Saliva.. yes, Saliva.

[light487]

Uhmmm.. how do you people, who have OoBE's et al, cope with saliva build up in the mouth?? One of the greatest distractions I have is that every 5 to 10mins I need to swallow, otherwise I feel like I will choke on my own saliva... as soon as I swallow of course, I am reminded again of my physical body and I am pulled up back to physical a little way, then I need to refocus again.. it's like 2 steps forward 1 step back.. so very slow going.. though there is progress.. just wondering if other people have noticed this and how they overcame it?

[Xanth]

Just swallow.  Calmly. 

Eventually, as you're practicing... you'll just stop noticing it.

[light487]

Just swallow.  Calmly. 

Eventually, as you're practicing... you'll just stop noticing it.

Ok cool.. yer.. I guess it's just like another bodily function.. it happens automatically when I am not thinking about it.. just that when I am focusing on.. well.. not focusing on my body, things like that tend to spike my physical awareness. Thanks for the feedback though.. just another one of the many hurdles on the way. It seems silly that something so simple can trip you up though.

[Xanth]

Oh and if you drink a lot of soda/coke/pepsi/whatever... stop doing that an hour or so before practicing.
Drink just water... carbonated drinks tend to increase saliva production. 

[Orion-]

I drink a bit of water first. On my first tries the saliva was very disturbing, but it quickly stopped and now it doesn't bother me anymore.

[Lionheart]

 I had the same problem at first as well. To get over it I just told myself that the body will do what it will do. I can still breathe, swallow, twitch whatever, it took a bit of getting used to though. Mind over matter always prevails.

[stan]

Like others have said swallowing is a natural function of the body and with intense focusing you shouldn't notice it. But there is other dowfall to swallowing, and that is that it doesn't allow the body to relax past the certain point, because such muscle contraction takes body out of the trance state. You don't need a trance state to project, though trance has a lot of benefits when it comes to projection.

It's possible to train your body not to swallow at all for a duration of a practice. It's a struggle, no doubt about it, but possible.

[light487]

I don't really drink that much soda to be honest.. hardly any unless I go out for dinner. I'll try drinking more water and see if that helps.

[i smoke and drink coffee]

The drugs I have to take have almost stopped my glands from functioning.  Not that I can project with great proficiency as it is, only time I salivate now is when I'm smoking a cig.  Seems that cigarettes and saliva have been linked in my nervous system.

Have you tried smoking a cigarette before bed?  Maybe normal people have an opposite reaction, and the smoke will dry your mouth and defunct the glands temporarily.  Maybe, try it and see.

[light487]

I don't smoke any more. I use an electronic cigarette for my nicotine intake now.. but even with that, I still find my mouth filling up with saliva over about 10 minutes..

[blis]

You need to forget about it(easier said than done I know). Thinking about it is making it happen.

When your body goes to sleep it stops producing saliva. You dont have problems getting to sleep at night from excess saliva production do you? Thats because you dont think about it.

As a workaround you can prop your head up with pillows and let your mouth hang open. Letting saliva drool out your mouth takes a bit of getting used to but can be done.

[floriferous]

I use a spittoon I keep by the bed

[personalreality]

but yea, just try to ignore it.  i mean how often do you think about swallowing throughout the day?  you don't really, not until you do, then you can't not notice it....(don't think about the fact that you're breathing right now......see what i mean).

anyway, you just have to let your body be as natural as possible.  that's what all this meditation business is about as pertains to OBE.  the better you can focus your mind and the longer you can hold that concentration the more likely projection will be.

[blis]

Just did a little saliva meditation to see if I could gain any control over it. Started trying to produce more by focusing on it and thinking about more. Mouth was full of saliva in no time. Swallowed it. Then tried to stop producing it. Visualized turning off a tap (faucet) in my mouth. Visualized my tongue as being a dried up sponge and the whole area underneath it being a vast sandy desert with wind blowing. Mouth dried up pretty quick.

[light487]

Oh the tap thing is good.. I will try that.. I can relate to that and use it.

[Bluefirephoenix]

one problem could be allergies or that your smelling cooking or something strong while your working. One way to dry your mouth out is to use psuedofed. take the usual dose about an hour ahead of time. I find it helps as I tend to have allergy problems and saliva.  If you use just hte plain psuedofed without any additional medications added to it it shouldn't altar your head too much.

[Bluefirephoenix]

I need to add if your on beta blockers, or medication for ADHD  or other meds you probably should check with the doc before using psuedifed. The medication works well but it's not compatible with a rather large list of medications.

[blis]

I took sudafed when I had a cold once. It was like taking speed but not as strong. Maybe I just took too much. Couldnt imagine projecting on it.

[Rudolph]

 

Nothing like the Sudafed circa 1985.

When I was younger and suffered allergies much worse than now I would occasionally break down and take over the counter drugs to get my sinus condition under control.

One day was so bad I said, "either I take two of these or I call in sick...". I looked over at my wife with her hair up in curlers and the guacamole skin masque and glanced at my infant child screaming his lungs out and I thought, "I need to get to work so I can rest a little". I took the pills and hit the road.

A couple hours later I was walking over to a meeting in a building at the other end of campus and I saw a coworker approaching. "Pardon me, friend, but can you verify for me one thing?... are my feet really floating three inches off the ground?...."

I understand that they have long since altered the formula to a "daytime" concentration to allow for a more normal workaday experience.

[light487]

Well I had some limited success over the weekend. I found that after drinking half a glass of water I was able to stay hydrated but limited the saliva to around half. I still had to swallow a bunch of times but I found a way to do it where only my throat was swallowing rather than using my entire mouth, tongue and jaw to swallow.. kind of how you swallow when you are in the dentist chair and you can't move or close your mouth but still need to swallow. So it was a lot less disruptive and was easier to put into the background.

[Lionheart]

 Realize that swallowing is completely natural and tell yourself that it "won't" interrupt your Phasing session. You can program your mind to ignore any interferences if you truly believe. When I had that problem in the past I overcame it with the power of suggestion.

[floriferous]

I remember when I was learning Franks phasing method at about 8 on the count I remember swallowing a few times and thinking I was ruining it but by the count of 10 I was suddenly in a deep focus 10 ( a point consciousness state) so in fact swallowing had no real adverse effect on my progress.

Also it might help putting swallowing in your ECB.

[Rudolph]

I remember thinking about the swallowing action during the early stages of my learning curve for this projection method. I just decided to not worry about it and it became a non-issue for me.

I think facial and head movements are not as disruptive as body movement in the early stage.