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I don't really have much insight on the noticing exercise for you because I personally don't rate it and think it narrows your awareness. It seems to be making you focus way too much on sight as a faculty of perception when you may be missing lots of good stuff going on with your other senses (and I dont just mean normal senses). As an example of what I mean - there is a report on one of the advanced TMI programs (focus 35 and up) that asks what mode of perception was most dominant during the exercises. visual perception was pretty much bottom of the list. Reliance on sight is a physical world trait. I also get the impression this exercise makes you look with you physical eyes rather than simply sense. Sounds like you are just engaging your physical eyes.

Who knows, maybe I'm wrong but I get the impression this approach along with some of Franks other techniques which are designed to focus your awareness away from the physical seem to have the opposite effect on some individuals. Some people who adopt it seem to be in a perpetual state of expectation...Am i there yet? Can I still feel the physical? This left brain logic is detrimental to the process and the fact that you have to ask if it is okay if your vision to go blurry highlights to me that you are overthinking the process and have become too fixated on signs and symptoms and 'getting there'.

Just my opinion though. Feel free to ignore.

On a side note, your name is familiar. Weren't you the person on the TMI forum who won the raffle draw for the free Gateway Voyage program?

The deepest trance I'v been in was while listening to TMI - Gateway Experience: Wave I - Discovery (Introduction to Focus 10 (the second track)). That binaural beats. I don't know whats so special about the Monroe material but there is something there that I'v never found in any other sound entrainment product.

The difference between hemi-sync and generic binaural beats is that TMI blend multiple tones. On Lifeline tracks and upward they use up to twenty different binaural tones whereas your basic one found on youtube is more simplistic (plus they don't bring you back to C1). That's where your money goes.

I think it's best to avoid gimmicks as much as possible. That said I do use the Gateway CD's because I've had trouble dozing off from trance rather than keeping my mind alert through the REM stage just before projection. But I work with then without the CD so as not to be dependent on it.  If your dependent on the beats then your closing doors you may not want to close.

I personally don't think there are dependency issues with bb as long as you are developing these conscious states. What I mean by that is by achieving a certain state then anchoring yourself there (placing markers, noting how it feels. For example I know I'm in focus 12 by a buildup of pressure around my brow centre and a feeling of expansion). Now that I have anchored focused 12 I can use a one breath method and say 12 in my mind and the symptoms that I associate with f12 start to occur.

She frequents Bruce Moen's forum more. Even then I don't think she has posted for a while but you will find a lot of her retrieval work there.

You will need to register then go here:

http://afterlife-knowledge.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=retrievals/60

click on her name on one of the threads half way down then you get the option to view her last how ever many posts

Or alternatively you could traul through the archives of the retrieval only forum looking for threads started by her

as blindfolds go I would recommend the Mindfold as it doesn't touch your eyes so you don't feel the pressure of something pressed against your eyes and if they do accidentally open a little you'll be none the wiser cos it's pitch black.

An exercise for relaxing the eyes which is also perfect for simply moving into Focus 10 (and other similar trance states) is a technique I pilfered from Lee Stone (a past life facillitator at the Monroe Institute). It's a focused breathing exercise where you start by simply focusing on the breath going in and out of your nose. The cold air coming in and the slight warming on the exhale through your nose. See the inhalation as concentration and the exhalation as relaxation. After a while of doing this visualise that you are exhaling through your eyes. In breath for concentration through your nose, out breath for relaxation through your eyes. He debates that a lot of the tension in the body starts with the eyes so if you can relax them first the body will follow. This is also just a great technique to quiet the mind and access different states in itself.

If you read Bruce Moens Afterlife Guidebook he has a chapter on utilising heart intelligence.

I practice heart exercises in a few ways.

1/ Move my awareness to the heart centre (by default it is usually behind the eyes. Another way to centre your awareness on the heart space is to listen to a shamanic drum beat (Something of Byron Metcalfs as he incorporates a 55bpm heart beat rhythm in his tracks. There are many on youtube). Regularly listening to these strengthens your connection to your physical heart and your heart centre.
2/Remembering a time you felt love (Recalling the feeling) and mentally placing that in your heart space is also good practice.
3/ You can get a few hemi-sync heart orientated cds that do these thing well 'The Shaman's Heart' and 'Opening to Love; which are both heart centred.
4/ A while back I was reading about ho'oponopono and how we create our own universe so any negativity in it is as a result of our own negativity and lack of love for self. I practice daily telling myself I love you and all the negativity in the world I have created is not necessary but it is my creation and if I love myself it is not needed. A while back I did a simple focus 10 exercise and just repeated that sentence to myself over and over and felt an incredible sense of euphoria afterwards. A little like time slowed down for me as I walked through the busy london commute streets.

So I think anything where you focus on your heart is a step in the right direction

www.obexperiences.com

interesting OBE experiences but mainly interesting because he documents the many TMI programs he attended

["We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a human experience"]

"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a human experience"

Teilhard de Chardin

Yeah I have that as well. I guess as it is designed for people making the transition he doesn't necessarily want them to be too grounded in this reality. I think the logic is that between various focus levels the difference can be quite subtle so if you're not truly grounded then it makes it harder to differentiate.

That intro to f10 is interesting but I think way too long a count up to 10. Very easy to click out on. The Kepple approach, though good does rather downplay the importance of the resonant tuning. Been a while since I read his stuff but doesn't it just get you to include it as part of the visualisation and not actually physically do the resonant tuning? If that's the case then personally I would make sure you do it properly. I think Kepple ignores it because I remember reading he didn't really think energy building was that important for himself so he just incorporated that section of the exercise into his visualisation. And the same with the affirmation. He made it more ritual of the visualisation so it never really had any meaning (well at least not for me when I approached it using his method). What I've come to understand is that you don't need to recite all of Bobs affirmation. It's way too long and wordy and after a while you do it more out of habit and there is no emotion or intent attached because it's so long. So you can just say the first line then add your own personal intent. Skip Atwater explains how you should approach the affirmation here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQc2V-sucEA&feature=BFa&list=PL4139939A411F5C68

I think once you've gone through the focus 10 material a little (and you don't need to achieve point consciousness to continue) then do the first few F12 on wave 2 because I think that is where you will get better results. F10 can feel as subtle as just being quite relaxed so people seem to dwell on those tapes way too long thinking they're not there (bare in mind at TMI you do maybe only 4-5 f10 exercises before you move on). Focus 12 has more noticeable differences so you dont have to keep asking yourself if you're there yet. The exercises that go up and down between 10-12 are also good for cementing that feeling of each level.

Lastly, to LB..you seem to be pretty familiar with TMI stuff. Any suggestions on the actual clicking out part...ie, how to have that happen less often or not at all?

Thanks.

I  think if you're new to hemi-sync it can take a little while to get used to clicking out but you'll get a feel for what state of awareness is 'too far'. But then again sometimes you can't help it...I think it may help if you knew a little about what happens when you click out. TMI tell you that generally a click out is because the experience is just too much for your conscious awareness to handle so you instinctively loose consciousness.

I'll tell you about one of my days at Gateway. On that day I was feeling really emotional (it's weird, your emotions can waver all over the place for some reason . Something to do with energy shifts I think. I was crying for no reason and i'm no cryer). In short I was very depressed for no reason and this seemed to affect the whole group because soon after we did an exercise almost everyone reported a dud exercise having low energy and headaches. One of the guys who was a practising Shaman said he felt the loss of energy in the group had been caused by one person alone. At this point no one else knew I was really depressed and I thought 'holy shite, did I do this to the group?'

Anyway, the next exercise was Release and Recharge healing which was just what I needed at that time. Half way through the healing I clicked out like I have never done before (and I've used hei-sync for about 4 years). Normally when you click out you come back when you hear '...one, one. Awake and alert." I cruised passed this for another 20 minutes. When I awoke it felt so weird like it was a false awakening and at any moment I would rewake up. All the other participants were downstairs in debriefing. One I had regrounded myself I felt so elevated and happy again. I guess something pretty major had occurred during my click out just beyond my awareness and whatever that was I am very grateful. TMI say if you click out you wont miss a thing. Although you wont have conscious awareness you'll be getting what you need and that was definitely the case for me.

One of the facilitators, Joe Gallenberger (amazing guy) said during one of his lab sessions he clicked out but somehow managed to retain a slight bit of awareness during the click out and he said he witnessed the most incredible influx of information coming and going from his consciousness like a super computer. He soon clicked back out again as his consciousness was unable to process the event.

On another note - Grounding. Incredibly important to do. Always let Bob count you back down. Sometimes when you don't bother you may think 'well I feel fine' but unless you do it properly (physical exercise helps) it can affect your success in these exercises.

Sorry I'm gonnna sound really argumentative here. I really don't mean to. I just think I could offer a different take. So I apologise in advance for treading on any toes.

Hi,
When there, practice thinking of nothing, doing nothing expecting nothing. You need to be totally numb to everything that you are.

Personally I disagree but then I suppose it is personal preference. But in regard to clicking out using hemi-sync - doing absolutely nothing is often a prerequisite to clicking out. You also say expect nothing. What about intent? Without it you're just mindlessly drifting. Bob asks you to recite an affirmation for a reason. It's to give your exploration direction.

If I had to take a guess, you moved your eyes to look at something, even possibly involuntary. This action will always bring you back to square 1, well F10 in this case. I have 'clicked' myself many times.

Sorry, again. I dont mean to be contentious (or should that be Conteneous) I have to give an alternative opinion. I think there is a lot of misinformation on this site regarding use of hemi-sync especially utilizing Frank Kepples approach. Moving during a hemi-sync exercise does not bring you out of a focus level unless maybe you sit up and take the headphones off (I recently posted on this on another thread).

When you say go back to square one do you really mean from a point consciousness state? Because PC is not really synonymous with any particular focus level (and also unnecessary to explore). You can be in focus 27 and have full body awareness and move your hands without breaking focus level. In graduate TMI courses you are encouraged to record your experiences into a tape recorder while doing them.

I get the impression some of the info on this site lays down some pretty rigid guidelines (at f10 you experience this, at 21 you get 3d blackness). That kind of frontloading is counter productive because it means you are always in a state of expectation ('well, f21 next. Just wait for the fabled 3d blackness'. And when it doesn't come you feel like you're not in 21 and you failed -and probably missing all the good stuff in the process because you've narrowed your awareness down to just look out for 3d blackness).

Without wanting to reiterate a cliche - it's different for everyone. Just be open to the experience. Be firm with your intent (make it present tense and made with gratitude).

It didn't cause projection, but when I got up I felt like I was high...REALLY high...For a couple minutes. It was pretty weird.

This is an important thing to take note of here. This is caused by not being grounded after a mp3 exercise. I'm guessing the binaural beat track you listened to took you down to somewhere near theta but did not bring you back up again. This is not good. On the surface it can leave you feeling slightly airy and out there. Although maybe a nice feeling that may seem to dissipate it is not good for,

1/ helping you with exploring your consciousness as broad distinctions between various altered states seem to muddy if you are ungrounded whereas if you are totally grounded then you can say well this is C1 and during a tape exercise I definitely know that is, say focus 21 (using TMI jargon just for reference).

2/ keeping you on the ball in C1 consciousness (like why things like hemi-sync say don't listen while driving. Can be dangerous. You may feel okay now but you never know)

That's fine. I never took it as an insult. I guess this thread is really aimed for people who are using the Gateway Experience and are struggling to understand how to use it because it is not very clear.

As I say this was my experience and mine alone. We all have our own paths. I just thought I'd share mine.

Well I suppose if you reach your desired intent without noticing any difference in the focus levels then it doesn't matter. But if you struggle then noticing these differences can really help in moving between them by simply remembering how they feel. If i'm honest, doing Gateway Experience for nearly 3 years I would say that I was never confident I was ever in a particular focus cos, like you, I had a hard time differentiating. At GW Voyage it took about 2 days and I was confident with identifying the different levels. After that you just let go and let the experience happen. There's something about the combination of setting, people, energy, facilitators (who were incredible) and being away from society for a week. They remove your watches so you are not driven by time. Very freeing.

And yeah it is very expensive as I said but it wasnt as if we could afford it either (it went on credit card). It was just something I felt we had to do. I don't regret it. If I didn't have to be back at work today I very much think we would have stayed for another course and put it on another credit card.

I've been using the Gateway Experience for several years now and I recently attended the Gateway Voyage at the TMI campus in Virginia so I thought I would share with you an insight in what I've come to understand about the the differences and explain some of my experiences about why this stuff is so special. I will try my best not to impose my will or preach as this (to quote Tom Campbell) is my truth and not yours.

First off I tried many different ways of using hemi-sync as there are many different approaches out there and I suppose all are equally as valid in their own way but I've come to realize that maybe some approaches had been counter productive for my consciousness development.

Let's take the simple notion of focus 10 - mind awake body asleep. A misleading label. Accounts of focus 10 vary wildly and for good reason as consciousness is personal and everyone experiences it in a different way based on their beliefs affecting perceptual filters when they do a focus 10 exercise. One of the most recurring questions I see on it is in regard to body awareness. I think a lot of techniques out there pay too much attention to this. Focus 10 can include being simply in a relaxed state to full body disassociation in a point consciousness state and everything inbetween. I get the impression too much emphasis is placed on acheiving total body disassociation which is counter-productive. As an example I will mention the Frank Kepples approach. Although a great method and a guy with much wisdom I feel people got side tracked with full mind/awake body asleep thing and thought that if they weren't in point consciousness by the count of 10 then they weren't there. It is simply not necessary and the sooner you let go of this fixation you might be open to more meaningful stuff. Gateway facilitators tell you while in your CHEC unit it is okay to move around, itch yourself if necessary, situp if you click out too easily. It doesn't matter as you will easily slip back into the focus level. And the final clincher that shows full body disassociation is unnecessary is you do an exercise where you move through to focus 21 while walking around outside.

That's the whole point of hemi-sync - It's not just about lying in a darkened room and escaping this reality. It's about incorporating and using in this reality as well to make your life richer

I think as a general rule you should not keep questioning signs and symptoms of focus levels. It's subjective and reading someone elses experience simply creates expectation in you and that is not a good thing. What is a good thing is to do the hemi-sync exercises which use rollercoasting - Those are the ones which keep moving up and down between particular focus levels. That way you get a distinct feel for each level and how it relates to you. Once you recognise that particular feeling of a focus level you can use it as an anchor point to easily shift back into that area of consciousness without having to overthink things.

I went to Gateway knowing I was at a disadvantage to my wife (also attending). I had spent the last 3 years devouring every piece of literature on OBE and TMI which created lots of expectation in me. My wife, who is into spiritual stuff, decided to come at the last minute not really knowing what hemi-sync was. She was open minded and had little expectation. That is the perfect state to be in for hemi-sync. I, on the otherhand, had a hard time putting all my expectations aside but over the course of the week I learned to trust myself and trust hemi-sync.

Now, what do you get out of Gateway? Well, I'm not going into specific details because that's personal to me but I will say that I don't think any of the participants got out of Gateway what they expected. They got what they needed. And what that is tends to be more profound than you will ever know.

What I have come to realise is that some people get into meditation for not necessarily the right reasons. Well, maybe the reasons are okay but as a result they don't yield the best results. what I mean by this is that I started to get better results with a few changes in mentality. Simply surrendering to process is always good. But largely I found a genuine desire for self love and acceptance is one very productive way forward. I went into exercises opening my heart space to love and self-love.

You may need to ask yourself what are trying to achieve with you OB attempts - connect with guidance, your soul group (i-there cluster), lost loved ones? If any of these then using love is  good launchpad. To stop you thinking maybe this is developing to a hippy-loving rant I will ground you with some Tom Campbell to show that growing towards love has science at its heart:

All matter in this universe is attempting to achieve a low-entropy state (entropy being a measure of disorder), If you take the big bang as an example then everything was in a state of flux and chaos. Over time it is trying to achieve harmony and peace in order to be more productive. Especially in humans this is best achieve through growing towards love. So if this is our ultimate goal on the Earth life system then it stands to reason that guidance will be more receptive to someone with an open heart space and goes into exploring consciousness with a more genuine intent rather than simply to fly in the clouds (which can also be fun). I will stop before I get too preachy.

After only 6 days the whole group of 21 of us felt the most incredible sense of fellowship and love and we were taking this into the hemi-sync exercises. Coupled with the energy of the place and surroundings made for some really enlightening experiences. Prior to Gateway I considered myself quite an even keel kind of guy in relations to my emotions. My wife complaining that I rarely show emotion. She has never seen me cry. 6 days surrounded by the love and energy and joy of our group at Gateway has changed me. I cried a few times during that week. At times I had no logical reason why. Even now thinking back to my Gateway makes me choke up a little inside.

They say Gateway extends beyond just the week and that you will get residuals manifesting themselves in your lives. It took 1 hour of being home before I got a call and an offer to move house that could alter the course of our lives for the better.

Gateway is expensive and certainly for us coming from Europe during peak season but we are definitely returning. Such an amazing experience.