Weird dream

[TheUniversalOne]

Lately, well in the past 2 or so days I've been trying to dedicate myself to astral. What I really need to work on is concentration and not allowing my mind to drift. I used to be so good at it, but all it takes is a couple of days for you to lose weeks of hard work.

Anyway... Last night as I was falling asleep I lied on my back, as I normally do to try to encourage an Astral Experience, I feel asleep, but when I awoke there were lights flashing in my eyelids. I didn't seem like I was dreaming yet, so I kept watching the lights. They sort of looked like um I don't know what they are called but it's those light things that follow the volume of music. They were purple and blue. All of the sudden I felt I was sliding backwards, almost as if I was on a rollercoaster. I started spinning wildy around, gripping onto this feeling I tried to increase it's intensity to help with an OOBE by thinking "mind awake body asleep", which actually helped. Though after all of the sensations the attempt to project failed, and I slid into a dream. But the dream was weird, I was in some huge black tunnel with the same purple and blueish lights that kept plusing all over the place. I kept going from tunnel to tunnel, and I hated how it kept repeating itself so somehow I broke out of it into another dream. I was in some fancy mansion, but was lucid. And as soon as I became lucid things started fuzzing in and out, and I had to concentrate hard to hold on to the dream.

My questions are:

1) How do you STAY lucid as soon as you realize you are dreaming? I heard from one person to scream your name, address, phone number, etc out to keep yourself focused so you wouldn't drift off into a dream, I tried this but afterward I think it's what ended up ending the lucid dream. Maybe working on my concentration will help? Do you know any techniques? I'm currently working on my awareness.

and


2) How do you change a lucid dream into an astral experience? Each time I have tried I either had a dream I was astral traveling (It was clear it was just a dream), or just failed completely. I'm not that sure what to do. I've heard of thinking of vibrations, thinking of projecting...etc, but they usually seem to fail for me. Maybe the dream is just ending before I get a good chance to try them out.

I'm not exactly "new" to learning about astral travel, because I have been attempting it for quite some time on and off. If anyone has any really good concentration exercises they know of I will be glad to hear of them. I've found a few on the board that I am going to try, but more won't hurt. My problem, as I am sure many others have this problem, is concentration... I can try a mantra, looking at a dot, staring at the wall, and my mind is just crowded with thoughts... so I really need to work on that.

Thanks in advance 

[Stookie]

Concentration is like working a muscle. All of those things you mention can help improve it. It's what works best for you. Once you find your particular exercise, do it everyday, make it a pattern in your lifestyle. Eventually, it will become more of a habit than a challenge. It's good you're thinking about it that way, as many people want a quick fix without proper mental training.

Here's a concentration exercise if you're good at visualizing: Visualize a scene, place, object, etc. in your mind for as long as you can. When you realize your no longer visualizing it and drifting off, bring it back. After lots of practice you should be able to hold onto it without any other thoughts interupting it. Even if other thoughts come up, don't let go of the visualization. It should be something that holds your attention, yet simple enough to visualize.

[TheUniversalOne]

Concentration is like working a muscle. All of those things you mention can help improve it. It's what works best for you. Once you find your particular exercise, do it everyday, make it a pattern in your lifestyle. Eventually, it will become more of a habit than a challenge. It's good you're thinking about it that way, as many people want a quick fix without proper mental training.

Here's a concentration exercise if you're good at visualizing: Visualize a scene, place, object, etc. in your mind for as long as you can. When you realize your no longer visualizing it and drifting off, bring it back. After lots of practice you should be able to hold onto it without any other thoughts interupting it. Even if other thoughts come up, don't let go of the visualization. It should be something that holds your attention, yet simple enough to visualize.

Thanks for this, will try this tonight