[Problem] Eyes keep forcing themselves open

[Symbol]

When I am trying to relax in the bed after a good while of no success my eyes end up trying to open themselves, I end up struggling to keep them closed, because if they open, everything is failed and I need to start over...

Why does this happen? How can I stop it?

[Szaxx]

Hi,
Obtain an eye mask. These come in a pack with ear plugs for nightworkers to aid sleep. They look like the old robbers mask without the eye holes. Dont wear a striped t-shirt or you'll wake up in jail lol.

[Boom]

I'm not sure if youre doing something which I have done wrongly in the past. Sometimes during a projection. I know i have projected, but I cant see a damn thing.. so i open my eyes.. DOH!!!

Robert Bruce coined the term to just say "Vision Now! affirmations "Clarity Now! in order to active the 'third eye'.  Just try and forget about your physical eyes. You don't see the astral through them.

[Xanth]

Actually, I believe that was William Buhlman who coined those phrases.   
As for the eyes,  I also believe he means before a projection.   In which case,  I found stretching your eyes before practice really helps with keeping those sensations under control. 

[Barnowl]

this used to happen to me loads...In the end, I said 'I now see thru my eyes'

...then, for some reason, my mind turns to jelly, for about a second, like my subconscious is, 'decoding' a reality (really hard to explain...)

...and then I see, and am able to move

[personalreality]

more time with physical relaxation first, including eyes/eyelids.  might help.

[Xanth]

I have a kind of meter stick I like to use in regards to how well a particular session (meditative or phasing) will go...

I like to get to the point where I can physically feel each muscle in my head drooping with relaxation.  The physical sensation of gravity pulling the muscle down.  This means that they're completely relaxed... and at which point it just feels absolutely AMAZING.  This is an entirely PHYSICAL sensation I'm referring to.

Your eyelids relax so much that your eyes will lock shut... your cheeks will relax... the muscles of your scalp release all tension...

Once I feel that, I know I'm well on my way to a great session.  Generally speaking too, when that occurs I just never want to come out of it... that's how good it feels to lose all the tension in all the muscles in your head.  From there, it's easy to push that relaxation towards every other muscle in your body.  It all starts with the head. 

[Contenteo]

It does happen to me and I have pigeonholed it as a 'normal' event. Just close em and relax again.

Um, don't forget, projecting before bed for a newcomer is practically impossible. I tried and couldn't do it. I have never heard any story of anyone doing it for their first time. I have been saying this for over a year now. No one seems to listen. Get a couple down drowsy and then try for the red-flag, super-monk, utter complete physical and mental discipline requisite before bed type of exit.


Cheers,
Contenteo

[personalreality]

Um, don't forget, projecting before bed for a newcomer is practically impossible. I tried and couldn't do it. I have never heard any story of anyone doing it for their first time. I have been saying this for over a year now. No one seems to listen.

I second that.  Even after two years of practice and my ultimate success, with dozens of conscious exit projections under my belt, I still couldn't project before bed.  You're just too conditioned to go to sleep at that time.  There are those lucky people who project at night and remember it (I believe everyone projects every night, hardly anyone remembers though), but most of us don't and it takes time to break the habit enough to project at bed time.

It should be an easy time to project because you're already in a natural hypnogogic state, but most people I know just pass right through that phase to sleep without even realizing it.  To project at bedtime takes some serious ability to concentrate. 

The author John Magnus teaches you to project at bedtime, but he teaches it more like a phasing experience by having you utilize the disassociated state of hypnogogia to visualize a deep sensory environment (his example is walking through a forest, smelling the trees, hearing the forest sounds, touching the leaves, "tasting the air" and of course vividly seeing the world you're walking through).  For some that works, but from the people I've talked too, they just end up falling asleep.  I've even talked to John Magnus about it and he told me that it does take time if you're not used to it and more often than not, you will end up just falling asleep in the beginning, but its about the practice you get at focusing all of your senses away from your body, which is really just full control of your attention.

[todd421757]

You can successfully project at night while going to sleep, but it takes a physical anchor to be consistently successful at it.

I listen to a heater or fan sound. This keeps me from completely falling asleep while in the hypnogogic state.

If I can hear the fan sound, then I am in the physical plane. If I am conscious and I can't hear the fan sound anymore, then I am in the etheric plane. I hold this state until I regain sight in the etheric plane.

This leads me to a projection.

I don't use any visualizations. I only use sound.

[personalreality]

You can successfully project at night while going to sleep, but it takes a physical anchor to be consistently successful at it.

I listen to a heater or fan sound. This keeps me from completely falling asleep while in the hypnogogic state.

If I can hear the fan sound, then I am in the physical plane. If I am conscious and I can't hear the fan sound anymore, then I am in the etheric plane. I hold this state until I regain sight in the etheric plane.

This leads me to a projection.

I don't use any visualizations. I only use sound.

I've read of a technique where you deprive yourself of water for a while, get really thirsty and then put a glass of water on a table or something on the other side of your room from your bed.  So you use the water and your thirst as a "physical anchor" to draw yourself out of body to get the water.

But I feel you, in the AP book by the Frosts they talk about meditation being inward as opposed to projection being outward.  So I suppose if you try to use your imagination to project at night you're likely to just go inward and fall asleep, whereas focusing on a physical anchor outside of your body might be more successful.  It makes sense.  I'll give it a try tonight, see what happens.

[Barnowl]

You guys have inspired me...
I'm going to start doing this on fri night from now on (have the weekend to recover if I do have a bad sleep, lol)

I'll simply, 'feel' the chi in my body, and should hpefully be able to lift off.

[Mini stapler]

I've read of a technique where you deprive yourself of water for a while, get really thirsty and then put a glass of water on a table or something on the other side of your room from your bed.  So you use the water and your thirst as a "physical anchor" to draw yourself out of body to get the water.

Every perceived OBE I can remember having as a child was either really needing to pee or really needing a drink... but when I was young I was not aloud downstairs in the morning until my parents had got up out of bed, or I would be punished, and many times I got out of my bed and went down stairs to go to the toilet or kitchen only to awake in my bed, still needing to pee or drink! Reckon that concept has validity from my experiences as a child.

[KarmicBeats]

When I am trying to relax in the bed after a good while of no success my eyes end up trying to open themselves, I end up struggling to keep them closed, because if they open, everything is failed and I need to start over...

Why does this happen? How can I stop it?

First try daily breath meditations.   Like the one posted at the Karmic Beats Blog:
http://karmicbeats.blogspot.com/p/basic-breath-meditation.html

This will help you learn to be in a meditative state which is useful for anything else you do.  It helps strengthen your spiritual core.
I would do some 3rd Eye meditations as well.

Also when your eyes open try looking up toward your third eye (toward your brow). While still looking up, pick a spot on the wall or ceiling and use it as a meditation object and focus your awareness on your third eye.  While this may not help you project at the time (although it could), I believe doing this will help in long run.

[todd421757]

I've read of a technique where you deprive yourself of water for a while, get really thirsty and then put a glass of water on a table or something on the other side of your room from your bed.  So you use the water and your thirst as a "physical anchor" to draw yourself out of body to get the water.

Here is a great write-up of the thirst technique to initiate OBE's. If anyone has success with it, please post your experiences.

http://www.astraltraveler.com/obe-process.html