Mind awake and Body asleep (Focus 10 definition)

I found an excellent essay about the Focus 10 state , (mind awake/body asleep) posted on the AstralPulse message board by someone nicknamed Major Tom.

Is mind awake/body asleep, a sufficient definition to achieve the state ? If you can reach it quickly after 1 or 2 sessions then it is enough, but if you cannot reach it like many people then may be the information in the Major Tom essay will help you.

I arrived at the same conclusion than the author more important than the physical relaxation was to reduce the internal dialogue. I knew I was in Focus 10 because I had my awareness away from my body and to a certain extent away from my internal dialogue as well, as soon as I took realization of that, my awareness came back on my body, I can’t say, it was sensation-less when I was in Focus 10, I just don’t know my awareness was away of the body.

Another indication I have, it is at certain moment on the CD (Wave 1 , the one to reach Focus 10) there is no voice talking and my awareness is away trying to stay on reduced internal dialogue and then all a sudden a voice on CD starts talking, this bring immediately my attention back on my body feelings and then I set some intents to follow the coming instructions.

Now, I said that but even ‘not having an internal dialogue’ should not be a strong intent, you should do as effortlessly as you can.

Major Tom wrote:

So perhaps it’s best to forget about techniques and first train yourself to be in a relaxed state of awareness, which is even more important than physical relaxation. This relaxed state of awareness is an awareness that is simply open to experience and doesn’t continually asks itself whether it’s “there” yet. You simply can’t bully yourself into another state. Rather, cultivate a certain sense of mellowness towards the whole phasing approach.

he continues by writing.

The baseline is being able to be in a state of reduced sensory perception, without any excessive goals and ambitions. It is about being able to stay in this level of awareness of focus 10 for a prolonged period, learning to recognize it, and becoming very comfortable with it until one is bored with it. It is important not to set too many goals, since if the goal is too ambitious, rather than simply holding the state for a long time, one will never get used to this state. The bar has been set too high. So put all ambitions aside and start to work on the simple goal of being comfortable in a state of sensory reduction.

This is congruent with my experience in my particular case I have to learn prolong that state.

Major Tom quotes the experience of someone experience in Focus 10:

I find that in focus 10, I am not only relaxed physically, but am also emotionally calm. Kind of like when you’ve just woken from a really peaceful dream and your still in that serene relaxed state of mind. So any disturbances I easily brush off or make use of (one time I had a fly buzzing around me like a jumbo jet and I made use of the sound and shifted my perception to flying around my room). I waver in and out of awareness quite a bit in focus 10, I figure this is caused by that annoying lifelong habit I have of going to sleep! I have also had the experience of feeling like I’m still awake and thinking that I haven’t been successful, only to find that in fact I’ve been in F10 all along.-Spiral

Since we are all different, with various level of experiences and talents, it is safe to assume that some individuals will reach various degree of depth in Focus 10; it is very apparent if you read Robert Allen Monroe book ‘Far Journey’, where he describes the experience of participants in his resident Gateway Voyage program. They all had different experiences.

In the essay we read deep focus 10 as

Focus 10 is where you have retreated from the physical about 85 to 90%. You still have an awareness that somewhere “back there” is a physical body. You are aware that you have one, but aren’t really interested in it, and receiving next to no input from its physical senses. Your mind is awake and alert, but your focal point of consciousness is contained in what feels like a black 2-dimensional compartment somewhere about the center of your head.Frank Kepple

This is not a general rule according to the author, the essay continues by discussing the various perception possible in Focus 10, I didn’t read that part, I do not want to have preconceived ideas that will format me to have a particular experience based on someone else experience. I had rather learn from my own experience, but If you cannot reach Focus 10, this essay is worth reading.

Ashes essay on Focus 10

Technorati Tags: gateway experience, focus 10, mind awake, body asleep, definition, hemi-sync, robert monroe

A list of related entries: