#0 · Nov 17, 2004, 22:27 · Asif
My second question is: when you are attempting to meditate and you end up having involuntary movements (not from cold), does that just indicate insufficient physical relaxation? I don't remember ever having that problem till yesterday. I don't imagine it being too difficult to overcome. Have any of you experienced the same?
#1 · Nov 19, 2004, 00:25 · Major Tom
#2 · Nov 19, 2004, 02:57 · clandestino
Robert Bruce, amongst others, recommends that beginners should keep their projections short, & quickly seek re-entry to the body, in order to increase the likelihood of recalling the experience. I have tried doing this, but I must admit the temptation to stay out is often too great !
I agree with MajorTom's comments on muscle spasms. I believe that these muscle spasms are also caused by trapped nerves in the lower back area...In my recent experience working in an office, sitting at a desk for around 7 hours a day, I've found the frequency of these spasms during OBE practise increased considerably. There's an easy way to avoid these type of spasms though - make sure you stretch out the muscles of your lower back properly before practise. Try using the same basic stretches that chiropractors use to loosen the tight muscles in the back. It worked for me !
Kind regards,
Mark
#3 · Nov 19, 2004, 05:25 · Frank
We are developing continually and this subject matter is no different. Reading the more traditional works you will come across all manner of belief constructs such as an "etheric body" or an "astral body" and so forth. Monroe, for example, in his earlier experiences talks about fairly detailed realignment procedures when he "returns" to the physical, for example.
Nowadays, the more forward-looking practitioners of the art are realising the true nature of these constructs in the way they served to help people understand the kinds of experiences they were having at that time. One of the constructs that always sticks in my mind as a prime example of this, is the notion of a "silver cord" that was said to connect the etheric body to the physical.
Within our belief systems is the notion that we must incorporate a process. The early practitioners thought of themselves as being disconnected from the physical in some way, therefore, there must be some "process" of connection between the one location to the other. Hence the silver-chord belief construct.
In reality, you are never remote from your physical body at all. All you simply need to do is re-engage physical focus. The degree to which we perceive a place is proportional to our intensity of mental focus within it. So the mere act of closing your eyes to the experience, so to speak, will cause you to shift focus away from it. So there's no need to think about "jumping back". Merely think about bringing the physical into the foreground of your mental awareness again.
If you focus within the non-physical and, rather than exploring, stay put and gently feel (mentally) for your physical you'll feel it in the background of your mental awareness. If you practice you'll find you can switch focus from one to the other, i.e. you bring the physical into the foreground of your awareness and the non-physical switches to the background. But here you are not actually feeling like you are fully "in" the physical, like we are in our normal waking state. It merely comes into the foreground of your awareness. You may hear yourself snoring (if you snore that is) or hear your heart beating, or feel your bed covers, or even see your bedroom, then you'll find you can focus away from that and focus on the non-physical again.
It's as if you switch the two points of focus though 180 degrees. Like a kind of revolving door effect. That's why Monroe, in his later work, thought about it as switching phase. Myself, I prefer to think of foreground and background and switching my mental focus rather than switching phase.
HTH
Yours,
Frank