Want to be a pony in real life?

[Nine Volt]

Oh, so if Navron says it it's true, but if Makkon or I say it it warrants a page long argument? Odd way of looking at things.

And no, 'wouldn't care' implies that I, well, don't care. It doesn't mean that I'm not against it, it means that I'm indifferent.

[FLAOFEI]

Oh, so if Navron says it it's true, but if Makkon or I say it it warrants a page long argument? Odd way of looking at things.

Ok, let me put it this way. I may or may not have read your posts, and regardless of if I read them or not, I did not relate to them.
Also, here, have an explanation that gives you credit. There is a total of 1 post that endorses hypnosis (I think, not gonna go back and check), the rest are very negative towards it. So be happy, you have contributed to me getting 2nd thoughts about this.

And no, 'wouldn't care' implies that I, well, don't care. It doesn't mean that I'm not against it, it means that I'm indifferent.

...
If you are indifferent you are neither for nor against it...

[Nine Volt]

Actually there were about 10 or so posts by various people arguing against my disdain for hypnosis. So not necessarily endorsing it, but definitely not negatively portraying it.

[ganondox]

Oh, so if Navron says it it's true, but if Makkon or I say it it warrants a page long argument? Odd way of looking at things.

And no, 'wouldn't care' implies that I, well, don't care. It doesn't mean that I'm not against it, it means that I'm indifferent.

So you believe that hypnosis can turn you psychotic, but you don't believe it could potentially help with addiction?

[Nine Volt]

No, I never said that. I don't recall saying it couldn't help with addiction, but I definitely said it can't cure addiction. Because it can't.

I don't 'believe' that hypnosis can turn you psychotic; with my admittedly limited knowledge of mental health I believe it could 'bring out' pre-existing psychosis. Although again, mental health is not my strong suite, so I may very well be wrong. Regardless, I don't 'believe' it can cause anything, but I don't believe it can't either. I'm inclined to trust Navron, given that he has an anecdote of sorts, but he's a human too and may very well be wrong. So in short, yes and no.

[Navron]

I'm inclined to trust Navron, given that he has an anecdote of sorts, but he's a human too and may very well be wrong. So in short, yes and no.

As a former psychonaut, I'm sure I've had more experiences with altered states than most people, but in this context, I'm definitely not advocating it, and very much against it.

To anybody who might be serious about doing this:
Without turning this discussion into borderline illegal territory, let me just say this:

As a psychonaut, you aren't just trying out different substances and meditative techniques. You do a HUGE amount of research, have emergency action plans, and you prepare for the worst case scenario.

You also learn a lot about psychological conditions, brain chemistry, and neuroreceptors in the process. It's easier to cope with a terrible experience when you know what's going on behind the scenes.

That's why I'm against the whole idea of pony hypnosis and/or pony tulpas. Regardless of the fact there are no external substances involved, the chemical reaction you are stimulating in your brain is very much the same, and it's being touted as a cool thing to do for entertainment, with no research into the actual science behind it, no plans for an emergency, etc.

If somebody offered you LSD and said, "Take this and you can feel like a real pony in real life," would you do it? Would you do it right away without researching it? Hopefully the answer to both those questions is a big NO.

It doesn't matter that an external stimuli is not involved. You're still playing with the same fire, and the same end goal.

Your own mental health is not something to take lightly, and if you're so obsessed with this show that you feel compelled to immerse yourself in it as deeply as possible to the point of self-hypnosis, you already have some severe mental issues you need to step back and look at.

[Sugarholik]

About my late teenage years, I was really into meditation, out-of-body experiences, and astral projection. I've spent the last 7-8 years trying to rid myself of the negative mental effects that have resulted from delving into it.

Interesting. Care to share details regarding what exactly you did and how much as well how did these negative effects came to be? If you're insecure about telling in public, could you shoot me a PM? I'm curious as I'm a bit of a psychonaut myself and I'd be glad to hear a bit more specific warnings if there are dangerous paths ahead.

And 9V, honestly no offense, but I think you should chill out. You seem to be taking things a bit too personally:

Oh, so if Navron says it it's true, but if Makkon or I say it it warrants a page long argument? Odd way of looking at things.

[TranquilHooves]

This whole idea of becoming something you're not (even for a short period of time) is
pretty unsettling. Why would you want to become a pony in the first place, anyway?

[Nine Volt]

About my late teenage years, I was really into meditation, out-of-body experiences, and astral projection. I've spent the last 7-8 years trying to rid myself of the negative mental effects that have resulted from delving into it.

Interesting. Care to share details regarding what exactly you did and how much as well how did these negative effects came to be? If you're insecure about telling in public, could you shoot me a PM? I'm curious as I'm a bit of a psychonaut myself and I'd be glad to hear a bit more specific warnings if there are dangerous paths ahead.

And 9V, honestly no offense, but I think you should chill out. You seem to be taking things a bit too personally:

Oh, so if Navron says it it's true, but if Makkon or I say it it warrants a page long argument? Odd way of looking at things.

I'm a stubborn motherfucker when it comes to arguments. It's not personal, it just half-matters to me.

[Bronies Are Cool]

This whole idea of becoming something you're not (even for a short period of time) is
pretty unsettling. Why would you want to become a pony in the first place, anyway?

I just did it for two reasons:

1. I originally did not believe that hypnotism even worked
2. just because, "why not" (i saw it at like 1:30 in the morning and kind of wanted to do something interesting while everyone in my house was sleeping other than running around banging pots and smashing windows and burning the carpet, etc.) no really, it was just because "why not?"

[itroitnyah]

What kind of mental side-effects?
1. Borderline Psychosis
2. Continuous feeling of being, "outside the world."
3. Feeling out of touch with emotions.
4. Mood swings.
5. Higher stress levels.

I experience 2, 3 and occasionally 4 on a regular basis, although I don't think it has much to do with my two attempts at hypnosis and more to do with either a) I'm in puberty. That stage of life changes you and may make some of those types of changes, or b) I'm just really detached from society, so I just let these things swing through my life without a care (I'm seriously probably one of the most feminine straight guys you'll ever run across). Regardless of which it is, I experience those feelings quite often. And to be honest, it's great, I like it. I like feeling outside of the world and out of touch with emotions, it's a really free feeling.

[Nine Volt]

I'm sorry, but how can being out of touch with the world/emotions possibly be 'fun'? At the very least I'd feel left out or something

[itroitnyah]

It just is. I don't give a fuck 24/7, I'm just always chillin' and relaxed.

[Nine Volt]

Yeah but sometimes you want/need to give a fuck. Even when you'd rather not.

Chill is good, chill people are cool. In real life I'm really chill, which has had the benefit of making me tons of friends and almost no enemies.

[itroitnyah]

Well you know, sometimes I give a fuck. Like, I don't know when. When I'm at work I politely tell people to follow the rules, and I'm getting good grades in school (3xAs and one C), but those grades are mostly because I just do the work following how the teacher told me to do the work and it's easy, but other than that I get home and then sit in front of my computer the rest of the day making music or playing videogames.

[Nine Volt]

You sound scarily like me, except for the job part. Hopefully that'll change soon though.

[itroitnyah]

You sound scarily like me, except for the job part. Hopefully that'll change soon though.

I sound scarily. How? Is it because I don't give a fuck pretty much at all? Because I'm still in control of myself that I still listen to my moral standards, so it's not like I'm going to do anything illegal or incredibly dangerous or something.

[ExoBassTix]

Would I reccomend people to try it? Not really. It either won't have much effect, or it won't be worth it. If you got something actually going on in your life, stick to that.

Sounds much like drugs.
And I count music as drugs, so I have a few years of experience.

I'm still gonna try this some time.

[Nine Volt]

You sound scarily like me, except for the job part. Hopefully that'll change soon though.

I sound scarily. How? Is it because I don't give a fuck pretty much at all? Because I'm still in control of myself that I still listen to my moral standards, so it's not like I'm going to do anything illegal or incredibly dangerous or something.

What? Lol, I said you sound scarily like me. As in, it's almost scary (not actually scary, it's an expression) how much you sound like me.

[itroitnyah]

Oh, haha. I just thought that you had made a grammar mistake or something I can't english good

[Navron]

About my late teenage years, I was really into meditation, out-of-body experiences, and astral projection. I've spent the last 7-8 years trying to rid myself of the negative mental effects that have resulted from delving into it.

Interesting. Care to share details regarding what exactly you did and how much as well how did these negative effects came to be? If you're insecure about telling in public, could you shoot me a PM? I'm curious as I'm a bit of a psychonaut myself and I'd be glad to hear a bit more specific warnings if there are dangerous paths ahead.

I started off with Salvia being my first psychoactive experience, but as I experimented more I realized that Salvia is a very mean plant. It always feels like you were played by some great joke, and anything and everything is lacking at your stupidity for not realizing it.

So from there I first got into dreams with another plant called Calea, which is supposed to make your dreams more vivid, yet I never had any success until a few weeks after I stopped using it, in which I experienced the most vivid dream I ever had in my life.

Later on, after some researching the experience of that vivid dream, I stumbled across the concepts of astral projection, and after practicing more over a year, I had about 7 successful experiences.

About this same time I was beginning to suffer from slight depression. Nothing serious, just somewhat sad, apprehensive, and a more bitter outlook at the world. I was beginning to feel like I was enlightened. That I could see the world more clearly than those around me, and took pride in not conforming with most, "normal," members of society. I didn't drink often, I rarely went to parties, etc. I saw no need to. I was above these primal urges and needs of social interaction.

Unfortunately, my more frequent trips to isolation just reenforced these feelings. I had been steadily keeping a dream journal, and because of this, I was able to recall more dreams, experience more vividness, and have more success with astral projection.

It all came to a point where I just could not ever be happy. There was always something lacking, and the more these feelings tugged at me, the more bitter I had become towards everyone around me. I started lying to close friends to avoid social gatherings, and instead focus on music, creating some very depressing songs that reflected the hollowness I felt.
Example song 1: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/522 ... acruna.mp3
Example song 2: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/522 ... latory.mp3

In the Smashing Pumpkins song, "Zero," there was one particular line that grabbed my attention:
"I'm in love with...my sadness."

That's when I realized I had put myself into a trap. I was getting so much energy and creativity from these ethereal feelings, I didn't want to break out of it. My only joy came from creativity, and if I pushed these feelings aside, I feared I would be left with nothing.

Fast forward to Ayahuasca, or as some people put it, "100hrs of therapy in 2hrs." I saw this as the reset button, and it took me 4 years to even work up the courage before I actually delved in.

I threw up about 17-20 times over the course of 2hrs, and dry heaved many other times when nothing else could come up. This wasn't food poisoning, or any kind of error I made with the tea. That's just how it works. I had so much negativity and horrible things that built up inside of me, and I was actively purging myself of all of it.

During this time, I experienced several visions of family and close friends. A particularly startling vision of everybody I knew (and didn't know) gathered around me, shouting and screaming that they were sick of me screwing them over. I then saw a horrible military women convicted of multiple war crimes, getting tricked and fired by her boss, and yet I felt sorry for her. A quick vision later, I read a bulletin board with 3 notes on it, but only 1 note was clear to read:

"Be a good friend."

Next vision, I was looking at a wolf. The wolf was alone in the cold and dark wilderness, without a friend. It had grown to love it's isolation and sadness. It gave it focus, purpose, and the motivation to carry on, yet it was sad. It was then I realized that this wolf was me, and I was looking at my own life from the outside. Had I really come to let myself get this way?

I reached out to the wolf, and it rose to the dark night sky as it became one of the constellations. I saw the anger, bitterness, sadness, and pride all leave the constellation of the wolf. When I looked back down, the night had turned to day, the sun casting rays of warmth across the forest, melting the snow. There stood across from me, the same wolf, now happy and playful in the snow. When it looked up and saw me, it ran over to play with me, licking my face, and rolling around. It was then I realized that I was now looking at a new me.

A couple weeks after the experience, I no longer felt isolated, or depressed. I enjoy going to social gatherings. I enjoy helping a friend in need.

In fact, given the amount of focus the experience had on friendship, it's little to no wonder why I got into this show. For me, I truly discovered what friendship really is, and why it's the most important thing in this world.



So yeah, that's basically my story. If any of you still feel compelled to get into the same things that led me down this path, be my guest. Hopefully this comes across as a word of caution. Trust me, you do not want to go down that road. You don't want to have to experience what it takes to get off that road.

[vladnuke]

Ok, I've done salvia before, and I melted into the wall and was trapped, but you have officially beaten all of my stories, congratulations. Also, holy shit that's crazy. Idk whether Bronies are Cool was thinking of drugging himself into a pony, but maybe he should just stick with the mp3's.

[Navron]

That would be misinterpreting the point behind my post.

To summarize my last post, essentially I got myself into a bad situation with supposedly harmless mental activities, such as lucid dreaming, astral projection, deep meditation, etc, and the only way I was able to break myself out of that situation was to subject myself to (quite frankly) an experience that I needed, but really, really didn't want to have to go through.

Once again, I am not advocating anything. Personally I recommend staying away from anything that alters your brain chemistry, and that includes things like meditation, astral projection, dreaming, etc. They are bad things to toy around with for entertainment, with very real consequences. The only reason drugs are worse than the above activities, is because they do it instantly, and don't require a lot of effort.

In other words, it doesn't matter if you have an out of body experience via astral projection, or LSD. The mental connections inside your head are still the same, and they still carry the same downsides.

-----
Let's look at this from a scientific angle...

Your mood is regulated by a delicate balance of neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. Serotonin is possibly the most commonly affected neurotransmitter for psychoactive drugs. Dopamine is the most commonly affected for drugs intended for pleasurable and/or pain-killing.

Serotonin is your main mood regulator. Too little serotonin and you're depressed. Too much and you're too hyper.

People who suffer from depression are often prescribed MAOIs (monoamine oxidase inhibitor) or SSRIs (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor). Your brain releases chemicals called monoamine oxidates which break down serotonin and other neurotransmitters after their utilized. For people with depression, their bodies are breaking down serotonin faster than it can regulate their mood, leaving them with a deficiency in serotonin. They take an MAOI, which blocks the MAOs from breaking down the serotonin, they build up more serotonin, and tada! they're happy. In the case of SSRIs, they make it so the little serotonin that isn't broken down has longer lasting effects, leading to the same feelings of happiness.

When you meditate, lucid dream, or do anything else that involves large amounts of concentration and focus, you're actually directly regulating your own neurotransmitters. This can eventually lead to confusing your brain, and throwing your chemistry off-balance. Drugs will also throw your neurotransmitters off-balance, and the end result is you no longer feel like you.

The reason why ayahuasca is effective, is because it basically resets your neuroreceptors (the parts of your brain that are affected by neurotransmitters), however it comes at a huge price (aka. having the most terrifying experience in your life where you must confront your worst fears, and overcome them).

In my opinion, it isn't worth it, especially for entertainment. If some of you are interested in hypnosis, AP, lucid dreaming, etc, that's perfectly fine, but only if you know exactly what you're doing, both physically, and mentally. If the science lecture above is new to you, then you aren't ready to start playing with your own body's chemistry.

[Nine Volt]

Lucid dreaming, frankly, is harmless, given that many people don't even have to actively be trying to have it happen. The other stuff I'm not so sure about.

I've always heard that salvia is one of the safest hallucinogenic drugs though.

[Navron]

I'm more referring to practicing techniques to induce lucid dreaming, not the occasional lucid dream that most people experience from time to time.

And Salvia isn't necessarily safe. There just hasn't been any reputable research into long-term side-effects.