Reverse Blinking Technique

A friend alerted me to this Reverse Blinking technique. I was sceptical at first, but I was so amazed by the results I felt compelled to share.

What Reverse Blinking may do for you:

Nothing (it doesn't work for everyone.)
Put you to sleep quickly.
Make you so tired you feel you have to sleep.
Put you into a trance so that you can use autosuggestion.
Initiate hypnagogic hallucinations (that is, the kind of hallucinations we experience pre-sleep).

How you do it:

1) Lie down comfortably, as if you're going to sleep.
2) Relax. Close your eyes.
3) Count to five in your head.
4) On the count of five reverse blink: that is, open your eyes quickly (but in a relaxed manner) and close them again. (NB: I estimate that the reverse blinks are about twice the duration of a normal blink - with the eye-opening the duration of one normal blink, and the eye-closing the duration of one normal blink.)
5) Repeat stages three and four.


Experimenting with hypnagogic hallucinations

I wanted to see if I could combine Reverse Blinking with autosuggestion to control the images I would see in hypnagogic hallucinations. I achieved this simply: In my count to four (before the reverse-blink) I would insert the suggestion: "I will see an image of London". Then, after a while - once my eyelids were feeling very tired - I stopped reverse-blinking but continued with the counting to five and the London suggestion. On the count of five I was finding that random images of London places were popping into my head, without any attempt to visualise on my part.

Experiments

There are some experiments I want to try with this technique.

1) I want to see if I can make the hallucinations creative: I'd make a suggestion like, "I'll see a good idea about a place in London" etc.

2) I want to use the suggestion, "I'll see a memory from my childhood my conscious mind has forgotten".

3) On some occasions I've actually stopped blinking and dreamed that I was continuing to blink. I would be interesting in finding out what happens if I create a trigger to ensure I keep blinking and don't fall asleep. Maybe this would be a metronome in 5/4 time. The sound of the metronome click would remind me not to fall asleep. What will I experience when I continue Reverse Blinking beyond the stage where I'd normally fall asleep?

Trying it

Would love to know how others get on with this. I expect that some people will find that it doesn't work at all, while others will, like me, be amazed. When I used the technique two days ago I was reverse-blinking and thinking to myself, "It isn't going to work this time" but within two reverse-blinks I was hallucinating.

A word of warning though: hypnagogic hallucinations can be frightening.

Thinking about thinking...a great blog

If you're like me and enjoy thinking about thinking - and thinking of ways to improve your thinking - then I highly recommend Luciano Passuello's Litemind site.

The site has a simple mission:

To explore ways to use our minds efficiently.

The site is full of information on creativity skills, memory skills (including such methods as the Major system and Roman Room system), self improvement strategies, and Mind Maps on well-known books (such as The Medici Effect). There are also some wise words on overcoming "the dreaded P" - procrastination!

I can't recommend this blog highly enough.