Confusion: focus inwards or outwards?

[Bellend_1010]

I've read techniques and am looking for another to try but I am confused at the workings of many which often describe focusing inwards or outwards. Which is best to do? with focusing inwards I don't think makes sense to me as the whole point of an OBE technique is to go outside of yourself but saying relaxing and to look inside yourself makes no sense to me if you want to "go out" yourself as to project you should forget about your physical body.

So if you want to project successfully should you really be looking to think of yourself outside of your body or focusing inwards yourself?

[Xanth]

You're right, the terminology is horrible.  It's almost IMPOSSIBLE to describe non-physical activities using our physical languages.

When I mention to turn your focus "inward"... I generally mean to remove focus your attention away from the physical reality and your 5 physical senses.  The very act of quieting your mind and remaining still begins the desensitization process of reducing your physical sensory input.  That's what I mean by "inward", the beginning of that process of removing yourself from the physical.

Tom Campbell says, and I think it's an absolutely brilliant way to say it, "You don't need to get out of your body, your consciousness is already out of your body... what you need to do is get INTO your consciousness".

And you achieve that by doing as I mentioned above and remove yourself from this physical reality frame.

[personalreality]

it's all focusing inward. 

think about when you read a technique that tells you to reach outward toward some imaginary object, like a rope.  you're not actually reaching outward, you're going inward toward your imagination and making the visualized scene feel real enough to simulate reaching outward.  it's all happening in your imagination.  that's basically phasing.  in phasing you use your imagination to convince your mind and body that you are somewhere outside of yourself.  traditional obe on the other hand involves induction of a near sleep state.  when you go to sleep at night you naturally withdraw your consciousness to let the body get some rest.  if you can replicate the same process, while still maintaining a small amount of awareness/consciousness, you can pass through the transition without losing awareness and explore the otherworlds.  this is experienced as a typical obe separation. 

[ange.connell]

Hey personalreality, your explanation is the easiest Ive read re obe separation. For me its clear and to the point and understandable for somebody who hasn't experienced an obe but is confused as to how to achieve it.

Cheers

[personalreality]

i really think that the reason people have trouble projecting is because they don't understand what they are attempting to do.