Two Returns
Field Notes 20260508 - Friday
Afternoon
- Sun: Taurus 18°
- Moon: Aquarius 7° | Waning Gibbous
Meditation
- 30 Minutes.
- Tom Campbell’s binaural beats, 256-128-64
This morning kicked off with an easy and enjoyable 10 and a half mile run. Judging by the average pace, I need to step it up on Monday’s “fast 7” mile runs. I’ve raised the total weekly mileage from Winter’s 22 mile average to now 26 mile average. 4 more miles in total and I will hit my rough target of 30 miles (on average) for Summer and early Fall weekly totals. All of this physical activity, including weight lifting on my off-running days, aids in every facet of my life.
Needless to say, I was ready to take a nap this afternoon. I attempted to meditate but, as expected, I found myself not even making it through prep. So for half an hour I essentially napped to binaural beats. After that I took the gear off and turned over for a proper nap.
As I was quickly falling asleep and with little energy for “threshold hunting” (space between states), I repeated, “Now I am out of body.” I don’t necessarily only use this intent for astral projection; oftentimes these immersive altered states begin with lucid dreams for me and progress to others if I have sufficient energy.
To my surprise, because it’s been a long time without immersive altered states, I experienced a back-to-back succession of 4 lucid dreams. Each one was not long-lived, but the quality was a lot closer to what I’d expect from a successful session. No Liminal contact on my way out of them nor when I’d dive back in, but I did spend more time focusing on the state of my exits and back to the physical.
I’m looking for the direction of the spin as I simultaneously sink down, the timing, the speed with which I return, as well as any other directional cues and sensations. I’ve now realized that this is important because there is a marked difference between a return from a projection and returning from a lucid dream, and it’s especially important for me as most of my projections begin from lucid dreams and my transitions to projections are mostly not dramatic.
Today, while observing the exit from one of the 4 episodes, sure enough, I spotted a “projection return”. I had a feeling — the experience itself was more projection than a lucid dream. I literally flew out of the lucid dream and into projection by abruptly flying out of a window with intent.
With lucid dreams, as I spiral into the floor and fade out, I will generally “phase into” the physical, or so the experience suggests. With a return from a projection the end is usually without the spinning and sinking, or if it is present it is much quicker, and I gently land or fit into the shape of my physical body as I come back into the physical state.
Overall I’m still a bit tired, but all of this is simply adjusting to the new physical demands. In a way, because I know myself, being progressively more physical also increases my chances at such immersive altered states as lucid dreams and projections. Concluding my drought in this area is not as simple as running more miles in the morning, but more on that later as I continue to evaluate this possible “back-to-normal” turn of events.