I can't stop hitting a mental wall every time

Where to start?

Posted by: @tsapphire

I always end up hitting a mental wall that I can't get past.

Adjust your attitude to begin with. An orgasm-less session is not a failure,maybe you got up quicker,or easier or found a different rhythm etc Always something to take away.

Posted by: @tsapphire

Usually my sessions get to a point where I'm leaking a lot, I've got involuntaries and feeling aroused and generally really good. Sometimes I even feel it building up and my body shakes and my heart starts racing, so it all feels like it's on the right track. But every time, without fail, it suddenly all stops and my arousal level feels like it hits zero again. Once that happens I find it almost impossible to build my arousal levels up again and I lose my patience. This almost always ends with me switching to another toy and masturbating to traditional orgasm.

Break the cycle,if you hit the wall,don’t switch to another toy and don’t Jack off.Save it all up for the next session,some semen retention might be beneficial.

Posted by: @tsapphire

I feel like there's basically a hill that I just can't get up onto to take my sessions to the next level, and I lack the patience to push through this. Are there any techniques that I should be using to help build things up in my sessions and stop myself from taking the easy way out and masturbating?

Are you anchoring tension in the pelvic floor? This is pretty crucial. You need to ‘lift’ every thing a little and do your best to hold it,and work and contract from that point. I’ve wondered is AT why some ppl have dragged along for some years. When you think you’re almost there,put your head back and close your eyes and breathe. You are there,but not letting go at game time,maybe it’s all ‘this might be it’,’hope it doesn’t go away’. Break the cycles.

Posted by: @tsapphire

I feel like there's basically a hill that I just can't get up onto to take my sessions to the next level, and I lack the patience to push through this.

I agree with @Helghast that you need to make an attitude adjustment and be more patient. Anerosessions can be cyclic in nature with the rise to an orgasm (as you have described) and then a fall off of arousal until continued contractions bring it forth again. It is important to note that high arousal levels are necessary to reach Super-O's, if you are frequently masturbating to ejaculation you may be inadvertently resetting your arousal to sub par levels such that you aren't building sufficient arousal to get to a Super-O.

Posted by: @tsapphire

Are there any techniques that I should be using to help build things up in my sessions and stop myself from taking the easy way out and masturbating?

YES, please see these threads -> Are you "aroused"? & Aneros, Arousal & Abstinence/Semen Retention, 21 day challenge post & @divine_o 's thread Arousal building methods. You do have to exercise some self discipline here to break the old masturbatory habits and allow your own natural neuroplasticity to 'rewire' yourself, you can do this !

Good Vibes to You!

It happens to me also sometimes... Maybe you start to get distracted by smth, and it also can be because of stress

 This is all very good advice. I am a do nothing type, and I find as soon as I try to actively try get things going, my feelings die. The one universal is not touching your dick. I quit worrying about a Super anything, because even my traditional orgasms are so fulfilling compared to what they were before aneros. So I say don't sweat it if you do. Enjoy it all, because its all part of the journey. The time will come when you have the ability to completely abstain all the way to the Super something. Right now my traditionals leave me literaly breathless. I am beginning to wonder if I Super O, I may stroke out. I guess you could say thats my mental block. Because of my COPD.

So I had this problem... mainly because I was trying too hard to have an orgasim. As other people have said... cumming has nothing to do with the aneros so first stop trying to cum... this is a whole body orgasim.

I found the way to think about it... its a game... you vs the aneros... the aneros job is to make you orgasim... your game is to hold off on the orgasim as long as possible.... try and not orgasim... everytime the aneros gets sucked in and you clench... release it back to the start..... and keep going that... this usually gets the involuntary going... but don't try and force them... 

Have the clear state of mind which was not to hold off as long as possible... helped my journey so much. 

Keep at it.  You'll get there.

Perhaps keep this mental framework in mind:  Ejaculations are 'achieved'.  Prostate orgasms are 'surrendered to'.

For me, this key bit of mental attitude is what gets me there.

@Tsaffire: What you described sounds like what happened to me for many years. As I've posted many times before, I'm a strong advocate for wearing a chastity device during sessions to keep one's hands off of one's cock. Once I did that, I really started making progress. I'd experience the panting, body shaking,  uncontrolled clenching, and then an anal orgasm and then exhaustion. I'd lay still doing nothing letting my mind soak in the pleasure that I had just experienced.  Then after a few minutes had past, the involuntary clinching would start like my anal muscles were sucking on and chasing the MGX to scratch that unsatisfied itch in my anal passage. This would repeat over and over again until I was completely  drained.  Be patient. Once the build up that you experienced stops, just lay there, do nothing and keep you hands off of your cock. Let the pleasure that you just experiencd soak in. I'll bet things will start up all over again.

@Tsaffire: What you described sounds like what happened to me for many years. As I've posted many times before, I'm a strong advocate for wearing a chastity device during sessions to keep one's hands off of one's cock. Once I did that, I really started making progress. I'd experience the panting, body shaking,  uncontrolled clenching, and then an anal orgasm and then exhaustion. I'd lay still doing nothing letting my mind soak in the pleasure that I had just experienced.  Then after a few minutes had past, the involuntary clinching would start like my anal muscles were sucking on and chasing the MGX to scratch that unsatisfied itch in my anal passage. This would repeat over and over again until I was completely  drained.  Be patient. Once the build up that you experienced stops, just lay there, do nothing and keep you hands off of your cock. Let the pleasure that you just experiencd soak in. I'll bet things will start up all over again.

@tbob Re: COPD

if you're not already taking vitamin D ~ 5,000 IU and co-enzyme Q10 daily,  you will find it helpful. I spent 10 years in nursing and it was always my first suggestion to COPD patients and it always made a positive difference. 

And hey, if Aneros kills you, you will have died in a state of bliss!

@pablito1963 

I wonder how many death certificates cite multiple extended orgasms as the official cause of death? 

Bury me with my collection of Aneros devices and a gallon of lube for the journey as far as I'm concerned! 

Posted by: @studmouse47

@Tsaffire: What you described sounds like what happened to me for many years. As I've posted many times before, I'm a strong advocate for wearing a chastity device during sessions to keep one's hands off of one's cock. Once I did that, I really started making progress. I'd experience the panting, body shaking,  uncontrolled clenching, and then an anal orgasm and then exhaustion. I'd lay still doing nothing letting my mind soak in the pleasure that I had just experienced.  Then after a few minutes had past, the involuntary clinching would start like my anal muscles were sucking on and chasing the MGX to scratch that unsatisfied itch in my anal passage. This would repeat over and over again until I was completely  drained.  Be patient. Once the build up that you experienced stops, just lay there, do nothing and keep you hands off of your cock. Let the pleasure that you just experiencd soak in. I'll bet things will start up all over again.

If I had listened to similar advice 14 or 15 years ago, it wouldn't have taken me 12 years to hit the Super-O jackpot.

Posted by: @seekingpelican

Keep at it.  You'll get there.

Perhaps keep this mental framework in mind:  Ejaculations are 'achieved'.  Prostate orgasms are 'surrendered to'.

For me, this key bit of mental attitude is what gets me there.

I agree and disagree!  It felt like a crowning achievement when I hit the "I can't believe this is happening" milestone and promptly went into full mind blowing bliss for some memorable period of time, and felt the reverberations of pleasure through my body for nearly two weeks after. I actually felt pretty cocky then...yeah, I wanted every man in the world to know everything I did, but was feeling high for having achieved something many never will. (Wrong attitude for sure!)

I never worked so hard on "nothing" my whole life! Struggling to let go of every tense muscle in my body over and over...beginning to feel pleasure I never felt before and wanting to grip and hold on to it, but still forcefully convincing my stubborn mind to let go again and relax, again. And again.  

I do remember thinking and maybe eve verbalizing to "just take me" to the orgasm fairy ha ha (her wand is Hitachi brand).

Surrender at these levels is an achievement to me!