Reality Checks in AP

[LucidTraveler]

When I read some of these threads, there is one thing in particularl that makes me curious: the acceptance of the idea that one can go from a LD into AP.

We could be arguing over semantics... APing, in my opinion, is worlds apart from LDing. I think of AP as an OBE that emerges from a WILD-like technique. Regardless how you define it, to my understanding, the traditional means of achieving AP is through being conscious while entering the "dream world". Becoming lucid in a dream and then trying to transport yourself to bed, of course while still in a dream state, to "AP" just isn't the same.

Whereas LDing is relatively easy for me, APing is difficult. I am trying to achieve AP through what I believe to be the genuine way (that is, not through going directly from a LD to AP. Waking up from a LD to perform AP, on the hand, is fine.)

The key for LDing, in my experience, is simple: reality checks. The more frequent the better. This isn't hard or painful to do. Theoretically, if you perform a reality check every minute in your waking life, you should definitely be able to do it in your dream life. The NovaDreamer also provides a reality check. How effective is it though? Does anyone here have one and can share their experiences?

My question is what "reality checks" can you use to become conscious while falling asleep? There has to be some. Sleeping with the hand up has been one suggestion that I received earlier, but that might not be practical for stomach sleepers like myself...

I have one idea... listen to a sound track that says "mind awake" every 20 minutes or slow. Kind of like the Nova Dreamer, but only for AP. Hopefully, the track can say "mind awake" when you are falling asleep.

So, what reality checks do you think are out there for people who want to achieve AP? Evidence that it is effective?

[Xanth]

You're right, relatively speaking, we're talking semantics.

All of the fancy terms aside, I view *ANY* experience that doesn't consciously happen within this physical reality a "non-physical" experience.
This includes "dreams", "lucid dreams" and "obe/astral projections". 

With that said... Reality Checks are a GREAT way to help yourself to have more lucid dreams (or as I call them "non-physical lucid awareness experiences"). 
There are a few other ways in which you can help yourself to have lucid awareness experiences more often too: http://unlimitedboundaries.ca/2010/09/11/how-to-have-lucid-dreams-by-summerlander/

I don't think there are "more reliable" reality checks.  It's entirely individual.  You simply need to find that which works best for you.
Common ones seem to be when you look at your hands... or your watch to tell the time.  The point is to pick something that you normally find yourself doing during a dream... and to find that out, you need to keep a Dream Journal! 

And then, if you so choose, the method that I use to increase my awareness to a "non-physical astral awareness experience" is by following the instructions here:  http://unlimitedboundaries.ca/2010/09/01/how-i-convert-a-lucid-dream-into-an-astral-projection/

[Under_the_Midnight_Sun]

Reality checks can be extremely beneficial to experienced and beginner projectors alike. But unfortunately the best check cannot give 100% proof (while out of body). Like Xanth said many people check their watches, twice, because numbers seem to be a figment of imagination OOB. On frequent occasions the numbers change between the first and second view of the time. BUT, there i have had experiences where the numbers remain the same, although usually closer to the RTZ and on digital clocks. My method is jumping up to touch the ceiling, which i cannot touch in the normal physical dimension. This technique rarely fails because it has a high potential to not be disturbed by the subconscious mind. Everyone has their own method, it's what works for you.

[Jarrod]

I have a few different quick reality checks I do whenever I remember to wonder if I'm dreaming: Hold my nose and try to breath in.  I generally can if I'm dreaming.  Close my eyes and if I can still see then I'm dreaming.  Try to levitate.  Dead giveaway, haha.  and a very personal one I use is to check to make sure both of my legs are the same length.  Very often in dreams I find that my right leg is slightly shorter than my left leg for some reason.  I think the success of reality checks depends on a genuine enquiry though.  If you expect to not be dreaming and your mind isn't actually currious and open to the posibility that you might be dreaming then the test will tell you you're awake even if you're not because that's what you expect.  I've had that happen a few times.  As far as reality checks designed specifically to bring you back to awareness as you're falling asleep...I don't know.  I, like Xanth, tend to think that dreams and OOBEs the the same thing experienced with different levels of awareness.  I've tried to use the phasing technique to keep myself aware as I fall asleep but it hasn't worked for me yet.  Usually I just end up falling asleep.  I managed to stay conscious a few times and enter a pretty deep mental state but nothing happens, a few energy sensations and I can't will myself away from my body or disassociate from it enough to actually see things in the blackness to step into, and I don't have the patience to lay there all night like that. Haha 

[LucidTraveler]

Note to the above posters, again, I am not talking about doing "reality checks" during LDing, I am talking about doing reality checks during AP. That is, I am referring to how you can alert your consciousness during the time that you are falling asleep. I don't like to equate LDing with AP and OBE.

In both AP and LD, the key is to gain conscious of the state that you are in: falling asleep and dreaming, respectively.

The reality checks that people are referring to have to do with reality checks during dreams.

So, what "reality checks" do you perform to become alert during AP (or, in other words, the time that you are falling asleep)?

[personalreality]

One simple group of AP "reality checks" would be to tap your fingers on the bed as you're falling asleep at night or put your arms up perpendicular to the bed with your elbows bent at 90 degrees. 

The idea is that as you drift off the sleep and lose consciousness momentarily, you will stop tapping your fingers or your arms will fall, which should wake you up.  Then you start again.  This helps you learn to maintain awareness in the "borderland" state between awake and asleep so that you can in turn maintain that thread as your body goes to sleep.

[Simo]

Well I don't get it if I do a reality check then I will be aware already,right?If I don't suspect anything why would I make the check?

[Xanth]

Well I don't get it if I do a reality check then I will be aware already,right?If I don't suspect anything why would I make the check?

That's why you program yourself during your physical reality time to do a reality check every so often.
That way, you'll automatically do it while you're in the non-physical... because it's just habit to do so at that point.

Now... you if you half-butt your check, you won't realize you're in the non-physical.  When you're programming yourself, you *REALLY* have to stop and ask yourself if you're dreaming.  Ask questions to yourself like, "How did I get to where I am?" and "Where am I going?" and "What am I doing here?".

If you really are in the non-physical when you do your check... it should be blatantly obvious that you're there.

[personalreality]

calling the tapping and arms up a reality check isn't really appropriate because they aren't.  but they are the closest equivalent for what the OP was asking.

just wanted to clarify

[Simo]

Ask questions to yourself like, "How did I get to where I am?"

Yeah this is the best one I think I  always see that I have teleported who knows how hundred miles from home,but mostly I question this right before waking up

[LucidTraveler]

These are great replies. I use the term "reality checks" (in quotes) to refer to something that is analogous to typical reality checks during LDing.

personalreality provides 2 great "reality checks" for AP (I put "reality checks" in quotes, because it isn't exactly a reality check as the poster notes).

But, anyway, I have one additional "reality check" to perform during AP... and this one worked for me today during afternoon. I got about 4.5 hours of sleep from 4:00AM - 8:30AM. Woke up and then fell back asleep at around 11:30AM. The point was that I was tired and kind of relaxed. I downloaded some music onto my iPod from here http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bianural+beats+astral+projection&aq=f (see the Sonic Dream and Bianural Beat ASTRAL PROJECTION).

Went to bed at 11:30AM on a very comfortable bed--double memory foam while listening to both songs loop continuously through my iPod. I was very relaxed from this. As a matter of biology, the sound frequencies will lower your brain waves to that of dreaming... but your mind is awake. Drift off into sleep while the music is still playing. There are some louder noises thankfully that might wake you up lightly from your deep trance to get you conscious. It will happen multiple times pulling you out of deep trance into an ever so slight state of awareness. This kept happening over and over again to me until eventually I entered the unmistakable vibrational state. First time, I was petrified for some reason or another (more of an irrational fear than anything else) and slipped back into a controllable vibrational state. Then the vibrations intensified again and it made me relaxed to manipulate them around my body. Eventually, I imagined my astral body pushing outwards (note: the music is still playing) and walla, I was free. The exit was easy once I triumphed over fear.

But the interesting thing is that my OBE experience really didn't feel as "spiritual"--in the loose sense of the word--as I thought it was going to. It felt more like a dream and indeed it segued quickly into a non-lucid dream after about 45 sec. or so. But the vibrational state was so unique that I have to say that this was AP into a WILD.

So, in short, my technique is to listen to bianural beats as you fall asleep (with headphones--there is a science behind it) and have some of the noise gently wake you up at moments. Sleep in a comfortable bed. Eventually your mind will be turned on while you are in the vibrational state. (I lastly hypothesize that multiple attempts will further engrain a habit that eventually doesn't require the music to gain consciousness, because of Circadian rhythms and local adaptation).

[urshebear]

Havent yet read this whole thread so please excuse me if I am repeating what someone else has said.

LD to OBE is definatly possible for me
I cant LD for very long because I just become so aware that I wake up in sleep paralysis (mind awake, body asleep) from there I AP
But there has been one occasion that I realised I was dreaming and became so aware that I woke up like I usually do but I woke up in a room and bed that wasnt mine. so LD to OBE without sleep paralysis in between

[LucidTraveler]

urshebear, that is a very interesting idea... one I was giving thought to earlier.

If you I can be in sleep paralysis when I wake up from LDing, I can definitely AP from there. But how likely is it that you would find yourself in sleep paralysis when you woke up from LDing?

[urshebear]

I don't know how common it is, maybe it's just me but I actually find it harder to LD then AP. I can LD but it only lasts maybe a minute and then I just wake up in sleep paralysis...couldn't tell you how or why though.