Oh, man, yeah it is frustrating!!
As for relaxation techniques, I bought a few "brainwave entrainment" CD's a while back off that Mark Vandekeer bloke, track 4 ("wave of relaxaion") off Lucid Dreaming or Astral Trance really does chill me out.
Good luck!!
When you start on ROPE, do you keep a constant eye on your body? The way I do it, is if my body starts tensing, I simply pay less attention to the exit technique and more to my body. But because I am soooo used to tensing when exerting a lot of mental stress, yeah it is hard to un-learn it. I think there may be some practise exercises which might help, if you want to forget projection for a little while just get used to creating varying amounts of pure mental pressure and holding relaxation? Make one up!
hope this helps

"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." - George Bush (rofl)

 

Yup, whenever I try my stomach and neck tense. It gives you a real appreciation to what RB means when he calls it a "mental balancing act" - that you have to think about relaxing (concentrate on your body, making sure no tension creeps in) while also going on with the projection technique. Too much of the first you won't put enough pressure on, too much the second and you tense. All I can recommend is you do a lot of relaxation exercises beforehand, and maybe go deeper into trance. Experiment! I think the more you do it the easier it becomes (tho I have not projected, have other problems)



 

Hey all,

OK this one is mainly aimed at RB, but anyone with ideas is welcome:
Trying to OBE was the first thing (in this massive mystic world) I got into (GCSE level, so when I was...umm...16 perhaps), and being fickle and exciteable I jumped straight in at the deep end (practise shmactise, or so I thought, doh!) and was attempting to get out up to 3 times I day. I got some serious vibrations, but my body really did freak out and I was tense, so no projection. Now whenever I get close to exit (spontaneous usually, from meditation), same happens - heartbeat goes crazy (not heart chakra) and my subconscious mind just seems really unhappy (like, self-repeating thought patterns jump out and grow in intensity many times). I guess this is the flinch mechanism thingy .

Now, what I have decided is that I just need to get my mind used to being in the vibrational phase, decide that OK I (most likely) won't project, but if I just lie there for a few minutes a night with the vibrations my mind will get used to it? Just like learning trance (for me, same happened to a much lesser extent first few times but now I don't even think about it). Methinks my mind is a bit of a wuss!

So the question really is that my conclusion is completely the opposite to yours, but is this just because I already have a flinch going on? And have you got any advice for getting rid of it? Banish? Will try that. Damn, again my problems lie hidden deep in my mind. Have done some CIR on early projection attempts too.

laters!

rOBErt!! (yup, thats kinda spooky! )



Edited by - Inguma on 18 February 2002  21:07:23

Hey Mark,

Personally I have found that after a while you just move the energy around directly with your mind. It is a bit like re-creating the sensations, but not quite . Similarly activating chakras can be done direct, in very little time once you are used to how to do it. But I couldn't for the life of me explain how! I suppose cos we all have different sensory reactions to the energy and our minds work in different ways, you just have to experience yourself and see whatever works.

Sometimes I find that if I target my awareness into too sharp a spot (without moving), it has a detrimental effect and may even cause blockages. Energy bandage thing is like the opposite of this, over a large area. Also, if you do it direct, I think it *may* be possible to overstimulate the centers but you would have to be really trying.

To be honest I don't get on well with my awareness hands, they seem to have a mind of their own especially when climbing ROPE (few seconds at most, they they go all krazy and off at tangents)

I love this new forum! Slick....