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.
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.
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:
1. An uncomfortable feeling of cold that doesn't make you shiver, coupled
with a steady loss of body heat.
2. 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.
3. You will feel disassociated from your body, i.e., a strong floating
sensation and everything will seem far away.
4. 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:
1) You do not HAVE to be in a trance to learn energy and chakra work, it
just works better in trance.
2) 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.
