Sometimes a person does nothing to achieve a phase (REM sleep) or even knows nothing about it, and yet it happens to him spontaneously. As a rule, this occurs against the background of rest, naps, falling asleep, waking up, etc.
Student Oksana Ryabova (Moscow)
My deep morning sleep, it seemed to me, was interrupted by strong feelings of discomfort and slight pain in my numb left hand, thrown over my head during sleep. There was a desire to get rid of these sensations. I opened my eyes and held out my numb hand in front of me. But I did not see the physical hand in front of me, although I clearly felt it there and could squeeze and unclench my fingers and even bend my arm at the elbow. From all this, I was a little confused. Clearly realizing that this could not be in the ordinary material world, I decided that this was a very realistic dream and in order for me to wake up, I just need to close my eyes and strain my brain with a desire to wake up. Action followed the thought. And after a little time, I opened my eyes and thought that I finally woke up.
In front of me was the everyday reality, which I observe all the time after I wake up: a large window, through which sunlight pours on the bed in the center of the room; a desk and chair, a rack with scientific literature, a wardrobe with clothes. Everything is as usual. And this mid-week weekend, of which I have more than days in a week, I wanted to spend on a calm, measured rest.
I leaned on my bent knees, sat in bed, and, closing my eyes, enjoyed the rays of the May sun falling on me. It was warm and light. And I felt peace spreading over my body with some unearthly sweet nectar. I looked back. And suddenly the state of relaxation was abruptly replaced by cold and trembling, peace turned into terrible fear - my body was lying behind me!
Panic. I look at the hands that I feel, but I do not see them in front of me, they lie peacefully on the bed along the body. I touch them and feel a velvety skin that I have not felt with my physical hands. I tried to return to the body. I lie down in it, close my eyes, strain and try to wake up. I open my eyes, get up, and my body continues to lie. Fear, wild animal fear! Tears. Confusion. Misunderstanding. The question is "what's next?" And all around the same bright day and sun.
And I’m getting worse and worse. The desire to break out of this state increases exponentially. However, all my attempts to return to the body are unsuccessful. Exhausted and frightened, I sit on the bed like a figurine. And then steps are heard in silence. But I don't see anyone. The fear grows. And I started shouting to that invisible man, wandering around my room, not to come up to me. Then I ask the questions: "Who is he, and what does he need here, and why can't I see him?" The answer comes: "Do not be afraid, this is normal." And in a moment it appears, standing next to my bed.
A man with a height of 175-180 cm, about 30 years old, dense, muscular. The hair is short, light blond, the eyes are gray-blue. He was dressed only in black swimming trunks. There was a thick gold chain around her neck. He began to explain to me something about the city V., calling it a crossing point. Then he said that many are experiencing such a state and this is a common thing. He took my hand and said, "Let's go." A moment later we found ourselves in an old city lane. At the corner of the house opposite which we were standing, a blue rectangle with the name of the street and the number was clearly visible. I was surprised to read the title.
We stood in the middle of this alley, almost naked, and people were walking by, not paying any attention to us. I realized that no one sees me and him. I never stopped looking around, shocked and scared of what was happening. A terrible question for me then rang in my head: "how to return?"
Promotional video:
Soon the young man hurried to the corner of the nearest house and, entering the wall, said that it was time for him to return, as his friend was to come now. He disappeared. For some time I continued to stand in the same place, watching people pass by me. I didn’t know how I could get back to my room, because the place from where we came out into the alley was a wall. What a bad luck - how to enter the wall? Closing my eyes and remembering the room, I stepped forward with the inner motto "come what may" and found myself in my bed.
Glancing around the room, I realized that nothing had changed in it, and the sun - it shone the same way as before. Sighing with some relief and closing my eyes with great hope of awakening, I hastened to open them. And with horror I found a table with medical instruments standing next to my bed. A wave of fear swept through my body with renewed vigor. I thought that I could not stand it if they began to dissect me now. And again I closed my eyes, I began to pray. Slowly the fear began to recede, I calmed down … and, in the end, I woke up. First of all, I was convinced that there was no table with tools and a moment later, jumping up, began to knock on the cabinet, on the wall, on the glass - to make sure that it was all over.
Moskvich Dmitry Markov (Radiomonter)
My first time is the most eerie event in my life. I have never experienced such fear. It was December 1990. I fell asleep at home in my bed. Suddenly I heard someone come into my room, but did not attach much importance to it. Then two female hands grabbed me from behind and, pressing on my stomach, began to lift my body up. I clearly felt the thin fingers with long nails on my stomach, but I was completely paralyzed and could not move absolutely anything and offer at least some resistance. I felt my body pass through the ceiling, but I was pulled higher and higher.
I was scared that this was already death. He was afraid not so much of death as of the unknown. Everything happened so fast that I was not ready for such changes. He began to pray. I asked God to help me free myself and go back. I panicked. I cannot determine how many seconds my forced flight lasted and how high above the house I climbed, but the moment came when in one short moment I suddenly returned back to my bed.
Moskvich Alexander Svet (Programmer)
I had my first experience when I was 8 years old. At that time, I still did not know anything about the possibility of being aware of myself in a dream, although I admit the likelihood that I heard something out of the way about it, but did not attach any importance to it.
1986 - a dream that preceded awareness, I did not fully remember. I remember that I played with friends from the yard, I knew some of them, but most of them were not my real friends in life, but in a dream I perceived them as good friends. At some point, they stopped jumping and running and stood in a circle. The tallest blond boy spoke to me:
- Do you know that you are sleeping?
- How do I sleep? - I was surprised.
- You look around, you are dreaming now. You are in a dream now.
I looked at the guys. They looked at me in silence. I looked around and saw my five-story house. It was a sunny summer. I went to the house, looked at the windows, at the wall of the house. Something else in me didn’t believe it was a dream. I began to look at the grass near the house, and then I was seized by the "feeling" so familiar to all lucid dreaming practitioners. I immediately woke up from him. There was a mixture of fear, euphoria and misunderstanding in my head, but I liked the experience itself extremely.
Petr Panov (Electronic engineer. Rostov-on-Don)
I spent the night with relatives. When I was almost asleep, I saw a creature as large as this very opening approaching me from the doorway. I was even somehow able to feel it remotely. He was hairy and black. Knowing that the best defense is attack, I decided to attack him.
But it was not there. I was completely paralyzed. The feeling of helplessness pissed me off to such an extent that I felt as if something was boiling inside. As a result, with great effort, I was able to move. After the first movement, the paralysis flew off me, as if it had never existed. And as if by a spring I was thrown out of bed towards this creature. The fist had not yet managed to reach the place where his head should have been, when I realized that I was alone in the room; the monster safely disappeared. Once again on the bed, I lay on my side and fell asleep victorious.
Georgy Kornaukh (Entrepreneur. Rostov-on-Don)
So, one warm summer evening, or rather at night, I took a nap as usual. Sitting on a lounger, I suddenly felt myself out of my body. At the same time, a strong roar and wind lifted me so high and quickly above the Earth that I could see it as from the window of a spaceship: a small ball in the vastness of dark space.
There was no feeling of fear. There was a sense of amazement. And I also noticed that, in addition to the wind and the roar of the turbines, there was a strong cosmic cold. The body was not felt. I tried to get closer to the globe, and I did it with ease. He returned to the body and felt a barely noticeable swarm of goose bumps in the spine. This feeling cannot be compared with anything. Well, maybe with the feeling of a cobweb that barely touches the body. Then he again tried to soar upward, which was easy. The feeling of the wind persisted, but in reality there was no wind. I tried to examine my hands, but saw only some whitish trails. The sharpness of perception was 100%. It was not a dream in the usual sense. It couldn't have been a dream at all.
Hovering in space above the globe, I decided to move into the depths of this dark abyss, but nothing came of it, because the usual three-dimensional space was not there. It seems that in order to move, it was necessary to behave differently. However, having no idea how to do this, I slowed down. During the period of being in a suspended state, I heard some slurred speech. An analogy with something is difficult to describe. There was still no fear, but there was bewilderment and annoyance that I could not continue to move in space. Above, below, left and right - there was only space everywhere. There was no idea what to do, and I decided to return to the body. Again, slowly and unhurriedly approaching the globe, I quickly dived back into the body, which, as before, was waiting for me on the same bed.
Out-of-body experiences of famous practitioners
Below are examples of phase experiments of the most famous authors and researchers of the subject. But if you compare their experiences with some of the descriptions from the previous part, it turns out that a simple student from the provinces can surpass any of them in technical literacy in the application of the phenomenon and its management.
Robert Monroe. Experience from the book "Traveling outside the body" (1971)
… Just an amazing case! I would not want it to happen again.
I went to bed late, at two o'clock in the morning, very tired. Soon, without any effort on my part, vibrations began, and I decided, in spite of the need to rest, to try to "do something" (perhaps this is what rest is). Out of body easily. Briefly, one after another, I visited several places, then, remembering that I needed to rest, I decided to try to return to the physical body.
I mentally imagined my body and literally at the same second was in bed. However, something immediately seemed wrong to me. Above my legs I had some sort of box-like device designed, apparently, to keep the sheets from touching my legs. There were two people in the room - a man and a woman in white. They spoke quietly among themselves, standing next to the bed.
A thought flashed through my mind that something had happened: perhaps my wife found my body lifeless and urgently took me to the hospital. The sterile cleanliness of the room and the presence of strangers spoke in favor of this. But still something was wrong here.
A minute later, the two fell silent. The woman (probably the nurse) left the room and the man walked over to the bed. I was scared because I had no idea what he wanted. And when he gently but firmly took me by the shoulders and bent over me, looking into my face with his shining eyes, I was even more frightened. The worst part was that my desperate attempts to move did not lead to anything. All the muscles in my body seemed to be paralyzed. Inwardly, shuddering with horror, I tried with all my might to pull away from the face hanging over me. Then, to my indescribable amazement, he leaned even lower and kissed me on the cheeks. I clearly felt the touch of the sideburns and saw that his eyes were glistening with tears. After that, he straightened up, let go of my hands and slowly left the room.
Despite the horror that held me down, I realized that my wife did not send me to any hospital and that I again ended up somewhere completely wrong. I had to do something, but no matter how hard I tried, straining all my will, nothing came of it. After a while, I heard a hiss in my head, similar to the sound made by a strong jet of steam or air. Obeying some vague impulse, I concentrated on it and began to pulse it, making it quieter and louder. Increasingly stronger and stronger teaching pulsation, I soon brought it to high-frequency vibrations. I tried to get out of the body - it worked out without hindrance. A little later, he merged with another physical body.
This time I was more careful. I felt the bed. Familiar sounds rang out from behind the wall. When I opened my eyes, the room was dark. Fumbled where the switch should be. He was there. I turned on the light and sighed with great, great relief: I returned …
Carlos Castaneda. Experience from the book "The Art of Dreaming" (1993)
… I had a dream. In it, I examined the window, trying to find out if I would be able to see the landscape spread outside the walls of the room. Suddenly, a force similar to the wind, which I felt like ringing in my ears, pulled me through the window and out. At the same time, a moment before, my dreaming attention was attracted by some mysterious construction looming in the distance. She was like a tractor. In the next instant, I realized that I was standing next to him and studying him carefully.
I was absolutely clear that it was a dream. I looked around to see if I had fallen out of the window I was looking at. Judging by the landscape around me, I was somewhere on a farm in the countryside. There were no buildings within sight. I wanted to get it right, but all my attention was drawn to the enormous amount of agricultural machinery around. It seemed that all the equipment was abandoned. I looked at hay mowers, tractors, combine harvesters, disc plows, threshers. There were so many of them that I forgot about the dream that started it all. Then I wanted to orient myself by examining the surroundings. At some distance, something like a huge billboard could be seen, similar to those found in many places along all the roads of the United States. Around him I saw telegraph poles.
As soon as I focus on the billboard, I immediately found myself next to it. The steel structure was fearsome. There was a threat in her. On the shield itself, a building was depicted. I read the text - it was a motel advertisement. With a strange certainty, I was sure I was either in Oregon or Northern California.
I continued to look at the landscape of this dream. Somewhere in the distance mountains were visible, and a little closer - green rounded hills. Clusters of trees were scattered over the hills. I figured they were California oaks. I wanted the green hills to pull me towards them, but instead I was pulled by the distant mountains. I was sure it was the Sierra.
There, in the mountains, all the energy that I had in my dream left me. But before that happened, I was consistently drawn to all the details of the picture to which I paid attention. Sleep has ceased to be sleep. I was truly in the Sierra mountains, at least, my perception told me about it.
As if through a photographic lens with an electronic magnifier, I peered into crevices, boulders, trees, caves. I climbed the steep slopes to the tops of the mountains, and all this lasted until I was completely exhausted, having lost the ability to focus the attention of my dream on anything. I felt like I was losing control. Finally I discovered that there was no more landscape, there was only impenetrable darkness around …
Silvan Muldon. "Projection of the Astral Body" (1929)
… A few days ago I woke up at about six o'clock and lay for about 20 minutes. Then I dozed off again, and I dreamed that I was standing in the same place that I occupied in my dreams with the metronome …
… I dreamed that my mother was sitting in a rocking chair and said to me: "Do you know that you are sleeping?" I replied, "Damn it, it's true." And at that the dream stopped, and it seemed as soon as my answer sounded, I woke up in a physical body in bed. I was conscious, but I could not move, I could not utter a word, could not move for centuries. This state lasted for about three minutes. And during all this time, my body twitched, especially the limbs. Then I suddenly returned to normal.
After about two seconds, a loud knock was heard - as if someone were knocking on an iron bed with a wooden mallet. The sound was so loud that it scared me somewhat … Remember that I was perfectly conscious for two seconds. Before the sound sounded, there was no one nearby, and this happened in the light (full). This physical manifestation is definitely curious to me, at least because I have never experienced anything like it. But I never tried it, it happened by itself …
Robert Monroe. "Traveling outside the body" (1971)
… The vibrations came quickly and easily without causing any inconvenience. When they intensified, I tried to rise up, leaving the physical body, but to no avail. Whichever thought or combination of thoughts I tried to apply, I could not budge. Then I remembered the rotation technique (as if you were just rolling over in bed). I began to roll over and realized that the physical body with me does not roll over. He moved slowly and after a moment he was “face down”, that is, in a position directly opposite to the position of my physical body. As soon as I made this 180 ° turn, a hole appeared at the same moment (no other definition fits).
The senses perceived it as something like a hole in the wall, two feet (60 cm) thick, located vertically and extending endlessly in all directions. The contour of the hole exactly matched the shape of my physical body. I touched the wall, flat and solid. The edges of the hole turned out to be rather rough (the feeling was not carried out with physical hands). On the other side, through the hole, there was solid darkness, but not the same as in a dark room. It evoked a feeling of endless distance and space, as if looking through a window into the endless distance. It seemed that if my vision were sharper, I would probably be able to see the nearby stars and planets. Overall impression: in front of me - deep, open space beyond the solar system, incredibly far from it.
Slowly he climbed into the hole, holding onto its walls, and carefully stuck his head out - nothing. Nothing but darkness. No people, nothing material. Hastily climbed back - it was all very strange. I turned 180 °, felt how I was connecting with the physical body. He sat down. Bright daylight is the same as before leaving the body a few minutes ago. But it feels like an hour and five minutes have actually passed!..
Stephen LaBerge. "Lucid dream" (1985)
… I walked along the vaulted corridor, which led into the depths of the huge fortress, and involuntarily stopped, admiring the majestic architecture. Somehow, contemplating the magnificent surroundings made me realize that this is a dream! The impressive splendor of the castle seemed to my cleared consciousness even more amazing. In a state of intense excitement, I began to explore the imaginary reality of my "castle in the air."
Descending into the hall, I felt the cold stone under my feet and heard the echo of my steps. Every element of this enchanting sight seemed real, and despite this, I well understood that I was dreaming! It may seem fantastic, but, despite the sound sleep, I fully retained all the abilities of the waking state. I thought as clearly as always, freely recalled the details of my life, could act deliberately, relying on conscious reactions. And none of this set of abilities could diminish the brightness of my experiences. Paradoxically, I was awake in my dream!
Finding myself in front of a fork in the corridor, I decided to test the freedom of my own will, turned to the right and found myself in front of the stairs. I wondered where it could lead. I flew gently over the steps and found myself in front of a huge underground passage. From the foot of the stairs, the cave slowly went down, drowning in impenetrable darkness. Below, a few hundred yards away, I could see what looked like a fountain decorated with marble sculpture. I was overcome by the desire to bathe in its water, which seemed so refreshing. I headed down the hill. But I did not go: in my dream I flew freely from place to place - to where I wanted.
When I landed near the reservoir, I became very frightened, realizing that the figure I took for a statue was in fact threateningly alive. A huge, eerie-looking genie towered over the fountain. Somehow I instantly recognized him as the Guardian of Spring. All my instincts were screaming "Run!" But I remembered that this terrifying sight was only a lucid dream. Encouraged by such a thought, I threw away my fear and did not run away, but confidently walked towards the ghost.
As soon as I was close enough, according to some magical laws of dreaming, my dimensions became equal to the dimensions of the ghost, and I was able to look into his eyes. Realizing that my fears were the cause of the appearance of such a terrible monster, I decided to embrace what I so cowardly tried to avoid. Opening my arms and heart, I put the hands of the ghost on my shoulders. The dream began to slowly melt, and it seemed that the power of the monster was transferring to me. When I woke up, I felt filled with vibrating energy. I was able to do anything …
M. Raduga