The following (and all my written material) is all my personal OPINION, based on my personal experience and should be take as only that.
Background on myself:
For now I'd like to share some notes on OBEs:
I've studied a lot of variables concerning OBEs and what facilitates them.
There are many beliefs and superstitions which I'd like to dismiss.
Concerning environmental factors:
But a word of warning: When I started practicing OBEs, I got an unexpected side-effect: I started also having psychic experiences. I started somehow reading people's minds, having visions, some clairvoyance, etc. And I am a skeptic! And I experienced MANY things that I would never have believed, had I not experienced them for myself. Literally. And for the many people who have 'sort-of' experiences I say this: If you're not really sure if you experienced the real thing, then you probably didn't. Real OBEs leave no doubt in your mind.
I know that OBEs are not the same as dreams. I have experienced dreams, and lucid dreams (which are very fun, by the way) and out-of-body states, and various combinations thereof:
(1) I have dreamed I was out-of-body, and have woken up KNOWING it was only a dream.
(2) I have had OBEs where I have fallen asleep while out-of-body, then started dreaming, then woken up out-of-body again.
(3) I have also have lucid dreams, then I made the conscious transition to an out-of-body state where I watched my lucid dream scenery dissolve.
Also: I have had OBEs where there was no break in consciousness between normal waking consciousness and the out-of-body state. I have also had many OBEs where I have returned to normal waking consciousness without any break in consciousness. It's more typical, however, for me to have a tiny 'blackout' right before reentry.
The book by Gabbard and Twemlow is great stuff when studying the OBE from a psychologist's standpoint, and how it resembles or differs from other psychological states: dreaming, dissociation, depersonalization, and many others. If anyone wants, I can post a bibliography of books. As a rule, OBE books are hard to find.
My advice to those who wish to try an OBE is the same as for those who wish to get to Carnagie Hall: Practice, Practice, Practice.
Now: In my opinion, we all have a 'Higher Self' or 'Oversoul' part of us which waits until our consciousness is completely 'quiet' or 'quiesced'. At that point, it proceeds to do other-worldly things. I have found that if I narrow my consciousness down into a single thread, (where my mind doesn't wander) then if I can hold my consciousness that way long enough, the 'vibrations' will rush in and start the separation process. It's not enough to be single-minded. I have to narrow down my consciousness until it's almost unnoticable to even myself. In computer terms, I end all subsystems, vary off all peripherals, and terminate all tasks, processes and threads until only the KERNEL is running.
(By the way, concentration is not the same as quiescing your mind.) I try to hold this quiesced state for around two minutes. At that point, the vibrations automatically rush into my body. After a certain point where the vibrations have run their normal course, I broaden my consciousness back to normal and I allow my normal thinking processes to continue, only then I'm in a fully conscious out-of-body state.
It feels like sneaking through a security door with someone, unnoticed. The problem is: When the vibrations hit, it can be quite shocking, and tends to break me out of the quiesced state of mind. If I start to think, "Oh my God--what's happening to me..." or "What should I do next?..." then I've lost the quiesced state temporarily and the vibrations will start to fade away. Luckily the vibrations take several seconds to fade away--just enough time to recover the quiesced state.
Just concentrating on them getting stronger is not enough--they will only get stronger when I get back to the quiesced state of mind. So if this happens to you, don't panic--just quiesce your mind again. So the trick is: learn to hold your quiesced state regardless of what is happening to your body. After the vibrations come, you need only hold the quiesced state for approximately 10 to 15 seconds and then you can just get up and walk away from the body. If you can train yourself to do this, you can almost (but not quite) do without the prerequisite relaxation that everyone talks about.
Have you ever saw a flash of lightning, and stopped to listen for the thunder? Or perhaps you heard someone knocking at your door or the telephone ringing from several rooms away? At those times, you tend to stop thinking and listen. And your mind is quiesced for a second or two. Well, pretend that some sound will occur in the near future, and just listen for it. For a short time, your consciousness will stop all processing and go into a quiesced state. As you practise, increase the length of time that you listen.
Note: I just recently got some of Monroe's Hemisync stuff, and it really DOES help to focus your consciousness into that state.
Bob Peterson
P.S. Thanks for all the great material out there.
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