Hello.
I imagine you guys get skeptics on here often, and I've read some of their (usually rather rude) posts, so I'll just say hello and tell a bit about myself. I'm a physicist, and I was asked about this 'out of body stuff' by a friend. I've read around about it, and I rather (strongly) suspect its just lucid dreaming, but some of the testamonials are interesting enough that I've checked out some of these Hemi-sync cd's, and I'm going to try a few before I get back to him.
Let it not be said that I dismiss something just because it doesn't fit reality as I conceive it, skeptic or not.
Anyways, I have some questions.
1. I'm trying out this 'Wave One' Hemi-sync cd and its...interesting. By 'focus 10' my body felt numb, like when a limb falls asleep from lying on it, but without the tingling. I /could/ move my body, but it was very relaxed and it felt like it would have been an effort. Is that the intended effect?
2. What the heck is the deal with the 'balloons of bad memory' thing on that cd? I have absolutely /no idea/ what they were talking about, what fears I was supposed to be releasing, or what memories were supposed to be behind them.
3. About how long will I be doing this for before I should (reasonably) expect some sort of results?
4. They seem to have all these wierd 'tools' which don't (yet) seem to have anything to do with actually inducing an out of body experience. I might be missing the point?
Anyways, since anyone can, with effort - do this (or so is the claim), I'm trying to give it as fair a shot as I can. Thus far, I was pleasantly surprised by the focus 10 exercise, as it seemed to be an actual (useful) meditation, but some of the other stuff has me pretty confused, and any explanations would be welcome.
Hi physicsdude.
I'm not an expert on hemi synch (I have the very simple JOOB) but my impression is that the resonant balloon thing is about 'creating' a safe space to 'store' your fears, so that they don't manifest when in trance. So some of the exercises are not just about achieving trance in a physical way, but making you feel secure so that when you get into the intended focus level you don't project a disturbing image (which happens) and disturb yourself right out of an experience.
BTW, the idea behind (I'm sure you know what brainwave entrainment is for) this is to get you to a state in where you're consciously aware but in such a deep trance that it's like your body is asleep. This is sometimes described as the mind awake body asleep state. This is a perfect platform to project consciously to experience the OoB state.
Ps. Even if you don't think your conscious awareness is truly separating from your body, the experience is worth the effort. I hope you can achieve it.
Thank you for the reply!
And yes, thats what I figure. Even if its a lucid dream or a hallucination, clearly something is happening to many of those who advocate this, so I figured 'what the heck.'
Hey Physicsdude,
Great to see you have an open mind. How long it takes depends on, among others, an important factor: The correct mindset - meaning how open are you to this really? Ones believe system does play a role. The tricky subconscious mind is a powerful tool, but it can also be a major stumbling block if you do not believe it is possible or have a hidden fear of some kind.
Another thing to keep in mind is the possibility that you might actually have induced a projection, but the experience was lost in the same dusty archives where forgotten dreams go.
Quote from: physicsdude on May 03, 2009, 21:45:52
And yes, thats what I figure. Even if its a lucid dream or a hallucination, clearly something is happening to many of those who advocate this, so I figured 'what the heck.'
That's the way I look at it. Someone can tell me what I experience isn't real, but they can't tell me I'm not amazed by it.
All of these issues (metaphysics) are affected by how you think about them. Trying to have a 'reasonable expectation' can 'kill' the very things you are trying to experience. When a kindergardener goes to school, when should he 'reasonably expect' to learn algebra? Will not over-focusing on algebra substantially distract from all of the other things he could be learning? I'm not saying that Astral Projection is or will be as tough for you to experience as algebra would be for a kindergardener, but I exaggerated to get you to see the point.
Let go of your preconceptions, your expectations, your fears.
Indulge in the experiences, even if they are 'only' lucid dreaming.
Biggest Brightest Blessings!!!
The "balloon" thing has its parallels to Jungian psychology. Being a scientist, if you aren't very familiar with Jung's work (for example, his last major work, "Man and His Symbols") you should be. Many people have never heard his name but they don't even know what they're missing.
In Jung's model, all people are undergoing transformations pushing them towards their most true Self. These transformations result from subconscious complexes. As we address these complexes internally and individually, we relieve a lot of baggage we've kind of been inherently stuck with for one reason or another for however long we can remember. For example, someone who has insecurities about their "feminine side" (anima) may have dreams with many feminine figures symbolic of that aspect of the individual's Self, and they will persist until the individual addresses this complex and is able to consciously unite his "feminine side" with all his other conscious "sides." That being one of a small handful of complexes that Jung found to trouble thousands of people in many complicated individual variations.
Jung dream's analysis and psychology in general is something that can be applied to anyone, not just people who "need help," as "they" say. Everyone has subconscious issues they have to deal with, to a greater or lesser degree. Relieving all of these is a direct path to union with That; the conscious and subconscious come to resemble each other in their contents, etc.
So, I've been trying this for about a month now. I still don't think I've acheived the "mind awake/body asleep" thing (also known as Focus 10). In general, the most I get is a very numb feeling across my body. Sometimes I stare out into the blackness in front of my eyes, and sometimes I focus on a specific part of my body (the feeling of breath going out my nose, or the rise and fall of my chest) - and if so, I'll often tune out the visual perceptions altogether, and not even notice my eyes are closed. Which sounds a bit wierd.
Sometimes the numb feeling is accompanied by a hot sensation on my head; or a very cold feeling in my limbs...I moved my left arm once to be more comfortable underneath my head, and found it to feel very, very cold...and I don't usually notice differences in skin temperature when I touch skin. The two strangest things to happen have both happened in the past two days; yesterday I could have sworn I heard voices, so I took my headphones off and went to listen...but when I did, they were gone, and noone was in the basement (where I am) or upstairs to talk to me. Earlier today, I had a wierd vibrating feeling in my left hand, but the moment I tried to think about it and my hand, it went away. I'm not saying they were anything wierd; you can get wierd sensations as you fall asleep; but I'm not saying they wern't either; I'm with-holding judgement for now (though this all still feels a bit wierd, I admit.)
I just thought I'd post an update every so often, so you can see how "the physicist" is doing.
it may be better to combine stuff for example robert bruce has a book called astral dynamics and in there a chapter called new.this is a good way to achieve focus 10 also lucidology explains the science behind sleep paralysis (focus 10) and the dos and donts. so explore them then whe you feel you can achieve focus 10 continue with the tapes.
After glancing at the first 5 lucidology videos (trying his stop drop and roll technique, to no avail; I can ignore the urge to roll over, but I still don't get any sleep paralysis; just a numb feeling) - and glancing over the extensive, massive list of buddhist-style meditations and yoga-like excersises in the "Astral Dynamics" book, achieving an OBE is seeming nearly impossible; Astral Dynamics in particular is exceedingly intimidating - according to it, I have to have a zen-master like mind, with no thoughts whatsoever, and a body not just relaxed from not moving and ignoring "roll over" signals; but need to do a large number of yoga-like stretches to achieve the "right" relaxation. (Found in the core skills section of the book.)
Sheesh!
lol i understand but remember the book is a build up of skills that takes a long period of time mabye a year and so its stupid to cram them all into one week lol.
i understand that the no thoughts thing is a zen concept and people make alot of exaggeration about it.but its really simple.when you got to bed at night r when you are tired and you just gaze at something and sometimes your minds just blank not a thought inside or just a single thought.its not that hard. and the rest of the book is reasonable if you work on it lol
i think robert bruce is much better than monroe he explains it more likes of the eaning of visualization
cya mate n gd luck