Re: Question about direct techniques

dreamphaser · Post by **dreamphaser** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 4:24 pm

hi everybody. first of all, congratulations to michael for his work. his is the third book about obe that i read (the first being robert waggoner's lucid dreaming - gateway to the inner self (good read but lacking detailed techniques explanation), and the second - stephen laberge's exploring the world of lucid dreaming (good read, started doing the techniques but got lost at regular reality checks in waking life). i very much like michael's guidebook for its practical easy-to-understand-and-do approach and lack of new age mumbo jumbo.

i'm currently (since tuesday) working on waking without moving (which turns out to be more difficult than i expected). however, this question relates to the direct techniques (yes, i know, i'm gonna focus first on the indirect ones, don't worry). i have some experience with deep relaxation (and possibly self-hypnosis) and today i decided to try the direct techniques straight away just to see what would happen. so after about 5-10 mins of relaxation (i use body part by body part relaxing for the body and counting down for the mind) i feel the usual numbness in almost all parts of my body, my mind seems slow, hard to control, wandering from thought to thought (note, no lapses of consciousness). then i decided to try to phantomly move my right hand. the problem is that after a few seconds of trying, my feeling in the hand returned to some extent. i started feeling as if my hand was attempting to rise. but just the feeling of attempt. whenever i tried to raise it higher my muscles switched on. although they felt kind of numb, i knew i was using my muscles now. not good.

so to the point, i'd like to request some further tips as to how to move my hand without the muscles. it's really confusing. at some point i really felt it in the air but it was just the muscles. should i feel anything in my hand except for numbness? i'm trying to avoid all sensations in the hand (not those in the skin registering any possible movement, of course). is that right? or am i supposed to feel something like when i'm hypnotized to not be able to move my hand i try to nevertheless, feeling resistance from myself? thanks in advance.

this is my first post, and i think i'm definitely gonna post more as my experience with the phase deepens.

Post by **Michael Raduga** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 10:58 pm

It seems as if you even didn't read the chapter about the direct techniques... You cannot understand your primary goal. Techniques mean nothing. You can get the phase only after good enough lapses in consciousness. Did you read this: http://obe4u.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=1 ?