Minds eye training

[Zenit]

Whenever I am having a lucid dream/hallucination/sleep paralysis I see images vividly in my mind. As I drift to of to sleep or start to dream its the same thing, but as soon as I become aware of these images, I can almost feel my physical eyes shifting trying to focus the image. This very quickly makes the images in my head disappear because these images or not on the physical plane. As soon as my eyes focus they see only what's in front of them... my eyelids.

(Side note: I think the reason I do this is because the images I get when im falling asleep pop up very suddenly and startle me. These visions don't just ease into my conscious, they rather pop, and my eyes cant help but react.)

I have tried very hard to master this "seeing without my eyes" but it's hard. You spend your life using your physical eyes so it's not intuitive to just notice without looking.

I have found an exercise that has helped me start to hone in on my noticing though. That exercise is body awareness. While meditating I try to become acutely aware of my body. I pretend like its an astral eye that I can scan to anywhere in my body. This eye doesn't perceive through visual pictures, it perceives through noticing. After a while I can shift this eye to visual sense, or auditory sense, or I can feel energies in my body.

Have I used this to project? No. But intuitively I feel like this is a step in the right direction. My theory: The better you get at perceiving the better you will be able to perceive different plains, and stabilize the pictures that pop into your mind.

Summery: Use awareness of body to train your "noticing" skills. Once you have anchored the feeling of noticing, shift it to your visual senses.

[Szaxx]

Hi,
Noticeing your body is a good way to disconnect from the physical at the beginning of phasing. It will help you relax and this has been used for many years. Using the feeling of your heartbeat all over your body is a well known one.
When you become deeper in the phase you will not want to notice your body but start to ignore it. At the end of the phase your body will not be noticeable at all. The images do flash up  Try resting your vision on a far away spot in the darkness. This relaxes your eyes and the visualisations tend towards you being able to ignore them. When they become active and real like in a dream, its time to react to them. Get involved with whats going on and create a scene that can be used to keep your awareness active. After a short while its time to jump in and do an exit from your created visualisation.

[Barnowl]

I'm starting to use this technique myself to initiate oobe's, but I would imagine that practice makes perfect

[Szaxx]

Hi,
You're 100% on that. That's why trying to do direct techniques as a beginner very rarely works.
Keep very still and do absolutely nothing until ALL physical awareness has ceased.
It's the only way and can take years in some cases.
Practice is the only way and it takes lots of it. Even then you get shut out at times too. Most annoying.