Minneapolis, USA

After awakening without moving, I begin indirect techniques. I am still very sleepy. In an "imagined movement" cycle I begin to feel very real sensations and lose all connection with my physical body. I am blind somewhere in lucid dreaming.

I rub my hands, arms, legs, and face until I get sight. Oddly, at first it is only imagined sight like in a normal dream, but it quickly becomes complete sight like in real life. lucid dreaming is still very weak, but I begin my plan of action. I should have deepened further through peering or other options, but didn’t. I will pay for this shortly.

I am in my bedroom. My wife is there but, thankfully, no one else is. No strangers milling about like usual. Normally she isn’t there. I’m still groggy so I begin to talk to her, but then remember my plan of action and go downstairs.

I walk through my living room on my way to the kitchen and touch the wall to change its color. It turns yellow, even though I had meant the walls to turn blue. I should have deepened since this was an indication I didn’t have complete control. Instead, I continue into the kitchen.

There are two strangers in my kitchen at our breakfast nook. This isn’t uncommon. They ignore me.

I open the refrigerator with the intention that a small vile of a liquid will be in it. This liquid will help deepen and lengthen lucid dreaming (I tell myself this to induce a placebo type effect). The fridge is full of food, but the only drinks are 7-Up and milk. We never have 7 Up. I close the refrigerator and open it again with the placebo intention. Once again, it is full of food and the 7 Up and milk. I drink the 7 Up telling myself it is my "lucid dreaming potion."

I should have deepened further once again since my lack of control over my refrigerator items and general groggy state showed a very weak lucid dreaming.

I continue my plan of action by going outside to our garden. When I step outside, my vision goes away. I’d never lost vision before in lucid dreaming. I then begin rubbing my hands and try to deepen, but I am so groggy and lucid dreaming is so weak I am already close to exiting into sleep like I do all too often.

In the end I do restore vision, but now it isn’t as realistic as it normally is. It is nowhere near real life.

I walk to one of my grapevines and make it grow out the full year’s growth and produce ripe fruit. The fruit is very sickly looking and tasteless. This lack of control should have signaled me to deepen, but I continue on.

Suddenly, I’m not in my yard. I am in a random place with two people I know from my past. They are talking to me.

I have almost entirely lost lucidity and no longer have control over my lucid dreaming. We are by a pool and one friend throws the other in. This is very dream-like and not very lucid, but I do have a little lucidity.

I do find a tree that looks like my chokecherry and it has mature fruit. I take a berry and eat it. Unlike the grapes, it tastes just like a chokecherry, which is to say it tastes very bitter and awful. I start spitting it out everywhere and thinking, "why would I taste this and not my grapes, this is awful, but my grapes are awesome!"

Then I return to my body. It is now 8 am (M.R.: no re-entering). My memory of the entire experience is somewhat diminished. I am fairly certain I had slipped into a complete dream state somewhere in there because it didn’t quite feel completely real like a normal lucid dreaming experience should.

The OOBE Research Center was founded in 2007. Its initial task was to conduct mass experiments at the School of Out-of-Body Travel aimed at developing simplified methodologies for teaching lucid dreaming phenomenon. This book is the result of that research. It subsequently took up the study of all aspects of this phenomenon, and is currently undertaking experimental work on: determining and working with the fundamental properties of lucid dreaming, seeking out and developing the best methods for controlling the state, practical applications of the phenomenon, and its popularization, among other projects.

Volunteers for experiments are always being sought! In order to participate, ability to enter lucid dreaming at least once a week and basic knowledge of the English language are necessary. Thanks to modern means of communication, you can be located anywhere. Don’t let your experience go to waste – put our experiments on your plan of action!

For more information, visit:

http://research.remspace.net/

Since dream consciousness is not linked to specific actions that take place within a dream and sensory perception continues to operate in the dream state, it is possible to develop and use an artificially conditioned reflex to achieve consciousness. The essence of this technique is to train the consciousness to uniformly react to certain stimuli that occur while being awake and when dreaming, establishing a habit of specific response every time a certain situation occurs.

For example, while awake, a practitioner may ask, “Am I dreaming?” every time they see an anchor. An anchor is any object that is often encountered while awake and while dreaming. Examples of anchors include a practitioner’s own hands, red objects, or running water. When first using this technique, a practitioner will be unable to question whether a dream is in progress every time a pre-established anchor is encountered. However, with training and a strong desire this technique quickly produces results. Over time, subconscious questioning of the practitioner’s state becomes habit, happening while awake and dreaming. The end result is dream consciousness.

It is important to note that one needs not only to simply ask this question, but that it is also important to answer it mindfully, trying to isolate oneself from surrounding events in order to be able to answer it in an as objective and unpredetermined way as possible. Failing to answer objectively will always result in a negative response ("no"), and dream consciousness will not be achieved.

Journeys Out of the Body (1971)

…The vibrations came quickly and easily, and were not at all uncomfortable. When they were strong, I tried to lift out of the physical with no result. Whatever thought or combination I tried, I remained confined right where I was. I then remembered the rotating trick, which operates just as if you are turning over in bed. I started to turn, and recognized that my physical was not “turning” with me. I moved slowly, and after a moment I was “face down,” or in direct opposition to the placement of my physical body. The moment I reached this 180° position (out of lucid dreaming, opposite polarity?), there was a hole. That’s the only way to describe it. To my senses, it seemed to be a hole in a wall which was about two feet thick and stretched endlessly in all directions (in the vertical plane).

The periphery of the hole was just precisely the shape of my physical body. I touched the wall, and it felt smooth and hard. The edges of the hole were relatively rough. (All this touching done with the non-physical hands.) Beyond-through the hole—was nothing but blackness. It was not the blackness of a dark room, but a feeling of infinite distance and space, as if I were looking through a window into distant space. I felt that if my vision were good enough I could probably see nearby stars and planets. My impression, therefore, was of deep, outer space, beyond the solar system, far in an incredible distance.

I moved cautiously through the hole, holding onto its sides, and poked my head through carefully. Nothing. Nothing but blackness. No people, nothing material. I ducked back in hurriedly because of the utter strangeness. I rotated back 180°, felt myself merge with the physical, and sat up. It was broad daylight, just as when I had left what seemed a few minutes before. Lapsed time: one hour, five minutes!..

Way back when, people did not have consciousness. Yet once it developed, it gradually started occupying more and more of the waking state. However, nowadays consciousness is outgrowing the waking state, and has begun continuing its expansion into other states. Consciousness increasingly springs up during REM-phase sleep, giving rise to the most astounding phenomenon of human existence – feeling oneself in an out-of-body experience. It is probable that men and women of the future will have a conscious existence in two worlds. For now, however, this can only be accomplished using the special techniques described in this book.

Hints at the occurrence of this phenomenon may be found in the Bible and other ancient texts. It lies at the foundation of other phenomena such as near-death experiences, alien abductions, sleep paralysis, and so on. The phenomenon is so extraordinary that many occult movements consider experiencing it to be an accomplishment of the highest order. Statistical research has shown that one person in two will have an intense encounter with it. Meanwhile, the existence of the phenomenon itself has been scientific fact since the 1970s.

The phenomenon is well-represented in many different kinds of modern practices, albeit under various names ranging from "astral projection" and "out-of-body experience" to "lucid dreaming". We shall use the pragmatic term "lucid dreaming" or "lucid dreaming state" to refer to all the above phenomena, as there is no difference at all between them in their usual practice. We will also take as materialist an approach as possible, casting aside all theoretical tripe and concerning ourselves only with what works in practice.

As regards sensory perception of the phenomenon itself, this is not a mere visualization exercise. Reality itself is but a dull daydream in comparison to lucid dreaming state! You won’t feel your physical body on the bed there, and all of your senses will be fully immersed in a new world of perception. You can touch and behold anything, walk and fly, eat and drink, feel pain and pleasure, and much, much more. And all this with even more realism and lucidness of perception than daily life! This is the reason many novices experience shock – or even mortal fear – upon entering this state. It’s a true parallel world in terms of perception.

The practical side of the phenomenon holds even greater opportunity. In lucid dreaming, you can travel the Earth, the Universe, and time itself. You can meet any person you want: friends and family, the deceased, and celebrities. You can obtain information from lucid dreaming and apply it towards improving your daily life. You can influence your physiology and treat a number of ailments. You can realize your secret desires and develop your creativity. Meanwhile, people with physical impairments can release themselves from all fetters and obtain anything lacking for them in the physical world. And all this is just the tip of the iceberg of ways to apply the phenomenon in daily life!

You may think that it’s difficult to learn if you’ve read elsewhere that you need spend months, if not years, on it. Get those old wives’ tales out of your head – we’re in the 21st century! The instructions laid out in this section will help most people to experience this amazing state within only 2 to 3 days of trying. Remember: the techniques described in this book are the result of many years of experimental research at the OOBE Research Center. Thousands have participated first-hand in developing and perfecting the techniques presented here, and have proven that they can be used by absolutely everyone. All that you need to do is follow these simple instructions as exactly and carefully as you can. Then, you’ll be able to literally live in two worlds!

There are three primary methods for leaving the body. They are used at different times of the day: after sleeping, while sleeping, and without sleeping beforehand. We will begin getting experience using the techniques by starting from the easiest ones – the indirect techniques, which are performed immediately upon awakening. They are quite simple. After mastering those techniques, you can then try to leave your body in the evening or during the day, without sleeping beforehand.