Fading Light and Sluggish Flight: Making Sense of Anomolous OOBE Features

I delivered a well-received presentation last June at the annual IASD conference in Anaheim, titled, "Fading Light and Sluggish Flight: A Two-Dimensional Model of Consciousness in Lucid Dreams and Out-of-Body Experiences." In it, I address several phenomena that occur in OOBEs that, alone, do not seem to make sense, but together convey an intriguing picture that points to facilitative and disruptive modes of awareness that impact the OOBE in dramatically different ways. In my paper/presentation, both of which can be found on my website under "Recent Events," I make the case that one can prepare oneself to exercise an optimal state of awareness during an OOBE––and fly effortlessly, move through form without resistance, keep the light sources from dimming, and commune with the light that manifests during the experience––all through meditation. I have posted the audio of my presentation, my powerpoint, and my written text. Enjoy!

Dream Groups Going Well, More Planned

I am currently hosting two online dream groups each week. About half of the participants are also seeking certification as DreamStar Dreamwork Practitioners, and getting credit toward their Practicum requirement. It's been a great experience for me working with the two groups, which are comprised of therapists, artists, lucid dream experts, and lay dream workers. It's rewarding to see how co-creative dream work deepens and facilitates a level of engagement and meaning-making that I find often lacking in content-oriented dream work methods.

Meanwhile, I private maintain my middle-of-the-night meditational practice, and achieve lucidity almost 100% of the time, spending up to two hours out of my body on some occasions. Last night, I began meditating around 4 am, went back to bed an hour later, and spent at least two hours going in and out of out-of-body experiences. At one point, I got up and went to the bathroom, and then returned to bed for another multi-chapter OOBE. The interpersonal encounters were rich and fulfilling. Indeed, I encountered two old friends in apparent soul-to-soul encounters, even though I know better than to think that they were conscious of the exchange. I've spent most of my life working out a model of dream engagement that allows for "actual" contact influenced by several other "feeds" that condition the experience according to personal and transpersonal influences. To give you an example, last night I was flying through darkness, expecting to emerge in another star system (which often happens), only to hear loud voices in the darkness that pulled me into a bedroom that I thought, at first, was my own. But it was an ex who was entertaining her two grandchildren in bed. Before I realized it was her, I asked loudly, thinking it was Julie, "Why were you were making so much noise?" The ex reacted, at first angrily at my intrusion, but then became friendly when I explained my error. We visited, and members of her family came into the room and greeted me. Of course, it was not "actual" in the ordinary sense, but I suspect that certain features of the experience drew upon objective information, and that to some extent it was a real soul-to-soul contact that was qualified and distorted by my own filters. Regardless, I emerged from the experience feeling positive and further healed of any unfinished business between us.