What are your thoughts about.....

[urshebear]

* Diet for projection
* Protecting yourself
* Pre-planning your journey
* Smoking cigerettes

[Lexy]

*diet doesn't matter
*depends, protection from what?
*whatever happens happens
*doesn't matter

[Pauli2]

* Diet for projection
* Protecting yourself
* Pre-planning your journey
* Smoking cigerettes

* Keeps you slim
* What condum?
* Going to Australia takes its toll
* Lung cancer

[Astral316]

* Diet for your health if anything
* All for it (unless her parents are rich)
* Try, but be happy with what you get
* Smoke weed instead

[Jarrod]

* Diet for projection
   - mostly unnecessary
* Protecting yourself
   - Sexually: a very good idea, but remember that condoms aren't completely 100% effective.
   - Spiritually: completely unnecessary...unless of course you think it is...in which case all you have to do is realize that it isn't to again make it unnecessary.
* Pre-planning your journey
   - It helps if your presence of mind isn't firm enough to hold you in place without a clear goal in the Spirit World.  More important is practicing mindfulness so that your journeys are more stable and lucid and you won't fade into unconscious dreaming or go rushing back to your body when you have no plan.
* Smoking cigerettes
   - stupid.  Absolutely the stupidest drug ever invented.  It has no benefits and severe detriments.

[Xanth]

* Diet for projection
* Protecting yourself
* Pre-planning your journey
* Smoking cigerettes

Actually, diet might matter more than most people know.  Mr Campbell found that dropping sugar, preservatives and caffeine (but especially sugar) from his diet entirely gave him a much clearer consciousness, this allowed him to concentrate and focus much easier.  Now, I'm not saying this is true for everyone, and it might just be him... but it's definitely something that should be looked into further.

Protecting yourself... useless, unless you think you need protection.  Just *KNOW* that you're an invulnerable fortress, that's all you need.

Pre-planning your journeys can be of huge help to you.  Especially if you can get your plan into your subconscious, for then even if you have a dream awareness experience, you might still act upon that subconscious Intent.

Smoking?  I don't smoke... so I guess I can't really comment too much except to say that putting any foreign chemicals into your body is probably never a good idea. 

[Pauli2]

* Diet for projection
* Protecting yourself
* Pre-planning your journey
* Smoking cigerettes

Ok, a more serious attempt:

* Diet doesn't matter unless you over-eat or hunger yourself.
* Protection is not needed. View yourself as transparent and swallow everything "evil", they may be your own Aspects.
* Planning, setting intent is good most of the time, but be open to anything. Bring with you a question to find answer some times.
* No idea, probably doesn't matter.

[Summerlander]

* Diet for projection
* Protecting yourself
* Pre-planning your journey
* Smoking cigerettes

* Cheese, milk, yogurt and other foods rich in the dietary amino acid tryptophan will speed up the making of tryptamines in the organism. Banana because I like it and it is rich in serotonin. Otc Melatonin is rich in tryptophan and can improve the quality of vivid dreams but I don't use it. Tryptophan-rich foods build the blocks for endogenous melatonin/serotonin production increasing the chances of intensifying the experiences and improving the memory of them. It's all relative.

* Protecting myself against what? Whoever and what ever I encounter are the ones that need protecting against my depraved mind and debauchery...

* Pre-planning is a great boon that keeps you anchored in the phase state and prolongs the experience...even if the plan is to just explore and investigate - but keep yourself active there and avoid thoughts of getting back or thinking about the physical body.

* Monroe was smoking when he was projecting at the beginning. It depends. If you are highly addicted to cigarettes, puff on them like a chimney, and get the jitters when you go without, then it is probably wise to quit them...You know what, if you smoke, just quit! I did! Will power!

[Stillwater]

* Diet for projection
-Be healthy and feel good about yourself. Projection wise, don't eat huge meals before attempts, it puts your stomach into overdrive, which is disruptive. Alcohol is ok in moderation, but don't use before an attempt, it has the opposite effect you want to achieve, since you are trying to stay aware, and alcohol is a depressant.

* Protecting yourself
-Never had the need yet. Not saying I never will, or that no one else has a need, since a lot can happen, and I know about 1% of the projection environment at the very best. Will investigate it when it becomes a need.

* Pre-planning your journey
-Having an idea of things you will try given the chance is good, and keeps you focused, which is what you need to be in projection, or you will wander off mentally into some other experience, or wake up.

* Smoking cigerettes
-Smoking marijuana is ok if you only do it occasionally and don't make it a habit; has some therapuic value, but don't overdo it; also don't smoke pre-projection for same reason as alcohol. Don't touch ciggarettes, and stop now if you do.

[djed]

Diet - one or two days once a month fasting is good for disciline and health
Protection = get to know your guardian angel
Preparation = organisation of quality time
Smoking - Breathing is a key component of Astral projection and smoking wont help. As for 'pot' if you don't want to be a slave to 'mary Johanna' throw it away. 

[omcasey]

Anything that affects your consciousness is important.

I've begun documenting a consciousness experiment you might enjoy peeking in on.  I'll be making daily log entries, perhaps for the next 6 months.  It is in direct relation to the capacity to shift [my] consciousness at will- it applies to what potentially allows regularity (daily experience) and not the single, or even sporadic type of events which can happen for anyone anywhere regardless of situation or circumstance.


Read more....
http://www.explorations-in-consciousness.com/forums/index.php?topic=1613.0

[personalreality]

* Smoking cigerettes
   - stupid.  Absolutely the stupidest drug ever invented.  It has no benefits and severe detriments.

Wrong.  First of all, the brain has receptors in it that we designed to receive nicotine, they're called nicotinic receptors.  Second, nicotine reduces stress, relaxes and calms you and can serve as an appetite suppressant.  Tobacco in and of itself is hardly as detrimental as you might think.  It's the 200 other mystery chemicals that modern industry puts in tobacco to make it more addictive that are detrimental.  Tobacco has been historically used as a sacred plant in shamanic ceremonies.  Pure tobacco, untouched by the tobacco industry, is smoked, chewed and even drank by shamans and native peoples to this day.  Western use of tobacco is essentially heretical in a sense.  We turned it into the poison that it is today.


Now, OP.

Naturally, a lighter diet will probably be easier to project with because a lot of heavy meats and such make your body lethargic and diminishes your ability to hold focus (because most of your energy is being directed at digestion).  That said, modern western foods, processed and genetically modified, are probably not going to be helpful in projection.  I'm not saying that you can't do it if you eat a typical "american" diet, it would just probably be easier if you didn't.  It's not about some lofty spiritual ideal, it's simply that you will project more easily (in a controlled manner) if you are healthy, and the food we eat isn't healthy. 

Protecting yourself is always a good idea.  I don't believe that it is entirely necessary, that you are vulnerable to attack by malevolent entities.  However, even if you're not in any metaphysical danger, protection can serve as psychological reassurance as you embark on a wholly unfamiliar journey. 

Some say that it is good to have a goal in projection.  It gives you a clear direction when the time comes to explore.  That said, I often found it difficult to remember my goal in the beginning.  The more I projected, the easier it got to hold onto that goal once I was out of body.  A goal is certainly not required though.  I still think having at least a loose idea of what you'd like to do would be helpful. 

Smoking.  As I said, if you're unhealthy your body will have less energy to devote to projection, so you'd do best to be healthy.  That said, I smoke and I never really felt like it inhibited me in any way.  But I have never tried to project when I wasn't smoking so who knows, maybe it is a lot easier.  Smoking is really bad for you though.  I do it, but I'm not proud of it.  It's the one thing I wish I never started doing (and I used to be a heroin addict).

[blis]

nicotine reduces stress, relaxes and calms you

Lol you sound like a tobacco ad from the 50's.

It only relaxes you if you're addicted to it and craving some. To the rest of us it's a stimulant. Quitting smoking tobacco is the best thing I ever did after quitting weed.

In saying that though, if you do smoke, when you get up in the middle of the night to project, having a smoke could help. They say nicotine patches can help with lucidity in dreams.

[kurtykurt42]

Wrong.  First of all, the brain has receptors in it that we designed to receive nicotine, they're called nicotinic receptors.  Second, nicotine reduces stress, relaxes and calms you and can serve as an appetite suppressant.  Tobacco in and of itself is hardly as detrimental as you might think.  It's the 200 other mystery chemicals that modern industry puts in tobacco to make it more addictive that are detrimental.  Tobacco has been historically used as a sacred plant in shamanic ceremonies.  Pure tobacco, untouched by the tobacco industry, is smoked, chewed and even drank by shamans and native peoples to this day.  Western use of tobacco is essentially heretical in a sense.  We turned it into the poison that it is today.

Sounds like someone who smokes cigerettes. My grandmother died at age 65 from lung cancer from smoking 2+ packs a day. Nicest lady i ever met. Oh well, at least she had less stress and curbed her appetite...

[urshebear]

very interesting thoughts and opinions
thanks guys...good to know although we have differant views, we are all projecting so it cant be all that important..

me? I'm not strict about any of it.

I try keep a healthy diet and I usually don't eat after 7pm but I definitely treat myself to the odd burger or late night chocolate fix...I choose tea over coffee because I think it is a healthier choice.

I used to protect myself by taking a bath in salt water or asking my higher self for protection...That was in the beginning when I was afraid but everytime I did this I could never project anyway, so I decided to scratch that and protect myself when and if I need it instead of before.

I have a lot of things planned that I want to do but never remember any of them and when I AP I don't want to stop and think

I smoke cigarettes occasionally when I am drinking, marijuana maybe once a month if I need to de-stress but I am not addicted to either

nothing wrong with taking everything in moderation

[Pauli2]

Tobacco in and of itself is hardly as detrimental as you might think.  It's the 200 other mystery chemicals that modern industry puts in tobacco to make it more addictive that are detrimental.  Tobacco has been historically used as a sacred plant in shamanic ceremonies.  Pure tobacco, untouched by the tobacco industry, is smoked, chewed and even drank by shamans and native peoples to this day.  Western use of tobacco is essentially heretical in a sense.  We turned it into the poison that it is today.

So we need to grow our own non-genetically modified tobacco plants?

Nicotine (and caffeine) prevents Alzheimers has been stated somewhere.

[personalreality]

So we need to grow our own non-genetically modified tobacco plants?

Nicotine (and caffeine) prevents Alzheimers has been stated somewhere.

Well yea.  "Tobacco Aficionados" wouldn't touch a manufactured cigarette with a 10 foot pole.  They usually smoke cigars, but they will tell you that if they did smoke cigarettes they would buy loose tobacco and roll their own because loose tobacco doesn't have the same chemicals added as manufactured cigarettes.

But no, we should all quit smoking.  I make tobacco sound great, but the way we use it compared to the way it is used in ritual are two different worlds.  Its just like opiates.  We have receptors made for opiates (endogenous opiates or endorphins), but they serve a very specific purpose and aren't meant to be used constantly.  The same with our nicotine receptors.  They serve a purpose and aren't meant to be constantly supplied with nicotine.  But hey, that's the story of us modern westerners, we abuse everything because we strive for pleasure to drown our sorrows rather than dealing with the emotional reality of our lives.