POEM

                            As the cat
                            climbed over
                            the top of

                            the jamcloset
                            first the right
                            forefoot

                           carefully
                           then the hind
                           stepped down

                           into the pit of
                           the empty
                           flowerpot



            Somehow this William Carlos Williams poem
           seems a perfect prelude to tomorrow's workshop
                           

                     

Lying in bed this morning I remembered Ray from yesterday's video and thought of him saying ,  " I feel so glad to open my eves in the morning , to have another day in this world " And I too felt that gladness to be alive, to have another day to explore. I made a promise to myself that today I would relax and allow.
So I'm relaxing into this blog post allowing the words to just write themselves and allowing my heart to connect out to anyone who might read these words , wishing you too a relaxed , interesting day of fun and wonder.

Now I reminded about tomorrows Workshop in Blackrock. So excited about it as I have some 'new' ideas to investigate.
 New ways to explore our energy awareness that I can't wait to share .
 I surprise myself with this enthusiasm and wonder in finding new insights.
 It confirms my belief that when we ask 'something ' out there hears and answers.

Here is the link to the Google map for the hall which is on Convent Avenue for anyone who haven't been to the Blackrock Centre before.
Convent Avenue 

Wow What An Inspiring Man

Just a  few minutes to watch this wise man.

My Neiighbour Ray

Thanksgiving Thoughts

The Dalai Lama  when asked about what surprised him most about humanity answered.  " Man,  because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrificies money in order to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in  the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die and then dies never having fully lived. "

 Yesterday I had an email from my dear friend Pat about the importance of  accepting and allowing which was a timely reminder to relax and take things a bit easier.
Then this morning I came across this Quote from the Dalai Lama and thought life is really talking to me .

Maybe the sentiments resonate with you too.  I know that sometimes I ' working ' so hard to become present that i can get lost.

A Special Happy Relaxing Thanksgiving Day to all my fellow searchers and seekers.

Circumstances and Persistence

                                                       
                                               Thomas Edison

The vast majority of people have enormous potentialities of thinking, far beyond anything ordinarily suspected; but so seldom do the right circumstances by chance surround them to require their actualization that the vast majority die without realizing more than a fraction of their powers.Born millionaires, they live and die in poverty for the lack of favourable circumstances which would have compelled them to convert their credit into cash.  -A.R Orage

Why is thought, being a secretion of the brain, more wonderful than gravity, a property of matter ? - Charles Darwin

Isn't it a shame that we spend years in schools that do not even attempt to teach us about the workings of our minds, that do not provide the circumstances to actualise our potential. So much evidence exists to show that it is often the people who ' fail ' the school system go on to become great inventors.
Take for example Thomas Edison  who was the youngest of seven children,  his teachers said
he was "too stupid to learn anything." He was fired from his first two jobs for being "non-productive." As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the lightbulb. When a reporter asked, "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?" Edison replied, "I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."
Edison may have had the ' correct' circumstances to actualise his potential or maybe he created the correct circumstances through his persistence.
It would be nice to think that we could improve the educational system to help children actualise more potential and no doubt the system is better now than it was even twenty years ago. However there is always something , some extra spark that needs to to happen either externally or internally to compel us to push beyond our comfort zone and aim for the stars.
We cannot blame our teachers , our parents , or our circumstances , we live in an age when we have all the resources available , we just need decide our goals,  set our compass to the ' star' and just like Thomas Edison keep  inventing and reinventing until we reach our destination.

  There is something magical about dusk , about the play of light
   that adds mystery and wonder.
  There are magical possibilities as night settles in.
  Just as winter has it's own particular appeal so does the  night,
  that special time for withdrawing from the   external world and turning
  inward whether it is to rest in fireside repose or in night dreams
  it is a special time of renewal.
  I am all the more conscious of this special time since developing my
  interest in OBE's and Lucid Dreaming.
  In fact OBE's  and Lucid Dreams very closely related they could be
  considered to be just like first cousins or so it seems to me.
  Now that I have read OBE descriptions one or two of my  lucid
  dreams seem so similar that it is difficult to be sure which category they
  fall into.  Inducing lucid dreams seem more accessible. I have more      
 experience of them and for this reason working to have more lucid
 dreams seems like the best way  forward  in the hopes of more full OBE's.
 Both OBE's and Lucid Dreams seem to compliment the  new levels of
 awareness that are happening all  over our planet.
 I wonder if I would ever have awakened to these phenomenon without
 T'ai Chi , Open focus and  Reconnection.
 It seems clear to me now that there was a progression happening in
 my level of awareness.
 That each practice is significant in developing some aspect of me
 that was dormant. I think we are so very lucky to be alive in this time
 of awakening.
 A time when secret teachings are available to anyone who wants
  to develop.
 We all have our own particular blocks and areas where our
  light is obscured .
 With the help of teachings and teachers we can all become
 more and more clear and bright .
 We can all have access to our own particular ' Einstein' who
 can help us to unravel our own ' flowchart' and come to fulfilment
of our true potential in this lifetime.

November Workshop

Here is the full Mini Form for Monday and Tuesday's classes.

We are almost finished this form just one more lesson so we will be ready in time for the Workshop in Blackrock on November 30'th.

I'm really looking forward to this workshop. We will work on the Forms, Short Form and Mini Form.
We will pay special attention to Energy Exercises in order to enhance energy awareness and also to strengthen our energy body .

The aim of this Workshop is to optimise  our ability to focus and develop a better understanding of  Energy in T'ai Chi and life.

The Workshop will begin at 10 30 with Short Form work for the first hour .
11 30 - 4   is open to all levels .

 Recharge Your Energy

 Improve Your  Knowledge and Understanding of T'ai Chi.

 Meet fellow T'ai Chi students from other groups.

 Have Fun and Learn.

Amazing Lucid Dreaming

           
 Those of  us who are lucid dream apprentices need to develop excellent dream recall,we may be having more lucid dreams than we know about , but because of poor dream recall are not aware of these dreams.
Here s one of the best tips I have come across for remembering your dreams. As soon as you awaken stay perfectly still and notice the first thoughts and feelings that come to mind. Thoughts of the day ahead will probably present themselves also but with a bit of practise you will recognise that these thoughts ' feel ' different to the dream fragments which are simultaneously present.  Shortly you will be focusing on the dream fragments  and have much better control.

Here is an inspiring lucid dream story from Robert Waggoner's Lucid Dreaming Gateway To The Inner Self.

Solving an Important Problem

In a lucid dream taken from  Exploring the world of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen LeBerge and Howard Rheingold, we find a computer programmer who keeps good company as he works on practical issues of programming while lucidly aware.

" At night I will dream that I am sitting in a parlor  ( an old fashioned one that Sherlock Holmes might use).
I'm sitting with Einstein white bushy - hair in the flesh. He and I are good friends.  We talk about the programme, start to do some flow charts on a blackboard . Once we think we have come up with a good one we laugh. Einstein says, " Well the rest is history ". Einstein excuses himself to go to bed. I sit in his recliner and doodle some code in a notepad. When the code is all done I look at it and say to myself , "I want to remember this flowchart when I wake up".   I concentrate very hard on the blackboard and the notepad. Then I wake up. It is usually about 3 : 30 am . I start writing as fast as I can .I take this to work and it's usually about 99 percent accurate. "

Wow !  Reading Lucid dream stories really inspires me to work and become more Lucid .
 Imagine the help and direction available to us when we can direct our dreams.
 Imagine all the extra time we would have to work, explore and learn.




       

Stephen LaBerge 's Lucid Dream Lab

                                                                   
Here is Stephen LaBerge a psychophysiologist and a leader in the scientific study of lucid dreaming. He began researching lucid dreaming for his Ph.D. in Psychophysiology at Stanford University, which he received in 1980.. He developed techniques to enable himself and other researchers to enter a lucid dream at will. Here is his account of how he ' proved ' the reality of lucid dreaming.
 
" From the very beginning, I had been interested in the possibility, first raised by Charles Tart, of
communication from the lucid dream to the outside world, while the dream was happening.
 The problem was, since most of the dreamer's body is paralyzed during REM sleep, how could the dreamer send such a message? What might the lucid dreamer be able to do within the dream that could be
observed or measured by scientists? A plan suggested itself to me. There is one obvious exception to this
muscular paralysis, since eye movements are in no way inhibited during REM sleep. After all, it is the
occurrence of rapid eye movements that gives this stage of sleep its name. Earlier dream studies had shown that there is sometimes a precise correspondence between the direction
of dreamers' observable eye movements and the direction they are looking in their dreams.

 In one remarkable example, a subject was awakened from REM sleep after making a series of about two dozen regular horizontal eye movements. He reported that in his dream he had been watching a Ping-Pong
game, and just before being awakened he had been following a long volley with his dream gaze. I knew that lucid dreamers could freely look in any direction they wished while in a lucid dream,
because I had done this myself. It occurred to me that by moving my (dream) eyes in a recognizable
pattern, I might be able to send a signal to the outside world when I was having a lucid dream. I tried
this out in the first lucid dream that I recorded: I moved my dream gaze up, down, up, down, up, to the
count of five. As far as I knew at the time, this was the first signal deliberately transmitted from the
dream world. The only trouble, of course, is that there was no one in the outside world to record it!
What I needed was a dream lab. I knew Stanford University had an excellent one under the direction of
the sleep and dream research pioneer, Dr. William C. Dement. I made inquiries in the summer of 1977
and found a researcher, Dr. Lynn Nagel, at the Stanford University Sleep Research Center who was very
interested in the prospects of studying lucid dreams in the laboratory.

In September of the same year, I applied to Stanford University, proposing to study lucid dreams as part
of a Ph.D. program in psychophysiology. My proposal was approved, and in the fall of 1977 I started my
work on lucid dreams. Serving on my faculty committee were professors Karl Pribram and Roger
Shepard from psychology, Julian Davidson from physiology, and Vincent Zarcone Jr. and William
Dement from psychiatry. Since Lynn Nagel was not a member of the Stanford faculty, our relationship
was entirely unofficial. However, Lynn was my de facto principal advisor and collaborator on my
dissertation research.
Lynn and I didn't waste any time getting me into the sleep lab. On my first night we had, unfortunately,
decided to see if it would be helpful to awaken me at the beginning of each REM period in order to
remind me to dream lucidly when I went back to sleep. It is clear in hindsight that this was not a good
idea, since the result was very little REM sleep. It was not very helpful being reminded to dream lucidly
when doing so prevented me from dreaming at all!
Worse than that was what happened in my first dream. The Stanford sleep lab has its windows boarded
up to allow for time-isolation studies. I felt a little claustrophobic because of this, and apparently, by
way of compensation, had the following dream. It seemed as if I had awoken at dawn and was
witnessing an exquisitely beautiful sunrise through the picture window next to my bed. But before I had
time to be more than startled by this anomaly, I was awakened by Lynn's voice reminding me to have a
lucid dream.

We decided that next time we would let me have more of a chance—both to sleep and to have lucid 

dreams. We scheduled our next recording night for a month later—the next available opening—which 

happened to be Friday the 13th of January, 1978. 

 Every time I had a lucid dream (at home) while waiting for the fateful date, I would suggest to myself that I would do it again in the lab. Finally the night arrived, and Lynn hooked me up and watched the polygraph recording while I slept. I had been hoping that Friday the 13th would prove to be my lucky night, and that turned out to be the case.

I slept very well indeed, and after seven and a half hours in bed had my first lucid dream in the lab. A 

moment before, I had been dreaming—but then I suddenly realized that I must be asleep because I 

couldn't see, feel, or hear anything. I recalled with delight that I was sleeping in the laboratory. The 

image of what seemed to be the instruction booklet for a vacuum cleaner or some such appliance floated 

by. It struck me as mere flotsam on the stream of consciousness, but as I focused on it and tried to read 

the writing, the image gradually stabilized and I had the sensation of opening my (dream) eyes. Then my 

hands appeared, with the rest of my dream body, and I was looking at the booklet in bed. My dream 

room was a reasonably good copy of the room in which I was actually asleep. Since I now had a dream 

body I decided to do the eye movements that we had agreed upon as a signal. I moved my finger in a 

vertical line in front of me, following it with my eyes. But I had become very excited over being able to 

do this at last, and the thought disrupted my dream so that it faded a few seconds later. 

Afterward, we observed two large eye movements on the polygraph record just before I awakened from 

a thirteen-minute REM period. Here, finally, was objective evidence that at least one lucid dream had 

taken place during what was clearly REM sleep! I sent a note to the 1979 meeting of the APSS in Tokyo 

mentioning this and other evidence suggesting that lucid dreams are associated with REM sleep.

 Of course, I did not expect anyone to be convinced of the reality of lucid dreaming by this brief summary. 

But I wanted to share our results with other dream researchers as quickly as possible.

I found this account in - Stephen LaBerge – Lucid Dreaming - free books reading online . It's a really interesting pdf and well worth reading if you are interested in Lucid Dreaming  it's origins and history.

" If this  ( a scientific finding ) contradicts some aspect of Buddhist doctrine as contained in scriptures, we have no other choice but to accept that the teaching is in need of interpretation. Thus, we cannot accept it literally simply  because it was taught by the Buddha, we have to examine whether it is contradicted by reason or not. If it does not stand up to reason we cannot accept it literally. We have to analyse such teachings to discover the intention and reason behind them and regard them as subject to interpretation. Therefore, in Buddhism great emphasis is laid on the importance of investigation. "
                               The Dalai Lama XIV

 I'm not a Buddhist, however this approach to dogma and to life in general really appeals to me.
 It is so different to the traditional upbringing I received, where questioning was shunned and considered to be a form of rebellion.
 We were expected to believe because our parents and teachers said it was so.
 I could never buy that approach, my only 'faith ' has been and still is the faith in asking questions and seeking answers through personal experience.
I can still remember my first T'ai Chi class when Peter O Donoghue separated his hands as in diagonal flying and said " Feel the Energy ".
 I had no idea what he was talking about then, had no idea of what Chi or Energy meant not to mind feeling it.
 But he didn't expect me to take it on faith, he explained how to practise in order to ' tune in  ' to it's presence.
 It took me a long time to become conscious of  it's presence but I eventually my question " What is Chi, does it really exist ? " was answered experientially.
We are intelligent thinking and feeling beings, I believe we are born to question , to find answers that expand our understanding and widen our experience.
 To me ' God  ' experiences  ' God  ' through us . This is a mysterious expanding universe which reveals itself through our questioning.
The better and more profound the question, the more interesting and enlightening is the answer that we find.

So let's keep asking questions , let's keep seeking for new and better answers, let's take nothing for granted. Let's experience for ourselves.

                 

                            The brain is wider than the sky,
                 
                               For, put them side by side,
           
                            The one the other will contain

                               With ease, and you beside.

                                       Emily Dickinson

First Frost

                      The sun hasn't broken through

                On this first winters morning

           The fields are white

             And the trees are ghostlike

               It begins to brighten as we head towards the wood

               More colours emerge moment by moment




                                         

               
               We linger among these trees

                        Nourished by views and ambient energy




                     

                       In this sacred little wood

                              That never fails to inspire

                    And recharge my energy

                So I can head home renewed

                Curious about the day ahead.


Some people say that a camera removes you from the immediate experience, from being fully present.
However I have found that my camera draws me into my surroundings. It is like a companion who says , "Look  up  , look left ,  see that light beam hanging there. " My camera is a deer friend that awakens my senses to the landscape and the beauty all around.

Back to Doneraile Park

                 Here is my brother Donal who is home on a short
                    visit from the Fiji Islands where  he lives.

         He had never been to Doneraile Park

             So I suggested a trip there today

             On this cold sunny day

 
              Blue skies and autumn colours delighted us

 
                As we crossed bridges

           And admired the views

       While catching up, his life is so different to mine .
       Donal has lived in Fiji foe the past 25 years teaching
       in a seminary and working in parishes.
       I suppose we are both teachers but apart from that we
       couldn't be more different . Donal always knew he belonged
       in the church , knew he wanted to be a priest since he was 4
       or 5 years old . His is a natural faith and belief .  I questioned
       everything, at times I tried my best to believe, to fit in with  my
       family .  It never worked, growing up my mother did her best
       convert me , I often wondered what was wrong with me, often
       almost believed that the ' devil ' had got to me as she implied.
       But I could never believe that there was only one path to 'God'.
       I have always had  a sense that all paths lead home. Some paths
       may be longer and others more direct but we are all heading in
       the same direction. We are all searching for the 'truth ' of our
       existence. We are all aspects of divine light working to unblock
       the aspects of our human nature which hide our light.

Homeostasis

Homeostasis is self-regulation, a basic property of all self-organising systems.

Homeostasis is involved in keeping our body temperature steady. When we exercise and overheat,  our body naturally sweats and cools us down , similarly if we get too cold shivering occurs to warm us back up.

These great processes normally all occur below our conscious level as do many so many of our body's activities allowing us time to 'live'.

This is the up side of homeostasis, however there is a downside in that not only does this process keep our physiology in homeostasis I believe it tends to keep our lives in homeostasis and this is one of the main reasons that we find it so difficult to change.

 Habits tend to be really hard to break and this includes habits of our minds.

Understanding  that my mind is wanting to stay ' stuck'  helps me to have patience.

 Helps me cope with the long process of awakening.   Paradoxically it also helps me to stay focused on making small efforts each day to move in the new direction.

One of the great aspects of T'ai Chi is that it ' forces ' us to do things in a new way.

We have to move much more slowly than we normally do, we need to coordinate our movements in new strange ways that challenge us.

Our daily practice slowly changes our perspective, slowly opens us up in new ways. So over time we become more centered , calmer , steadier , more flexible.

And eventually hopefully truly lucid.

November Workshop In T'ai Chi and Energy Work

Here is the full Mini Form for Monday and Tuesday's classes.

We are almost finished this form just two more lessons so we will be ready in time for the Workshop in Blackrock on November 30'th.

I'm really looking forward to this workshop. We will work on the Forms, Short Form and Mini Form.
We will pay special attention to Energy Exercises in order to enhance energy awareness and also to strengthen our energy body .

The aim of this Workshop is to optimise  our ability to focus and develop a better understanding of  Energy in T'ai Chi and life.

The Workshop will begin at 10 30 with Short Form work for the first hour .
11 30 - 4   is open to all levels .

 Recharge Your Energy

 Improve Your  Knowledge and Understanding of T'ai Chi.

 Meet fellow T'ai Chi students from other groups.

 Have Fun and Learn.

So In Love With Autumn

                         Beautiful Doneraile Park

               As the evening is closing in

            There is just enough light to appreciate the contrasting colours

         And catch some reflections

            Just enough time to appreciate the waters beauty

        The trees elegance

            The dream like quality of evening

                        In this most beautiful place

Of contrasting views 

Helpful Questions

I bumped into a friend the other day who asked " What are you working on these days Ann ? "
It was really interesting to be asked that as I got to watch what  ' Ann ' said.  And I got to reflect on my 'Ann's ' answer too. I'm using the third party as sometimes an answer comes and you know it is true and correct but you don't know where it came from !

Anyway we spoke for a while about T'ai Chi , Reconnection and then i mentioned my  work with the International Academy of Consciousness. That is when he asked the most interesting question . He said " What is the point of getting out of your body , isn't the whole point of T'ai Chi etc to become more present here and now ? Isn't getting out of your body a form of escape ?

Then I heard myself explain that in order to leave the body lucidly one has to be very lucid throughout  the day. The energy exercises we learnt  to practise actually enhance one's lucidity and this means one is more present all day.

Also I found that the people who pracise this work seem to be some of the most ' present ' people I have met . There is a strong sense of the importance of this life, that each minute of each day is significant.

Sometimes questions like those help clarify to ourselves just what and why we spend the time working hard on our practice and inspire renewed effort.
                         

                     Autumn colours that nourish

                     Delicate beech leaves barely holding on

Until the frost comes

So let's savour 

\

These rich contrasting colours for short while more

Self Worth

Pain can be a good thing when  it alerts us to problems that we are ignoring at least that has been my experience.

 During the last few weeks  my tooth ache, that I had been refusing to deal with really acted up.
Even when I was in Portugal it was giving me trouble on and off. This has been going on for a while and it is a bit embarrassing to admit that I'm a bit of a coward when it comes to teeth.

Anyway , maybe thanks to the energy work in Portugal I decided it was time to face my fears and consult a new dentist.
He  said there were two options, extraction or root canal treatment, the latter would solve the problem but cost  in the order of eight hundred to a thousand euros.

What I found interesting was the soul searching I had to go through to allow myself to spend that much money on my tooth. Looking back now it seems ridiculous that it wasn't a straight forward decision.
In hindsight it seems obvious to me that it was a  esteem issue.

In some strange way it brought up value issues. It was a wake up call to let me know about putting a value on well being.  Once I booked the treatment something shifted inside and I became conscious of other aspects of my life that I was undervaluing.

Dealing with this tooth ache has brought about a big change in my self value and a huge shift in my energy level and confidence. My inner being felt my care and love , felt appreciated and respected and this has resulted in a big shift in energy.

Just as  when someone acknowledges you for a job well done and this gives you the energy to go on and do hours more work. My inner self felt the care, the shift in my own self worth. It may seem something small to an outsider looking on but it has made a big difference to me. Sometimes we don't  even  realize how we are under valuing ourselves until a crisis happens and we are forced to act.

I am very conscious of making gratitude lists and acknowledging the aspects of life that I am grateful for. Thanks to this tooth ache for making me conscious of the importance of paying due respect to my body.
It is also more evidence that everything that happens in  life can be of value, everything can be an opportunity to grow and learn.

Illumination

               When the sky is very dark grey

          And at the same time the sun shines

              from  behind the colours appear more vibrant



                      The contrast awakens us to the beauty

                      It is often during difficult periods in our lives

                      When the contrast is strongest

                      That we are aware of the magic of life

                      When circumstances stretch us beyond

                      What we think is our limit

                       That we discover we are actually limitless

Mini form for Tuesday's Class

Here is the full mini form . We are almost there so just ' stick ' to the end and you will be getting the ' air ' of the final postures.

First steps in the world of OBE's

As I have said already I'm new to the world of OBE.

Why would anybody even want to devote time and energy to have this experience ?

I mean some people seem to have the experience ' naturally ' it just seems to happen to them.

We can speculate many reasons for this occurrence, from luck to merit , however this is still speculation and there is no way to validate our speculations.

However if it is possible to experience an OBE for ourselves we can Know.

This has always been my bottom line.

 Let me have the experience.

 I am willing to work at anything if I can learn and experience first hand. Who wants to just read someone else's story. We all deserve to live our life to the full and experience all that interests us in this lifetime.

Once I read that it was possible to train our 'energy' in order to facilitate an OBE I began working to do just that.  And it happened . It took me some months and my first few OBE's are tentative like the one I described in my post last Friday , First reflections since Portugal.

Here is my other  OBE experience as I wrote it in my journal.


Sept 28 2013

This morning 5 am I went to the loo and let Googles ( our Cat ) out .

Looked at the most beautiful sky  , small crescent moon peeping through the clouds, and one bright star vibrating to the left. The sky was enchanting and I stood for some time in awe and thanked God for my life and thought I'm from out there.I'm connected to those stars. I want to return and meet my other travellers.
Came back to bed and did energy work on and off for at least an hour. Then focused on the target of my home town .

Coming and going from hypnagogic state to sleep.

V strong vibrations and and loud strange sound passed out through my left ear .Felt my energosoma 9 energy body )  being 'pulled or lifted 'up from my physical body.
 EXCITEMENT  Couldn't see and didn't want to open my eyes in case that would pull me back into my body .
Felt myself rising up an amazing feeling like nothing I have ever experienced before . Then the excitement got too much and I was pulled back into my body.

Euphoric for the whole weekend had very high energy

This experience has convinced me that it is possible to leave our physical body and experience other aspects of this life. It does take work, effort and intention, not to mention some help from sources unknown.  However I believe that if I can do it anybody can . It is encouraging to know that those of us who had no spontaneous OBE or knowledge of it can work to have one.

One of my students who has taken to this work told me she too has had some success and this is very encouraging.

We are now in an age of information and connection. And I believe it is an age of internal communication  an age when we can explore our inner depths in great ways hitherto available only to a few enlightened masters.

More about Lucid Dreams and OBE's

             Unfortunately I took very few photographs at the
                International Academy of Consciousness Campus  ( was just too busy working ).

           There are many reasons why it is so wonderful to visit such a place and meet the people who work and volunteer there. The place is a testament to passion and belief in one's dreams and visions.

We worked intensely over the weekend and I feel more focused and lucid.

Since I began working with the IAC I have been reading a lot of books about OBE's and also about lucid dreaming . Lucid dreaming can often be a ' way in ' to OBE experiences.

I'm currently reading Robert Waggoner's Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self and have found it to be an excellent support and inspiration. In it he tells his own story, along with lots of lucid dream accounts and background information.

He found great help and inspiration in Carlos Castaneda's books.  My T'ai Chi teacher Steven introduced me to Castaneda's books many years ago and they opened my mind to many new perspectives. I'm wishing now that I had used them to enter lucid dreaming in the way Waggoner did.  I must trust that, that was not the right time for me awaken to lucid dreaming . Trust that I wasn't ready back then.

 I find it interesting that I can read the same information in Waggoner's book now and it makes complete sense to me , where as when I read it many years ago it was fascinating and interesting but beyond my capability to use at that time.

Robert Waggoner tells of  Castaneda's advice  "  find  your hands in the dream '. In  order to do this Waggoner advises that you should look at your hands often during the day and ask yourself to notice whether you are awake or asleep and dreaming .

The IAC training gives similar questions which also help one to become more lucid both in daytime activities and also help one to become more lucid while asleep or in an O B E state.

Employing all these means I notice that I am having more lucid dreams.

I had a really interesting experience this morning, I'm not exactly sure if it was a dream or hypnagogic state experience but it was so interesting and fun I'm going to share it.

The ' dream ' began outside my mother's house with some people I didn't recognise .   Next, I was watching  my Mum and another woman riding bicycles on a street near where I live.  I was an observer . Then I thought to myself  my mother is dead,  I must be dreaming.  So if I'm dreaming I should be able to change the dream. I decided  to change the dream  but  didn't give any definite instructions, next I noticed I was in a large room and there were a few men walking around one began to walk towards me and I thought " That man will wake John up if he keeps coming this way "   (John was next to me in bed ) ,  I better stop him before he wakes John .  At this stage I'm wondering it I'm dreaming or lucid out of my body . I blow on him and he dissolves . Then I thought to myself this is so interesting I'll wake up and tell John while I'm still lucid.  And that is what I did.

What was so different and interesting about this lucid dream was my awareness of John's physical  presence next to me while simultaneously being conscious of dreaming.

It is amazing to me that such levels of consciousness are possible and accessible . Much  thanks is due  to all the great teachers and explorers who share their discoveries and  methods.

Here is an interview with  Robert Waggoner about his book

November by the river

         Su got her way eventually and I found myself by the  river

           I never imagined how grateful I'd be to Jo for begging
                 and harassing us until we got Su

        I know this looks upside down until you find the steps
                    behind Su

                So much beauty I would have missed

       So much time to reflect

                  To admire

                 To ponder

                        Wonder

                     And delight

                    Such ' patient ' company

So much to be grateful  for 

  

 Each walk is new and fresh to her eyes and mine