Am I Close? Preventing Eye Movement

[silverlight]

Hi everyone,

Recently, I began practicing astral projection again, and I decided to use Xanth's noticing method.

Once I'm in a very relaxed/meditative state, I will start to see an image of a place (like my living room or my front yard). It won't be perfectly clear, but it will feel more real and tangible than if I had just imagined the place while I was fully conscious.

(In other words, I can see the image, but I can also see the blackness behind my physical eyelids.)

If I maintain an "air of curiosity", I can pretend that I'm in the environment and start noticing more details within it (this sort of just starts happening by itself, almost feels like a lucid dream, but I know I'm still awake).

As I do this, the environment becomes clearer and more tangible to me. Soon after, the environment becomes so clear that it feels as real as "real life" (the physical world), and I feel like I'm almost in the environment I pictured.

So far so good, right? Unfortunately, whenever I get to this stage, my physical eyes will inevitably move and try to look at what I see in my mind's eye. This snaps my awareness back to my physical body, ending my foray into the astral world.  

Am I really close to phasing to the astral?

I would appreciate some advice on how to proceed. I feel that I just need to keep doing what I'm doing until I learn to suppress the involuntary movement of my eyes.

Also, didn't Frank Kepple mention having this same problem in some of his posts?

Thank you!

[EscapeVelocity]

silverlight wrote-

I would appreciate some advice on how to proceed. I feel that I just need to keep doing what I'm doing until I learn to suppress the involuntary movement of my eyes.
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I think that you just answered your own question there. It does sound like you are close to making a transition.

The involuntary eye movement is one of the final distractions that can trip you up for awhile, another stage where you again realize the importance of the mental and emotional control necessary. It happens to almost everybody, and yes, I think that Frank Kepple did mention it in his treatise.

One of the keys to unlocking this distraction is, as you wrote, to maintain an air of curiosity, but there is also the requirement to remain somewhat 'detached', not just emotionally but also in a mental sense...and that is a word that comes close to describing what is needed but is still somehow incomplete. I think that it may have to do with the intensity of your focus and learning how to modulate it, a very subtle thing as you are discovering. The scene/picture/visualization strengthens and comes into clarity by itself, by your 'allowing' it, and this can initially catch you by surprise and cause you to 'tighten' your focus thereby involuntarily engaging your physical eyes. Once you clear the 'physical eye engagement' hurdle, you still risk a fail by focusing too much, too soon. You have to let the scene completely develop beyond even your current expectations, to a point where you feel 'drawn' into the scene; you will likely feel a slight to moderate 'pull' or attractive force; and then you can 'step' into it. So, in other words, you look at it, but you don't look at it intensely, you have to be gentle with that intensity and find the 'sweet spot', like focusing a telescope, a pair of binoculars or better yet, learning how to see the image in one of those computer-generated Magic Art pictures.

And of course, not letting any emotion like fear or excitement to intrude. Easy, right? Lol

You are doing fine and keep in mind this is all good and necessary mental conditioning and it apparently doesn't end anytime soon...aaahh this is truly the joy and mystery of learning in the NP!

Hope that helps and gives some further ideas.

EV

[silverlight]

Thanks for the detailed response! It describes what I'm dealing with quite accurately.

A few times, I have been successful in keeping my eyes still, only to have the excitement of seeing everything clearly shock me out of it. There's such a fine degree of mental control required.

Ah well, back to practicing. 

[Lumaza]

A few times, I have been successful in keeping my eyes still, only to have the excitement of seeing everything clearly shock me out of it. There's such a fine degree of mental control required.

That's why practice is so important. You need to learn to be astute in your experiences. That comes with time.

You are doing great. EV's reply above was spot on, as usual! 

There was two ways I learned to stop chasing the scenes with my actual eyes. The first was by turning my eyes upwards when I first began a attempt. The second was by using a mental affirmation that said "By my act of will, I release my focus over my physical body". I then experienced everything as a point of consciousness.

While doing step 2 in my Doorway technique, which is to disassociate myself from my physical body, while enabling my etheric one, I focus on my 3rd eye location. As soon as I do, I feel a actual switch in the eye I am now using. It's the first time in my technique that I actually experience a "shift" in consciousness. It happens each and every time I use that disassociating step as well.

[silverlight]

  There was two ways I learned to stop chasing the scenes with my actual eyes. The first was by turning my eyes upwards when I first began a attempt. The second was by using a mental affirmation that said "By my act of will, I release my focus over my physical body". I then experienced everything as a point of consciousness.

While doing step 2 in my Doorway technique, which is to disassociate myself from my physical body, while enabling my etheric one, I focus on my 3rd eye location. As soon as I do, I feel a actual switch in the eye I am now using. It's the first time in my technique that I actually experience a "shift" in consciousness. It happens each and every time I use that disassociating step as well.

Thanks for the reassurance! I'll use your affirmation next time and see how that works.

I noticed that feeling of switching eyes once I was very deeply relaxed! Now that I think about it, it did feel like it was in my 3rd eye location. Interesting -- I'll focus on that as well.

Thanks to EV and you for your advice! Will see how it goes.