How I Got Out For The First Time

[personalreality]

I posted the other day sharing my first true OBE experience and I said that I would post again and share my method.  

Note: if you just want the method, minus my explanation of why the way I used to try to AP was wrong, just scroll to the bottom.

You may be asking yourself, "Why would I listen to this guy who just had his first OBE?  Shouldn't I listen to the people who have a lot of experience with OBE?"  And my answer to you is, no, you shouldn't listen to the experienced projectors if you're having trouble with your first projection.  Don't get me wrong, the projectors with months and years of experience are an invaluable resource.  They helped teach me a lot of things about OBEs in general and how to handle my practice.  However, the truth of the matter is that many of them have been doing this for so long that they probably don't even notice how they do it anymore, it has become a natural behavior for them, like eating, brushing their teeth, or driving.  Seriously, how often do you think about how you drive?  How easy would it be for you to teach someone how to drive?  There are so many subtleties about how you drive a car that become unconscious once you learn how to do it and it can be difficult to think it through in order to teach someone else when you've been doing it for so long.  So it might stand to reason that someone who has just had their first "successful drive out in the country" is slightly more conscious of the actions that produced that first successful trip.  That is why you should listen to me.  Plus, if you've had as much trouble with all of this as me then you'll probably be willing to listen to anything.

So with a fresh pair of eyes, let me share with you how I did it.

Why was it so hard?!?!

Before I tell you what I did right, I need to tell you what I did 'wrong' and how that made successful projection very difficult for a long time.  

When I first learned about Astral Projection I went out to buy a book and start learning how to do it.  I went to my local Borders and scoured the new age section (what an awful generalization of so many different subjects on their part) and finally found the little subsection of AP books.  I looked through a couple different ones, Astral Dynamics (RB), Astral Voyages (Bruce Goldberg), Journeys Out of The Body (Monroe), etc., etc.  I ultimately chose a book called, simply enough, Astral Projection (and the Nature of Reality) by a guy names John Magnus.  Most of you probably have never heard of it, he seems to be a one-hit-wonder.  However, his book was really good for my first experience (I really chose it because I liked the cover the best).  The only method he really gave was to try to maintain awareness while to went to sleep at night, and unfortunately I could never stay awake.  With little success I moved on and didn't think about AP for a while.  

Eventually I got interested again and bought RB and Brian Mercer's 90 Day Guide to AP.  As interested as I was, I couldn't ever make myself stick to the schedule and I eventually lost interest and moved on to other metaphysical/philosophical type things.  Then, about a year ago I started working at a metaphysical bookshop and one day came across Astral Dynamics.  I wasn't even going to buy it at first, but I was really interested in developing my sensitivity to subtle energies, especially in respect to being able to feel the vibrations of crystals and gemstones.  Crystals are a focus of my store and I always had customers asking me to help them pick the right one for them and I had seen my boss hold crystals and "feel" which one had the most intense vibrations and I wanted to do that.  It was recommended to me that I do some kind of energy work, like Tai Chi or Reiki.  I Googled energy work and came across the Astral Dynamics site and saw the NEW section.  I liked what I saw, so I bought AD and reading it completely renewed my interest in AP.  

I started practicing immediately.  I followed RB's methods completely and I practiced everyday.  Within just a few short weeks of doing RB's methods I started to see results.

My typical procedure went like this:

Deep Breathing (couple minutes)
Progressive Relaxation
Deep Breathing
Hand and Feet Stimulation
Deep Breathing
Energy Bounce Arms, Legs, Body
Deep Breathing
Full-Body Circuit
Deep Breathing
Trance Induction (with falling sensation)
Deep Breathing
Energy Center Stimulation
Deep Breathing
Energy Body Loosening
Exit-Procedure (usually rope method)

I usually did all of this sitting in a reading chair.  It isn't a recliner, it's cushioned, and has a high back for good neck and head support.  For much of my practice with this technique I had good results.  Nearly every time I practiced I would experience very intense exit sensations, like rapid heart beat, fluttering eyelids, rapid shallow breathing, rushes of energy in my torso, etc.  But for some reason I could never exit.  I would feel trance symptoms, like the feeling of floating and I would think that my "astral body" was separated and was just stuck and I would strain and try to force myself to float away but all I ever wound up doing was tensing my muscles and ruining my trance.  I got tired of always getting that far and never getting out and so I decided to lay off for a while and see if taking a break helped.  

After a couple months I decided to try again.  I bought the new edition of AD, thinking that there might be some new info in it that could help me.  I started my practice again and I got the exact same results.  I didn't know what to do so I performed a magickal ritual to show me the direction my practice needed to go in order for me to successfully AP.  That ritual brought me back to Astral Pulse Forum which started me on the road to success (this was about 1 and 1/2 months ago).  

Now, before I move on and tell you what combination of things brought me to success, let me tell you what was 'wrong' about my old methods.  There wasn't really anything wrong with the RB methods, there was just something missing.  What was missing was a description about the state of mind needed to get out.  RB does describe it but then presents SO MUCH other material that you get distracted from what I feel is the most important aspect.  What was wrong with this approach was that as a novice I hadn't yet discovered the subtleties of going on the drive that is AP.  The simple error on my part was putting too much effort into the techniques themselves and less effort in achieving the right state of mind.  I feel like RB left the importance of state of mind out of Astral Dynamics.  I think this because, like I said before, experienced projectors tend to neglect the subtleties when teaching because they are second nature to them.  I'll bet that when you do the online school, particularly because it uses the "Journeys Out of Body" Hemi Sync, that RB and his fellow teachers get the point across of the importance of state of mind.

What did I finally do right?

When I finally cam back around to the Astral Pulse Forum, I stumbled on Frank's phasing method.  It wasn't entirely Frank's method that I was interested in.  What I was curious about what how he was able to phase/project by just "noticing" when all these years I had been doing all kinds of techniques and processes and energy work and exercises with no success.  It occurred to me that there was something different going on here, something that didn't come through in AD.  I was really at a loss as to what to look for and where to find it so I just started to go through the authors that I hadn't read before.  I got Robert Peterson's first book and realized that I actually had read part of it online years ago.  But back then, the part I read didn't make as much sense because I was still focused on the the technique, not the preparation.  This time around when I read one particular chapter of his book it all clicked into place.

I had been coming to this realization for a while through years of contemplation on Astral Theory, but it never really solidified until recently.  I had basically been coming to the same understanding as Frank.  My ultimate error with the RB material was that I took it very literally.  I thought that I was doing what I was doing because I had an Astral Body that I literally needed to separate from my physical body.  Now I don't want to say that we don't have energy bodies, what I'm saying is that any energy bodies we do have (besides the etheric, the one that shares out body all the time and keeps us alive) don't exist here in our physical body per se.  I think that when we project, it's not that our normal awareness copies itself out from our body into an astral double that was generated for that experience, but rather our awareness shifts to a "subtle body" that already exists at a different vibratory rate than our physical body.  I also don't really believe that we ever truly inhabit out physical body, we are just focused here.  We exist simultaneously through all of the vibratory frequencies of existence.  To me, its like our physical body is just transmitting sensory data to our consciousness that exists somewhere else.  To project is less a matter of "phasing" to a different frequency and more about out consciousness changing the input source of sensory data.  

[Another, slightly less important, revelation I had through this whole process was that every one of these different vibratory realities is relatively physical.  By that I mean that to the awarenesses that inhabit that space, it is like what we describe as physical.  We only describe our reality as physical because any time someone does experience something else, it's always at a vibratory rate that's higher than this.  For some reason we assume that we are at "the bottom" of the spectrum, but I don't see any reason to assume that the spectrum isn't infinite in both directions.]

So why is this relevant?  Because it means that the trick isn't in literally shifting your awareness into an astral double generated by your body.  Though the "physics" behind the process may indeed be what RB describes, for all intents and purposes this idea is just misleading.  What is important is being able to "disconnect" the input of sensory data from the 'physical' body and change it to the 'astral body'.  SO!  How does one do this?

Mostly by dissociation.

Here is the short and sweet method that got me out:  

The first thing you should do is forget every method or technique you know, you won't need it right now.  

Ideally wait until you are a little sleepy.  I would try in the morning after you wake up or in the late afternoon/early evening when you feel sleepy enough for a nap.  

Lay down somewhere that you could fall asleep.  (I know it sounds completely backwards)

Close your eyes and let yourself drift off like you were going to sleep.

Maintain just enough consciousness to be aware of the ringing/whining sound in your ears.  Even if you don't hear it at first just keep trying and you will eventually.  I like to get those foam ear plugs and put them in because it ensures there won't be interference from outside sounds.  It will just be you and your inner ear sounds.  

If you want to speed it up a little first you can throw in a little bit of the trance induction falling sensation. But as soon as you feel some light trance sensations stop the falling and just go to sleep while listening to the sound.

You should start to feel some heavy trance symptoms really fast.  As soon as you do you will add another little focusing point, the center of the blackness behind your eyes or your third eye.  Either way.  Focus on the blackness and the sound in your ears.  

Here is the most important part of all of this.  DO NOT treat this like a method.  Just act like you're going to sleep and barely paying attention to the sound and blackness.  In fact you may lightly fall asleep a few times, but its ok, that's really what you want because when you regain awareness you'll be very dissociated from your body.  

For me this tends to take about and hour and a half.  Usually because I lightly fall asleep a few times, but also when you're in this deep state time goes by really fast.  Honestly I feel like I've only been laying down for about 10 minutes each time.  

I had my first successful projection the other day with this method and I have used it to replicate my projection every day since.  I already used it twice today.

What you want through all of this is to be uninterested.  You want to be receptive, as if you don't care whether you project or not.  It's your interest in projection that inhibits you and keeps you to aware of the sensory input from your body.  Once you make it out once, the rest will be down hill.  

Please feel free to ask me questions.  I will do everything I can to help those who are having difficulty getting out.  I want nothing more than for all of you to be able to experience this too.  You can do it, I promise.

[kurtykurt42]

Piece of cake! 

[Xanth]

Got some cole's notes for this?  >_>

[personalreality]

CLIFF'S NOTES

[Note: I recommend using a MindFold and foam Earplugs.  If you don't have a MindFold, you can use a sleep mask or bandanna.  These create a "make-shift sensory deprivation chamber" which really helps me.

Forget your technique.

Forget that you're trying to project.

Intend to go to sleep.

Listen for ringing/whining sound in your ears.

Feel trance sensations.

Stare into the blackness behind your eyes.

Hold this state as long as possible.  This is the Quiescent Mind State, I call it Q-Mind.

To get an idea of what this Q-Mind is like, imagine seeing lightning in the sky.  After it flashes, you stop to listen for the subsequent clap of thunder.  In that brief moment between lightning and thunder is Q-Mind.  You are completely still and your mind is completely silent and focused, all your attention directed to listening.

Look into the blackness and imagine you just saw lightning and then you listen to the ringing in your ears, waiting for the thunder.

Don't fret if you doze off.

When you get close to projection the exit sensations will rouse you.

Wait for vibrations.  When they come you will instinctively know how to raise them. 

Leave the body.

[personalreality]

sorry.

COLES NOTES

for my Canadian brethren.

[TiMeLezZ]

Very, intriguing article. In fact, right after I read it I registered with the forum to post a response. I enjoyed every word that was written. I'm very much like you are (well use to be anyways) I've read the books, learned the techniques, and none of it seemed to work. I thought astral projection would be a walk in the park seeing that I've endeavored  many "medium-like" experiences and have excellent dream recall (and many lucid experiences). I just can't seem to get a grasp on Astral projection. I have only done it once while under the influence of a particular drug and even then it wasn't much of an experience. I'm extremely meditative; however, I cannot whatsoever get out. It's very frustrating because I know I am capable; I just don't get it I suppose. I'm going to try again tonight with a new mindset and without the caring, or excitement. Is there any other bit of information I you can offer?

[scatterbrain]

I want to voice my thanks too. I intend on trying (or rather "not trying") this. There's something very zen about this..."not" method...

Update: Wow. I actually made progress today. For the first time, I heard the tone in my right ear. I was sleeping on my left ear and couldn't hear a tone from it. As soon as I began to focus my attention on the tone, it became louder and I felt sensations in my body that are, at this moment, very difficult to describe. After about 20 seconds though, I started to lose my grip. Within a minute, I was back to normal and am now typing this message. I know it doesn't sound like much, but this is the closest I've gotten to anything resembling what I've read on this forum. Now, I just need to take the next step...

Hmm, something tells me that instead of typing this very excited update, I should've tried to go back to sleep, and "not try" to induce the tone again. Oh, well! Next nap!

[personalreality]

It's very frustrating because I know I am capable; I just don't get it I suppose. I'm going to try again tonight with a new mindset and without the caring, or excitement. Is there any other bit of information I you can offer?

I truly thought I was in capable.  I have some extenuating circumstances that I thought would prevent me from projecting.  The most daunting is a medication that I take.  In an attempt at full disclosure and because others might have my problem I will share the history that created my problem.  I am a recovering heroin addict and I'm in an Opiate Replacement Program, which means I take a medication called Suboxone (similar to the more popular Methadone).  I've been on this medication for almost 2 years.  I'm actually in the process of tapering off of it now, scheduled to be done in mid March.  I bring this up because it alludes to a history of drug abuse that I was worried would adversely effect my ability to project.  As unfortunate of an experience that this may seem, it actually helped me a lot in that getting sober was a big motivation in dedicating myself to finding a way to explore my reality without drugs.  But all lessons come with a price.  Over the course of my abuse, I overdosed on heroin once, I overdosed on cocaine 4 times, I had 4 seizures (which correspond to the cocaine ODs), I dislocated my shoulder during my first seizure and again each subsequent seizure (I had to have surgery to repair it) and I've been on this opiate replacement medication for 2 years now.  I was terrified that the seizures may have damaged my brain thereby somehow preventing me from being able to project.  Also, the long term use of opiates severely hinders your brain's neurotransmitter production capabilities and I've read somewhere that serotonin and dopamine are necessary for successful projection.  Needless to say, I was pretty sure I had ruined my ability to project.  On top of all that, I mentioned that the medication (Suboxone) was the most daunting problem.  The reason for this is that it is an opiate and opiates make you very very sleepy.  I have been getting a long lasting, fast acting opiate administered every day for a long time which means that no matter how much caffeine, guarana, ginseng, B vitamins, etc., etc., etc. I ingest, I'm still falling asleep constantly.  I can barely stay awake most of the time.  And even now that I'm tapering my dose, I still find it difficult to stay awake all the time.  Not to mention that Suboxone isn't just an opiate, it also contains an opiate receptor blocker called Naltrexone that no one really knows what kind of long term effect might come along for the ride. 

Nevertheless, I have been successful!  I tell you this not for pity or concern, but to let you know that even someone who seemed to have all the odds against them was able to do this.  If I can do it, you can do it.

[Stillwater]

Well Congratulations on your success, and I'm glad you were able to work out your background issues! It's not easy to step away from something like that, and heroin is about as addicting as they come.

[kurtykurt42]

CLIFF'S NOTES
[Note: I recommend using a MindFold and foam Earplugs.  If you don't have a MindFold, you can use a sleep mask or bandanna.  These create a "make-shift sensory deprivation chamber" which really helps me.

I have been training with a blindfold for the past several months. Often I will sleep with it on, wake up, do my martial arts training, eat breakfast, make tea and then meditate / AP with the blindfold still on!

[joel1212]

I have been training with a blindfold for the past several months. Often I will sleep with it on, wake up, do my martial arts training, eat breakfast, make tea and then meditate / AP with the blindfold still on!

um..
how do u see?!

[kurtykurt42]

I sense the room around me by listening to where the music is coming from, the birds chirping outside, the heat from the sun coming through the windows, the EMF coming from the refrigerator / TV / computers... Then after a long enough time I begin to visualize the rooms as if my eyes were wide open.

We humans do have other senses other than just our eyes you know.

[Tiny]

Dear personalreality,

I agree with you in a sense that all the instructional books are really more good-will than actual help and all their confusing terms and descriptions may just cause more problems than solutions.

None of the normal "unhooking" OBE techniques ever worked for me, only going as close to sleep as possible and phasing into OBE or the indirect way of going to sleep with the inprogrammed reminder to waking up in the OBE state.

My personal problem is really the memory download during reentry, of which I was only 1 time succesful. In fact, I only know to have been OOB by having a certain 'feeling' afterwards that I know I don't get after periods of sleep.


peace

[personalreality]

That's something else that I think RB has goofed up in people's minds.  I was always terrified of not being able to remember the experience after it was done, but from my experiences it is exactly the same as remembering a dream.  I don't think that the download is so tricky.  I mean, the info has to come back.  It's just how well you've trained yourself to remember these "shadow memories".  Which is what RB said, but I think that in an effort to make it all more scientific or technical he made it sound like a bigger deal than it is. 

For example.  Yesterday I had about 5-6 OBEs in a row.  I would go out, black out, go out, black out, etc. etc.  I couldn't remember the first one at all but I could remember the last one.  Just like a dream, I remembered the one that was the closest to my waking consciousness.  I knew the first one happened, but the memory slipped away as I had subsequent OBEs.  When I came back the final time there were traces of the first one drifting away, but the last one I remembered like it was a movie I had seen 100 times.  So, what does this teach us?  Don't go out 1000 times in a row because you won't remember the first one.  It seems that unless you are trained to remember shadow memories then the longer the projection is, the more trouble you'll have remembering the whole thing.  Which is why RB says to KEEP IT SHORT in the beginning.  But I still don't think it's that big of a problem.  You just need to practice remembering, thus the importance of keeping a dream journal. 

I really don't want to knock RB, I just feel like he made something that's really kind of simple a lot harder than it had to be.  Personally that created fear in me that caused me to forget more shadow memories.  (mostly dreams)  I was so worried about remembering that I remembered to remember but forgot what I was supposed to remember. 

This brings up a bigger issue.  I understand the desire to describe the whole OBE phenomena as fully as possible.  Not just for replication but so that others will understand that this is a glorious experience that everyone should have.  But, as with everything in this world, when you start labeling things and making them more and more specific, you tend to limit the possibilities.  The complexities of human consciousness and the experiences it is capable of are enormous to the point that it is probably impossible to fully catalog and convert it to data.  I mean, I think that's the point.  It should be experienced individually and entirely subjectively.  When you quantify something you take away it's spirit.

[thirdeye26]

1 out of 2 people die in AP, eh? Now why did you say that?

Ok, getting back to your present post... yup, you do have a point about listening to newbies and forgetting all the old techniques. Seeing auras is something similar. The more you try, the more difficult it becomes. The minute you let go, it all comes back to you.

[Realisation]

How do you bypass the natural fear response if it's your first-time though?

[radman32]

those suggestions r very helpful, I'll try it. I guess that's where my work has been leading me anyways!!

[kurtykurt42]

How do you bypass the natural fear response if it's your first-time though?

Just try not to think about! 

Always keep your mind on the 'present', the here and now and you'll do fine.

[Realisation]

I tried it last night before I went to bed, got into a light trance but then I got a jolt of 'vibrations' that brought me out of it. Guess I need to go at it slower?

[kurtykurt42]

Slower, faster, whatever works. I always like to push it to the limit. 

[personalreality]

I just posted about this in the topic "The Resurrection of Robert Bruce".  WHen I get out I usually fall asleep a few times and wake up a few times (lightly of course) and it's at this point when I wake up that I feel the vibrations and exit.  I don't know if it's because I'm teetering so much on the edge of sleep or what, but the vibrations aren't very intense at all.  Though when I do intensify the vibrations they reach a point where it kind of starts to tickle down to the bone.  The first couple of times it was so intense that I almost had to quit.  But I've found that once I start the increase of vibration intensity there seems to be a threshold where once that point is crossed I don't have to hold my state of mind so delicately.  I just let go and the process works out on its own.  Keep it up.

[Xanth]

How do you bypass the natural fear response if it's your first-time though?

Exactly the same way you get past any fear.
Face it and overcome it.

There's no "easy" way. 

[Stookie]

I agree - hitting it head on is the best way.

[personalreality]

I've noticed as I've read through posts that (a lot) of people seem to have had a little bit of success doing this.  I'm happy.

[Draq]

Thanks for this info Personalreality !

i have been trying hard this past week, but failed twice once i get the buzz. i lose my focus because i got too excited.

just hope i can get into astral world soon.

when do you know you are ready to leave your body? there was once i felt like i had two heads, but i am not sure if i was imagining it.