Was this PHASING?

[Frank]

Phasing describes a controlled process where you phase out of the mode of being open to the Physical world (or C1 consciousness as it's generally termed) and allow your sense of conscious awareness to become open to other realms of reality. There are two basic schools of thought on this, the latest is the Moen-school, and I believe the idea was first touted by Monroe.

Problem is, at the beginning, rather than being a smooth and controlled transition it can be a little hap-hazard.

To me, from what you describe, you had a spontaneous projection to the Astral somewhere. This is *very* common, where you are going along with the flow of your imagination and then suddenly... boom ... you become aware you are now experiencing circumstances that were not on your script, so to speak, and you think, "Hey, I'm not imagining this!" At which point the shock of realising you are within a totally different sphere of reality brings you out of it, i.e. your protective sense of conscious awareness leaps back to C1.

Where you say, "I looked around, and everything was like very real. I remember checking to see whether all my senses worked, and it seemed they did. eg., I went past some clothing left on the floor, and picked it up to see if I could smell it, and I could! That sounds very much like the Astral to me in that, what first hits you, is how everything seems SO real.

Maintaining the state gets easier the more you practice. The key is to not let the experience overwhelm you.

When you first realise you have made the switch, you need to then remain as mentally and emotionally neutral as you possibly can: just maintaining an air of natural curiosity. After a while you will become adept at "opening" and "closing" yourself to your experiences. (If you read through Ginny's posts of her experineces I'm sure you'll find them helpful as she's something of an expert at this.) If you need further pointers I'll pick out some good examples for you to ponder over.

Yours,
Frank

[oohyeah]

Thanks, Frank!

So IS this phasing then?
From what (I think) I understand about the Bruce Moen style of phasing, what you perceive is still more like your imagination (like when I'm imagining my F10 hut etc. where there's not much detail at all), just that things seem to pop into your 'imagination' without your prompting. Kinda like when I meditate using guided imagery on tape.  - Do I understand this correctly as the "Bruce Moen" style of phasing?

If so, then mine's not like that. In that, I didn't make ANY of it up. It's almost exactly like a lucid vivid dream (which I wonder whether it could be, though I'm sure I never lost consciousness).
Or is this what Monroe describes as the "quick-switch" method?  Is this "Monroe-style" phasing?

Some pointers to the articles by Ginny you were thinking of would be most appreciated too!

Thanks again!

KL

 

[Frank]

quote:Originally posted by oohyeah:
So IS this phasing then?
From what (I think) I understand about the Bruce Moen style of phasing, what you perceive is still more like your imagination (like when I'm imagining my F10 hut etc. where there's not much detail at all), just that things seem to pop into your 'imagination' without your prompting. Kinda like when I meditate using guided imagery on tape.  - Do I understand this correctly as the "Bruce Moen" style of phasing?

Yes, I would say so though most of my experience has followed along the lines of what you say here:

quote:
If so, then mine's not like that. In that, I didn't make ANY of it up. It's almost exactly like a lucid vivid dream (which I wonder whether it could be, though I'm sure I never lost consciousness).
Or is this what Monroe describes as the "quick-switch" method?  Is this "Monroe-style" phasing?

Monroe's experiences involved progressively taking your mind through various states which he labelled Focus 10, 12, etc. All his experiences, from what I can gather, were always direct 1st-person experiences. As are mine and it appears so too are yours, from what you say. The state that's generally known as the lucid dream state is actually Monroe's mental focus 22.

This is the first region of consciousness where thought=direct action. Well, technically it starts a tad before then at the focus 21 state. But Focus 21 is a kind of buffer region between the Physical and the Astral where you are sort of half and half. But Focus 22 is where you step into the Astral fully. This also happens to be the mental focus state in which people tend to do their dreaming. You can always do a simple test to see whether what you are involved within is a lucid dream or a real projection: you simply become completely still and see what happens.    

The Moen school practices what they call "focussed attention" where you just sit there, and focus your attention within and use your imagination to get the flow going and wait for something unexpected to happen that wasn't on the script, so to speak, and go along with that. Here, information tends to come through in all manner of ways other than actually being there and involved directly in whatever the circumstances are. Though each school of methodology does have many aspects in common.

quote:
Some pointers to the articles by Ginny you were thinking of would be most appreciated too!

No problem, I copied a section of one of her recent posts below and highlighted a number of the relevant parts in bold text for you. Which should give you a good idea.

______________________

Hi everyone,

A few days ago I decided I wanted to visit my Focus 27 tree house and talk with Disk members...and this is what happened.

Once in the 3D blackness I floated for a few minutes and in then observing its texture noticed ahead and to the right a light blue area that was somewhat round. It then felt to be a portal and in focusing my attention on it I was then suddenly just 'seeing' and feeling a whitish area all around me (I'm still trying to get use to this instantaneous way of traveling!) and I knew I was on the deck of my tree house. As I was making the adjustment to suddenly being there I took note of the different feeling my F27 place had opposed to being in the 3D blackness. I opened up to sense my windchimes and got that they weren't making their usual 'wind music'..and thought this was interesting. I then was seeing my deck as if through foggy vision and knew there wasn't anyone there so turned and moved inside the house into the huge livingroom area.

The area was in semi-darkness, a soft orange glow casting about from a crackling fire in the fireplace. I saw two individuals sitting on the couch facing the fireplace and moved closer, sending them a happy greeting feeling. I sat in the stuffed chair to their right, wondering about the fact that in their presence I had more clarity of 'seeing' and sensing. The fogginess and silence out on the deck had felt like an indication they just weren't there.

The person the farthest from me was tall and I sensed he was my Indian friend who had guided me into my last 'alnernate life as a wolf and woman' episode. The person to his right, on my immediate left, was a woman, feeling to be around 30ish with long straight hair catching the fire light. I couldn't sense anything about her and left it at that. Their faces were in semi-darkness but I could feel their calmness, a quiet contentment to be sitting with me.

I asked them a personal question and a mental/knowing back-and-forth conversation took up a few minutes...and I marveled at how stable or real the room, their presence and our interaction felt. No wonder they had wanted a new F27 place for months: for me to finally become really acquainted with them. It was apparent I had somewhere along the line dropped the idea that my disk or any members were more advanced or holier-than-thou. All of us were equal partners of a huge conglomerate.

Feeling comfortable with them and a sense they were willing to answer an questions I had, I thought of Bob Monroe and asked, "Is it true it's considered quite a boon for a disk when a member, while still living in physical reality, or any reality, becomes aware of their disk connection and journey's [SNIP]

___________________________

You see how she takes herself through the experience in a very controlled, step by step, fashion. From the basis of being mentally neutral, just releasing an air of mild curiosity, she'll take note of this; become open to that; close down to something else, and so forth. If you read through some of her other posts you'll soon be able to pick out the parts I mean.

Yours,
Frank



 

[ralphm]

Could this be a wake induced lucid dream? I guess I need to reread that chapter in AD, but just thinking of it makes me think that phasing is just a higher level of WILD? To create some imaginary realm that has a counterpoint on the astral and moving into the created space thereby building a bridge that can be repeatedly used to 'phase' into the astral?

 

[Frank]

Ralph: Phasing is a process that takes you from C1 consciousness... to the Astral bridge zone at Focus 21 (which I think we have now determined is the 3D Blackness stage) and beyond.

The idea was first touted by Monroe. Well, in its common form that is. People who are more into the mystical side of things as well (such as Adrian) have noted there are quite a number of similarities between the modern-day Monroe approach, and olden-day ideology. So phasing describes the process, not so much the end experience.

Your experience is primarily determined by where you phase to.

Generally, lucid dreams are created when a person has "phased" to the mental focus 22 state. This is the first Astral region you step into from the bridge zone at focus 21. When a person falls asleep, their sense of conscious awareness naturally phases out of the Physical, crosses the bridge zone and, as it does so, it enters the first main realm where thought equals direct action. (I say main-realm because, technically, the focus 21state is the first realm where thought has this effect. But this is more a buffer zone than a realm proper.)

Problem is, as the mind has little conscious control, all manner of thoughts and emotions can be released. Which goes to creating and fuelling the circumstances that come to surround the person. In other words, the person begins dreaming.

With a little practice, as most of us know, it is possible to teach your sense of consciousness to "come awake" within a dream. This then gives a person a degree of conscious control over their thoughts which, in turn, gives them the ability to manipulate their dreamscape. However, if a person can retain a high degree of conscious control, it is possible to skip focus 22 entirely.

Where I say, above, that while the physical body falls asleep the mind crosses the astral bridge zone and slips into the mental focus 22 state... that is only largely due to the fact there is little conscious control. If normal alert waking consciousness is retained while the physical body drops off to sleep, the mental focus 21 state can be used as a portal through which you can phase directly to a higher level.

As a general rule, the greater the degree of conscious control you have, the higher the mental focus level you can access. Where Ginny has her treehouse is within the mental focus 27 region.

At the focus 22 state, the forms that can be created have a raw and unlasting quality about them. In other words, think of a form and instantly it materialises. But stop thinking about it, and the form will dematerialise just as quickly as it came about. The higher you go, the more solid and the more lasting the forms you can create. It's all to do with the vibrational quality of the energy that is available to you as your basic building material, within whichever realm you happen to be.  

Within the mental focus 27 region, you can create forms that will last for as long as you require them to. The forms still will create themselves in the blink of an eye, but the great thing is they feel solid and are everlasting. As a result, a person is able to create their own Astral home within the focus 27 region. Then they can phase to and from that place directly. It also becomes a handy place to meet guides, and so on. But one of the biggest advantages it offers is that of having a familiar home to go to, on passing out of the Physical.

Yours,
Frank

[oohyeah]

Thanks again for your reply, Frank.
After having read more about the different phasing experiences, I would say that what happened to me that time was not the Moen-style phasing, which is what I understand is experienced by Ginny.

Before the *BOOM* and suddenly seeing the snowfield as clear as day, I was not imagining such a scenario. I think, if anything, I was runninng around my imagination-created Focus 'steps', pursuant to your (Frank's) most-excellent guided imagery tip in the Gateway Wave 1 pointers thread.  My imagination visuals are very unclear and foggy, nothing like that snowfield.

Feeling-wise, it's the closest to lucid dreaming, except I don't think it was a lucid dream as I don't believe I was in control of any aspect of it (though I must admit, I didn't try to shape the landscape in anyway, or fly around like when I have lucid dreams).  Also, I think the imagery was even clearer than a lucid dream.

So my guess would be that this was probably a spontaneous "Monroe-style 'quick-switch'" projection to the astral? (where in the astral I haven't a clue.) Pity it all ended so soon... http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/images/icon_Smile_sad.gif" border=0>

KL

 

[oohyeah]

A couple of weeks back, I had a great experience, but I'm not sure what to label it.

I went to bed, put on a Gateway CD (can't remember which). AFter it was over, I carried on maintaining consciousness, and was running around in my imaginery Focus levels, then after a while, BOOM!
I suddenly found myself on a snowfield, like a ski resort. in fact, I think I was on skis, except I was like squatting down on them, and pushing myself along the snow. I looked around, and everything was like very real. I remember checking to see whether all my senses worked, and it seemed they did. eg., I went past some clothing left on the floor, and picked it up to see if I could smell it, and I could!

Then I couldn't hold it any longer and the vision faded.

What was this??
I've lucid dreamt before and it feels very much like that kind of environment. but I know I never lost consciousness, so it's not like I woke up within my dream.
This also doesn't sound like the Bruce Moen type of phasing, if I understand that correctly, cos this experience was very vivid and full of detail.

Any ideas?

btw, any advice on how to maintain this state (if it happens again)?

Thanks!

KL