HEMI-SYNC AND OBES

A few weekends ago I had the opportunity to attend a TMI get-together hosted by my friend Matthew in Boulder, Colorado. He's an outreach trainer for The Monroe Institute http://www.monroeinstitute.org/ and was giving a free hemi-sync session at his house. It's a fun way to indulge in the group energy of those of us coming together with the same intent of exploring.

I drove up with Rob--one of my friends who's been to TMI several times--and after everyone arrived there were 12 of us including Matthew and his wife Janet. We sat in the family room getting acquainted and sharing a little about what we know of TMI and hemi-sync technology and other related topics.

When we got ready to begin the first session, we broke into pairs to each share an MP3 player that Matthew had pre-programmed with the hemi-sync tape he wanted us to hear. We all scattered around the house to find our own spots and set out our comforters and pillows to get ready for the session. The tape we listened to is called Metamusic, this one named "Higher" and is very relaxing music with hemi-sync. This effect alters your brain waves, and I believe that typically hemi-sync works to give you the theta brainwave state, although I don't know this specifically. All I know for certain is what I know from my old days of experimentation with the Theta state and the quick effects it has on producing out-of-body experiences.

After getting comfy, it wasn't long before my partner James was breathing heavy and then snoring. I wondered how long it would be before I became that relaxed as well, but I knew that it's very easy to fall physically asleep without even realizing it. So far, though, I hadn't heard myself snoring so I wasn't yet as physically relaxed as I wanted to be. I mentally set my intent for something specific I wanted to experience during this session--a question I had in mind because of a recent OBE I had had the week before. It had been one of those "high" OBEs, what I have come to call a spiritual OBE in order to differentiate it from the more common classic-type out-of-body experiences I normally have. These spiritual ones have been ongoing for me over the years and seem to be telling me a story or preparing me for what's to come. I'm obviously still in the process of learning whatever they are all about, which is why I was left with a huge question after this last one. (I've mentioned a few of these OBEs in my book, Persephone's Journey). So my mental intent was to ask specific questions about that experience...Was the message I received really from my higher self, or was it just something that my subconscious mind made up and superimposed into my experience? How can I know for sure? How can I trust it was real?

After a few minutes I didn't hear my partner snoring anymore but was still aware of him lying next to me. What happened next told me I was already under the effects of the hemi-sync. Bruce was suddenly there next to me, tugging at my sleeve. I imagined looking over at him and saw him smiling and excited like a little kid who wanted to go play. "Bruce, I'm busy. I'm trying to do Matthew's workshop. We're listening to hemi-sync right now and I'm trying to have an experience." Bruce didn't seem to care, and he continued to tug and pull at me. I realized it wasn't really Bruce, not physical Bruce. This was nonphysical Bruce. "C'mon Vicky," he said. "Let's go have some fun." Just in case I was making all this up, I wasn't treating this experience as a true altered state of consciousness...yet. (Sometimes it just takes me a little while to figure out what’s really going on).

I wasn't budging. I wanted to remain focused on the Metamusic and give serious effort at exploring. I wanted the hemi-sync effects to take me away. What I didn't realize was that experiencing Bruce tugging at me meant I was already under its effects.

I tried once more to ignore Bruce beside me who I considered might only be just my imagination and not real. But ignoring him didn't make him go away, not for long anyway. Nonphysical Bruce flew out through the family room window and out into Matthew's back yard. He did a flip off the back porch and I thought, Ok, I'm definitely making this up. I need to just concentrate on the tape.

I focused my attention back to the tape, but it wasn't long before Bruce came floating back in and hovered next to me, which would have placed him directly on top of my partner. "Vicky, come on. I could show you some fancy ways to fly. It’ll be fun," Bruce said, tugging on me again. It was now slowly beginning to dawn on me that I wasn't making it up.

My ability to hear the tape came and went between focusing either on the tape or on Bruce. That, combined with how easily I perceived Bruce, was a good indication this was all real. Wait a sec, I thought. When I sent away the impression of Bruce before, which I thought was just imaginary and not real, he flew away. And now he’s back. Maybe this is real. Maybe I should just go along with this and see what happens. By trying so hard to have a nonphysical exploration experience, I didn't recognize I was already having one, until the idea came to me to just go along with whatever I was experiencing. Bruce's spirit was really actually trying to help and I hadn’t realized it until now. Now I realized that if I only focused on lying there waiting for something real to happen, then all I would experience is waiting for something to happen.

So I finally gave in and said "okay" to Bruce and nonphysically gave him my hand. I instantly floated out of my body and we flew away. I remembered nothing of our flying experience and what seemed only moments later, I found myself back in my body still lying there listening to the music. One little bit of confirmation of these types of nonphysical experiences is that while they are taking place, I'm not able to physically hear the music playing. Once back in my body, however, the sounds of the type are right there again. I smiled to myself, telling myself I'd have to remember to let Bruce know of his silly antics today. That is, let physical Bruce know, despite the fact that he'd have no memory of it.

Much to my surprise, my finally trusting the experience of Bruce as real must have blown my nonphysical perception wide open. Without any notice at all, I was now much deeper than I realized because a moment later Matthew walked up to me and knelt down in front of me. It was very awkward indeed, and I realized he was pretty much kneeling over my face. "Matthew! What are you doing? You're in my face!" This was weird. It looked like he was actually kneeling on my chest, yet I didn't feel a thing.

"It's ok. I'm making adjustments to your headset," he told me. It didn't make sense Matthew would actually be bothering me this way and it certainly was impossible for him to be physically kneeling over me like that. I realized this was nonphysical Matthew just as I’d experienced nonphysical Bruce a few moments ago. My perception, though, was now as clear and real-looking as that of physical-reality seeing. I must be out of body, cool! I'll just wait and see what this leads to, I thought to myself. I definitely wanted to continue trusting my experience and open up my nonphysical perception even more.

After nonphysical Matthew was finished making his necessary adjustments, he suddenly disappeared and the next thing I knew his wife Janet walked over to where I was lying on the floor. She quickly came around to my right side, reached down, and yanked my comforter out from under me in one quick swoop.

Hey! That's my blanket! I wonder what she did that for. She knows I was lying on it, I thought to myself, at first believing it was physically happening but then realizing it was all nonphysical. Because of the previous two experiences with nonphysical Bruce and nonphysical Matthew, I realized quickly that this was nonphysical Janet. Obviously they were all playing a role in inducing some kind of experience for me. I went along with it, knowing this had to have something to do with answering my questions I asked at the beginning while setting my intention.

Janet shook my blanket up into the air, the way all of us moms do when we're tucking our kids into bed. Because of my intention to just go along with whatever I experience, I continued to watch to see what was going to happen next. I fully expected my blanket to come gliding down on top of me, and while waiting I had that excited feeling my kids must feel when I do this to them. Even at the age they are now, 12 and 13, each of my kids still loves to feel silly this way, still asking me once in a while to shake the blanket into the air over the bed. As I watched, though, my blanket didn't come down. Janet held onto it as it slowly began to continue floating upward and out of her hands. By instinct I thought, My blanket! and I felt myself reach up into the air to grab it. Again I floated up out of my body.

This trick by nonphysical Janet had been a good one. It worked. Although I still felt as if I were lying on the floor, I instantly knew I was nonphysical Me. Not being able to hear the hemi-sync tape again was another indication that I was indeed under the full effects of it. A moment later something very heavy landed on my lap. I felt it plop onto me with a thud. I knew it had to be something nonphysical, and my instinctive reaction was to sit up and see what it was. I felt myself sit upright and look down into my lap, but I couldn't see my physical body. Oh yeah, I'm out of body. This is a nonphysical experience, I thought to myself. (I’m so used to using my physical instincts that I can sometimes easily forget that I’m out of body).

Laying across my lap was a huge book. I could clearly see the title of it, which read "I Don't Even Need To Know The Facts". I realized this was in direct answer to my questions I posed in my intent to know more about last week's spiritual OBE message I'd received. I chuckled to myself when I read the title. I knew exactly what it meant. I knew this book was a gift from my higher self as a way to answer my questions. I found it humorous that my higher self would deliver a message in the form of a book since I'm working on getting a book published. This nonphysical book with its vague title made me realize that I was spending too much focus on asking the wrong questions. I got the distinct feeling at that moment that the message delivered in my spiritual OBE was indeed a real message and that I just needed to trust and have faith. "Don't worry about the details", this book seemed to be telling me. "Focus on trust." This book was huge...a lot to be said about trust!

After the hemi-sync session was over, I felt very satisfied that I indeed had had a real experience and that it definitely answered what I'd set intent for. It's also fun to note that we each nonphysically are there working as guides and helpers to each other. Physically Matthew and his wife weren't aware of their nonphysical actions that helped facilitate my experience, just as Bruce rarely is aware either. But this is the nature of nonphysical exploration. Just another neat little tidbit that I love to point out.