Blocking and Altering Senses

Instructor: Rainsong
Date: December 16, 2017 (Saturday)

Rainsong
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen

midnight
:waves: hey rainsong

Rainsong
Hi, Midnight 😀

Rainsong
So someone is here. Cool.

Rainsong
The scheduled topic for the evening is, as mentioned above, “Blocking and Altering Senses”

Rainsong
It arose from the class on practical applications of psionic abilities.

Scelana
I’m here as well hehe

Rainsong
Hi, Scelana

Rainsong
This set of skills is closely related to numbing pain, which is relatively common knowledge among psionicists.

Turbo
is here

Rainsong
It’s probably related to biofeedback (and can be approached that way, if you are so inclined), but is mostly a combination of visualization and self-hypnosis.

Rainsong
Hi, Turbo

TehOldeSourcerer
Checking in

Rainsong
Hi, TehOlde

Rainsong
My thought processes are running a bit slowly tonight, and I haven’t pre-drafted this lecture, so it might be a bit slow-going.

Rainsong
Possibly the most common usage for this is for getting through meals that are less-than-entirely-delicious without offending your hosts, in the case of dinner parties, or having your meal come back up again, in the case of some school cafeterias.

Rainsong
If you have syneasthesia, you’ll find all sorts of uses for it, especially if your “crossed wires” extend to touch and taste.

Turbo
Is this a mind over matter sort of skill?

Rainsong
Sort of?

Rainsong
In studies of hypnosis and pain control, the nifty high tech scanning things indicate that the nerve impulses appear to be interrupted at or before the spine.

Turbo
Interesting

Turbo
This could have been useful at last nights dinner :p

Rainsong
Quite possibly so.

Rainsong
It’s unfortunate if that’s the case, seeing as your company appears to have put a lot of money into that meal.

Turbo
It was veal done medium. My stomach has a hard time with anything too pink.

Simica
Here as well. Eating

Rainsong
Hi, Simica

Turbo
Medium-well is my go to. It was still good, if not a little fatty

TehOldeSourcerer
Is that sort of like making one sense feel like another, like making you feel like a very salty dish is sweeter?

Simica
waves

Rainsong
TehOldeSourcerer: Yes, the “altering” senses is exactly like that.

Rainsong
I strongly suggest setting things up so that it’s a temporary effect. Normally it will wear off, anyway (typically within four days) if you don’t. However, there are exceptions to that generality.

Rainsong
The senses are there for a reason, after all.

Rainsong
As is often the case, we’ll start with the simple approach.

Rainsong
You can block a sense in the same way you can numb pain, and we’ll start with those.

Rainsong
1) Remember the “blue psiball” approach to getting rid of a headache? You can use a handy construct here, too. Put together a nice little clump of oomph, while concentrating on the intention of numbing whichever sensory nerves are the ones you want to block: taste buds, the tactile receptors on your fingertips (or elsewhere), the aural nerves governed by the ear, and so on….

Rainsong
Be aware that blocking the sense does not stop damage from overstimulation of the sense organ in question.

Turbo
So you can make yourself deaf? Or blind?

Rainsong
Blocking sound at a concert won’t stop your ears from being damaged by the high levels of sound.

Rainsong
Turbo: Yep.

TehOldeSourcerer
Mind is a powerful thing indeed

Turbo
First time I hear something like that. Very cool.

Rainsong
But temporarily blinding yourself before staring at the sun won’t prevent your retina from being burnt.

Turbo
No obviously. Biology is still biology. You’re just using psi to.. Trick the mind?

Rainsong
To stop the mind from registering the sensory input, really.

Turbo
Like pain killers

Rainsong
(To be fair, deliberately blinding yourself before staring at the sun would be a remarkably stupid thing to do….)

Rainsong
YEs, very like pain killers. Same concept.

Scelana
I’ve use my energy before as a way to control pain without needing painkillers, really comes in handy

Rainsong
Yep, it’s handy.

Rainsong
With the construct approach, usually you hold the construct against the area you want to affect. But in theory, you can simply include the area in question in the construct’s programming.

TehOldeSourcerer
I take it the blue psiball was something from an old lecture? If so I’ll check the backlog later

Rainsong
It’s been in quite a few. Some of them are in the logs, yes.

Rainsong
The concept is pretty self-explanatory: Make a blue, soothing, cooling psiball. Hold it against the part of your head that hurts. Some people find that making the psiball swirl helps. And most people find that imagining the painful area as red, and having the psiball change the red to purple and then blue helps, too. (Some people find the red thing makes it worse. If it makes it worse in your case, don’t do it.)

Turbo
I’m definitely going to try it

TehOldeSourcerer
Ok got it

TehOldeSourcerer
Huh interesting, attempted that and felt a slight warmth on my left temple where I was holding the psiball

TehOldeSourcerer
Cool

Scelana
I’ve got a couple ways I can do it Lately I’ve worked on making a variant that can ramp up as needed if the pain decides it wants to go up and down, it also adds in a feeling of nice warmth in the area during those ramp ups. Those I sometimes need to include in swelling reduction in though hehe

Rainsong
The second approach is more based in imagination.

Rainsong
Calm your mind and take a couple of nice deep breaths.

TehOldeSourcerer
Usually I cover myself in a bright energy and go “as the light spreads my wounds and sores heal and my pains dissapear” still in progress

Rainsong
Imagine your nervous system either as it really is set up, or as a set of switches/radio-buttons.

Rainsong
Choose the ones you want to block, and “turn them off”: flick the imaginary switch, click the radio-buttons, or block the appropriate nerves with an imaginary nerve block (physical, as in a pinch; chemical, as in an injected drug; or whatever you can most easily imagine)

Rainsong
Hold the intent to actually block the nerves in question while you do it.

Rainsong
Focus on it for a moment… possibly a few minutes.

Rainsong
Many people find it useful to imagine the nerve block in question as being a gradual thing, over the course of 30-90 seconds… especially if they are basing the effect on remember experience with something like Lidocaine at the dentist’s office.

Rainsong
Questions at this point? Commentary?

TehOldeSourcerer
Is it necessary to know which nerves in specific scientifically to do this, or is it your intent and focus that take care of the work?

Turbo
I would imagine making yourself blind could be very unsettling. And I wonder can this be done to another person

Rainsong
TehOlde: If you’re going to use the visualization of the nervous system directly, you need to know at least the rough location. If you don’t know the nervous system well, I’d suggest using the switch/radio-button approach… Just label each switch: “taste”, “sound”, “heat” or whatever.

Rainsong
Turbo: much like biofeedback, it actually works better on another person than on oneself.

Turbo
I could see inherent dangers there. And I suppose a normal sheild would he fine for preventing another person from making my yummy pancakes taste like mud?

Rainsong
Depends on how the Shield is set up, and whether your Shield is stronger than the strength and skill of the person making the attempt.

Turbo
Could be good ‘sparring’ practice with the right protocols set in place

Turbo
Though it might be.. What’s the word. Uncomfortable to mess with someone else’s senses in a negative way

midnight
would there be any risk of something going wrong during ‘sparring’ like that?

midnight
i mean i’m not about to try it and find out myself

Turbo
I know I keep going back to the blind thing cause it’s the most extreme I think. But making it last for days when you meant minutes could be a problem

Rainsong
There’s almost always some risk, but you can mitigate most of the risk in this case by making sure that all participants are safely sitting in a safe location, and won’t be driving or doing other risky activities for a few hours afterwards.

TehOldeSourcerer
Could you possibly heavily damage someone else’s senses, possibly irreversibly, if you’re careless?

Rainsong
Neither of the approaches I’ve described cause any damage to the senses. In theory, if you push too hard, you could injure the other person, as is the case with practically any sparring,

Rainsong
If you push too hard, you can also injure yourself.

TehOldeSourcerer
Got it, good to know

Turbo
Okay

Rainsong
I trust I don’t need to tell you why sparring in this manner with someone who is in process of driving a car would be a bad idea…?

midnight
of course not

Turbo
A person driving a car shouldn’t even be making themselves available to spar

Rainsong
That’s very true.

TehOldeSourcerer
Yeah that would be bad

Rainsong
If you have experience and skill in inducing a moderate level of trance, you’ll find that this “switch” approach is easier.

TehOldeSourcerer
I take it this could also be used to highten certain senses? Such as make you notice the saltiness of something more than you otherwise would?

Rainsong
It’s also worthwhile to set it up as a cantrip if you, for example, regularly break bread with folks who are not exactly accomplished cooks.

Rainsong
TheOldeSourcerer: Yes indeed. It’s not used as often, but either of those approaches would work, adjusting the programming of the construct, or the set-up of the switches accordingly. I’d suggest a “slider” or other variable-input sort of device in this case, rather than a simple on/off. For the psiball, just concentrate on the oomph amplifying the sense in question. If you have a suitable visualization to accompany it, so much the better.

Scelana
Interesting

Rainsong
In a similar vein, you can switch a sensory thing for another one. To use your salty example, you could convert salty tastes to sweet ones. Or bitter to sweet-and-sour. And so on. And in fact, you can do it much the same way, but substitute a dial, where you have the different types of tastes.

midnight
time to make everything spicy

Turbo
What if it’s a taste you’ve never experienced?

Rainsong
Usually it will convert to whatever you imagine the unknown taste to be.

Rainsong
If you don’t know what you’re converting from? Pick whatever you don’t like, that might be involved, and convert it to chocolate. 😀

Scelana
Hehe

Scelana
Sounds like it could be useful

Turbo
I mean, I’ve never tried coconut. Can I make an apple taste like a coconut

midnight
oh! i’ve actually done that before, with someone else

Rainsong
Yes, but unless you’re good at grabbing the actual taste from either someone else or “subspace”, the apple will taste like what you imagine coconut to taste like… not necessarily what it really tastes like

Turbo
Makes sense

Rainsong
Any other questions? Commentary?

Turbo
None from me

Rainsong
I only went over the basic approaches here. Short-cuts come after practice with the basics. Or you can use the basics even when well-practiced.

midnight
not at the moment

Rainsong
Thanks for participating, everyone.

midnight
totally. thank you for holding the lecture, rainsong

Rainsong
You’re welcome

Scelana
Thxies for the lecture

Rainsong
We don’t have a scheduled topic for next week yet. If there are requests, please let me know

Rainsong
You’re welcome. 😀

B.O.X.
I wanted to say thanks, too. I wasn’t completely here for it but still, glad to read afterwards

Rainsong
I’m glad if you liked it. 😀

ceahhettan
am reading through the lecture now. ^_^

Rainsong
😀