Binaural beats. How to use it?

[pappavis]

The internet, and youtube has loadsa binaural beats yet, it doesnt work for me. I fall asleep.

Here's what i do?
1. I relax, do breathing exersice for >=2 minutes.
2. Using highquality headfones, start listening to binaural beats (mostly those that came with the book Mastering Astral Projection).
3. Then, more energy body raising attempts.
4. Finally, while listening to binaural beats kinda drift away dreaming/sleeping.

It doesnt work. Or i am doing something wrong. While listening to the sounds my mind would wander, or i fall asleep.

Now i wonder:
* Whats been your results from using binural beats?
* Do you have some type of routine before, after or during usage?
* Are you using binaural beats from The Monroe Institute, or some from youtube? Please provide a web link.
* Any noticeable differnces in your mental state from using it, or not using?
* When listening to binaural beats, what exactly are you listening to / for?
* Are you conentrating on 1 sound in the binaural beat, or nothing in particular?
* Which particular experience either beneficial or detremental have you had from using binaural beats?



grtz,
Pappavis

[Xanth]

You have to do more than just "listen" to them.
You're always going to fall asleep if you don't keep your mind active.

[TofuAttack]

i found that the single most effective method against falling asleep is choosing the appropriate time to practice. you can't expect to be able to AP at night because your mind is so tired it needs the sleep and you won't be able to concentrate no matter how hard you try. If you want to  project at night then you'll probably have to nap in the afternoon.

also dont try to force your "energy body rising" techniques, just lie there and try to think about as little as possible (this is actually very hard) and then relax.

[Xanth]

also dont try to force your "energy body rising" techniques, just lie there and try to think about as little as possible (this is actually very hard) and then relax.

What I'm gonna say next is gonna sound kind of contradictory to what I just said previously... but...

I learned just the other day, while doing the Phasing "Noticing" method, that you can't force anything, just as you said.  You must *allow* yourself to phase into Focus 21.  However, *allowing* yourself do this isn't the same as just lying there and just listening to the Binaural Beats... allowing yourself to phase is actually doing something, just doing it passively. 

[pappavis]

allowing* yourself do this isn't the same as just lying there and just listening to the Binaural Beats... allowing yourself to phase is actually doing something, just doing it passively.  

And that is exactly one contradiction. When i allow it to happen my mind drift of to random thoughts, which i´ve established are how my dreaming starts. Then, next thing i know i abrublty awake not to know anything about what happened. Even when i sit upright in a relaxing chair listening to binaural beats i can still fall asleep. I try to get >=8hrs sleep per day.

i found that the single most effective method against falling asleep is choosing the appropriate time to practice. you can't expect to be able to AP at night because your mind is so tired it needs the sleep and you won't be able to concentrate no matter how hard you try. If you want to  project at night then you'll probably have to nap in the afternoon.

Whats your daily routine like?
When do you sleep?

Basically this is my average (work)day:
* Get up at 07.00 for work, catching the intercity train at 7.45
* At work from 8.30 to >=17.15
* Arriving back home, going to fitness from >=19.00 to 20.30
* then watch some TV news, read emails etc
* Sleepingtime <=23.00

Maybe i dont spend my time effeciently?

also dont try to force your "energy body rising" techniques, just lie there and try to think about as little as possible (this is actually very hard) and then relax.

Yea, thats kinda what i was suspecting.  My mind is clear, but, as i mentioned above.. very soon thoughts start creep into my mind. Its no use telling myerlf to quiet coz even that is a thought  . Whats your method?

[TofuAttack]

well i won't bother with my sleeping schedule as it varies quite a bit, here's an idea though; if you sleep at 11pm almost every night then your body will become 'sleepy' around that time so if you try to project about an hour earlier than your normal sleeping time your mind should still be active.

for me, i just try to get to the mind awake body asleep state at night instead of trying to project. basically i just lie in my bed in any comfortable position and then listen to the sound in my head (as to not let myself start thinking about things) and it will start to get louder and louder until it's almost a buzzing sound. by this time my entire body will just feel like one lump of flesh and then swirling lights will be visible

but like you, probably 8/10 times i will fall asleep, and it's because of my bad sleeping pattern, some nights i dont sleep till 1am. I found that napping for a couple of hours in the afternoon is effective if you want to keep your mind awake at night, so the days you don't go to gym you could substitute for a quick nap.

[Stookie]

Its no use telling myerlf to quiet coz even that is a thought  . Whats your method?

To get an idea of what it should be like you can ask yourself, "I wonder what my next thought will be?", and wait for it... when it comes, ask it again. It's the waiting part you want. This is a good exercise for calming the mind down and improving concentration and awareness.

[pappavis]

This is a good exercise for calming the mind down and improving concentration and awareness.

Whats the difference between quieting the mind, and calming it? Some Astraprojection resources says one must quiet the mind.
I am calm, no stress in my life.

What to do with the 'calm' thoughts? I would fall asleep 

[Xanth]

Whats the difference between quieting the mind, and calming it? Some Astraprojection resources says one must quiet the mind.
I am calm, no stress in my life.

What to do with the 'calm' thoughts? I would fall asleep  

Quieting the mind means to remove those surface thoughts which cause distractions.
A calm mind is one that is centered and emotionally strong and balanced at all times.  

[Stookie]

Whats the difference between quieting the mind, and calming it? Some Astraprojection resources says one must quiet the mind.
I am calm, no stress in my life.

What to do with the 'calm' thoughts? I would fall asleep 

Same difference. Try the exercise. It couldn't be anymore simple, and if done correctly, you'll get it. Try it right now, you don't have to be in any kind of meditative state. It's just mindfulness.

[smudger1767]

All good advice, but in my opinion you do need to be in a relaxed mind.

[Firmitas]

Try it in the early morning as apposed to right before bed.

-Firmitas

[rangestormer]

I see a lot of people suggesting trying early in the morning. How long before normaly waking up should one try? I am just curious, because after a couple of months of unsuccesful bedtime attempts, I switched to waking up earlier and trying then, but I can't hit the proper timing as I get up late in the morning, about 10:30-11 PM. And also do you stay up for some time or the moment you are awake, you go straight to AP attempt?

[Xanth]

Go to bed at your usual time and wake up an hour or so earlier. 
Or however long you wish to practice for.

[AstralBeginnings]

I see a lot of people suggesting trying early in the morning. How long before normaly waking up should one try? I am just curious, because after a couple of months of unsuccesful bedtime attempts, I switched to waking up earlier and trying then, but I can't hit the proper timing as I get up late in the morning, about 10:30-11 PM. And also do you stay up for some time or the moment you are awake, you go straight to AP attempt?

I work strange hours which are far from regular, but to keep my body "sane" I always got up with my wife at 7am when she got ready for work.  Lately I have been working late nights so when she wakes me I have been basically farting then rolling over to go back to sleep - I am finding that this time is great for dream control and attempting lucidity and also attempting to project.  So if you can, when you wake up for a pee before your normal waking time (or you could set an alarm but I find loud alarms bring me to a state which is slightly too alert, natural waking works best for me), give this a try.  Doing it this way cuts out the whole relaxation part of the process and massively decreases the effort you need to put in to obtain the correct mind state for projection or lucid dreaming because your body is still technically in "sleep mode" with Alpha brainwaves (I think) and is likely to have you straight back in REM sleep if you do fall back to sleep.  By lying back down at this point and keeping your mind focused on something such as noticing or jumping back into your last dream etc I think you will have more success than trying at night or indeed during the day.

[smudger1767]

I would suggest, well what I do is try it soon after you wake up this works for me, good luck and don't give up, its about finding what works for you.

[AstralBeginnings]

To get an idea of what it should be like you can ask yourself, "I wonder what my next thought will be?", and wait for it... when it comes, ask it again. It's the waiting part you want. This is a good exercise for calming the mind down and improving concentration and awareness.

Hey Stookie, out of interested I tried this this morning and it worked, although I didnt realise it and had a false awakening.  This is the second time this has happened to me - the last time being when I tried to re-enter a dream upon waking. 

Anyway, this is what happened - I woke up for the for my customary 5am bathroom run and went straight back to bed.  I lay down and started trying to observe my thoughts in the way you describe.  At first this was really hard as I had very noisy mind chatter for some reason but after a few moments I felt my thoughts become more solid and I was "sucked" downwards into a void and what felt like through my bed.  I was spinning around and having really strong vibration like feelings.  After a few seconds of this I opened my eyes and I was lying in my bed with my wife asking what I was doing.  I said nothing and lay back down to try this again when I suddenly realized it had already worked, which woke up up proper in my bed. 

This is the second time in recent times that the same sensations have been followed by a false awakening, which is of course a projection in itself.  My question is how do you recognize false awakenings and what do you do to turn them in to a full blown projection? 

The only OBE's I have had have been indirectly induced but I am excited about the whole WILD/Phasing/"Insert Cool Name Here" methods and they seem to me to exercise more control of the mind so would really like to get a handle on what to do with False Awakenings because I think I have already managed to project.