How To Fashion Your Own, Unique Projection Method

[Xanth]

I'm going to post this on my website later today, but figured I'd give everyone on the Pulse first dibs on this new article.

**********************************************

How can you design your own, more effective Projection method?  I'll explain and hopefully walk you through the process.

I had posted a while back a PDF which had something like 100 different methods for achieving a Projection in it.  Well, yes, there were 100 different methods, however they were *ALL* a variation of one single method.  Nice, eh?

When you understand that every single projection method out there is simply a variation on a theme, you can then begin to understand how to fashion your own method OR find one that has already been written which will work best for you.

What you need to find is your "Focus".  This is the thing that you'll be focusing your attention on to the exclusion of everything else.  You're basically going to make this one thing the point of your focus so that everything else around you, everything physical drops away.  This is when the Projection-reflex occurs.

First, let's talk about a couple methods and I'll explain what their "Focus" is and why they work. 

I'll start with the famous "Rope Method". As you're lying down, you imagine a rope hanging down above you around your chest level.  The point of it is to take your imaginary hands (astral hands), reach up with them, grab the rope and pull.  This act should eventually cause you to Project.

So what's really going on here?  Is the pulling on this imagination rope really "loosening your astral body" (as others would suggest)?  Metaphorically, yes.  Realitistically, no.  The act of using your imagination to create these hands which reach out, grab and pull on this imagination rope is the *FOCUS* of this particular method.  You are essentially using this visualization as your focus, which when you do this to the exclusion of everythign else going on around you causes the Projection-reflex to trigger. 

Ok, the next one we'll look at is my own Noticing Exercise which I provide in my free book "My Astral Projection Truth: What is Astral Projection and How To Do It".  In the Noticing Exercise you lie down, close your eyes and then just look out into the blackness caused by closing your eyes.  At that point, you're to draw your attention towards any "changes" you see happening in that blackness.  Allow your attention to draw towards anything, however minute it may seem.  When you begin to see changes occur, move your attention towards it more and more, investigate it as deeply as you can. 

So what's really going on with this exercise?  The act of bringing your awareness towards the changes going on within the blackness is the *FOCUS* for this.  When you do this exercise and you focus on those changes to the exclusion of everything physical around you, you will trigger the Projection-reflex.

Give me any AP/OBE/LD/etc method/techniques/exercise and I'll let you know what the Focus of that technique is.  The only exception is that this Focus stuff only relates to methods/techniques/exercises where the goal is a Projection from a fully conscious, awakened state.

If you can find a good Focus that will work for you, then it'll keep your awareness engaged.  The Focus can, literally, be anything you want.  It can even be something on or about your physical body.  Some people would say that's an issue because it would keep your focus on your physical body.  It's not an issue as long as you can use that Focus in an effort to push everything else physical away from your awareness.  The goal is to remove your awareness from this physical reality.  Or another way to put it is that you're looking to make it so that your five physical reality senses are no longer "processing" input from your environment. 

So what should your Focus be?  As I said, it can be anything you want as long as it's engaging and it can hold your attention for extended periods of time.  We've already discussed how the Rope Method and the Noticing Exercise work and what their Focus is.  Try to pick something that's of interest to you.  For myself, I (used to) train in Yoshinkan Aikido, so I would visualize myself doing that martial art.  I'd visualize myself doing the movements, feeling everything as I would if I was really practicing it.  It worked great as it's something I enjoyed doing, so it would hold my attention.  What I would find is that as I was doing this visualization, I'd find myself in a dojo actually practicing it, like I was physically there standing on the mats in the middle of whatever technique I was performing at the time.  That's Projection.

You could use something Visual.  I've seen people use a candle flame.  You stare into a real, physically lit candle until the point when you close your eyes you can see an afterimage of the flame.  Then you focus on that afterimage.  You could also use something making sound.  If you have a fan going, you can focus on the sound of the fan makes.  You can even do an open eyed Focus where you focus on something across the room, say a teddy bear on a shelf.  As you focus on it to the exclusion of all else going on, allow your eyes to fall shut.  Eventually, if you're focused enough on it, you'll trigger the Projection-reflex.

You can use full visualizations like I suggest in the Mental Rundown exercises from my book.  If you can engage all of your senses within a scene you create, then that too is a great Focus with which to trigger the Projection-reflex.  For that, I like to take walks down at the local beach front.  Very relaxing to me.  Although, you could also do anything you want.  Do you enjoy canoe trips?  Do a visualization where you ride in a canoe down a river.  This kind of visualization works best when you use a memory of something you've already done.  This allows your Focus to be created very strongly, because you don't have to guess what something feels like.

A more basic example of this is visualizing yourself in an elevator going up and down.  If you use a Mental Rundown like this as your Focus, then try to make sure there's some sort of incorporation of "movement" in it.  I find that helps greatly in triggering the Projection-Reflex.

Anyway, that's about it for now!  Feel free to PM me on the forums, email me, or drop a comment here if you wish to discuss what Focus works best for you.  I'm more than happy to help you come up with something!

[Bluefirephoenix]

Thats a really good description. I'll add some color to the concept Xanth presented. For me focusing isn't just the imagining part it's done by feel as well. Imagining doesn't quite do it if you don't feel your way. Your mind and heart have to be engaged fully in what you are focusing on.