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In this issue:
Bruce's 5th Book, the Afterlife Knowledge Guidebook, and NEW IMPROVED CD sets are now available.Read the Afterlife Knowledge Guidebook in this & future Newsletters.
Contents:
Scheduled Workshops
Scheduled 2-Day Exploring the Afterlife WorkshopsHampton Roads Publishing Co. workshop in Charlottesville, VA July 18-19, 2005 Contact Carolyn to get details and make your reservation. All registrations and payments for Hampton Roads workshops MUST be made thru Hampton Roads. Participants have the option of registering by phone (800-766-8009), fax (800-766-9042) or on their website HRPub.com This workshop will definitely take place, it is the only English language workshop scheduled in the States so far this year, and there is still plenty of room for you.
Esoteric Center "ReBirth" workshop in New York City, NY July 21,22 & 23, 2005
Contact Alex to get details and to make your reservation.
Note: THIS IS A RUSSIAN LAMGUAGE WORKSHOP and only recommended for Russian Speakers.
Scheduled 2-Day Partnered Exploring Workshops
None presently schedu;ed
Scheduled 5-Day Combined Workshops
This workshop combines both the Exploring the Afterlife and Partnered Exploration into a single workshop.
None presently scheduled
Volunteers Needed
To assist in spreading the knowledge of the need for Retrievals, and teaching the techniques, I'm asking for volunteers. There are two primary forms in which this assistance is presently needed: publicity and workshops.Publicity:
My experience giving workshops in Poland demonstrates that the most effective form of publicity is magazine articles. If you have any connections that would facilitate the publishing of magazine articles about retrievals, afterlife exploration, partnered exploration I like to talk to you. I am especially interested in publication in non-English language magazines. If you can help and would like to volunteer please contact me at bamoen@afterlife-knowledge.comWorkshop Locations Needed:
JapanBy an agreement with Hampton Roads Publishing Company a publisher in Japan will soon be translating and selling Japanese language versions of my first four books. I would like to begin giving my 5-day workshop in Japan. To do this I need a volunteer to host a workshop and assist in some publicity activities. For the publicity activities the ideal host wiil be able to assist in getting articles printed in japanese language magazines.
Personal Appearances
European Spiritual Congress in Warsaw, Poland. September 9 thru 27, 2005Hampton Roads Applied Learning Series
Hampton Roads Publishing Company, publisher of my books, is now sponsoring lectures and workshops by many of its authors. These are held in Charlottesville, Virginia and you may check the schedule for all events at Hampton Roads website. To check out all the events in Hampton Roads Applied Learning Series visit the Events CalendarExpress Interest in hosting or attending a workshop
If you think you might ever be interested in hosting or attending a future workshop please take a few moments right now to go to the new form fill it out, and submit it for entry into the database. It will only take a minute and by submitting the form you'll be kept informed of potential workshops near where you live.This Newsletter's Installment of the Afterlife Knowledge Guidebook
Each Issue of this Newsletter will include material from the Afterlife Knowledge Guidebook, A Manual for the Art of Retrieval & Afterlife Exploration. In this issue you can read the fifth chapter.To see the book's Table of Contents Click Here and scroll down below the picture of the book cover.
CHAPTER 5
RELAXATION AS A STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Almost every practice intended to develop awareness beyond physical reality begins by teaching the student how to relax. Why do you suppose that is so? Using the Hemi-Sync model of consciousness I could say that awareness of our physical world surroundings (Here) constantly generates a set of feelings that keeps our awareness focused Here. What our eyes see and our ears hear tends to keep our awareness anchored within physical reality.
Think of perception There as trying to have a conversation with a friend in a crowded, noisy restaurant. The distractions of the restaurant tend to pull your awareness away from the conversation, anchoring your awareness within the noise of the restaurant and making it difficult to hear what your friend is saying. If you can find a way to close down your awareness of the surrounding distractions it will be easier to hear what your friend is saying.
Loosening our anchors to physical reality makes it easier to perceive within nonphysical realities. Closing our eyes begins to loosen our anchor to physical reality by closing down a portion of our awareness of the physical world's visual noise. Choosing a relatively quiet, comfortable environment helps further loosen these anchors by closing down a portion of our awareness of the physical world's auditory noise. After reducing awareness of "outside noise" there is one more anchor to loosen, our physical world thoughts. Even if we manage to eliminate all the outside distractions, if our attention is focused on our own internal, physical reality related thoughts our awareness can remain anchored within physical reality. If we are focusing our attention on our grocery list and an upcoming shopping trip, or that the car needs an oil change, relaxation is a way of freeing our awareness from these anchors to perceive beyond physical reality. While there's a lot of mystical mumbo jumbo written about how to quiet the "internal dialogue" you don't need to learn any exotic meditative techniques to use Focused Attention to explore our afterlife. All that's necessary is that you learn to relax. The simplest way I know to teach you to relax has been used in other disciplines for centuries. It's a simple breathing pattern. The only thing special about this breathing pattern is that it is done very slowly, without stopping or holding the breath.
By very slowly I mean that it should take approximately five to ten seconds to inhale and five to ten seconds to exhale. By without stopping I mean that at no point during your relaxation breathing should you be holding your breath. Instead, just breathe in slowly until your lungs are comfortably full, then without stopping or holding your breath, begin slowly exhaling until your lungs are comfortably empty, then, without holding your breath begin slowly inhaling again. Continuing this pattern of breathing will lead to relaxation.
What I mean by comfortably full or empty is that a relaxation breathing pattern need not induce any feeling of strain. You don't need to force yourself to inhale or exhale the last tiny bits of air you can get in or out of your lungs. The point at which you change from inhaling or exhaling could best be defined as the point at which you just begin to feel strain. If while first learning this relaxation breathing pattern you find you reach the point of feeling strain after a slow count of three or four, it's an indication you're breathing too fast. Just slow the pace of the next breath until it takes a slow count of six to ten to reach that point of feeling any strain. I don't mean to imply that you should always be mentally counting as you breathe. While it's useful as you are first learning this relaxation breathing pattern once you feel the proper, slow pace mental counting can be dispensed with.
How many of these deep relaxing breaths you need to take can vary from time to time, and with practice, three are all that most folks find necessary. That's why this exercise is called, "Three Deep Relaxing Breaths (3DRB)." The way to tell when you have done enough deep relaxing breaths is to notice when you can feel some change in your level of relaxation. If you are fairly relaxed before you begin 3DRB it might only take one or two to feel some change. If you're fairly agitated before you begin 3DRB it might take six or more. The whole point of this exercise is to feel that change in your level of relaxation, to actually FEEL it.
While a deeper level of relaxation is probably better then a very shallow one, there is no need to get carried away. You don't need some profoundly, deep, fall-out-of-your-chair level of relaxation to explore our afterlife. All that is necessary is that you feel some change in your level of relaxation. A little more is better, but experience shows it's not all that necessary.
While we're on the subject of feeling a change in your level of relaxation it's time to remind you of the Hemi-Sync Model of Consciousness. As you do the Three Deep Relaxing Breath (3DRB) exercise one of the objects of the exercise is for you to identify the feeling of relaxation. Get to know what relaxation feels like to the point that just by remembering that feeling you re-experience it. By identify the feeling I do not mean that you sit there analyzing what relaxation feels like, wondering if you're feeling it deeply enough, etc. I mean feel it to the point that the very act of remembering the feeling of being relaxed causes you to experience relaxation.
As you are doing the 3DRB exercise below focus your attention on what it feels like to be relaxed. Each time you practice this exercise, just before you begin the breathing pattern, intend to remember the feeling of relaxation. You will know you are "getting it" when just by intending to remember the feeling of relaxation you notice a change in your level of relaxation. Relaxation can be thought of as an area or state of consciousness within a vast field of consciousness you're going to be learning to explore. Shifting your focus of attention to relaxation consciousness is a first step toward exploring other areas within that vast field of consciousness.
3DRB EXERCISE: DESCRIPTION
Chose a relatively quiet setting to begin practicing this Relaxation exercise. Sudden, loud noises like barking dogs and ringing phones can be a little distracting. Begin by sitting down on a chair. If you'd like to experiment with doing this exercise while lying down I suggest you save that for later. By later I mean after you've learned to cause a change in your level of relaxation by just remembering the feeling. One of the simple advantages of sitting instead of lying down it that it's easier to avoid falling asleep when sitting. From a practical standpoint, remembering one's experiences that occur in the area of consciousness called asleep consciousness is more difficult than remembering experiences that occur in awake and relaxed consciousness.
In your relatively quiet setting you'll begin this exercise by moving your body into a comfortable sitting position. As you begin to shift your focus of attention to relaxation consciousness you may discover the position you're sitting in isn't as comfortable as you thought. Feel free to move your body into a more comfortable position at any time during the exercise.
Next, you'll close your eyes, just a simple way to reduce the visual distractions that tend to anchor awareness within physical reality.
Then you'll begin the slow, deep relaxation breathing pattern. I suggest that the first few times you do this exercise you slowly, mentally count to six while inhaling and exhaling. This mental counting is just to help you get a feel for the slow pace and can be dispensed with soon. You don't need to time this with a stop watch or be too concerned with doing it for exactly the right amount of time, but anything shorter then about five seconds is too short and more then ten seconds is overkill. You can breathe in through your mouth or nose, whatever is most comfortable to you.
On the inhale it's time to change to exhaling when your lungs are comfortably full. While it's hard to describe that comfortably full feeling, I'd say there is a point at which you begin to have the urge to exhale. This urge to exhale feeling usually happens before you're straining to take in more air. The slight bit of tension the urge to exhale feeling has seems to be just right as the point to, without stopping, begin exhaling. While exhaling there will come a point when you might notice the feeling of an urge to inhale. That feeling seems to be just right as the point to, without stopping, begin inhaling. As you slowly exhale focus your attention on feeling yourself relax. If you find that you're experiencing tension or strain at the end of your inhale or exhale you're going too far. And again, don't drive yourself crazy trying to analyze this to death to do it exactly right. There's lots of margin for error built into this exercise. Continue repetition of this relaxation breathing pattern until you can sense at least some change in your level of relaxation. With practice you'll have changed your level of relaxation enough for afterlife exploration with Three Deep Relaxing Breaths.
Remember, the object of this exercise is two-fold. It's intended to help you relax, to turn down the noise level, and it's intended to give you the opportunity to experience the feeling of the state of consciousness called relaxation consciousness so you can return to that state again at any time just by remembering what it feels like to be relaxed.
AFTERLIFE KNOWLEDGE EXERCISE SCRIPTS
This Afterlife Exploration Guidebook has written scripts for all the exercises. These are provided to make it easy for you to make your own audio exercise recordings on tape, compact disk (CD) or you're the format of choice. Using an audio recording helps eliminate one more physical reality anchor (remembering the instructions) providing better focus of attention on the intent of the exercise. After each instruction in the script you'll notice something like (wait 10 sec). When recording your own exercise audio this is intended to give you time to perform the action before giving the next instruction. Don't drive yourself crazy striving to get the timing exactly to the second; it's a guideline not a rule. For most exercises a soft, soothing voice is preferable.
A complete set of recordings of all the Afterlife Exploration Guidebook exercises in the author's voice is available for purchase on CDs at the http://www.afterlife-knowledge.com website.
THREE DEEP RELAXING BREATHS EXERCISE: SCRIPT
1. This is the Three Deep Relaxing Breaths Exercise. (Wait 5 sec)
2. As you get ready to begin this exercise adjust the volume setting of this recording so that you can comfortably and easily, hear and understand my voice. You may do this exercise either sitting or lying down. (Wait 15 sec)
3. When you're ready to begin please close your eyes. (Wait 15 sec)
4. To you begin this exercise, move your body into a comfortable, relaxed position in your quiet place. (Wait 30 sec)
5. In a moment I will ask you to begin a long, slow, deep inhale and continue as I count from one to six. Then, without stopping or holding your breath begin a long, slow, exhale, and continue as I count back down to one. If you feel the urge to change from inhaling to exhaling, or exhaling to inhaling, before I complete the count slow down the pace of your next breath. (Wait 5 sec)
6. Begin slowly inhaling. (Wait 1 sec)
7. One (Wait 1 sec)
8. Two (Wait 1 sec)
9. Three (Wait 1 sec)
10. Four (Wait 1 sec)
11. Five (Wait 1 sec)
12. Six (Wait 1 sec)
13. Begin slowly exhaling.
14. Six (Wait 1 sec)
15. Five (Wait 1 sec)
16. Four (Wait 1 sec)
17. Three (Wait 1 sec)
18. Two (Wait 1 sec)
19. One (Wait 1 sec)
20. Breathe normally (Wait 10 sec)
21. Again, inhale, slowly, as I count
22. One (Wait 1 sec)
23. Two (Wait 1 sec)
24. Three (Wait 1 sec)
25. Four (Wait 1 sec)
26. Five (Wait 1 sec)
27. Six (Wait 1 sec)
28. Begin slowly exhaling, as I count
29. Six (Wait 1 sec)
30. Five (Wait 1 sec)
31. Four (Wait 1 sec)
32. Three (Wait 1 sec)
33. Two (Wait 1 sec)
34. One (Wait 1 sec)
35. Breathe normally (Wait 20 sec)
36. Continue these deep relaxing breaths at your own pace, while you mentally, count from one to six with each inhale and then back to one with each exhale. (Wait 1 min)
37. As you continue your deep relaxing breaths, focus your attention on the feel of its slow, relaxing pace. (Wait 1 min 30 sec)
38. Breathe normally as you focus your attention on the feeling of being relaxed. (Wait 30 sec)
39. Take in more deep, relaxing breaths without mentally counting. Just feel the slow pace of these deep relaxing breaths. I'll be quiet now while you do this. (Wait 1 min)
40. Again, allow yourself to breath normally as you focus your attention on the feeling of being relaxed. (Wait 20 sec)
41. In future exercises, when I ask you to, take in three deep relaxing breaths, remember the feeling of being relaxed and use the breathing pattern you have just learned to easily return to this deeply relaxed state. (Wait 10 sec)
42. When you're ready, please open your eyes and give yourself a few moments to fully return from the exercise. Then immediately begin to write about your experience and use the questions in the debriefing section for this exercise in the Afterlife Knowledge Guidebook as a starting point to record your experience in detail in your notebook.
DEBRIEFING, 3DRB EXERCISE:
Take a few moments to record your experience in your notebook. Did you notice a change in your level of relaxation? What does it feel like to be within the state of consciousness called Relaxation? Are there physical body cues that tell you you're relaxed? What are they? Are there internal cues that tell you you're relaxed? What are they?
MORE PRACTICE:
Repeat this exercise at least two more times using the exercise recording. Each time you do, focus your attention on the feeling of the slow pace, and the feeling of relaxation. Record your experience in your notebook after each practice session.
STILL MORE PRACTICE:
Repeat this exercise without using the exercise recording. As you do, focus your attention on remembering the feeling of being relaxed. When you are able to induce the feeling of change in your level of relaxation within three breaths, you're ready to move on to the next exercise in this book. When you can induce that change by merely remembering the feeling of relaxation to the point of re-experiencing it, you are an advanced student.
HINTS & TIPS:
Some folks find it easier to experience the feeling of relaxation more fully during this exercise by imagining, or pretending, their inhaling breath is gathering up all the tensions in their body, and then imagining that the exhaling breath carries those tensions out of the body. Experiment with this, focusing your attention on any feelings you experience.
Some folks find it easier to experience the feeling of relaxation more fully with this exercise if they open their eyes, stand up, and walk around a little after each time they complete the exercise. It's my feeling this works because walking around for a few moments brings back a little feeling of the anchors and tensions of physical reality. Walking around a bit gives a sharper contrast to the difference between feeling anchored or tense and feeling relaxed.
When you use this 3DRB exercise it is important that you feel at least some change in your level of relaxation. If you don't actually feel a change in your level of relaxation repeat the 3DRB exercise until you do. Relaxation is a state of consciousness you'll need to learn to shift your focus of attention to for Afterlife exploration.
USING RELAXATION IN FUTURE EXERCISES
From now on when you hear the instruction, "Take in Three Deep Relaxing Breaths" it means:
1. Sit in a comfortable position in a quiet place.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Remember the feeling of relaxation.
4. Take in a slow, deep breath until your lungs are comfortably full.
5. Without hesitating or stopping the flow of your breath, begin a slow exhale, remembering and re-experiencing the feeling of being relaxed.
6. Continue this breathing pattern for at least three, deep relaxing breaths or until you can actually feel a change in your level of relaxation.
Installment in the Next Issue of the Newsletter
Chapter 6: ENERGY GATHERING
Workshop Hosting Guidelines
If you think you might like to host a workshop, but aren't sure how to go about it, check out the updated hosting guidelines page I've updated the page taking into account the latest experiences of workshop hosts. If you have questions that aren't answered by the information on that page please email them to me at bamoen@afterlife-knowledge.com Hosts attend the workshop free in exchange for handling some of the logistics of putting it on. And, I usually stay in the home of the host to reduce costs and give us a chance to visit and chat.Workshop Price Reduction
To make workshops more affordable I've rolled the price back. The price for attending workshops is now 250 $US for those who pay their 50 $US deposit at least two weeks before the workshop date 275 $US for later deposits. Both workshop deposits and fees can now be paid for using a secure credit card payment system via PayPal.com at the credit card purchasing page on the website.Workshops LIVE Audio Cassette Tapes
I'm so pleased to see that so many folks who have never attended the workshop are successfully using these audiotape sets and posting their retrieval and exploration experiences on the Conversation Board at the website. One of these posts told the story of retrieval of a fireman from the World Trade Center Towers area. This retrieval brought the explorer verification that his experience was real, and comfort to the fireman's friends and family.
Improvements to Shopping at the Website
A new shopping cart system is installed on the website's Credit Card purchasing page. It is part of the Paypal system now used for all online purchases at the website. This system provides a more integrated, easy to use shopping experience. You do not need to open or have a Paypal account to make purchases with a credit card. If you already have a Paypal account you will be able to use your already registered bank or credit card account to make you purchases.Credit Card payments:
Those of you who have visited the website know that you can now use credit cards to make purchases at the website. A web company called Paypal will process your credit card purchases of books, tapes and workshop payments at their secure website. You can order autographed copies of any of my five books and I'll sign and ship them to you.
That's the June 2005 Workshop Newsletter. I hope to hear from those of you interested in hosting a workshop and look forward to meeting some of you in person at a workshop soon.
Love,
Bruce
Copyright 2005, by Bruce A. Moen, All Rights Reserved