Finding the off button?

[Steve 2B]

Greetings!

Having read through Franks post about his 'squishy' ball technique at the w/e, was so impressed how much easier it's been doing the relaxing 'thing' this way, rather than going the 'from-the-feet-up' traditional method. I'd guess it took me roughly half the time (20mins Max), to reach the border of f1/f2. Even though I've not managed to cross that border yet, It's great  to spend much more time now (1/2 hour_45mins) tackling the reasons as to why I'm not able to make that final step. I'm beginning to suspect in a big way that it's the brain itself that's sticking the spanner in the works. I went through the process of finding areas of the brain that had tension and was either using Franks method, or something along the lines of mental Acue-pressure. The mental Acue-pressure is basically the same thing as the squishy ball, but making a mentally constructed thumb and making small circular motions in the area and visualizing the tension dissipating until the sensation of tension is gone. A curious thing I've noticed is that I can steer/herd the tension area around, as it doesn't seem to be fixed. What the tension is ultimately (Other than just tension), I'm not really sure but in the process of removing it the bodily sensations disappear rapidly. Since starting the practice I've noticed that my perception of noise has increased dramatically, several times I has to remove my ear-plugs as I thought something external was really happening..LoL..Pops and bangs, or rather it seemed like knocks and bumps, oh and distant voices and the sensation that someone was prodding my feet! Weird!
Last thing to report for the day is again with the 'mental-massage' is if you make a 'stroking' sensation across the brain, or particularly along the gap, between the two hemi-spheres (Top of the head) I get an almost 'ziiiiiing' like sensation, with a sense of motion? Again very odd, but fun
I did briefly find what appeared to be the 'off button', but I got so excited about finding it it switched itself back again on not long after. <sigh>

So what are you supposed to do after you manage to switch the thing off anyway? Focus on the rundown scene?

Cheers,

Steve

[Giselle]

Can you post the link where I can read about the "squishy ball" method?

I've come to realize that my main obstacle is in not being able to "shut down."  I think my problem is that I live in a very active household and I maintain an awareness of what's going on around me.  The only time I seem to get time alone is at night and then when I do manage to quiet my brain, I fall asleep.  I'm going to have to find a quiet spot to myself somehow.

Giselle

[Steve 2B]

Hi Giselle,

Sure, here's the link;

http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1141

I reposted it originally in the 'Mind-Sick' post.

Yep I know exactly how you feel, trying to get space to practice is really tough. Not sure if it's any use but years ago, when I was into the meditation stuff I'd wait 'till every one had gone to bed and sit in an upright chair/rocking chair, one that had a back long to support my head, would stuff a small cushion behind, to support my neck. Comfy blanket over the legs and 'jobs-a-good-un!' I found initially that trying to do the phasing practice lying in bed really hard, as you said you just end up falling asleep, but I've found over the last few weeks that I say to myself that "For the first hour of bed I'm going to practice, then sleep". Seems to be working so far, as a part of me realizes that I'm serious about doing this, so will keep the sleepy feelings to the side, whilst I'm concentrating.

ATB

Steve

[Giselle]

Thanks, Steve.  This really sounds like something that will work for me.

Giselle

[Frank]

I always was aware of muscle tension in the face being a bigger barrier than anywhere else in the body, but the idea of "brain tension" is quite interesting.

Yes, tension in the eyes especially.

Is it possible that muscle tension in the scalp, eyes, and forehead is experienced as "inside the brain tension", or are we actually dealing with something different like a mental tension of sorts?

I respect the question and would say not, in my experience.

I would say that after the "outer" tension has been dealt with there is an inner "brain" tension that needs to be overcome. In my experience this is the key to achieving the MABA state. Too much sheer emphasis is placed on physical-body happenings, IMO, and there is much internal work to be done afterwards.

Far better, in my experience, to simply do the "internal" work first and then the physical-body just falls into place. Well, providing you are not taking a parachute-jump or driving down the freeway at the time. :)

Yours,
Frank

[Steve 2B]

When I was practicing on Sunday and last night for that matter I could feel what I can only guess was the whole brain under 'tension', the fact it was still switched on. Umm...It was a kind of duality thing, my conscious awareness was one thing and the active, but calm brain was something else...It felt like a separate presence, you knew it was there, if that makes any sense? The only other time I've felt it 'switch-off' like that was years ago, when doing some self hypnosis work. The only metaphor I can think of is when you're driving in a car, minding your own business, the motor cuts out and there's that distinct absence of engine noise, all you can hear is the wind and the tires on the road....
The other thing I really need to sort out is that stupid swallow reflex, it's bloomin' annoying!  Any ideas as to how I can stop this?

Cheers,

Steve

[Heather B.]

I had really good luck last night by combining physical and mental massaging.  I physically massaged all over my face and head and down into my neck and the tops of my shoulders.  As I did that, I imagined that my physical touch extended deep into my brain and all my muscles and my eyes.    Then I lay back, enjoying the soothing sensations, and almost immediately, my whole body just sort of went numb!  Not only that, but my mind automatically became more alert.  It was awesome!  Unfortunately, it was late, and I just dozed off to sleep.  I need to get in the habit of practicing all this in the morning.

[Frank]

MT:

That's interesting because I have been having a LOT of RTZ experiences recently. As you know this has never really been my thing but I've been practising stepping into Focus 2, and then detuning my awareness to take a step "back" into the wider physical. Mainly just for research for the book. It's not my thing but other people may want to know and all that. So anyway I've been zooming around all over the place. I don't recall any meeting between us but, then again, I've got so many aspects of me milling about here, there and everywhere it's unreal. I step into Focus 2 and I'm surrounded by me. :)

Yours,
Frank

[Steve 2B]

" I've got so many aspects of me milling about here, there and everywhere it's unreal. I step into Focus 2 and I'm surrounded by me"

LoL Frank, you're starting to sound like agent Smith from the final Matrix movie

Some more ramblings...

I'm just amazed by the amount of tension there is in the eyes, the overall tension in the brain seems to be fairly straight forward to deal with, but getting the eyes to relax fully is pretty tricky! Yesterday afternoon I'd gotten to edge of f1/f2, or perhaps Monroes F10?, was making a concerted effort to relax the eyes. It seemed like there was a second eyelid closing as I was concentrating on each eyeball, weird effect, but I could feel it relax(Muscular), then there was an additional darkening, guess this is the receptors actually powering down and going into 'sleep' mode. At this point I'm getting random images, find at the moment they're getting in the way, as soon as they appear the physical eyes try to power up again and focus/look at the image, which destroys the overall effect I'm try to get. One thing I see quite alot of, are these blotchy images. The only way I can describe them is if you imagine looking at the sky at the point where it would join a tree line/roof line and trace out that shape into a silhouette, everything below is a kind of gold/really defocused/mangled image and everything above that has a blue sky/gold colour. I'm not sure if this is the 'astral' state that Frank talks about, if I need to focus on the this to make the images sharp? There are points within this that randomly come into sharp focus, can see (More often than not) they're everyday objects as you'd find in the house. Yesterday I seemed to see alot of glasses of water??
By this point the body sensations have pretty much gone, tho I'm still aware it's there and my breathing has slowed and shallowed right out, pop back(as it were) just to see what it's doing.

Now my question is...Do I need to do something here? I.e. try to re-focus my mental eyes to see the images clearly? Or just wait for it to happen by itself?(I've read that things are supposed to happen automatically). Is there a tangible 'mechanical-thing/process' I can get hold of mentally and move this 'focus' with? It all seems so 'flakey/inconsistent' and out of control at the moment...
I'm still trying to find the 'off-button', still seems to be eluding me I'm going to have a look on some of the medical/brain sites, to see if they know where in the brain the mechanism for controlling bodily sleep is.

Any Ideas ?

Cheers all!

Steve

[Frank]

I'm just amazed by the amount of tension there is in the eyes, the overall tension in the brain seems to be fairly straight forward to deal with, but getting the eyes to relax fully is pretty tricky! Yesterday afternoon I'd gotten to edge of f1/f2, or perhaps Monroes F10?


Hi:

Now you are beginning to get to grips with what's what. Normally your eyes will relax and that's a cue for you to fall asleep. Well, not just you but with people generally. You will notice, as you fall asleep, your eyes relax and your focus automatically shifts into what I call the "million meanderings", then that's it, you are off into dreamland. Once you get caught in the million meanderings you are screwed. The way you avoid slipping into this state is by keeping your focus of attention as the eyes relax and you make the shift to Primary Focus 2 only into a different region of PF2, preferably into the core, i.e. your imagination.

Problem is the eyes relaxing is a kind of cue that triggers the sleep reflex.

So what you have to do is teach yourself to relax the eyes even though you are not really ready for sleep. As the eyes, and the general facial area relaxes (but particularly the eyes), your focus of attention should shift, or at least begin to shift. This you are doing as per the next quote...

I could feel it relax(Muscular), then there was an additional darkening, guess this is the receptors actually powering down and going into 'sleep' mode. At this point I'm getting random images, find at the moment they're getting in the way, as soon as they appear the physical eyes try to power up again and focus/look at the image, which destroys the overall effect I'm try to get.

The random images are a sign that your focus of attention is beginning to make the shift. But the moment you see some internal image your physical eyes are trying to snatch a glance at whatever it was. As I've said a number of times over the years, I used to be plagued by this problem and often I'd feel like gouging my eyes out in frustration! Because the moment your eyes try to snatch a glance it pulls you right out of the very state you have tried so hard to attain.

The key to progress is to focus your mental attention not on the images but beyond the images. I mentioned the other day that there are no definite boundaries between these states. What I mean is there is a transition, but it is never a black and white transition. You get what I call boundary layers as a kind of link-state between the transitions proper. Monroe would call it a differential phasing, where he was receiving 2 inputs at once for a short while before he fully made the transition. I call them boundary-layer effects. The random imagery you are seeing are boundary-layer effects. The "place" you want to be is "beyond" that boundary layer. If you concentrate upon the boundary layer then at the boundary layer you will remain. :)

From what you describe, you have successfully managed to attain the Monroe focus 3 state and you are on the edge of the transition to focus 10. Now you need to make the shift and achieve a full focus 10. Then it starts getting a bit lively normally.

If you can stay calm, i.e. not get fearful or excited then you should get a major sensation of a transition. Now, depending on your momentum at this point, you will either plop out into your individual area of mind (the area of Primary Focus 2, or typically "the astral" of the mystics) or your momentum will take you right through this area and you will perceive this as a major shift where you are seeing all manner of swirling clouds of colour and maybe hearing all manner of random pops, bangs, noises, screeches; flashes of all kinds of images of perhaps past memories, feelings, sexual urges, etc. Or you may see your whole life "flash before you" and that kind of thing. Reason being you have just zipped right through your own mind in just a few ticks.

If your momentum is pretty strong then you should end up at about the focus 21 state. In terms of overall area in consciousness, this is at the "boundary" so to speak, between Primary Focus 2 and Primary Focus 3.

If you are really "flying" then you could even zip through this stage and "crash land" within the area of Primary Focus 3 somewhere. This area encompasses the Monroe attention-states of focuses 23 through to 27 inclusive. But if this happens to you then you need to slow it all down a bit else you'll get into some bad control habits that will not stand you in good stead. Crash landings normally result in you getting zapped back to physical.

As a general rule, you should always be aiming for ever higher degrees of control. Unless you have that control, you can't really do anything productive. All you will have is a whacky experience. Perhaps a really exciting and fun whacky experience but it's still a whacky experience.

Yours,
Frank

[Willis]

If you can stay calm, i.e. not get fearful or excited then you should get a major sensation of a transition.

Are you talking about the shift to Monroes Focus 10?  And concerning this shift, is it something like this:

After about 20 or so minutes of practice, my awareness will be very shallow.  Not thinking, doing, watching, trying anything at this point.  My awareness is very thin, then, all of a sudden, there will be this switch type effect.  No noise, but if there was it would be like a click.  All of a sudden, my mind becomes fully alert and crystal clear.  Its like if I were to be thinking of things at that point everything about those thoughts would be fully exposed.  But because my mind was clear, the sensation is one of crystal clear awareness of nothing.  Its not a spatial kind of feeling like the 3D blackness, but like my mind wakes up to clear emptiness.  Its almost like an empty vacuum and thoughts begin to happily fill the void.  When I first starting experiencing this, the thoughts were highly uncontrollable, kind of like opening flood gates.  It seems I have some degree of control over this flooding of thoughts now, but still very hard to control.

From what I've read in these forums, this seems to me the opening stages of Focus 10.  Would that be correct?  And if so, what would be the next thing I would want to focus on?  A rundown?  Keeping the mind as clear as possible?  Thanks!

Will

[Kodemaster]

Here's a relaxation technique that I discovered two days ago, that may be helpful:

When you're in the shower (physical world), turn the water on "cool." Tilt your head back far enough that the rushing water hits the spot between your eyes and third-eye chakra (this will feel really good) and let it run down your face. Let everything go, mentally and just relax. Take in this wonderful feeling for as long as you can, and your mind/third-eye chakra will relax. It helps to do this toward the end of your shower.

Later that night when it's projection time, your mind should be more relaxed and you should have less "mental garbage." I did this two days ago and I had my first projection in a few weeks.

Best,

Jeni

[Frank]

Will:

Sounds very focus 3 from your description. I wanted to ask, though, what is your awareness of your physical body and your physical surroundings after the "click"? And after this click where do you perceive "you" to be... still in the physical or have you become manifest within your mind?

Yours,
Frank

[Willis]

what is your awareness of your physical body and your physical surroundings after the "click"? And after this click where do you perceive "you" to be... still in the physical or have you become manifest within your mind?

I am still aware of my physical, but I guess I can say definitely no physical input coming from my body.  At this point I am not aware of my breathing or heartbeat or anything, but I do still feel I am "in" my physical body.

Prior to the click, my awareness is very thin in the sense that I don't recognize the passage of time and stuff like that.  I have no idea how long I am in the state prior to the click, but at the same time I am fully conscious both before and after.  However, after the transition I am aware of the passage of time.

Maybe I am riding the borderline here.  When the click happens, its kinda like the awareness of myself wakes up, but in crystal clarity.   Could it be that I am riding the sleep border prior and I basically fall back into full awareness/consciousness but with a clear mind after?

Thanks,
Will

[Willis]

Frank, I know all this focus level stuff isn't a true picture of "The Wider Reality", but it is a useful tool to guage progress.  Monroe's focus levels are broken down in a way that I'm trying to become familiar with as well as your own.  It helps me see my progression through this process and see my successes.  I have also had extremely clear auditory hallucinations during projection attempts.  Including random rambling by an unknown voices, singing by others, and even a conversation with one.  Just as real as talking to the person next to me.  I believe under your focus system it would be FoC2.  Under Monroe's would this stage be Focus 10 (beginning or end?)?

Just asking.  Thanks for your input.  Also, Kodemaster, thanks for the relaxation advise!

Will

[Steve 2B]

Wow, these are some great posts!

Frank!

I can't thank you enough for your post yesterday, it's exactly what I needed to hear! Remind me to buy you a round of beers, as and when we get to meet up

I left work yesterday, took the text of your post home with me, while I was having dinner I read it through several times, so as to get the words imprinted. Later on I got some time to try it out, went through the usual relaxation stuff, after about 1/2 an hour I'd gotten to the 'relax-the-eyeballs' point. This time round it was alot easier, tho I had to wrestle a bit with keeping them still and after about 10 mins they finally behaved. I was then mulling over what you'd been saying about focusing beyond the images(But without thinking too much), got the occasional image pop up, but made the concerted effort to ignore what was appearing and began pushing/pulling my mental focus to beyond where I'd normally see these images. I started to get a buzzing in my forehead and a kind of swirly sense of movement, thought "Whoa! Whoa! What's going on here!?"
So I put the...err...brakes on, if that's the right word? (Felt like when you're rolling a car back, but a bit at a time to maintain control.)
All the tension in the eyes and forebrain just dropped away and I'm in a dark space. When I say space it appeared like the inside of my head had become cavernous, what I could see as such were not lights as such, but like a negative image of white noise you see on the tv, when not tuned to a station. I thought to myself WOW! what an incredible sensation! I felt really free and relaxed, no sensation of body as such and the breathing had disappeared somewhere too...
Ahem....Unfortunately then, after having about 10 mins of this the mp3 track I use stopped and I got blasted with one of the songs I listen to during the day, it snapped me out of it real quick!
 So I guess this must have been focus 10? I suppose what I need to do is to fire up the imagination and picture a scene? to get to f2?

Now at least I know what I need to aim for, for the time being. Happy factor 10!

Cheers,

Steve

[Frank]

Will:

I'm 99% certain what you describe is focus 3 of the Monroe model. Yes, I too like the Monroe focus states as they are great for beginners especially.

You need to think of the Monroe states as individual focus states that take place within specific areas in consciousness. My Phasing Model specifies actual areas. So, for example, the area in consciousness I label Primary Focus 3 (note: I have now added the word Primary as people were becoming confused between the Monroe states and the Phasing Model states) this would incorporate the individual Monroe attention focuses of F23 to F27 inclusive.

So my model sets out to determine the Primary Area focuses and Monroe has determined the main individual focuses within each primary area. This is why both models compliment each other so well. Because between the two you always know where you are within consciousness. Think of a Primary Focus area as a whole town and the individual focuses would be, say, the main buildings in that town. Changing your Primary Focus Area would be like going to another town and the individual focuses would change to the main buildings in the new town.

Please Note: I use this analogy sparingly because I am always stressing these focuses are not places, they are focuses of mental attention within an overall structure of consciousness. But you can think of them, in a sense, as places when coming to trying to understand the layout... but it's all strictly in a manner of speaking.

The moment you phase away from the physical you enter your own mind which is Primary Focus 2 of the Phasing Model. This area in consciousness would incorporate the Monroe individual attention focuses of the top branches of F10 (or F11 as I personally think of it though Monroe never specified an F11) F12, F15 and, at F21, you are right on the "outer edge" of your own mind.

The idea of your own area of mind being the first phase away from the physical accords exactly with Monroe's experience, but he never put any labels on actual areas in consciousness. He was more into labelling the individual focus states for some reason.

You are right, none of this is a true picture, but it does give us a handy "map" we can follow. Of course, just like all physical maps, the map is not the actual terrain. But it serves to provide us with a handy tool we can use for direction.

Yours,
Frank

[Frank]

Steve:

The actual effects of the focus 10 state do vary from person to person. But the common factors are that you "become" within your own mind in a kind of twilight zone between the physical and the start of your own mind proper. The physical is "back there" somewhere. You are totally free of it and free to simply wander about in a kind of 3D space "within your head" so to speak. This is focus 10.

At focus 10, your body is NOT just very relaxed that you cannot feel it and you are perhaps seeing images in your mind that are grabbing your focus of attention. No, there is a definite shift, a definite withdrawal of your focus from the physical into your own mind. As your focus shifts, you feel it distinctly. The preliminary state, the feeling of being very relaxed and having your attention focused inwards is focus 3. At focus 3, you are still very much "in" the physical body but you have, in a sense, "forgotten" that you have one. Because what has happened is, your attention has turned inwards and you are now laying back looking at all the pretty patterns and things that a person typically offers themselves.

But at focus 10, there is a definite shift away from the physical. You are free to roam about within the 3D space within your mind. You have "stepped into" your mind, whereas at focus 3 you are in the position of looking into it after having turned your attention inwards. In other words, at focus 10 you have "stepped into" the area where you were looking at before at focus 3.

The other thing I think you are getting to grips with now is these focus states are something you have to mentally "reach" for. I think the modernism would be being "pro-active". You need to fuel it by looking ahead and anticipating with a high degree of expectation. But at the same time you can't force it. It's a tricky kind of mental balancing act.

Yours,
Frank

[Steve 2B]

Hi Frank

Thanks for your post

"The actual effects of the focus 10 state do vary from person to person. But the common factors are that you "become" within your own mind in a kind of twilight zone between the physical and the start of your own mind proper. The physical is "back there" somewhere. You are totally free of it and free to simply wander about in a kind of 3D space "within your head" so to speak. This is focus 10."

I see what your saying there, it did have a definite sense of 3d to it, tho I didn't have the ability to move about in it. I suspect now that I've had more time to reflect upon the experience that I must have been somewhere on the edge of the focus3/focus10.

"At focus 10, your body is NOT just very relaxed that you cannot feel it and you are perhaps seeing images in your mind that are grabbing your focus of attention. No, there is a definite shift, a definite withdrawal of your focus from the physical into your own mind. As your focus shifts, you feel it distinctly. The preliminary state, the feeling of being very relaxed and having your attention focused inwards is focus 3. At focus 3, you are still very much ?in? the physical body but you have, in a sense, ?forgotten? that you have one. Because what has happened is, your attention has turned inwards and you are now laying back looking at all the pretty patterns and things that a person typically offers themselves."

When this shift happened I got a real sense of movement and an almost dizzy sensation in the head(A bit like when you stand up too quickly and you feel like you are about to fall over), felt like I turned round about 90-180 degrees, really quickly.

"The other thing I think you are getting to grips with now is these focus states are something you have to mentally "reach" for. I think the modernism would be being "pro-active". You need to fuel it by looking ahead and anticipating with a high degree of expectation. But at the same time you can't force it. It's a tricky kind of mental balancing act."

Yep, I have to agree with the 'reaching' thing and being 'pro-active'. Now that I think about it, it was my attitude before trying it out that stood me well. It's something I'm going to make a concerted effort to do each time I make an attempt.

I've got a question about the 'reaching' a such. When you're looking into the blackness and focusing your 'mental' eyes beyond the boundary images that pop up, does your focus of attention shift according to how 'far' off into the distance/blackness you look? A bit like changing the focus of your physical eyes from, say looking at your computer monitor, then glancing up to view the bottom of your garden, through you window? Or doesn't it work like that?
When I was trying the other day the Images from the boundary were really close (almost in-my-face), so the point on which I was focusing on was not that far away.

O/T :
 Incidentally I've started reading this book about Sufism, called 'Ibn al-Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination'. I got into reading comparative theology to find out how to reach/attain these different states, this was before I found the 'Astral-Pulse website', what you are teaching
Anyway... Very interesting so far, It's basically saying about how the Sufi's use the imagination to gain access to god...I'm not into the notions of 'deities', but there's this very nice little diagram of how Ibn al-Arabi breaks up reality into four key areas. He quotes them as being; The corporeal world-The world of imagination-The world of spirits-(and finally) Being. If I'm reading the dates right, he lived 560-638 AD.

Cheers,

Steve

[Frank]

Steve:

In answer to your question about reaching, to make progress it is only necessary to think just a little ahead of yourself. After a while of practice you will be able to reach to Primary Focus 3 and make the transition in one fell swoop. But for now it would be best to take it in small steps.

Regarding the other material, I am finding it fascinating realising that many of the very early teachings also apportion consciousness into 4 primary areas. Judaism was one set of teachings I looked at in particular and I've mentioned a few times how, when I cleared away all the layers of religious waffle, when I dug through to the core teachings, you could see they too were saying that consciousness was apportioned into 4 primary areas and I find that fascinating. But then people came along and made a religion out of it and all the original teachings were lost under layer upon layer of ego-tripping dogma in the form of all the religious conditioning.

Yours,
Frank

[Steve 2B]

Frank,

"In answer to your question about reaching, to make progress it is only necessary to think just a little ahead of yourself. After a while of practice you will be able to reach to Primary Focus 3 and make the transition in one fell swoop. But for now it would be best to take it in small steps. "

Rgr on the small steps I was looking at Major Toms post in the FAQ, realized I've not actually made that much progress...Just goes to show you the difference between where you think you are, where you actually are...Ahem!

"Regarding the other material, I am finding it fascinating realizing that many of the very early teachings also apportion consciousness into 4 primary areas. Judaism was one set of teachings I looked at in particular and I've mentioned a few times how, when I cleared away all the layers of religious waffle, when I dug through to the core teachings, you could see they too were saying that consciousness was apportioned into 4 primary areas and I find that fascinating. But then people came along and made a religion out of it and all the original teachings were lost under layer upon layer of ego-tripping dogma in the form of all the religious conditioning."

Hehehe... It seems to be part and parcel of every major religion I've studied. On the one hand you have the people who can actually go to these focus levels and explore reality, then there are the others who like to turn it into some cozy abstract notion, debate the in's and out's of something they don't have any direct experience of. What I have found so annoying is that within most systems are some explanations of sort on how to get to grip with the practical side of it....So why(Particularly in the west) don't they promote having a crack at it themselves? Ibn Arabi states that everyone can have access to these things, so I wonder then why people don't make the effort to find out the reality behind the words? Fear maybe?

Anyhow...I digress The last two attempts have yielded pretty much the same results. The first was not such a big hit, tho an interesting thing happened after I'd dropped out of Monroes F3/10, got literally bombarded with images.They seemed to average maybe 10 a second, went on for about 30 seconds! The second try was alot more stable, tho not so deeply into the F3/10 state, was have troubles with shutting the eyes down..Grrrr! That and there was a fair amount of brain tension to deal with. I think alot of that had to do with yesterdays events...
I read your post this morning about the reaching, found that the 'looking' further into the distance wasn't achieving anything a such, but focusing just beyond the images got better results.
Like you say a little bit at a time

Ramble over for today.


Cheers,

Steve

[Steve 2B]

Frank,

Sorry I to ask, is just for reference. When you're in the Fz, how big a space is it? Like is it VAST, or room sized? Or in your head size?



Steve

[Willis]

Rgr on the small steps  I was looking at Major Toms post in the FAQ, realized I've not actually made that much progress...Just goes to show you the difference between where you think you are, where you actually are...Ahem!  

Ain't that the truth!  But the cool thing is that your making progress, and this is proven due to the fact that you think you are further along than you are.  I think its also alot of wishful thinking too!  

Frank, from what I've read from your stuff, the combination of the Monroe model and your model in the beginning is very helpful.  I think your model (again, just from the reading) sounds more accurate, but the Monroe model is a great roadmap.  Its difficult to describe where you are in this whole process cause of the lack of experience you can relate it to.  So thanks again with all your patience with those of us without the experience!

Concerning the reaching out and visual stuff we're talking about now.  Let me know if this is accurate:  There are two types of visuals I experience and play with when practicing now.  One is like normal vision, where you can focus your "eyesight" on the lights and colors and other random images that flash in the darkness.  Then, I try to see "through" or 'past" these images and peer out into the blackness using the minds eye.  I can describe the mind eye vision like this...when you are talking to someone relating a past memory to them, for instance "when I was at the baseball game last night, a batter charged the mound..." while you are relating this story, there are no actually hallucinatory images you are seeing, but in you minds eye, the whole movie is playing out as you describe it.  Now, when practicing, I have begun to try to see through the "eyesight" stuff and peer into the vastness using my mind's eye.  I have found it to be a slippery line in that your normal vision gets thrust back into the picture (maybe this is what you guys are suggesting when you say you are trying to get your eyes under control) , but I feel I am making big strides with this type of visualization.

Now, with that being said, would I be correct in saying that if you were to successfully see the vastness with your mind's eye only and be fully engaged within that utility, you would be in Monroe's focus 10?  And if that be the case, taking it one step further, if you could not only see with the minds eye fully, but start engaging with the environment your minds eye is creating, you'd be in focus 12?  And then if you could control your mind or your intentions well enough to be benevolent with the environment you are now encased in, would the environment peel away to expose the 3D Blackness?  I think I'm getting it now.  I'm kinda excited.  If there is agreement with what I just said, I may be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

[Frank]

Steve:

It's VAST possibly infinite, who knows.

Yours,
Frank

[Steve 2B]

Frank,

LoL...So I'm not likely to miss it then

Thanks for that. I'll make a post as and when I find it. Think it'll be a while tho...


Cheers,

S