Guys, the SSILD technique has been revised and an official tutorial can be found on my blog: http://cosmiciron.blogspot.com. I'm also posting the text below, but for future updates please refer to the blog. Thanks and good luck!
Background
SSILD is a modern lucid dreaming technique. It is easy to learn, highly effective, and produces consistent results over period. I developed this technique in 2011 in order to teach lucid dreaming to fellow dreamers on a Chinese forum. The first written version of the technique was published under the title "太玄功", which literally translates to "A Very Mysterious Technique". This is rather fitting because at the time no one had the faintest idea why it worked. Despite this lack of theory, the feedback on the technique was overwhelmingly positive. Within just a few months we gathered many hundreds of success stories!
Building on this initial success, we continued to refine the technique, and it essentially became a collaborated effort among hundreds of people. The tutorial went through a few revisions, and with each version we saw improvements in ease of use and effectiveness. A year later I wrote the first English version of the tutorial and published it on a few lucid dream online forums. This time I chose the name "Senses Initiated Lucid Dream", partly to conform to the unofficial but widely accepted naming convention of LD techniques, and partly due to increased knowledge and understanding gained during the past year.
While people on these forums appear more slow to embrace a brand new technique, the result was nonetheless quite promising. Between DreamViews and LD4All, there are more than a hundred success stories recorded in 9 months, within only two threads.
Today, SSILD has become one of the most popular LD induction techniques on the Chinese forum, which has grown to host more than 80,000 members. The numbers of success stories are too numerous to count. Another exciting aspect is SSILD's long-term sustainability. Whereas many techniques appear to become less effective over period as the users' initial enthusiasm wane, SSILD delivers consistent performance, turning novices to experts, and experts to masters. For example, more than a dozen members on my tiny personal forum are able to induce LDs on a daily basis. One of them even logged nearly 500 LDs/OBEs in full detail within less than a year, a remarkable achievement by all means.
Design Philosophy
SSILD is designed from the ground up to be simple, "idiot-proof" even. It does not utilize advanced techniques such as relaxation and visualization, and stays away from delicate, non-measurable mental exercises. It despises the notion that lucid dreaming is more "art" than "technique". It does not require you to be gifted or creative, in fact, there is little room for improvisation. Just follow the simple steps outlined here and you should be all set. SSILD is made so concise that if you mix in other stuff you may actually end up creating negative impact on its performance.
The "Cycle"
The core component of SSILD is called a "Cycle". Each cycle consists three steps:
Focus on Sight: Close your eyes and pay attention to the darkness behind your closed eyelids. Don't strain your eye muscles though. Your eyeballs should be resting, totally relaxed. If you don't see anything that's only normal. Do not attempt to spot visuals by moving your eyes around.
Focus on Hearing: Further relax your eyes and shift your attention to your ears. If the room is quiet enough you might be able to hear some noise inside your head or the sound of your heartbeat. However, if you can't hear anything it is okay to listen to external sounds too.
Focus on Somesthetic Senses (Touch): Direct your attention to your body. Feel it and see if you spot any unusual sensations such as tingling, heaviness, lightness, spinning sensations, and so on. If nothing like these can be felt, you can also try to feel the weight of the blanket, your heartbeat, temperature of the air, etc.
The repeated stimulation on the senses enables SSILD to condition our mind and body into a subtle state that is optimized for lucid dream to occur naturally. We should keep this in mind so we don't make the common mistake of "trying too hard" during the cycles. Beginners usually want to see things, hear things, and feel things. When nothing unusual happens they become discouraged or even desperate. Avoid this mistake at all cost! One should not expect to experience anything phenomenal during the Cycle. In fact, it is better to expect NOTHING at all will happen.
The Steps
1. Go to bed early, preferably before 11pm. Set your alarm to wake up after 4 or 5 hours.
2. Get out of bed and stay awake for 5-10 minutes. I suggest you visit the bathroom, rinse your mouth, and walk around or stretch a little bit. Try not to become too awake though.
3. Return to bed and lie down in a comfortable position, preferably different from the one you usually use. This is to prevent you from falling into sleep prematurely. However, if you are the type of person who requires extra effort to fall asleep, you may want to use the usual position instead.
4. Perform the "Cycle" quickly, repeat 4-6 times. This serves as a warm-up exercise so each step should be very short, a few seconds should be sufficient.
5. Perform the "Cycle" slowly, repeat 3-4 times. This step is the most important one. You should take extra time during each step. Thanks to step 4, at this point you should have become sufficiently relaxed and you will find focusing on the senses become much easier. For example, your eyes will feel more relaxed, and you may get visuals such as lights, colors, or movements. You might also notice that the external sounds seem to be fading into the background. Do not get excited though. You should observe quietly and after a while move on to other senses. As far as timing goes we are flexible, but in general each step should take no fewer than 30 seconds.
During the slow cycles, you may become distracted by a lot of random thoughts. This is a good indication that you are close to falling asleep. Do not try to suppress these thoughts -- they are your friends. Imagine they are gentle waves and let them carry you and wash you away from the shore of reality. You will occasionally become alert and realize you have lost track of your exercise. No worry, just start from the beginning of a cycle and you should be fine.
6. Return to the most comfortable position and allow yourself fall into sleep as quickly as possible. Do not think too much and do not worry if it will work. The quicker you can fall asleep the more likely it will work. Have faith!
What happens next
One key characteristic of SSILD is that it is neither a WILD nor DILD technique. It is a hybrid. As such, it is important to become familiar with all the possible scenarios so you will maximize your chances.
1. Hypnagogia: when we enter a dream consciously, we often encounter various unusual hypnagogic sensations. These include the sensation of falling, floating, seeing lights and images, hearing sharp noises, and many more. In fact, sometimes you may encounter sensations so strange that they are beyond words. When we encounter these sensations, chances are we are already in a dream, or getting really close. SSILD is known to cause hypnagogia during the Cycles (although this effect should NOT be sought after). It's also not uncommon for you to wake up suddenly while being bombarded by intense hypnagogic sensations. When this happens you should not become excited. Be a passive observer and wait for the sensations to amplify. You could also nudge them a little bit mentally, but do not overdo it. As soon as the sensations become clearly identifiable you should be able to perform a successful reality check and get up. Typically the dream will start from your bedroom because subconsciously that's where you expect you will be. You can also stay in bed longer and use visualization to create a dream scene manually. In any event, it is important for you to stay calm when encountering hypnagogia. Do not speak to yourselves or analyze it mentally as doing so can cause the sensations to fade and eventually wake you up.
2. False Awakening: SSILD is known to cause a lot of FAs. Not any FA, but some super-realistic ones! A typical scenario goes like this -- you finished doing SSILD and fell asleep. Then suddenly you wake up. No lucid dreams, perhaps not even a normal dream! Feeling disappointed you get out of the bed... then you wake up again! It was all but a dream! SSILD's ability to frequently create this type of FAs have been well-documented by now. Therefore, you should definitely develop the habit of performing a reality check upon each awakening after doing SSILD, no matter how convinced you are about your not being in a dream. Another possible scenario is that you slip into sleep during a SSILD cycle, and an FA immediately takes over. When this happens you may suddenly feel awake and it seems you are about to suffer insomnia. Some users complained that SSILD was causing them to lose sleep, only later found out they had been doing SSILD cycles in their dreams! Once you learn to catch these FAs your chance of success will be greatly improved.
3. DILD: When you fall asleep from SSILD, you enter your dreams with heightened awareness. As a result, lucid dreams occur. This is called Dream Initiated Lucid Dream (DILD). With heightened awareness, you may be able to spot oddities in dreams and in turn become lucid. It is also very common for spontaneous lucid dreams to occur -- you suddenly become lucid for no apparent reason.
4. Real Awakening: You wake up again after doing SSILD. You do a reality check and this time it is real. Do not despair. You still have chances. Try to stay still, and immediately relax your head, allowing the back of it to sink into the pillow. Then you need to perform a few extra medium-paced SSILD cycles. At this stage it is quite possible for you to encounter strong hypnagogia sensations. If not, just finish the cycles and go to sleep. You will have a much higher chance to succeed this time.
FAQ
Q: Can I do SSILD when I go to sleep?
A: Yes you can, but it won't work. When you go to bed you typically start with a lot of NREM sleeps which are not ideal for lucid dream to occur. The level of acetylcholine (an important neurotransmitter which is a major driving force for lucid dreams) is also at lower level. Trying to lucid dream with any technique at this stage is a waste of time, even though this is the favorite mistake virtually every beginners make.
Q: I'm used to go to bed late or have to get up early, can I still use SSILD?
A: I suggest you do SSILD only when you have sufficient time. Even though it does not take up a lot of time to perform, you WILL be losing some sleeps. As such, for people who never get enough sleep, your best bet is to do SSILD at leisure.
Q: Can I combine other breathing, meditation, relaxation techniques during or prior to doing SSILD?
A: No. As mentioned earlier, SSILD is all about "conditioning". You condition your mind and body to the most optimal state for lucid dream to occur. This state, however, is very delicate. Mixing in other techniques will likely interfere with this state and cause negative impact on SSLID's performance. You're free to create your own routines once you master the technique, but for beginners I expect you to adhere to the instructions in this manual.
Q: I get this itch... how am I supposed to stay still?
A: You are not supposed to stay still! If you have an itch just scratch it. If you want to roll you roll. With SSILD you need to stay as comfortable as possible! Just do an extra cycle to compensate and you will be fine. This is in fact a major advantage over virtually all other methods.
Q: My eyes strain/hurt when focusing on visions...
A: Remember, you should NOT expect to see anything, so relax already! Do not strain your eye muscles. Your eyeballs should be resting, if not staying still. Performing a few quick cycles will also help you relax.
Q: I can't feel anything when doing the cycles...
A: We cannot stress this more -- it is OKAY to not feel anything, and it is WRONG if you actively pursue it and expect things to happen during the cycles. With the cycles you are setting a timer for the bomb to go off. You don't expect a bomb to go off WHILE you are setting the timer do you? Sure, it does go off occasionally...
Q: I got insomnia after doing SSILD...
A: Actually, performing SSILD correctly is likely to cure your insomnia. There is a remarkable resemblance between SSILD and Betty Erickson's self-hypnosis routine! Now back to the question. We need to first identify if we are taking about "real insomnia" or "false insomnia". Remember, SSILD likes to create these super realistic false awakenings. It is very possible for you to enter an FA while still performing the SSILD cycles. In this case you will be trying to fall asleep while you are already sleeping! Next time you find yourself unable to fall asleep during a cycle, you should definitely perform a reality check, no matter how convinced you are! For people who indeed suffers loss of sleep due to SSILD, I suggest you tweak your routines in two areas: 1. Reduce the amount of sleep before waking up for SSILD. 2. Reduce the time you spend on staying awake prior to the exercise.
Hi,
If you read the free e-book from obe4u.com sobt.pdf, you will find similarities in your methods.
Its obviously a winning combination for any novice to have such information available to them, presented clearly and in an understandable manner. The questions that will arise from this will be easily interpreted and a solution can be found for that individual practioner which will save them possibly years of unsuccessful attempts.
Some of us are borm with the ability and its so natural but still have dead times that can last several months. Even skilled practioners suffer this. The best solution IMHO is the NEW ( new energy work) .
This info can be found on the Astral Dynamics site, again a free download.
This has been around since the dawn of time and does help in getting out.
I tried it out in disbelief of any result and found it cleared the dead times within a week. You also feel more refreshed physically too. I've not done any primary work yet either so it is speaking for itself.
Hopefully useful too.
Hello Cosmic.iron and Welcome to the Astral Pulse. Thank you for sharing that technique with us. I can see a lot of similarities in there to other approaches, that tells that you are right on track. It's good to see that you have been helping other people for years to experience to the Astral World. I think we will have to put this one in the archives here as well.
Thanks again! :-)
this technique got me my first lucid dream
I'll try this tonight :-
Quote from: Szaxx on March 23, 2012, 13:11:57
Hi,
If you read the free e-book from obe4u.com sobt.pdf, you will find similarities in your methods.
Its obviously a winning combination for any novice to have such information available to them, presented clearly and in an understandable manner. The questions that will arise from this will be easily interpreted and a solution can be found for that individual practioner which will save them possibly years of unsuccessful attempts.
Some of us are borm with the ability and its so natural but still have dead times that can last several months. Even skilled practioners suffer this. The best solution IMHO is the NEW ( new energy work) .
This info can be found on the Astral Dynamics site, again a free download.
This has been around since the dawn of time and does help in getting out.
I tried it out in disbelief of any result and found it cleared the dead times within a week. You also feel more refreshed physically too. I've not done any primary work yet either so it is speaking for itself.
Hopefully useful too.
Yes SILD shares many similarities with Michael's indirect technique. The main difference is in the goals. Whereas Michael's technique aims to enable its users to enter a phase directly, SILD does not. In fact, we find that by deliberately NOT expecting anything to happen during the cycling of the senses it often yields better results. There are many more subtle differences which I will highlight in latter posts. The NEW solution you mentioned sounds very interesting. I will definitely check it out! Thank you for sharing!
Quote from: Lionheart on March 23, 2012, 14:02:50
Hello Cosmic.iron and Welcome to the Astral Pulse. Thank you for sharing that technique with us. I can see a lot of similarities in there to other approaches, that tells that you are right on track. It's good to see that you have been helping other people for years to experience to the Astral World. I think we will have to put this one in the archives here as well.
Thanks again! :-)
Thank you Lionheart! I am also thrilled to make this forum my new home. Your forum provides some of the best materials which can't be found elsewhere, The Frank Kepple archive for example, and I'm glad to be able to contribute some of my own -- good or bad, LOL. since I'm new I'm not yet too familiar with the forum rules, so if I do something wrong unintentionally please point it out for me. :)
Quote from: trippyrod12 on March 23, 2012, 17:52:07
this technique got me my first lucid dream
Glad it worked. Please share your experience in more detail. These experiences will help us improve the technique!
Some users may find it difficult to fall asleep after doing the cycles. Below is a list of the common causes:
1. False Awakening. No I'm not kidding. What you are experiencing could well be an FA and this is very common after doing SILD. You basically just lay there trying to fall asleep while you are already asleep. One way to work around this is to do additional repetitions when you find you are unable to sleep. Assuming you are in an FA, or sometimes a light trance, then the cycling technique will usually result in very apparent HIs, ringing sounds, vibrations, or other effects. When the effects occur you can simple do an RA, and then roll out of the bed to begin an OBE.
2. You are focusing too much on producing the effects/sensations while doing the reps. Remember, WILD and OBE are by products of SILD. They should not be sought after. When you do the cycles, do NOT expect anything will happen. You should focus on losing focus. That's the right way to do SILD.
3. Rational thoughts entering the mind while doing the cycles. It's fine to let your mind drift to other things, but you should NEVER analyize what you are doing! Oh, do NOT count either. You don't want precision!
4. Deliberately trying to relax. Remember, SILD is very much a self hypnosis tool, so you should rely on that to put you into sleep. Don't mix in any relaxation techniques befor or after! And certainly do not attempt to stay relaxed during the repetitions. You just get comfortable, and leave the relaxation part to the technique.
5. Interruption. This is the single biggest killer. If you are repeatedly interrupted, whether by sudden noises, discomforts, or others, you should seize doing the exercise and go to sleep right away. You can always do it again later, so do not force it.
I have to say with 2 days of practice attempting 2 twice per day I found your "cycling" technique to actually work quite well for Phasing as well. I wasn't sure about step 3, which is the focusing on the body, since Phasing is all about losing the focus on the body. But, I didn't find it to be a hindrance at all. I successfully Phased in under 10 minutes all 4 times. :-)
Quote from: Lionheart on March 24, 2012, 16:19:46
I have to say with 2 days of practice attempting 2 twice per day I found your "cycling" technique to actually work quite well for Phasing as well. I wasn't sure about step 3, which is the focusing on the body, since Phasing is all about losing the focus on the body. But, I didn't find it to be a hindrance at all. I successfully Phased in under 10 minutes all 4 times. :-)
Yes Lionheart, the cycling technique is very effective at deepenning the phase. Prior to inventing SILD, I always used cycling as part of my own custom WILD routines. It appears that Michael Raduga also uses a variation of this in his "indirect techniques".
I just finished a Phase session where I used your cycling technique. In about 5 minutes I felt my physical focus waning. Then the strangest thing happened. I was was doing step 3 (which is to notice any strange body sensations) and all of a sudden I had a full vision of my body. It was dark in the area and I was kind of like outlined in white energy. Then something that looked like a "pac-man" head started to gobble my toes and work it's way up my leg, it did the same to the other leg and kept going higher. Piece by piece my physical body was being devoured. There was no pain or gore, since my body was just an outline. The sensation was incredible, the next thing I know my entire body is gone and I am in a land with the most vivid scenery and colors I have been too yet. The sensations of watching my body disappearing and then leaving me as just "total 100% conscious energy" was the most exhilarating I have ever had. The mental picture of this really drove that point home.
Quote from: Lionheart on March 26, 2012, 18:06:07
I just finished a Phase session where I used your cycling technique. In about 5 minutes I felt my physical focus waning. Then the strangest thing happened. I was was doing step 3 (which is to notice any strange body sensations) and all of a sudden I had a full vision of my body. It dark in the area and I was kind of like outlined in white energy. Then something that looked like a "pac-man" head started to gobble my toes and work it's way up my leg, it did the same to the other leg and kept going higher. Piece by piece my physical body was being devoured. There was no pain or gore, since my body was just an outline. The sensation was incredible, the next thing I know my entire body is gone and I am in a land with the most vivid scenery and colors I have been too yet. The sensations of watching my body disappearing and then leaving me as just "total 100% conscious energy" was the most exhilarating I have ever had. The mental picture of this really drove that point home.
That's awesome! This is truly a unique experience! I will record this in my forum as well. :)
Thank you cosmic.iron for this method, I already tried this night but nothing to report...yet
Lionheart : do you mean that you did the SILD fully awake, not after a few hours of sleep ? your experience and where you landed are amazing.
Yes I did this from a conscious viewpoint with my eyes closed of course. The unique thing was watching my body being "gobbled" up from a real time view. Meaning it happened while I saw my feet/toes etc, in real time, just like looking down at your lower body from a physical viewpoint. Instead of watching a silhouette from outside of my body. I just laid there with an air of curiosity, but the energy rush was extreme. I Phase twice per day, once in the afternoon and once before I go to sleep. :-)
So good, maybe we now have here a new phasing protocol, which looks very good and logic to me.
Faxman, you read my mind. That's the first thing that I thought when I came out of the Phase. I immediately wrote it down in my journal, then came here to post it. I find people having a hard time getting the idea of "out of body". Noy says "only 1% of your mind is in your body the rest is a giant sphere that covers all of life you only have to look within to see everything in life, they are simple truths but you need to accept them to move on". Watching your body disappear piece by piece "with no gore or pain" really drives that idea home! I guess the "pac-man" head was just there to strengthen that idea. I have not thought of that game for at least 10 years. :-)
Cosimic.iron, as you know the LD world well, you know that with DEILD you are not supposed to move after you wake up. Is it the same with SILD or can you move a little ?
I did it during the night and what is curious is that I had trouble going through the circle of the 3 "non-focus focus". I used to forget what I had to do and this morning I felt terribly tired.
Quote from: faxman on March 29, 2012, 14:47:21
Cosimic.iron, as you know the LD world well, you know that with DEILD you are not supposed to move after you wake up. Is it the same with SILD or can you move a little ?
I did it during the night and what is curious is that I had trouble going through the circle of the 3 "non-focus focus". I used to forget what I had to do and this morning I felt terribly tired.
Sounds to me you are still treating SSILD as a WILD technique. That is, expecting phase entrance to happen during the cycling. If you focus on producing effects with each of the steps, chances are you will not be relaxed enough to get into a trance, thus creating unnecessary stress and feeling tired afterward. Do not do SSILD in DEILD like fashion. Instead, upon waking up naturally, get out of the bed and try to stay awake for 5 minutes. Then do the cycling in the dumbest manner and do not expect anything to happen. If phase entrance occur that's great, consider yourself lucky. Otherwise just finish the 4 or 5 cycles and fall asleep as quickly as possible. Be confident that phase entrance or DILD will occur some time later.
I don't treat SSILD as a WILD, but I think I was more influenced by M. Raduga on that particular issue.
So I'll do as you advised.
Yes, I can see the Raduga influence :) There is a comparison between the two technqiues in this thread (http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_astral_consciousness/sild_related_resources-t36824.0.html).
Great.
SSILD is then an induction method, which is very useful ;)
Great guide, thanks for sharing!
Arg! should have read this last night ;). I'll give it a try later on. Keep it up fellow travelers
Hey this method is working for me thanks its the easiest method I have used so far
5 attempts and yet no exit. I'll continue anyway :)
Quote from: faxman on April 03, 2012, 13:09:36
5 attempts and yet no exit. I'll continue anyway :)
I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe if you post more detailed description of your exercise then I can help you diagnose.
I have tried this 4 times with no exit yet either. Haven't given it a serious early morning attempt drowsy attempt yet though. I am sure it will work though. All the standard disconnection milestones are hit with this method. Under drowsy circumstances I can see it's brilliance in action. I like how you made it idiot proof in this way.
I feel deep down, that OBE's aren't something to achieve quickly. Fast food is rarely healthy.
Cheers,
Contenteo
Well, with this method I have managed to have some sort of lucid dreaming, right after the cycles. It wasn't lucid dreaming, since I didn't know I was dreaming. I simply dreamed about covering my self with a blanket, in my bed. And woke up 2 mintues later, realizing I wasn't covered.
I'll keep you updated, see how it goes. One thing though, it's when I wake up after 4/5 hours of sleep, I'm madly sleepy. I can only do a couple of cycles (sometimes not eaven one) before my mind starts wondering, and getting into the dreaming state. I notice it, and try to cycle again, but again, my mind starts dreaming pretty pretty quickly :p. Which I find it quite fun though, it is a little battle taking place.
As I said, I'll keep you updated.
Quote from: Anonymouse on April 04, 2012, 11:03:15
Well, with this method I have managed to have some sort of lucid dreaming, right after the cycles. It wasn't lucid dreaming, since I didn't know I was dreaming. I simply dreamed about covering my self with a blanket, in my bed. And woke up 2 mintues later, realizing I wasn't covered.
I'll keep you updated, see how it goes. One thing though, it's when I wake up after 4/5 hours of sleep, I'm madly sleepy. I can only do a couple of cycles (sometimes not eaven one) before my mind starts wondering, and getting into the dreaming state. I notice it, and try to cycle again, but again, my mind starts dreaming pretty pretty quickly :p. Which I find it quite fun though, it is a little battle taking place.
As I said, I'll keep you updated.
If your feel very sleepy then it is an indication that you have not had sufficient amount of sleep. Chance for success under such condition might be minimal. Therefore I suggest going to bed an hour early than usual, then wait till you wake up naturally. Get out of bed and stay awake for 5 minutes before returning to bed to begin the exercise. You shouldn't feel too difficult about getting up, and if you do, that means you need more sleep. In which case you might as well continue to sleep until you can get up more comfortably next time.
i tried this last night, on my 1st go my whole body went numb and just felt weird, nothing else happened tho.. probably cos i didnt go to bed til 4am :p
also my arms and legs were like moving randomly.. is all this a good sign? i have never got this to happen before.. i have been trying for a whole year then i looked at this thread and those things happened on my 1st go
My apologies for jumping into this thread so late! Just had time today to give it a good read.
That's a great technique cosmic.iron! It's actually very close, if not exactly to what we teach here called "Phasing" using the "Noticing Exercise".
I'll provide a quick link to it:
http://unlimitedboundaries.ca/2010/09/06/what-is-phasing-and-noticing/
http://unlimitedboundaries.ca/2011/02/01/phasing-with-noticing-a-more-detailed-explanation/
It's nice to see that different groups researching the same thing are coming to the same conclusions! :)
Hi, Guys i am new to this form(as a member) but in fact, many times before i already try to find information i need for OBE on this site. I have enough material to induce OBE but as you know you can not achieve the state without practice. i also try to practice by waking in the morning usually after enough sleep but fond that after awaking my mind becomes active and even can not feel like sleeping. even when i was reading about LD i think i already experience it before but not sure
so what happens today while taking nap afternoon.....
well i was laid down myself and watching speech on youtube like an hour long, while watching the clip i felt drowsy but i also want to finish the clip and during this fight i had experience of LD and i think i also had OBE i think i am awake but in trance and with my close i heard some wired sound i had really fun time and noticed this is very first time i ever experienced such LD.
Well as soon as i awake up i did some search and found this page and i could not stop to write this.
i have found something which is important to me and may be for others, that every time i was trying to do OBE i could not able to shut down my conscience mind which is analyzing every thing and every time i was expecting something to happen and that keep the conscience mind awake.
i found some valuable points here
Most important, need to shutdown analytical mind (may be u can do some meditation for while it will you)
Do not expect anything ahead(will keep the analytical mind active even you do not notice)
If possible learn relaxation
as been mentioned by Cosimic.iron follow his instructions will really help you
thanks.
Quote from: Xanth on April 28, 2012, 14:21:41
My apologies for jumping into this thread so late! Just had time today to give it a good read.
That's a great technique cosmic.iron! It's actually very close, if not exactly to what we teach here called "Phasing" using the "Noticing Exercise".
I'll provide a quick link to it:
http://unlimitedboundaries.ca/2010/09/06/what-is-phasing-and-noticing/
http://unlimitedboundaries.ca/2011/02/01/phasing-with-noticing-a-more-detailed-explanation/
It's nice to see that different groups researching the same thing are coming to the same conclusions! :)
I can't agree. I don't think it is the same at all. It is about preparing to do AP
from sleep or to get lucid in a dream. Therefore it's an indirect method. Isn't Noticing a direct method? Only in one bullet (5 under "what's going to happen") there's mentioning of a possibilty of a direct phasing /AP to occur while you do the preparation cycles.
Today I had a short astral experience, which may have been induced by the technique described in the original post. I have outlined the experience itself in a different thread: http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_out_of_body_experiences/false_awakening_to_astral_projection-t37767.0.html;msg310136#msg310136
I did the exercise (5 cycles) in the morning hours, fell asleep and after an hour or so I was having a very long and vivid dream (non-lucid). This dream then led to a false awakening, which in turn led to an OOBE. This is about the third time trying this technique, the first two times did not yield any results. It's difficult to say if today's experience was directly caused by this exercise or not (I do a lot of other types of meditation as well), but it well may have been.
Quote from: Volgerle on May 24, 2012, 05:31:11
I can't agree. I don't think it is the same at all. It is about preparing to do AP from sleep or to get lucid in a dream. Therefore it's an indirect method. Isn't Noticing a direct method? Only in one bullet (5 under "what's going to happen") there's mentioning of a possibilty of a direct phasing /AP to occur while you do the preparation cycles.
2a) With your eyes closed, stare at the darkness behind your eyelids for 15-20 seconds. Try to pick up any colors, lights, or images, but do not strain your eye muscle. If you see nothing but darkness, that's fine. Again, we are not striving to induce dreams from the waked state, so do NOT force it. It is perfectly fine to not feel anything.
2b) Listen to the noises in your ears for 15-20 seconds. Chances are you will hear some light humming and buzzing sound. See if you can hear it more clearly. If you don't hear anything that's okay.
2c) Notice any strange body sensations such as heaviness, tingling, and movements. Pay attention particularly to the head, hands, fingers, abdomen, feet, and toes. Again, it is perfectly fine if you don't feel anything strange.
The above steps should be performed in a relaxed manner, slowly, lazily, and without any rational thoughts. The 15-20 seconds duration is for your reference only, so do NOT count in your head! Chances are, after a couple of repetitions you will begin to feel sleepy, to the point your mind may drift away and forget to continue the exercise. Congratulations, this is exactly the effect we are after! When this happens just pull your mind back a bit and resume from where you drifted away. If you lost count of the repetitions then simply do a new set. It won't hurt. That's noticing. What the difference here is... is that you're actively ALLOWING yourself to fall asleep afterwards in an effort to try to catch your awareness when you enter the dream.
If you don't do the falling asleep part and don't let your mind 'drift away', you'll eventually Phase consciously. It's a natural progression from keeping your mind active while doing the noticing exercise.
The difference is with one you smoothly shift into the non-physical... the other (which this is describing) might give you a break in conscious awareness as you shift.
In the end, the "HOW" you get into the non-physical fully aware doesn't matter. The point is that you DO IT. :)
Quote from: Xanth on July 15, 2012, 21:09:58
2a) With your eyes closed, stare at the darkness behind your eyelids for 15-20 seconds. Try to pick up any colors, lights, or images, but do not strain your eye muscle. If you see nothing but darkness, that's fine. Again, we are not striving to induce dreams from the waked state, so do NOT force it. It is perfectly fine to not feel anything.
2b) Listen to the noises in your ears for 15-20 seconds. Chances are you will hear some light humming and buzzing sound. See if you can hear it more clearly. If you don't hear anything that's okay.
2c) Notice any strange body sensations such as heaviness, tingling, and movements. Pay attention particularly to the head, hands, fingers, abdomen, feet, and toes. Again, it is perfectly fine if you don't feel anything strange.
The above steps should be performed in a relaxed manner, slowly, lazily, and without any rational thoughts. The 15-20 seconds duration is for your reference only, so do NOT count in your head! Chances are, after a couple of repetitions you will begin to feel sleepy, to the point your mind may drift away and forget to continue the exercise. Congratulations, this is exactly the effect we are after! When this happens just pull your mind back a bit and resume from where you drifted away. If you lost count of the repetitions then simply do a new set. It won't hurt.
That's noticing. What the difference here is... is that you're actively ALLOWING yourself to fall asleep afterwards in an effort to try to catch your awareness when you enter the dream.
If you don't do the falling asleep part and don't let your mind 'drift away', you'll eventually Phase consciously. It's a natural progression from keeping your mind active while doing the noticing exercise.
The difference is with one you smoothly shift into the non-physical... the other (which this is describing) might give you a break in conscious awareness as you shift.
In the end, the "HOW" you get into the non-physical fully aware doesn't matter. The point is that you DO IT. :)
Xanth,
That's well put. Below is a reply I gave on another forum. The person I was replying to suggested that SSILD works by "delayed intentions", which I did not agree. Your analysis, on the other hand, is a lot closer to what I suspected to be the cause.
=====Quoted Reply=====
Jeff, I am the author of this technique and I just stumbled upon this thread here through googling. What you said abou setting intention is very true with many other techniques, but it actually does not apply to SSILD based on our real world observations. In the original article I claimed that I was not entirely sure why the technique works, and we too suspected it had something to do with intentions and even self-hypnosis. However, I now feel differently about this subject based on my own direct experiences as well as many other people's.
It seems that cycling through the senses in a trance-like state serves as a conditioning tool. It conditions the mind/body to enter a phase more easily. When conditioned well, spontaneous phase-entrance such as FAs, DILDs, and OBEs occur frequently after the exercise. This was essentially the result we sought after when we first developed the technique. Lately, however, we noticed a very interesting phenomenon -- direct phase entrance becomes extremely easy after performing the exercise! Even when spontaneous phase entrance fail to occur after doing the exercise, upon subsequent awakenings (not FAs but real awakenings) one can quickly enter a phase via direct techniques with very little effort. Moreover, many experienced users don't even need any techniques to enter the phase other than a little bit of mental focus. And, no, I'm not talking about DEILDs or Mr. Raduga's indirect techniques. During these real awakenings you do not have to first remain still. It works even after you have moved and the effect seems to last quite a while. In fact, if one increases the number of cycles during the exercise, she can proceed directly to attempt phase entrance without first falling into sleep and wait for the next awakening (this is a little harder but is still more than manageable). By exploiting this newly discovered characteristic of SSILD we can now use it as a very effective direct phase entrance technique. Hope this is useful information for those who are trying SSILD.
====================
One interesting thing to note is that each cycle brings the user "deeper" toward the "inner" sensations. During the first couple of cycles one usually does not "notice" anything except the more "physical" ones such as the environment noise, light, and other physical touches. But as the user performs more cycles she begins to feel "immersed" -- the "outside world" begins to fade away, while the "inside world" becomes more apparent. At this stage, "noticing" becomes a lot easier. It seems the more cycles she performs the further her consciousness shifts away from the physical. At this point, if she falls asleep she will have a very high chance to phase spontaneously. Or, as said above, she can consciously Phase with very little effort. This observation correspond to what you have said extremely well!
That reminds me that a lot of the time after I do an exercise like noticing, and the I actually make the effort to simply fall asleep, there is a much higher chance for a spontaneous lucid/astral awareness experience to happen.
I'll post more here tonight when I'm not typing on my phone. LoL
Quote from: Xanth on July 15, 2012, 21:09:58
The difference is with one you smoothly shift into the non-physical... the other (which this is describing) might give you a break in conscious awareness as you shift.
Ok, fine, so Noticing can be used for both, direct and indirect, strategies. The point I wanted to make is another one, actually.
It exactly this
difference which is vastly imporant for people who cannot 'shift consciously'. That's why falling asleep after doing the 'noticing' (next to other preparations) is an important
indirect method for people like me. Obe4all and others also stresses the imporance for newbies to try indirect methods first. Buhlman in his first book almost exclusively writes about this strategy.
The reason for my being so adamant about pointing out this difference this is: I have read posts from very frustrated forum users (here and elsewhere) who simply couldn't do it consciously / directly. They never were given the idea that you can do the techniques (such as Noticing) as preparations and then fall asleep again with some success probabilty for later (=indirect stragegy).
My point is that I often miss this in discussions and advice here (also with noobs) and hence I am keen on pointing out this possibilty ('to project from sleep') as a means to have a 'first time' at all.
Yes, I agree with you. Direct exit is the state of the art to be aspired to. So being a projector, of course, does not exclude the need that one should try to learn direct methods as there are many advantages as to this (full control from the start, to say the least).
I'm trying this, to do direct methods, to this very day but failed so far, except maybe for 1-2 times of which I am not even sure of (I might have been 'asleep' after all at some point).
So this is just a point I always like to make in order to really HELP the newbies who get frustrated as never anyone tells them that it might worth trying to choose the indirect method first. Some more talented and experienced (direct) projectors, like you and others here, might not see the necessity in this.
But if there would not be the possibilty of indirect projection I would not even be here, to be honest, because I would never have 'made it'. So this is not about an argument at all. It is just that I want to point out that it is highly imporatant that we give this advice to newbies, too.
My impression is that it is often overlooked here as many experienced projectors and advice-givers do not deem it necessary to point it out. I find it important cuz we might 'loose' many interested persons who want to discover NPMR due to frustrations with failures.
Actually I consider myself still a noob (most of all since I am still not capable of a direct method, unfortunatly) and I am still happy that the indirect method is available. SSILD can be used for both, agreed, but it is a highly imporatant method / technique / strategy for the indirect method (next to a few others that might apply to both direct and indirect strategies, such as affirmations, Wb2b, journals, etc.)
Quote from: Volgerle on July 20, 2012, 08:50:36
The reason for my being so adamant about pointing out this difference this is: I have read posts from very frustrated forum users (here and elsewhere) who simply couldn't do it consciously / directly. They never were given the idea that you can do the techniques (such as Noticing) as preparations and then fall asleep again with some success probabilty for later (=indirect stragegy).
That was good, Volgerie. I'm with you totally on this one. This is the reason why I suggested that the technique should be treated as a DILD technique instead of WILD. I highly recommand you use this as a preparation and try to Phase directly upon first awakening after the exercise. You will find it very easy to enter a phase this way. Once mastered you will be able to Phase at will.
The frustration that people experience is entirely due to these individuals attempting to build their house before building a solid foundation first.
Just as one can't immediately play Beethoven or Bach without LOTS of practice first... you also can't just do a conscious exit projection without first mastering your mind. Yes, I said "mastering" your mind. This means that one must spend a long time (time may vary) spending time with their own consciousness via meditation before you'll have any success.
THIS is the source of the frustration of just about every single person who has ever tried to do this and failed. I can be 100% guaranteed.
Everyone wants to do astral projection with as little work as possible to get the fastest results possible. <-- That's a model for FAILURE
Especially if they prescribe to the idea that that's the ONLY way to project.
So now, here we have what Raduga calls "indirect" methods. I honestly forget all the acrynoms people use for these... LoL
WBTB? MILD? DEILD? These are all "indirect" methods for projecting... and they're every bit as valid as a conscious exit for projecting.
Techniques for this kind of stuff are everywhere. The problem is that I think it's rare for people to acknowledge the validity of such a projection right upon first learning this stuff. Why? Because people get indoctrinated into the "it's *only* a lucid dream, it's not a REAL astral projection" mindset, then they read about conscious exits and believe those to be REAL astral projections. So they ignore everything else. Then when they finally fail and become frustrated that they can't do it... they quit altogether saying it doesn't exist.
And I should say now that I *LOVE* indirect methods. They account for perhaps 80 - 90% of my projections. This method that cosmic shares in this thread is SOLID. It's noticing with falling asleep. :) It doesn't get much easier than that. I have, on many occasions said to try stuff like this.
Personally, I'd like to see people eventually take the proper time to learn to master their mind... learn to meditate... learn to focus their minds, then learn to hold that focus for extended periods of time. The only reason people fail is because they're impatient.
I like Tom Campbell's opinion here: Take the long view, in 15 - 20 years, you'll be really good at it.
I'm glad this thread has been stickied. If it wasn't, I'd do it right now. Let's get more indirect methods up here. Let's make it a point to tell people, "If you want to project with minimal effort, give these techniques a try"... but also to point out that if you want to make this a part of your "life", not just a fad, then you're going to have to take the long view, as Tom suggests. Otherwise you won't get anything out of this.
^Yes^
So so yes^^^^^^
I second that like 20 million times. I'd Like it and tweet it and, hell, even share it on myspace if I could and if myspace was a respectable medium.
Cheers,
Contenteo
yes at last my first controled exit using this method. i layed down said im dreaming 5 times looked for hipnogogic. astral phazed.whent to sleep waken up did it all again.whent to sleep waken up in sleep paralarasis. a dream scene was generated i heard a noise say get back in. then i enterd the dream.
i've tried the method given by the original poster for the past two days prior to afternoon naps. nothing seems to be happening. sometimes i'll see small blotches of things when looking at my eyelids, and parts of my body will go numb. but that's about it. when i start to shift into a dream, my body immediately twitches and prevents me from falling asleep. it's almost as if i'm too aware or something. basically, i end up laying there for 90 minutes with closed eyes and an empty mind.
any tips?
Just passively observe it all with an air of curiosity. You could also try to create visual scenarios just to get the "ball rolling"! :-)
Quote from: eskimoswim on October 26, 2012, 18:39:16
i've tried the method given by the original poster for the past two days prior to afternoon naps. nothing seems to be happening. sometimes i'll see small blotches of things when looking at my eyelids, and parts of my body will go numb. but that's about it. when i start to shift into a dream, my body immediately twitches and prevents me from falling asleep. it's almost as if i'm too aware or something. basically, i end up laying there for 90 minutes with closed eyes and an empty mind.
any tips?
You are doing it entirely wrong. Please read the original post again very carefully. You should not attempt to use this as a WILD method! Just do the cycles in the most relaxed, comfortable fashion. Don't expect anything to happen while doing it. If you can't feel anything so be it. Allow your mind to drift away. Don't focus! The only thing you should focus on is to lose focus, LOL. Once you are done just roll over and fall asleep as quickly as possible, and miracle will happen afterward. Good luck!
It seems to be quite effective - 3 days in a row I get some experience few lucid dreams and last night i was cycling only to find out that I was not in my bed but in my grandmas house!Cycling while I dream!Or maybe cycling in false awakening!Imagine that lol!
I tried this a few times a while back. It worked the first time. However, it took over an hour for me to get back to sleep but yeah, I had a strong LD. After this, each time I tried it I found I couldn't get back to sleep and no, they weren't false awakenings -I was certainly wide awake and no more LDs. So I don't think its for me.
But... I'll probably try again for the next few nights as I'm going through a bit of a dry patch and I'm out of ideas! :-D
Hi,
I was wondering, how long do you spend on focusing on the eyes before shifting onto hearing?
Thank you!
I love this exercise, i just had the weirdest night sleep ever, i am sure i had two FA. Problem, lying in bed dreaming i am lying in bed lol. lucky i was waiting for the toilet both times but in reality it was 4 in the morning pmsl
I work on this as my cycles go out the window after first long one then i realise start again but im bloody dreaming keep you updated
Thanks
Holly cow, last night had a dream so vivid its no wonder we dont know the difference between waking and sleeping.
Quote from: vince on December 07, 2014, 10:32:00
Holly cow, last night had a dream so vivid its no wonder we dont know the difference between waking and sleeping.
All of my "dreams" are identical to this waking physical reality. :) It does get confusing sometimes.
Quote from: Xanth on December 07, 2014, 18:42:47
All of my "dreams" are identical to this waking physical reality. :) It does get confusing sometimes.
I too get confused.
Three sleep cycles ago, I had a lucid dream/OOBE. I did not go to bed until ~5am (dawn).
Dim room. I got out of bed and picked up my tablet on my tallboy (dresser).
Then I plugged it to my adapter to charge it.
:? I recognised the charger is not one I use for that device.
This realisation cause me to ask myself:
is this a dream?Suddenly I started to float upwards towards the ceiling.
My astral head pushed passed the white ceiling....
If I did not have the typical floating experience associated with OOBE,
I would have thought I was awake in PMR :-D
Quote from: dreamingod on December 08, 2014, 11:48:21
I too get confused.
Three sleep cycles ago, I had a lucid dream/OOBE. I did not go to bed until ~5am (dawn).
Dim room. I got out of bed and picked up my tablet on my tallboy (dresser).
Then I plugged it to my adapter to charge it.
:? I recognised the charger is not one I use for that device.
This realisation cause me to ask myself: is this a dream?
Suddenly I started to float upwards towards the ceiling.
My astral head pushed passed the white ceiling....
If I did not have the typical floating experience associated with OOBE,
I would have thought I was awake in PMR :-D
It's experiences like that that have driven a lot of my conclusions of the "non-physical". :)
If there are times when you're non-physical and you just simply don't realize it... should make one wonder about what this physical reality is. Just one of the infinite number of non-physical realities. :)
Thanks for all the detail. i feel like I've been doing this for a while. I usually set delayed alarm that just barely wake me up to slip right back into the dream which is a DILD. You fully come up before going back down but lucid. You must wake up tired?
That is pretty detailed technique and it is awesome, glad you shared it with us!
This is an extremely thorough explanation. I am definitely going to try this tonight and see how it goes. Thank you!
Just bumping this up even though it's stickied. There's a lot of truth here.
New here on the forum... I've been reading this forum for months, but never came across this technique until last night.
To put a context on my experience... I've tried many different techniques and have been meditating consistently daily for probably 2-3 months without any breaks. (I find when I miss a day or 2 in meditation, my hypnagogic imagery and dream recall decline substantially).
I've only had an actual lucid dream (where I was fully aware I was dreaming) once, and I did have Galantamine during that episode which may have helped. Other than that I've been practicing for probably 6 months for lucid dreams or APs. I've just gotten more serious about this the past couple weeks by putting in more effort.
The one thing I like about this technique is I get into the "stray energy" or hynogogic imagery faster than with any other technique I've tried, probably because the cycling allows my eyes to relax, I find my eyes "reset" after moving from visual to auditory cycles and find them swing back less and less everytime I move from sensory to visual and try to limit my eyes from responding.
I get into hypnagogic imagery many times before the pre-cycling is over and it gets really intense by the time I do my first main cycle that I start losing consciousness and find myself forgetting where I was. I also found with this technique last night that I couldn't go to sleep after cycling. I tried reality checks but I was fully awake and had a hard time going back to sleep. I guess that is a good thing as you maintain more awareness which is what I find with most LD techniques.
Any input for a newbie in this space would be helpful. And great to finally be here. You guys have helped me hugely already! :)
Welcome to the Pulse PerspectiveShift,
This a great thread that Nameless pulled forward that synthesizes and clarifies many of the issues we deal with in maneuvering between Physical and Non-Physical states of consciousness. Yet it is still somehow not complete and I wonder that any single discussion can ever cover all the very subtle and almost intangible difficulties that we encounter in this practice.
I will concentrate on a few areas that may pertain to or suggest further questions-
A very brief summary to emphasize important points: We all want conscious exits into Non-Physical Reality (NPR), but there is no guarantee and we are all different so some few get natural, conscious exits while most of us start with Dreams, Lucid Dreams, WILDs, DILDs and various accidental or unexpected OBEs of varying types. My point is that you take what you can get and progress from there to the more controlled type of exit. Keep a journal and you will soon see patterns and areas of personal exploration that will become invaluable to your understanding. Some of my best experiences have started as Lucid Dreams, so don't ever deny those.
A key component to having almost any of these experiences is the Timing of the event and that typically involves a trial and error process of finding the right Time when you are in that perfectly relaxed state of mind to either have an experience or to initiate the proper sequence of events so that an experience will occur, either soon or sometime later. A certain disconnection of the normal "aware" mind is necessary; so daily meditation, while it is excellent and recommended training, may not get you the results you are seeking, but is excellent preparation. As this SSILD technique describes sleeping for 4-5 hours, then staying awake and active for 5 minutes and then applying the Noticing/Cycling technique...this is an effort to relax and get your PR mind out of the way so you can be open to the hypnogogic visuals. An alternative that I would suggest is the classic WBTB technique which is to awaken by alarm after 2-3 hours of sleep, then stay awake for 45 minutes or so and then try the Noticing technique. We can debate between hours to sleep or minutes to stay awake, the point is to experiment to find what works for you... so you need to experiment with the process. You may find that an afternoon nap on your day off has some great opportunities. Or you may find that awakening two hours before your normal morning pays dividends. I have found opportunities in all these different times and not always knowing when they would pay off. What helps is to know the other necessary aspects such as Noticing/Cycling and how to just Passively Observe until the NP Scene takes on its own life and action. Our earliest NP experiences really seem to depend on these two aspects, plus another.
That other aspect can deal with Intent. You need to have and to express an Intent or a reason for why you want to do this in the first place. Intent almost definitely works on multiple levels. If you just want fun, sex and excitement...that may get you something, some minimal experiences but probably not much more than that. It may be enough to get you an experience that invites you to seek further. Intent can also involve a process of "asking permission or granting permission" from your inner Self to do this highly unusual OBE thing; that is another possible aspect. But if you really aspire to a higher, spiritual cause then you should express that through your Intent. Expressing that Intent through a feeling or an Affirmation is not only an instruction to your Subconscious/Higher Self, it is also a declaration to the NPR, our Afterlife and the totality of beings that exist there. If you actually believe they exist and you wish to help, then this is your current form of communication with them and I advise a certain level of sincerity and gratitude for their assistance in your development. Because once you start down this road and have a few dozen experiences, it becomes quite apparent that others are involved. We all have Guardians and Helpers...
So, as a possible answer to your last question...when the hypnogogic imagery gets really intense...just passively observe it while remembering your basic Intent...and just observe...let it develop and transform until you are literally pulled into the scene...and then go with it...
And if nothing is working and you can't fall asleep, then just reaffirm your Intent once more and let it all go and relax into sleep as best you can. Maybe a LD will surprise you by morning!
EV
Hey thank you EV for your detailed reply! That's a great idea to try different Times of WBTB. One thing I've been reluctant on first starting out was having to wake up in the middle of the night and go back to bed, but the past couple weeks I've realized that it is necessary.
The closest I've gotten to a conscious AP/LD was in the early morning doing the noticing exercise after listening to Monroe's Introduction to Focus 10. I saw a pinhole that opened up into an extremely lucid type of portal. I could see into the fiery opening that there was a massive blue Sun or planet suspended in blackness. It looked so realistic and intense I could feel myself sweating. It got so intense to a point where the scene started losing its vibrant colours, went grey, and I stopped seeing anything. I can see the balancing act there of passive noticing.
That was the most realistic visual I've ever seen. More vivid than my LD experience. I wear glasses in PR, but the imagery was crystal clear more so than PR. It was so close to an LD/AP experience, but I still had ties to my body as I could feel it getting nervous.
I also like what you said about intent. I've recently been talking to my guides to give them permission to help me. I'll try asking them for permission to experience these phenomena as well. I do have a deep spiritual intent based on helping the whole move forwards spiritually. I'll express this intent moving forwards. I may not be completely over the more base emotions, but I feel like I've come a long way in self development over the years.
As my younger self I had an "overnight success" type of mentality. But I've realized that everything worth having takes dedicated practice, time and effort.
So far, the hypnogogic states have fascinated me. They are so random. And they have dramatically reduced my fear of the unknown. Definitely looking forwards to delving deeper. Thanks again for your help! :)