Robert Monroe - Journeys out of the body, Practical Guidebook

Questions:What type of technique did Roman use to enter the phase? What were the key precursors of the phase? Which separation technique was used? If Roman had failed to completely separate, what technique, besides vibrations, should he have considered? What is the most likely reason for all of the fouls? Which single action allowed the practitioner to make the phase five times longer?

Answers and Comments:The phase was entered through a direct technique, with the comfortable position that Roman was lying in being the main catalyst. As long as Roman was lying in an uncomfortable position, his mind was unable to completely turn off physical perception, and this was most likely the reason why there were no short lapses in dreaming. If Roman were still unable to separate when using the technique of standing up, or any other technique besides intensifying the vibrations, he could have tried listening in, as there was some noise.

Instead of using his first phase experience to work on mastering the basic skills of deepening and maintaining, Roman immediately indulged in complex experiments, which is why his multiple entries within the same phase were brief, of poor quality, and not used effectively. But this is all typical during initial experiences and a lot was still accomplished, especially considering that a direct technique was used. The relative length of the phase was achieved mainly thanks to complying with the single way to maintain the phase –repeated separation, which Roman managed to do five times.

No. 8

Alexander Dyrenkov

Student. Moscow, Russia

My first entry happened at night. I was lying in bed and thinking about the phase, as I had been unable to fall asleep for a while. I dozed off for a moment and then awoke again, this time already in the proper state, and then easily rolled out (more or less unconsciously and reflexively). I went deeper by means of touching and then falling headfirst. It is a pity that I’ve already forgotten a lot of the experience, but I do remember that after deepening I fell right down onto the yard of my grandmother’s house, but then lost consciousness, and so I returned into my body and rolled out of it several times. I was unable to sharpen all my senses: When I deepened one sense (touch, for example), another (i.e. sight) would fade away. After that, I have a gap in my memory concerning my travels (consciousness and lucidity were weak, and I fell asleep and

“resurfaced” several times), but I remember having been to a lot of places.

Here's how the episode ended: I dove headfirst into water from a high board (after first having deepened a bit), and then my sense of touch grew sharper: I felt “water” and hit my head against a very soft “bottom.” I resumed the interrupted fall through willpower, but then it occurred to me that my grandmother wanted to wake me up.

My level of awareness was not quite adequate, as it did not occur to me that I was actually sleeping in a dormitory, and not at my grandmother's house. That’s why I decided that I needed to return to my body. A sharp fall occurred right after that thought, and was followed by sensations similar to those one experiences when hung-over.

Questions:Was a direct or indirect technique applied? What made the implementation of the technique successful? Why was Alexander ejected into his grandmother's yard? While deepening, how could the problem of the senses being enhanced only one at a time have been solved? Why did the practitioner have gaps in his memory? What were the main problems associated with maintaining the phase?

Answers and Comments:Despite the brief lapse in consciousness, the technique used was a direct one, and that very lapse facilitated the immediate emergence of the necessary state, even though this was Alexander’s first experience. The ejection into his grandmother's yard was spontaneous, and was most likely caused by some preceding thoughts about the yard or being in a habit of going there. Unexpected translocation often occurs when deepening while falling headfirst.

Quite possibly, in order to avoid having the senses of sight and touch enhance only one at a time, he should have simultaneously applied the techniques of touching and looking out. As for maintaining the phase, there were three main problems that were also direct causes of the gaps in Alexander's memory: little depth, lack of a clear plan of action, and non-compliance with the rules for maintaining the phase (with the exception of multiple entries after return to the body).

No. 9

Svyatoslav Baranov

Student. Perm, Russia

I woke up on my side. I didn’t feel like sleeping anymore, but I closed my eyes anyway. When I lay down on my back, I immediately felt the sensation that I was about to fall from the couch (I was lying on the edge), and some kind of lapse occurred, as if I was being pulled somewhere. I lay down once again, and this buzzing started, and a green light appeared before my eyes. I lay back even further, and my eyelids started to flutter. I thought that I might fall from the couch at that moment, but then my vision came to me, and I observed that I was already lying on the floor next to the couch! I got up on my feet and noticed that the room was “spinning” as if I were drunk, but everything quite quickly went back to normal. At that very moment, I understood that this was it! The phase itself!

In ecstasy, I forgot about all the techniques and went to look about the room. Everything was just like in reality, but some things were out of place. I tried to levitate and bent backwards, and was somehow thrust outside. It was dusk out there, and there was a lot of snow on the ground. I went around the house and tried to levitate. I was able to soar upwards, and saw the horizon and sunset. But then I began to lose altitude. After having flown to the window on the other side of the house, I wanted to go up to the roof, but then a foul occurred. In a fraction of a second, I had the sensation that I was

“nowhere”. But then, my real eyes opened (with difficulty) and there was once again the feeling of some sort of lapse. Awareness was dim during the phase, apparently due to not having gotten enough sleep.

Questions:What kind of phase entrance technique did Svyatoslav use? Which specific technique produced results? Which separation technique was employed? If separation was unsuccessful, which technique should have been immediately used? Which important actions did he not perform enough after entering the phase? What should have been done after the foul? Why was awareness dim during the phase?

Answers and Commentary:An indirect technique was employed. No phase state creation techniques were employed by Svyatoslav. Instead, separation immediately worked through rolling backwards. If separation were unsuccessful, he should have proceeded with observing images, which would have been possible with the green light.

Deepening was not immediately performed, no effort was made to maintain, and there was no approximation of a plan of action; however, this is not a crucial factor during initial experiences.

Another attempt to enter the phase should have been made upon returning to the body, but this was also forgotten. Awareness was dim and memory was weak during the phase because of the initial shallowness of the state, which was reflected in the perception of the surrounding and also the thought processes.