Post Focus! January 4th, 2011!

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My first post of the new year!  It\’s hard to believe that it\’s already been four months… and what\’s harder to believe is that I\’m still able to make fresh and new posts!  I\’ve got over 70 now!  Anyway, I digress!

It\’s time for another Post Focus!

I found this amazing post on the Astral Pulse written by a fellow who doesn\’t come by anymore, he was once a moderator as well at one point.  His nick on the forums was Jeff_Mash.  A really great guy from what I\’ve read.  Anyway, I stumbled upon this post by him and I wish to share it and my thoughts on it.

The original post can be found here:  Jeff\’s OBE Tips

Because of a forum conversion some time ago, some of the first posts got pushed to the back end of the threads… so that\’s the final post in that thread, the following link is the start of the thread if any one wishes to read all 5 pages (and I do highly encourage that).
Jeff\’s OBE Tips, first post

I\’ll start this off with the post that I wish to share:


First off, let me explain some things I can and can\’t do.I am no expert on OBE\’s. I cannot do these at will (yet). I don\’t have all the answers, nor am I above learning from even the most inexperienced projector out there.

With that said, I have been having spontaneous and planned OBE\’s for the last 5+ years. I do have at least one every week (sometimes more, sometimes less). And…..I have seen some characteristics that are COMMON to most of my OBE\’s.

I would like to share some of those with you now, to help you come to learn what I have learned and HELP you in your attemps.

1) YOUR EYES MUST BE ASLEEP

What do I mean? In a nutshell, your eyes play a BIG role in the ability to consciously have an OBE. They themselves must be asleep. Here is what I mean by that.

Close your eyes right now and leave them closed for about 10 seconds. Just focus on them behind your closed eyelids and observe their activity.

What you will find a number of things happening. You will see that they pulsate a little. Your eyelids twitch. You will also find that the eyeballs themselves move. So when you\’re looking at the blackness behind your eyelids, your PHYSICAL eyes are the ones that are trying to do the looking. THIS IS NOT WHAT WE WANT.

When I am about to project, one thing I notice is that my PHYSICAL eyes are NOT doing the looking. I sense the blackness and I \”see\” things, but my physical eyes are completely asleep. No pulsating, no movement, nothing.

To really experience this, you will have to remember this post when you wake up in the middle of the night. The next time you have to get up to go pee or something, when you lay back down, just close your eyes and you will see what I mean. The physical eyes just sit there behind your eyelids like a zombie. They aren\’t seeing or (better yet) LOOKING for anything.

This is one of the steps you need to work towards. When you lay down to practice having an OBE, spend a lot of time relaxing your eyes. When you find yourself straining to look at the 3D blackness, catch yourself. Ask, \”Am I using my physical eyes to try and see behind my eyelids, or my astral eyes?\”

Once you start perceiving and seeing images without your physical eyes trying to \”look\” for them, you have accomplished a big step.

2. MIND AWAKE….YES / BODY ASLEEP…..NOT REALLY

Ok, here is a bombshell for most of you OBE students. We\’ve all read and been told that in order to achieve an OBE, your must reach what has been termed the \”mind awake/body asleep\” stage, right?

Well, I don\’t know about you, but I think this has really hindered a lot of people. Why? Because they spend all their time and energy trying to put their body asleep that they end up falling asleep themselves!

Have you ever really asked yourself, \”What does it mean to have my \’body asleep\’ anyway?\”

After all, your body really doesn\’t SLEEP, does it? It simply isn\’t active. The heart beats a little slower, the muscles are relaxed, but it certainly isn\’t sleeping. It certainly isn\’t having its own separate dreams, right?

\”But Jeff, I think they say your body is asleep because you can\’t feel it. You won\’t be able to sense it so therefore, it\’s asleep.\”

Ah HA! That\’s where people go wrong. The reason why you can\’t feel your body is NOT because of your body, but because of your MIND. You must condition your MIND to have an OBE.

I believe 95% of you out there who have trouble inducing an OBE fall into this trap. You spend all of your time focusing on preparing the PHYSICAL BODY for an OBE (which doesn\’t get to experience it), and less time on preparing your MIND for an OBE (which does get to experience it).

That\’s like washing your brand new car for your vacation to Disneyland, and then you take the train there instead.

Instead, when you lay down, get comfortable. Make sure you\’re relaxed (paying attention to relax your eyes). Once you relax your eyes, spend ALL of your time working on the MENTAL side of things.

Focus on the blackness behind your eyelids (with non-physical eye muscles). As your MIND relaxes, the blackness with begin to take on more depth and three-dimensional qualities.

As your MIND continues to relax, these black three dimensional qualities will begin to hold for longer and longer periods of time before fading away. They will also start to take on color.

THE KEY IS TO LOCK ONTO ONE OF THESE THINGS AND HOLD ONTO IT. If you can do that, it usually can suck you right into the astral. This is also known as PHASING, something Frank was really good at explaining.

While I can\’t fill his shoes, I hope that this description can give you all a renewed hunger to achieve this state on your own.

3. RELAX YOUR MIND BY FOLLOWING YOUR LINE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

When you close your eyes to go to sleep, by staring straight ahead behind your closed eyelids, you will find that your mind kind of \”blanks out\”, but you don\’t really become tired. It\’s kind of like staring at a wall or something. It keeps you occupied, but your mind really isn\’t moving in a downward, relaxed state.

However, if you mentally explore this area, you will see that there is a current, or energy flow that you can lock onto which almost makes you tired, and brings you closer to sleep.

It sounds \”out there\” and I\’m having difficulty explaining it, but its almost like using a key to unlock a door. If you simply push the key sideways onto the keyslot (aka just closing your eyes and staring straight ahead), this won\’t accomplish your goal of unlocking the door (aka having a full blown OBE).

However, as you work on turning the key (aka Feeling around mentally for this \’sleep trigger\’ point), you will find that after a minute or so, the key will slip into the key slot (aka You found the mental state to allow your mind to automatically begin falling asleep).

Now you can ride that line further and further down by allowing your mind to automatically begin to relax, while you focus on the 3D blackness with your non-physical eye muscles.

Make sense? In other words, right now, wherever you are sitting, if you were to simply close your eyes at this moment, you would not go to sleep. However, if you leave them closed and mentally feel around for the right \”sleep processing thoughts\”, your MIND would begin to daydream, begin to wander, and otherwise begin to relax and drift off to sleep. THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT.

Now couple that with the other two points above (by using your non-physical eyes and not worrying about the body), and these are the three MAIN OBE characteristics which can make the difference between an ordinary night\’s sleep and a wonderful, full-blown projection.

In closing, it is important to STAY POSITIVE. Mentally tell yourself how EASY this is….that even though you have no idea how to do this, reassure yourself that your MIND already knows what to do, and that you\’re trusting your own MIND to teach you the steps to reproduce this at will.

With lots of practice and self-introspection, your mind will soon achieve this state of consciousness relatively quickly.

Hope that helps!

Definitely a great post with lots of insight.
The eyes really are your biggest challenge when it comes to conscious projections. No doubt about it. They\’ve been my mortal enemy while doing all this practicing. LoL

It really is all about completely forgetting about your physical eyes as you won\’t be using them and if you do end up using them, it\’ll simply snap you back to waking reality. I remember Personalreality expounding upon the awesomeness of those 3D eye pictures and how viewing them can teach you to relax your eyes. I also agree with this.

And the whole \”body asleep\” saying… I really do wish Robert Monroe never came up with that. It\’s probably the single most annoying problem that I\’ve had for the last 10 years and has LITERALLY kept me from being successful along that time period. It should be \”Mind Awake/Body Relaxed\” NOT ASLEEP. As Jeff points out, you do not need to make your body fall asleep to consciously project.

Anyway, this is definitely a great read. If you can understand the points he\’s trying to make here, then you\’ll quickly be on your way to a successful projection. 🙂

How I Came To My Beliefs

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I wanted to go into a bit about the How\’s and Why\’s I came to my current belief construct.

My beliefs aren\’t something I came about to overnight… also, and most people might not even believe this, but people such as Robert Monroe and Frank Kepple didn\’t influence any of my beliefs, they simply filled in some of the blanks I had and further reinforced that which I already knew was true.

They opened me up to a world where what I have been experiencing and the questions I\’ve been asking myself for the past 31 years I now had definite answers for. The thing is that, I knew these answers all along… I just didn\’t know I was ALLOWED to believe them.

Questions like, \”Where do we go when we dream?\”… when posed to my parents they would tell me, \”well you go nowhere obviously… it all happens in your head.\”  Alluding to some kind of well known fact that dreams are something that are \”not real\”.  I somehow knew this was wrong. I somehow knew there was more to my sleep-time than \”just dreams in my head\” happening.  I might not have had the terminology and understanding that I do now thanks to Robert, Frank and others, but the basis for my beliefs were formed back then when I began asking myself these questions.

Fast forward to a year or so ago and my introduction to Frank Kepple\’s work.  At this point I had already read a lot of stuff on the subject and had been attempting Astral Projection for well over 10 years with little to no success.  I had managed to feel the so-called \”vibrations\”, but little else (I\’m still not convinced they\’re some objective experience directly connected to astral projections).  I still hadn\’t made the connection that dreams WERE astral projections of a decreased awareness nature.  Finally, as Frank says, the penny dropped!  I had my link… finally the puzzle pieces started to come together.

Dreams, Lucid Dreams and Astral Projections were all the same experience!  It made so much sense to me… my own experiences gave me the proof I needed.  At the time the known majority of my experiences were \”Non-physical Lucid Awareness Experiences\”, it stood to reason at the time that if Dreams and Lucid Dreams are intricately linked… then the next logical step would be that they\’re really the same experience as Astral Projections.  Bam!  Mystery #1 for myself was solved.

Then I started remembering experiences I\’ve had in the past where I wasn\’t sure they were projections or not… and now I had the answers for them, they DEFINITELY were astral projections!  … and they were just like my lucid dreams too, except I knew exactly who and what I was at the time along with my normal waking mind.

Now, as I go back to re-read all the books I\’ve read previously, I find that I\’m able to gleam so much more out of them.  When one understands what\’s going on, one can understand and interpret, not only their own experiences better, but those of other peoples as well… even if the other people come up with different interpretations.

So, here I stand… with too many non-physical lucid awareness experiences to count and several known non-physical astral awareness experiences (I dunno how many there could have been during my youth) under my belt… this post is how I came to realize these truths, the personal experiences which meshed so well with those who came before me.

I can\’t wait to experience more and to attempt to follow in the footsteps of those who came before me.  🙂

Lunchtime Meditation – December 15th, 2010

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I had a bit of time again during my lunch hour, so I decided to relax a bit and practice my \”Noticing\” exercise.

So, my usual stuff… I put on my iPod, listening to one of my Hemi-sync CD\’s, and began my relaxation.  It took me slightly longer than usual to fully relax, mostly because of all the noise going on in the main office outside of mine.  I was able to hit Focus 10… I slid into Focus 12, but only for a minute or two.  However, that minute or two ended up being quite eventful.

My Focus 12 states, lately, have been about formless, colourless shapes moving around randomly… well this time, they weren\’t shapes as much as lines moving from the base of my field of vision, moving upwards.  About 30 – 40 seconds into Focus 12, I encountered an abrupt \”black tunnel\” that sped towards and around me.  It felt as if I was standing still, yet someone was moving a black tunnel towards and past me and I was moving through it.  It definitely felt like it was moving towards me though, not the other way around.  But anyway, it surprised me and snapped me back to Focus 10.

If was I able to hold on through it, I THINK it was an intermediate step that I usually skip past quickly on my way from Focus 12 to 21… just this time I was witnessing it live and in person.  I have experienced this particular thing a couple times before, but that\’s it really… and the last one was quite a bit ago.

In any case, it only lasted a half second or so… but it was a fun, and wild ride.  🙂

Energy Work and Astral Projection

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

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

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

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

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

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

Phasing Realization! Thanks Monroe!

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As I\’ve been saying lately, I\’ve been re-reading the first book written by Robert Monroe, \”Journeys Out of the Body\”.  I\’m getting so much more out of it now that I\’m a little more experienced and have more knowledge under my belt.  I\’m able to pick out some of the subtle nuances of the information he\’s presenting.

One particular point of interest was around page 86/87, where he\’s talking about Locale III and his \”turning 180 degrees\”.  The first time I read this I was really confused… what is he turning?  Is he trying to physically turn 180 degrees?  Is he trying to turn his second body (astral body)?  And which direction is he doing this turning?  Well… all those questions are aiming in the wrong direction.  He\’s turning his focus away from the physical and towards the non-physical… he\’s PHASING.  He even explains this slightly in a passing manner on the following pages.  It was something I completely missed at the time of my first reading… however, I doubt that I would have figured it out anyhow.  So, back in 1958 he first discovered Phasing.

I was lying in bed a few days before that, I think it was Friday or Saturday night.  I had closed my eyes and started a really basic noticing exercise… and I began to, really quickly, slip into a Focus 10 state.  It really caught me off-guard… but just as this happened my girlfriend asked me a question and it brought me out of it.  Now, I didn\’t really give this much of a 2nd thought at the time… until I read those few pages in Robert\’s book, then it all clicked back into memory.

What\’s intriguing about this is that I did it while going to bed that night.  Given some more practice at this, I might be able to \”pull-a-Monroe\”  (LOL) and do some phasing on the way into sleep at night instead of having to wake up in the morning or rely upon lucid awareness experiences during the night.  This really opens up a whole new avenue of progress with which I can take.  🙂

To say I\’m excited about this would be quite the understatement.  hehe

What is Visualization and How Do I Do It?

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EDIT: I knew this would happen eventually… I apparently already made a post on this particular subject and linked this very link back in the beginning of September.  Oh well.  I actually consider this to be the very CORNERSTONE of learning how to do Phasing.  In other words, it\’s definitely worth a second look.  Please read it carefully and try to understand EXACTLY what he\’s trying to say here.

Being able to do some sort of visualization seems to be a huge part of astral projection.  With that said, I\’m CONSTANTLY seeing people talking about it and doing it wrong… not to mention there seems to be a vast group of people who believe they can\’t visualize worth beans.

These people are WRONG… *EVERYONE* can do visualization just fine, they\’ve just been conditioned lately to believe it\’s something completely different.  So, rather than me explaining what\’s wrong with peoples idea of visualization, I\’ll just link Robert Bruce\’s NEW article he wrote SPECIFICALLY on visualization.  I agree with every word.

http://www.astraldynamics.com.au/content.php?205-Part-2-NO-Visualization

I\’ll post the first bit here to get you started… then head over there and read the rest! 🙂

Taken altogether, the required skills for any kind of energy work or metaphysical development can seem pretty daunting. But please don\’t panic! Taken one at a time the individual skills needed for development are very simple. They are all very easy to learn and do when explained and taught in just the right way. Anyone can learn them! The following development units are carefully structured to present everything in just the right order to make the learning process as easy and painless as possible.

No prior skills are required to begin with. I have designed the coming sections with the complete novice in mind, but while also catering for the needs of intermediate and advanced students. Anyone can learn and use these techniques, even if they have never had any previous success with energy or development work. I say this without reservation. Some of the theories, techniques and processes offered here are quite new, while other components are clever innovations on existing knowledge; but all are extremely effective. Using these tools it will not take years of hard work before any noticeable results are achieved. In fact, because of their effectiveness most people will get worthwhile results the very first time they use them.
What\’s NEW About Visualization?

Let\’s face it, 99% of people can\’t visualize for peanuts! No, let me rephrase that, 99% of people think they cannot visualize. But this is all wrong too, because I know that one-hundred percent of people can visualize perfectly. Everyone does it all the time. They just don\’t know they are doing it. If you are one of the many people that has problems with visualization, then this is the chapter you have been waiting for all your life.

The above stated problem comes about simply because visualization is generally so poorly explained and taught these days. Visualization is considered by many to be an ability that takes years to master. But visualization is extremely easy and it does not take any time at all to master. It is a natural ability that everyone has and uses all the time. It is an ability that anyone can do with virtually no training or practice.

There are profound in-built problems with the majority of today\’s popular New Age visualization-based techniques. This is especially apparent with popular energy body and Chakra development techniques, if you seriously examine them. I have come across countless developmental problems relating to this single issue. This problem is so serious it greatly increases the difficulty levels encountered with any kind of serious development work. Development time is thereby seriously lengthened. As a consequence the majority of people give up well before they get any noticeable or worthwhile results.

To illustrate a part of this problem: if you belong to a meditation or development group, go and ask everyone, one at a time and in private, how they really get on with visualization. Note the slightly worried looks you\’ll get with this question if you push it, especially from those teaching it. If they are completely honest most people will admit to having a few basic problems with visualization, or that they just can\’t do it at all. But you will also find a few who will claim to have no problems whatsoever. These lucky few can easily see in their mind\’s eye whatever they visualize – just as if they are watching a little TV behind their closed eyelids, in their mind\’s eye. The lucky few with this type of visual ability are unintentionally a part of this widespread self-propagating problem.

A Theory – Visual Fading Away

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I have a theory that I\’ve been tossing around in my head lately that I wish to share.

If you fixate upon a single point in front of you and are able to keep your vision from moving around due to the micro movements of your eye or from objects moving within your field of vision then a strange phenomenon begins to happen.  First, things around your fixated target begin to disappear… a line here, a corner of something there… they vanish before your eyes.  Eventually, everything starts to fade away into a background white or black, depending upon how lighted the area around you is.  Generally, during our normal waking lives, this phenomenon doesn\’t occur because even if there is nothing \”moving\” in our field of vision, the micro movements of our eyes tend to keep things moving.  Think of it as a computer monitor, the micro movements of the eye cause a screen refresh 30 frames every second.  It might be hard for some people to keep this movement to a minimum… but give it a shot and see if you can make this happen.

I feel that the fading away of the visual spectrum is the beginning of the shift into Focus 10!  I find that as this visual shift begins to happen, my mind is nice and relaxed, but that may just be me.  See how you feel when you try it.  But it\’s just the beginning of it.  Now, this is the reason that we usually do our practicing with our eyes closed, due to the visual distractions.  Your eyes are much easier to remain still in this state… this is also a great exercise to do to learn to \”passively observe\”, as you need to keep your eyes passively still for the fading to initiate.

If you can get it so that the visual field you\’re viewing completely disappears, I think you\’re good to close your eyes and try it.  As I said, I think this shift is the beginning of Focus 10… it\’s the start of removing ourselves consciously from the physical.  If you can actually hold this (which would be hard due to having to blink), theoretically, you should be able to project even with your eyes open!

Any other ideas?  Thoughts?

My Recent Phasing Practice Sessions

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I guess there isn\’t too much to post about lately, so I\’ll just write about my two previous phasing practice sessions.

The recent one was last night an hour before I went to my Yoshinkan Aikido class.  I sat down on my recliner couch, put my iPod earbuds in and started listening to one of my hemi-sync songs.  I think I was listening to \”Touching Grace\”.  Anyway, I started to relax… I generally work on my face first, I find that I hold a lot of muscle tension around my ears and cheekbones.  My body tends to relax very quickly now-a-days, so I don\’t usually do a progressive relaxation method on that part of me.  It\’s just my face I find most difficult.

When my face was relaxed, this includes my eyes now (which is a change I started just recently as I never did the eye relaxation thing before), which I\’m finding to be a great thing to do in order to \”passively observe\”.  I started my \”Fixated Staring\” routine as noted in my previous post (Xanth\’s Phasing Method) and began slipping very quickly into Focus 3 (Monroe model)… and within 8 – 10 minutes Focus 10 followed.  When I felt the Focus 10 state sink in, I started my Noticing exercise.  So I was staring at the blackness behind my closed eyes, noticing what\’s going on… and then I feel what can really best be described as an \”expanded awareness/consciousness\”.  I really do feel EXPANDED… then the visuals kick on and I\’m now staring at floating formless colour clouds in front of me.  I never made it to Focus 21 this time, but I did come to the conclusion that Focus 12 is now always within my reach and truly is easy to get to once you\’ve done it once and realize it.

The practice session before that one also went just like that… except I think I was in my bedroom at the time sitting on my bed.  It took slightly longer to hit Focus 12, but I did get there.  It\’s really something you need to stumble into once, then it should be easy to get to from then on out… with just a bit less effort each time.

So that\’s really all I have to say right now… I just wanted to relay those experiences out there.  Hopefully reading it might give you some glimpse into a point you\’re at where you\’re stuck.

Xanth’s Phasing Method

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I posted this in my last article I wrote where I focused on a couple posts from the Astral Pulse, but I thought that it’d be nice to get it down separately and with a bit more detail.  So, what follows is my current Phasing method which has been giving me a lot of success as of late.

What I’ve been doing lately has been a slight combination of a few methods, rolled up into something that has been really easy for me to do.  Doing this takes me, pretty quickly, through Focus 10 into Focus 12… my sticking point right now is the transition from Focus 12 to Focus 21.

Anyway, let’s get into what I do!
I’ll type up a quick overview, then go through each step in more detail.:

  1. Stretch your eyes out… close them really tightly for a few seconds.  Do this a few times.  Then rotate them around several times, making sure they’re completely stretched out… I’ll give them a good rub too.
  2. Close eyes, fixate upon a spot in the blackness directly in front of you and visualize something at the spot to help hold your focus there, I use a spinning vortex.
  3. Start your relaxation process.
  4. As you’re relaxing, move that spot you’re fixating on slowly upwards as high as you can comfortably go without straining your eyes.
  5. When your eyes have gone as upwards as they’ll go, you’ll hopefully also be fully relaxed at this point, you should be in Focus 10 at this point… to shift to Focus 12, begin the “Noticing” exercise.
  6. Should you begin to see floating, formless shapeless blobs in front where you’re fixated, this signifies you’re now in Focus 12.
  7. Keep “Noticing” the formless shapes floating around and eventually, without trying (just allow this next part to happen), you should find yourself engulfed within the 3D Blackness of Focus 21.

Ok, so let’s drop into more detail!
Lately, I’ve been listening to some hemi-sync MP3’s that I bought off the TMI webstore.  Stuff like “Dreamseed”, “Touching Grace” and “Voyage to the Other Side”.  Actually those are the only three I have, I cycle through them quite often.

The first thing I do is stretch out my eyes… this helps to relax them and allows them to stay closed easier.  I’ll do this by closing them tight for a few seconds, then release.  Do that a few times.  Then rotate your eyes around in whatever direction you wish.  But try to stretch them as far out in each direction as you can.

Now after my eyes are stretched out nicely (they should feel a lot more relaxed at this point), I close my eyes and fixate on a single point directly in front of me.  I visualize a small spinning vortex at that point to draw my gaze into it.  You can use whatever you want.  I use this time to begin to relax my body… I used to have to use a progressive relaxation technique, but lately I’ve been able to bypass that and start moving directly into a fully relaxed state.  So, if you can’t do this, feel free to use whatever method you want to achieve your relaxed state.

Now, throughout this relaxation phase, I’ll really slowly shift that point I’m fixated on upwards in small increments.  This has two effects… first it locks the eyelids shut and secondly, for some reason it assists the action of phasing (perhaps it’s just me, but try it anyway).  I find I have to find a new point to fixate upon which is slightly higher than the last one each time.  Just remember to continue your fixation visualization each time (in my case, the spinning vortex).

Try to coincide your finished relaxed state with your eyes reaching as comfortably high as they’ll go.  At this point, hopefully, you should be in Focus 10.  You’ll know by the greatly reduced bodily sensations and a general sense of relax and calmness about you.  I want to point out here that your body WILL NOT be asleep at this point… and really, it never will.  You’ll simply be disassociating your focus from everything physical.  I can put it this way… at this point, your focus will be roughly only 20% in the physical and 80% within the non-physical at this time.

From here, we’ll start Franks “Noticing” exercise.  You’re going to continue fixating on the point that you’ve been using… and you’re going to just “notice” and passively observe what’s going on in your field of view.  It’ll start with blackness, or you might, right away, start to see abstract shadows and areas within your field of view that will begin to shift and move around… keep “noticing” these things.  The more you “notice” this stuff occurring in front of you, the deeper you’ll shift your focus into it and the more you’ll remove your focus from the physical.  When this happens, you’ll roughly be 10% in the physical and 90% in the non-physical.

Now, there will come a point when you’ll feel a shift… and you might find yourself within a scene or some kind, or floating in what’s best described as a 3D Blackness.  When this happens, try to remain passively observing… you’re now in Focus 21.  Congrats, you’ve now phased your consciousness as close to 100% as you can go.  You still might retain some sensations of the physical, but that’s normal.  🙂

Post Focus! Focus 10 and 12!

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I\’ve been doing a bit of research lately on Focus 10 and Focus 12, and I came across yet another gem-of-a-post from our good buddy Frank. The poster is called \”Difference between Focus 10 and Focus 12\”:

Is there any difference between Focus 10 and Focus 12 ?
I would like to get the answer especially from tose who were/are successuful with the tapes from Monroe Institute.
Any different body sensations ?
Different visuals ?
Different type/quality of OOB ?

Thanks in advance
Jan

Franks reply:

Yes, a distinct difference.

Focus 10 is where you have retreated from the physical about 85 to 90%. You still have an awareness that somewhere \”back there\” is a physical body. You are aware that you have one, but aren\’t really interested in it, and receiving next to no input from its physical senses. Your mind is awake and alert, but your focal point of consciousness is contained in what feels like a black 2-dimensional compartment somewhere about the centre of your head.

The primary difference between Focus 10 and Focus 12 is the 2D blackness becomes 3 dimensional. In other words, you get a sensation of an opening up of space, all around you. It\’s like if you suddenly found yourself in an unfamiliar room, where you were standing in the middle, and there was no light whatsoever. You wouldn\’t have any spatial awareness at all. All you\’d see would be a 2-dimensional blackness before your eyes.

Now, say, someone very slowly began to turn on a light. There would come a point where you\’d begin to see abstract shadows. Then, as the light got steadily brighter, the shadows would become more distinct and you\’d begin to recognise basic shapes. This is what Focus 12 is like.

People perceive the state slightly differently, but the primary difference is the fact that the 2 dimensional blackness becomes 3 dimensional. Which gives you a distinct feeling of spatial awareness. You can\’t really see much at this stage, just indistinct shadows, or maybe whirls of foggy sort-of darkness. But, as I say, you cannot miss the *distinct* feeling of spatial awareness that comes about.

From Focus 12, it\’s like the light progressively gets brighter. Taking the room analogy a step further, as the light got slowly brighter, there would come a point where you\’d recognise some object, previously perceived as an indistict shadow, as a chair (say). But you wouldn\’t know the colour of the fabric or the pattern (if any). As the light got brighter still, you\’d start making out that there might be a pattern on the fabric, but you still wouldn\’t be able to see the colour. As the brightness increased, there would come a point where everything would come into view. This is Focus 21

Yours,
Frank

I like his description of how the Focus 12 state slowly comes out of the Focus 10 state. \”The light progressively gets brighter\”… that\’s really a great way to describe it… and then his description of the progression into Focus 21 using the chair is really good too.

All of these posts by Frank that I keep relaying here are part and parcel of the progress I\’ve made over the past year. I wouldn\’t know what I do now if it wasn\’t for reading and understanding this stuff. 🙂

Oh! I want to add this post in a different thread from Clandestino, one of the other moderators on the Astral Pulse.

Hi there Nick,

this reminds me of another post a few weeks ago, I think Frank was talking about a guide giving him info on how important the focus 12 state is in the whole scheme of things.

It is the transition from focus 10 to 12 that is often hard to acheive. Once you are there though, the whole thing should unravel towards focus 22 and \”out of body\” experiences.

One common technique is focussing on something in your field of view…e.g. a dot of light, or a slightly different coloured area in the blackness around you. If you are in focus 12, you may find that the dot of light you were focussing on takes shape, and grows into an astral scene.

However, if you are in focus 10 and you focus on something behind your eyelids….not a lot is likely to happen !

\”how do you get to focus 12?\” i hear you ask ? I don\’t know yet, it just happens sometimes. I would compare my experiences to a blind man walking down the street and then finding the edge of the pavement (or sidewalk if you\’re that way inclined). All of a sudden, there it is !
After a while of walking down the same street, the blind man will find it easier to reach the kerb. Ask him how he did it though, and he might find it tricky to explain.

I\’m sure there are a few folks out there who have more positive suggestions..?

ps – don\’t infer from the above that i\’m a regular at this sort of thing; i\’ve managed it a few times only so far.

That\’s very much exactly what goes on. Just find some point of \”interest\” in your current field of view… and focus on it. If you see that which you\’re focusing on start to take shape… it doesn\’t have to be any particular object, just a formless blob… then you\’re most definitely in Focus 12. From there, it\’s a simple matter of just doing what you\’re currently doing… and ALLOW yourself to be taken into the 3D blackness of Focus 21.

The part where he talks about HOW you get to Focus 12… the point here is that it does \”JUST HAPPEN\”.   Just as you allow yourself to get swept into Focus 21… you must also allow yourself to be taken into Focus 12.

I\’ve changed up my routine slightly lately, as I now use the Noticing exercise more than anything else these days.  I\’ll sit there staring at a single point on the back of my eyelids.  As I begin to slowly feel my body relax I\’ll start to move my physical eyes upwards REALLY slowly… moving them upwards as much as is comfortable as I don\’t want to strain my eyes because that would become counter productive.  At the point when my eyes are pointing upwards as much as I can, I should be pretty relaxed… you can use a progressive relaxation technique here if you wish and as you go through each muscle, move your sight upwards slightly.

For knowing how MUCH to move your eyes… stare straight ahead while you\’re awake, then move your gaze upwards as far as is comfortable.  With your eyes open this is easy, with your eyes closed, you\’ll need to fixate on a portion of the blackness in front of you for your eyes to lock there.  So, now that you know your range of eye movement, just split it up into nice sections and move your eyes accordingly for each progressive muscle relaxed.

So now you\’re relaxed and your eyes are comfortably looking upwards… just watch the scene infront of you and see what happens.  Wait for something to happen.   That\’s all I do.  🙂

Post Focus! Frank

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I was just doing a bit of research on Focus 12 and I wanted to share this wonderful gem of a post.  It\’s Frank responding to someone asking a few questions.  The following is from someone named Ash, back in March 28th, 2003:

okay i\’ve started to notice a strange phenomenon during my practice sessions. Sometimes I feel like I might be about to phase, or obe, or I\’m viewing hypnagogic imagery, and then I will \”snap back\”. This snapping back is something like being in a daydream and then realizing where you are in real life. It\’s sort of a sudden change in your focus of awareness. What I realized is that every time I snap back it actually feels like a very subtle, quick movement down and to the left. After it happens I feel totally awake, just looking at the backs of my eyelids, my awareness centered behind my eyes. But if I drift off again, my awareness moves up and to the right. Once it moves there, if I can regain control without snapping back, I get all sorts of astral and dream-like symptoms. I may get astral sight, or if not I can easily visualize and actually see whatever I visualize (ordinarily my visualization is the pits)

A couple of things are interesting about this.
1) it absolutely cannot be forced. I only realize it has happened after I snap back. During the process it all seems perfectly natural. I can\’t reproduce it if I actually try to move my awareness.

2) I\’m wondering if this has something to do with the \”Brain Method\”

3) When people access memories, or try to imagine, they either look up and to the right, or up and to the left. I can\’t remember which is which, but one is to remember facts and one is to imagine something. I wonder if this awareness shift is related to accessing a different part of my brain.

Comments or similar experiences?

And here is Franks reply:

quote:
Comments or similar experiences? 

Yes, definitely, what you are describing IS the Phasing process!

quote:
Okay i\’ve started to notice a strange phenomenon during my practice sessions. Sometimes I feel like I might be about to phase, or obe, or I\’m viewing hypnagogic imagery, and then I will \”snap back\”. This snapping back is something like being in a daydream and then realizing where you are in real life. It\’s sort of a sudden change in your focus of awareness.

Yes, that\’s what you should be experiencing. It\’s a distinct shift in your focus of awareness. And there is no mistaking it too. Like, you are not placed in a situation where you are left wondering did you make the shift or not.

The reason why you currently keep snapping-back, is due to your protective sense of awareness kicking in. It\’s not something you can consciously control as the protection aspect operates on a very base level. But it does stop happening the more you practice. As your protective sense of awareness gets used to the shift, it becomes a case of, yawn, here we go again.

quote:
What I realized is that every time I snap back it actually feels like a very subtle, quick movement down and to the left. After it happens I feel totally awake, just looking at the backs of my eyelids, my awareness centered behind my eyes. But if I drift off again, my awareness moves up and to the right.

Again, this is how it should feel. Although I only mainly feel an upwards movement, with just a slight hint of a twist to the right.

quote:
Once it moves there, if I can regain control without snapping back, I get all sorts of astral and dream-like symptoms. I may get astral sight, or if not I can easily visualize and actually see whatever I visualize (ordinarily my visualization is the pits)

At first the whole situation can be a bit of a muddle. But after a while you will be able to distinctly recognise the different states of conscious-awareness as you phase through them smoothly.

The point at which your focus of attention is completely directed inwards, this is Focus 10. Following which you then start to see all kinds of abstract movement (or hypnagogic imagery as you term it) this is Focus 12.

If you are in the position where, like you say, you can visualise and actually SEE what you are visualising, this is Focus 22. Note: Focus 22 is basically the same state of consciousness as Lucid Dreaming: only with a very much greater sense of mental control.

Also, Focus 22 is the first proper realm of conscious awareness where thought equals direct action. So, as you have discovered, it is easy to visualise anything simply by thinking about seeing it, and it immediately materialises.

quote:
A couple of things are interesting about this.
1) it absolutely cannot be forced. I only realize it has happened after I snap back. During the process it all seems perfectly natural. I can\’t reproduce it if I actually try to move my awareness.

That\’s right, and this part of it I find ever so tricky to explain. You cannot will yourself to have the experience. It\’s something you mentally allow yourself to become open to.

It\’s like where I\’ve tried to explain it before by saying that Astral Projection is not about finding the right projection technique, but more to do with developing the right kind of mental understanding. Techniques can be very useful but, ultimately, I believe their effectiveness stems from them acting as a kind of mental primer that serves to kick-start the natural process.

quote:
2) I\’m wondering if this has something to do with the \”Brain Method\”

I don\’t know what the Brain Method is exactly. Someone coined the term a while ago and it seems to have stuck. What I can say for sure, however, is that what you are describing are characteristics of the beginning stage of the Phasing process.

If you keep practicing you will find that you will be able to ultimately make a complete smooth transition from Physical to Astral.

quote:
3) When people access memories, or try to imagine, they either look up and to the right, or up and to the left. I can\’t remember which is which, but one is to remember facts and one is to imagine something. I wonder if this awareness shift is related to accessing a different part of my brain.

This phenomenon can vary between different people. I\’m not sure if they are linked in any way. But the awareness shift you feel is due to the shift in your focal point of awareness. As it shifts it gives a sensation of movement like you were travelling in a particular direction.

If you keep practicing to the point where you can reach the Astral fairly reliably and keep your thoughts/emotions in check; you will be able to contact other members of your Astral Family who I\’m sure will only be too happy to explain and give demonstrations and/or exercises that will show you how the Mind is a separate entity from the physical-body and the physical brain.

Yours,
Frank

Everything he explains here is just perfect to describe everything from the description of Focus 12 to the process of just ALLOWING yourself to Phase. So many insights in one post.

And I\’m just figuring out today at how good the \”noticing\” exercise really is… and I think because of my experience at lunch time today, I might give it a better try again.

Lunchtime Meditation – November 18, 2010

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It\’s been a few weeks since I\’ve meditated during my lunch hour… but today I figured I\’d give it a shot to see if I could find that elusive \”fall asleep\” point.

It\’s been a tough point to find… but I think I FINALLY nailed it, but only once.  So I\’m sitting here with my eyes closed, feet flat on the floor and my arms folded in front of me and I\’m doing a mostly \”noticing\”-type exercise, just watching the forms appear and wave around in front of my eyes, to which I now realize *IS* Robert Monroes Focus 12.  A post from Frank mentions this perfectly.

\”It used to happen to me all the time where I\’d just be settling into the Focus 12 state; where it is natural to perceive all manner of outline shapes and shadows, or whirls of colour, and so forth\”

Those forms started to come about after a period of relaxing… and obviously weren\’t there to begin with.

Then for a second, I felt the shift and I was engulfed in the blackness… which if I had to describe it, had depth to it, and it was VERY black.  I have lights on in my office right now and I can see a bit of the light bleed through my eye lids, but after I felt that shift, everything just went straight to black.  The Blackness seems to be Focus 21, which means I\’m shooting through a few other focus levels without even realizing it… that\’s probably what the sensation of movement or that shift is.  One day I\’ll have to try to slow it down and see.  For now, I\’ll just stick with this practice.

Now, I didn\’t notice it right away… but I did notice and felt the shift, which was my goal.  Now I need to try and pin point the exact moment it starts.  So I was in the blackness, then my physical eyes decided to kick in to get a look at it… and bam!  I find myself back in my office.

Another quote from Frank:

\”As you begin to perceive those impressions try and remain as mentally still and as neutral as possible. Simply be a passive observer and just let events unfold.\”

I found that prior to the shift happening, I was remaining fully relaxed and was just \”watching\” the shapes rolling around in front of me.  What is surprising to me right now is how easy it was to hit that Focus 12 state.  And now that I think about it, I\’ve had this experience before with the rolling and floating shapes, but I never made the connection to this before.  So I now know what to look for when I get there.

Definitely progress.  🙂

What are Astral Projections?

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

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

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

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

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

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

So happy traveling!  Enjoy every second of it!

Reality Check Success – November 7, 2010

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This will be short.  Off and on, over the past month or so, I\’ve been half-assedly trying reality checks in an attempt to increase the frequency of my Lucid Dreams.

Well, this morning it paid off with a very brief Lucid Dream.  I found myself walking down the side of an unfamiliar road… I looked around and nobody else was around and no cars were coming, so I decided to try to jump into the air and fly.  I jumped, flew a bit… realized, \”Hey, I\’m dreaming!\”… then almost immediately I fell back into a Dream Awareness but the environment and dream changed completely and it was World of Warcraft related. >_<

But, at least the reality check initially worked.  🙂

I do not believe Demons exist!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Frank talks about Robert Focus Model

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I was doing a forum search earlier on the Astral Pulse trying to find mention of Focus 22, the area of consciousness where we dream and do other \”non-physical\” things… and I stumbled across a boat load of great information that I wish to share here.

I\’m going to provide the links to the posts in question, but I\’m only going to quote sections of each here for the purposes of this article.  I do fully encourage everyone to go to each link and read the threads in full as they have so much wonderful information in them.

At Focus 10, having difficulty going past Posted on June 19, 2005
This is a short post, so I figured I\’d just put it all here anyways… he speaks a bit about the trouble of the \”physical eyes\” stealing a glance and how you can fix that. This is a problem that I still face constantly.

Hi:

In the early days the moment I\’d see an image in mind, my physical eyes would suddenly \”wake up\” and try to snatch a glance at whatever it was. Of course, that would zap me right out of the state I\’d just spent 30-40 minutes developing. I\’ve said before that often I\’d feel like gouging my eyes out in frustration. 🙂

A key to all of this is getting the physical eyes to relax and soften. So you are not actually looking out of them anymore. When you first close your eyes, you’ll still be looking out of them. So you need to let them relax so they just hold still in whatever position they feel comfortable. Mine tend to drift upwards and there is a point of rest that they naturally go to that is the same each time.

This relaxing of the eyes, coupled with the relaxation of the physical body is what allows the focus of attention to move away from the eyes so you can change your mental focus of attention into your mind. The physical is our Primary Focus so you need to try to seduce that focus of attention away from the physical, as I was talking about in a couple of posts over the past week. Once you break the connection to the physical, you are free to look into your mind. As I say, that is when the lights come on, in a manner of speaking, and all kinds of weird and wonderful imagery comes about at the beginning of Focus 2. If you wish, you can you pass through this stage and reach Fz, which is your gateway to Focus 3. Fz is Focus 21 of the Monroe model and Focus 3 encompasses Monroe Focus states F23 to F27 inclusive.

Yours,
Frank

The second part of the post he speaks about the Focus Zero (Fz) area of consciousness. Earlier in his time posting on the Pulse he referred to this area as the \”Astral Bridge\” and further along as the \”3D Blackness\”. It\’s the area of consciousness that Robert Monroe labeled Focus 21 and is the area that we pass through to get to the dream area (Focus 22).  I believe I experience this each time I go from a Lucid Dream back to the Physical… as my vision goes to complete blackness before shifting back to the Physical.

Was this Phasing? Posted on January 02, 2003
This post was made just over a couple years before the one above, and from this one we find his understanding of the \”Astral Bridge\” which I referred to above.

Ralph: Phasing is a process that takes you from C1 consciousness… to the Astral bridge zone at Focus 21 (which I think we have now determined is the 3D Blackness stage) and beyond.

This next section he speaks about the Focus 22 state and how we get there via our physical bodies unconsciously fall asleep.

Generally, lucid dreams are created when a person has \”phased\” to the mental focus 22 state. This is the first Astral region you step into from the bridge zone at focus 21. When a person falls asleep, their sense of conscious awareness naturally phases out of the Physical, crosses the bridge zone and, as it does so, it enters the first main realm where thought equals direct action. (I say main-realm because, technically, the focus 21state is the first realm where thought has this effect. But this is more a buffer zone than a realm proper.)

Problem is, as the mind has little conscious control, all manner of thoughts and emotions can be released. Which goes to creating and fuelling the circumstances that come to surround the person. In other words, the person begins dreaming.

With a little practice, as most of us know, it is possible to teach your sense of consciousness to \”come awake\” within a dream. This then gives a person a degree of conscious control over their thoughts which, in turn, gives them the ability to manipulate their dreamscape. However, if a person can retain a high degree of conscious control, it is possible to skip focus 22 entirely.

Where I say, above, that while the physical body falls asleep the mind crosses the astral bridge zone and slips into the mental focus 22 state… that is only largely due to the fact there is little conscious control. If normal alert waking consciousness is retained while the physical body drops off to sleep, the mental focus 21 state can be used as a portal through which you can phase directly to a higher level.

The second paragraph is him referring to a normal dream. Where by you pass into the non-physical, past the Focus 21 Fz Bridge area all the while being unconscious of this shift.

Gateway Wave 1 pointers Posted on October 04, 2002
Another short one, so I\’ll just quote it all.

The Astral screen effect comes about at Focus 21. When you step into it, this is the Phasing to Focus 22. As I said in an earlier post, Focus 22 is also known as the Lucid Dream state. But you are entering this state with full waking consciousness; as opposed to \”waking up\” within a Lucid Dream where you generally only have part conscious awareness, which makes a BIG difference.

If you Phase further and find yourself amongst all kinds of black and grey nasty stuff teaming with every manner of Human crud, then you are in Focus 23. And if you think Focus 23 is weird then Phase further and prepare to be weirded out to the n\’th degree. Smiley

Yours,
Frank

The \”Astral Screen\” he refers to here is apparently an effect that comes out due to the Fz. A black screen of sorts which you pass through. As I\’ve experienced it, it would be like a thick sheet of warm water that you would \”walk through\”. We don\’t normally experience this when we fall asleep because you\’re rather unconscious by that point.

Is an AP during a dream, a real AP? Posted on July 16, 2005
The part I liked best from this post is this:

All dreams, by mere definition, must surely be “projection” experiences. Plus, I concur with your meaning of project. Although I tend to use the word shift, as in shift one’s focus. But shift or move or whatever… it’s the same difference.

The problem with dreams is people often get to thinking that dreams are all “in your head” so to speak. That you are in some way walking about in your brain. This faulty thinking unfortunately occurs as a result of people thinking the mind is somehow a product of the brain. It is actually the other way around. 🙂 This leads to people talking in terms of, “… I thought I was projecting… but it was just a dream.” [emphasis on the just]

In this sense, a person is thinking that the only “real” projection is a projection of consciousness that would present the impression of being “out” of body. And this all boils down to the mistaken notion that there can possibly be such a thing as “out” of body.

He mentions the misinterpretation that I believe most people do when they try to define their experiences… and they start questioning their experience and seem to think that it was \”JUST\” a dream. It\’s never JUST a dream. 🙂

Astral Proper and Training Zone Posted on April 25, 2003
Without re-posting some information, I\’ll quote this:

A technique I find very effective is, every now and again, I\’ll come to a complete halt, focus on some detail or other and ask myself a simple question about it. What this serves to prevent is a situation where you begin getting excited. Getting excited has the effect of making you think and move too quickly. So you start flitting here, there and everywhere and your progress is stunted.

This effect is prevalent in accounts of people\’s early experiences. They tend to follow along the lines of: suddenly I realise I was dreaming; and then I found myself [at some place or other]; and there was this [some kind of event]; and then I saw [some other event]; and then suddenly I was [transported to some other scene]; but before I knew it the thing had changed [to yet another scene]; and then it became [whatever]; and next moment I was awake.

The other pitfall to avoid, is making snap-judgements as to whatever comes about.

He starts off with the technique that I currently use to convert my Lucid Dreams into full Astral Projections. It works very well if you can remember enough to do it! LOL

The last line there about making Snap-Judgments is also very important. This is part and parcel of keeping your thoughts under strict control while projecting.

Retrieval Question Posted on January 10, 2003

Dreaming is done mostly in the Focus 22 state. Problem is, people who are sans physical-body can\’t reach Focus 22. Their limit is Focus 23 which is where a lot of these retrievals take place. But they can also take place in the higher realms of Focus 24; 25 & 26.

This is a bit of information that I just recently figured out myself by looking at my ideas at how the Astral and the Wider Reality is actually formed. I see the Physical as a sort of bubble of \”condensed astral matter\” and to reach this matter one has to push their way through the barrier that separates the two. I believe this pushing of the barrier creates our Focus 22 environment. So, once we physically die, that Focus 22 section retracts back into the Astral whole again, unusable anymore by us. It\’s ONLY available to us while we have our primary focus here in the physical.

A loop is simply where someone thinks in a certain way; which causes a particular mix of emotion to be released; which instantly creates a particular set of circumstances surrounding them; which causes the person to continue thinking in that same certain way; which causes the same mix of emotion to be released; which continues to fuel the same circumstances that surround them; which causes the person to continue thinking in that same certain way; which causes the same mix of emotion to be released…….

Here he speaks about the loops that one can get into. These are what \”retrievers\” save people from. They try to break the emotion loop that one has created so that they can bring the soul into the higher areas free of such loops.

I encourage you to read this thread as he goes on to explain the different TYPES of loops that you can get caught in.

Phasing/OBE What\’s the difference? Posted on October 23, 2002
Just a quick small quote here, please do read the entire thread, it\’s really good.

Yes, we are, but only when we have learned the basic ground-rules that apply, i.e. remaining emotionally closed with thoughts in check. Else we just get stuck at Focus 22.

He mentions here getting \”stuck\” at Focus 22 due to not remaining emotionally closed. This happens because if you allow your emotions and thought to run unchecked, they\’ll simply be creating the environment around you. So if you want a more \”Astral Proper\” experience, in that you want to speak with other people deceased or spirits who even never incarnated here on Earth, then you\’ll need to learn to remain emotionally closed and keep your thoughts under control. 🙂

Anyway, that\’s all I wanted to go over… I know it\’s a lot, but I think it\’s well worth the read. Especially if you\’re having troubles understanding Robert Monroes Focus Models. As for Franks Focus Model… Focus 21 and 22 reside in Franks Focus 3 oC. Robert\’s Focus 23 and up coincide with Franks Focus 3 oC.

As always, if you have any questions pertaining to this or other articles here, please visit my forums and ask! Thanks!

Exploration 27 and the Healing/Regeneration Center

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This is a video I just stumbled upon from TMI, hosted by Skip Atwater, the current President of TMI. He\’s explaining Focus 27 and the Healing/Regeneration Center. It\’s a pretty good video. It\’s a 5 parter, each following part you can access at the end of the previous one. So just keep clicking through them and watch. 🙂

I found Parts 4 and 5 particularly interesting.
Part 4 he talks about Focus 33, which really sounds like the creative area where one can make their own \”ANYTHING\”. In some cases, people report creating for themselves a little home to go to for when they physically die. This Focus 33 sounds like that area… I believe it would be in Focus 3 oC in Franks model.

Part 5 has some interesting charts showing some rather interesting statistics they found. Focus upon the Illness and Drug related ones. 🙂

Enjoy!

What are Lucid Dreams?

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I made a post a couple days ago regarding my views on what a Dream is and I figured I\’d continue this and write about my views on Lucid Dreaming… I guess I\’ll finish off with an article about my views on Astral Projection.

I find that people get confused with the idea of Lucid Dreaming thinking that one needs to be in full control of their environment for it to be considered a Lucid Dream, however Lucidity and Control are two separate ideas.  Being \”Lucid\” in a dream, at the very minimum, means that you know you\’re dreaming.  You might not know that your physical body is asleep in your bed, but you do know that you\’re in the non-physical.  That\’s it really.

In my first post about \”Dreams\”, I mentioned something I call \”Dream Awareness\”.  This is, generally, the first level of awareness one will have in the non-physical if you enter through normal sleep, people mostly refer to this as \”having a dream\”.  Now we\’ll move onto the next level, that I call \”Lucid Awareness\”.  As I said before, this ONLY means that you realize that you\’re dreaming.  Nothing more, nothing less.  It does not denote control over the dream.

So, let\’s move onto the cool and crazy stuff you can do in a Lucid Dream!  While you have Lucid Awareness, you\’re limited only by your imagination.  Whatever you want or desire can manifest directly in front of you in full technicolour 3D.  🙂

Manifesting these scenes and controlling your Lucid Dream isn\’t as tough as it sounds because your subconscious, which usually has full control while you\’re in \”Dream Awareness\”, is still highly active, it\’s still in the foreground of your consciousness.  So, to change what you want, you simply have to visualize it.

For example, the other night in a Lucid Dream I had, I was showing someone how I could destroy buildings.  I pointed to a skyscraper off in the distance, I put my forearms together in front of it and then pulled them apart… we watched how the building split in two right down the middle.
Another example is one of my greatest joys I have in dreams, is flying.  To do this, you need to visualize yourself flying.  The simplest way to do that is to just pretend you\’re superman.  Just jump into the air and pretend you\’re him… you\’ll take off.  🙂

So that\’s my view on Lucid Dream/Lucid Awareness.  If you have any particular question or need to know something specific to this, or if I just didn\’t make something very clear, please head on over to the UB Forums and ask away!  🙂