Category Archives: Methods

Methods that I’m currently using or have used in the past

TMI Gateway Pointers

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.

Morning Non-Physical Experience – September 8, 2011

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

Part 5 of 5 of Tom’s 2010 New York Workshop

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!

Another Meditation Gem from the mind of Tom Campbell

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 2

Sight: 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!

How Your Non-Physical Perception Works

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. :)

Three Exercises For Specific Learning Types – Tom Campbell

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

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.

Post Focus! Moen chat log!

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!