Strange OBE

Well the good news is that I had my first OBE for a while last night…but it was odd!  This is what happened…

I went to bed at around 10pm and read for about 45 mins then lay down to sleep.  I probably fell asleep around 45 mins later after getting vibrations once whilst trying to focus on hypnogogics.  I then awoke later and knew I was in a good state to try for an OBE…but I had already moved a bit.  I decided not to let this deter me; while not moving is much more favorable, I have determined that its not the be all and end all of having an OBE from waking.  My mind was relaxed and even though I moved, my body was very relaxed – much more so than I can currently achieve from wakefulness.

I decided to focus on something, my usual red ball , but what happened instead was a series of crazy designs or patterns being displayed in my minds eye like a slide show – the only thing I can liken them to are the patterns Robert Bruce draws in Astral Dynamics, but they weren’t exactly the same.  I then started thinking maybe I was moving to a dream so made the decision to try to move straight to lucidity in my dream.  With this thought the slideshow sped up but I had full consciousness and then appeared my trusty ball!!  But this time the bugger wasnt planning on just sitting there allowing me to visualize it!  It started moving around, it was the marble in (for all you guys who were born in the 80′s and had a Nintendo!) Marble Madness!  Well, I decided it was going somewhere interesting so I decided to chase it.  At this time I was still aware of being in my bed, but also aware of the visualization of the ball moving fast through some kind of maze / pathway / something!  I kept telling myself to remain conscious also. Then after what seemed like a few seconds, maybe 5, I felt the familiar (although missing of late!) feeling of vibrations (much stronger than those I feel when wake inducing).  I then was back lying in bed but my focus was still mixed between the maze / pathway / something I had just been traveling along and my room it was weird and hard to describe.  Anyway, I knew I could separate so did so but as soon as I did it, I realized I was not fully separate and could only get my shoulder and what seemed like most of my left side out.  Normally when this happens I literally yank myself away but in this case, because I was in a mixed frame of reference I decided to fly up and hopefully pull myself out this way.  So I tried, and I looked at my shoulder and at the same time felt a tugging from my body, which made me think of the physical and boom there I was and I woke up…

or so I thought….

I got up and wrote down my experience in my new hand written journal.  I was fully 100% consciously aware of writing each word.  I even made mistakes and crossed them out.  I could feel the pen in my hand, the feel of it writing on the paper.  I can even remember exactly what I wrote (keywords: ball, maze, slideshow, patters (AD?) etc).  I checked the time and made a note in my hand written journal and it was 2:20am.  I woke up my wife and told her my excitement as she knows I havent had an OBE in something like 7 weeks ish.  I discussed the ball and the maze and the partial exit in detail.  Basically, I was as awake as I am now writing this.

Then I woke up.  At first I couldnt get my bearings because, in my mind, I was already awake!  Ive had a false awakening before as a preclude to a Lucid Dream in which I thought I was recording a dream, but this was much realer. I was awake, I know I was…but I wasnt!

I immediately checked the time…0225am.  How very odd that the time in my false awakening matched the time of my physical awakening.

Some points I want to record which I feel are important for me

• Waking and failing to stay still is not the end of the OBE attempt as I have been allowing myself to believe – body and mental state are far more important
• Yesterday I spent a lot of time reading about OBE and posting on Astral Pulse (www.astralpulse.com) but still did not specifically plan on one last night.  This mirrors most of the times I have had an OBE previously, spending all day reading about them but not having the specific goal of an OBE that night.  I guess this could be described as dedicated passiveness or something!  Immersing myself in the subject, without the over effort of trying to have one.
• Subject immersion is important, but so is passiveness.  Aggressive goals for OBE on a given night will (for me anyway) just serve to hinder.  I have not yet had an OBE when I have expected one or wanted one on a particular night SPECIFICALLY.  That’s not to say I don’t want one every night, its just that I don’t aggressively chase that goal.

Some questions I have which I will ask on Astral Pulse are

• What the feck were those patterns?  They were very detailed and vivid – not something I could easily visualize myself!
• How was my reality of chasing the ball and my bedroom merged?  It was an odd feeling.
• Why was the time in my false awakening the same as in my physical awakening?

Overall, I am happy with this experience – especially as it was induced when I actually moved!  This was something I was struggling with and when I moved (i.e. every single night!) I wrote off my OBE attempt.  Now I know I need not do this!

~ by Jonathan on June 30, 2010.