This definitely stikes a chord. Although I have yet to fully project, I can recall many occasions where physical exhaustion, when combined with an alert mind, has led to OBE type symptoms, e.g. astral sight, vibrations, noises, feeling hands on my body / around my neck, rising a few feet out of my body but then being snapped back into it.
However, trying to induce these symptoms deliberately isn't as simple as just wearing yourself out through exercise and then trying to keep alert !!
Hey Cainam
I can't comment too much on this, but to say, man I envy you being able to fall asleep at the computer. Ever since I started OBE's at 6 years old, it became increasingly hard for me to accept that sleep actually occurs. I started thinking, what is sleep? Why do we need to sleep? Obviously at some stage in the day your physical body gets exhausted & wants to shut down for some reason. But I could never work this out, as I never actually perceived myself as going to sleep after 6 years old, it was like my body just relaxed & another part of me continued so that I could continue doing things I was interested in.
Even over the last year since I've been taking sleeping tabs, I have been in this inbetween world, where I'm told by my girlfriend that she was sure I was asleep, but asked anyway "are you awake?" and I would reply immediately "yes", but at the same time I was getting transmissions from the astral,very confusing back then & I'm still curious as it has never stopped.
I often just lay down to rest & hope that sleep overtakes me, but now my girlfriend knows better my sleeping? habits & if she sees my lying down, even for hours & wants to talk she will just say "look you know you can't sleep, so stop pretending". I know that somehow I do, because I don't have black eyes or bags beneath them from lost sleep.
Fall asleep while doing something??!!!!!.............I wish!
Good journeys mate
Mobius
The mind awake, body asleep state feels like precisely that. Some people who got into this state without realising it have called it "sleep paralysis". Which I can fully understand because, if you didn't know any better, you would think your body had become completely paralysed due to the fact you cannot feel it or move it: yet the mind is as awake as it is when fully awake and alert on the Physical.
You bring up an excellent point regarding observation.
In trying to slow down what used to be my normal projection process, what I basically started to do was observe every step like I was a spectator just watching things happen. Jeff_M. made a point to this effect in a recent post to another thread. Doing this allows you to best record what is going on. Then, after a while, simply by recalling what it is like to feel so and so effect, brings on the actual effect.
Also, as my projection process started to happen more slowly, and with a better degree of control, I noticed I'd get these little blackouts; which were frustrating because, in the process of the blackout, I had made some kind of transition.
A common one would occur just beyond what I term the stray-energy stage. Suddenly I'd begin viewing the Astral. But when I'd think back afterwards, I'd realise it was not a smooth transition. So I taught myself to be more observant at this stage. I discovered that merely becoming more observant, had the effect of getting rid of the blackout. Now, the stage from stray-energy to remotely viewing the astral I can do in one smooth transition.
Another case where imagining the effect causes the effect to come about was sparked off by a converation with Jouni on another thread. We were talking a lot about mental spasms and what I term: travelling projection. I was thinking it through a few mornings ago about how I could best explain what they were like. I was thinking about them and imagining what the spasms are like when I feel them. Suddenly, I went from imagining to actually having.
The spontaneous nature of the effect startled me which brought me out of it. Though I couldn't reproduce them because of the feeling of excitement, I knew I'd hit on something. Being able to imagine the effect, in the correct way, actually causes the effect to come about.
That's where beginners are stumped.
A conscious-exit controlled obe beginner's prime difficulty is they cannot imagine what the effects of the various stages are *exactly* like. They can only imagine from the words people describe. And we all tend to interpret meanings of words slightly differently.
Yours,
Frank
Yes, us beginners are often stumped when we try and understand how your experiences actually feel !!!
But the fact that us beginners are making (slow) progress is a testament to the value of your descriptions.... Cainam, I will try and progress by recalling how I felt whenever I (think I have) come close to an OBE.
You bring up some very good points. I never thought too much about it, but thinking about it now when I have fallen asleep doing something it does feel like that. Frank brought up that when you think about the sensations they can happen. This makes a lot of sense when you think about energy work. You think about where you want the energy to move and it happens, you feel it. So it seem to me to only make sense that if you think about how it feels to project then you should start to feel the sensations as well. This could be great for beginners who do not know what it feels like to project. By studying the sensations when they fall asleep they should be able to learn how it feels to project. I was told something to do that would help with projecting and I think this would be a good place to mention it. At night, or when you are taking a nap, do not go right to sleep. Instead try to keep your mind awake and study what is happening as you let your body go to sleep. Pay attention to all the sensations of your body. If you are tired you will probably not be able to keep your mind awake very long, especially if you do not have your concentration built up. But time is not the important part. Paying attention to what is happening is. Learn the sensations. I have done this for awhile and at times during the night I will wake up outside my body. Usually by the time I realize I am out I have joined back with my physical body. But again the important part is studying the sensations.
Hey Frank,
Sudden realization is a fun thing!
clandestino,
I was not thinking of doing it intentionally but rather using the times when you do get that way as instructional video and paying attention to how you feel and what is going on. Then once you have a feel for the sensation you can as Frank said use you imagination and recall the feeling to help bring them about.
I also posted this for those who, like me, thought they had not expience the mind awake/body asleep feeling when they most likely have.
For me it was one of those, "Hey I know what this is!" stages. Followed very closly by, "I guess I am not as far off as I thought!"
Like I said. Sudden realization can be fun.
David Rogalski
cainam_nazier@hotmail.com
I am he who walks in the light but is masked by the shadows.
I came apon an interesting thing the other day, and this may help some of us who still seek either a first or control over the OBE process. I know for many people the ability to produce an effect with out knowing what it feels like can be difficult at the very least. And it is difficult for some one else to describe what you should feel because every one feels things slightly different. But this little tid-bit should help because since I feel a vast majority of people have felt this and may be able to recall how it felt to them.
The mind awake/body asleep question that I have been seeing come up so many times as of late. How do you know your there? What does it feel like? And the multitude of other questions surrounding it.
Yesterday, like I have done so many times before, I fell asleep in front of my computer while trying to do something. However in looking at it again shortly after I realized that there was more to it. The brief views one gets when wandering in and out of asleep were incorrect for the position I was in. The view was from sitting up-right in the chair and when I decided to get up I was slumped over to the side. I recall being fully aware but unable to keep my vision. Things also did not look exactly correct either, the wrong general color. This has happened a few times over the last couple of months but I seem to be more aware of what is going on each time.
So then, how does this help? Think for a little bit....How many times have you fallen asleep in sucha maner? At times when you are trying to do some thing but just can't seem to stay awake. Can you remember what it felt like? I believe that this is the feeling of the mind awake/body asleep that most try to achieve. I also believe that almost every one at some point in time has fallen asleep while trying to do something. It is normally some thing people try to avoid and thus put most of what happened of to the side and don't think about it. Howeer I suggest that the next time it happens that you take a good look at the situation. How you feel, what you were looking at, the position you were in, the time it was, and so on. These things may help you recall the sensation and feeling of the event so that you can become more aware and acustom to the feeling.
In knowing what it feels like you can get a better understanding of it and better your chances of reproducing it. Also in looking at these little snipets of the event you may be able to at the very least increase you chances through timing. That being recognising the for warning signs your body gives you and taking advantage of them to increase the chances of a controlled, concious, or intended OBE.
ANy comments?
David Rogalski
cainam_nazier@hotmail.com
I am he who walks in the light but is masked by the shadows.