Robert Monroe - Journeys out of the body, Practical Guidebook

Immediately after waking from sleep, remain motionless, eyes closed. Observe the blank space behind the eyes for 3 to 5 seconds and try to locate recognizable pictures, images, or symbols. If nothing appears during this exercise, the technique should be substituted. If something appears, continue to passively observe the images.

Meanwhile, the images will become increasingly realistic, literally enveloping the practitioner. Do not aggressively examine the details of the image, or it will vanish or change. The image should be experienced as a panorama, taking everything in. Observe the images as long as the quality and realism increases. Doing so yields two possible results: the practitioner becomes part of the surroundings, and has achieved the phase, or the image becomes borderline or absolutely realistic, and separation from the physical body is possible.

Training

To train the use of this technique, lie down in the dark, eyes closed, and observe the blackness for several minutes, identifying any specific images that may arise from simple spots or floaters, and then gradually transition to whole pictures, scenes, or scenarios. With practice, this technique is very easy and straightforward. A common mistake made during practice of this technique is when the practitioner aggressively attempts to conjure images versus passively observing what is naturally presented.

PHANTOM WIGGLING (MOVEMENT)

Testing Individual Effectiveness

Immediately after waking from sleep, remain motionless, eyes closed. Try to wiggle a part of the body for 3 to 5 seconds, but without using any muscles. If nothing moves during the attempt, try a different technique. If a sensation of wiggling occurs, even in the slightest, continue to employ the technique, striving to increase the range of movement as much as possible. This technique should be performed very aggressively, not passively. As soon as the range of movement nears or exceeds four inches - which may take just several seconds - the following situations may arise: one momentarily finds oneself somehow in the phase, or the wiggled part of the body begins to move freely. The occurrence of movement during practice of this technique allows the practitioner to transition to a separation technique and attempt to leave the body.

While practicing phantom wiggling, strong vibrations may occur, amid which separation may be attempted. Sounds also often arise, allowing the opportunity to practice listening in, which can lead to phase entrance.

The phantom wiggling technique is not meant to produce an imagined movement by a phantom body. The point of the technique is to attempt the movement of a physical body part without using muscular action. That is, the focus should rest upon an internal intention of movement without physical action. When the sensation occurs, it differs little from its real counterpart and is often accompanied by heaviness and resistance. Generally, there is very little range of movement at first, but with concentrated effort the range of movement noticeably increases.

It does not matter which part of the body is used to exercise phantom movement. It may be the whole body or just one finger.

Neither is the speed of the movement important. Increased range of perceived movement is the aim of the technique.

Training

To train the technique of phantom wiggling, relax a hand for several minutes while lying down, eyes closed. Then, aggressively envision the following hand movements, without moving any muscles, for two to three minutes each: rotating, up-down, left-right, extending the fingers and drawing the fingers together, clenching and unclenching a fist. No sensations will occur at first. Gradually, the sensation of muscular action will become so apparent that the perceived movement will be indistinguishable from real movement.

During the first training attempts, practitioners are often tempted to open their eyes to see if actual movement is occurring – that’s how real the sensation feels.

LISTENING IN

Testing Individual Effectiveness

Immediately after waking from sleep, remain motionless, eyes closed. Try to listen to noise in your head. Do this for 3 to 5 seconds without moving and without opening the eyes. If nothing happens during this period of time, switch to another technique. If any sounds like buzzing, humming, raving, hissing, whistling, tinkling, or melodies occur, listen attentively. With results, the sound will increase in volume. Listen in as long as there is some dynamism in the volume of the sound. When the sound stops, or the noise becomes loud enough, a separation technique may be attempted. Sometimes, the noise itself throws one into the phase while listening. At a certain stage, sounds may be extremely loud and have even been described as comparable to the roar of a jet-engine.

The action of listening in consists of actively and attentively exploring a sound, the whole of its tonality and range, and how it reacts to the listener.

There is an optional technique known as forced listening in, where it is simply necessary to strongly want to hear noise, and meanwhile make intuitive internal efforts, which, as a rule, are correct.

Performed correctly, forced sounds will intensify the same way as those perceived with the standard listening in technique.

Training

In order to practice listening in, lie down in a silent place, eyes closed, and listen for sounds originating in the head. These attempts are usually crowned with success within several minutes of trying, and one starts to hear that noise that absolutely everyone has within.

One simply has to know how to tune in to it.

ROTATION

Testing Individual Effectiveness

Immediately after waking from sleep, remain motionless, eyes closed. Imagine the physical body is rotating along an axis for 5 to 10

seconds. If no unusual sensations occur, try another technique. If vibrations occur during rotation or the movement suddenly feels realistic, then continue the rotation technique as long as there is progress in the sensation’s development. There are several possible outcomes when rotation is practiced. The imagined rotation is replaced by a very real sensation of rotating along an imagined axis.

When this occurs, a practitioner may easily leave the body. The other outcome is the sudden presence of strong vibrations or loud sounds, amid which separation from the body is possible. During rotation, separation has been known to spontaneously occur and the practitioner enters the phase.

Training

To practice rotation, imagine revolving around the head-to-foot axis for several minutes while lying down, eyes closed. It is not necessary to focus on the visual effects of rotation or minute sensations in the body. The key factor is the vestibular sensation that arises from internal rotation. As a rule, many practitioners experience difficulty performing full rotation. One person may be limited to 90

degrees of movement where another experiences 180 degrees. With consistent, correct practice, full 360 degree rotation will occur.

FORCED FALLING ASLEEP

Testing Individual Effectiveness

Immediately after waking from sleep, remain motionless, eyes closed. Picture a swift, compulsory fall into sleep for 5 to 10 seconds, and then return to wakefulness, followed by an aggressive attempt at separating from the physical body. Generally, after performing this technique, the practitioner’s state of mind quickly transitions between different states of brain. Strong vibrations often occur when emerging from this “pseudo-sleep”, where the likelihood of separation from the body is increased, accompanied the opportunity to practice other techniques. Resist actually falling asleep during this exercise.