My recent work of attempting to induce an out of body experience has been a culmination of various studies/knowledge paradigm shifts I've had over the recent years. Moving from an ardent atheist in my teens to what I would self describe as a spiritualist has been quite an experience. I would say the start point of the "shift" began with my roommate and I took a decent amount of shrooms in college one fateful night blissfully unaware of its mind blowing potentialities. Its one thing to hear people say basic perceptual faculties like time and sight melt before their eyes, but to experience such a thing personally is an entirely different story. Two "mystical" experiences, my battles with anxiety and lots of research later has shifted my viewpoint dramatically in a short amount of time.
What attracted me to this initially my recent research on psi(which has a host of evidence backing it despite the sheer push-back against it by our modern society) which has caused me to want to experiment more. While I can say this now, when I initially started looking into out of body methods and experiences, I didn't believe I would be able to participate in any of it. Despite this, I went ahead and was absolutely flabbergasted when I started feeling the infamous vibrations and energy pulses everyone was talking about on the first night! It freaked me out and I didn't push any farther. I've been practicing over the past two weeks and its been getting stronger every night. I'm at the point where I'm running into the actual fear of projecting or putting my body into a state of sleep when I'm still awake. Sleep paralysis has always frightened me, which ties into one of my more primal fears of losing control(one fear I've been working on most diligently). Another problem I've run into is the idea of running into what others describe as "boogeymen" who appear when you're not in the right state or mind or are there to test you. Any guiding words? The room I do the most work in is pitch black, which seems like a scary place to project.
Also, this strange feeling of energy and displacement has carried with me during the day. I don't know if its just me being more aware of my body, but I often feel myself "swaying" as if moved by some wind. I also feel energy coursing through during the day in ways that I've never felt before. I also hear an omnipresent humming/buzzing on the edge of my awareness that intensifies when I attempt OOBE. Any insight?
Hello Condiments,
Welcome to the Pulse!
Take some time to read the bright blue Sticky threads at the beginning of the first three Forums. Try Everything you wanted to know about Sleep Paralysis, Szaxx's Astral Blueprint, Xanth's Phasing Primer and PR's 'How I got out for the first time'. That should answer a lot of questions.
Anything after that, feel free to ask.
It's amazing what incredible sensations you can experience with just a little effort, isn't it?!!
You're on the right track! After the initial reality of the sensations hit you, it's natural to have a little fear and trepidation. Don't worry, you are very safe. Your own fear is your only obstacle at the moment. Stay calm and passively curious in your next experiences, whatever may show.
Quote from: EscapeVelocity on June 02, 2014, 03:15:13
Hello Condiments,
Welcome to the Pulse!
Take some time to read the bright blue Sticky threads at the beginning of the first three Forums. Try Everything you wanted to know about Sleep Paralysis, Szaxx's Astral Blueprint, Xanth's Phasing Primer and PR's 'How I got out for the first time'. That should answer a lot of questions.
Anything after that, feel free to ask.
It's amazing what incredible sensations you can experience with just a little effort, isn't it?!!
You're on the right track! After the initial reality of the sensations hit you, it's natural to have a little fear and trepidation. Don't worry, you are very safe. Your own fear is your only obstacle at the moment. Stay calm and passively curious in your next experiences, whatever may show.
I'd just like to thank you for taking the time to address my questions, which I'm sure you've heard many times before. Its just hard to contain the enthusiasm after discovering such a vast field of exploration. I'll take a look at those stickies you recommended.
I thought this would be the proper place to update my post. After a schedule change with a recent job promotion, finding practice time at night has become more difficult. I originally worked the pm shift 1pm-9pm, allowing me ample time at night to experiment. With my promotion I've moved to a more typical schedule of 8am-5pm. Not that I'm complaining about the promotion, I was just wondering how people fit time into their practice schedule with early morning shifts while still maintaining an adequate amount of sleep.
Over the past week or two I've been absorbing so much material throughout various sources on the internet and this site, its difficult to sift through what is right for me. I've sort of settled on using the vigil method, as that seems the most simple whereas my original attempts with Focus 10 have just made my body fall asleep with no energy fluctuations. In some ways I've feel I've moved backwards with the lack of any feeling of energy, but it simply could be I'm far more relaxed now. Is it normal to hit a "wall" before the next step?
Also what are good practices for daytime? I've become pretty proficient at getting into meditation states, so should I attempt light focus 10/affirmations when I have time?
Recently I've been fishing around among my friends seeing who seems the most open to this type of practice. One of my friends seems to be attempting to expand his spiritual horizons and I've let him know some of the techniques I'm doing without revealing the main "meat and potatoes" of the OBE experience. In fact, I haven't revealed that these methods are meant to induce OOBE experiences, merely that they'll help him in expanding his awareness. I figured I'd let him have a genuine experiential reference point before delving into the details. He seems intrigued but I think I'll have to tell him more to get him hooked without revealing too much too quick. I'm open to possibility of OOBE through a series of revelations I've had over the last year or so and I would have thought it impossible before then. I figure it might be the same for him. Any tips for getting him on board?
Thanks in advance.
Lol...I'm not meaning to dog your post, but there it is...and here I am. Others will certainly have opinions, so I'll throw mine on the fire while I'm thinking of it.
It does appear to be normal to hit walls or plateaus from time to time. I'm in one right now; frustrating. That fact should indicate that you are missing something, need to keep looking. Sometimes you just need time to process the previous experience. It's a very personal thing.
Focus 10/affirmations are always good, anytime. IMO
Sharing these revelations with friends is a tricky thing; the desire to benefit others needs to be weighed against their immediate need for this info versus a possible egoistic impulse on our part to be helpful and important.
I am very impulsive on this and wish to share but have to hold myself back. Mostly, I stay silent...just give little hints. I figure the more I hold back, the more wisdom may hit me as to when to talk about it.
Quote from: Condiments on June 01, 2014, 06:13:51
My recent work of attempting to induce an out of body experience has been a culmination of various studies/knowledge paradigm shifts I've had over the recent years. Moving from an ardent atheist in my teens to what I would self describe as a spiritualist has been quite an experience. I would say the start point of the "shift" began with my roommate and I took a decent amount of shrooms in college one fateful night blissfully unaware of its mind blowing potentialities. Its one thing to hear people say basic perceptual faculties like time and sight melt before their eyes, but to experience such a thing personally is an entirely different story. Two "mystical" experiences, my battles with anxiety and lots of research later has shifted my viewpoint dramatically in a short amount of time.
What attracted me to this initially my recent research on psi(which has a host of evidence backing it despite the sheer push-back against it by our modern society) which has caused me to want to experiment more. While I can say this now, when I initially started looking into out of body methods and experiences, I didn't believe I would be able to participate in any of it. Despite this, I went ahead and was absolutely flabbergasted when I started feeling the infamous vibrations and energy pulses everyone was talking about on the first night! It freaked me out and I didn't push any farther. I've been practicing over the past two weeks and its been getting stronger every night. I'm at the point where I'm running into the actual fear of projecting or putting my body into a state of sleep when I'm still awake. Sleep paralysis has always frightened me, which ties into one of my more primal fears of losing control(one fear I've been working on most diligently). Another problem I've run into is the idea of running into what others describe as "boogeymen" who appear when you're not in the right state or mind or are there to test you. Any guiding words? The room I do the most work in is pitch black, which seems like a scary place to project.
Also, this strange feeling of energy and displacement has carried with me during the day. I don't know if its just me being more aware of my body, but I often feel myself "swaying" as if moved by some wind. I also feel energy coursing through during the day in ways that I've never felt before. I also hear an omnipresent humming/buzzing on the edge of my awareness that intensifies when I attempt OOBE. Any insight?
Two main points from me which is that when you said that you were an "ardent atheist" in your teens. And then to a spiritualist. The first thing I thought is psychedelics. And yes that was it. Your not alone. Many people in the 60's that took psychedelics moved over to eastern meditational religious ideas like Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen, etc. Zen probably has the least baggage of all of them. The only other thing that might cause it is if you naturally ended up projecting at night, but that is iffy since a ardent atheist is likely to say it was a very nice lucid dream. In fact this happened to the famous James Randi quite possibly.
James Randi @ Caltech - My Out Of Body Experience
http://youtu.be/1NwKkbd2e-c
Now he said that the cat was in another place in his supposed out of body experience but that is not how OBE's work. He would have been wise to to read up more about OBE's. He obviously didn't know much of anything about them. Since if he did then he would know that the conscious subconscious mind of not only yourself but others greatly influence the experience. The objective and subjective dissolve. And this is not that far out there. It's been theorized that there can be other dimensions out there but that they would all have to be different. Anyway this is the problem with supporting something so strongly even his million dollar prize is not statistically fair.
Secondly when you say "I also hear an omnipresent humming/buzzing on the edge of my awareness that intensifies when I attempt OOBE."
This is the Ommmm that meditators try to tap into. The goal to say Ommmm or Hummmmmm in meditation is to use that as a guild into the inner self. It's like a path with signs that show you if your on the right track. Now from what I understand you can convert meditations into astral projection and vise versa from what I seem to remember. Now there are different meditations you can do to increasing this humming. There are differentiate names for it. A few are "audible life stream" "sound current" "inner sound meditation" etc. You can do this during the day in meditation to increase your awareness in meditation and eventually out of meditation.
Also what are good practices for daytime?
As far as meditation goes they say the morning and evening are best. As far as astral projection IMO in the morning is best but with the wake back to bed method. I personally like the lucidology 101 series. Though I haven't been able to project on demand since my health is too messed up. He he seems to talk about astral projection like it's a science. He's got some youtube videos about what I am talking about on youtube.
I figure it might be the same for him. Any tips for getting him on board?
Yes keep revealing little by little without feeding him too much or too little at once unless he is responsive give more. I recently had a friend that I changed his view about spirituality from christian to IDK what but I had showed him and he was interested in astral projection NDE's psychedelics but he is shying away from astral projection I think since I gave him too much at once. I should have let him read up on his own. Now he hardly wants to read about it I think. Though I recently started emailing him about it to see where he is at exactly. But once he starts researching it let him do it. And if he has questions don't saying everything. It's just one of those things that takes a while to digest and comprehend. Also if he has never done psychedelics then that could be the thing that would be the tipping point just like you and so many others.
Also you should know that some psychedelics can actually take you out of body. But while being in the astral or spiritual dimensions or whatever the psychedelic acts as a filter to what is experienced in the spiritual realms. IMO a true "breakthrough experience" is where you leave your body. Some psychedelics filter more than others. And some do it in different ways. DMT filters reality with lines often from what I remember. Some psychedelics and some combinations filter more than others. Anyway don't know if you still doing psychedelics. I am not particularly promoting it but think this information needs to get out there to the psychedelic community. If you can spiritual progress without psychedelics that is great.
Also my recommendation for you is to is to read this if you haven't already:
The Frank Kepple Resource
www.astralpulse.com/frankkepple.html
Peace.
Hi Condiments
I just wanted to say that its normal to feel scared at first...I remember when I would get to the vibrations point and back out last minute even though I had done it many times before...as you grow you start to shed that fear.
I used to get past that by only doing it if the hallway light was on lol.
you kind of start to realize that you are stronger than the "boggeyman" in saying that I haven't seen anything that frightening in the non-physical yet. you will probably start seeing people talking about PUL (Pure Unconditional Love) etc as ways to get rid of any negative energy's...as I said, I haven't seen anything too bad but whenever I have seen anything I didn't really like I just said "your not real" or "I am not afraid of you" and that seems to get rid of whatever is bothering me :)
I also wanted to give you a good hint on bringing it up but not bringing it up, begin by talking about lucid dreaming...Its still a non-physical experience and a good little gateway to OBE
Oh and congrats on your promotion :-)
You'll be surprised how quickly your fear will change to excitement once you have succeeded. Many people feel the vibrations very early in their attempts and then purposely stop the experience out of fear of the unknown. If you do this too often, you may end up having a long road ahead of you before you ever get "out". Our brains can be hardwired (develops new synapses pathways) to invoke a common response. This means that your brain will become conditioned to end the experience even before you purposely do so. As an anxiety sufferer, you probably already know this. It really will be a lot less "work" to just get out of your own way now. :-)
Wow guys thanks for all the responses. Looks like I chose the right community to ask my questions.
Quote from: EscapeVelocity on June 11, 2014, 04:07:58
Lol...I'm not meaning to dog your post, but there it is...and here I am. Others will certainly have opinions, so I'll throw mine on the fire while I'm thinking of it.
It does appear to be normal to hit walls or plateaus from time to time. I'm in one right now; frustrating. That fact should indicate that you are missing something, need to keep looking. Sometimes you just need time to process the previous experience. It's a very personal thing.
Yeah I feel I've hit some sort of plateau. Its just funny because I had more immediate success right away before I delved into the literature involving OBEs. Even the fear is to a lesser extent gone or accepted but it hasn't helped me out. I've made attempts over various hours where I've gotten that numb feeling over my entire body with light vibrations but it doesn't seem to progress from there. Its possible the more regimented my views became about obes the more I looked for goalposts which is slowing the whole thing down. I'm in this for the long haul though. Also don't worry about dogging my posts, I need all the help I can get.
QuoteSharing these revelations with friends is a tricky thing; the desire to benefit others needs to be weighed against their immediate need for this info versus a possible egoistic impulse on our part to be helpful and important.
Yeah I've pulled back a bit. Its better to wean people in gently than pretend you're some heroic mystic purging your friends of delusion. Worlds too complicated for that.
Quote from: PlasmaAstralProjection on June 11, 2014, 04:20:55
Two main points from me which is that when you said that you were an "ardent atheist" in your teens. And then to a spiritualist. The first thing I thought is psychedelics. And yes that was it. Your not alone. Many people in the 60's that took psychedelics moved over to eastern meditational religious ideas like Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen, etc. Zen probably has the least baggage of all of them. The only other thing that might cause it is if you naturally ended up projecting at night, but that is iffy since a ardent atheist is likely to say it was a very nice lucid dream. In fact this happened to the famous James Randi quite possibly.
James Randi @ Caltech - My Out Of Body Experience
http://youtu.be/1NwKkbd2e-c
Now he said that the cat was in another place in his supposed out of body experience but that is not how OBE's work. He would have been wise to to read up more about OBE's. He obviously didn't know much of anything about them. Since if he did then he would know that the conscious subconscious mind of not only yourself but others greatly influence the experience. The objective and subjective dissolve. And this is not that far out there. It's been theorized that there can be other dimensions out there but that they would all have to be different. Anyway this is the problem with supporting something so strongly even his million dollar prize is not statistically fair.
Secondly when you say "I also hear an omnipresent humming/buzzing on the edge of my awareness that intensifies when I attempt OOBE."
This is the Ommmm that meditators try to tap into. The goal to say Ommmm or Hummmmmm in meditation is to use that as a guild into the inner self. It's like a path with signs that show you if your on the right track. Now from what I understand you can convert meditations into astral projection and vise versa from what I seem to remember. Now there are different meditations you can do to increasing this humming. There are differentiate names for it. A few are "audible life stream" "sound current" "inner sound meditation" etc. You can do this during the day in meditation to increase your awareness in meditation and eventually out of meditation.
Yeah a lot of this stuff is hard to take in after living my life in the skeptic west. Even the act of me taking shrooms wasn't something I took seriously until I had the experience and I barely have the words to describe it. To make matters even more confusing a couple months after that experience I had another strong experience where I wasn't on anything. I was reading a book on my deck when I felt some sort of great warm "presence" wash onto me where all thoughts and worry melted away into a sea of tranquility. I barely felt any sense of individual identity other than this warmth and my immediate surroundings. I had the experience again a couple months ago with the same feeling coming of warmth but this time I felt energy snaking through my body and it felt like it was being poured through my head. I mean what the hell was that? I've got nothing wrong with me physically so I don't know whats going on. I'll look into that info you posted on meditation techniques, could help me out.
Also thanks for the frank kepple resource page. His descriptions of his interpretations of oobe cosmology is vastly interesting and will hopefully frame my experience going forward.
Quote from: urshebear on June 11, 2014, 07:10:41
I also wanted to give you a good hint on bringing it up but not bringing it up, begin by talking about lucid dreaming...Its still a non-physical experience and a good little gateway to OBE
Oh and congrats on your promotion :-)
Oh I'm definitely still keeping lucid dreaming in mind. In fact that was my original intention before I learned more about these experiences and my attention shifted and I've been keeping a dream journal for nearly two months. I had very brief lucid dream last for the first time ever. I was eating some food in a dream and suddenly everything became far more vivid and I remember thinking that "this is a dream". I stared around me really surprised and got up from the table I was eating at. My immediate thought was to project and I jumped through some portal and felt myself coming back awake but thats is where is gets hazy. I feel like I didn't fully become awake and awoke falsely into another one. I think this because in my memory I checked my watch and remarked that it wasn't working and feel back into another dream. However, when I woke up later my watch was working just fine, my intuition leads me to believe it was a dream.
And thank you I'm enjoying my new job quite a bit.
Quote from: Astralzombie on June 11, 2014, 15:24:25
You'll be surprised how quickly your fear will change to excitement once you have succeeded. Many people feel the vibrations very early in their attempts and then purposely stop the experience out of fear of the unknown. If you do this too often, you may end up having a long road ahead of you before you ever get "out". Our brains can be hardwired (develops new synapses pathways) to invoke a common response. This means that your brain will become conditioned to end the experience even before you purposely do so. As an anxiety sufferer, you probably already know this. It really will be a lot less "work" to just get out of your own way now. :-)
Yup, I'm dealing with this fear exactly how I dealt with my anxiety. Simply letting go of the control I want to hold onto and relaxing while believing everything will be okay. I'm looking forward to the transition and the sensations it will bring to me. I'm just running into far more normal road blocks now like annoying sensation of saliva building up in your mouth and wanting to swallow, and fluttering on the edge between conscious and automatic breathing. My mind keeps wanting to go back to worrying about my breathing sequence and I bring it back by telling it everything will be okay. Still hasn't resulted in a projection but its good practice all the same.
Thanks for the help guys.
My advice would be to not be so concerned with going into trance and avoiding all those little difficult physical things like saliva, itches, tickles, noises, etc. trying to work towards an OBE.
That's like the hardest thing to do...if you can, great, but otherwise for the most of us, not easy.
Look for opportunities...during a nap; or set your alarm for the middle of the night and try WBTB, or notice an opportunity in the early morning.
If you catch the right opportunity, most of the issues you describe will not be there. No physical stuff, no control issues, no emotional issues...it will all happen rather automatically. If you let it happen, it will just unfold. You will have a moment where your fear or doubt or need for control will surface, but if you sublimate this urge the experience will continue. It's tricky; part of it is automatic, part of it is needing your 'intent' to allow it to continue. This is a unique moment for each of us. When it happens, it's a memory you will always keep special to yourself.
Go find it!