Robert Monroe - Journeys out of the body, Practical Guidebook

• Getting distracted by events and dropping phase maintenance techniques instead of continually performing what’s needed to maintain the phase.

• Succumbing to the idea that maintaining is not necessary when the phase appears very deep and stable, even though these could be false sensations.

• Using the necessary techniques too late.

• Stopping due to uncertainty about further actions, while there must always be a plan.

• Forgetting that it is possible to fall asleep in the phase without realizing it. Recognizing the risk of falling asleep must be a primary focus.

• Getting pulled into events occurring in the phase instead of observing and controlling them from the outside.

• Forgetting that techniques for “maintaining” must always be used to remain in as deep a phase as possible, and not just for maintaining any odd state.

• Stopping the use of techniques for “maintaining” during contact with living objects, when the techniques must be used constantly.

• Counting without the desire to count as high as possible.

• Performing imagined rotation instead of real rotation.

• Passiveness and calmness instead of constant activity.

• Excessive thinking and internal dialogue when these should be kept to an absolute minimum.

Exercises for Chapter 7

Questions

1. What is a foul?

2. What is the minimum duration of the phase?

3. What do phase maintenance (“maintaining”) techniques counteract besides fouls and falling asleep?

4. Why might a practitioner think that the phase has ended when it actually is still in progress?

5. Should “maintaining” techniques always be used?

6. What primary techniques work against the occurrence of fouls?

7. How can a practitioner hook onto the phase?

8. While in the phase, what do thoughts about the body lead to?

9. What question should be asked in the phase in order to reduce the probability of falling asleep?

10. What happens to an object during hyper-concentration?

11. How else, apart from hyper-concentration, might a practitioner effectively recognize a false foul?

12. While in the phase, is it permitted to look into the distance for a long time?

13. What is ID and how does the degree of it affect the duration of a phase experience?

14. What should a practitioner always do after an inadvertent return into the body?

Tasks

1. During the next few phases, dedicate yourself to the single goal of maintaining as long as possible, using as many maintaining techniques as you can.

2. Figure out which techniques have proven the most effective and comfortable for you, so that you may use these later.

3. Increase the duration of your average phase to at least 3

minutes (evaluated objectively).

Chapter 8 - Primary skills

THE ESSENCE OF PRIMARY SKILLS

When dealing with a fully-realized phase, requisite knowledge is not limited to entry techniques, deepening and maintenance of the state, translocation, or finding and interacting with objects. In order to feel comfortable, a practitioner has to master or at least acclimate himself with a whole series of techniques to correctly react in any number of situations. For example, a practitioner needs to know how to create vision, if it is absent. Actions including passage through a wall or taking flight in a deep phase do not happen easily, although these actions may be assumed natural occurrences, since the phase exists apart from the physical world. In addition to techniques that allow interaction with the physical setting and surroundings of the phase, methods must learned and applied to counteract fear if it forces a practitioner to consciously and consistently leave the phase.

A practitioner does not have to know all the primary skills by heart, but it is necessary to pay close attention to some of them: emergency return, creation of vision, translocation through objects, contact with animate objects, and, for many, skills dedicated to fighting fear will also prove extremely relevant.

The final choice of methods that require added focus on the part of the practitioner must be made on the basis of personal experiences and problems faced while in the phase, since different practitioners often have completely different types of problems.

DISCERNING THE PHASE

Problems with phase identification during entry often arise at the initial stages of studying the phase. A practitioner simply cannot understand whether or not he or she is already in the phase. This uncertainty can manifest while lying down or while practicing in other postures.

If a practitioner is simply lying down, physically perceiving his own body, and doing nothing, then it is indeed difficult to determine whether or not he is present in the phase. It is sufficient to note that there might be no signs of a phase state. On the contrary, there may be a host of signs and unusual sensations, but they by no means necessarily indicate the onset of the phase.

The problem of the uncertainty of a phase state is always solved through actions. If the practitioner is lying down, then standard separation techniques may produce indication of phase achievement -

in the majority of cases – since such techniques may often be incorrectly performed.

It is possible to perform techniques that are only achievable in the phase state. If a practitioner stands up and does not recognize his surroundings, then it can be assumed that the practitioner is standing up in the phase. However, often based on the observation that

“everything is as in reality”, a practitioner may stand up and note that everything is in fact “as in reality” simply because the practitioner is still in “reality”. In answer to this dilemma, the phenomenon of hyper-concentration has been previously mentioned in relation to maintaining phase. By using hyper-concentration, it is always possible to ascertain whether the practitioner is in the phase.

However, as a rule, hyper-concentration is rarely necessary. Most often, the following signs indicate that separation has occurred in the phase: unusual sensations in the body during movement, extreme tightness during movement, a strong physical urge to lie back down, disjointedness of surroundings, and blurred or complete absence of vision.

Often, the problem resides in the use of direct techniques where the practitioner expects fast results and attempts to determine whether the phase has been achieved. As a principle this should not be done.

When using direct techniques, the phase manifests itself clearly; therefore, if an attempt to determine its presence is made, it is an indicator that the phase is quite likely still far off.

EMERGENCY RETURN. PARALYSIS

Statistics show that in one-third of initial phase experiences, a practitioner is faced with a degree of fear that forces a return to the body. Periodically, even experienced practitioners face situations that require an abrupt return to wakefulness. This presents a number of concerns.

In and of itself, returning to the body is almost always unproblematic; remembering and thinking about the body often suffices and within moments the practitioner is returned to the body from whatever location in the phase. Admittedly, it is advisable during this type of situation to shut the eyes and abstain from touching anything. As a rule, when these actions are performed, simply standing up in the physical world is all that is required to complete a return; however, this is not always simply achieved.

Sometimes after reentering the body, the practitioner suddenly realizes that physical functionality has ceased due to the onset of sleep paralysis, or the sensation that the body has been switched off.