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I've watched these videos, I love it, this short one is very strengthening, and I agree with everything what he's saying in the other ones.
Amazing interviews, thanks

I've watched few more videos I found, I never heard of him, his really interesting to listen.

Hi Lumaza,

Thank you so much for posting links to these videos, I really appreciate you thinking of me. I can't tell you how sad it makes me to hear that you might soon find yourself in a similar terrible situation I'm already in. There's nothing anyone can say or do for you when this happens. There's no preparation that can ever make you ready for this... For me these dreams mean a lot, they are my way to cope and possibly make things at least bearable or even better.

Since I've posted last time I had some developments in my training, first for the worse and now for the better. I think I understand what I need to do that works for me, although once I said this I might have already spoiled it but hopefully not. I was getting frustrated that I couldn't get lucid and I was tired of uninteresting regular dreams so mentally I didn't care anymore and they went away for a few days with gaps and I panicked as this is my only thing I care about.

Recently in the last few nights I managed to get them back with a method which you all know, and I knew it too but it somehow depends on the real intention. The panic mode made me really want it back so I pushed myself hard and it worked. Basically my intentions now work, I say I want to remember all of them and with detail and it happens! I also use something I read in one post here, but I don't remember which one. When I try to fall asleep, I repeat my intentions in my mind and normally I used to release my consciousness to run wild and think whatever it wanted to and I usually fell asleep quickly. But what I do now instead is I look at my eyelid blackness and project random objects to start the hypnagogic process. I fell asleep too but somehow it gave me more chances in dreams to get lucid.

Anyway I'm happy something is finally moving in the right direction. Today I had a DILD, I got lucid in a dream although I was not fully there somehow. If you are interested I can post my dream, let me know.

One of the biggest benefits I see in daily practice is that you get to realize and "feel" what it's like in the various brain waves. Each one of the brain waves has a certain distinction to it, whether that distinguish be in depth perception or just the overall feel of it. The more you practice, the more these states become more "natural" to you and because of that, easier to access. This is known as "Brain Entrainment". I find this is where the daily listening of Binaural Beats or Isochronic tones really comes in handy.  It's a great "prime" for the pump. They help you to become familiar with the various brain waves themselves. Pretty soon, you can engage a certain brain wave almost at will!

Youtube is filled with all kinds of good ones. You need headphones to get the effect of Binaural Beats. But, you don't need them for Isochronic tones. Just a 10 minute session a day can do wonders. I normally go for the 30 minute sessions. DJ Vishnu and basically anything by Paul Collier are great for a daily relaxation session, especially before bed! I have a hard time with the "monotone" ones though. I prefer a Bin Beat/Iso Tone with an accompanying musical background.

Here is a link to DjVishnu's Facebook. He has his free Meditation Series there.
https://www.facebook.com/djvishnudotcom

Here is a YouTube link to Paul Collier's playlist. This "MInd Defragment" is a great one to start with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5ox2GzWnJw&list=PL48627FA5F1896833&index=4

This hour long video by Paul will get the visuals going automatically. It has Bird chirps and all kinds of cool things imbedded in it. It does what I created my Doorway technique to do and that's to create "mental associations" almost automatically. That really helps in "disassociating" your focus from your physical body. Which is what Phasing it.
Just close your eyes and "be" there!   Now is when you enter the scene with a little bit of "mental motion" in the forward direction. Don't force it, "allow" it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh7RRFq00Bs

I just saw your post after I posted mine it was on the other page, for some reason I don't get notified about replies even though I did set it in the settings...

Yes I have few Binaurals I use for my meditation (I call it that, it's just easier). This is my favourite one https://youtu.be/qQ_W1w9v-2Y I can feel it's doing it's job. I also have made different modified versions using this one and gateway and affirmation.

Thanks, I'll try your binaurals.

I had a dream like 3 months ago, it was a hospital gloomy again low vibe type. It was very long but in the end I had this operation with a silly name "Dissociative Island" basically a piece of something was cut out from my throat. I didn't read or think about this terminology like probably ever before. So funny thing is that it was spot on, as what I'm trying to do is to dissociate myself from physical reality... It's so weird when this kind of thing happens, I had more dreams like this.

Hi guys,

Tonight I Finally moved one step forward.

First, some context. For the last 2 nights my dreams were pale and fuzzy and not very detailed. I even deep slept through much of it which got me a little worried, but now I realized it's due to lack of enough sleep. I get great, long and detailed dreams when I'm well rested, so that's that out of the way.

Before I actually remembered that I need to be well rested for colorful dreams I went full on this night. I even set an alarm clock every 1.5h in case I deep slept again. After a couple hours of initial sleep I was laying on my back doing it all like Lumaza advised, releasing my focus, then affirmation, a few times. Next I did a few visualizations including a 6 point one. I finally understood (feel is better word) the difference between when I use my memory and when stuff is automatic in my mind. I saw and heard hypnagogia not very strong though I guess it's due to my tiredness.

To the point, I had a low vibrational dream. Mostly dark and brown but there wasn't any sense of fear like in lower "levels". Besides I'm used to the low vibe environments by now. In a lift I saw my friend who is dead running to me. I was happy to see him, but he just ran to me and kind of crushed me to the elevator wall like a broken BOT from a video game. That's the moment I realized it's a dream. Instead of giving it a bit of time and look around, I instantly punched the bot with a tank's strength there even was an explosion sound, then he punched me and I woke up.

I know, I should have looked around, and this would make everything more "solid". Anyway I'm glad I had this little step forward.

That's right I also fully agree that everyday training is essential.

So many have said they kept on it for years before finally reaching their goal. This is giving me hope and strength to be persistent and focused on my target.

omcasey

I'll take a look at your group, thanks. There are some people who do something called progressive dreaming and they are on the side that it is more insightful than LD/OBE. I don't have my own opinion about it yet, not enough experience yet.

Just quickly, I do feel like and get symbolics in my dreams that my state of awareness is growing.

One thing I recently realized, and it's not a shocking revelation by any means but it's important to me as I discovered it via my own experience which to me means more than just reading about someone else's ideas. In psychedelics they have this idea of set and setting which is influencing the positivity or negativity of ones dreams. I only partially agree with them, the big one I understood and confirmed many times in my own experience is conscience. I tried looking at food, moon phases, my moods, and much more. None of these ever had any repeatable outcome, the only one was my conscience, when I was deep in feeling guilty or unworthy with deep strong feelings I always had negative dreams (nightmares).

I have a question to you guys about regular dreams. Do you care about them? do you check symbolics and possible meaning in them? I do get loads of them and some are really eerie in the way how they tell me some insights. For me these is sort of a substitute to OBE until I learn, at least something to do in the morning, when I analyze.

An excellent discussion and I agree with all the prior advice that has been offered. I will add a few ideas for consideration.

I have some experience with Monroe and the Focus levels. Understand that the Focus levels are not fixed points; there are gradations to each of them. You can be in a high Focus 12 or a low Focus 12...a high Focus 10 or a low Focus 10. A high focus 10 and yes, your body is asleep and you know your mind is awake; a low focus 10 and you are feeling pretty deep and relaxed, but you know your body is relaxed but not yet asleep. That is okay, you can still accomplish all the goals you set for yourself. If you feel that your physical body is not fully asleep, don't worry about it or get hung up on it...just go about your exercise and continue on.

When I am at The Monroe Institute (five weeks now), and we are doing sessions, I can sit up in my CHEC unit and turn on the light and make notes, and then switch off the light and immediately return to the Focus level (21-35) I was at, with only a minor disruption in my awareness. Now, the first few times I tried this I was very suspicious about losing my Focus level completely, but once I did, I realized it was not the big inconvenience I thought it would be. Admittedly, this is after multiple days and sessions at TMI, but my point remains- your concern about disruption of your own experience, either by body position or Focus level is overblown; just accept where you are and get on with it.

Back home, I am much the same as you maybe...I really have to find the right time for all this to work properly. Sometimes it is an early morning experience when I find that special period of relaxation; other times it is an afternoon nap; or a middle of the night wake-up or WBTB effort. In my case, finding these opportunistic moments also includes Lucid Dream entrances...so I have to be on the lookout for any of these possibilities.

Wishing you well in your search,
EV

It's always good to hear assurances from someone who is past these initial hindrances. I think manny starting up with LD is mostly struggling with the will to keep on and continue with the technique. Frank did say that main thing is to have Hope and not tu succumb to faith loss and doubt.

I know most of the things, like positions, what I eat or moon phases and these kind of stuff are meaningless. I had my experiences in all and none of these and other circumstances. I'm talking on the back laying because it is different than my usual side sleeping so it is something to make the body think it is not normal sleeping time but something else.

Thank you very much for your pointers EscapeVelocity.

That happens to a lot of people, lol. It takes a strong intent to stay awake. That's why I said in the past many times that we shouldn't attempt a OBE from our beds. All our lives we have trained ourselves that "the bed is for sleeping". So, once we lay our heads down, the natural process of sleep commences. You need to alter that program and here lies the problem. You can overdo it too and you don't want that. I learned to be careful what I wished for the hard way. Every time I laid down to fall asleep fall, that keeping my conscious awareness would automatically kick in and take over, whether I wanted it to or not. It led to many sleepless nights! But also taught me what is known a "Tibetan Dream Yoga". What really caused a problem for my sleep process is when I got Trigeminal Neuralgia. Every time I closed the left side of my face, the Trigeminal nerves, would spasm rather violently. After that, that Dream Yoga was a regular occurrence.
1) This is where "changing your mindset leads to a change in your reality". I used to be concerned with that too. But then I learned that it didn't matter what position my "physical" body was in. In other words, it had nothing to do with my "etheric body". To my current mindset, up was still up/over, down was still down/under, left was still left, right was right. Do you understand what I am saying here? It was as if no matter what position my physical body was n, my etheric body mindset at least was that I was still lying flat on my back, and everything was positioned according to that. It's hard to explain.

2) Robert Monroe used that in his Gateway program. You are supposed to draw a mental line from your head to an area 6 ft in front of you, then pivot or turn that line perpendicular to you. I found that very hard to. Instead of this, I would use a 6pt directional focus. I spoke more about this under my previous name "Lionheart" in the "Phantom Wiggle thread found here:
http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_astral_consciousness/how_exactly_do_you_perform_the_phantom_wiggle_method-t44583.0.html
I practiced this to my own perfection. I still utilize this and Robert Bruce's NEW today. This is what my Doorway process is all about today. Once I could focus on different body parts and hold that focus, I went even further and began engaging "mental motion" into the process.
How do you do that? Well, I found that easiest part of the body that I could really key in on and hold a focus to are my feet. I would start at the heel and work up and down my foot. Then, I would target feeling my big toe and from there I move down the other I got to my pinkie toe. Then I would either cycle back up to the big toe or just switch feet. I was amazed at how much control I had. It got so strong, that I could sense a buzzing in the toes and feet. Today, I can be aware of that sensation at will.

Next, I had to jump the hurdle of falling asleep clicking out or losing consciousness and falling asleep. Boredom and mental inactivity was the cause of that. So, I began being "proactive". Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the darkness there as a Cave/Tunnel, Hallway that could be explored. The darkness was flat at first, but after a few minutes it began to change to show more of a depth to it. I would then "mentally will" my focus forward into it. Almost every time, I would begin to feel motion forward and after a few minutes, I was seeing Hypnogogic Imagery, like if it was cave, I would see the walls of the cave or walls of the hallway/tunnel, I was moving down. I said almost because a few times, the pump needed more priming, so I revert back to a simple "shooting hoops" or watching a "spinning top", imaginary focus. This would always lead to a morphing in the action and all I needed to do at first was to passively aware all of that was occurring with an air of curiosity. I found that our curiosity is a great aid when undergoing a shift in consciousness. This all leads to what is known as "Phasing". Phasing being a shift from here to there while consciously aware the entire time. There are no "bells or whistles" in that process. Meaning, no signposts or exit symptoms. Well, I can't say none at all. Once in a while, it still leads to a full blown OBE, as the letter mean.

That's good for now. I don't want to give you "information overload". The key to this entire process of non-ordinary states of consciousness is being able to hold your focus of or away from your physical body long enough for the natural shift to occur. How you do that is up to you. this Forum has many great tips and techniques that will aid you in doing just that.

Thank you so much Lumaza, this will keep me busy for a while now. I'll keep training this 6 point technique. As for using the imagination, I know Frank Kepple was big on that. I understand his point of view and agree but I find myself in this kind of situation. When I'm consciously directing the "rundown" I'm too focused on it and it somehow prevents my body from falling asleep, maybe I'm not relaxed enough I don't know. I still do Discovery second wave and there's this affirmation which I memorized by now. But when I sort of release the wheel, and my imagination runs wild, then I relax, but unfortunately I always fall asleep doing that.

At the end of each of my discovery sessions I always end up in F12 I see all sorts of lights, foggy colors and moving shadows. But I stare and stare and as I said my body is not giving up so they usually go away. Because I'm getting bored after a while.

This morning I've forced myself to lay on my back and try doing it. It took a lot of pain but I managed to relax and doze off. This is good because I was in this situation where I still thought I was awake. It took only a very short amount of time so I think it's promising, I'll just have to give up the side and push on the back from now on.

I'll have to make a plan on how and when to use which tech.

Thank you again for your pointers, when I have something to report or more questions I'll post them here or maybe directly to you.

Hi Lumaza,

Thank you for this different method you dug out for me. I tried it last night, but I kept falling asleep.

This seems to be my problem. If I lay on the side I fall asleep and that's it there have been rare occasions of LD with this position. When I try to lay on my back I can be doing this for hours on end and I'm unable to get anywhere with either LD or falling asleep.

I'll keep at it every night from now on to see how it goes. I have some questions about this technique.

1) I've read the comments and didn't see anyone asking about it, what point to focus on should I choose while laying on my sides?
2) I'm not sure I'm doing this right. How do I actually focus on the empty space in front of my eyebrows for example? Should I visualize something? I don't fully understand how this focusing works.

I'm not sure I fully understand your question but if I missed let me know.

Vast majority of the time I have regular dreams, which means I remember stuff or even notice strange things that happened in them only after I wake up and write it down. There have been occasions I noticed something during a dream like in a DILD but in most, not all of these situations instead of going lucid I end up waking up.

Up until maybe 2 months ago I used to have quite a few auditory hypnagogics, in the mornings, voices sounds, scratches and so on. I used to constantly wake up and fall asleep, it was this inbetween state of awareness and I was conscious of it but I didn't understand it back then, and I had to read up later. Now they seem to have ceased and it worries me a little that all of these important things seem to be gone.

I once had a situation where I was dreaming unconsciously and during that dream in one moment I physically felt someone was covering my back with a duvet and I instantly woke up. It was bizarre like someone truly has done it in a physical reality. I take it as it was my wife and I'm happy with it.

Recently I keep getting these really vivid and super long dreams, but unfortunately these are just regular dreams. I write them down and analyze the symbolics in them. It's about as much at the moment I can do since my LD ain't there. It is interesting to some degree. I figured out that my kundalini is moving in the central channel, I do some energy meditation and I feel it in the frontal lobe and where the crown is. I'm not sure it means anything but I have been feeling it on and off for a long time.

I do reality checks all day long. Once in a dream I even sung to myself "it's a dream..." and still didn't click in.

First 2 months after my wife passed away I had many occasions, now it seems to have subsided and it really worries me.

Constantly. I think it is a "test of will"! 

I attempted the very next time to do the candle staring thing again and failed. I did go back to it years later and found success with it though. But I find we are challenged to constantly alter our approach, at least in the beginning we are.

Sorry to say this but I'm glad, I'm glad I'm not the only one experiencing it.

Floriferous and Nameless gave you fantastic replies and I agree with every word they said! Very wise and experienced individuals there!  smiley

Your wife is there all the time. You don't need to have a OBE to talk or even reach her.

I know it's just that I miss here so much and it's helping me. When I had this one vision it was an enormous relief and hope and I just simply felt so good that she came to me.

Just learn to be aware and listen! Ask a question and be aware of the reply. The reply can come to you a number of different ways. I am currently going through a situation where I am about to physically lose my wife as well. She has suffered for way too long and now it's time for that come to an end. You are likely experiencing a lot of emotions right now and those emotions will get in the way of your OBE intents. When the time is right it will happen. You will find yourself in NPR situation where she is there. This normally occurs after the grieving process subsides and now it's time to heal. At the moment, I can only say this from what I have witnessed from countless other people during my life and from my own personal experiences in the NPRs as well.

I'm so sorry to hear about your wife. I understand how you must feel right now. I hope there's still hope for her to be saved. Once I lost mine, nothing makes any sense anymore. The worst thing for me is when people who have so easy in life and still live in their little happy bubbles and have absolutely zero idea how it actually feels to lose someone you truly love, are telling you all the stupid and anoying platitudes like oh it's gonna be ok or something in this vein. It's better they shut up and say nothing.

Sorry for my rant but I'm in the midst of it, and even though I'm among people I am all alone, and loneliness is the worst. This is the reason for my bad trip, I was experiencing it on a maximum level BUT somehow it was also a positive experience, I learned a lot from it. To be honest I find that my situation is helping me a little at least in the dream symbols department. I have plenty of that, and many had deep merit and also proven to be right.

I'm astonished almost on a daily basis by the information I'm getting through my dreams. I've had about 60 dreams with my wife already and 2 visions.

1.5 year before it happened, I was training my dreaming, and I got the message, loud and clear in a deep piercing voice: "Agnieszka will die". This is her name. I was shocked, she was well at the time, I told this to my cousin he's into OBE and can do it. There were other things in life, and I totally forgot about it until she died and my cousin reminded me about this dream, I forgot it so much it took me a while to recall it...

Right at that time I had another vision dream which was so deep I still can't shake it off. If you're interested I will send it to you.

I love how Frank described his time in F3oC, this is my goal, I want that, and I'll push forward relentlessly, of course I know it's supposed to be like meditation, you let it come to you, it's just my expression of the desire.

On the OBE front, practice and patience and perseverance will lead to your success. Stick with one technique for a while though.  Give it a fair chance.

Thank you, yes I think it will come in time, every morning when nothing happens I am disappointed, then I analyse my dream quick notes and I find so much in them it propels me and gives me strength and hope for the next night.

I'm doing Franks rundown during the day, every day, then before bed I do it but with binaurals I like. In the night I do it without anything.

You haven't really said much about what actually occurs when you do attempt to have a OBE. Where do you find that you get "stuck" during the process? Knowing that, we here can help you a bit further. That's what the Astral Pulse Hotline was made to do. Yet it doesn't seem to get used all that often!

Ok so, when I do normal meditation with visualisation style stuff it always gets me as far as F12 with all the shadows, lights and so on. I never was able to make my body asleep. Mind that I started doing this about a month or month and a half after my wife's death, I never done it before and it's almost four months now.

I had a DILD about 2 months ago where I ended up in F23, I heard about Blackness 3D but I kind of didn't know exactly, I though F12 is Blackness so yeah I was there and it was really interesting, thou I didn't go through, I was trying for a while to use my mind to initiate something with no success so I thought I'll go back through the door I came and I was awake...

To your question. I've had many classic OBE in the past where I succeeded for a short excursion. Recently it's been like this, for a few attempted occasions. I'm in this state between dreaming and being awake and I physically feel a strong pull, something is trying hard to pull me out of my body through my back (I sleep on the side). There's almost always a sound like wooof, velcro or something else. Few times I tried, and I know it was a little too hard intentionally so I failed, but last 2 I think I did try to just pay attention and relax but it also failed.

Since galantamine I had no opportunities, as it makes me restless, but gives super vivid and long dreams, so I stopped taking it now. I did take breaks like a few days in between when I took it. It never gave me lucidity though.

One other thing I find really interesting, is that I get a lot of voice now, like I never did before. Literally now my dreams are above HiFi. It's like a holographic beyond anything. It was permateing me and I like it so much. I even had songs recently. It was amazing, I know you all experienced it many times, for me it's new.

I'm sorry for the wall of text, there's much more but I'll stop myself here.

What comes through your posts for me which I think is the biggest hindrance is the desperation and sheer forcing nature to 'get there'.

I agree on my 2 last OBE attempts during the being pulled out. I did try to relax and do it that way, I failed but it was more intense than the previous ones. It's true that desperation doesn't help but I'm working on relaxing as much as I can and there are times when I can do it really well.

It sounds like the reason and need for attaining the goal has perhaps got out of hand to the level that it is affecting your ability to get there. And that's to be expected with a goal such as finding a recently deceased individual (on a side note - is this for your benefit or theres? I think perhaps discussing your intent might be useful here). Having such a big goal as a beginner could be crippling your chances. So much is apparently riding on it.

The likely reason the first time using a technique works and follow up attempts dont is because every subsequent attempt is an attempt to recreate what worked. That's involves added pressure whereas that first time you were just exploring something new.

Of course it's for my benefit and there's simply no way I'm gonna drop it. I'm going about it the other way around. First I want to be able to do OBE and then I'll worry about finding her.

I don't know, maybe, at this point I have no other explanation for it.

A forceful approach will also impinge upon your experience once out as well. Most likely it will end your experience abruptly.

I know, I had many occasions to find that out

I personally would focus less on tweaking your specific techniques or jumping around between them and work on relaxing your effort and investigating your true goals around this and perhaps easing them a little A calculated and scientific metronomic approach will only take you so far.

I agree with you and I'm trying my best to relax. I do meditation and then relaxation with visualisations. I'll keep on practicing.

Even though I didn't want to discuss technique I'm curious about you going to bed at 6pm and waking up after four and half hours technique. I am familiar with this approach from the perspective of going to bed at a regular time and waking up a few hours early. I question the irregular hours you do this at. Isn't this messing with your natural rhythms? In general are you well rested and feel you have adequate sleep on a daily basis? This OBE approach, for me, is highly dependent upon having balanced sleep patterns and duration. Being out of balance even slightly makes it tip one way or the other. During your shift attempts you will either just fall asleep or and never go deep enough if out of balance.

Then combine this irregular schedule with pills (melatonin and galantamine) to artificially stimulate certain conditions feels off. It just all feels forced in my opinion.

I worked night shifts for many years and my body clock was all over the place. For nearly 3 years now I enjoy going to bed early and waking up in the morning. Normally I go to bed at 9pm but for the last few months I've been going between 6 and 8 on average 7pm. The closer to the morning I find it more difficult to relax that's why I'm going earlier. Yes, before I started experimenting with galantamine I was well rested now a little bit less as it interferes with sleep so I figured that maybe I'll try putting it off for a while and see if this helps with OBE.

It may be all very well and good having these extra things to stimulate an OBE but if the core of your approach is improperly structured you are going to struggle and this should be effortless.

I'm sure once someone gets to some point of consistency it is effortless, just like now I remember tons of dreams with great details every night, while as before I was a deep sleeper, I barely remembered a dream once a month.

Hi there, you are correct that every one needs to use the tools that work for them. Just make sure you are the one using the tool and it's not the tool using you.

On another note give some thought that the person you are so het-up to contact may not be ready for that contact. You will get a lot closer to your goals if you respect the goals and needs of others whether on this side of the veil or on the other side.

It was like that in the beginning for a while, but since then, among many many normal dreams I had one super vivid "vision" not lucid but it almost felt like one. I saw my wife and we spoke and I asked here questions which one of them surprised me even strange to me I asked. But it was an amazing feeling to see here again. This drives me to push forward.

[Did you or anyone else have a similar experience?]

Hi Lumaza,

Dave, you are correct. That's why it's good to be read all you can find on the subject at hand. Just reading and improving your knowledge on the OBEs/Phasing, non-local states of consciousness can have profound effects itself. Many people have reported their first OBE or LDS after just listening/watching  a video or even hearing someone on a Radio talk show speaking on the subject. Too much knowledge, at least in the beginning can work against you as well. It confuses you. You will start a technique based on having what is known as a classic OBE, as the letters mean, then all of sudden find that you muddled it up with some other. It's best to find a tried-and-true technique that you will be comfortable with, then stick with it for a period of time. All these techniques are used to get "you" out of the way. The shift you desire is normal. You shift every night when you go to sleep. It's just you aren't aware of it. It's you. we, ourselves that hinder the process during a conscious attempt. The key is to learn how to set the stage, passively observe everything with an air of curiosity and allow what's going to happen to happen. You will know when it's time to become active in the scenario you are experiencing. It's a balancing act of sorts.

My first consciously aware willed and intended experience came as the result of watching a video on "candle staring, then applying what I learned in it. It didn't take long and I had my first sneak peek of what could be. Needless to say, even though it was kind of terrifying, I was hooked. I was sitting in my lazy boy chair, I stared at the flame for about 15 minutes, then blew it out, closed my eyes and just focused on the "imprint" of the flame that was left in my viewing screen. Soon I felt vibrations that went from mild to actual earthquake very quickly. The accompanying sound was so loud, I thought a Helicopter was landing on my roof. Next thing I know, I have a perfect view of my hallway, even though my eyes were still shut. It was surreal. You can find out more about that by using the words "candle staring" in the above search engine.

I've mostly read forums and Frank Kepples Book (someone put together his posts). I loved it because it's straight to the point. His no bovine excrement approach really resonates with me. I also glanced through R. Monroe and R. Bruce but I haven't read them from cover to cover.

As to your candle experience I have a few similar ones of my own. What really struck me is that the first time I try something new, it works like a charm on the first attempt and then I can't repeat it again or it's much much harder. Did you or anyone else have a similar experience?

That's a great way to start. I have read that entire Frank Kepple primer history over 5 times now. not just his Phasing Resource Guide No one technique is set in stone. Gateway is great too. Many of the Members here used that program and other Monroe Institute techniques. Some of the Members here have and still do today frequent the Monroe Institute itself for their actual OBE programs. The techniques found in the Stickies are all "blueprints", but as you say, they can be modified. If you read my Doorway thread, you will see how many times that has been modified by myself over the years. What I call the Doorway process itself is a modification of a number of tried-and-true techniques. I just wanted to simplify it for people here that were looking for more of a common sense, simplified approach to holding a good NP focus. Hence the use of Geometric shapes, colors and motion. Many of the things found within that thread are based on "mental associations".  They kind of trick the mind into playing ball.

I've read it, I'm gonna try it later on today, similar technique to Kepple's rundown on the beach.

You have mentioned geometric shapes. I've mentioned a device which is supposed to remind me that I'm sleeping, and it did on several occasions. The last one in particular appeared to me as a ripple in the water, I saw a solid red geometrical mandala made of small triangles. Interesting part is that I had many geometrical things like that appear to me in dreams.

Yes, the pills do work. Yes, "psychedelics" do as well. But they don't have "staying power". All they do is aide you in getting that initial "sneak peek". We see Shaman use them often, especially in South America where Ayahuasca and other things of that nature are legal. They use them in "controlled environment" though. You can have like you say, "bad trips". That's because under their influence you lack control. The problem is, you will find yourself locked into whatever hell you may be experiencing, until the drug finally wears down or at least the "peak" period fades away. With a consciously aware session, you can end it at will. Many people report their initial OBEs as being very fast, like mere seconds. It's a real eye opener. But unfortunately, many people will dismiss it as just a Dream or some kind of fluke and never pursue if any further.

Psychedelic trip is the ultimate warp speed ride without the breaks. I experienced the "ego death" on a megadose and have reached the origin point of my consciousness beyond all reality. This term doesn't even do it justice, it's basically death like when you really die. There was no time, no space, I didn't remember myself, my life or who I was, I didn't even know there's such a place as Earth. There simply was absolutely nothing, only my pure self. And the eternity, this is indescribable, people think they understand it, I can absolutely say no you don't until you experience it. I lived forever, eons is not even close to being long enough. If you are interested, you can read my trip report here https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/27540002

In my own opinion it is way different than OBE, it feels utterly alien, as for the OBE it feels to me like being back home, familiar. I did it to start the ball rolling so to say. I wanted to shake everything up so maybe it will help with OBE and it did.

Almost every Sticky you come across on the Astral Pulse will help you in furthering your knowledge on the subject. I would start with the first 6 Sub-Forums. Even the Astral Island Sub-forum has a lot to share. You will find a thread called the "Astral Pulse Hotline" that EscapeVelcocity created a few years back. It's a thread you can go to if you find yourself stuck and need a hand.
http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_out_of_body_experiences/the_astral_pulse_hotline-t47606.0.html

This Forum at the moment is going through a serious lull in action. When I was new to this practice, there were many active members here helping each other daily. As I have seen of late, almost all Astral Projection Forums and other Forums in general are experiencing a lull at the moment. There are a lot of distractions in our lives today and they seem to be messing with the collective consciousness as a whole. Many people I know, including here on the Astral Pulse are going through trials, tribulations and personal battles of all different natures. I myself am one of them. I used to be more active as well. But for now, the "physical" seems to be where I need to be. My own Phase soak sessions have basically come to screeching halt for the last month now. My Phase soak is a meditative Phasing state of mind that I acquire while lying in my bath water. It has been my own personal go to for quite a while now. I still have very vivid LDs almost night though. So, I haven't lost total contact with the NPRs. 

I had this thought today that my trouble with OBE started around the time I started using galantamine. It never made me lucid but gave me super vivid and long dreams and many of them, but also sometimes makes my dreams dirty (not sexual) just in a discusting way, I don't know how this works. I think because after galantamine I never can get a proper sleep because it makes me feel like drinking a lot of coffee. I'm stopping galantamine for now and see if I can get more clean sleep for more opportunities.

I also pay attention to symbols in my dreams. I found out that a few months ago I did get mostly reds in low vibe environments, I call them little hells. Then a long time of yellows, representing mostly material world and less hells. Green color started appearing intermittently with yellow. And now I'm getting a lot of white and blue, even navy blue, recently which is higher in "levels". I did occasionally get now and then gold with white and blue months earlier on really important dreams I call visions. It was like OBE but not lucid but had a lot of information. Not getting into much detail, it all tells me there's progress.

Meanwhile I'm gonna look through the Hotline and push forward with practicing every night and day.

Hello Lumaza

It's not that I'm giving it credence, I'm simply trying all I can to push forward and I try not to disregard anything, and test all the methods I come across. It's widely known that there is no one solution for all, it's more like something works for one and something else for the other.

I'm training every night and I'm also doing gateway once a day but I found that phasing is way more difficult for the beginner, anyway I made myself a modified version like Frank Kepple described.

As for the pills, I find them strange. They do work but there's a caveat. I get really emotional which I don't mind BUT they don't give me lucid dreams, more vivid and detailed ones. Also, just like with psychedelics, the mind set is a key with them. I'm in a deep grief right now and most of the time I get nightmares when taking them, but I don't care, I'm willing to go through hell to achieve my goal. Which I already did with a megadose of psychedelics, where half of it was a super bad trip. So I'm not scared of anything with a low vibe in the dreams at all, in fact I have them often and it's ok.

I regard all the pills and SmartLucider mask a helper. I had a few occasions where a mask did notify me in a dream that I'm dreaming. I just didn't click in so I'm going to use it. It's an additional thing that may help.

Can you point me to some posts with setting the stage you found helpful?

Dave

Hello all the lovely people.

I'm going to describe what and how I'm doing and what are the results I'm getting. Maybe you could give me some pointers on what I should change to move forward.

So I have been ON and OFF learning LD/OBE for some years, but mostly OFF. I had a few OBE's in the past. In the last 3 months I really put in the effort into it, unfortunately it's due to the death of a close person... All this time I've been writing my dreams. I have really good and detailed recall now, I remember a lot.

In the first 2 months I've been mostly focusing on phasing but I wasn't able to get anywhere with it. During that time I didn't do much in the night on my awakenings, I only started doing the LaBerges method recently in last month.

On the other hand I had 6 separate OBE attempts of which 1, the first one actually happened. This first one happened when I realised during a dream that I'm Dreaming so I saw the door and immediately jumped through it and ended up what I later found out was a Blackness 3D. I floated there for a while trying to imagine things but somehow nothing worked. I pulled back through the door and woke up in my bed.

All the other five attempts were mostly strong vibrations and loud sounds, I literally felt being pulled out of my body but never actually got out, I tried different techniques. It was like something was holding me strong or I was glued to my physical body.

So I started using Galantamine with Melatonin per LaBerge protocol, although he didn't use Melatonin. For 2 nights now I'm doing the following:

Take 10 mg of Melatonin 30 minutes before bed.
I'm going to bed very early between 18:00 and 19:00 so I get more chances.
Wake up WBTB after about 4.5 hours of sleep.
I Recall a dream and write it down.
Take 8 mg of Galantamine and go back to bed. I don't wait 30 minutes as I usually lay down and struggle to fall asleep for longer anyway.
I Repeat in my mind MILD: am I dreaming? At the same time, I imagine that I'm back in the dream from which you have just awakened.

So my problem is I fall asleep and even my SmartLucider thingy which is blinking when I'm in REM is not working for me, I had a few occasions where it did work but I didn't realise or I just woke up.

So I guess my question is what am I doing wrong that it doesn't work or OBE just shows up suddenly on some nights and then nothing for a while. I haven't been using Galantamine for long but all of my 6 OBE attempts were before it.