This past September, Tom Campbell gave a 3 day workshop in Calgary, Canada.
This video is the first day of that workshop. I believe two more will be posted soon, so please check back here or his youtube channel for updates.
Here is a direct link to the entire four-video playlist: Four-Video Playlist
I had a great non-physical experience last night, but it was a \”dream awareness\” one, regardless of how much clarity or control I had over it. Clarity and Control are secondary characteristics of a non-physical experience. Awareness is the primary characteristic you need to consider. I\’m going to use my experience last night as an example for how people can answer their own \”was this a dream or an astral projection?\” questions.
First I\’ll recant the experience a bit. I don\’t remember much of the details, but I do remember that at some point in the dream I was able to fly. If you\’ve read any of my posts you\’ll know that this is something I absolutely love doing in the non-physical, except this time I thought I was fully awake and was FINALLY given the ability to fly (LoL I know, crazy huh?). I flew around Toronto a bit, even to the point where I was gleefully jumping off skyscrapers and zooming along the waterfront. Not ONCE did I consider the thought that I was in the non-physical… and that would be the key here.
The experience was crystal clear and I had full control over my own actions (I was making all the decisions as to where I went and what I did there, no control over the environment though), yet I had no idea I was dreaming. So regardless of the clarity and control I had… because I didn\’t realize I was dreaming, I call this a \”Non-Physical Dream Awareness Experience\” and not a lucid or astral awareness experience.
Now, as I\’m typing this, I am remembering a point very early in the dream where I was rubbing my hands together to retain my focus, which points me towards having at least a Lucid Awareness at the start, but for one reason or another I quickly lost that awareness and went straight back into a dream awareness.
Clarity and Control (of yourself and/or the environment) are simply secondary characteristics of a non-physical experience. They do not denote what kind of experience you\’re having. As above I had clarity and control yet I had no awareness. I was, for the most part, the actor playing a character in a play, not knowing it was a play.
I hope this helps. 🙂
If you\’re currently trying to learn to project using the Gateway CD\’s purchased from TMI\’s store, then I\’ll give you a tip.
The counting that Monroe takes you through has a point and it\’s not something that you just \”listen\” to. The point to the counting is to give the listener (you) something to focus upon. Each time Monroe counts up try to \”listen for\” the next number. Just like you\’d sit at attention while trying to listen for a particular sound off in the distance, or waiting for a thunderclap to occur after you\’ve seen the lightning. That\’s the kind of focus you want to place upon \”waiting\” for the next number.
The numbers are very arbitrary too. He could have just as easily started listing fruits. The point is that \”listening for\” focus you want.
Give that a try the next time you listen to the Gateway CD\’s.
I took a bit of my lunch hour today to meditate, because it was so peaceful and quiet here at work.
Anyway, this will be a very short report of this experience. My goal during this meditation was to try and make some kind of contact with Frank Kepple. It\’s a side project I\’ve been trying to find time to do lately. Well, today I made contact with \”something/someone\”, but it was very brief. I was asking mentally if Frank Kepple was around, focusing my Intent upon the picture we have of him on the Frank Kepple Phasing Resource page… and while I was doing this I heard a very distinct and very deep voice ask, \”Who is this?\”
Unfortunately, the phone rang here and I couldn\’t pursue the voice in any way. But it was definitely a voice, and it was 100% crystal clear just as if someone was standing right in front of me talking. I\’ll look into this further, hopefully I\’ve stumbled upon something interesting. 🙂
This will be my first logged experience in a few months. I\’ve had some lucid/astral awareness experiences over that time, but they were either not meaningful or they were very short (1 – 5 seconds).
Last night, however, I had some meaningful experiences, a couple breakthroughs, and some frustrations.
First, the breakthroughs! Well, I started off before going to bed repeating an affirmation that I was going to become consciously aware during my dreams that night. Along with that, I firmly placed the Intent that it would happen. As it happened, I did have a really nice, long and clear lucid/astral awareness experience which I perceived happened for 15 – 20 minutes.
The second breakthrough was that during this experience I decided to run a simple test revolving around keeping myself in the non-physical. A point came where I began to sense that I was beginning to wake up. I was starting to feel my physical body lying in bed, so what I did was I consciously ignored those signals and focused my attention COMPLETELY within the non-physical environment I was experiencing. It worked perfectly. I was able to further extend my experience doing this.
I eventually did wake up though. I laid in my bed wondering if I should just close my eyes and go back into the experience, but I felt that I should jot down what notes I could quickly so that I could remember this stuff later in the morning. I found a piece of paper and a pen, both of which I normally keep on my bedside stand and wrote down a few keywords. Well, I went back to sleep and woke up in the morning. When I went to look for my notes I had made, and here\’s the frustrating part, I couldn\’t find them! Apparently the act of me \”waking up\” and \”writing down my notes\” was a FALSE AWAKENING. GAH! LoL
I\’ve forgotten a good chunk of my experience from last night. I think I retained the most important aspects of it though. Thankfully. hehe
EDIT: I\’m stickying this video. If you\’re serious about learning the art of Astral Projection, then taking the 1 and 1/2 hours to watch this video is your first step. Consider this your first small commitment to learning to explore the non-physical. Tom answers pretty much *EVERY SINGLE QUESTION* you could possibly have regarding exploring the non-physical.
Part 5 of Tom\’s 2010 New York Workshop video remakes has been posted on his youtube account.
This part starts off mostly about HOW to meditate, HOW to experience the larger reality (aka how to have astral projections), and WHAT you\’ll experience. Very solid video. Also, please watch all 5 videos… they\’re all around 1 1/2 hours each, but they\’re well worth the time. Most of what he talks about is experiencing the non-physical via meditation. This is, in my opinion, the BEST way to learn, but it\’s also the harder method.  It\’s well worth the learning because you can then experience the non-physical anytime anywhere. Put in the effort, the rewards are great!
I wrote an article earlier in July on how our perception in the non-physical works.
Here is an example I came up with to further illustrate how your perception works in the non-physical. Meaning, as a consciousness, you can only experience that which you experience within the paradigm of the sum of what you\’ve experienced previously. And it also illustrates the subjective nature of our non-physical experiences.
For example, you\’re gallivanting around the non-physical in some alternative reality and you run into a \”Dadipladouche\”!!! (That\’s completely made up, btw ^_^) How will you know it\’s a Dadipladouche? Now, *I* know what a Dadipladouche is as I\’ve run into one before (since this is made up, duh obviously I haven\’t lol)… so when I run into one, I have something from my experiences to draw from so that I perceive it as a Dadipladouche. If I didn\’t have the experience to draw from, my consciousness would have to scour my experiences for something that resembled it as closely as possible and then display that. That\’s the interpretation factor of the subjective nature of our non-physical experiences. It would then appear to me as whatever it was that was the \”closest representation\” to what it was that my consciousness could find.
Say this dadipladouche was some kind of \”big scaled creature\”, it might appear to me as a Dragon or a Dinosaur, since that would be the closest matches that my consciousness could make in order to \”define\” it and make it \”understandable\” to me. The key here is \”make it UNDERSTANDABLE TO ME\”. You can\’t experience something if you can\’t, in at least in SOME SMALL WAY, understand it.
You might experience a reality frame and all you experience are flashing white lights. That\’s not because that particular reality frame is made up of flashing white lights, that\’s just because \”flashing white lights\” was the only way your consciousness mind could interpret that which you were seeing.
Now, say you have two people. They can experience the \”same reality\”, however it\’s also very possible that they will each perceive that reality in completely different ways. One person might see that \”flashing white lights\” reality, where the flashing lights are floating, orbs of light randomly dispersed about… whereby the other person might end up having an experience of rows upon rows of car headlights pointing towards him/her. They both experienced the same reality, but the source of the lights and the nature of the lights are perceived completely differently.
What you experience in the non-physical (be it dreams, lucid dreams or astral projections/obe\’s) IS REAL. How you experience it is a metaphor… an interpretation based upon the sum of your previous experiences as something that your consciousness can draw from for that interpretation to take form.
A realization hit me this week. It\’s the realization that \”awareness\” is a property of consciousness and not a result of the reality you\’re experiencing!
There are a lot of people who see all the different experiences (dreams, lucid dreams and astral projection/obes) as being all separate and different experiences. Well, \”awareness\” is a property of consciousness… and we can directly view it in relation to our physical reality as well as when we\’re non-physical.
Some people believe that dreams, lucid dreams and ap/obes are different. They give the reason that they\’re different because they \”feel\” completely different. Let\’s compare our varying levels of awareness in this physical reality? Why don\’t you take a look at your \”awareness\” when you first wake up in the morning? It feels groggy, drowsey and unclear. Now compare that to how your awareness is after your first coffee? And then again a couple hours later? They\’re all varying levels of awareness within our physical reality… and the key point is that they all FEEL very different. They all feel like UNIQUE experiences. However, nobody really pays much attention to it because they KNOW better, right? We KNOW when we wake up it\’s the physical reality… and throughout the day, we KNOW what is going on.
Well, all of those varying levels of conscious awareness take place in the SAME reality. I experience these same varying levels of consciousness awareness in the non-physical as well. Everything from the \”Groggy, drowsy\” (dream awareness) feeling, to the \”just had a coffee\” (lucid awareness) feeling to the \”wide awake\” (astral awareness) feeling. This tells me that \”Awareness\” is a Property of Consciousness and NOT a result of the reality you find yourself in.
I found a response that Tom had made to someone who was having problems with meditating. I think it\’s a complete gem. Please do read. 🙂
You need to learn to meditate consistently first before trying more complex things, no wonder you are frustrated. Some how we have to calm that mind down or figure out a way to keep it occupied with non-operational non analytical fluff.
sound: Breathe normally but slowly, you can\’t meditate holding your breath. Listen for the mantra while you inhale (breath in)(like listening for the thunder), Then hear the sound of the mantra in your mind while you exhale (breathe out), immediately listen for it again during the next incoming breath, then hear it again while exhaling, etc. As soon as any thoughts intrude, Gently (casually) put them side and begin listening and hearing again with the next breath — always breathing smoothly and slowly. keep this up. for just 5 minutes — set a timer or an alarm. when that gets easy lengthen it to 10 minutes, when that gets easy lengthen it to 20 minutes and then to a half hour. Do this at least several times a day (more when the times are short). EVEN IF THE IF THE LISTENING AND HEARING ONLY LAST A MICROSECOND BEFORE BEING INTERRUPTED, KEEP IT UP, JUST GENTLY AND CALMLY BUT FIRMLY PUT THE THOUGHTS ASIDE AS SOON AS YOU NOTICE AN INTERRUPTION AND THEN GO BACK TO LISTNING AND HEARING. Just do it with no expectations – we are not trying to meditate yet, first we must minimize those interruptions — that\’s all, forget meditation for now — we are only trying to minimize the interruptions.
If you keep at it, the time between interruptions will grow – even if it grows from one microsecond to two microseconds, stick with it and it will continue to grow. After three months of multiple times a day, you should notice some progress. At that time, if the interruptions have slowed enough, report in and we will go to step 2Sight: Same as above except instead of listening and hearing imagine a soccer ball levitating in front of you in one spot. As you breathe in let the ball spin slowly forward (top moving toward you, point closest to you moving down, and point on the bottom surface of the ball moving away from you), As your breath stops, let the ball stop, then as you breathe out let the ball spin slowly backward. Just intently watch the ball. Breathe slowly and rhythmically. All the rest is the same.
You do not need to wait 3 months to let us know what is happening, but do wait three months before analyzing anything or making any judgments. Just do and observe.
It\’s a great suggestion really. Don\’t jump headlong into meditation… learn to stop those mental interruptions, and before you know it you\’ll be meditating!
Tom goes into a wonderful explanation of HOW to meditate and WHY you should meditate.
So I figured I\’d take some time to meditate while my girlfriend prepared us dinner for the evening. I sat down on our couch in the living room, closed my eyes and began my meditation. I didn\’t have any real goal in mind other than attaining what I\’ve currently been working towards lately, the point consciousness state, so what ended up happening was quite pleasing and unexpected.
I began relaxing the muscles in my head, especially around my ears which I tend to hold more pressure. The best way I can describe what I\’ve been doing lately is that I \”push\” my consciousness out into the blackness while observing to see what \”patterns\” evolve out of it. About thirty minutes went by and the unexpected happen. I\’ll explain… in front of our couch we have a big TV stand which holds our TV and related electronics, well, what happened was that I began to see it crystal clear during my meditation, just as if I had my eyes open. It slowly formed in front of me, it stayed for a few seconds, then faded away again.
I\’ve had this sort of thing happen before, but never THAT clear. I count this as a big step in the right direction towards Phasing from anytime/anywhere.
I\’m going to explain how I think our perception (what you experience) works in the non-physical. Your non-physical perception actually works in *EXACTLY* the same manner as your perception in this physical reality works, but because of how the non-physical is malleable to your thoughts/expectations/beliefs/snap judgments/etc it can play havoc on the true nature of the things we \”see\”.
First, an anecdote that shows how my perception fooled me while physical:
I was biking home the other day, and off in the distance I saw a dead squirrel lying on it\’s back and it\’s legs sticking up in the air. Now, at the time I was absolutely positive that\’s what it was… I was about 50 feet from it. As I biked closer and closer to the \”dead squirrel\”, I saw it for what it really was: a folded up piece of fabric, however up until that point, it WAS a dead squirrel, literally and figuratively. I fully perceived it as such. The object\’s true nature came through because that\’s how our physical reality works, I was able to distinctly identify the truth because in our reality an apple is an apple.
Now, let\’s investigate how this same scenario would end up when played out in the non-physical. All the same stuff would apply, I\’d be biking home and in the distance I\’d see something. My initial impression was that it was a \”dead squirrel\”. This initial impression would then become reality. Because of the malleable nature of the non-physical and how our assumption/expectations/beliefs react with the reality we find ourselves in, even if I got closer to that \”folded up piece of fabric\” it would have retained that \”dead squirrel\” perception because I had formed the belief and expectation that that was what it was. In the physical this isn\’t a problem because our perception, as such, doesn\’t directly effect/change that which we see, but in the non-physical it\’s a huge issue because our perception DOES change what we perceive.
Now, how do you stop this kind of perceptual filter from being applied? How do we see the TRUTH behind what we see and not allow our perception to colour/filter our experiences? Well, it\’s VERY hard… and in some cases you just might not be able to see the Truth behind what you\’re seeing due to the very nature of what you\’re experiencing. However, the major thing you need to learn is to not make snap judgments upon what you experience. This is usually the first thing people do when they see something. As you can see it\’s the first thing I did in relation to the above story… I made an immediate snap judgment of the \”folded cloth\” and assumed it was a \”dead squirrel\”.
This is something you can practice even in your physical life. Try to catch yourself making these snap judgment calls, then work on slowly stopping yourself from doing it until you\’re in a state of passively observing. A by-product of teaching yourself this, is that it will also help you to control your emotions and thoughts. That\’s the next thing you need to learn to control. Learning to control your emotions and thoughts will keep that bit of fuel from influencing your environment and in turn, will keep the experience as pure/true as possible.
Let\’s look at the perils of what would have happened. Seeing the dead squirrel up close might have brought forth some sad emotions of me feeling sorry for the poor creature. This would have added fuel to what I was experiencing whereby something \”sad\” would have occurred… then that scene might have further fueled more emotional sadness which would have added more fuel to it. In the end, if I didn\’t nip the original emotional outburst in the butt, I would have been caught in a never ending emotional filled loop. The only way out of it would have been to wake up and start over. This one snap judgment might have been the end of a fine non-physical experience.
The more you keep these three things (snap judgments, thoughts and emotions) under control, the easier time you\’ll have directing your experience and making the most out of it. 🙂
Starting on page 174 of Tom\’s book, MBT… he relates three exercises for learning to meditate. Each method focuses upon one of our major methods of learning: Auditory, Visually and by Touch. He uses those as a means of quieting and focusing the mind away from the physical.
You can read the book and the associated pages here for free: My-Big-Toe
It\’s a link that is fully endorsed by Tom himself… so feel free to read the whole thing should you choose to. ![\"Smiley\"](\"http://astralpulse.com/forums/Smileys/classic/smiley.gif\")
The auditory exercise is about repeating a mantra.
The visual exercise is about allowing objects to appear before you in the blackness (sound familiar?) or creating a simple \”scenario\” and playing it out allowing yourself to perceive all the sensory input from it (also sounds familiar, eh?).
The touch exercise is about creating the sense of you touching something, like running your hands over a fur coat.
So yeah… you\’re to keep doing the chosen exercise and bringing your attention back to it whenever you notice that it\’s wandering. However he mentions that when the image/sound/scenario begins to slip away (aka your mind begins to wander), but no extraneous thoughts appear, then just let the image/sound/scenario go and drift in the still oneness of your consciousness. <– That\’s the point consciousness state.
Once you\’re in that state where you\’re experiencing that \”drifting oneness of consciousness\” you have *ALREADY* phased. It\’s just a matter at that point to place your Intent towards what you want to do, and allow it to happen.
And this part is of UTMOST IMPORTANCE:
Be careful not to try too hard, and do not struggle with high resolution, image quality, or anything else. Images may be felt as well as seen. Struggling to make your meditation be how you think it should be is always counterproductive. No expectations. No struggle. No demands. The point is not to force your will on the process, but to let the process unfold naturally as it captivates your attention.
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.
I was looking around the Astral Pulse looking for a good post to put in this edition of Post Focus! …and I think I found a great one! Now, I\’m not really much of a Bruce Moen fan, as I\’m not too keen on his method of projection which entails more about perceiving the experience instead of actually BEING in and directly experiencing the projection first hand. However, one of the members from his forum posted a transcript of a chat that Moen did back in 2002. This was posted on the Astral Pulse in the same year, so we\’re going waaaaaaaay back here. hehe
I\’ve edited the chat log so that it\’s in a bit easier format to read. I\’m also going to try and interrupt it throughout, and break the chat log down a bit with my own commentary regarding what I feel is important to take away from this chat and what parts of it you should keep for future reading once you\’ve got a bit more experience under your belt… so here we go!
There are some interesting \”places\” to explore and one of the most interesting I ran across early on was an area of consciousness I call the 3D Blackness. That stands for 3 dimensional Blackness. I accidently stumbled into this place several times early on. If you close your eyes, and it\’s easier to do this in a darkened room, and focus your attention on looking at what your closed eyes are seeing, you would probably say you\’re seeing a sort of flat, two dimensional blackness, 2D Blackness. Kind of like looking at a flat screen image of blackness before your eyes. I\’m not sure exactly how to describe how to shift your focus of attention to the 3D Blackness, other than placing intent to do so, but when you shift your focus of attention to 3D Blackness it\’s unmistakable that you are there.
Moen makes reference to the 3D Blackness. I\’ve seen other names for this particular experience, most notably Focus 12/21, Void, Astral Bridge. If you practice Phasing, you\’ll probably come to your own conclusion about this 3D Blackness. I experience the 3D Blackness quite often throughout my meditations. I believe it\’s a sort of \”in-between\” state, but please, make your own judgments on this. 🙂
There is a definite shift in the feeling quality you are experiencing and instead of a flat, 2D Blackness you realize that you are peering into blackness that has depth. It\’s like you can change the depth you are looking into, sort of like the feeling of looking at a scene with your eyes open, but changing between focusing on an object that is near or far away, there is a definite feeling of being able to look deeply into this 3D Blackness, or looking closely into it, or anywhere in between. There is also a \”velvet\” quality to this 3D Blackness, like it\’s both smooth and grainy at the same time. Moving your eyes from side to side it\’s like you can see the velvety graininess going by. This 3D Blackness is, in my view, a specific, individual area of consciousness and it\’s one that can be quite useful for exploring other realities.
It\’s important to realize that you might not experience all of this exactly as he (or anyone else, for that matter) mentions it. Your 3D Blackness is going to be rather unique to you, so it might not be exactly as he says. What will (or should be, at least) similar is that sense of DEPTH to the field that you\’re looking into. I can\’t confirm the \”velvety graininess\” that he speaks of, as it\’s not a property of my own 3D Blackness. I can, however, speak volumes to this perceived \”shift\” that he talks about… for myself there is a distinct \”feeling\” of movement when I go from viewing 2D to the 3D Blackness. It\’s unmistakeable.
The many times I managed to shift my focus of attention to the 3D Blackness I was only there for very short periods of time. I\’d get there and think, Oh WOW! I\’m there! And in the next moment I\’d be back in 2D blackness. I had to learn to relax and just let myself be there once I arrived.
This is an important part to realize. You\’ve gotta remain relaxed and passively aware if you wish to \”hang out\” for extended periods of time in this state of consciousness. Otherwise, you\’ll have what happened to Moen… a return to 2D Blackness.
My first experiments with this area of consciousness happened accidentally too. I\’d been intending to try to visit some deceased person before I began my relaxing breaths and then found myself peering into the depths of the 3D Blackness. I\’d learned how to just sort of relax and allow myself to be there, so I didn\’t pull myself out of there. As I peered into the 3D Blackness I could see that it was all very uniform, the same shade of black if you will, then, as I moved my eyes looking from side to side and up and down, I noticed there was a small area that was darker than the surrounding blackness. This caught my attention and I wondered why this little area was darker. I focused my attention on this spot, it looked like a sort of dark swirl, I was trying to see it\’s shape and movement and thought, If I got closer to it maybe I\’d be able to see it better, so I thought about moving toward it. I started to feel myself move, I was suddenly somewhere else. As I looked around I realized I was near the deceased person I had originally intended to visit with. Big surprise!
This, I believe, is the very origins of Franks \”Noticing Exercise\”. This chat log of Moen\’s was done back in 2002, well before Frank finalized his Noticing Exercise on the Astral Pulse. I feel it\’s definitely where he got the idea from. He took this and tweaked it slightly for his own personal uses… he found success in it, and then shared it with others in an easy-to-learn format.
You\’ll notice in this paragraph that he tends to use his Intent quite often to imitate actions that he wants to take. This is very important and you should note this for your own journeys. 🙂
At first I didn\’t get any connection between these two events. But, as I continued exploring our afterlife, intending to find a certain person, or visit some area like the Education Center, or other Center,sometimes I\’d find myself in the 3D Blackness, peering into its depth, and looking it over intently, Then I notice a small area that was different than the surrounding blackness. Sometimes this would be a darker swirl, sometimes a small area that was a little lighter, sometimes just a small area that appeared to be very active, like the blackness in that area was jittering or jiggling.
I\’d focus my attention on the spot, think about moving toward it, and suddenly I\’d be in the place I\’d originally intended to go. Eventually I realized that this 3D Blackness was sort of like a Hub or central location for \”portals\” or \”gateways\” I imagined it was a place that had tubes running from it to any other area of consciousness that existed. Something or someone kept helping me shift my focus of attention to this 3D Blackness, or I was just becoming more aware of the process of \”going\” to the people and places I wanted to visit.
These paragraphs show a bit more of the origins of the Noticing Exercise, along with sharing how he uses his Intent (focusing his attention on a spot to move towards it) to initiate his desired action.
Eventually, I realized that if there was any person or place or thing I wanted to visit or explore all I had to do was to intentionally shift my focus of attention to the 3D Blackness, then I\’d say the name of the person I wanted to visit, in my mind, or the name of the place I wanted to go, then I\’d just start looking for one of those discontinuities\’ in the 3D Blackness. As soon as I found one I\’d just focus attention on it and in the next moment I\’d BE THERE Some here tonight have already found this area of consciousness called the 3D Blackness and by some of the posts on the Conversation Board it\’s pretty obvious some have learned to use it in the way I\’ve just described. I wish it was easier for me to describe how one finds the 3D Blackness, describe the feeling quality of it, give better clues that other folks could use to shift there focus of attention there. Because, it\’s such a great navigational tool for getting from point A to point B.
His first sentence actually gives us a great clue as to how to find our own 3D Blackness within ourselves. Shift your focus of attention (awareness) towards experiencing your 3D Blackness. Shift your Intent to do this. Afterwards, while there, he\’s shifting his Intent once again to visit whoever he wants.
If you\’re noticing a pattern here… it\’s all about your \”Intent\” and using that to illicit the changes that you want to happen.
In this way, Moen is using the blackness as a sort of Hub connecting him to the larger reality.
For those of you interested in exploring for the 3D Blackness and exploring it directly, I\’d suggest you begin in a darkened room. The reason I suggest this is because there will be less physical light stimulating your retina, not that it can\’t be found any where but a darkened room, it\’s just that it\’s a little easier to start that way. With your eyes closed, take in some deep relaxing breaths, Remember the feeling of being relaxed, Let memory of that feeling help you relax a little more deeply as you continue taking in relaxing breaths. When you can feel a difference in your level of relaxation that\’s a good start, for this 3D Blackness exercise it\’s worth spending a little more time than usual to allow yourself to relax deeply. Then, with your eyes still closed look closely at the blackness before your eyes, examine it. describe it, feel it, at first it will probably appear to be flat, two dimensional blackness, Then, say in your mind, I desire to explore the 3D Blackness, place intent.
I suggest closely reading what he says here and take it to heart, but don\’t worry too much about \”his\” details. Use it as a basis and create \”your own\” details.
Then, continue to look into that flat blackness, move your physical eyes a little from time to time, as if you are looking at \’things\’ within this blackness. At some point you may feel a shift in the feeling quality of that blackness, for me it\’s a feeling like being drawn into a scene I\’m looking at, you know how you can just look at a scene and not be drawn into to it, or you can \’look into a scene\’ in a way that your attention is drawn to details within the scene? the feeling is similar. Wish I could describe it better, but that doesn\’t matter, if you place your intent to explore the 3D Blackness and peer into the flat blackness before your eyes, at some point you\’ll feel the shift and then realize you are peering into a different kind of blackness, a velvety, blackness with depth. When you notice you can peer into its depth you\’ll know you\’ve made the shift of your focus of attention to the 3D Blackness. Fascinating place.
As I said earlier, the first several times I arrived there I pulled myself right back out moments after arriving because I began thinking about having arrived. The area of consciousness I\’m in when I\’m thinking that way is a different area than the 3D Blackness. it\’s okay. Just relax and intend to shift to 3D Blackness again, look closely at the flat blackness, and at some point you\’ll make that shift again. EAch time you make that shift take note of the feeling quality of that shift, Then, as you\’re doing the exercise remember the feeling quality of that shift. If you remember it to the point of re-experiencing that feeling quality you\’ll probably find that you can begin to make the shift to 3D Blackness pretty much at will.
He makes a great distinction here to relax at all times and not get excited about experiencing anything in particular, because, as it happened with him, it broke his trance state. This is part of the training, keeping yourself grounded and centered at all times. \”At all times\”… before, during and after a projection.
For me \”at will\” didn\’t necessarily mean \”immediately\” but when I could remember the feeling quality of the shift to the point of re-experiencing it, \”at will\” meant I was definitely going to be there shortly. As you learn to make that shift and let yourself just be in the 3D Blackness, And learn to look around within it, when you can see/detect a small area that looks a little different than the surrounding blackness, just focus your attention on that spot. In other words, be in the frame of mind that you are looking at it and looking at if from a little closer position would be better. Don\’t be surprised if you suddenly find yourself within some entirely different reality, or, reality space. With practice, you\’ll be able to intend to visit with a nonphysical person, human or otherwise, go to the 3D Blackness, find that spot that looks different, intend to move toward it,and suddenly find yourself where you wanted to be,the place is almost like magic. About time for me to take a short break. Hopefully, this chat about the 3D Blackness has stimulated your curiosity and you\’ve got some questions about it. So, let\’s take five.
Enjoy!
I\’ve been in quite the non-physical slump as of late. My last lucid awareness experience was back in mid-February! So I\’ve been quite eager to continue my exploration. Last weekend, I finally had one, it was relatively short, but I think I might have made a strange personal discovery.
I remember it started off on a beach, I was standing around with my father. What triggered the initial lucidity was everything had a slight \”grey\” filter on it. I noted this to my father, and I got to thinking that something was up. Once that happened, I started a reality check. I got stuck on the question \”How did I get here?\”. I tried really hard to answer it, but seeing as I had no idea how I got to the beach in the first place, I couldn\’t answer it… so I must have been dreaming. However, I went to attempt to fly (which is another reality check I usually do to solidly confirm if I\’m dreaming), yet failed twice in a row, but then a minute later, I tried once more and I got off the ground, I came to the conclusion that I was definitely dreaming.
The strange personal discovery was this \”grey filter\” on my vision. I\’m wondering if it\’s always present and I just happened to notice it this time. I think next time I need to really look around more and \”see\” what I\’m seeing. I\’ve never noticed anything like it before. Everything was perfectly clear and in full colour, there was just this greyness to everything that was glaringly obvious. So obvious, in fact, that it triggered my awareness.
I guess I\’ll have to wait and see where this new information takes me. It\’s been a few days since, and I haven\’t really experienced much else… nor have I noticed anything strange about the \”colours\” of my dreams lately either.
I was meditating yesterday doing the Noticing Exercise, not really with any particular goal in mind other than trying to relax and de-stress myself by focusing within and just becoming \”lost\”, allowing my mind to drift where ever it wanted. Anyway, I was staring out into the blackness trying to \”notice\” changes when I began to notice more than just slight changes. These were full patterns instead, in some cases full objects. Now, I never really considered in the past that I\’d see more than just \”slight variations\” in the blackness. But, I started focusing more on the patterns that I was seeing and I\’d see an eye, maybe a wing of a bird, or a cube, etc…
I\’m not sure if this is a twist so much as a realization of the nature of the exercise, but instead of \”passively observing\” I tried \”actively creating\” in that blackness. I began to look at the blackness and the swirls of changes that I usually see, and tried to find patterns in it. I don\’t actively create either, I just kind of allow things to \’form\’ until I recognize something (ie: a wolf howling), then I try to focus upon whatever it is. The object will either get stronger or it will just fade away, at which point I start the process again of allowing something to form.
Now, the trick here isn\’t to see a pattern and think to yourself, \”Oh, I see a circle!\” or anything like that, you still want to remain passively observing, yet focused upon the image you\’re seeing and try to strengthen it if you can (don\’t try too hard, remember to stay relatively passive). Bring your full attention towards it.
You might even see more than one pattern at a time! Try to bring them together if you can by using your Intent. Then to deepen the state, try interacting with whatever you’ve created. Try making it move. If it\’s a person, move an arm by using your Intent. If it\’s a ball, try rolling it around the blackness. Your goal here is the same as the Noticing exercise: the total removal of your conscious awareness from this physical reality and place it ENTIRELY within the blackness (viewing the blackness).
So a quick recap… the usual Noticing Exercise would have you staring into the blackness behind your closed eyes and trying to \”notice\” any changes in that field of vision. Then you would focus into those changes, and try to see more changes, and then focus into THOSE changes… etc. This Noticing Exercise with a Twist is different because instead of focusing in on \”changes\”, you\’re going to focus in on recognizable patterns that you\’re seeing. These patterns might initially start off as slight \”changes\”, but then just use your Intent to try to \”see\” more. You can even try to mentally give a command and see what happens. 🙂
Give that a shot and drop me a comment if you need any clarification on this.
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! 🙂
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. 🙂
So back in the end of March, the forum go-ers over at Tom Campbells MBT Forums had a small get-together with Tom to finally have a chance to meet face-to-face and have a good MBT-discussion!
Lots of audio and video was taken during the event. The video portion is still being edited and will be a few more weeks away… however, the audio has been released!
http://www.my-big-toe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=5978
Head over to that link and save each of the audio files. Each one is roughly 200mb, and there are five in total. It\’s almost 10 hours of audio from that weekend! Lots of questions by everyone, lots of answers by Tom! Great information! I highly encourage everyone to listen to these when you have the time. 🙂
EDIT: OH! This was my 100th post! I didn\’t even realize until I was checking up on my posts just now. 😀