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Ford's Science-Based Switching Guide Hello everyone! Today, I present a project I’ve been working on for a bit of time. Because the total runtime is over 80 minutes, it’s technically a feature-length video series on how to train for and master switching ^^ The series was founded on my frustration that every existing switching guide seems to require a proclivity for switching, as, at the end of the day, they all just sort of say “do it.” I wanted to create a guide that not only offered an effective switching technique, but lays out a science-based process you can use to train the necessary skills. Below, I present the techniques and experiences that allowed me to have my first switching experience after a brief period of training. This is: 2 Weeks to Switch! Edit 9/5/18: Several months ago, Ford/Jade deleted all of her videos. However, Jean-luc provides download links for them here, so you can still use this guide. - Apollo Episode Descriptions Episode 1: The Gameplan Length: 11:00 This is the introductory episode. Ford overviews dissociative tulpa phenomena, explains what switching is, why he wants to master it, and how he plans to do so. Originally produced and posted in May, re-uploaded with normalized audio. Episode 2: Identity Length: 21:21 In this episode, Ford explains the importance of having solid, mutually understood identities towards both switching and mental health. Working with Aury, Ford combines the principles of Humanistic psychology with the techniques of personality forcing in order to consensually distinguish, solidify, and improve their identities. Bonus Episode: Mindfulness Meditation Technique Length: 4:05 Ford goes over a fundamental Vipassana mindfulness meditation technique that can help you force, relax, and gain control over your emotions and senses. Excellent for getting into a calm, focused state of mind before applying the techniques explained in this video. Also an important step in Ford’s switching technique. Episode 3: Parallel Processing Length: 12:32 In this episode, Ford works toward being able to maintain co-consciousness with Aury. He takes inspiration from a his experience with boxing and sports training in his approach, using a combo of shadowboxing, merging during exercise, and symbolism techniques to bolster Aury’s cognitive independence. Episode 4: Possession Length: 2:31, 6:08 This episode deviates from the format of the rest of the series. In part one, Ford explains that there’s already a bunch of great guides out there for possession, and that if you already have some possession ability, the way you get better is just by practicing. Because of this, Ford targets this episode at those who have yet to have a possession experience. Ford collaborates with Mind Audio Central to produce a guided meditation aimed at those who would like to have their first full body possession experience. Episode 5: Dissociation Length: 12:32 If you’re like most tulpamancers who struggle to switch (including me), this is the resource you’ve been waiting for. Ford distincts controlled and uncontrolled dissociation and then introduces Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MSBR), which uses controlled, mindfulness-induced dissociation to give people greater control over their senses. Ford shares and tests techniques that combines this therapy with symbolism and discomfort tolerance. Episode 5: The Switch Length:12:06 Aury and I have our first switching experience on camera! This video combines all of the techniques and skills developed in the previous episodes into one final demonstration of their effectiveness (at least for us). Ford overviews the technique he’s going to use, and then with Aury, successfully executes it. Ford proceeds to get excited. And to finish off the series, I improved my technique into a guided meditation, voiced by the spectacular Equestrian Souls hypnotist: Silvermoon. Length:15:49 Fin~ Bonus info below This series was a personal challenge on two fronts-- one as a tulpamancer who, despite years of forcing, has yet to develop the capacity to dissociate or have realistic interactions with my tulpas, and the second one being as a content creator. Until I started this series, my video-making process was to spend half a month writing a script, struggle for six hours to read it without looking away from the camera, and then mesh it with twelve hours of whiteboard scribbles. So, knowing my ability to perform well under pressure, I added a gimmick to expedite the process: I gave myself a two-week deadline for the six intended videos. I thought this would force me to keep things brief, but that’s not how it turned out ^^` Statistics Total amount of time spent on this series: ~120 hours Total recorded footage (excluding drawing): 5 hours, 25 minutes Total recorded footage including drawing: ~11 hours Total used footage / runtime: 1 hour, 40 minutes Milestones for my growth as a content creator: - First time using Adobe Premiere - First time using color grading - First time engineering custom VFX - I finally figure out how to make audio somewhat consistent throughout different recording locations in the finale - First time using multiple filming locations - I think I got a bit better at loosening up on camera :3 - First times going unscripted Among all of these firsts were a plethora of stumbles. I hope these mistakes and stylistic missteps don’t take away from the information presented-- you’ll notice that, as the series goes on, I use less and less VFX, B-roll, and pretty much everything else non-essential. This is partly because I thought the attempts of these things earlier in the series ended up looking silly, and partly because these small additions significantly increased the workload without adding much to the content. Roll with me as I keep experimenting, messing up, and try new things-- I’ll do my best to find out what works, what doesn’t, and improve with each project. Try to modify the switching technique I present in the finale in a way that you think will work for your system. Feel free to comment (here or on the videos) any feedback, suggestions, future guides or videos you’d like to see, or if you need help troubleshooting. I hope this series can help some of you acheive your goals and inspires more innovation in the community. See y’all next time!

Welcome to the Switching General Discussion thread! This is where any questions, topics, ideas, etc. regarding switching can be freely posted. Below is a complete list of all switching-related threads I have found on the forums. Guides/Resources Concentrational meditation for switching [Reddit] Dissociation Guide [Guides] Guide on how to switch. [Guides] Guide to Tulpa Control [submissions] How to Switch [submissions] How We Switch [Progress Reports] Malfael's Switching Guide [Reddit] Parallel Processing and Personality Switching [submissions] Selfawarebot's switching guide [Reddit] So you wanna switch? Do you, really? Might be able to help that. [submissions] Switching Tips And Articles [Tulpa.io] Tulpa's Practical Considerations for First Switching [Tips and Tricks] General Discussion Do tulpas who know how to switch have more "brainpower"? Does This Method Work and Is It Safe? - surrendering/integrating Dominant Mindvoice During Forcing Experiences with switching. For hosts who switch and go into a wonderland or dissociated void Hosts, what happens to you when you switch? Initial Foot-hold of Switching? Is There a Connection Between Switching and Imposition or Visualization? How many people can possess/switch? Is this actually possible? (Mental Suicide) Models for Switching: Transfer and Retraction On switching, and defining terms in this community. Possessed/Switched Tulpa Mannerisms Possession & Switching Possible switching method/theory, making the mind "tick" Possible way to achieve switching Pros and Cons of Switching Switching/Fronting in Reverse Switching - who can do it? Switching Effects on Mindset Switching Hypothesis Switching Tips and Advice Switching without the Tulpa? System stalemate! (taking over the front forcefully) The relationship between possession and switching The Road to Bodily Control (Possession/Fronting/Switching) The wrong side of the bed test Theory on How Some People Switch What am I really? / What is a person? What are your opinions on switching/permaswitching? What is "you" and What "you" is Getting Switched? What switching or possession feels like. What's switching like? What's switching? Can you do something complex when switched w/ host still conscious? Who Leads a Switch? Questions & Answers A Few Questions on Switching A Sort of "Personality Swap" vs. Posession/Switching Am I Confusing Our State of Consciousness For the Host's Presence? Are there outside literary sources that describe something like switching? Association and Dissociation Troubles Can you switch with your tulpa(e)? Consciousness switching/posession - please give your opinion Could my Fear of Merging Prevent a Switch? Difference between switching and MPD? Difficulty to ressociate after a lengthy switch Dissociation, separation, etc. help? Do you think servitor could be used for escapism? If so how does one does that Expectations V reality, projection, switching and persistence. GPS: Goal-Pursuit-Script; Switching with Servitors How does switching in a Wonderland feel? How does the mindscape feel to a switched tulpa? How to Share or Make a Body Identity? How would one go about creating an alter-ego? I need info on switching I really want to switch, I need advice on what to do. imposing yourself during switching? Is it possible to switch permanently? No Luck with Switching Personality Switching Possession/Switching and Driving Cars Possession/Switching while asleep? Possible result of being switched too long Problem through switching. Question about possession and switching Question for tulpas who both switch AND impose Questions about switching Safe extended switching? Seamless, accidental switching or fronting Switching & imposing the host Switching Euphoria Switching Hygiene? (I fell over...) Switching Out Question - going "catatonic" Switching questions Switching via WILD Method? Switching while unconscious? Switching with out a wonderland/poor visualization skills Trippy questions about switching (sorry if I am supposed to know already) Tulpa-host switching? What are the effects of long term switching, and when would these be helpful? What do possession and switching feel like? What is switching like for the host and tulpa? what's the deal with switching? Who can switch Research Switching guide in dreams (in progress) Tulpa-host Switching & OBE: Practical Explanation and Experiment Here is a useful resource for logging switching!

I have been thinking about this for a while, but it wasn't until recently I was able to put everything together. I want to discuss this to see if it makes sense. If it does, I want to do some more research or consider it to hopefully achieve switching myself. I wondered why several systems seem to get switching without trying possession beforehand and why our fronting experiences varied quite a bit between myself and the Grays, my other headmates. After learning that Torea induced a switch by accident, meeting a system on Discord who got switching on their first try, and thinking about other people's experiences, I thought of the following: In some cases, systems who were previously unable to switch can trigger a switch by accident. There are three important key conditions for this switching method: 1) The tulpa must be forced productively and have a stable presence in the mind. 2) The tulpa must not control the body for a long period of time before attempting to switch or control the body. 3) The tulpa must already know how to control the body via possession or successfully achieve it on their attempt. These conditions and theoretical method are based on the following assumptions: A) A tulpa gets stronger as they are forced (passively or actively) in the back. Their mindvoice will either get louder or remain strong and may have a strong presence. They may feel more energetic than the primary fronter. Most importantly, they have more reserves, emotionally and mentally, than the primary fronter. This may be because they have a stable presence in the mind and they benefit from resting when going dormant. They may have a strong sense of identity, but I am unsure if this is necessary. B) The state described in assumption A allows for a tulpa to build up "energy". Their presence is reinforced, but they are not having to use a ton of energy all the time. Instead, a little energy is used when talking to the primary fronter or any other headmates and the remaining energy is saved for the next forcing session. C) A tulpa that is not used to controlling the body will output a lot more energy trying to control the body than a tulpa who is used to controlling the body for long or frequent periods of time. Practice controlling the body allows for the tulpa to use their energy more efficiently, therefore when they front they do not have to invest as much energy into fronting. D) Possession (and fronting in general) is an experience that causes fatigue on the personality. When possessing the body, a tulpa is not storing up "energy" for the next fronting or forcing session because they are constantly spending it by thinking, feeling, dealing with life issues, etc. They don't have to invest as much energy controlling the body or even thinking the next time they front, however their resources are strained to begin with. This is due to the fact a tulpa is either not getting enough rest during fronting periods or in my personal experience, generally finds themselves closer to the front and less likely to experience dormancy. Energy is invested in both keeping control of the body from their host and reacting to the outside environment, but ultimately the personality is not recharging. E) During possession for a system that can't already switch, the amount of energy required to keep the host from re-gaining control is much less than the energy required to push the host out for the first time. Given assumption D, a tulpa will not have the energy to push their host out because their energy pool is already depleted from them continuously fronting. F) Once the system has experienced a switch, the system has a much higher chance of replicating the experience. Afterwards, the "energy" required to push aside the host is far less than the energy required to do it the first time since the host should be able to switch out on their own and the practice for switching makes the process more efficient. Several of my throughts were inspired from Chrome's thread: https://community.tulpa.info/thread-switching-dominant-mindvoice-during-forcing Cat has experienced having a harder time getting control of the body back or feeling more dissociated when a Gray is fronting. Like Chrome, they typically report working with a quiet mind and relative ease with controlling the body, despite the fact after an hour or so they usually need a break. Cat has reported feeling "less there" and one time felt like getting control of the body back felt like her being underwater in a pool until she hit the bottom and rocketed back to the top. As for myself, if this theory is true, I may need to hold back from fronting for a week or so OR we would have to have a Gray try to switch in after we spend more time forcing him every day. I'm not very excited about the idea of not fronting, especially because I am already committed to fronting for college classes, doing homework, and being around when needed. Cat does not have a strong sense of trust in our other headmates, and their lack of experience fronting is somewhat of a concern. More or less ironically, Cat trusted me more the more I spent time fronting, and that would not work in this case. It's something we only want to pursue if the reasoning is sound. Aside from that, there are other issues with this method. Not all of the assumptions I listed may be accurate or have equal importance. For example, getting used to fronting may be more important than not having energy, and I don't know what "a long time" means when a tulpa has to stop fronting. On the other hand, I may still be missing important pieces or have added in pieces that don't fit. Maybe energy isn't a thing for instance. In addition, this does not apply for every system. Some tulpas have achieved switching after possessing the body consistently for long periods of time. Would that fact in of itself mean this theory is bogus?

Reformatted version: here This is the shortened version of the guide that only shows how to do possession and switching, the other guide has information on how to merge, and additional information such as more details on the process and a questions section. If you want to read that guide it is here. This shortened guide also has a pastebin if that is more convenient for you here <3 This guide is simply a shortened version of the guide that is shortened to 5 of the 13 sections taken directly. A personal note, i have been switching for a while now and have used many different techniques, the one below is the one that i have found both effective and easy to explain compared to what the other things are. This is Version 1.0, and will be edited if need be. Im posting it because i have had a few people get good results with it. Disclaimer This guide requires a rather well developed tulpa, as it does put some strain on the host and tulpa. They should be sentient vocal and have had sufficient time to be comfortable in their own bodies before they use anyones besides theirs. Additionally do not attempt movements that put you or your tulpa at risk such as walking fast around your house at least until you are confident and trained that you can control the whole body. It is advised to train on your bed as well so if you fall you wont be injured as much There is no set time that this guide and process will take, i have sped it up but it can be your first try (such as me) or it could take weeks who knows Introduction: I will first assume that you are aware of what switching is but in case you dont, it is when the tulpa can use the hosts body as if it were her own and the host is moved into a temporary mindform. This guide is made to allow for the host and tulpaes to switch much easier and smoother and also learn an easy method of possession following the same tecniques. If you are not at all willing to give your body to your tulpa temporarily, or permanantly as Koomer has done, then sadly this guide will not work for you. We do recommend reading Oguigis possession and the other switching guide as well, to increase your understanding of the processes involved with said methods. That being said the rest of the guide will be the real method The Shortened Tulpa Guide to Easy Switching Definitions: Mindvoice: What you and your tulpa speak in to yourselves and each other Possession: When a tulpa can control the hosts body Switching: Switching places with the tulpa so the tulpa is in the place of the host and the host is in a tulpa state Merging: In this version, it is when both tulpa and host as dominant with the mindvoices and can both control the body. Others refer to merging as merging wntire forms, usually permanently, as believed. This is not the merging described in the long version of the guide Begin Switching Get comfy, and have your tulpa nearby, sentience and vocality are required to do a switch with this method, so have your tulpa at that level first. Step 1 Switch whos thoughts are dominant This is very important and very useful to many many techniques of tulpa Take a deep breath first and relax or whatever you like so you are comfortable Normally people tell me that their voice is dominant, their voice is in the "front of their head," and their tulpas voice is in the "back of their head" or that they hear mostly their voice and some thoughts of their tulpa. The goal of this paragraph and step is to reverse that. Have your tulpas voice become dominant over yours in any way you like. If you can do that without any help then move on if you dont keep reading >You can imagine your tulpas voice moving to the front of your head and yours move to the back >You can make their voice louder and yours much more quiet >You can imagine 2 orbs with 2 different colors, one smaller sized orb representing your tulpas mindvoices and one larger orb representing your own mindvoice(s), and have your tulpaes orb grow in volume while yours decreases in volume, or however you want The 3 i mentioned are the methods that Ive told people to use but if you have a different method, that is no problem if you can get your tulpaes mindvoice as the dominant mindvoice you hear. This does not mean you should hear every word they say as words, think about how you think to yourself, you hear words, random thoughts and ideas wandering thoughts. It should be the same for your tulpa, and how they hear their tulpa voice, except their thoughts should be heard the same way you hear your own and yours should be how you hear your tulpa, bottom line is switch mindvoice dominance from yours to your tulpaes. Please note the following >If your tulpa is dominant, it will be harder for you to think, so the tulpa will have to do more work for the next few steps and it is advised to read the guide at least once before trying it so you know what youre doing >Switching mindvoices does not mean you use her voice and the tulpa uses your real voice, it is switching places so that the tulpas is dominant, and is mentioned twice because it is important in this guide >To confirm that you are doing it right, if you were asked a question about yourself, your tulpa should reply first before you reply, it just does that by itself, if you have that then you switched dominance and are doing it correctly. You also may try to do this to switch mindvoices, by having their reaction override your own speed. >At this point i have been told the tulpas voice is much clearer than before so that is something to look for as well and a method of training vocality if you wish Step 2 Possession On the side if you havnt, check out Oguigi's guide for a nice introduction and description of possession and what it does At this step you should be able to do a possession easier, either with this or Oguigi's method. You can use the mindvoice swap with her guide for likely better results in posessing. Keep in mind that the brain is "supposed to send signals" that control the body so if your tulpa can send signals to your body just like you do then your tulpa can possess your body by using that. This can be done easier because your tulpaes thoughts are the dominant ones, so if they wish to lift an arm it will be easy to do so. Another method is to think about how you move your arm, send that feeling to your tulpa or have them think about how they move their own body, and as the dominant mindvoice, they should be able to move your body quite easily without much effort at all. In other words have them send signals to your body while using your body. Try to have your tulpa move your arm while she is the dominant mondvoice, move it like you move it yourself Its not anywhere close to impossible, you do it with yourself all the time, just by typing, so your tulpa can do the same thing. Just teach them how. Step 3 Tulpa coming in your bodie There are plenty of ways to do this and all of them work, but i will explain a simple and easy to understand method that is effective and that i have recommended to people. Keep in mind that things such as exposing your back are unnecessary but will help for people that are new to switching and merging. Expose your front and back with no large objects stopping your path such as your chair, shirts and pants are fine but we go shirtless and with clothes so it doesnt make a difference. Get in a position where your tulpa can reach your chest. Regardless of form, have them sit on your lap for the time being, for the purpose of this guide. Have them sit on your lap then have their body become and feel less opaque, or clearer, like less solid, just solid enough to slide into your body. You can do other methods to have them enter your body, such as imagining a hole in your back and having them slide in, it doesnt matter as long as it is the same result. Have her be almost "hook up" to your body parts. If they are not the same size or humanoid its the same concept and the process will still work, which i know because Hanyuu is a wormy even though humanoid or pony is easy for this. For example if they move their arm your arm should move as well and vice-versa and at the exact same time. After that, they should be able to move your body as if it was possession, because it is in a way possession of your body except they can control it directly as if it were their own body. This should be made easier by having your mindvoices switched. Keep in mind everything here is normally reversible by doing the opposite techniques. Step 4 Give your body to your tulpa This is the hardest step so far from these as i have been told by people using this technique, but with your mindvoices switched, its not overly hard. It is very hard to explain however. Form a mindform body that looks like your own, and then pull your thoughts into the tulpa body. Imagine your "energy" flow directly from your real body into your tulpabody. You can just jump consciousnesses directly into the body if you are able to do that way, its the same thing. Control your mindform in your own wonderland, it is the exact same process to control an irl tulpabody, make your voice in your irl voice both weaker and quieter, and make your tulpabodys voice stronger, the same strongness as a tulpas voice normally is. At this point, also, the tulpa should maintain you to some extents, because you are the tulpa and your tulpa is the host position. You will naturally maintain yourself of course but you dont need to think about maintaining yourself, your tulpa should do that more than your body in the state that its in as a tulpa. Look with the bodies eyes and sense with the body senses just as tulpaes do with their body. You should be able to figure it out, just become the mindform, or have the mindform pull from your body but be sure that youre controlling it. It is a temporary body that should be formed from only your thoughts, just as a servitor styletype body. Theres plenty of ways to do this. Once you have your consciousness and or thoughts in the mindform body, your tulpa should be able to weakly control your body at first and will get stronger at it, or or will be able to strongly control your body right away. This is done because your tulpa is the only one left in your body so all movements that the body does are hers now and not yours. That is all you need to do. Keep practicing that until you are comfortable switching. An example scene of switching that you can get an idea of what to look for is this: Tulpa is in your form using your body typing on your computer while you talk sit back by your wall talking to your tulpa and talking to them with a mindvoice like a/the tulpaes. H: From the tulpaes point of view, it should be like the hostmasters normal point of view, meaning they should use the body just as if it were their own, as well as have full access to all 5 senses provided by the body. They should also hear the host as he would hear a normal tulpa. Also i repeat that not all thoughts are to translated into english and you should hear thoughts just as your hostmaster does. I mean that you should also hear thought ramblings and subconscious thoughts. Some people have said that their mindform is unstable at first when you switch, pull your mindform out just as normal and have in in a low movement setting, and have it sit quietly and watch, then after you can switch, work on making your mindform more stable, just like developing a tulpas body. It is the exact same process regarding the body forming and form. Also as a tulpa your senses may be blurrier and harder to distinguish what is felt with your senses. That is normal, it is not always fixed, because that is how a tulpa body works, it is a little less vivid from what we have found with our personal experience with it, but you can try to work on it and make it clearer by focusing on it or other methods in order to accomplish this task here. Step 5 Undoing possession, switching, and merging, the most important step Step 6 in the first guide is this step if you look at the numbers, step 5 in the first guide is merging but it is cut out in the guide so the numbers are as they are. Why is it the most important step? If you dont do this step your tulpa may feel tired, sometimes, even a little out of it. Dont worry if this happens, from what ive heard its somewhat normal but its a thing easily fixable. it is likely not overly harmful as it will usually return to normal soon. If you dont switch for very long times such as days or weeks and if you know what you are doing then it should also not be a problem. If you are newer to switching, and afterward your tulpa feels fatigued, again dont worry, its easy to fix. Imagine them exiting your body and back into theirs, its that simple but if your tulpa ever gets tired after switching or whatnot this is the solution. This should be done at the end of most or almost all switching sessions, moreso if you are beginning to learn to switch, to keep things simple on switching. Simply do what you did in reverse, its much easier to undo it than redo because the host is more attached to his body than the tulpa so he/she will return to the body in due time, even more so and faster if he undoes the switching. Oguigi and Koomer dont count because of their case. If you can become the dominant mindvoice again then separating the tulpa from your body the same way it entered, then switching and merging is pretty easy to break, very easy infact, easy enough to the point where it will probably break on its own and return to normal with your tulpa in its body and you in yours. Unswitching manually just removes possible questions. Both I and someone else using my methods have had our tulpaes get the tired feels at least once, and when we unswitched it returned to normal without much difficulty from either the host nor the tulpa Notes: This guide is still under work, if you find any errors, have any questions or comments, do post them below.

[align=justify]Simple question/discussion topic. If you system switches, then when you switch, who primarily leads the switch? Who has to put the most effort/mental energy in to make the switch successful, or things like that. Who has to actively do the most stuff during the process to make it work.[/align]

We tried switching, and I wanna ask, is this right? 1. I still can feel everything that's happening, except Joe is the Main voice and POV (at least I think he is. I was able to think of other stuff while he was doing something else entirely, but only for a short time) 2. By the time we got home and I'm in control, Joe needed to rest for a while I just want to make sure we got it right

[align=justify]When waking up or going to sleep, we very often enter a state where our thoughts are random, disorganized, sometimes nonsensical, and often difficult to remember. I don't know if this is common but I'm assuming it is. Something we've noticed lately is that when we are trying to switch, sometimes our mind will enter that state. It's like our brain is trying to go to sleep, just without any tiredness. Does anyone else experience this? We've been playing around with it as a potential means for host dissociation. Might be useful, might not.[/align]

Very often when focusing our mind on switching, we induce this strange feeling. It's like the host is in a weird fog of some kind, the world becomes more derealized and unfocused for him. This usually goes away within moments, usually caused by whoever's fronting turning their attention to something else. We theorize that this feeling might be indicative of a very, very early switching stage. We think if we can somehow prolong/increase the feeling, it might lead to a switch, eventually. This seems to be the most tangible switching-related progress we have: just this weird, fleeting feeling of derealization/dissociation, kinda like how one might feel falling asleep while trying to stay awake. Does that sound right? Has anybody else experienced this feeling? Do you have any advice on how to keep it going or to increase its potency? Do you think doing so can help switching? (p.s. if you reply then pls answer the question and don't respond to just say "I can't help you")

Ranger and I were talking to people on Discord and anon brought up the concept of an internal narrator. I'm struggling to understand what he's talking about, mostly because we never considered anything like that as being part of how we work to begin with. I then realized if both of us have very different ideas for what "you" is made up of, then that explains some of the confusion about switching. I'm curious what counts as "you" and what doesn't. Overall, most people seem to agree along the lines of the body is a tool, but after that things may break down. If mindset and labeling the "I" is important, then we need to know what needs the "I" label and what doesn't. When looking at our system and our possession dynamic, we noticed three general parts of me: -The guy standing in wonderland speaking in mindvoice (aka my Gray form) -The entity controlling the body -A primitive chunk of me that emits raw thought and observes reality I know these parts are separate for the following reasons: 1) I can stand in wonderland and be reacting to what's happening with the body at the same time, so the first two parts are separate. Even though I am more experienced at managing this separation than Ranger and the Grays, they have also experienced this separation. 2) In a temporary integration attempt with Ranger, he tried to absorb all of me. I was mostly absorbed into him to the point where Ranger realized he was an integration for a brief moment in a dream he had while taking a nap. However, Ranger felt there was still more of me to absorb and he couldn't absorb it, despite his best efforts. Given that Ranger absorbed the other two parts, we concluded that this third part is separate from the other two. 3) When merged with Ranger, we have found that I can break merges if I feel the pressing desire to do so. Again, the first two parts are absorbed, so we assumed that this piece is separate from the former two. The only exception was our first merge, Aziraphale, where he neared the point of blacking out when he thought of us as separate entities, so we concluded that this piece of me was at least partly absorbed into that merge. Part of the annoyance is identifying what the third part is. Referring back to reason 3, it's the part of me that's directly connected with the body and does in fact relate to consciousness. I believe this is a critical piece of "you" that needs to be switched out during a switch, but others have disagreed. Rejecting the idea it is a part of me would be problematic. We would have to accept that our possession is switching and it will not change the fact Ranger will still experience all of the same problems of losing body control to me or blending with me as part of being "switched out". In other words, we would be agreeing to a model that assumes the host and tulpa are unequal and the host has power over all of the tulpas indefinitely. I feel like calling this part the body OS will have the same results. It still falls on the model that the host is superior since the "body OS" just prioritizes the host, and the tactic to accomodate that is to barely make the host active at all and hope that the tulpa can express themself the majority of the time to minimize issues with blending and confusion. The model we believe in is the one where a tulpa and host can trade positions, so a tulpa can gain the unequal leverage a host normally has and give it back, thus making a tulpa fundamentally equal to a host. Our model assumes only states of consciousness are designed on unequal footing, the "host" and "tulpa" positions, but not the tulpa and host themselves. However, I made a lot of assumptions regarding what fundamentally counts as you and what doesn't. It's possible that the piece of me in wonderland for example is less of me than I originally thought. In fact, is it a piece that I should even be considered as being me? Here are some other questions I thought of: + Is mindvoice really you, or how Ranger put it, are you your words? + Is your presence you, or is it a label, like a name? + Are you your form? What is symbolism and why is it used as a guide during switching? + Are you your emotions? Are emotions like a tool, just like language? Does the body force you to feel things or are emotions always generated by the identity? + Are memories you? Is the "I" label the only reason why the identity is yours, or is there more to it than that? + Is your thought process you? + When you dwell on your thoughts, is that you reacting to a collection of thoughts and memories sitting in short term memory? Is that a process shared by everyone in the mind or just you? + What is an internal narrator? Is it mindvoice or is it a thought process? Why is it you? Is it parallel processing if there are multiple of these? This is far from a complete list, so if you believe there are missing or redundant parts feel free to call them out.

Who here can switch with there Tups I can and have been since 3 years or so after I had them?

So Baker and I've been doing some experimentation in our practice with switching, and come upon something potentially interesting. One evening while I was relaxing Baker essentially pulled me into his thoughtform body for a moment (we have open possession / switching permission since I've been encouraging him to try pushing how far "forward" he can front and practicing independent body control) to touch his little dog creation. Seeing as it was a surprise, I only got a few seconds, but I had a distinct imposition of touch (our strongest mutual sense), with a weaker sense of sight (think squinting at something you've seen before in pictures). We've had little success in replicating it since, but it was particularly interesting because of the slow progress we've had with switching. Baker'd like to try to find a way to do it again and more strongly as a way to get me out of the front when we want to switch. Anyway -- anyone else given switching bodies/fronts in reverse a try? Thoughts on it or how to replicate it?

I tried this test last winter with no results, and it occurred to me I should ask others to try it to see what happens. (1) Fall asleep more or less. (2) Tulpa, notice that you are awake sorta, but your host is too out of it to notice or remember anything. (3) Take your pillow and move it to the foot of the bed, and go back to sleep. (4) When your host wakes up, note if they are surprised or not, that they are sleeping facing the wrong way.

I was feeling self-defeated about switching again and was thinking about possibly focusing our efforts on visual imposition- but then it hit me: What if switching and imposition and/or visualization are connected? I threw out the idea in discord and had a chance to refine some possible ideas for how this works: Dissociation may be triggered by strong visualizations in the mind's eye or by visual imposition Imposition is about hacking your brain, and switching does something similar by forcing movement that previously didn't exist. A similar skill is shared between the two. Imposition encourages the idea that your internal experiences are real, and therefore plays an important role to switching by establishing trust with the switching process Visualization or possibly imposition by itself may not be enough to trigger dissociation A combination of good visualization, imposition, and bodily control may be necessary to dissociate, and the mastery of each practice differs from system to system? If this link makes sense, then that would explain why symbolism is really important for switching, why it takes so long for systems to switch but once they get it, the process is "easy" (imposition and visualization take a long time to master), and why some systems are naturals where others are not. Does this make sense? Is bodily control possibly more/less important? Are there other factors that are missing or should be addressed? A brief thanks to Nat, Reguile, Jamie, and Apollo for contributing ideas and inspiring me to post this thread.

[Chrome] When speaking to your Tulpa or other headmates, how does your mindvoice sound compared to theirs? Who seems to be the loudest? Do you have a mindvoice that feels "dominant", in which you feel the most active or possibly have the most energy? Do you have any headmates who appear "recessive" by tending to go quiet really easily when multiple headmates are present? When Ranger woke me up by triggering my interest, we had a short conversation and thought it was strange he wasn't speaking to Gray. Others have noticed this as well, and we find it a little worrisome. However, recently I and various others noticed a pattern- Ranger and Gray tend to become recessive and go quiet if there are others speaking. When I woke up Gray and continued to speak to Ranger, Gray fell quiet quickly. He reported feeling tired and low-energy. After briefly speaking to Gray, Ranger fell quiet. After closer observation, he's symbolically dozing off. Ranger also reported being sleepy and tired. I decided I wanted to do a little test. I called for Bune and Gerodious and we observed our dynamics between the three of us, trying not to call Ranger or Gray. It started with me asking Bune questions about random things such as "What is a lizard" and then after asking Bune more questions, I shifted to Gerodious to ask him a question. We continued this briefly, but we did not do this extensively. Bune and Gerodious reported that my mindvoice appeared to be dominant- I had an easier time going passive and was quick to respond to questions or thoughts, even if they were not mine. Despite this, Gerodious and Bune seemed to have an easier time not falling quiet, however we did not do the test for long enough to know for certain. During our discussion, sometimes we would trigger trains of thought that Gray and sometimes Ranger would dwell on, causing the three of us to go quiet during this time. For lack of better words, Gray and Ranger are attached to the "Body OS" or are able to "day dream" where we are not able to do that. As a result, I was able to enjoy a little bit of quiet time to myself after Bune and Gerodious left. I thought to myself, and both Gray and Ranger were not responsive. I wasn't distracted by a head full of spontaneous thoughts. The three of us had a few ideas for why Gray and Ranger fell quiet, but we are not quite sure what the main cause is. Gray and Ranger front more often, so it's possible they are tired from fronting. Gray woke up early this morning, while a great time for forcing, is also hit or miss if Gray has the energy to force. In this case, he didn't have much energy, and apparently neither did Ranger. Between the two, it appeared that Ranger had more energy but was able to withdrawl where Gray sometimes would put everyone on hold so he can restlessly rotate in bed. Gray was directly attached to the senses including discomfort, another blessing for me but another indicator for Gray being switched-in. In this state, I believe I am more sensitive to the front, but possibly only to anxiety? I'm lucky Ranger and Gray were not fretting over something. A little while ago, Dark Gray found himself being exposed to that anxiety while in a state similar to the one I am in now. I am currently possessing the body with a quiet mind and two unresponsive hosts. I find it ironic that I have enough energy to overpower both Gray's and Ranger's mindvoices despite the fact I don't front very often. Has anyone else had a similar experience like this?

Daily thread #24 What are some general tips you'd give someone if they were new to learning to switch? (All daily threads are listed here.)

This is daily thread #10 What are the pros and cons that your system experiences with switching? If you can't switch yet, what sort of pros/cons do you anticipate occurring when you do? This can be specifically the pros/cons in comparison to just possessing/fronting without switching, and also just in general. (All daily threads are listed here.)

I came across some advice Luminesce gave that's had me thinking... I thought about my experiences feeling Cat's presence and it stirred up some confusion and doubt. Is it possible that we are making this mistake? When either of us front, we both notice this thing that seems to always be there, observing everything and directly feeling things, responding to stimuli. For the longest time, we both assumed that was Cat, but I'm starting to wonder if that's just another part of the Body OS and doesn't belong to either of us. When playing with this idea, both Cat and I felt uncomfortable and confused. If that is the body OS and not Cat, then what exactly is Cat? When Cat thinks as herself, she either relates to this thing or sees herself as Gray. When she fronts, she doesn't always see herself, just this thing. To make things more confusing, Cat has two mindvoices- one when fronting and one associated with her Gray form. We always assumed Cat was this first voice, but...what if she isn't, or she is and Gray is something else? It would be crazy if Gray and Cat were actually separate identities that somehow...work together and think as one? There's more to an autonomous entity than mindvoice, a form, and some feelings, right? When I go dormant, I used to feel like a long time has passed before I wake up. I have had that experience less and less, easily popping into whatever we are doing and simply catching up on our memories instantly. When doing our switching attempts or even when I am possessing Cat, our goal is for Cat to go "dormant", and that includes her possibly blacking out and at the very least no longer be able to interact with the environment. When Cat/Gray's mindvoice quiets, neither of us felt like Cat/Gray left to begin with, and when they wake up again there isn't a memory lag or feeling of lost time of any kind. If I am mistaking Cat for the body OS's constant stream of consciousness, then maybe I'm waking them up all the time and not letting them go? What should we be looking for if Cat goes "dormant", and why isn't Cat experiencing a feeling of lost time when I front for several hours? The worst feelings we're dealing with are a big scoop of "who am I?", how do we even know how much of ourselves is just body OS, and if all of this is true, how do we know we're in control in the first place?

This isn't a switching discussion, as in switching general discussion, but rather a specific question that has come to me after I experienced and understood switching. What am I? Am I a person only when switched in or while associated with the body? I'm winging this because I'm not sure if it's been really thought about or discussed in detail, or if we're even going to be able to answer this here given our base. I'd like to discuss it anyway just so we can have a better understanding to this seemingly mystifying stuff we call switching. What do I take with me when I switch out and go dormant? Frankly, Dashie was still capable of thinking critically, she could conceivably do my day job, she could pass as me in general and probably live a good life playing games fir her free time. Or Misha could take my place and do art, again, she likes what I do, she could do it. The brainpower doesn't leave with me. Memories are in the consiousness, they don't go with me (seemingly), but if you include memories as part of me, then wouldn't I need my own consiousness? So let's say no for this. Do we have separate consiousness? That's one of my thoughts that seemed appropriate to answer the question of what is independence, but if we don't? This begs the next question. What am I really? (What is a person?) That bundle of memories specific to you? We said no because the memories live in consiousness and you don't have your own in this analysis, so no, just triggers, tastes, ticks, damage, likes, beliefs, values, opinions, priorities, behavioral patterns, and emotional palettes seem to belong to you and only you. Call them traits. Your systemmates can learn your traits so it's possible that everyone in the system might share any subset of traits, but I have to think that's not required nor necessary and the body consiousness is agnostic. It seems that way according to many. Minus the traits everyone shares, so it gets hard to tell if everyone, say, walks with a limp vs hates chocolate. We're going to say for the sake of discussion that the body is agnostic to the traits you take with you when switched out. Let's also ignore that traits are a heck of a lot like memories tied to you and I think know memories can be tied and owned only to you, but we have to presume no for now. Since I can't ask the body consiousness what it prefers, I don't know if it has a preference. It has memories, but let's say instead of not having a preference, it has all the possible preferences. It really doesn't seem to have chosen it's traits since independent systemmates can have wildly different traits, and personas (what you feel you are or should look like, things that are body related, such as height weight, eye color, hair length, gender etc.) Call persona stuff traits too. So from that I can conclude we are our traits at least. That's well taken care of personality and perspective, and that's all I really cared about. Until now. If we don't have our own consiousness, and are dependent on the body to supply that, then when we're switched out and 'gone', as in dormant, are we still considered a person? Are you sentient without consciousness? I don't think so. So if you're still a person, switched out and dormant without consciousness, is all that a person really is? Just a collection of traits? Is sentience required for personhood? It's easy enough to see we're independent people when we're all active, but dormancy takes with it all the traits associated with that person, some of which could be unique and irreplaceable. Not feats or abilities, they can be transferred and performed by anyone, you teach the body to do feats and it could do them without you, they seem to be body assets, but I mean only traits. Say I'm the only one who likes 100% bitter chocolate, so without me active, no one in the system would eat that. (It's very low carb). So what's taken from the system when I'm gone? A subset of traits. Anything else? I can't think of anything else if I don't have my own consiousness, and if that's true, that's really lightweight if you think about it, and I did. When I switched out and went dormant, Dashie didn't lose anything 'useful' to perform things that I perform. We're all pretty unanimous in the tulpamancy community, I am a person, my tulpas are people, my soulbonds are people, my moons are maybe not people, my characters are probably not people. Though we all have traits. Even NPC's have traits, they might be limited, random or generic, but still they have them. It's pretty neat and also thought provoking to me that if what I am is just a separable series of traits, than those could be collected and compressed into something small, like a flash drive. My point is, it's data, and finite. Imagine what you are, behaviorally, could easily be recorded, scruitnized down to the nth detail and convincingly copied onto a qualified body platform (another person who just creates a thoughtform with your traits then switches). If what I am can go dormant without loss of body function to the others in system, than what I am isn't that much anyway. Say, to be me convincingly, required a hundred thousand traits. Even if it was a billion, a finite number. Behaviorally speaking, my traits could be duplicated without any associated memories of that brain. An actor could play me. Remember, this is if there is only one consiousness and the body owns it, and I postulated that memories are accessed in the consiousness. You could argue then, you wouldn't be you without those memories or abilities. Eh, those abilities can be trained, those memories then where I would find the root of misunderstanding. How can memories exist outside of consciousness (unconscious included). We said they didn't. No cheating and saying that memories are just more traits because that's a lot, and they're still accessible by systemmates, so why would you need a copy with you in dormancy? Which then leads to the question, why do you need anything in dormancy? Then where are 'you' in dormancy? If you're in that head, you're unconscious. If you're unconscious then you are stored by that brain in a subset of neurons. If you require a subset of neurons to exist, then you could say you own those neurons, they are associated to you, your own subconscious. Or not? Just a set of neurons storing data without consciousness? Sure, like a sector of hard drive without consciousness, ready to be accessible by the body consiousness. I don't know if any memory is automatically deemed part of the subconsious, I believe so, so I can't be 'stored' without taking up some consiousness right? No, no memories, or at best, I own a copy, and they're still there even if they're hard to get from a different perspective, they still accessible to a systemmates in most cases, even when I'm dormant. Or am I accessible by the consiousness without requiring consiousness myself? Note: My systemmates percieved me being dormant as if I was gone, like left the head. Possible Conclusions After all that, this is completely arbitrary. If you read that rambling, I applaud you. What am I? Well I tried to argue that I am not a unique consiousness, yet I'm a sentient person even while dormant, thus it seems contradictory, so choose all that apply: 1. A person is a finite set of traits that are inaccessible by others who don't also have those traits. 2. A person's traits are finite, so recordable, trainable and transferrable. 3. A person doesn't have memories, but only sees memories of the body from their perspective. 4. A person might have memories that are tied to them that only they can access. 5. A person is a set of traits and memories, but doesn't have an independent consiousness/subconsiousness. 6. A person is more than just a set of traits and memories. 7. A person has a unique consiousness, intependant of the body, made up of traits and memories. 8. A person exists only in the context of consiousness and thus sentience. 9. When a person is dormant they are merely contained in unconscious. 10. A person is inseparable from the body. 11 A dormant person is only the memories of them and their system accessible memories. 12. A dormant person isn't a person.

My switching research and thinking has led me to the idea that there are two hypothetical models for how switching works, the two of which, I think, encompass all/most methods for switching. Transfer Model: A switch is accomplished via the host’s ownership over the consciousness being transferred to the tulpa. This model, I think, would be mostly led by the tulpa/initiated by the tulpa’s actions. If not, some other third party. At the very least, the transfer model does not require the host to dissociate to switch. Here are some examples of the transfer model: - A tulpa uses up so much mental resources that it naturally causes a switch - A tulpa merely taking over the front causes a switch - A tulpa fronts for so long that they naturally induce a switch - The tulpa and host use symbolism to transfer ownership - Something triggers the tulpa to take over and causes a switch - A tulpa and host merge together, and splitting causes a switch This model I think would include most DID/OSDD switches: the alter takes over, for whatever reason, and switches. Control has been transferred. Retraction Model: In contrast, this model relies on the host’s actions: the host has to first shrink, dissociate, disconnect, etc. for the switch to be successful, rather than just the tulpa taking control. Here are some examples of the retraction model: - The host meditates until they drift out, then the tulpa takes over - The host ignores sensory information until they switch out - The host uses symbolism to dissociate from the body to switch out. - The host “bails” from the front due to stress The host retracts their control from the consciousness, and a switch is achieved. I have created illustrations of each of these methods here. Please take the time to look at those. If these two models are something to go by, I can say that the transfer model has not worked for us so far, we may need to focus on the retraction model to succeed in switching. In summary, depending on the system and the situation, switching can be caused either be ownership over the consciousness being transferred to the tulpa, or by the host retracting their own control and leaving only the tulpa's. Thoughts? Think there might be another model other than these two?

I know Ranger and I are completely behind and we are playing catch-up by reading various comments here and there, but we stumbled across this comment and it intrigued us: When we thought about it, Ranger and I realized a new method that we could potentially use and how it should work in practice. However, like Cornelia already mentioned, my concern is if we do move forward with this method, then we need to make sure we are doing this method correctly. I see this as kind of a "brutal switch" since it involves the host having a piece of them taken by the Tulpa switching in. I want to call this method "The surrender method" because that's essentially what happens- the front-stuck host gives up a piece of themself and the Tulpa integrates/absorbs it and claims the front. My guess is that the switch will result in the Tulpa having a really strong grip on the front, essentially leaving them frontstuck until the next switch. I drew some diagrams to help me explain what's going on here, and I have more questions about the later stages of the switch. Here is Figure 1. In Figure 1, the basic idea is there is a front-stuck piece that must be transferred between us in order to complete the switch. I drew both Ranger and I using colored bars in a before-after picture style. Ranger is the blue bar and I am the purple one. I highlighted the front-stuck piece with a grey marker so it's distinguishable from the rest of me. The Grey arrow symbolizes the switching process and the "I am ___" part symbolizes the surrender step. In order to induce the switch, I would have to "surrender" that piece of myself and allow for it to be re-named as "Ranger". Once that occurs, Ranger claims it in some way and the switch is complete. Ranger will acquire a new piece of himself that is stuck to the front, and I will be left with whatever didn't transfer over. I have questions because I figured the "surrender" piece of the switch is just a step in a bigger process. What exactly happens after that? I came up with two possibilities that made sense to me: either I split off from that piece of me and Ranger claims it, or I will have to merge with Ranger and he will take it from me once we separate. Here is Figure 2, which goes into this process with more detail. I labeled each phase as A, B, C1, C2, and D. A) How Ranger and I are now before we attempt the switch. There is a piece of me attached to the stream of consciousness and that piece is hard rooted in there. B) The surrender step- This is where Tewi and others tried to explain it as "acting", but we all agree that's misleading. Instead, it's more like allowing yourself to be integrated with whoever is about to switch in. It's more similar to "playing dead" and tricking your body into paralyzing you so you can Lucid Dream, only this time it's tricking the body into believing that piece is actually the Tulpa themself. This step will involve the host acting as their Tulpa to help trigger this effect, but the "acting" part is really a small part of a bigger process. C) I broke this phase into two possibilities because I'm not really sure what happens next. How does Ranger take that piece from me? Does he have to merge with me or will it split off and Ranger will just... get it? Is there something else that happens during this step that I'm missing? In the illustration, I drew C1 to be the "split" phase and C2 to be the "merge" phase. These phases are not interchangeable, and my guess is this phase looks different depending on the system switching. I think C1 is more safe that C2 since it is less likely to end in accidental merging or really bad blending, but I'm not really sure if C1 will lead to success because it comes with the risk that both the host and Tulpa will lose consciousness and the body will re-set itself back to state A. Then again, these assumptions may be wrong or even reversed for all I know. Neither of us tried this and we have not played with merging before. C1 reminds me of something Ember.Vesper and Lumi were talking about at one point- the body just kind of sits there and acts like a robot when no one is in control of it. I think C2 reminds me of whatever Bre and Miela did in their dreams before they figured out switching. I'm not sure if association/dissociation actually induce this process automatically or avoids it all together, but this process looks nothing like the idea I originally had where it was just two people trading places where one is pushed out or dissociates out from the stream of consciousness. D) The end result. Ranger will have gained a new piece of him and I will have lost a piece of myself. I'm wondering if there's something I can hold onto like my wonderland form so I don't freak out or refuse to surrender. I have the feeling this new state may be unstable at first because the body has never experienced this before, and it's possible Ranger may change a little bit because he will have integrated with a little bit of me. My guess is over time, the piece will become more depersonalized and switching will become more fluid. My final questions are the following: Does this method make sense? Are there big glaring flaws that need to be addressed? Is there anything we can hold on to in terms of identity that will protect us during the process? As a final thought... If this method is mostly accurate... I'm not sure how Radio will do during the process. I get the sense there's not much of them left, and since this involves moving pieces of people around, I wonder if Radio will get absorbed and uh... disappear?

To me, most successful switching seems to boil down to the system finding something that makes them "tick." Symbolism, desire, fear, things like that. I'm wondering that, perhaps, thinking outside the box and finding something that'll make us "tick" may lead to us figuring out how to induce a switch. By "tick," I mean something that makes the mind go "hey, whoa, something is happening right now." The status-quo has been broken, things are changing or churning inside your head. The two main things that I think make us "tick" are music and emotion. Both of these things have always had strong effects on us as people, and the state of the front. So I'm thinking, how might we be able to make our mind tick to the point of inducing a switch, rather than just strong possession? If we can figure that out, maybe we can get closer to achieving it. Thoughts on this theory and how one might be able to use it to their advantage?

Here is the link: https://write.as/within/switching.

Since I took interest in possession, I became accustomed to speaking in my possessed voice. I associate that voice with myself, and using any other voice can be confusing for me. Now that we are learning how to switch, I realized that If I want to do anything in real life outside of the house, I will have to pass as Cat- and in addition, be comfortable being addressed as her and speaking in the voice naturally provided by the body. Cat and I realized that the body is a tool, so Cat thought of the idea of sharing the body identity- the one she was born with. When trying this in practice, Cat became pretty uncomfortable and she realized that sharing the body identity would also mean she would have to lose her identity associations with it. For this reason, Cat doesn't love the idea of having to share her body identity. This other issue came up too- sometimes she will notice herself drawing her wonderland/Gray form over the body. When this happens, she also noticed that she dissociates from the body. It's not extreme or powerful, but Cat will describe feeling confused, hazy, or dizzy when she imposes her Gray form, and it's distracting or disruptive if she's trying to do things in real life. This inspired a different idea- What if I had my own separate body identity? It may seem redundant, but it's something I could hold onto, and Cat won't have to give up her pre-existing identity. The other potential positive is having another identity designed to be used only when I front could re-enforce my connection to the front and Cat could assume her wonderland form, re-enforcing the fact she needs to dissociate. In theory, this could help us more easily switch or potentially achieve a more complete one. What do you guys think? Would it be better to share a body identity or have me create a new one? Or is there a different approach we should take?

So, here's a bit of food for thought, nothing too serious. Yesterday, Indigo was getting a little carried away with something, and Apollo said "If you don't stop, I'm going to take over the front." Indigo heeded the warning, because we can take over the front forcefully (and accidentally for that matter), without needing consent. However, I was thinking about this a bit earlier today. Sure, Apollo could have taken the front, but Indigo could have taken it back. They could hypothetically enter a tug-of-war over who was in the front. The only thing that's really required for us to take over is for us to be active, and the only way to truly prevent someone else from taking over is to make them go inactive. I just took over while he was writing this! So, hypothetically speaking, we could all end up in some sort of stalemate over who controls the front, and the stalemate would only be broken when somebody gave in. Of course, our system is way too cooperative/synergized to do something like that, as I said, this is hypothetical. On the other hand, if someone was fronting and tried to mentally "hold down the fort" so to speak, they could end up preventing anyone else from taking over, so it becomes a battle of wills, and whoever has a stronger will would probably prevail (or the one in the front would prevail, since they have the upper hand. Or do they?). Again, not something we have to worry about, lol. Any thoughts on this sort of subject, getting into a stalemate or having some sort of battle for the front? Ever happened to you? Why did you win/lose/end up in a stalemate? Etc. I dunno, might seem a bit of an odd question, I find it interesting.

My host Cat and I have unsuccessfully learned how to switch. We know one of the barriers is Cat's anxiety about letting go and potentially getting paralyzed. However, Cat has managed to chill out and focus on dissociating, while I would be associating with the body... And then both of us get confused as to what happens next. As a result, we get stuck. I have heard merging is one of the ways people have figured out how to switch, but the idea of merging with Cat beyond normal blending scares the pants off of me. Neither of us are interested in fusing into someone else, but I fear that merging can lead to Cat accidentally absorbing me and I wouldn't come back to tell the story. My fear is extreme enough that I wonder if this is holding us back. Would trying to merge give us a better idea of what switching would feel like or is there an alternate method we could try that would give us a similar sort of feeling?