Procyon Session Journal

[Mental_Floss]

This will be a long post, sorry in advance.

I received my Procyon last Friday and have since experienced several sessions ranging from Quick Energy to the Night Voyage series and I am thus far thoroughly impressed.

I suffer from anxiety and severe insomnia and have tried everything from breathing exercises to benzodiazepines (Xanax, Valium etc) to help. The drugs worked the best but I stopped taking them as I started to become heavily dependent. Several months and very little sleep later I find out about mind machines and decided to take the risk considering the awesome return policy and the fact I cannot find hardly anyone talking down about them.

So, my first night with the Procyon I tried the 60 min Night Voyage as a test drive. After about fifteen minutes of sitting there thinking "What is everyone going on about" my body sunk into complete relaxation and this was my last conscious thought. I seriously have amnesia for about 30 to 45 min of the experience and only came around after the the session had ended. I thought I had some how turned it off by accident but no, it was indeed 2:30 am and I made my way to bed and fell asleep within 10 min. The following evening I repeated the process with the exact same outcome.

In the days that followed I have tried several other sessions such as Creative Visualization that really don't seem to do much. However, the experiences seem to become more profound the more I use it. The last few nights for example, determined not to space out during my Night Voyage session, I tried the 35 min. I was completely conscious throughout the session but seemed completely detached from my body. I don't think I have ever been so relaxed in my life, however I still had trouble falling asleep. When I did I was not up every hour like I normally am though. I hope my experiences were not placebo effect, and if they were I hope it continues

I read a previous post suggesting doing Creative Visualization everyday and it may help with my anxiety so I am going to give that a try for a few weeks and I will post my results if anyone is interested.

On a side note I almost forgot about, during and after some of my sessions it sometimes feels like my brain is squirming around in my head and I have a mild headache. It almost feels like the neurons are firing and even creating new pathways but this is only my wild imagination I am sure. Are headaches normal for a little while or even a side effect after/ during a session?

Thank you for reading...

[CraigT]

That's a fabulous report! I'm so pleased you're getting such positive results so quickly.

There's no reason to believe it's placebo - I've had similar results with anxiety, depression and sleep problems, and have had great results with all the members of my family, with anxiety, chronic pain and and attention problems as well. I've just launched into ADD treatment for my son, and he's loving it, along with relaxation sessions after his school day.

Aside from anecdotal success, entrainment is based on rock-solid science - there's no snake-oil here!

Early on I had a few adverse side effects - headaches, strange sleep patterns, sore eyes - but a year of solid use later, I've found all the brightness and volume settings that suit me best, and learned which programs suit me best at which time of the day. Pretty well everything unpleasant that happened I can put down to using sessions that were inappropriate for what I was about to do. Learning to read your body and anticipate the best mind-state for the purpose at hand allows you to tweak for optimum mood/mental state pretty much on demand.

Some sessions affect blood flow in the brain and trigger neurochemical releases, so physical sensations are a good sign that everything's working just great. One of the more interesting physical effects is the induction of 'sleep paralysis' while awake when using deep delta - all of a sudden the body just slumps and awareness of sensation just vanishes. Obviously if you don't like a sensation, or if you're worried about it, stop doing it and ask about it.

Entrianment rocks!!!

Cheers,
Craig

[Marisa]

Hey Mental Floss,

Glad to see you are getting some good use out of your procyon.

This will be a long post, sorry in advance.

Nothing to apologize for. Long messages are welcome here.

I suffer from anxiety and severe insomnia and have tried everything from

That tells me that your dominant brain wave frequency is likely in the high Beta range. Normally, while we are awake, the dominant frequency will be beta - however, too high of a Beta (all the time) produces anxiety. Just a bit of info for ya.

So, my first night with the Procyon I tried the 60 min Night Voyage as a test drive. After about fifteen minutes of sitting there thinking "What is everyone going on about" my body sunk into complete relaxation and this was my last conscious thought. I seriously have amnesia for about 30 to 45 min of the experience and only came around after the the session had ended. I thought I had some how turned it off by accident but no, it was indeed 2:30 am and I made my way to bed and fell asleep within 10 min. The following evening I repeated the process with the exact same outcome.

It reminds me of one client I had who said, no way can this machine put me into a hypnotic trance ... 10 minutes later I changed his name to "bob" (cuz of head bobbing) and he was out cold. lol

In the days that followed I have tried several other sessions such as Creative Visualization that really don't seem to do much. However, the experiences seem to become more profound the more I use it.

With some sessions you may not notice an immediate affect. Sometimes, it will appear that nothing at all has happened. If your brain is use to being in high beta and you introduce it to a lower frequency, let's say Alpha, with the machine it may achieve that state briefly but not noticeably. After a week or so of using it in this mode, you'll begin to notice changes. It's because your brain is learning how to access that state for longer periods. Also, you may notice the changes at a different time than when you are using the machine (maybe an hour later). Sometimes the changes occur gradually so you may not notice them right away.

The last few nights for example, determined not to space out during my Night Voyage session, I tried the 35 min. I was completely conscious throughout the session but seemed completely detached from my body. I don't think I have ever been so relaxed in my life, however I still had trouble falling asleep. When I did I was not up every hour like I normally am though. I hope my experiences were not placebo effect, and if they were I hope it continues

There will be times like this. At least you got some relaxation out of the session.

I read a previous post suggesting doing Creative Visualization everyday and it may help with my anxiety so I am going to give that a try for a few weeks and I will post my results if anyone is interested.

Do let us know how it goes!

On a side note I almost forgot about, during and after some of my sessions it sometimes feels like my brain is squirming around in my head and I have a mild headache. It almost feels like the neurons are firing and even creating new pathways but this is only my wild imagination I am sure. Are headaches normal for a little while or even a side effect after/ during a session?

It would be interesting to know how you felt before the session where you had the headache later. I'm curious as to whether you were feeling more stressed than usual or if there was a weather change or something else that made you more susceptible to a headache.

I will get a headache if I run a session too long. Sometimes I can do a bunch of sessions and be fine and some days, my brain just isn't into it and if I push it, I'll get a headache. So, my best advice to you is that if you feel any discomfort during a session, end the session and try again another day.


M.

[Mental_Floss]

After another week of using my Procyon I have some more positive results to report. I am no longer getting headaches when I use the machine and I think they were caused by dehydration. I have been drinking a lot more water lately as I think the machine dries me out a bit.

Last night I also had the best Night Voyage session to date. Finding the right music to mix it with can really make the difference. I finally got full visuals and can say that I understand what others are talking about now. I am also sleeping through the night and feel very well rested the next day. This is even after being up an hour or so after the session, amazing! I think I am becoming a Theta/Delta junkie.

I have also been using the Creative Vis. sessions for some panic attacks that have occurred during the week with some success. The only time I was not able to bring myself down from an episode was when I was unable to use the Procyon because I was in school and left it home. I am thinking of buying a Thoughtstream now to help in this aspect. Unless of course the Presage is coming out relatively soon? (Hint, Mind Place!)

The only downside to all this success is my wife sill thinks that I am an odd duck for using this thing and she as still yet to try it. She and her friend got a good laugh at me the other evening which doesn't bother me so much other than I think they both could benefit from using the Procyon as well.

Thank you CraigT and Marisa for all the good info!

[CraigT]

Good call on the dehydration aspect. All of the Neuroprogrammer/Mind Workstation sessions suggest that you have a glass of water first, so it's obviously a very common problem.

I'm not aware of any complications to entrainment addiction Myself, I'm hooked on alpha/theta - which is an interesting coincidence - that's the suggested protocol for the things that have caused me the most grief in the past (anxiety/alcohol).

Keep on at the wife, gently. When she finally 'get's it' she'll be annoyed with you for not getting her onto it sooner. Such is life with a wife

Cheers,
Craig

[Maggie Waldeck]

My husband is bipolar and very resistant to new ideas. He started having memory problems and I suggested he try the Procyon. Now I have a hard time getting it away from him to use it myself. His memory is much better and his moods are the best they have been in years.

[Marisa]

Awesome Maggie! Thanks for the post.

M.

[BigApple]

One of the more interesting physical effects is the induction of 'sleep paralysis' while awake when using deep delta - all of a sudden the body just slumps and awareness of sensation just vanishes. Obviously if you don't like a sensation, or if you're worried about it, stop doing it and ask about it.

Entrianment rocks!!!

Cheers,
Craig

Just rediscovered my Proteus (I know this is a procyon thread but I think my query is relevent here too) in the bottom of a spare room cupboard where it had been languishing for the last 10 years all but forgotten about!

Getting back into the unit was great fun, then I found an old Audio Strobe CD (Audio Illusions), Wow! All was going well and I was getting pretty chilled out until half way through the final track when Wham! Just as CraigT says, I lost all bodilly sensation and the feeling was just amazing.

Trouble is, I have not been able to repeat the sensation and, although I always get really relaxed and chilled I just don't seem to be able to push myself over the edge again. And I think that is my problem, I think I am trying too hard

My question (finally ) is does anyone have any sure fire methods for completely letting go during a session? I think I do pretty well at partially letting go but it seems just as I'm about to completely let go, my mind starts to think "Ohhh yehhh, its about to happen" and then I've snapped out of it and I'm back with a degree of sensation again .

Cheers
Al

[CraigT]

Hi Al,

Great to hear you're back into AVS with great results!

The most sure way I have found of "going all the way" is to completely lose interest in the outcome and enjoy the ride. Seeing without looking, hearing without listening and thought without analysis.

Sleep paralysis is also a "phenomena" cool, interesting, but almost completely without significance to the usefulness of AVS.

Cheers,
Craig

[BigApple]

Seeing without looking, hearing without listening and thought without analysis.

Thanks Craig, Sounds like meditation Guess I'm going to have to work at this one and I think I'm going to enjoy the ride

I'm newly married so your quote above is probably useful for other aspects of my life

Maybe I should keep the Audio Strobes for entertainment and return the the inbuilt sessions for more focussed meditiation development

Cheers
Al