body asleep/mind awake, but moving through molasses

[seagrif]

I'm just starting to get into my out-of-body practice again after many years, and I have a question.  Sometimes when I got to the stage of body asleep/mind awake and try to separate from my body, I would feel like it was very difficult to move.  I had to make a supreme effort, and even then would feel like I was moving through molasses, and I wouldn't get very far from my body.  This was many years ago, but because of this and some other intense experiences I didn't know how to handle, I stopped trying for oobe's.  This was in the days when there was no convenient internet forums for asking questions, and the books that were available didn't seem to address some of the stuff I was encountering.  Does anyone have any experience with this and advice on how to deal with it?
Thanks,
Sean

[CFTraveler]

I'm just starting to get into my out-of-body practice again after many years, and I have a question.  Sometimes when I got to the stage of body asleep/mind awake and try to separate from my body, I would feel like it was very difficult to move.  I had to make a supreme effort, and even then would feel like I was moving through molasses, and I wouldn't get very far from my body.  This was many years ago, but because of this and some other intense experiences I didn't know how to handle, I stopped trying for oobe's.  This was in the days when there was no convenient internet forums for asking questions, and the books that were available didn't seem to address some of the stuff I was encountering.  Does anyone have any experience with this and advice on how to deal with it?
Thanks,
Sean

Hi Sean.
What you experienced is not unheard of, and can be caused by many things- One, when you get out of your body there is a natural 'magnetic pull' if it is an etheric projection, but once you get far enough (I think about three feet should do it, but experiences vary, if you know what I mean) then you should be ok.
If you get out and find yourself in the dark, the mistake people make is to think they need to see to get away, while they can just use their 'feel' to get away from their bodies.  The reason I mention it is because this often allows them to dawdle and get pulled back in.
So if you have to 'crawl blind', get away as much as you can and at some point it'll 'let go' and you can resume normal locomotion (that is, flying).
Now, a few more things can be causing this-
Lack of energy- get enough sleep, eat healthy and nourishing meals (but not before practice), and practice energy work.  This will help with 'takeoff'.
Sometimes painkillers have this effect on a projection- I think this is because it causes perceptual changes and possibly dual awareness, and this can interfere with the projection at least at first.
That's all I can think of, I'm sure someone will have more ideas.

[seagrif]

Thanks for the response CFTraveler.  The problem is, even getting three feet away seems almost impossible.  Just to move my arms or legs a bit feels like an immense struggle.  I've thought that maybe I needed more energy, a higher vibrational level, etc to take off....maybe I was trying to separate too soon.  I just read Xanth's and Frank Kepple's phasing primers, and now I have a very different view of the whole phenomena.  Maybe the problem is looking at the astral body or the astral experience too physically?  Too much of an exterior focus rather than an interior one.  Movement through an exterior environment rather than operating from the idea of all space being here and now, etc. 

[CFTraveler]

Well, even though some may disagree with me, I think it's a matter of natural ability and possibly a physical thing- phasing is primarily an activity that is best suited for visual people and people who have been projecting so long that they don't have any exit symptoms or people who have very reduced exit symptoms. 
The experiences of phasing and OBE to the etheric are very different, because they are part of the 'reality construct' that seems inborn in us when we incarnate, regardless of what the 'big picture' really is.
Even though natural phasers consider phasing to be easier, those who are tactile (like me) take longer to learn this method, and I only use it when there is a reason not to get too immersed in the environment, which does arise from time to time.
Being primarily tactile, I find it easier to have a full-blown OBE than to phase, unless I'm just looking for a quick-peek or have time constraints.

[Under_the_Midnight_Sun]

Thanks for the response CFTraveler.  The problem is, even getting three feet away seems almost impossible.  Just to move my arms or legs a bit feels like an immense struggle.  I've thought that maybe I needed more energy, a higher vibrational level, etc to take off....maybe I was trying to separate too soon.  I just read Xanth's and Frank Kepple's phasing primers, and now I have a very different view of the whole phenomena.  Maybe the problem is looking at the astral body or the astral experience too physically?  Too much of an exterior focus rather than an interior one.  Movement through an exterior environment rather than operating from the idea of all space being here and now, etc. 

hi seagrif,
this often happens to me when I exit the physical body while it is still awake. It seems that due to the mind-split phenomena too large a portion of consciousness is left in the physical body, and not enough follows with the astral side. I find that simply relaxing (oob) helps the legs gain some movement and flexibility.