It is my belief and understanding that you can have an OBE and be focused anywhere.  You can be focused in physical reality or nonphysical reality, and anywhere in any of those places. 

To be "out of body" is merely focusing your own conscious awareness in any area of consciousness. 

So to answer your question:   <<In terms of the Monroe Focus levels, in what Focus do you end up in, when you OBE to the physical world? >>

In terms of Monroe Focus levels, if you have an OBE "to the physical world" you'd be considered in C1.  Now, whether you are actually there is to be determined by some evidence that you could later verify to be true.  Otherwise, you may just believe you are having an OBE in C1 but that may be nothing more than your interpretation of what's real. 

You said, <<This makes the OBE reality slightly different from the physical world, compared to viewing the world from the physical body.>>

I'm not quite sure what you mean by that.  To me, there is no such thing as "OBE reality".   When you have an out of body experience, you are not literally going to a place.  You are merely projecting your conscious awareness to an area of consciousness anywhere in Consciousness.  Your experience of what you perceive while "out of body" is based on your interpretation of what and how you perceive things. 

I do agree that viewing the physical world from a physical body standpoint is different from viewing the physical world from an out of body standpoint, yes.  There may be very similar things but there will also be big differences, and it is all based on our interpretations.  When we perceive nonphysically, we are able to perceive and experience things we don't normally see while focused in physical waking consciousness. 

Vicky

Hi Vee,

Thanks for your compliments of my book, glad you are enjoying it!

About OBEs, I agree there are many kinds and different ways.  I've had quite a few different kinds and probably hundreds, and frankly I enjoy them all.  I just enjoy the experience and what's to be learned from each.  Sometimes they come easy for me and other times I get frustrated with it. 

There's a special kind I get that I call a "high spiritual OBE".  (From reading my book you can see that I like to name things...makes it easy to distinguish between things).  And that type of OBE is one that I cannot force or will it to happen, as it's a meeting between me and another person's higher self and the few times I've experienced it, I was always invited there.  It's a gift from that person's higher self, and my Guidance is always there and makes it known to me.  I don't know where you are in my book, but "The Gift" story is one of these types of OBEs. 

There's so much I could say about it, but I feel like I'm still learning and figuring things out about it, so I'm still not completely certain I understand all the dynamics of it.  I'm asking my Guidance to help facilitate another one, but so far haven't gotten that request answered.  I don't know how it works!  The last OBE like this was last September.

Anyway, I'm rambling.  You got me going!  OBEs are probably my most beloved topic. 

Hi Spooky. Have you experienced the place I go to when I am settling into relaxation and traveling, it is kind of like black and red all roiling around together, much like making fudge, and watching the butter and chocolate all melting into each other while you stir with a wooden spoon. Only it's black and red and a great feeling of mental numbness comes with it, it's a nice feeling and is the beginning of getting to the state I am trying to get into at that point. I don't see people referring to it often, I think someone mentioned it once. Vee

Thank you Spooky, there are similarities but differences in each state every one describes! I think eventually we may have an actual vocabulary for all these states, but maybe not. Maybe each one's experience is really individual but I wonder what in the brain (or mind) makes such a difference in description for each person. It sure is a mystery. Vee

Hello, all.

I have not found the "Focus model" to be useful in mapping where you are when it comes to nonphysical reality, at least not the foci below 22. The model identifies several states of consciousness, but below Focus 22 it doesn't really pinpoint "places" while focus 22 or above are described as places with recognisable purpose (afterlife Belief System Territories, for example).

They are more useful as measures of depth of trance you experience at a point. C1 is your general state of mind while physically awake. Focus 10 is a light trance, and this gets progressively deeper towards Focus 21. Already in Focus 12 I experienced for example strange distortions of my sense of time, but not necessarily what I would register as a full-blown OBE.

Focus 22 and above are probably the astral and mental planes of other belief systems or models of nonphysical reality (like theosophy). The locations their descriptions relate to seem to indicate that in my opinion.

@Lucy: An example of being totally focussed in the physical body would be during a very conscious Tai Chi session. If the mind stays on task and the movements are done with precision and while maintaining awareness, this maintains probably most of your focus in physical waking reality. I would call that "meditation in motion" as the purpose of many mindfulness meditations is to focus you strongly on whatever you are experiencing at any moment.

Contrast this with habitual thought. You may think about one thing, then about the next, some memory pops into your mind, you remember somebody who upset you the day before, you get angry again, you repeat part of the argument in your mind and think about what you would say to them...

If you did this while walking through the countryside and somebody stopped you and asked you what you saw you might not remember very much when thinking back! Happens to me whenever I am giving in to my thinking habits. That's more like the mind on autopilot, interacting with itself. The focus of your conscious mind is not in the physical reality right in front of you, but somewhere else.

"Where" the other % are going when not focussed on the present is up for discussion. I personally would say that stuff from all states of consciousness available to your being leak into your C1 awareness all the time, but it heavily depends on your own state of mind what "leaks in" or what you become consciously aware of, what comes in as feelings, sensations, moods, intuitive knowings, etc.

Vicky wrote on Aug 22^nd, 2010 at 11:53pm:

I was referring to something like the Alice-In-Wonderland-Effect, named by RB and described at some places by Monroe in his books. For example the well known kitchen table scene, where Monroe in RTZ OBE observes a woman handing out big "playing cards" to people, which proves to be mail envelopes in C-1.