, you experience something, and then you believe you experienced it. In visualization, you experience what you believe. It's hard to get used to but absolutely necessary.

Another very important thing is your perspective on visualization training. You need to think of it like a child playing a game. Do it to do it rather than focusing on the results you want, and look at everything with curiosity. I'll put an exercise to get into that state in Aphantasia -> Hypophantasia.

Aphantasia -> Hypophantasia

If you skipped the intro, you made a mistake and will be unable to do anything in this guide. Skip the first 2 paragraphs, those are unimportant. Everything else is.

To overcome aphantasia, you have to increase your capacity for sensory thought. To do that, you need to try to have more sensory thought than you're used to. I created an exercise called basic phantasia training for that here:

  1. Look at something for a few seconds. Experiment to find a good time, but for me, any longer than a few seconds lets the logical parts of my brian activate, which ruins it, but that’s just me. Don’t try to name or otherwise label it, just accept it.
  2. Look away.
  3. Recall an exact sensory detail from the object. For example, rather than recalling the color “red”, recall the exact shade of red, or instead of just a word for the shape, recall the exact shape. This makes sure you’re thinking in sensory. It may not feel like sensory, but as long as you recall the exact sensory input, it is.
  4. Try to believe that the sensory thought is as real and detailed as real life, even if it isn’t. This makes your brain try to make it like that, because thoughts conform to your beliefs about them.
  5. Repeat

This is the only exercise I used to overcome aphantasia. If there was only one exercise I could recommend, it would be this one. It's really the only exercise you truly need, but others will be helpful.

Of course, learning sensory thought isn't the only part of learning visualization. You also need to learn to have the proper perspective on visualization, as specified in the intro. This is going to do when you're stressed, or any other time, not just when you're practicing visualization. Here it is:

  1. Sit/lay down
  2. Passively pay attention to sensory experiences, like what you hear or feel

Let your mind wander about it, but stay in the present moment 3. Continue until you feel completely relaxed

Of course, you need to learn how to create objects in your mind and think of scenes and objects. Here's an exercise for that, using conceptual thought (you are capable of that), so once you can visualize you know what to do. Here's the exercise:

  1. Think of the concept of an environment/scene. No need to visualize it.
  2. Think of the concept of things in it, and pay attention to their positions. This is the area where visualization takes place.
  3. Move stuff around in the scene, and make it feel alive.
  4. If you're feeling up for a challenge, find a point of view and start assigning sensory attributes of the objects.

This won't teach you to visualize, but it'll teach you how to create mental scenes, which is VERY important. This will make everything go faster and teach you where your visualizations are.

If you still REALLY don't understand, there's a brute force exercise created by a person called ala. **I highly recommend against this”, but if nothing else works, it's better than quitting. When I say “analyze”, I mean break it down and commit each piece to memoy, without assigning words to them. Here it is:

  1. Choose a main image
  2. Choose 10 others and do 2 rounds of analyzing them each for 1 minute.
  3. Analyze the main image. It's recommended to do this for 5 hours, but it can be done for anywhere over an hour. This is why I hate this exercise.
  4. Recall it afterwards

Again, it's a last case resort. It can be done at any point in your visualization journey, not just while trying to learn the basics.

That's about it for learning basic visualization. If you want to improve your visualization abilities further, you'll have to wait for my full guide to come out. I will say that believing your visualization is better actually makes it better.

Good luck!

6 Comments
2024/10/28
21:23 UTC

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