Mind Awake Body Asleep assistance please!

[hermeticheretic]

Hello all,

I'm pretty new to the forum but not to astral projection.  I've read a lot of your posts over the past few months, but only became a member very recently.  I've been having spontaneous OBE's for years now, most of them happen either after I go lucid in a dream, or more commonly when I wake up in sleep paralysis(which happens to me often throughout a year, sometimes twice a month). I've read many, many books on the subject, including the Robert Monroe collection, so the Frank Kepple phasing resource was really awesome for me to read.  

Two years ago I purchased the Robert Bruce and Brian Mercer book, "Mastering Astral Projection", I practiced faithfully(kept a dream journal, morning and afternoon energy body exercises, daily affirmations, practicing exit techniques, etc) for about 54-55 days(around the point shift method in the book) before I eventually petered out.  At the time I worked in the banking industry which was then on rocky ground, and ended up loosing my job which put my attention elsewhere for a while.

Well, all that being said, over the past couple of months I've been having spontaneous projections again, which has renewed my interest in achieving them consciously from the waking state, but I'm having a couple of issues that I'd like a little help in sorting out.

First of all, just so you know, I've never stopped the NEW techniques of energy body stimulation.  Two to three times a week, I practice stimulating my energy body using the sponge method starting at my toes and working my way to the tip of my fingers and the top of my head, making sure to stimulate all of the larger energy centers at my joints and major chakras and then sometimes bouncing or spiraling.

So here's what I need help with:  The idea of phasing comes pretty naturally to me.  I read over Major Tom's "focus 10: mind awake/body asleep" thread and feel that I understand most of the markers for a true mind awake/body asleep state.  I start by focusing my attention into the blackness just beyond my closed eyes, in a matter of minutes I've already phased considerably from my physical body to my inner eye seeing all sorts of pictures and visions like a movie real is now running at fast forward through my minds eye.  My limbs all feel heavy, like they're made of lead, and distant.  I don't really feel them any more, just slightly aware of their heaviness.  Because of my experience with NEW I can do a quick all over the body check to see if there is any remaining tension...sometimes I hold a teeny bit of tension around my eyes, but as soon as I become aware of it, I can easily relax all of those muscles.  My breathing at this point has become very steady, and I've passed the point where I am continually wanting to swallow every few seconds.  And this is where I stay, often for more than an hour.

I'm not able to move deeper than this.  I seem to stay at a point of relaxation that is still very aware of the "outside world" or C1.  I can typically still hear the refrigerator going on and off, the fan on my computer coming on and off, and I always stay very aware of my breathing, and sometimes my dry mouth, yet most of the rest of my body is virtually asleep with almost no sensation whatsoever.  I am very removed from the physical world, but not yet deep enough to induce any AP technique.  

Now I want to you keep in mind, that I am VERY familiar with sleep paralysis.  I KNOW how it feels to have my mind completely awake and my body completely asleep.  When I "wake up" in sleep paralysis, I rarely if ever have any problems using the rollout or floating methods(sometimes I can just simply "sit" up in my astral body and walk away) to project, my problem is that I can't seem to put myself into that state from a waking state.  I get close(I think), but I never go so deep that I'm in sleep paralysis.  When I try to induce the sleep paralysis I always get "stuck" at the point where my body is ALMOST asleep, but I'm still very aware of the physical in the room around me...well, I can still hear whats going on, even if it's just the heat pump kicking on outside and the sound of the air movement through the air conditioner vents. The sounds fade in out, in that I am more aware of them at times and less at other times during the meditation, but typically always somewhat aware of those sounds.

It's a long post, I'm sorry, but I'm almost done....

Now at this time, I'm also very aware of my inner world.  My mind is conscious, and aware that my body is mostly asleep, it is also aware of the movie screen in my head, AND of the tiny little sounds going on in the room around me.  At this point I've tried many of the exit techniques from the book...rope technique, ladder technique, floating technique, tvo's rolling-like-a-log technique from a post here on the astral pulse, all to no avail. I get just as much results as if I'm trying those techniques from a completely awake state, I can't even feel my astral body at this point, because I'm still aware of my physical body and it's heaviness.  I'm obviously not deep enough yet.  

So for the past few weeks(almost every evening, sometimes when I wake up in the morning, and two or three times each weekend during the day), instead of trying exit techniques I've been trying to get myself deeper into trance(from a fully awake state), but every time that I go just beyond that hyper-aware-of-the-sounds-all-around-me-yet-body-almost-completely-asleep state I loose my awareness.  I don't go fully unconscious or asleep, but I loose the fact that I am aware...I'm "gone" for a period of time in that there are no thoughts at all, not even a thought to try to attempt to project.  Sometimes that "gone" just means that I've become to active with one of the pictures crossing my mind...but I'll eventually *snap* back into my meditation where I am aware that body feels mostly asleep, no sensation in my limbs, and so on, and I'm aware of my breathing(chest movement, rhythm of breath, etc), but still not able to use any of the techniques and still not really in a full blown sleep paralysis level of trance.

I've tried Robert Bruce's climbing down a rope technique, smoke ring technique, ladder, elevator, steps, feather, techniques and none of them have been able to drop me deep enough to exit or phase completely out of the physical.  Any suggestions on how to get deeper into trance without losing my awareness?  Please?

Dustin the "hermeticheretic"

[Stookie]

So for the past few weeks(almost every evening, sometimes when I wake up in the morning, and two or three times each weekend during the day), instead of trying exit techniques I've been trying to get myself deeper into trance(from a fully awake state), but every time that I go just beyond that hyper-aware-of-the-sounds-all-around-me-yet-body-almost-completely-asleep state I loose my awareness.  I don't go fully unconscious or asleep, but I loose the fact that I am aware...I'm "gone" for a period of time in that there are no thoughts at all, not even a thought to try to attempt to project.  Sometimes that "gone" just means that I've become to active with one of the pictures crossing my mind...but I'll eventually *snap* back into my meditation where I am aware that body feels mostly asleep, no sensation in my limbs, and so on, and I'm aware of my breathing(chest movement, rhythm of breath, etc), but still not able to use any of the techniques and still not really in a full blown sleep paralysis level of trance.

That sounds like the place you want to get to, and do it over and over with the correct intentions. Eventually, instead of clicking-out, you'll wind up fully aware in another state of consciousness (probably F10). Ignore body sensations and keep practicing getting to that fine line of conscious/unconscious. (I'd say more but I'm in a hurry right now...)

[CFTraveler]

One more thing to add- when you get to that state (after you've done all the techs) and are there at MABA, before you get to the click-out state, listen to your earhiss, and as soon as you start hearing distinct voices, then start the exit techniques.  Good luck.
BTW, I'd recommend doing this in the early morning, if you're not already doing so.

[hermeticheretic]

Very cool.  That's exactly what I needed.  Stookie, you confirmed for me that I'm on the right road, and CFTraveler, you confirmed that as well, PLUS you reminded me of one more marker to search for.  I completely forgot about the auditory and visual hallucinations that can occur right before projection from the waking state...

Again, Thanks guys,

hermeticheretic

[Floater]

This post reminds me of me. Me and you are the exact same. Everything you explained was me. Everything, so I don't need to repeat it. My first OBE was through sleep paralysis and I didn't do it on purpose. It just happened, while I was in that state of mind "accidentally", I heard my dog barking, so I got up and went to check on him. Once I got to the door I stuck my face through the door to see if he was out there without realizing what I had done, once I started to walk away my mind said "WTF!" and I woke up. That is when I started to research it on google, and I now know what it is. Since then I have practiced doing everything you speak of, and I experience everything you do.

What has worked for me:

I always got to that point and never further, until I tried this ( every 15 minutes during the day in your physical life stop and ask your self "am I dreaming" and look around ). Set an alarm on your watch if you have to. After a few days your mind will get used to that. So all you have to do is do some quick relaxing, get your body where it needs to be, then just simply fall asleep. Your mind will ask itself automatically "am I dreaming" which will wake you up into the sleep paralysis stage and you can simply just roll out. I sleep on my side close to the edge of my bed, so I always roll out, and like a feather I hit the floor. Then I get up and run out of my room. I never look back. Then from there you decide.


The only bad thing about training your mind to do this is that you will get sleep paralysis 7 nights a week. So if there are nights you dont want to exit you have to tough it out. What I do is turn a TV on and I sleep like a baby. With the TV off, I always wake up paralysed and either tough it out, or roll out into another world.

[Psan]

So here's what I need help with:  The idea of phasing comes pretty naturally to me.  I read over Major Tom's "focus 10: mind awake/body asleep" thread and feel that I understand most of the markers for a true mind awake/body asleep state.  I start by focusing my attention into the blackness just beyond my closed eyes, in a matter of minutes I've already phased considerably from my physical body to my inner eye seeing all sorts of pictures and visions like a movie real is now running at fast forward through my minds eye.  My limbs all feel heavy, like they're made of lead, and distant.  I don't really feel them any more, just slightly aware of their heaviness.  Because of my experience with NEW I can do a quick all over the body check to see if there is any remaining tension...sometimes I hold a teeny bit of tension around my eyes, but as soon as I become aware of it, I can easily relax all of those muscles.  My breathing at this point has become very steady, and I've passed the point where I am continually wanting to swallow every few seconds.  And this is where I stay, often for more than an hour.

That happens to me a lot. Almost 8 out of 10 times, I end up like that. If I try to let go, I fall asleep. I guess this is a common problem. But nothing to worry about.

What happens here is that your mind has taken a different route than what it takes every night while going to sleep. It ends up in a state where the normal progress from awake to asleep is broken, and you get stuck. By letting go, you steer your mind on the path of normally falling asleep, and the result is, obviously, you fall asleep without any awareness.

This is an act of maintaining a fine balance. Whether or not you remain on the edge depends on many things, I don't know for sure, but I guess, juices in the brain, your daily mental life, practice, position in the bed, affirmations etc etc all contribute. Our objective should be to be independent of these conditions and to be able to project under all conditions. Yes, that is difficult.

Swallowing and being aware of surrounding noises means that your mind is overactive and is in a state of tension, like waiting for something to happen. It is quiet but is impatiently looking around. Not a good state to be in. In this case you can try diverting your attention to ringing sound in the ear and wait or else try imagining a scenario like the phasing method, so that the mind has something to do, while body does its thing.

If you find that letting go makes to fall asleep fast then the timer method is for you. Raising your forearm method is another option. I'm myself struggling to find some solid solution to this problem, so I don't know if these suggestions will work for sure.