How to observe your physical body fall asleep

[Seven]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has a problem with swallowing! []
I tried ignoring the swallowing urge earlier and I found that it got to the stage where my throat would just contract/convulse on its own, so I'm pleased to hear that the swallowing shouldn't be a problem. I always have a drink of water before I lie down; relaxing my neck properly has been a problem as ever since I went to the osteopath to sort my back out, my neck's been out of alignment ever since.
Upstream, I think you are correct as I once had a kind of OBE, or at least astral vision, while walking around in my physical body (I posted on this somewhere) so I think the trick must be proper focus.
Earlier I lay down, ignored the urge to move (had to swallow though), felt my body falling asleep 3 times, had something like a camera flash go off in my 3rd eye, felt energy rushing all through my body, but nothing happened.  When I tried to move I was still in the physical.  Should I have tried a technique (never had any results from climbing rope) or waited longer?  I was hoping to just exit naturally.  Maybe it was because my boyfriend was in the room?  I can say though that when I got up I felt completely energised and awake.

[Mgkeeper]

hmmm, i dont know if this is obe'ing but maybe you guys can tell me. I have recently been able to randomly be coherent at the exact point im falling asleep. And the great thing is, even if i wake up because it surprizes me, once i do it the first time that night, i can continue doing it. But what happens is, i dont get any kind of urge to move, it usually happens when im just thinking about something, and ive forgotten about trying to sleep (this can wake me out of it tho, because when i become aware that this is happening, i become aware and it stops, best way i can describe it)i actually was aware while my body was going to sleep once. It was crazy, it felt like the inside of my bones were spinning, like they were wheels, and the sensation was everywhere, and so intense, i felt if i opened my eyes it would be in the way and id be blind, so i didnt dare. Anyways, i forced my body to move because i was freaking. But since then, a few times ive done it again, only there were no sensations. Every time after (maybe a few) i just went numb. No sensations or anything, totally clear, i feel like im still just laying there trying to sleep, except my body is numb, and it takes a real effort to move, which un numbs me. Is that uncommon?? I mean, the first time i get the incredible experience, then any time after, just numb?? I talked to my mom about it and she says that she regularly is concious when she goes to sleep, she described it like i did, just going numb. Maybe they are 2 different things?? Also, if going numb is the beginning of trying to OBE, what should i do after it??

Another thing, it helps me to do this if im lying on my back for some reason. Its impossible for me to do if im like, on my side, for instance. wierd.

[Seven]

I forgot to say that when I felt my body fall asleep I also noticed I was in REM as my eyes were darting about all over the place.  Could I have separated but left my consciousness behind in the physical?  I know I was trying to observe my body fall asleep, which I did. Is this possible?  If so, how do I get out?  So far I have not been able to consciously exit, only from LD and once partly from meditation (but was still in physical).

[cube]

Swallowing
I guess I have had the swallowing thing a little bit. It only happens when I am laying on my back. I think that there's some part in your throat that relaxes back into your throat and causes a gag reflex?

I have a feeling this can be fixed by putting your head at the right angle. When I lay on my back I use a hand towel behind my head folded twice so there are four thicknesses of fabric under the back of my head. I don't normally get the swallowing thing so it could be that I get that when I don't use the towel so my head is just a little bit too far back.

Actually, I have never really found a good reason to lay on my back to meditate and recently I've mostly been laying on my stomach/side as if I'm sleeping. It's easier for me to relax in that position.

Also, when I lay on my back with my hands at my sides, sometimes my hands will flop all by themselves on to my stomach and wake me up. I don't know why that happens but it never happens when I'm on my side, so I'm kind of giving up on laying on my back.

I doubt that swallowing is an 'are you sleeping?' signal from the body because it's not something that you can really ignore. If you're choking then you pretty much have to do something about it.



Twitching
Here's a page on it that seems to agree with other references on the net about twitching:

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_090.html

When I look back at the times when I had an extreme twitch event, like when I felt like I was falling out of bed, or when I fell asleep in class and it felt like I was falling, it seems like it felt a lot like I was on the edge of sleep but not quite. I was wavering back and forth because I wasn't relaxed or comfortable and my body got confused about where parts of my body were and panicked trying to keep things synched.

I think twitching is mostly that you're not relaxed enough ahead of time. Like Nay says it could also be from an energy imbalance. Ether way I think you should do stretches first to even things out.

I almost always do toe touching, splits, stretch my arms against the wall and use that foot massager before laying down for a meditation in the afternoon.



Focus 10
Focus 10 is what Bob Monroe labeled the state when your body is asleep and your mind is awake. I'm pretty sure that there are actually many 'grades' of Focus 10, and just because you've put your body to sleep doesn't mean you're ready to project.

There are a lot of techniques for exiting once you're in Focus 10, but the problem is that if you're just barely in F10 and you try a technique that involves moving your body you'll probably move both your etheric and physical bodies a bit and wind up waking up.

My personal exit method is to focus on the force of gravity to press me into my bed and out of my body. This way I never have to move anything and if I'm not quite in F10 I don't ruin it. If I am in F10 then it's no problem to move by thinking about pressure so you just slide right out.

quote:
Do you think my energy-workouts will impede anything towards a possible AP/OBE?

No, they shouldn't hurt at all.

quote:
If I resist the urge to switch positions, is that when the vibrations come, like during or after Focus 10?

For me the vibes sometimes fade in lightly before the switch positions urge comes, but it may be different for you. I'm still exploring this boundary so I'm really interested in what you and everyone else finds about it.


Mental state
I agree with upstream in that your mental state and stillness is just as important as staying physically still. It seems like with me my mind is either blank or I have some kind of daydream imagery going on in the background when the vibes and switch urge comes.

However, it never happens if I am consciously thinking about one thing or another, at the very most I have a conceptualization going that's pretty innocuous.

[cube]

Seven,

quote:
Earlier I lay down, ignored the urge to move (had to swallow though), felt my body falling asleep 3 times,

Did you get the wave of heaviness come over you 3 times?

quote:
Should I have tried a technique (never had any results from climbing rope) or waited longer?

Not necessarily, it's a lot better to stop and examine what happened and then try to figure out a way to get back there consistently than it is to go charging off in a projection each time [].

Can you tell us more about exactly what you did you get to that state and if you saw or heard anything other than the flash? Did you feel any vibes?



Mgkeeper,

quote:
i felt if i opened my eyes it would be in the way and id be blind, so i didnt dare

It sounds like you're in sleep paralysis, which is an excellent state to project from. You should try opening your eyes, you'll probably be seeing the astral version of your room.

Astral sight tends to magnify qualities of things so if you have a nice and clean bedroom then you'll maybe see a nicely snazzed up room.

When you're paralysed, relax and do deep breaths until you separate. For me and several others on the forum, if I'm in 100% paralysis and I do deep breaths it makes me exit every time.

Can you give us any other hints about how you're slipping into sleep while staying conscious? Is this something you can do every night?

[Stillwater]

quote:My personal exit method is to focus on the force of gravity to press me into my bed and out of my body. This way I never have to move anything and if I'm not quite in F10 I don't ruin it. If I am in F10 then it's no problem to move by thinking about pressure so you just slide right out.

That sounds like an intelligent solution to me. I have always utilized a mental falling sensation, but this idea sounds more passive and less troublesome.

Thank you,
Stillwater

[Orygbus]

I remember reading (I don't remember where, maybe Astral Dynamic)that swallowing is normal. You want to swallow. Once you begin to go deeper you'll begin to swallow less. I also read you can try putting the tip of your tongue up against the roof of your month. You can try not drinking a few hours before your practice.

[Kazbadan]

Cube, you are getting more famous with your techniques [].

Oriental monks, budhists, yoguis and other guys that use meditation reach a similar state. I remember a time, at a few years ago when i had a different strenght inside of me (i was more energetic.... am i getting old?), that entered in a great state of meditation.

Everything it was very clear and lucid. It was a pure moment. While, after somewhile i started to feel a kind of bubble like you said. I feel like my mind was expanding and my own being expanded too. It was like i was getting out of my body but in a different manner from obes (i suppose, since i nver obed...). Now that i think on that, it´s the same sensation that you speak about.

btw, you could try to do other thing in that state ( i do it only a few times in the past, now i cant do it i dont now...to less concentration capacity): first you must enter the state when you feel your mind completly awaken and lucid. YOu must feel, before the meditation, completly lucid and with mental energy and concentration.

Then you will reach the state. When you are in that state, completly lucid, you will think in everything causing you pain in your life: people that you dont like, people that you hurted, people that hurted you, people that it is suffering, anywhere in the world. Then, try to see why people hurts other people. They do it because they are blind and because of that, even if they dont see it, thet are suffering with that, they are collapsing. When you start feel compassion for them, forgive them for their sins. But forgive them really from the heart,cleaning your soul, feeling love and compassion. Do the same exercise of compasison and love with everyone, every being.

I dont know how to explain it, but when i did that it was one of most beautiful moments in all my life. Cant explain it, but it was like if i was one with the world. Amazing.


Ok, now i have some questions:
1- What is the focus 10? Describe the state please.
2- Isnt that state used to have obes too? if you dont habe body, maybe the next step it´s easy. I think that it is tthat state that Robert Bruce refers (maybe not specifically).
3- Is that state the same think like when you have sleep paralysis? I mean, if you try to move your body, you will feel it paralised, unable to move it.


thanks for the good ideas Cube!

[BlackBox]

Seven, I've been having the camera-flash from my third-eye also. Your current description of your progress sounds like where I am at. Except I haven't been putting effort into the exit as of late. I've basically just turned my every-night to brushing-techniques (my lazy version of N.E.W.), but with cube getting me excited with this thread, I'll start reapplying some will-power.

[LordoftheBunnies]

Earlier I got to the point where my body started to try to get me to move.  I ignored it, and it got worse until it was quite excruciating, and then the feeling of heaviness set in.  By this point my body felt hard to define.  However, I wasn't able to project, I tried doing rope and although I did feel my energy double tug a bit, it didn't come out.  I think I'm still too focused on the physical body when I do this, I need to get to the point where I don't feel it at all.

Someone should make a list of the different levels experienced in focus 10 so they know what would be the best point to try projecting from.  Just having the physical body asleep doesn't seem to do it for me.

[fire]

will moveing youre eyes effect anything
because when u are dreaming dont youre eyes move[?]

[Seven]

Cube,

quote:

Did you get the wave of heaviness come over you 3 times?

Yes, a wave of heaviness, or sinking feeling, 3 times. I suppose my body fell asleep then woke up 3 times?

quote:

Not necessarily, it's a lot better to stop and examine what happened and then try to figure out a way to get back there consistently than it is to go charging off in a projection each time [].

Can you tell us more about exactly what you did you get to that state and if you saw or heard anything other than the flash? Did you feel any vibes?

I ignored body being uncomfortable (thanks for that tip, it was a real stumbling block!), just lay there, focussed on 3rd eye & crown.
I have felt my body fall asleep on several occasions.  About the vibes, I don't think so, just felt my body fizzing with energy.  The only time I have felt strong vibes was when I did a visualization of magnetic lines of force above crown; I must have entered a lucid dream where I was floating towards the lines of force, then grabbed hold of them. It was like an electric shock, it woke me up so violently my eyes shot open & I sat up in bed LOL! [:O]
I did have hypnogogic images but as usual they went & I couldn't hold them.  One was interesting though, I tried to imagine myself above my face looking down on myself and LOL I saw someone completely different!  Tried to focus on her but couldn't hold the picture.

I have a theory that I have been experimenting with, but being as I have not consciously exited as yet, maybe you'd like to try it out & let me know if I'm on the right track?:

If you follow energy up the spinal cord to a place in the middle of your head, the easiest way to explain it is draw a line down from the crown, a line back from your 3rd eye, this should be roughly where the lines cross.  Once you hit this spot you will feel it, a bit like when you hit a tennis ball there is a "sweet spot" in the racket where the ball seems to go without any effort - I think of this as my "sweet spot"!  Well I imagine myself standing on this spot, then imagine myself looking up to see a golden sphere gently vibrating.  I try pulling this into this spot in my head & feel the energy fizzing in me quicker.  I then look up again & see another golden sphere vibrating quicker than the last & do the same.  I continue doing this.  Sometimes I do it looking up to the crown, sometimes looking out to the 3rd eye, sometimes (when I'm feeling ambitious) I try both simultaneously.  This is what I did to get to this stage and it seems to work for me, at least it's got me far further than the rope; I feel so close now!


Blackbox,

quote:

Seven, I've been having the camera-flash from my third-eye also. Your current description of your progress sounds like where I am at. Except I haven't been putting effort into the exit as of late. I've basically just turned my every-night to brushing-techniques (my lazy version of N.E.W.), but with cube getting me excited with this thread, I'll start reapplying some will-power.

This is the first time I had the camera flash whilst body asleep & eyes closed, it went off like a very big camera flash on a dark background.  However, I have often experienced a small camera flash in 3rd eye while awake, either when lying down to begin relaxing or in certain "more aware" states in my normal day-to-day life.

I have been using NEW for just over a week now and I can tell you that it has helped me rediscover my energy which I lost when I was around 15, just over 20 years ago!  It used to come naturally but I guess I got blockages due to certain injuries, both physical and emotional.  Since then I have suffered depression, self-harming, abuse of alcohol & experimenting with drugs.  I now realize all that was an attempt to get the feeling back that I used to have naturally.
The thing is, I never knew what I had at the time, I just saw it as an ability to make certain parts of my body respond.  There just wasn't the information out there then; libraries didn't have anything on the subject and there was no internet!  Since doing NEW I have rediscovered my energy, now I just have to apply focus which is the hard bit!  I will be posting a new thread on NEW/Energy soon.
Try experimenting with NEW.  For example, if you have problems relaxing your face (as I did), try pushing energy across your cheekbones, lower jaw, eyebrows etc.  Also down ears & nose & trace the energy all the way.  This has cleared a lot of blockages for me.
My depression has lifted, the self-harming seems to be going away, at least for now, and I am getting closer to the way I used to be.  The only downer is I have lost my appetite to an extent and I can't really afford to lose weight as I was slightly underweight to start with!
I found that putting some effort into the energy work for about 3 days was all I needed, it comes automatically once your body learns what to do - a bit like riding a bike or driving a car, once you have learnt it it comes naturally.  You will probably find, like me, that you can be doing something else & suddenly you realize that you can feel yourself drawing energy even when you haven't been consciously doing it.

[Mystic Cloud]

Hmm, thank you cube for that timer, just what
I needed []

[cube]

Stillwater,
You're welcome, please post about your sucesses and especially any troubles you have with doing this!


Kazbadan,
The meditation you describe sounds a pretty heavy, I doubt I'm ready for it right now but maybe one of these days I'll be balanced enough to do it.

Your questions:
1- What is the focus 10? Describe the state please.

Major Tom just posted an excellent summary of this at http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13644


2- Isnt that state used to have obes too? if you dont habe body, maybe the next step it´s easy. I think that it is tthat state that Robert Bruce refers (maybe not specifically).

"Focus 10" is Monroe's terminology for the body asleep, mind awake state which is the first step (usually) for having an OBE. Some people can actually project while their body is fully active, I am not one of these people.


3- Is that state the same think like when you have sleep paralysis? I mean, if you try to move your body, you will feel it paralised, unable to move it.

Yes, I think that sleep paralysis is an initial stage of focus 10, and probably you have to go a little deeper than that in order to actually project.


LordoftheBunnies,
it got worse until it was quite excruciating, and then the feeling of heaviness set in.

Yes, that's exactly the feeling. It is almost painful trying to ignore it, I am personally glad it's intense because that makes it impossible to miss.


Someone should make a list of the different levels experienced in focus 10 so they know what would be the best point to try projecting from.



I've been working on seeing if I can separate out the different stages, it seems like this is the earliest, there's another where you're in the process of separating out your limbs and body, then finally you're out.

There are probably substages to all those as well, and I'm looking for good consistent ways to mmove between them. If anyone has ideas on this please post them!


fire,

will moveing youre eyes effect anything
because when u are dreaming dont youre eyes move

It's not very important if you're eyes are moving but it is important that you don't consciously move them. They may start doing things on their own and that's ok, but if you shift your consciousness to them and move them, there's a good chance that you'll also raise your brain frequencies up out out the hypnagogic range and lose whatever imagery you've got going.

At least that's been my experience, however it's also probably true that if you're very skilled at controling your brain frequencies that you can learn to move your muscles consciously while keeping yourself in a trance.

[LordoftheBunnies]

Also, about the need to swallow, I have noticed that simply ignoring the urge does indeed take care of it.  Eventually, once enough saliva has accumulated at the back of your throat, your body will swallow it involuntarily.  Since it does this every night while you're asleep, there's not really any danger of it breaking the trance state.  Once the wave of heaviness comes over you, even the need to swallow goes away.

[gravy]

You guys might also want to check out www.bio-health.com.au , they have a subliminal suggestion software where you can write your own suggestions.  It's got a free 30 day trial, you can train yourself to handle just about anything your body can throw at you with suggestions.  After two weeks of shooting focus messages to myself I'm finally able to hold my focus on one thing during the relaxation stage, no more worrying about anything else around me.

[BlackBox]

gravy,

I strongly caution you to NOT encourage others to buy that product.

It's a clone of www.subliminal-power.com

I bought it a while back, and through research found out that it is complete garbage. Any results that come from purchasing it and running the program come from your own manifestation. Nothing should be attributed to its technicality. Subliminal messaging does not work in this manner. The popcorn example many of these websites use was also revealed to have been a hoax.

I really have to jet out the door right now, but if you guys want additional support, I'll be obliged to research it again for you -- I don't want others to waste money like I have...

[Hannah b]

great post Cube!

I was observing my body fall asleep last night, and I was amazed of the amount of itching and twiching I had!..Why don't I itch and twich so much during the day??
Now the question may be silly, but I'm curious and it may help me work on my relaxation more conciously:
1. what is an itch??

thanks!

[upstream]

Itch is something you need to scratch, Hannah. Welcome back. I think the reason is an unconscious opposition, so you'd better to neglect it by turning your awareness away from your body or by simply scratching it.

[Zonmezz]

I usually get this random twitch (a finger, a toe, my cheek, eyebrow etc.) when I lose consciousness while in Alpha/focus10. I've always assumed that it was a helper or something trying to keep me awake, but it could be just my subconscious trying to "help" me with the process.

An itch on the other hand, depending on what it's like, can signify that not all of your bodies energy/chakra connections are working smoothly. This requires some work with NEW to fix. If you then get a kind of muscle twitching (different from a random twitch that you get as explained above) you definitely have a blockage of some sort and need to get chakras working around the area. Then you need to work energy through the area. A couple of days of practice and the twitch/itch in *this particular case* should eventually go away.

[Jaclyn]

[] Okay Maybe I'm just a dork when it comes to computers, but I can't get this darn timer to go off! (the idea is genius by the way [])

K Heres whats happenin. I clicked on the link. A window comes up that has three icons. Beep, Silence, Timer. I tested beep, it beeped, I tested silence, it was silent, I tested timer. Everything works on timer except the fact that it wont go off! [|)] Ugh it's frustrating me. I've been playin with this thing for about 20 minutes... Please tell me how to get the timer to go off. And, yeah, go ahead and laugh at me all you want. I'm laughin at myself. Excuse my ignorance in computers. Oh btw, did I mention this idea is genious? [] *k ill shut up now []*

[cube]

1.) Type 1 into the "Interval 1:" field

2.) Hit Start Alarm.

3.) The "Timer Stopped" message should change to "Timer Started    0:01" and begin counting up

4.) When it gets to 1:00 it should beep.

If that doesn't work please tell me what step number it fails on, and also what web browser are you using?



Edit: I just tested the timer and it didn't work for me either! I am somewhat mystified because it was working last time I checked it. Anyway I went in and changed some stuff and now it works, so I uploaded it again to astral pulse. Please download the new version and let me know if it's ok for you. Sorry for the confusion... [xx(]

[Hannah b]

I did some research on itching but it's either gross or useless...well nevermind, I guess I'll just ignore it although I'd love to know what is exactly going on..
I never left Upstream, but it's also nice to see you, and especially your dark but hilarious sense of humour[]

[mactombs]

My friend and I were talking about this. It seems that from what we have noticed, you actually lose awareness before you fall asleep. For instance, you continue thinking about something, and it gets off on a completely illogical tangent, but you keep following that tangent as if it weren't illogical at all (kind of like following a talking white rabbit down a rabbit hole). My friend believes that your mind has to be engaged in this illogical train of thought before you can fall asleep.

So if you keep yourself from falling into the train of thought, it seems that you also can't fall asleep. Do you try to observe this train of thought neutrally? Once you get to this state, sleep is near, so if you can take note of being in the illogical train, maybe there is something you can do to take advantage of it?

[Jaclyn]

[] It still is not working! I really think this technique will work so it's frustrating me beyond words. Ugh. [|)] I'll keep trying and let you know if I get it to work.