#operation phase

Entry #50

Lately, I haven’t been posting as much because I pretty much decided to stop trying to astral project until winter vacation, when I can try more seriously. The main reason being that I already have so much on my mind right now, like all of my schoolwork and preparing for exams and whatnot.

So all of that being said, last night I came incredibly close to projecting without even trying. As a matter of fact, I knew that I easily could have projected, but I decided not to because I was afraid that I would forget the experience.

The Experience It started with a bizarre, semi-realistic dream. I dreamt that I was on my bed, trying to go to sleep. I had an iPad on my bed, which was playing music (by the way, I don’t own an iPad; I typically have my laptop on my bed though). A young child kept trying to turn on the iPad, so that they can use it. I didn’t want the child to stop my music because then I wouldn’t be able to sleep, so I kept pushing their hand away.

At some point, I wondered why the child’s hand was getting pushed away even though my real, physical hand wasn’t moving. I then snapped out of the dream and became aware of my normal surroundings. My body was incredibly heavy, perhaps even paralyzed. I felt intense, pulsing vibrations. Even though I was listening to music, I couldn’t hear it. I could only hear the vibrations (which sounded exactly like binaural beats).

I realized that I was in prime condition to project. I remained in that state for quite some time, thinking about it, debating whether or not I should. I eventually decided not to, because, as mentioned earlier, I wanted to record what was happening so that I wouldn’t forget it. Unfortunately and fortunately, I’m obsessed with recording these types of things because the memories are very fragile.

So, I slowly sat up and typed up the experience on my laptop. The vibrations only disappeared after typing for a couple minutes. I then went back to sleep.

Dissecting the Experience It’s interesting to think about what exactly lead to this experience, so that I can try to replicate it during winter vacation later.

Most importantly, my mind was well-rested, but my body was not. I went to bed from 10pm to 1am. Although I only slept for 3 hours, my mind was clear and awake. I ate a snack and watched videos on Youtube, then went back to bed at 2am. At 2:30am, I had the experience. This is pretty much the idea behind the Wake Back to Bed (WBTB) technique. I plan on looking into the technique a bit more because it seems like it might be my best bet. Although I wake up after 3 hours of sleep every night, what seems to have made a difference last night is that I actually got out of bed (so that I could eat a snack). Usually, I just stay in bed.

Next, I eliminated my sleep debt. For the past couple of weeks, I have made sleep a huge priority. My sleep schedule has been messed up and inconsistent since high school. No longer! Lately, I have been consistently sleeping and awaking at the same time everyday. In order to signal my body that it’s time to sleep, I now have a sleep ritual, which I start an hour before bedtime. I also schedule 8 hours of sleep (although I only need 6-7), to account for time awake in the middle of the night.

Lastly, I wasn’t trying very hard to astral project. I’m not sure how important this is, but it seems to matter in some way. Basically, I feel as though in my previous attempts, I was trying way too hard. Even though I decided to stop trying to astral project for the next month or so, I do still want to, so it’s always at the back of my mind.

Entry #48

Well, it’s been a couple of weeks since I last posted. I just haven’t had anything to report since I haven’t really been doing anything new. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been trying the indirect phasing method and I gotta say, it’s really not working for me, despite all of the articles that toot how it’s the easiest method and whatnot. I think that my problem is that there’s just too much to keep track of.

So, basically, now I’m just doing whatever I want. I’ve noticed that I consistently fall back asleep and it’s because most techniques just aren’t enough to keep me conscious. Mentally saying one thing over and over (i.e. chanting) seems to be the only thing that holds my attention. This morning, I experimented with chanting, “I am conscious.” Although I didn’t project or phase, I did go into a pretty deep altered state of consciousness. I only stopped because I was really hungry haha.

I like chanting because it makes me focus on one thing, and I don’t lose patience with it. I’ve read in a couple articles that vocalized thought isn’t good and it keeps you tethered to the physical. But based off of my results with chanting so far, that might not be the case for me personally, so I’m going to keep trying it.

Besides, after a couple of minutes, my mind carries on with the chant without me actively vocalizing it. When this happens, I sort of let go and then I start seeing vivid imagery and/or feeling tingling or pulsing in my body. I go back to actively chanting whenever I feel myself losing consciousness.

With any other technique, I tend to become preoccupied with what I need to do, what I need to do next, etc that I focus too much on the technique itself and forget that the technique is just a tool. It’s not the goal.

I need to limit the amount of things that I do in my meditation / phasing sessions. I try to cram in way too much. So, from now on, here’s the plan:

After awakening, continuously chant “I am conscious.”

Entry #46

Operation Phase: Day 17 (No entries for days 15-16)

Definitely the hardest thing about the indirect phasing method is not moving as soon as you awake. By the time that I’m semi-conscious enough to remember not to move, I’m already moving! But, that isn’t really a deal breaker. In the Phase, Raduga says that you should continue to try even if you move; otherwise, you’ll be missing out on a lot more opportunities to phase.

So, I do still try, but I’m aiming to get to a point where I don’t initially move because I find that I waste precious time by moving and then thinking, oh no I just moved, etc. So I added to my affirmations, “When I awake, my body is completely still and my eyes are closed.”

I try to phase indirectly every time I awake in the night, but I usually end up falling back asleep. This morning, around 7am, my mind was pretty alert since I usually awake at that time, but my body was really heavy and sluggish (I usually have to walk around for a bit to make this feeling go away). So I had a bit more success during this session (meaning, I didn’t fall asleep :P)

I finally experienced some incredibly real hypnagogic imagery and mini dreams. I got sucked into the dreams (as in, I lost all awareness of my physical body, like in normal dreams), but when I realized, oh sweet, this is a dream, I came back to the physical. It was pretty interesting to realize that I wasn’t actively creating the scene.

Entry #45

Operation Phase: Day 14 (No entries for days 12-13)

So, it’s been a bit more than a week since I started using the counting via visualization technique. I got some pretty interesting results with it, and perhaps if I stick with it, I may get some more desirable results… but I’m going to switch techniques again haha :P

So, starting tonight, here’s the new plan of action for the next week or so:

Use indirect phasing method

Continue using affirmations before and after sleep

Start reading astral projection stuff again

Indirect Phasing Method The indirect phasing method seems to be the easiest and quickest method for newbies, so why not give it a shot?!

The method: immediately after waking up naturally (from sleep or nap), don’t move at all and don’t open your eyes. You will already be in a deep Focus 10 (mind awake / body asleep). So, instead of moving, immediately try to “separate” or alter your focus of consciousness via intention, imagining an environment, or any other common separation technique (like rolling, pulling on a rope, etc). If you fall back asleep, the next time you wake up, try again (and again and again as you keep awaking, until you decide to get up for the day).

I decided to try this method not only because it seems to be the easiest, but also because I already naturally wake up between 4-5 times a night, so I can try this many many times per day.

Affirmations I already use affirmations before and after sleep. Currently, my affirmation is “I am consciously aware that I am in the non-physical, and I remember the experience with clarity and in detail.”

Reading About AP Previously, I decided to stop reading stuff about astral projection daily because I found that I was becoming overwhelmed with all of the techniques and I didn’t want others’ experiences to influence my expectations.

Well, I’ve now realized that when I’m not exposed to AP constantly (such as this past week), I become less motivated to try and it slips to the back of my mind. Of course, I still really want to experience it, but reading about it just makes me even more excited and curious. I will probably just read about people’s methods and techniques since I still don’t want others’ experiences to influence my expectations.

Entry #44

Operation Phase: Day 11

It’s funny because when I first started seriously keeping a dream journal back in April (of this year), I only ever remembered nightmares. Those dreams that make you wake up with adrenaline pulsing through your body, suddenly afraid of the surroundings that you see everyday, and you dare not return to sleep in fear that the dream will continue. Yeah, those dreams.

And it was frustrating for me at the time. I wondered, why don’t I ever have any good dreams? What’s wrong with me? But in retrospect, I was at a pretty hard place around that time: I was in the midst of taking that semester off from college due to stress and anxiety and I also began to seriously consider transferring schools.

My point is that for the past month or so, my dreams have been pretty pleasant. They’re not like amazing, but I guess when I wake up, I find them funny or clever in some way.

I always listen to music while I’m sleeping. Last night I was listening to the Dresden Dolls’ first two albums on repeat.

So, in my dream, I was in some sort of interview for a company. The interview lady was reading my resume aloud, very dissatisfied, because I think that I wasn’t qualified. So, then while she’s reading my resume, she says, “I used to be the tight one. The perfect fit.” Then she looks up at me and says, “Funny how those compliments can make you feel so full of it.” I was confused at first because I was thinking, I didn’t put that on my resume. But then, I realized, oh my gosh, those are my favorite lines from The Perfect Fit! I then noticed the way that she looked at me with a kind of sly smile and I got the hint, so started singing the song. And she gave me a job as a singer (which wasn’t the position that I was being interviewed for).