The Interest and A Little Problem...:)

[Messenger I]

Hi all. Well, I must say I am fairly new to astral projecting and the reason why I began to start was because a couple of nights ago I was asleep, but I suddenly was going back into my body, although I didn't. It was almost as if I knew that every time I get pulled back into my body, that I usually JUMP and get my heart rate up again. So, this time I was able to actually control it, and I smoothly put myself back into my body and I woke up. This is what interested me.

Now for my problem, and I apologize if everything is long...
PROBLEM:Everytime I attempt to lay down or close my eyes in different positions, I tend to go to sleep. What I can't completely understand is how can one pay close attention to oneself while putting the body to sleep?
Maybe I'm missing something; Can someone help me understand?

Thank you.

[nappyboy76]

right before you fall asleep do you ever hear noises you cant explain? like cracks and voices you know arent happening in the physical world? or seeing through closed eyelids? try to pay more attention to those and program your mind to notice those and become more aware when those start to happen. that is usually the stuff that happens right before you can project. after practicing that for a while you will automatically induce mind awake/body asleep right before you would normally fall asleep. when you notice these thigns again try to focus on them without completely waking yourself up. you should start feeling floating sensations and in a few moments you are able to project.

this works for me but everyone is different so i hope this helps a little bit

-Joshua

[MisterJingo]

Hey Messenger I,
It's all about passive awareness, and it's a skill that can take a lot of practice to accomplish. While the goal is to enter a mind awake/body asleep state, one shouldn't just relax into the sleep process. The mind should be kept attentive and clear, simply passively observing whatever hypnogogics the border of sleep throws up. As you are aware, this is a difficult skill as the mind is used to falling into unconsciousness during the 'going to sleep' process.
A very good technique to getting close to the border of sleep is very similar to a tactile body meditation. Simply observing parts of the body from the feet up, and if the mind wanders, simply bring it back to the body part you were last one. If thoughts enter the mind, let them go (don't force) and return your awareness to the body part. I usually spend 10 natural breaths (not forced in any way) on each body section: feet to hips. Stomach/diaphragm.  Chest/sides/ back. Hands, arms shoulders. Neck. Face and head. You  should simply observe any sensation in the area where you awareness is. Feel anything against your skin, inside your skin/flesh, muscle. If you are focusing on your chest/stomach/through, feel the changing sensation of the air going into your lungs, your stomach raising, falling etc.
I usually repeat this twice and then observe the darkness. At this point I am deep into the hypnogogic stage and usually feel body dissociation in the form of merging or distortion (signalling increasing trance).
As you get more proficient at this, visualisations can be added too. I usually utilise a count up to 10, carrying me into focus 10 (a trigger from years of hemi-sync use), each number is connected to a body part which I tell to "relax, sleep, let go" while utilising a body visualisation. This visualisation takes the form of energy breathing before I start this technique, where I fill my body with a brilliant white energy, and with each count up, once I have told that body part to sleep, I "turn it off" and make it go black, removing all awareness from it.
This is usually enough to get me into the mind awake/body asleep state – although even now, on occasion i find myself slip totally into hypnogogic scenarios and fall into sleep.
Something I have found invaluable is reinforcing OBE practice with regular *proper* meditation practice. If you do this, try not to use your meditation technique during obe practice, as if you regularly fall asleep, your mind will associate the technique with sleep, and you will find this occurring during meditation practice.

[Messenger I]

Thanks guys, I think you've all answered my question, and I'm going to try again. I think with all the information you all provided, I might just actually do it this time!


Thanks again!

[dRealM]

wow.. the inital question was good.. i seem to have similar issues and the responses where excelent.  I plan on giving your suggestions a whirl thx

[Zarklon]

I have the same problem of falling asleep to the hypnagogic imagery.. I can be passively aware of all the stuff and I generally notice my imagery starting to appear only 10 minutes or so after laying my head on the pillow.  My problem is , I always fall asleep to it no matter how hard I try to keep myself awake.  I have left my body many times but each of those times I usually noticed sleep paralysis kick in .. and most of those times I was sitting upright in a hard school desk in a noisy room.. I can't seem to do it quietly in a comfortable bed.. I must need something to pay attention to and music doesnt do it .. This is just what I'm struggling with =/ 

Good luck!

[kiwibonga]

The single most important exercise is what Robert Peterson refers to as Hypnogogic play, Robert Monroe's arm technique, Edison's "rock drop."

Using any method that you like, try to walk the fine line between awake and asleep until you are able to hold onto it and stay there. The one way to do this is to fall asleep and wake up many times in quick succession, try 10 or 20 times a night for 2 weeks.

There's a variety of ways you can do this... Keep your forearm up as you fall asleep, when you doze off, it'll fall, calling you back into alertness. Listen to a tape that alternates between talking and small (20 second) periods of silence, making sure the talking parts are loud enough to wake you up. Set alarms that'll prevent you from sleeping for more than a few minutes at a time.

It'll tire you out, and that's not always compatible with a modern lifestyle, but you won't ever get anything more systematic... Your dreams will be more vivid, you'll have visions, lucid dreams, and spontaneous OBEs out the wazoo...

[Zarklon]

Thats a good idea kiwibonga..  There was a period recently where I had alarms set for about 20 minutes after I would put my head down to the pillow and it would wake me up many times throughout the night.. I had up to 2 OBEs one night.. very
vivid OBEs that were completely controllable but the environment kept changing rapidly and randomly on me so I woke up purposefully.  I know that technique is one that would most likely produce random OBEs and definately help you become aware of , play with , and proceed from the hypnagogic state. 

Very good point and I can back it up with first hand experiences.  Thanks for bringing up that topic in the thread.