RElaxation, the first step

[19]

Hello, Seth817

The best way that I get into a relaxed state is by going running early in the morning.

Try waking up in 3am for 5 days and go running, its very hard to do because your not used to it, but make it a habit and you will find yourself becoming very tired around 5pm, perfect time to project when the enviornment is cool, I also recommend sleeping on a hammock on your back, because it will get you very relaxed.

-19

[Astral-Jas]

Wow, sounds like a good idea.

I don't know if I can do it lmao, I can be very lazy.

[astralspinner]

Eh... before you try that, you might want to read the bit in Astral Dynamics about using tiredness to overcome the need for physical relaxation - ie, don't. Tiredness can over-ride the need to be relaxed, and so puts you into a trance while you're still too physically tense to project.

Speaking for myself, I've never found the tense-relax method to induce even the slightest relaxation. However, paying attention to each part of your body, one by one (as described in the NEW section), does an excellent job of relaxing you - the slight tingle you'll feel after a short period of focussing on a limb is due to the increased blood/energy flow as your muscle relaxes. When you get that feeling, you've sucessfully relaxed that part of your body.

When you then enter a light trance (that gentle wave of heaviness), doing the same "mental scan" of your body can find and release even more tension.

I can relax my body to the point it's ready to fall asleep in under ten minutes, just by concentrating on it bit-by-bit.

Now I just have to improve my concentration enough to stop my mind following my body into sleep...

[seth817]

Well it's good to know that I am not the only one who the tensing and relaxing method doesn't work for. If the idea behind the tensing method is to fatigue each muscle then maybe I can get the same effect by excersizing each muscle until it is fatigued, like with weights or something.

[Seven]

astralspinner:

That's what I use to get into a relaxed state.  I found that normal relaxation methods didn't work, but using NEW to focus energy to the muscles actually had the effect of relaxing them at the same time.  Also, I have problems focusing my attention on one thing without my mind wandering, so NEW worked very well for that too, as I was able to focus completely on the energy work.

The problems I've had with it are:
a) sometimes I'm so relaxed I fall asleep,
b) other times, because I'm focused on the body, my consciousness remains in the body and misses the projection

I've only been successful very briefly once, and might not have remembered it had I not gone back to body so quickly.  The other few times were from LDs and they were over even sooner!

Practice makes perfect, I guess [|)]

[andonitxo]

Hi,
I hadn't had any success with that muscle tension-relaxation technique till I found the dynamic relaxation exercise.
There're some other yoga tips:
-Just lie down and see your thoughts passing from your head. Don't judge, don't follow them, just watch them as if you were watching clouds.
-Change your breath rhythm. Decelerate it. Faster and more nervous, slower and more relaxed.
-Cross your eyes and stare at your nose's tip. This is called tratakam (one of them). There's also another one in which you stare at your eyebrow. This makes the job of a switch and relax the mind.
-Assume you can relax. Assume confidence in relaxation.
-Remember some situation in which you use to be relaxed. Recreate it in your mind and feel the feelings that will start to pop up. Remember them all and link with your actual exercise.
-Concentrate first on the neck and upper-back area. Also head, face an so on... which use to have the most tension level.
-Don't order mentally, that creates tension. Pronounce sentences as: "I'm inevitably relaxing, my neck is relaxing,..." and the-like.
-There's a kind of hypnotic technique in which you involve, first, all your senses with your environment. "I'm lied down on my back, I'm hearing the noises of my family, I'm smelling my grandma's bake,..." and so on, repeating only sentences that are real and which you're experiencing just in that momment. After some cycles start to introduce your "orders" in between the real ones: "I'm lied down, I'm relaxing more and more,I'm smelling,...I'm more and more relaxed,...".

Hope this can help.

[seth817]

Hi, I have been trying to do the progressive muscle relaxation where you tense and relax every muscle but havn't had any luck with it. I know that deep relaxation is the first step to being able to AP so I would really like to be able to figure out how to do it proporly. I was wondering if any one else has tried the progressive muscle relaxation and had any luck with it? I could use some pointers.[]