Messages

There are certain level of intensity and lucidity and sensation that make no doubt that it was an OBE.  Then I think there is a continuum of lesser levels of intensity that make it  harder to draw a line between OBE and nonOBE.  I think the important thing to remember is that interesting and important stuff goes on every night.  Our job is to become more conscious of that part of us and not to just discount it as society has taught us.  The exploration of that part of us will lead to many interesting experiences including, but limited to, intense OBE experiences.  Every experience has something to offer and teach us, but some are just WAY more fun and exciting than others!  Maybe the exciting ones are the 'carrot' that helps encourage us to work harder.

I would also like to add that many people say that we  have OBEs every night but the trick is only to remember them afterwards.  Such as it your case, it seems that it can be easy to lose track of part or all of the experience such that you don't remember when you wake up.  From my personal experience, there is something about the mind set that makes waking style logical verbal thought and mental processing very difficult.  I watched a show on TV the other day about how when sleeping, most of our brain actually becomes more active but the frontal cortex where logical thought occurs is mostly shut down.  I am thinking maybe that is a big part of it.  The logical brain shuts down and maybe that part of the brain is what normally limits us to a constrained experience most of the time, but when the frontal cortex is turned off, then we can experience other types of things. 
-Eva

My blog of weird journeys:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com

"The neurotransmitter 5-MeO-DMT is normally only active when we are in the womb and in the first months of our lives." 

I don't think that is correct.  From what I have read, natural DMT is present in our minds and bodies all the time, just in small amounts.  Schizophrenics have been found to have a higher concentration in their blood than nonschizophrenics.  But we all have it all the time.  Some researchers believe DMT is part of our nightly dreaming process.  I think it's irresponsible and suspicious of this guy to make assertations as if fact that contradict all available evidence while giving no evidence of his own.

Many years ago, I did read of a similar thing where people lived a week or more in total darkness.  Many of them began to see weird stuff in the dark.  There was no sound deprivation in that case though.  It bares noting that sense deprivation has been known to lead to weird experiences since time immemorial. 

I think you need to be careful of the trap where someone asserts some kind of weird theory that has no evidence backing it and then tells people to submit to sensory deprivation and then uses the weird experiences that result as some kind of evidence of his weird theory and then wants you to pay him money or homage.  Sensory deprivation is a very very old technique for experiencing the strange and there have been thousands of theories on why this happens.

I think there is a strong tendency in America, and probably globally, to find the 'next big thing' and hype it and cash in on it on the 'ground floor' (ie while it is still in the state of wild conjecture with little to no evidence).  But almost always, later on, it turns out to be useless baloney.

That is not to say that there aren't weird things. I wouldn't be here is I didn't suspect there were weird things to be learned.  I would just be very suspicious of those who say they have all the answers and all you have to do is pay them money or homage.
-Eva

My blog of weird journeys:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com     

Yeah, I have had a few strange things, strange names, etc.  One time, I saw this big Omega symbol.  It seemed very important at the time.  Beats me why though.  Maybe that stuff is important in some reality but just doesn't seem to make sense to my Earth based awake consciousness.
-Eva

My blog of weird journeys:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com

I have felt it a variety of ways.  SOmetimes, I am just floating and there I am out of body like I just floated out.  Other times, it felt as if I peeled myself out.  Other times, it felt like the body was holding my back in a sorta sticky rubber band like feeling like it was trying to pull me back in somehow.  Often, I wake up out and don't remember the exit.  A few times, maybe I had a lot of energy cuz I felt almost like I was ejected out or burst out of body, like no way could I stay in even if I wanted too.  I admit that was a bit disconcerting!  I wanted to be out but I guess I liked the feeling I usually have that it was my choice, not a sort of hurling of myself out of the body.   Nevertheless, I will take the hurling out over a boring night any time.  You might be able to rest in the knowledge that many are probably jealous of your ability to get out without even apparently trying! 

As for why you would starting having OBEs at the same time as a death in the family, I couldn't really tell you.  Maybe it marked a beginning of a new journey of learning for you, more of an interest in what happens beyond the physical or somesuch.  It's really hard to say.  Or maybe the changes in your mind and attitude about life opened up that possibility, unlocked something, or made you more ready to experience something different.  I think you will have to look inside yourself for such answers. 

As for darkness, I often see the out of body lands and dark and shadowy, maybe because I am not percieving with my real eyes or maybe because that is my predisposition to think of it that way.  When out of body, you will find that sublte assumptions or expectations will strongly affect how your perceive things.  But remember it is YOU that is in ultimate control, even if it doens't always feel like that every second.
-Eva

My blog of wierd journeys:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com   

I think it pays to be careful about assuming natural is good. There are a ton of natural drugs and chemicals that are visciously dangerous.  There are a ton of synthetics that save lives every day.  However, I would be slightly more willing to consider something that is already present in the brain.  Still, if you take something the body already  produces, the body will often choose to produce less on its own to compensate.  Your body habituates and it can become  harder and harder to get out of the cycle. 

In ancient times, usually only a few shamans had the drugs and knowledge to produce the drugs.  The shaman underwent years of training and the drugs were administered only in certain situations or rituals.  In most cultures I have  heard of, the shaman carefully monitored all drug use and made sure the use was appropriate.  This made drug use a lot safer for the populace as it minimized incidents of overdose and prevented regular use and severe addiction.  Even for drugs that are not physically addictive, most drugs provide an escape from waking life.   This escape can easily become psychologically addictive for some people.  The same thing that makes it fun can make it addictive. 
-Eva

My blog of unexplained journeys:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com

I have felt the suffocation feeling.  When you stop breathing, it's natural to feel that.  The same feeling can be triggered when you can't feel yourself breathing because you are disconnected from your body.  YOu can cure the feeling by telling yourself when it happens that you are out of body and so you don't require air.  Once  you tell  yourself this, you will find the feeling will leave.  I have done it many times.  It's a matter of overcoming your fear.  You may have felt suffocation but I do not think you actually had any problem with physical breathing at the time.  I think your body was breathing as normal the whole time, but the slight disconnection from your body was scary and triggered your fears.  Fear of the unknown is natural.

I could not tell you if really there was a man t hough.  Multiple times, my brain has conjured fears while I was in sleep paralysis and I saw scary things.  Multiple times, I saw the scary things fade away as soon as I got control of my fears.  So cleary, it's possible to conjure your fears to appear real, but they can't really hurt you, only scare you.  They are your inner fears personified onto the astral like a movie on a screen.  Sometimes apparently there are actually entities around though and from what I have seen, they are usually attempting to help you.  Over time, you can learn the flat empty feel of a thought from that is not real and a real creature that has more depth and personality to it.

I don't know about others, but I noticed my thought forms are typically non communicative or barely so, meaning they are super boring and sorta husk or balloon like, as if very insubstantial or shadowlike, once I turn my attention to them and really look.  So that I can tell a thought form from real entity which is far more interesting.
-Eva

My blog of unexplained journeys:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com

A psychologist huh.  Ouch!  Maybe he just had no clue and thought a psychologist would, but it's not a very nice thing to say!  People tend to say mean things when they get spooked or out of their element.
-Eva

My blog of unexplained journeys:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com

 

No one ever finishes learning how to meditate.  It's always a process of self learning that never ends.  No one ever gets really good at it, they just get better at it than they used to be.
-Eva

My blog of unexplained journeys:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com

I am not sure if astral projection is another 'sense.' I don't think it's really all that related to the senses that the body has. I think it's just another part of  other you that is not physical. I think projection success has a lot to do with how familiar you are with your own inner self and inner mind and how open your awake personality is to the concept and to new experiences.  And I would guess those issues are not directly related to how the eyes or other parts of the physical self are or are not functioning.  Also, from what I have seen, astral projection has no direct relationship to intelligence of the waking personality  (could be wrong but nothing jumps out at me..)
-Eva

My blog of unexplained journeys:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com 

Owl, I understand your sentiment about getting addicted to needing the binaural beats, but everything I have heard from others indicates just the opposite, ie that using the tapes as a crutch helps you learn how to get there easier and then eventually don't need the tapes anymore. It's like a kid uses a walker to learn to walk, but that is only until he/she gets used to walking and the he/she abandons the walker and walks without it. 
-Eva

My blog of unexplained journeys:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com

If stuck in paralysis, it can help to just relax and go with the flow a bit.  If you are mentally tense it seems to contribute to the paralysis state.  Instead, relax, feel for your energy and flow with it.  It's just a subtle shift of mindset and then you are free.  I do think it helps to rehearse your plan a lot when awake.  Then when you suddenly become conscious and are in paralysis, you just follow the plan, relax, flow with energy, roll out, go to window, fly out of house, go to friends house, etc.  Don't fall into the mindset that it is hard, because it needn't be but if you think it is hard, it will be hard.  If you think it is easy, it will be easy. 
-Eva

My blog of unexplained journeys:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com 

I think projecting does cause some kind of energy drain every time.  It's logical that a better amount of energy might make projection easier.  However I have known many examples of people having a lot of projections when they were sick.  I am not sure if it's because they just remember the projections better when sick and perhaps their sleep and body rythms are off.  Or if they are really having more projections. 

But also, I have had some few times when I could not seem to stay in my body even though I was sooooooo tired and every projection seemed to suck more energy out of me and I just wanted them to stop!  The only way I could get relief from the projecting was to force myself to stay awake even though I was so tired.  Those were the times when sometimes sleep was more tiring than staying awake.  Those times luckily seem to have passed and it's been a long time since I had to deal with it, but I think it goes to show that energy alone is not the whole story.  You can project even in a sickened or exhausted state. There must be other parameters beyond energy levels. 
-Eva

My blog of unexplained journeys:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com

 

I am not sure if the silver cord is real or just a manifestation of our concepts of attachment.  It might not really be a 'cord' such as some kind of energetic attachment concept that is too alien for the earth based mind to understand.  Anyway, i don't worry about the silver cord and have never seen it on any of my journeys.   Don't worry about breathing and ear damage either.  When you are slightly out of body, the sensations you feel are not the sensations your body feels.  The loud noise is not in your physical ears it's percieved by your astral self.  Same goes for the lack of breathing.  Astral self does not use air and does not need to breath! So you won't feel breathing once you start to separate.  However, if you like, you can ask your astral selt to simulate the feeling of breathing and it can easily do that if it makes you feel better. 

Most of us do have to deal somewhat with issues of fear and uncertainly in our astral travels.  The unknown is naturally scary to us!  Also, I think the astral seems to amplify emotions.  SOunds like you are doing pretty good, but it can be helpful to try to worry less about things!  All these things you feel are actually perfectly natural.  YOu are just becoming aware of things that you weren't previously.
-Eva

My blog of unexplained journeys:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com     

I think you need headphones.  The timing of the sound coming in one ear is slightly offset from the timing of the sound coming in the other ear.  The brain's attempt to reconcile the difference is what creates the effect.  I have used the Monroe Inst tapes previously.  I think I got one tape for like 20 bucks. The tapes do result in weird kinda feeling/mood and some have said they help slightly with having more projections. You might want to think about what specifics yoou want on the tape.  SOme of the tapes have a lot of verbal instructions on them.  Others are just music or soothing sounds. I personally find words to be distracting.  Others find the words help guide them.  My understanding from what I have heard is that each person is different so that the precise sounds that work best for one person are not the same as for another.  So I don't think, withought biofeedback monitoring, there is any easy way for a person to figure out exactly what tapes are of premium effect.  However, as best as I haveheard, all the tapes, free or not free, seem to have about the same overall effect. If I was you, I'd go for free stuff if money is an issue.  Back long ago, there was some free stuff you could download off the net.  Not sure if that is still available.  You can also look under the term 'hemisync.'
-Eva

My blog of unexplained journeys:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com   

Yeah, that seeing through eyelids thing seems common when dealing with APs and that kinda thing.  Couldn't really tell ya what exactly is happening though. 
-Eva

Sounds like some kind of projection to me.  I wonder if the deep dog growling sound was actually the vibrations.  Did the sound seem to sorta vibrate through you?  Often, the mind will fabricate excuses or reasons for what sensations you are experiencing. 

Also, astral experiences will often be more intense and vivid than normal dreams, sometimes with your vision being more accute and clear than any normal human eyes can see.  You will see/internalize tiny details of the environment in a way that does not  happen in dreams or waking life. 

Also, you were very tired later, which is common after a projection or something that is beyond a regular dream.  PLus, for myself, especially in the early years, APs would make me feel very hot and sweaty, like some kinda 45 minute long hot flash or something. I woud wake and it would feel like it was 110 degrees F in the house, when really it was only 75 degrees.  It was so weird, I even eventually got a thermometer for near the bed so I could verify what was  happening.  The hotness would last varying amounts of time after I woke, and sometimes I still get it, although not nearly as bad now.  But one thing is always for sure, I can never manage to get back to sleep until the heat feeling is gone, even if the outside air is cold in winter so that I am comfortable.  There is something about the unnatural burning heat that always blocks sleep.  So I just throw off the covers, in winter even feeling perfectly comfortable in very cold air, until I finally start to feel cold.  The minute I feel cold, and switch is typically rather abrupt, then I know I fall asleep easily at that point. 
-Eva

I have found that sometimes right after projection while still very near my body, I can feel like I am suffocating. I rationalized that I was already out of body and maybe I was just not quite able to feel my body's breathing anymore and the feeling of suffocation was a reflex response to that lack of feeling.  The brain is accustomed to feeling air coming in and out! 

Anyway, I can't know for sure if that is the deal, but I have found that I can solve the suffocation problem with either of two ways.  One option is when I feel it, I just remind myself strongly that I am out of body now and no longer require air.  The other option is I can command my astral self to simulate the feeling of breathing.  You can command yourself into any shape or sensation once you are out of body.  Either of  these techniques has worked to instantly stop the suffocating feeling.
-Eva

Yeah, same with me.  I was using Google back when it was still in Beta if you can believe that!  I was so happy that my searches were actually yielding decent matches that I think I have rarely touched any other search engine since.  So google/blogger has a lot of good warm fuzzies for me.  I hope the company lives up to that over time. I used to use another free blog site but they eventually closed up shop and took my old blog to oblivion.  That is another reason I chose Blogger this time. I figure they are sooo big, if they closed, like a million people would be peaved and that would hurt Google's image.  Therefore, my blog should be safer (fingers crossed).   Anyway, keep up the good work on the blog.   We will all be watching! 
-Eva

I have had some success at times with this but have not tried it in a long time. I think it's easiest to visit someone you really want to see like if you have a strong emotional attachment.  A lover makes a good target!  I also find if I am too tense mentally, too stressed about success for failure, it won't work. I have to set the intent but then sorta let go and let myself go there.  And it can take a few seconds to get there so I have to be a tad patient.  Mostly, I need to try to be zenlike calm and not stress out about success or failure while it is happening.

I have also gone to a few places instead of just looking for people, so it is possible.  I have never successfully made waking people see me in the waking state though, which is probably why I got bored with the experiments after a time.  Going to see more houses and streets and stuff is not as exciting as some other stuff can be!
-Eva

Seems like people who are having unusual sleep patterns have more OBEs.  This can happen when sick or traveling.  It may be that fasting also contributed to more alertness and different sleep patterns while asleep.  Ever notice it's hard to relax when your stomach is hungry?  I think it's natural for mammals to be alert for food opportunities when hungry so there may be a biological result from fasting.  Also as another has mentioned there is often results from anything that you think might work and that keeps your mind more focused and reminded of your desire to have OBEs.  So there is that placebo effect.  I personally have had many on OBE right after a late dinner of a very big steak and I have not noticed any obvious advantage to a lighter or meal for OBEs so have not pursued this method personally.  I think personally there is much if not almost everything still to learn about this phenomenon of OBEs. After all, it has to do with the nature of life, time, existence, reality, etc, all of which we still do not have much of a grasp on.
-Eva 

You might want to start a dream journal and at least write down the more interesting ones.  For myself, I think most of my dreams are the ordinary kind like boring issues in my subconscious or they are dreams I have a ton of and don't bother to write down, like getting in and out of cars, cars that have bad brakes, having mild accidents with other cars or almost doing same, and going to classes, being late for classes, confused in classes, etc. 

Then there are other more weird ones that don't have much parallel in my real life, like weird places or experiences.  These are the ones that I pay more attention to.  After all, you do not have to actually remember the vibrations and separation process to actually have an OBE.  I think there is all kinds of very bizarre stuff to do and learn while we are supposedly 'asleep.'  No need to limit your attention to one specific subject in a book someplace.  Open your mind and you may experience many things you never ever thought about or imagined before!  Also, some of these experiences are more fascinating than classic OBEs.

Then run right back here and post about what happened!   

-Eva

I went to this place once.  It seemed weirdly super dense or something, like it was hard for me even to move.  The place had orange colored dirt and blue sky, but the sky had more of an aqua color than the Earth sky does. It was brighter and I saw no clouds, not even a wisp.  But in the sky to one side were these branching things that looked like long skinny craggy branched red brown coral but they were hanging in the sky and they were hugely long and tall. I got the knowledge somehow that these coral things were a form of pollution and were shameful.

I saw no plants on the land at all, just dirt and pits and hills and stuff, but my attention did zoom in on a giant flurry of wind and dirt that was moving along the ground in a straight trajectory along flat land. I got the impression it was alive somehow but sorta mindless, like it was on a migration or was traveling someplace, like it was a traveling creature by nature.
-Eva

My blog of weird experiences:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com   

For me, the vibrations often feel akin to sitting on top of a lawnmower motor.  They have that distinct vibration feel.  However, sometimes they are stronger or weaker or in diff parts of the body, but they always felt distinctly vibration like  (actually been a long time since I felt the vibration part). 

I have also at times felt weird twitchings and yankings.  One time it was like I was wearing shoelaces and someone was yanking on them irritatingly.  Beats me what that was! 

So it may be that what happened to you was one of the other weird phenomenon, but not the vibrations.
-Eva

My blog of weird experiences:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com

LOL, when I made my blog, I couldn't wait to start writing so I just used Blogger.  WAY easy for those who are not skilled in programing languages.  One thing nice about a blog is you have a place and a motivation to start documenting experiences.  Thinking and writing about it more can cycle back to more experiences so it works out great!   
-Eva

My blog of weird experiences:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com 

I have experienced and also heard of some pretty interesting experiences within experiences.  Actually, was just blogging about a sorta similar one last week, except I was getting confused about who I was cuz I was waking up as some other person and then waking up as me.  I have had one a long time ago that was like some kinda really short version of 'Ground hog day' because time kept sorta resetting each time I went back to sleep and I kept experiencing the same thing over and over, except each version was sometimes just a tiny bit different, with some versions more preponderant than others.  (I haven't thought about that in years!  I think I may blog that story next or soon..)  As for the thing where you keep thinking you woke up but you didn't , I don't know the current prefered terminology, but I have always heard that called a 'false awakening' event.
-Eva
My blog of weird experiences:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com