Technique: "Brain Strain"

[bluremi]

I read about this technique recently and tried it out: the results were pretty startling. The effect is so intense that I have trouble staying physically relaxed, so some practice is needed to get to the point where you're "bored" with it and can just go with the flow. Anyway, the technique:

1) Get into a relaxed state. The more relaxed, the better. I did this after getting about 70% of the way to Focus 10.
2) Try to clench your brain, as if it were a muscle, and then relax it.

This moves your focal point of awareness to your head immediately, with some weird effects. Personally I feel a burst of vibrations, like I'm dipping into sleep paralysis for just a second or two. If you're not feeling anything, play around with straining different areas of your brain until you figure it out.

Important: It's easy to accidentally tense up your face, neck, or shoulders, instead of your imaginary brain. Avoid this.

[horaciocs]

I've done it also, it's just like you mentioned it, you make some effort as if you were flexing a muscle, but your focus is your brain. It's hard to instruct someone to do it. I guess it's like moving a point of awareness with extreme effort. It does make me feel some different sensations, specially because it takes your awareness away from the rest of your body.

[Taoistguy]

So what are these "startling results"? Has it allowed you to OBE?

[bluremi]

Haven't been able to phase with this technique. The "startling" part is how rapidly it makes you feel exit symptoms. As soon as you stop concentrating, though, your attention necessarily snaps back to your physical body, so it takes some practice to sustain the focus.

[eflynn]

I read about this technique recently and tried it out: the results were pretty startling. The effect is so intense that I have trouble staying physically relaxed, so some practice is needed to get to the point where you're "bored" with it and can just go with the flow. Anyway, the technique:

1) Get into a relaxed state. The more relaxed, the better. I did this after getting about 70% of the way to Focus 10.
2) Try to clench your brain, as if it were a muscle, and then relax it.

This moves your focal point of awareness to your head immediately, with some weird effects. Personally I feel a burst of vibrations, like I'm dipping into sleep paralysis for just a second or two. If you're not feeling anything, play around with straining different areas of your brain until you figure it out.

Important: It's easy to accidentally tense up your face, neck, or shoulders, instead of your imaginary brain. Avoid this.

Can you guys elaborate on this?  I don't recall ever reading about this particular technique and I'm having trouble understanding what exactly it is that you are doing.

[bluremi]

I found the technique here: http://aing.ru/files/sobt.zip

It's a free e-book by Michael Raduga. I stumbled upon this guy by accident because he is Russian and most of his material is either untranslated or unknown outside of the Russian-speaking world, but he's the Russian Frank Kepple. No nonsense, strictly technique, none of that spiritual energy-raising mumb-jumbo that confuses most people.

He says that there is no one technique that works for everybody, so instead he provides a list of about a dozen for people to try. You try one for just a few minutes, and if you don't feel immediate results you switch to another until something starts working. The "brain strain" has a relatively high success rate for his students (he says about 35%, compared to 15-20 for other techniques).


Some of them are along the same lines, which can be described as "phantom movement." For example you imagine you're moving your hand for a while, without actually using any of your muscles, and eventually the imaginary sensation becomes indistinguishable from the real thing. At this point you are moving your "astral hand" rather than your physical one.

The brain strain is a little more abstract: you're pretending to clench your brain, similar to your arm when you're making a muscle like Popeye. Obviously there are no muscles to contract, you can't really do ANYTHING physically to your brain, but the effort and focus it takes to imagine this moves your attention away from your physical body.

[eflynn]

Thanks.  Lots of stuff to read in here.  I'll get to it.

[CFTraveler]

I tried to do it and all I got was neck strain.  I  know I'm not supposed to 'really' clench anything, but my neck muscles are too ready to clench anyway.

[bluremi]

I tried to do it and all I got was neck strain.  I  know I'm not supposed to 'really' clench anything, but my neck muscles are too ready to clench anyway.

You might be doing it too soon. You have to be pretty relaxed already.