I have this problem repeatedly. Many times, I have to scratch or swallow. This can be a real pain when I'm trying to "go deep."
Additionally, I have tried a technique to astral project from the hypnopompic state (from jonasridgeway.com) but I ALWAYS have to take a leak right after I wake up. It is a very frustrating.
On the positive side, I had lucid dreaming AND astral projection both last night! :lol:
I woke up about 4:30 am, went to the potty (like I always do) and laid back down. I tried to project, and I was getting into a trance, but then I had to swallow and then I felt an itch. :-(
But, when I fell asleep, I was able to have a few lucid dreams plus I believe I found myself "vibrating" and out of the body. It was one of the weirdest dreams I had, but definitely I'm in the right direction now.
Any ideas what I can do? I'm pretty sure most that can astral from the meditative state have found useful ideas to counteract this problem.
Hi Rain_Frog
Scratching and swallowing. There is only one way to beat them. That is to ignore them. Keep swallowing if you need to. But you must ignore the itchiness.
It's a very common occurence and put simply (as I like to work in a simple way), here is my explanation.
I think it's to do with the body getting ready to "shut down" and making sure the mind is "shutting down" too, therefore the body asks the mind if it's already asleep, by sending out an itch. If the mind reacts (by you scratching the itch), then the body knows it's not quite time to shut down, so it waits a while longer, then itches again. You see, if you are mentally asleep, when the body asks if it can shut down and gets no response (because your mind is already in dreamland), the body then knows it can shut down too.
The idea is to trick the body into thinking the mind is asleep, so the body can shut down while you are still fully mentally awake and alert. And the way to do this? You must ignore the itching so that the body goes to sleep. The itching and swallowing will then not bother you and only your mind is left awake - mind awake/body asleep or MABA as it's known. That is one of the more common states for projecting.
This process takes time and dedication and more likely than not, your mind will fall asleep many many times before you manage to achieve MABA. Even now, I fall asleep more times than I care to mention. But when it works - it's worth all the effort! :-D
Hope that's helpful.
Sarah
I never thought of it that way. The best thing I can do is to keep practicing phasing, or concentration outside my body. Sometimes if I do enough guided meditation, generally the problem is less aparent.
I have noticed that there are fewer problems with this if I sit up and meditate, but I do know its easier to enter the astral world from the "are you asleep" mode.