19. Projection Technique

Achieving conscious-exit projection requires learning a delicate mental and physical balancing act.

This can be likened to a baby learning how to walk. A baby has to learn how to cope with gravity, body weight, and balance, and must coordinate many undeveloped muscles, nerves, and skills, all at the same time. The first few times babies try to stand, they totter and fall over because their brain does not know how to coordinate everything.

Similarly, during early conscious-exit projection attempts, would-be projectors attempt to hold a deeply relaxed physical and mental state while trying to exteriorize their sense of body awareness, while also trying to deal with some pretty major energetic sensations. There are so many new things to do and adapt to, and these must all be done just right while so much else is happening, that it is very easy to lose control and fall back into the full waking state.

Applying the skills that make up projection can take time. The brain learns to coordinate multiple tasks best through applied effort and regular practice. The more time spent trying to project, the better the brain will get at coordinating everything and the easier the whole exercise will become.

Before you attempt any of the projection techniques in the following chapters, consult the training and development units earlier in this book. All the required terminology, background, and techniques are there.
 

Projectable Body Loosening
Projectable body loosening involves temporarily shifting body awareness outside the bounds of the physical body with simple awareness exercises. The following exercises are all designed to loosen up the projectable double.

They also get the projector used to exterior body-awareness actions during a deeply relaxed and/or tranced state. While deep physical relaxation and trance are recommended for these exercises, they can also be done from a lightly relaxed state only and still make for good practice.

The exercises are very easy to do and are capable of triggering an OBE on their own, so be prepared. If this does happen, or a partial projection is achieved, use the exercise that caused this as the basis for your main projection technique, or adapt and combine this with a similar method.

With projection, if you do something that works, stick to it and build on it, as what works... works!
 

Bounce Loosening
Put yourself in the required state for projection with a deeply relaxed body and mind. Ideally, use the full-body deep physical relaxation and trance-induction techniques, then use the full-body energy circuit for a couple of minutes. Leave your primary centers alone for this exercise. Feel the room around you with your mind and imagination, and build a picture of it in your mind's eye. Using your memory, take note of how everything would look from your position if your eyes were open: where doors, windows, ceilings, walls, and furniture are. Take a good look and memorize everything before starting.

Start a full-body awareness bounce action from head to feet, arms resting comfortably at sides (see chapter 12). Continue this until you are settled into a comfortable bounce speed and rhythm. Next, extend your point of awareness - the part of your awareness you are bouncing through your body - out past your head and feet until you are bouncing your awareness from the wall above your head to the wall below your feet, if lying down. If you are sitting, bounce from the floor, through your body, to the ceiling above you, then back down through your body to the floor. Repeat this as a continual bounce action. Adjust the angle of the bounce action so it is directly in line with your torso.

As your awareness bounces off the wall, ceiling, or floor, use your memory-based imagination to sense what each surface would look and feel like close up. See this as if you were really there, right up close to it. Try to momentarily feel your new spatial position as it would be if you were actually there.

 

Be aware of the spatial change and of the new position, of where your physical body, walls, doors, windows, and furniture are for that single moment as your awareness bounces off each surface. Create a snapshot of this new position in your mind's eye each time you bounce your awareness off a surface.

 

Feel yourself being there, out of your physical body for just a moment.

Fig. 23.

Two bounce actions for loosening the projectable double
 

If you have trouble with this, stick small targets to the ceiling and walls and memorize what it is like to be up close to these targets. Re-create the image of these with your imagination in your mind's eye during these exercises. Before starting this, if you like, get up and place your face against these targets so you can really get the feel for each position. Memorize what it feels like to really be there. Momentarily re-create mis feeling at the end of each bounce.

Once you get the bounce action going, pay more attention to bouncing your awareness off the wall or ceiling than to feeling your awareness passing through your physical body. Once your body awareness is at work outside your physical body, the feel of your physical body must be allowed to slide gently into the background.

The next stage is to bounce your point of awareness away from your body in line with your face, in line with where your eyes would be looking if they were open and looking straight ahead. If lying down, repeatedly bounce to the ceiling above you, then back down through your face to the floor beneath the bed. If sitting, repeatedly bounce off the wall opposite you, then back through your face and to the wall behind you. Again, once you get this bounce action going, allow the feel of your physical body to slide into the background and concentrate on the exterior bounce action.

As I said, this bounce technique can trigger the projection reflex on its own. Bounce techniques are also useful for getting the look and feel of projection without actually getting too close to the exit. The bounce technique momentarily shifts your point of awareness outside your physical body, causing something like a brief, low-powered projection each time your point of awareness bounces off a surface.

 

Repeat this exercise for as long as you wish, before continuing with an actual projection attempt.
 

Breathing Loosening
Put yourself in the required state for projection. Feel the room around you and take note of its spatial layout. Concentrate your awareness in your breathing action and feel yourself breathing slowly and naturally IN and OUT.

As you breathe IN, feel yourself expanding outward as your lungs fill to capacity, as if your physical body were rapidly expanding outward like a balloon. Feel the room shrinking around you as you expand to fill it. At the end of the IN breath, try to feel your awareness filling the whole room to capacity.

As you breathe OUT, feel yourself shrinking into yourself like a collapsing balloon. Feel the room around you expanding rapidly away from you as you get smaller and smaller. At die end of the OUT breath, briefly feel the spatial coordinates of tile entire room as being far, far away, as if you were a minute point of consciousness, a tiny spark in a giant, oversized room.

 

Repeat this exercise for as long as you wish, before continuing with a full projection attempt.
 

Spin Loosening

Fig. 24.

Spin loosening action
 

Any body-awareness action that holds a point of awareness exterior to the physical body is extremely difficult to hold if kept in one place only. It is, though, fairly easy to hold a point of awareness if it is kept moving. Movement tricks the mind into momentarily accepting an exterior point of awareness.

Put yourself in the required state for projection. Bounce your point of awareness, at eye level, back and forth to the wall or ceiling directly in front of you a few times. Move your point of awareness clockwise around tile room, briefly touching each wall, ceiling, and floor surface in passing. Circle the room continually, taking one to three seconds for each circuit.

 

This speed can to be varied to suit what feels natural. As your point of awareness circles the room, feel it sliding and brushing gently over the interior surfaces of the room. Stay aware of your changing perspective in the room as your point of awareness spins around you. Feel yourself and your point of awareness spinning around the room. Try to feel your spatial coordinates changing around you, exterior to your body, as you spin.

Feel yourself spinning inside your body, and feel the room around you moving as you spin. Settle into a steady spin at whatever speed you feel most comfortable with. If you continue this, your mind will at some point be tricked into believing you are actually spinning outside your body. When this happens you will feel a momentary falling sensation inside yourself, a brief sensation of vertigo that will usually happen many times while using this technique.

 

This technique can trigger the projection reflex, so be prepared.
 

Loosening with Imagination
Please take your time over the following exercise. Do it slowly and thoroughly. Put yourself in the required state for projection. When you are really settled into yourself, imagine yourself as slowly getting out of your body and floating to the door of your room. Feel and be aware of your body still being in bed or sitting behind you as you float away.

 

Move through your door, as if you were really projecting, and feel yourself floating away from your physical body and moving around the house, imagining as much detail as you can as you proceed. Look into a few rooms, then leave the house and walk farther afield. Go as far as your memory will take you with some accuracy. This imaginative view does not have to be perfect. Stop and briefly examine points of interest along the way.

As you move, try to feel yourself actually being away from your physical body, being aware of where it would be in relation to your imagined remote location. This is difficult to hold, I know, but the movement helps, so keep moving your imaginary double at all times to ease the mental pressure. Moments will occur during this exercise when you will suddenly experience the feeling of actually being where you are imagining yourself to be.

 

This will cause a momentary falling sensation, often accompanied by a trickle of energy up through your stomach and chest. This is a very good sign and shows you are successfully exteriorizing your awareness and are exerting a great deal of pressure on your projectable double. The trickle of energy indicates that the projectable double is being generated.

Once you can imagine yourself as being out of body, you can also imagine yourself flying or instantly projecting to other familiar but remote locations, to other houses or towns. Imagine yourself floating up into the air and flying around. Imagine what this would feel like and what the world would look like from way up there in the sky. Imagine yourself instantly projecting to another place. Feel this new location, anywhere, appearing around you. To finish this exercise, see yourself projecting back into your room and watching your physical body as it awaits your return. Imagine yourself floating up to and reentering it.

As you do this exercise, work on feeling yourself as being away from your physical body, and of seeing your imaginary re-created world as it would be through your projected double's eyes. This exercise can also trigger the projection reflex. If this happens during this particular exercise, you may feel projection sensations only remotely, as if from a distance.

 

You may also feel nothing and just suddenly find yourself in your projected double, at the remote location where you are imagining yourself to be.

Rope Projection Technique
If you have worked through all the core skills and energy-work training units in this book, you will have learned how to use your awareness hands very well. Now is the time to put into practice all that you have learned, and use your awareness hands to climb out of your body.

The rope technique optimizes the use of mental energy resources and enthusiasm by shortening the time needed to trigger the projection reflex during a projection attempt

A key ingredient to the rope projection technique is an imaginary rope hanging down from the ceiling. This rope is used to exert strong and continual pressure at a single point on the projectable double. The hand-over-hand awareness action of climbing the rope tricks the mind into accepting and holding a point of awareness exterior to the physical body. This stimulates the projection reflex more strongly than any other projection technique I have come across.

The first step is to imagine a large, strong rope hanging down in front of you, just above your chest, in a natural position for you and for the position you are in. If you are lying down, imagine the rope end hanging over the center of your chest within easy reach of your hands. If you are sitting, imagine the rope hanging just in front of your face, with the rope end being firmly attached to the ceiling. The rope is within easy reach of your hands. Vary the position and angle of this imaginary rope to suit yourself as to what feels most natural.

Center your awareness hands in the middle of your chest. Reach out with both of them and grasp the rope. Climb hand over hand strongly up the rope. Pull the rope to your chest with each climbing hand action. Feel yourself, in your projectable double, moving up the rope as you climb it. Stay aware of your physical body remaining behind as you climb out of it. Concentrate on the climbing action, but don't let your physical body respond or tense. Breathe naturally and do not hold your breath or allow it to become ragged. Hold your mind clear and focused solely on climbing the rope.

Try to develop a powerful, natural, two-handed climbing action, just as you would if you were actually climbing a rope in real life. One hand reaches out while the other hand holds on. Both hands work together at all times. As one hand pulls on the rope, the other hand should be reaching out to grip the rope above it, ready for the next pull on the rope. Try not to use only one hand at a time. Using both hands together makes the rope technique easier to do and more effective.

Vary the speed of the climbing action to what feels easiest and most natural for you, but do not climb too slowly. Just as with a bounce action, increase climbing speed until resistance is felt, then back off to a more comfortable speed.

I find varying my climbing speed from about a half a second to one second for each completed hand action (reaching out and pulling rope in with each hand) is best for me.

Fig. 25.

Rope technique
 

Feel your awareness hands as very strong and feel yourself climbing effortlessly and powerfully up the rope. Try to feel your projected double, your body, moving upward as you climb the rope. It is the exterior awareness of the climbing action that makes this technique work. The climbing action also provides a natural upward and outward movement away from the physical body.

Some people may have difficulty bringing awareness hands all the way back to their chest with every pull on the rope. Some may find that one or both of their awareness hands do not obey orders. If this is the case, just do the very best you can to keep your hands moving and climbing and scrambling up the rope in any way you can. Ways of getting around many common rope-climbing problems, plus alternative projection techniques, are given in coming chapters.

Many people have found it helpful to pin or tape a length of ribbon or string to the ceiling above their beds or chairs, hanging within easy arm's reach. Touch this occasionally until you get used to its position in your mind. The position and feel of the rope will grow in your awareness memory, making it easier to imagine yourself reaching out and climbing it with your awareness hands.

Position your rope aid at the most natural and easy to imagine position for you. (This aid has one added bonus, if you are an animal lover - cats absolutely love it!)
 

Rope Pressure Symptoms
The first sign that the rope technique is working is a peculiar dizzy feeling, a localized energy-movement type of trickling vertigo in the pit of the stomach and in the chest. If you feel this sensation, the rope technique is exerting good pressure on your projectable double. Keep climbing and you will trigger the projection reflex - as long as you stay physically relaxed enough to allow the generation of the projectable double.

As an experiment, try this short exercise now: close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to settle yourself, nothing more. Feel yourself reaching out and climbing strongly hand over hand up an imaginary rope for twenty seconds or so. Concentrate and really feel your awareness hands doing the climbing action as you do this. Use your memory and imagination to re-create the actual feeling of what it would be like to actually do this.

You should feel something happening fairly quickly: a slight, localized dizzy sensation or trickle of energy in your stomach and chest. This is similar to the feeling you get when an elevator you are in suddenly starts moving downward. This slight vertigo and trickle of energy are symptoms your projectable body is coming under pressure from the exteriorized rope-climbing awareness action being used. When your body and mind are deeply relaxed and you are fully prepared for projection, the pressure caused by this action will be greatly increased and have a far greater effect.
 

First Rope Projection - Experience
For interest's sake, here is an account of my very first rope experience:

I lay down on my bed in the early evening, just after sundown, thinking about the new rope technique I had been working on. I had been asked to develop a projection technique that blind people could use, specifically for people who had been blind from birth. I used the sense of touch as the foundation for the new technique, as touch and tactile perceptions are highly developed in blind people.

 

I had, theoretically, discovered a new way of using this sense - tactile imaging, I'd called it - to exert enough pressure on the projectable double to trigger the projection reflex. It was just a working idea at this time; the next step was to road-test the technique myself to see if it could be made to work. The theory was sound and the technique should work, but was it practical?

I did not do any relaxation, trance, or energetic stimulation work. I just wanted to see if the new rope technique would exert any noticeable pressure on my projectable double. I lay there for several minutes, mulling all this over in my mind while I relaxed and settled myself, ready for a short nap. Then I thought "what the heck", and decided to try the new rope technique out in earnest. The enthusiasm of discovery flared within me and I formed a very strong intention to project and give this new technique my very best shot.

I reached out with my awareness hands and re-created in my awareness what a strong rope would feel like in my hands. I did not bother with fine details, just the bare-bones feel of holding on to something like an imaginary rope. That done, I began climbing the rope hand over hand in earnest. I immediately felt a strong sensation of vertigo in my stomach and chest. I also felt a bone-deep, tickling, dizzy type of sensation deep inside my body, most noticeably in my arms and legs. I cleared the excitement from my mind and focused all my attention on the rope-climbing action. It really seemed to be working!

 

As I climbed, I felt a kind of energetic pressure building up inside me. I felt my body grow suddenly very heavy as I quickly slid into a solid level of trance. This was all happening way, way faster than usual. My head and chest were already starting to lift free, trying to go up the rope and follow the line of pressure I was exerting. I had never before experienced an exit quite like it!

I kept climbing and my heart center began throbbing and vibrations started coursing throughout my body. I was simply amazed! I had been climbing rope for less than a minute! I kept climbing strongly and, quite suddenly, the projection reflex kicked in and my real-time double buzzed free, coming to rest floating near the foot of my bed. This had all happened so fast, I barely had time to register the changes in my body as I projected! The heaviness of entering trance, the heart center thrumming and then racing, the full-body vibrations, the exit, it all happened so quickly!

 

I returned to my body soon after the exit and excitedly recorded the experience. This was definitely the easiest, fastest, and smoothest exit I had ever made.

I tried the rope technique several times, that night and the next morning, and had no trouble leaving my body each time. It wasn't so much that the idea of climbing a rope as a projection technique was new - it's not. But the deliberate use of body awareness and the application of tactile imaging was something new.

 

It was understanding how this worked that made it so important to me at the time.

Projection Sequence
It is not advisable to have only one projection sequence. Everybody has different levels of experience and natural ability.

Circumstances also change; what helps one day may hinder the next. For this reason, I give three flexible rope sequences and suggest that these be alternated to suit the time a projection attempt is being made. For example, you might wake up early in the morning (the very best time for easy projection) and want to go straight to the rope technique.

At other times, more work may be required to put yourself into a relaxed and projectable state.
 

Full Sequence
The time spent on each part of this sequence should be varied to suit ability, experience, and circumstances. Do not spend too long on each part if falling asleep is a potential problem.

 

At least several minutes, however, should be spent on the deep physical relaxation part at the start - longer for beginners. I cannot overemphasize the importance of deep physical relaxation to the projection process. If you have never had a conscious-exit projection before, but have made several unsuccessful attempts, I recommend spending thirty minutes or more on deep physical relaxation.

The secondary and primary energy work recommended in this procedure is an enormous help to novice projectors, especially those who have not yet made a conscious exit. Its practice makes projection much more achievable. The primary-center work can be dropped by more experienced projectors, if desired, but projection experiences will then tend to be weaker. With projection, energy is everything!

Do the full deep physical relaxation exercise - ten minutes minimum. Pre-stimulate hands and feet and use the full-body circuit for a few minutes. Clear your surface mind and induce a light- to full-trance state. Raise energy and stimulate each primary energy center (don't overdo this). Return to raising energy with primary and secondary circuits as needed during the attempt. Loosen the projectable double with an exterior bounce technique (optional).

 

Use the rope (or an alternative) projection technique and go for the exit!
 

Quick Sequence
The quick sequence is handy if you feel you have the energy to project but don't have the time or mental energy to go through the full sequence. Pre-stimulate hands and feet and use a full-body circuit for a few minutes. Run through the deep relaxation procedure only once. Induce a light-trance state only.

 

Use the rope (or an alternative) projection technique and try for the exit!
 

Instant Projection
Instant projection is best used when you awaken in a deeply relaxed state, when vibrations are being felt, or when everything feels just right and you know you have a good chance of projecting. A good time for an instant projection attempt is when you have partially wakened in the middle of a nap, during the night, or in the morning, and are thus already deeply relaxed. Hold on to that deeply relaxed state, form a firm intention to project, and start using a projection technique.

Whenever you feel vibrations - partial or whole body - immediately use your projection technique and try for the exit, no matter what you are doing or at what stage of your projection sequence you are. Whenever vibrations occur, especially whole-body vibrations, it is possible to project quickly and easily. All you need to do is make a firm decision to project, then use your projection technique. Put everything you have into this and you should get out of body very quickly.

 

Remember to keep the projection experience ultrashort!

Motivation
The most important ingredients for any successful projection are enthusiasm and motivation.

Without these, there will not be enough mental energy to succeed; you will either fail the exit or give up and fall asleep. It is thus very important to keep the preparation time for any projection attempt as short as possible, so it is not lengthy and mentally exhausting. One thing a new projector has in abundance is enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is pure mental energy. One thing that stands way out from all the success stories I have received is the word resolution.

Resolution + Action = OBE Success.

A great many people have e-mailed me over the years with projection success stories. In every case, they have been practicing the rope technique when they have suddenly decided to really do it! They have put everything into their exit attempt and in the majority of cases have succeeded in having their first major conscious-exit projection, often on their very first attempt.

This type of resolution can make that all-important difference. Make a firm decision, be brave and resolute, and just... do it!

This will focus all your mental energy into a single, powerful, one-pointed effort, for a single purpose: to project out of your body!
 

Tips and Summary Notes on the Rope Technique
The feelings of localized dizziness, pressure, and energy movement caused by the rope technique should be carefully noted.

Adjust your rope-climbing action with this in mind so it can be fine-tuned to have the maximum effect. If you have trouble with any part of the rope method, find the related training exercises and problem-solving sections in this book and review or practice them until you overcome the problem.

Concentrate on maintaining a calm inner balance at all times during a projection attempt. Focus on climbing rope to the exclusion of everything else. Put everything you have into the climbing action and tune everything else out. Do not analyze or think about what you are doing! Watch your breathing and do not hold it or allow it to become shallow or ragged. Do nothing but climb the rope until you get out of your body.

When the vibrations start, they may be localized to just one part of your body. If you focus your awareness on these vibrations, you will find you can move them, and may often be able to intensify and spread them with your awareness hands.

The vibrations will respond to and follow body-awareness actions. I do not advise this during a projection attempt, however, as this will draw your attention away from the rope-climbing action. Stay relaxed and concentrate on your projection technique and the vibrations will spread naturally. They can be especially strong during early attempts - be ready for a huge buzz when they hit.

Be ready for the racing-heartbeat sensation. This is a major event. It can be incredibly strong during early projection attempts, terrifying many people into aborting their long-sought-after first exit. Totally ignore this. It will not hurt you in any way. The heart center races to provide energy for the projecting double. It is not the actual physical heart that's racing. Also ignore sensations like head and brow pressure, no matter how strong or uncomfortable. The sooner you get out of your body, the sooner they stop.

Ignore any noises or voices you hear before or during a projection attempt - no matter how real or loud they may appear to be. These are a type of auditory hallucination with no real substance. If you feel anything touching you or tugging at you, or even hands grabbing at you, ignore them. These are a type of tactile hallucination. None of these hallucinations can hurt you, but they can distract you - can break your nerve and focus - and lessen your chances for a successful projection, if you react to them.

Keep all early successful projections ultrashort. Ten seconds out then jump straight back into your body. Please trust me on this! Your chances of recalling that projection will then be dramatically increased. A ten-second projection remembered is worth a thousand all-nighters forgotten!

In many cases, just when the projection reflex is about to kick in, you might feel a sudden energetic surge rising through your stomach and chest area. This feels like a huge body rush of excitement. This sensation marks the moment of separation between the physical/etheric body and its projecting double. The projection reflex has been triggered and you are teetering right on the verge of the exit. You may or may not have experienced vibrations before or after this moment. Stay calm and try not to react to this sensation when it hits. If not handled carefully, this will throw you completely out of trance and back into the full waking state.

If the above happens and everything just stops cold, leaving you groggy and tired, or maybe even partially or fully paralyzed, it is a pretty safe bet you have already projected.

You have missed the exit due to the mind-split effect. Stay calm and keep your mind awake and clear; wait for your projected double to reenter. Return to the secondary full-body circuit at this time. Use this to keep your mind clear and occupied and awake until your projected double returns. The wisdom of keeping early projections ultrashort will now be demonstrated to you - if your projected double pays heed.

If you feel vibrations but they just go away, and you find yourself groggy or paralyzed, again, chances are you have already projected and have missed the exit due to the mind-split effect. It then becomes a matter of trying to stay semiconscious until your projected double returns. It should not keep you waiting for too long, not if you kept the projection ultrashort. Be patient and try to recapture the projection during reintegration by keeping your mind clear. Full memories of the projection experience will flood into your mind during reintegration, if everything goes according to plan.

Keep in mind that in some cases it is possible to find yourself buzzing out of body, or flying up a tube-type structure, with only very mild exit sensations being present, if any. In the majority of early projections, though, these sensations will be present and they will be major, so always be prepared for them.

Some people have problems with the rope technique because they cannot stop visualizing the rope in their mind's eye.

Some say they find themselves bumping up against the ceiling and cannot go any farther. Some feel a great pile of rope building up beneath them. The solution to any problem like this is simple: if visualization is causing a problem, then use visualization to create a solution. For example, imagine that a small hole beneath you is swallowing up the used rope.

Or, imagine you are climbing through the ceiling and up into the sky instead of hitting the ceiling.

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