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I'm a novice who has lucid dreams, but I haven't had an OBE yet.  I could use some advice on the rope climbing technique.  I've got the following questions:

•  When we climb, are we supposed to feel like we are rising up from the bed?  Or more like we're pulling in the rope?
  
  
• When I feel myself rising, I tend to envision myself climbing up through the room, into the attic, through the roof and into the sky.  Is this okay – or should we not visualize the climbing process?  Should we instead just concentrate on the tactile sensations?
  
  
• The more realistic the climbing process feels, the harder it is to keep my physical shoulders relaxed.  When I periodically return my attention back to my physical body to check it, I find my shoulders are tensed up from the effort of climbing.  It helps somewhat to climb on the in-breath and relax the body on the out-breath.  But is this method putting too much focus on the physical body?
   

John

I'm a novice, and I am still trying to attain my first OBE using the Astral Dynamics method.  For several weeks now, I've felt a tingling or vibration in my arms and legs when I'm in trance.  Today I got more relaxed than usual -- and the vibrations spread from my limbs into my torso for the first time.  So I was getting the vibrations in my whole body, but I couldn't get them to move into my head.  Does the head have to vibrate too -- before a person can project out of their body?

I'm trying to learn how to induce OBE's by using the techniques in "Astral Dynamics".  I can get to the point where my arms and legs tingle, my heart chakra throbs and races, and I feel like I'm floating.  And sometimes I feel pressure building inside my head.  But this is as far as I get.  I've gotten to this point at least 25 times, but never past it.  Does anyone have any advice for me on how to move on to the next phase of an OBE?  John

I'm using the Astral Dynamics method, and I believe I have the trance state mastered.  I can stay in it for up to 1.5 hours and never move a muscle.  I can also relax well.  But when I start to get unusual sensations in my body, I always find that my neck, shoulders and back have tensed up.  When I relax them, the sensations diminish or disappear.

What about counting each pull on the rope.  I find that makes it much easier to concentrate and stay focused on the act of climbing.

John

The lucidity.com website you recommend is very good.  It summarizes much of the material in the book entitled "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming" by Dr. Stephen LaBerge.  I read that book, followed the suggestions for inducing lucid dreams, and found that they worked the first time!!!  I was amazed.

Lucid dreams are definitely a form of OBE.  When you are fully lucid, you find yourself in a "dream body" which seems very realistic indeed.  And at the same time, you are acutely aware that you have a physical body asleep in bed.  However, I have never found myself in my bedroom while lucid;  I am always in another environment.  I also find that its difficult to detect my physical body -- without waking up.  If I could keep from waking up, I think I could convert the lucid dream into a conventional OBE.  But so far, I haven't done that.

Thanks so much for your advice.  I've now done two more OBE practice sessions.  And in addition to getting my limbs to buzz/tingle/vibrate, I've gotten my face to do likewise.  But no vibrations in the torso:  it felt like my torso wasn't even there.  I tried the rope technique, but it didn't pull any more vibrations in.  And the rope makes it hard for me to relax my physical shoulders and upper back too.  So I stopped trying to do anything – and just bathed in what vibrations I could get.  That was very relaxing and soothing.  But the vibrations still didn't spread to my torso.  As an experiment, I next tried raising some energy -- and putting my awareness in one chakra after another.  When I got to the crown chakra, intense pressure developed in the top of my head.  I was concerned because it felt like the pressure was going to break through the top of my skull.  At this point, I tried the rope technique again – trying to climb out of the top of my head -- but I didn't succeed.

I haven't been able to cause the vibrations to move to parts of my body which aren't vibrating.  But I will try again.  It may be easier now -- knowing that some of you have been able to pull the vibrations into non-vibrating areas -- if those areas are relaxed enough, I presume.

Yes, I have tried climbing the rope many times.  But I'm not sure what it is I'm supposed to feel -- besides the rope in my hands -- and the action of reaching up, grabbing the rope and pulling my arms down to my chest as I imagine myself climbing up.  Should I feel myself rising?  If so, should I feel myself rising head first -- or chest first?  And should I feel myself passing through the ceiling, the attic, the roof & up into the air?  Or should I try to focus on the isolated act of climbing -- without actually climbing TO anywhere?