These questions and answers were taken from the forum where Frank Kepple interacted with people.

What is phasing?

However, his later books Far Journeys and Ultimate Journey, published many years later, reveal how his work had progressed to the development and formation of a completely different model of consciousness. His early “locale” concept had been totally replaced by a series of mental Focus Levels. These levels were labeled by using an escalating series of arbitrary numbers. Each level was identified from the mental impressions presented that Monroe categorized and labeled, so that others could follow in his work and duplicate his experiences.

At some point in his experience, Monroe was able to determine the profound truth, that there is no separation within consciousness. Whereas in his early work it felt to him he was “leaving” and “separating” from his physical body in the more traditional sense. His later experiences led him to conclude that he was not “leaving” his body at all. But what he was doing, in his words, was changing the phase relationship between himself and his surroundings. It was from this discovery that the term “Phasing” came into being.

Monroe was an electronics engineer by profession, and it so happens that I too graduated in electronics, so I understand where he was coming from when he talks about phase relationships. You can have two voltages present on the very same wire (you can have many numbers but for this example we’ll have just two). To all intents and purposes, those two voltages are mixed, but at the same time they are separated. What separates these two voltages is the phase-angle relationship between them.

Monroe used this phase-angle relationship idea as an analogy to describe the relationship between the physical or objective layer of consciousness, and the non-physical or subjective layer of consciousness. Each respective area of consciousness occupies the same area in “space” and to all intents, they are mixed but at the same time they are separated. So Monroe figured there was a 180-degree Phase Relationship between the two areas of reality. To him, projection became a case of "switching phase" between the physical and the non-physical.

Phasing, therefore, entails initiating a 180-degree phase shift between the physical and the non-physical realms of reality. The way this is done is rather different from the traditional ways of initiating an “out of body” experience. In fact, Phasing does not incorporate any kind of out of body feelings at all. The normal bodily vehicle can remain and all that changes is a person’s environment.
 

In the Astral access "sequence", how real/vivid/plasticly do you need to imagine or "see" the sequences you describe that lead to entering the Astral portal proper, and waving goodbye to the butler, (Clive?) for a time? E.g., can you imagine it like watching an inner TV screen, or do you find it more "hazy" than that and harder to maintain? I think you see the point of the question.

At first it is hard to maintain. The tendency is to drift off on some other, more earth-bound thought(s). But this goes away with practice. Having the sequences mapped out on the CD is very helpful tool to practice with. Though if someone wanted to create their own sequence, I guess it would work well too. In which case I would advise them to plan it out carefully. Write down the script, and go through it several times in the Physical first.

The technique does not require you to first create the meditive "empty mind" state (though if a person could already do that it would be a bonus). The idea is, you flood your mind with other, more beneficial thoughts, i.e. those more likely to achieve contact with the Astral, as opposed to wondering what you're going to have for breakfast. Ultimately, having some kind of script *is* what keeps your mind focussed on the task in hand.

As for how I "see" these images: they are nowhere near as clear and vivid as the images I eventually see when stepping into the Astral realms - these images are as clear as day. It's more like I am sensing an awareness of an image in my mind, rather than seeing the image directly.

Astral access sequence is, as follows: I get to Focus 10, and stand in my F10 Hut looking out through the F12 doorway. I generally just stand there gazing at the blackness of the space scene, which is punctuated by all the stars. If nothing happens then I might fly into the blackness and drift about a bit. If still nothing happens then I'll come back to the Hut and stand looking for a while again - then fly off some more.

If the next stage (below) has not come about after 20 minutes, or so, then I will return to C1. I'll give it 5 or 10 minutes, go through the countdown to F10 again, and try for full Astral contact once more. (I won't try and force things as doing this is a MAJOR retrograde step.)

There comes a point, when I'm standing in the F10 Hut either gazing outwards or just drifting in the blackness, where the blackness takes on a kind of 3D effect.

The blackness taking on this 3D effect, seems to be the transition between "sensing an awareness" of the imagery, and seeing the images directly, as clear as day, just like I were looking through my physical eyes. This is also the point where I *totally* lose all sensation of my physical body. (Not that I have much by the time I reach Focus 10 anyway, but there is always this inkling of a feeling until full Astral contact.)

First the blackness becomes 3D, followed by a sensation that the blackness is gently swirling around me. Then I normally see whirls of smoky, foggy-looking colours for a few seconds and, sometimes, there is a bright light in the distance which is obscured as it shines through the fog.

It is at this stage where I "mark my intent". (On the Astral "Intent" is the energy that drives you into experiencing whatever it is you want to experience.) Which sounds ever so easy to say, but I'm currently finding it difficult to learn. Well, as I've said before, my navigation skills were virtually non-existant and it is only recently that I've started getting the hang of it. Then I find myself projected within the Astral proper.

It is clear that dedication and perseverance is a major factor, and one where people might become despondent if no results are forthcoming.

Yes, you are quite right. But I also found that Belief and Doubt are major factors that determine an individual's progress. Any kind of doubt puts a MAJOR spoke in the works. Belief is also another factor that can hinder (or accelerate) a person's progress.

The typical scenario a beginner is faced with is the question, "How can I believe something that doesn't exist?" (When I say "doesn't exist" I mean not existing on physical-plane reality.) As such, a person will naturally doubt the whole thing. Which is where Faith comes into it to a high degree.

They may read a book such as AD where aspects of projection are explained in simple, matter of fact terms. This tends to give people confidence in that they too can learn. So they set off just trying some small "energy awareness" technique.

Deep down, they are not really fully believing everything that is written, and they doubt whether they will ever be able to experience even half of what RB has written about. But the book has touched them to the extent they have a little Faith in what they are about to do, and naturally they will be curious.

All it takes is for them to make just a little progress, and this will have the effect of increasing their Faith and Curiosity. So they go in a little deeper and each time their Faith and Curiosity increases, and with it their doubts begin to fall away.

But an individual doesn't necessarily have to take this approach. The simple way to go from Physical A to Astral B, is to 1) Fully and absolutely believe in the possibility, and, 2) Have no doubt that results will be forthcoming. Bit of a tough cookie, I agree.    

How long did it take you before the Astral portal access sequence progressed from imagination to reality. By reality, I mean to the point where you no longer had to imagine it, but it rather assumed a life of its own, and the Astral environment, as entered through the portal, became solid, real and fluid - i.e. the Astral life proper where everything is happening around you, and you are a part of it, and can interact, communicate, etc...

I listened to the CD several hundred times over a period of months. During which time I concocted the imagery for the countdown sequence. It wasn't so much the actual concocting of the imagery that took the time. Thats part of it only took about 2 weeks to perfect, going through the sequence 2 or 3 times each morning. It was the realization, or the idea, of going through the countdown in that way: which didn't come to me until I'd been listening to the CD for about 2 months.

Once I had perfected the imagery process, my progress began to accelerate quite rapidly. Had I initially begun using the CD, coupled with the imagery I am using now, I guess it would have taken me about 3 or 4 weeks before the transition to the Astral would have become a semi-predictable event, say, 6 times in 10 attempts.

Is this Astral experience (via the Astral portal), as vivid and real as your previous OBE experiences - indeed it the same Astral level, people etc.? I also assume that you can retain full recall of the experiences.

I really like the term "Astral portal" I'll use that in future, thank you. Yes, even more vivid and even more real. Doing what I used to do, i.e. my Cannonball Projection, is quite a shock to the system. Phasing through an Astral portal, by comparison, is a very smooth and controlled transition. As such, it is much easier on the system.

Plus, there is no feeling of leaving your physical body, no looking down seeing yourself on the bed and so forth. Which is okay for some. But most people who find themselves in that state get scared sh*tless.

In fact, it feels so smooth there is a strong tendency to think it's all just a vivid dream. It's not, of course, because there are distinct differences which I can readily detect as a result of my previous projection experience. Which leads me to your second point, yes, it's the same place I used to go.

Memory recollection is as easy as memory recollection is on the physical. But with one exception: if I fall asleep after the experience.

I've trained myself to go back to C1 (normal Physical consciousness) after any projection experience. But sometimes I get lazy thinking, "Oh, I'll have a few minutes of sleep then make some notes." Which is fatal, retention-wise.

Always bear in mind the objective is to project within the Astral, and the imagery is merely a prop that sets the stage for the next Act. (Imagine a real stage where just a few abstract forms, here and there, can so very easily set the tone of the next Act. That's how you need to be working.)

Act 1: Energy Conversion box. Bring on the props, set the stage, do your bit, then move to Act 2: Resonant Tuning. Here the props change, you play out the scene, then move to Act 3: Declaration Stage... and so on. All so it flows with the CD. But watch you don't get bogged down in nitty-gritty detail.

Though too much detail will not effect you in the early stages. For example, you can imagine your Energy Conversion Box in as much detail as you like. It won't have any negative effects at all. Reason being, at this stage, you are still within the lower realms of your imagination. But the higher you go, creative-imagination wise, the more abstract your thoughts become. And remember that right at the end of your creative imagination, is the border to the Astral. (I promise you, it really is that close!)

That's the main reason why, imagining in too much detail can bog you down. In that it keeps your focal point of thinking within the lower realms of the imagination. When what you should be doing is gradually travelling towards the border. So feeling your thoughts naturally getting progressively more abstract, the further you progress, would be a positive sign.

The key transition is from Focus 10 to Focus 12 (the tricky one!). Hence the need for all the thorough preparation beforehand. Please bear in mind that *everything* you do in the previous Acts, is done solely to bring you to the point where the transition from F10 to F12 is performed as smoothly and easily as the transition from C1 to F3 (say).

In other words, if you are having difficulty with the F10 to F12 transition, it is 99.9% likely that the cause will be due to some problem in the preparatory stages.

Focus 12 is very simple to recognize: it occurs when I sense the blackness taking on a 3D effect, and I start to see colours, etc. This is Monroe's Focus 12.

Focus 10 (mind awake body asleep) brings you to the edge of the border. And, like all Astral borders, there is not an immediate and sudden transition between one realm and the next. There is what is commonly known as a Buffer Zone.

At Focus 10, as I say, you are standing on the edge of your creative imagination. At Focus 12, you mentally "step into" the buffer zone between the edge of your creative imagination and the Astral proper. (Note: In my earlier work I used to call the effects of stepping into the buffer-zone, the "stray energy" stage).

The F10 to F12 transition is not given on the Wave 1 CD. So you will have to create your own sense of expectation based on my description. The F12 transition is given on a later CD but I found it of little use.

Thing is, once you are at F12, stepping into the Astral and making contact with some guide is a relatively simple matter that I imagine most people would hardly have difficulty with. Well, provided you know the ground rules about remaining mentally still (just releasing a mild air of curiosity) and remaining completely closed emotionally, that is. Otherwise you'll step into the Astral and begin flitting all over the place. Which is no use at all.

Could you possibe describe this "stray energy" and "3D blackness" a in a bit more detail? This is to assist people in recognising that they are at F12.
Also, how does the transition from the "buffer zone" to the Astral occur? E.g. is it a gradual or rapid transition, and how do your surroundings alter at this particular point, and also I suppose, how can you recognise that you are out of your imagination, and in the Astral proper?

The 3D blackness thing is difficult to explain. (I think you might have some better input on this as it forms the basis of his own projection technique.) I'll try and think of a good analogy and get back to the thread. With me, the point at which I sense the 3D blackness is the point where I leave the Physical behind completely. My focal point of awareness has "crossed the bridge" and is now *completely* immersed in another reality.

As for the whirls of colour. Imagine that the blackness was gently swirling around you, like a black fog. Then, intermixed with this black fog, was fog of different colours all gently swirling around. Often I can hear a tune playing which sounds like it is drifting over from a distance. Or sometimes it might be just a single note. Many times I can see a bright light (higher being) in the distance that is obscured by the fog.

In my early work, at this stage, it was common for me to hear all kinds of pops and bangs. Or sometimes I'd hear stomping noises, or Velcro-like ripping or tearing sounds, etc. I'd also see all kinds of abstract shapes like black & white outline drawings. Some of them looked quite devilish in nature, and once I'd have sworn there was this huge head of a wolf right up alongside my face. Which there wasn't, of course, but the energy was perceived that way for some reason.

However, I find that, nowadays, all I get is the coloured swirling fog which is often accompanied by musical tones of various description, and the bright light.

I'm normally in the buffer zone for about 5 seconds. All the while the fog is swirling I get a sensation of gradual movement. Then the fog clears and the Astral comes into view. What I see, or what I do from here depends on my original Intent. If I pass through with no real fixed objective (as I often do, but I'm trying to get out of the habit), I'll just end up standing around somewhere, in no place in particular. What I like to then do is walk around for a short while, just taking in the fact that "here I am again". From which point I'll decide what to do.

At this stage, it is obvious that I am situated within the Astral proper. There is no mistaking it. It feels *exactly* like I was standing within the Physical, only it's the Astral. Though please bear in mind this is only due to the fact that I can remain emotionally closed.

The tendency for newcomers, at this point, is to flit all over the place as their minds flit here and there. Which brings me to your point about excitement and so forth. Yes, this is a very natural thing and any emotional release will hinder your progress. But at least you know that.

The first 10 or 20 times you project your emotional release will no doubt scupper your experiences. But your realization of the fact that it is your own emotional release that is the cause, will help you overcome the problem within a relatively short time.

When I first started projecting within the Astral, I had one heck of a job trying to make sense of it all. One moment I'd be immersed in one scene, then another, then another......

At that time there were no Internet BBS's that you could join in order to ask questions and get help (er, come to think of it, when I first started there were no desktop computers!). As a result, it took me just over 5 years before the penny dropped, and I realized that my own release of emotion was the cause of my flitting about here, there and everywhere.

Nowadays, the facts about emotions and their effects when released within the Astral are starting to become common knowledge. Which means the problems can be overcome in weeks, not years.

Frank, let me ask you. You've mentioned on a number of occasions that you simply phase into the astral....no feelings of separation from a physical body. So would you say that you simply feel a slight movement (while passing through F12 & swirly color phase) and then BOOM! You find yourself in the astral environment?

On reflection, I think "movement" is perhaps not the right word. It's more of a gradual mental shift that starts from first seeing what look like moving shadows for about 5 seconds, then 3D blackness quickly followed by the swirling for, say, another 5 seconds, then the Astral gradually comes into view. At this point, I am viewing the Astral from a short distance like if I were at the cinema viewing the Astral on the screen.

Here I have 2 choices: 1) I can put out an "intent" to view something and watch it on the Astral screen. For example, I enjoy working with horses and I like to watch horses in action during olden times. Chariot racing is my favourite thing to watch at the moment, followed by jousting. But you can basically ask to see whatever you want and up it comes on the screen. (Though this is one of those things that it far easier to say, than to do! But it gets easier the more you practice).

Second choice: I allow myself to mentally step into the Astral scene, whereupon I find myself within the Astral proper. Here I am free to just walk around, chat with the locals, etc.

Also, while getting there in this manner, do you suddenly become aware that you have an astral body? Where you can feel yourself walking, looking at hands, etc?

Having an "Astral body" is not something that I become aware of. In the sense that I don't really need to think about it. I am free to walk about, as I say, and chat with the locals. But it just feels like it's me, normally, like I were in the Physical. Obviously, the "body" I am in, within the Astral, is not literally my physical body. But it feels exactly the same as if it were.

It's difficult for me to explain, but there is no point in the process where I feel any kind of separation from my physical body. It literally feels like all that happened is the scenary changed.

I only ask because virtually all of my OBE's have happened from feeling a separation from my body....so I have had body-like sensations from the beginning. If I simply phase out into the astral, do these body sensations kick in once I'm actively moving around?

What I would do is try and phase-into the Astral from the 3D blackness stage and not worry about any kind of body.  

And one more thing....when I am going through my relaxation techniques and I hit F12, I'm not imaging myself moving. There is no visualization scene in my head like the one which you envision while listening to the tape. Do you think once I get to F12, I should start to IMAGINE some movement forward, through the images?

The visualization scenes that I use are merely tools that are designed to get me to F12 (and the subsequent transition to the Astral). So as soon as I begin to perceive F12 "symptoms" the previous visualization stuff is redundant.

When at F12, INTENT and EXPECTATION start to play a big role.

Basically, Intent is the engine that drives you, and Expectation has a kind of feedback effect that pushes aside possible reality-fluctuation effects caused by Doubt and the like. Problem is, at this stage and beyond, you become your own self-fulfilling prophecy so you have to watch what you are thinking very carefully.

Try floating in the 3D blackness and put out a specific intent to do something in particular and see what happens.

When you say that you voice your intent to view something...are you viewing actual events that have occurred? Is it like going to the akashic records? When I read your writings, I can't help imagining the things you've gone through. It must be amazing!  ...Have your thoughts or emotions ever caused something to happen in the physical?    

Yes, I am sure that what I am viewing are events that have occured. But I have no actual proof of that (yet). I hesitate to use the term "Akashic Records" as mystical terminology is not my thing. But these particular kinds of images I am viewing on the Astral screen came about originally after posting an Intent to view the Akashic records (or at least my understanding of them).

My overall intention is to try and view specific points in time. At the moment, all I can do, it seems, is to view an overview of events (if that makes sense) that appear to be occurring over, say, several months (or maybe even years) of time.

It's like, for example, if you were to take a photograph but not wind the film to the next frame. Then take another picture, but again not wind the film on. So take, say, five pictures like this without winding the film on each time. The resulting image would be a bit of a jumble. But look closely and you would be able to pick out lots of bits of detail about each of the pictures you took. But there would not be just one clear image that captured one specific point in time. Which is what I am currently working on doing.

Yes, having a high degree of control over the projection process allows you to dig deeper; as you are no-longer at the mercy of all kinds of reality fluctuations. I'm not sure how my interactions with the Astral are affecting my Physical. To be honest, I try my hardest to keep the two entirely separate.

Ok Frank, I have to ask this.  When you see this screen does it show actually moving scenes or are they more a sort of virtual reality where if an object in that scene is a little to far away to recognize that you ask to see the image at an angle.  And complying with your request it rotates around so you can see the sides and back of the image until you recognize it.

Yes, moving scenes that look as real as if I were watching a movie at the cinema.

For example a screen of a cute pleasant looking kitchen and wooden table along with a pair of fakey plastic pants hovering in mid air close to the kitchen table. Sorry about the example but I thought it would help in the description. This all relates back to the 3-D images I talked about earlier which by the way also have actual scenes of places. I'm trying to figure out if these scenes are astral in origin or just my brain taking me for a ride.

The problem you face at this stage of development, i.e. when a person gets to the stage where they begin to see inner visions (or progress to Focus 22 and beyond, in Monroe speak), is you become your own self-fulfilling prophecy. In other words, as you think so it instantly becomes, all around you in glorious 3D Technicolour.

So if you decide that these images are your brain "taking you for a ride" that is how they will become for you. Which is why it is very important to learn how to become completely and totally still, mentally. Otherwise you will become forever entangled in all kinds of reality fluctuations.

Taking your "kitchen" as an example: You may be viewing someone's Astral kitchen, but there is an inkling of a doubt inside you that what you are seeing is true Astral reality. What happens is, the Doubt that you feel will manifest in some symbolic way. You might see the cooker, for example, upside down sitting in the sink.

Upon returning to Physical, you dismiss the affair. Thinking there was no way you were projecting to the Astral: it was just your brain playing tricks. So you think your Doubt was justified. As Doubt has now been reinforced that little bit more, next time you project it manifests again, and again, just that little bit more each time. Let this continue and you will reach the stage where you will dismiss the whole idea of Astral projection as just some whacky nonsense.

The key thing to realize, is the Astral is a completely separate field of realty. As such, very different ground rules apply. Once you know those rules and can abide by them, the Astral becomes a very stable place. It is even more stable than the Physical. In the sense there are no earthquakes, tornados, terrorist bombs, car crashes. In fact, there is no death or destruction at all (well, the near-earth planes are a bit iffy but these are easily avoided).

Where there actually people in the pictures you viewed or did you have to go in the astral land and find them?

When viewing the Astral screen I am simply a passive observer. From this stage I can choose to mentally step into the scene whereupon it becomes a part of me and I, in turn, become a part of it.

The way you navigate on the Astral is by use of INTENT which is something I am still working on. For many years I was in the habit of just projecting to any old place and seeing what was around. So now I'm getting out of that habit and trying to project with a specific Intent each time. But still, I can so very easily get sidetracked.

Interacting with the locals can be tremendous fun. And, if the conditions are right, the temptation to play tricks is too great to resist (well, for me that is). My two favourites are jumping off tall buildings and walking on water, both of which can attract quite a large crowd.

On another note, Even though you have had the cds to guide you I have no idea how you found all this out on your own.  When I go out and just play with my unconscious and strange things occur I feel like I am fumbling around in the dark not sure where I am going or what these strange assurances are supposed to mean and what are you supposed to do next.  Somehow I am guided to the next level and a new mystery unfolds itself feeling lost again. When I hear someone else actually has been through the same sequence I feel grounded again like I am not going in no man's land.  I know that you have went through this all by yourself and went through the hard work and creativity of solving what to do next without earthly guidance.

Yep, what you describe I recognize only too well. It has taken me 20 years of trial and error to get to where I am today. If I could go back and change anything it would be my initial thinking that all the stuff about Astral guides, and such, was just a load of mystical nonsense. This set me back quite a number of years. Which is why I always recommend the first thing people do is to become open to the idea of having Astral guides right from the start.

How do you request a guide on an astral projection?

Guides are all around helping people make faster progress. Problem is, in order to make contact you have to become "open" to them. They will not in any way force themselves upon you as that would be grossly self-defeating.

With me, I used to think all talk of guides was just mystical mumbo-jumbo. (Gosh, how wrong I was there!) All that changed a while ago after a number of various Astral events. For example, every now and again I'd be having some difficulty or other and the answer of what to do just plopped into mind. Or I'd be lost in some kind of cave structure, or whatever place, and a voice would say something like, "turn to your left" and there would be the way out.

Plus, on many occasions I'd get the distinct feeling I was being followed or shadowed by someone else. Then there was the time I was floating in the 3D-blackness (F21): I said out loud if there is someone guiding me then just say hello. Next moment this voice came back, "Hello!" Which surprised me to the extent where I got zapped back to Physical.

Once I was at a place just having an ordinary conversation with a group of locals and, much to my surprise, I recognized one of the people in my vicinity as a person I'd actually been talking to at another place a few mornings before. The moment he saw me recognize him, he faded into the background.

My curiosity was aroused considerably by this and I set off on a road to discover who this person was. Although I didn't realize it so much at the time, this was the point of my becoming "open" to the idea of guides. Because, as it turned out, there was a person shadowing me and giving me hints, tips, and so forth. And it did turn out to be the man I recognized.

Matters came to a head one morning after getting a distinct feeling someone was standing right by me. I just said something like, "Look, whoever you are, just make yourself known now because I'm mighty cheesed-off with all this cat and mouse nonsense." Next moment the man I had previously recognized was standing in front of me.

Meeting Harath was the turning point, for me. With his help my progress has accelerated considerably to the extent where I really don't know how I coped before.

So when you phase into F21 (3D-blackness) just ask for a guide.

Just the other night, I saw this mini-cinema.  It was a small, square scene in the middle of the blackness, which showed me a sidewalk.  Of course, right after I realized how real this was for being on my bed, my attention went back to my body in bed. Dooohhh!  This kept happening over and over until I went to sleep. Anyway, assuming that I didn't lose this astral image....when a person is at this point in his trance-state, would you say you could technically phase into the astral within the next few seconds?  I would think so, since you're already starting to see these 'scenes.'  However, I think deep down, I've instilled the false belief in my mind that once I see these scenes, I still have a little ways to go before I can project.

Try and think about it as being a natural, smooth transition from one focus level, to the next. I get the impression that you are thinking of it like you go through various preliminary stages, then, blammo, you suddenly find yourself projecting within the Astral.

You have received an inkling of the next stage, which is the Astral screen that starts to come about at the Focus 21 state. You are obviously not yet comfortable in this state as your protective sense of awareness keeps zapping you back to C1 (Physical). But once you are comfortable viewing the screen, you can phase naturally into Focus 22 which is where you mentally step into the screen.

Focus 22, is a region of consciousness that, in my early work, I termed the Training Ground. In my early days of projection, I got stuck projecting to this region for around 5 years before the penny dropped, and I realized that the scenary that surrounded me was fuelled by my own release of emotion.

Focus 22 is also known as the Lucid Dream state. The big difference being you will be entering this region of consciousness with full conscious awareness and, therefore, full control of your actions; as opposed to the limited level of conscious awareness experienced when Lucid Dreaming. Here, don't be surprised if you see people just milling around aimlessly like they were drugged, or something. They are just people who are asleep.

Something more. The Astral is populated by people, millions of whom continue to behave just like they did when incarnate (I'm mainly talking now of the Belief System regions).

If conditions are right, they will look at you as "one of them" in the sense they don't realize that technically your're not: which gives you a mega advantage. I'm still a practical joker at heart (legacy from my youth) and opportunities for mischief abound to the point where it's difficult to resist.

The real-time zone is some kind of buffer between Astral and Physical. It's not a mental focus state as such, and I have very little experience of RTZ projection. I only learnt to do it for the very first time about 8 months, or so, ago after having had hundreds of Astral experiences over quite a number of years. I found the novelty wore off very quickly, as there is nothing of any real interest you can do (by comparison to the Astral, I mean).

The Training Ground is Focus 22. Which is the first mental state you reach after crossing the Astral bridge at Focus 21. Once that bridge is crossed, all release of thought-release-emotion becomes immediate action. Unless you realise this and adapt your behaviour accordingly, your progress to the higher realms will be severely curtailed. Hence my calling it the Training Ground, because it like prepares you for progression to the higher planes.  

As for your need to "lose consciousness" please realize that, correctly applied, with phasing there is no loss of consciousness! This is the very essence of the success of the technique! And is the primary reason why, for example, you can achieve near 100% recall.

The 3D shapes are characteristic of Focus 12. As you progress you should find you come across a kind of null-zone where everything seems to just hang. I mean "hang" in the sense of a computer screen that sometimes can just suddenly hang on it's last action and do nothing more from then on. You may also suddenly get strong intuitive feelings about, say, answers to questions you might have had lingering in your mind: this is Focus 15.

Then things begin to crystallize and you begin to see the Astral screen at Focus 21. This is where INTENT starts to play a big role (Intent is the engine that drives you on to the other, higher states).

Frank, could you comment on the "intent" aspect once at Focus 21.
Could you describe your approach once there at Focus 21, and how you utilize intent. My experience with Focus 21, if I practice in the evening, brings about a lot of sleepiness, and it's very hard not to fall asleep. It seems to be the border that has to be crossed while keeping your mind awareness from sleep.

I want to first answer your last point about sleep. People fall asleep from habit. As your physical body goes to sleep, it's like there is some signal that says, "Physical is going to sleep... now initiate Mind cut-off."

Somehow you have to break that habit. It isn't hard to do (unless you think of it that way) it's just a tricky mental balancing act you need to get into the habit of doing. Which can take time to get your head around. In other words, you need to go through a phase where you are working on swapping habits.

Someone, from what he says never seemed to get into the habit of initiating Mind cut-off to any great extent. As a result, he seems more in the habit of not switching off access to Mind as his physical body goes to sleep. Therefore, projection comes easy to him.

In a nutshell, all Astral projection involves is to simply let your mind remain awake and alert, while allowing your physical body to go to sleep. Because once your physical body nods off, that's it, you're free! Obviously, someone who has been in the habit of doing the opposite for 50 years of their life, say, chances are will find it a tricky habit to get out of. But it is by no means impossible.

People also get the misguided idea that they need some kind of empty-mind condition before they can phase-in to the Astral. This is not the case at all. I suspect a lot of failures come about from this misguided notion. The key is to concentrate on the task in hand, just like you would concentrate on any other task.

Another trap that befalls beginners is, they go about their normal day right up until the point where they lay in bed *then* they start to practise their techniques. Which I feel this is a big mistake. The time for practice is during the day: and it is from such practice that you develop the Intent.

First, you need to believe that what you are attempting to achieve (Astral projection) is possible. Next you develop a firm intention to achieve that goal. Having the Intent leads you to practice the necessary mental techniques; which takes concentration. Concentrating without having a firm belief, for example, won't bring results. Neither will having a firm believe but allowing your mind wander all over the place through lack of Intent.

As I say, the time for practice is during the day. With myself, in my mind, I *constantly* hold an image at a place in my head where the Astral TV screen effect comes about at Focus 21. During waking hours I cannot see the image as clear as day, like I can normally, because I am out of phase with it during Physical waking hours. But I still hold the impression of it CONSTANTLY in mind.

As such, when I come to project, I do so with the specific intention of phasing to the screen. This is my first step. Then, as the screen comes fully into view, I take the next step which is normally to travel to my regular guide, Harath. Unless I'm going through a "not talking to him" phase in which case I might take an Astral stroll, have a chat with a few locals, and so on.

I've said before that the Astral is very much closer to us that I suspect most people think. Which is why Imagination is a very powerful tool. I also suspect that a lot of people don't realize that their higher imagination-release-memory functions are not contained within the physical body at all.

So I would say to people first starting out down the Astral-phasing road, is to imagine doing it at every opportunity you can during the day to the point where a permanent connection is made. Or at least the feeling of a connection is there, all the time, during waking hours.

Can a person project directly to the astral, bypass the little cinema screen and just be there?

Yes, absolutely, this is the whole point of the training in going through the various stages, etc. What I found is, you have to learn to project slowly before you can project quick. Well, that's how it is with me and I strongly suspect that's how it is with most ordinary people; not having been born with any kind of "gift" for projection.

I think of it like if a person was learning to play an instrument. At first you play the various notes at a pace so slow it seems like torture. But with persistance and determination, slowly but surely, things start coming together; to the point where, after a number of years of practice, you could just sit at any old piano and play it, for example.

Astral projection rests on the same principles.

First you slowly go through the various stages of mental focus in order to be able to recognize them and feel comfortable in the various states. In the process, people will many times get zapped back to C1 as the body adjusts to the new-found environment. But with persistance and determination, eventually you will reach the stage where you just lie back, relax, and simply go directly to the mental Focus state of your choosing.
All it takes is more practice, practice & yet more practice.

Frank I wondered if you could expand on your breathing technique for us you mentioned it in another opportunity.

Basically, there is a good way and a not-so-good way to breathe. Quickly take a deep breath in. If your chest immediately begins to rise, you habitually breathe the not-so-good way. If your stomach moves out first, as your diaphragm moves downwards, that is how it should be. (The chest should only rise at the very last stage of a deep breath.)

What I was working on was imagining energy flowing from my head, down my spine with each intake of breath (as diaphragm moves downwards). Then, as the diaphragm reaches its bottom limit, you can find a kind of curling sensation coupled with a tingling feeling in the solar plexus area (rather like if you go over a hump-back bridge at speed). If you keep doing this it activates the various Chakras.

It was at a time when I got curious about the various sensations you get when bodily Chakras are activated. I found the Heart one is the best. Real whacky sensations.

Do you know the Focussed Attention technique of Bruce Moen?

Focussed Attention is a very valid way of connecting with the Astral. With Mr Moen's method, all you do is basically focus your attention inwards and simply go with the flow, so to speak.

One of the hurdles with this technique is working out which scenes are valid contact scenes and which are formed from any old mental rambling. To get around this, what Mr Moen does is to teach people to try and contact someone who was close to them and has now passed over. To kickstart the process he encourages people to first use their imagination to create a kind of fantasy scene where they are imagining making contact with that person. Then simply go with the flow of that. Chances are, they will soon come across something or other that happens which was not "on their script".

Coming across an unexpected event is taken as a sign that contact has been made. So they simply push along that mental road to see where it will lead.

A number of people who have had success at doing this have stumbled across the 3D-Blackness phase of the Monroe mental-focus method and have learnt how to mentally "step into" the scenary they are viewing. Which is basically what I do with my "step into" projection technique. In the sense that, if you were to do exactly as you are doing now only instead you lay down and allowed your physical-body to just drift off to sleep as per normal. Then you should find yourself standing in the Astral somewhere.

So with Focussed Attention you are basically focusing along the line of your imagination and becoming open to whatever is being transmitted from the "other side". Problem is, the incoming signals tend to get mixed with all kinds of other mental signals that happen to be floating about - because a person is still very much aware of their physical body. However, someone such as yourself who, from what you say, have a very vivid and clear imagination then you will have far less difficulty isolating the good stuff.

You can take this one step further by eliminating the physical-body from the equation. As I say, I have what I call my step-into technique which is all the above, plus, I lay down and simply allow my physical-body to drift off to sleep as per normal. Doing this puts anything Physical right out of the equation, thus allowing a person to mentally travel along the thread of their imagination and pop-out within the Astral somewhere. So, yes, compared to my step-into technique Focussed Attention is a kind of step-into Lite.

The next step (continuing in software terms) would be step-into Pro i.e. a full-blown obe in the traditional style of Robert Bruce et al. Here you have all of the above, plus, at the point of travelling along the thread of your imagination, you activate what Mystics call the Crown Chakra. Doing this causes a person to pop-out from within themselves into a region commonly called the real-time zone.

How then is the experience of the traditional OBE and the experience of being there by phasing-in or stepping-in different from each other? It sounds like you are saying the end result of getting outside the body.

First, I too find myself unable to get on with certain terms and/or phrases. I dislike the phrase "outside the body". Because it only seems like you are "outside" of your body. If anything, you have gone within yourself more, as opposed to being outside of yourself.

With the Phasing technique, performed properly, there is one smooth mental transition from Physical to Astral. There's no sensation of being "outside the body" (for want of a better phrase) in the sense of flying over rooftops in your locality, or floating around your bedroom ceiling looking down at yourself sleeping, etc. It simply feels like you are in exactly the same "body" only your surroundings changed. Monroe first coined the term and, being an engineer, he naturally thought of the smooth transition he had come to experience as a phase-shift, hence the term Phasing.

I understand that the two techniques for getting outside the body are different ... how then is the experience of the traditional OBE and the experience of being there by phasing-in or stepping-in different from each other?

The main difference is in how you experience the Physical to Astral transition.
With Bruce Moen's Focussed Attention you never experience a full Physical to Astral transition. And it is precisely this transition that presents a major stumbling block for all manner of reasons. The main one being your general sense of conscious awareness acts like a fish out of water thus sending your protective sense of awareness into overdrive. All manner of panic-buttons are pressed and the whole experience turns to meltdown.

Fear is the most common emotion to have at the onset of any non physical-reality based experience. Well, at first that is. Naturally, someone having success at the Moen Focussed Attention technique may well feel a little nervous at having confirmed contact will old aunty Agatha, or whomever, long-since passed away. But because their conscious awareness is always primarily grounded in the Physical, any feelings of apprehension, nervousness, fear, and such like, are released within the Physical realm and not the Astral. This means they will not be subject to the kinds of reality fluctuations they would be subject to, if these kinds of feelings or emotions were released within the Astral environment.

With Phasing you experience a direct Physical to Astral transition. Like I say above, there's no sensation of being "outside the body" (again for want of a better phrase) in the sense of flying over rooftops in your locality, or floating around your bedroom ceiling looking down at yourself sleeping, etc. It simply feels like you are in exactly the same "body" only your surroundings changed.

With traditional obe another factor comes into play in the sense the Crown Chakra (for want of a better term) becomes very active. Whereas, with normal Phasing I do not feel the Crown to be active at all - just the Brow.

An active Crown is felt as a buzzing kind of vibration and/or feelings of static electricity running through the body. The intensity and/or pitch of this buzzing or vibration determines where you eventually end up. At a particular level of intensity, you will be subjected to feelings of leaving your physical body. I mean in a literal sense where you feel like you are actually leaving the physical body behind. Hence the term Out of Body.

With traditional Obe you generally project into what is known as the Real-Time Zone or RTZ. It is called this because, when projected into this realm, you are able to view events that are currently happening on planet Earth. However, the RTZ is actually an infinitely huge buffer zone between Astral-matter and ALL Physical-matter.

Within this zone or realm, you can see interconnections between the various states of matter that take the form of all manner of tube structures and consequent energy vortices which you can travel down. (Though this is *not* for the squeamish.) All kinds of 3D Grid formations can be viewed together with what are commonly called Astral Plane Entrance Structures.

So basically then - it seems to be a matter of maintaining imagery in the mind while waiting for the body to fall off to sleep?

Well, the mind as such never sleeps. Problem is the sense of conscious awareness usually drifts off about the same time as the physical body. The "sense of conscious awareness" is a kind of inbetween entity that can be with one, or the other. From physical birth this entity becomes latched with the physical body to a high degree. So physical-body asleep... sense of conscious awareness asleep: physical-body awake... sense of conscious awareness awake.

The trick is to break that cycle and realize that the sense of conscious awareness can be with one, or the other.

Is this best practiced on going to bed at night, or after waking up early in the morning? I know that you used to awake around 04:00 or so for your Astral travels. But if tired, I would guess that this method would work at bedtime if it is possible to keep the mind awake.

I am no expert at being able to do this at will. I have to create certain fairly exacting conditions before that transition to "the other" can take place. With me I find it more fruitful to practice early morning. Others may find the opposite, or whatever else inbetween.

Most  importantly - what sort of imagery does one maintain while awaiting for the body to go to sleep? E.g. would it be a full blown scenario like acting out a scene, or simply maintaining a static scene?

Basically, whatever works for the person in question. The BIG problem is breaking the cycle. There is a natural tendency where, if a person tries to keep their sense of conscious awareness alive, this will prevent the physical body from going to sleep. So a sort of battle ensues to the extent where tiredness will naturally take over.

However, there is this definite, inbetween road that is a tricky mental balancing act to follow. In a nutshell, you let the physical body just drift off to sleep as per normal: but you keep your sense of conscious awareness focussed within you.

I am just beginning to experience that mind awake body asleep state. I did it once spontaneously and now twice in the last few days, though it doesn't feel quite deep enough yet. The other night, I was rushed with sensory stuff, sounds, whatever, and couldn't maintain any imagery of my own at that point. (I then heard a distinct female voice say "hello", and I came out of it).

This happened to me too. I'd previously lumped the whole idea of guides in a big box marked "Mystical Mumbo-Jumbo Do Not Open." So when coming around to the idea I mentally said out loud, "Okay guide or guides, if you are really there watching me from the "other side" (so to speak) then just flaming well make yourself known. I want no fancy robes and halos and all that jazz, just come out from wherever you are and say hello. A few seconds later this voice came into mind, as clear as day, and said: "Hello Frank". It shocked me to the extent where I zapped back to Physical double-quick.

Oh, being rushed with sensory stuff like sounds of voices, or music, or hearing any old popping, banging or stomping, or whatever; abstract mental images like outline drawings of all kinds of shapes, or faces of humans or animals; bright areas of blackness that seem like some kind of light in the distance, or seeing swirling foggy colours; having the blackness take on varying textures, and so on: this is the Monroe Mental Focus 12 state.

It is a very interesting state, and very different from the deep meditative empty mind state which I can reach pretty easily now.

Yes, I am pleased someone else has made that observation. I could never quite understand what people who were into "meditation" were trying to achieve. From what I can gather, the goal is to work towards a state where the mind is completely blank. But in the midst of me making the Phased transition between Physical and Astral my mind is anything but blank.

Also, something someone posted the other week about Monks and their wanting to attain a state where they are within themselves looking at what was described as a white screen. Immediately I recognized what the person in question was saying. I used to get that quite often and it was a flaming nuisance to be honest. Because there I'd be after maybe an hour and a half of working towards getting my physical-body out of the mental equation, I'd just be getting to thinking that I was transitioning nicely and the Astral was about to come into view, and then plop: all I'd get was this blank white screen that I couldn't seem to get rid of.

It reminds me of the people who post saying they have, "suffered" what they call, "sleep paralysis" all their lives. Oh, how I would dearly love to "suffer" this condition in an instant every day: instead of spending 1 hour+ trying to bring myself to experience it. In a similar vein, I couldn't help chuckling over the thought of all those Monks spending perhaps years trying to attain something which used to "pester" me so regularly.

So does it mean then that if you were to have a regular amount of sleep hours in that trance state that you would then not need anymore sleep? The mind then doesn't need any sleep? Is that true? I hadn't thought of that before.

All the evidence I have gathered from years of personal experimentation and observation strongly suggests to me that each individual is, in fact, their Mind. In other words, what we call "our mind" is actually us, and is a totally separate entity that exists independently of the physical body and has no need for sleep; only the physical body has any need for sleep due to the fact that the cells that form it have a certain sell-by date.

To my mind, successful Astral projection is not so much to do with finding the right "technique" but is all to do with achieving the correct degree of mental understanding. For me, realising that the physical-body springs forth from the Mind, and not the other way around, was a *major* turning point for me which led to my making a big leap forward in my development.

On another subject, I wanted to say this: what exactly is happening in the phasing in process that is different than the classic OBE where "consciousness reflects itself into the expanding etheric body", in other words, creating a copy of itself in the etheric body?

What then is occurring in the phasing in process and why does this allow for greater memory retention?

With me, I tend not to get wrapped up in the body-forming process. I merely let the natural process "do its thing" so to speak, as my main area of focus is destination Astral realms. The way I look at it, is you don't need to know how a car functions exactly in order to drive someplace. All a person need know is how and when to push and pull the various levers, and after an appropriate time they arrive at their destination.

In other words, I don't have too much experience in this area of observation. Though what I can say for sure is the Phasing process is much easier to bear. In the sense that it is one thing thinking about bobbing around your ceiling looking down at your physical-body, or flying through some Astral-Plane Entrance Structure of the kind seen on the back cover of the book Astral Dynamics: but it is quite another thing actually doing it! With Phasing, there is generally less trauma and/or excitement associated with the Process. And any kind of trauma or excitement will inevitably lead to a person suffering severe reality fluctuations that turn their whole experience into a complete mish-mash.

Another thing I find affects memory recall *considerably* is falling asleep directly following the experience. I still do this now and again which turns a great projection, full of vivid memories, into some event I can hardly recall upon awakening.

Frank, would you mind explaining more about the transition from Focus 10 to Focus 12? I think I am managing to reach Focus 10 (though I am not always sure whether my body is asleep exactly).

Focus 10 is basically described as, "mind awake, body asleep" but in practice things are not quite so clear-cut. I found it is very easy to get caught in a Catch-22 here. Because the more you check to see if your body is asleep, the more it stays awake. So a sort of battle ensues. Following which it's only a matter of time before natural tiredness takes over.

Personally, I would now describe Focus 10 as the state where you are focussed away from your physical body to the extent that you are not thinking about it at all. In that, your whole focus of attention is pointed within your mind; and you become engrossed by that to the extent where any notion of a physical body just drops out of the equation. To me, that is focus 10.

Though please no-one get me wrong, here. I'm not going against Monroe or saying he was mistaken or anything like that. On the contrary, I believe both he and I are explaining the same basic state but in different ways. Problem with me was the word "asleep" as in mind awake, body asleep. My consciousness was just *so* fixated with the idea of body asleep, sense of consciousness asleep, that I had to think in different terms in order to break that cycle.

At this point, I have the most success using the Wave I exercise 2 tape as you described earlier. So, do you stop the tape and then try for Focus 12 or do you finish the exercise and then get back to Focus 10 and then 12 on your own? (Which would mean I will have more success once I can reach Focus 10 as deeply on my own).

The Focus 10 rundown I only ever used as a kind of preconditioner to projection. Many times I felt I could just let go of the commentary and be off. But I resisted the temptation. I've listened to the Focus 10 rundown easily a thousand times in various situations. The most effective, I believe, is on low-volume repeat while asleep. From my studies I can say absolutely that Bob's rundown holds a particular resonance within the Astral.

I seem to keep reaching a sort of overwhelming input of sensory sounds, images, etc, though I'd describe it more like I suddenly just woosh as if getting on some sort of roller coaster, losing awareness of my body, a sudden letting go completely, which is so "sweeping-me-off-my-feet" that I keep snapping back to what I assume is Focus 10.

Well, normally, any feeling of snapping back brings you to C1 not F10. From what you say it sounds to me like you get to F10 and, after whatever time, you make a definite transition to F12: at which point your protective sense of awareness slaps the brakes on and zaps you back to C1. That being the case, what you are feeling is very normal. All you need to do is convince your protective sense of awareness that all is well and to just go along with the ride, so to speak.

So, I guess my main question is how to make this transition? Is there a way to slow it down or make it be less startling? I can understand how you pause at the door to Focus 12 while using the tapes and then return as instructed. But how did you start entering Focus 12 and staying there for awhile?

It's just a case of practice. Slowing it down is what I set out to do about a year ago. Now I've begun to get it about right. If you are like me then you have about a year of practice ahead of you. If you are twice as good then 6 months...or whatever.

Monroe seems to describe Focus 21 as the "edge of time and space", the last level of physical world reality, "the edge that lies between the physical world and the afterlife" (to quote Moen). I've been thinking of Focus 12 as that edge.

I can well understand why you think that way because I too once thought Focus 12 was that edge. And this touches on what you say below about everything happening in a whoosh. That's exactly what used to happen with me. When I looked back from the point of being within the Astral, the last stage I really remembered was being at Focus 12. So that's why for a while I thought Focus 12 was the bridge zone. It's only when you slow the whole transition process down yet further that you realize there are several, fairly distinct inbetween states.

Focus 21 is characterized by what is often called 3D-Blackness. Basically, you find yourself floating in an endless, timeless void. Which is the bridge zone between Physical and Astral. It's quite a comforting place once you get used to it. Though people who "suffer" what is sometimes called "sleep paralysis" can find themselves within this region not knowing quite what is happening. And, for them, it can be quite scary.

Focus 21 is the first of the realms of reality where: Thought = Direct Action. Which is why people tend to use it as a start-point for their Astral journey. For in this region all you have to do is either Think about where you want to go, or place some strong Intent about what you want to achieve, or to experience... and it automatically comes about. Normally, what happens is some kind of portal will open in the blackness and you simply place the Intent to go in that direction.

The reasoning behind Monroe's talk about being on the "edge of time and space" is all to do with the Physical realm where we hold notions of Time and Space, and of course Distance. Within the Physical, these three notions are inextricably linked. However, within the Astral there is no such thing as Time. So there is no such thing as Distance or Space either.  

Could it be that I am leaping/swooshing right from Focus 10 to Focus 21 and beyond and it is striking me as a huge, overwhelming move? Are Focus 12 (and 15), more preliminary levels? Maybe I'm conceptualizing them incorrectly. Though I know it is not a science exactly, perhaps my ideas are making it more difficult. Perhaps I need to slow it down and make myself linger in 12 for awhile.

Yes, you need to slow it down as touched on above. Once you can make the transition slowly you will perceive the inbetween states. With me, Focus 15 is a very interesting and subtle state where I experience a mental null. It's next to impossible to explain in words but you pass through a phase where it does just seem like all of Time just stands still, or it can seem like Time is moving with you. Which I'm sure makes no sense at all. Like I say, it's next to impossible to explain in words.

I have another similar, if more minor, confusion of definitions when in track 2 of the Wave I tape, Monroe instructs to relax each body part in turn before then counting down to 10. I had to re-write my scenario a few times to make sure I didn't give up my "body" until after that massage/relaxation part. I had been leaving my physical body at the energy conversion box at first and this created a jarring problem. I've got that straightened out now I think. The way I see it is I don't leave my physical body behind until after the relaxation and during the countdown when I have to leave it behind pretty fast.

Yes, I too pondered over this. So I decided to dump what I call my "physical sheathe" in the Energy Conversion Box. From then on I take all notion of having a "body" in a non-physical sense.

What F10/12/21 feel like?

Focus 10 is basically the same mental state as when a person is completely absorbed when watching a movie, for instance; where their attention has been captivated to the extent they are neither aware of the room they are in, nor the chair upon which they sit.

Only difference being, your attention is captivated by the imagery you are perceiving in your mind's eye. And, at the point of being internally absorbed, this is Focus 10.

From Focus 10 you should naturally make a quick and seamless transition to Focus 12. This is where all kinds of abstract imagery can come about; together with all manner of sounds such as, pops, bangs, Velcro-like tearing sounds, and even music.

These events seem to just come about at random. For example, I hadn't heard anything for a while, just visuals. However, this morning I heard a loud series of knocks and, next moment, someone shouted my name at the top of their voice. What all that was about I have no idea.

Another example which sticks in mind, came about the other week: after the coloured foggy mist I normally perceive at Focus 12, all I got was a picture of a man of about 60 years of age repeatedly trying to tell me something. He was at the window of a small wooden building about 10 or 15 feet away. I could see his mouth moving but couldn't hear a thing. I don't know where I was at that stage: Focus 23/24 maybe.

When perceiving these kinds of events, at an early stage in the Phasing process, I found it far more productive to ignore the natural inclination to get curious and start trying to investigate. Instead, regardless of what happens, I avoid commenting or reacting to any of it and simply let events take their natural course.

It's ever so easy to get bogged down *especially* in the early stages of the Physical to Astral transition, as all manner of distractions can interrupt your thinking. Unfortunately, the lower Astral contains every kind of weirdo who ever lived. As a beginner, it is ever so easy to have your focus of attention thwarted by some lower-level circumstance.

Problem is, once you get entangled in some negative-style event, it becomes next to impossible to revert to your original track. All the exciting stuff goes on within the upper Astral which is were I'd advise people to concentrate on heading.

I listened to the Wave I tracks 1+2 for the first time. I don't think I managed to get into F10, but my whole body (except for the middle of my chest for some reason) tingled pleasantly this time; on previous times when I tried meditating/trancing, only my feet and hands would tingle, and so strongly that it was downright uncomfortable.
As I continue practicing, the next step should be when suddenly the tingling would stop and I'll stop feeling my body?

I'm sorry, but I don't engage in any kind of formal meditation or trance work. I have read posts from people in the past who do, who have mentioned about tingling sensations, and so forth.

I basically use the Wave-1 CD with a mental rundown as a kind of primer. During which time I get no particular bodily sensations. Then I Phase for real by ceasing any internal dialogue and avoid reacting to anything I may perceive. Often I might have to use a short form version of my rundown, just to kick-start the process.

After a while, there is this mental knowing feeling which indicates I made the switch from external to internal at Focus 10. Then I start to perceive all kinds of abstract imagery.
 

Oh, and another question: when going through the F10 exercise, and visualizing myself going through it, I have something like a running commentary but as if from my visualized self's side. For example, when I reached the F3 stone last night, there was a small levitating purple velvet pillow above it. I (visualized) myself sitting down on it, and when I touched that pillow with my hands I said to myself: "ooh, silky" (as it really was silky. Is that ok, or should I try to visualize only images/sounds/smells/etc and not say things to myself as I'm actually there? I hope that made some sense.

In my experience, when you come to try for-real, any internal commentary tends to put a spoke in the works. What I think you should perhaps do from the outset, then, is try and think in visual terms only.

Frank, this sounds just what I’ve been looking for a realistic approach to experiencing other states of consciousness. your phasing method is simple and easy to apply with a bit of fun thrown in as well.

What I have tried to do is simplify the whole thing to get people rolling and experiencing what it is like consciously entering another focus of attention along your consciousness continuum. Personally, I stop short of saying it is easy. I prefer the term straightforward. Because that’s what I have tried to do, make it as straightforward as possible, so people can understand it. There is MUCH that I leave out that would only complicate things for beginners. For example, I put aside Focus 4 of consciousness more or less completely. If my experience is anything to go by, Focus 4 of consciousness is complex, mind blowing, totally freaky and at the same time can be highly amusing.

Experiencing my whole physical life as a concept was one of the most profound experiences I have ever had and changed my whole outlook on life literally overnight. So it’s not for the unwary. You need to get a little experience under your belt first. Within Focus 4 you can experience anything you like as a concept. You don’t experience it objectively, you actually become the concept. So you can actually become a musical note, or a colour. You can experience what it is like to be the colour blue, for example. One of the funniest experiences I’ve had is becoming the word “because”. I could go on but it get’s just too way out to explain with words. I doubt these experiences can be explained with words as we have no objective references to these kinds of highly subjective events.

The easiest transition to make is from Focus 1 to Focus 2 of consciousness. This is mainly because we communicate with Focus 2 of consciousness virtually continually without realising it. Our imagination and memory, for example, is located within Focus 2. So anytime you imagine or remember something you are accessing Focus 2 of consciousness. Our imagination is actually the very source of all that we create within the physical. Simply put, if you cannot imagine it then you cannot create it. It is no coincidence that successful people also tend to be highly creative individuals. If anyone wants to start changing their life then they have to start imagining differently to what they are doing now.

To me, it’s like teaching someone to drive. I could go in all day about the intricacies surrounding the engine. Electronics and mechanics I know a lot about and I could harp on all day about the technicalities of the engine, the gearbox and the myriad of control systems. But that doesn’t actually teach people how to drive. To do that what we need to do is sit the person in the driving seat, teach them how to switch it on, get it in gear, and start rolling forwards. It doesn’t matter what all the switches are for, or what’s under the bonnet, we just need to get rolling and we’ll take it all step by step. And that’s how I view projection. I need to get people consciously switching their attention to Focus 2. That’s what gets you rolling.

Later on, if you want to do a bit of “energy work” for example, you’ll find it a lot easier and more effective if you do it as an F2/F1 overlay experience within Focus 2 of consciousness. Anything you experience within Focus 1 you can also experience within Focus 2, only the effects are much more magnified within Focus 2. This can work against you if you subscribe to all the “neg” stuff. But for people following the Phasing Model we bypass all that fear-based stuff anyway, as all that tends to come about from the notion of “separation”. With Phasing, it feels exactly like you were in your physical body only your environment changed. In other words, no scary sleep paralysis, vibrations or separation to scare you out of your wits.

If I finally mange to slip out of my body I usually end up in the RTZ, soon after that I usually walk thru some door or something and end up in what I believe to be  FoC 2. What do I need to do to reach FoC 3? I really would love to visit this "places" but I have no clue how to go there?!

What you are doing is transitioning from Focus 1 to Focus 2 of consciousness. The doorway (or something) that you objectively perceive is an objective representation of the underlying subjective shift in area of consciousness. Always bear in mind that it is possible to shift your perception in consciousness and to not actually change your area of consciousness. I keep stressing this point to people because this alone has caused an infinite number of difficulties in the interpreting of experiences for thousands of years.

Each area or focus of attention can usually be identified by the sorts of actions that are being objectively perceived. Focus 2 is where most people do their dreaming. You say that once you have transitioned your experience is very lucid-dream like. Great, so this confirms your focus of attention is Focus 2 of consciousness.

So knowing where you are at in the general scheme of things you want to then make another transition. What you need to find, if you can, is the 3D blackness, or the Void as mystics tend to call it. This is the “border” between Focus 2 and Focus 3 of consciousness. You should be able to “see through” your dreamscape and intertwined with it will be a kind of aperture. Remember, the Focus areas are not places. When you mentioned this word, you put it in double quotes so it looks like you realise this already. But I’m stressing it again here for the benefit of anyone who hasn’t yet picked this up.

They are not places, they are focuses of attention. Not only that, these primary areas or focuses of attention are heavily intertwined with each other. So when you are “in” one area you are actually “in” all the areas at the same time. How can this be? Well, when formulating their models in the past, mystics have thought of different “layers” that are “separated” by “vibrating” at a different “frequency”. You can use this construct if you want to. It’s not strictly correct but as a model, in itself, it’s not too bad. The BIG problem, however, is that mystics also tend to wrap the whole thing up with all manner of other rather whacky constructs such as the notions of progressively “higher” levels with a requisite degree of “spiritual enlightenment” necessary for each. And so the model descends into the realms of fictional fantasy.

We now know that what “separates” the 4 primary areas of consciousness is not a frequency. What “separates” them is their Phase Relationship to each other. This is where the Phasing Model gets its name, of course.

So you need to “detune” your focus of attention from Focus 2. In a way, it’s like looking at one of those subliminal pictures that were all the rage a number of years ago. The ones where you apply a soft focus and the picture comes into view. Take the same idea and do this within Focus 2. What we are creating, in effect, is a highly controlled overlay experience. As you do this, you should start to see, like, slats with a blackness inbetween them. Imagine a large vertical Venetian blind that was in front of an identical Venetian blind. Each blind had a large picture painted over the slats. Imagine this picture being representative of you objectively viewing a focus area or focus of attention. Now fully close both blinds.

So now, you can see the whole picture of blind one and nothing of the picture painted on blind two behind it. Imagine the picture you can see now as your current dreamscape, i.e. Focus 2. Imagine the picture painted over the slats of the blind behind as Focus 3. Now slowly open the first blind and turn the slats through 45 degrees. At which point you can still see the picture but it’s broken up. Now the picture is interspersed with the picture on the slats of the blind behind it. The act of opening the blind is like “detuning” your focus of attention. This is what I mean when I say you should start to see “slats” with a blackness between them. You can still see your dreamscape but it is interspersed with the 3D-Blackness, which is the “border” between Focus 2 and Focus 3 of consciousness.

If you were to open the imaginary blind so the thin edge of each slat is now directly facing you, you would not be able to see the initial picture at all now. All you would see is the picture painted on the second blind, which takes up your full focus of attention.

Note: when this happens you don’t actually “travel” anywhere. You can if you want to. You can start “flying” around all over the place if you want to. But doing that just gets in the way of any kind of serious work. Now and again, it’s good to have a fly around. However, if you want to start making good inroads you must resist the urge to play around within Focus 2.

So “detune” your focus and when you see the slat-effect appear, keep your attention focused on the blackness between the slats. The slats should seem to turn wider open to the point where your previous dreamscape will fall away entirely. Now you will be standing on what feels like a precipice. It will feel like that “behind you” is where you have just “come from” and before you is the infamous Void, the bane of many a mystic, lol. But this is just the 3D-Blackness at Focus 21 of the Monroe model.

Okay, so now take a deep breath and mentally “step into” the blackness and just float around for a bit.

I want to mention here that you may miss this 3D Blackness stage entirely and transition to Focus 3 directly. This is what I do now. In which case when you see the slat-effect, interspersed between the slats of your dreamscape will be another scene rather than just blackness. So concentrate or focus on that scene and your dreamscape with fall away entirely and you’ll be within completely different circumstances. Yet you won’t have moved as much as a millimetre!
This can freak some people out so that’s why I advise you to plumb for the 3D Blackness at the “border” first, as it’s a familiar milepost that will give you the confidence to make the full transition.

The other thing you need to watch with a direct transition from this point is you may create a direct transition experience within Focus 2. In which case, you will think you have transitioned but you will still actually be within Focus 2. This can happen because you are within a highly fluid environment where thought equals action. Remember, it is perfectly possible to shift your perception in consciousness and not actually change your area of consciousness.

However, once you have a little experience of Focus 3 there is no way you could be fooled by your own creation of your ideas of Focus 3. But as a beginner, without an objective knowing of this area, you could possibly be led astray. The 3D-Blackness, however, is unmistakeable. You’ll know it when you get there as it’s a pretty awesome experience the first few times. The novelty does wear off though.
 
Now, assuming you are floating in the blackness. Think of making the transition to Focus 3. Make it a concentrated thought and hold that focus. As you do so, some change should take place. What you are looking for is some kind of portal to appear in the blackness. This could take many forms. With me, before I started making direct transitions, I’d typically get a bright point of light that kept getting closer, or I would “head towards” it. Then I’d find myself “travelling” down a narrow tunnel and I would emerge into F3. Anyhow, the portal you create could take any form, as each individual creates whatever objective representation of the underlying subjective action they feel is necessary. It’s not actually necessary at all. As I say, you can simply transition directly, but this is the more traditional Monroe/Moen-school way. And is the way I used to do it until, one day, I tried a direct transition and it worked. So that’s what I do now.

So whatever comes about in the blackness simply step through it, or travel down it, all in a manner of speaking, of course, as you are not actually travelling anywhere. What you are experiencing is an objective translation of the underlying subjective change in area of consciousness. If you directly transition from the slat-effect then you don’t get any of the typical 3D-Blackness portals and things like that. But do it whichever way you feel comfortable.

Later on, I would practice directly transitioning because that’s the key to reaching Focus 4.

So each area of consciousness or focus of attention is greatly intertwined with another. So from F2, simply stand still and "detune" your focus and you should get a controlled overlay experience of the kind I describe. People get what I call "overlay" experiences all the time. This is where you might perceive 2 or 3 areas of consciousness at the same time. In other words, one is overlaid on the other. A typical one is an F2/F1 overlay where someone is engaged in an objective viewing of their subjective activity and they can also see their room "through closed eyes" as it is often described.

This also happens in reverse a lot, so an F1/F2 overlay (I always put the primary focus first, followed by the overlay area). Someone may plop out into the RTZ, which is F1, but they may begin seeing snippets of the objective manifestations of their subjective activity with F2 at the same time. Hence an F1/F2 overlay.

Wherever you focus your attention becomes your reality. So by creating a controlled overlay, we cause elements of the other area to intersperse with our current area. As it does so, we point our focus of attention at the other area, which then becomes our reality. We don't actually "travel" anywhere. This is what I mean when we occupy all of consciousness already. If you are "in" one area, you are automatically "in" all the areas. The key is, of course, to realise that. Problem is a lot of people keep trying to "travel" to places and in doing so they end up just going around in circles.

This is part of also when I say to people to let the experience come to them, as opposed to in some way trying to "chase" it.

By creating a controlled overlay, we can bring into our objective awareness elements of the other areas. We then focus our attention on the elements pertaining to the area we wish to perceive. This area then becomes our reality. That's the theory and it does work quite smoothly in practice too, given some practice, of course.

Accessing Focus 4 of consciousness is the same. Only be prepared for a total disintegration of your sense of individualness of mind. Problem is we are so very used to having only ourselves in our mind. It's very freaky having what you initially perceive as "others" that you can come to believe are "invading" your mind. Plus you become a pure point of consciousness, occupying no actual space at all. The first tendency is to panic and to start frantically looking around for yourself, because it feels like you have entirely disintegrated into nothing.

You haven’t, of course, all you have done is revert to your natural state. It’s just that as humans we get ever so hung up over the notions of “bodies” and occupying areas of “space”. This is where all the mystics completely misunderstood it, and where all the talk about losing our individuality comes from. Together with the notions of joining some kind of amorphous “whole”. The amorphous whole is not some kind of objective entity, such as “god”. It’s just Focus 4 of consciousness. But again, people tend to objectify everything.

Focus 4 is a more or less entirely subjective area of consciousness. I say more or less because you can experience objectivity as a concept. But not objectivity as we know it to be within the physical. Remember, Focus 4 holds the blueprints for all the objective actions we ultimately experience within F1. So within F4 you can experience anything you like, but as a concept. Not as an actual objective reality.

I attempted the transition into Fz a few nights ago. I was surprised when I saw the slats you described actually appear.

I figured that if the slats appear for me then in theory they should appear for anyone. I have no particular talent for this kind of thing. I wasn’t born with any kind of “gift” or anything. I guess where I am different is I just keep plugging away until I get whatever it is to work. I think what happened in your case is you were about to make the transition to Fz and then you lost focus and slipped back to F2. With people there tends to be a “protection mechanism” that prevents them from making wild steps into the unknown, as it were. It doesn’t bother me much now as my protective sense of awareness has long since got used to my escapades. But take baby steps in the beginning. It always seems that the slower you tread the faster you make progress. Which sounds a bit topsy turvy but non-physical exploration is very like that.

The other thing to realize is you don’t actually have to walk or “travel” anywhere. You can simply stay in the same position and shift your perception. In other words, rather than you walk to it, simply have “it” come to you. It’s much more controlled to do it that way. Once people start moving about that’s when they tend to lose control of it. They start flying around here and there and have a whacky experience that perhaps they enjoyed immensely. But you are not going to make any real progress that way. The whole idea of “travel” is a mystical belief construct that came about from the early explorers making the assumption that they were travelling to some separate place from themselves. But what you are actually doing is shifting your perception within your own mind, or your own continuum of consciousness.

From Focus 1 you can only go one way. Focus 1 is an end result so you can only back up from there. But at Focus 2 you have the choice of Focus 3 or Focus 1 (and F4, of course, but let’s put that area aside for now). I guess you sort-of took the most natural route.

The physical captures our focus quite considerably. Many times it grabs me and it's a devil of a job to focus away from it. But it's really weird because if I find myself within the RTZ, which is actually the physical, I find it incredibly difficult to stay there as I'll almost immediately transition directly to F3.

Sometimes I'll make the switch to F2 and transition accidentally back to the RTZ and then almost immediately transition to F3. It's kind of a roundabout way of doing it, but that's the way it is sometimes. I think once you get more used to making these transitions then you’ll be able to recover a projection that doesn’t quite go to plan.

It’s a question of being able to quickly gauge precisely where you are in the general scheme of things. The moment you start getting confused and wondering where you are, then there seems to be an automatic mechanism that just zaps you back to physical. And if you happen to go wrong and end up in the physical, and then start wondering where you are, then it’s like you stand little chance of getting out of it.

It’s just one of those things where practice makes perfect. I can do it fairly easily but I’ve done it loads of times and can always recognise where I am no problem. After a while you just get the feel of the places. But I know when I was first working on this it was very hit and miss.

To engage f2oC, you have to engage the physical senses, without moving or whatever (of course, that would kill whatever you try to do), engaging them inside your mind?  Correct?  I just want to get all this down cause I'm in the process of starting over from the beginning, breaking down all the expectations I've come to have about phasing and whatnot.  From there I hope to have a fresh start without the belief constructs holding me down.

Briefly, to make the initial shift to F2oC you start the Noticing exercise, which gets you looking within you. Once you get the hang of doing that, you start creating a mental rundown. This is a series of mental images. It can be anything you enjoy, apart from the obvious, i.e. sex. Reason being this engages the physical also, which you do not want. Well, it does with men in an obvious way.

When you start your mental rundown, it will appear as if you are looking at yourself in mind from a distance. This is what I call 3rd-person view. During your rundown, you should engage your senses within the rundown as much as possible. In other words, don't just try to "see" but touch, taste, smell, feel... as much as you can. It's not easy but work on trying as much as you can. The more you engage your senses the more likely you will reach the next stage, as follows…

At some point, you get what I call, "the switch".

This is where you will switch from third-person, looking-at-a-distance to actually viewing what you were previously imagining as a first-person view. In other words, it’ll be like it’s you looking out of your own eyes in your own body, but your environment will have changed. Note: when I say your own body, I don’t mean your actual physical body. But it will be a replica of your physical and it will feel like your physical body in all respects.

Once you make the switch, you are now within Focus 2 of consciousness. (According to the Phasing Model that is.) As I say, there is no direct correlation to the Monroe Model. Once you are within F2oC you then decide where you want to go. You can have a look around where you are, or shift to another area, it’s entirely up to you.

If you want to move to F3oC then I would advise you to seek out the 3D Blackness, which is at the “border” between F2 and F3. This you have come across before so you should recognize it again.

When I use the term “border”, I tend to put it in double quotes because I use the term loosely. The 3D Blackness is not really a border, as such, but it can be thought of that way. Just as I often think of the RTZ being a kind of border between F1 and F2. It's not really. In the Phasing model the RTZ is F1 and the 3D Blackness is F2. But they are right on the "edge" of these areas, so to speak. And because of the nature of them being at the “edge”, they can be thought of as a border. (But only in a manner of speaking, of course.)

I concluded that the 3D Blackness is situated in the place that I suggest from my own empirical analysis. According to the Phasing Model of consciousness, if you are within the 3D Blackness then you are already at F2. Now, what is difficult is actually trying to, in some way, "sub map" F2. I find the area just so responsive to thoughts, beliefs, and whatnot, I just can't any definites I can latch onto as pointers. In F3 it's different as you are dealing with other people who are "separate" from you. So this enables you to make an objective analysis and catalogue various actions in common. This is what Monroe did, of course, and why we now have a number of sub-focuses for this area and none elsewhere; because it’s really the only inner area that you can “objectively map”.

Between Focus10 and Focus 21 of the Monroe model there is a region that in my Phasing Model is the guts of F2. If you think of Monroe F10 at one edge of F2oC as a whole, with Monroe’s F21 at the other, in the middle are the “guts” of it, so to speak. But my saying “in the middle” I’m not trying to imply Focus 15. Unfortunately, there is a large lump of consciousness that simply doesn’t relate to the Monroe Model. I think I have mentioned to you before that translate it into what I call a wider Focus 12.

Anyhow, when people make what I call “the switch” that’s where they typically end up, in their imagination. This is kind-of slap-bang in the middle of F2oC that I translate into Monroe terms, as the notion of a wider Focus 12.

For some reason Monroe left this area out. I suppose he did it for good reason as this region of consciousness (traditionally the Astral) has been a major source of misunderstanding in the past. Plus, there is no reason why you can’t sort-of skip past the guts of F2, in other words only entertain a traditional, more narrowly defined Focus 12, and proceed directly to the 3D Blackness at Monroe F21… which is basically what you are doing it sounds like.

However, with my Phasing Model, I feel it is easier for beginners to phase-shift into the region of their imagination first. Simply because I feel the action of doing that can be described more thoroughly, and each individual can create a mental rundown that suits them - rather than trying to follow any kind of rigid structure. Not that the Monroe model is rigid to start with, but still, I feel the ability for each individual to tailor their own rundown gives the Phasing Model the edge for beginners especially.

When you enter the 3D Blackness directly, you just enter the blackness. You tend to get a few swirling clouds of colour and some screen effects or texture effects maybe. I see these and get a feeling of forwards movement and there I am, slap-bang in the middle of the blackness. Well, that’s what happens to me when I follow the traditional Monroe model.  

However, in cases where you enter the 3D Blackness from “coming out” of an imaginative rundown: as the scenery of your imaginary scenario falls away, it feels like you are standing on some kind of a precipice. But if you enter the 3D Blackness directly, there is no imaginary scenery to fall away, as such. Though, if not a full rundown, there could be some kind of portal-effect created by the person in question that could give a similar sensation to what I’m about to describe. But if there is nothing to “fall away”, then I can see that you would not likely come across the kind of precipice-effect that I describe.

The effect of a precipice comes about because, within your rundown, you feel as if you are within a solid kind of reality. And to all intents and purposes you are. Now, when the scenery of your rundown falls away to reveal the 3D Blackness, it feels like the only piece of solid ground that’s left is the square foot or two that you are actually “standing on”. Everything else just falls away and you often end up standing in mid air looking dumbstruck, at this amazing expanse of 3-dimensional nothingness in front of you.

To the person’s mind, it also feels like “behind you” is where you just came from. This also reinforces the effect of standing on a precipice. It’s quite a big thing just to allow yourself to float off into the blackness. Because you feel that if you take a step “forwards” or in a sense steps-off this tiny piece of solid ground the person feels they are standing on, then they are going to fall into a humongous black hole of nothing. This again serves to reinforce the precipice effect. Once a person becomes used to the scenery falling away, they will automatically allow themselves to float in the blackness and the sense of standing on a precipice will no longer be felt. Or at least it will not be anywhere near as acute an effect. But at first it can be quite daunting.

F4oC can be thought of an “umbrella” area and the other 3 areas are nested within that overall umbrella. Again, all in a manner of speaking. It is perfectly possible to “navigate” within an area. So you can be on the “edge” of F2, at the 3D Blackness, for example, and you may shift your perception and, as you do so, you will change your surroundings… but not necessarily change your actual area in consciousness. And this is an important fact that beginners must fully understand.

So you are at the 3D Blackness, say, so you shift your perception slightly and you could go and dwell within one of your belief constructs that you hold within F2oC. You could spend a whole session objectively viewing all manner of constructs and phase-shift back to F1oC. Or, if you became bored of dwelling within your subjective areas within F2oC, you could shift your perception once again back to the 3D Blackness. Then, you could phase-shift into F3oC and shift your perception around to begin navigating this area.

Beginners should please note here that you shift or change your perception in consciousness to navigate within a particular area of consciousness. But phase-shifting between different areas of consciousness is a different action. Basically, say London is F2 and New York is F3. You could be navigating your way around London. So you are shifting or changing your perception within London, and whatever you do, see or come across, you are still within London. Now hop on a plane to New York. This is like phase-shifting to another area in consciousness. So now you are shifting or changing your perception within New York, and whatever you do, see or come across, you are within New York. The important point I’m trying to get across is your scenery may be changing and you may be experiencing different events, but it does not necessarily follow that you have changed your area in consciousness.

Note: I also just want to say here, as I’ve mentioned before now and again, I’m a great fan of using the 3D Blackness as a kind of marker post that tells you where you are in the general scheme of things. From what you say, you are doing this automatically as you tend to use it as a kind of start point.

Problem is, as F2oC is so very fluid an environment, it’s all too easy to become totally lost in what I call the “million meanderings”. But when this happens simply shift your perception back to the 3D Blackness and, chances are, you’ll right yourself. Not always, but a lot of the time.

It is also possible to shift your perception right “back” to Focus 12 of the Monroe model and I’ve even slipped into the real-time zone by shifting my perception “back” down the line from Focus 21. Not that there is a “line”, as such. But with the Monroe linear-focus model you can think of it as shifting up and down the line, in a manner of speaking.

When you refer to the 3rd person to 1st person switch, let me see if I can put this into words.  When I visualize, I usually try to see things out of my own eyes, 1st person, but, then there's a kind of distance in the visualization.  I feel further back from the first person view, but still trying to see things from my own eyes though I don't get full 1st person view.
This may not make too much sense, but are you referring to 3rd person as this detached-distance feeling that's not a full 1st person?  Unless you mean to imagine yourself walking or whatever, feeling yourself, 5 senses, from the outside?.

You have hit on the very reason why I call it looking from a distance and that’s what I am calling a third-person view. But I realise that my definition is not strictly correct. Technically, it can come across as not quite true third person, but more like actual first-person view but looking from a distance. With some people it can be a true third person, however.

Okay, regarding the sense question: let’s choose a simple rundown. You are sitting at a table peeling potatoes.

Right, so you’ll be lying in bed, aware of your physical body, yet in your mind you will be imagining there is another “you” who is sitting at a table peeling potatoes. Now, chances are this image will not be too clear at first. If you are like most people you will sense the image that you are creating, rather than actually see it. All you will likely be seeing is the blackness behind your closed eyes. So the image of this other “you” will be indistinct and hazy and none of it will make much sense.

Now, what we do is start to engage the senses of the “you” who you are creating in your imagination. Remember, your imagination is where you want to go to. Your imagination is situated within Focus 2 of consciousness. Once you are there, you can use F2oC as a launch-pad to get you to Focus 3 or Focus 4. Alternatively, you can stay within Focus 2 and have a nosy around, or you can come away towards the physical and have an RTZ experience. It’s entirely up to you. But first you have to get yourself within Focus 2, and to do that we need to initiate “the switch”.

So what you do is look at the table that you imagine this imaginary “you” is sitting at, see the wood it is made from, and feel the texture of it. In other words, engage the senses of the imaginary “you” sitting at that that table. It may not be a wooden table, it may be plastic. The detail is yours to decide and to imagine. You are not engaging the senses of your physical body lying on the bed. But the physical senses of the “you” who you are creating sitting at that table, in your mind. Doing that causes you to be more creative and shifts your focus of attention towards this imaginary person.

So you’ve felt the table and to the side of you is a bucket of potatoes and to the other side of you is another bucket with water in it. On the table is a peeling knife. What colour is the handle? See the colour, pick up the knife and feel it in the person’s hand. Again, you are not feeling it with your own physical hand. The hand doing the feeling is the hand of the imaginary person you are creating in your mind.

Take one of the potatoes from the bucket and start to peel it. How does it smell, what sound does the knife make as it shaves-off the potato skin? When you have finished peeling then plop the potato in the bucket with the water. Did you hear the splash?

Are you getting what I mean now?

The idea is to create something not too elaborate, but not something so simple that you get bored and fall asleep or give up. Make it something that you enjoy doing, something simple that you can engage your senses, but make it a little repetitive so you can progressively build on the imagery, but not so repetitive that it become tedious and boring. In a rundown example published the other day, a member built a log cabin for himself. This kind of thing is ideal, because you have a series of repetitive actions but you are building something at the same time, which makes it far more interesting than merely doing some repetitive action on its own.

The more you practice this, the closer you will get to initiating “the switch”. This happens when your focus of attention is captured by the imaginary imagery. You actually become the person you are imagining. Or you may end up in the same room as them and start talking to one another. This is kinda freaky when it first happens, lol, but you quickly get used to it.

Initially it’s a little shocking, or at least it can be. Suddenly it’ll be you sitting there peeling the potatoes within the same non-physical reality you were previously imagining from a distance. At which point you’ll think, “Aagh, hang about, I’m not imagining this!” This realization will tend to shock you out of the state. But after a few attempts you get used to it and you’ll be able to remain where you are.

Once you are comfortable remaining in the state, then you can change your perception slightly and you’ll see the current scenery give way to something else. Then you can practice doing this for a while. Don’t try actually moving around. Just stand still and practice changing your perception and having your environment change to suit.

The BIG mistake people make is they immediately go flying off here and there. Unfortunately, doing that just creates havoc that can quickly get out of control, and all manner of misunderstandings can arise in your mind about the nature of the environment.

People tend to want to travel to places in the normal physical sense, so they set off walking, lol. But the secret to successful navigation of Focus 2 of consciousness, is realizing you don’t have to “travel” anywhere. You experience things by simply standing or sitting still and changing your perception. In other words, have your environment come to you rather than you trying to go to it.

So you were actually in the scenery, by phasing? You could touch, and feel, and smell and hear and all?.

At first, you tend to see it in your mind and then comes what I call "the switch". This is where you switch from looking from a distance to actually being there in first-person. At this point, you are no longer focused within the physical: you are within Focus 2 of consciousness. This is the region that mystics typically call the astral and is, therefore, the area of consciousness where people do their "obe-ing" together with their dreaming, lucid dreaming, and whatever else besides.

Do it right and there are no "exit" symptoms at all, no vibrations or feelings of separation. It's just one smooth transition, or phase-shift from Focus 1 to Focus 2. Think of it as a highly controlled lucid dream where you know exactly where you are and what you are doing, and every element of the experience is under your control.

Once you are at Focus 2 you have two basic choices: 1) you can have fun doing whatever it is you want to do, or, 2) you can phase-shift to another area of consciousness. Phase shifting to other focuses of attention or areas of consciousness is a LOT easier from Focus 2 than it is from Focus 1, i.e. the physical. However, the BIG problem with Focus 2 in the past has been the fact that people have not fully realized that they are within the realms of their own imagination.

If you arrive within Focus 2 with certain expectations then those expectations will be fulfilled, or will come about. Obviously, you might say, as it is your own imagination. Well, it’s starting to become obvious now to more and more people. But in the past, people have thought of this area as some weird and whacky separate kind of place that they "travel to". Once you realise that you are actually within your own imagination, the area becomes a lot tamer, so to speak. In other words, it becomes a *lot* easier to handle being in the environment.

Once a person learns how to handle the environment, this offers them a big benefit. Like I say, it is a LOT easier to phase-shift from F2 to F3 or F4 than it is to phase-shift from F1 to F3 or F1 to F4. This is because the physical captures our focus of attention quite a bit and we don’t really access these areas much. We occupy them, but we don’t objectively access them normally. Some people do, but the vast majority of people don’t. Once we are away from that physical capture-effect, we offer ourselves a great deal more fluidity in our movement in consciousness.

The easiest phase shift that can be enacted from the physical is F1 to F2. This is because we engage F2 on an ongoing basis already. All the core belief constructs that we hold, our day-to-day thinking, our imagination, our memory, and so forth, these are all held within Focus 2 of consciousness and we access this area every minute of the day. Plus, it’s usually where we go to dream. So that’s why it is easier to phase-shift to F2 as it’s something we habitually do anyway.

So that's the core strategy. You take the relatively easy phase-shift to F2oC, then, instead of getting totally wrapped up in your own spurious imaginings and totally losing it, as people typically have done in the past, you retain a high degree of control and use F2oC as a launch-pad into the other 2 areas, i.e. F3 and F4 of consciousness. Or, you can "backtrack" a little and enter the RTZ from the "other direction" as it were.

Well, that's if you want to do any of this. You can stay where you are and just play around shifting your perception if you like. Have an "astral projection" experience, or engage in a little "pathworking" in the traditional sense, or you can just have fun flying around. It's entirely up to you.

You see, that's the beauty of the Phasing Model. It presents you with a valid structure in which you can engage your experiences, and you always know where you are in the general scheme of things. Think of it like having an accurate map. You can drive around in a strange town if you want. Just go here and there at random to see what comes up, as that's often the most exciting way of exploring. But at any time you can consult the map and find out where you are.

I think that for practicing phasing a huge part of your success is engaging your physical senses. I tried this for the first time last night, I was walking around my apartment I created, trying to hear, smell, touch as much as possible and it gave me much better results. I think i actually made it to the edge of "the void" before zapping back to C1.

Yes, I always recommend that when you create the mental rundown, you will make "the switch" from 3rd person to 1st person much quicker and/or more reliably, if you simultaneously engage a number of physical senses in the rundown. Smell, I have found is a powerful one with me. I love to imagine smelling freshly baked bread. I imagine an old country kitchen with an aga-style stove and there's a freshly baked loaf on the top cooling off. Even just typing this I can smell it within me and I want to go to it, lol.

So you will also make better progress if you imagine something you enjoy doing. Well, apart from the obvious, of course... ha ha ha... sex, I have found, has a very powerful pull but it has the detrimental effect of also engaging the physical. The two can easily end up in conflict, i.e. the physical is pulling you one way, and your non-physical rundown is pulling you the other, so to speak, and you end up locked in the middle of them.

Music is another powerful one I find, particularly flute. I imagine I can hear a distant flute and it's getting closer and closer. Before I know it, I've turned a corner in my mind and I come across the someone who is playing. This kind of technique is great for transitioning directly to Focus 3, where you engage a rundown with a "party unknown". It's kinda freaky coming across them. The first time I tried the flute idea, I suddenly found myself in the company of a person playing. As I approached, they stopped playing to introduce themselves and we started chatting. Then I suddenly realized, hang on a minute, I'm not imagining this! At which point I realized I had transitioned to Focus 3, not Focus 2 as I had originally planned.

It's a very powerful technique, engaging a party-unknown, and you can quite easily phase-shift directly to F3 from using it. But I don't recommend it for beginners. Unfortunately, it's all too easy to create an Aspect of yourself within F2oC and you engage yourself in a kind of facsimile experience. In other words, you engage in a scenario you create within F2 rather than engaging in an interaction with someone "separate" to yourself within F3. Once you have a little experience of F3 then it's easy to tell the difference, but quite tricky if you haven't.  

Many traditionalists who try to engage in the objective action of viewing one’s “higher self” for example, create all manner of Aspects of themselves within F2oC as a result. They think they’ve gone off on some deep-meaning “journey” and found “god” and all that kind of thing, and they are just engaging in wish-fulfilment actions within F2oC. So, generally, you need to be careful you aren’t fooled when meeting “people”. We all have many, many other Aspects of ourselves within F2oC. We each hold an enormous number of belief constructs, we create all manner of “shrines” to our likes and dislikes, etc., etc. So it’s very easy to be sucked in and, before you know it, you’ll be chewing crystals for breakfast and going to work in a manure-powered car…

I’m just kidding on the latter. But many people you can tell from some of the stuff they write, that what they are doing is engaging aspects of their own self within F2oC without realizing it.

Not that there is anything wrong in engaging aspects of your own self, it’s great fun, and there’s nothing wrong with a nice bit of wish fulfilment. The key is whether you actually realise and know whether that’s what you are doing or not. You can engage in some mock battle between all manner of demons and devils, for example, if that is your thing. Severe problems can arise, however, when people come to believe (as millions have done in the past) that those demons and devils have a kind of reality of their own.

So at first it is probably best to keep your rundown very simple and perhaps not try to reach too far too quickly, so to speak. Focus 2 of consciousness can be used as a handy launch pad to the other areas quite easily, so there is no disadvantage in phase-shifting from F1 to F2 first, then aiming for F3.

The only thing I would add is, it's extremely tempting to try to do something to chase after "the switch" when you see it coming. Up until that point, I was seeing things in my mind (from a distance, I guess, as Frank describes it, but it is pretty difficult to describe accurately) and then I began to feel like I was somewhere else, I could see from first-person like my eyes were open and everything were normal, only I was somewhere else. But it wasn't quite formed, and I had the tendency to want to chase it, to do something to get there, because it was so close - which only caused me to tense up and lose focus.

That's how it is, like you are the same person but the only thing that changed is your environment. You are just your normal self, but you've come about somewhere else. This is the phase-shift from F1 to F2 of consciousness. It's an initial "switch" from seeing a person in your mind engaged in some action or other to do with your rundown, and then to actually becoming that person you were previously seeing.

Ha ha ha, it's so very tempting to want to force it! That's why I'm of the opinion that it's better to think of the experience coming to you, rather than you going to it. Because if you are thinking of going to it, as it were, when it doesn't quite gel there is a tendency to try to want to chase it. And the more you try and do that the more elusive it becomes. So when you find yourself losing it, simply take a step back from it and allow it to come back to you. It's only tension, I suppose, that tends to throw a spoke in the works.

A part of you is observing all the while and once you think you're close this little voice pipes up saying something like, "Yes, I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" Of course, next moment you lose focus and end up back where you started.

I was attempting to get to focus 12 (at least that was my intent) last night and think I may have gotten there when I encounted a problem…

…I began to perceive the dim lights and geometric shapes associated with F12 but then they stopped almost as soon as they began and something else occurred.
… A wave of total loss just flowed over me and at the same time, the shapes vanished. I had no idea where my body was and I felt kind of floaty but had a vague idea that I was still in bed, though I couldn't feel anything.

You phased from Focus-10, then to Focus-12, then you continued to phase on towards Focus-21.

I was noticing the blackness in front of my eyes, relishing in this new discovery, but then I noticed the blackness was different now, it appeared, on first thought, no longer 2D and in fact 3 dimensional. I had the feeling as if I was on the edge of something, something big. Like I had just sitting at the entrance to a massive space, a new dimension. I had no idea how I got that feeling but it was...quite indescribable. If you've encountered this before, then you'll know what I'm talking about, hopefully.

Yes, I know exactly what you are talking about. Where you are at is the 3D Blackness at Focus 21. You are right on the edge of the physical looking out into this humungous blackness. You feel that “behind you” is the physical world and all it entails, and in front of you is this whole new dimension of existence. It’s very wonderful, and when it first happens you struggle to find the words to explain the profound sense of awe it engenders.

From what I read the next morning, I seemed to have entered F21, totally bypassing F15, apparently 3D blackness is common at this point, even though I still can't understand how I knew it was 3D. It seemed everything was thought and feeling alone.

Forget about Focus-15 for now, it’s not important. Understand that there is no actual need to Phase from F10 to F12 to F21. You can Phase direct to ANY Focus level. But for beginners who have to start somewhere, Focus 10 is perceived as being an easier state to get to than Focus-21. This is because we enter Focus-10-like states anyhow. While engrossed in a movie, for example. So people see it as a slightly different development on what they do anyway. So they take something they are familiar with and toy with that. Once they reach the Focus-10 state then this encourages them to take the next “step” to Focus-12.

You see, from the point of view of Focus-10, then Focus-12 is perceived as being only next door. Once at Focus-12, with a little encouragement, a person should be able to “let go” of themselves enough to reach Focus-21. However, once you are fully familiar with the Focus-21 state, you should be able to simply lay back, relax, and find yourself at Focus 21 (say).

With me, it takes about half an hour to reach Focus 10, then there is a swirling colourful sensation, and I’m at Focus 27. In other words, it all just flows in one movement.

I don’t know if you drive a car, but when they teach you to change gear it is in stages. You come off the gas pedal, press in the clutch and hold it, change gear, let out the clutch, then press on the gas pedal. All the while you are doing this the car jerks about and it’s a very fiddly process. But after some practice the process becomes like one swift, smooth movement and you don’t have to think about the inbetween stages.

But what I would suggest you do is keep practising the normal linear-transition construct, i.e. start at F10 as normal, then F12, then F21. But don’t be surprised if soon you start simply laying back and relaxing, and suddenly finding yourself at F21.

The other point I wanted to mention is there is no absolute necessity to lose contact with the physical. So don’t be surprised either if one day you find yourself at Focus-21 while being totally aware of your physical body. It’s just that again, for beginners, it is easier to think of the physical body being out of the Phasing equation.

I know I must have answered my own question here, but was what I experienced really F21? And what was the whole "on the edge of something big, massive even" feeling I got?

Yes, it was really Focus-21. You were standing right on the edge of time and space. The junction between the outer (objective) world and the inner (subjective) world.  

Also, when I manage to get there again, what should I do?

Here you need to start being a little bit careful with the kinds of feelings you have. Because F21 is the beginning of the areas of subjective consciousness, where there is no separation between thought and action. In other words, once you step into this realm “thought equals action”. Whereas, within the physical we can sit down and feel all the emotions we like and our surroundings will remain the same. You can get as angry as you like with a brick wall, for example, you can shout at it and kick and scream, but that wall is going to ignore you and simply continue being a wall.

But this is not so within other realms of consciousness.

You will find that your surroundings are very sensitive to your emotions and your thoughts. In a sense, this is great! Because this enables us to navigate from one “place” to the other. As you think, then so it becomes all around you. So, to experience something, all you need do is place an intent to have a particular experience and, hey presto, that experience will come about as if by magic.

Say, for example, you had a friend or relative who “died” and you wanted to go and see them. Then at F21 you simply picture the person in your mind and you will find something will happen. Maybe an area of the blackness may open up and a light will be shining at you from somewhere in the distance. So this would be your “doorway” that would lead to the person. In which case you then place the intent to go towards that light, and before you know it, you would be with that person. Or maybe as you think of the person your surroundings just begin to change and you find yourself with them directly. Or maybe as you think of them you start feeling a sensation of movement, as if you are travelling through a tunnel (this is very common with me), and you emerge the other end and the person is waiting for you.

But you can literally experience ANYTHING and there lies the problem. If you read up on some of the old mystical works, it won’t be too long before you come across talk of the “infamous void”. A place full of demons and devils where it is possible to get lost for all eternity, and all that gubbins. Well, all they mean is the 3D-Blackness at Focus-21, which people in the past have entered not knowing that “thought equals action”. So if you release a little fear (very common) you will immediately find yourself in a mildly fearful circumstance.

If you find yourself in a position like this, the key thing is don’t panic. The very best thing you can do is simply laugh it off. Because then the situation will just go away because it is your release of fearful emotion that is causing the fearful circumstance to come about.

The problem is, though, the moment someone finds himself or herself in a mildly fearful circumstance they get even more scared, and start releasing an even more intense level of fear. So the situation they find themselves in gets even more fearful, so they get even more scared, so they release even more fear, so the situation gets more fearful, so they get even more scared, etc… that’s why if you can recognize the situation for what it is and just switch off your release of fear that is fuelling the situation, the whole thing will just go away.

So keep taking things slow and steady. I am very impressed with your progress. But perhaps it is best to first practice stepping into the blackness and get used to floating around in it and relaxing peacefully. One of my all-time favourite things is to float in the blackness and think of a favourite piece of classical music. Suddenly, that music will begin playing. But with a vibrancy that you could never hear in the physical. Even being live in front of a full orchestra, is nothing like the way the sound envelopes you.

Frank, I have recently started using Wave 1 again in order to give phasing another try. I re-read the entire Wave 1 tips thread that Frank started and have been using the cd 3-4 times a day for a short while now. I think I am able to get into a light Focus 10 rather easily, and one time I even startled myself by snoring. I do have a few questions, though, and I will number them to make things easier.

1. Imagining: Currently I am having a problem where I am always imagining myself in the 3rd person. When I try to imagine myself in the first person, I usually revert back to looking at the blackness in front of my eyelids, which I interpret as a snap back to C-1. How does everyone else imagine, 1st or 3rd person? I have tried figuring this out on my own, before posting, and this is what I have been doing recently: I don't imagine everything in detail. When I am walking, I just imagine feet walking and don't create everything else. I think I remember you saying that you should get more and more abstract with your visuals, so that you don't fall into creative visualization, so that is how I tried solving this problem.
2. When I am doing my rundown and walking along the stone walkway, sometimes I am stationary and the scene is moving and sometimes the scene is stationary and I am moving. When the walkway is stationary, I usually end up as a pretty small 3rd person character and I have to bring myself closer to be bigger again.
3. Also, another question I have is "where" do you all do your rundown? A specific problem I had and (hopefully) solved is with Frank's consciousness cone. I was imagining the cone above the physical head, but when I traveled up it to get the the attack with the energy conversion box, I was pretty far above my head and I had to move the whole attic to right above my eyelids in the middle of my forehead. I have since then just tried keeping everything there and it seems to work OK (for now). Has anyone else run into this?
4. Spacing out. I have noticed 2 areas where I tend to zone out during the CD. The first is when I am walking up to F10 from F3 and RAM is telling me to relax different parts of my body. I want to stay o task, so I am trying to do as he says, but there are relatively long gaps between his talking and I tend to start daydreaming. In not trying to force my concentration, I am also being too relaxed. The other area is when I get to my F10 hut. I just sit there and I get bored and usually fall into a slight dream. If I am not doing that, then I am imagining myself flying or throwing a ball or frisbee or something. What else does everyone do to keep their mind occupied instead of falling asleep?
5. Lastly, I have also tried getting the 3D blackness to come around by staring at the F12 stars from my hut. Whenever I do this (or am not active in F10) I usually snap back to looking at the black inside my eyelids. How do you all stare at the F12 stars without snapping back to C1?

The problems you highlight in your sections 1, 2 & 4, I believe have the same cause and therefore the same solution. I have said before for you not to get too carried away with the visualization aspect. All you need to do is create the bare structure. Remember, you are in an environment where thoughts become things, so if you start visualizing to a great extent then this can cause all kinds of unexpected problems. For example, parts of the scenery you create may suddenly begin taking on a life of their own, and that kind of thing. So keeping it all fairly abstract avoids many of the potential problems.    

Now, when you create a scenario, you need to engage all your physical senses. And this is the aspect I perhaps should have placed more emphasis on in my original post. Because I realize now that I automatically engage my physical senses to a high degree, and I rather assumed, without really thinking about it, that other people were basically the same. And it appears that they are not.

When you create the structure of your rundown, you only need to create just enough detail to engage your senses. No more and no less. In other words, you need to see your immediate surroundings, smell the flowers, feel the cool breeze on your skin, hear the birds singing, and so forth. But you don’t want to create something too detailed that you get lost in the creation of it!

For example, when I say “hear the birds singing” I don’t mean for you to create a line of trees full of nesting starlings, and all the mummy birds are keeping the eggs warm while all the daddy birds are catching the worms, and so forth. All I mean is, just imagine somewhere in the distance you can hear birds singing and the sound of that is drifting over to you from somewhere. In other words, you hear the sound without creating all the rest of the scenario. So, like I say, just enough to engage the action of your senses within you.

The key aspect is to engage your physical senses, because this aspect is what makes it work. Engaging your physical senses within you, is what tends to have the effect of focusing your attention inwards. So you need enough detail to engage all your senses, no more and no less.

You’ll find, I am sure, that the more you engage your physical senses within the rundown, the more easily you will find it maintaining a first-person perspective. This is what you should be aiming to maintain. I have experimented with all manner of mental rundowns since my beginning with the Wave-1 CD. What I found was the success of any rundown was dependant on the degree to which I could engage the experiencing of my physical senses within the rundown.

As I say, I do believe that the problems you highlight in your sections 1, 2 & 4 are caused by your failing to engage your senses to the requisite degree. It does take practice, I admit. Perhaps what you might want to try doing is going through a rundown where you mainly concentrate on just one sense only. Once you get the hang of that, then switch to another sense, and then another, and so forth, until you are familiar with bringing each sense into the forefront of your awareness.

You will probably find you are stronger on some senses than others. With me, I am very visual, but my other senses are quite strong as well. Once you have practiced using individual senses, start going through your rundown using pairs of senses and gradually work through to the point where you can handle all five at once. At which point you cannot help but be in a solid first-person perspective.

As regards your problem highlighted in your section 3:

I believe you are taking this too literally in a physical sense. You should be thinking more in terms of entering a mental space within you, not thinking of moving upwards in terms of physical space. Like, imagining anything above your physical head or anything like that. The place where you go is upwards into the expanse of your mind, not up in the sense of physically upwards.

The good news is, regarding your focus 10 experiences, you are absolutely right on track. Focus 10 is exactly like where your attention is focussed elsewhere to the extent where you are not thinking of your physical body at all. Of course, the moment you think about it, you instantly become aware of it again. At which point you realise that a moment ago you weren’t feeling it, and then the realisation dawns that you just broke the state you worked so hard to get into in the first place.

Problem is, a person cannot actively not-think of the physical. Because the more you try to not-think about it, the more you think about it, and the more you think about it, the more your attention is captured by it. Like, if someone is lying down and they think, “I wonder if my physical is relaxed yet?” Instantly they are snapped out of whatever mental state they had previously achieved, and the physical body comes to the forefront of their awareness again.

The only way around this is to focus away from the physical, and concentrate on something else to the point where it captures your focus of attention. That’s the reason for engaging your physical senses within you, during the rundown, because doing that greatly helps to hold your attention to the degree necessary to capture your attention and hold your focus. The physical grounds us to a high degree. In other words, it commands our attention and holds our focus like a powerful magnet.

If you have two magnets, one powerful and the other weak, and you place a piece of iron at the centre of them. The iron will go in the direction of the stronger pull. Imagine your focus of attention as that piece of iron. At the moment, your physical is that strong magnet. What you need to do is weaken the pull of the physical by allowing it to relax, i.e. shutting down your outer senses. This weakens the attraction of being in the physical. After all, what is there to focus on but the backs of your eyelids.

What you do next is create a more interesting set of circumstances within you, i.e. your mental rundown, which will attract your focus of attention. What you do, in effect, is present your focus of attention with a choice between either 1) staring at the backs of your eyelids or, 2) gravitating towards this engaging scenario “upstairs”.

Frank, one thing I noticed this afternoon while trying to follow your advice, is that trying to use more than just the sense of sight also helped to cut down the internal dialogue a bit. I remember you posted a message a couple years ago about shutting off the internal dialogue, but I was unable to find it.
Basically, I have not been trying to do this on my previous attempts using the CD, and I noticed that I easily get distracted and start flowing into an unconscious dream state. For example, typically I will be going through my rundown, but also commentating on what I am doing: "OK, now I am stepping, stepping, walking up. Ah there is the F1 marker" in order to help me get into F10 easier. I am not sure if this is helping or hindering. Is stopping the internal dialogue necessary for phasing to be successful?

Something you at all times need to bear in mind, is what we are involved with here is shifting, or switching, our mental focus of attention (switching focus, for short).

The Golden Rule that applies here is: where we point our focus of attention becomes our reality. Now, at the moment you are physically focused, therefore, the physical realm is your reality. Problem is people are not used to switching focus. They spend a number of years when they are children, getting the hang of how to switch to physical focus more or less absolutely, and that is it. The next time they would knowingly switch focus, is on permanent disengagement of their physical.

What we are doing, however, is learning how to switch from physical focus, but without having to permanently disengage from physical focus! As an aside, this is the primary reason why the exercise tends to generate lots of fear in the minds of those who try. Because what we are doing, in effect, is actioning the process of transition. Something that only normally occurs at the point of physical-body death.

This is why it takes a while for your mind to catch on with what, exactly, you want to do. I mean, it’s obvious to your mind you do not wish to disengage physical focus on a permanent basis but, then again, you do not wish to switch to physical focus either. Okay, says the mind, then you must want to engage a subjective focus, which would normally mean, for most people, they go to sleep. But no, what you want to do is something in-between, which at first is mentally confusing. What you want to do is engage a subjective focus… but… have objective knowledge of your doing so!

The quick point I want to make here is that people who follow this line of approach (and I go into this in my book) need to start using the terminology associated with it, rather than the old mystical terms… which don’t really translate, as these kinds of terms are all to do with notions of “separation”, “leaving the body”, “astral realms”, and all that jazz.

Where we are going there are no astral realms, lol.  

Anyhow, with most people, the only reality they know is the physical. So for them there is no real need to make any distinctions, as making distinctions clearly implies more than one. But for us we need to be able to distinguish between the two different types of reality. So physical reality we term: objective reality. And any reality that is non-physical, we term subjective reality. These are the two primary distinctions.

So, in those terms, what you are attempting to offer yourself is: objective knowledge of subjective reality. And that’s what you basically say to yourself, as being what you want to do. You want to offer yourself objective knowledge, of subjective reality.

Okay, so the main reason why I’m telling you all this, is because it doesn’t matter a fig if you give yourself a running commentary or not. What we are engaged in here is an act of switching focus… not… quieting the mind! In the post you were looking for, I would have said (as I have said a number of times on this forum) I cannot understand where the idea came from that your mind should be “empty” for this to work. Because my own mind is far from quiet, and far from empty. I can hold a totally quiet mind if I wish to. I simply close my eyes, look out into the blackness and think of nothing. And guess what happens? Nothing!

However, when I close my eyes and actively involve myself in some kind of “imaginary” mental scenario, sure enough, it isn’t long before my focus of attention shifts, and I find myself in a first-person perspective within the scenario I was previously “imagining” (the state of which is Focus 10).

So your mind should be focused on the task in hand. It doesn’t matter how you do that. If you find that giving yourself a running commentary helps you focus, then do it for as long as it helps. I mean, if you find that standing on your head helps you engage your senses more within your rundown, then stand on your head. It really doesn’t matter. What I am doing is giving you the basics, and the hands on, nitty-gritty application is down to you. Because people do tend to be different in that.

What I can say to you, absolutely without question, is the key to not being distracted, is to engage your senses within your rundown scenario. I cannot stress this too highly. In doing so, a person from the “quiet mind” school of doing things would be totally overloaded with all the mental goings on. Because, as I say, my mind is anything but quiet! The thing you have to bear in mind is our objective, which is, a shift in focus. To do this we don’t want our mind to be quiet. We want our mind actively working towards achieving our shift in focus.

I tell you, often when I was first working on this, I wouldn’t realize that I had actually shifted focus!

I was SO busy concentrating on my rundown and going along with the flow of it, that suddenly I would “discover” myself being in first-person perspective within my rundown. And I’d think, “Hey it’s worked!” Of course, next instant the state would break and I would find myself back in the physical, kicking myself wishing I just hadn’t done that.

The other problem that can come about, at first, is you'll be going through your rundown and suddenly you'll feel you might be in a kind of half-and-half situation. Not exactly physical, but not exactly first-person within your rundown either. So again you check whether the state you are in is really a different state, by comparing against how the physical state actually feels, and that too breaks the state. At which point you realize you were in a different state, but by then it's too late, and you have to start again.

Problem is, not only does it take a little while to practice getting into the state; it also takes a little while for you to feel okay about knowing you are in it. At first, there is a tremendous temptation to make a comparison with the physical “just to check” that you are not actually physical. I don’t know why it’s so tempting, it just is. Of course, the very act of checking breaks the state. Later on, when you achieve Focus-21, say, you can have these kinds of thoughts and remain within the state. But the Focus-10 state is easily broken.

I have been using the CD daily for about a month, specifically Wave I, track 2.
My aim is to consciously create a screen and be able to simply observe the screen whilst being aware of my physical surroundings.
The CD is helping greatly by shifting my focus away from the physical.  I have created a rather basic rundown (the bare minimum) so as not to find myself “lost” in my own imagination.
Since starting the CD, I have had one session where I was doing quite well at being first person in the starry night in F10 when suddenly I realised there was a 3-D pattern on my eyelids.  Naturally (and most annoyingly), my physical eyes instantly tried to look at this pattern, and the pattern was gone, leaving me back in C1, very frustrated!!

I think my first question is now: My mental state still feels very “down-to-earth” at this stage.  Should I be doing anything to change that – to encourage the screen to appear?  Is the starry night preferable to the fuzzy sight, due to keeping focused (my concern being that going fuzzy could lead to mental drifting)?

Second question:   Should I change my scenario?
And finally, as the sessions continue, I find I’m reluctant to “use” my imagination, in fear of creating my own experience.  I think this might be a hindrance, therefore should I at least have a few experiences where I “create” things, just to get me going, or is this bad practice?

First off, you are making great progress and problems you are experiencing, such as having your perspective flitting about all over the place, are happening because of your progress. Thing is, when a person starts out, their sense of mental focus tends to be firmly stuck behind their physical eyes. Once you break that fixation, it can start hopping about like a spring lamb.

Resonant Tuning, you should do in your imagined “I” otherwise, yes, it can get confusing.

As you are discovering, there is a very fine line between too much, and too little concentration. Too little and you start drifting and risk falling asleep; too much and you become fixated and start trying to force it. None of which work. Ultimately, you must place yourself in a mental state where you allow non-physical reality to come into your awareness. Think of this reality as already being there (which it is!) all you need to do is look in the right mental direction.  

If we could simply look within, in that right direction, the reality of the non-physical would immediately reveal itself. Problem is, what all of us are battling to get through, to a greater or lesser degree, are the seemingly impenetrable layers of physical conditioning that cover the entrance to the place we need to be focusing within. But the more we accept our wider reality, and the more we attempt to make definite contact with it, the more of these layers we strip away.

The most beneficial tool we have to help us crack this, is our imagination. People tend to dismiss what they imagine as mere mumbo-jumbo. However, what actually takes place within our imagination is a highly important aspect of our reality, an aspect that happens to be situated right in the direction of where we are trying to switch our focus!

At this point we need to remind ourselves of Golden Rule number 1, which is:

There is nothing within your reality that is not real!

So when people dismiss their imagination, they are actually dismissing a vital part of themselves.

Now, when we imagine our rundown scenario, we develop a kind of split sense of awareness. There is the “you” that you perceive as being situated within your physical reality, i.e. looking at the backs of your eyelids; and there is the “you” who is perceiving whatever it is you are imagining, that is situated within non-physical reality. And because of this perceived split in your awareness, you feel a distinct sense of separation between them.

Note: the physical body does not have to be immobile to imagine going through a projection rundown. For example, I can easily imagine going through a rundown while washing up. It’s just that, for the purposes of projection practice, optimally, it is best for the physical body to be relaxed and “switched off” to as large a degree as possible. That is how it appears to be for most people, let’s say.

Right, so getting back to our split sense of awareness, there is “you” looking at the backs of your eyelids; and there is “you” perceiving whatever it is you are imagining in your rundown; and you feel a distinct sense of separation between them. At this point, you need to realise Golden Rule number 2, which is:

There is no separation or boundary within consciousness!

But even after knowing this, chances are near certain that you still perceive a distinct boundary between the “you” who is “here”, and the “you” who is “there”. And because you perceive there is a distinct boundary, you will also get a correspondingly distinct sense of separation. But that boundary exists only as something that you, yourself have created. When you perceive that boundary, what you actually perceive are all the layers of physical-realm mental conditioning that you have adopted in your lifetime, to date.

In reality, the “you” here and the “you” there, is all the same you!

In telling you all this, what I am trying to do is give you the background information on what is happening in the process. So, hopefully, the role that your imagination plays in the general projection scheme of things, will all start making more sense to you.

I don’t want you to be frightened of using your imagination! By all means, use it to abandon (at first). But the closer you get to stepping into that definite first-person perspective, the less you should need to use it. In other words, when we are feeling that boundary the most, we need to lean on our imagination quite heavily in order to draw us through that separation layer, which we feel is sitting between our sense of Here and There. Not that there really is any separation, when viewed against the background of the wider reality. But because we distinctly feel we are separated, we have to use our imagination as a kind of tool that, temporarily at least, breaks a hole in this barrier and allows us to pass through (in a manner of speaking).

Now, the act of this barrier fully opening up and allowing us to pass through, is the transition between Monroe’s mental Focus-level 10, to Focus-level 21. Incidentally, I believe what happened to Monroe is, after some time of passing through his own barrier, he broke it down to the extent where it no longer existed to any real degree.

So, as I say, use your imagination freely, at first. But you only want to be using it to trigger the transition (F10 to F21) process. Once you begin stepping into a definite first-person perspective (Focus 10), you have to be careful because you are actually entering the realms of your very own imagination. If you continue to use your imagination to the same high extent that you were using it before, in order to get you to this point, all manner of complications will arise. You’ll begin creating things here, there and everywhere. So the trick is to modulate the intensity or extent to which you use your imagination, depending on where you are in the process.

All you need to do is think of easing back on the gas pedal. I’m assuming you drive a car. In which case, think of your use of your imagination in the same way you modulate your use of the accelerator pedal, relative to the distance versus speed of the traffic in front of you. Your imagination is like this. At first, you feel far away, lots of distance to cover (figuratively speaking) so you can give it lots of gas and away you go. But as you get closer, you need to start easing back. If you find you have backed off a tad too much, then give it some more gas to get the thing back on track and rolling again in the right direction. Then ease up progressively the closer you get. Ideally, you want to be at walking pace (so to speak) the point you slip into first-person. As you slip in, you want a slight momentum to keep you making forward progress. But you don’t want too much intensity, as you need to leave a part of your awareness open to detect the next step in the process.

Of course, the next step is Focus 12.

The point where you can hold a definite first-person perspective is your entry into Focus 10. Now, what we want to do from this point is to trigger the transition to Focus 21. In my experience, this transition begins rolling of its own accord from the Focus 12 state. To a large degree, your achievement of the Focus 12 state is dependant on how well you can achieve Focus 10. If you can achieve what I call a neutral Focus 10, i.e. no revelling in your own imagination, just lock yourself in a solid Focus 10, releasing only a mild sense of curiosity, then this should trigger a transition to Focus 12. Then, once you reach Focus 12, as I say, the ball rends to start rolling of its own accord.

Its in the way to GET THERE that is different and where the confusion arises. That why I think it is hard for those who are working towards that first OBE in understanding the process. For myself, I have done Energy work, search for that 3D-blackness, many different techniques without success, and the more I try to understand to more confusing it gets.

I know only too well how you feel. With me I always try to keep things a simple as possible. Plus, I am always willing to try a new slant on things to see what works and what doesn't. Basically, if something doesn't feel right after giving it a fair go I'll happily junk it and try something else.

I can understand too where you are coming from when you speak of confusion. You see, when I first started there were no desktop computers. And this topic, even today, is not really something you talk about openly: never mind 20-odd years ago! So there wasn't the whole plethora of information then, like there is today.

Am I right in saying that the requisite to OBE are:
1-   Complete relaxation:  listening to tape 2 (Focus 10) as a primer or any other techniques in getting that complete relaxation
2-   Attaining that shift in consciousness I mentioned earlier.

The relaxation of the physical body and the shift in consciousness are inextricably linked. So attaining the necessary state of relaxation automatically tends to initiate the shift in consciousness. Conversely, if you initiate the shift in consciousness, your physical body automatically tends to attain the necessary state of physical relaxation.

With me, I much prefer working on initiating the shift in consciousness and simply letting the physical body do its "thing" so to speak. Reason being, there is a rather large pitfall you can fall into when taking the physical-body relaxation route.

Problem is, focussing attention on your physical body tends to make you *more* aware of it, not less. To demonstrate this, now focus your attention on your breathing. So immediately you will become aware that you are breathing. Now try and actively forget you are breathing, and you find you won't be able to. In fact, the more you concentrate on trying to forget you are breathing the longer you remain aware of it.

Now shift your focus of attention elsewhere, say, make a phone call to a friend (or whatever). As you engage in this other activity chances are, initially, there will be this niggling voice reminding you that you are still breathing. But there will come a point where your focus of attention will become consumed by the other activity. At this point, you will no-longer be aware of your breathing. Then, some time after, you will remember that you forgot.

The above example is very similar to the situation people face when attempting to relax the physical body. Many times I hear people complain about not being able to achieve the requisite state of relaxation. People tell me often they get frustrated because they lay down and try to relax, but after a period of time they can still feel their physical body.

My question is, "How do you know you can still feel your physical body?" Then the person normally comes back saying something to the effect of: well, it's obvious, I know what having a physical body feels like so I can easily recognise whether I can feel it or not.

Problem is, all the while you are recognising the feeling of having a physical body, you are mentally focussed on it. And, just like the breathing example I gave above, the more you mentally focus on something the less you are able to forget about feeling it.

This is why I always suggest to people having these kinds of relaxation problems: rather than actively trying to relax your physical body, instead, switch your focus of attention elsewhere. At the point where your focus of attention becomes entirely consumed, all feeling of your physical body will be lost. Of course, I realise saying this very much begs the question of where, exactly, should your focus of attention be switched to.

I am at present trying to get my attention in my "inner-self" (hard to use the correct wordings) and feel as if I'm inside this physical body, and keep my attention on this "inner-self". Problem is when my mind starts to question in "where" I should be aware. You know...inside my head, behind eyelids, a little over my head...all these type of questions.

First recognize where your focus of attention is currently located. Normally you will find it at the back of your physical eyes. As such, your focus of attention will be on the blackness that normally comes about when you close your eyes in a darkened room.

What you need to do from here is to get your focus of attention upwards into the huge expanse of your mind. This is what the 3D-Blackness is. How you do that is something you have to develop for yourself. It is very tricky to explain (though I am more than happy to try and expand further on this if you wish) and each person's way tends to vary depending on their personality, and what they feel comfortable with.

People have published all manner of techniques but, ultimately, chances are, your success will not depend on you solely finding the right "technique". But it will be more to do with developing the right kind of mental understanding as to how a "technique" you feel comfortable with, can be successfully applied in your case.

When I project the light widens and a tube comes down and connects to my head chakra.  Then with a small jerk I am out of my body and travelling a million miles a minute.  

This used to happen to me, I called it my "cannonball exit" and it's basically how I used to project for years as I just considered that was how it normally happened for everyone.

On discovering such was by no means the case, I set-off on a path to see if I could slow the whole process down, with a view to getting it under a degree of control: which I successfully managed to do. If you wanted, with a little practice, I'm sure you too could slow the process down in the same way I did. With the effect the experience will become much more rewarding.

Difficulty being if you "exit" in an uncontrolled way things tend to continue in an uncontrolled way. For example, many times I'd find myself flying through the Astral and often I'd crash through the scenary. My protective sense of awareness would get to the point where it simply couldn't take it anymore, and I'd be zapped-back to Physical (C1 in Monroe-speak).

The portals you speak of with symbols on them, chances are, will lead to an Astral-Plane Entrance Structure of the kind depicted on the back cover of Astral Dynamics. Though it sounds like you are travelling way too fast to enter them with the requisite degree of control. What you really need to try and do is come to a halt, then approach and enter the portal slowly.  

The pin-prick of light and subsequent tube-type portal is typical of what can occur at the Focus 21 state (or 3D-Blackness as it is often called). And the overwhelming feeling of love and peacefulness I'm fairly sure will be your heart-chakra becoming active. Though, again, this energy-centre too seems to be quickly running up to an extreme; when all it should be doing is giving you a sort-of happy, contented buzz.

I have assumed the mind awake/body asleep trance state to be one in which all physical senses have shut down. I generally reach a point at which my body starts to feel "expanded" and slightly fluid (i seem to have rippling vibrations passing through various parts of my body), but I don't feel like my body is "asleep" enough to allow me to trigger the projection reflex.

Generally, I feel people who try to achieve the Focus 10 state and beyond, are concentrating too much on trying to relax their physical body; rather than concentrating upon shifting their focus of attention inwards into the expanse of their mind. At which point they will naturally lose all sensation of having a physical-body.

If I may use the above quote as an example, you say "but I don't feel like my body is "asleep" enough to allow me to trigger the projection reflex." My question is, "How do you know you do not feel your physical-body is asleep enough yet in order to allow the projection reflex to be triggered?"

Problem being in order for a person to know what state their physical body is (or is not) in, they have to focus on the body. And Focus 10 will only come about when 100% of a person's focus of attention shifts away from the body. So the two are in conflict.

Another point I wish to raise is, when correctly applied, the Phasing process is one smooth transition from Physical to Astral with no loss of consciousness. Also, at no time do any of your "senses" shut down.

All the senses you have with you while within the Physical, you take with you to the Astral. Although, at first, people may have difficulties fully engaging all their senses. For example, initially it is normal to experience vision and orientation problems. But these generally fade away once a person becomes more experienced.

In other words, yes, you lose all sensation of having a physical-body. But you can still see; touch; taste; smell & hear just as you can while Physical. In fact, once you get more adept at keeping a sense of control, your senses - while within the Astral - become many, many times more vibrant.

I've been learning a lot about OBE over the last couple years, but i'm having a bit of difficulty reaching the mind awake/body asleep state. I attempt to relax my body and focus my mind on something (so it doesn't wander off into some daydream/dream).

The beginning stage of Phasing, at the point it kicks-off *is* very much like a daydream. Only you retain a sense of mental focus, rather than having your mental-focus dissipate and falling asleep as normal.

The way you stop the daydream "running away from you" and so retain your mental focus, is to passively observe the imagery that comes about within your mind. There comes a stage where doing this causes your focus of attention to turn inwards entirely. The point at which this happens is Focus 10.

In other words, you *should* allow yourself to mentally wander off and, all the while you do so, maintain a state where you are passively observing yourself doing so. From what you say, I think you are perhaps becoming more involved in an act of creative visualisation. Which tends to keep you grounded.

There's a tricky mental balancing-act you need to maintain between kickstarting the natural Phasing process from using a little abstract imagery, and avoiding engaging in an act of creative visualization.

Followers of the Moen-school Focussed Attention methods, for example, are taught to contact people (in what they term the Afterlife) from first imagining they are speaking with that person in some typical setting they would have normally come across while they were alive, physically.

At the same time as they are imagining this rundown, they are also taught to be on the lookout for mental events which come about that were, "not on their script" so to speak. Then they simply branch off down these threads to see where they lead.

Likewise, with the Phasing approach. The mental imagery is used only to kick start what is a natural Phasing process. Basically, it acts as a mental device which is designed to help shift your focus of awareness away from the backs of your physical eyes, and up into the expanse of your mind.

So that my body will fall asleep and I'll enter a fairly constant trance state, but it seems that my level of mental activity is still keeping me from entering a trance. The times when i get closest (wave-like vibrations, feelings of limbs floating upward, etc) seem to be when I've lost focus and started to daydream.

As I say, the beginning stage of Phasing *is* very much like entering a daydream. But you retain your sense of focus by passively observing the daydream as you enter into it. It's a difficult one to explain, but it's like you stand back from it just a touch, and keep the observational senses alert.

As the dream unfolds, you need to passively observe the action. What I mean by "passive" here is to observe... but simply remain neutral. Because the moment you begin reacting to the unfolding events, that's the point where you begin to rapidly lose it. The dream becomes you, and you become the dream; and the more you become the dream, the more the dream becomes you; so the more you become the dream...

I've been using the CD Wave 1 for a while now...Its definitely helped me have projections.
I have noticed that more often than not, a projection experience comes about after I've lost consciousness to some degree...Soon after I regain it, perhaps being awoken by the sound of bob's voice on the CD, to find myself out of body.
Typically I find that if I can keep conscious for the entire exercise, I won't have an "OBE".
Does anyone have any tips on how I can stay conscious through the whole experience? I've managed it once, but I don't know how I did it!

This has happened to me before quite a number of times. Maybe you should try what I do and think of the CD only as a kind of primer. Listen to it several times and go through some kind of visual rundown like I described in the monster thread. Then try feeling your way around without the CD.

What I did when first attempting without the CD is to practice getting to Focus 12, only. Which, funnily enough, is what I've gone back to yet again as I'm getting a bit cheesed off at continually failing to achieve my goal of simply being able to project at will.

Everything else is largely sorted: the emotional control, the navigation, etc. Except it still takes me around an hour and sometimes longer, to initiate the process. Although sometimes I'll go, say, 10 mornings in a row where it'll take me just 5 or 10 minutes. Then, next morning, it might take me an hour and a half.

Anyhow, I was having a moan about this to Freda, one of my "Astral Family" members as I call them, and she said I had no problem up to Focus 10 in that I could quit thinking about any physical-matter concern quite readily. But there was a receptivity problem causing a kind of mental block that was preventing me from attaining the Focus 12 state in a shorter time.

She said the key was to "become open" to the Focus 12 state, stop trying to in some way initiate it, then simply flow along with events as they unfold. The times when I projected in a shorter time, were the times I had naturally be more receptive at the onset of Focus 12 (but didn't realise it).

She also said the Focus 12 state is a very important state to work towards achieving as the whole conscious-exit process begins to unfold from Focus 12. Which is something us Monroe fans basically know already. But what she doubly reinforced to me was the importance of this state in the general conscious-exit scheme of things. She did also say that lapses in conscious awareness can also be caused through lack of receptivity to Focus 12. Which is basically what you are experiencing, so maybe this may apply to you also.

Once you have acquired the desired state with Gateway (Focus 10) how does it goes from there?
Since you have gotten away from the exercices (ping pong etc..) what exactly do you do from there (Focus 10)? How does it evolves to the exit?
Is it just placing your awareness in the crow area for example, just looking at the brow to get the 3D blackness?

As to your questions, I feel the process is not quite so cut and dried as you think. After a *lot* of practice I have pretty much reached the stage where I can hold myself at the various mental-focus states originally labeled by Monroe. Though please bear in mind I always said that I don't have any natural talent for this kind of thing. It always seems that each step takes me ages of trial and error. What I'm getting at is perhaps I'm not the best of yardsticks.

I doubt you will get to a position where you are at Focus 10 or Focus 12, and so forth, stuck as to what to do next. The process is largely one that starts flowing and will continue to flow if you let it. You see, a lot of the work I've been involved with is learning how to try and slow the process down. And the same has been true with a number of people I've been in contact with.

The various mental focus states come about like motorway signposts. In the sense that from Focus 10 you get a sensation of mental movement like you were travelling. As you travel you become enveloped with particular mental scenarios that have certain qualities about them. The tendency, I found, is people will generally either pass through a state, or get zapped out of it.

I no-longer think about placing my awareness in any particular region of my head. The simplest way I can explain it, is I just shift my focus of attention into the region of my mind. Okay, I still find that far easier say than to do. And it's one of the last remaining hurdles I face in my quest to project at will.

The key element to achieving this, I found, is getting your mental focus away from the backs of your physical eyes.

The Gateway Wave-1 CD acts for me now as a kind of mental primer. In that first I'll listen to it a couple of times, and go through a mental rundown of the like I describe in the sticky-post. This acts for me as a kind of mental stretching exercise. Just like dancers do, for example, to warm-up their muscles before a performance.

Oh, one mental rundown I found particularly effective is to imagine you are in a small audience and Monroe is facing you a short distance away, on a stage, verbalizing the instructions.

Another exercise I often do is imagine a shape, any shape it doesn't matter. Perceive that shape in mind for a few seconds then shift your focus of attention to the backs of your eyes. So you are looking at the backs of your closed eyes. Then shift your focus back to within your mind and perceive the shape. After a while you will perceive a distinct shift in focus. Once you recognize the shift, then practice holding the mental shift within the mind. This is a bit tricky because you'll probably have these little blank moments; during which your mental focus will slip to the backs of your eyes again.
 
Once you can hold that mental focus, next you simply feel what you are presented with. You might say, "Just blackness". But if you perceive more closely, you might get the idea that all is not quite jet black. Again, when I say "blackness" I'm speaking of a situation where you are not simply trying to focus on the backs of your eyelids and all you are seeing is some kind of residual vision.

You might perceive an area of greyness, or other areas that are lighter than black. These may seem to come and go at random. Once you become more adept at doing this, you will have fewer of those annoying little blank moments where your mental focus drops back. As such, there will come a point where these inner effects will capture your attention to the extent you are no-longer focussed on the physical body.

This is Focus 10.

In other words, Focus 10 is basically the same state as when a person becomes engrossed by a movie on TV. Mental attention has been captivated to the extent where there is no-longer any sensation of the room the person is sitting in, the sofa they are sitting on, or their physical body which reclines on the sofa.

In obe terms, you are no-longer aware of the room you are laying down in, or the bed you lay on, or your physical body laying on the bed. Your entire mental focus has been captivated by what is going on within you, mentally. As I say, this is Focus 10.

Next comes Focus 12 where you will find that the areas of lighter than black become more distinct. The blackness can take on a velvety or a liquid quality, or you may perceive all kinds of other textures. You might perceive outline drawings of all kinds of shapes; or what seem like faces of people or animals; or whispy foggy colours that appear to swirl around you. As this scenario develops there comes a sensation of mental movement; a kind of forwards progression that takes you onto the next phase.

Each transition tends to be fairly seamless in that one will naturally flow into the other over a period of several seconds. However, at first, progress will probably be scuppered again by the physical eyes in that they tend to try and snatch glances of the various effects you are perceiving. Once you can get the eyes out of the projection equation, you should be able to effect a seamless and controlled transition from Physical to Astral.

At first, though, chances are you might perceive a forwards mental movement and next instant you might see some fleeting Astral scene: at which point your protective sense of awareness kicks in and zaps you back to Physical. Which is frustrating, but at least it confirms you are making progress.

There can also come a period where you go through what is a frustrating phase of, "hindsight realization". This is where a person enters, say, the Focus 12 state... but because it is all very unfamiliar they obviously cannot recognize it. Finding itself in unfamiliar territory, the protective sense of awareness promptly zaps the person back to Physical. At which point they suddenly realize, in hindsight, they projected to an unfamiliar state.

I'm working on the "brain method" and could you explain the evolution of the sensations, feelings, up to the projection.

To be honest I don't know what the "brain method" is, exactly. Someone else coined the term which seems to have stuck.

A while ago I set off down a road which attempted to find an answer to the question, "Where do the vibrations come from?" They seemed to begin at the head, but with me they'd build in intensity so quickly I had no chance to study them. So I began trying all kinds of techniques to try and somehow ignite these vibrations, but in a controlled way; hence the ping-pong exercise, and a few others, with which I had limited degrees of success.

At the same time, I was working on several imagination-based techniques, coupled with the Gateway Wave-1 CD. I developed these techniques to the point where I could fairly reliably Phase from Physical to Astral most mornings - without feeling any kind of vibrations at all. So I forgot about the question of vibrations for a while.  

I thought that my later work had overwritten the older stuff: in much the same way as when you load a newer version of Windows, for example. The new version overwrites the old version to the extent where you can no-longer boot from the old program.

Lately, however, I got curious about the matter of vibrations again after re-reading Monroe's two later books: FJ's and UJ. It struck me that even though Monroe speaks about Phasing, he does describe feeling vibrations as well. So I set-out to try and form a mix between my new-found Phasing skills and my old cannonball-exit.  

My attempts at doing this were surprisingly successful. Now, my projection experience follows pretty much exactly as Monroe describes. Though with nowhere near the same degree of reliability (yet). In Monroe's case he would project with such ease that many times he'd just simply want to sleep instead. (Oh, how I would dearly love to "suffer" this condition!)

Just thinking about experiencing vibrations, while undergoing the Phasing process, flicked a switch somewhere and I began to feel an inkling at first; after which they came back into the projection equation more and more. But somehow my later-developed Phasing skills had completely changed the nature of the way I experienced the vibrations. For a start, they began in a far more controlled way from about the Monroe Focus 21 state. And I discovered also they did in fact come about from a point at the top of the head each time.

From practice, I found I could trace their origins back further. I felt them begin as a tiny mental swooshing feeling like someone just stroked my brain with a feather. Since then, I traced the feeling back further still. The whole process begins with a simple mental "knowing" feeling; then a kind of mental null; then a weird sort of creaking sound; then the feather-stroking feeling.

The length of time at each of these stages can change slightly. I might get two or three mental null feelings, then maybe just one creaking sound, followed by several feather strokes; or just an inkling of a feather stroke, one mental null and several creaking sounds; or whatever combination of the three.

The mental Knowing feeling happens when my physical body has relaxed to the extent where my focal point of awareness has shifted from behind my physical eyes and is now focussed within the expanse of my mind. Though my latest studies do strongly indicate that the reverse is more the case, i.e. the act of shifting my focal point of awareness *is* what causes my physical body to duck-out of the equation. Which is something I've suspected for quite a while. But I've only recently been able to experience the onset of the process slow enough and reliable enough to make any kind of concrete sense of it all.

I found that shifting my focal point of awareness from behind my physical eyes to be the trickiest part in the whole process!!! It still presents me with quite a stumbling block and it's the last major hurdle I need to overcome. Problem is, it doesn't just have to shift: it needs to shift in a particular way. And that's the darned tricky part. Well, for me that is.

Frank, you said about misunderstanding what we are involved with. How do we minimise this from happening? And how to increasse the objectivity of our experience. I don't want to be clouded by my own belief or fear or personal filter. How do we control our emotion in the astral from influencing what we say? Is this a good practice?

To help overcome this hurdle, you need to gain a fair degree of understanding about the basic nature of the Astral environment, and the different ground-rules that apply. We have to gain familiarity with these basic rules in much the same way as we have to when first entering the Physical. For example, perhaps the one most basic Physical rule (we gain familiarity with rather quickly!) is that no two physical things can occupy the same physical space.

A person who could not get the hang of this basic Physical rule would repeatedly have difficulties. Not only would they be forever bumping into things, pursuits such as driving a car, for instance, would be nigh-on impossible.

Same thing applies with Astral exploration where, without an understanding of the basic ground rules, people will keep running into difficulties.

One of the main difficulties is presented by the fact that releasing emotions within the Astral environment acts as a kind of fuel that goes to creating the circumstances that surround you. This is a *tricky* one to overcome because these circumstances can seem just as real, and equally as lifelike, as circumstances are within the Physical. So if you release a little fear (very common) you will instantly find yourself in a mildly fearful circumstance.

Problem is, finding yourself all of a sudden in a scary situation will normally have the effect of making you even more fearful. So the situation will instantly become that much more scary; which makes you more scared; so it gets that much more scary; which makes you even more scared; so it gets that much more scary; and so on, and so on.......

If that were not bad enough, there is another basic rule which says, "Your experiences are primarily governed by your expectations." Therefore, if you expect to encounter demons and dragons... then demons and dragons you shall encounter.

But that's not all. There's another basic rule which says, "like instantly attracts like." So it won't only be you having these horrific experiences. Chances are, you'll be surrounded by countless others all suffering the same fate.

Such a group concensus will naturally have the effect of reinforcing your beliefs to a high degree. Bringing into play the basic rule which says, "Your ability to perceive is proportional to your willingness to believe." In other words, the more you believe the Astral is a nasty and dangerous place, the more readily you will perceive it as such.

Bearing all this in mind, you need then to be careful how you go about things. Else all manner of reality fluctuations can come about.

To summarize, then, the basic rules you need to keep in mind are:

1) Thought equals Direct Action.

2) Your experiences are primarily governed by your expectations.

3) Like instantly attracts like.

4) Your ability to perceive is proportional to your willingness to believe.

Even though you may set out armed with this information, chances are you will screw up quite often at first. Not that I'm wishing it on you I'm simply being realistic. If you come across any kind of sticky situation where events are getting out of hand, my advice is to not try and "make it right" within the projection. Simply hop back to Physical, take a few deep breaths and project again.

As soon as I saw these stars and galaxies flying past, a moment of fear passed through me and the experience ended.
However, even although the speed I was travelling was terrific I never once thought of any danger, the only twinge of fear I got was when I saw space, as I wondered how far from home I was, this fear then ended the experience.
I wonder if I really was hurtling through the galaxy in the RT zone via some kind of wormhole or if the whole thing was an astral construct?
Either way it was a hell of a lot of fun!

Yes, it *is* one heck of a lot of fun! Though not an experience for the squeamish.

Obviously, I can't say for sure but it does sound to me like you were hurtling through the RT zone. One Astral difficulty is caused by the fact that we tend to move about the Astral using the same degree of effort that we use when moving about the Physical. Problem is, it takes no effort at all really to "move" either within the Astral or the RT zone.

You probably set-off with the intention of mentally stepping-into the 3D-blackness and perhaps used much more mental effort than was necessary. With the effect you ended up shooting-off somewhere.

That feeling of speed is just great isn't it? Many times I've entered RT-zone tube structures: which is what I think you inadvertently entered as you describe it so rightly, i.e. "After a short while the walls of the tunnel started to become slightly transparant and I could see what looked like stars and galaxies flying past". This is like how it appears to me too. And I've many times shot down these tubes or tunnels at speeds which feel like thousands and thousands of MPH.

I'm not sure what these structures are, exactly, but they seem to be huge kinds of links between points in space. These tube structures have all manner of interconnections too. If you can keep your protective sense of awareness calm, while in the midst of it all, you can find yourself suddenly switching direction down another tunnel.

But do be wary as some of them can be one *heck* of a roller-coaster ride. I once entered a tube structure and got gripped by a force of energy that shot me off somewhere and, despite all my experience, I really thought I'd overcooked it this time and would never get free.

I was hurtling through some kind of energy vortex at breakneck speed for what seemed like an age, and it wasn't stopping. My protective sense of awareness was hitting panic-button after panic-button in an attempt to zap back to Physical, but nothing was working. Eventually I did get back, of course, and I chuckle about it now. But, at the time, I really and truly thought I'd had it.

Once you can "exit" with a bit more control these structures can be perceived quite readily. Together with all manner of grid and Entrance structures. The grid-structures look like very fine laser light-beams that literally form a 3-dimensional grid structure. The ones I seem to always end up travelling through are mainly red and blue in colour. The size of each of the cubes that form the whole grid look to be about 50cm square (though the size and colour can vary sometimes).

Within the structure of the grid are energy pathways that you can travel through. They come about just after stepping into the 3D-blackness. If you mentally hold a picture of a grid formation this should open up an energy pathway for you at the appropriate place. You can also use this technique in order to perceive Astral Plane Entrance structures.

I have had three OBEs experiences although one was more like a lucid dream. As much as I want to believe that I was leaving my body and exploring astral realms or just floating in the real-time zone, I still find myself questioning everything.

Having a lucid-dream is basically the Monroe Focus 22 state, only with a reduced level of conscious awareness. Focus 22 is the first proper realm where thought-equals-direct-action. I say "proper" because, technically, this thought/action effect comes about at the Physical-to-Astral bridge-zone at mental Focus 21.

I agree wholeheartedly with Daniel in his point that one of the biggest challenges is to conciliate formal mechanical logic with multidimensional logic. This hurdle is presented by the fact that, when we project, we don't in turn develop some super-sense of conscious awareness all primed and geared for Astral use. On the contrary, the sense of conscious awareness you take with you to the Astral is the very same one you have now. All of which means you tend to behave like a fish out of water the first 10 or 20 times you project.

To help overcome this hurdle, you need to gain a fair degree of understanding about the basic nature of the Astral environment, and the different ground-rules that apply. We have to gain familiarity with these basic rules in much the same way as we do when first entering the Physical. For example, perhaps the one most basic Physical rule (we gain familiarity with rather quickly!) is that no two physical things can occupy the same physical space.
 
A person who could not get the hang of this basic rule would forever have difficulties. Not only would they be forever bumping into things, pursuits such as driving a car, for instance, would be nigh on impossible.
 
Same thing applies with Astral exploration where, without an understanding of the basic ground rules, people will keep running into difficulties.
 
One of the main difficulties is presented by the fact that releasing emotions within the Astral environment acts as a kind of fuel that goes to creating the circumstances that surround you. This is a *tricky* one to overcome because these circumstances can seem just as real, and equally as lifelike, as circumstances are within the Physical. So if you release a little fear (very common) you will instantly find yourself in a mildly fearful circumstance.
 
Problem is, finding yourself all of a sudden in a scary situation will normally have the effect of making you even more fearful. So the situation will instantly become that much more scary; which makes you more scared; so it gets that much more scary; which makes you even more scared; so it gets that much more scary; and so on, and so on.......
 
If that were not bad enough, there is another basic rule which says, "Your experiences and/or circumstances are primarily governed by your expectations." Therefore, if you expect to encounter demons and dragons... then demons and dragons you shall encounter.
 
But that's not all. There's another basic rule which says, "like instantly attracts like." So it won't only be you having these horrific experiences. Chances are, you'll be surrounded by countless others all suffering the same fate.
 
Such a group concensus will naturally have the effect of reinforcing your beliefs to a high degree. Bringing into play the basic rule which says, "Your ability to perceive is proportional to your willingness to believe." In other words, the more you believe the Astral is a nasty and dangerous place, the more readily you will perceive it as such.

Bearing all this in mind, you need then to be careful how you go about things... else all manner of reality fluctuations can come about. For example, it is only natural that you should question your experiences. This is a great way to make progress provided the questioning aspect comes about as a result of natural curiosity. Over years of trial and error, I found the best most productive mental state to have while within the Astral realms: is to remain emotionally neutral, while maintaining a natural air of mild curiosity.

However, if the questioning comes about as a result of Doubt, then you need to be ever mindful of the fact that any release of thoughts of Doubt - while within the Astral - will instantly lead to you experiencing circumstances that support whatever level of Doubt you are feeling.

Then, just like in my release of fear example above, finding yourself all of a sudden in a situation where your doubts are justified, will normally have the effect of making you feel even more doubtful; so your circumstances will instantly become such that your doubts are reinforced all the more; which in turn makes you doubt all the more still; and so on, and so on.......

It's unfortunate that now and again I come across a person who once managed to successfully project to the Astral and subsequently concluded that it was all some kind of brain-generated fantasy.

We had someone come onto this BBS last year who was adamant on this. From reading into where they were coming from, it was obvious the person had been projecting to the Focus 22 state while releasing feelings of doubt. Of course, this person's doubts were immediately reinforced each time to the extent where they became utterly convinced their doubts were 110% genuine. All of which then blinded this person to the facts about what had truly taken place.

As for wanting "proof" and such like. A popular idea is the one about having someone else place a playing card or some other object out of sight, and so forth. But what I would suggest is you learn to become more proficient at projection and all the proof you can handle will be fed to you by the bucketload.

Frank, would you mind summarizing this latest "Crown Chakra" method of yours from the beginning as a complete working Astral projection method? Also, is this a method for anytime, or is it best to wake up early morning with full relaxation and half trance state and work from there?
An indication as to how long the process takes from start to Astral would be most useful as well - I think some people tend to get frustrated to quickly if things don't happen very quickly. There has also been much discussion on lying position - many people say that OBE is really only possible - reliably at least - while lying on the back rather than the side - this seems quite a common observation.
Also - has this evolved beyond and to supercede your Monroe type phasing method, or are they connected in some way?

What I am currently practicing has evolved out of my Monroe studies. Initially I set out to slow down what was my normal "cannonball exit" by following the Phasing method as taught by Monroe. After a while I did get to the stage where I could go through the phasing transition in a controlled way. Though I still can't just do this at will.

I prefer practicing early morning as it's quieter and my body is refreshed following a night of sleep. As for length of time, it can take anywhere from fifteen minutes to around two hours to get to the requisite state. Typically, results come within 45 mins. Once in that state I generally have two or three projections in succession, with a break inbetween to make notes as necessary.

Normally I lay on my back for projection practice and on my side for sleep. Though in my experience the effectiveness is no different between the two. I just make the distinction as a clear signal to myself as to what is on the agenda: projection-practice or sleep.

As to why some mornings it's like I just fall into it and others it takes me a couple of hours, is a question I've been working on for about two months. Basically, it looks like it just comes down to getting into a working routine followed by lots of practice.

When I first started out on the Phasing route I was trying all kinds of things, from all kinds of angles, to try and work out what Monroe was going on about. Now, I've boiled it all down to just one working routine which I stick to religiously. Since doing that the number of successful attempts has increased significantly.
 
I've said before that I've got no natural talent for any of this, which means it always takes me a lot of time to make progress. So perhaps I'm not the best yardstick to use when it comes to estimating the typical lengths of time people need to practice the various stages before getting results. The Phasing approach I've been practicing virtually every morning for about a year. A practice session I make 1.5 hours minimum. Often I'll extend this but pushing myself too hard I found counterproductive.

My current routine begins with going through the Gateway rundown to Focus 10 and back to C1. Technically, I don't really need the CD anymore as I know it off by heart after listening to it so many times. But I find it has the effect of getting me nicely in the mood, so to speak. Then, upon my return to C1, I'll decide whether or not to begin the session proper.

It may have been that during the CD rundown I was disturbed by something or other and it didn't go according to plan. Maybe I felt the need to use the toilet, or perhaps my wife was a little restless, or whatever. In which case I'll go through the CD rundown again. Note: I found it counterproductive to begin a session that didn't feel good from the start. So if there is a problem then I cancel the session, sort out whatever it is and start afresh.

So, on deciding to progress, I'll got through the rundown to Focus 10 without the CD only this time I'll carry on through to the higher Focus levels. If I don't feel quite right for whatever reason, I'll listen to the CD one more time and then start the session proper.

The past couple of months I've developed a successful deviation from what was my normal Phasing practice; in that I have successfully married elements of my previous Cannonball-Exit to the Phasing process.

I reached the stage where I'd developed a degree of skill that enabled me to make the transition from Physical to Astral with a reasonable degree of predictability. Problem was, comparing my experience with the description Monroe gives of his Physical to Astral transition: the two didn't match. The transition he describes sounded to me more like a combination of the traditional obe-style exit, followed by what I can now recognize as a smooth Phasing to the Astral. Also, quite a number of experiences he describes, for example viewing M-Band radiation fields, sounded very much to me like he was way out in the real-time zone, rather than the Astral proper.

As we know, Monroe originally set-out projecting in the traditional obe sense, and later developed the Phasing concept which he taught at TMI. So this gave me the idea that maybe Monroe's later projection experiences were somehow a cross between his old way and his later developed Phasing concept.

So I set out on the road of trying to take my previous, more traditional-style projection experience, i.e. feelings of vibrations, leaving the body, etc., and marrying them with my recently developed Phasing skills. As it happened, this turned out to be a highly successful step forward in my development.

I came the closest to conscious exit than I ever have last night, I felt a great pressure in my  forehead, like my whole body awareness was being pulled out of my brow.

It  was like a tube was glued to my forehead and I was being sucked down it.

When i got to this state, my right eye began to flicker and I had to abort, how can one  overcome this?

If its worth noting, my right eye is lazy, when I relax it, it rests to the side a little, or what  about REM?  Could you elaborate on weather this is it?  I don`t know much about it...

One of the *big* hurdles people generally need to overcome is the sudden unwelcome intrusion by the physical eyes. Such intervention almost always has the effect of zapping you right back to C1 consciousness. The reason this happens is because your focal point of consciousness normally resides behind your physical eyes. When I say "resides behind" what I mean is your primary focus of attention is mostly based on what the eyes tell you.

The ears may transmit to you a strange sound... then immediately the eyes will go to look. Someone may touch you unexpectedly from behind... then immediately the body spins around so the eyes can see. Which reminds me of an old playground joke where we'd come up to someone from behind and tap them on the opposite shoulder to where we were standing. So the person would immediately look and see no-one there.

If you think about all the various human-response actions you will see that - almost always - the physical eyes are the primary information providers that determine whatever comes next.

On the Physical, this process works amazingly well. However, it can put a big spoke in the works when it comes to projection excercise. Difficulty being, the eyes are not used to just rolling back and relaxing while the consciousness is awake and alert. Having an awake, alert consciousness and taking-in input from the physical eyes is about as natural as it comes.  

It used to happen to me all the time where I'd just be settling into the Focus 12 state; where it is natural to perceive all manner of outline shapes and shadows, or whirls of colour, and so forth, and the moment I'd see something definite it was like my protective sense of awareness would shout, "What's that!" And my physical eyes would immediately go to look. Which, of course, brought me right out of it.

The only way around it is to practice all you can to the extent where your protective sense of awareness regards everything that is happening as normal, and your physical eyes have got into the habit of switching themselves off during practice.

I think this problem can never be eradicated entirely, and it still effects me now and again. Just this morning, for instance, I drifted into the Focus 12 state fairly quickly and the 3D blackness suddenly loomed into view. The thought crossed my mind, "Wow, that must be the quickest to-date." Next moment my protective sense of awareness slapped the brakes on, and my physical eyes immediately became restless. Like they were scanning from side to side on the lookout for any danger.

Which, of course, zapped me right back to C1. It even raised my heartbeat a tad too. Which meant it took me about half an hour just to get that settled again before practice could resume.

What I wonder about sometimes though is that its ok to 'place intent' to go somewhere on the astral, however, if you have never experienced the astral its hard to know where to go or what to do, do you see where I'm coming from?
I think that some beginners might get stuck with this early stage as they wouldn`t be very sure what they wanted to do.

Yes, you are quite right and I see exactly where you are coming from. Which is why I am a great fan of the Phasing process as it introduces a person gently, by giving them a step-by-step process they can follow. People from the Moen school are taught to initially try and make contact with people who were close to them while Physical. Well, that's what I can gather from the various bits and bobs that I have read.

What they do is travel along the thread of an imaginary circumstance where they see themselves meeting an ex-relative, for example. Then just go along with that until some situation comes about that was not "on their script" so to speak.

Another way I now use all the time is to keep asking other members of your Astral family for whatever it is you need. But at first take things in small doses. Like, please don't just lie there and say, "take me to the Astral now". Rather, as you perceive the blackness in mind, simply introduce yourself to those who are guiding you with a simple, friendly hello.

If you can push aside all the stuff that gets in the way, which is all mainly doubt-based, then you should be able to contact your higher-self directly. But maybe it would be best to contact another Astral family-member first, as they tend to be a tad more human-friendly when it comes to communicating and giving assistance.

As you lie there perceiving the blackness, you will gradually phase out of the physical more. At the same time you should notice that the blackness can become as if it were more fluid in nature. Maybe you might perceive an area that looks a little grey; perhaps you just thought there was a streak of something that just went on overhead; maybe there was a slight swirling to the left; or you might get the notion of some kind of light switched on behind you... but you can't quite grasp what it is.

Other effects you can come across are where the blackness seems to take on a kind of texture. With me there's a grainy sort of texture which often comes about. Bruce Moen talks of a velvety-blackness which I experience often. All these are signs that you are phasing progessively more towards the Astral.

While this is happening keep up a simple dialogue with your guide. Okay, it may seem like you are talking to yourself (at first) but ignore that feeling and push on. As you perceive these changes in the blackness, imagine them as "signs" that are being presented to you by a guide in order that you are able to sense you are making progress. So keep up a simple dialogue with them and ask for more help in going deeper within yourself.

Things you typically ought to be saying are as follows. Okay, you will have to make big allowances for the fact that the pointers are in my words, not yours. So if you try this for yourself, take my words as giving you the general gist of it only. Then put the whole thing in your own words.....

Hello, Douglas here, and this morning I'd like a lesson in perceiving the different kinds of blackness.

Allow me to get into a relaxed position... there... that's nice and comfy. Now I'm ready to begin.

Yes, I see the 2D blackness but how about a texture or two.

Hmm, not really perceiving anything my end... wait... there was a streak of something, thanks I got that.

I wonder if there was an odd swirling sensation around to the left just then.

Yes, I just saw that rippling texture come and go.

Ah, now I just observed some kind of swirling foggy light top-right.

"Correct, Douglas!"

And at this point you'll go, "What, hey, wait a minute, I never said that!" Which will typically have the effect of snapping you back to C1.

But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this will happen after the first few observations. As I say, I'm just trying to get the gist of what I mean across to you in the simplest way I can think of. You might have to try maybe a dozen times before you get settled into a useful routine.

The blackness will eventually take on a 3D aspect. At which point you will also feel yourself coming from the position of actually being within the blackness, as opposed to being an observer.

From this point you should be able to phase gradually into the Astral-proper. With me I often find myself transitioning by hovering in the 3D blackness then I'll perceive a swirling in front of me. At the centre of this swirling is a light that gets bigger in diameter to the point where it becomes a kind of tunnel. Then I simply place an intent to travel through the tunnel and it's hello Astral.

Frank, can you give us a summary of all the phasing process?

Okey, here it is:

What is the purpose of creating a mental rundown?

The rundown acts as a kind of mental primer which gets you in the mood and increases your anticipation and expectation levels (very important). The rundown is not what causes you to Phase to the Astral. Phasing is a natural process which comes about under certain mental conditions which I expand on later in this essay. It also gives a person practice in focusing their attention away from the physical body into the expanse of their mind. In other words, what you are basically doing is imagining you are Phasing to the Astral.

What shall I try, and for how long, and how often?

The mental-rundown exercise should be performed preferably at least once each day at around the same time. It does not really matter what kind of mental rundown you use. Simply do whatever feels right for you. Someone posted fairly recently they tried to work out their own but gave up and used the example I gave with a few changes here and there. Others have created their own from scratch. Like I say, it truly does not matter.

You don’t actually need the Wave-1 CD either. You can formulate a mental rundown to some relaxing music, or create something using Brainwave Generator, or use whatever suits you. All I would advise is for you to create something of around 30 to 45 minutes duration which you are basically happy with then stick with it. In other words, don’t make it too short, or too long, and no chopping and changing.

Okay, I’ve formulated a mental rundown so what next?

Once you have learnt your mental rundown you are ready to use it as a mental primer. First you go through it. Then simply remove the earphones (if you are using a CD or tape) and try Phasing for real. In cases where you perhaps haven’t got all that much time to spare, what I would suggest is you create a short version of your rundown. Say, around half the duration. Then, every other time, listen to the short version after which you try for real. Once you get more competent then perhaps switch to the short version each morning. Or maybe try a regime of rundown one day and try it for real with no rundown the next. Again, it truly is a case of whatever suits each individual.  

What do you mean by “Phasing for real?”

When you come to Phase for-real, you switch from perceiving metal imagery you are imagining as part of your rundown, i.e. where you are imagining you are Phasing to the Astral, to perceiving images that are being created as part of the normal Phasing process. In other words, you are not imagining anything, you are doing it!

After going through my rundown I try it for real and nothing happens, why?

Chances are, your physical-body is distracting you by capturing your attention.
One of the benefits of formulating a mental-rundown to some kind of audio recording, is it takes your mind off both the physical body and the Physical environment. Plus, you know exactly what imagery to perceive as it is you who is imagining it. Without these two mental props it can feel like you are right back at square one.

Main things you should avoid when trying for-real

Thinking about day-to-day Physical-realm matters.

Any kind of thinking about anything to do with the Physical-realm tends to put a *big* spoke in the works. In other words, you can’t really hope to kick-start the Phasing process if one part of you is thinking of your dental appointment next day; or whether you’ll get that pay-rise you requested; or your birthday next week, etc., etc.

To deal with this what you should do, right at the start of your practice, is imagine a large box and place all your Physical-realm concerns in that box. Then lock it securely and walk away. When you finish your mental-rundown, unlock the box and take them out again. This method is suggested by Monroe on the Wave-1 CD. It may sound a bit weird but it works!

Any kind of internally verbalized thought (even if it is to do with Phasing!).

What I mean here, is you need to switch your inner-thinking so it is working exclusively in a visual way. Speed-reading aside, when we read to ourselves we have this inner voice which reads the words. This voice is probably what you are listening to within your own mind, right now as you read this.

Also, when we think to ourselves in an everyday sense we tend to use this same inner voice. Like, you may think, “Hmm, I’ve got 30 minutes before I meet my next client, so I’ll go and fill the car with petrol and pick-up something to eat on the way back.” Thinking that way uses that same inner-voice… which must be silent.

Then you quietly and passively observe what happens next. When I say “quietly” I mean observe without having that inner-voice comment on anything you may perceive. When I say “passively” I mean avoid reacting in any way to anything you may perceive.

Both the above I realize are a tad tricky to do. The good news is it all comes good with practice. At first, what will probably happen is you might perceive some kind of vague, fleeting image. At which point your inner-voice will chirp-up saying, “What was that?” or it might make some other comment. Perhaps it may comment in recognition that you are making progress.

Problem is, as it does so, it tends to send you a step back each time. Unfortunately, you can get caught in a self-defeating loop: where you take one step forward, your inner voice recognizes you just took a step forward and comments to that effect, and the act of it doing so takes you one step back to where you were before.

Or you might perceive something and react to it. You might get startled, or fearful, or such like. What used to happen to me all the time (which was most frustrating) is I’d perceive some image in mind and, the moment I did so, my physical eyes would try and snatch a glance at whatever it was. This, of course, zapped me right back to C1 each time.

Okay, so you are in a state where you are quietly and passively observing. Don’t worry if nothing comes about. Simply curtail the session after your normal time and try again next session. Hopefully, what will soon happen is you will begin to perceive what may seem like fairly weird, totally abstract mental imagery.

Say you perceive some fleeting kind of something or other. Chances are you’ll wonder if what you think you may have perceived is what you should be starting to perceive. Then you’ll realize your inner voice has just made a comment. But the realization of that was yet another comment. By which time you’ll probably be right back where you started.

The key is to simply roll along with this mental imagery, without your inner voice commenting on it, or having your physical body reacting to it. This is the beginning of Phasing. You don’t need any particular “technique” in order to project. You just need to set it going. Once the process gets underway everything happens more or less automatically.

If you can just quietly and passively observe the process you will end up within the Astral as awake and alert as you normally are while within the Physical.