Michelle Koenig

Florence, I am fascinated by your story. I have considered trying hypnosis or hallucinogenic drugs to try to unlock my visualization, but the fear of inadvertently activating old traumatic memories has held me back. I am wondering if your friend was trying to hypnotize you for fun or if you were looking for it as a treatment for your traumatic event. I’m wondering if this is a common outcome with hypnosis in general. I know I have heard it being used to treat habits like smoking, but I never consider there might be a risk involved.

Thank you for the meditation article. I am new to the term aphantasia, but on the test I have zero imaging. I always thought people were just using a phrase “picture this” in the abstract, not that they were actually visualizing an apple or a sunset or whatever. In yoga the instructor will always talk about images, and I never realized that the other people in the class were probably seeing a beach or clouds or something. Anyway, I am an artist and I can not visualize things so I draw everything I think about in order to not only capture it, but to also work out the facets of construction, etc. My question to you pertains to modes of imagining. I have a way of making things in my mind that is really hard to describe, but it is as if I have dark gray/black powder/dust/chalk and I am not touching it, but my mind is moving it in 3 dimensions as a feeling, not an image. I never knew this was not how everyone thinks until recently. At first I thought it was like dark smoke, but as I concentrate and try to get more details, I feel it has dimension/substance. I wonder if anyone else knows what I am saying. In reading posts I see a lot of different ways of conceiving things in the mind that does not involve an image, but my particular variant does not seem to be described by anyone else. This does not work when I am told to “imagine” or “picture” something specific, but rather when I am trying to work out something that is physical, like a sculpture. I am wondering if anyone else has this “dark matter” mechanism for thought?

This clock analogy reminds me of deep meditation. Can you sit down and go into this state at will?

I am new to the term aphantasia as well. I always thought people were just using a phrase “picture this” in the abstract, not that they were actually visualizing an apple or a sunset or whatever. In yoga The instructor will always talk about images, and I never realize that the other people in the class probably were seeing a beach or clouds or something. Anyway, I am an artist and I can not visualize things so I draw everything I think about in order to not only capture it, but to also work out the facets of construction, etc. My question to you pertains to this geometric thing you are describing. I think I have a similar mode of imagining. I also have a way of making things in my mind that is really hard to describe, but it is as if I have dark gray/black powder/dust/chalk and I am not touching it, but my mind is moving it in 3 dimensions as a feeling, not an image. I never knew this was not how everyone thinks until recently. At first I thought it was like dark smoke, but as I concentrate I feel it has dimension/substance. I wonder if anyone else knows what I am saying. In reading posts I see a lot of different ways of conceiving things in the mind that does not involve an image, but my particular variant does not seem to be described by anyone else.