Thoughts on Lucid Dreaming vs OBEs

I just thought I'd add another short post to keep everyone informed as to my thoughts on this new task I have undertaken where I am now trying to make even my 'routine dreams' into lucid ones and then transform them into OOBE's or APs....

As one who frequently gets OOB, I realize now that there is a difference between being able to start from the 'climbing out' stage into an OBE and learning to make my 'regular' dreams more lucid to change them into OOBEs. It's interesting to see how these 'dream signs' or signals are so prevalent in our nightly dreams, but we never take advantage of them because somehow we just 'accept' them as normal.

Night before last I had vivid dreams of different situations that I should have been able to become lucid with, but somehow just accepted the events as 'normal' and kept dreaming. Those memories are easily recalled as just 'dreams' - as I did not become lucid to move into a controlled event.

Again last night I had a dream in which there were unusual events happening but never caught on that I was dreaming until I saw my EX-husband in my home, adamantly claiming he belonged there. At this point, I KNEW this was not true, and was able to 'let go' of whatever situation I was in and move onto other tasks.

The problem now is that my 'wakefulness' after such a transitional dream is not the same as the 'pull back' during an OBE, and hence I lose recall quickly as there is no 'time' to use key words to remember as I do with OOBEs. This is a bit frustrating, but I know with time, it shall improve!

Thanks to everyone for reading these posts and those who email to tell me how much they enjoy my blog. It truly makes my efforts to keep this going easier!

129) Learning to become lucid with signals

9/5/10

To give a little background, I am currently reading a book about lucid dreaming that, despite my familiarly with doing so, teaches me more about how to ‘become aware’ while dreaming. The author talks about ‘dream signs’, which I call ‘signals’, and in reviewing my account below, realize that there were many, many signals that I did not pick up on. This makes it more likely, IMO, that should certain repeated signals occur anytime again, I should hopefully transition my awareness to the fact that I am within a dream and can take control!

My first recollection as I lie on the couch, thinking I was still awake, was of my dog Buddy (who has recently passed over to the other side) coming up to me as I lie there, nudging my face and licking me excitedly!! I was thrilled to see him again, and thought nothing of the fact that despite petting him, feeling him, and hearing him, I could not see him!

In hindsight as I write this, I cannot clearly recall any type of visual image of him, but am absolutely certain he was with me! It is amazing to think that your consciousness can ‘register’ this as an ‘otherwordly visit’ as I knew it was, yet not realize I was just as ‘otherwordly’ ( as in OOB!) so that I could know he was there! It was processed as a ‘normal’ event to have him here, and I got up to play with him in my living room.

The room appeared just as it does now, and I frolicked and played with him, so happy he was here. I had a ball that I rolled to him and he returned it just as easily. During this time, as Buddy faded away, I was standing in the living room wondering what time it was. I looked at the clock on the TV, and realized it was not working (possible signal). Another clock nearby said it was 7am and I knew it couldn’t be that late!(possible signal)

I heard my husband call down from upstairs asking me to bring up the camera (as I assumed at the time the new kitten we recently got was doing something cute). I was a bit frustrated to think that my time to sleep was over and I was not going to get OOB tonight. There was someone else with me in the room, a younger person, yet I didn’t think this was unusual at all! (possible signal)

At this point, I look around the living room, and start to wonder maybe this COULD be a dream! There was nothing specific that caused me to realize this, but once I did, something told me that there just might be more to this situation than I’m realizing!

I take a good hard look around the room, and I take notice how ‘real’ everything looks. It’s perfectly in order, and I have a strong sense of ‘reality’ and that things are just as they should be. However, SOMEthing is causing me to question my ‘reality’, and therefore, once that happens, I know that I have to take a chance that I am dreaming!

I move quickly to the side door, knowing full well that if I should happen to be in ‘real life’ reality, I will just hit the door with a thud. But, for some reason, I knew there was a chance I could be actually OOB so I continued without much thought of consequences. (Key point – you can’t analyze any situation, you just have to go and do if there is ANY question of your ‘reality’ state – because you know if you are in ‘real life’ reality, there is NO question of it!)

Since I wasn’t completely sure of my status until I passed easily through the side door, I was AMAZED to find myself now KNOWING that I WAS OOB! My full awareness of my freedom made me so happy, and I flew up to the tree tops, gliding and swooping in my usual playful manner.

I remember saying over and over, ‘its so nice to not be afraid! I’m not afraid of anything!’ and doing all sorts of handstands and flips, with my feet over my head and then finding children gathered around me joining in the fun! At one point, I did recall that I questioned what was it that I wanted to do when I got out? But I was SO happy enjoying the freedom that I didn’t pursue it further.

I moved to an area where there was a sharp drop off over a hill, and just kept flying over it, diving down the side of the hill knowing I could not be hurt and there was no reason to fear anything! As I came up, I saw other people nearby, but saw they were all yelling and running away from something.

Without fear, I went to investigate, and saw that a wild boar was running along side of a building, heading for a huge central lake where everyone was gathered. As the people ran away, I aimed directly for the boar as he jumped in, again knowing there was no fear of injury.

I gathered it in my arms, pat it softly and gently calmed the animal down. Others now came up to me and surrounded us, and as I watched, the wild boar turned into a type of ‘cast iron piggybank’!! I recall saying, ‘good, now they can keep this safely in their room’ as it was no longer a threat to them.

It was at that point I woke and recorded as much information as I could remember. In reviewing this account, there were many times I should have picked up on a ‘dream sign’ or signal, yet I know with continued practice, I shall be able to become more lucid more often and turn more of my ‘dreams’ into a full OOBs.

ADDENDUM: I am sharing the title of the book I am reading here, as I find out it's practically considered the 'bible' of lucid dreaming!! If you haven't read it, you must! It offers great insight and techniques on becoming lucid within a dream, from which you can then take over and take control!! The book is "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming" by Stephen LaBerge and Howard Rheingold.

128) Seeing Buddy again; Dream image transitions

7.29.10

This OOBE was a series of exits and as I recorded them, I realized I could remember more and more bits of earlier information that then helped to pull it all together. This backward recall works great for picking up details when my ‘signal words’ may not be enough.

For this experience, however, I need to give a little background regarding recent events in my life. I have had a loving pet for the past 13 years, a black lab named Buddy whom you might remember has traveled with me in a few of my experiences.

He recently took a turn for the worst and despite our best efforts, we had to make the decision to euthanize him. It was a difficult decision, but in looking into his eyes, I knew he was suffering and this had to be done. He passed peacefully to the other side with us at his side, and over the past few weeks, I have since wondered if he would be able to let me know he was ok. You will see that I got my answer…and am happy to report that he’s happy!

I moved to my ‘traveling couch’ after a few hours sleep, without a clear intention to seek Buddy, but always with those thoughts on my mind during waking hours.

My first awareness that I was out of body was after realizing I was ‘dreaming’ and somehow I knew I could just ‘move out’ and found myself heading for the front door, without any memory of ‘rolling out’. However, I find it’s difficult and heavy to move, and push hard to keep moving.

Once outside I take off flying, and despite still feeling sluggish, find myself up high in the dark sky looking off in the distance to a series of ‘stars’ or lights. It appears to be something in the shape of Texas (the state) and the words “Texas (something)” impressed in my memory. (However, you can see that it didn’t really stay impressed in my memory very well! Lol)

I started to fade back and remember saying, ‘oh no! I want to stay out!’ and then tried to ‘will myself’ back into the experience. I must have been successful because I found myself once again in a hallway near my front door and trying sluggishly to get out! However, on my right, a doorway appears and I go through it. I am disappointed to just find more hallways, some with blue and yellow walls.

I said, ‘I want out!’ and so I push hard to move through these halls, finally deciding to go right through the side of the wall to the outside! I pushed so hard with my back to try to get out, that my feet went up and over and I tumbled out into a free fall. Now it’s dark, and I think, ‘why can’t I see?’ A random scene I remember at some point was being told that I need to ‘control my urges better’ so I can ‘keep my coat on’ (?) This is what I recorded, but the feeling I had was this was a classroom sort of experience and that I needed to learn to ‘buckle down’ in order to learn properly.

Next I recall something about a female interacting with me from up high on my left, as if she was on a rooftop or ledge, talking. During our talk, something gave me the awareness that I was ‘dreaming’, and I remember thinking, ‘hey, let me try talking directly to her’ so I actually interrupt her to ask, ‘who are you?’ She stopped, and gave me a one word answer (Carol?) but then I didn’t pay much attention because at that point, I realized it was a ‘signal’ that told me I was OOB!

I take off, and start flying again, only to find myself on a bus with a group of people (a musical group or band of sorts) and we were supposed to be on a trip visiting someplace. I remember I had no clothes packed with me (so it told me I wasn’t planning on being here), and we are on this bus in a parking lot outside of a retail store. The bus is not broken down, but there is some problem going on where we have to wait on the bus while others are inside the store getting supplies. This is loud rowdy group of people, and as I walk to the front of the bus, I see a huge wave of water that starts coming out of the store! I think, ‘wow, there must have been a water main break and that’s why they told us not to use the water!’

The scene transitioned back to my living room, only this time, I’m still out of body and heading for the side door. It’s difficult to move, but I notice that there is water all around me! It’s not deep, only up to my knees and I decide to just dive in and swim! I find it much easier to move now in the water, using my arms to move out the door and to the side yard. There is water everywhere, and I’m enjoying the fun of swimming.

I see a big fish in the water swimming ahead of me, thinking the water must be rather dirty to be swimming in, but then looked around and was amazed to see it was kept so clean and clear! I’m thinking that my dog Buddy would have loved to play in this water with me, and that makes me realize I can look for him!!

Up to my left, on the ledge over the water, I am aware of two dogs. The first, bigger dog is an unfamiliar huge chocolate colored curly haired dog that makes me think he is bringing the other dog to me, who has to be Buddy! There is a flash of ‘dark’ light, and the next I knew I was being nuzzled and licked by a very happy Buddy who is doing his usual little ‘happy dance’ and snorting that SO confirmed to me it was him! It was a VERY brief encounter, and my feeling at this time was that it was still ‘early’ in his new role for him to stay much longer.

Although this experience seemed to have a lot of ‘dream imagery’ with multiple exits and scenes that may seem confusing, I am very happy to know that there was an absolute confirmation for me that my Buddy lives on and is happy and content living on the other side where I know I’ll see him again!

127) Spontaneous OBE with learned signals

Well, it seems my experiences are definitely on the upswing for now! I'm sharing what happened just this am...seems like I'm 'geared' now to take even simple 'dreams' and convert them to OOBs when I have the time and make the effort! This caught me off guard, as I had no plans on doing so! :)

7/22/10 8a -9a

This experience was unusual as it was a ‘spontaneous’ OOB that happened this am as I had the luxury of lying in bed for a bit later than usual and just ‘drifting off’ after my initial waking.

It was a ‘dream conversion’ OBE, short as it was, as I had had no intention or plans for getting OOB. This was an interesting experiment, in hindsight, to see how well I have learned to become ‘lucid’ within a dream to take control.

It started with my wading through water, flooded areas (we just had a ton of rain here and I’m sure the video I saw on the news last night brought up this memory). I was in the back fields by home with my brother, and found myself nearly knee deep in water in my good jeans and shoes! (Amazing I could even recall exactly what I was wearing! lol)

Problems arose when I realized I was sinking into the muck and mud underneath, like a quick sand effect. Despite my brother being there (as we are not on good terms right now), I did not want to ask him for help, so looked for help elsewhere.

I found a small patch of dry land with grass, and with much effort, pulled myself free from the enveloping muddy waters.

Then the scene quickly transitioned to my driving a car over a bridge at dusk, knowing more water was underneath me. I remember looking up and seeing a small fish ‘swimming’ ABOVE me over the side of the bridge!! THAT was definitely a signal, as I became very lucid, realizing that I couldn’t possibly be really awake and seeing that!

So I am now continuing to drive the car, knowing I’m likely dreaming, and wondering where am I going? What am I doing? but just not really sure. It’s a very curvy road and I know that if I am NOT OOB, then this could be dangerous. However, armed with that small degree of ‘doubt’, I just took the chance and moved out of the car!

Now, instead of finding myself OOB, I see I am only able to hang out of the car window as it continues to drive! So I decide I AM really OOB, and take advantage of trying some acrobatics while seated on the car! lol I can still remember leaning way over the side, with leg in air and head hanging off the car, absolutely having some fun!

This convinced me I was near OOB and realizing I had to get fully out, so I affirm “to the door! to the door!” but then think that’s strange to say here, as I’m already ‘outdoors’! So I remember that I have to ‘roll out’ of body first!

Things still just ‘felt different’ and I was confused as to what was going on. (Later I realize it likely had to do with the fact that I had not planned on this OOB experience and I was not in my usual position on the couch, but lying in my bed upstairs!)

Not being in my usual spot, I couldn’t figure out how to move or roll out! I rolled to the left, as I always do on the couch, but this time I was unable to move away once out! This confusion as to my new location on the bed next to my body gave me enough confusion to pull back to awareness and awaken fully.

Next time, I’ll be better prepared!

126) Tagging, Doubt signal; Medical MD; Bridge bombing; Mirror

7.18.10

This morning I had a series of OOB exits and experiences, with one exceptionally long and detailed with many activities. However, as per usual, when pulling back to awareness, you are not able to perceive or incorporate many of these details into the physical conscious mind for proper interpretation, IMO.

Regardless, I was able to ‘tag’ a few events and have enough memories of some activities that I shall share here with you. In looking at the length of this post, I’m thinking the readers may be glad I didn’t remember many more details! lol

(Just a reminder, ‘tagging’ of events is what I do to try to retain as much detail as I can while within the OOB as I’m beginning to pull back. I give a one word tag to various events, and as I pull back, repeat these tags over and over in my mind until I can find myself full aware and able to record the event. The tags allow me to ‘fade back’ into the experience once the recorder is on, and I can recall a few more specific details.)

My very first ‘experience’ was a short one, as I am lying on my ‘traveling couch’ in the living room, thinking I’m still wide awake and doing my induction sequences. I hear someone walk into the living room from the bedroom hallway, thinking, “Oh great, my husband is up and I’ll have to get up now.”

However, past experience has taught me well that despite the absolute ‘knowing’ that I hear these steps, I ‘fake’ sleep and continue on. I was not disappointed, as the steps continued over to me as I lie on the couch, then wrap their arms around me and lie on top so that I feel their hug.

Inititally, I had no clue who this could be, as I felt it to be a grown adult, but when she started talking I knew it was my daughter. (Who is currently living 3000 miles from me and still what I consider a young adult!)

She says something about “32” or “42” and that “I still don’t know what I want to do” and then a ‘I love you!” I sent love back to her as I felt her fade away. I awoke fully and recorded this, thinking that this may be a reference to our conversation on the phone a few days ago, and very glad I didn’t awaken myself when hearing the footsteps I felt sure were ‘real’.

I settled back in, and once again after a short while, found myself driving my car on a road near my home, heading home. (You may remember that the ‘car’ is a frequent ‘signal’ for me to know it’s time to get OOB – and it’s a good analogy actually as your physical body is merely the ‘vehicle’ for your consciousness!)

To become ‘aware’ that I’m driving while dreaming, I’ll share a little key element that I use. Any time I am driving, whether in ‘physical’ or dreams, I ask myself, “Is this real?” Now, everyone knows that WITHOUT A DOUBT you are driving your car when you are doing it in the physical. I take note of my ‘reality’ many times as I drive to work, feeling the steering wheel, hearing the noises, and feeling the ‘solidness’ of my being, even looking at my hands to see how they look. I KNOW I am in physical, and there is NO doubt.

Now, I have learned to do this as I drive in the dreams as well, BECAUSE I do it so often as I drive here in physical! So this time, I’m driving my car, and I have that ‘little tiny’ doubt that I just ‘might be’ dreaming, and armed with this knowledge, I now KNOW I can ‘take off’ into an OBE!!

On another forum, I read that looking at your hands can give you the signal that you are dreaming, because there will be a ‘change’ in appearance that you will ‘question’. The key is that if there is ANY degree of doubt, take off and fly!! This goes for any ‘signal’ you have while dreaming, because when in physical, you are certain of your status, but while getting OOB, the smallest ‘doubt’ or ‘unusual’ event can trigger your awareness.

In this particular exit, I also was given a ‘signal’ to give me this ‘doubt’ when I saw an elderly gentleman animatedly talking on a cell phone on the side of the road as I drove past. I recall thinking, “that’s unusual to see such an old man using a cell phone” which immediately clicked in my mind that something was ‘different’. Seeing I was driving, and then having that ‘doubt’ as to whether I really was, was enough for me to just ‘take off’ and move up and out!

Now I let go of the wheel as I pull back and feel the wonderful freedom of flying OOB! It’s been a long time since I have done so, and I remember enjoying it SO much! I could see tall buildings in the distance, and was just having so much fun floating and bobbing…but I was aware enough to know that I had to do something ‘constructive’ while out, but also remember saying, “Oh, just a few more minutes of this, please!”

My next recollection was that I was back on the couch, but ready to ‘roll out’. I am not sure how I knew this, but I just didn’t think about it and rolled. As I’m rolling out, I think again, “just how am I going to know for sure that I’m really out?” and with that, found myself on the floor, on my hands and knees, feeling the coolness of the wooden floor.

Now I KNOW I’m OOB, and start to move away, but it’s so difficult! I can’t seem to fight the tugging sensation that wants me back in body! I pull and pull, without even remembering that my usual “to the door!” affirmation is what works. Finally, I pull hard enough to get to the side of the couch, and realizing I wasn’t going to go further this way, figured, “oh well, I’ll just go ‘inward now!’ to try to move.”

As I intended ‘inward now!’, I spun a little and then felt the floor disappear beneath my hands and became encompassed within total blackness. I felt a floating sensation, and then found myself fading back on the couch to full awareness. I was disappointed that I didn’t go anywhere, but very happy that I was able to get out in the ‘near physical’ once again!

Once again, after recording, I try to get back into the same mind frame with my induction visualizations, this time impressing my memory with the need to use “to the door!” if I am successful.. While I’m doing so, I think I’m still awake when I hear the side door open and my brother walking in (which he often does in physical) and hollering for me, not knowing I’m ‘sleeping’ nearby on the couch.

It sounded SO authentic, as he has done many times, but this time, I decided I’d just ‘pretend’ to be asleep because there was the little tiny degree of ‘doubt’ in my mind as to whether this was real or not. I figured if it was ‘real’, then I’d know for sure in just a few moments!

I didn’t respond to him walking about the room and talking to me, and I recall him saying, “Wow, she must really be deeply asleep because she’s not responding!” Funny thing is, I felt I WAS awake and just wanted to ‘pretend’ for a bit.

Again, as he faded away, somehow I knew that I was ready to get out of body. THIS time I rolled off the couch and when I felt that same tugging, I remembered that pulling doesn’t work and so I turned around with my back to the side door and affirmed, “to the door!” over and over again, remembering my learning from earlier exit.

Now I’m moving backward, quickly, toward the door and am thinking, “when will I get there?” My answer was given as I felt the change as I passed through the wall and into a more ‘open’ and lighter environment.

This is the start of the very long OOB experience that seemed to go on forever. During the different events, I remember thinking, “if I keep going, I’m not going to remember it all!” But a few tagged events are recalled here, and most of them relate to different areas of concern that I am currently encountering in my physical life.

I was in a building with many rooms, and in each room I went in, met different people and encountered different events. One room had a doctor there with a male patient, who appeared to have a ‘bump’ on his nose that was about to be removed. A female was sitting at the side of the patient, with a feeling that she was there more for the doctor’s entertainment than the patient’s welfare.

I moved next to the patient, and the doctor made a remark about ‘oh, I have another one here’ as if he wanted to show off his work. I was appalled when the doctor then talked about how it was this particular patient’s misfortune to need so many surgeries on his skin, yet how happy he was that it paid for all his children’s school tuition! I was upset because I felt he was doing this only for his own benefit, not the welfare of the patient.

There was another event shortly afterward with some unusual events occurring. Keeping with this medical theme, the next I recall was two men (terrorists) who were remarking how easy it is to get into the American medical schools when you are a foreigner. They both were working to set up a tank on this bridge so that it’d shoot directly across. But first, they had to destroy the bridge by placing a bomb on a part they had separated, and then jump back to the piece of bridge with the tank.

When the bomb went off too soon, the tank was unable to keep afloat, and I recall seeing the two men and tank immersed in the water. I remember they had been making fun of the Americans because of how easy it was being a foreigner and taking shortcuts. However, the lesson was that it was because they did not do it the ‘American’ way with the safety checks, that the bomb backfired and they were now getting hurt being in water that was ‘electrically’ charged.
A few bits I recall after this scene involved two American officers, each blaming each other for this event. One said that ‘they told to me to watch for this, and I didn’t’ and the other officer was feeling bad saying ‘no, I should have seen it coming’.

During one of my moves to a room, I recall walking down a hallway and seeing a good friend, Lisa, from my previous work. (She is still in physical body). She was her usual laughing and bubbly self, and I was so happy to see her there! I asked how she was, and as she answered, she told me something I said I had to make note of to remember. But, I have no idea what it was as it was lost in the myriad of experiences here.

I remember one last experience in a different room that was ‘tagged’ to be remembered as I felt it was something I needed to write about. (I can actually remember while in this room that I needed to remember this one, so ‘tagged’ it with a few words).

This was a smaller room, and in looking around, saw that it was piled high and cluttered with lots of miscellaneous stuff, including various costumes and general ‘junk’. I felt it to be ‘my room’ of sorts, and in looking around, found a small mirror on the wall – like those small somewhat distorted locker mirrors you can get. The glass was definitely not clear, but clouded a bit.

When I saw it, I remembered that I had read where others have wondered what happens when you are OOB and look into one. Thinking this would be a great experience to write up, I went over to the mirror and looked at myself.

Seeing no reflection, I said, ‘oh, well that’s interesting, I guess you don’t see anything!’ but then just as I said that, my face appeared. Only my face was distorted, with white wavy “runny” lines around the eyes, and a multitude of ‘spots’ on my face. Noticing my hair was very short in the mirror, I said, ‘oh, that can’t be me because my hair is longer.’ As I said this, my hair in the mirror grew longer, fuller, and thicker each time I glanced at it, and my face began to clear up. I thought, ‘well now, that looks like me and my hair…just look how I can do that!’ amazed at the transformation I saw.

Now I’m beginning to pull back to consciousness, with the fading transition process that I am well used to. Many times this is where I have my ‘false awakenings’, somehow knowing that I’m not fully awake to record.

This time, because I had just had a discussion with someone about the different ‘layering’ of astral realms, I was aware enough to remember that I need to take note of my ‘pull back’ to see what, if any, differences there was in the layers as I become more ‘conscious’.

All I could take note of was that each time I got ‘lighter’ I lost more information about the OBE! The more awake, the more I lost and I felt no real difference between the different ‘layers’ except with my memory recall. This time there was no ‘false awakening’ and so I could not see if that ‘felt’ different than what I experienced here.

This entire experience was over the course of two hours, but it felt SO much longer! There was so much I did, and so much I lost in recall. Thankfully, my ‘tagging’ worked enough to get this much out and I’m hoping I didn’t lose anyone with such a long post!

125) Bits of OOBEs - Crossing over, meeting up, tower view

It has been a few weeks since I’ve been able to have a ‘good’ OBE in the sense that it’s one I can share in any type of story. It seems that last few OOBE have been so ‘deep’ that the memories are more disjointed and haphazard, and upon waking, so fast to disappear that I do not have the ability to recall much of it.

One experience I had recently was one I have had before, so I will share with you what I remember. I was in that ‘half-asleep’ stage, one where I know I am ‘sleeping’ yet aware that something is going on. I hear this very loud roar, and this time it was accompanied by a sudden all encompassing ‘blackness’.

My feeling at this time was as if I was in a car as it was being washed away in a mudslide! It was sudden and felt like an ‘ending’ of some kind, and it was my peaceful acceptance that I was transitioning to the ‘other side’ that I remember the most. I was not fearful nor upset in any way, almost as I knew if this was to be the ‘end’ of my physical existence. In thinking about this, I believe my OOB experiences have given me such a firm belief in the existence of our ‘selves’ after physical death, that even if I find myself ‘transitioning’, whether in dream state or for real, I have absolutely no fear. That is such a powerful feeling to have!

Another recent OBE was very deep and I have only glimpses of recall that don’t make a lot of sense. What I recorded was that it started by talking with someone who had discovered a ‘hole’ in the earth, one that led to a cave-like labyrinth underground. I remember peering into the very deep hole, seeing the different types of ‘rock formations’ and talking with those there.

Next memory is of a man who was not careful by the hole and proceeded to fall in! Thankfully I was able to grasp his arm and bring him back up to solid ground. The next recall was the group of us in the car and there was something unusual that happened in the car that made me become aware that I was OOB. I took off, and remember one male ‘guide’ stayed with me the entire time. Only memories I have are of being in a ‘courtyard’ of sorts, and the medieval type dress that the men were wearing.

The only ‘control’ I remember having was flying up toward the big beautiful moon, knowing I’d like to meet a friend who also loved astronomy, and with a sudden but huge flash of light, knew he was there with me! It lasted very briefly, yet was profound enough to KNOW that it was him! (Correlating later found that my friend also had a ‘hypnogogic’ image of my eyes looking back at him while he was in a meditative mindstate!)

At the very end of this disjointed experience, I recall walking around a ‘flea market’ of some kind, where items are being sold that people no long want to have. A few women came up to me, and gave me some green color trinkets which I appreciated, but then gave them away to another who needed it more.

This was another ‘deep’ experience, IMO, due to the transition back to wakeful consciousness having many ‘levels’. Each time I moved ‘back’ toward wakefulness, I would attempt to record my experiences, but somehow knew I was not ‘awake enough’ to be physically doing it. This happened at least three times before I found myself fully awake enough to actually record this. Each time I ‘thought’ I was recording, more and more memories were lost.

This last OBE was just recently, and again, I knew I was out of body, but wasn’t able to fully control my actions. I was in a 'half-sleep' state, as I could still hear outdoor sounds from the window, when I found myself ‘lifting’ up a tower of some sort. At one point, I became aware my daughter was with me as I was lifting!!!

It was a totally different exit, but I KNEW I was out!! My daughter and I moved up high from the room we were in, holding hands, and found ourselves exiting at the top of a 'tower' like structure. I had wanted to 'show her' something beautiful, and at the very top, she became frightened because we were up so high. We were overlooking a BEAUTIFUL shimmering landscape - I can still recall the lake, rolling hills, and so many vibrant colors!

To ease her fears of going too high, I held onto the 'railing' at the top of the tower to show her we would not go any higher as my other hand still held her. She was amazed at the beauty, as was I...and even more amazing for me, I was astounded at the 360 degree vision I had!! I could see ALL around me without moving or turning!!!

This experience happened very quickly, and all at once...and I recall I returned to body differently too, with this long falling sensation before transitioning to full awareness.

124) Into the Earth again; Possible picnic/swimming retrieval

June 13, 2010 5:30am – 6:15am

On my 'traveling couch', I became aware of noises like the TV was on in the living room where I was lying, and knew this to be my usual signal that I was about to get OOB. As I think this, I hear someone coming into the room and to the couch where I am lying to give me a hug.

I feel the ‘energy’ of this hug more than a physical touch, and am now aware it’s my daughter (who is not here in the house at this time). As she hugs me, she states, “Pretty people!” (?) and starts to walk back toward her room.

I roll out of body and wanted to follow her, so I shouted her name, but as I moved out, I floated up toward the ceiling and realized my vision was SO clear!! I could see perfectly out my front window and so wanted to go out! So I shouted again to my daughter, “I’m going to take off for a little bit!”

Floating up, I actually bumped into the ceiling and at that point realized I wasn’t going to go out that way. Determined to get out, I thought if I can’t go up, I’ll go down! So I affirmed ‘into the Earth!” to try to get out that way!

(I remembered Rosalind McKnight had done this on her travels with Robert Monroe and I had done this one other time (see my blog post #24 ). However, that time upon getting into the Earth very deep, I started panicking a bit and transitioned quickly. This time I felt confident I could do it!)

I started moving down into the floor, seeing my basement and then into the earth. It was total darkness, a pure 3D blackness with a sense of movement that became more apparent as I saw tiny specks white ‘sparkles’ whizzing past me (rather like moving through space with the stars!) I even remember doing a one armed superman pose as I flew!

As I’m watching these sparkles, they became more of an organized pattern to them, and eventually became beautiful patterns of ‘lace-like’ structures that formed more complete ‘lace-like’ structures! It was just so beautiful to see these patterns, and I tried to take note of their specific pattern to remember the details, but all I recorded was, “it’s just like small pieces of perfect lace (coming at me with the sense of movement) with swirling and fleur-de-lis (swan?) patterns that create a larger more perfect ‘lace’ type structure!”

The next memory was of feeling intense ‘heat’ and knowing I was ‘within the Earth’. I realized that the last time I was here I felt fear and returned. This time I clearly remember thinking, “I’m safe, I’m OOB and I can’t get hurt!”

The heat built to a point where now I felt an INTENSE ‘magnetic-type’ energy sensation, as if inside a huge magnetron (don’t ask me how I ‘knew’ this but that’s what I thought at the time!) I then realized if I’m inside the Earth, it must be due to the iron core.

(Whether this is even possible, I don’t know, but I’m sharing my thoughts at the time) The all encompassing tense tight sensation nearly paralyzed me as I stopped moving. I was not afraid, but I did not know what was happening.

My next recall was in a room, bouncing around from one wall to the other, having fun, and thinking that this ‘magnetism’ somehow allowed me to bounce around like this!

This room was felt to be my bedroom, but nothing like it is in real life. The radio was playing next to the bed, but I knew it wasn’t supposed to be on. This ‘signal’ told me that I was still OOB, and to prove it, I reached over and touched it, and it turned off! I said, “darn! I just woke myself up “(which in reality I still wasn’t awake!)

Details exactly what happened in the room are few, but I do know there were people there I was talking to, and at some point, I remembered it was the same young mother from the next scene, as I was trying to convince her it was ok to leave to go swimming with the children.

The next memory was now outside on a picnic with these same people, this time I recall it was a mother, 2-3 young children (two boys at least) and their grandmother. They are sitting at the picnic table, and I’m telling them again it’s ok to go to the pool and swim, but they indicated “they didn’t want supervision”(?). The boys now were all sticky and dirty from some ice cream and chocolate syrup they just ate, and I thought this would be the best time to convince them to go swimming, as it would help ‘clean up’ the kids!

They eventually left, and now I’m sitting at picnic table trying to record what I remembered, but still aware I was OOB! However, at least I this time I knew it wasn’t going to record since I’m still out and just laid the recorder on the table, giving up.

I moved away, looking back at the empty picnic table, and feeling confident that everyone had left the area. I then transitioned to full wakefulness, knowing NOW I could record what little details I could remember!

(In hindsight, I am not sure if this was another retrieval or not, but I did feel compelled to convince these people that they had to move to another area and felt happy when they did!)

123) Exiting awareness; Possible retrieval with fire

5/31/10

It has been a few weeks since I have had the time and intent to get out of body. It is not because I didn’t want to, but physical life issues and events take precedence at all times and when you need to focus on THIS life, then the OOB life must take a step back.

I am happy to report that life here is now settling down, and going well. I have been in contact recently with a few people who have shared their own OOB experiences and have asked questions, and this, in combination with my reaffirmed intent to begin OBEs again, I was successful in getting out this morning!

I tried a different approach this time, moving to another bedroom after a few hours of sleep instead of my usual ‘traveling couch’ in the living room. I can remember thinking that I may have a more difficult time getting ‘to the door!’ and outside as I would have to travel down a long hallway and navigate through other rooms. This concern carried through into my OBE, as once I did get out, I fully remembered that I had to move a different way to get outside!!

Using my usual technique of white light protection, affirmations, and energy movement visualizations, I felt I was having difficulty getting into the right frame of mind, because I felt so wide awake all the time!

I just relaxed, and let go….and it was then that I heard what I thought was someone in the hallway outside the room. It was odd noises, and then a voice of a relative that I KNEW could not really be in my house! My first instinct was to ‘wake’ and see what’s going on, but then when I realized that this was likely a ‘signal’ I was ready, I ‘let go’ again and willed the vibrations to begin.

I felt soft vibrations, and then made them stronger with intent. Knowing I was nearly ready to separate because I had ‘heard’ those noises as a signal, I then just took the initiative and sat up! I felt heavy, and lots of pulling, but persisted knowing I could do this and rolled out of bed!

Immediately, I was standing next to my bed, fully alert and awake!! My mind was SO very clear in my thinking process, that I remembered I was in a new room and would need to navigate a bit more to get outdoors. (Why I didn’t think to just go through the wall, I don’t know!!)

As I moved to the bedroom door, it was very dark. I affirmed “vision now!” (a new one for me, as I usually used “clarity now!”) and it worked perfectly!! I could see the way out, and moved down the long hallway to the living room where I could see flickering as if the TV was on.

I knew it wasn’t really on, and as I neared the living room, it all became dark again. Once again, I affirmed, “Vision now!” and like a lightbulb, my vision was clear. I moved quickly to the front door, knowing SOMEone was in the living room, but my focus was on getting outside as quickly as possible!

Once outdoors, I began flying…as I SO enjoy that sensation! This time, however, it was not the fast zooming and flipping as I used to do, but a slow methodical movement where I was able to truly enjoy the sensation and views.

As I flew, I remember seeing residences and neighborhood that were not familiar to my own area. At one point, I want to feel that ‘freefall’ sensation, and just opened my arms to slowly fall freely to the earth. Once down on the earth, I saw a tall pine tree and gently floated up to the very top where I could see the pointed tip. It was just so much fun to be so relaxed and comfortable flying.

Now, I know there was more to this experience than what I remember. A few points I do recall was one when I was flying over some electrical or telephone wires – a set of 5 or 6 of them in a group. As I flew over, I could ‘feel’ a static-type buzzing below me that emanated from them!

Another time, I recall getting out of a car (someone was in the car with me, but no recall as to why or what we did), and as I did, a little dog (similar to a Cairn Terrier) came running up to me. She was so happy, jumping up on me and I recall saying, “Hello, girl! How are you?!” at the same time wondering how I knew it was a female dog! (I never had a dog like this)

I also recall meeting another larger dog during this OOB experience, laughing and playing with him and just enjoying it all, but do not know where it fits within the story!

The part that I do remember was the ending of the experience, likely because that was where the memories are the strongest. I entered a room where there was a little girl sitting at a table. She appeared to be a light-skinned black girl less than 5 years old with very, very thin grey (?) hair, very small, as if chronically ill or malnourished. I feel intense sadness associated with her, as if she was so lonely and sick.

I went up to talk with her, and as I got closer, another older female came into the room, a motherly feeling to her. I do not know why they were there, but I knew they had to get out of that room. An older child was just off to my right, but did not interact with me.

Suddenly, I saw ‘smoke’ coming from a corner of the room, and told the mother, “look! There’s smoke! It could be a fire!” and got no response. Getting closer, I was able to now see actual flames starting to burn through the grated area below the smoke, and took control of the situation.

I told the mother, “It IS a fire! Take the baby and go, now!! Get out!!” giving her no option but to quickly gather the child and run out of the room to what looked to be a large parking lot area. The baby is crying, and I can see she is sickly and needs care. I shout for someone to bring them blankets, and that was when all the help arrived. People were coming from all over to help them, and my last recall was watching the family as they were enveloped with those who would provide for them. I faded to full wakefulness at this point.

Was this a ‘retrieval’ of some kind? I don’t know. But I do know that I totally enjoyed being out of body once again, this time in a more relaxed enjoyable manner. I am still amazed that I have such clarity of mind when doing this, feeling as if I am truly ‘awake’ and participating in another life!

122) Close to physical with help, Face tingles

April 22, 2010

This experience is a bit disjointed as I only have pieces of recall that I attempted to put together into some sort of sequence. I know I did all these things and so much more, but honestly I cannot recall much of what or when it was done.

I first became aware of my ‘floating’ parts of my body which was my usual signal that I was ready to exit. I was VERY aware in the sense that I ‘felt’ awake and conscious, despite the floating sensation. Figuring I’ll just ‘go with it’, I attempted to roll out and exit, finding if very difficult to do! There was a lot of pulling and tugging required, but with some effort found myself out and moving to the door.

Halfway across the room, I remember I wanted to do something special, but couldn’t recall what it was! So I just decided to affirm ‘to the door!’ but then couldn’t decide which door I wanted! (Both the front door and side door have been different exit points for me). I moved to the side door (which was just a bit farther away) but then found I couldn’t move! Standing next to the window, I decided I’d just ditch out the window!

I felt SO very aware and conscious, everything was so crystal clear and in proper ‘physical’ form and it was actually a different sensation than I was used to. Knowing I was ‘out’, I just moved into the wall slowly by the window, but surprisingly found it hard to get through! I even remember thinking, "wow, I hope I don’t get stuck between the walls" – knowing full well that I wouldn’t! But the clear conscious thinking was just amazing to me.

I saw the ground outside below where I was exiting and remember in order to get fully out, I had to ‘imagine’ I was ‘freefalling’ to the grass below, trusting the knowledge that I couldn’t get hurt falling.

I fell, floating gently, and then was surprised to distinctly FEEL the grass tickling my face as I lay face down on the earth! I was so ‘heavy’ to move and then ‘felt’ someone nearby mentally talking to me. I feel arms around my waist and now begin moving again, happy to have some company to help me go where I wanted.

I remember wanting to zoom up to the trees, but couldn’t – yet I was moving places with this ‘person’ (my feeling – my guide) assisting me. I could hear my own voice clearly communicating with him/her (there was a non-gender feeling) and their answers, but have no idea what we talked about.

At one point I could hear music in the background, like a radio playing as we entered one area, and I remember asking if we could ‘change the station’ as I didn’t care for the type of music that was playing! Later one song I remember hearing, after the ‘station change’, was Uptown Girl.

One request I had was to try to zoom to the moon again, as I have had in the past, and felt the fast backward tunnel movementknowing I should be seeing something like stars, but didn’t. It felt like I wasn’t really getting anywhere, but there was the definite sensation of movement. The other memory I have is of floating and the opening vision of beautiful countryside, and then that of a light brown stone dam surrounded by other stone architecture. I have no idea where or what this was.

Another memory I recall was ‘playing’ with those arms that encircled my waist for this entire experience, feeling them, moving them, and trying to tell him/her what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go.

The last memory is the feeling of slight waking, finding myself on the couch (as I was), and begging to continue to do more. I could feel buzzing, and willed the vibrations to increase as I didn’t want the experience to end.

Now I sensed those hands again, this time in front of my face, doing something (rubbing them together?) before they proceeded to touch my forehead and trace down my face to my cheeks and chin. I felt SUCH a good ‘tingle’ vibration after that, and again, a second time the hands rubbed together (?), and touched my face from forehead to chin, giving me a wonderful tingling sensation that felt SO good!

It was then that I awoke fully, but as always, those elusive memories with the specific details were lost. I so wish I could put what I ‘felt’ into words, but this is the best I can do.

121) Long & Deep, Former Pets, Little Girl, Guide

This OBE was rather limited in recall due to the length of ‘time’ I was out! I even remembered thinking while out of body, if I don’t stop this now, I will not be able to recall all the details so far!

IMO, it’s not really a matter of ‘time’ as we know it, but a matter of ‘depth of experiences’ that measures how ‘long’ you are out!

Yet, regardless of the fact that I may not be able to write much, I made the conscious decision to continue on, probably because I have had such limited OOB excursions lately that I really wanted to stay out! When faced with such a decision while out of body, I hope my readers don’t mind that I chose to limit their quality of learning this time…lol

I have to say, though, that this was another very ‘deep’ experience, as I can tell its depth by the degree of difficulty I have ‘pulling out’ of the experience. The ‘deeper’ I am, the more difficult it is to bring back cohesive memories that ‘fit’ according to our physical dimension beliefs. There will be events and actions that made perfect sense in the astral, yet when you try to bring them back to this physical thinking, it is interpreted as ‘non-sense’ or even rejected by the conscious mind because it doesn’t fit the usual patterns.

I know this because of the few bits of recall I have as I try to ‘pull’ these memories back with me as I awaken. With the ‘false awakenings’ I have, the ones where I think I AM recording already yet am not, tell me these memories may not even be meant to be brought back.

For this long OBE, I have great recall of the end where two times I thought I was recording, only to realize that the recorder was in pieces and unable to be used! This same ‘event’ has happened SO frequently that it is now a signal for me that if I find my recorder broken, I am NOT fully awake and need to pull up more!!

As I try to pull up more, I lose more and more recall! It is rather frustrating at times! I hold the recorder, and can still ‘feel’ those memories but cannot put it into words!

But there were some recall of events, and those I will gladly share. The first time I became aware of vibrations, I was more ‘awake’ than usual, and became excited to think that I was indeed going to get out! However, with this excitement, I felt the vibrations shut down!

So I tried again, and found myself ‘awake’, lying on the couch, with animals now coming up to the side of the couch. I was surprised to feel a cat jump on me, and walk down and around my body, but then ‘knew’ it was one of the cats I had had many years ago.

Hearing noises, I looked to my left and there in my living room were two dogs that I have known either through my childhood or young adult life. I was thrilled to see my beautiful brindle lab mix, Buddy (my first Buddy) that disappeared years ago and I never knew what happened to him. Next to him was the cocker spaniel, Jingles, shaking his head and flopping his ears as he always did!

I believe there were others there, but my attention was drawn to my feet, where once again something was ‘clamping down’ on my toes! I was aware of what it was at the time, but my recall only gave me the word ‘Polly pet’ or something like that and with the intensity of the toe-hold, my memories tell me it felt like they were being held in a bird’s beak! I have no idea who or what this was, but it took a bit of effort to convince ‘it’ to let go, and I was much relieved when it finally did!

The next recall was of being out and realizing someone was holding both my hands in front. I could see no one, yet distinctly felt the small hands. I asked, ‘who’s there?’ and was surprised to hear a young girl’s voice answering me.

I cannot recall her words, or what we talked about, but the memory of twirling her around, having fun and laughing remains with me! The only other bit of this experience I recorded was the memory of hearing her say, “Oh look! It’s (name)!” I cannot recall her name, or the name of whom she saw, but upon realizing she could ‘see’ someone else, I knew I had to hand her over. I said, “I guess you’d better go then” and handed her over to this other person that was now visible to her.

Now, I recorded a few things that don’t quite make sense about this, but thankfully, as I recorded what I ‘saw’, I also interpreted what I felt that helps makes more sense now.

I said she started out as an ‘infant’, and remember thinking ‘she’s so young she doesn’t know she has passed’….yet as I played with her, she became older, maybe around 3 years old. I recorded my impression that she was so used to be neglected that she remained an ‘infant’ in her mind, and that’s why when I paid attention to her, she became more normal size as she truly would be for her age.

Another memory was of trying to get out of the house, pulling and tugging hard to move to the window. I can still recall the difficulty I had trying to pass through the window – knowing I was OOB and could do it, yet having difficulty with the wall portion of the window.

Half my body was hanging outside as it passed easily through the glass portion, yet my lower half was having problems getting through the wall! I remember feeling the ‘coolness’ in the change of air as I exited finally….and then took off flying again! The only memory I have of the flying is looking down, seeing my dog Buddy following me on the ground and wondering why he’s not up here with me as usual!

One last memory I recorded was the fact that I remembered to ask, ‘where’s my guide?’ as I had affirmed before bed that I wanted to meet with him again. As I was standing OOB in my living room, I looked across the room to see him happily sitting by the fireplace, smiling back at me.

I didn’t ask or go near him as I felt by his ‘smirky’ smile that once again, as I had asked prior to this incarnation that I not have much help from them that he was gently reminding me he was here with me but was not going to intervene!

120) Questions and Answers

Since my travels are more limited and not sufficient to post here, I thought I'd share some good questions I responded to from a follower in an email. I figure if one person has these questions, then there has to be at least a few more!

As always, I'm happy to share my thoughts, and I want to be sure that anyone with other questions or comments feels free to email me!

1) First off, do you think OBE's are different than lucid dreaming? Can you really explore physical things? Like have you ever tested it with a friend or something?

Ok, good question...and in MY opinion, there ISN'T much of a difference!! Yes, the 'lucid dreams' are generally tagged as such because you have become 'aware' within them but find yourself in strange places....and hence the OBEs are felt to such because of the familiarity of your surroundings. To me, just the fact that you are now 'aware' of this altered state (dreaming, as your mind wants to call it) is enough for you to learn to take control and move/alter it into something that you can validate as an OBE. The hardest part is becoming 'lucid', but once you do that, then you know that you are 'thinking' just as you would be if awake, so you can now 'think' yourself into the OOB state! (tough to explain, but I hope you understand).

The 'physical things' you explore are always 'creations' of your mind, and in the astral, everything is 'thought created'....therefore, since you are familiar with certain 'physical' things, you will interact with them at times. I believe we do this also to give us 'validation' that we are OOB, as in the beginning, we doubt everything we are doing!! You have to learn to trust what you 'see' and feel, and that is not always easy!

Yes, as for meeting with friends, there were at least two specific blog entries that I recall when I was able 'meet' physical people in the astral. I will have to go look for those numbers at the end of this letter and let you know. One of the blog posts was a 'must read' link on the blog, so that one will be easy to find.

2) How can I hit the vibrational state easier?

That is a good question, as every individual will have a different method that works best for them. Read how others do it, including my 'induction' which is posted on the blog. It will give you ideas you can try, and if you find one that works great, keep at it! Just so you know, I didn't always get the 'vibrational' state, and still don't....it's the 'knowing' you learn to feel that tells you when it's time to 'move out'....

3) How do I lift after hitting that state?

If you DO hit the vibrational state, don't get too excited!!! Keep calm, keep focused and let go of trying too hard!!! Imagine a floating or falling sensation....and then just take control and decide you are 'moving out'!!!! (remember, thoughts ARE things in the astral!) Roll off to one side, and you may be astonished to see that you are standing next to your body!

4) Can you consistently have an OBE whenever you want?

No, darn it....not every time...and I get disappointed when I try and nothing happens, just as you do I'm sure. But those times that I do succeed, they make up for that disappointment every time!!!

5) Do binaural waves help? Or guided meditation through like mp3?

ABSOLUTELY!! I used it constantly in the beginning, as it was a great way to learn the relaxed state you need to get OOB. Using a timer that chimes every so often during the meditation also helps you become 'aware' and keeps your mind from falling asleep. Using affirmations as you go in help as well, my favorite being, "my mind remains alert, as my body falls asleep".....

Other suggestions to help would be to do all the reading you can on the topic!!! My favorite books were William Buhlman's two books, as well as those by Robert Monroe. Most importantly, you MUST keep a dream journal!!! In the beginning, I hand wrote everything into a hard cover notebook kept by the side of my bed, and found that the more I documented EVERY dream (not just LDs) the more of them I had!! Eventally, I could see a pattern, or theme, and was able to use certain 'signals' that I remembered were frequently in my 'dreams' to make my mind 'awaken' and become aware! Besides, journaling and reading sets this goal as a priority in your mind, and therefore your mind will work to make it happen!

6) How do you use this ability once aquired, and is it worth it?

OMG...it is SO worth it to me!!! Just the fact that I KNOW I can help others who are 'stuck' in the 'in-between' state of moving onto the light and the physical realm is so rewarding!!! (see those "must-read" blog posts!) Then there are the times when you KNOW you are in the presence of a divine being, and their overwhelming sense of love and bliss is just so great!!! I have also seen where my OBEs teach me new 'ideas' and help me accept certain aspects of the 'all that is' that is not easy for a physical mind to understand. The learning that I do on the 'other side' is amazing...although I can't always physically remember it all the time, the 'feeling' you have remains with you and you KNOW it happened.

Again, for every individual, it will be different according to their own beliefs and values. Each of us have different lessons to learn, and trusting and allowing our 'selves' and/or 'guides' to show us what we need to learn is a big part of why astral travel is so rewarding. If nothing else, the biggest lesson I have learned is the fact that we do not 'die', just transition to a new level and continue to live and learn! I have absolutely NO fear of 'death'!!

7) This may be a touchy subject, please don't answer if it is. Do you have a personal religious belief? How do you think it coincides with astral projection?

Now this is something that I am happy to share with you but not knowing what YOU believe, I don't want to step on any toes. Suffice it to say that I am not one who has a 'strict religious' upbringing, although religion was introduced early in life. It never 'fit' well with my way of understanding what 'is'....as I feel there is much erroneous 'man-made' interpretation in many religious books that was used to control the masses over the centuries. There IS a basic underlying theme that pervades ALL the world's religions...and if you seek to understand THAT, you will have an idea of what is truth, IMO. Astral projection is just another 'learning method' for me....just as the reading of various authors and sages over the years.

8) Are there any dangers?

IMO, there is absolutely no dangers if you BELIEVE there are no dangers!! Yes, of course, there IS negativity and negative forces out there, but they are under YOUR control at all times!!! It is those times that you have fears or doubts that allow the negative forces to control you....and you can see from a few of my blog posts that I have encountered the negativity, but am able to remain calm and 'send love' which immediately neutralizes ANY effect! Darkness and negativity cannot exist within the Light of Love!!

As always, my goal is to get others to learn to do what I do....and I'm always happy to help!! Here are the specific blog posts you can read as mentioned in the responses above (click on each topic)

Meeting someone in astral, and be sure to read 111a as well!

A connection of images

Meeting someone in physical

Why do I do astral travel?

Another reason for astral travel

One technique of mine

My induction technique

Dream recall advice

119) Fearful Hands - Preparing for Play

3/21/10

I became aware of a ‘buzzing’ sensation and was excited to know that I was going to get out! Taking the initiative, instead of rolling, I just climbed out! I can still remember now how easy it was!

The next I knew I felt hands grabbing my ankles and it wasn’t the same ‘loving hands’ that I have felt in the past. These were firm, ‘fearful’ hands that made me concerned at once. I moved as if to get away, but the hands followed, moving along different part of my legs, not letting go! I remember thinking I had to get them off – and tried to maintain calm so that I could ‘send love’. It was difficult to do, and I kept moving about to try to shake them off.

I remember ‘swatting’ at them, but to no avail – and even thinking to myself after doing this that it was a silly thing to do since I knew ‘nothing’ was there! There was one particular time I felt very concerned when the hands moved to a more ‘private part’ of my lower body, almost as if trying to ‘scare’ me, but I maintained control and kept moving, which kept the hands moving.

I knew I had to get outside, so affirmed ‘to the door!’ and found myself moving that direction but with much heaviness and difficulty. I keep pulling and tugging toward the door, knowing somehow that once outside I’d be free of these hands.

Finally outside, I was much relieved to feel the hands let go and quickly moved to ‘fly up’ to the tree tops. I remember seeing the branches, leaves…and being so thrilled at my freedom once again! Looking back at the door I just left, I thought I saw my husband there, and called for him to follow me knowing he probably wouldn’t as he does not fully believe in my travels. I hindsight, I am wondering if it wasn’t my husband trying to ‘hold’ me back out of his own fear?

I turned to continue on, and was so surprised to see my dog Buddy once again accompanying me! I remember doing my happy flying flips and swoops, just enjoying the freedom and ‘realness’ of the sensations! It’s been a long time since I was so fully ‘aware’ ….I was thrilled!

The scene changed and I found myself with a large group of people, all recognized as familiar friends and family gathered in a large open ‘auditorium’ type room. I knew we were preparing for another ‘play’ and I was so enjoying seeing everyone and being with them.

The ‘play’ was about to start, and I knew we were ALL to be a part of it! It was a fun, exciting feeling and I remember seeing the racks and racks of beautiful ‘gowns’ and clothing that we will have our choice of wearing for the ‘play’ as it unfolded.

While I’m there having such fun, I remember thinking that I should stop and wake to record what I’ve done so far, but the happiness and bliss I felt was so appealing that didn’t want it to end!

At one point, I hear someone come into the ‘auditorium’ to make an announcement just as the ‘show’ was about to start. Something about ‘unexpectedly unleashed 17,000 cases of TB’ (tuberculosis)…..and they will have to be ‘bio-chemically timed to come back sooner’.

Listening to this announcement, there was no concern or sadness anywhere. It all felt to be a ‘game’ of sorts, a ‘play’ that we all wanted to be a part of and knew we were just happy to have the chance to be there in our personally chosen ‘roles’. There was much laughter and fun, and even knowing this unexpected ‘event’ happened, it was more of a minor ‘scene change’ that we were thrilled to be a part of!

I woke soon after, losing my memories once again so quickly – but still ‘glowing’ in the happiness and joy I felt at being out and with my ‘old friends’!

New Links

Hi everyone! I had another OBE this morning, the first in a long time again! It felt SO good to be out! I wasn't much, but it had some 'negativity' in it so I will write it up shortly.

Meanwhile, I want to let everyone know that if you haven't read my 'favorites' listed at the top of this blog, now there is no reason not to!! :) Thanks to Yvonne who posted a comment regarding this idea, I was able to add direct links to the numbers!! Easy to find blog posts now!

Enjoy! Keep me posted as to how else I can improve this for you!

Thanks for giving me a reason to share,
Karen

118) Nothing is Impossible!

2/28/10

I want to share with you an OOB experience that at the time, I didn’t realize was even an out-of-body experience!!

I had attempted to travel, moving to my ‘traveling couch’ after a few hours sleep as usual. I was disappointed to wake a few times, realizing I had had a variety of ‘events’ but nothing that I could put together in a cohesive story.

I try to sleep once again, and my first ‘recall’ of this experience was actually ‘waking’ and remembering, as I walked up the stairs to return to my bed that I was once again disappointed in not having had gone OOB! As I walk up the stairs, I have the feeling that maybe somehow, despite my absolute certainty that I am awake, there COULD be a possibility all is not as it seems and I am really OOB! (What even gave me that idea was amazing, because I truly thought I was fully awake!) To show myself that I AM AWAKE, I lean my shoulders against the walls and head ‘bumps’ the angular ceiling...I was thinking, oh dear, I just CAN'T be OOB because I am awake and feeling these walls/ceilings.

What is truly amazing to me is that for some reason, I can’t tell you why because I don’t know! I made the decision that it's really MY BELIEF that I am NOT OOB that is keeping me feeling 'awake', and that perhaps I really was!!! (I am thinking, in hindsight, that my thoughts over the past few weeks have been to try to understand how ALL things are possible as the sages say, and feeling it’s the tight hold we give to our ingrained beliefs and ‘physical-ness’ that keeps us from achieving that which we want)

So, by this time I'm at the top of the stairs, and immediately decide that despite my 'wakeful' knowingness - I was going to walk into the wall to give myself that ‘chance’ to see what my ‘physical status’ was, and to show that I am awake or OOB!!! It was an unusual decision, as I was so certain I was awake - but I was aghast to find that I moved INTO the wall!! I remember it was difficult to pass into, but I DID!!

At this point I woke (I think because I was stunned to realize I WAS OOB!), realizing in fact that I was NOT upstairs, that I don't have narrow walls such as I felt 'touching' me on the way up, and that I was still on the couch!!!! It was just an amazing realization I had upon waking, that I was SO SO convinced I was NOT OOB, that I was physical in every sense of the word, yet I wasn't!!

What I took from this was two things. That I firmly believe it is our beliefs and ‘closed’ mind physical upbringing to what we are told is ‘impossible’ that keeps us from attaining what may actually be possible!! We need to consider the impossible as a possibility before we will be able to achieve any strides toward our goal.

Additionally, I also feel that this is ‘firmness of belief’ is what others who have crossed, yet don't know it, must feel as they live in their self-made astral worlds. They are convinced they are 'normal' in physical bodies in every way, and it is not until they change their 'belief' and open to the smallest possibility of there being other options that give them the chance to change their perspective on how things are. Hence the reason why the retrievals we do in our travels work to bring into their lives that ‘chance’ of change and possibility!

117) Tumors; Joel (Joeb?) & his Tractor

I am so happy to be able to write another adventure to share with everyone! It has been a long time without any cohesive memories that I could write and share so I’m pleased to say that I believe I had another OBE retrieval early this morning!

The night started much as usual, but I went to my ‘traveling couch’ earlier than usual (2am) due to being awake and unable to sleep right away. I initially had many different ‘dream clips’ and each time waking and wondering what they could mean. There were some related to my work, a few felt as if I was really OOB and in one I can remember different children running around my house making noise.

Another one in particular was rather intriguing in that I had just finished ‘helping’ this disabled child, and he told me I had ‘tumors in my belly’. At that time I recall having felt ‘lumps’ in my lower abdomen, and asked the child where they were. He pointed to his lower abdomen, and said ‘it’s not big deal, they just need to come out’. Immediately my medical background kicks in and I’m trying to seal in my memory that I may need a test to look for these in the future.

One other ‘dream’ was different in that I met with a man and woman who were telling me of their ‘loss’ of a young son, Joel (Joeb? Two part Jo- name). They told me he died at a young age “many, many years ago” after falling off a wagon being pulled by a tractor. He loved tractors, and I had a sense of ‘farming’ when talking to this couple.

I made no sense of this until I had this OBE a short time later. I remember ‘waking’ on the couch, and feeling disappointed that I once again was awake without having had an OOBE. I rolled off the couch, and found myself completely tangled in the blankets sitting on the floor! Trying to get untangled, I looked toward the TV in my living room and noticed light shadows, as if someone was blocking the light coming in from the front door down the hallway. (Had I realized it, this living room was the way it appeared a few years ago before we had it remodeled. That should have been a signal for me too!)

Thinking the front door was accidently left open (and not realizing there shouldn’t be light outside yet!), I moved down the hallway and was shocked to see my young son about age 5 coming in from outdoors!! I realized immediately that I had to be OOB, as my son is a young man of 25 right now, yet here he was as a child!

I was thrilled to think I was finally OOB again, and my young son escorted me outdoors to the front porch. I began floating upward slightly and everything went black for a few seconds, but then I floated back down to the front porch and my vision returned. This floating just confirmed to me that I was indeed OOB.

Here, the scenery changed as my usual front yard was now covered with a brick/stone walkway that weaved in and out of masses of wildflowers – yellow, orange, white ones – and I took note that the flowers were beautiful, yet the ‘feel’ of the flowers was ‘unkempt’ or ‘wild’, as if not looked after.

There were children playing and running around, also with the ‘unkempt’ or ‘wild’ feel, as if not cared for. They were happy, but in a ‘wild’ sort of way. It’s hard to describe, but almost as if they were ‘not good’ children, or bullies. I saw adults there too, one mentally challenged man was off to my left, quiet and non-communicative, and there were two female ‘caretakers’ off to my right who were happy to see me.

We walked together and talked, but memories elude me as to what the discussion was about once I woke fully at the end. I remember the landscape simulated the land around my house and at one point, I felt drawn to a young child standing quietly and forlornly by the side of the road, as if he was sad and withdrawn.

The feeling was that this child was being ‘bullied’ by the other children and did not even try to reach out to anyone. In hindsight, I’m think he was not able to ‘see’ the adults who were there with me trying to help him, hence his forlorn appearance and resignation to a life of being teased and bullied by the other children.

He saw me and allowed me to pick him up, giving him hugs and talking with him. He remained non-communicative, and the adults with me told me his name was ‘Joel’ (Joab?!) the same name I heard just a dream or two ago!! I immediately recognized that name, and asked what his story was.

The adults told me he had ‘passed over’ quickly as a young child after falling off a wagon! I knew immediately that this was the same ‘lost’ child the parents were looking for!

Walking back toward my house, I found myself inside a room with two other adults (they appeared to be MY parents, but I think the connection was that these were caretakers of the children). They told Joel that they were ‘going out’ that I was to ‘babysit’ for a bit, and to listen to what I said. I had the feeling Joel had memories of what babysitters did, and this is how they got him to pay attention to me.

I immediately went into ‘babysitter’ mode – which is always trying to find something that I know the child would relate to and have fun with. In searching the room, I found shelves with small toy objects, and my eyes were thrilled to see that way up high on a shelf was a small wagon!! I took it down and showed Joel, who lit up with a smile.

I then searched more and found a tractor wheel on a chicken? object so I took it down. I attached it to the wagon, and Joel was now beaming! Somehow, the object changed into a toy tractor that Joel was able to sit into and drive. I pushed other toy objects out of the way so he could ‘drive’ and it appeared he was now completely enthralled with the idea he was in control. At that point the OBE ended!!!

I can only imagine that he was now able to ‘see’ those who were there to help him, or perhaps even help himself by feeling more ‘in control’ so that he could go back with his parents who were looking for him.

Recording this OBE was difficult, as I remember thinking I was recording it two or three times, only to realize that I still was not fully awake and using the ‘real’ recorder! I went over the experience many times, trying to ‘seal it’ in my memory, only to realize I wasn’t awake and recording! When I did ‘pull myself’ up to full wakefulness, the memories faded SO quickly! I just feel so disappointed that it all seemed so easy to remember, until I became fully conscious!