Tag Archives: Astral Projection

Great Article I Just Found – Astral Voyage

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There’s a really well written article I just found on the website I go to once in a while called Astral Voyage.  The article is entitled “Astral Projection/Dreaming/Lucid Dreaming”.  I stumbled upon it when I was doing a google search for articles pertaining to differences and similarities of Lucid Dreams to Astral Projections.

http://www.astralvoyage.com/projection/difference.html

April 30, 2003
It’s my opinion that astral projection, dreaming and lucid dreaming are intertwined in the same locale. The difference between dreams, projection and lucid dreaming is what is at the controls (the conscious mind or the subconscious mind). Even if you get the vibrations and roll out of your physical body, you will end up “dreaming” very quickly if you don’t know what you’re doing. People say, “I failed because I fell into a dream.” Well, no you didn’t, you just gave up conscious control to the subconscious mind which makes the experience totally different! The subconscious mind has its own agenda and communication system.

Your conscious mind is concerned with the here and now. Your subconscious mind is concerned with processing life events, working out soul lessons, attempting to bring past and future events into your consciousness, and a bevy of other things. Subtle realm experiences, dream or otherwise, get “fantasy like” because again, a person has lost conscious control. The same exact thing happens in the astral if you don’t use clarity statements. People just don’t realize what the astral is like (during a conscious projection). Yes, it can be as lucid and clear as the waking state, but you can slip into the Alice in Wonderland effect (subconscious control) faster than you can shake a stick! In fact, control can be lost in less than a minute. I have rolled out of my body, gotten half way down my stairs, totally lost conscious control, and slipped into fantasy land immediately. Only through sheer will power, and constantly directing my focus towards my goal, am I able to maintain a lucid state. Published astral projection author, William Buhlman, also states that clarity statements are a must for maintaining lucidity and control.

The astral is a malleable place where form follows thought, but don’t just think it follows “conscious” thought. It also follows subconscious thought. Many an advanced projector, including the famous Robert Monroe, would marvel at how things would materialize (or that they would be transported to an event or place) quicker than they could form the desire consciously. That is how fast and strong the subconscious works!

An example of an astral dream is if you are working on a lesson. Many lessons cannot be worked out on the physical plane because you wouldn’t be able to handle the issue over and over (or even once), whereas you can handle fairly severe scenarios in the astral. For example, we assume all beings not recognizable, such as subtle plane entities, are “evil.” If you dream of a freaky looking entity then you’ll experience the fear emotion. Fear is generally the first reaction, and often the only reaction, to this experience. Time and time again I was afraid of what I didn’t recognize, until I learned to give it a chance, and even send it love. Only then did it morph into something I recognized and that is, the very same life energy that I was. I doubt I’d find it all too pleasant to find some scary looking being in my bedroom at night in the physical, but I can endure it over and over in the astral. It seems like a “crazy” dream, but it is your subconscious mind nudging you in the direction of total awareness and unconditional love.

Dreams can often come true. A common name for a psychic of this sort is a “sleeping psychic.” If we did nothing but remain in our bodies during sleep then this would not be possible. People have even met their friends and loved ones in “dreams” and both parties remembered the experience. In so called dreams, messages are given and futures told.

People write me in frustration that they can’t consciously project. Well, why not instead realize that you project every night and tackle it from a different viewpoint? Why not learn lucid dreaming (or lucid projection) and bypass the whole nonsense of “vibrations and rollout?”

Remember, you project every night you sleep. All we’re doing here is trying to get conscious control of the subtle state.

Anne

Explaining that whatever is at the controls determines the experience is a different way of saying what I talk about when I say that what differentiates the experience is YOU, not “where” or “what” you’re experiencing. If you’ve read my own articles here on UB, you’ll know that I try to internalize the experience instead of externalizing. Dreaming, Lucid Dreaming and Astral Projection aren’t something you do, they’re a state of mind you are. Anne tells that beautifully when she talks about either having the conscious or subconscious mind in control… and that’s really a “bang on” explanation for it.

The inclusion of ideas from Buhlman and Monroe are nice. It shows me Anne’s ability to perceive the bigger picture and the ability to pick out the ideas and thoughts that most resonate with her from any particular person/author… which is refreshing to see.

When she talks about “sending the entity love” I believe this is a simple metaphor (and a well used one by a lot of people, some people might call this “sending PUL”, although I don’t think it needs to be so meticulously defined) for accepting what you experience and don’t be afraid. “Sending Love” simply means to go out and experience things with no desire to harm and all the desire in your heart to help others through no gain to yourself.

She does talk about “remaining in our bodies”, and my experiences directly conflict with this idea, but I can definitely support the vast majority of what she talks about. It’s a great article. Hopefully you’ve read it through with as much gusto as I did. I believe it’s easy for people to confuse WHAT they’re experiencing due to that Conscious/Subconscious switch. A fully conscious experience (aka: ASTRAL AWARENESS) will feel entirely different from a fully subconscious experience (aka: DREAM AWARENESS). It’s this separation that causes the confusion in people and is what I believe to be the very source of much of the division between the non-physical community at this time.

Post Focus! Contenteo!

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I read a wonderful post today made by a new member named Contenteo who had some big realizations after having their first Astral Projection! I thought it would be beneficial to post them here so that others off the Pulse can enjoy it too! So with his permission, here is it:

“I am proud to announce that this morning I had my first conscious exit astral projections(I had three). I foremost want to thank the community for being there and lending advice to help me achieve this. I appreciate all who helped me the last few weeks.

I don’t need the typical congratulatory posts, or feel the need to explain my experience(super long story posts are annoying to me) for self satisfaction.

What I do want to discuss is the vast difference between what I thought I was doing right, and what actually were factors in my success in projection. I started my journey about a month ago and did a tremendous amount of research, so I feel I am a good newcomer-to-success story and have a couple of major insights to lend to the community. What worries me most is although the information I got was accurate; there is a way to go about interpreting this information that can lead you down a near dead end path in your projection attempts. I can’t tell you how many posts I scanned through that contained people experiencing the same frustrations I was, and in retrospect, it was because we were all misinterpreting the fundamentals.

1. State of mind is very important to a first projections

When I started, I was attempting to go about projection before I went to sleep, in the evening or in the late night. Unknowingly, this was my first critical mistake. I read that night attempts were more difficult, however, I thought I could manage harder training. Who wants to get up in the morning to project, that sounds like major suckage. I was wrong. I got extremely proficient at entering a strong F12, to the point where I could force immense vibrations. But it was always the same things that got in my way. My breathing. A really annoying itch. Thinking I heard something. In essence, BEING AWARE. I was shooting myself in the foot.

When you go about phasing its not that you are shutting off your psychical awareness, but rather completely diverting your focus; on visualization, or being really good at a mantra. This is extremely difficult. I will repeat that, this is extremely difficult. In the old world, people would train a lifetime to master this. And you want to pump this thing out?

You need help if you want to do this quickly. The helping crutch is choosing the right frame-of-mind. You will use this to get through the exit the first time. Once you know that feeling, I can assure you will understand the basic way to get there. So what is this crutch of a state? We have all had it. It is the “screw it, I am going back to bed to catch another hour of sleep” feeling. It is that quintessential, identifiable drowsiness that is actually rather rewarding and pleasant. So I highly recommend, not attempting to project at night, but instead sleeping for like 4 hours, waking up and forcing yourself out of bed. Take a shower, eat breakfast, and start you day, really do whatever you want, until that, screw-it-I-am-going-back-to-bed-for-another-hour feeling creeps up. That’s when you lay down on your non-usual sleeping comfy place and attempt your projection. Again, this is to learn the way to get there. Then you can really start your training once you know the initial path.

2. Practice meditation

There is not an agreed upon nomenclature in this field, so for this purpose, I will refer to meditation as a deliberate mental expedition to find the “exit” into the astral. I was meditating, when I thought I was on the path to phasing. This was my second critical mistake. When meditating, you can get very deep into your consciousness(a deep F12), you can even stand at the foot of the “exit”, but you will not know HOW to use the exit unless you have experienced it once before. When I started I was so full of vigor to find it enter it, and failed repeatedly. I can’t tell you how frustrating this is; you will time and time again wake up sweating, trying to analyze what you did wrong. I am sure most newcomers will experience exactly what I am talking about. So, when beginning, you are in a conundrum of sorts, you need to get somewhere you don’t know how to get to, and all you have is a myriad of mixed approaches people have suggested to explore your surrounding when you close your eyes in a relaxed state.

Now although these repeated attempts at meditation are frustrating, especially when they appear fruitless, please do not discount them. They will teach you how to get to the exit, even if you can’t go through it. So when you finally give the morning technique a shot, you will identify and understand all the basic feelings you encounter. You need to understand and be comfortable with all these feelings and learn what the milestones are so they don’t freak you out, when you experience them and can discount them without a worry.

So contrary to what I said in 1, practice before bed. Do it and do it often, but understand that a deep F12 state is your goal. This I did right. Hell, try to find the exit, but please don’t get frustrated if you can’t, just simply understand you are going to need that state of mind tip in 1 to understand the way. Then when you understand how to apply the way to find that exit in a deep F12. Practice, Practice, Practice.

Intermission – I so wish I had these tips when I started.

3. Don’t search for the milestones

Vibrations. Random Noises. Mind Awake Body Asleep. A feeling of being pulled upward. I know all these sensations very well after all my practice, but when you are actually phasing, experiencing any of them doesn’t matter, ignoring them is what matters. That is so vital. I would stay up night searching for the path, exploring colors, reaching chest pounding and hyperventilation dead ends, thinking I just need to get past those points. Thinking that finding the vibrations is the secret to astral projection and I am just failing at finding them. This is NOT the case. Phasing is natural, there is no searching for milestones. There is no getting past anything. I could never believe that it just happens so easily, but it does. I feel so foolish after all my attempts, but am grateful I understand how to reach different levels of consciousness so quickly now. So how do you get there if milestones aren’t the solution?

4. Visualization

Visualization is the key. Honestly a mantra does not work for me because I get to bored with it after a while, and start thinking about other things. I think very few of us are that mastered at focus. Again, that’s a lifetime of training. So what exactly is visualization?

The best example is daydreaming. You know when you are daydreaming, and you snap back into reality. That action, that disconnectedness, is exactly what we are trying to achieve. That is what we want to attempt to recreate. Lay there in a relaxed state taking deep breaths and state thinking out stories. Really anything you could daydream about. Ironically, this is how I get to sleep at night. The differences, is that because you have been practicing, you know all the cues of falling asleep. You will visualize a story, and then snap back to thinking that you lost focus of your story. But that is natural and OK. Actually what you just did was perfect. You are more disconnected and still aware. Then visualize another story, try to bring it as far as you can. And again you will lose focus and snap back. Be persistent and stay focused on you stories. Really they can be any physical manifestation daydream, just keep ’em coming. Eventually, the milestones will start to kick in. For instance a noise in one of your visualizations will actually happen, but because you have been practicing you will not be startled. Just think, “good” and enjoy the added effects to you thoughts. Keep up your visualization attempts and deeper, passing the vibration milestones, far past where you realized you are actually laying there. It will just happen, because you will be so engrossed in your visualization. You will feel vibrations and a rush/whoosh. From this point, you have entered the natural process. It will feel natural, just maintain composure and keep focus on you visualizations. From this launching pad, you can go all sorts of places depending on your proficiency.

5. Remember your training

Because you have been practicing and reading so much about the astral, remember the tenets will be easy when you get to the training ground or wherever you launch takes you. Thought = Action, Emotions will Manifest. Intent is King.

You will feel light and soft and everything will be beautiful. The astral is absolutely gorgeous. It is more astounding and comforting then anything I could have ever imagined it to be.

To recap. Don’t force yourself into a state. You have to know the path. Stay up late, wake up a couple hours early, but use those hours to go back to rest/attempt when your body tells you too. Practice before going to bed on normal nights. Understand the milestones, but don’t search for them, the process is natural. Searching will interfere with the steadfast visualization that is truly required to achieve success.

I wish you all the best in your journeys and would like to thank everyone here at the board again for helping me out so much. I sincerely hope this helps newcomers. It is exactly the information I needed when I started.

Sincerely,

Contenteo”

Good job Contenteo! 🙂

My missteps over the last ten years

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It took me over 10 years to make any real progress towards my goal of experiencing astral projection.  I was thinking about this last night and I felt it might be helpful for others to know the points during those 10 years that I feel were the prime motivators for my unsuccessful attempts.

I feel that the #1 reason for my unsuccessful attempts over such a long period of time was due to the term that Robert Monroe coined: “Mind Awake / Body Asleep“.  The problem with it, and a concept that I couldn’t grasp at the time was that the “Body Asleep” part is completely WRONG.  Unless your goal is to actually fall asleep, go into a dream and become conscious within that dream (this is called a lucid awareness experience), then there is actually no point where you ever need your body to be put “asleep”.

Your body isn’t put to sleep as much as you make it so that the input you’re receiving from your five physical senses is greatly reduced.  This begins the process for you to disassociate from this physical reality.  While that’s happening focus your attention ‘within’, which is away from this physical reality.

The second biggest problem I’ve encountered is that when I was younger, I was quite impatient.  I’d read through a book that had a dozen great exercises in it and then I’d go to bed and TRY THEM ALL!!  *facepalms*  Yeah, don’t ever do that… it’ll cause more frustration than anything.  Pick a single exercise and try it out for at least a solid week.

Another issue was that I didn’t make the connection between Conscious Exits and Meditation. If you want to learn to Astral Project at any time during the day from a completely conscious state of awareness (this is called doing a Conscious Exit), then it’s just about a mandatory requirement that you learn to meditate. This was something I didn’t understand back then. The state that you should learn to get into is called the Point of Consciousness (PoC) state. It’s from there you can do most of the classic OBE techniques from. I remember one whereby you were instructed to create your own astral body using your thought power… but it never really indicated what “state of mind” you initially needed to be in to do it. I haven’t gone back to that technique, but the PoC state would be perfect for that.

So yeah, hopefully reading these will help you to move forward in the future… I’ll try to add some more of my missteps as I think of them. 🙂

Morning Projection – Saturday, February 12th, 2011

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I had another astral awareness experience that I want to write down and share.  I hadn\’t planned on trying for any conscious exits, so this is quite spontaneous.

I woke up around 7am this morning and went the bathroom, came back and just tried to get back to sleep as normal as I felt rather tired from a frustrating day prior.  Anyway, as soon as I dropped back to sleep I found myself in the non-physical with an astral awareness!  I was quite shocked really.

I believe what occurred was a Focus 2 oC experience.  Anyway, the environment was someone\’s house and there was a party of sorts going on.  I walked up to a random stranger and began talking to them, trying to see where abouts I was (F2 or F3)… the gentleman I spoke with didn\’t see \”all there\” and he had some trouble making words, so if it could have been something manifested by my own mind, or it could have been someone dreaming… this would throw some wrenches in my \”no sharing dreams\” thing.  LOL  Oh well, I remain skeptically open.  🙂

I asked him for any information, like his address or something… and I mentioned to him where I lived, and he agreed and said the same city.  To which he also replied \”54..\” then a pause like he was really trying to think hard about it \”54 Rustyax\”.  Now, I know no such road exists where I live… but I noted it down anyway.  I didn\’t get much more information out of him about that.

We began to walk elsewhere, to which I began to attempt to explain where exactly we were, I mentioned to him that we were in the non-physical and that he could possibly be dreaming.  I remember mentioning how physically real the non-physical felt, even though we \”call it\” the non-physical.  I picked up a dog which looked like one of the first dogs I owned, and began petting it, noting to myself how real and lively it seemed.  I noted that the gentleman had a crutch or limp of some kind with some kind of metal gadget hooked up to help him walk.

We proceeded into the basement where a few other people were there watching, what looked like Lord of the Rings on the TV.  A few seconds after that, I abruptly woke up.  It was a really quick wake up too, immediate shift to black and back in my bed.  I didn\’t even have time to realize I was coming to.  Total time projecting felt like 5 minutes.

Connection Between Classic OBEs and Phasing

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I\’ve recently figured out for myself the connection between Classic Separation OBEs and Phasing.  Simply put, a classic obe is what comes about when you interrupt a phasing practice and initiate an \”exit technique\” and alternatively, if you\’re doing a classic separation obe and instead of initiating an exit technique you just kept doing what you were doing, you\’ll eventually phase directly into the Astral.

Three things came forth recently to get me to this line of thinking.  I first began thinking about this back when I was reading about when Frank had to slow down his own projections in order to have a RTZ Projection.  Next there was a method posted on the Astral Viewers from one of their Admins, Bedeekin.  His made mention of the method that he used for many, many years that was successful for him.  Well, one part of his method takes him to what sounds like a deep Focus 10/early Focus 12, which as I know it is the precursor to a proper Phasing attempt.  However, he then interrupts that Phasing process and initiates an exit technique. Then just now I got to thinking about a night when I experienced this particular thing first hand and, as Frank would say, the penny dropped.

My experience was back in March 2010, and I\’ll relay that quickly before moving on.  I went to bed on the Saturday night as usual.  It was around 2am.  That night I gained a lucid awareness in the dream I was having which was taking place just outside my house.   Some time went by and I began to feel that usual sensation that meant I was beginning to physically wake up.  The dream faded to black, I felt a shift, and I felt myself back in my bed.  I now recognize this state as Focus 12, as I didn\’t fully wake up.  I didn\’t bother opening my eyes, since I knew where I was.  This was the first time I ever experienced and learned about what I call the \”Eyes Closed/Body Still\” state upon waking.  Well, almost immediately, I felt another shift and I found myself in another lucid awareness experience.  This happened two more times.  All four lucid awareness experiences happened quite rapidly and in succession.  Each time I was in the non-physical for what felt like 2 – 4 minutes.  Each time I phased back to the physical, I kept that \”Eyes Closed/Body Still\” state.

After the fourth experience something strange and completely unexpected happened.  I attempted to slip back into another lucid awareness experience like I did the four times previous, but I didn\’t quite make it in.  I felt that it was immediately slipping away.  What I usually do to strengthen the experience in this kind of situation (as I\’ve mentioned on the forums before) is spin, but it\’s usually done while already having the lucid awareness experience, this time I don\’t believe I actually got all the way into the non-physical!  So I started spinning trying to get a grip on the experience, however after probably 3 seconds of spinning I felt I had fully lost the dream, however I was also still sleeping and I felt I was in my bedroom.

I couldn\’t see anything yet, but I felt my arms and legs floating upwards and the distinct \”separation\” feeling.  I sat up and kinda floated awkwardly upwards a bit and towards the end of the bed, kind of out of control.  By the time I had fully cleared my body, my vision came in.  I\’m not sure if I had chose to see or if it just clicked on, but either way I could see.

So that\’s it, that\’s the connection.  By interrupting a normal Phasing session at a certain point, you can then initiate an exit technique and have a classic separation OBE.  This also works in reverse, in that if you\’re going for a classic separation obe, you can for-go the exit technique and just keep doing what you\’re doing and you\’ll end up Phasing directly into the \”astral\”.  So for people who have problems having \”astral projections\” this is what I suggest you try.

We should be able to use this information to guide where we want to go in the non-physical directly from the get-go.  If you\’re someone who only does RTZ projections and wish to visit the greater non-physical (astral), then simply stop doing your usual exit technique and just keep doing what you were doing prior to that and eventually you\’ll phase.  And if you\’re a phaser and wish to experience the RTZ, then interrupt your phasing practice in Focus 12 and initiate an exit technique.

Phasing – Physical Body Disassociation

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I believe I need to explain the reasoning behind this particular article before you read it. First, it\’s geared towards beginners of Phasing. The action of physical body disassociation should be a natural and automatic one, especially if you\’re doing the Noticing or Mental Rundown exercises correctly. However, as with all things, sometimes it just doesn\’t work out that well and someone needs to focus upon other reasons for why a particular exercise isn\’t working. In this case, especially for the beginner, I felt it was important for people to know and understand what was happening behind the scenes with your physical body as you begin to do the phasing exercises.

Now, onto the article…

I tell people that to do Phasing it requires one to disassociate from their physical body and surroundings. That\’s really easier said than done. How do we actually go about disassociating?

Well, there are two parts to Phasing. First, you need to keep your consciousness focused upon something/somewhere that isn\’t \”here\”. This is what our Phasing Exercises do. In the case of Noticing, we\’re placing our conscious awareness into the blackness we\’re viewing. In the case of a Mental Rundown, we\’re placing our conscious awareness in the scene we\’re visualizing. That\’s all fine and well, but there\’s another half to the story and that\’s the point of this article.

Disassociating is something that I\’ve been doing automatically without even realizing it and it wasn\’t until last night that I figured it out. Disassociating from the physical is all about reducing the physical input you are processing from your physical senses. We do this by desensitizing them. Usually this is done very naturally and gradually over the course of our practice time. However, sometimes it doesn\’t work out too well and it\’s our physical senses that end up locking us into this reality. So, how do we go about desensitizing our physical senses and break that hold that physical reality has upon our consciousness?

We have five physical senses which connect and lock us here in this physical reality. To Phase, we need to reduce the processing of that physical input and increase the processing of our non-physical input. The scope of this article is to talk about the reduction of the processing of the physical input.

Our five physical senses are Taste, Touch, Seeing, Hearing and Smell.

Taste and smell are kind of a non-issue. Unless you\’re eating and smelling things while you\’re projecting, you shouldn\’t need to worry about these.

Desensitizing your sight begins the moment you close your eyes. Actually, you can even do this with your eyes open. If you stare at something that isn\’t moving and if you manage to keep your eyes relatively still, you\’ll begin to see a fading effect happen. What\’s happening is that your eyes are becoming desensitized to the visual input being presented to them, because nothing in your field of view is changing. Well, this is what begins to happen when we close our eyes. The blackness isn\’t visually appealing, so our physical eyes begin to shut down on us. If you do this with your eyes open, you might actually recognize the pattern of the fading you\’re seeing… it\’s probably very similar to that which you experience in Focus 10/12.

Our sense of touch can be a little more difficult to desensitize. To do this, we keep our bodies perfectly still. That way the input we\’re receiving eventually becomes familiar and then begins to get ignored altogether. This causes the numbing sensation that most people notice.

Hearing is probably the hardest one to ignore, unless you wear earplugs or use an audio device of some kind. If you\’re sensitive to sound then you\’ll just need to make sure you\’re in a quiet area.

You should obviously not have to consciously worry too much about these things while you\’re practicing as that will probably be distracting. However, note something that I haven\’t talked about yet: Relaxation. I\’m slowly coming to the conclusion that relaxation isn\’t a requirement for projecting. You might need a base level of relaxation to remove any tension you might have in certain muscles, but as long as you\’re comfortable and free from points of stress, it shouldn\’t be a problem.

Next time you find yourself just sitting at your computer or watching TV, take note of your five physical senses and see if you can reduce their input slightly.

You can even use this knowledge, if applied to your physical body as you\’re meditating to enhance your Focus 10/12 state.

Good luck and Enjoy!

Morning Projection – Sunday January 23rd

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Nothing special happened during this experience, I just wanted to get this one down as it\’s my first experience in a few weeks.

I woke up several times during the  morning… and this experience happened sometime between 10am and 11am, after my third waking up.

I found myself driving down what I thought was one of the main highways in my area… and I accidentally exited off the wrong exit!  I dodged a couple cars and a couple people (yes, people on the highway), then I found myself walking… it was at this point that I realized, \”Hey, where\’d my car go?  I was certain I was just in a car… \” and that\’s when the penny dropped, I was in the non-physical and I had a lucid awareness at the time.

At this point I decided to fly straight up, however, the \”highway\” was directly above me… I flew upwards really quickly and through the material of the highway, I could feel the concrete as I passed through it.  The problem at this point was that I felt like I was beginning to lose the non-physical moment… so I quickly went back down, and it stabilized.  I walked forward a bit… and then I remembered my LD -> AP conversion.  I knelt down, and focused on a piece of paper that was stuck to a wall… it had writing on it.  I remember glancing at my hand as well… that was apparently enough to bring my full waking consciousness into the mix, I didn\’t have to ask myself my questions!

Unfortunately… as soon as my Astral Awareness came around, I started to lose it once again and couldn\’t regain it.  And I woke up… ending my non-physical experience. The entire thing felt like it was around 2 – 3 minutes.

 

Energy Work and Astral Projection

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Personally speaking, I see no relation between these two activities.  I think people are fully developed enough energetically to begin to successfully astrally project and no further \”development\” is required in that area.

There are many examples out there of individuals being highly successful in the field of Astral Projection without doing any major, supportive energy work.  Probably the biggest name was Robert Monroe… I don\’t believe he did anything of the sort, at least nothing as a major supportive activity for him to project.  Frank Kepple… the Astral Pulses own Phaser, he never felt it was required either.  He would speak from time to time about firing off his chakras while already in a phased state, but that\’s pretty much the extent of it.  Then there\’s William Buhlman, now granted, I haven\’t read all of his work yet, but from what I have, I haven\’t seen much indication of energy work either.  Then there\’s Bedeekin, over on the Astral Viewers, I\’m fairly certain he also doesn\’t do any kind of energy work in order to project (feel free to correct me if I\’m wrong ;)).  Then there\’s probably the most important person I think can think of… myself.

I say I\’m the most important person to myself not because I\’m some narcissistic individual, but because I can really only trust my own experiences.   My own personal experiences are the most important thing in relation to astral projection that I have, just as yours are to you.  My personal experiences (along with all the corroborating evidence above) dictate that energy work simply isn\’t required for Astral Projection practices.

So, if I don\’t do energy work… and I can still project just fine, then I can only conclude that what other people are doing is a waste of time UNLESS they\’re doing it for other purposes aside from Astral Projection.  Let me make that 100% clear, I\’m saying this IN REGARDS to Astral Projection ONLY. My stance is that if your only goal is to do Astral Projection, as mine is, then you do not need to waste time doing any energy work what-so-ever.  You are more than developed enough energetically to get the job done.  I feel it\’s best to put that time to use actually practicing the art.

Why is it that people seem to have this belief that energy work is required?  I think the only phenomenon going on here is a self-reinforcing belief.  A person thinks, for one reason or another, that they need to do energy work in order to succeed in Astral Projection, so they do it… and they find it DOES work which reinforces that belief in them.  While for me, I don\’t think it\’s needed, so I don\’t do it… and I find THAT works, which then further reinforces that belief in me.

My current goal for Astral Projection is to continue what Robert Monroe and Frank Kepple started… and that\’s to bring Astral Projection further into the mainstream and make it easy for people to learn.  This means stripping away all the mystical/occult layers and getting down to the very core of what\’s required.  The very core requirement to be successful in Astral Projection is… *YOU*.

What are Astral Projections?

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I\’m ending this three-parter with my opinion on what Astral Projections are.

Astral Projections and Lucid Dreams are VERY similar, actually they\’re the same experience with one difference:  You.  Sometimes it\’s VERY HARD to determine which experience you are in because of it.  The difference is not the environment you\’re in because the area of consciousness where the two (including normal dreams) take place is the same.  So, if the area of consciousness that these experiences happen in is the same, then what exactly IS that difference I mentioned?  I mentioned in the What are Lucid Dreams article that LD\’s are when you recognize that you\’re in the non-physical (dream).  That knowledge is really the ONLY requisite.  You probably won\’t have any notion that you actually have a physical body somewhere else that is fast asleep.  Well, an Astral experience is when you recognize that you\’re in the non-physical AND you retain all your waking faculties/awareness (or as close to it as possible).

Now, for me… this area you now find yourself in is, in essence, the same place where you dream.  This opens up a world of endless possibilities for you.  You\’re limited, LITERALLY, only by your imagination.  If you want to fight demons or dragons?  Go right ahead!  If you want to talk to elven folk or perhaps visit some faeries?  You can do so!  You can also sift through every memory your physical senses have ever recorded… this is where it starts getting really interesting.  So yeah, whatever you want to do/experience, you\’re able to do/experience.  This area, I call Focus 2 oC as per Frank Kepple\’s model of reality.  It\’s your own personal area of consciousness… sometimes referred to as your \”imagination\” or \”subconscious\”.

You can, however, use this area as a jumping board to Focus 3 oC (again F. Kepples Model), which is what I refer to as \”Collective Consciousness\” area.  Focus 3 oC is where you\’ll meet other \”people\” who are either projecting, or even people who have already physically died and have no physical body anymore.  You may also call upon actual guides to come assist you.

To get to Focus 3 oC from your current Focus 2 oC area you need to clear your mind and stop your thoughts/emotions from fueling the Focus 2 scenario around you.  Doing this will cause the Focus 2 environment to fade away and you\’ll start to see the Collective Focus 3 oC environment come into view.  From there, do what you want.  However, just remember that to remain in Focus 3 oC you need to always keep that tight grip on your thoughts and emotions, or you\’ll start to get Focus 2/3 overlays happening.  Basically, this means that dream imagery will start to creep into your Focus 3 experience… and if you don\’t stop it, you\’ll be pulled back into Focus 2 oC until you can calm your mind down again.

Dream, Lucid and Astral Awareness… these three states of awareness are very important to understand if you care enough to define your experiences.  There are more than just these three levels though.  Between each state of awareness is a wide range.  Think of it as a spectrum with \”Dream Awareness\” on one end, \”Astral Awareness\” at the other end, and \”Lucid Awareness\” in the middle… your consciousness can be along that spectrum anywhere at any time and you can potentially go through the entire range within a single non-physical experience.

So happy traveling!  Enjoy every second of it!

I do not believe Demons exist!

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From time to time on the Astral Pulse forums and lately in the Astral Pulse IRC channel (there are links for both locations on the right side of this website) I\’ve been having to tackle the issue of demons.  People supposedly \”fighting\” with and just having general encounters with demons.

I\’ll just say that \”demons\” (or other negative entities) in the astral is purely a matter of BELIEF.  They only exist in the minds and experiences of those who believe in them.

Now, how did I come to this conclusion?  Well, basically, I can\’t remember a single time in my life where I\’ve ever had an encounter with ANYTHING that could even remotely be considered evil that didn\’t come directly from my subconscious mind.  No objective existence of a negative entity has ever cropped up in my experiences.
I\’ve been Lucid Dreaming for pretty much my entire life and more recently into my Astral Projections, I have never experienced this phenomenon.

What can I infer from this?  Well one of two things.

If demons really do exist then they are afraid to interact with me for some unknown reason.  We know this can\’t be the case due to demon-legend and folklore… and honestly, I\’m nobody special.  Now the second option… they are the creation of those who believe and I do not believe that they exist so I don\’t provide them with the chance to exist.  Makes sense, eh?

The only reason people experience demons in their astral projections is because either they outright believe in them or on some subconscious level outside their normally accepted conscious awareness, they believe in them.  Either way, it\’s a fear-based belief that brings them into your projections.

And seriously… fighting them?  That\’s giving them even more power to exist, because you are only further reinforcing the belief in yourself that they exist by engaging them.  Your best bet is to ignore them as best you can.  Close off your thoughts and emotions to the scenes playing out around you and they\’ll fade away into the nothing they came from.

So, the next time you find yourself facing down \”demons\” in your astral projection, don\’t be afraid, they are a simple fear-based self creation.

John Magnus\’ Book and Message Forum

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I said in a previous post that I finally ended up buying John Magnus\’ book \”Astral Projection and the Nature of Reality\” from my local occult bookshop.

His thoughts and ideas on Astral Projection are very similar, if not identical in most regards to my own.

He has made available to people a forum on his website (www.johnmagnus.com).  It might seem kind of dead over there right now, but John does apparently show up often to check out if anyone has posted.  So, in an effort to try and revitalize his forums and to assist in getting his message out to others, I\’ve added a link to them in my \”Astral Projection Forums\” section.

So head on over there and check it out.  Create an account… I found that you\’ll have to create the account, then do a password retrieval… THEN you can log in with the password emailed to you.  At which point you can go to your account page to change it to whatever you want.

Some of the old posts there are of big help too!  I\’ve been reading through them and learning a lot.  Personally, I\’ll be dropping in there every so often to see as well.  🙂

My New Consciousness Designations – “States of Mind”

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I was dreaming this morning and I came to a realization after I awoke.  I realized that the term “Conscious awareness” just doesn’t work when using it to describe anything more than your awareness during a dream, or in any case, it makes it more confusing.  I need a phrase or phrases to make it easier for new people to learn the concepts and a catch all “Conscious Awareness” just doesn’t do that, because once you pass into Lucid Dreams and even further, Astral Projections, the term begins to fail.

We dream every night of our lives, yet we don’t remember all of them, why?  We have varying levels of consciousness through these dreams… everything from not remembering that a dream ever happened, to remembering bits and pieces of a dream, to remembering every last detail of the dream.

I was thinking about how we “remember” our dreams… and I realized that the dreams I remember most, are the ones in which I was most consciously aware in.  Not consciously aware in that I knew I was dreaming… but consciously aware that I was experiencing the dream AS it was happening.  I call this “Dream Awareness“.  Basically, I’m living the dream life as if I was awake and not realizing it’s a dream.  I am the actor not realizing he’s in a play.  This tends to give me the best chance to remember after I wake.

The next step up from that would be “Lucid Awareness“.  This is the point where you know you’re dreaming and you know that what is around you is a dreamscape.  You don’t have much more awareness than that though.

After that, I’d call it “Astral Awareness“.  At this point, you are as wide awake and aware as if you were awake in the physical reality… except you’re in the nonphysical.

Also, I believe that the line between Lucid Awareness and Astral Awareness can be very blurred.  Your awareness can float between that range at any one time during the experience.  You’ll start off with Lucid Awareness, then muster up Astral Awareness… after some time, you might lose focus and concentration and drop back down to Lucid Awareness.  You could shift back into Dream Awareness too.

For myself, I start off with Dream Awareness, then I’ll shift into Lucid Awareness… after that I’ll do my conversion to bring forth my Astral Awareness.  Generally what happens after some time in Astral Awareness is that I’ll just wake up.

So yeah, these are my new “States of Mind”.  Hopefully they’ll assist me in helping new members on the Pulse and other forums I frequent.

I guess you could say that this is the first thing I now disagree with Frank on!  🙂

Personalreality, from the Astral Pulse, wrote a nice reply to my post.
You can read it on his own personal blog, Shades of Consciousness.

Learn To Tell What Experience You\’re Having

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To get you into the proper mindset in learning how to differentiate and interpret the many experiences (Dream, Lucid Dream, AP, OBE) one can have in the non-physical, I think the following statement sums it up nicely:

\”The difference is not in the nature of the reality but in the consciousness that observes/experiences it.\”

What I\’m saying here is that the nature of the reality you find yourself in (Dream, Lucid Dream, Astral Projection, Out of Body Experience, etc…) isn\’t defined by that reality.  It\’s actually the opposite.  You define the reality…  the nature of your experience is defined solely by your consciousness and how aware you are.

Phasing Method – Don’t Open Your Eyes When You Wake

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SpiritualShawn on the Astral Viewers posted an interesting question about keeping your eyes shut when you wake up to help you to project.

Ok so I want to practice waking up in the morning without opening my eyes or moving? How can I do this? It seems like in the mornings I usually find myself rolling around while waking up or my eyes are already open by the time I realize im awake.

I know If I wake myself up super early and induce a lucid dream I should be able to gently bring myself back to physical conscious (waking up) without moving much because I am already aware in the dream. Other than that I really don’t know how to go about doing this as after waking up in the morning would seem like a practical time for a conscious exit, (for me atleast).

Any tips?

I don’t have any direct tips, but it did remind me of the ONE time I managed to do this… and I’ll recount it here in hopes it has something that might help someone do the same.

So, the one time I managed to do this I was already in a lucid dream (the LD was me in this room full of toilets and urinals… I know, strange LOL) and I began to feel that usual feeling of ‘waking up’. My vision went to black and I felt the shift… I knew I was back in the physical, lying in my bed, and it happened so smoothly that I didn’t bother to open my eyes. I figured I’d go back to sleep, and within what felt like one minute I slipped back into my lucid dream at the exact point I had left, in the toilet-filled room. A couple minutes into this lucid dream, I, again, felt myself waking up… I kept my eyes closed for that waking as well.

I kept doing this over and over… four times, each time I woke up faster and faster. The fifth time, I got into the lucid dream and I immediately began waking up. I initiated my spinning thing to ground and keep myself within the lucid dream… but it didn’t work and had a secondary effect of causing me to have a classic OBE experience where I felt my arms float up and the rest of me follow.  I opened my eyes and I was floating down towards the foot of my bed.  This lasted about 10 seconds, when I came back to the physical.

So that’s the only experience I can remember where I managed to not open my eyes upon waking up.

Many times I’ve read stories of people doing this exact thing to project… well, all I can say is that it does work IF you can remember to not open your eyes when you wake.  For me, it was a matter of already being lucid in the dream and sensing when I was waking so I could prepare myself to do it.

Hopefully this helps someone.  🙂

Why You Need To Control Your Thoughts

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I just started to read William Buhlman\’s book, \”Adventures Beyond The Body\”, and I wanted to share a passage in it which illustrates beautifully why one needs to learn to control their thoughts and keep a focused, goal-oriented mind, when astral projecting.

Buhlman writes:

Each experience increased my realization that my nonphysical state of consciousness was extremely sensitive and responsive to the slightest thought. My prevailing conscious and subconscious thoughts would instantly propel me in a specific direction. I quickly learned that my subconscious mind exerts much more influence and control over my actions than I ever imagined. Often, a completely spontaneous thought would create an immediate reaction. For example, if I thought about flying, which I often did, I would immediately fly through the ceiling or wall and glide over my neighborhood.

This is probably the best paragraph I\’ve ever read that shows perfectly why we need complete control.

This is what I believe to be the cause behind the experience which some people refer to as the \”Astral Wind\”.  Whereby you\’ll be in one location, then some kind of wind or supposed \”pushing\’\’ effect will happen upon you, where you\’ll end up somewhere else unknowingly.  Well, this is why.

People don\’t realize it and they try to externalize the sensation, which will cause it to appear as something external, such as a \”wind\” that uncontrollably blows you elsewhere.

How to Deal with Itches and Other Physical Distractions

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We all get those dreaded itches and other things that attempt to distract us from our meditations or projection practice.  How you deal with them can ensure you have a good session or a waste of time.

People always ask what do they can do about things like itches, dry mouth, likewise or even intruding sounds.

I generally start by asking people how do they fall asleep at night?  Because the process between that and getting comfortable to meditate or practice projection are really the same.

So ask yourself that:  How do you deal with these obstacles so you can fall asleep at night.

Personally, if I\’m just sitting down to meditate or practice my phasing, I\’ll attempt to take care of whatever current distractions that there might be.  If I\’m already in the middle of practice and an itch occurs, then I\’ll calmly and slowly move towards the area and scratch it.  You should be able to move slightly without losing too much of your relaxation and focus… if you can\’t, then I suggest practicing something to that effect because it truly is a good skill to utilize.

By treating your practice sessions as a mini-sleep, you can effectively learn how to handle any distraction that your body might come up with.
You can try pure will power and not pay attention to the itch or other problem, but in the end, it\’s just easier to deal with it calmly than it is to not pay attention to it.

Now, say the distraction is sound related, say it\’s something external from yourself.  Then you have only so many options.  You can try to stop whatever is making the sounds by, once again, calmly and slowly moving towards whatever is making the noise and quell it.  My personal favourite is to listen to some kind of music or something that\’ll apply a bit of white noise to the room you\’re in.  For me, I use my iPod with various sounds and music files on it… however, I need new earbuds, cause the ones that came with the iPod don\’t fit me well and cause too much pressure.

Another technique for dealing with \”sounds\” is to visualize the sound washing over and past you.  This works very well and if you\’re like me and want to learn how to deal with sounds without them becoming an obstacle in the first place, then this is the one to practice.  Visualize the sound as a wave of water washing over your entire body, going around you and then leaving you forever.  It works great.

Anyways, that\’s all I have for now about taking care of distractions.  I hope this helped a bit.  🙂

Bedeekin\’s Method

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On the Astral Viewers, they have a really good administrator there by the name of Bedeekin.  This gentleman has, I believe, 25+ years of astral projection experience under his belt and has been assisting members of their community for a few years.

With his permission, I\’m posting the method that he uses and has used with great success for many years now.

I believe you\’ll have to register to read the method on the site, but I\’m going to quote it here as well. I do suggest visiting the Astral Viewer forums too, as they have a wonderful array of forums and a great cast of members. 🙂

Bedeekin\’s Method:

Failure to actually have an Out-Of-Body Experience seems to be the most common ‘experience’ among the massive group of people who wish to have one. This frustrates me as much as those who fail because of the wall I run into when trying to teach them. There are many reasons why people are unsuccessful at achieving the state.

One main reason is down to the ‘wealth’ of information one can pick up online and the paragraphs of most OOBE related books in general. I see many posts on sites that say something along the lines of ‘I’ve been researching Astral Projection for ages and now I’m ready to learn how to have one’. This is like saying ‘I have been researching UFOs for ages and now I’m ready to see one’. While they had their best interest at heart because to be fair it is a great idea to research a subject before heading into it head first, this isn’t sky diving. Also, if you wish to research sky diving because you have an interest in doing it, their aren’t many sources available that would profess to know about it and print blatant fabricated facts. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for OOBEs.

A common mistake that people make is a preconceived idea of what OOBES are because of the evident rubbish that is widely available. For instance they may have read that when they enter the Vibrational State (VS) they must call upon their spirit guide to help pull them out. This may fit in with their spiritual beliefs and so if they reach the VS and call upon this mythical guide he/she/it may not appear… which will then have a negative effect on their sense of success. I myself have never seen a spirit guide although I’m sure I could create one if I wished… emphasis on ‘create’.

What I am saying is that to enter the subject with a quasi-religious belief system will only get in the way of success because it just isn’t so.

The majority of the ‘wealth’ of knowledge that one may have acquired by trawling through the pile of information at hand, is as useful as a chocolate fireguard and should be cast off so that one can start afresh and learn from a first hand perspective. I had the advantage of self learning without any outside influences such as the internet and only a few books at hand that I mainly used as a checklist of affirmation that I wasn’t weird.  

Unlearn what you think you have learned.

So let’s get rid of a few misconceptions about OOBEs that often arise through New-age belief-centricity and blatant un-truths that get thrown about due to the writings of popular so-called AP gurus.

*you need to learn how to achieve transcendental meditation and control the energy flow of your chakras.

Not true. You just need to keep your mind passively active while your body relaxes into the sleep slate or be able to slip from a lucid dream into the trance state. Chakras are an eastern philosophy that were origionally intended for use during wake induced meditation and have nothing to do with OOBEs until they were pounced upon by the New-age movement during the early part of the 1900s by the Theosophical Society and integrated into ‘astral projection’. Involving chakra opening, long meditation practice is basically a waste of precious time. If you feel better practicing these semi-religious activities in order to success then go for it… the same can be said for taking your lucky teddy-bear into exams; if it makes you feel that it will make you perform better there’s no harm… but in the grand scheme of things there’s also no point.

*you need to learn protection so that you’re not attacked by lower astral negative entities and demons.

Rubbish. There are no lower entities or monsters waiting to attack you while you ‘leave your body’. I can attest to this because I’ve had over three thousand OOBEs over a 25 year period and I have never been attacked or harmed or indeed possessed by anyone or anything. When you enter the State you are merely consciously aware of an otherwise unconscious process you have gone through every night you’ve entered sleep since you were born.

*Your bed or body has to be facing a certain way/position.

No harm can be done by lying a certain way… if you think it will work then do it. Sleep on the floor… in the kitchen… on the sofa… with a pillow or without… on your back, front, side or head… if it’s the way you normally sleep… do it.

*You need to breath a certain way… in through the nose out through the mouth etc.

Not so… just breath as you normally do. Your breathing self regulates once you enter the state. Don’t pay any attention to your breathing.
I’m sure I’ll come across other misconceptions as I’m writing… I’ll bullet-point important things like that along the way.

There are three main ways to enter the ‘State’; before sleep, during REM dream sleep and upon waking from a nights sleep.

*Before sleep state induction. this requires a set up ‘pre-sleep’ that primes you biochemically and physiologically to enter the state.

*REM dream sleep induction requires a grasp of Lucid Dreaming and is a bit hit and miss for the newbie.

*Waking state induction requires the ability to recognize that you have woken up and at that very moment remembering not to move, roll over, scratch an itch or open the eyes… or even to start listening to the noises around you. It takes a bit of practice but it is a very successful way of entering the State.

There are two very different types of OOBE.

* Astral Projection. This is a whole body projection into an environment that is commonly referred to in new-age writings as the Astral Realm. A strange word to use because it conjures up pre-conceived images of a starry mythical realm filled with beings of astral energy etc. However upon entering it, it’s soon realized that it is more familiar as the landscape or world you encounter when dreaming. But you have entered through the back door, and can objectively investigate and explore it without suffering from the sub-conscious imagery you are normally blinded by or the story-line you are normally wrapped up in when dreaming. Within the ‘Astral’… not even the sky is the limit. This environment, however real it seems may be considered a virtual world that is created by the projector or an actual authentic realm. Upon experiencing it, believing that it is real or fabricated matters not because it is indistinguishable from reality… even surpassing normal reality in quality and ‘reality’.

* 1st Phase OOBE. This is seemingly a projection into this reality, often referred to in new-age philosophy as an ‘ethereal projection’. It is much more difficult to achieve because of the way it is entered; during Sleep Paralysis. Apart from the fact that it takes place in this time and reality, the main difference from AP is that instead of experiencing it in body, you are seemingly a free floating point of conscious awareness. This phase can lead on to 2nd Phase which is again experienced as a free floating consciousness but is not in this reality.

Both of these different OOBEs are experienced by entering the state in varied degrees of deepness.

PRE-SLEEP INDUCTION

This method is the main one I personally use. I have used the other methods but this one when done correctly does make for a strong experience. It’s also the one I predominantly teach or rather explain. The main key to achieving it is the pre-sleep or nap. I previously posted this method but soon realized that it was too specific about hours spent in the nap and between the nap and going to to bed to enter the state. And it needed more explanation and a detailed phenomenological breakdown.

The basic goal is to prime yourself by having an hour or an hour and a half of non-dream sleep in the evening. This nap can be taken at any time after 6pm providing that you are actually tired and that you attempt to induce the state within four hours at the most after waking.

For example:

if you decide to take an hour nap at 8pm and wake at 9pm make sure you attempt induction after 10 and before 1am.
however, if you wait till after midnight then it is possible to have an hour nap, wake up for about half an hour then attempt induction. I have used this many times when it’s been impossible to get a good nap during the evening.

All you have to remember is that you nap solidly and do not under any circumstances drift back off to sleep upon waking from it, otherwise you will dream and ruin your chance for state inducement.

There is a certain way of feeling between the nap and state inducement that indicates that you are primed… the physical symptoms that indicate that you are primed for the state are among other things; itchy eyed, borderline tired and alert, slightly hypertensive or having the mild sensation that you may be coming down with a cold and a slow steady heart rate.

Two things to note:

* the nap or a non-dream pre-sleep is very important and could be considered the ‘key’ to the whole experience.

* Do not force the nap. You need to be sleepy for it to work.

The only real way to make sure you are correctly primed is to induce the state and there are many effective ways to do this.

First of all you have to lay down on a comfortable surface; a bed, a couch, a hammock, the back seat of a car, whatever you find comfortable. Any position will work. I personally lie on my back or side. It doesn’t matter whether you use a pillow or not. You can have bed covers on or not. Just make sure you are comfortable.
Close your eyes… this sounds obvious, but some people actually ask ‘do I close my eyes?’
Let your mind do its own thing for a couple of minutes… then try to quieten your mind. Don’t worry too much about this. The main thing is to lie as still as possible.

A couple of things you should not pay any attention to because they are simply a waste of thought;

*any limb or body twitches

*the phosphorescent light show your eyes give off such as blobs of light etc

*subtle localized buzzing in your muscles or fingertips

*breathing

*the position of your head

All you need to think about at this point is to become calm and stay passively conscious. To let your body relax. This should take no more than 5 to 10 minutes.

It’s at this point that you can use different methods to bring on the state.

This is the one method I have used for 25 years and really can’t comment on others. I’m sure you may have one that you usually try inducing with… but for the sake of this guide try this one.

When you feel relaxed start to think of a sound, word, song or name… think of it as though you are expecting to here it. Roll it around in your head. Imagine it in your head clearly. Alternatively you can simply imagine a voice rambling, or talking, as though talking to you. This imagined sound will start to take on a life of it’s own and may amplify.

If you are trying to do this for more than ten minutes and nothing interesting happens, you probably aren’t primed for the occasion. I only say this because the state shift is quite rapid if the pre-sleep was done correctly. I will mention that ten minutes of just simply lying still can feel like a long time.

If you are primed, when the sound increases you may feel a rush of alert relaxation washing over your body coupled with a distinct shift in conscious awareness. It’s a very difficult feeling to describe other than it is a ‘switch over’. You should feel like your awareness has took on a new spatiality. It almost feels like your head clears, like a bunged up nostril does when it clears after being blocked during a cold. You should also instinctively feel that you are in the state either because you have felt this before or that it is something new. At this point you must try to stay passive, calm and try to not get excited. A sound like you have your ears to a conch-shell should be heard. you may experience little intermittent bursts of rumbling – like the rumbling you hear when you strain your inner ear muscles when you yawn. Your limbs will feel like they have been anesthetized by Nitrous Oxide…

Here’s a quick checklist of symptoms indicating successful entrance into the state:

* a sudden rush of relaxation

* a very distinct flip/shift/switch to a spatially different state of conscious awareness.

* instinctive knowing that you are in the state.

* auditory sensations like hissing, the sound of listening to a conch-shell and intermittent bursts of rumbling.

* a tingling numbed anesthetized sensation, most noticeably in the limbs.

At the point you realize you are in the state it is time to act quickly to enter an Astral Projection. Waiting for, or encouraging full vibrational sleep paralysis will make it possible to enter a 1st phase. For now we will walk before we can run and learn how to Astrally Project.

Astral Projection

Upon instant identification of entry into the state it is necessary to employ a swift separation technique to avoid becoming embroiled in full sleep paralysis. There are a multitude of separation methods such as, rolling out, dropping through the body, imagining a magnet pulling you out, imagining you are a balloon, picking a point in space to reach, imagining being propelled out like a rocket… and many many more. The one that is most effective for the purposes of this guide and because it is my most used method so far, is the ‘climbing the rope’ technique.

You may want to place a pillow or cushion across your lower abdomen or lay with your hands on top of the bed covers before you start to relax. This ensures a soft surface so as to ease the transition of losing sensation in them. It’s up to you.

Once you feel that you have shifted into the state you will have lost the tactile sensation of your hands but still retained the sensation of their relative position.. i.e. you will still know and feel that you have hands.

What you need to do at this point is to actually reach up and grab a rope. Don’t visualize the rope… expect it to be there. Don’t worry about how it should feel just do it. I can’t stress this enough.

* Do not ‘imagine’ yourself doing it.

* Just do it.

* Don’t think about it.

* just do it.

* The movement of your phantom limbs is instinctual.

There will be a rope there… not necessarily an actual rope, made of fibers or hemp… it is simply a leverage point for you to grasp. Give no time to thinking about the rope, what it is, why it is there, how it is there or how you should move to grab it.

JUST GRAB THE ROPE BECAUSE IT IS THERE ABOVE YOU READY TO BE GRABBED.

The instant you have it pull yourself up… hand over hand… like you would if you were pulling yourself up a rope. Do it with deliberation… do it aggressively, steadily and fast. Pull yourself up the rope. Don’t even consider that you may be pulling yourself out of your physical or because of how real it seems that you must be doing it physically. Don’t pay attention to any of the sensations. If there is resistance, put some struggle into it… pull hard. Eventually and quickly you should suddenly be ‘Free’.

Failure usually takes place because of thinking too much or over analyzing what is happening. Also paying too much heed to sensations leads to considerable failure to stay in the state and out of body. These analytical thoughts should be reserved for after the experience and marked down in your journal. When you are in the state everything should be done on impulse and with deliberate action.

failure to stay within the state will transpire if:

* Too much thought is given trying to visualize the rope or analyzing what is happening.

* Thinking about how the sensations feel.

* pausing or remaining still too long – this can be as less as 5 seconds.

* Believing that this can’t be happening or the disbelief that the rope is there.

* Merely imagining movement.

Success at staying within the state will transpire if:

* you instantly acknowledge that the rope is there.

* you get on with it.

* You keep moving.

* You take it for granted that you are doing it.

Staying still and waiting for something to happen after the state shift, is the most common mistake beginners make; to no fault of their own. It is after all an amazing experience that feels more real than reality yet something they may never have experienced before. The secret is to be actively engaged yet flippant and passive throughout the experience. You may say that’s two opposites, but keep in mind that you do this when playing a video game or when engaged in sport…. you don’t think about what you are doing but you are totally absorbed in the activity. This is part of the mindset of the state.
I chose the ‘climbing the rope’ technique because it consists of one very important thing… that of ‘action’ and vigorous ‘movement’, probably the most important aspect of staying within the state and Out of Body. Constant movement and observation is the key to ‘anchoring’ yourself in the ‘Astral’… any extended lapse in movement or doubt – which normally takes the form of thoughts of your actual physical body – will cause re-physicality and an end to the experience. You can however ‘rescue’ the experience by instantly realizing you are returning to the physical by anchoring yourself in the out of body state.

Anchoring yourself in the ‘Astral’ body and Environment.

Once you are out what now? If you think this for too long while staying still you will phase back into your physical. So, You literally have to anchor yourself in the experience. The main objective of anchoring is to keep you immersed in the experience by disassociating your conscious perception from your physical perception.
The first thing you will most probably experience is blindness. So you can kill two birds with one stone by rubbing your hands together in front of your face and blowing on them… the tactile sensation of doing this will absolutely astound you and by concentrating on feeling and seeing, your hands will start to develop in your field of vision – very much like a polaroid picture appears. Look at your hands… the creases the folds of skin, your fingernails. The more you engross yourself in the OOBE the more you will see and feel. Reach out and feel for a floor, a wall… furniture. Keep on the move, constantly looking, moving, taking in the richness and amazing detail of the World around you. Try to keep your eyes on nearby objects… if you look too far into the distance you may end up there in an instant. You must keep active and engaged to root yourself. The more you anchor yourself the more vivid the world will be around you
You can use the hand rubbing technique as a safety net at any point you feel yourself return to your physical.

Do’s

Be blatant and have intent

touch your surroundings

touch yourself, like your hands, your face etc

investigate everything

explore

Don’ts

Stay still

worry

doubt

think of your physical body

panic if you think you are losing clarity

Remember – thought and intent controls environment and actions.

I\’ll be honest in that I haven\’t actually found the time to try this method out personally, however, it has helped LOTS of people. I believe that the constant stream of success stories posted on their forum is proof enough.
I fully intend to give this method the attention that it deserves.

Death and the Afterlife

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A lot of people don\’t like John Edward, and for that matter neither do I… however, I would like to quote something he did say because I think it\’s a wonderful thought on how to describe our consciousness in this physical reality and what happens to us when our physical body dies.

Think of the physical body and soul like a glass of water.

What happens when you leave a glass of water sitting on a table? Well, it naturally evaporates. It doesn\’t just disappear though, it simply \’changes state\’. The energy and matter that makes up the water just changes into something different.

That\’s the same as the human soul. You don\’t evaporate, but you do leave your body. And you simply change into something different. Being that your soul is energy, it\’s still there it\’s simply in another form.

So now, you have an empty glass sitting on a table. The empty glass is akin to your empty physical body now that it\’s dead.

The only thing that dies when you die is your physical self, the thing you see in the mirror. Everything else lives on. Your senses, your emotions, your thoughts. They all stay completely alive. Because THAT is the real you.

I don\’t, however, believe that we \”leave\” these bodies in the sense that we were ever in them to begin with… but we do \”leave\” these bodies as in our consciousness can no longer operate within the confines of our physical body.

So then what happens to you after you die?
Is there really a heaven?
A hell?
Purgatory?
The Summerlands?

What exactly happens to you after you die?

My thoughts on this subject revolve around what I now refer to as the \”Wider Reality\”.  Within that concept is the idea of a \”collective consciousness\” area.  This is an area of consciousness where your thoughts and expectations shape what you will see.  I believe that when you die it\’s, for all intents and purposes, a permanent Astral Projection, because now you don\’t have a body to go back to.

Having said that, remember when I said that what you think happens? Well, in a nutshell, a devout Christian expecting to see the Pearly Gates will most likely see them. A Wiccan expecting to see the Summerlands will see just that. Whatever you happen to believe, you will see.  This particular area of consciousness is generally referred to as the \”Belief System Territories\”, a term coined by Robert Monroe who first discovered these particular areas.  Basically, you will gravitate towards the collective area of consciousness set aside for groups of people sharing the same beliefs.  These areas were initially created by individual and group beliefs of people and groups who have existed or do currently exist here on Earth.  You\’ll stay around in these areas until you realize what they really are… a \”self created construct\”, at which point you\’ll move on again and shift to another area of consciousness, known as the \”Transition Area\”.

The \”Transition Area\” is simply that… an area where you can do whatever you want, while you get used to the idea of living in a subjective reality once again.  Eventually you\’ll have to decide if you want to go back to Earth (or somewhere else physical) or go elsewhere and move on.  While you\’re there though, you\’re free to do whatever you want… you can continue whatever research you might have been doing, you can explore the non-physical in all facets of it, you can create your own little \”area\” for yourself, or you can do absolutely nothing at all.  It\’s entirely your choice at this point.

So anyways, that\’s my theory of death and what to expect after you die. The next step is to see if I\’m correct.

Coast to Coast Interview – Albert Taylor

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I read a book called Soul Traveler written by Albert Taylor.  Very good book on Astral Projection.
This is an interview that he did on Coast to Coast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnTMtehcWVo

It\’s a multi-parter. 🙂
I hope you enjoy.

This is a direct link to the play list so you can watch all the parts uninterrupted.

In part 4, he describes the Vibrations very well and what they mean to him.  I\’m in agreement with it.

Vibrations

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One of the big things that confused me most about Astral Projections were what people call the Vibrations.
How do you use them to your advantage to successfully project?

Well, the answer is you DON\’T use them.  They\’re nothing more than a signpost that reads, \”you\’re doing fine, just keep doing what you\’re doing\”.
I\’ll explain…

People generally sit/lie there waiting for these \”vibrations\” to kick in.  This is the first mistake.  They\’re not a goal in itself… you might be one of the people who never experiences them.  Does that mean you can not project?  Not at all!  Because they\’re not something you NEED to project.  They\’re just a sticky note along the consciousness continuum that tells you to keep doing what you\’re doing.

Back when I was practicing the more Classic OBE methods (where you feel a distinct separation) I used to get them quite often, and my mistake was to focus on them, trying to \”expand\” them (whatever that means, nobody ever explained that one satisfactorily to me either) and what ended happening was that they would pass by, and I\’d get frustrated because I was STILL in my body.  In the end, I gave up on having Classic OBEs because I found that they just never work well for me.  🙂

The form of projection I do is called Phasing.  Phasing is interesting, because, for the most part, you\’ll never experience Vibrations… and this, I find, confuses people a lot more, since everyone tells them that you must experience these to project.  With Phasing, you\’re shifting your awareness away from the physical towards the non-physical, there are no vibrations or \”exit sensations\” that you would normally get with Classic OBE methods.

There\’s no point along the phasing line where you\’ll ever feel any vibrations.  You\’re just \”Here\”, you shift, then you\’re \”There\”.  At this point though, confusingly, some people do report feeling them… I believe that the people who are experiencing Vibrations after they\’ve phased are simply \”expecting\” them, and since they\’re already \”out of body\” at this point, they\’re already in the astral and we all know that Thought = Direct Action, this means that they will experience that which they expect to experience.

The same holds true for people who find themselves in a Lucid Dream and they begin to feel Vibrations.  They\’re only feeling them because they\’re expecting to feel them, someone told them that they\’ll experience them.  If you\’re already in a dream, then they\’re now PAST the point where Vibrations can naturally manifest and they\’re now being subconsciously created out of expectations.

The only time you\’ll feel them is if you\’re Lucid Dreaming and you shift yourself back to your physical body in an attempt to have a Focus 1 (RTZ) projection, THEN you will feel Vibrations, because you\’ve returned to your physical body first.  But if you\’re already out, there\’s no need to go through all that.  Instead of shifting back to your physical body, you shift yourself somewhere else in the physical instead.

In any case, if for whatever reason I\’m trying a Classic OBE method and I do feel them, I simply note that they happened and move on.

If your goal is to feel Vibrations, you\’ll end up waiting for a while.