Break the Matrix

You might have a point re: importance of balloon placement, and possibly the importance of proper body work beforehand. That's not to say you can't improve without these things, it's just their importance may have been understated on this forum.

I'm coming to this from a similar angle as you. I began with "self-ballooning" about 6 months ago and noticed some progress, but just not to the extent I was hoping for. There were also some doubts about whether I was performing the procedure correctly. Early on, I had problems similar to those documented here by CP (i.e. the balloon would tend to travel down towards my throat with minimal pressure, rather than up towards the sphenoid). Later, I adjusted the method to be as similar to NCR as I could...which is to say most of the expansion would occur in the turbinates first, before bursting through into the throat and hitting the sphenoid. Even going so far as to perform the procedure lying down and stacking up to three finger cots at a time (and frequently popping them). There were some small improvements, and definitely a sensation of movement after the inflations, but the changes didn't seem to accumulate like I thought they should. After some modest improvements, it felt like I hit a bit of a sticking point.

Since then I've down a couple things:

1) Atlasprofilax. The procedure immediately improved the range of motion of my neck. It also resulted in an immediate and noticeable (although not major) improvement to facial symmetry. My left leg felt weird for a day and I slept a bit longer the night of the procedure, but no significant improvements beyond the first day changes. It appears I've held onto those improvements for about 3 months now... although I'm not 100% sure if the atlas has kept its new position. I was supposed to find out this week but plans fell through unfortunately.

2) ABC with endonasal correction. I started the treatment this week. It is very similar to NCR, in that the balance testing is exactly the same and the actual inflating method appears to be exactly the same. The difference is that rather than completing NCR "bodywork", they complete a number of stretches/adjustments to release the meninges. Some of them are pretty basic, some of them are incredibly intense (I say this as a 25 year old man who has been to a few chiropractors before and generally am not phased by neck adjustments. But I am not exaggerating when I say that some of these adjustments I had never felt anything like that before in my life- almost like someone was bending my spine like a pretzel). Curiously, after the meningeal release I noticed a significant amount of facial movement, much more than usual- and I hadn't even started the endonasal ballooning portion of the session.

In terms of the actual inflation, it felt near identical to what I was doing except that the doctor pinches my nose as he completes the inflations and seems to spend a lot more time beforehand directing the finger cot "deep" into the correct nasal passage (not sure if that's really necessary, and it's kind of painful when the toothpick is poking your turbinates). It's literally one inflation, two inflations, three inflations, and bam it bursts into your throat. Ideally the doctor detects the pressure difference as feedback through his hands, or maybe he inflates one more time and gags you which kind of sucks- this is his cue to hit the release valve. In terms of the pressure applied, it actually felt as though less pressure was being applied then what I had been doing. Although he was only using one balloon, whereas I had been using two to three. Every single time he has placed the finger cot in the exact same location, which in my case in bottom right turbinate. This is different from where I had been inflating most of the time.

It's only been one week, but so far the changes seem to have been accumulating far more rapidly than with self-ballooning. I feel less wound up and calmer (although I'm also on vacation, lol). My theory is that in many cases, endo-nasal ballooning is not sufficient on its own to produce optimal results. Occassionally, spinal problems can be bad enough that they impact the skull. In such cases, the spine also needs to be addressed. And for the record, my spine is a mess.

It's a little early to judge results, so I will wait another 6 months or so and see where I'm at with the ABC endonasal. Unfortunately I am not able to seek treatment as often as I would like due to the travel required, plus my crazy work schedule. I'm tempted to complete some self-inflations now that I know the "correct" passageway, but I think I will avoid so I can determine the true efficacy of ABC endonasal. Best case scenario is I will get in 4 or more 5 sessions in that time frame. Not sure if this answers your questions, but at least it gives you the perspective of someone who starting with self-ballooning before moving to NCR, which is exactly the opposite of what Ben did (NCR first, followed by self-ballooning).