Author Archives: Xanth

Wednesday with Robert Monroe

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I stumbled upon this video one day while doing random searches on youtube regarding OBE\’s.
I know a good number of you have probably already seen these… but I\’ll share this anyways.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSBM7Qeo5bg&fs=1&hl=en_US]

If you attended the Gateway Voyage residential program at The Monroe Institute in the last 10 to 15 years, you missed the evening talks with Bob Monroe. Prior to his death in 1995, Bob talked with Gateway Voyage participants on Saturday evenings, their first night at the Institute, and on Wednesday evenings after they had experienced the exploration of Focus 21, a bridge to other realities. Wednesdays talks were particularly precious to participants as they had experienced for themselves by that time the very realms Bob spoke of during those Wednesday evening discussions.

Here is a collection of nine clips that together constitute one of Bob Monroe\’s Wednesday night talks in 1990. Bob didn\’t like to be filmed, so we are fortunate to still have this classic footage.

Robert Monroe puts forth a lot of very interesting notions through all the segments of this video.
I hope you enjoy.

Tired or Exhausted Consciousness?

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From Inner~Peace from the post The Astral Pulse

The time IS a factor simply because it would generally be much harder to keep consciousness at night (in my opinion) , when you’re so used to drifting off too sleep and are usually drained. I like to practice as I fall asleep too, like personalreality, though that’s more to familiarize myself with that state than to actually attempt projection.

I used to hold this belief too.  I always told people that practicing before bedtime is generally a bad idea because you’re exhausted and chances are much higher that you would just fall asleep.
But then I thought about it for a second and my own non-physical journeys… when was the last time you ever felt “tired” or “exhausted” in a dream?  Personally, I can’t think of a single dream I’ve ever had in which I’ve felt tired or exhausted.  Quite the opposite really.  In my dreams I’m always wide awake and going head-long into whatever the dream is about.

What does this tell me?  Well, it tells me that being “tired” isn’t a non-physical or consciousness thing.   It’s a physical body thing.
It tells me that we sleep so our “physical body” can rest, not for the benefit of our non-physical consciousness.

I feel that keeping consciously aware while you fall asleep is definitely something that you can learn. This also means that “time” of day shouldn’t really matter regarding keeping yourself consciously aware, as being “tired” is, literally, all just in your head… your physical head, that is.

Both Robert Monroe AND Frank Kepple mentioned that they hardly ever had non-astral projection dreams at night.  They both said that as soon as they fell asleep, they would begin their nightly journeys whether they wanted to or not.  How “physically” or “mentally” tired they happened to be at the time didn’t seem to dissuade this aspect of their non-physical lives at all.

Perhaps they LEARNED to get past the “tiredness”?

Focus 10: Mind Awake / Body Alseep, Written by Ashes/Fred

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I wanted to share this article with you that I read a short while back, written by Fred, the administrator of Explorations in Consciousness.

I was always unsure about the state of mind known as Focus 10, and it helped me IMMENSELY in recognizing that I was, indeed, getting to that state… and getting there rather easily.

Focus 10: Mind Awake / Body Asleep

I’ll put the first bit here just to wet your appetite.

Copyright Notice
Copyright 2006, explorations-in-consciousness.com. All rights reserved. Permission for non-commercial use is hereby granted, provided that this file is distributed intact. Quotations must be properly cited.

The concept of phasing
For those unfamiliar with the focus levels a little background is in order. The story goes back to Robert A. Monroe, who began to experience involuntary Out of Body Experiences (OBE) in 1957. These early experiences have been documented in his first book “Journeys out of the body” (Monroe, 1971). It was also during this time that Monroe discovered that sound patterns could induce certain states of consciousness, which eventually led to the creation of the Monroe Institute and patented sound technology called Hemi-Sync.

While the early experiences of Monroe were often characterized by a sensation of leaving the body his development took a different turn in later years. Monroe discovered the “quick-switch”, which allowed him to move from one “location” to another in an instant by stretching or reaching out with his consciousness. Eventually, this led Monroe to consider the “second body” to be no more than “local traffic”–mere habit due to the physical experience (Atwater, 2001). Thus, the implicit philosophical background behind ‘phasing’ is that there is no such thing as “leaving the body”, since consciousness is never really ‘in the body’ to begin with. Rather, all experiences which constitute things such as “trance”, “hypnosis”, “altered states”, “meditation”, “OBEs”, and “astral projections” are simply variations on the same theme where consciousness is focused in different ways and in different degrees away from the physical.

The term phasing is a metaphor derived from physics, which conceptualizes consciousness as a waveform that can either be aligned or non-aligned with physical reality. For example, when we are 100% phased into the physical were are considered perfectly aligned with normal physical input and waking reality. In Monroe speak, this is called C-1 consciousness or primary phasing. As consciousness moves further away from the physical (and the senses) consciousness is said to phase into other “focus levels”. The first of these is focus 10 – the state of mind awake/body asleep.

Achieving the focus 10 state is facilitated by tapes or CD’s, which utilize binaural beats to influence brain wave patterns in the person listening to them. These tapes are sold as part of a set of tapes/CDs called The Gateway Experience by the Monroe Institute. In particular, the set of tapes (Wave I) of the Gateway Experience is geared towards establishing the focus 10 state, while subsequent series (Wave II to VI) gradually increase the phase shift away from the physical. These focus levels have been described as follows (Monroe, 1994, p. 248):

Focus 10: Mind Awake/Body Asleep
Focus 12: A state of expanded awareness
Focus 15: State of no time
Focus 21: The edge of time/space where it is possible to contact other energy systems.

It is important to realize these focus levels are merely arbitrary numbers and signposts to identify the state of consciousness one is in. In case you’re wondering, there is no focus 14 or focus 16. However, beyond focus 21, several other focus levels have been identified further removed from the physical, and which involve among other systems the perception of belief system territories (“astral planes”). Thus, The Gateway Experience is meant as a platform from which to explore further on your own. For more information, I suggest you visit the website at the Monroe Institute at www.monroeinstitute.org.

It’s a long read… but a very worthwhile one, in my opinion.
I hope this article helps you as much as it helped me.

My Most Recent Lucid Dream Conversion Experience

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I\’m hoping that talking about this will assist me in experiencing more Lucid Dreams… because lately I’ve been in quite the dry-spell.  I’ve been having Lucid Dreams for as long as I can remember.  I usually have a lucid dream, at least once every 1 – 2 weeks… but as I type this, my dry-spell has lasted the last 5 – 6 weeks now.  I’m going to relay to you the last Lucid Dream experience that I had.

Prior to being lucid, I simply remember flying around, but when lucidity hit me, I found myself hovering roughly 50 feet above my old high school.  I always find it fascinating that it didn’t hit me before hand… I mean, c’mon… flying… and it doesn’t set off triggers.  I don’t know WHY I “all of a sudden” became lucid.

Anyways, I was now lucid, so I focused on a spot on the ground below me and went into my usual questioning mode to bring forth my full conscious awareness.  Easy enough.  I remember having a bit of fun with the people staring up at me and I decided to dive bomb them a bit, because, well… it’s fun to fly!

Very shortly after that, I wanted to see if I could shift into Focus 1 oC… and I always wanted to visit England, so I visualized a friend of mine who lives there whom I wanted to see.  I began visualizing… then my vision went black… I remember feeling a “shift”… but then I found myself waking up in my bed.

The important part here was that I DEFINITELY felt the shift.  I was well on my way to where ever it was my subconscious intentions were taking me, but I ended up losing it and having my Protective Self wake me up due to, what I believe, was an unknown in regards to how the “shift” felt to me.

So anyways, that was my last projection… a short while ago.  I’m still trying and waiting patiently for another Lucid Dream.

Frank Kepple’s Astral Pulse Posts

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I frequent an Astral Projection forum called The Astral Pulse.  Back, long before I was there, we had a member by the name of Frank Kepple.  He had been projecting for a good 20+ years and came to share his knowledge with the other members there.  Anyways, he made over 3000 very informative and very interesting posts over the 3+ years that he was there.

I took some time to compile a PDF version of all of his astral projection-related posts.  I’ve read them all and found them very enlightening.

FranksPosts.pdf

Anyways, I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did.

Clearing Your Mind

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I just posted this over on the Astral Viewers forums, and I figured I\’d put it here as well.  It\’s a question that a lot of people ask… how exactly does someone clear their mind?  🙂

The Astral Viewers

The point isn\’t to \”clear\” your mind.
Doing that is a very hard thing to do… and I consider it to be overboard for projection.

What you want to do is quiet the \”surface thoughts\”.
These are the thoughts that you randomly have throughout the day as you\’re going about your business… \”Hmmm what should I make for dinner tonight?\”
\”Oh that girl has a hawt butt.\”
\”I hope <so and so> doesn\’t happen later!\”

Those are \”surface thoughts\”.  When you\’re meditating, they can account for thoughts like, \”am I doing it right?\”… or \”I don\’t think I\’m asleep yet\”.

Those are the thoughts you want to \”clear\”.

You do by catching the thought before it has a chance to completely form.  You do this as a process.
Let\’s take \”am I doing it right?\” for example.

You might miss catching it first and the whole thought gets out.
Next time it\’ll be \”am I doing it….\”
Then \”am I do….\”
so forth and so on until you just get down to \”….\”
Then eliminate that as well.

It takes a bit of practice, but it\’ll help your projection practice a lot.

How I Convert a Lucid Dream into an Astral Projection

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I’ll explain here how I go about converting my Lucid Dreams into full Astral Projections.

How you become Lucid to begin with is outside the scope of this entry and I’ll provide that information later.  So, your first step, obviously, is to become Lucid within your dream.  This means that you have the basic knowledge, during the dream, that you are indeed dreaming.  You know that the environment you’re in now is not part of the physical world, and that your physical body is actually in your bed, sleeping.

The next step is to bring forth your full waking conscious awareness.  There are a few methods for doing this, but I’ll just mention the one that I use and know is doable.  First, stop what you’re doing and focus on one aspect of the environment or yourself (a flower pot, your hands, etc… ) then begin the process of questioning yourself.

I have four main questions I like to use.

“Where am I?”
“Where am I going?”
“How did I get here?”
and “What am I doing?”

This act of questioning yourself and your surroundings brings forth your critical faculties and opens your full waking conscious awareness.

Congratulations, you’re now Astral Projecting.  🙂

My View on the Wider Reality

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My belief of how the wider reality is setup comes about from a mixture of Robert Monroe, Frank Kepple and my own experiences.

Robert Monroe devised the \”Focus Level\” model of reality.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_level
# Focus 1 – Physical Waking Consciousness. The level of awareness in which people spend most of their daily, waking lives.
# Focus 3 – Basic Hemi-Sync. The first level where Hemi-Sync starts to have an effect on the person.
# Focus 10 – Mind Awake / Body Asleep. The physical body sleeps and the mind is awake.
# Focus 11 – Auto-suggestion state.
# Focus 12 – Expanded Awareness. The awareness is expanded beyond the physical body.
etc…

Frank Kepple came along later, following in Robert Monroe\’s footsteps, in an attempt to duplicate his work.  Later, he further refined Monroe\’s Focus Model to compile associated \”Focus Levels\” into a more concise model.
http://www.astralpulse.com/frankkepple.html
# Focus 1 oC = Monroe Focus C1, 3 & 10
# Focus 2 oC = Monroe Focus 12, 15, 21 & 22
# Focus 3 oC = Monroe Focus 23, 24, 25, 26 & 27
# Focus 4 oC Here the comparison ends, as his Focus 4 oC has no Monroe counterpart.

His differentiates from Monroe\’s model by the use of \”oC\” or \”of Consciousness\” suffix.

Focus 1 oC is this physical reality.  However, Focus 1 also extends to what some people refer to as the RTZ (Real Time Zone).  He refers to both of these sections collectively as the \”Wider Physical\”.

Focus 2 oC is the area of consciousness where we do our Dreaming, Lucid Dreaming and what people refer to as Astral Projection.  This is the area called the imagination, the subconscious, or some even refer to it as \”the astral\”.  This is your own personal area of consciousness, that people can not directly visit, they can however influence it by means of telepathy and other forms of communication.  I have projected here many times fully consciously aware.  To me, this is personal truth.

Focus 3 oC is the area of consciousness which is described more as a Collective area.  On the lower branches of this Focus levels you\’ll find people of similar Earth Belief Systems congregate and live in their self created expectations of their afterlife.  The upper branches are the \”transition areas\”, where you\’ll live while trying to remember what it\’s like to live in a subjective reality once again.  Then, when you\’re ready, you have the choice to either return to Earth for another go around at being human, or move back to Focus 4.  I personally haven\’t consciously explored this area of consciousness as of yet, but I feel like I\’m close.  So this is a belief to me.

Focus 4 oC… well, there\’s not too much I can tell you about this as it\’s way beyond anything I\’ve seen/done.  Frank describes it as a loss of individuality.  He describes it as plugging your mind into a sea of minds.  It\’s an area of COMPLETELY subjectivity.

Anyways, those are the Four main Focus levels as per Mr. Kepple.

Now, I\’m going to relate these levels to the more occult versions of them.

Physical, Astral, Mental, Buddhic, Atmic (I\’ll stop there, as I have no knowledge past it).
# The Physical Plane = Focus 1 oC, Obviously equates to this physical reality we\’re in now.
# The Astral and Mental Planes = Focus 2 oC, I believe these two planes are misinterpreted by many, and I believe that they are one in the same.
# The Buddhic Plane = Focus 3 oC
# The Atmic Plane = Focus 4 oC

So that\’s my view of the modern model of the Wider Reality and how it fits into the classical, or old world mystical reality system.

My Current Methods

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Right now, I have very little time during the day to get any good Phasing practice in.
So most of my current practice surrounds two exercises.

First one occurs as I\’m waking up in the morning.  My alarm clock has 9 minute snooze alarms, I hit the snooze button and it gives me 9 more minutes of sleep.  Well, I try to use those 9 minutes constructively!  I\’ll try to jump into what most people call a WILD (wake induced lucid dream), but I call it Phasing.  If you\’re curious by what I mean when I say Phasing I suggest this article:  http://www.astralpulse.com/frankkepple.html

The benefit of using the snooze alarm is that if I do manage to get into the Lucid state, it\’ll be short, as I only have nine minutes until the alarm goes off.  This means that I\’ll have a much better chance at remembering all of my experiences upon waking… and there\’s the side benefit that if I fall into an unconscious dream, then I know that in nine minutes my alarm will go off and I\’ll be able to try again without wasting the rest of the morning.

I generally have 4 snooze periods in the morning before I officially get up for the day.

The other exercise I do, I generally get a chance to do at lunchtime while sitting at my desk.  I\’ll sit, with my back straight, my feet flat on the floor and my arms on my desk, generally palms down… not that the position matters in even the slightest.  Anyways… this is an exercise in recognizing when and how I fall asleep.

I sit there meditating until I start to fall forward a bit, this signifies that I\’m falling asleep.  Obviously, as my head falls forward, I catch it and this wakes me up.  I keep doing this until I can start to feel the precise moment I begin to fall asleep and I try to passively observe it.  That\’s it really.  Just an exercise to passively watch how and when I fall asleep.  This is useful for learning how to skirt that fine line between being awake and being asleep.

So that\’s it.  Those are the two exercises that I have the time to do mostly.  I hope they help you some.

Karma – Not Part of My Beliefs Anymore

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I once wrote the following about Karma:

Dictionary.com says:
Karma: The total effect of a person\’s actions and conduct during the successive phases of the person\’s existence, regarded as determining the person\’s destiny.

Let me add to that definition by saying that it determines the person\’s destiny AND the destiny\’s of that souls future lives as well.

So, just say you did nothing but good in this life. . . you gave and you gave and you gave asking for nothing in return, ever. That would build up a plus in your karma that would eventually come back to you in a some good way. For example, I know someone who was a giver their ENTIRE life. Then not too long ago, they won $500,000 in the lottery. That\’s the kind of karmic reward you can receive.

So now, to the opposite. If you\’ve been bad, and mean to everyone your entire life. Then that\’s what you have to look forward to. Whether it be in this life or your next life, you can\’t escape karmic reprecussions. There is no magick out there to stop it.

Be good to everyone, fly straight, and you\’ll be well rewarded for it.

Suffice to say that I no longer hold this belief.
I had to drop my belief in karma because it didn\’t fit into my view of the Wider Reality.  I now see it in the same light as the Christian Hell and other theosophical belief constructs which revolve around the idea of \”Be good… or else bad things will happen to you\”.

Through my research and experiences, I\’ve come to the conclusion that we are in FULL control of our own lives.  Karma is just another tool, a physical reality belief construct that others push on us so that we live their idea of a helpful life.  The idea that if you do something bad now, it can effect one of your many future lives is ludicrous.  What I do now has little to no bearing on what I will do or become in the future… why?  Because I control that.  When this physical body shell of mine finally ceases to operate in this physical realm, I\’ll be free to chose to return here for another go at my own leisure.

Just as I have freedom in this physical reality, I have the same freedom in the non-physical reality as well.  The same freedom to choose what I want to do and when I want to do it.  No metaphysical idea, such as karma can tell me otherwise.

In essence, you can be as good or bad as you want… the only person who you need to answer to at the end of the day, is yourself.

Dreams, Lucid Dreams, and Astral Projections… what’s the difference?

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Edit: Since I posted this article, I\’ve made new discoveries on what dreams, lucid dreams and astral projections actually are. You can find my updated information here: http://unlimitedboundaries.ca/2012/07/22/labeling-experiences-of-the-non-physical/

Dreams, Lucid Dreams and Astral Projections/OBEs all happen within the same area of consciousness.  Robert Monroe labeled this area “Focus 22”.  This is the area of consciousness that I believe most people refer to when they use terms such as “The Astral”.  I also believe that the “Real Time Zone” or what most people call the “Real Time Zone” also has its origins here, but I’ll explain more about that in another post.So if Dreams, Lucid Dreams and Astral Projections/OBEs are all the same experience how do you explain away the distinct differences between them?  Well, it’s simple… what differentiates them from each other is how consciously aware you are during the experience.

I also prefer using the Terms “Physical” and “Non-Physical” to describe the realities we find ourselves in.

It goes kind of like this:

  • A Dream (remembered or not) is basically when you are unaware that you are sleeping.  Your consciousness has phased into the non-physical, but it has done so unaware of this.  This happens to you pretty much every night of your life that you have gone to bed to have a good night’s sleep.
  • A Lucid Dream (always remembered, even in some limited fashion) is a Dream where the only thing you are aware of is that you are dreaming.  You might not have knowledge of your physical body.  You have some waking consciousness.  You don’t generally have much in the way of critical faculties.
  • An Astral Projection/OBE (again, always remembered, even in some limited fashion) is where you have brought forth your FULL waking conscious awareness.  You are fully awake and aware that you are within the non-physical and your physical body is in your bed, fast asleep.

So you can see that there isn’t much difference between the three experiences.  All happen in the same area of the consciousness continuum, it’s your own personal area of consciousness that nobody else has access to.  It’s an area set aside just for you!

It’s from this area that you have access to all of your closely held belief constructs.  You also have access to all of your memories that you’ve collected over the course of your current life.  Also, with a bit of control over your Emotions and Thoughts (as these are what are providing the fuel for what you see and experience around you) you will be able to leave your personal area and move into what I call the “Collective Consciousness” areas, but more on that later.

What is Grounding and Centering Yourself?

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What is Centering?

Centering, refers to your mental and physical state. Centering means to calm your emotions and slow your mind and your breathing to a point where you can \’feel\’ a lot more going on around AND inside you. It\’s like a state of alertness, but really relaxed at the same time.  It\’s described as \”Mindfulness\”.

For things like Astral Projection, it\’s VERY important to always remain centered.  This means keeping your thoughts and most importantly your emotions in check at all times.  Staying \”calm\” is centered.  You can practice this throughout your physical life… for example, say someone cuts you off in traffic?  What\’s the usual response you might give?  You sit there in your car mouthing insults into the air, you might even flip the person the finger.  At this moment, you\’re the exact OPPOSITE of centered.

Realize that anything you do, however you react isn\’t going to change what happened.  Take a deep breath if you have to, count to 5 and then just accept what happened and allow yourself to release it.  This is the act of centering yourself.

For meditation purposes, to center yourself breath in for a count of 5 (or however long it takes to slowly fill your lungs), then out for a count of 10 (rule of thumb is twice as long as the inhale)  You\’ll know when you\’re centered when you feel calm and at peace.

It\’s a pretty self explanatory experience really.  If you\’re not sure what it feels like, then you haven\’t reached it. It\’s really not hard though. Just don\’t \”TRY\” too hard and it will come. Now you can Ground yourself.

What is Grounding?

Grounding is a term used mostly in conjunction with energy. Grounding means to get rid of the excess energy in your body and provide a path for new, clean energy to come through. It\’s important to always have a good flow of energy coming in and going out when meditating and doing any energy work.

Most people Center themselves before they Ground themselves. It\’s just a logical way to do it. First you calm the energy, then you move the energy.

How do you Ground your Energy?

This is a very simple exercise to ground yourself that can do almost anytime you want if you\’re feeling unbalanced or anxious or just beaming with extra energy that you have no current use for.

Sit down, close your eyes take a DEEEEEEP breath. Exhale slowly. While exhaling visualize a root system growing downwards from yourself. Visualize it growing down towards the earth farther and farther until it reaches the earth below you.  If you\’re in a high rise or a higher floor of a house, you\’ll need to visualize this until you feel you\’ve reached the \”earth\” below you.  When you feel the connection, visualize your old energy moving down that root system and then new energy coming in through the top of your head. This will provide a nice even flow coming through your body to aid you in any energy work you intend to do.