Gateway Wave1 pointers

[Donna]

quote:Originally posted by Adrian:
Greetings Tracy!

quote:Originally posted by Tracy:
Oh my gosh,  I  had this same experience through most of my life, even before I  knew anything about energy.   I would be watching tv or listening to someone talk, zone out and have a split consciousness where I am in two places at once.  My physical body is grounded in the physical and another part of me was hovering outside of the body looking down at my physical.

quote:
Yes, this is what Robert describes as the "mindsplit effect". It appears to be common with conventional OBE's, as in those cases you are "projecting" an etheric double. If your original mind has Astral sight or you are clairvoyant, you  and your etheric double an then see each other concurrently, and according to Rober it can get most confusing!

In your case it seems that you had a spontaneous OBE. There have been cases of motor cycle riders having spontaneous OBE's at hight speed, and were hovering several feet above the bike! That must be disconcerting http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/images/icon_Smile.gif" border=0>

Bi-location is similar. You can send your double to anywhere you want while your original is fully consciousness.

Hi Adrian,
Yes this is what I experience, but my perceptions retain their clarity and I experience little or no confusion. There are times when I "flip*" back to my body and have to immediately make a  fast reconnection to maintain my "there" connection.
(*flip) that part of my conciousness returns to me without my will to recall it.

quote:
That is also why memory is such a big problem with OBE - the copy, upon its return, has to "download" its copy of its experiences to the original, and mostly it doesn't.

Actually, I am fully lucid in both "places", retaining full memory, and can even record what my body double is experienceing "there" as my "here" body is fully lucid and independent also. This may sound confusing to some, for me it is not.

quote:
That is one reason we are focussing on Astral consciousness phasing in this forum - it avoids these problems and results in a more memorable, beneficial experience.

Adrian:
What is "Astral consiciousness phasing" ? I have read a lot about these subjects some time ago, but do not recall this term. Also what does the term "Astral Proper" refer to? Again I am not familiar with these terms.

Thank You,Donna

[Adrian]

Greetings Donna!

Astral phasing in the context of this forum, is a controlled, phased, method of accessing the Astral through, e.g. a portal, through a state of conscousness, rather than the "conventional OBE" which is the classic exteriorisation fo awareness until the vibrations kick in, and then travelling in an etheric duplicate of yourself.

The controlled, phased approach seems to lead to much more controlled, reliable, high quality Astral interaction, and memory recall.  This method allows the "projector" to assume a much higher level of Astral control.

The "Astral proper" is something I use to indicate the realms where people usually find themselves after passing on from the physical, and of course there are several levels depending on physical life influences. In Monroe speak, many people would find themselves in "Focus 25".

I was excluding the etheric or real-time zone, and the lowest levels of the Astral which correspond to the individual psyche or group subconscious - although they are of course seamless extentions of the Astral.

With best regards,

Adrian.

[ralphm]

Hey Douglas, I have felt the same thing! I feel like I have a continuation of conciousness(at least thru the obe to the return) and have seemed to hit the wall at the point of generating the 'double' so many times! that I have wondered what was going on- I have not totally followed this thread because I don't know all the 'focuses', but maybe phasing bypasses the 'double'. Unfortunately I seem not to have aptitude with the visual aspect of the astral, at least not yet, which seems to be a prereq. of phasing.

[Adrian]

Greetings Ralphm!

quote:Originally posted by ralphm:
because I don't know all the 'focuses', but maybe phasing bypasses the 'double'. Unfortunately I seem not to have aptitude with the visual aspect of the astral, at least not yet, which seems to be a prereq. of phasing.

Phasing does not bypass the etheric double, but rather allows access to the Astral in an alternative way - a way which appears to hold many advantages.

For phasing, instead of trying to bring in the vibrations by awareness exteriorisation, you would create a portal to the Astral and shift through it. The doorway could be an existing one, or one you create yourself.

With best regards,

Adrian.

[boomyboomy]

Hi,

As I mentioned in another thread - I have difficulty getting to sleep.

I have the Monroe Wave 1 CD, and part 5 is the exploration of sleep one. You are meant to play it and leave it on and it will make you fall asleep.

What are people's experience of this track in particular. It doesn't work for me - my body is asleep, but my mind is still wide awake.

It also seems that it is intended to induce an OBE - the way that Monroe says, 'think how happy it would make you feel to float upwards...' etc...

But I would personally want to use it to reduce my insomnia.

Thanks in advance,

AJA


________________-

I'm a nobody. Nobody is perfect. Therefore, I'm perfect!

[Gandalf]

BTW,
This has to be longest thread in history, already 8 pages long!!!

Douglas

[lucid dancer]

No doubt! This thread is huge! ...But it's so refreshing, I hope it grows to be twenty pages long!  I went to Monroe's site to check out the CDs. I'd be willing to spend the money on them. I'm tempted to buy all 7 tracks.  Frank mentioned the two that he likes best. Would any of you like to mention your favorites...and why? Thanks.

[Frank]

Please bear in mind that I specifically reco the Gateway Wave 1 CD tracks 1 & 2 ONLY. Track 1 is the intro to track 2 which you only have to listen to once or twice, then you only need listen to track 2.

If you master the transition to Focus 10/12 then you should fairly easily be able to do the rest from your own study. Plus, I regard the way it is all set out in various "Waves" and so forth, as being mere commercialism. Obviously, the final choice is down to each individual. I just wanted to doubly stress my position so there can be no chance of any upsets (those CD sets are mighty expensive).

Yours,
Frank

[lucid dancer]

Ok, thanks Frank! That's good to know.

[Adrian]

Greetings Frank- and all Monroe students!

Just a quick question.  It is my understanding that use of hemi-sync and other bineural beat technologies leads to a progressive and permanent ability to achieve these states without the CD's and automatically at will.

Does the Monroe literature confirm this, and is that the experience of you people?

Thanks!

With best regards,

Adrian.

[brianspuk]

Hello everyone

For me the Discovery Sleep exercise produces a much deeper state of consciousness than any of the other exercises.  After the counting to 20 I'm then in quite a deep trance state just like you are when you are about to fall asleep.  I've never got an out of body experience with this exercise or with any other one, the only times I've ever had out of body experiences are still from within the normal dream state, in the middle of the night.  Some of the exercises from the later waves have produced brief images and visualizations of journeys which took place automatically, though.  I also got to the so called Mental Plane once, though it was not while using one of these exercises. More info is in the Your Gateway Experiences Please topic.

Blessings,

Brian

[Pete]

Wow, what a fantastic thread. It ties together a number of experiences I've been having. I am coming at this from a slightly different angle but I think it is relevant - recently I have been doing what some call a type of "channeling" though don't let that word throw you. I don't mean being taken over by some incarnate voice, but rather, what I've been doing sounds like some version of what Frank is talking about. I sit at the computer and get into a slightly meditative state, though it is not blank mind or fully trance/mind-awake-body-asleep. I am fully aware of my body and am even typing as I go. I then quiet my mind and start to describe the first images that come to mind. On many occasions (not always), first a small image will appear then another and then I will then gradually be in an active scene with setting and people and events going on (sometimes there are skips and jumps suddenly from one moment to another within a scene, like jump-cuts in a film) and it will be something that is very surprising to me, nothing I'd intended (though I do have a general intent to "make contact" with guides or even as vague as seeing what is out there). These scenes can get very real. For instance I will see someone riding a horse and then they will notice me and stop and look right at me, realizing I am there, acknowledge me and then say something completely surprising, maybe witty or funny or insightful, and I will respond, and we will then have a dialogue. Sometimes they know me and give me advice. Other times they are people who are dead who are connected to me in some tangential way. But the interractions are very real and when I am done, the acccumulated scenes and dialogues often have messages and deeper meanings in them than I realized at the time. (I can't analyze it while doing it or I lose the connection). Throughout all of this, I am typing and describing what I am seeing or writing down the dialogue verbatim. I have come to recognize that these interractions are real, though because I am in a barely meditative state, it can sometimes get mixed up with my own thoughts, and there will be sentences of gibberish or mind chatter as a result.

What is so interesting in relation to this discussion is that it seems that I am making some sort of contact into the astral or beyond realms, but I am doing it while being fully conscious of my physical surroundings and body (even typing, though poorly!). It is very easy to make this connection. I've been interrupted by my cat jumping up and then just closed my eyes and gone right back to it. For a long time I thought I was just making stuff up, until some of the interractions made it pretty clear they were real. For instance, I have done it for someone else and contacted someone they once knew who was dead, without my knowing anything about the person and then later had this confirmed by my living friend.

Meanwhile, I am also using Monroe's Gateway series daily and have been a meditator for a long time and have been trying to do a conscious OBE like described by Robert Bruce. What is interesting to me after reading this thread is that I have been operating as if the two things were seperate somehow, that the Bruce type OBE was the valid way to experience consciousness outside of the body and the "channeling" way was not. Now, I am thinking that I need to just combine them (and perhaps type it up after and not during every time).

The way I experience these "scenes" sounds somewhat like what Frank is describing, but perhaps not quite as "real". I have always had a vivid imagination and can easily imagine things in a fully rounded, 3D type way, though while "channeling" (I dislike this word for it but it'll have to do for now) it gets even fuller and more real. But I wouldn't describe it as *exactly* like physical life experience. It is still, for me, in that in-the-head, mind-envisioning, movie-screen type of thing.

This type of "channeling" is new to me. I've only been doing it like this for a few months now. It seems odd to me, though, after reading this thread, that I could access these "scenes" or astral states while also being so conscious of my physical surroundings. It sometimes seems too easy to be real. Perhaps someone else has some experience with this?

Fascinating thread. It really inspires me to bring the two techniques together (why didn't I think of that before!), perhaps by bringing Frank's type of imagery to the Monroe sessions and direct it more. I must admit, I have been definitely trying too much to maintain a blank mind state while using the Monroe tapes, from all those years of meditating with that being the main goal.

My goodness, thanks for this thread.

If anyone else can make sense of what I might be experiencing I welcome it. It seems like some strange, "lighter" version of Frank's "more real" access to the other realms.

Sorry this was so long, but it is very exciting.
Thanks.
Pete

[Frank]

Pete: What you have described pretty much exactly is Bruce Moen's "focussed attention" method. For more info see: http://www.afterlife-knowledge.com/

Focussed Attention is a very valid way of connecting with the Astral. With Mr Moen's method, all you do is basically focus your attention inwards and simply go with the flow, so to speak.

One of the hurdles with this technique is working out which scenes are valid contact scenes and which are formed from any old mental rambling. To get around this, what Mr Moen does is to teach people to try and contact someone who was close to them and has now passed over. To kickstart the process he encourages people to first use their imagination to create a kind of fantasy scene where they are imagining making contact with that person. Then simply go with the flow of that. Chances are, they will soon come across something or other that happens which was not "on their script".

Coming across an unexpected event is taken as a sign that contact has been made. So they simply push along that mental road to see where it will lead.

A number of people who have had success at doing this have stumbled across the 3D-Blackness phase of the Monroe mental-focus method and have learnt how to mentally "step into" the scenary they are viewing. Which is basically what I do with my "step into" projection technique. In the sense that, if you were to do exactly as you are doing now only instead you lay down and allowed your physical-body to just drift off to sleep as per normal. Then you should find yourself standing in the Astral somewhere.

So with Focussed Attention you are basically focusing along the line of your imagination and becoming open to whatever is being transmitted from the "other side". Problem is, the incoming signals tend to get mixed with all kinds of other mental signals that happen to be floating about - because a person is still very much aware of their physical body. However, someone such as yourself who, from what you say, have a very vivid and clear imagination then you will have far less difficulty isolating the good stuff.

You can take this one step further by eliminating the physical-body from the equation. As I say, I have what I call my step-into technique which is all the above, plus, I lay down and simply allow my physical-body to drift off to sleep as per normal. Doing this puts anything Physical right out of the equation, thus allowing a person to mentally travel along the thread of their imagination and pop-out within the Astral somewhere. So, yes, compared to my step-into technique Focussed Attention is a kind of step-into Lite.

The next step (continuing in software terms) would be step-into Pro i.e. a full-blown obe in the traditional style of Robert Bruce et al. Here you have all of the above, plus, at the point of travelling along the thread of your imagination, you activate what Mystics call the Crown Chakra. Doing this causes a person to pop-out from within themselves into a region commonly called the real-time zone.

Here you can sample the delights of flying over the rooftops in your locality, or entering the Astral by flying through all kinds of Astral Plane Entrance Structures of the like you see portrayed on the back cover of Astral Dynamics, and so forth.

Yours,
Frank


Oh, and thank you for the kind comments re the thread.

[Adrian]

Greetings Frank!

quote:Originally posted by Frank


You can take this one step further by eliminating the physical-body from the equation. As I say, I have what I call my step-into technique which is all the above, plus, I lay down and simply allow my physical-body to drift off to sleep as per normal. Doing this puts anything Physical right out of the equation, thus allowing a person to mentally travel along the thread of their imagination and pop-out within the Astral somewhere. So, yes, compared to my step-into technique Focussed Attention is a kind of step-into Lite.

Thanks as always for a most interesting post.

I am intrigued by this "step-into" technique. I assume it has evolved from your Gateway work? In any case, it would be most interesting to hear more.

Also with regards to:

quote:I lay down and simply allow my physical-body to drift off to sleep as per normal

That is definitely a major cornerstone of phasing. But I think it is true to say that with most people, the mind falls asleep first, followed by the body sometime later. If it were possible to reliably cause the physical body to go to sleep while keeping the mind fully awake, then many more people will have alot of success with phasing. Any pointers for people to follow in this regard would be most useful.

BTW - I know that you used to do more of an OBE type approach before moving to phasing - do you find that your quality of Astral presence, i.e. your ability to see Astral residents and equally importantly they to see you and communicate with each other, and the general realism of the environment is as good of better with phasing than OBE?

Thanks again.

With best regards,

Adrian.

[Pete]

Thanks Frank. Very interesting. I will look into Moen's work.

I have read the whole thread, so I don't think I am asking you to repeat anything, pardon me if so, but how then is the experience of the traditional OBE and the experience of being there by phasing-in or stepping-in different from each other? It sounds like you are saying the end result of getting outside the body in these two ways is different somehow. (I understand that the two techniques for getting outside the body are different).

Adrian, yes I agree that getting to the mind awake, body asleep state seems to be the hardest part. I don't know if I've ever fully gotten there, except once spontaneously and maybe a second time the other night, though it didn't feel fully there either. That's got to be the biggest stumbling block.

Also, Frank, about the Monroe tapes. I notice that the Gateway Series only takes you up to Focus 21. (I'm on Wave III). How then do you get training for Focus 22 and beyond? How did you?

I wrote the Monroe Institute and enclosed below is their response (for others who might be interested). It does sound a bit commercial to me, a way to make you buy more. Any suggestions on how else to learn the Focus 22 and beyond levels? Do you have any experience with the Going Home series? I understand it is meant for terminally ill situations and doesn't quite sound appropriate:

The Monroe Institute wrote:
"Focus levels are different states of consciousness.  You are correct, the higher focus levels are available only in the Residential programs.  

Anyone can use the Going Home series, however it is not designed like the Gateway Experience series.  The focus levels are there, but they are not explained like they are in the GE series.

The Lifeline Program at TMI offers higher focus levels, you can read more about it by visiting this link, http://www.monroeinstitute.org/programs/lifeline.html.  You must take a Gateway Voyage Program before moving on to Graduate Programs (such as Lifeline)."

[Frank]

quote:Originally posted by Adrian
I am intrigued by this "step-into" technique. I assume it has evolved from your Gateway work? In any case, it would be most interesting to hear more.

Yes, the technique evolved from my Gateway work. But the technique is basically as described on this thread: where you create a mental scenario (either with or without some kind of recording to aid you) then, as the physical-body drifts off to sleep, your conscious awareness lets go of the Physical and you mentally step-into the imagined scenario.

quote:
I lay down and simply allow my physical-body to drift off to sleep as per normal.

That is definitely a major cornerstone of phasing. But I think it is true to say that with most people, the mind falls asleep first, followed by the body sometime later. If it were possible to reliably cause the physical body to go to sleep while keeping the mind fully awake, then many more people will have alot of success with phasing. Any pointers for people to follow in this regard would be most useful.

Yes, you are exactly right. It is a very tricky mental balancing act to perform which generally takes a lot of practice.

With me, like this morning for instance, I can lay back and within ten or fifteen minutes I'm off... hello Astral, goodbye Physical. Yet, most mornings it will take me at least an hour to get myself in the requisite frame of mind. (Sometimes it will take me 2 hours, plus.) But once I'm in that "frame of mind" it's Astral-projection city, like I can't get away from the place.

The big research question in my mind these days is why the difference? Like, why can't I just lay back and simply make direct contact?

quote:
BTW - I know that you used to do more of an OBE type approach before moving to phasing - do you find that your quality of Astral presence, i.e. your ability to see Astral residents and equally importantly they to see you and communicate with each other, and the general realism of the environment is as good of better with phasing than OBE?

For a while I went away from the traditional approach and researched the Gateway products. I found that by practising the Phasing approach had the effect of overwriting the original data to a large degree and I lost touch with my past efforts. Lately, however, I have successfully managed to marry the two approaches.

My early "cannonball exit" so-called because it felt like being shot from a cannon and landing within the Astral someplace (without any degree of control at all) I have managed to temper with my current Phasing techniques. So now it doesn't really make all that much difference whether I Phase to the Astral in one smooth mental transistion; or whether I take the more traditional approach and enter via the RTZ from flying through some Astral Plane Entrance Structure.

The latter is, of course, more exciting and naturally more difficult for people to manage generally. Which is one of the main hiccups of the technique.

Yours,
Frank

[Adrian]

Greetings Frank!

Thank you for your further advice - most interesting indeed!

So basically then  - it seems to be a matter of maintaining imagery in the mind while waiting for the body to fall off to sleep?

That makes a great deal of sense of course, and is in full accord with the entire concept phasing generally. If you wouldn't mind a couple of followup questions:

1) Is this best practiced on going to bed at night, or after waking up early in the morning? I know that you used to awake around 04:00 or so for your Astral travels. But if tired, I would guess that this method would work at bedtime if it is possible to keep the mind awake.

2) Most  importantly - what sort of imagery does one maintain while awaiting for the body to go to sleep? E.g. would it be a full blown scenario like acting out a scene, or simply maintaining a static scene?

All of this really is extremely useful!

With best regards,

Adrian.

[Frank]

quote:Originally posted by Pete

Thanks Frank. Very interesting. I will look into Moen's work.

Ginny is our resident Moen-expert who has studied his work and successfully used his techniques, and Mr Moen also runs a message board where you can ask questions, etc. Myself I only have limited knowledge of his work. But I got the jist of where he was coming from quite quickly and found the technique to be a very valid way of exploring.

quote:
how then is the experience of the traditional OBE and the experience of being there by phasing-in or stepping-in different from each other? It sounds like you are saying the end result of getting outside the body

First, I too find myself unable to get on with certain terms and/or phrases. I dislike the phrase "outside the body". Because it only seems like you are "outside" of your body. If anything, you have gone within yourself more, as opposed to being outside of yourself.

With the Phasing technique, performed properly, there is one smooth mental transition from Physical to Astral. There's no sensation of being "outside the body" (for want of a better phrase) in the sense of flying over rooftops in your locality, or floating around your bedroom ceiling looking down at yourself sleeping, etc. It simply feels like you are in exactly the same "body" only your surroundings changed. Monroe first coined the term and, being an engineer, he naturally thought of the smooth transition he had come to experience as a phase-shift, hence the term Phasing.

quote:
I understand that the two techniques for getting outside the body are different ... how then is the experience of the traditional OBE and the experience of being there by phasing-in or stepping-in different from each other?

The main difference is in how you experience the Physical to Astral transition.

With Mr Moen's Focussed Attention you never experience a full Physical to Astral transition. And it is precisely this transition that presents a major stumbling block for all manner of reasons. The main one being your general sense of conscious awareness acts like a fish out of water thus sending your protective sense of awareness into overdrive. All manner of panic-buttons are pressed and the whole experience turns to meltdown.

Fear is the most common emotion to have at the onset of any non physical-reality based experience. Well, at first that is. Naturally, someone having success at the Moen Focussed Attention technique may well feel a little nervous at having confirmed contact will old aunty Agatha, or whomever, long-since passed away. But because their conscious awareness is always primarily grounded in the Physical, any feelings of apprehension, nervousness, fear, and such like, are released within the Physical realm and not the Astral. This means they will not be subject to the kinds of reality fluctuations they would be subject to, if these kinds of feelings or emotions were released within the Astral environment.

With Phasing you experience a direct Physical to Astral transition. Like I say above, there's no sensation of being "outside the body" (again for want of a better phrase) in the sense of flying over rooftops in your locality, or floating around your bedroom ceiling looking down at yourself sleeping, etc. It simply feels like you are in exactly the same "body" only your surroundings changed.

With traditional obe another factor comes into play in the sense the Crown Chakra (for want of a better term) becomes very active. Whereas, with normal Phasing I do not feel the Crown to be active at all - just the Brow.

An active Crown is felt as a buzzing kind of vibration and/or feelings of static electricity running through the body. The intensity and/or pitch of this buzzing or vibration determines where you eventually end up. At a particular level of intensity, you will be subjected to feelings of leaving your physical body. I mean in a literal sense where you feel like you are actually leaving the physical body behind. Hence the term Out of Body.

With traditional obe you generally project into what is known as the Real-Time Zone or RTZ. It is called this because, when projected into this realm, you are able to view events that are currently happening on planet Earth. However, the RTZ is actually an infinitely huge buffer zone between Astral-matter and ALL Physical-matter.

Within this zone or realm, you can see interconnections between the various states of matter that take the form of all manner of tube structures and consequent energy vortices which you can travel down. (Though this is *not* for the squeamish.) All kinds of 3D Grid formations can be viewed together with what are commonly called Astral Plane Entrance Structures: of the kind portrayed on the back cover of Astral Dynamics.

quote:
Also, Frank, about the Monroe tapes. I notice that the Gateway Series only takes you up to Focus 21. (I'm on Wave III). How then do you get training for Focus 22 and beyond? How did you?

I got into this whole topic from chance coming across Monroe's JOB over 20 years ago. I figured the guy was either insane or had stumbled onto something. I gave his techniques a fair try and, much to my surprise, began getting projection symptoms. Everything I learnt was from ordinary trial and error. But I have to say that, only up until a few years ago, I viewed the Astral as just this huge adventure playground which I visited 2 or 3 times per week.

Since then I've managed to put some polish on my techniques from clues given to me from visiting various websites and from reading Astral Dynamics and Monroe's two later works... Far journeys and Ultimate Journey. Plus, the Internet has enabled me to pool experiences and/or ideas with a number of experienced explorers, which has benefited me greatly. I also became open to the concept of "guides" which accelerated my progress no end.

As far as the TMI and the Gateway series CD's are concerned, my personal opinion is they go off on a commercial tangent after Wave 1. I think most ordinary people who could get to Mental Focus 12 could make good progress from material that is available on BBS's such as this one for free.

Yours,
Frank

[Pete]

Thanks Frank for the thoughtful response. I do appreciate it.

I agree with you about the Monroe tapes. They withhold the training for the higher levels in a way that draws more money out of you. It is not necessary to use their methods though, obviously. In any case, however, I am finding that the use of the Gateway Series so far seems to be enabling me to reach the trance state better and more fully. The last couple nights I think I actually got into a trance, though perhaps not quite deep enough. Last night, I began to feel a sort of sudden rush of sensory input once in the trance and it did spark my mind to race which brought me out of it. I did, however, have a moment where I heard a wonderful beautiful female voice say, "hello".

I had asked for a guide to meet me and help me, and I agree, I think this makes a huge difference. One reason for that, I think, which I have learned from doing the focussed attention method, is that the beings you contact also bring their energy to the contact and this can help to raise your energy so you meet in the middle, so to speak, at least that's the way I think of it. The more vibrant, wise and vivid a being that is there to help you or to make contact with you, the more vivid the experience, oftentimes.

Have you posted to this forum some of your experiences while "out of the body"? I'd be curious to hear about some of them.

I've got some research to do on Moen's work and I want to go back and re-look at Monroe's later books to read more about phasing. I read the books years ago and need a referesher.

Thanks again and happy traveling.

Pete

[Frank]

quote:Originally posted by Adrian
So basically then - it seems to be a matter of maintaining imagery in the mind while waiting for the body to fall off to sleep?

Well, the mind as such never sleeps. Problem is the sense of conscious awareness usually drifts off about the same time as the physical body. The "sense of conscious awareness" is a kind of inbetween entity that can be with one, or the other. From physical birth this entity becomes latched with the physical body to a high degree. So physical-body asleep... sense of conscious awareness asleep: physical-body awake... sense of conscious awareness awake.

The trick is to break that cycle and realise that the sense of conscious awareness can be with one, or the other.

quote:
1) Is this best practiced on going to bed at night, or after waking up early in the morning? I know that you used to awake around 04:00 or so for your Astral travels. But if tired, I would guess that this method would work at bedtime if it is possible to keep the mind awake.

I am no expert at being able to do this at will. I have to create certain fairly exacting conditions before that transition to "the other" can take place. With me I find it more fruitful to practise early morning. Others may find the opposite, or whatever else inbetween.

quote:
2) Most  importantly - what sort of imagery does one maintain while awaiting for the body to go to sleep? E.g. would it be a full blown scenario like acting out a scene, or simply maintaining a static scene?

Basically, whatever works for the person in question. The BIG problem is breaking the cycle. There is a natural tendency where, if a person tries to keep their sense of conscious awareness alive, this will prevent the physical body from going to sleep. So a sort of battle ensues to the extent where tiredness will naturally take over.

However, there is this definite, inbetween road that is a tricky mental balancing act to follow. In a nutshell, you let the physical body just drift off to sleep as per normal: but you keep your sense of conscious awareness focussed within you.

Yours,
Frank

[Pete]

I am just beginning to experience that mind awake body asleep state. I did it once spontaneously and now twice in the last few days, though it doesn't feel quite deep enough yet. The other night, I was rushed with sensory stuff, sounds, whatever, and couldn't maintain any imagery of my own at that point. (I then heard a distinct female voice say "hello", and I came out of it). It is a very interesting state, and very different from the deep meditative empty mind state which I can reach pretty easily now.

So does it mean then that if you were to have a regular amount of sleep hours in that trance state that you would then not need anymore sleep? The mind then doesn't need any sleep? Is that true? I hadn't thought of that before.

Being clear on that might make me more relaxed and accepting of the state. That is, if I'm not losing any "sleep" then what the heck, just keep playing with it all night if I want - in theory of course. Plus, if I keep myself going at it then eventually my body will start to drop off anyway as it gets progressively tired. (If of course I can keep my mind from dropping off with it).

[Frank]

quote:Originally posted by Pete

I am just beginning to experience that mind awake body asleep state. I did it once spontaneously and now twice in the last few days, though it doesn't feel quite deep enough yet. The other night, I was rushed with sensory stuff, sounds, whatever, and couldn't maintain any imagery of my own at that point. (I then heard a distinct female voice say "hello", and I came out of it).

LOL: this happened to me too. I'd previously lumped the whole idea of guides in a big box marked "Mystical Mumbo-Jumbo Do Not Open." So when coming around to the idea I mentally said out loud, "Okay guide or guides, if you are really there watching me from the "other side" (so to speak) then just flaming well make yourself known. I want no fancy robes and halos and all that jazz, just come out from wherever you are and say hello. A few seconds later this voice came into mind, as clear as day, and said: "Hello Frank". It shocked me to the extent where I zapped back to Physical double-quick.

Oh, being rushed with sensory stuff like sounds of voices, or music, or hearing any old popping, banging or stomping, or whatever;  abstract mental images like outline drawings of all kinds of shapes, or faces of humans or animals; bright areas of blackness that seem like some kind of light in the distance, or seeing swirling foggy colours; having the blackness take on varying textures, and so on: this is the Monroe Mental Focus 12 state.

quote:
It is a very interesting state, and very different from the deep meditative empty mind state which I can reach pretty easily now.

Yes, I am pleased someone else has made that observation. I could never quite understand what people who were into "meditation" were trying to achieve. From what I can gather, the goal is to work towards a state where the mind is completely blank. But in the midst of me making the Phased transition between Physical and Astral my mind is anything but blank.

Also, something someone posted the other week about Monks and their wanting to attain a state where they are within themselves looking at what was described as a white screen. Immediately I recognised what the person in question was saying. I used to get that quite often and it was a flaming nuisance to be honest. Because there I'd be after maybe an hour and a half of working towards getting my physical-body out of the mental equation, I'd just be getting to thinking that I was transitioning nicely and the Astral was about to come into view, and then plop: all I'd get was this blank white screen that I couldn't seem to get rid of.

It reminds me of the people who post saying they have, "suffered" what they call, "sleep paralysis" all their lives. Oh, how I would dearly love to "suffer" this condition in an instant every day: instead of spending 1 hour+ trying to bring myself to experience it. In a similar vein, I couldn't help chuckling over the thought of all those Monks spending perhaps years trying to attain something which used to "pester" me so regularly.

quote:
So does it mean then that if you were to have a regular amount of sleep hours in that trance state that you would then not need anymore sleep? The mind then doesn't need any sleep? Is that true? I hadn't thought of that before.

All the evidence I have gathered from years of personal experimentation and observation strongly suggests to me that each individual is, in fact, their Mind. In other words, what we call "our mind" is actually us, and is a totally separate entity that exists independently of the physical body and has no need for sleep; only the physical body has any need for sleep due to the fact that the cells that form it have a certain sell-by date.

To my mind, successful Astral projection is not so much to do with finding the right "technique" but is all to do with achieving the correct degree of mental understanding. For me, realising that the physical-body springs forth from the Mind, and not the other way around, was a *major* turning point for me which led to my making a big leap forward in my development.

Yours,
Frank

[Pete]

quote:Originally posted by Frank

Yes, I am pleased someone else has made that observation. I could never quite understand what people who were into "meditation" were trying to achieve. From what I can gather, the goal is to work towards a state where the mind is completely blank. But in the midst of me making the Phased transition between Physical and Astral my mind is anything but blank.

I've thought about this myself. I worked for a long time to be able to achieve the blank mind state. Now that it is relatively easy, I wonder what the fuss was about. However, I think for some people and for me when I was younger, some ten years or so ago, there can be so much emotional and mental stuff to work through that it can be really difficult to get the mind quiet, especially when it is fueled by strong emotions, grief, fear, etc. The effort to clear the mind and reach that state also acts to heal those emotional issues, both while practicing the meditation and otherwise when preparing to meditate. Once I started to "mature" and get some of these strong issues resolved within, I was able to reach the blank mind state. Also, before I knew as much about the astral world, I liked to get to the blank mind in order to then see what would happen, what was there, experience the sounds, images, feelings of expanded awareness, etc. Now I know more consciously what these things are and what I'm going for. It's possible that even though some people are "monks" they still don't really know that much about what's out there and what's actually happening. I agree, though, I don't know why anyone would just want to endlessly stay in the blank mind state. All in all though I guess I feel it is a great tool especially in those times when I have a lot of calming down to do.

On another subject, I wanted to say this: in the terms used in Astral Dynamics, what exactly is happening in the phasing in process that is different than the AD classic OBE where "consciousness reflects itself into the expanding etheric body", in other words, creating a copy of itself in the etheric body. What then is occuring in the phasing in process and why does this allow for greater memory retention? Is consciousness projecting itself rather than copying itself (so no download of information to the original consciousness is necessary)? If so, why not project consciousness into the etheric body rather than copy it? Is this possible? If it is possible, would doing this create the best of both worlds, ie: the full body classic OBE with the full memory retention. Or is the phasing in experience the so similar to the classic OBE experience that there is no reason to try to "blend them"? If the two techniques led to the same experience in the end, then there wouldn't be any reason to do the classic OBE of copying consciousness to the etheric body unless one wanted to explore the RTZ for some reason or experience the process itself of exiting and creating a copy of consciousness into an etheric body. I hope this is making sense. The question I am posing, then, is that we have a pretty detailed explanation of what is happening in the classic Bruce OBE where we make a consciousness copies itself into the etheric - what woud be the detailed explanation of what is happening when we phase into an OBE experience? Anyone have any thoughts on that?
Thanks,
Pete

[coral1]

Hi All,
   I`ve started having success projecting in the last 10 days and seemed to have stumbled onto Frank`s "step into" technique, quite by accident.I lay down one afternoon to take a nap.After laying on my back for about 45 minutes and becoming very relaxed I rolled onto my right side and after about 10 minutes felt strong vibrations and projected to the RTZ: a first for me.I had a short experience floating around my house.The interesting thing was that it happened spontaneously-I wasn`t trying to project.I thought it was a fluke occurence.However, I tried the same process the next two days and had two more RTZ projections.My main interest is in the Astral and by placing an intent to go there at the point in the sequence when I roll onto my right side I`ve had four AP`s.
   Four months ago I bought the Gateway 1-7 CD`s and have been doing two exercises every day before going to sleep. I also do NEW techniques along with the CD`s.These projections coincided with my beginning to go to  focus 21 along with opening primairy centers.However I can`t seem to project while using the CD`s though I feel I`m close. Now that I know the state I have to reach to project the hemi-synch might be a block.I tend to think too much when I`m listening.
   Anyway, to say I`m pleased would be an understatement!I`m a big fan of the "step-into" technique.I don`t want to over-analyze it at this point. I`m afraid of letting my thinking get in the way of my intuition and  feeling.It`s a subtle,tricky place to get to. In my case I got where I wanted to go when I relaxed and stopped trying to force it.I hope it keeps working.
   As always thanks to Frank! I`ve learned more from your posts than all the books I`ve read combined.

  Happy Trails

[Frank]

quote:Originally posted by Pete
On another subject, I wanted to say this: in the terms used in Astral Dynamics, what exactly is happening in the phasing in process that is different than the AD classic OBE where "consciousness reflects itself into the expanding etheric body", in other words, creating a copy of itself in the etheric body. What then is occuring in the phasing in process and why does this allow for greater memory retention?.......

With me, I tend not to get wrapped up in the body-forming process. I merely let the natural process "do its thing" so to speak, as my main area of focus is destination Astral realms. The way I look at it, is you don't need to know how a car functions exactly in order to drive someplace. All a person need know is how and when to push and pull the various levers, and after an appropriate time they arrive at their destination.

In other words, I don't have too much experience in this area of observation. Though what I can say for sure is the Phasing process is much easier to bear. In the sense that it is one thing thinking about bobbing around your ceiling looking down at your physical-body, or flying through some Astral-Plane Entrance Structure of the kind seen on the back cover of Astral Dynamics: but it is quite another thing actually doing it! With Phasing, there is generally less trauma and/or excitement associated with the Process. And any kind of trauma or excitement will inevitably lead to a person suffering severe reality fluctuations that turn their whole experience into a complete mish-mash.

Another thing I find affects memory recall *considerably* is falling asleep directly following the experience. I still do this now and again which turns a great projection, full of vivid memories, into some event I can hardly recall upon awakening.

Yours,
Frank