How to LD/OBE Almost Every Morning - Rhythm-Napping
I purcashed the SaltCube Video off www.saltcube.com and heard this technique was great! i'm going to give it ago within the next few days, i'll update and tell you how i go. I've had 0 LD's so i got nothing to lose :)
BTW, don't be scared away by long post, it' just explains everrrrrything, so you're not confused about anything.
Rhythm napping is a effective technique that doesn't involve any mental skills or discipline. When I first began trying it, it was 80% effective to send me out of body over a two week testing period.
Rhythm napping is basically the 'wake-back-to-bed' or 'interrupted sleep' methods on steroids. All you have to do is confuse your body into the "mind awake/body asleep" state by alternating falling asleep and waking up in the morning. The morning is the best time to do this because your melatonin/serotonin ratio is optimal.
(For more information on melatonin see the section on the Sun.)
The biggest difficulty people have doing this method is in either not being able to fall asleep again once they get up, or in not being able to wake up when the timer goes off. However, if they are able to get past those two hurdles they almost always have some kind of unusual experience, ranging from feeling the vibrations for the first time, on up to having their first OBE.
In order minimize those two hurdles, it's highly recommended that you first do the sleep training routines. It's surprisingly clear sailing once you have those out of the way. Without knowledge of rhythm napping, people would probably gloss over the sleep training routines so I've put rhythm napping in this book before sleep training to give you a good reason to do them.
The Technique
Get the following items:
A timer of some sort such as the Saltcube timer webpage at www.saltcube.com/timer.html or use a digital cooking timer.
An alarm clock or second timer. You need both the timer and the alarm clock. Two timers are used in this method, the first beeps every 4, 8, etc minutes or so to cause you to alternate waking up and falling asleep. The second is a safety alarm clock that beeps after an hour or so to prevent you from oversleeping.
Some silicone earplugs. (Optional but very helpful.)
A blindfold. This also is an optional item but it's extremely useful because it allows you to do reality checks without moving. I recommend not getting a cheap blindfold, they're not very comfortable and make it hard to fall asleep. Get a decent one that's padded.
Make sure the timer is loud enough to wake you up through the earplugs. Make sure your timer uses a high-pitched sound that will definitely wake you up each time. Low-pitched sounds probably won't wake you up even if they're loud.
Set the alarm clock to get up three hours early. (For instance get up at 5:00 am.)
Set the timer's volume to be as loud as your alarm clock if possible. You're going to use the timer to wake you up again, a lot of times people wake up using the alarm clock and go to sleep but sleep through all the timer beeps. You need to have the timer be a bit louder than you might expect so use the alarm clock to calibrate your timer's volume.
Go to sleep at your normal bed time.
When you wake eat something very light if you are hungry. It should not be not sugary and something which won't give you cramps or make your stomach digest too exuberantly. A banana is good, a low sugar protein drink is ideal because it's easy to digest and takes a while to get through your system.
Do something to wake you up completely such as washing your face and brushing your teeth. Some people take a shower and get fully dressed like they're going to start the day, then change back into pajamas. Doing so is a form of physiological mnemonic to program your body to stay alert so that when you're doing the naps it will be easier to regain awareness.
Stay awake for at least one hour. (For instance stay up until 6:00 am.)
Set the alarm clock for your normal waking time plus one hour. (For instance 9:00 am.) This is important because there's a good chance you'll oversleep using this technique without the alarm clock. This gives you three hours to fall asleep and have at least one projection.
Put on the blindfold and earplugs.
Use MILD (Mnemonic-Induced Lucid Dreaming)
Your subconscious will respond to the thoughts you have as you fall asleep so make the following intentions to yourself:
"I will fall asleep easily and wake up ready to OBE."
"If I dream, I will become lucid and move into an OBE automatically."
Set the timer for 8 minutes.
Use the entire three hours
Relax and try to fall asleep, it's OK if you don't actually make it in 8 minutes but at least relax as much as possible. As mentioned you've got three hours to fall asleep and let the timer wake you up several times. You may have to restart the timer program or CD several times during the three hours, but it only takes one time where you fall asleep and are brought into lucidity by the timer to have a successful OBE or at least feel vibrations and paralysis.
Staying still
The less you move your body the more effective this technique is, stay very still without even moving your eyes. When you reset the timer practice so you can do it using only your thumb and without looking at it if possible. The Saltcube timer webpage at www.saltcube.com/timer.html is especially useful for this because it allows you to make your computer beep at you automatically so you never have to move at all.
Your main goal is to watch your body fall asleep, the beeps are there as a backup if you miss the heaviness wave of your body falling asleep you have the timer beeps as a backup.
Reality checks
Doing rhythm napping it's easy to confuse your mind and it's possible that you will separate but think you're in the physical. When the timer beeps you may sit there fooling with the buttons but the display doesn't make any sense, it's because you're out of body! When the timer beeps, do a reality check because you may have exited without knowing it.
My favorite reality check is to see if I can will my finger to stretch out and touch the wall, you can also try pulling on your hands and see if they warp. Just using your will to stretch your finger is not as easy but it's slightly better because you don't have to move to do it.
When the timer wakes you up, do a reality check, set the timer for 4 minutes and fall asleep again.
When the timer wakes you up, do a reality check, set the timer for 8 minutes and fall asleep again.
When the timer wakes you up, do a reality check, set the timer for 12 minutes and fall asleep again.
When the timer wakes you up, do a reality check, set the timer for 16 minutes and fall asleep again.
When the timer wakes you up, do a reality check, set the timer for 20 minutes and fall asleep again.
When the timer wakes you up, do a reality check, set the timer for 20 minutes and fall asleep again.
Finally, set the timer to beep every 4 minutes over and over and continue until you decide to stop or your alarm clock goes off.
What To Expect
Usually I will exit inside the first 10 minutes of the first or second 20 minute nap. Once you get into the 4 minute repeats you will probably begin having successive lucid dreams.
You will probably exit doing this or at least experience the beginnings of things mentioned in this book's "How To Tell How Close You Are To An OBE" section. After your projection get up and write down what happened before it fades.
If you wish to exit again start over with a 4 minute nap, then 8 the minute nap, etc... You must start over at the beginning, starting in the middle of the routine won't work.
Whenever you go to sleep then wake up and don't move, and then fall asleep again, sleep paralysis is likely. 100% paralysis is the ideal condition from which to exit because there's no mistaking the fact that you're in paralysis and if you know what to do you can't possibly screw it up. Simply begin breathing deeply until you exit, you'll pop out every time.
Note this doesn't work quite so well for less than 100% paralysis, see the Paralysis section for more details.
If you enter a lucid dream you can take control of the dream if you have the awareness to do so. Alternately you can enjoy the dream as is, or you can teleport back to your body and get up out of it to make it into an official OBE.
If you wake up and find you have a heavy feeling and vibrations, the safest ways to exit are those which do not involve trying to move parts of your dream body but instead focus of moving your entire dream body. As a beginner, if you try moving your dream arms to climb up a dream rope or roll out of your body there's a good chance you'll move your physical body and botch it.
A better solution is to concentrate on the force of gravity to push you out of body, you can use a method such as the Gravity Press Exit Method to leave your body:
If you are in an OBE state and you focus on gravity pressing you down, then you'll sink into your bed. Because dream sight allows you to see through things by controlling the depth at which you are focusing, focus on the ceiling or the wall as you sink into the bed. As long as you focus on the depth of the ceiling, your sight won't be blocked by your mattress and you won't lose your sight to blackness.
Just sink about three feet into your bed so you know for sure that you've separated, at that point it's safe to actually move.
Tweaking Things For Your Sleeping Type
The above description uses a 4 minute base interval (the times are multiples of 4 minutes: 4, 8, 12, etc...), you may have better success using anywhere from a 2 minute to a 6 minute base interval. You may not need to stay up at all between the time you get up and the time you begin the naps.
To find out what will probably work the best for you, refer to the sleep training section.
The Timer
The Saltcube timer webpage at www.saltcube.com/timer.html is probably the best timer for this because you can use it without ever moving. Failing that you want a digital timer that's easy to set and doesn't tick. Wal-Mart has one made by West Bend that I like for about $8.
This is kind of like the Wal-Mart one but you don't need to spend $25 on a timer:
http://www.comforthouse.com/comfort/kittimtripti.html
Earplugs
In a quiet room there are still small distractions, for instance the air circulating in your ear canal makes a bit of noise. I find that earplugs are a big help for focusing on what I'm doing. You don't absolutely have to have earplugs but if you use them then you might as well get the good ones.
The best earplugs are silicone putty such as "Mack's Pillow Soft Silicone Earplugs". You can get a box of six pairs for a few dollars.
Of all the earplugs I've tried those are really the only ones worth buying in my opinion. My ear canals don't seem to be the right shape for the others and I can always hear things through them. You can get them at Target.
When you put them in your ears don't roll them into a ball, just press them over your ears like the instructions say. If they go into your ear, your ear will get irritated and make slime to push them out and they won't stay in. You can put a little square of tissue paper over them so they don't stick to your pillow.
Gotchas
I found that if I'm a little bit cold I can't phase at all. In Journeys Out Of The Body, Monroe writes that 96.2% of his OBEs were while he was warm and only 3.8% when cold. So, before you start make sure you've got maybe an extra blanket or something.
Why I Think This Works
I've tried combining this with specific visualizations during each nap, and also staying up for various periods before starting the nap sequence. I've also tried getting up to sleep in a different spot than usual.
However, I've had my best success by just simply falling asleep in my bed as usual, thereby tricking my body into thinking everything is going as usual even though it isn't, I think by using the short 5 and 10 minute naps you program your body to expect them.
Your body does not like to be shocked into a waking state, so it gets you ready ahead of time. A lot of times if I set my alarm clock for 6:30 I will wake up at 6:25 because my body hates to be jolted like that.
So then when you go to sleep for the 25 minute naps, your body is thinking about those 5 and 10 minute naps you just had so it gets ready to wake you up. When you stay asleep instead of waking up your body is faked out into sending you into an OBE or at least the verge of an OBE.
That makes your ideal condition to exit, it's in the morning so you've got not much melatonin to make you sleepy but lots of serotonin to make you alert. Your body thinks it's time to wake you up so it readies your mind to awake, but when your body stays asleep it sends you into a projection.
The flip side to this is while your body is confused it will give up and not wake you up at your usual waking time, so if you don't use an alarm clock there's a good chance you'll sleep in an extra six hours.
As long as you get up and start moving around near your usual waking time, your body will not be confused the next day unless you want it to be and fake it out again.
I don't try to do this laying on my back because I can't sleep that way, so far it seems that keeping things simple and just falling asleep normally works the best.
