Hello Everyone,
Last night I went to bed late, and very tired. I tried the OBE method that I have been using lately, which is the one that lead to my first obe.
In a short time I felt my arms lifting out of my arms, it was great. I'd asked Selski about this in the past, and read about other people's experiences of projecting limbs, and I couldn't believe I was experiencing it myself! Next to float were my legs. They were raised from my feet. My arms and legs really felt they had lifted. I could not however MOVE these floating arms when I tried. They felt as if they floated straight up, with my elbows still on my bed. (I was laying on my back).
I wanted to learn about this state, so I had no intention of going any further. I just wanted to know what would happen if I quickly opened my eyes and looked. Of course I saw nothing but my physical body, BUT, what interested me and surprised me was that the floating feeling did not suddenly disappear. I felt my feet, not my real feet, lowering slowly back down over a period of about 4 – 5 seconds. Even while I was looking! It was not a sudden snap back, or sudden disappearance of sensation. I would not have thought it would be like that. I could FEEL my feet and legs going down, and in my physical body, I could feel sensation in my legs as I felt these other legs lowering down inside. Has anyone felt it this way if they've done what I did? I would have thought if I were really floating, I'd snap back in a flash. But I could really feel my legs and feet slowly falling, as if deflating. I don't remember what happened with my arms. The feet and legs slowly lowering was a distinct sensation however.
After this, I decided to try a projection. I try to remove any emotion that comes to me when I try to project, and try to be as passive as possible. When I began to feel floaty I had a sense that rapid heart beats were about to come, and they started coming. I was trying to stop them coming by breathing slowly, and gently, and trying to prevent any feelings of excitement. I just wanted to be calm and relaxed. It did slow the heart rate, but also nothing happened when trying to project. Are rapid heart beats welcome, or unwelcome? I read in the sleep paralysis FAQ that rapid heart beats is a projection related sensation. Perhaps I should have encouraged them? Rapid heart beats though just focuses my attention to my physical body – my heart beat. It is distracting. Should I be encouraging rapid heart beats, but trying to ignore them?
That's enough questions for now. Thanks for any help!
Potatis
Hello Potatis
I like your avatar – it has a special meaning to me because I walked through a brick wall a few days ago. However, I won't go into that here. :wink:
I love that arm stuff!! Mine tend to stop at the elbow too. I have also experienced the lack of control over them (although only once or twice, and my arms tend to be the first things out in nearly all of my OBEs - I usually wave them around with this big silly grin all over my face!).
I cannot stress how much you are doing the right thing by learning about this state. I'm really impressed because in my opinion it's the only way to progress. So many people scoot off and "shoot for the stars" and then wonder what on earth happened to them. You are taking it slowly and surely, and are enjoying the different states you find yourself in. And I'm also impressed because I like to do things this way too!
Whilst I've never opened my eyes in this state, I have been incredibly physical and I've experienced the physical/astral at the same time. It's awesome isn't it? I've spent many a session being astral inside my physical without trying to go anywhere. I've even put my astral arms back in my physical arms and thought about things, which is such a great experience in itself. That was the time I requested experiencing a new colour (remember). Now I'm waffling – sorry - I'm just so excited for you, because I know what it's like!
I believe rapid heart beats are welcome, as they are not your real heart – but again, I'm not qualified to give you advice, because I'm one of those lucky ones who never gets these sensations (except a mild tingling at best), but I believe it's something to do with the heart chakra going a bit berserk, making you think you're having an attack.
I think ignoring them is the way forward.
I'm terribly pleased for you.
Sarah
PS You ought to change your signature to say "It's easy to get myself out every day!"
Hi Sarah!
Thanks for the reply! I'm pleased you like my avatar. It only took me nearly a year to get one. I'll put some thought into changing my signature. :-) I'd really be kidding if I said it was "easy". For now I shall say "try" until I change it altogether.
You said kind things about the way I'm going about the OBE stuff. Thanks! I feel that if I was familiar with a state, it'd be easier to go back to it again. Certainly after that first little OBE, it feels easier and faster to get the exit sensations. I'll let you know when I can actually wave my arms around with a big silly grin! Can the arms stretch? Like reaching the ceiling? I'd like to try that.
When you said you were astral in your physical body, and would lie there and think, was it easier to think? Did you have access to a greater consciousness? Or was it just a nice state for thinking. I remember you wrote you were unsuccessful when requesting to see a colour outside our normal spectrum, but have you tried other things in that state such as remote viewing?
Hey, do you know what really quickly made me feel floaty the other day? It was when after I was quite relaxed I thought that if I should float out of my body, I would request in front of me, a door that led to F27. I could visualise it in front of me, with F27 on it. That may seem ambitious at this stage, but almost immediately I became floaty in the arms and then the legs and feet. I thought maybe someone wanted me there. :-) But the floating arms and legs were so interesting, I thought I'd try the door thing another time.
If the door thing works, I'd like to try a door to F23 and do retrievals. First I must learn how to move and see. :-) Thanks for the reply!
Potatis
Hello Potatis again!
Ah, but you see, you've already experienced a "state" so the next time you are there (whether it be fully conscious, half asleep or whatnot, you WILL recognise it) and hopefully, you can then benefit from that knowing.
The arms stretch – oh yes. Try putting your arm up next time towards the ceiling and seeing just how far your non-limitations will take your arm! As I may have mentioned, I started putting my astral fingers through my astral face to confirm that I was non-physical, and what happened to me was that eventually my face "gave" in that my face became like playdough (I recall Laiana mentions pulling her finger in a recent post and it feels the same).
I tried something quite novel early on in my experiences, which you may want to try, just for the hell of it. When you feel astral (but still inside your physical body), rotate 180 degrees, so that your astral body is facing down, but your physical body is facing up. It's the second weirdest sensation I've ever felt, and it's really something else. (The first was walking on the ceiling after seeing the playing card, which I believe you've already read about.)
When I lay there and thought, it was intrinsically different, but so so subtle. I still had all my senses (i.e. rational thought – I must ring Anne tomorrow, this is amazing! – don't forget to put the bins out and so on). But I took my rational mind to a different zone. And perhaps that was the barrier – taking my rational mind.
I also had one of my most memorable experiences when I was already OBE (unfortunately, in my opinion) and I went into the front garden and simply turned around, faced the house and fell backwards into the feeling of being OBE. This is hard to describe but I succumbed to it totally, and the more I succumbed, the more totalness I experienced. Now I appreciate that totalness is not a word, but I've toyed with love and roundness, but totalness just about sums it up.
Keep doing what you are doing – I also want to be proficient at retrievals, but I still need to learn control.
Oh, one last thing – if something works for you, stick with it. There are no hard and fast rules concerning this. I've changed my tune on numerous occasions. Do what fits with you!
Sarah