Question about entering Condition D

[Birm]

quote:
Just to be sure I am on the right track.. I had a few questions regarding how to go through Monroe's exercises as described in Journeys Out of the Body.

Dear Graupel,
It seems that you are on the right track... I will try to help you with my knowledge and experience so far...

quote:
To enter the (focus 10, 12?) borderline sleep state (Monroe also called it Condition D), could you just visualize your favorite shape (a parabolic square, for example) and hold that image in your actual thought or mind (even though the fantasy visualization would not be perfect)? And you just continue to hold it and expect something to happen shortly?

The basic idea on visualizing shapes is to move your focus awareness from your physical body to your astral couple. When you visualize something you start seeing with your astral eyes. When you concentrate on your astral senses, your astral couple will be aware. You are moving your conciousness to your astral body...

quote:
What should eventually happen once you have held the image in your mind for a long enough time? Should you eventually reach a state where you realize you can no longer feel your body (sleep paralysis) and know that you can project from this state, despite practicing this at the beginning of a night's sleep?

If you can successfully move your conciousness to your astral body. Your physical body starts sleeping process. At this point you can not feel your physical body. But you will be aware that it is still there. And anytime you can go back. You can still feel your physical body senses. But the physical sounds for example will feel like they are coming from the other room.

quote:
Do the hypnagogic images usually appear in your field of vision after you have entered Focus 10, and do they eventually fade out into blackness or do they form a dreamscape eventually? If so, what would be a way to stop the progression of hypnagogic images in order to focus on the black void and leaving the body (as not to be preoccupied with the hypnagogic imagery)?

Well in my experience the images appear and disapear first. But in a short while images become short movies. They will last for about 2-3 seconds. Some of these movies can be interesting. So if you focus on one of these you may start lucid dreaming. Or you can fall asleep.

You dont need to stop these images. Let them come and go. These visions or images are thought forms. Just like letting the thoughts come and go. Let them fade away...

quote:
Is the state of sleep paralysis and loss of all physical sensations *ABSOLUTELY* required to induce the vibrational state, or does it work mainly because the loss of physical sensation focuses away from the physical somehow and initiates the natural exit reflex into the RTZ?

I use my triangle method to get the vibrational state. (You can find my method in Astral Conciousness forums) Everyone can find was to get the vibrational state. But you must get used to the vibrations before you start to project (or OBE) fully concious. If you can feel the vibrations for 15-20 seconds; you are on the right track...

When the vibrations become really annoying, dont wait for a natural exit, just push yourself up... With trial and error, I am sure you can exit conciously...

Good Luck,
.
.

[Nick]

The mind-awake/body-asleep state, also known as Focus 10 in Monroespeak, is a tricky balancing act. You need to get to that state before anything interesting happens, whether you OBE or do Astral Phasing. There are a number of threads that discuss this state. See Gateway Wave 1 Pointers by Frank, and also Achieving Consciousness State for Astral Phasing by Adrian. These topics contain a wealth of information and can be found in the Astral Consciouness forum. If you're interested, I give a rundown of the Focus levels in another topic there by Adrian called Phasing Methods.

You may also want to consider using a binaural cd to assist you in getting to Focus 10 at first. There are a number of different companies that sell them such as the Monroe Institute, Brain Sync and Awakened Minds. The most expensive of these would be the Monroe series, however you may just want to try Gateway Wave 1 for a while before spending money on the whole series as they are all quite expensive. The Brain Sync people have a cd called Deep Meditation that only costs $14.95 (USD) and so is a lot less money. People have different opinions regarding the use of cds. Some call it a crutch. I disagree. It does not become one unless you make it so. The binaural cd is an excellent way to get to Focus 10, particularly when one is having difficulty in that regard, so I'd recommend it. Also, there is something called the Brainwave Generator (BWG) which is described in the forum threads as well. You can use the search button at the top of the page and that will take you to a lot of posts on the BWG.

As I said, there is a breakdown of the other Focus levels in the threads I mentioned above. However, Focus 12 is a state of expanded awareness, and it is common to start to see swirling colors, patterns, and images. Also, all types of sounds such as pops, bangs and even music, can be heard in Focus 12.

By way of definition, when you talk about sleep paralysis, you are referring to a pre-obe sensation. As I said, I do astral phasing which is different. However, I understand that with obe the pre-obe sensations can vary somewhat from person to person. In obe you are projecting your etheric double into the real time zone whereas with astral phasing ones consciousness is projected into the astral realms proper.

Very best,

[Graupel]

So when you are trying to get to focus 10, basically (with practice) you are trying to find ways to bring your consciousness into the hypnagogic state without falling asleep, and usually that can be done with focusing the mental attention on something (a thought, a picture or image) without letting it get bored and start wandering off to sleep?

[Nick]

As everyone is different, I can only speak for myself, however for me the Focus 10, mind-awake/body-asleep state, is when I am no longer aware of my physical body yet my mind is focused on the astral. The images actually come after that in Focus 12. Again, I can only base this on my own experience, as others may have different ones.

It is getting to Focus 10 then, which is most important. There is a thread by Frank where he gives a rundown of a "mental primer" or "mental rundown" that he uses. This was an outgrowth of the Wave 1 CD, disc 1, where Robert Monroe sets forth the concepts of the Energy Conversion Box, and so forth. What Frank did, as he explains in his topic on the Astral Consciousness forum called Gateway Wave 1 Pointers, is to create a mental rundown that helped him to get to Focus 10 and beyond, while listening to the cd. Take a look at that thread.

You can alternatively focus on an image I suppose. There is one in the Astral Locale topic posted by Adrian (page 6 I believe) of a place called Astral Pulse Island. That is also a good thread to read, and the image would be something to consider focusing on. I have just started experimenting with this myself. Too soon to report anything though.

What I learned about astral phasing, I learned here from trading posts with Frank, and reading topics by Frank and Adrian. As I mentioned above, there is a wealth of information here in previous threads. It really is important to read over those "sticky" topics in the Astral Consciousness forum. Once you do that, you should experiment and see what method fits best with you, and then try it for a while and see if anything happens.

Very best,

[Graupel]

Just to be sure I am on the right track.. I had a few questions regarding how to go through Monroe's exercises as described in Journeys Out of the Body.

To enter the (focus 10, 12?) borderline sleep state (Monroe also called it Condition D), could you just visualize your favorite shape (a parabolic square, for example) and hold that image in your actual thought or mind (even though the fantasy visualization would not be perfect)? And you just continue to hold it and expect something to happen shortly?

What should eventually happen once you have held the image in your mind for a long enough time?  Should you eventually reach a state where you realize you can no longer feel your body (sleep paralysis) and know that you can project from this state, despite practicing this at the beginning of a night's sleep?

Do the hypnagogic images usually appear in your field of vision after you have entered Focus 10, and do they eventually fade out into blackness or do they form a dreamscape eventually?  If so, what would be a way to stop the progression of hypnagogic images in order to focus on the black void and leaving the body (as not to be preoccupied with the hypnagogic imagery)?

Is the state of sleep paralysis and loss of all physical sensations *ABSOLUTELY* required to induce the vibrational state, or does it work mainly because the loss of physical sensation focuses away from the physical somehow and initiates the natural exit reflex into the RTZ?