[VemyhemiHef]

Split from "Things to Do when APing" viewtopic.php?f=7&t=22957#p144182

Wow! Thank you so much for this great information! I found that I hung around a little after my exit wondering what I should do as well. Goals, Goals, Goals - got to make them more concrete then.

My excitement is rekindled tonight. I was excited after my last (3rd) exit. But it kind of wore off after a day or two, I think because I did not get back to my body for quite a while and my obe seemed to degrade into a lucid dream. I know about wiggling my toe, but somehow in that other state it did not occur to me. Is there a secret to being more clear minded when obe. I know I was aware of everything around me, there were lots of decisions to make and sensations to experience, how can I prevent a lucid dream from seeping in - should I just hurry back to my body before it gets too far?

If you want to keep your projection 'concrete', that is, about the RTZ, then you should come back to body as soon as you feel your lucidity wane, or your subconscious will start adding symbolic elements to the experience.
Which is fine, unless you don't want that.
At some point, when you begin to 'attune' to projection, these fluctuations become gateways to the astral, so don't consider them a bad thing, simply know what you want to do. Learn 'here', learn 'there'? And as you progress you will develop new experiences.
Remember though that the astral plane is less 'realistic' than the RTZ, so eventually it is natural for your experiences to become more dreamlike-because the collective consciousness is less 'realistic' and more fantastic.

Regarding talking to entities, and merging with them? I thought that RB said to keep to yourself and don't make eye contact. Always follow your gut- if you don't feel good about the astral sex thing, don't do it. However, it is something to try when it feels right- always go by feel, when it comes to these things.

Regarding merging with beings, I don't mean to be crude, but I thought that that was what astral sex was? Not sure, this is still new to me. It depends on where you do this and with whom- when you receive information from astral beings, it is an immersive experience, but not sexual- informational, and sometimes emotional.
So it depends.

[traiffhetl]

Thanks so much - this helps, lots to think about.

When you exit do have the experience like you are a hard boiled egg having your shell peeled off. That is how I felt the last time. That feeling did not bother me at all, nor did it the next day; however, the more I remembered the feeling the days after, the more unsettling the memory of the feeling became. A little lame huh? It seems that since I mentioned this to someone the feeling is less unsettling. I guess all this takes some getting used to. On this physical level I am under the illusion of being in control, in the obe state I don't. It's all good. I plan on doing it again asap.

[VemyhemiHef]

Not exactly, at first it seemed that the inside of the onion was exploding outside the onion, instead of being peeled. Anyway, it never occurred to me to be scared of that, since I was obviously ok physically, and anyway, as you practice more, exit sensations become less pronounced, until they almost go away completely, leaving you with a different set of situations to deal with. [last sentence removed for obvious reasons}

[traiffhetl]

Thank you CFTraveller