Depending on my intention that day there are different things to do.  

What works for me sometimes is that when I get to that "black velvet" place I deliberately remind myself to let go "further" and it's a very very delicate process in my own mind.  It is like moving back from my own mind "just a little bit more" and then "just a little bit more" with a kind of very mild "dropping off" feeling.  It is very subtle, but can often take me into a place where I experience unexpected imagery and am able to view or participate in it with a "witnessing" awareness.

It is not a state in which I would fall asleep because it requires a very precise and subtle awareness. It is not possible to sleep when focusing this way.  The body slows to almost a standstill.  I am often aware that I am barely breathing and that my body is completely still and relaxed....my breathing slows to an amazing degree. But the key is to let go of any momentary fear you might feel....it is a state where you might almost feel that you could die because your breathing has slowed into such a still state.  If you feel momentary fear just let it slip away from you.  I really think, for me, the key is to let everything slip away.

This allows what can come forward to come forward into your full awareness. In this state I often see images, seem to communicate with thoughts, and sometimes feel blissful feelings, or even intense emotions.  It is not possible for me to predict.

But this might be a place to start unless you would like to try retrievals, which others here can advise you on.

love, blink

Hi Blue-
The "black void" is a sign of spiritual progress.Good for you!

Yogis occasionally mistake the black void for cosmic awareness. As Blink said, go on beyond it. Usually this means letting go of "I am doing this" attitudes and replacing them with unconditional awareness coupled with intense fascination and bliss. (For me it's a "Wow, love, amazing, fun!" feeling, if that helps.)

I seem to have a green space that I often wander throuigh - it's crystalline.  Once in a while I get the impression of others as spirits, but usually it's just the light from people and objects. That's a sure sign that it is a low level of transcendence.

Keep at it!
dave

Dave, thankyou!  So encouraging! I am understanding you to be saying let go of thoughts and attitudes but try to feel/radiate feelings of bliss, love.  I will certainly try that.
And Boris, yes it does seem like a 3D blackness, silent but all encompassing. In fact, I thought once that it was just like Myself as the starship Enterprise, moving through an endless space but without any stars or light of any kind.  I will post in again, when my experience of this black void changes, as it must sooner or later, based on the suggestions from this group I've received.  Really, what can I say but a very big *thank you*.  Blue

Bluelady,

The 3D blackness is an interesting place that seems to provide "pathways" to various locations or realities.  From my experience there I would suggest that you carefully look into the depths of this 3 dimensional blackness.  Look for any small area that seems to be different from the surrounding, sort of uniform blackness.  This might be a small patch that is darker or lighter than the rest.  Or, it might be a small area that seems to have a sort of jiggling movement.  When you observe one of these small areas think about or imagine moving toward it.  The results of doing this are often interesting.

Also, the shift of ones awareness from physical reality to nonphysical reality can be very subtle.  So subtle that we can be led to think that we never made that shift and wonder why nothing happens when we try to become aware and interact within nonphysical realities.  So often folks will report using Hemi-Sync in an attempt to do this and that "nothing happened." Being physically aware or nonphysically aware can be so much the same that within our subjective feeling of what we are experiencing we can't "feel" any difference.  So, we can shift back and forth between the two and not even realize we are doing it.  Since we didn't "feel" any difference it is easy to believe we were physically awake the whole time and that "nothing happened," when actually something did but we were not aware of it  There can be many other reasons why it seems this way when in fact, something happened.

As you mention, we can block our awareness by having strong expectations or beliefs about what "should happen" how it "should be perceived" and so forth.  That's what had me blocked for a long time at first.  My way around this was to finally say, Okay, maybe it's going to happen or be perceived in a way that is different from my expectations.  So, I am willing to perceive it in whatever ways might be possible.  That affirmation got things moving.

Another great way to block yourself is to be "waiting for something to happen."  Nonphysical awareness is very sensitive to our intention.  If I am intending to be in a state of awareness in which I am "waiting for something to happen" that intended state cannot be maintained if I actually allow myself to perceive something happening.  So, I subconsciously continue to block perception of anything happening as a way of maintaining my "waiting" state of mind.  That probably sounds a little convoluted, but such is the way awareness responds to intention.

The best way I have found around "waiting" is to be willing to cause something to begin happening by imagining, pretending, or fantasizing that something is happening.  It took me a very long time to allow myself to do this because I erroneously believed that if I pretended even a tiny bit in the beginning of any experience that meant that all the experience that followed was also "not real."  Turns out, that is not necessarily true.

If I begin by fantasizing that something is happening, that can allow entry into experience that is verifiably real.  For example, once you are in the 3D Blackness you might begin to fantasize that you have traveled to the kitchen at a friend's house.  Actively pretend you are there by remembering every detail of the kitchen, and pretend that you are walking around that kitchen looking at every little detail you can remember.  Even if you are not "seeing" any details in the kitchen, keep at it.  What you are looking for is ANYTHING that happens during this experience that is unexpected.  A silly example.  While in the kitchen you might discover something there that you didn't know was there, like an elephant sitting in the sink, or a person entering the room, or someone says something in your thoughts, or something else happens that is unexpected.  Whatever it is, play along with it to see where this experience might lead you.  You might, for example, imagine that you walk over to the sink and strike up a conversation with the elephant.  Find out why it is sitting in the sink, or ask it something else, in short, act as if there really is an elephant in the sink and play along as if it is real to see where further experience with the elephant might lead.

You might be thinking this sounds like a ridiculous approach, I certainly felt that way after I expressed willingness to perceive in whatever ways might be possible.  But I discovered it works.  Using this approach I discovered that verifiably real information could be gathered, even from fantasy elephants who might appear in sinks.  One key is that imagination can be used as a means of perception.  Another key is that verification of experience as real opens awareness so that perception greatly improves.  It is a process that if followed becomes a continual opening of awareness.

Have fun,

Bruce

Quote:

Sounds to me like "I'm sorry you have to go through this; it's for your balance"
My guess is you'll see how your lives connect after this one; how the circle closes. You've probably gone from one extreme (side) to the other to see how they connect. Or maybe you've managed to get it all into one life?

I've a feeling you already know what the wheel means though.

Congrats on getting sober! Takes a lot of courage.

WaterCreature

<<Hey. Why not just donate some money to Bruce!? His mental physical/affliction re-stroke, costs a helluva lot of cash in terms of treatment. Please donate! Harvey.>>

Harvey or Carl or whoever-  You disgust me.  Usually your posts are sarcastic and I can just ignore them, but this is just so offensive and over the top that I hope other posters join me in asking Bruce to put a stop to them once and for all.

Obviously you have nothing constructive to contribute and your only objective is to be disruptive.  Most people who don't believe in the afterlife don't stay on this board, but you apparently derive some sort of sick satisfaction by continuing with your diatribes.  Mocking Bruce's stroke is a new low, even for your abysmal standards.

Bruce- please suspend this guy.  Enough is enough.

R

Sorry to hear about condition Bruce, I wish you a speedy and complete recovery and thanks for a great website.