                      Plane Talk: Astral Meanderings

                           by Don DeGracia, Ph.D.

                        (dondeg@compuserve.com)

                   Copyright  1996. All rights reserved.

                                 March 1996

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                        More About The Trance State

     Hi everybody. Welcome to the 3rd installment of Plane Talk. This
     time around Im gonna leave theory behind and focus on more
     practical matters. As I said in my first column, I receive a lot
     of questions from readers of DO_OBE and the vast bulk of these
     questions revolve around the practical matter of going into
     trance. In DO_OBE, I described what I call the Trance Method as a
     way to achieve an OBE or projection. What I want to do in this
     column is address some of the more general questions I receive
     about going into trance and hopefully clarify a few points about
     this practice. Also, Id like to mention a couple new insights
     Ive gotten for making your practices more efficient.

     To start, let me briefly review the idea of the trance method.
     Again, this is a method for astral projecting, inducing an OBE,
     or going into a lucid dream (as all you readers know by now, I
     believe these three terms refer to the same experience). The idea
     of the trance method is to go directly from the waking state to
     the projection state. In a nutshell, what this method entails is
     letting your body fall asleep while, at the same time, you keep
     your mind awake and alert . This method is practically identical
     to the method taught by Dr. Stephen LaBerge called WILD (waking
     induced lucid dream). In DO_OBE, I described the stages involved
     in going into trance. You lay down with the intent to project and
     allow yourself to relax deeper and deeper. As your relaxation
     deepens you can expect to experience a number of changes in
     bodily sensations and in your perceptions. These include feeling
     sensations of getting heavy, sinking or floating, and perhaps the
     onset of hypnagogic images and sounds. After a certain point,
     your trance becomes deep enough and you feel yourself 'separate'
     at which point you are 'out' of your body. You may or may not
     experience a momentary break in your consciousness. And when you
     finally get out, you will either be somewhere in the
     projection/dream realm, or in a place I call 'the void', but you
     will be in full consciousness. At this point, your
     projection/OBE/lucid dream will have begun.

     For readers unfamiliar with the Trance method, I strongly
     recommend you read up on it in DO_OBE, give the exercises a try,
     and then come back and read this column. This column is meant to
     be a supplement to what is described in DO_OBE, and is NOT
     intended as a stand-alone introduction to going into trance.

     One of the most frequent questions I receive has to do with
     feeling vibrations as you go into trance. Quite often, after you
     have been laying there for a while (perhaps for 10-15 minutes
     depending on how tired you are), you may feel a tingling
     sensation on your skin, or in your arms and legs. When you feel
     it on your skin, it feels almost like light chills, as if you are
     slightly cold. I have found when I get these sensations in my
     arms or legs that they are somewhat uncomfortable.

     Now, the point is, it is inevitable at some point in your
     practicing of the trance method that you will feel these kinds of
     sensations. Many people write me and ask me what these vibrations
     mean, and, if by feeling these vibrations, does this indicate
     they are getting close to projecting. These are, of course, very
     valid questions. And here is the answer I tend to give.

     Remember that when you go into trance, you are trying to let your
     body fall asleep, yet keep your mind awake. What this means is
     that you want to loose the perception of your bodily sensations.
     This means you do NOT want to feel your body. These vibrations
     are sensations coming directly from your body. By focusing on
     them in your consciousness, this only serves to keep your body
     awake. Therefore, feeling vibrations actually PREVENTS you from
     projecting.

     Now, this may go against things you have read elsewhere. Robert
     Monroe (author of Journeys Out of Body, Far Journeys and Ultimate
     Journeys ), for example, wrote about the vibrations that often
     accompanied his OBEs. But he is referring to something different
     here. In DO_OBE, I spoke about kinesthetic sensations that
     occurred as you went deeper into trance. Again, this included
     feelings that your body was getting heavier, that you are sinking
     into the bed, that your body is floating, tipping or other such
     sensations. These kinesthetic sensations seem like true bodily
     sensations, but they are not. I perhaps may not have described
     these sensations, and what they mean, as well as I could have in
     DO_OBE, and since they are so related to this idea of vibrations,
     let me elaborate a bit about kinesthetic sensations.

     The term "kinesthetic sensations" normally means "feelings of
     your body moving". However, in DO_OBE, I used it in a different
     sense. What I was talking about are bodily sensations that you
     feel after your body has in fact fallen asleep. What I now think
     these trance-associated kinesthetic sensations are are
     hallucinations created by your brain after your body has indeed
     fallen asleep. See, what I didnt know when DO_OBE was written is
     that, when we fall asleep, our bodies become paralyzed,
     particularly during the REM phase of sleep, which is the sleep
     stage in which both ordinary dreams and projections/lucid dreams
     occur. That is, during REM sleep, sensations coming into our
     brains from our senses, including our senses of touch and bodily
     sensation, are inhibited. In other words, if someone were to
     touch you while you slept, that sensation does not get to your
     brain as easily as it would if you were awake. Its almost as if
     there is a volume control on our senses, and the volume gets
     turned down when we sleep, particularly in the REM stage of
     sleep.

     So, what all this means is that, as you are getting deeper and
     deeper in trance, at a certain point, your body literally falls
     asleep, although your mind has stayed awake. At this point, your
     mind has literally been cut off (for the most part) from
     sensations of touch and movement coming in from your body.
     However, and this is very important, you still continue to feel a
     body and still continue to feel as if this body is moving. It is
     these sensations of a body that occur after you have fallen
     asleep that I was calling "kinesthetic sensations" in DO_OBE. In
     fact, a more realistic term to refer to these sensations is
     "kinesthetic hallucinations" for these are not true input from
     the nerves in your body. These are sensations created by your
     brain when the real input from the body is being inhibited. In
     other words, these are hallucinations of bodily sensations. And
     these are what you want to learn to recognize as an indicator of
     how deep you are in trance.

     Again, for most of the people that write me, when they describe
     "feeling vibrations", they are referring to actually input from
     their body, and the fact that they are feeling their body
     indicates that they are still wide awake. And concentrating on
     these vibrations will only reinforce keeping you awake. So, the
     bottom line is, if you feel these vibrations, it is probably an
     indication that your body is not tired enough to go into trance.
     And if you continue focusing on these vibrations, it will only
     keep you awake and prevent you from projecting.

     So, I hope these ideas about kinesthetic sensations (or actually
     from here on out Ill refer to these as "kinesthetic
     hallucinations") and feeling vibrations are a little clearer to
     you readers. Hopefully people wont get as hung up on this.

     Now, to wrap up this discussing of kinesthetic hallucinations,
     again, these are important indicators of how deep your trance is.
     And what I have been telling people is that the best way to learn
     about these kinesthetic hallucinations is to pay careful
     attention to what it feels like when you fall asleep at night.
     This is actually a very simple exercise and is not something I
     mentioned in DO_OBE. When you go to bed at night, simply pay
     attention to what it feels like as you fall asleep. Dont try to
     project or anything. Just pay attention to what it feels like as
     you drift off to sleep. And indeed that is what you will feel: as
     if you are drifting, or sinking, or getting heavy. You want to
     learn what these sensations are and how they feel because you
     will feel these kinds of things every time you try to project by
     going into trance.

     So, I hope that is clearer now!

     Next topic: hypnagogic images. I get a lot of letters from people
     about the hypnagogic images. To remind the reader, hypnagogia is
     the state of consciousness that lies in-between waking and
     sleeping. When you are in the hypnagogic state, you may see
     hypnagogic images. Hypnagogic images are crystal clear visual
     perceptions. You may see faces, or trees, or landscapes, or
     abstract images that are hard to describe with words.

     Now, as you practice the trance method, and your trance gets
     deeper and deeper, you may or may not see hypnagogic images.
     People write me and are concerned when they try to go into trance
     and they do not see any hypnagogic images. They wonder if they
     are doing something wrong when they dont see these images.
     Again, I simply want to make this crystal clear: you may or may
     not see these images. Seeing hypnagogic images is not a
     requirement for projecting by trance. As I said in DO_OBE, if you
     do see them, then this indicates that you are getting deeper into
     trance (as a matter of fact, for you physiologically inclined
     readers, I have read that the hypnagogic state tends to occur
     during stages 1 and 2 of nonREM sleep). But if you do not see
     these images, it doesnt mean you are doing something wrong. Its
     ok not to see hypnagogic images as you go deeper into trance on
     your way to projecting.

     Again, I hope that this clarifies this point.

     Finally, there is one last thing I want to discuss, and this is:
     when is it a good time to practice going into trance? Now, this
     is not something I discussed in DO_OBE. This is not something I
     knew when I wrote DO_OBE. But as I have studied more about all
     this, particularly about the physiology of sleep, its become very
     clear when its the best time to try to go into trance. And here
     it is:

     The best time to try to project using the trance method is in the
     early morning, preferably 15-30 minutes before you would normally
     wake up.

     The worst time to try to project using the trance method is in
     the night when you are going to bed.

     Let me explain why this is.

     Again, remember what we are talking about here: An astral
     projection/OBE/lucid dream involves taking your waking
     consciousness into the dream world. To do this via trance, you
     are trying to keep your mind awake while, at the same time,
     letting your body fall asleep. So, the key thing about the trance
     method is keeping your mind awake and carrying it across the
     border, so to speak, into the dream world.

     Well, the simple fact is, when you go to bed at night, you are
     tired from your days activities. And you are also tired because
     your brain is intrinsically programmed to fall asleep in a
     rhythmical fashion. So, if you try to project via trance at
     night, you are, in effect, trying to swim upstream, or fighting
     an uphill battle. Your body wants to fall asleep at night, and so
     does your mind. Its an inherent rhythm built into your body. You
     need sleep and you need rest. And, for God only knows what
     reason, true sleep and rest require you to loose your lucidity.
     Everything in your body and brain is conspiring against your
     intentions to keep your lucidity intact when you go to bed at
     night. For all these reasons, trying to project, via the trance
     method, when you fall asleep at night is a BAD idea.

     On the other hand, as I said above, what you can do when you fall
     asleep at night is pay attention to what it feels like as you
     fall off to sleep. Do not try to maintain your lucidity. Just
     simply pay attention and try to remember the sensations you are
     feeling as you fall asleep. This is one constructive use of
     falling asleep at night.

     Conversely, there are reasons why trying to project via trance in
     the morning is much more efficient. First, your body, brain and
     mind are rested by morning. Therefore, if you try to go into
     trance in the A.M., you are not fighting against the needs of
     your body. A second factor is that, when you first wake up, you
     are still drowsy. This is a fact all of us know first hand. And
     this can be used to your advantage when trying to project via
     trance. From the point of view of getting up out of bed and
     starting your day, being drowsy is a bad thing. But from the
     point of view of trying to project, being drowsy is a head start
     on going into trance. When you are drowsy you are already deeply
     relaxed and your body will fall asleep quite easily. All you need
     to do then to go into trance after waking in the morning is to
     keep your mind focused and alert (i.e. lucid) as you drift back
     off to sleep.

     Interestingly enough, this is something I have quite
     instinctively done all along. The fact is, the vast bulk of my
     projections, including most everyone in DO_OBE, occurred in the
     morning shortly after waking from my nights sleep.

     The procedure is simple. Set your alarm to wake up a little
     early, maybe 15-30 minutes early (of course, this presupposes you
     have time in the morning to project, and dont have to worry
     about such things as going off to work). Then, when you wake, go
     and go to the bathroom, because this is something youll have to
     do (as if none of us dont know that!). Then, you may want to
     occupy yourself in some light mental activity for about 10-15
     minutes, usually reading. I used to get up, go to the bathroom,
     then read books about projecting for 10 minutes, then lay back
     down and try to project.

     Now, in fairness, although this is the way I have done things
     since 1987, I never really appreciated the significance of
     approaching projecting this way. The light bulb clicked on in my
     head when I had read an article by Stephen LaBerge which
     describes this exact approach to projecting/lucid dreaming. So,
     credit needs to be put where credit is due. And again, the things
     I am describing are practically identical to Dr. LaBerges method
     called WILD.

     Finally, there is one more important reason I am aware of why
     trying to project in the A.M. is more efficient. This has to do
     with the nature of the sleep cycle we go through several times
     each night. As I mentioned in the last column, and as many of you
     may know, there are 5 phases to the sleep cycle, and the entire
     cycle itself lasts about 90 minutes. The 5 phases are called:
     stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, stage 4 and REM. It turns out that
     early in the night, after just going to bed, the bulk of the
     first 90 minute sleep cycle is taken up by stages 1-4, and the
     REM stage is very short in duration (maybe 10 minutes out of 90).
     But as the night progresses, stages 1-4 shorten, and REM
     lengthens in duration. So, by the early morning, after 4 or 5
     sleep cycles, REM accounts for maybe 45 minutes of the entire
     sleep cycles. And again, the key link here is that it is during
     REM that dreams and lucid dreams (or OBEs/astral projections)
     occur. So, what this all amounts to is that, for reasons still
     unknown to brain scientists, your brain can get into the REM
     stage much easier in the early morning than in the night, and
     this will greatly facilitate you having a trance induced
     projection (or WILD - which ever term you prefer).

     Ok, so now Im done for now talking about practical stuff related
     to the trance method of achieving OBEs/projections/lucid dreams.
     Id like to conclude, still on the note of practicality - but not
     the practicality of going into trance, but the practicality of
     which ideas you use to conceptualize the projection/OBE/lucid
     dream experience - by making the following observation.

     Since Ive started writing these columns, Ive clearly been
     espousing a more scientific view that sees this experience as a
     lucid dream and not dwelling on the occult view of astral
     projection. This shift in viewpoint has real practical
     consequences, which is why I have shifted in the first place.
     None of this is philosophical speculation (i.e. read "hot air").
     We are discussing something very real and repeatable. The
     scientific view that sees this experience as a lucid dream has
     very practical consequences, many of which were outlined above.
     For example, sleep researchers revealed that the sleep cycle
     exists. Dr. LaBerges work has revealed that projections/lucid
     dreams occur during the REM phase of the sleep cycle. These
     scientific observations allow for the practical advice that
     attempting to project in the morning, upon waking, will be more
     effective than trying to project at night when falling asleep.
     There is nothing in the occult view of astral projection that
     would allow us to come to this practical conclusion. This is only
     one example of the strength of the scientific view over the
     occult world view.

     And this also illustrates how what we believe and know affects
     how we act. Since the theme of this column revolves around
     practicality, I want to just conclude with the thought that what
     ideas we do or do not accept have practical consequences, and
     that some ideas are more practical than other ideas. The truth
     is, the main reason I have shifted away from occult views and
     towards scientific views is because the scientific views are more
     practical. The scientific ideas allow us to act more efficiently
     and to get things done. And as well, there are mountains of
     evidence that support the scientific ideas. In contrast, the
     occult ideas are cute fairy tales - still of value I believe, for
     reasons I will go into in a future column, but not as of such
     direct value as the scientific views of this altered state we are
     discussing.

     So, gang, Im outta here. Good luck with your attempts to get
     into the dream world lucid! Talk to you all soon!

     Don

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