WOW Tom! I greatly appreciate your patience to write down your experiences and conclusions. I haven't read it yet but it looks like a very serious article. Thanks again. Good luck to F12!
>>> upstream
Thank you Major Tom for your time and patience in preparing this excellent essay. I have made it a "sticky" topic as you can see. Your detailed description of Monroe's focus levels, Focus 10, and its attendant experiences, is one of the best and most comprehensive, that I've read thus far. [^]
Very best,
Nick
Hi Major Tom,
That`s by far the best explanation of Focus 10 I `ve ever read.I listen to Hemi-Synch on a daily basis and my experience agrees with what you describe.I particularly like your statement"the less you do,the easier you will go places." It took me a few months to figure that out for myself, and is an excellent piece of advice.
Thanks for taking the time and putting in the effort to produce a journal quaility paper!
Happy Trails
Greetings Major Tom,
Thank you very much indeed for your excellent essay on Focus 10.
I have added this to the Astral Pulse article library where it can be viewed here:
http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/portal_articles.asp?catid=3&Title=Focus%2010:%20Mind%20awake/body%20asleep&LinkID=150&expand=true&area=3
We will leave this topic sticky in this forum for as long as people respond to it, and then we will move it to the Permanant Astral Topics forum.
Thanks again.
With best regards,
Adrian.
Thanks for the essay MT!
It is good to highlight that the mind awake/body asleep thing is more about becoming so focused on the mind that you forget about your body completely.
I think a lot of people get hung up on this stage, I know I still do quite often; however i am luckier in that I often wake up in the night in just the right frame of mind, so this is easier; the downside is that my awareness is often lower as a result of waking up from sleep so i have less control of my faculties!
Regards,
Douglas
Wow! Thanks Major Tom, this has helped me a lot. Now I know I'm on the right track. Although I don't listen to brainwave generators I now know I am able to reach Focus 10 consistently; the problem is "switching off" from left brain activity. The thoughts keep coming and trying to stop them is no good as this is also thinking! I have yet to learn to "go with the flow" and let go, which is not easy.
quote:
Focus 10 is where you have retreated from the physical about 85 to 90%. You still have an awareness that somewhere "back there" is a physical body. You are aware that you have one, but aren't really interested in it, and receiving next to no input from its physical senses. Your mind is awake and alert, but your focal point of consciousness is contained in what feels like a black 2-dimensional compartment somewhere about the center of your head
-Frank, The Astral pulse
I have read a few of Frank's posts from the archives and was interested to see you also included this quote. I have found when I focus on this spot in my head it produces a sensation both physical and non-physical; it produces a kind of joyous sensation, I can feel my physical awareness diminishing, my entire body relaxing, and from this state have seen the snapshots you describe, as well as images (or videos/DVDs) of floating around my room with complete clarity, but as soon as I realize what's happening (that left brain thingy again!) I'm back to being aware of lying in bed. It is becoming easier to passively watch these the more I practice and their duration is becoming longer.
quote:
"An auditory perception may manifest as verbal messages, voices, or impressions of voices. It may also occur as sounds such as static, buzzing, pops and clicks, tones, or even music. These perception have a delicacy, a quality difficult to convey in physical, waking consciousness."
These get me every time! I used to get them as a child and was able to listen to them passively for ages. I occasionally get them now, but every time they snap my awareness back and my attention is firmly back in the physical.
Your article has given me renewed faith. It is only human to want to run before you can walk, but you are right; practice is the key. Practice to the stage where you can get these sensations so consistently you become bored with them. I have a feeling this is the way your higher self protects you, making sure you are ready to cope before allowing you to take the next step. In this respect your avatar is really apt - The Fool's higher self prevents him from taking the leap over the cliff until he is fully equipped for the challenge.
Many thanks [:)]
Major Tom,
I would NEVER call you a fool [:)] Your posts have been very wise and informative, thought-provoking and well-written. Some of it goes a little over my head but I get the general gist of it. But I know you know what I meant [;)]
thanks alot for that last post major tom! i know ive been there before but i was trying to astral project and when that happend i thought it was working lol. i got so excited i went straigt back to
C-1. but now i'm wondering, if i got too focus 12 while trying a standard obe, um whats the difference? and how much farther would i have to go before i did leave my body?
oops sorry i just read the above post explaining the difference between OBE and astral phasing. nevermind [xx(]
Major Tom
The Focus 10 article was fantastic and just what I was looking for.
Thank you.
You are a gentleman and a scholar [;)]
Sarah
Major Tom
A question on Focus 10. With regard to being in your head (rather than focussing on the body) and the visual aspect, when you see the swirly clouds behind your eyes, should you be concentrating on them or looking at them fuzzily.
By this I mean if you look at a page in a book and focus on the words, they are clear. However, you can also look at a page in a book and the words start sliding around, because you aren't focussing properly.
Which vision should you be using? I found that using the clear vision, I am still focussing on my body (albeit my eyes), but if I use the fuzzy vision, my mind tends to drift and I end up not even looking.
Oh, and one more question! Whilst detaching myself from my physical body and placing 'me' in my head by going "inwards", I'm still aware of my head! Could you describe the going inwards part in more detail - it's the only bit I haven't fully got yet.
Your advice is appreciated. [:)]
Sarah
Thank you Major Tom - you've been very helpful.
Sarah
Thank you so much MajorTom for taking so much time for describing so well the F10 state. It's the first time I see such a clear description of the process.
Anyway, I still have one question that has never been answered : apart from relaxing, what do you do when you are trying to reach the Focus 10 level ? I mean if you just wait for things to happen you fall asleep. So, do we have to concentrate to a specific part of the body, the third eye...
I know this question must sound stupid but to me, this is really not obvious as just think "I am aware" is risky as you can fall asleep quickly.
Thank you for your answer.
Faxman.
Very interesting, as usual ;-)
My problem is : I can have a (slight) chance to reach the F10 level if I am a little bit sleepy BUT, then I usually fall asleep (even after a 6 hours night or at the end of the day).
If I do my exercices when I am fully awake, then it is almost impossible to reach the focus 10. Big dellema here.
I have reached the F10 a few times and I know as I am there as my visualization become almost photographical, I can read books or enjoy the few of a superb moutain as if I were physically present.
I think at that stage : woaaa, if only I could always have this visualization skill when I am conscious. Unfortunately this stage lasts a little time as I fall asleep shortly after...
Thank you. I'll stick to my daily practice (still many hours to reach the 200 hrs) and keep the forum informed when I am successful.
Have a nice day.
Ok, I have been exercicing the focus 10 a lot since the few days and I just wanted to briefly report my impressions, the bad and good one (as an optimistic person I prefer this order).
cons : - my heart when I am really relaxed accelerates the heartbeat
- I usually have a headache the day after my experiments
- I always eventually fall asleep
- I haven't experienced yet the hypnagogic imagery or swirling clouds.
pro : - I am able to relax very quickly
- after a while I have a feeling of pleasant warmth in my bodyparts
- I know understand, with the great help of Majortom, that body asleep does mean a sensory deprivation, state that I usually reach, but not at 100%
- the free holosync alternative available from Astralpulse is of a great help in the Fosuc 10 process. I prefer it to the stressing rain sound of hemisync (I love good freebies)
- I "am in the head" when I am doing the focus 10 exercice. I mean it's like my all being is there.
Well, I am still going deeper into the trance state to the point I can't feel my physical body anymore. unfortunately, at this relaxation stage, the fast heartbeat keeps me from going farther and so, no hypnagogic imagery or the other signs of F10.
It's like I have taken too much caffein.
Majortom, is it usual to have this acceleration of the heart ? Is there something to do in order to make my practice successful ?
thank's.
MajorTom,
Thank you so much for explaining Focus 10 in great detail. I have been in focus 10 more frequently than I realized. I often get to the stage that I can no longer recognize where my limbs are. Your paper gives me some indication of where I'm at.
I have a question for you or anyone who might have any suggestions.
In the morning, I often awaken in a very relaxed state. I can close my eyes and I kind of "lock" on a recognizable feeling. Shortly afterword, I can see full screen images with movement. It may consist of a computer screen with letters being typed on it or scenery with moving creatures. Once I acknowledge the scenery in any way, I lose it. This repeats several times until I either wake up or fall back into a normal sleep. I am learning to be passive and the images are lasting longer. OK, here's my question. Do you feel that I am starting to get beyond the Focus 10 stage at this point and if I keep working on being passive, do you think it will pay off by being able to hold the imagery long enough to turn it into a phasing or OBE experience?
Sorry for the lengthy post.
Happy travels,
D.C.
MajorTom,
Clear as mud![:D] Just Kidding!
quote:
The main difference, as you already mention, in the instability of these images in focus 10. That is, as soon you bring in some sense of self or an awareness that of yourself doing the watching, it is very difficult to hold your lock onto them.
It sounds to me that you know exactly what I'm experiencing. The term "dream vignette" describes it perfectly.
This experience is very repeatable to me. At least I know that I am able to get into focus 10 easily. I feel like I can anchor this step and start moving forward from here.
You have given me a great description of what It will take to get to the next step. I will now be able to recognize Focus 21 when I get there.
Thanks for the time and effort that you put into explaining this for me.
Happy Travels,
D.C.
Dear Major TOM...(or anyone else who can thorougly and authoritative response to this)
I've two questions for you:
1 – Hearing CD/Tape 1 of WAVE I of "Gateway Experience" (or in its spanish version "Portal de Descubrimiento") there are a short time lapse of vocalizing, that resembles "OM Chanting".
What's its real purpose..?
2 – Purpose of CD/Tape 1 is to take listener from C-1 (Normal Conciousness) to C-3 (Focus 3), namely the "Synchronization of Brain and Mind". But I don´t get significant change between such a state and "tingling body and mind clearer" state that I reach when I conciously follows a controlled breathing rythm (Hatha yoga), without the assistance of Hemi-Sync process.
Is a sign that I must to persevere in hearing of Tape I ?
Or is a sign that I'm in condition of to accomplish purposes of Tape I without its assistance ?
How can you to describe "Synchronization of Brain and Mind" paradigm ?
My best regards...
NEZabaleta
First,
That was good reading. I hadn't seen this thread originally and just now read through it.
On to the meat of my post. What about those of us without any Hemisync tapes or cds? I intend to get them at some point, and obviously I want to go to a Gateway Voyage program. But as a junior acting major, my schedule is so frantic that I can only work two nights of the week so I'm only bringing in enough to support absolutely vital things. While I'd happily argue my spiritual developement is just as vital to me as, say, food, and that I do believe, as many of you do, that consciousness is not rooted in the physical body at all, I have less experience in this than most.
So the point is, while I tip my hat to T.M.I. for their contributions to the sort of consciousness research that I am interested in, I don't have the money for their tapes let alone to attend a program there. But I don't want to just wait until I can afford Wave I to continue practice.
Any suggestions at how to become familiar with Focus 10 without the help of Wave I?
Hello all,
Being new here i just read the article. I must say it is a very elaborate and detailed guide to focus 10, and gave me a very clear insight of what is meant by it (i didnt know until now what a 'focus' meant). I would like to post a few comments from my (here probably controversial) point of view.
First of all it struck me that as far as i am aware noone has ever mentioned that focus 10 is a type of trance induction. This is perhaps caused by the normally quite hazy and broad description of the term 'trance', but in my opinion (trance being a deepened / higher state of awareness which is caused and/or accompanied by lower brainwave levels) it is the same. Focus 10 to my experience is similar to a light to medium trance. I should also add here before people start saying again that i have no first hand experience on the matter, that I went through all the stages described in the article many times and that i recognize most of the 'symtoms'.
About the images we can clearly see when we are in focus 10 or deeper, it was already stated that they come from 'within ourselves'. I would like to specify this a little closer, they are largely produced by our inner subconscious. Without going in elaborate definition of what that exactly is, each of us had different experiences with being able to imagine these images. Some can do it with open eyes, while others have even difficulties while in focus 10. I would say that this depends on the strength of our connection with our subconscious. This connection also allows us to perceive through ESP (our subconscious being our intersection or 'depth point', so to speak with the astral). Some people are just better in this then others, so here also the strength of the connection is important (and experience + training of course). This is of course just an idea, but it is developed through experience and study of images and awareness of visions in trance stages and in dreams.
I have been using this focus 10 for quite some time now to induce an OBE (which as you might know i see as an elaborate lucid dream). It has given me very good results while being in this focus (or deeper) when I wake up shortly during the night. From what i have read here on deeper focus levels (which would be similar to a deep trance stage), I have experienced those often aswell. Focus 12 to 21 which are described here as the astral bridge zone or 3D blackness (quite an apt name i might say), is a stage which I have always called somewhat similar as the 'Black Void'. To me it represents a very interesting state of mind where you can either enter a LD or an OBE (RB type), or you can go down even into deep sleep and stay lucid there, or explore your own or other energies. I have often gone back and forth between the blackness and multiple lucid and/or Ob's.
Well just my thoughts on the matter, perhaps someone will find it informative
:)
Xetrov,
Thanks for the input. I'd just like to say I personally see nothing controversial about you opine.
What a great thread! realy enjoyed it, I will ad my advice on such states, the best advice as given is not focusing on your physical body, I use a "method' its so simple we all do it, imagine, fantasise scenarios to your will, and realy get in them. When I do them, after a while i some times become aware that i cannot feel my body at all! so yes, imagine scenarious to your will, eg, ram raiding a seven 11, yes have fun and f10 usualy comes on quite quickly.
Hi Major Tom
Simply to thank you for the article yet again - I downloaded it today and spent some time re-reading, which a few months down the line was more relevant to me than before.
It's interesting because at times when I go through the sessions with Bob, I feel I'm not really getting anywhere. And yet, half an hour later, when I am fully conscious and awake, I realise that I have just been "somewhere".
And I'm not talking about "here" and "there", but more about shifting my awareness. Even today, occasionally I felt the "in your head" feeling, which was rather enjoyable, I must say, and something I plan to experience more often.
So, really, this is just a big thank you. :D
Sarah
Great paper! I had to read it twice to get the full potential out of it and because of that, I managed to get a focus 12, the first time I tried! So happy! And I've been regulary reaching 10 and 12, thanks Major!
Andali
Hey thanks for posting this for all of us. I just read the whole thing and a lot of stuff is making more sense. I never used to know about all the focus levels. I read a couple of obe website which got me into these focus levels but none have explained what to do once i got there. I just realized that after my first night trying to have an obe i made it to the focus 21 level and couldn't do anything from there. I eventually figured out a way to have an obe but it happens really spontaneously. I think this will help me out a lot. thanks.
Thanks A Lot, Tom. I Just D/L'ed And Burned Boxed Nirvana To A CD, And I Had About 12 Hours Of Sleep, From 4 Am To 4 Pm Today. It's About 2:50 PM And I'm Not Very Tired. Taking All Of This In, I'm Going To See If I Can Get Anything Tonight, As I'm Sure It Will Be Much Easier Since I'm Not Very Tired. Again, Thanks Much. You Don't Know How Helpful This Article Is...OnE.
^LoL...I Meant 2:50 AM...Not PM. Anyway, Thanks Again, As I've Read The WHOLE THing...
Hi there all,
I've PM-ed Major Tom this morning, but I've thought later it would be better to publicly ask so others can take advantage of the information given.
My main problem is to know how much time to spend with every tape in F10 (I mean Orientation, Intro, Advanced,...). I started off from Intro to Focus 10, the second recording, by mistake, but I've achieved many interesting effects on my body.
For example, my neck doesn't relax, even my jaw seems to go tenser than it uses to be. So I end up with a totally relaxed body stuck to a head which seems more heavy. The second time I tried, I was able to relax it completely (don't ask how, maybe vacations had something to do with it) and I felt as floating on the floor feeling emptyness in my abdomen area (the tensest one). Maybe my subcons thought it was easy to attain and I'm overconfident now,... who knows. Sometimes it uses to work to imagine I have a Buddha-like hat, you know, those whichsurround your head, also along the back side, and which have a tip in the top part. That way, a white light hood tends to relax a bit more my head.
There's another effect on me, the increased heart beating. My heart speeds up abdormally though I'm relaxed and with no special worries on my skull.
The last point is that many thoughts come to me unexpectedly. Conversation with others I've had time ago, scenes from tv shows,... and the like. Their occurrence is richer if I'm close to sleep, as those images that come after we lay down on bed at night. It is difficult to shut up the monkey.
Oh!, I nearly forget it. Automatically my forehead gets relaxed at the beginning of the exercise. It feels as if it is tore in several layers, or as if the forehead splits from my head and it floats over it. As wierd as relaxing. This effect reproduces in awaken situations (as on the bus).
So, to boild down, how those 200-300h of F10 must be divided along the 6 tapes of F10?.
Andonitxo,
Remember, the worst thing that can happen using these tapes out of order is nothing. That's it, the worst. Nothing happens. Don't worry about skipping the first tape, it was intended to help you learn how the tapes worked and give you an idea about what would happen in the later tapes. You got that from tape 2.
Like anything else, relaxing takes practice. One thing that helps me is to tighten the muscles I'm having problems with then let them relax back to where they were and just keep relaxing them. After awhile, you will learn what is needed to get them to relax.
Your heart feeling like it is speeding up or thumping harder or any number of strange feelings are normal. For one thing, you are now noticing these things during a time (going to sleep) that you often ignore. Don't forget, you are heading into some new areas for you. Expect odd things to happen from time to time. After 25 years of poking around in this stuff (mostly meditation, some OBE/AP), I still experience things I've never heard of before.
Monkey chatter is always a challenge. There is a balance between letting go and keeping a strict focus. On the one hand, you get monkey chatter. On the other hand, you get meditation. To achieve an OBE or AP, you have to be in the middle somewhere. I'm still working on that myself.
Your last question was how many hours to spend on each time. The answer is simply enough. When you feel comfortable with one tape, feel free to move on to the next. One way to know is to try it without the tapes. That is the whole goal after all. Can you reach Focus 10 without the tape? Can you walk yourself through the exercises? If you can easily do this, then you are ready to move on to the next tape.
One last point I want to make. The tapes only guide you. You can return from a Focus 21 to fully awake (Focus 1) instantly if you wish to (I've done it). You can even listen to a full tape and never leave focus 1. You can also do everything the tapes teach without the tapes. The tapes are a learning aid, treat them as such. Learn from them, but don't limit yourself to them.
One_each, thanks for your words. Major Tom has adviced me to go on till controlling F10 and at the same time,at night, to practice parallelly F12 tapes.
Today, after reading your words I've realized the very key of relaxation is in the head. Without relaxing any other part of my body I get in a floating-like state just when loosing my face and neck's muscles. The only problem is that Monroe goes too rapidly and it is a bad thing to try to calm down in a rush. Now that I know that F10 state sensations I'll be able to know when to move on to the next tide in the golden path.
Anyway a short yoga class is mandatory to improve exercise's success, specially in what is related to backbone flexibility. It's curious to note how a new tension pops up when another one is released, as if we were puppets with all our threads interconnected. Maybe I'm more conscious of it because as a computer scientist I spend a lot of hours in front of a computer, sat down and quite tensed up.
By the way I'd like to comment there's some point I'm still loosing in this whole story. I mean, I've read about relaxation techniques from other sources, hypnosis included, and I do know there's a relaxing effect when any guy counts down in his mind. But in the past I did need to count up or down to 100 or from 100 to 0, and I find surprising just to count just from 1 to 10 (in F10). Of course waves will help, but believe me, I've proved with those BWgenerator sample waves and I've not felt anything, in spite of my faith and intent to go on. Somehow, at now, it works for me, so I'll continue trying and practicing.
Thanks again.
ive used the mind awake body asleep meditation and suceeded on my first try but you know what i didnt know that pinching myself would wake me up and i did it lol i was like omg im dreaming wow then i pinched myself and woke up :(
btw i was talking about lucid dream to bad theres no edit button and also i use these free cds for meditation that take me all the way to the delta state of meditation or conciousness i forget which one