Really having difficulty focusing, please help!

[jc43]

I've been very interested in astral projection lately and I attempted it for the first time a couple weeks ago. I heard some people get it on the first try, some take years, but that a typical time frame is a couple months. On my first try, I think I atually got surprisingly close! I relaxed more than I ever have before and tried the "rope method" and felt some vibrations after a while. I've still only tried the rope method every night since then, but have never gotten as far as that first night...In fact, I think I'm getting worse and worse at concentrating, and I don't really know why! I can't really silence my mind, I'll be trying to focus on the rope-climbing but something will creep in my head and sort of take priority. I guess its because I've always been a deep thinker, when I had first heard of spiritual people in cultures such as ancient India trying to silence the mind my response was "why would anyone wanna do that?" So my mind is just always going and I'm always thinking about philosophy, music, art, my day, my friends, my band, girls (lol I am a teenager yaknow...), politics, religion, my family, and whatever else pops into my head! If anyone has any advice for SHUTTING MYSELF UP I'd greatly appreciate it!! If I can't fix this problem I'm worried I'll be trying this for years and never accomplish it!

[AstralMat]

Hi JC45,

I am also having some difficulties to focus and keep my surface thought away. Recently I tried the method of Robert Monroe that he described in his Hemi Sync audio CDs: the energy box. The principle is simple, visualize quickly a heavy box (like the metal box in the old time) open it and put every thought that you have in mind or that could popup during the exercise inside the box and seal it. To seal it I imagine the metal entering in fusion so it can not escape.
I thought this method won't work on me but it actually did the job surprisingly, the thoughts never appear during my exercises. And when I don't use it so many ideas popup.

I hope this will work on you.

[jc43]

Hi JC45,

I am also having some difficulties to focus and keep my surface thought away. Recently I tried the method of Robert Monroe that he described in his Hemi Sync audio CDs: the energy box. The principle is simple, visualize quickly a heavy box (like the metal box in the old time) open it and put every thought that you have in mind or that could popup during the exercise inside the box and seal it. To seal it I imagine the metal entering in fusion so it can not escape.
I thought this method won't work on me but it actually did the job surprisingly, the thoughts never appear during my exercises. And when I don't use it so many ideas popup.

I hope this will work on you.

Thanks! I'll try this tonight and let you know if it helped at all.

[Lionheart]

 Truthfully you don't need to shut those thoughts up. There are a number of times I have been going through things in my mind and the next thing I know I am in the Astral. When you are focused on anything besides the physical you will phase. If your mind is full of thoughts, let them consume you so much that you let go of all physical awareness. You will all of a sudden start seeing hypnogog imagery or experiencing vibrations, hearing Astral sounds etc., then just go with the feeling. Sometimes we spend so much time trying to quiet the mind that we get frustrated. Being frustrated is counterproductive for projection.
Good Luck  

[jc43]

Truthfully you don't need to shut those thoughts up. There are a number of times I have been going through things in my mind and the next thing I know I am in the Astral. When you are focused on anything besides the physical you will phase. If your mind is full of thoughts, let them consume you so much that you let go of all physical awareness. You will all of a sudden start seeing hypnogog imagery or experiencing vibrations, hearing Astral sounds etc., the just go with the feeling. Sometimes we spend so much time trying to quiet the mind that we get frustrated. Being frustrated is counterproductive for projection.
Good Luck 

Wow, this an interesting concept...I guess I'll give this idea a try and see if it helps

[ArmyOfOne1911]

Lionheart. You may have just given me the answer I been looking for... Ever since I started to attempt astral projection I always had the thoughts consume me. I got very close everytime. After reading on silencing the mind I find myself get super frustrated because it's hard for me too. I am gonna have all my thoughts consume me tonight, and just have the intent to astral project. I will see what happens.

[kurtykurt42]

Have you tried listening to music? Any Non-vocal trance music seems to work best for me.

[jc43]

Last night I tried for a couple hours at least before falling asleep, then woke up a few time and tried again each time. This moning when I woke up I spent another couple hours trying to project. Each try involved the "rope method" but some were less focused on the actual rope than others. The first thing I tied was the suggestion of putting my thoughts into the little metal box...I did find myself concentrating more on the rope an on getting out of my body, but I don't think I got very far. I felt my body starting to fall asleep and my mind staying awake, but couldn't keep that going very long before losing focus and snappin out of it. Then for the next hou or so I tried letting my thoughts run wild, which I think got me farther. The only problem was that every 10 minutes or so a thought would ceep in that I felt I needed to elaborate on, and I'd lose focus and just stay on that train of thought until I frgot I was even trying to project. Eventually I fell asleep. I don't remember my dreams last night, but I sort of remember having the slight suspicion that I might be dreaming...But I wasn't fully aware. I feel like if I had tried jumping in my dream to prove to myself whether or not I was awake, I would've began to fly and realized I was dreaming, and it would become a lucid dream. Unfortunately I wasn't conscious enough to think of trying that...I woke up a few times duing the night and continued the rope method combined with letting my thoughts go free, and I didn't have the same trouble with focusing as I did befoe, but I would get frustrated at the time it was taking to see results, and obviously I kept falling asleep. This morning I tried again for a few hours and I just couldn't keep going, eventually I had to stop because it was just taking so long. Does it always take hous to get out, even for experienced astral travelers?

I'll try some music tonight, but the problem I see with that is that I'm a musician, and I might spend all night trying to analyze what I'm hearing.

[Lionheart]

 I have said this in many posts before and I'll say it here again. Stop trying to project from your bed, you train yourself your entire life that bed is for sleeping. Try projecting from a comfortable chair and you will have better results.

[jc43]

I have said this in many posts before and I'll say it here again. Stop trying to project from your bed, you train yourself your entire life that bed is for sleeping. Try projecting from a comfortable chair and you will have results.

really? i never thought about that. thanks!

[P5ynergy]

@lionheart .

This info is very helpful indeed. I almost forgot the 1st time i astral projected my mind had tons of thoughts . But since then failure . And this failure ive tried to combat with silencing the mind which is too hard and gers me fustrated whivh leads me to try harder but simply get more fuatrated.

Also my gf has learnt a new talent - snoring. Sigh...

[Stookie_]

It's hard to imagine having much success if you're just thinking about random things. The closest thing I do to that (meaning no central focus or exercise) is "noticing", which is passively observing what rises to my awareness without attributing any thoughts or feelings to it. I've had much success with this, but it's a method of staying focused yet passive.