Tomorrow I'm heading to Deepmind Darkwood, also known as Camp Mindfuck (according to its own event page), a three day recreational hypnosis retreat at a campground in Western Massachusetts, spearheaded by Lee Allure (whose appearance at the Boston Hypnomunch I've written about). This is my gift to myself after missing every hypnosis event this summer and fall that required travel (e.g. Fetfest, WEHU, many awesome NYC workshops). There's only so far I can get with videos, books and my own inconsistent experimentation.
I'm a little nervous about how intense this is going to be (one of the listed activities for friday night is "cult-building", which I believe to be at most half a joke), but very excited. From the guest list I know there will be a number of heavy duty hypno tops there, a few of the most high profile folks in North America whose names I keep encountering across the internet. (I'm only familiar with one or two of the people who primarily bottom) I've met a couple of them in Boston, but never in an environment where they can totally cut loose. Besides any workshops or seminars that might be happening, I'm really looking forward to just watching how they interact with their subs/bottoms, and how all the hypnotists and hypnotees in attendance create an alternate sexy hypno world together for this weekend.
Besides spending time with awesome hypnokinksters, I'm there to learn, learn, learn. There is so much I'm dying to ask people about, and so many possibilities I'm sure I haven't even dreamt of. I once heard the conference advice that it's good to choose one question to consult everyone about, and for me it's this: without intending to, I've started to mentally categorize my trance partners into "high suggestibility" and "low suggestibility". The former are often people who have sought out the Boston hypnosis community and already have an interest and aptitude for it, whereas the latter are more often people I've met in the mainstream kink (or non-kink) world and developed a relationship based on other things too. Many of them had their first hypnosis experience with me; definitely their first erotic hypnosis. My experience with "low suggestibility" folks so far is that hypnotic paralysis and relaxation inductions work very well, as does visualizations, sensitization, and sometimes reinduction triggers. But some of the more controlling types of suggestions that I'm interested in, like post-hypnotic triggers, illusory sensations, and compulsions, have a much lower success rate than with the first group.
As I write this, I sound a little ungrateful to myself! I find just those "basic" things so compelling and erotic, and it's wonderful and amazing that there are people willing to do those things with me - and they're people I'm attracted to as well. Even more wonderful, and unexpected, my hypnokink seems to be contagious! It's the biggest thrill in the world to hear a partner come back to me with their own hypnotic sexual fantasies that they have been brewing, when it wasn't a part of their fantasy life before.
But getting back to my conference question, I am looking to not get trapped by these classifications, and learn how to introduce "low suggestibility" people to a greater range of hypnotic phenomena. Thanks to Wiseguy I know there's a lot more to it than depth of trance. Experience of the hypnotee and trust are a part of it, but just as much is my own attitude and technique, and improving that is my major objective. I will definitely be looking for stepping stones and exercises that can strengthen the power of suggestions for particular hypnotees without giving them unpleasant feelings of failure.
There are about a hundred other topics I want to know about, from instant inductions to nonverbal cues to hypnosis and D/s, as well as my ongoing study of ethical and consent practices of hypnosis (since my last entry I have been pointed to people who are doing excellent work on this, on the Ethics of Hypnosis and Mindcontrol fetlife group and fetlife writings by someone called Professor-X). But my biggest goal is to be as open as possible and sponge it all in, and to be bold about hypnotizing people, even in front of the master hypnotists - when I screw up, the wisdom I get from that will be burned the deepest of any lessons.
I really need to start packing.
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