Messages

 Szaxx, I see "High Awareness" as being of the mindset of a "point of consciousness". Because you are a simple point of consciousness, you know how to navigate these realms using "thought = action". Example, no need to physically climb the stairs when you can just think the "word" up and be there.
I don't find or experience many distractions in that mindset. But this came through a lot of trial and error. I think this was one of the most valuable lessons I was taught there. Emotional response is easier to control in that mindset as well. You realize this is a "simulation" and because of that realization, you know there is a purpose for it as well. So, you seek out that purpose, Retrieval or other.
Your "Guides/Mentors" know this as well and because of that they set the challenges accordingly.

Subdued Awareness is more of a physical mindset. Emotional response is still highly active. Thought = action hasn't been put into use yet, because you are just becoming aware that "you". the physical you, is in this experience. Many times. you don't even know it's a "simulation". All you know is that you just became aware in some circumstance and are now beginning to react to that circumstance or scenario.
There are still lessons to be learned. But it's really touch and go, because you are so close to your physical conscious mindset, that it is quite the balancing act to stay in the scenario itself. Your Guides/Mentors in a Subdued Awareness, seem to be more in "Observer" mode.
They do appear as "standard Dreams", but I find you normally have a foggy or very low recollection of what occurred in the scenario.

I find that there are many more distractions in a Subdued Awareness, then there are in a High Awareness. Emotional response seems to be one of the toughest ones to overcome. Many of these "characters" in the Subdued Awareness scenarios seem to be from your physical associations. Examples, family, friends, past events, past acquaintances. Whereas, in a High Awareness scenario. the "characters" seem to be foreign to you.

 Three nights ago I had a spontaneous OBE. When I do have these now, I really pay attention to the various signposts and occurrences I have before, during and after.

Before, is when I first become ultra aware. There was just total silence, but I sensed something is either happening or about to happen. Then the "buzz" began. Last night I was trying to find a way to describe it. It's such a unique sensation. Then it came too me, It is a feeling of being "mildly" shocked, akin to a "electrocution". There also seems to be a sound, very faint at first, that sounds like a gentle ringing, like someone with "Tinnitus" would experience.

Then the sound gets longer, "Astral Winds" in full blow, and the gentle buzz, seems to become a full body "electrocution". At first this "electrocution" seems to come in waves. Once it became constant, the actual OBE soon followed. Then my "Astral sight" kicked in and I was seeing vividly through my closed eyelids.

This OBE experience also created one more test for me. MJ, my better half, started squirming in bed, or so I thought she was and that created a challenge for me to really keep my focus and stay the course. Now, there is a question that could come from that and that is "Was MJ's squirming a signpost as well?. The next day, I pondered that one too.  There is no way for me to be able to answer that because she wouldn't have known. She is a very sound sleeper, but she also squirms quite a bit too. I will ask her in the morning sometimes,  "if she slept okay?". She always says yes.

I am curious, how many of the experienced people here still get actual OBEs, in every sense of the word? I get them still sometimes twice a month, sometimes 3-4 days a week. For some reason, they seem to come in "waves" with me.

The important thing to make it a successful OBE, is that you must not disrupt any part of the process. You can't overthink it. You just need to be aware of what's happening and "allow" and passively observe it all.

My OBE even had a fear test in the onset. Once the electrocution became constant, there was a few seconds of total quiet, then I heard "screams" coming from 3 different directions. I thought, nice try, better luck next time, lol. The problem is, this is when most people will abort this fascinating experience and the next days tell their friends how last night they were attacked by some Demon or devilish creature  .

Once you realize what is happening and why, you also realize that you are safe and because of that, you can allow the experience to continue "unabated". This is also a great time to create a intended destination as well. The only intent I put out is that I wish to be "taken" to where I need to go and "shown" what I need to see. I then trust. I feel that if I am having this spontaneous OBE experience period, I should find out why. There's always a purpose!  

 Thaomas, you have shown great progress. I will speak more on that after your Day 7 report. But before that I want to ask you something, "Is a glass half empty or half full?".

Day 6

I lie back in the water. Quick relaxation. Quick 6pt directional focus. That directional focus really helps me loosen up.

For the first couple of minutes, it's fade in/fade out. That quickly changes. First I feel the forward drive of motion, then a accompanying visual comes into focus. I am on some kind of rubber, Zodiac inflatable, like craft speeding towards land. I use my thought = action to take a quick look in back of me, without turning my head and I see the Submarine behind me in the distance.

As I get closer I can see white sand, but before that I see the waves crashing to the beach. Now I am riding one of those waves. Very intense.

Quick fade out/fade back in and I see I am now on the Island. It's beautiful, full of color. I begin moving forward towards the tree line and all of a sudden. the tree line is gone and a small village is in it's place. I begin moving towards the village and now it's morphing into a bigger city. This "morphing" goes on for a few minutes. It's really weird because the scene hasn't changed due to a fade out/fade in. It's changing before my conscious "mind's eye".
This ends and I find myself once again in he 3D darkness. So I relax for a bit before ending the session.

Quick daily sneak peeks haven't yielded much. except for a quick jolt once in awhile of motion.


  Day 7

The last day. I just finished my Phase soak/session, so it's still fresh in my mind. I did quickly write the results down in point form, like I have been doing for the other 6 days here.

Lie in water, quick relaxation, quick 6pt focus and I am ready to go.

Fade in/fade out begins and it's hard to lock on to a visual, so I give up and try to relax into it with just some plain ole darkness "noticing".

The darkness I am seeing begins to wane a bit. I can see movement and feel movement, but I can't really see what it is. I demand "clarity now", that sometimes works, {Thanks Williiam B.  ), but the scene doesn't seem to lighten at all. Suddenly a spark shoots by. When it does it lights up he scene enough for me to see that I am afloat, in the middle of some huge water, possibly ocean scenario and it is pitch dark out. Hence the constantly feeling of motion and dark surroundings.

Another spark goes across the sky. I guess I am seeing falling stars. They begin to get more active and plentiful now. I am seeing little flickers all over. I decide I will follow the next one I see go by, but now there isn't one. I just lose focus and find myself in the 3D darkness "void".
I change my focus there to working on my new Earth Elemental design. After awhile of that I end the session.

A couple of times in the last daily sneak peeks, I was met with some vivid visuals immediately after closing my eyes. They were short lived, but they were only meant to be quick sneak peeks anyways.

Hey Lumaza, glad to finally find some time to be here a little. ((Hugs you))

I guess this little scenario was just mean to be. It resonates well with me and a few others I see. Sorry to say session 2 and 3 here didn't rack up much.
My little sail boat refused to budge and the one time it did in session 3 it only moved a few feet from the dock. This gives me a thought though. Will report back later.

That's a thought EV, I'd love to hear what happens if you decide to do this. So far I have to admit I'm enjoying this one.

Looking for to it Thoamas.

baro-san, it's just for practice to develop better focus and learn to trust your instincts. Lumaza can elaborate more I'm sure.

Hi Nameless! (Back at you)  

Don't you just hate that when the "Sailboat doesn't budge", lol. I would take the opportunity then to take in more of the "landscape" there itself. I find that my curiosity will normally find some new kind of scenario just awaiting there.

My quick daily sneak peeks haven't yielded much. Sometimes you just simply close your eyes and there is a full blown scene already, other times, you just produce a blank. If anything you got a couple minutes a eye rest!  

You hit the nail of the head. This practice is made to develop better focus and learning to not only trust, but to allow your curiosity to pull you deeper in. Not just to get better focus, but to learn the ability to hold it "there" longer. No more 10 second OBEs, or sneak peeks. Now you can sustain an experience longer, which helps you in any of the ways that you can achieve a non local/ordinary state of consciousness, whether that be Lucid Dreaming, full body OBEs, Phasing or any others.

 

 Day 5

I lie back in the bath water. I do some quick relaxation, this time aided by "bouncing" energy around internally for a few minutes. Then it's to some quick 6 pt focuses and I am ready to "see".

I attempt to find my Sub, but don't seem to be able to hold my focus that good. There isn't much fade in/fade out, because there isn't much period, just flat blackness.

This changes after about 10 minutes. My Submarine/ship focus seems to have been Hi-jacked by my working on my Fire Crystal Amplifier project. Last night I twisted and wrapped the wire, so they are hanging all over the place. But I could decide the design form there. I didn't know which way to take it. Today I learned and am going to do that once I log off here. I saw how I could create a cool flame look using the copper wire. I was also told the focus of this Crystal Amplifier would be on finding your "Inner Flame", because once you have found and strengthened your inner flame, your outer flame will grow and strengthen as well.
I have found the "meanings" of each or should I say more of what they are directed towards, doesn't really match what my first thought would be. Example, my Recovery Tree's focus is on growth experienced "during" the recovery process. My initial thought of the name/title Recovery Tree would be to help a person recover from whatever their physical, mental, etc. problem itself was. I didn't initially think of the positive achieved in the growth experienced during the Recovery. My first thought on a Peace Tree was spreading/amplifying your wish of Peace/worldwide around, as a whole. But I then was shown that my Peace Tree would be directed/ amplified towards creating Peace "within" you. By doing that you create Peace around you.

I completed the Tree of Amore, the Peace Tree, The Recovery Tree and a few days ago, the Air Elemental. All either have one of my new beautiful Crystals either attached to or they are mounted on one.
This practice in general is responsible for my new Art work. I was never a hands on Artist, until a few months ago. Our Dragons are made my MJ, my better half. I was always the "Visionary" of the team. I also was the sales.
Until a few months back, I had never even seen a Wire Tree before. Not of that stature. MJ has a small "beaded" Tree, it's made of painted wire, (that we got years ago), but not like any of the unique ones you find from some of the great Wire Tree artists. The visuals began spontaneously abut 3 months ago and I just laid back and absorbed all that info and the teachings I received in. Somehow, by opening the many "Doorways" that I found in the "Otherworlds", I opened up some kind of Channel. Kind of like a "Akashic record" for Wire Wrap Trees, if such a thing exists.
Many times, I just began twisting the wire, not even knowing what I was doing, just to see the end result coming out really cool. Now, I close my eyes before I attempt to work on one and I try to "Channel" whoever it is that has decided to help me. I then give them my hands and get to work.
Here's some new pictures.
http://s1306.photobucket.com/user/Lionheart78/slideshow/

I wonder if the 'gorge' is the same one I saw in my shower several months ago? 500 foot tall peaks?

I had to comment on this quote a second time just to say "Hmm, the shower". That's very interesting!  EV, knows what I am talking about.

If you don't mind: what is this exercise supposed to achieve? It is a step to what?
Thanks!

To strengthen your focus and be able to hold that focus for longer amounts of time. My Doorway technique does the same thing. When I am helping to teach a person and they begin having their own successes, I tell them "now drop everything I taught you and just notice". All my techniques are based on the same thing and that's getting you to the 3D dark zone, that's where the real Journeys begin.
Every experience above that I had , had one thing in common and that was that they all brought me sooner of later to the 3D dark zone.

I have read many articles and listened to many videos on the lives of Nostradamus, Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein and many of brilliant minds of our past and saw the one constant. Each one opened some kind of "Doorway" within themselves. Each one of them utilized the "Akashic Records" in one way shape or form. The reason they all succeeded is that they learned not only how to tap into the "other realms" at will, but also how to "stay" there and in their cases work on projects using "thought = action".

Tom Campbell told me the "NP" is just a simple shift away. "WE" just need to get out of it's way. It takes some people a lifetime and some never succeed in "getting out of the way".
I talked to Tom a few times in the past years, via email. I told him about the weeks I had where simply closing me eyes yielded vivid, in your face" visuals. I told him the first occurred by accident in the "shower", when I got soap in my eyes and closed them, then saw that I was teetering at the edge of raging Waterfall. I lost balance, vertigo kicked in and I almost tore my shower curtains down, while trying to keep standing. He said I was shown a "sneak peek" on how it could be.

That's what it's a "step" to!  

One last addition to your comment above Baro-san. I talked a few days ago with a person who is very experienced and who is also a close personal friend, via telephone. He mentioned about the fact that we get about 10 "bys" he called them. If we wished to see more, we have to work for it.

I found this to be true as well. You are given many little "sneak peeks" in the beginning of this practice. But then one day it's not so easy and you might even find that you can't succeed in this anymore. That's when you need to pull your boots straps up and get to work. You need to "be" what you are learning. You need to have purpose for why you are doing it in the first place.
At that point, the days of "Astral joyrides" seem to be gone for now and school has begun. This is when I set the mood, atmosphere, etc., lie back and mentally say, "Take me to where I need to be. Show me what I need to see". Then, I trust. It might not happen immediately. But my message/intent is answered sooner or later and it shows that it has come through, been heard, "loud and clear".  

Forums have been down for me for last few days. I have been doing the sessions though. I'll post about them when I have more time on my hands, hopefully tomorrow afternoon.

I had that problem before and still do once in awhile. I attempt to log onto the Astral Pulse and my computer says it's not accessible. 2 years ago, I was off he Pulse for about 2 weeks, because it said it was down. I didn't know the problems was mine until I emailed EV and Szaxx and they told me the site was okay.
I then deleted all my "Cookies" and browser searches. I cleaned the "hidden" cookies as well. Then, I basically "defragged" and cleaned my entire computer and after that, I had no problem getting back on the Pulse.

I wonder if the 'gorge' is the same one I saw in my shower several months ago? 500 foot tall peaks?

Lumaza, so why do you alternate between keeping an eye on a submarine versus a boat?

You guys sound like you're having such fun with this concept, I may have to give it a try!

That sounds about right, EV. The walls were incredibly high, except for once in awhile they low enough to for me to see beyond them. That led to my curious visit to that weird city of white spheres.

EV, in my first experience. I mentally consciously created or intended on seeing a road and a bridge. I blindly bent to my side and put my boat into the water and that's when I saw it was a "Submarine". The next times I went there and when I did my sneak peeks, I was looking once again for the Submarine. I felt that that was my "chosen" vehicle, so I latched onto it. I also used a visual of a Submarine, during my daily quick sneak peeks as well.
The reason that a few time above, I switched the word "Submarine" to either "ship" or boat was that I got tired of typing the word "Submarine" so much, lol. I even used "sub" a few times.  

It is fun. It's new and fresh and also gives you a chance to see the "other realms" in a different way.  

Welcome aboard EV!   The more people involved in this gives us better stats and more results.

First off, great thread EV!  I didn't see it until today.

Perhaps that's deliberate. Perhaps they know better about these things. But...but...perhaps they don't. Perhaps they're fumbling around just as much as we do. I think there is a tendency in AP/OBE/Dreaming circles to assume that "guides" have infinite knowledge at their fingertips. Why do we assume this? They may have knowledge about things we don't, but they're not supergods.

This whole 'dream character' business is my current puzzle. What did the surgical astral team require of you? I've always thought they need living persons because the dead one can't see them until they accept they are/might be dead. But surely there's a much simpler or streamlined way of getting us to do that without all these daft tests and hoops they make us go through beforehand.

What I have found is that it is our "empathy" that requires them to use "living people" to do many of the Retrievals. The fact that we are open and not just open, but also wiling to help, makes us prime candidates for the duty.
The ones we are attempting to "retrieve" are so physically focused still, even though that they have passed on, that they need a equally physically focused mindset to not only understand the problem, but also know how to rectify it.
Our nightly "training sessions" teach us valuable information in being able to maneuver in these "Otherworlds". The use of "thought = action and the ability to focus that thought = action correctly and at will, is a much needed skill wherever we find ourselves. It becomes our "second nature".
The hoops and what I like to call the tests, quests and challenges make us stronger and able to take on tougher tasks. It's all about "evolving". What we learn now, will help in some shape or form later.

I had a experience last year in the what I thought to be the Cathedral Island of Focus 27. I found myself in that area, but instead of doing a Retrieval, I was shown for the first time what was inside the White Cathedral. Most of my Retrievals ends up on the steps to this building. I was never permitted to enter the building though. I tried going up the steps once and the simulation ended then and there.

I am using the word "simulation" there because I found that this unique building was some kind of "Healing center" on a level that we wouldn't be able to comprehend.
Each room, was a simulation room. When a "Aide" entered it, they could take over and drive the simulation or should I say "join" the simulation in progress. These were the "Retrievie's" place of torture and they were hell. The Aide would enter it and attempt to help, but when they left the room, the Retrievie was once again in their own personal hell. It was quite the scene. The thing is though, this didn't bother the "Aide" in any way. They were like robots. They showed no emotion whatsoever. Therefore, this was something they could do.
Myself though, that was a different story. I could feel their, the victim's pain. That showed me why we the living are the ones chosen to aide in many cases. I saw different ways I would have handled the "victim" in this case, due to my emotions. Where as the "Aides" seemed to be more automatic.
It was kind of strange though, because I was shown that for their services, the "Aides" had everything they needed at their disposal. When they weren't working in that "Simulation Center" they were enjoying their existence there. It was a kind of "paradise" to them.
That "Simulation Center" was a healing place for the worst case scenarios though. The screams were deafening at times. But once again, that didn't bother these "Aides" at all. You could see they had been there for a quite awhile. So long, that they got used to it and just like a good Doctor does here, they never took their work home with them.

 Day 4

I lie in the water, begin some quick relaxation and 6pt focus. Now I am ready to change my focus back to the Submarine.

The usual fade in/fade out occurs for a few minutes. I don't feel as "in the zone", as I did yesterday. I decide to just relax in the 3D darkness and like usually happens when you just allow it to happen, a scene suddenly begins to grow.

This scene starts with a image of being in some kind of huge "Gorge". I am on the ship, I think, taking this view all in. The hill tops are enormous. Once in awhile they lower a bit and when they do, I can see a bit of what lies beyond them.
This one times it lowers I see some kind of white building structures, akin to "Nuclear Plant silo". This peaks my curiosity and I fly to the top of that peak to get a better look. I know I could have just thought "up". But I decided to take a more exhilarating path. The fight "up' the mountain was very cool.

I soon saw that these weren't the white towers that I first thought they were. They were white, but they were sphere shaped, not "silo" shape like a Nuclear Plant's would be. There was a number of them scattered throughout the area. I went closer to do some further inspection and could not find any entrances/exits at all on these structures. They had the look of soccer balls cut in half. They had that kind of pattern on them.
The thought had never occurred to me at the time that these could have been "Missile Silos" of some sort. I pondered that after my Phase session was complete and I was trying to understand it further.

I then returned my focus back my ship and found myself in the 3D darkness, so I decided to just relax, then I ended the session.

Fast sneak peeks didn't yield many vivid visuals. I felt more "motion" than anything


 Day 5

I start the process. Relaxation first, then a bit of 6pt focus. I now begin the "ship" focus.

Fade in/fade out quite a bit. All I can see in the brief fades is a landscape, but no ship. A scene gets vivid now and once again it is a landscape. This times I feel the motion of moving forward and see that I am scanning the area. At first slowly, but the speed rapidly builds. I am flying over mostly water, but once in awhile a land mass will enter the picture and I will just skim over it.
The feeling of flying over the water was really cool. I then briefly saw a ripple that moving weird, kind of like that of something begin pushed. I focused on it and soon found that I had dived completely into the water. It wasn't a hard transition though. The only thing that changed was the visual. Well that and that when I went into the water, there was a slow down in the speed of the movement. That soon changed and we were moving quickly again until I rose through the water and back to air again. Once again, that transition was very cool.

The "searching" process goes on for the entire session until the scene ends (I never did find the Sub) and I return back to the 3D darkness for some "being".

The 3D darkness is such a great place to just "be". No pain, no worries and many times, no thoughts. The only thoughts that occur are usually what my newest "Crystal Amplifier" is going to be. I finished Air last night. It looks awesome!   Tonight, it's "Fire".
This afternoon when I was finished my Phase session, I went and found a great piece of "driftwood" for my Tree of Flame, that I am starting tonight and I burned/scorched it with a torch. I want the base to be authentic.

 Day 3

Fantastic session!  

I got into the bath water and immediately was able to turn the pain off. It wasn't bad like yesterday. In the past I would take "muscle relaxers" or Percocet to the do the job. But I gave those up months ago and now take everything on "mind over matter". Matter sometimes wins though!   Today, "mind" prevailed.  

I begin the fade in/fade out for a few minutes and now a scene is quickly building. My view is from the front of the boat, looking backwards. So, I can't see where it's heading, but I can see a beautiful view of where it's been.

This fades out. The next scene, which is really sharp now is the Sub looks like it's beached. It has been pulled up on the sand, just like you would "beach" a smaller boat at a lake. This place is definitely a lake like setting. There is sand on the shore, but the trees in background are not "palm trees". They look more like the beautiful trees we have here in Minnesota. But I can tell it's not "Fall" there, like it is here. The trees are green as green can be and in full bloom.
I see a couple, a man and a woman, lying on a blanket on an area of the grass that surrounds the beach. They are just gazing quietly into each other's eyes. I hear or sense, (can't remember which) kids behind me. It sounds like a young boy and girl. My attention turns back to the couple though. I also get the thought that this is weird. I wouldn't have expected that a common family on vacation or whatever would be actually piloting the "Submarine".
My focus then returned back to the man and woman staring at each other. All of sudden a very emotional feeling of "Love" hit me. It was so strong, so powerful. What they were experiencing and I as well was true "Bliss". It was amazing. I felt light and fluffy all over, lol.

After what seemed like a eternity, this hypnotic scene dissipated and quickly opened up to the 3D darkness. I was really deep at this point;

 I then became aware of a faint purple "haze" in the distance. It was coming into view now and I could see it was some kind of semi-transparent purple "orb". It looked kind of "ghostly".
It began moving slowly and as it did it would kind of morph it's shape. Not into a person or anything like that. It would move side to side, then expand side to side or expand/retract etc.. I stayed with this for visual for again what seemed like a eternity.
Then as quick as it came, it left and in front of me was a small crowd "clapping". I guess I accomplished something new there.

I then returned to the 3d darkness and knew I was really deep, so I decided to turn my focus to working on my new "Elemental Air Crystal Amplifier". Working on design in the 3D darkness it so cool. Because thought = action there, you don't need to physically do anything, like the physically move the piece, etc. This gives you the ability to create new things at will. Bringing them back or manifesting them in the physical 3D world is the hard part though. Working with the wire in the physical and trying to reproduce "exactly" what I saw, is next to impossible.
I finally finished my wire "Tree of Love" last night. That took a long time to do. I did the design last week. But I wasn't really happy with it. I put it on the kitchen table so I would see it everyday and every time I looked at it, it just didn't "feel" right. I have been tweaking it here and there, but still not happy with it, until last night. I cut it off the Crystal and began dismantling it from the roots up. That is not a good idea for a number of reasons. One being you can totally destroy the whole piece.
A small piece of Crystal had broken off the main cluster and I wasn't feeling good about. The tree now looked bad. MJ then came into the room. I told her about my predicament and she said, "I guess that piece" (the broken piece of Crystal) didn't want to be part of your design. That was very kind for her saying that. She then went to bed and I began reshaping the tree. I closed my eyes and relaxed my mind for a few minutes, then set upon the new design and it came out great. I will add a picture of it to my Photobucket page when I get a chance.

Today's experience was very clear and left me in a great mood!  

My brief sneak peeks haven't yielded much more than a passing quick glance at the "Subs" surroundings. Almost every visual during my quick daily peeks has been from a 1st person point of view, as if I was on the boat or was the actual boat itself.

I want to add that I did this very quickly before reading any of the responses as I didn't want to pre-load anything anyone else experienced. After I posted the above I was surprised to go back and read Lumaza's description of his sub. Lots of similarity there.. Interesting.

First off, hello Nameless. It's good to hear from you again! Welcome to the "Challenge".

I like what you posted above, about the fact that you didn't want to "taint" your experience or "pre-load" anything.  Very smart!   I'm not surprised though!  

Your first adventure sounded fun. I think this whole experiment was "meant to be" and those that need to, that try it, will get something "new" out of this.

It can't hurt!  

This is going to be short but just wanted to document an exciting experience.  I started by closing my eyes and focusing on my breathing.  I'm going deeper and deeper, slightly noticing and fixing slight tensing.  I'm sitting in a hotel armchair this time instead of my standard go-to...a bed.  I feel the "void" again, after progressive relaxation however this time I can smell...only it's "nothing".  I acknowledge this and try to relax deeper.  After awhile longer I notice I can't feel my energy vibrating in my arms and feet anymore and proceed to focus solely on relaxing more.  A few moments later and I feel what I can only describe as a click.  My vision goes from the standard blackness to a starburst purple and green shape progressing sequencially towards me.  At the same time I get an immense feeling of forwards movement.  The star pattern is coming faster and faster and I opened my eyes after this.  It was the craziest thing I've ever seen in my life.  Even after this I can feel vibrations swirling around my temples and between my forehead.

Just thought I'd share!

AWESOME! 

Another quick "sneak peek" of what lies beyond. Congratulations and here's to many more!   

 Day 2

I lay down in the bath, get comfortable, but still have a "aching spine". The weather has changed quickly here in Minnesota. We went from the 70's down to the 40's very fast. The wind today is about 20-30 mile an hour too. Brrrr.
That's one thing I learned about becoming consciously aware. It has it's pros and cons. Some of the pros and cons can be the same thing. Case in point, you have the ability to sense things and are more aware than the average human is. That means you ae open to much more, even in this physical realm here, like "empathy/people's emotions, psychic thoughts/premonitions, etc.,  but also things like weather changes as well. You have to take the bad with the good. So this isn't such a "good" day.

But I still try. I do some relaxation exercises and etheric loosening to rid some pain. I then begin my "boat" focus.

The fade in/fade out game begins and soon I can hold my visual a bit more. This one shows up spontaneously and it is me back in 1st person view from the front of the boat. I can't visualize the "Sub" at all. So, I just go with this and my peripheral vision opens further. A couple minutes of good locked on focus begins to fade and now I am back trying to get it back again. It seems to be a battle though. I am also still aware of the "knife stabbing" in my back, so loss of focus is understandable. But I don't give up.

Some time goes past and finally imagery is beginning again. Once again I am in 1st person view from the bow/front of the boat. I see the water bubbling up ahead of me and finally notice why. We are about to go over a waterfall. This is very cool now. I watch as I am plummeting down the waterfall. I see the bubbles ahead and brace myself for what's next. I see a lot of tumbling and jumbling. But for some reason, I don't feel the tactile motions of it. Thank God though, that would be hard to handle. There was a lot of very violent tossing and turning going on there. That is one time that having no expectations really paid off.

The scene soon fades and I am back to my physical focus again. Now I just continue to lay back and relax in the bath water for awhile.

The imagery during this session was fast and a lot of "flitting"/jumping from view to view. My focus was off. My physical pain took over. It happens sometimes.

Now, to my daily sneak peek results.
I attempted to try to do this often. Just a couple of minutes of observing here and there.
Some sporadic very fast scenes. Once again, a lot of 1st person view. Very rarely did I see the Sub, but when I did, it was either being bounced around in the wake of the water (when it was on top of the water) or when I viewed underwater scene, my toy boat looked like a "real" military style sub with props and rudders to boot. That was kind of cool seeing that. The underwater 1st person quick views were good too.
I didn't get visuals every time though. Sometimes it was just blank and my eyes got a rest.

I do want to say though that what you consider a failed session, isn't. You are learning to hold your focus. That kind of training does not occur immediately on demand.
The average Human used to be able to hold their focus on one thing/their "attention span", for 12 seconds. Today, with the the "Technology" age, that has changed to 8 seconds.
A "Goldfish" though, can hold it's focus for 9 seconds. One more than a Human. 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/12/humans-have-shorter-attention-span-than-goldfish-thanks-to-smart/

 My first day results:

I got in my bath, got comfortable, did some very brief 6 pt. directional focuses, then once I felt I was getting deeper, I began my process. My intent was on 4 things. #1 Mentally walking down a road to the bridge (not any specific road, nor bridge) #2 Releasing the boat beside me into the flowing waters ahead of me and #3 and #4 Allowing and Passively Observing all.

So I start the game of fade in fade out. This happens for awhile. Now I can begin to see the road ahead. Just the road though, not the bridge. I begin walking, tactile sensations kick in. Soon I come across the bridge. It looks like a simple 1 way bridge, but it does have flowing water beneath it. I reach down to grab my boat, I put it in the water and see it's a "Submarine". Oh this should be interesting. I didn't create that. Like I said, I only had 4 intended things to do there. I didn't know what kind of "boat" it was. There was no conscious intent on it's design at all. So seeing a "Submarine" was a shock to me. But I still observed it and moved on.

It looked like a plastic toy. It has a black body/shell, with red rudders/fins and red circle that's ringed around the "stack". Now I use my "targeted focus" and I follow it.

It moves roughly in the flowing waters. Once in awhile the image fades and when I bring it back, something new has occurred. All of a sudden, I'm not behind it anymore. I am seeing through more of a first person view, but from that of being in front of it.
This opens my "peripheral" vision up wide and completely. Because of that, not only am I seeing the waters from a view that I am the one flowing down the river, but I am also seeing the background quite vividly. When you begin this exercise, it's hard to just "hold" the focus on a simple road itself. Your peripheral vision seems non existent at that point.

Now is when I become "side-tracked", but in a very unusual way. I begin focusing on the structure of the trees as I am passing by them. Then that vision instantly stops and I am working on new wire trees, according to what I learned of the tree structure I see in the passing trees. But here's the unique part. I am still passively observing that I am thinking of working on the wire wrap trees. This seems like some kind new layer. I was consciously aware of seeing that I was consciously aware of working on those wire wrap trees. It was like some kind of deeper split in consciousness.
Right now I am consciously aware that I am typing here on the internet, on all levels. I am not sitting back and "passively observing" that I am doing that. In the experience above, I was.

After a little while of working on new tree construction, I returned my focus to the boat scenario. MJ then knocked on the door and came in. She turned the light on to get a cotton ball for her son from the cabinet in the bathroom, then left.  She left the light on though. So when I closed my eyes, my screen was a bit brighter. I didn't like that, I like my screen dark as it can be. So I aborted.

I wanted to explain a bit more about the way I always use the term "allow". I have people saying, "they always allow". But do they really? Example, with most people, you can show them a very faded image and immediately their minds kick in to associate it with something. Case in point, I begin noticing and in the distance I see a shape. Right away the brain kicks into gear and attempts to focus on the shape. It's blurry, but now your mind has "filled in" the form. In other words, you have directed the thought. When I passively observe and allow, if I see a simple shape, I allow it to become what it wants. Once it is in good focus and clear, I use what I learned and I lock on it.

This whole practice here also gives your "higher self" the opportunity to communicate with you with a message or some needed lesson. That's why I kept saying above that if at any time the scenario deviates from what it currently was, allow it to. By undergoing this exercise and ones like it, you have opened a "Doorway" or path of sorts within yourself. Allow yourself to explore it further.

This is what daily practice teaches you. It teaches you how to hone your skills once you find yourself there. Thaomas, you have to "control"  the situation. I don't have to always control everything. That's the difference between us. I learned to "allow" life to happen. I like to go with flow of things and then roll with the punches when they happen.

All you have to do is put your body to sleep while keeping your mind awake. Self hypnosis is the quickest and most reliable way.

Agreed. Your LD method is sound as well.

I found that people have problems with the "what do I do while awaiting the mind awake/body asleep process to kick in?".  People were telling me their "monkey mind" was interfering or they were just out and out bored. So I figured I would find a way that they could utilize that "monkey mind" and how to stave off the boredom with some fun mental interaction, until their body did finally fall asleep.

I have been querying NPR on the truth behind the lack of success yesterday and have been given two answers. The first is that at no point was I close to sleep or a trance mindset, hence the visualizations were a struggle and didn't take on a life of their own. The second fact that was pointed out to me is that I have never been able to sleep during the day due to my energy and extreme mental activity levels - relying on falling asleep during the day to project is going to be additionally challenging by default.

Sleep isn't a part of this process. A 30 minute meditative session is. How did you associate "sleep" with this? 

I figured the instruction of a couple minute "sneak peek" many times throughout the day would have drove that point home.

 Thaomas, congratulations for trying this. But I do really see you are blocked. Right off the get-go, you were internally trying to "sabotage" any success. Like I said "any doubt will knock you out" and this "Around 7 minutes in I started receiving information that this session would not succeed. I pushed those thoughts away, although they were quite persistent. I didn't feel any attachment to them, need for success or expectations, yet I felt a deep knowing that they were correct, much like precognition." is known as harmful doubt.  

Now to the unknowing sabotage you created. First off, I said the idea was akin to and based on "Paddle to the Sea". You didn't need to view a little native American canoe with a small paddler in it. You could have chose anything else. The little native American canoe, with paddler in tow, automatically creates "expectation".

Next, the instructions were simple saying you mentally walk down the road ahead of you until you get to that bridge. When you get to the bridge bend down and release the toy boat beside you, into the "flowing" waters. This was all "figurative". Meaning, you didn't need to visualize a place you already knew of. That in itself, once again, creates expectation. The "flowing" water would mean that the boat would follow some kind of current. Because this river/waterway was going to be imaginative, the simple thought of a flowing river immediately brings current, movement to the water, so the boat will be moving away from you and likely forward. You would simply be following it. Because it is a water way that you haven't seen or are familiar with, it would create a inner curiosity and have it's own path. Thus, once again, abating any expectations.
I purposely chose that because just setting it free on a motionless lake, wouldn't yield any need for movement and thus you would witness inactivity.
Every part of this was chosen because of "triggers". But you managed to subconsciously remove those triggers. Thus making this much harder to do.

So, you got off to a rough start. But we will see where this goes now.

I think I needed to see this myself, so I could understand how people can get confused with what I figured were easy directions. It shows I need to add much more detail to explanations and methodology that I share. Thank you for that!  

No need to apologize Lumaza... My curiosity about you is that you seem to practice so many techniques and "ways" so it's quite confusing for me.  I'm someone who wants to find one way and keep doing it. I read many of your posts in the past and you seem quite experienced but how do you keep practicing almost every possible technique? After those years of practice have you not found one succesful way? And keep it... because that's my goal.

All of my techniques are basically variations/derivatives of each other. They are all based on focusing away from the physical body.  I have used the basics, mind awake body asleep, noticing and even "climbing" out of the body. EV was correct in everything he said above. If you look at that last one, climbing out of the body, there are multiple of ways to do that. There used to be a "stickied thread" on the Astral Pulse devoted just to that. It was something like 99 ways to get out of the body or something like that.

After successes, I was challenged, due to blocks, to come up with new ways to access these realms, if I wished to continue my practice. I also began to help others here and "teach" as well.

I have always enjoyed the use of Binaural Beats/Iso tones. I also found that I really enjoy and had a lot of success with motion based methods. I wrote my Doorway process while suffering from TN. That was one of my biggest challenges. If I wished to continue, I had to find another way. But I also wanted to use that to share with others here because of all the "hidden" characteristics of that process. The associative parts of it. There are geometric shapes based in all forms of life. That created mental associations and mental "triggers". So did the directional motion and use of color. It was like the perfect "Trifecta".

The same ole, same ole, gets rather boring as well. My exercises/methods are all based on things to do while the natural shift is occurring. The little day time close your eyes briefly thing, was basically to enhance that mental conditioning. Simple dissociation methods to get used to the feeling of being "out".

 First off. Superman, I apologize for Hi-jacking your thread. But I know you like to read stuff like this too and it may be helpful for you as well!  
It is keeping your thread "fresh" as well, so more people are getting to appreciate your above link that you shared here.

I just finished my Phase/soak session and in it was shown something from my past, that made me feel oh so old, lol. I was shown a exercise/technique to do for an entire week. But for some reason, I am almost sure, I was shown it to have you try it Thaomas.

We will call this practice "Paddle to the Sea". The premise and reason it made me feel old is that I had watched this short film in School as a young lad. I don't remember much of my past, so I was shocked that the "Paddle to Sea" theme would come up to me. Here's a short quip on that film. https://www.nfb.ca/film/paddle_to_the_sea/
I don't want you to go watch the film though. That would cause you to have prior expectations.
Now to the exercise. The duration of the exercise for now is one week. Every day you will do a sit down for at least 30 minute session and on top of that, whenever you find a spar moment during the day, I want you to take a few seconds/minutes to do some quick "searching". Periodically that is.

The exercise starts with your closed eyes. You will do what ever it takes to get relaxed first, then just put in about 10 minutes of "noticing" in he darkness before your eyes.
When you feel "depth" approaching, I want you to mentally walk down that road ahead of you until you get to that bridge. Don't look for the road, just know it's there. This is where you will either get a quick visual or feel your first "etheric" movement. When you get to the bridge ahead, reach down and release that toy boat beside you into the flowing water. The boat can be a replica Canoe, Sailboat, Ocean-liner, Battleship, it doesn't matter right now. Don't choose the "Titanic/Poseidon" or any other failed ship, lol.  Watch it take off.

Now you are going to just observe. Visually/mentally follow it wherever it goes. Don't lead it. I won't give you any examples or ideas of destination because once again, that would cause "expectations". Stay with it. When it fades, bring it back. If you can't see it, feel it or hear it's path or smell the air around it, feel the motion of it. Stay at least 20 feet behind it though. You are pure conscious energy at this point, so you can go anywhere it can and more. It's kind of like a "pace car" scenario where you start feeling the bends and curves of the path ahead.

If at any time something else starts to happen, a new morphed scene, allow that new focus to take over and lock on to that new target.

Whenever you get a chance during the day, "briefly" close your eyes and see what your ship/vessel is doing. Do it often. This entire practice is all about "repetition" and "entrainment". It can be like a new version of "Where's Waldo", lol. You don't need to put time into these little peeks.

The next day when you go to do your 30 minute session, you don't need to start from the beginning of the scenario again. Get relaxed, in the zone, then see if you can see where your ship is and what it's doing. Follow it for awhile, through whatever environment you find it in. Be aware of your other senses as well. When it fades, bring it back.

I guarantee you "something" will happen. Don't stop doing it until the entire week is done. It doesn't matter how bad your ability to visualize or sense in the NP is. You will have a "experience".

You can Journal the entire process or keep "foot-notes", just so you can chart your results, during your new "exploration.

Years ago, I followed David Warner's by logging everything in my "progress" book. I had stats like what food I ate, even what the weather was like. I wanted to find out if the physical body or physical elements had any bearings on my practice.
I already knew the about the easy things, like drinking lots of water before bed was great for a "OBE" attempt. It would wake me up at that "sweet spot", whereas I was just beginning the Dream cycle and was already completely relaxed.
Eating before sleep was good too. It kept my stomach from rumbling. No too much though. Just a snack sufficed. Weather, the Moon's cycle, didn't really play much into success or failure. Overall mood did though. Sometime you just don't feel into it. That is the good time to abort and try again later. There is no rush.
In the end though, I didn't see much that made a difference, besides "mood". Mood was the make or break point.

I will do it too. Any one else is more than welcome as well. We could make a new thread for this if enough people are interested. Group  exercises like this and logging of results of said experiences will help us all to learn and grow together.  

I was under the notion that Ap was suppose to be able to help you bring your desires to fruition, even if its, not of a real event/thing, even if what it is i'm trying to achieve happens as a placebo effect i'll take it, placebo effects help bring things out of you, that was already there, so me experiencing it as that astrally, would even be satisfying, I want to do it so that I can be satisfied in saying I did it, and maybe get a result, if it don't heed the results I want, I can at least say I tried, I don't think I can just let it go cause I been chasing for so long, I want to do it so I can just move on, I want to complete something in my pathetic life. Heck if people can create beings, out of fear astrally, why can't I get this created, even if it's not real, most of those beings aren't real but they are created.

Also i'm sure that my higher self probably is just  me at my best, I would still be satisfied with it, because its me being all the things I ever wanted to be or accomplish, to tell the truth I wouldn't even want to be on the bad side of that me, everything I ever thought of being and wanted to be is that me, and just to give a example of what that me would be like, a hero, psychic, teleporter, telepathic, telekinesis, do I need to go on, and that is just some of the stuff I suspect that me would be, again I would be satisfied even if its done as a placebo effect  maybe it will stir something within me lol. I know this is all wishful thinking.

For now you need to lose all those expectations and just begin "experiencing" it itself. Allow it to teach you what it wishes for now. You can ask questions later. Just try to get the "lay of the land" per se. In other words, get your feet your wet.

You may find that when you lose your expectations, you will also lose the pressure you are putting on this to work. By losing or loosening the pressure, you may release your "block" as well.

Are you sure that is all it takes? I feel like losing focus on the physical reality is easy, it happens to me spontaneously many times a day even. Its a different experience to the OBE, more like complete sensory deprivation from all realities. I'll even admit to one drug experience that created a stronger "thought train" experience - but it still wouldn't convert to an OBE despite total sensory deprivation. Some authors labor on the necessity of achieving mind awake body asleep. Some of my spontaneous OBEs have come from passing out due to yogic breathing routines as evidence. Is your experience that you are definitely going into a fully blown OBE without being asleep?

The first thing I ever tried was the "Candle burning technique and I followed that to the letter. The time limit put on the exercise was necessary. You stared at the candle and just the candle for the recommended 15-20 minutes. Then you closed your eyes imprint there. When it faded, you willed it back. That powerful "NP" focus started the shift in motion. If you didn't put in the time necessary or did it half "as s", you didn't get the full experience. There was no shortcuts.

Tom Campbell spoke of starting slow, as in you could only hold your focus on something for a couple of seconds. But with practice that improved and pretty soon I learned how to "lock" on to things. Yes, a session would begin with trying some imagery, having it fade, bringing it back, having it fade, bringing it back, but all of sudden I would find myself somewhere experiencing some kind of lesson. There would be a guide or I would just be undergoing some kind of test, while being watched. I always had that feeling that someone was around.

I then began using Binaural beats along with my "Happy Place" imagery and found success with that as well. I then became a real explorer and started trying all different things. I used visual "Anchors". But most of my success came after reading Robert Bruce's "NEW" technique. I began using that energy manipulation often. At first it was just as his method was meant for, the act of moving energy sensations around the body. I then keyed on my "etheric side". I would sit by my window in my home, close my eyes and try to reach out for my tree that was about 50 ft away. I would try to touch a door knob etherically before my actual physical hand did. These "disassociation" practice really paid off.

That lead to the "Phantom Wiggle" and the onset of motion based techniques. Shooting a basketball, playing ping pong, watching a yo-yo, throwing a Frisbee. These repetitive practices soon took on a life of their own. When they did, I "allowed" the scene to commence as it wished to. I just watched by "passively observing", until I felt it was time to become part of the scene as well.

I experimented every day. I had quite a bit success with my Laxman as well. It almost instantly put me into the zone. But it was short lived.

I then began focusing on creating techniques that would be easy for new people to follow. That's where the "Doorway" came in.  It was totally based on "Visual Association". Just the thought of a simple geometric shape can get visuals going. Round/Apple, square/house, easy stuff. Color worked the same way. Then I saw, motion did as well. Forward/Driving. left/right would be swaying or veering, backwards/depth. Once again, all easy things to do. I found that by focusing on these things, having them fade and bringing them back, that sooner or later a entire scene would appear and soon you would be in that scene. If you needed to see something else, the scenario would change to that new circumstance, guidance or lesson.

Hmm, this adds evidence to my suspicion that the "beta" waves of our conscious thoughts can prevent the "gamma" state necessary for a full shift. Maybe it literally is the sleeping process rather than our actively making the process take longer. I say that because we don't necessarily resist going to sleep but it still takes a while for the brain to physically calm. I have never heard of anyone switch flipping into an OBE or going to sleep excluding rare events like near death experience.

During my practice with my Light/Sound machine, I found that there somehow the pineal gland was getting activated and releasing "DMT". It was so easy to get into the "zone" while using it. But, like I said, the experience was short-lived. Once the machines time elapsed, I found my focus return to the physical again. Just enough to have me start the whole focus over again. I then changed to using it as a "Primer" for a session.

10-30 minutes is an insanely long time to maintain a visualization. Is this really such a long simulation or is it more like 10-30 second bursts with rests and distraction interludes? I have witnessed a scenario take on a life of its own a handful of times that were somewhat out of the blue, all of them involved falling asleep once again. My other visualizations always have to be desperately maintained for some reason.

10-30 minute is the time it took to have the visual scene morph, take on it's own life. The time is took for me to be fully in the "zone". Like I said, in the beginning there was quite a bit of "flitting" around. 10 seconds was a eternity. But that soon changed with further practice. There was no need for full body separation though. That became apparent once I was shown the freedom that just being a point of consciousness had.
That lesson came to me in spontaneously as well. I would be focusing on something, then all of a sudden I would see some kind of "Pac-Man" like creature eating my body away, starting at my toes. I then started the practice of visually "unzipping" my Human suit. All these things drove home the point that I was just a point of consciousness there and when I did, I began visiting some very unusual and bizarre realms and circumstances.

Rome wasn't built in a day and I knew that. Some things in life you can't rush. I would love to learn how to play Guitar in a day as well. But that's not going to happen. It takes commitment and dedication to learn how to play a new instrument. Think of Astral Projection as that "instrument".

What it basically comes down to is "if you really, truly have the will, there is a way".

All the time I was practicing I was still having and still have today spontaneous OBEs during SP. Sometimes I get 2-3 a month. At times it was 1 or 2 a week. LDs, almost every night now.

Like I said above. LDs are about working on me in the physical in some shape or form. They are based on resolving old problems, healing, there is quite a few "Hero" scenarios, which could also be Retrievals as well. The past, present and future. I balance my awareness in them, so that I don't overpower the experience with my physical mindset. I always stay in the "narrative" I find myself in and see it for what it has to show to me.

My APs and OBEs though always have to do with some kind of lesson on navigating the realm I find myself in, Retrievals and being introduced to new realms and new circumstances. They are always focused on "there". These seem more based on "exploration".

That would be the major difference I find between LDs and AP/OBEs. It's an entirely different conscious mindset.

 It's been awhile since I posted in this thread. Last night I had one of these download experiences, but it was of a different kind.

I awoke 4 times during the night/early morning and each time I awoke, words of a different 80s Rock bands were in my head. Each time it was a different song and when I came to, I was even "mouthing" them.

This happened 4 completely different times and each time the words were different. The thing is and why I suspect a "Download", that I don't have any conscious recollection of the words of those songs or name of the song. I know it happened 4 times, but that all the "conscious" recall I have. Downloads are normally a message received at a deeper level. So I know the message has been received and that some time sooner or later the purpose will be revealed.

I have had Dreams in the past whereas I am on stage playing with a band. But this was different. There was no visual that I can remember. All I can consciously remember is that the same circumstance occurred 4 different times and for some reason, I know the words and songs were all different.

Just another one of those unexplainable happenings in the NP! It didn't seem to have the "intensity" of a full blown Download though. My regular Downloads seem to overload my conscious mind and cause a "click out". I haven't had one in awhile though, I think, lol.

I have started to wonder if the increasing prevalence of attention deficit disorders in the digital generation play a part in the difficulty. I have recently read that this condition is less "mental disorder" and more "default depression" induced by lowered base lines of happiness hormones in the body. It leads us to give up the existing thought, or reality itself, in favor of the next thought with no apparent resistance. Flipping through pictures on Facebook for example conditions us to this disorder.

In the context of phasing, the likes of the island paradise is almost hopeless before the apparent might of attention deficit I have learned

I want to say one thing here Thaomas and this isn't ego talking, this is truth and I don't want to sound pompous or crass. If I began to believe any excuse or reason that I can come up with for not being successful at something, I would never be able to do that something again. That goes especially for this practice. Any "doubt" will knock you out.
I have been challenged in the last 6 years of my exploration by numerous things. Things that went completely against my belief system, medical issues and emotional rollercoasters as well. But I would never give in. I fought. Every wall made me want it more. Even block made me stronger.

. I had a rare opportunity this morning to sleep in and spent a fair amount of time practicing phasing techniques. Mind's eye is a strength of mine but I can only stick phasing scenario for a few moments before unconsciously changing to internal monologue, then catching the mistake and going back to physical awareness before resetting on the phasing.

You did nothing wrong there. Phasing, then going back to internal monologue makes no difference, unless of course that makes you start makes you focus on this physical reality here. It's only wrong if "you" think it is.
The only thing you need to acquire a shift in consciousness is to completely lose your focus on this physical realm here, unless you wish to practice "dual" awareness and then you need to be able to hold a steady even balance to do that

One thing that remains the ultimate mystery to me is why successful phasing takes so long. Getting completely immersed in a minds eye situation briefly is easy but it lacks the same intensity and _persistence_ as a physical experience; feel the warmth of the sun, feel the sand, the warmth is gone, feel the wind, the sand is gone. The barrier doesn't seem to be fear of shifting to the island, nor disbelief in the fact that we aren't a physical body in essence. Its a physical condition of the brain resisting the process due to an inflexibility in our ability to rapidly shift brain wave states.

I think it takes that long because we make it take that long. We begin the process. Then we play some weird game of yo-yo between our current NP focus and our waking conscious mind. That game keeps going until we find ourselves too tired to play anymore. Then the shift occurs. In other words, once you give up fighting it, the shift occurs naturally.
Ask yourself this. How long does it take to shut off your mind when you go to sleep. You put your head down and 5-10 minutes later your gone. You have programmed yourself all your life to do that. Well acquiring a totally consciously aware shift takes the same "programming'.

When I first had problems with my TN, I couldn't close my eyes normally and fall to sleep. My TN caused my left eye nerve to spasm violently when I closed it. It was okay while it was open, as long as the lights around me weren't too bright.
This is what taught me what I call the Tibetan Dream Yoga. I stayed aware fully into the entire Dreaming cycle. Some nights, I stayed aware for 2-3, sometimes up to 8 hours. I saw the different Dreams I had and the completely different "stages" of Dreams as well. Luckily, my body still received it's rest though.

When I used to Phase I had 3 things I focused on. At that time, I wanted to know more about the NP. I would begin with my focus on my Happy Place. If that didn't create a surge. I would change to my focus on the "Training zone". I would visualize the wooden sign "Training Zone", (just like I do now with Doorways) and start walking in the wooded area I always found myself in. After awhile, I would use my "Spinning Top" visual. That was akin to what Leonardo DiCaprio did to check which reality he was in, in the movie "Inception". I would look at the to to see if I was seeing a "flat on" view or a 3D view of the spinning top. If it was 3D, I knew I was deep and that the shift was almost there. I then "allowed" it to commence.

Today, I don't need those things. Once in awhile I will shoot some hoops, row a boat, etc. just to get some motion going. Then I sit back and notice or if that visual of rowing began to take on a life of it's own, I would allow the scenario to form, then join it. Now it takes anywhere from 10 minutes - 30 minutes before the shift occurs, depending on my mood, pain level, etc.. Not always are you going to just be able to shut everything off. The bath water is very good for relaxation though. That seems to speed everything up. But when I talk about "Entrainment", just closing my eyes while lying in the water, puts me in the zone. That daily "brain entrainment" really pays off. That's why I am such a fan on repetition.

When I used my Happy Place visual, I would start by lying on the each and first grabbing a handful of sand or attempt to smell the ocean or hear the waves. From there I would then turn my head left and right and look at my surroundings. There was normally something out of place there and that became my target of interest or focus. I always let my curiosity take me deeper.
When I read my Journals yesterday, I saw that that is where my "Guide" Charlie showed up too and most of my first successful APs occurred on that "Island" as well. If I needed to see something else, the scene would change and I would find myself elsewhere, like in some kind of "school"/learning situation.