Tag Archives: Consciousness

My missteps over the last ten years

It took me over 10 years to make any real progress towards my goal of experiencing astral projection.  I was thinking about this last night and I felt it might be helpful for others to know the points during those 10 years that I feel were the prime motivators for my unsuccessful attempts.

I feel that the #1 reason for my unsuccessful attempts over such a long period of time was due to the term that Robert Monroe coined: “Mind Awake / Body Asleep“.  The problem with it, and a concept that I couldn’t grasp at the time was that the “Body Asleep” part is completely WRONG.  Unless your goal is to actually fall asleep, go into a dream and become conscious within that dream (this is called a lucid awareness experience), then there is actually no point where you ever need your body to be put “asleep”.

Your body isn’t put to sleep as much as you make it so that the input you’re receiving from your five physical senses is greatly reduced.  This begins the process for you to disassociate from this physical reality.  While that’s happening focus your attention ‘within’, which is away from this physical reality.

The second biggest problem I’ve encountered is that when I was younger, I was quite impatient.  I’d read through a book that had a dozen great exercises in it and then I’d go to bed and TRY THEM ALL!!  *facepalms*  Yeah, don’t ever do that… it’ll cause more frustration than anything.  Pick a single exercise and try it out for at least a solid week.

Another issue was that I didn’t make the connection between Conscious Exits and Meditation. If you want to learn to Astral Project at any time during the day from a completely conscious state of awareness (this is called doing a Conscious Exit), then it’s just about a mandatory requirement that you learn to meditate. This was something I didn’t understand back then. The state that you should learn to get into is called the Point of Consciousness (PoC) state. It’s from there you can do most of the classic OBE techniques from. I remember one whereby you were instructed to create your own astral body using your thought power… but it never really indicated what “state of mind” you initially needed to be in to do it. I haven’t gone back to that technique, but the PoC state would be perfect for that.

So yeah, hopefully reading these will help you to move forward in the future… I’ll try to add some more of my missteps as I think of them. :)

Tom Campbell on Frank Kepple

I also wanted to bring up the post that Tom made regarding the Astral Pulse’s own Frank Kepple. I have to give Frank a lot of credit as his information was what initially propelled my own experiences in the non-physical. Until I began reading and understanding what he was saying, I was in quite the non-physical stalemate.

It would seem that Tom was made aware of the Frank Kepple Phasing Resource on the Astral Pulse thanks to one of the members of his own forum and he had this to say about Frank:  http://www.my-big-toe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2589

JoshM: Granted, your books goes into greater detail but it appears to me that the maps that are given by both of you might be overlapping.

Tom: I did read over Frank’s posts — interesting that he cut up consciousness-space into four areas after declaring that there was no separation within consciousness. Everything he said was driven by genuine experience — Frank is a good explorer. Of course there is overlap — we (and everyone else) are exploring the same larger reality — there should be major overlap. The difference is the extent of our experience, the context or structure we place that experience within, and how we communicate that structure to others. Each of these reflect the uniqueness of the explorer — his beliefs and interpretations.

JoshM: I am wondering if his description of what he calls “Focus 4″ related to what you are talking about when you talk of the need to go beyond OBEs and go “out of your mind”.

Tom: Yes, it is — that is one description of it. I find his Focus 3 and 4 to be defined rather narrowly. The superset of the larger reality is bigger yet.

JoshM: A description I once read of this place he labeled “Focus 4″ was that it felt like you were losing your mind.

Tom: That feeling is only temporary — until one gets oriented and accustomed to that mode of awareness and existence — then it becomes much like any other reality frame — only different.

JoshM: Am I way off base and making a connection where none exists?

Tom: No, you are on target. One reality, many views and perspectives, each necessarily limited and structured by the mind of the beholder.

Tom C

So it would seem that Tom is very respectful of Franks experiences and even goes as far as to call him a “good explorer”. The rest of the thread is equally interesting.

Enjoy!

Regarding Binaural Beats – Tom Campbell

Someone brought my attention to a post on Tom Campbells “My Big TOE” forums that he wrote up regarding the use of Binaural Beats.  As most people already know, Tom was instrumental in the initial creation of the Monroe Laboratories regarding their original Explorer Team’s efforts of exploring Consciousness.

They essentially took the book that was already written regarding Binaural Beats and began to add to it and refine it.

This post that I’m going to link to you here is a great place for people wanting to start out with Binaurals to assist them in their meditations or Non-physical exploration: http://www.my-big-toe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5056&p=22957&hilit=binaural+beat#p22957

One can use binaural beats to encourage OOBE, remote viewing, or healing ability.

You can purchase Hemi-synch, a professional mix of binaural beats and other sounds (Google “The Monroe Institute”) or you can make your own binaural beat audio file for free. Which is better? Only you can answer that with experimentation — everyone is different. Both have the ability to help you learn to be a good meditator. Many individuals find binaural beats helpful, some don’t. Google “binaural beat” and find a site that lets you make your own customized audio file for free.

The binaural beat frequency is the difference between two base frequencies. A pure tone generated at the base frequency goes in one ear and the base frequency plus the desired beat frequency goes in the other ear (using stereo headphones). The two tones combine in the brain producing a “beat” frequency that is the difference between the two pure tones. This beat frequency (which you can “hear”) drives your brain wave pattern toward the beat frequency, thus inducing an altered state of consciousness similar to a very effective and practiced meditation state.

If you already know how to meditate you won’t need to ramp in and out. Make several binaural beat stereo audio files using different base frequencies and use each for a month to pick the one you like best.

Some suggestions: 100 Hz and 104 Hz; 500Hz and 504Hz; 2000Hz and 2004; 5000Hz and 5004Hz These different base frequencies will all produce a 4 Hz binaural beat. Males tend to like the lower frequencies and females the higher.

You can try a slightly slower beat (difference between frequencies) of 3.75 or 3.8 instead of 4 later on if you get to that level of refinement.

Experiment. Continue to experiment always, but don’t jump between things too quickly. Take the long view …take your time .. don’t rush the process.

Many people, especially in the beginning, want to ease themselves into and out of the 4Hz theta brainwave state. This softening and slowing the transition to and from the desired theta state of 4 Hz (to make it easier to follow) is called ramping. The ramp going in from beta to theta should be slow and gradual enough for you to follow. The ramp coming out from theta back to beta can be much quicker and steeper. On and off ramps are individual.

A typical relaxed, focused in the physical, awake state is in the beta region (20 to 15 Hz) A typical meditation state is in the alpha-theta region (somewhere between 14 to 7 Hz). To encourage OOBE or remote viewing, or healing ability, you want to be in the theta region at about 4 Hz or slightly less (3.75 Hz to 3.8Hz).

If you are a good meditator you don’t need ramps at all.

If you are fair, start in the alpha region and step down in 1 Hz steps from 10Hz to 4Hz to theta. Each step should last anywhere from 30 sec to 3 minutes depending on how quickly you can follow (better meditators follow more quickly).

If you are poor at meditation, start in the mid beta region and step down in 1 Hz steps from beta at 20Hz to theta at 4Hz. Each step should last anywhere from 30 sec to 3 minutes depending on how quickly you can follow. Lower your starting beat frequency as you get better at it.

Once you are in the 4 Hz theta state that is your goal, stay there for a half hour to two hours — that’s enough. You are in this physical reality for a reason. Do not use this as an escape. It is a tool, as is meditation itself, for teaching you to eliminate the noise in your mind thus allowing you to more powerfully, clearly and steadily focus your conscious intent. You want to learn the process of coming and going to and from this 4 Hz state so that eventually you can do it on your own. Sometimes try it on your own without the binaural beats.

So you see, you have to do some experimenting to optimize your sound to your ability and then modify the sound as your ability changes. One size does not fit all.

Trying to sort all this out in a week or two won’t work so well. Pick 3 to 5 different configurations that span your personal unknowns. If you are a good meditator, use each one for a few days cycling through all configurations three or four times each. If a fair mediator, use each configuration for a week or two, cycling through all configurations at least three or four times each. If you’re a poor meditator, use each configuration for at least three weeks, cycling through all configurations four or five times each. Dispense with a given configuration when it is clearly inferior to the others (but not too quickly). Every three to six months add new more refined configurations that are converging to your optimum. In several weeks to a year, depending on where you start and how quickly you progress, you should find an optimum sound. Use it for six months to a year or two, by then it will be time to change it because you will have changed. Commit to a life of constant experimentation because, as you progress, what is optimum changes.

Binaural beats are like training wheels on a five year old’s bicycle — eventually you must wean yourself from the training wheels and take them off or they will retard your development by locking you into specific altered states when you should be free to shift states as easily as you shift your attention. Eventually, you will even let go of formal meditation because you no longer will have a need for the process. You will be able to accomplish the same thing (actually better, being unencumbered) instantaneously. Do not become habituated or addicted to this tool or any tool — or the tool that was once so helpful may turn into a self-limiting crutch.

Tom C

I bolded last paragraph because I feel it’s the MOST IMPORTANT part of it all. Please read it… understand it… then read it again just incase. :)

Meditation – A Requirement To Exploring the Non-Physical

Tom Campbell (http://www.my-big-toe.com/forums/index.php) talks a bit in his books and lectures about “Belief Traps” and how they can trap us into a certain way of thinking or trap us into ignoring something fundamental to our journey here.

I was thinking about that yesterday and trying to figure out what kind of belief traps I’ve been trapped in over the past little while.  In a post I made back at the end of December (How I Came To My Beliefs), I made the distinction that there was a point where I didn’t know that I was allowed to believe something that ended up being very important towards what I needed to know in order to progress.

I’ve noticed that this is a Belief Trap… and it’s one that I’ve still been trapped in for a while as well.  I have to thank Tom for opening my eyes to such information and to realize that I am allowed know certain things in order to progress.  I notice it a lot in others now too, it’s those times when people post questions on the Astral Pulse asking if it’s okay if they do so-and-so.

As I’ve been progressing along my non-physical path as of late, I’ve slowly been coming to the conclusion that a base knowledge in meditation is a prerequisite for learning how to explore the wider reality.  This isn’t something I learned from Tom, it’s something that I’ve been slowly coming to terms with myself over the last few months.  However, Tom’s “Belief Trap” ideas were the catalyst for me to understand this.  I needed someone to tell me that I was allowed to know this, as strange as that might sound.  I can apply and confirm it by looking at my own past experience as I’ve spent the last 15 years of my life learning how to meditate.  Through that time, I never once considered how that has helped me along my current path of experiencing the non-physical.

Well, the truth is that it has greatly helped me.  This is why and how I found Frank Kepples Phasing exercises so much easier to do and learn from when compared to the classic separation OBEs (aka Monroe-style), because, in essence, they ARE meditation exercises.  I just took it for granted that certain things that I did when using the Noticing or Rundown exercises were normal and that everyone just automatically did them too.  Well, they’re not.  They’re something I’ve learned to do over the last decade and a half.  Stuff like learning how to quiet your mind (surface thoughts), fully relaxing the body upon command and being alone with your consciousness.  These are skills/tools that one *needs* to learn if “conscious exit” projections is on their list of things “to do”.

To do a conscious exit by Phasing, you have to meditate to get into the proper state first.  Sure, we have a couple of “exercises” which you can do to assist you to get there, but they’re not really “exercises”, they are “meditations”.  They’re designed to assist you to discover the act of quieting your thoughts and focusing your mind towards a single intent.  A byproduct of that is, when you get deep enough and good enough, the “point of consciousness” experience that Tom talks about.  This is, in essence, phasing to Focus 21 (the void), which is the Phasing/Projection experience.  That’s exactly what we’re doing when we practice Noticing or Mental Rundowns.  We’re quieting our mind and focusing it upon a single intent.  That intent takes the form of “noticing the blackness” or “visualizing a scene”.  <– They become TOOLS to move our consciousness away from this physical awareness and our physical senses… taking us to the “Point of Consciousness”.

So, if you want to experience the non-physical in all its larger glory… put down all your preconceived notions about methods this and techniques that, and just learn to be alone with your consciousness.  Master yourself before you try to master the larger reality, for that is the real journey.  The non-physical is only a small part of your being… and the fact you’re here in this physical reality in the first place is proof enough of that.

How To Experience The Larger Reality – Tom Campbell

This is a single part of a larger 38 part video lecture given by Tom Campbell from New York back in 2010, I believe. This particular part references Projection specifically, which is why I felt the need the post it here. He talks about what you can do to experience the larger reality for yourself.

There’s nothing said in this video that I disagree with.

Tom Campbell’s “My Big TOE” and Forums!

I’ve been watching a lot of lectures done by Thomas Campbell, author of “My Big TOE”… I’ve also been reading said book.
I’ll just point out that this isn’t DIRECTLY about Astral Projection, but he does speak about the very nature of the reality we exist within… and the other non-physical realities that we also exist in.

Suffice to say that his TOE (Theory of Everything) is very concise and answers a lot of questions about our reality. It even answers questions that science hasn’t been able to find answers for! That’s a +1 in my books for it. LoL

In any case, I highly advise that you pickup and read this book. He’s written it in such a way that anyone, physicist or not, can understand his model.

I’ve also signed up and started posting over on his forum… I suggest if you have any interest in his work to do so as well. :)

See you over there!

http://www.my-big-toe.com/forums/index.php

My Free 60 Page eBook, “The Basics of Astral Projection & Phasing”

I figured I’d update this post now that my Phasing Primer has kind of taken on a life of it’s own. It grew slowly from a 10 page mishmash of individual posts.

This eBook represents everything I’ve learned over my life, but mostly the last 2 – 3 years of my practices in Projection and Phasing. It’s now a 60 page eBook full of great information regarding how you can begin to explore the furthest reaches of reality on your own! All the information I provide in it was the same information that helped propel me towards the experiences I now enjoy.

Feel free to pass it around to where ever you wish, as long as the information remains intact and all credit is given where due.
I hope the information helps you as much as it has helped me.

You can download it from here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/39504726/Phasing_Primer.pdf

Or by going to “The Basics of Phasing” page at the top.

Thanks for reading! Please leave me some feedback on how you like the eBook, and if there was any parts of it that are unclear or confusing. I’m happy to re-write sections to make them easier to understand.

Connection Between Classic OBEs and Phasing

I’ve recently figured out for myself the connection between Classic Separation OBEs and Phasing.  Simply put, a classic obe is what comes about when you interrupt a phasing practice and initiate an “exit technique” and alternatively, if you’re doing a classic separation obe and instead of initiating an exit technique you just kept doing what you were doing, you’ll eventually phase directly into the Astral.

Three things came forth recently to get me to this line of thinking.  I first began thinking about this back when I was reading about when Frank had to slow down his own projections in order to have a RTZ Projection.  Next there was a method posted on the Astral Viewers from one of their Admins, Bedeekin.  His made mention of the method that he used for many, many years that was successful for him.  Well, one part of his method takes him to what sounds like a deep Focus 10/early Focus 12, which as I know it is the precursor to a proper Phasing attempt.  However, he then interrupts that Phasing process and initiates an exit technique. Then just now I got to thinking about a night when I experienced this particular thing first hand and, as Frank would say, the penny dropped.

My experience was back in March 2010, and I’ll relay that quickly before moving on.  I went to bed on the Saturday night as usual.  It was around 2am.  That night I gained a lucid awareness in the dream I was having which was taking place just outside my house.   Some time went by and I began to feel that usual sensation that meant I was beginning to physically wake up.  The dream faded to black, I felt a shift, and I felt myself back in my bed.  I now recognize this state as Focus 12, as I didn’t fully wake up.  I didn’t bother opening my eyes, since I knew where I was.  This was the first time I ever experienced and learned about what I call the “Eyes Closed/Body Still” state upon waking.  Well, almost immediately, I felt another shift and I found myself in another lucid awareness experience.  This happened two more times.  All four lucid awareness experiences happened quite rapidly and in succession.  Each time I was in the non-physical for what felt like 2 – 4 minutes.  Each time I phased back to the physical, I kept that “Eyes Closed/Body Still” state.

After the fourth experience something strange and completely unexpected happened.  I attempted to slip back into another lucid awareness experience like I did the four times previous, but I didn’t quite make it in.  I felt that it was immediately slipping away.  What I usually do to strengthen the experience in this kind of situation (as I’ve mentioned on the forums before) is spin, but it’s usually done while already having the lucid awareness experience, this time I don’t believe I actually got all the way into the non-physical!  So I started spinning trying to get a grip on the experience, however after probably 3 seconds of spinning I felt I had fully lost the dream, however I was also still sleeping and I felt I was in my bedroom.

I couldn’t see anything yet, but I felt my arms and legs floating upwards and the distinct “separation” feeling.  I sat up and kinda floated awkwardly upwards a bit and towards the end of the bed, kind of out of control.  By the time I had fully cleared my body, my vision came in.  I’m not sure if I had chose to see or if it just clicked on, but either way I could see.

So that’s it, that’s the connection.  By interrupting a normal Phasing session at a certain point, you can then initiate an exit technique and have a classic separation OBE.  This also works in reverse, in that if you’re going for a classic separation obe, you can for-go the exit technique and just keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll end up Phasing directly into the “astral”.  So for people who have problems having “astral projections” this is what I suggest you try.

We should be able to use this information to guide where we want to go in the non-physical directly from the get-go.  If you’re someone who only does RTZ projections and wish to visit the greater non-physical (astral), then simply stop doing your usual exit technique and just keep doing what you were doing prior to that and eventually you’ll phase.  And if you’re a phaser and wish to experience the RTZ, then interrupt your phasing practice in Focus 12 and initiate an exit technique.

A Thought on Retaining Consciousness in the Non-physical

Tajtas, on the Astral Pulse asked the question, “Ive been trying so hard to get it past 25 seconds… When I realize im dreaming I start drifting away and then I woke up. Has anyone have had a LONG lucid dream, dozens of minutes? Is it possible hours or days?”.

The_One made a nice response, “I’ve had this problem. It’s quite simple when you think about it. Don’t get excited, concentrate on a animated character (can be any thing). As, don’t think “I’m about to wake up because I’m lucid”. (Easier said than done).
I’ve substained a dream for so long doing this, I got worried that there was something wrong with my body. As over doing this will pull you out of lucidity and back into the dream.
Hope this helps.”

This got me thinking about why something like that works… I wondered if the effect of how we initially Phase into the non-physical can provide us with a clue about how to REMAIN in the non-physical.  We know that there’s a fine balancing act that must be done to Phase… you need to work at balancing your consciousness so your mind retains, at least, a single thread of consciousness.

Generally, we do this by keeping our minds active in some manner… in the case of the “Noticing” exercise, it’s placing our conscious intent within the blackness behind our eyes and noticing the changes of that which we’re seeing.  In the “Rundown” exercise, we’re placing our intent within the visualized scene that we’re creating with our imagination.

Well, what if, while we’re in the non-physical, we do this act in reverse?  When you feel yourself beginning to lose the non-physical consciousness, begin immediately placing your intent on something within the non-physical, in essence it’s allowing you to focus your intent more INTO the non-physical and away from the physical, which is where your intent seems to be going when you’re slowly in the process of waking up.  In other words, bring your focus/attention to something on or around you in the non-physical.  It’s kind of the same act as increasing your awareness from Lucid to Astral in the first place, except you don’t need to ask yourself any questions.  Your goal here is to give your non-physical mind something to focus on so it ignores the physical reality sensations that it’s slowly beginning to perceive.

A lot of people say to look at or rub your hands together.  I believe I now understand why that works… because it’s giving you something to focus your mind on that’s away from the physical senses that you’re beginning to feel.

From the point when I begin to feel that I’m waking up to the point when I actually do wake up… seems to be anywhere around 5 – 10 seconds.  So, perhaps it’s best to not even wait for that signal to happen and just do this exercise every minute or so, because once the signal occurs, it doesn’t take long before you’re back in bed wondering what happened.