trouble with trance

I just started part 2 this week, and I am still having a few difficulties.

At this point, I have no trouble with most energy work (see below), and the spinning, bounce awareness, etc are very natural to me. BUT I still cannot get the hang of trance. Only once (the first day I tried it) did this even remotely work, and only for a second, and so little that I could hardly count it as a success. Sometimes it works for a moment but usually it actually interrupts my session, and energy flow grinds to a cold halt, and I have to start all over again to continue the days work (ie energy prep). Awareness of my environment becomes intensified and eventually I have to stop because I am just sitting there and nothing is happening except my getting more aware of my environment and my body getting more awake.

On the other hand, when I am just concentrating on breathing (esp with the new 8.8.8.0 breaths) I invariably have altered sensations, whether fleeting or more prolonged minutes at a time. And I can move my awareness all over the place, time, space, whatever. But getting my body to actually go to sleep is just not happening, so I can do all these other isolated things till I am blue in the face, but my body is nowhere near sleep or trance. I have always had a really strong imagination and also happen to be a bit of a control freak, and so its no surprise Im having trouble letting go to trance. I have a little psychic ability, so these are not such horrifying and dangerous concepts to me, but Im not sure how to help (or trick) myself over it. Practice is getting more and more frustrating... I even took an extra week in the last part to try to figure out trance before moving on.

As for the energy work, activating my arms and legs, spine are a breeze, but I have continued resistance with the belly chakra/primary energy point. Nothing happens, usually I kick start it with my hands on either side, but the energy sensations fizzle out almost immediately. Could this be related? On the physical side I still have a recurring bladder infection and my weight and complexion are being weird.

One more thing, actually: I find trying the breath to energy raising reeeeeeally counterproductive because I've now linked the exhale with expelling spent energy, and to then turn the exhale into the force behind pushing energy into my subnaval storage is just too opposite. But then again I find this method of raising and storing energy really hard anyway, and difficult to feel. Why bother bringing it all the way over the head and face, chest? And why is that ok but meanwhile raising energy into other storage areas, or over stimulating other chakras, bad?? I cant imagine these other spots are left unstimulated with the raising energy actions.

Confused.

Hi,
I am not at part two yet but if you are finding the energy raising and movement ok but not some of the transitions, i think you could try going back a step. Go through the trance exercises again, the different techniques, and get that sorted. Also, I would recommend taking some herbs to clear your infection and detox a bit.

[BriMercer]

It sounds like you have all the skills necessary to go forward, it's just a matter of putting it all together. This really will get easier with practice.

One of the things about trance as it relates to OBE is that you really need not get into a deep trance to project. A medium or even light trance is better.

I'd recommend taking time to work on trance exclusively. Really, all that's necessary is quieting your mind of inner "verbal" thoughts and remaining relaxed. You might want to try waking up early to conduct your trance practice session. Get up, go to the bathroom, splash some water on your face, maybe sit quietly for a few minutes, then go to your OBE practice area and relax and quiet your mind. Use slight discomfort to remain awake and don't bother with OBE breathing or energy work. Focus only on relaxing and keeping your mind clear.

Also, if you have access to a PC, the BWGen presets can really accelerate getting into trance.

[Dsmoke]

Heya,

Trance work is not effective for me if I concentrate on visuals. I have to concentrate on the feeling instead. So picturing myself going down a bungee jump is completely ineffective, but creating the actual falling sensation in my stomach, wind on my face, the sight of my feet below me, etc. - THAT does the trick. I don't know if this is your issue, but I wanted to throw it out there.

I have had bladder problems in the past and the corresponding chakra was *definitely* blocked. Obviously you have to medically take care of the problem first, and then spend some time "cleaning" your chakras, particularly the affected one. Really spend the time to send in fresh, clean energy that washes out the old. I usually do this for multiple days to make sure I got everything.

As for your problem with exhaling, I don't imagine the exhale as carrying the energy down to my sub-navel. Instead, I let the exhale out and it goes on its merry way into the air around me, and the energy I've been raising will just drop naturally to my sub-navel. In other words, I imagine that gravity takes its course. It's silly, of course, since energy isn't going to be affected by gravity, but it's a little mental trick that works for me. Hope that makes sense.

Thanks guys, these are fab suggestions and ideas, just what I was hoping for. I will try them out and let you know how it goes.

(I wish I could use the software that came with the book but I have a Mac... )

edited to add: I forgot to mention that since I posted the original message, I woke up into an OBE in my room. I experienced some silly reality fluctuations, had to sort of slither around the room, and when I tried to leave I kept on just travelling in some star fields, which I didnt know at the time were normal-- I assumed it was another reality fluctuation and actually had to work hard to jump back in my body. No luck since then but it was really heartening, not to mention unexpected!! Since then I've had an increase in lucid dreams with (I notice when I wake up and recall them) lots of potential portals to OBE. Whee!

[skywheels]

Hi, I have found personally that in order to really get into a trance you need to be practicing at a time when both your mind and your body are receptive. What works for me,is that i've been able to pinpoint certain times and conditions when the likelihood of acheiving trance is at it's highest,usually when your body is tired but your mind is wide awake (just like you would feel if you only slept like 3 or 4 hours, then forced yourself to wake up, and then drank a lot of coffee.)The idea is to get less sleep than you actually need,wake up long enough to become alert,then try going into trance. This almost always works for me,you really have to kind of plan for it,but even people with a great deal of experience will find that there are times when you just cannot induce a decent trance state no matter what you do.For some reason there are certain times when the mind and body are just not receptive,and with me at least those times are not predictable. The best thing to do is to experiment to find out what conditions will put you into that overtired kind of state,then practice at a time when it can be achieved.

Good point; whenever I used to project spontaneously, it was during an afternoon nap or, when I was little, after waking up in the middle of the night. I have been experimenting with different times of day but so far trying to recreate these times of tiredness isnt cutting it. Trying to do it on purpose is tough.

[xbhoff]

(I wish I could use the software that came with the book but I have a Mac... )

there is an open source program that runs on BSD Unix (on Mac OS X) called SBaGen which is essentially the same thing. you can only run it on the command line from a Terminal window, as it has no user interface to interact with, but if you're comfortable with that, it's a very comprehensive app with tons of presets and multiple options for configuring your sequences. it's well documented in the ReadMe's that come in the download.

you can find it here:

http://sbagen.sourceforge.net/

there is a fair amount of documentation and discussion about the program on these pages. and there is also a discussion list you can subscribe to; from this I've noticed that the app continues to be supported by a committed developer.

please give it a try.

[bastien001]

'nff said.
virtual pc emulates a small pc into your mac, like would any other sofware (photoshop, word,etc...)
it can send BWGen to your sound card, so your trouble wwill be fine.