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Since I became over 60 years of age, OOB experiences have become few and far between. I am not sure whether this is through the increase of too many other interests or the decrease of energy that comes with old age.
Are there any people who regularly Lucid dream or astral travel who are of a senior age?
Cheers, djed 

[New experience.]

New experience.
Sitting up in bed crossed legged,– prayer and meditation - going into dream state, then moving into transcending state – witnessing myself snoring – awake inside – spontaneously - partially levitating
( as in T.M'ers flying / hopping technique). But I am not moving forward, just up and down slowly.
Afterwards I think if this happens again I could change it into an astral projection or continue with this development to see what happens.
Cheers, djed 

Etheric /RTZ
When using a method to go OOB I usually enter the etheric plane or 'RealTimeZone', this plane still has a fascination for me, but I can never stay in it for long as I seem to spontaneously go quickly into the astral plane. Is there a way of re-entering the etheric from the astral?

WAKE INDUCED

Two questions...

1.   Is it possible to enter non-physical consciousness from a wakeful state without the body being  asleep?
2.   If we try to enter non= physical consciousness  from a wake-induced method, is it necessary for the body to enter into REM sleep?

djed 

Types of Meditation
My first practice of meditation was from a yoga book written by an Indian Yogi. Light a candle in a darkened room and stare at the flame for a couple of minutes then concentrate on keeping the afterimage in the center of your eyes.(not easy at first) When the afterimage has disappeared, open the eyes slowly enough to see the flame again and repeat the process. Carry on for about 15 minutes; it will make the mind quiet.
The next meditation is on the breath. Focus the mind on the breathing. Breathe in counting
"1-2" Breathe out, "3-4". A refinement on this is to take your pulse first to set the rhythm of the counting.
My main meditation has been by mantra given me on initiation to the Transcendental Meditation program, from which I started to get spontaneous OOBE waking up in bed in the early mornings.
In addition to this, I now use the method, devised by R. Bruce, by stimulating chakras and raising energy which somehow ends up in a sort of Trance Meditation, which is a preparation to use given techniques like visualizing climbing a rope to go OOB.
What other kinds of effective meditations do you know of?

My dreams can vary in clarity, usually they are not too clear, there is not much peripheral vision, and everything seems to be in close proximity to the action. Other times they can be extremely clear, with heightened color and sharp images; these are the times when I think I have unknowingly phased to AP.
One thing about my dreams is that they are usually bizarre, unbelievable, not in accordance with reality of the physical world we live in.
My OOBE's can also vary in clarity, but allowing for 'fluctuations in reality', they are usually very believable, closer to the physical in reality.
My LD's are mostly extremely clear with no bizarre episodes, just flying around lovely countryside, very rarely see people, (but maybe that's cos I live in NZ, lol.) 
My AP's are usually quite clear, similar to normal, but they can be 'contaminated' by 'dream stuff' which can cause bizarre happenings and distort reality.
djed

OOBE exit from within a dream.
In this dream I am in a building, go down a trap-door standing on a marble topped square pillar or box.
I open the marble top and there is another top that looks like marble but is made of tin. I take that off and peer inside there is some form in there but too dark to see. Suddenly I feel exit vibrations and I am out of my physical body. Feeling trapped I fly straight up out of the trap-door and out of the window of the building I am flying over a couple of fences in normal daylight in the countryside.
I come down to the ground and see a rabbit, stooping down I call him but he carries on eating. A dog comes bounding over barking I send out friendly vibes and he is no problem.
I want to see people and I hear voices, so go in that direction. I see an Arabic-looking woman with two children hurrying along, she doesn't see me. I go further towards voices but then I feel myself softly coming back into my body and I am awake. A short oobe. I have indigestion from the tea and toast so will stop his habit.
note I didn't become lucid just immediate exit from dream also didn't experience etheric zone after the exit, just dark and then up into the astral.
Cheers djed 

Having finished the 90 day course by Robert Bruce and Brian Mercer, I carried on practicing what I had learnt, energy raising and storing, primary energy centers stimulation and Trance meditation in the afternoons 3pm – 4pm. I am now on my 107 day. I had given up hoping to astral project so had just started to read Stephen LaBerge's 'Lucid Dreaming' and decided I would content myself with lucid dreams which I occasionally still have. This morning I awoke at 4am got up and made myself some tea & toast, read some of 'Lucid Dreaming' and made the suggested affirmation ' next time I'm dreaming, I will remember I am dreaming'  At 5am I lay back for about 10 minutes doing some energy raising etc. Then lay on my side to sleep... don't remember anything else until I feel myself come out of body, I am in the etheric (RealTimeZone).
I say 'I am out' floating in my bedroom and I go on the route I had planned on about 'Day 80' when I was trying to exit. Floating out of my bedroom, down to the basement lounge and see the concrete birdbath which is outside in the garden superimposed on the perception of the lounge, like a 'mind- split'
I am then back in my bedroom and dive out of the window to the street, all this is quite dark, but then as I begin to fly it becomes normal daylight. I am flying over 'bush' (woods/forest) and come down by three young girls aged about 6=8 yrs who are sitting in the grass. There is a guy sitting by, about 30yrs, I guess their father. Being occupied, he doesn't see me, but one of the girls looks straight at me and smiles and tells the other girls. There is no fear in them, just fascination. I leave them and find some other people in their early twenties. I go up to one of the women and just touch her breast there is no reaction from her but the others are humorously fascinated. She says to me' what's your name?' I say I am just a dreamer' I ask her if she has a boyfriend and there is a sort of shock from everyone and quiet and she looks down hearted and sad and I realize I have asked a sensitive question, so with compassion I give her a hug to which she responds gratefully and I leave. I am floating through the bush and hear someone giving a lecture which sounds like archeology of the area. I have difficulty in remembering any more of this section. Now I am flying over a river and see a large trout and decide to dive into the water, it is murky and low visibility. I try to touch the fish but he is too quick, I try to surface but can't find the way up. It is now dark yellowish patterned no movement I try commands, no good, I try spinning round, no good. I call God for help and am out ok.
I decide to go home but see a small girl outside a large house and follow her inside. I see an elderly person half asleep so don't go into that room but hear people talking in another.
There are several women sitting on a couch and armchairs, they look at me fascinated, no fear. I am intending to explain that I am dreaming in the astral, but as I sit down on the couch opposite I softly come back to the physical and wakeup. It is 6.15 am, one of the longest oobe I have had, and this is after 10 years of not being able to.

Cheers djed

Could someone show me how to quote a section of somene's post. And is there an area of FAQ 's on the site's usage ?
thanks djed  

Some people seem to have clear minds, having good physiques from birth, and probably from living healthy lives. These are the people that have no problems with Phasing. Most of us are not like these people, we have blocked chakras, lack of concentration, and minds full of thoughts when trying to 'notice' and then we easily fall asleep.
As far as I know the Phasing method doesn't address the cleansing and stimulation of chakras, the raising of psychic energy or the storage of energy, the clearing of the mind. For these reasons I was attracted to Robert Bruce's methods. He deals with all of these necessary issues comprehensively, one by one, in a period of ninety days.
Whereas the phasing tutorials starts and ends with 'looking at the back of your eyelids' expecting to astral travel.
This is the affirmation I am saying at present - 'I am sensitive to the energies that move through my body. I remained tuned to the subtle shifts in awareness and the feeling and effects on my body. Everyday the conduits through which my energy flows grow clearer, cleaner and brighter.
One day (soon?) there will come a time when I too will look into the blackness of my closed eyelids and see the light!

Cheers, djed 

Hi, I'm Dave, (djed are the initials to my full name) thought I would give a background so you know where I am coming from.
The 'Out-of-body' experiences I had over a span of seven years were classic, using no method but meditation, using a mantra from the Transcendental Meditation program. After about four years I began having spontaneous vibrations, hypnogogic sound and vision.  'Projections' swinging around the bedroom and then taking off through the roof and flying over the countryside. I never told anyone about these experiences.
From a website I discovered the writings of Don de Gracia, who was experienced in OOBE. His writings were mainly from his dream journal. I recognized situations and 'places'  he wrote of, that I could identify with, and this gave me great confidence that someone else was doing this exciting practice.  Also a good many tips on what to do to change the situation etc. I didn't need to look into any method as it was happening for me already.
I stopped meditation after a while and gradually the OOBE's dropped off. And it has been a long time since I have projected,- occasionally I have a lucid dream but they don't last for long. So I became interested in getting 'There' again.
Re-reading Don's writings, I found he used  a method of looking into the back of the eyelids until he saw an opening which he would dive into. Since coming to Astral Pulse I have been reading the different methods people are using nowadays so decided to do the R.Bruce-B.Mercer 90 day course which I have found interesting. I am on my 47 day, -I can get into trance quite well, have vibrations and some visuals and a few sounds so far, and had three lucid dreams. Just taking it easy and see what happens.
Cheers djed