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I unashamedly feel plumb giddy!

As you should!   It feels good to feel good!  

I believe healing begins, (at the physical level that is), with "belief". We then need to get in sync with our other many layers that may not wish that healing upon us. That comes from having those mental conversations. Our lack of healing could be because #1, there is a lesson to learn from our ailment, as Lightbeam says and #2, we are slowly preparing for our next "transition". The moment we are born we are already very slowly working towards our next transition. I'm sure there is a #3, #4, #5 and many other reasons as well.

I have become aware in my nightly slumber that I was being worked on as well. Only a few times have I "consciously" seen who it was that was doing the work. But in the morning I say "Thank You" and leave it like that.

Just recently I had a very real experience here where Doctors were really battling. They weren't doing it face to face. We were told some things by one of them that was immediately contradicted and attacked by others. That doesn't surprise me though. There are a lot of "inflated heads/Egotists" in that profession. But that's okay. I would want the person doing my Surgery to be or think they are at the top of their game. With what they go through on a daily basis, a strong mind is necessary there.

I've not gotten very far. I've approached the "body asleep, mind awake" state but I've not achieved it. As of last night I started tying a leather string around my finger attached to a bunch of nuts and bolts. The idea being if I fall asleep, I'll drop it and wake up. So that's my focus at the moment, to become able to hover on the edge. Next I hope to tackle the almost hopeless task of resisting clearing my throat. Lol.

I feel impatient but I am seeing that I cannot rush this. It's a worth while lesson to learn.

I feel fortunate to have found the home base of Frank Kepple. I'm really glad to be here. I'm ready to humbly learn from you all.

Welcome to the Astral Pulse Patrick! 

"Mind awake, body asleep" is a great focus to use. You can even add "color", as in for the mental command mind awake, visualize the color blue at or filling your head your head.  For body asleep, visualize the color orange sweeping down as it fills your entire body. You will find that you will begin to feel it as well. I read this technique years ago via a video called "Lucidololgy 101", by Nicholas Newport. It was very helpful in the beginning of my Journey.
http://files.lucidology.com/luc/101/pdf/lucidology-101-p2-sleep-paralysis-holy-grail-www-lucidology-com.pdf

The clearing throat thing gets better with practice. You will learn how to focus away from all of that. When I was new to this, I had to jump many hurdles. Constant problems with swallowing and phlegm, eyes opening just as I was "exiting or at least feeling like they were opening", eyelids fluttering, itchy skin, all kinds of things. The more I practiced though, the better it got. All of those things were my physical body's way of keeping me focused solely on the physical. Being consciously aware while we "shift" is unnatural to us. The "shift" isn't though, we do that every night when we go to sleep. The thing is we aren't "consciously" aware of while it occurs. We need to not only reprogram our system, but also affirm and re-affirm to our higher self that it is okay.

Your idea of tying a string to your finger was brilliant. People have also used the technique of tapping gently with a finger as they fall asleep, bending their arm upwards, there's all kind of inventive ways to achieve the same goal. Experiment. Find our what works for you! 

DUDE. I'm so sorry. What does your neurologist say about these symptoms? Losing your balance by simply closing your eyes is absolutely a neuro issue.

It was a Neurologist that diagnosed the Trigeminal Neuralgia.

You missed the point or misunderstood what I was talking about when I mentioned the "vertigo, nausea, ears ringing, body trembling, all sorts of things". Those are the almost immediate "exit symptoms" that I experience when I close my eyes now. I have been Phasing, via my Phase soak session. almost every day for the last 5 years now. I normally do it as a soak in the bathtub because the water really aids the "detachment". I am 6'1, about 200 lbs and my tub is only about I guess 4 1/2 to 5 ft long. My body is totally crammed in there, kind of pinned between two walls, so my legs are normally climbing up the wall at one end of the tub. When I get into the water and close my eyes, it takes seconds now to lose my physical focus and begin to Phase inwards/outwards, whatever direction it seems to be, lol. It used to take me up to an hour and half to achieve that level of disassociation and physical detachment.

Through years of constant brain entrainment, I have kind of programmed my mind that when I close my eyes, the shift can now commence. Because of that, I actually had to fight just getting to sleep many nights. Sometimes you just want to close your eyes and "zone out" instead of remaining consciously aware. That's why I warn again, "be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. But not the way you intended it to be!"

Also, one other thing. I have had Phase soak sessions that were so deep, that I had to start "walking myself back" when I was done them. Once, I had gotten out of the tub too quickly and almost fell flat on my face. I wasn't fully "back" yet. So, I then saw that there was a "return" time needed in the process as well. I was still in a Theta, near Delta brain wave frequency. I had to walk myself back to Alpha and then Beta again.

This link will take you to some more info on the various states of brain wave frequencies and what you experience in each of them.
https://www.healthline.com/health/alpha-brain-waves#different-types-of-brain-waves

Lumaza: I do wonder sometimes about what it means to say we're all "physically safe" no matter what happens in NP. Nausea, dizziness, ear pain/ringing - these are all actual, physical effects on my physical body. Sure, there may not be any permanent damage, but it does seem to me like sometimes something from the NP can actually affect our physical bodies (to at least some degree) - beyond just, wow, I feel really drained after I get back from an NP experience - so seems something worth keeping in mind. I'm guessing there's no horror stories out there of anyone actually incurring real, lasting harm from an NP experience (??), but at least some impact (potentially if not fleetingly negative) can happen.

I guess it all comes down to "be careful what you wish for". NP exploration can be very adventurous, but like everything else in life, it has it's "cons" as well.

We have had people through the years come to this Forum here to learn how to have a conscious shift in their awareness. We aided them and the next thing I knew, I was getting PMs from them asking me how they can stop this. What they saw and what they experienced was definitely not what they had expected. Once you open Pandora's Box, you can't just simply close it and expect it to go away. So yes, I say once again "be careful what you wish for".

I experience much of what you are. Just simply closing my eyes now can cause vertigo, nausea, ears ringing, body trembling, all sorts of things. To me though, it has become the "new normal". Talking about lasting effects. A glitch in a new Light/Sound machine has left me with Trigeminal Neuralgia. It messed up the nerve in my left eye. Because the glitch occurred while my eyes were shut, when I shut my eyes to go to sleep nightly, I have to deal with spasms. They range from mild to severe  I also have to wear glasses called "Theraspecs" day and night now. That whole thing wouldn't have started had I not known about NP exploration, like many others in this World/realm. But, everything happens for a reason. So I am content with that! 

 Fear will always find a way to rear it's ugly face. In another thread here, another member of ours, Grumpyrabbit, has just had a similar occurrence to yours. Though the circumstances/scenarios are different, the fact that it had a real lasting effect on your physical vessel the following day is very evident indeed. I have had these in the past and am still currently going through about 12 nights in a row of some really bizarre and negative LDs.

Recently I spoke of how our nocturnal/NP experiences can have a lasting effect on you the next day. I said that it can create the "mood"/theme" of your day. But it can be felt physically as well. Spiritually too. That covers all 3, Body, Mind and Spirit.

I also said in that other thread, that "the more we evolve/progress, the more our teachings/tests do as well". They seem to ramp up in their intensity!  

i'm pretty sure i was facing aspects of my subconcious in some kind of 'training' space.

I think Tides here hit in right on the head!

These "training zones" can be brutal, especially if we aren't doing what we are being taught to do there. If we go against the "plan" there sometimes, we get more than just a mere slap on the hands. I find that that area is not afraid of using some or should I say a lot of "tough Love".

In your case Grumpy, I can see that you were "trying" to do everything you could, yet failed. You were trying to maintain a semblance of control. Yet, that's not what the lesson was. I feel, from reading what you have said and also from experiencing it myself, that you needed to do the exact opposite of what you were doing. You needed to just "be".

One thing about evolution and progressing is that the lessons get harder too. That means the "fear tests", the egocentric tests, the lust tests, all the tests you are given that help you grow get more difficult as well. You basically fought everything until it made you physically ill.

It's much easier to say, (after the fact), than it is to do, but you needed to realize that you were totally safe and nothing could "physically" hurt you there. You needed to give in to it all and just "observe" what was currently occurring. When you truly observe something, you put yourself outside of the situation at hand. It's like jumping from 1st person into a 3rd person viewing/mode. To learn how to do that is a lesson in itself. A very valuable lesson that will help you in your physical life as well! It helps you see things in life with more "clarity"!  Clarity helps you decide the proper decisions to make in order to fulfill your goals and aspirations in life.

That type of "detachment" comes in handy in the Art of Phasing too!  

He does a really good job at bringing it down to a understandable level IMO, there's lots of other interesting videos on the metaRising channel.

I saw that. When I find a video with a topic that I like and enjoyed, I will normally look at the User's profile to see what other "Gems" they may have posted! 

Take Vitamin B6 Before Bed To Better Remember Your Dreams, Study Finds
https://www.studyfinds.org/vitamin-b6-before-bed-remember-dreams/

Documentary ~ Is Reality Simulated? | The Simulation Argument and Consciousness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmRTC6xhis4

Thanks for the share Bob! 

I particularly enjoyed the Documentary! 

Will be interesting to re-read and see if anything jumps out at me, since it's been almost a year since I read it and started this journey.

There likely will be!  Re-hashing is always a good thing. Especially in this practice where a "evolution"/progression of sorts is experienced! 

There are certainly some things that need to be "cleaned out" as it were - and maybe that's why the hooded figure said it was time to shut down the basement, like, hey, let's move on from all that, shall we? So that makes intuitive sense to me.

"Moving on" is usually the byproduct/result of some kind of forgiveness, either "self or other"!  

From what i have seen, the "cloaked/hooded Being" can have a number of purposes. I have experienced it as the initial "welcome to the Astral World, Gatekeeper type". I have seen him as the "harbinger" of a approaching lesson and also a harbinger of bad news. I have experienced something similar in a few Retrievals I have had. Even though he is "hooded", it seems he can wear all kinds of hats!  

interesting the idea about mental tiredness from continuous awareness
so do you think it would be unhealthy mentally to have a conscious projection everynight ? do we still need that downtime
ive always woken feeling pretty euphoric from an ap but i never have them frequently enough to notice any kind of fatigue
or are you talking more about insomnia with boughts of lucid dreams in between so there is no noticeable break in between ?

The "mental fatigue" occurred from bouts of LDs that seemed to occur all the way up to my morning awakening, when i got out of bed. It was just too much for the mind to comprehend. At least when it was occurring almost every night during that period that is. There didn't seem to be a "break in between" them. I got to see "be careful what you wish for" up close and personal! 

Nowadays, I have LDs almost every night, but thankfully, there are breaks in between them. There is a good amount of time that I am "clicked out" of my conscious awareness. They still can set the mood for the day though. I fully understand why we don't remain consciously aware, with a full recall of what we experienced during the nights, of everything that occurred while our physical body sleeps. It's just too much for the system to bare.

 Grumpy, it sounds like there is a real push here for you to not only be aware of your "basement", but also "clean it out" as well. Does that sound right? The "basement" is always viewed as lower part, almost negative part of our existence. It's usually about cleaning up possible "skeletons" that have been left down there. This normally leads to "forgiveness".

 So I just finished my Phase soak session for today and in it, I found my mind hijacked by this current conversation here. I was then shown things with more clarity. This will either help you understand or confuse you even further, lol! I always enjoy those mental conversations though. The 3D Void or vastness is a perfect setting for them.

Think of our system as a well oiled machine. The make-up of our machines is three components. Let's call them Body, Mind and Spirit. Each of these components has it's own level of awareness. Sometimes that certain level of awareness isn't consciously apparent to us. It seems to have been dulled down or completely turned off. Our system is a very complexed machine. Kudos to the Creators!  

So, to the system. The Body, well that's the vessel. That's the physical part of the machine. Our appendages help us attain the bodies physical activities. The Body could be seen as the mechanical part of the program. As being a mechanical device, it has a "downtime" as well. Like a machine, this downtime can be used to not only recharge, but in our case also "regenerate", as in cellular growth and regrowth. During that time, our awareness is "stunned". With good reason though. i have spent sleepless void like nights wherein I could feel the changes being made to my cells and even body parts. I was that aware.

I know personally from staying awake all night and aware, via Lding, that it is very tiring on the system. Mostly on the mind though. The Body was still regenerating, as the body does. But the emotions within the experiences really spilled into the waking physical reality as well. That created in essence a mood or the theme of the day. It was also very confusing. The "realities" never stopped. It was just jumping from one to the next.

Next we come to the Mind. This is the "Interface" of the system. This is the mental part of the system. This keeps the physical vessel going. This is the "filter" between the Body and the Spirit. This is where the decision making occurs. Think of it like our form of a "internet". It gets information from both sides. It knows when to shut the physical system down and when to wake it up again. It is the "control panel" of the system. it seems to need a brief down time as well.

Now comes to the Spirit. You could call it the Matrix. By looking at it that way, the Akashic Records become much easier to attain. Just plug in to them. The Spirit is the true "I AM". It is always present, but not always heard. This isn't necessarily the creator of system. This is the one that has created a path of sorts that this system will follow. The "Operator". This never needs a down time. This is always omnipresent and aware.

I talked earlier about a "glitch". It normally takes a glitch in the system to show us something anew. This glitch could come from all sorts of things, a NDE, a spontaneous, OBE with all the trimmings, a disease or accident that creates a breakdown in one part of the system or another, seeing a Ghost or a UFO, all kinds of things. These glitches are what lead to a change in our reality here. This is when the "Spirit" of the system seems to be more evident.

You can also learn to reprogram that system. That is evident in this practice we are doing here today. I always say "change your mindset, changes your reality". This is exactly what I mean when I say that. You really can learn to reprogram that system, if you really want to.

This inturn brings up Lumazas post...

Your statement implies awareness is divided. Who is the 'we' awareness that is different from the ever-present awareness? On the surface these two sentences contradict one another. How can you lose conscious awareness and be ever-present at the same time? To lose awareness you have to be aware of the loss of awareness and so therefore it isn't a loss of awareness.

Are you are saying we lose the content of awareness but not awareness itself? It doesn't read that way but perhaps you can clarify?

To say we opt in to losing awareness implies the content of awareness (the body/mind in this case) can affect that which it is made of - awareness itself. To borrow from the classic non dual analogy - that would be like the movie screen being altered by the movie that plays on it. But in reality the movie comes and goes yet the screen remains always the same. Uncolored and unaltered by that which temporarily appears within it.

At the end of your post you talk in a similar way about experiencing a shift in awareness. If awareness is ever present then what is shifting? And shifting from what to what? Do you mean 'shift in awareness' or a 'shift in the content of awareness'? Because they are very different things.

As you are talking about OBEs I'm assuming that what you are referring to as shifting is your perception. Perceptions relate to objective content not awareness. Awareness is the subject not the object.


This is an interesting point and I agree that in the difference we can observe awareness more clearly. I would be interested to hear more from you on this.

Put in the word "focus" and my entire post made more sense. Consciousness is always present. It's where "you" are putting your focus that counts. When a person lies down to fall asleep, they expect as a "give me" that the next thing they will remember is waking up again. But, it doesn't have to be that way. They can shift their "focus" onto a whole new thing. If they do, they remain "consciously" aware of the new reality they are experiencing. This is evident in "Phasing".

When i said we have a choice in the matter, I meant we have a choice to decide on what our focus is going to go. We can either opt to go to sleep peacefully and briefly lose our "conscious recall" or we can opt to stay completely aware of what will occur next. The thing here is with most people the peaceful uneventful sleep wins out. They aren't even conscious that there was a choice in the first place. It is just a "given" to them. Part of the natural system. It's built into us. That's why a "glitch" is needed to awaken us to other possibilities. Call it "a happy accident"! 

it was mainly a place for me to store my dream journals in a digital format fleshed out from my paper notes so its a bit rough around the edges
i struggle to articulate myself aswell as some people do but i enjoy adding to it when i have any ap breakthroughs or standout lucid dreams  

Dream Journals are fantastic. They constantly affirm to your "higher self" that you are serious about this and because of that they continue to occur!  

The problem is maintaining them through the years. I personally have 4 Journals filled with years of LDs. After about the 4th year, laziness kicked in and I stopped journaling in them  Nowadays, I only journal like you said the "breakthrough" or "standout" ones. I never wanted to write a book. I just kept the logs to "observe" my own personal "evolution" in this practice and they are still doing just that!  

I wanted to explain a bit further on my earlier post here about affirming. The words "I am" show "absolutes". They also show "faith". Both are very important for continued success in the practice of non-physical exploration.
I used the word "enjoy" there because that shows that they are "always" welcomed, even though not everyone of them has a positive outcome. There is always something to be learned from them.

I too have a problem "articulating" my thoughts here. Many times my answers to people here will be brief. But they will still have substance. I really do hate typing, lol. So I normally type as little as I can, lol! 

my dream/ap blog https://fowlskins.wordpress.com/ for anyone thats interested
not had much to add recently hopefully can get motivated again

As I was reading your blog, I came across this that you said and see that it would be more beneficial to you to change your wording up a bit.
Your quote:
"i will be aware in my dreamscapes
i will achieve lucidity
i will learn the lessons that i need to be learn"

change to

I am aware in my Dreamscapes
I am fully Lucid during them
I learn from and enjoy my experiences there".

Why the change? Because my words show that it is  "already done". I am not asking for anything. I  am affirming and re-affirming what is already known.

My nightly affirmation that I use "every single" night is:
By my act of will I release my focus over my physical body. I am consciously aware in sleep, "KNOWING" I am sleeping. I learn from and enjoy them and have full recall of them when I awaken for the day".

Once in awhile I also add "Please TAKE ME to your DESIRED DESTINATION. SHOW ME what I NEED TO SEE and TEACH ME what I NEED TO LEARN". I actually visualize those capitalized words as I am mentally voicing them.

Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed your Blog and enjoyed seeing your progression within it! 

 When you can "disassociate" yourself from your physical focus, which is what Phasing is all about, "exit symptoms" don't "usually" occur. I say usually because I have experienced full blown exit symptoms while Phasing. It is rare when it does happen, but it sometime does. Phasing is something you normally learn "after" you have already experienced a "traditional" OBE exit. Phasing seems to be a progression of sorts.

The problem there is when a spontaneously event occurs, like Sleep Paralysis, the person doesn't normally go into "noticing". They are in too much terror at the time. Fear has totally consumed them. Why? Because they don't understand what or why the SP is occurring in the first place. All they know is that they became aware that their body is going through rather intense vibrations and the sound(s) they hear, the Astral Winds/screaming, whatever it was, can get deafening. Thought = action then kicks in and now they are manifesting their fears.

The "jarring"/dizzying, kind of vertigo sensation you have experienced is one of the first things you become aware of. If you "allowed" it to commence, it would get much much stronger. It sounds like you are experiencing the initial onset of a shift. If I just close my eyes for a few minutes and become aware, the first thing I will feel is a slight buzzing around my physical form. I am aware of it while watching TV, reading a book, even sitting in my car waiting for a light to turn green. Once you learn to heighten your awareness, your mindset will change on a lot of things that you used to know, that in the past you overlooked. It's that "eye opening".

While doing a "candle staring" technique, when I was new to all of this, I experienced vibrations so violent I swear I was in a Earthquake. The sounds were so loud I thought a Helicopter was landing on my roof. It was thrilling and terrifying at the same time. But I knew what was happening and because of that I allowed my curiosity to drive me further. I was hooked then and there!  

Is it okay if I maybe derail this conversation just a little bit to ask a question? I'll go ahead and ask considering the slow pace here but will remove it if it is not appropriate.

Has anyone considered that what we think of exit symptoms and sign posts may be something else?

What I mean is that perhaps in your effort to 'exit' you have allowed yourself to partially view what actually is around us all the time. We just don't usually see/hear them. Has anyone tried 'staying' here (as opposed to exiting) and studying this phenomenon from 'this' side?

That's a great question Nameless. One that is worthy of a bit of a "derailing"! 

Yes, I have opted to "stay in", instead of "exiting". A few times, this led to "tunnel vision" scenario. I wrote a post here years ago about viewing through what I could only compare as a toilet paper roll. You can read about that here:
http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_astral_consciousness/tunnel_vision-t44765.0.html

I have also awoken/became consciously aware many times of the "onset" of vibrations. I would then slow the process down and not only fully observe it, but I would also play around with it and experiment with it. There were times that I would purposely turn it off and abort it so that I could log the results of said experience. Many times this also kept me focused on the RTZ. Robert Bruce's NEW really helped me learn how to manipulate my energy field and "frequency". It taught me how to "pinpoint" certain locations in and out the body. This led to "Phantom Wiggling" technique that can be found in the "Welcome to Astral Consciousness" Sub-forum here.

 I think we "opt" to lose conscious awareness during our nocturnal shifts. But consciousness itself is always "present", as Casey says here. When i do a phase session now, almost every time these days I experience a weird exploding brain sensation. It is brief, but very intense. Immediately following that sensation I am "there", wherever "there" happens to be at the time. It's like going through some kind of mental barrier. One moment i am noticing with my physical eyes, the mental wall approaches and on the other side, I am no longer noticing, I am "being". I experience this almost every time now. This "mental barrier" is strong enough to create a "system overload". I have had a few times where it would actually create a "click out" because of the intensity it had.

Since the get go, we have been trained that when we go to sleep. we lie down, close our eyes and "blank/click" out. But I have seen that that is by choice and also by our design. Once in awhile there is a glitch in the Matrix and we stay aware during the entire process. This is evident in Tibetan Dream Yoga and Conscious Dreaming, as Robert Moss calls it. He says "Dreaming is waking up" and I fully agree with that.

When I first got my Trigeminal Neuralgia, which is malady of the facial nerves, it got really bad when I closed my eyes to go to sleep. The act of just "noticing" through the years itself, also led to many sleepless nights. But with the TN, I had to hold my face while going to sleep. Each time my hand would fall off of it, the nerves would start to spasm again. This occurred for at least the first 30 to 60 minutes every night. I would experience the slight buzzing that can be felt when you are really aware of your body. That buzzing can be felt simply by just closing your eyes and noticing. Then it was on to the mini Dreams. There still seemed to be a very brief click out though. Then I found myself totally consciously aware. This occurred repeatedly during the night. I felt like I never lost consciousness at all during the night. I have spoke with other people at my shows that have experienced and still do experience staying consciously aware what seemed to them to be all night.

Sometimes, this would lead to bouts of "Sleep Paralysis". In another thread Nameless asked has anyone every slowed the process down and instead of "exiting" the body, opted to stay in it?. I went through a period a few years back whereas I awoke in SP 3 to 4 days a week for months. I would realize what is occurring and I would observe every little thing that was occurring to a "T". I felt the onset of the vibrations. Heard the "Astral Winds" approaching. I would use that time to experiment with all kinds of things.

So yes, I believe that we "opt" to lose our consciousness every night when we go to sleep. It is the "normal" thing to do. Most people don't know that there is another option, period. They can't conceive anything but this "physical existence". That is until, they too experience a "glitch" in the system. That's what it takes to make them think anew. To change a mindset is personal thing. Once you do, a shift in awareness becomes your new normal.

Nameless, it's never too late to stop in.  I was at first reluctant to post this AP as it seemed rather unimportant as nothing really happened but I was glad I did.

This is where many people go wrong. They expect that if it isn't a "climbing out of the body" full blown OBE mind blowing Fantasm, as in the real meaning of those letters (OBE), that what they experienced is in some way a failure, unimportant and minimal. The thing they don't understand is that there seems to be steps of progression with all of this. You really need to learn to walk before you run there. The fact that you are becoming consciously aware, period and reacting according is something to be commended for. This is when you learn to "navigate" your surroundings, as you are just beginning to do. Grounding yourself to a scene is very important to prolong it. 


 

The question I have is:  Are you able to manifest/manipulate in these types of environments?  I tried to create myself a pair of shoes and tried to move my focus closer to the downtown buildings I saw but I had no effect in this environment.  I don't have a lot of experience yet in these environments so was just wondering if I am bound to the rules in those environments or do I just need more practice?

I have come across many areas where "thought=action" does not apply. Why? Because we are not supposed to there. Your lesson was in the "NP awareness" that you experienced. Had you been able to change everything at will, you wouldn't have been able to see what was being shown to you. At the time, you were bound by the "physical ruleset" of that area of consciousness. Judging by your comments, the "lesson" was learned. Kudos for that!  

i have had experiences in the past wherein I felt like I was living a lifetime. I even saw not only the people around me, but myself as well and the environment around me aging and changing with time. I wrote about one of those experiences here on the Astral Pulse Forums. You can find Szaxx's "New Jericho" and Escape Velocity's "Fieldtrip" adventure at this link, as well as a brief description of my "lifetime" experience.
http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_out_of_body_experiences/any_major_time_distorted_alternative_realities-t47828.0.html;msg372835#msg372835

I would be lying if I didn't acknowledge that if I had the opportunity at a sex life with the right partner I would probably go for it. Just not so much sex anymore.

Sex is a healthy part of a relationship. Just remember, "everything in moderation"! 

She blinks dumbly and says okay then drives away. I'm left standing there wondering what just happened. I realize she nor the other characters are fully conscious.

It sounds like you may have Journeyed into what Robert Monroe called Focus 22.

"TMI UK: On the border between time/space and non-physical states of being. Comatose.

my-big-toe.com: At this level people are unconscious or partly conscious. People in coma, suffering from delirium or dementia, under the influence of drugs or alcohol; patients who are anesthetized or comatose. This level is chaotic, people are confused and very difficult to communicate with."
https://thedynamicstate.wordpress.com/2018/11/21/6937/

I call this area the "Zombified" state. People just walk around aimlessly like they are sleep walking.

[roll out]

When I was first learning how to AP I had this same problem. What worked for me was Robert Monroe's technique (Journeys Out of the Body) - you roll out. Either side will work, left or right. Once you start feeling the vibrations you can just roll out of body. I still use it to this day and it's way simple to learn. Good luck! 

The "Classic" OBE tech works great. But in the true definition of "Phasing", rolling out and even going out of the body period, is unnecessary and using counter productive. The Classic OBE technique involves a focus on what is occurring to the body. With Phasing, you are "shifting" your focus from here to there, omitting  the need for a full body exit. Confusing the two techniques will normally lead to failure.

In his later books, Robert moved onto Phasing as his technique. That made sense because Robert was coming at it through what he was familiar with and that is "frequency". His occupation aligned with his understanding of what was occurring. That's why he created his "Hemi-sync" programs and his creative visualization "walkthroughs" that many people use today.

Thanks for your reply! I do have another question, though: what should I be focusing/putting attention on? The vibes, the lightshow, or clearing the mind?

Have you read Xanth's free 60 page book/primer on Phasing yet? If you haven't, you should. It will answer many of your questions.
http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_astral_consciousness/xanths_free_60_page_book_8220my_astral_projection_truth8221-t32983.0.html