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To trigger the projection of the Astral body, while fully
conscious, there are four major requirements:
Relaxing your body 100% while staying awake.
Concentrating 100% on what you are doing.
Having enough energy available.
Pressuring the astral body to separate.
Together, these four things will trigger an OOBE.
Below are exercises that will teach how to relax the body,
concentrate, clear the mind, raise energy, stimulate the chakras
and enter the Trance State.
CALMING THE MIND
Relaxation
You must learn and master a full body relaxation exercise. If you
know one already it can be adapted to suit. Here is a very simple
one:
Sit or lie down, and relax. Starting with the feet, tense and
relax them. Continue this with calves, thighs, hips, stomach,
chest, arms, neck and face until your whole body is deeply
relaxed. Go over this a few times, making sure your muscles stay
relaxed.
Note: Deep physical relaxation is the key to bringing on the
trance state, i.e., deep relaxation CAUSES the trance state. Once
you are in the Trance State, projection on the astral body is
relatively easy.
Contemplation
When you begin meditation, you will be plagued with thoughts from
your surface mind, which acts like a huge Memo pad. It carries
messages, reminders, pressing thoughts, problems to solve
unresolved issues etc. It is constantly busy, it NEVER rests,
thoughts, thoughts, thoughts, one after the other, all clamoring
for attention.
Before you attempt to clear your mind, with the breath awareness
exercise below, it is wise to deal with these surface thoughts by
the act of contemplating them. Sit comfortably, do the relaxation
exercise and think, nothing more, just think. Search out the
strongest thoughts in your mind and examine them, try to resolve
and understand them. Note the word: THINKING. Contemplation does
not involve clearing the mind, or visualization. It requires you
to THINK, deeply and thoroughly, about something, to gain a deeper
understanding of its nature and how it relates to you, an insight.
Breath Awareness Meditation
This is a simple form of meditation. It will clear your mind and
focus your awareness.
Sit or lie down, close your eyes, do the relaxation exercise and
clear your mind. Breathe deeply and slowly and focus on the breath
entering and leaving your body. Feel it coming in and feel it
going out. Focus your whole attention on your lungs and the
breathing process. This simple action is enough to occupy your
surface mind. Firmly push intruding thoughts away, as they begin,
before they can gather strength and distract you.
Breath awareness occupies the surface mind and allows you to think
on a much deeper level.
Surface Thoughts
Sounds are very distracting, they generate surface thoughts. A car
horn will generate: "Who's that, what's happening?" A door opening
will generate: "Who's coming in or going out?" The surface mind is
always very curious about what is happening around you. It wants
to know all, and it wants to inform you of every little thing
going on around you. It will pressure you to open your eyes, get
up and go find out what's happening.
Don't allow this to happen. USE these annoying, attention getting
thoughts as a training aide. By learning to quash and ignore them,
your powers of concentration will grow. Stop these annoying little
thoughts as they begin, before they can take root and grow into
something stronger.
For example: "Who's that, what's happening?" becomes: "Who's
th............"
"Who's coming in, or going out?" becomes: "Who's co............"
With practice the start of these distracting thoughts will get
shorter and shorter until you get: "Wh....?........?.........."
and " W...?................... " And finally:
".......?........?...........................?..................."
Many people say they can't clear their mind as they are too easily
distracted by all the small noises that surround them, in normal
day to day activity. DON'T use music or other sounds to blanket
these out, USE them for training. It's like weight lifting, if you
train with feather dusters your strength will not increase. You
need to master this, the hard way, if you want to give your mind
real muscle.
Slowly but surely you will master the ability to clear your mind.
Once accomplished, you will have gained a valuable mental tool.
You will be able to concentrate 100% of your attention, on one
task, to the TOTAL exclusion of everything else. I sometimes
meditate, in the Trance State, successfully, in a noisy, crowded
room with little children crawling all over me. NOTHING breaks my
concentration.
CONCENTRATION
You must be able to concentrate and focus completely on what you
are doing. Lack of concentration is the single, biggest cause of
projection failure. It affects every aspect of projection, from
the relaxation exercise, to the Trance State and actual
projection.
To test your ability to concentrate: Sit and relax. Close your
eyes and clear your mind of ALL thought. Breathe slowly and deeply
and count each breath, at the end of each exhale. Hold it totally
BLANK, apart from the counting, for as long as you can. See how
long you can hold it like this. Be honest with yourself, every
time a thought intrudes start counting from the beginning again.
You are doing well if can do this for longer than ten breaths. Ten
breaths is, however, not long enough. Don't worry though, this can
be improved on with the exercises below.
Concentration Exercise (1)
After image retention: Relax, calm your mind, and look at a candle
or a light bulb. Place this light in front of you, a couple of
feet away, and stare fixedly at it for a minute or two. Close your
eyes and concentrate on the after image this will generate behind
your closed eyelids. Try and keep sight of it for as long as
possible. Use breath awareness to keep the mind clear, while you
are doing this. Try and make the after image grow, instead of
fading away.
Concentration Exercise (2)
One point stare: Pick a spot on a wall and gaze at it. Don't focus
on it, just gaze at it gently. Clear your mind of ALL thoughts and
forcibly hold it blank. Concentrate HARD, on breath awareness
while you are doing this. When you feel a thought beginning, push
it away, don't let it finish! Hold this for as long as you can. Do
this several times a day or more if you can.
Concentration Exercise (3)
Energy breathing: Sit and relax. Close your eyes and clear your
mind. Do the breath awareness exercise and imagine the air you are
breathing IN is brightly colored energy of your favorite color.
Imagine the air you are breathing OUT is a murky gray, full of
toxic waste. This is a purification exercise. It stimulates your
chakras into absorbing energy on the inhale and getting rid of
negative energy on the exhale.
Note: Try your best not to tense up while you are doing these
concentration exercises, it is ALL mental. In the beginning, it
may feel as if you have to tense your mind into a tight ball to
stop it thinking, but in time you will find the opposite to be
true. When you get used to it, clearing the mind is VERY relaxing.
The Trance State
When you have attained a deep level of relaxation and mental
calmness, you will feel your body begin to get very, very heavy.
This heaviness is the main symptom of your brain waves changing
from the Beta to the Alpha level as you enter a trance. The Trance
State is caused by deep physical and mental relaxation. There is
nothing weird or supernatural about it. It simply means your body
has entered the Sleep State while your conscious mind is fully
awake.
How to Enter A Trance
Do the relaxation exercise and calm your mind through breath
awareness. Imagine you are climbing down a ladder in the dark.
Don't visualize a ladder; just imagine you can feel yourself doing
it. On the exhale, feel yourself climbing a step or two down the
ladder with your imaginary Hands (outlined below). On the inhale,
feel yourself holding still on the ladder. What is needed is a
mental falling effect inside your mind. This changes the level of
brain wave activity from the awake level (Beta) to the asleep
level (Alpha) or the deep sleep level (Theta). Once your level of
brain wave activity reaches Alpha you will enter a trance. Keep
doing this for as long as it takes. The time it takes to enter
trance will vary, depending on your experience with deep
relaxation and mental calmness. Note: Once you get the heavy
feeling, stop the mental falling exercise.
If you don't like the ladder, imagine you are in a lift, feel
yourself falling on the exhale and holding on the inhale. Or,
Imagine you are a feather, feel yourself floating down on the
exhale and holding still on the inhale. As I stated above, you
need a mental falling effect to lower your level of brain wave
activity. This mental falling effect, when combined with deep
relaxation and mental calmness, will cause you to enter the Trance
State. Feel free to use any scenario you are familiar with to
bring about this going deeper feeling.
A trance feels like: Everything gets quieter and you feel like you
are in a much bigger place. There is a very slight humming feeling
in your body. Everything feels different. It feels a bit like
putting a cardboard box over your head in the dark, you can feel
the atmosphere change. It's like everything goes fuzzy or slightly
blurred. Any sharp noises, while in trance, feel like a physical
blow to the Solar Plexus.
Deep Trance
The level of trance you achieve depends greatly on your
relaxation, concentration skills and will power. To enter a deeper
trance, i.e., Theta level and beyond, you has to concentrate much
more and for much longer, on the mental falling sensation aided by
breath awareness. The first level of trance, i.e., when you get
very heavy, is quite deep enough for projection. I strongly advise
against forcing yourself deeper than a light trance, until you
have plenty of experience with the Trance State. How can you tell
if you are entering a deep trance?
There are four very noticeable symptoms:
An uncomfortable feeling of cold that doesn't make you shiver,
coupled with a steady loss of body heat.
Mentally, you will feel very odd and everything will feel
extremely slooooow. Your thought processes will slow down as if
you had been given a strong pain killing injection.
You will feel disassociated from your body, i.e.; a strong
floating sensation and everything will seem far away.
Total physical Paralysis.
Note: These four things, ALL TOGETHER, signify you are entering a
deep trance. Do not mistake the mild floating sensation you
sometimes get with light trance, i.e., as you astral body comes
loose. Or the slight loss of body heat from sitting still for a
long time and the mild paralysis, i.e., the heaviness, for a deep
trance. The sensation of deep trance is quite uncomfortable and
unmistakable for what it is.
It is very difficult to get into the deep Trance State, as you
need highly developed relaxation, concentration and trance state
skills plus lots and lots of will power and mental energy. You
will not accidentally fall into it.
If you are worried you are going too deep, remember this: You CAN
pull yourself out of it at any time. Concentrate ALL your will on
moving your fingers or toes. Once you can move a finger or toe,
flex your hands, move your arms, shake your head, i.e., reanimate
your body; and get up and walk around for a few minutes. Falling
into a deep trance should not be a problem with these exercises.
I have seen many people in meditation groups etc, enter a light
trance and not be able to pull themselves out of it, i.e.; they
float away with the Faeries. Usually some kind person will talk
them out of it or massage their wrists etc to get them to come
back to reality. This is unnecessary and is the result of
lop-sided training, i.e., no concentration or will power training.
The person only THINKS they cannot come back and therefore does
not try very hard. It is also a good way of getting attention from
the group.
Note: Your mind is extremely powerful and has vast untapped
resources. It can do ANYTHING, no limits, if it is trained,
conditioned and properly motivated.
Energy Body Expansion
At some point after entering the Trance State, you will feel a
mild paralysis come over you. This will soon be accompanied by a
deepening vibration and a buzzing feeling all over. You may also
feel like you are huge and swollen. The paralysis, vibrations and
the huge feeling are symptoms of the energy body expanding and the
astral body loosening. This is part of the normal sleep process.
The energy body expands and opens in order to accumulate and store
energy. During this, the astral body drifts free, slightly out
phase with the physical body.
Trance Familiarity
Many people blow their projection simply because they are not used
to the trance state. They think it is a briefly opened window into
the Astral dimension. This is simply NOT true. If you stay
mentally and physically calm when you enter the Trance State, you
can maintain it for hours. I regularly spend several hours at a
time in the Trance State. If, when you enter trance, you think:
"Yes! I've done it! I'm in a trance! Gotta hurry and get out
quick...before it stops!" You'll blow it for sure! The trance will
be ended by the simple act of getting over excited, i.e., breaking
relaxation and mental calmness.
It's a good idea to spend time in the Trance State, just getting
used to it, before you try and project. Just relax, stay calm,
focus on breath awareness, and hold the trance. It won't end until
you want it to. Get used to how it feels. When you are comfortable
doing this, do the energy raising and chakra stimulation
exercises, below, in trance.
Note:
You do not HAVE to be in a trance to learn energy and chakra work,
it just works better in trance
Trance practice can be done lying down, but is best done in a
comfortable armchair.
Your astral body will be loose in the Trance State, so try lifting
your astral arms and legs out, one at a time. Use your HANDS to do
this, as shown in the next section. Focus and FEEL your awareness
in an arm and slowly lift it free of your body. You may feel a
slight tickling or localized dizziness inside your arm or leg, as
you do this. Lift your astral arm up and look at it, with your
eyes closed, but DOESN'T move a muscle. In this state you should
be able to see it through your closed eyelids, but don't worry if
you can't, this will come later.
Lifting your astral arms free is good practice for projection.
Later, you will use these astral arms to pull your astral body
free of the physical.
Tactile Imaging
Tactile imaging is a perception or FEELING of localized bodily
awareness. Your hands are very closely linked to your bodily
awareness. They are intimately aware of every part of your body.
Imaginary HANDS, outlined below, is only extension of this (hand
to body) awareness. When you are asked to feel your awareness, in
any part of your body, PRETEND your hands, your real hands, are
going to touch that area of your body. Then use the awareness this
generates in that area to imagine your imaginary HANDS are there.
Keep your eyes closed and hold your hands out a foot or so in
front of your face. Concentrate, FEEL where they are and try and
SEE them through the blackness behind your closed eyes. Cross your
wrists, slowly move them about, turn your hands over, open and
close your fingers. Look hard, concentrate, as if you were trying
to see in the dark, and you will see a faint moving shadow in your
mind eye, where your hands and arms are.
Close your eyes and touch the tip of your nose with the index
finger of your right hand. You'll find you can accurately put that
finger on any part of your body with your eyes closed. Try it; put
your hand, your real hand, on different parts of your body like
this. You know exactly where your hands are at all times, you can
sense and feel where they are. If you observe what is happening in
your mind, while you are doing this, you will notice you become
aware of the part of your body you are going to touch the instant
you make the decision to touch it.
Go over your whole body like this, getting used to the sensation
of awareness it generates in different areas of your body.
What is happening is this: Part of your mind is shifting into, and
HIGHLIGHTING, the area you are going to touch, in order to guide
your hand to the exact spot. Your mind shifts part of its
awareness to this spot and acts like a homing beacon for your
hand. The ability to shift your awareness into different parts of
your body like this is VITAL to energy work and this projection
method.
Note: You do not have to actually visualize these HANDS, i.e., and
see or imagine you can see them. It is ALL tactile, NOT visual.
You just have to be able to pretend to FEEL them doing something,
like you are rehearsing some simple action in your mind. I
originally developed this technique for blind people. Blind people
cannot visualize AT ALL, if they have been blind since birth, but
they do have a very keen sense of bodily awareness. The majority
of sighted people also have great trouble with visualization of
any kind, and all projection techniques depend heavily on
visualization. This being the case, I developed a projection
technique that does NOT depend on visualization to exert pressure
on the astral body to separate. It turned out to be so much
easier, and more successful, than the other visualization based
techniques, that I discarded them in favor of this simple tactile
method.
Note: Blind people are not blind in astral form. The astral body
does not have any organs as such; it is a point of consciousness
only. The astral body you are aware of while projecting is
provided courtesy of the subconscious minds creative ability
Back to Part I
Proceed to Part III
Astral Dynamics: A New Approach to Out-of-Body Experiences |
