I was drawn to hypnosis and was disappointed with my first few experiences as I thought I was going to receive a lot of visual information. For the most impactful experience, I received more body sensations, symbols, words, songs, knowings, and some visuals that looked like light in the form of a shape. These were things I had to later learn to interpret to find out what the information was trying to tell me. I did receive some snapshot like images, but these were rare. I later went on to become a hypnotherapist and found that in my schooling, all my classmates had very vivid visual experiences under hypnosis. I learned more about myself and the way I process information. I regularly cannot be regressed to certain ages to recall memories because nothing comes up for me visually, but I can call parts of me forward and feel them come through my body. I experience emotions in my body that are linked to memories. When I'm asked to picture things, as in your survey, I find even the options lacking. I think how I experience imagination is by collecting things I've seen before and compiling them into an "image" that I know. For example, I can picture a beach and I understand all the elements it needs, I know that the shoreline is likely curving as a beach that is more of a bay would be calmer and more private in my mind. I know that the sun would feel warm on my skin and the breeze would be soothing and cool and I could hear birds, but I can imagine it with my eyes open and when I close my eyes, it doesn't appear as an image before me. I still just see blackness. I can imagine a loved one's face - usually from a picture or from a moment in time - a memory. I can recall what something looks like, but I don't see it clearly in front of me. It is almost as if there is a black veil in front of it and it just exists somewhere behind that, or somewhere behind my eyes (in my brain) or somewhere in my memory. It is difficult to describe. It is more of a knowing than a seeing. What I find more fascinating is that there are people with no inner dialogue. I'm constantly talking to myself and analyzing things, so I can't imagine no voice puzzling things out. I feel like maybe I just have a degree of aphantasia as I can picture things, but i don't think it is the same as others who actually see images and not the same as people who see nothing. Anyway, I'm constantly intrigued about the way my mind works and the more information I gather, the more I seek. Thanks for this space!

I was drawn to hypnosis and was disappointed with my first few experiences as I thought I was going to receive a lot of visual information. For the most impactful experience, I received more body sensations, symbols, words, songs, knowings, and some visuals that looked like light in the form of a shape. These were things I had to later learn to interpret to find out what the information was trying to tell me. I did receive some snapshot like images, but these were rare. I later went on to become a hypnotherapist and found that in my schooling, all my classmates had very vivid visual experiences under hypnosis. I learned more about myself and the way I process information. I regularly cannot be regressed to certain ages to recall memories because nothing comes up for me visually, but I can call parts of me forward and feel them come through my body. I experience emotions in my body that are linked to memories. When I'm asked to picture things, as in your survey, I find even the options lacking. I think how I experience imagination is by collecting things I've seen before and compiling them into an "image" that I know. For example, I can picture a beach and I understand all the elements it needs, I know that the shoreline is likely curving as a beach that is more of a bay would be calmer and more private in my mind. I know that the sun would feel warm on my skin and the breeze would be soothing and cool and I could hear birds, but I can imagine it with my eyes open and when I close my eyes, it doesn't appear as an image before me. I still just see blackness. I can imagine a loved one's face - usually from a picture or from a moment in time - a memory. I can recall what something looks like, but I don't see it clearly in front of me. It is almost as if there is a black veil in front of it and it just exists somewhere behind that, or somewhere behind my eyes (in my brain) or somewhere in my memory. It is difficult to describe. It is more of a knowing than a seeing. What I find more fascinating is that there are people with no inner dialogue. I'm constantly talking to myself and analyzing things, so I can't imagine no voice puzzling things out. I feel like maybe I just have a degree of aphantasia as I can picture things, but i don't think it is the same as others who actually see images and not the same as people who see nothing. Anyway, I'm constantly intrigued about the way my mind works and the more information I gather, the more I seek. Thanks for this space!