Part Three

Core Skills

15. Deep Physical Relaxation

The first big hurdle faced by projectors is deep physical relaxation. This essential skill needs to be thoroughly learned. I cannot stress it strongly enough; of the thousands of projection-related problems I have dealt with over the years, in person and on the Internet, one skill area stands way out in front as causing the majority of problems - deep physical relaxation - or rather, the lack of it. Everyone seems to rush through learning this most important of all core skills, to get on with the seemingly more interesting stuff.

Many people seem to think that because they can stay awake long enough to attain some level of trance, they must therefore be physically relaxed enough. Wrong! It is quite possible to achieve the trance state without having a deep-enough level of physical relaxation to create the conditions that allow conscious-exit projection.

The trance state means that your physical body is asleep while your mind is still awake. But your body can still contain significant physical tension and muscular knots, even when fast asleep or in the trance state. A tense trance state does not allow the proper generation of the projectable double. It simply will not generate in areas containing physical tension. This can result in partial or even painful semi-projections, and a great deal of frustration.

Deep physical relaxation is the foundation on which everything else rests. Without it, conscious-exit projection becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible. If you do not thoroughly learn this valuable skill, you will waste an enormous amount of time and effort trying to project before you are ready, only to fail every attempt right on the brink of the exit.

More time and effort must be spent learning deep physical relaxation than with any other skill - it is that important! Relaxation improves with time and practice. It is very important to develop effective relaxation skills and good relaxation habits in the early days of development.

Deep physical relaxation is quite easy to achieve, if you go about it in the right way and practice regularly.

Posture and Comfort
Before you begin using the deep physical relaxation system (coming up soon), please make sure you are not overtired. A sleep deficit can be a real problem, interfering with your ability to stay awake during the coming exercises - especially if you do them lying down, which I do not advise.

The value of these exercises will be greatly reduced if natural tiredness is allowed to interfere with the deliberate relaxation process. I suggest that these exercises be done when you are wide awake and well rested. I also suggest that you do not practice these exercises immediately after a heavy meal, as this will tend to promote sleep rather than deep physical relaxation. If simple relaxation is a problem, bathing before starting these exercises can be a great help, especially in a hot, mineral-salts bath.

Wear loose, comfortable clothing and have bare feet or loose socks, depending on the local temperature. Start by sitting in a comfortable armchair with good back, neck, and arm support, and with a pillow under your feet. This pillow is necessary because when the physical body relaxes to a very deep level, supporting muscles in the feet tend to relax and expose bones, reducing circulation and causing distracting discomfort.

If an armchair is not an option, use whatever is available. Even a dining chair can be substituted, although more attention must be paid to finding the perfect balance point for your head. It is possible to use a bed, but falling asleep can be a big problem. If you must use a bed, lie on your back and hold your forearms vertical above the bed, with elbows resting on the surface of the bed. This will help prevent you from falling asleep.

Good posture helps a great deal with deep physical relaxation. Do not allow yourself to slump in the chair. If you start with good posture, your body will stay well balanced. If your posture is not good, when your muscles deeply relax, your body will sag. This can cause discomfort in the spine and joints, as well as circulation problems, all of which will interfere with relaxation.

Put pillows behind your lower back and neck as necessary, to make sure you are not sagging.

The head must be balanced and not be allowed to sag to the back or front or to one side. Close your eyes and let your head and neck relax. Move your head back and forth slowly and you will find there is an exact balance point, between where it falls, either way, through gravity.

This balance point is the perfect position for your head. If you have a pillow behind your neck, it is permissible to let it fall lightly back into the pillow. A balanced head position has the added benefit of keeping you awake, as, if you drowse, your head will tend to fall onto your chest or to the side and so wake you up.

Once you have some practice at balancing your body and working on deep physical relaxation, you can use anything, even a hard-backed wooden dining chair. If you have balance, you can relax to a very deep level anywhere and anytime and in virtually any situation.

Relaxing Muscle Groups
I have kept the deep physical relaxation exercises here as simple as possible. All that is required is to progressively tense and relax opposing groups of muscles. If you already know a full-body relaxation discipline, you can adapt it to this one, making sure all muscle groups are covered.

Warning: Proceed slowly and gently with these exercises when you first start using them. It is very easy to strain little-used muscles and tendons with any system using opposing muscle groups, especially neck muscles. If in any doubt about your ability to do these exercises safely, please consult with your medical doctor or physical therapist first.

With all these exercises, pay particular attention to the relaxation part at the end of it. Allow your muscles to sink and droop and totally relax after tensing. In the early stages of relaxation training, I suggest that this system be practiced repeatedly, until a whole-body feeling of cozy warm heaviness is achieved. Near enough is not good enough when it comes to deep physical relaxation for OBE.

Practicing this thoroughly will save you a great deal of time and effort later, and will make projection much easier. This system, as with any other, will become quicker and more effective the more often it is used.

With regular practice, a deep level of physical relaxation can be achieved in only a few minutes.

• Full-Body Stretch: Do this standing up or lying down, before settling yourself to begin the following exercises. Take a long, deep breath while stretching your arms and legs and arching your back and neck. Stretch yourself right out, as if very tired and having a full yawning stretch.
  

• Ten Breaths: Sit comfortably and get ready to begin. Close your eyes and relax for a minute or two, letting yourself settle down. When you are ready, take ten long, deep breaths, filling your lungs each time, then emptying them all the way out. Feel the tension draining out or your body every time you breathe out. Imagine a white cloud of sparkling energy is entering your body with each IN breath. Imagine this entering your nose and moving through your nasal passages, throat, and down into and filling your lungs. Imagine a dark cloud of tension is leaving your body with each long, OUT breath. Take your time over this. After the ten breaths, and throughout all the following exercises, if you can, keep a small part of your mind focused on your breathing, feeling it entering and leaving your body. This will help keep your mind clear, which aids deep physical relaxation enormously.
  

• Feet and Calves: Stretch back all toes and tense both feet and calves at the same time, for five seconds, then relax them. Curl toes downward and repeat, tensing both feet and calves, then relax them.
  

• Thighs: Tense both thighs, hold for five seconds, then relax them. Press down with both heels and tense them again, then relax again.
  

• Hips and Buttocks: Push buttocks backward into the chair and tense them, hold this for five seconds, then relax them. Rock hips forward slowly and tense for five seconds, then relax them.
  

• Whole of Legs: Tense all muscles in the whole of both hips, legs, calves, and feet, all at the same time. Hold for five seconds, then relax them, really letting them go.
  

• Stomach and Lower Back: Push out stomach and tense up all stomach and lower back muscles. Hold for five seconds, then relax. Suck in stomach and tense lower back muscles. Hold for five seconds, relax.
  

• Chest and Upper Back: Arch shoulders forward while exhaling and caving in chest. Tense all upper back and shoulder muscles, tense for five seconds, then relax. Push shoulders back and take a deep breath while pushing out chest. Tense all upper back and chest muscles. Hold for five seconds, relax.
  

• Arms and Shoulders: Tense both shoulders, arms, and hands, making tight fists. Tense and hold for five seconds, then relax. Curl both forearms and fists in toward shoulders, wrists curling inward. Tense and hold for five seconds, then relax.
  

• Face and Head: With eyes closed, roll head back, open mouth wide, and screw up face, tensing all the muscles in head and face. Hold for five seconds, then relax. Also with eyes closed, smile widely while screwing up whole face and eyelids, tensing all facial, scalp, and jaw muscles. Hold for five seconds, then relax. Frown deeply while screwing up face and tensing all scalp, jaw, and facial muscles. Hold for five seconds, then relax.
  

• Jaw: With head held in its balanced resting position, force lower jaw straight out. Tense jaw and hold for five seconds, then relax.
  

• Neck 1: Without tensing, arch neck forward slowly and press chin down firmly onto chest as far as it will go. Hold it there for thirty seconds, breathing normally, and then slowly relax it back to its normal resting position. (If you have neck tension problems, hold chin on chest for up to three minutes.)
  

• Neck 2: Again without tensing, slowly push head way back and firmly push chin straight up above. Keep pushing chin out but do not tense neck muscles. Hold for thirty seconds, breathing normally, then slowly relax back to balanced resting position. (Again, if you have neck tension problems, hold this position for up to three minutes.)
  

• Neck 3: With head in its normal resting position, slowly grit teeth and tense all neck muscles, feeling the tension spreading right through the entire neck and up into skull. Hold for ten seconds, then relax.
  

• Full-Body Stretch: Stay in relaxed position and give yourself a full-body stretch, as best you can. Gently stretch and tense as much of your whole body with this as you can, while taking a long, slow, deep breath. Tense and hold for five seconds or so, then deeply relax your whole body while exhaling. Check posture and readjust resting position at this point, as needed, but while holding on to relaxed state.
  

• Ten Breaths: Repeat this step thoroughly, really feeling all the tension leaving your body with every OUT breath. Really feel your whole body sinking into your chair or bed, sinking and getting heavier, warmer and more blissfully relaxed with every OUT breath.

Awareness Hands Massage
The head, neck, and shoulder areas are the most difficult of all body parts to deeply relax. Stress and inner tension particularly affect the muscles in these areas. This tension comes from within, so we must go deeper to remove it.

Use your awareness hands to massage the tension from these areas.

Feel ? our awareness hands massaging deep inside your neck and shoulders and up into your skull, as if someone were actually massaging them for you. Use your memory to re-create these awareness actions. Feel your hands penetrating deeply within the muscles and tendons and spine in your neck and shoulders. Feel your hands stroking deeply along your spine and up into and through your head. Feel all the tension leaving your body and feel it sinking and growing warmer and heavier and more deeply and blissfully relaxed.

After you've been through the whole relaxation process, relax and focus on your breathing while you move your awareness hands throughout your body, searching for muscular knots, tension, or other problem areas. Note these tight areas for future reference, to save having to search for them every time.

Recheck all known problem areas occasionally, during all the coming exercises, and re-relax them as needed.

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