In the room away from the body yet within myself

[halfphased]

It was a strange sensation to be looking into the mirror and feel the presence of another in the room with me.  Yet it was not the presence of another being it was the presence of a body that happens to be the point of my focus most of the time.

It just felt so strange being in the room with my body and having this sense that there was someone else in the room with me.  There was this body and then there was me, which is confusing and strange since I have had my awareness held away from this body before and I have never felt anything like this before.

Perhaps, it was the effect of looking into a mirror with the lights dimmed so that I could not make out the features of my body.

But is that the key to all of this phasing stuff?  To dissasociate one's sense of self with this body?  Which can be really hard when you have this body awareness even when you are putting your awareness away from the body.

I understand now what Frank means when he says that our minds are not contained inside of our bodies.  If anything it would seem to me that our brains are at best an elaborate processing unit that is built to quickly analyze and assess the data that is fed through the senses.  It also allows us the ability to program in reactions to that data.  It is not within our brains that we go when we go within ourselves via phasing.  Nor is it within our bodies that we go, although you may take your awareness to a point within your body.  

It is so mind boggling and with my brain always trying to come in and analyze my experiences it makes things even more difficult.  It seems that I am always coloring my experience with this sense of how it relates to my body, and such an awareness immediately draws me back to focusing on my body.  

When I lie down to attempt phasing I run into a brick wall which is my body.  It is lying there filled with sensations.  I can not stop the sensations because it is the job of the body to sense these sensations.  So, I end up lying there trying to dissasociate my self with these sensations and all that ends up happing is me becomming very calm and relaxed for awhile until I become very uncomfortable from not moving.  My awareness is full of the sense of my relaxed body just lying there and I am probably on the edge of monroe's focus 10.  From there I am lost.  

It is almost like there is something elastic tied between my focus and my body.  If I attempted to move it away from my body I am snapped back into it.  For instance, I can move my focus to what is behind me, but the pull of my body awareness makes it difficult for me to keep my focus behind this body for any extended amount of time.  I also lack detail or solidity in focusing away from the body.  It just is not as crisp.  

I have a feeling that I need to peruse the relevant phasing threads once more.  I shall do that, but if anyone has any quick pointers or wishes to share their relevant experiences then I would be most glad for it.

-Nathan

[Hans Solo]

So, I end up lying there trying to dissasociate my self with these sensations and all that ends up happing is me becomming very calm and relaxed for awhile until I become very uncomfortable from not moving. My awareness is full of the sense of my relaxed body just lying there and I am probably on the edge of monroe's focus 10

My body always becomes very uncomfortable before I can phase, if I try it at night.  I think of this as the body trying to test the mind to see if the mind is truly asleep. First it will be an itch, then you will get the increasing feeling that your body is REALLY uncomfortable. This will drive you nuts, but you have to fight through it and try not to move. In fact, it is best to try and not think about your body at all. You might want to create a scene in your mind to get your focus off of your physical body. Pretty soon, if you don't move, you body will give up and say "well the mind must be asleep so I should probably hit the sack also" and there will be a sinking feeling where you truly have the mind awake body asleep state.

If you get to this state it would be wise to notice the blackness "behind your eyes"  (I think it is best to NEVER focus on your eyes, and try to focus on the blackness in the mind) and wait until it changes to the 3d blackness (FZero) and try and phase, or just wait for the vibrations and try and "roll out" old school style.

You are pretty close

Han
[/quote]

[Frank]

Hi:

The physical is our Primary Focus so it captures our focus of attention to a high degree. This in many ways is great. You don't want to be driving down the freeway and suddenly start projecting to Focus 3.

The hurdle you have met up with is the one all beginner's face and that is, how to break that capturing of your focus. Some people find it easy, some people rather difficult and most people sit somewhere in the middle. The good news is it gets easier with practice. So even if you find it difficult, you can look forward to it becoming progressively easier the more you do it.

You need to seek out that point in your mind that you can mentally look towards in order to sense the wider reality. That is your end goal, as it were.

When we first try to look within us all we see is darkness. Darkness is not all that engaging. By comparison, the physical-body senses are far more engaging. So we remain "in the physical" so to speak.

To get around this we take two channels of approach.

1) We choose times when the sensory input from the physical body is dulled. In other words we let the physical body relax. This gives us a big advantage as our mental focus has less sensory input to latch onto. So we lie down or sit in the quiet, dim the lights, don't move around at all, and so forth. We do this in order to minimise sensory input to as high a degree as possible.

2) In addition to the above, we create a competing element for our mental focus of attention by using our imagination.

Your mental focus of attention is a totally separate faculty that can be shifted or pointed at other areas within your consciousness continuum. Normally, this mental faculty sits behind the physical eyes. Not literally, but that is how it feels in mind if you seek it out. With me, if you imagine two parallel lines passing into the eyes and, as they enter each eye, they converge quickly and meet at a point central between the eyes about 10cm in from each eyeball. That is the point where, to me, my focus of mental attention is situated while I am awake and alert within the physical.

So the goal is, to take this point and shift it away from where is normally sits while captured by the physical, into another area of mind.

But to do this, we need to create that competing element for our mental focus of attention. Otherwise we will not make the switch to Focus 2.

We create that competing element in one of two ways...

1) We can use our curiosity, which holds a powerful influence over us.

2) Using our imagination we can create a desirable and engaging scenario.

The Noticing exercise is designed to fire off our curiosity. By noticing various changes taking place in mind, we set up a kind of domino effect where one change leads to another and another, and so forth. As we steadily become more and more curious regarding these changes it, in a sense, seduces our mental focus of attention into going down a particular mental path that leads away from the physical.

The other way is to use our imagination to help us. But even so, when most of us imagine we feel the images as if they were some distance away. So to bring them closer and make them more lifelike, we engage our senses within the imagery. Plus, we create something not so simple that we get bored, and not something so complex that we lose the thread of it.

Doing this makes the imagery more compelling so it stands a greater chance of capturing our mental focus. If we can reduce sensory input from the physical to as high degree as possible, while creating an engaging and appealing scenario in mind then, at some point, the seemingly unbreakable, inescapable capture of our Primary Focus will be broken and we will be free to shift our focus of attention into another area of consciousness. Remember the Golden Rule, wherever we point our mental focus of attention becomes our reality.  

You need to believe in that point in mind. You need to reach into the blackness and seek it out. This is what helps you shift your focus. At the moment you are still focusing on the physical. In a sense it is like you are expecting your physical to somehow "go away" and then you will be left with an objective knowing of the wider reality. But the physical never does just go away except, of course, when you fall asleep. :)

To overcome this, what you have to do is actively work on shifting focus, as I describe above. In other words, put all thought of the physical aside and actively concentrate on seeking that point in your mind where your "connection" is. When you hit on it that is when all the lights come on and you begin to see images in your mind that are clear and vivid.

Imagine having a routine day at work. You're a bit bored and nothing much is taking place (little sensory input). Your holiday is coming up. You fly off next week to some exotic tropical destination. You are imagining laying out on the beach, that blue ocean, the hot sun but a relaxing breeze is refreshing. You can imagine it now and it's all going through your mind. Then, suddenly, someone is tapping your arm saying your name. You snap out of it and next moment you realise you are back at work and had been daydreaming. For a moment there you were in the depths of your imagination. In other words, you had shifted your focus of attention to Focus 2 of consciousness and you were engaged in your "holiday" rundown. Although it was not intentional, of course, in this case people would typically say you were "daydreaming". Well, creating a rundown and stepping into it is like having a controlled daydream.  

Basically you have a situation where all sensory input from the physical is put at a minimum. Then you create a very engaging and appealing scenario in mind. Your mental focus of attention thrives on input, and wherever you point your mental focus of attention becomes your reality. Your MFA will tend to gravitate to whichever area of consciousness looks the most appealing in terms of receiving sensations. If nothing much is doing physical-wise and right next door, so to speak, is a really engaging scenario taking place then it will tend to gravitate towards that. As it does so, your whole sense of reality will change from the physical, to Focus 2 of consciousness.

This is what we call making "the switch". Once you make the switch, you can use Focus 2 as a kind of launch-pad to get you to the other areas, or you can stay and explore Focus 2, it's your choice.

Yours,
Frank

[halfphased]

Thank you both for your replies.  It appears that you both exactly understand where I am at, which is refreshing, since it gives me a little confidence boost to know I am on the right track.

It also lets me know that I have been having more success than I had thought.  Quite often I do find myself engaged in a daydream of some sort.  However, at that point it if I have any awareness that I have switched over to Focus 2 it is very minimal and I soon get sucked into the daydream.

It is almost like being on a tetter-totter.  On the one hand there can be too much awareness of the physical body and on the other hand I can be daydreaming and not even realize it.  I have actually had this problem recently where it is hard for me to wake up from a night of sleeping, because I can not tell if I am still dreaming or if I am awake.  

If I do gain any firm awareness of being in Focus 2 it often signals the return to Focus 1.  As soon as I realize that I have made the switch it is like my dream begins to fade around me until I am back in a near focus 10 like place.  I find it quite easy to go back to dreaming from this place, but I have not had any success with maintaining my lucidity.

Perhaps, it is because once I gain my lucidity I get all excited and I think I have to do something, so I loose my cool and start running around all over the place.  I'll even have it happen where I gain the strong sense of lucidity for a little while and before I know it I am caught up into the dream again.

Frank, am I reading your correctly in thinking that the conscious shifting of the point of awareness from behind my eyes to up further into my head is the key to having lucidity in Focus 2?

also

How do I use F2 as a launch pad?

Thanks,
-Nathan

[Frank]

Hi:

The conscious shifting of that theoretical point of awareness is the key to your lucidity problems, yes. I cannot stress this too highly. Once you lose your lucidity, you get lost down what I call the Million Meanderings, which is my euphemism for the dream world. But if you have your lucidity all there from the outset you make things much easier for yourself. This is why I say that it is easier, in my judgement, to practice making the switch into Focus 2 from the physical, F1>F2, than it is to try practicing "coming awake" within a dream.

Years ago, that used to be my primary method. I got coming awake within a dream off to a fine art. I used to project 2 or 3 times a week for years using this approach. But it still did NOT give me the "awake and alert in the physical" style of conscious ability that I have now with the Phasing Approach that has been the culmination of more recent developments over the past 5 years.

What I am finding now, is people are writing to me saying about how they were actually making progress and didn't realise it. All the while people pass off things as "just a dream" or "just imagination". Now, as they are beginning to realise how the Wider Reality is set out, as they are getting a basic "map" in their minds of the subjective structure, they are beginning to see how the imagination fits in, how dreams play their part. But too many people are still asking that basic question: "Was this an OBE or just a dream?" Too many people are still thinking that dreaming is all "in the head" and isn't real. They are not seeing it as an actual shift in conscious awareness into another area of their consciousness continuum.

Dreaming is a very base-level shift into Focus 2. Your Will is dissipated all over the place and your sense of self is split into a million different meanderings. What you have to do is step into that Aspect of yourself that you typically step into while physical. It's not easy when the very mental faculty you need to do that is dissipated all over the place. Now, if you make the switch to Focus 2 with your faculties intact, then you will automatically enter Focus 2 well "above" that very base level. Each area in consciousness has many, many sub areas that mystics typically call "planes". Mystics reckon there are 7 planes, which is simply laughable as there are MILLIONS and MILLIONS of them. You could spend a whole lifetime exploring all the different "planes" of awareness within your Focus 2 alone!

A teeter-totter, yes, or as I call it: a very tricky mental balancing act. But a very rewarding one when you get it right. Because then all your wider self is laid open for you and you can revel in the excitement and the enjoyment of it all. Stand transfixed by the sheer awesomeness of it all. Find out who you truly are, know there is no death. Know that life is just one continuous cycle of knowing that has always been. Engage the concept of Infinity. Become that concept within Focus 4 and you will never be the same person again. Imagine the sheer ecstasy of a million orgasms all happening at once. Those are the kind of sensations Focus 4 gives you, and that's just scratching the surface.  

You can use Focus 2 as a launch pad merely by thinking about it. By placing the Intent. But to do this you need your Will fully engaged. Many followers of the Bruce Moen School will tell you about the need to place your Intent. But they don't actually explain to people exactly what that entails. Placing a strong Intent is summoning your two faculties of Desire and Will that culminates into an achievement of a particular outcome. But there is a third essential element that comes into play and that is your Belief that you will achieve this intended outcome. When you stand within Focus 2 and start summoning that kind of Intent, that's when sparks really begin to fly. :)

Yours,
Frank

[Potatis]

I've been away from these forums for a while. So much to catch up on since I was last here. Lots of new information about phasing now.

"Imagine the sheer ecstasy of a million orgasms all happening at once"

I guess I'm back now.

Potatis