Cinnabar's quest to Master Astral Projection

[CinStoneCity]

I experienced lots of lucid dreams through my teenage days, after which lucidity disappeared. About ten years ago I had my last lucid dream, which has always remained with me, because I figured out through logical reasoning that the situation I found myself in was a dream, and I was totally confused when it appeared my bed was empty, while I knew I was sleeping there

I admit is is a little disappointing for me that MAP hasn't brought my lucid dreams back, despite me reciting my affirmations, being motivated. Part of the problem is that my affirmations don't seem to 'land' as I don't see myself doing reality checks on a regular basis, so there is definitely room for improvement. It wasn't until last night that I experienced another lucid dream, and it was a silly one, a moment of lucid stupidity, I guess.

In my dream, I had an appointment for a job interview, for which I had to travel by bus and by train. I could have known there was something dreamy going on, as my dream was staged in the house where I grew up, while I have moved almost 40 years ago, but I missed that reality check. For some reason, I missed my bus, which rides once every hour, which made it impossible for me to get on the train in time to get to the interview. While I was pondering my options, i.e. send an email, or forget about the interview, I found myself having coffee at the railway station. I immediately realized I had magically landed at the railway station I couldn't possibly get to by bus, and concluded this was a dream.

This is where the silliness kicks in. Instead of realizing the full potential of being lucid, I decided to 'wish' myself at the location of the job interview. I vaguely recall myself finding my way along confusing road signs, arriving at the reception of the office too early, while I could have flown across the Amazon to have fun, but that was something I thought up after waking up.

In a later dream the same night, I was walking a labyrinth, but instead of walking from start to finish, I was walking to and fro along a section of the path. As someone else explained to me in the dream, it is the journey, as opposed to the destination, which is important.

Let's just keep going.

[CinStoneCity]

I am taking a, hopefully, short break from the MAP program. I find it impossible to thoroughly relax my right hamstring: although I can easily relax it, tension returns in minutes, and I am back to square zero, which continuously forces my attention back to my body, breaking my calmness of mind. I suspect there is a minor knot/trigger point in said muscle, not so bad that it hurts, but it makes it impossible to deeply relax. A little massage revealed a sensitive spot, and already alleviated the problem. I guess I will extend my MAP routine with a soft massage.

[CinStoneCity]

It took me little longer than expected to work out the issue with my hamstring. Massage didn't really work, stretching didn't do it, but a modest leg exercise made the relevant muscle behave, nothing more than a slight warming up. In the meantime, I kept working on the basics of energy work, relaxation and mind clearing.

Last night I had a really confusing experience. I dreamed I fainted, and while unconscious, I had a lucid dream where I stood up straight with my arms crossed, and made myself fall backwards to induce an OBE. This worked like a charm, and I soon felt myself floating in a dark sea of energy. Despite my request for clarity, I couldn't see anything, possibly because there was nothing to see, and I could move around a little bit through will power. After a minute or so, I recovered from fainting, found myself on the floor before a coffee machine in university, and soon after that I woke up.

At first, I was really excited that I had managed to induce OBE from a lucid dream, but in retrospect I have no other choice but to conclude that I dreamed doing so. Disappointing, but interesting nevertheless...

[CinStoneCity]

Yay! Last night I experienced vibrations for the first time, and I felt how I slowly disconnected from my physical body, like a pudding slowly popping from its mold! I couldn't see anything other than darkness, though, and commands like 'vision!' and 'clarity!' didn't work. I tried to exit by climbing an imaginary rope, which moved me a little bit, without granting me a full release, but when I imagined myself floating up, all of a sudden I felt myself racing through darkness at high speed. The anticlimax came when I found myself driving a car with an ex-colleague in the passenger seat. That is, on waking up I realized the whole experience probably had been a dream, and it wasn't even a lucid dream Well, I guess the good news is that the notion of obe has become ingrained in my subconscious mind, deep enough to make me dream about it. Feel free to share your thoughts on this....

[CinStoneCity]

Looks like I'm not one of the lucky to master astral projection in 90 days ;o) However, I feel I'm making progress, so I will move on.

Recently, I have paid more attention to breathing, which is naturally shallow and quick for me, which doesn't seem to work when projecting. Also, I spent some time adjusting my chair to facilitate a relaxed pose where my spine is properly aligned, i.e. not sagging.

After energy work, I feel very energetic, almost electrically charged, almost like an audible hum. Yet, I feel very physical, and only rarely do I feel there is a separate body, which feels like it is about to float, a feeling that often remains for hours after.

I must say I'm a little disappointed, as I went though the complete routine, without even a single successful projection, from waking or dreaming. All that is left is the need to debug myself, and to keep trying, without a clue as to what works or not. I would love to have someone guiding me through, but know of no one to help me out. I would appreciate a little encouragement here...