Currents while asleep

[Anthem]

I have noticed with sleep paralysis or the mind waking up without the body, that it is a stepping stone to out of body experiences.

Whenever I wake up in this state, I give myself the verbal command to "float up" or something to this affect and I find that I am able to acheive an out of body state, or at least achieve some level of astral travel or lucid dreaming. It makes it a more pleasant experience than just feeling stuck there.

Maybe this will work for you,

Anthem

[NagoyaSea]

My apologies if this posts twice. Had a bit of a problem while posting....

I knew a psychologist in Denver who told me that when one experiences the paralysis prior to sleep, there is a part of the brain that for most people shuts down when one falls asleep, but for others, it doesn’t. Just as Richard said…

For years when this happened to me, I ‘made’ myself break the paralysis whatever way I could. Eventually, I just started surrendering to the process. And when I did, whatever “I” am was able to move where my thoughts directed, apart from this body. So in that regard, my experience is more like Anthem’s.

And for myself, lucid dreams simply happen, without my cultivating them. The witness, this consciousness, is just present, even when dreaming. There is nothing sinister or frightening about it. It just is.

These things just happen. I don’t think they are anything to pursue. Speaking for myself only, it just seems that the only things that bring real progress, real growth, are meditation and when it happens, samyama.

Blessings and Peace,

Kathy

[Richard]

quote:Originally posted by NagoyaSea


I knew a psychologist in Denver who told me that when one experiences the paralysis prior to sleep, there is a part of the brain that for most people shuts down when one falls asleep, but for others, it doesn’t. Just as Richard said…

For years when this happened to me, I ‘made’ myself break the paralysis whatever way I could. Eventually, I just started surrendering to the process. And when I did, whatever “I” am was able to move where my thoughts directed, apart from this body. So in that regard, my experience is more like Anthem’s.


These things just happen. I don’t think they are anything to pursue. Speaking for myself only, it just seems that the only things that bring real progress, real growth, are meditation and when it happens, samyama.

Blessings and Peace,

Kathy

HI kathy nice to hear from you. These things happened to me on a regular basis years ago mainly through trying to force OBEs.

I don't get it much anymore but when I do I just go with it ,no panic, no worries, I agree with you the paralysis is usually a prequel to OBEs
not something to cultivate too distracting but if it happens just lay back and enjoy.

RICHARD

[NagoyaSea]

Dear Richard,

Thank you, it is good to be back. This is a wonderful forum—I always learn so much here. The past months, I’ve let my work take over too much of my life and have let myself get down to one practice a day. Am finding it hard to balance right now between studies, kids and work, but only I can make the time to meditate in the afternoon again.

I’m not quite as brave as you are for the OBE’s. I’m not to the point where I sit back and enjoy, but rather, I’m tired of fighting it, so I just let it happen. In time, perhaps, I’ll be as easy with it as you are…

In light and love,

Kathy

[cosmic_troll]

Ever since starting AYP, I've had electrical currents in the spine during sleep, maybe 1 every month or two. But recently, there is a change that makes me wonder about something....

In the past, the electrical feelings were painful, caused me to wake up after a few minutes, then followed by uncontrollable laughter and giddiness. Yogani suggested that I was taking on too much purification, and that self-pacing would help. And it did, so I feel that he was right about this.

More recently, I've noticed that the currents happen on days when I don't practice (if I missed both sessions that entire day). Last night, the currents were going up and down my spine, with pain, but then suddenly got smooth. The pain disappeared, and the energy kept moving, unobstructed.

Now I'm wondering if recently, since I missed my AYP sessions, if my nervous system is actually doing the practices for me in my sleep? It was similar to pranayama, and I could see the energy moving up and down my spine.

Is it possible that sometimes the currents are caused by taking on too much practices, but is sometimes an automatic practice itself?

[Katrine]

Hi Cosmic
Whenever I go to bed I always experience ecstatic currents going from the bottom of my spine and upwards. On days where I meditated too much the energy would get stuck in my head and I would be completely disoriented if I closed my eyes. It felt like I would leave my body and not knowing how to come back.
This does not happen anymore (not even when I had the sunburn that I talk about in Satsang cafe).
Another thing:
For the past 2 years I have experienced (once in a while) that I wake up (usually close to morning) bathing in a wonderful lovefeeling. It originates in my chest and is accompanied by a barely audible "hum" - a vibration of love that fills the room and envelops me in......there is really no word for it. It always makes me feel totally protected, absolutely and unconditionally loved, and the afterglow of it lasts through the rest of the day. I try not to think about it - I simply bathe in it and am grateful for the experience.
So yes,- the current knows what it is doing; it wants - by all means - to mate our stillness. The only problem is that our nervous system might not be ready for its surge. Hence all the talk about self pacing.
It is my experience that slowing down when it is needed pays back tenfold.

May all your Nows be Here

[cosmic_troll]

Hi Katrine,

What a beautiful experience you describe. I hope to have that feeling someday

[Etherfish]

Katrine wrote:
"It originates in my chest and is accompanied by a barely audible "hum" "

i sometimes experience almost the same, but I don't think as smooth as you are describing. probably my system isn't as cleared out as yours. Sort of a 'wake up' energy with me.

Have you ever tried listening and following that "Hum" sound?

[Katrine]

Hi Ether

You wrote: "Have you ever tried listening and following that "Hum" sound?"

Yes. The sound is there all the time (but not as "audible" as the experience above). I have checked....it is the same note (or more like the sound of a struck string) all the time (actually I hear 4 different notes when the room is still, but the "hum" one is the....grunntone....I don't know the English word for it; in music, it is the main tone around which everything in the piece is centered. The "grunntone" of the G major scale is G. What do you call it?
The sound is what first came to me and gave me the first ecstatic experience. It came and went and then stayed for good. The "grunntone" is the only one that sounds like a string vibrating.

May all your Nows be Here

[weaver]

Hi Katrine, I'll just jump in, not to disrupt your discussion, to say that the "grunntone" is called fundamental tone in English, the other tones derived from it are overtones. Exiting again...

[Etherfish]

That's right up my alley as I used to play music.
You also may be referring to the tonic note. The translator says that is
"styrkemiddelet" in norwegian.
[this isn't right; see the next post]

When you play just one note, the fundamental is the main tone you hear, and harmonics or overtones are mathematical multiples of the fundamental. If you mix a fundamental with harmonics they just blend in and sound like they are adding character to the tone although they are twice or three times the frequency.

The tonic is a particular note or chord that is returned to in a song, and it feels like home. The piece sounds unresolved until it returns to the tonic.

[Katrine]

[:X]Oh Ether....you are wonderful! You had me in stitches....
Your translator is a computer....not unlike our head when it stands on one leg thinking it is it
What you refer to (the tonic) is "Tonika" in Norwegian. It is - like you said - the "home chord". However; "styrkemiddel" in Norwegian is simply a tonic....something you drink for extra strength. LOL[]

The irony of it all is of course that the sound I hear turned out to be the only true strength remedy: Strength itself.

I hereby transfer all my love through the ether to you!!!



May all your Nows be Here

[Etherfish]

ha ha that's hilarious- and a little embarassing. Good thing you write english! I'm one of those dumb westerners who is only fluent in one language.
So which meaning is the main sound you hear? tonika or fundamental?


But what I am really getting at is I wonder if you might be hearing the AUM sound? It is the sound from God from which all creation comes ("In the beginning was the word"). My SRF lessons tell me each chakra has a sound and it is good to hear and follow any one of them, but if you hear the AUM sound you don't need to hear anything else, as it is the source.

[Katrine]

Ether

 

quote:I'm one of those dumb westerners who is only fluent in one language.

Good! There is - in reality - only one language anyway. Go ahead with your fluency![)]

 

quote:So which meaning is the main sound you hear? tonika or fundamental?

Fundamental. The tone I hear is an F.  (Or rather.....it is not a plain F.....it is a full sound. It is coming, coming, coming...I can't explain it in words....)

 

quote:But what I am really getting at is I wonder if you might be hearing the AUM sound? It is the sound from God from which all creation comes ("In the beginning was the word").

Ether....I don't know. But let me tell you something awsome:
I didn't see your reply above (which you posted on the 26th) until today (march 1th). That is strange, considering I have checked for new posts every day since I got back from the mountains.
Well - yesterday something happened. The sound became completely audible (like the episodes I told you about in the mornings in bed - the lovefeeling in my chest). It now matters not whether there are other sounds (ordinary sounds)in the room. The vibrating F permeats through them. Thinking back, I am sure this started with an ecstatic experience I had up in the mountains this week.
This morning, something else happened. I woke up to the sound. It was completely clear that it originates in my heart chakra. The source of it finds a portal there. I feel it radiating from a glow in my spine. It extends outwards, backwards, downwards and upwards (or : front, back, top, bottom).
Another thing: If I sing it (on an m); when I stop the singing - the room reverbates with the sound. It is.....oh, I can't explain...
I tried to meditate with a mantra this morning. It was impossible - completely out of place....it felt meaningless and superficial. The sound wants me to hear it. So I relaxed...and let myself be embraced by it. This immediately results in ecstacy. I have a question for Yogani here:
There is no limit now to how high I can go with this sound. But I am a little hesitant....if I let go all the way; will I harm myself? Am I ready for this, or should I still only do 10 min meditation and 5 min pranayama (I love pranayama). And should I "hold back" while meditating?
Also: Since the sound is there all the time: how to self-pace?
The way I perceive it, this sound affects three centers primarily: The heart, the third eye and the navel (and also chakra no 2). I have a feeling that if I can manage to rest in the heart while I listen to it, no harm will be done. The reason I feel this is that since the sound became audible, the pressure in my head has changed. I now have an...edge....no, a barrier right where the spinal flow forks into two. This...juncture...now takes all the pressure. It is as if it vacuums to itself all of the energy. It is not at all painful. Just....hard. At the same time my whole spine is glowing...everything is ok there.

 

quote:My SRF lessons tell me each chakra has a sound

What is SRF lessons? If each chakra has a sound, what is the F equivalent to?

 

quote:if you hear the AUM sound you don't need to hear anything else, as it is the source.

I don't know if it is the AUM sound (then again, I am an illitarate on this); but maybe this is why I had trouble with the mantra (I am)?

Another thing: Last year I recorded I peice by Knut Nystedt (Norwegian choir composer). The CD was released this spring (Immortal Nystedt (2L)) The peice was: "In the beginning was the word"[]

Ether! I think it is great (grace) that I didn't read your post until after this happened. This way I was completely unbiased.

Thank you!

May all your Nows be Here

[Etherfish]

Thank you for being understanding about language. I do understand spanish also but don't speak it very well, but Norwegian is only in my DNA!

I think you may be having trouble with the mantra because creating words is a lower form than listening to creation sounds. I think we are all trying to get to where you are with the mantra. So I wouldn't worry about that. I have heard we get to a point with the mantra where the mantra is saying us rather than the other way around. So you may be there.

The SRF lessons are writings by Yogananda. I would have to look up that lesson as I don't remember which one it is. But the chakras aren't different tones. One lower chakra sounds like a bee buzzing, one higher one sounds like bells ringing, and there are other sounds. But what Yogananda's lesson said was to listen to the sound without analyzing, and follow it. If you hear the lower chakras it's OK because they all lead to the AUM sound.

I don't have time now, but you should be able to google "chakras and sound"
on the net. Maybe tonight I can do it. Once you hear the AUM sound, you don't need anything else, as it connects to God.

I hope Yogani will see your post and answer about practices, but I would guess you should do spinal breathing. People who have had trouble with kundalini energy usually have too much going UP and not coming back DOWN,
so spinal breathing helps balance that.
It sounds wonderful what is happening to you!!
Are you a recording engineer? I studied that a couple years, and have a
friend here with a recording studio.