Soldato
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The Ganzfeld Effect
- Thread starter tres
- Start date
I just had a go at this for about 15 minutes. It was very interesting, first I thought nothing would ever happen but quite suddenly all the colour disappeared, (I used orange ping pong balls and it just went colourless, not even black) and then I got a brief little fireworks display like when you rub your eyes. I'll give it another go to see if I hallucinate ducks.
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tried it myself, red screen and LED lighting, toilet roll blindfold, noise cancelling earphones in an mp3 player tuned to static.
aside from going blind in my left eye for a while, and my eyes trying to constantly adjust to see detail etc, I got nothing from it after an hour of nothing, didn't have any effects, headaches, headache relief, euphoria, depression, nothing.
wasn't even that relaxing, certainly didn't fall asleep
was disappointed
aside from going blind in my left eye for a while, and my eyes trying to constantly adjust to see detail etc, I got nothing from it after an hour of nothing, didn't have any effects, headaches, headache relief, euphoria, depression, nothing.
wasn't even that relaxing, certainly didn't fall asleep
was disappointed
that was a bit weird.
nothing as clear as the duck at all - first 5 minutes was nothing, and then I felt a few minutes of almost desperation as my eyes were darting around trying to foxus on something.
after that, lots of shapes. Nothing clear, just shapes coming out of the orangey light - always purple. they'd form out of nothing, the contrast different quite clear, and then fade away whilst moving.
if i heard a background noise, everything would go back to plain and normal. Another few minutes, and more moving noises.
About 30 mins in, the sound became a lot louder, and I heard "crickets" over the top. Very strange as I could listen just to them, and the shapes were a lot more distinguishable - stars, silouttes of things. Also, the orangey light would fade in and out.
First time this happened, I had to try and smell if my lamp shade thing had caught fire!
Nearing the end of the hour, I felt incredibly relaxed and sleepy. As my eyes began to close a little, shadows of eyelashes could be seen, and then they were moving around, becoming very clear uniform 'spikes', and then fading back into blurry dark areas.
tomorrow i'll do it again but -
a) louder noise. Either better headphones, or also have external speakers around my bed playing the same as the headphones
b) turn off HTPC. I thought I could hear the HD spinning for the first 20 mins
c) try during the day/evening when i'm not at all tired
d) longer than an hour - on one hand, that felt like a week. Then again, felt like 5 minutes.
I really want to find the talking duck. So far, nothing incredibly over the top, but a very strange experience.
Oh, and video is just me lying there. THroughout the whole thing, i didn't want to talk incase it stopped everything!
nothing as clear as the duck at all - first 5 minutes was nothing, and then I felt a few minutes of almost desperation as my eyes were darting around trying to foxus on something.
after that, lots of shapes. Nothing clear, just shapes coming out of the orangey light - always purple. they'd form out of nothing, the contrast different quite clear, and then fade away whilst moving.
if i heard a background noise, everything would go back to plain and normal. Another few minutes, and more moving noises.
About 30 mins in, the sound became a lot louder, and I heard "crickets" over the top. Very strange as I could listen just to them, and the shapes were a lot more distinguishable - stars, silouttes of things. Also, the orangey light would fade in and out.
First time this happened, I had to try and smell if my lamp shade thing had caught fire!
Nearing the end of the hour, I felt incredibly relaxed and sleepy. As my eyes began to close a little, shadows of eyelashes could be seen, and then they were moving around, becoming very clear uniform 'spikes', and then fading back into blurry dark areas.
tomorrow i'll do it again but -
a) louder noise. Either better headphones, or also have external speakers around my bed playing the same as the headphones
b) turn off HTPC. I thought I could hear the HD spinning for the first 20 mins
c) try during the day/evening when i'm not at all tired
d) longer than an hour - on one hand, that felt like a week. Then again, felt like 5 minutes.
I really want to find the talking duck. So far, nothing incredibly over the top, but a very strange experience.
Oh, and video is just me lying there. THroughout the whole thing, i didn't want to talk incase it stopped everything!
Isn't it basically meditation/induced lucid dreaming?
Blocking out all unwanted sound and distractions, focusing on one thing (red light) then just letting your mind wander off. Tres mentioned auditory hallucinations which are also common before lucid dreaming.
If it is similar to this, I'll have at a guess that people who don't have any reaction are trying too hard to have a reaction, and just need to relax and not try to force or distinguish shapes, rather just let them form naturally.
Blocking out all unwanted sound and distractions, focusing on one thing (red light) then just letting your mind wander off. Tres mentioned auditory hallucinations which are also common before lucid dreaming.
If it is similar to this, I'll have at a guess that people who don't have any reaction are trying too hard to have a reaction, and just need to relax and not try to force or distinguish shapes, rather just let them form naturally.
i'd say the pingpong ball is essential - it's comfortable enough, and it completely diffuses the light evenly - you can't see anything, no shadows, just a very uniform light. Also leaves space for you to keep your eyes open rather than toilet paper or anything else.
