Table
of Contents for this Article
Projection Training
To
trigger the projection of the Astral body, while fully conscious,
there are four major requirements:
- Relaxing
your body 100% while staying awake.
- Concentrating
100% on what you are doing.
- Having
enough energy available.
- Pressuring
the astral body to separate.
Together, these four things will trigger an OOBE.
Below are exercises that will teach how to relax the body,
concentrate, clear the mind, raise energy, stimulate the chakras
and enter the trance state.
Relaxation
You
must learn and master, a full body relaxation exercise. If
you know one already it can be adapted to suit. Here is a
very simple one:
Sit, or lie down, and relax. Starting with the feet, tense
and relax them. Continue this with calves, thighs, hips, stomach,
chest, arms, neck and face until your whole body is deeply
relaxed. Go over this a few times, making sure your muscles
stay relaxed.
Note: Deep physical relaxation is the key to bringing on the
trance state, i.e., deep relaxation CAUSES the trance state.
Once you are in the trance state, projection on the astral
body is relatively easy.
Contemplation
When
you begin meditation, you will be plagued with thoughts from
your surface mind, which acts like a huge Memo pad. It carries
messages, reminders, pressing thoughts, problems to solve,
unresolved issues etc. It is constantly busy, it NEVER rests,
thoughts, thoughts, thoughts, one after the other, all clamouring
for attention.
Before you attempt to clear your mind, with the breath awareness
exercise below, it is wise to deal with these surface thoughts
by the act of contemplating them. Sit comfortably, do the
relaxation exercise and think, nothing more, just think. Search
out the strongest thoughts in your mind and examine them,
try to resolve and understand them.
Note the word: THINKING. Contemplation does not involve clearing
the mind, or visualisation. It requires you to THINK, deeply
and thoroughly, about something, to gain a deeper understanding
of its nature and how it relates to you, an insight.
Breath
Awareness Meditation
This
is a simple form of meditation. It will clear your mind and
focus your awareness.
Sit or lie down, close your eyes, do the relaxation exercise
and clear your mind. Breathe deeply and slowly and focus on
the breath entering and leaving your body. Feel it coming
in and feel it going out. Focus your whole attention on your
lungs and the breathing process. This simple action is enough
to occupy your surface mind. Firmly push intruding thoughts
away, as they begin, before they can gather strength and distract
you.
Breath awareness occupies the surface mind and allows you
to think on a much deeper level.
Surface
Thoughts
Sounds
are very distracting, they generate surface thoughts. A car
horn will generate: "Who's that, what's happening?" A door
opening will generate: "Who's coming in or going out?" The
surface mind is always very curious about what is happening
around you. It wants to know all, and it wants to inform you
of every little thing going on around you. It will pressure
you to open your eyes, get up and go find out what's happening.
Don't allow this to happen. USE these annoying, attention
getting thoughts as a training aide. By learning to quash
and ignore them, your powers of concentration will grow.
Stop these annoying little thoughts as they begin, before
they can take root and grow into something stronger.
For example:
Who's that, what's happening? becomes: "Who's th............"
Who's coming in, or going out? becomes: "Who's co............"
With practise the start of these distracting thoughts will
get shorter and shorter until you get:
Wh....?........?.......... and " W...?...................
"
And finally:
.......?........?...........................?...................
Many people say they can't clear their mind as they are too
easily distracted by all the small noises that surround them,
in normal day to day activity. DON'T use music or other sounds
to blanket these out, USE them for training. It's like weight
lifting, if you train with feather dusters your strength will
not increase. You need to master this, the hard way, if you
want to give your mind real muscle.
Slowly but surely you will master the ability to clear your
mind. Once accomplished, you will have gained a valuable mental
tool. You will be able to concentrate 100% of your attention,
on one task, to the TOTAL exclusion of everything else.
I sometimes meditate, in the trance state, successfully, in
a noisy, crowded room with little children crawling all over
me. NOTHING breaks my concentration.
Concentration
You
must be able to concentrate and focus completely on what you
are doing. Lack of concentration is the single, biggest cause
of projection failure. It affects every aspect of projection,
from the relaxation exercise, to the trance state and actual
projection.
To test your ability to concentrate: Sit and relax. Close
your eyes and clear your mind of ALL thought. Breath slowly
and deeply and count each breath, at the end of each exhale.
Hold it totally BLANK, apart from the counting, for as long
as you can. See how long you can hold it like this. Be honest
with yourself, every time a thought intrudes start counting
from the beginning again.
You are doing well if can do this for longer than ten breaths.
Ten breaths is, however, not long enough. Don't worry though,
this can be improved on with the exercises below.
Concentration
Exercise (1)
After
image retention: Relax, calm your mind, and look at a candle
or a light bulb. Place this light in front of you, a couple
of feet away, and stare fixedly at it for a minute or two.
Close your eyes and concentrate on the after image this will
generate behind your closed eyelids. Try and keep sight of
it for as long as possible. Use breath awareness to keep the
mind clear, while you are doing this. Try and make the after
image grow, instead of fading away.
Concentration
Exercise (2)
One
point stare: Pick a spot on a wall and gaze at it. Don't focus
on it, just gaze at it gently. Clear your mind of ALL thoughts
and forcibly hold it blank. Concentrate HARD, on breath awareness
while you are doing this. When you feel a thought beginning,
push it away, don't let it finish! Hold this for as long as
you can. Do this several times a day, or more if you can.
Concentration
Exercise (3)
Energy
breathing: Sit and relax. Close your eyes and clear your mind.
Do the breath awareness exercise and imagine the air you are
breathing IN is brightly coloured energy of your favourite
colour. Imagine the air you are breathing OUT is a murky Grey,
full of toxic waste. This is a purification exercise. It stimulates
your chakras into absorbing energy on the inhale and getting
rid of negative energy on the exhale.
Note: Try your best not to tense up while you are doing these
concentration exercises, it is ALL mental. In the beginning,
it may feel as if you have to tense your mind into a tight
ball to stop it thinking, but in time you will find the opposite
to be true. When you get used to it, clearing the mind is
VERY relaxing.
The Trance State
When
you have attained a deep level of relaxation and mental calmness,
you will feel your body begin to get very, very heavy. This
heaviness is the main symptom of your brain waves changing
from the Beta to the Alpha level as you enter a trance. The
trance state is caused by deep physical and mental relaxation.
There is nothing weird or supernatural about it. It simply
means your body has entered the sleep state while your conscious
mind is fully awake.
How To Enter A Trance
Do the relaxation exercise and calm your mind through breath
awareness. Imagine you are climbing down a ladder in the dark.
Don't visualise a ladder, just imagine you can feel yourself
doing it. On the exhale, feel yourself climbing a step or
two down the ladder with your imaginary Hands (outlined below).
On the inhale, feel yourself holding still on the ladder.
What is needed is a mental falling effect inside your mind.
This changes the level of brain wave activity from the awake
level (Beta) to the asleep level (Alpha) or the deep sleep
level (Theta). Once your level of brain wave activity reaches
Alpha you will enter a trance. Keep doing this for as long
as it takes. The time it takes to enter trance will vary,
depending on your experience with deep relaxation and mental
calmness.
Note: Once you get the heavy feeling, stop the mental falling
exercise.
If you don't like the ladder, imagine you are in a lift, feel
yourself falling on the exhale and holding on the inhale.
Or, Imagine you are a feather, feel yourself floating down
on the exhale and holding still on the inhale. As I stated
above, you need a mental falling effect to lower your level
of brain wave activity. This mental falling effect, when combined
with deep relaxation and mental calmness, will cause you to
enter the trance state. Feel free to use any scenario you
are familiar with to bring about this going deeper feeling.
A trance feels like: Everything gets quieter and you feel
like you are in a much bigger place. There is a very slight
humming feeling in your body. Everything feels different.
It feels a bit like putting a cardboard box over your head
in the dark, you can feel the atmosphere change. It's like
everything goes fuzzy or slightly blurred. Any sharp noises,
while in trance, feel like a physical blow to the Solar Plexus.
Deep Trance
The
level of trance you achieve depends greatly on your relaxation,
concentration skills and will power. To enter a deeper trance,
i.e., Theta level and beyond, you have to concentrate much
more and for much longer, on the mental falling sensation
aided by breath awareness. The first level of trance, i.e.,
when you get very heavy, is quite deep enough for projection.
I strongly advise against forcing yourself deeper than a light
trance, until you have plenty of experience with the trance
state.
How can you tell if you are entering a deep trance? There
are four very noticeable symptoms:
- An
uncomfortable feeling of cold that doesn't make you shiver,
coupled with a steady loss of body heat.
- Mentally,
you will feel very odd and everything will feel extremely
slooooow. Your thought processes will slow down as if
you had been given a strong pain killing injection.
- You
will feel disassociated from your body, i.e., a strong
floating sensation and everything will seem far away.
- Total
physical Paralysis.
Note: These four things, ALL TOGETHER, signify you are entering
a deep trance.
Do not mistake the mild floating sensation you sometimes get
with light trance, i.e., as you astral body comes loose. Or
the slight loss of body heat from sitting still for a long
time and the mild paralysis, i.e., the heaviness, for a deep
trance. The sensation of deep trance is quite uncomfortable
and unmistakable for what it is.
It is very difficult to get into the deep trance state, as
you need highly developed relaxation, concentration and trance
state skills plus lots and lots of will power and mental energy.
You will not accidentally fall into it.
If you are worried you are going too deep, remember this:
You CAN pull yourself out of it at any time. Concentrate ALL
your will on moving your fingers or toes. Once you can move
a finger or toe, flex your hands, move your arms, shake your
head, i.e., reanimate your body; and get up and walk around
for a few minutes. Falling into a deep trance should not be
a problem with these exercises.
I have seen many people in meditation groups etc, enter a
light trance and not be able to pull themselves out of it,
i.e., they float away with the faeries. Usually some kind
person will talk them out of it or massage their wrists etc
to get them to come back to reality. This is unnecessary and
is the result of lop- sided training, i.e., no concentration
or will power training. The person only THINKS they cannot
come back and therefore does not try very hard. It is also
a good way of getting attention from the group.
Note: Your mind is extremely powerful and has vast untapped
resources. It can do ANYTHING, no limits, if it is trained,
conditioned and properly motivated.
Energy Body Expansion
At
some point after entering the trance state, you will feel
a mild paralysis come over you. This will soon be accompanied
by a deepening vibration and a buzzing feeling all over. You
may also feel like you are huge and swollen. The paralysis,
vibrations and the huge feeling are symptoms of the energy
body expanding and the astral body loosening. This is part
of the normal sleep process. The energy body expands and opens
in order to accumulate and store energy. During this, the
astral body drifts free, slightly out phase with the physical
body.
Trance Familiarity
Many
people blow their projection simply because they are not used
to the trance state. They think it is a briefly opened window
into the Astral dimension. This is simply NOT true. If you
stay mentally and physically calm when you enter the trance
state, you can maintain it for hours. I regularly spend several
hours at a time in the trance state, during meditation.
If, when you enter trance, you think: "Yes! I've done it!...I'm
in a trance! Gotta hurry and get out quick...before it stops!"
You'll blow it for sure! The trance will be ended by the simple
act of getting over excited, i.e., breaking relaxation and
mental calmness.
It's a good idea to spend time in the trance state, just getting
used to it, before you try and project. Just relax, stay calm,
focus on breath awareness, and hold the trance. It won't end
until you want it to. Get used to how it feels.
When you are comfortable doing this, do the energy raising
and chakra stimulation exercises, below, in trance.
Note:
- You
do not HAVE to be in a trance to learn energy and chakra
work, it just works better in trance.
- Trance
practise can be done lying down, but is best done in a
comfortable arm chair.
Your astral body will be loose in the trance state, so try
lifting your astral arms and legs out, one at a time. Use
your HANDS to do this, as shown in the next section. Focus
and FEEL your awareness in an arm and slowly lift it free
of your body. You may feel a slight tickling or localised
dizziness inside your arm or leg, as you do this. Lift your
astral arm up and look at it, with your eyes closed, but DON'T
move a muscle. In this state you should be able to see it
through your closed eyelids, but don't worry if you can't,
this will come later.
Lifting your astral arms free is good practise for projection.
Later, you will use these astral arms to pull your astral
body free of the physical.
Tactile Imaging
Tactile
imaging is a perception or FEELING of localised bodily awareness.
Your hands are very closely linked to your bodily awareness.
They are intimately aware of every part of your body. Imaginary
HANDS, outlined below, is only an extension of this (hand
to body) awareness. When you are asked to feel your awareness,
in any part of your body, PRETEND your hands, your real hands,
are going to touch that area of your body. Then use the awareness
this generates in that area to imagine your imaginary HANDS
are there.
Keep your eyes closed and hold your hands out a foot or so
in front of your face. Concentrate, FEEL where they are and
try and SEE them through the blackness behind your closed
eyes. Cross your wrists, slowly move them about, turn your
hands over, open and close your fingers. Look hard, concentrate,
as if you were trying to see in the dark, and you will see
a faint moving shadow in your minds eye, where your hands
and arms are.
Close your eyes and touch the tip of your nose with the index
finger of your right hand. You'll find you can accurately
put that finger on any part of your body with your eyes closed.
Try it, put your hand, your real hand, on different parts
of your body like this. You know exactly where your hands
are at all times, you can sense and feel where they are. If
you observe what is happening in your mind, while you are
doing this, you will notice you become aware of the part of
your body you are going to touch, the instant you make the
decision to touch it.
Go over your whole body like this, getting used to the sensation
of awareness it generates in different areas of your body.
What is happening is this: Part of your mind is shifting into,
and HIGHLIGHTING, the area you are going to touch, in order
to guide your hand to the exact spot. Your mind shifts part
of its awareness to this spot and acts like a homing beacon
for your hand.
The ability to shift your awareness into different parts of
your body like this is VITAL to energy work and this projection
method.
Note: You do not have to actually visualise these HANDS, i.e.,
see or imagine you can see them. It is ALL tactile, NOT visual.
You just have to be able to pretend to FEEL them doing something,
like you are rehearsing some simple action in your mind.
I originally developed this technique for blind people. Blind
people cannot visualise AT ALL, if they have been blind since
birth, but they do have a very keen sense of bodily awareness.
The majority of sighted people also have great trouble with
visualisation of any kind, and all projection techniques depend
heavily on visualisation. This being the case, I developed
a projection technique that does NOT depend on visualisation
to exert pressure on the astral body to separate. It turned
out to be so much easier, and more successful, than the other
visualisation based techniques, that I discarded them in favour
of this simple tactile method.
Note: Blind people are not blind in astral form. The astral
body does not have any organs as such, it is a point of consciousness
only. The astral body you are aware of while projecting is
provided courtesy of the subconscious minds creative ability.