#0 · Aug 14, 2004, 01:11 · Palehorse

I think I'm a bit ahead of the game where deep trance is concerned, as I believe I've felt the sensations before, and can mentally duplicate them with relative ease.  But, therein lies the problem.  The first time I felt those sensations, it was in the context of being on an operating table.  As I was going under, I had the sudden feeling of a cold numbness over my entire body, and the sensation of spinning and/or falling all at once.  Now, at the time I had no idea what it was, and I was pretty sedated and not thinking rationally to begin with... so for all I knew I was dying, and all I remember is my mind freaking out on me right before I was completely out.  But yeah, from everything I've read, I now believe I was artificially induced into deep trance right before I lost consciousness.

While I think that knowing the sensations should give me a definite advantage, it has instead become a big roadblock in my AP progress.  I haven't been able to shake the mental association with that bad experience, and so I can't mentally duplicate the sensation for more than a few seconds without activating the "fight or flight" response, which of course makes relaxation impossible.  In fact, at *any* change in sensation, my mind tends to go "holy shyte, you're dying!  abort!  abort!"

So, does anyone have any advice for breaking such associations?

Anyway, I just wanted to post this now while I'm thinking about it, but I probably won't be around for about the next ten days.  Thanks in advance to anyone who responds, and try not to miss me too much.  [ :P ]

#1 · Aug 14, 2004, 04:07 · gravy

I think you just gotta keep telling yourself that it's safe until you believe it.

#2 · Aug 14, 2004, 04:18 · Frank

Activating the fight/flight, help-I'm-dying response is one of the stumbling blocks a LOT of people face. Though it seems you have a kind of particular association established which is unfortunate. I'd had loads of Astral projection experience before I managed to project into what's commonly called the Real-Time Zone. For some reason I could just never do it. Anyhow, the first time I did and looked down and saw my physical body asleep on the bed, something inside me flipped and I got zapped back to physical PDQ.

Afterwards I couldn't stop chuckling to myself thinking how daft I'd been. Here's me with all this previous projection experience and then I flip thinking I had died or something. But then I thought wow, if it happens to me like that, just think how awful it must be when it happens to a complete beginner. So in a way I can understand very much where you are coming from.

Breaking such an association will possibly not be an easy task, in the sense that I doubt it will be something that will just go away of its own accord. I feel it will be something you will have to work on in particular ways until you find a way that works. But if you stick at it, I'd lay money you will solve it eventually. And maybe not before long.

One of the ways in which I practised keeping myself calm was to take things really slowly and keep up a running commentary of what it was I was observing. Bt verbalising everything it stopped my mind becoming overloaded with input, and I'd get zapped back to physical far less often.

Another thing I would do is if things did get out of control and I did get zapped back, then I'd replay the experience in mind afterwards a number of times; only at the point where things started getting out of hand, what I would do is use my imagination to substitute a more pleasant outcome in place of the scary bit. Then I'd keep replaying the imaginary experience in order to, in some way, overwrite the unpleasantness. Which I found worked really well for me.

Yours,
Frank