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yea, i would say so.  dream memory is weird.

lately i've been keeping a dream journal and i have noticed a significant increase in how much i remember each day from dreams.  if you follow my journal from day one, each successive day has more detail (both in theme and in other sensory systems besides 'vision').  but as much as my recall has improved, all it takes is something unusual to mess me up.  so for the past 4 days i have been abruptly awoken in the morning by my new kitten attacking me.  so the first thought i have when i wake up is "OW! Why does my body hurt, how can i stop it?!".  By the time i've stopped the kitten from attacking me, the dream has faded and i can't remember much of it and what i do remember is very fuzzy. 

writing it down FIRST THING is the best way to help recall.  plus i've read recently that becoming more aware of your surroundings on a regular basis helps.  in your daily life take time to just notice what's going on around you.  it becomes habit and helps you remember more details about dreams that can solidify the experience more effectively.

This right here is the epitome of the problem.

Criticism is more than welcome in the normal forums, that's what this place is for.  But some people don't seem to understand the difference between critical analysis of theories, techniques, experiences, etc. and people.  You want to call out the flaws in the way individuals perceive their reality.  The pulse should be about critical analysis of data, not people.  I can't count the number of times a thread goes south because some people would rather criticize the poster/member and not what they posted.

No matter how much someone might think that a forum like that would help, all it really is going to be is a place for people to criticize other people and not our thoughts and theories.  I don't want to be a member of a place like that. 

Oh yea, there wasn't really anything "between the lines" of my passive aggressive comment.  It was supposed to be ironic.  I was calling out your passive aggression by being passive aggressive.  Just a bit of fun.  I thought we'd all have a good laugh over it, no ill intent.

I emphatically agree Nay.

I just found this and thought it was neat.

Tiny!

damnit ryan.

i was in the process of posting my Tiny revelation and you posted seconds before me.

i hope your LDs persist.  hooray!

the problem is that a place like that would quickly turn from critical analysis to sh*t talking.  it would be nothing but people talking crap about other people.  how is that productive for personal growth?  i guess if you're that emotionally disturbed and really need to put other people down to feel good about yourself then maybe it's some kind of growth.  i don't really see how something like that would be a benefit though.  it would just be a place to banish people when they're knocking a thread off track.

some people might want a place like that but only because they're tired of watching other people derail threads over personal vendettas....

i think it's a bad idea.  it's giving people permission to forget about compassion and be cruel.

I made a post a little while back (that i'm having no luck finding) where I proposed a technique similar to the triangle method.  The principle was that the 3rd eye and crown chakras intersect at the pineal gland, which is also the center of "tinnitus" if you focus on the ringing in your ears.  The idea was to focus on the 3rd eye and crown as energy being pulled in and meeting in the center of the brain. 

http://www.lucidity.com/NL32.OBEandLD.html


========================================================================
OTHER WORLDS: OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCES AND LUCID DREAMS
by Lynne Levitan and Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D.
========================================================================

"Out of body" experiences (OBEs) are personal experiences
during which people feel as if they are perceiving the physical
world from a location outside of their physical bodies. At least
5 and perhaps as many as 35 of every 100 people have had an OBE
at least once in their lives (Blackmore, 1982). OBEs are highly
arousing; they can be either deeply disturbing or profoundly
moving. Understanding the nature of this widespread and potent
experience would no doubt help us better understand the
experience of being alive and human.

The simplest explanation is that OBEs are exactly what they
seem: the human consciousness separating from the human body and
traveling in a discorporate form in the physical world. Another
idea is that they are hallucinations, but this requires an
explanation of why so many people have the same delusion. Some of
our experiments have led us to consider the OBE as a natural
phenomenon arising out of normal brain processes. Thus, we
believe that the OBE is a mental event that happens to healthy
people. In support of this, psychologists Gabbard and Twemlow
(1984) have concluded from surveys and psychological tests that
the typical OBE experient is "a close approximation of the
'average healthy American.'" (p. 40)

Our conception, also proposed by the English psychologist
Susan Blackmore, is that an OBE begins when a person loses
contact with sensory input from the body while remaining
conscious (Blackmore, 1988; LaBerge - Lucidity Letter; Levitan -
Lucidity Letter). The person retains the feeling of having a
body, but that feeling is no longer derived from data provided by
the senses. The "out-of-body" person also perceives a world that
resembles the world he or she generally inhabits while awake, but
this perception does not come from the senses either. The vivid
body and world of the OBE is made possible by our brain's
marvelous ability to create fully convincing images of the world,
even in the absence of sensory information. This process is
witnessed by each of us every night in our dreams. Indeed, all
dreams could be called OBEs in that in them we experience events
and places quite apart from the real location and activity of our
bodies.
   

WHAT ARE OBES LIKE?

So, we are saying that OBEs may be a kind of dream. But, even
so, they are extraordinary experiences. The great majority of
people who have had OBEs say they are more real than dreams.
Common aspects of the experience include being in an "out-of-
body" body much like the physical one, feeling a sense of energy,
feeling vibrations, and hearing strange loud noises (Gabbard &
Twemlow, 1984). Sometimes a sensation of bodily paralysis
precedes the OBE (Salley, 1982; Irwin, 1988; Muldoon &
Carrington, 1974; Fox, 1962). 

To the sleep researcher, these strange phenomena are
remarkably reminiscent of another curious experience, called
sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis occurs sometimes when a person
is waking from or falling into REM sleep, the state in which most
vivid dreams occur. During REM sleep, the muscles of the body,
excluding the eye muscles and those responsible for circulation
and respiration, are immobilized by orders from a nerve center in
the lower brain. This prevents us from acting out our dreams.
Occasionally, this paralysis turns on or remains active while the
person's mind is fully awake and aware of the world.

Some of the experiences people have reported during sleep
paralysis are: "I feel completely removed from myself," "feeling
of being separated from my body," "eerie, rushing experiences,"
and hearing "hissing in the ears," and "roaring in the head."
These events appear to be much like the OBE sensations of
vibrations, strange noises, and drifting away from the physical
body (Everett, 1983). Fear has also been described as a common
component of sleep paralysis (see the "Question and Answer" in
NightLight, Vol. 2, No. 1 for a discussion of overcoming fear in
sleep paralysis.)
   

WHEN DO OBES HAPPEN?

So, it seems possible that at least some OBEs arise from the
same conditions as sleep paralysis, and that these two terms may
actually be naming two aspects of the same phenomenon. As a first
test of this idea, we should ask how many OBEs actually occur at
times when people are likely to experience sleep paralysis --
that is, do OBEs happen when people are lying down, asleep,
resting, or while awake and active?

Researchers have approached the question of the timing of
OBEs by asking people who claim to have had OBEs to describe when
they happened. In one of these, over 85 percent of those surveyed
said they had had OBEs while they were resting, sleeping or
dreaming. (Blackmore, 1984) Other surveys also show that the
majority of OBEs occur when people are in bed, ill, or resting,
with a smaller percentage coming while the person is drugged or
medicated. (Green, 1968; Poynton, 1975; Blackmore, 1983 )

Survey evidence favors the theory that OBEs could arise out
of the same conditions as sleep paralysis. There is also
considerable evidence that people who tend to have OBEs also tend
to have lucid dreams, flying and falling dreams, and the ability
to control their dreams (Blackmore, 1983, 1984; Glicksohn, 1989;
Irwin, 1988).

Because of the strong connection between OBEs and lucid
dreaming, some researchers in the area have suggested that OBEs
are a type of lucid dream (Faraday, 1976; Honegger, 1979; Salley,
1982). One problem with this argument is that although people who
have OBEs are also likely to have lucid dreams, OBEs are far less
frequent, and can happen to people who have never had lucid
dreams. Furthermore, OBEs are quite plainly different from lucid
dreams in that during a typical OBE the experient is convinced
that the OBE is a real event happening in the physical world and
not a dream, unlike a lucid dream, in which by definition the
dreamer is certain that the event is a dream. There is an
exception that connects the two experiences -- when we feel
ourselves leaving the body, but also know that we are dreaming.

In our studies of the physiology of the initiation of
lucidity in the dream state, we observed that quite of few of the
lucid dreams we collected contained experiences like OBEs. The
dreamers described lying in bed, feeling strange bodily
sensations, often vibrations, hearing loud humming noises, and
then rising out of body and floating above the bed.

Those studies revealed that lucid dreams have two ways of
starting. In the much more common variety, the "dream-initiated
lucid dream" (DILD), the dreamer acquires awareness of being in a
dream while fully involved in it. DILDs occur when dreamers are
right in the middle of REM sleep, showing lots of the
characteristic rapid eye movements. We know this is true because
our dreamers give a deliberate prearranged eye-movement signal
when they realize they are dreaming. These signals show up on our
physiology record, so that we can pinpoint the times when
lucidity begins and see what kind of brain state the dreamers
were in at those times. DILDs account for about four out of every
five lucid dreams that our dreamers have had in the laboratory.
In the other 20 percent, the dreamers report awakening
from a dream and then returning to the dream state with unbroken
awareness -- one moment they are aware that they are awake in bed
in the sleep laboratory, and the next moment, they are aware that
they have entered a dream and are no longer perceiving the room
around them. We call these "wake initiated lucid dreams" (WILDs).

A casual look at the dream reports and physiological
records led us to think that the OBE-type dream content was
happening mostly in WILDs. So, we analyzed the data
scientifically in the experiment described below.
   

THE LABORATORY STUDY

The data we studied consisted of 107 lucid dreams from a
total of 14 different people. The physiological information that
we collected in conjunction with each lucid dream always included
brain waves, eye-movements, and chin muscle activity. These
measurements are necessary for determining if a person in awake,
asleep, and in REM sleep or not. In all cases, the dreamer
signaled the beginning of the lucid dream by making a distinct
pattern of eye movements that was identifiable by someone not
involved with the experiment.

After verifying that all the lucid dreams had eye signals
showing that they had happened in REM sleep, we classified them
into DILDs and WILDs, based on how long the dreamers had been in
REM sleep without awakening before becoming lucid (two minutes or
more for DILDs, less that two minutes for WILDs), and on their
report of either having realized they were dreaming while
involved in a dream (DILD) or having entered the dream directly
from waking while retaining lucidity (WILD).

Alongside the physiological analysis we scored each dream
report for the presence of various events that are typical of
OBEs, such as feelings of body distortion (including paralysis
and vibrations), floating or flying, references to being aware of
being in bed, being asleep or lying down, and the sensation of
leaving the body (for instance, "I was floating out-of-body").


RESULTS: MORE OBE-LIKE EVENTS IN WILDS

Ten of the 107 lucid dreams qualified as OBEs, because the
dreamers reported feeling like they had left their bodies in the
dream. Twenty of the lucid dreams were WILDs, and 87 were DILDs.
Five of the OBEs were WILDs (28%) and five were DILDs (6%). Thus,
OBEs were more than four times more likely in WILDs than in DILDs.

The three OBE-related events we looked for also all
occurred more often in WILDs than in DILDs. Almost one third of
WILDs contained body distortions, and over a half of them
included floating or flying or awareness of being in bed. This is
in comparison to DILDs, of which less than one fifth involved
body distortions, only one third included floating or flying, and
one fifth contained awareness of bed.

The reports from the five DILDs that we classified as OBEs
were actually much like those from the WILD-OBEs. In both the
dreamers felt themselves lying in bed and experiencing strange
sensations including paralysis and floating out-of-body. Although
these lucid dreams sound like WILDs, we had classified them as
DILDS because the physiological records showed no awakenings
preceding lucidity. However, it is possible that these people
could have momentarily become aware of their environments (and
hence been "awake") while continuing to show the brainwaves
normally associated with REM sleep. The science of the EEG is not
sufficiently advanced that we can tell what people are
experiencing by looking at their brainwaves. Anecdotes from dream
reports indicate that people sometimes become aware of sensations
from their sleeping bodies while dreaming -- for example, the
dream in which you are trying to run while your legs become
heavier and heavier, perhaps because you are feeling their true
immobile condition.


OBES AND WILDS OUTSIDE THE LABORATORY

Our laboratory studies showed us that when OBEs happen in
lucid dreams they happen either when a person reenters REM sleep
right after an awakening, or right after having become aware of
being in bed. However, we wondered if this relationship would
apply to OBEs and lucid dreams that people experience at home, in
the "real world."

Not being able to take the sleep lab to the homes of hundreds
of people (the DreamLight may soon give us this capacity!), we
took a survey about OBEs and other dream-related experiences,
somewhat like the past studies referred to earlier. The
difference between our survey and previous ones is that in
addition to asking if people had had OBEs, we asked specifically
about certain events that we know to be associated with WILDs,
namely, lucid dreaming, returning directly to a dream after
awakening from it, and sleep paralysis.

A total of 572 people filled out our questionnaire. They
were either students in an introductory psychology course or
readers of the NightLight. About a third of the group reported
having had at least one OBE. Just over 80 percent had had lucid
dreams. Sleep paralysis was reported by 37 percent and 85 percent
had been able to return to t a dream after awakening.

People who reported more dream-related experiences also
reported more OBEs. For example, of the 452 people claiming to
have had lucid dreams, 39 percent also reported OBEs, whereas
only 15 percent of those who did not claim lucid dreams said they
had had OBEs. The group with the most people reporting OBEs (51%)
were those who said they had experienced lucid dreams, dream
return, and sleep paralysis.

We would expect people who can return directly to dreams
after an awakening to be prone to having WILDs, and therefore
also to have frequent lucid dreams. Indeed, in this survey,
people reporting frequent dream return also tended to report
frequent lucid dreams. Thus, we believe that the fact that dream
return frequency was linked with OBE frequency in this study
gives further support to our laboratory research finding that
WILDs were associated with OBEs.


WHAT DO WE KNOW NOW?

Our two studies have compared the frequency of OBEs in the
two types of lucid dream, and surveyed the relative frequency of
OBEs and dream-related events in a large number of people. We
have thereby learned that when OBEs happen during lucid dreams,
they generally happen in lucid dreams that arise from brief
awakenings in REM sleep, and that people who have certain special
dream experiences are more likely to have OBEs that people who do
not. These dream experiences include returning to the dream state
after an awakening, lucid dreaming and sleep paralysis.
    Above we described our operating theory that OBEs occur
when people lose input from their sense organs, as happens at the
onset of sleep, while retaining consciousness. This combination
of events is especially likely when a person passes directly from
waking into REM sleep. In both states the mind is alert and
active, but in waking it is processing sensory input from the
outside world, while in dreaming it is creating a mental model
independent of sensory input. This model includes a body. When
dreaming, we generally experience ourselves in a body much like
the "real" one, because that is what we are used to. However, our
internal senses in the physical body, which when we are awake
inform us about our position in space and the movement of our
limbs. This information is cut off in REM sleep. Therefore, we
can dream of doing all kinds of things with our dream bodies --
flying, dancing, running from monsters, being dismembered -- all
while our physical bodies lie safely in bed.

During a WILD, or sleep paralysis, the awake and alert mind
keeps up its good work of showing us the world it expects is out
there -- although it can no longer sense it. So, then we are in a
mental-dream-world. Possibly we feel the cessation of the
sensation of gravity as that part of sensory input shuts down,
and then feel that we are suddenly lighter and float up, rising
from the place where we know our real body to be lying still. The
room around us looks about the same, because that is our brain's
best guess about where we are. If we did not know that we had
just fallen asleep, we might well think that we were awake, still
in touch with the physical world, and that something mighty
strange was happening -- a departure of the mind from the
physical body!

The unusual feeling of leaving the body is exciting and
alarming. This, combined with the realistic imagery of the
bedroom is enough to account for the conviction of many OBE
experients' that "it was too real to be a dream." Dreams, too,
can be astonishingly real, especially if you are attending to
their realness. Usually, we pass through our dreams without
thinking much about them, and upon awakening remember little of
them. Hence, they seem "unreal." But waking life is also like
that -- our memory for a typical, mundane day is flat and lacking
in detail. It is only the novel, exciting, or frightening events
that leave vivid impressions. If we stop what we are doing, we
can look around and say, "Yes, this world looks solid and real."
But, if you look back and try to recall, for instance, brushing
your teeth this morning, your memory is likely to be vague and
not very life-like. Contrast this to a past event that excited or
alarmed you, which is likely to seem much more "real" in
retrospect.

Lucid dreamers often comment to themselves in dreams, "I
know this is a dream, but it all seems so incredibly real!" All
this goes to show that the feeling that an event is real does not
mean that it is happening in the physical world that we all share
when we are awake. This is not to deny that that inner
experiences are real, in that they have deeply profound effects
on our lives. However, as lucid dreaming so amply demonstrates,
we can learn to distinguish between our personal dreams and
events in the consensus dream we call physical reality. When we
do, we find that what we thought was one thing -- the waking
world -- is actually another -- a dream.

Proof that some or even most OBEs are dreams is not enough
to allow us to say that a genuine OBE is impossible. However, in
the interests of lucidity, if you have an OBE, why not test to
see if the OBE-world passes the reality test? Is the room you are
in the one you are actually sleeping in? If you have left your
body, where is it? Do things change when you are not looking at
them (or when you are)? Can you read something twice and have it
remain the same on both readings? If any of your questions and
investigations leave you doubting that you are in the physical
world, is it not logical to believe you are dreaming?

Another point to consider is that a dream doesn't always
have to happen in REM sleep. Most do, but there are probably
quite a few other conditions in which people can lose touch with
sensory experience and enter a mental world. Some such states
that we know of are hypnotic trance, anesthesia, and sensory
isolation. OBEs have been reported from these states (Nash et
al., 1984; Olson, 1988). Thus, the argument that an OBE cannot be
a dream because the experient wasn't asleep doesn't hold water.


THE "IN-THE-BODY" EXPERIENCE

To end this discussion of the origins of the OBE, an event
considered unbelievable by many and metaphysical by others, let's
consider the state of affairs that is considered normal: the "in-
the-body" experience. What does it mean to be in a body? Saying
that one is in a body implies that the self is an object with
definite borders capable of being contained by the boundaries of
another object -- the physical body. However, we do not have any
evidence that the self is such a concrete thing. What we think of
as "out-of-body" in an OBE is the experience of the self. This
experience of being "in" a body is normally based on perceptual
input from the senses of both the world external to the body and
the processes within the body. These give us a sense of
localization of the self in space. However, it is the body, and
its sense organs, that occupy a specific locus, not the self. The
self is not the body or the brain. If we think that the self is a
product of brain function, even this does not make it reasonable
to state that the self is in the brain -- is the meaning
contained in these words in this page? It may not make any sense
on an objective level to say that the self is anywhere. Rather,
the self is where it feels itself to be. Its location is purely
subjective and derived from input from the sensory organs.

Putting aside the question of the essential nature of the
self, perception is undeniably a phenomenon tied to brain
function. So, when we find ourselves experiencing a world that
seems much like the one we are used to perceiving with our usual
equipment -- eyes, ears,  etc., all things linked to our brains,
it would be logical to assume that it is our usual brain creating
the experience. And, if we were to really leave our bodies --
severing all connection with them -- it would be illogical to
assume that we would see the world in the same way. Therefore,
although no amount of contradictory evidence can rule out the
possibility of a real "out of body experience," in which an
individual exists in some form entirely independent of the body,
it is highly unlikely that such a form would utilize perceptual
systems identical to those of the physical human form.

Spiritual teachings tell us that we have a reality beyond
that of this world. The OBE may not be, as it is easily
interpreted, a literal separation of the soul from the crude
physical body, but it is an indication of the vastness of the
potential that lies wholly within our minds. The worlds we create
in dreams and OBEs are as real as this one, and yet hold
infinitely more variety. How much more exhilarating to be "out-
of-body" in a world where the only limit is the imagination than
to be in the physical world in a powerless body of ether! Freed
of the constraints imposed by physical life, expanded by
awareness that limits can be transcended, who knows what we could
be, or become?

I just found this site, it's got a butt load of Lucid Dreaming articles, including theory and practice.

http://www.sawka.com/spiritwatch/tableof.htm

indeed. 

like children.

\o/ We're Buddies Again!!

Nay is a girl.

Shineling's reaction isn't that strange, especially considering that most people on this forum (me included, unfortunately) seem to take pleasure in telling other people that their experiences are bunk in some way or another.  If I had a very profound and powerful experience and you all told me that I was just high, then I might get a little upset too.  

We don't know what effects anti-depressants have on the psyche and perception in relation to AP, but I don't think the effect can be good.  The few times that I've taken anti-depressants I've felt like they stifled my creativity and spirituality, but I know other people who say the exact opposite.  My issue probably comes from my overly paranoid belief in conspiracy theories and brainwashing with pharmaceuticals and overall distrust of the modern medical system's perspective on disease (treat the symptom not the cause).

lol, fantastic shineling.  perfect.

cool Pauli, I didn't know that.   

I'm starting to think this is just me because no one ever seems to agree, but what the hell does science bring to the table more than any other method of describing these experiences?!

I am reading a book about scientific investigation of psi phenomena (Entangled Minds by Dean Radin, it's actually a pretty good book) and I just read a few sentences where the author mentions mystic explanations of psi and he says that they are really just metaphors based on the perspective of the time.......mhm.  He goes on to express the belief that science is somehow different.  Look, I get that science is supposedly the "gold standard" because of repeatability, control and falsifiability, but PLEASE tell me how scientific explanation is anything more than a metaphor for something else.  Mathematics may be an exception in a sense, but from another perspective, math is still just a metaphor for something else.  I mean think about it, the whole of human language is one big metaphor.  Whether I'm talking about a sunflower or the equations that explain gravitation, I'm still metaphorically describing something.  The word "sunflower" isn't a sunflower.  A sunflower is a complex system of atoms that somehow generates this living thing we see as a flower, but even that description isn't a sunflower.  But then a new question arises, is that sunflower actually a sunflower?  Does the sunflower match what the metaphorical word "sunflower" means?  Is the flower itself not infinitely more complex in ways we can't even understand?  Can the word 'sunflower' actually grasp the beauty and elegance of the flower we see out in a field?  To that same end, all of our language falls short of the actual experience.  The way we describe things is just a metaphor for something indefinable that we experience in every moment of every day and science is no different or better.  Science is just a way that we create common metaphors (they aren't really common though because everyone has a unique perception) for trying to explain reality.  Does that make explanations that come out of science any better than the mystical traditions of ages past? Certainly not.

I actually have a lot more to say on this subject, but I don't have the time to keep writing and thinking right now, I'll have to add more later.  So until then, stew over this a bit, I'm sure it will annoy someone.

that's why i said "supposedly".

I'm assuming it's paraphrased on the site I found it on.

I just thought it was a nice succinct description of what I remember from the Monroe books.

[Getting Started]

Many of us find our way to places like the pulse on a quest for understanding of the Astral Projection experience.  But, if you're at all like me, you didn't really know much about AP besides what you read from people like Monroe, Bruce, Moen, Buhlman, etc.  You may also be like me in that you are interested in these kinds of experiences beyond the "modern interpretation".  What I mean by that is that I am really interested in the phenomena of "the otherworld", which includes, but is not limited to just Astral Projection.  Some people lump all experiences of "the otherworld" as astral projection, which is true in a way.  However, experience of the otherworlds (whatever you call it) exist on an infinite continuum of varying degrees of awareness and varying "locales".  You will encounter many of these experiences in shamanistic (which i use here to mean not only the indigenous tribal shaman, but also most branches of paganism) techniques especially, and usually in the context of self-healing and healing of the community (local and global).  But these experiences aren't limited to the world of mystics alone.  In fact, some of the world's greatest scientists were doing a lot of research into the nature of these other worlds.  From physicists to biologists to psychologists and everything in between.  Even some researchers that conventional academia swears would never be involved in such things, like William James (the father of modern psychology) for example.

Getting Started

Today I want to share a technique for self-healing/actualization that I believe is very close to what we around here call phasing, put forth by Carl Jung.  Jung described this technique as 'Active Imagination' and believed it to be a crucial tool in healing the psyche.  Though Jung didn't really write about this much, he did practice it and many of his students wrote about it.  The following was collected from http://www.bodysoulandspirit.net.  You can find other information from a slightly more "scientific" perspective regarding these types of experiences on that site.  Anyway, lets move on with some basic techniques for active imagination.

Active Imagination is possible when one moves his/her everyday consciousness towards the dream world. "Dream world" is used here to mean nothing more nor less than that realm that we all experience when sleeping, falling into sleep, or coming out of sleep. Since we all know this experience it is used here as short-hand to describe the major tone of Active Imagination practice.The first step towards getting started in Active Imagination requires spending time observing the "dream world" state.

   * Try to observe yourself awakening in the morning (or if you prefer, falling asleep at night). Allow enough time to carefully see how you emerge out of sleep and how it is possible to remain half alert and half asleep. Do this several times over a week. If you have problems with this, try the same process during a nap.

From these observations, we learn that our dreaming involves a state of mind where anything is possible. Dreams are free to follow all sorts of paths and free to generate all sorts of images, feelings, and thoughts. Also notable, is the frequency in which images, feelings, and thoughts are mingled closely together.Our daily way of being typically requires us to be quite focused, goal oriented. Our thoughts and feelings are prescribed around a relatively few major themes. We tend to exclude a great deal in this process and freedom is not a word that can be used to describe this state of mind.

   *
     Find the means that allows you to move into profound relaxation but with mental clarity remaining. Try body relaxation methods. Try music. Use whatever method most slows down the everyday mind and opens it to whatever happens.
   *
     Find your own answers to these important questions:What do you need to do to move away from being overly focused on your day's events towards the dream world? What does it feel like to relax deeply? What does it feel like when you blend of the dream world with your quiet, watchful, alertness?
   *
     Also, try to increase your ability to recall your dreams. Record your dreams and study them not so much to interpret their meaning but to recover the moods that they convey, the images they use, the feelings they bring to the surface. Try to get a fix on the feeling of the dream experience.
   *
     Later, after you have mastered capturing the tone of the dream world, set aside time to move from your everyday type of consciousness to the dream world. Watch out, you might fall asleep, losing the awareness you need to do Active Imagination. Relax into it, keep alert, pull up your memories of what the dream world feels like. Watch for the emergence of detailed images, feelings, and insights. Work at making these images, feelings, and insights more vivid. This is where the "Active" of Active Imagination comes from. You are required to become engaged in your inner world, bringing yourself to this process in terms of alertness and willingness to learn. Remain alert. You must remember what you see/experience or you will not be doing "Active" Imagination. By necessity, this will keep your sessions short, maybe lasting only ten minutes or fifteen minutes. Make notes afterward, especially on what you have learned on what the experience feels like.


Advanced Techniques

Active Imagination practice is as challenging and robust as any other Soul or Spirit discipline used throughout history and throughout the world. While several disciplines have had far and wide promotion (i.e. prayer in Christianity and meditation in Hinduism/Buddhism), the proponents of Active Imagination have not been so well organized or powerful in conveying their message. Active Imagination has frequently been an "accidental practice" such as in Alchemy when these early chemists had their deeper imaginations activated by their dedication to finding gold in their retorts and chemicals. Many artists (visual and performing) turn to Active Imagination with little awareness of its history or relationship to Soul and Spirit work to get the insights needed for outstanding creations.The following steps are offered to heighten awareness of just what is involved with consciously applied Active Imagination practice and outlines much of the work that is necessary to make this an important discipline.

STEPS TO A DEEPER PRACTICE OF ACTIVE IMAGINATION
1. Pick a time to do quality work. This is very important. So many of us have tried to relegate inner work practice to the time after we get everything else done. All of our obligations to work, to house, family, friends, to bills, are done first. Only then do we sit down to do inner work. By that time we are too tired to do anything. Do not use "junk time," that time left over once everything else is taken care of to do quality inner work. It won't work. This does not mean giving up your day job but it does require awareness of when your energy is appropriately high for this sort of work. Find the means to carve out good time for this important work.

2. Use Pre-Active Imagination work to turn inward and to create the ambiance for Active Imagination.3. When the ambiance is right, introduce a topic to be explored or allow a topic to show itself.


   If it feels right to introduce a topic, try:

           * an image or feeling from a very recent dream
           * an image from a very recent time during your day world
           * a mood from your day world
           * a powerful image/feeling from other sources (i.e. the Tarot, art, film, literature)

   If it feels right to allow a topic to come up, try:

             o to trust the process
             o to allow for more depth so that an important topic can up (avoid the "chit-chat" that we so often face when not going far enough)

4. Once a topic has been agreed upon, stay with it. Try to stick to the central image. This doesn't mean that it can't change, it will. Try to let the topic's full drama unfold rather than expecting/seeking a cascade of images/feelings.5. Get into the image (physically, emotionally, intellectually, and intuitively)6. Remember. It is too easy to let everything just pass your eyes without reflection, but remember that one of the primary aims of this practice is to learn. To learn requires remembering. To remember requires not a passive approach to what one is experiencing but a very active one. This is the main reason this practice is called Active Imagination. To remember you will need to:

       * Take notes
       * Tell someone else what you are experiencing so that they can record the action
       * Or, make the session last no longer than your ability to remember the inner events. This can mean that the session (once you are warmed up with Pre-Active Imagination) will only be five minutes long. That's fine, no harm is done with short sessions.

7. Dialogue with inner figures. If you can meet or call forward inner figures, do so. Become come engage in realistic dialogue; personification is one of the most powerful and important aspects of Active Imagination. Trust the process and listen and learn.8. Wind down. Sessions do not need to be very long. Ten to fifteen minutes can provide a tremendous amount of material. Develop a simple process of inner and outward steps that communicates to your psyche that you are now leaving this process. Some peple prefer to use an inner image such as walking down a path towards their home to make this transition.9. Emerge and do any needed additional recording of your experience.10. Settle back into your everyday world.11. Do Post Session Work

   

   Do Research As Needed

       Frequently a special image or motif will come up demanding exploration after you leave Active Imagination. Do what research you can and you want to do either on-line, at a university library or through the help of a Jungian Society. One note: for this type of work, most research only requires a light exploration of the topic. For instance, if a goddess figure appears, look at goddess images, get some sense of how historic and wide spread these images are, and find one or two that attract you. Also get a general idea of what these goddesses represent. Note that it is not necessary, and frequently a hindrance, to go into too much detail. Going into detail tends to turn a poetic inner experience into a head trip. Nothing against head trips, but if heavy intellectual analysis is used too early, before one has mastered accessing the unconscious, it will be an obstacle, pulling you away from the work you need to do. Once a reasonable level of mastery is achieved, then deeper research will not only not interfere with Active Imagination, it will serve to deepen it. However, in the beginning, try to keep to the gut level nature of what you experience. This will keep you motivated and connected to the ambiance created by Active Imagination.

   Do Something With It

       Many Active Imagination practitioners and teachers recommend doing something with you experiences. Writing, journaling, sculpting, painting, and dancing are just some of the means of taking an experience and bringing it into this world by giving it form. Giving it form will give it a greater place in your life and will further activate the unconscious.

   Keep To Your Promises

       If one is going deep enough in Active Imagination one encounters inner figures (either from a dream, spontaneously, or from an exterior image such as a Tarot card). Inevitably, a promise is made (or should be made) to these personifications of unconscious processes. This promise tends to be around some attribute of the inner figure and some attribute you hold or wish to hold. Robert Johnson in his fine book on Active Imagination, Inner Work, tells of a woman who cuts a deal with her inner artist. If she makes room in her busy life for a greater connection to beauty and art, the inner figure will not pester her through bad dreams and compulsions. Her life takes on a new vitality and sense of meaning, but Johnson warns, she must keep to this promise or this gift will be lost. When you make such deals, keep to your promises. This will increase your ability to hold meaningful dialogues with sometimes reluctant inner figures.

   Keep Quiet and Be Humble

       While you may now have a new understanding, an understanding that is well beyond your friends and family, don't be arrogant. Treat whatever you have received as a delicate gift. If you hold it just right you can possess it and learn more from it, but if you are not careful, this gift can become beat up and distorted. You don't have all of the answers---you just have another piece of a very large, complex, and when it gets down to it,---a very mysterious, puzzle.

   Change/Enlarge/Grow

       You have been presented with insights about life and these insights must be applied to open your perspective on the inner and outer world. Insights gained in Active Imagination tend to expand one's view by showing a new side to an issue. They weaken our old certainties, making room for new understandings and receptiveness. Active Imagination is synthesis and we need to carry this synthesis forward in our choices, our expectations, our demands.

12. Start Again


Further information can be found at http://www.bodysoulandspirit.net/hypnagogia/index.shtml

This isn't particularly novel, but I came across it and thought it would be fun to post.

MONROE TECHNIQUES FOR ASTRAL PROJECTION


                   Note: After having studied many methods of Astral
              Projection, I have found that this is the easiest to do.
              Monroe teaches these techniques in a week, but they can be
              easily done in a day, with proper devotion. I feel that this
              technique is superior to others because it doe not require
              intense visualization, which many people cannot do.
              enjoy!


              (Taken from Leaving The Body: A Complete Guide to Astral
              Projection, D. Scott Rogo, prentice Hall Press)

              One of the chief barriers people learning to project face is
              fear.  Many are afraid that they may die, or be harmed in some
              way as a result of their projection.  Nothing could be farther
              from the truth.  The Canterbury Institute, renowned for its
              occult studies, executed an experiment in projection involving
              over 2,000 people.  None of them were hurt in any way by this,
              and now, three years later, none have complained of any newly
              arising problems.

              Once you are aware that you cannot be harmed by projecting,
              you should begin monroe's techniques, step by step.

              Step one:
                  Relax the body. According to Monroe, "the ability to relax
              is the first prerequisite, perhaps even the first step itself"
              to having an OBE. (out of body experience) This includes both
              physical and mental relaxation. Monroe does not suggest a
              method of attaining this relaxation, although Progressive
              Muscle relaxation, coupled with deep breathing exercises
              (inhale 1, exhale 2, inhale 3.... until 50 or 100) are known
              to work well.
               
              Step two:
                  Enter the state bordering sleep.  This is known as the
              hypnagogic state. Once again, Monroe doesn't  recommend any
              method of doing this.  One way is to hold your forearm
              up, while keeping your upper arm on the bed, or ground. As you
              start to fall asleep, your arm will fall, and you will awaken
              again.  With practice, you can learn to control the Hypnagogic
              state without using your arm.  Another method is to
              concentrate on an object.  When other images start to enter
              your thoughts, you have entered the Hypnagogic state.
              Passively watch these images.  This will also help you
              maintain this state of near-sleep. Monroe calls this Condition
              A.

              Step three:
                  Deepen this state. Begin to clear your mind.  observe your
              field of vision through your closed eyes.  Do nothing more
              for a while. Simply look through your closed eyelids at the
              blackness in front of you.  After a while, you may notice
              light patterns.  These are simply neural discharges.  They
              have no specific effect.  Ignore them.  When they cease, one


                                                                             785

              has entered what Monroe calls Condition B.  From here, one
              must enter an even deeper state of relaxation which Monroe
              calls Condition C-- a state of such relaxation that you lose
              all awareness of the body and sensory stimulation.  You are
              almost in a void in which your only source of stimulation will
              be your own thoughts.
                  The ideal state for leaving your body is Condition D.
              This is Condition C when it is voluntarily induced from a
              rested and refreshed condition and is not the effect of normal
              fatigue.  To achieve Condition D, Monroe suggests that you
              practice entering it in the morning or after a short nap.

              Step Four:
                  Enter a state of Vibration. This is the most important
              part of the technique, and also the most vague.   
                  Many projectors have noted these vibrations at the onset
              of projection.  They can be experienced as a mild tingling, or
              as is electricity is being shot through the body.  /their
              cause is a mystery.  It may actually be the astral body trying
              to leave the physical one.
              For entering into the vibrational state, he offers the
              following directions:

              1. Remove all jewelry or other items that might be touching
              your skin.
              2. Darken the room so that no light can be seen through your
              eyelids, but do not shut out all light.
              3. Lie down with your body along a north-south axis, with your
              head pointed toward magnetic north.
              4. Loosen all clothing, but keep covered so that you are
              slightly warmer than might normally be comfortable.
              5. Be sure you are in a location where, and at a time  when,
              there will be absolutely no noise to disturb you.
              6. Enter a state of relaxation
              7. Give yourself the mental suggestion that you will remember
              all that occurs during the upcoming session that will be
              beneficial to your well-being. Repeat this five times.
              8. Proceed to breath through your half-open mouth.
              9. As you breath, concentrate on the void in front of you.
             10. Select a point a foot away from your forehead, then change
              your point of mental reference to six feet.
             11. Turn the point 90 degrees upward by drawing an imaginary
              line parallel to your body axis up and above your head.  Focus
              there and reach out for the vibrations  at that point and
              bring them back into your body.

                   Even if you don't know what these vibrations are, you
              will know when you have achieved contact with them.

              Step five:
                  Learn to control the vibrational state.  Practice
              controlling them by mentally pushing them into your head, down
              to your toes, making them surge throughout your entire body,
              and producing vibrational waves from head to foot.  To produce
              this wave effect, concentrate of the vibrations and mentally
              push a wave out of your head and guide it down your body.
              Practice this until you can induce these waves on command.
                  Once you have control of the vibrational state, you are


                                                                             786

              ready to leave the body.

              Step six:
                  Begin with a partial separation.  The key here is thought
              control.  Keep your mind firmly focused on the idea of leaving
              the body. Do not let it wander. Stray thought might cause you
              to lose control of the state.
                  Now, having entered the vibrational state, begin exploring
              the OBE by releasing a hand or a foot of the "second body".
              Monroe suggests that you extend a limb until it comes in
              contact with a familiar object, such as a wall near your bed.
              Then push it through the object. Return the limb by placing it
              back into coincidence with the physical one, decrease the
              vibrational rate, and then terminate the experiment.  Lie
              quietly until you have fully returned to normal. This exercise
              will prepare you for full separation.
                 
              Step seven:
                  Dissociate yourself from the body. Monroe suggests two
              methods for this.  One method is to lift out of the body.  To
              do this, think about getting lighter and lighter after
              entering this vibrational state.  Think about how nice it
              would be to float upward.  Keep this thought in mind at all
              costs and let no extraneous thoughts interrupt it. An OBE will
              occur naturally at this point.
                 Another method is the "Rotation method" or "roll-out"
              technique.  When you have achieved the vibrational state, try
              to roll over as if you were turning over in bed.  /do not
              attempt to roll over physically.  Try to twist your body from
              the top and virtually roll over into your second body right
              out of your physical self.  At this point, you will be out of
              the body but next to it.  Think of floating upward, and you
              should find yourself floating above the body.
                  Monroe suggests you begin with the lift-out method, but
              argues that both are equally efficacious.

i found it here:  http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos186.htm

it is supposedly from this book -->  http://www.amazon.com/Leaving-Body-D-Scott-Rogo/dp/0671763946/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292080902&sr=8-1

which means that all experiences are subjectively real and if, like me, you're not entirely convinced of the existence of objective reality then, subjective reality is the only truth so everything is truth.

yea, it's possible.

what i did was write my own scripts. then, using audio editing software, i layered my recorded scripts over binural beat tracks (specifically the Journeys Out of the Body Hemi-Sync Condition D track). 

I;m fascinated. Did it work?
What happened?
Did you go back to them for another session?

from stories he's told me in the chat room it was successful, but he didn't stay with the group for too terribly long.

lol. 

cool.

passive aggression noted.

Well said PR.

Just wanted to add that I have been pulled out by my guides (who I have a good relationship with) before, and you might try meditating and asking them for help.  This is a good step to learning to do it yourself.

depending on your perspective, asking a guide to assist is different from asking a physical person.  for many, a guide is your own mind, your higher self, and in that regard, it's still you doing the work.  if the guide is autonomous, it's still a being that you have an intimate connection with.  so somehow i don't feel like asking a guide is the same as asking another person.  so i agree with you moondreamer, asking for the help of guides (or subconscious, higher self, whatever) is a good idea.  If nothing else mooncrescentgirl, you'd be implanting the idea in your subconscious mind by asking for the help of guides, which may be helpful in overcoming barriers.

I am also learning ap and to me what you are requesting seams crazy! I wouldn't consider something like this until I tried everything else. Maybe it's just me but that just doesn't seam like a good idea. But like I said I would consider it if nothing else is working.

the problem is that if it does work, it's a short cut.  maybe in other pursuits that's not such a bad think (work smarter not harder), but in this kind of activity i don't think the short road is the smart road.  if AP is something you want to do for a long time (your whole life maybe?) then you'd do better to learn the skills involved so that you can have total control of your experience.

though, some people seem to need validation that AP/OBE/etc. is real before they can get over the hump and do it on their own.  but this is in the same vein as drugs and other artificial projection methods.  you might get there, but you'll probably be disoriented and you may even overshoot your goal and be lost.  the one redeeming quality of being assisted out of the body is that you would then have a guide with you to help keep you on track.