Like, your tech made my body feel so super heavy! It was incredible! Tonight, I'm going to try it again and see how much farther I can get. My body felt heavier than lead!
what is frank's technique !? Where did you find it ? heh
Sorry, but could you please refresh my memory and point me in the direction of the thread and I'll try and give you more pointers.
Yours,
Frank
Exerpt from Dani's "Oobe is too hard" thread:
I think you are taking it all a tad too literally.
It's not the actual act of climbing the rope that causes you to project. All you need is a little meta-physical imagery to keep your mind focused while your physical-body drifts off to sleep. And that's basically all there is to it: you keep your mind focused while allowing your physical body to go to sleep.
The way you keep your mind focused is to set it a little task. It just so happens that imagining climbing a rope has been effective for many people (including myself when I set out to learn how to project into the RT zone). But you could try any number of things. People have suggested climbing a ladder, or being in an elevator... there is no limit to what you can try.
So I would say that if imagining climbing a rope doesn't work for you, simply find something you can imagine that does work. You don't need to imagine in too much detail. In fact, the act of trying to imagine in too great a detail keeps you grounded in the Physical more than anything.
I have experimented with imagining all kinds of things. One of the best that works for me is imagining taking something apart and reconstructing it. I come from an engineering background so doing such a thing holds a particular resonance in my case.
Another one that I found particularly effective I formed from a idea about a classic children's toy. It's the one where you have a wooden base (well, these days it's usually plastic) with cutouts of basic shapes, i.e. square, triangle, circle, etc. The child has a bag of these shapes and they have to select the correct shape that matches the cutout. All you do is imagine doing that for 10 minutes or so and you should find your physical-body simply gets bored and drifts off to sleep.
As I say, in a nutshell, all Astral Projection involves is being able to allow your physical body to drift off to sleep while retaining your mental focus. The reason why this is SO darned tricky is because people are generally in the habit of being in the Physical when their mind is alert and focused.
If you observe yourself going to sleep you will notice that the further you drift off, the more your mental focus dissipates. In actuality, however, it's the other way around. In that you are drifting off deeper into sleep precisely because your mental focus is dissipating. If you arrest the progress of this dissipation, by focusing your mind again, you feel yourself come back to Physical. And that's the habit most people are into: allow mental focus to steadily dissipate - drift off to sleep... gather your mental focus and concentrate - come back to Physical.
That's why Astral Projection is a tricky mental balancing act to perform. Because you have got to gather your mental focus and concentrate, only you don't want to come back to Physical. Which is what you are currently in the habit of doing. So the question arises: how can a person still retain their mental focus and concentrate, yet not have the act of doing this keep them in the Physical?
The answer is to set the mind a little task. A task that, on the one hand, is not too complex, thus needing high levels of focus of the kind that keeps you bound to the Physical. But on the other hand, is not a task that's wishy-washy to the extent where it cannot resist the mind's tendency to dissipate its focus during the normal act of drifting off to sleep.
Yours,
Frank
My reply:
That very night, I laid down and applied your technique. It worked, because I drifted off by heeding your advice to concern my mind with a repetative, monotonous task. My body started to feel heavy, and it got to the point where it felt heavier than any form of sleep/trance heaviness I've experienced before. I started to feel a bit of vertigo, I think.
Here are my observations:
Heaviness:
I find that the heaviness coming over me feels slightly uncomfortable, causes me to become anxious. This has nothing to do with fear or anything, it's just that there's a form of tension that I feel in my knee area, and a feeling of physical and mental anxiety (slight) that makes me want to start being active / getting up. For this reason, I find that your technique does not always work because when I start to pass into sleep this way, it seems there's something trying to prevent me from doing this. It's hard to explain. I think I'd have to experience it again, then write it down for reference.
Bored Mentality
Alright, so it may be effective in causing my body to start to fall asleep. However, I find that my mind becomes entirely bored by this and begins to focus into other things. Now, I am met with a crossroad as I can either (1) let my mind wander or (2) continuous forcing myself to follow through with the same mind-busy tech. My mind just becomes bored... it wants to shift onto something else!
Little inconvenience
I need a bit more help in applying this tech, as I at present only manage to do this: I take a shape, and imagine an open space in it, then I imagine it being filled, like I've placed a peice there. I do not imagine myself doing anything. This is sort of like a two dimensional scenario where you see a flat object, then seeing it filled. The two-dimensional system is inconvenient because it causes my mind to wander (get bored), and because I can have it happen fast (object appear, object fill), I begin to lose focus)
Observations With Sleep
In past occurances, I've noticed that indeed when I hold my mind still (like I've gone brain dead or something), and I just begin to let my mind wander, that very occupation of my surface mind / thoughts causes me to fall asleep. In fact, I hold no memory of how I fall asleep. I can just do this, and suddenly, I'm dreaming without even realize it, or even holding any memory that i had fallen asleep (you know how dreams are). A correlation is like a sudden UFO Abduction (a jump from point a to point d) and not being able to account for the lost time between those points.
Further Notices
I tried just drifting off again today and last night and it didn't seem to be very effective. I forget why. Hmm... how strange.
Also, what is phasing? This interests me. I find that a direct separation approach is not advisable for me because of the many factors involved that seem to puzzle me (and because I can't achieve the correct state to separate).
One more thing, when I was heavy, I noticed symptons in parts of my body, particularly my legs, similar to Robert Bruce's description of Theta State trance (coldness in particular). During the time I did your tech first, I experienced a sudden jolt or two, and found that my eyes would try and open up a few times (regardless of how heavy they were). Somehow, I can't enter a total paralysis state as I, no matter how relaxed or heavy, can just move a limb as if I weren't that way. *Sigh* Tis a Sad World this is.
quote:
Originally posted by Leviiathan:
Here are my observations:
Heaviness:
I find that the heaviness coming over me feels slightly uncomfortable, causes me to become anxious. This has nothing to do with fear or anything, it's just that there's a form of tension that I feel in my knee area, and a feeling of physical and mental anxiety (slight) that makes me want to start being active / getting up. For this reason, I find that your technique does not always work because when I start to pass into sleep this way, it seems there's something trying to prevent me from doing this. It's hard to explain. I think I'd have to experience it again, then write it down for reference.
Work your way through it. Chances are it's just the protective aspect of your sense of conscious awareness coming into play.
quote:
Bored Mentality
Alright, so it may be effective in causing my body to start to fall asleep. However, I find that my mind becomes entirely bored by this and begins to focus into other things. Now, I am met with a crossroad as I can either (1) let my mind wander or (2) continuous forcing myself to follow through with the same mind-busy tech. My mind just becomes bored... it wants to shift onto something else!
Problem is your lack of Intent. You don't need to be locked out of all feeling of your physical body to Phase to the next stage. The meta-physical imagery you concoct is just something to concentrate on initally. This initial phase does the job of defocusing your awareness from your physical body and focuses it within the mind. But you don't want to be doing this all the time else, as you point out, you'll quickly get bored.
quote:
Little inconvenience
I need a bit more help in applying this tech, as I at present only manage to do this: I take a shape, and imagine an open space in it, then I imagine it being filled, like I've placed a peice there. I do not imagine myself doing anything. This is sort of like a two dimensional scenario where you see a flat object, then seeing it filled. The two-dimensional system is inconvenient because it causes my mind to wander (get bored), and because I can have it happen fast (object appear, object fill), I begin to lose focus)
Again you need to Phase to the next step where those 2D objects become 3D. That's the Focus 12 state (in Monroe terms).
quote:
Observations With Sleep
In past occurances, I've noticed that indeed when I hold my mind still (like I've gone brain dead or something), and I just begin to let my mind wander, that very occupation of my surface mind / thoughts causes me to fall asleep. In fact, I hold no memory of how I fall asleep. I can just do this, and suddenly, I'm dreaming without even realize it, or even holding any memory that i had fallen asleep (you know how dreams are). A correlation is like a sudden UFO Abduction (a jump from point a to point d) and not being able to account for the lost time between those points.
Yeah, tell me about it. So may times in early attempts I'd make that "a to d" jump as you describe it: with no account of the lost time inbetween. It still happens to me even now. In fact, it happened this very morning where one moment I'm within 3D blackness at Focus 12, then next thing I'm dreaming about riding a bicycle down a lane just like I used to do when I was a child.
Because of my experience, in these situations I can normally get my mental focus back because typically there's this voice saying, "Frank, Frank, you slipped mate, you're dreaming. Hello! You lost it big time, wake up!" At which point about 8 times in 10 I'll zap back to the Focus 10 state.
quote:
Further Notices
I tried just drifting off again today and last night and it didn't seem to be very effective. I forget why. Hmm... how strange.
Also, what is phasing? This interests me. I find that a direct separation approach is not advisable for me because of the many factors involved that seem to puzzle me (and because I can't achieve the correct state to separate).
Phasing is more a product of the Monroe/Moen school of thought which seeks to recognise and label various mental states that each of us have in common that we can become attuned to. One of the underlying ideas of the Phasing idea is that Astral-travel is merely an expansion of consciousness rather than a "separation" of one thing with another.
I liken it to that of a radio receiver where most people would have their minds tuned to two channels only, namely, awake in the Physical environment or not. Each 24 hours they tune from one to the other, not realising there are other channels that can be received by the mind also.
Yours,
Frank
Here is an account of what I replied to Auraseer. It has somethings in there I've noticed over long term.
My Reply
Not the answer I expected, Auraseer.
Anyway, let's address two things:
Falling:
Tell me how you induce the falling effect? How long does it take? I managed to successfully do this one, the first time, when laying down on my stomach. I pushed inward to myself, and seemed to accumulate layers of heaviness on myself (as if more and more pressure / weight was being dumped upon me).
When I lay on my back, I attempt to exert the same thing on myself, but find that it is ineffective. Something is wrong here, and for the longest time, I have not been able to figure out what it is. There are various ways to induce a falling effect upon yourself, which I have tested. I find that an indirect means, of just focusing all my attention on a single awareness point of darkness, and with every breathe out I make, my awareness / alertness grows dimmer so everything just seems to fade away... works best, but with less than mediocre results.
Relaxation
Same with above. I can relax myself, but find that doing "falling" effects doesn't relax my body very much. I find that letting my consciousness dim, as explained above, seems to cause my body to relax. As I have come to understand, this is because my mind is busy, hence, I am just allowing my body to fall asleep. When I breathe, I do it with my stomach, not with my chest (as I earlier thought).
Rope
Same with inducing a falling sensation. I can't seem to induce enough "convincing" stress on myself to gain the results I want. I can climb rope, but the effort / straining climbing is not convincing enough to my body to cause anything much. Not long after this, my mind tries other methods, and as a result, I get lost and loose focus altogether. If I attempt to use a "feeling" attempt to feel myself rising, I also get lost and lose focus altogether. In the terms of exerting stress upon your body / acting it out, how do you climb the ROPE in this way? It is one thing to climb a rope in your mind. It is another subject regarding the way you climb it.
End Reply
I have come to discover two methods of projection:
Direct ~ i.e. a ROPE method
Indirect ~ i.e. Dimming of the Awareness
I find that Indirect means takes a very long time. Last night when I was attempting to Project, I had conditioned myself, wrote a letter to my higher self (and guide/s), and prepared some enthusiasm. What I noticed, which has been the cause of many recent failed attempts to get anywhere, in the last two weeks, has been general impatience. I am not impatient to begin with. Rather, as I begin to relax myself and enter Focus 10, I grow impatient.
I am also feeling I could improve the areas of my relaxation (my body just growing relaxed and heavy) and awareness-dimming so as I can gain better results.
With the automatic stress that I feel as I begin to grow heavy, let me correct myself. It is not anxiety, but rather, a sort of pressure / stress that inclines as I grow heavier. This pressure / stress is very distracting and noticable, and causes me to feel uncomfortable (well, you could understand how it could!).
I feel this in my knee caps (muscles around there), and in my feet. Last night, there was a coat pressed up against my soles. As I tried to "phase out" into a trance, the area around there begin to experience an inclining stress, where it felt like I was pressing my feet hard against a surface (say, a wall, while laying down).
I also do these exercises while laying down. I find it hard to induce a falling sensation from this position; when laying down, my awareness expands over a large area to encompass my body. Compare the vertical and horizontal aspects (laying down versus sitting up) and you will notice that with sitting down, the surface area you are pressing down on is smaller compared to when you are laying down. Well, at least that's how I see it.
Also, when laying down, what is the correct way so have your head positioned? What angle (say, if your body is laying down, at flat 0 degrees). I find if I have my head at 45 - 50 degress, it's hard to swallow, and if I have it at 80 - 90 degress, it feels uncomfortable (like today, for example).
So in conclusion to what you have told me, regarding phasing, I guess I should start visualizing the objects in three dimensions. Ironically, I was able to get off with watching a figure (martial arts manequin) do a reverse spin crescent kick with the left (in a complete circle) so that it hits a target behind it, then after landing back in the original position, doing it the other way. Heh heh.
Your advice worked. But can you elaborate more on some OOBE techniques after having my body drift off?