5 Ways To Change Your State Of Consciousness

I started running at 4:45 in the afternoon. It was about 120 degrees (49 C) outside. First came exhaustion from the heat. The dust from the desert floor covered me like a heat -amplifying insulator. About 40 minutes in I realized that storm front in the distance was rolling back on me and I wouldn’t be able to get back in time.

That was when the fear set in. When the storm hit me the lightning was so close I could feel the heat coming off the impacts on the ground. And I just knew that if I stopped I would die. By the time I finished I couldn’t remember my name.

Five methods are traditionally used to change a man’s perception of his environment: death, drugs, duress, dreams and meditation. The most important part is to make sure you have a well-thought-out question you need answered, and to hold on to it before you cross the threshold of any of these doorways.

1. Death

stock-footage--s-resuscitation-from-drowning-in

Stories of people staring down on their own body on the operating table or looking through the front windshield after a bad car wreck are very common. Hell, I even had a Navy SOCOM operator tell me the story of how he was stunned from a nearby explosion and saw two jihadis running toward him from around a corner, from a perspective of two stories about his body.

While this is a one-way trip for the most part, some ritualized methods exist to explore this that mostly use asphyxiation and resuscitation. The most common method involves drowning someone and reviving them. The Navy SEALS even use a version of this to teach BUDS students to recognize the signs of actually drowning.

Generally, I recommend against this approach.

2. Drugs

drugs

Drugs represent a far more common approach to the problem of changing how you look at the world.

Traditional societies used a variety of pharmacology from ayahuasca to peyote and more. Hippies drop acid and hipsters use DMT. As a one-time experience prescribed under the guidance of someone who knows what they are doing, it probably doesn’t do too much damage over the long term.

That said, just as many people have good trips as bad, and I’ve seen a disturbing trend over the years of people who essentially burned out their meditative potential by having used this methodology. From that standpoint it is a lot like running a turbo on an unprepped motor. Yeah, it will get you the extra performance for a little while, but it usually costs you something over the long term.

Keep in mind, I recommend against this methodology for a whole variety of reasons too involved to get into here.

If you go this route, do your research and look at it as a singular experience to get some guidance you are missing. Traditionally speaking, men with balls tend to use the next method. The women folk were more prone to use drugs and the Muses of ancient Greece certainly had their followers, but I digress.

3. Duress

sun dance

Duress is probably the most commonly used methodology of the bunch, and a staple of rites of passage everywhere.

The Egyptians used to have their acolytes swim across the Nile River, which was filled with crocodiles. Some South American tribes utilized cliff diving and the Northern Plains tribes had their Sun Dance. In more modern times, 11Bs have the Crucible. Personally, I had to run 9 miles (15km) through a lightning storm in the open desert for one system of training I went through.

Typically these events use a combination of exhaustion, fear, and pain to change an individual’s view of the world.

A good way to do this on your own is to walk between 50-100 miles in one day. Make sure you are fit, well-hydrated and have a plan to get help if things go wrong. By the time you get really dehydrated things get surreal to say the least. Walking on a track tends to induce the state faster, but being alone in the wilderness makes the experience deeper.

Just don’t die.

4. Dreams

 

2013-09-17-REMEMBER3

Dream yoga has a long established history across many cultures, with the Tibetans probably having the most developed system for this. Over the long term these efforts lead to a state closely related to out-of-body projection.

You will need a notebook and pen to start. The first stage is to say before lying down to sleep, “I will remember my dreams.” Then immediately after waking write down what you remember. After the first week you will have a hard time keeping it to one page.

Next, start pre-planning what you want your dreams to be about. After a while, you will essentially “wake up” during your dreams and have the ability to change things at will. It progresses from there. For vets with bad dreams, even if you go no further with this methodology, this is a great course of action.

5. Meditation

Man Meditating at Day Spa

Meditation is the most repeatable, and controllable, of the bunch.

Frankly, so many different varieties of this exist that you will need to research what you are most interested in to get a good handle on what you want to do. That said, most of the systems that specialize in changing your frame of reference use one variety of out-of-body projection or another, even if they don’t use this term precisely.

I recommend Transcendental meditation for a short concise practice, or Theravada Buddhism for a more nuanced approach.

Personally, I offer training in this kind of thing from a uniquely Western approach, but it takes a minimum of 3-4 sessions over the course of a year and about 45 min to an hour a day worth of practice.

Figure out the question you need answered in your life, hold on and get ready for an intense ride. The examined life beats the hell out of selling insurance for a living.

Read More: How To Control Your Emotional State

103 thoughts on “5 Ways To Change Your State Of Consciousness”

  1. The most important and most difficult is to stop thinking! Empty your mind. This is easier said than done, and though I have been practicing meditation for many years, I still find this difficult. What I tend to do is county breathing; count slowly from one to four while inhaling, then hold for a four count, then exhale for a four count and pause for another four count before repeating. That’s 16 seconds, or four breaths a minute. Zen monks take one breath a minute, and it is said that this is the secret to their long life, health and ability to have no “no thought, no mind” (munen mushin). Breathe from the stomach, retain proper posture, and practice 5 minutes a day, and you can notice a big difference.

    1. Thinking and breathing are indeed related. But you can never stop thinking, if you do your identity will disappear and you’ll become a totally mad person.

      1. Yes, it is dangerous to completely stop thinking. I feel it is sufficient to able to stop unproductive thoughts that keep reoccurring.

      2. that just reminded me of some technique someone (some crackpot) was advocating involving extended breath-holding – I am actually fairly convinced

      3. It’s not about cessation of thought, but cessation of conscious thought. It is a state which I can only describe as floating in a sea of warmth, aware of little else but your own existence. It is a time distorting event, and entirely pleasant if approached humbly.

      4. That’s not really what munen and mushin mean. It’s reacting as if on instinct. The same as if you were to touch a hot stove top, and instantly pull your hand back. You are not actively thinking “this is hot, I should pull my hand away” you simply react on instinct. It’s not clouding your thought with second guesses and doubts, that is an empty mind.

    2. Stop thinking? That’s one area where feminists are uniquely competent.

    3. *Empty your mind*
      Yeah. I think the SJW’s & hardcore feminists are way ahead of the curve here.

    1. That doesn’t do much to change your state of consciousness. A few minutes after, it’s worn off again. Oh, the curses of being a man.

  2. #6 Jesus Christ – Repenting of your sins and accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord

    1. And living a masculine, virtuous life inside His Church. We need radicals in the ministry. People radically concerned with changing humanity. People willing to be true ascetic hermits so that all can see our good works and believe.

    1. Hehe, I was going to relate this to the OP’s “drug” category and its dangers.
      I’m no lush, but I do like the bottle. Anyways, while in China I experimented with 130 proof baijiu… oh boy.
      I’m not a violent drunk (on whiskey or anything else around 40%, or less at 8.1% for my beloved Steel Reserve), but when I drank baijiu I would find myself pounding my fists on tables, elbowing walls/windows, screaming, howling, acting bombastic and taking the air out of any room with my loud, stream of consciousness rantings and ravings. Of course, I’d stare daggers at and invite showdowns with anyone who dared to interrupt my moments of ‘clarity.’
      I couldn’t even recall that shit until my brother would laugh about it the next day and tell me how crazy I was acting (he’s straightedge, but still he thought it was pretty funny–up to the point where I might actually hurt myself or someone else, at which point he was my saving grace).
      He told me that he’d never seen me that way before (I’m 32, we’ve lived together, for the most part, our entire lives–including college and beyond). It was humorous to him, if not a bit worrisome, but it was positively terrifying to me. I would have no recollection of my actions after a bottle of baijiu.
      To this day I tell people, “that shit is evil.” Not only do you forget what you did, but when you are informed of it, then you wish that you hadn’t done it and wonder how the hell you ever could have done it in the first place. Baijiu… unless you are intrigued beyond measure, keep away.

      1. exactly right about alcohol!
        No one believes the shit they are capable of with liquor until their lives are ruined, but by then it’s too late
        by very definition, alcohol removes inhibitions and judgement, therefore in certain individuals who would otherwise be very civilized, if they have the right brain chemistry that reacts to the liquor, it could be very ruinous
        “https://ncadd.org/learn-about-alcohol/alcohol-and-crime”
        “Alcohol is a factor in 40% of all violent crimes today”
        “To this day I tell people, “that shit is evil.” Not only do you forget what you did, but when you are informed of it, then you wish that you hadn’t done it and wonder how the hell you ever could have done it in the first place. Baijiu… unless you are intrigued beyond measure, keep away.”
        http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/31/russian-men-losing-years-to-vodka
        Russia’s and the ukraines life span is 10 years behind all due to alcohol use, alcohol is a vile drain on society and is worse than any other drug
        Alcohol is pure life-ruining poison and generates AT LEAST 50% of the entire court system’s profits, as most people who cross the line were only able to do so because they drank
        “More than one-third of suicide victims used alcohol just prior to death.”
        “Suicide is 120 times more prevalent among adult alcoholics than in the general population.”
        Fuck alcohol!

      2. Baijiu is pure evil. It tastes like crap. As a devilish joke I brought a few small bottles back to Canada for friends and family to try. They were none too impressed. The local beer is 3% alcohol and 97% goat piss It is physically impossible for me to get drunk on it. They have some passable white wines and brandy. I got a few people hooked on vodka but nobody seems to like Canadian whiskey. My revenge is when I buy the occasional bottle of 151 proof Bacardi rum and then do shots with my Chinese friends. Most Chinese guys can’t hold their liquor well and 75.5% alcohol almost gives them a seizure.

        1. 151 proof? Damn, I thought I was pushing it with the 130. I’d probably wake up blind if I messed around with that stuff.

        2. I think the intent was to use in it punch rather than drink it straight, but I am not one to follow conventions. I pulled a similar stunt at a frat party at the start of my first year at law school. I bought a 26er (750 in metric) of 151 Bacardi. Simple: drink a shot straight with me and you can share my bottle for the evening. I had a few takers. One guy was half cut and after shooting 50ml of that jet fuel he immediately went out back and yacked on some couple trying to get it on. We became best buddies and that story will not go away.
          .
          A similar narrative is when I went on sojourn to Australia. On the way I stopped in Fiji and picked up a 40 pounder of local vodka for $8. My next stop was New Zealand and it was an open bottle at all the backpacker’s hostels I stayed at. One fellow traveler – an Australian – would have nothing to do with it saying “Oi mate, that stuff will make you go blind!”

  3. Out of body travel, but that comes with some forms of meditation / contemplation.

    1. Virtus,
      Sweat lodge is a great technology. A sauna can be substituted as well if properly used, although make sure someone is there to drag you out if you lose consciousness.
      Getting hit with a bucket of ice water upon stepping out of the lodge tends to amp things up as well.
      Cheers,
      Rordan

  4. You can always pick a fight and have someone knock you unconscious….

    1. Yeah, I was going to say getting KTFO!
      But like death I don’t think that is a change of consciousness rather the removal of it. LOL!

      1. A street gang knocked me out once… then proceeded to beat me as I tried to stand and run.
        You could say it changed my consciousness of the things going on around me and the people doing those things.
        EDIT: And for you race-bating faggots, no, they weren’t black. They were white–every last fuck of them was some corn-fed white motherfucker who jumped me for kicks.
        No reason, just because they could. They didn’t even try to steal my wallet while I was lying pronated on the ground from the initial blow that struck me from behind. They were just ‘having fun.’

        1. If they were black they would have done everything the whites did AND stolen your wallet, cellphone, etc. The big difference assuming this is true (and it isn’t – you’re lying) is that Jesse and Sharpton, and every black poverty pimp in the nation wouldn’t immediately defend the ass stomping you received. We wouldn’t get to enjoy 45 minutes of news coverage every night for a month about how Dindu Nuffins was innocent because raciss and sheeeet. Oh and the friends of the whites wouldn’t immediately set fire to their own houses after the conviction nor would they demand someone black pay to rebuild their hood after they burned it down.

        2. “The big difference assuming this is true (and it isn’t – you’re lying)”
          I wouldn’t be so sure. The Jets might have mistaken him for an member of the Emeralds, the Sharks, or another rival gang.

          Victims should always mention the year and country/city of the crime, and if known, the name of the gang. After all, if you were assaulted by say, The Almighty Gaylords, that makes for better telling than “generic white gang.”

          Without that information the reader is left wondering things such as: Do they even have a clubhouse?
          http://www.gaylords712.com/ohioandnoble.html
          Even Mickey’s gang has a clubhouse, you can’t be a serious gang without a clubhouse.

        3. He’s not lying, there are SCRs and white Latin King sets all over the south and midwest…. thousands of members and they do shit like this all the time

        4. So you are telling me that a lone black man, not doing anything controversial in the slightest, was jumped by a bunch of white guys and this wasn’t instantly splashed all over every news show in America? If you were telling me it was just another case of polar bear hunting I would believe you – that doesn’t fit the desired narrative – but a black man being beaten by whites? This would be akin to finding a diamond weighing 2 metric tones. The media would go crazy and we’d never hear about anything else for weeks.

        5. Haha, they did have a clubhouse–more of a circle-jerk/bonfire setup. I was passing by when they rallied and surrounded me.
          I shouldn’t have even mentioned race; the point was that they knocked me unconscious, not that they were white.
          I’m sure no one really cares about the details of the story. Believe it or don’t believe it, it doesn’t matter.

        6. So, what your saying is that if they were black, they’d have taken your wallet? … Relax, I’m just messin with ya

        7. If he didn’t report the assault to police, how would it make the news? I’ve personally seen blacks jumped by whites and it not get reported anywhere. It’s true that whites are statistically less criminal than blacks, no one is arguing that.
          There are over 1.3 million active gang members in the USA, of which about 15% are white. That’s almost 200,000 active white gang members in the USA, both among mainly white mobs and white members of Hispanic gangs.

        8. Why wouldn’t you report it to the police? It would immediately make you rich as every single news outlet in the nation would scramble to make this guy a poster child for white racism. He’d be flown everywhere, paid handsomely, probably get to meet the president, and be assured a book deal and of course get to sell the movie rights. If this was true he’d be set for life and live like a king.
          The reason he didn’t do this is because it isn’t true and any decent fact checking would reveal that. No, it wouldn’t be the press that checked out his story – they’d swallow it whole and repeat it ad nauseum because this is what they want to believe but actual investigative folks on the Internet would quickly shred his story.

        9. Why don’t you ask him? I think you’ve been reading too much Stormfront.com; you sound ridiculous.

        10. He can answer me anytime. But since you’re a white person hating bigot I can safely dismiss your opinion while feeling morally smug about doing so. You’ve been reading too many tumbler posts.

    2. During a floor hockey game in high school I got body checked into a concrete wall, head first. For anyone who has not experienced it, you don’t black out, you white out.

  5. I wonder if people who technically died, then came back to life, be it a miracle or medical help, have a permanently changed state of consciousness?

    1. GRock,
      Some people report this and others don’t.
      From a yogic perspective it frequently alters the energetic signature of another person. Literally, they give off a different vibe than they had before hand.
      Rordan

      1. Is this vibe something like the experience of those who have experienced death through loved ones? That is, those who have had a close relative, child, parent, whatever, die?
        In my experience, people who have gone through something like this are unique (at my age at least).

        1. It can be, but in general it is much stronger.
          People who have gone through the state of death come back changed and their energetic signature, for lack of a better term, usually seems stronger. It is as if their core persona is amplified.
          Cheers,
          Rordan

  6. This is out of topic but I have a question.
    I am 19 years old and I have been dating this chick for almost 3 years now; she is 20. I am a senior in high school and she is a freshman in college. She goes to Ohio university and lives on campus. I have my suspicions but, I refuse to believe that she is cheating on me. Could it be possible though that she may have slept with other guys or is it just me being paranoid?

    1. “I refuse to believe that she is cheating on me.”
      Snap out of it.
      “Could it be possible though that she may have slept with other guys . . .”
      Yes. It may even be probable. Going off to college/Joining the military/etc is, in most cases, a de facto breakup without having to say so.
      And that is just one of life’s hard lessons.

    2. ” Could it be possible though that she may have slept with other guys ”
      This is a certainty. She’s just getting on the carousel. AWALT.. Sorry buddy but this is a lesson you’ll gonna have to learn. The sooner, the better for you.

    3. HS relationships rarely make it to Christmas break once one of you enters college. Witnessed it too many times; too much temptation without prying eyes to see. Even if you both attend the same school and have the same schedule. Best just to give her up and go looking for some fun of your own.

    4. Of course she is lol You’re still in high school while she’s out surrounded by older college guys. Was she with you during spring break, or did she go somewhere without you?
      You’re way too young to be worried about a girlfriend. Focus on your future right now and bang as many girls as you can. There is absolutely no need for a guy your age to be in a monogamous relationship

    5. You have already answered your own question. You know deep down what is true. Don’t second guess yourself, there is a reason you feel the way that you do. However, proving it will be difficult. But I would ask, was she a virgin before she went to college? If she was, and you are her first, then there is a good chance she is not cheating on you. But if she wasn’t a virgin, then she is probably licking some guys balls as we speak. Either way, keep your shit together, and continue to build the life that you want.

    6. Pretty much what CamelJockey stated. Having relationships that young is just really useless and it never really goes anywhere(believe me on this, it’s a pain in ass dealing with it.) Once you get to college, just fuck around with all the girls because I guarantee she’s doing the same with the college boys.

    7. I have a lot to learn and I appreciate all of the responses… She doesn’t seem like the type of girl to sleep around but I will keep an eye out for any slutty actions.

  7. Sleep deprivation can do some really whacky things to your brain. My record with the army was 36 hours, one hour of sleep, and then another 36 hours. On a return trip from Australia I woke up on Tuesday morning and didn’t get to sleep until 2am on Saturday morning, but I had crossed the International Date Line so that was about 110+ hours.

  8. One way to change your mind is to challenge yourself to do something that you never thought you could do. You will never be aware of your limitations until you test those limitations. Even if you do not succeed in your challenge you will still learn something about yourself. You WILL alter your perception of you mind.

  9. This article is for complete pleb fags. The true path to enlightenment, tranquility, and higher states of consciousness is to align all your chakras. To achieve this you must be getting in the zone while you’re playing Counter Strike or DOTA. Chug down one glass of each Mountain Dew flavor, and have proper posture for the alignment at your seat. The caffeine, sugar, and different flavors will help crack the different seals to your chakras. If you do this while achieving a zen like state playing video games you will start to break through your chakra barriers through the power of your video game zen which works in synergy with the Mountain Dew. Once you do this you may be able to go 50 – 0 on DE Dust 2. This is the true path of the enlightened warrior.

    1. hahaha
      You want the energy to rise from your buttplug chakra, all the way up to your fedora chakra.

      1. Excuse me? That is not a butt plug, it’s the sheath to my katana you fucking pleb. Don’t talk shit about the fedora. It really helps me focus and contain my crown chakra. You think it’s a fashion statement? The fedora is a means to more power.

        1. lol
          You’re cracking me up but I must not continue with this conversation.

        2. Yeah, walk away after I’ve cracked you. I know who you really are, Kal El.

        3. now we know, finally, the secret to anime hammer space. It is all concealed within the endless pocket dimension of the buttplug chakra

        4. I have noticed a few more types of people reading ROK articles. Some of them seem to be quite an example.

    2. ” . . . align all your chakras.”
      Real men use a 4 foot level and a lead mallet.

      1. You can just use your own mind once you align the chakras.

        1. Once they are aligned, they are aligned. I need only fix them in place with 16p nails and my mind can go about other business.

    3. You’re a long hall bitch boy in office. Don’t even mention dust 2.

      1. I’m an in your face shot gun blaster you mother fucker.

  10. How about martial arts? I mean it doesn’t change Your State Of Consciousness, but you learn a lot about yourself, your body and your mind. I’ve been training muay thai and kali eskrima (filipino self defense system) for a couple of years now and there is nothing better than feeling at peace with yourself after a physically demanding sparring session.

    1. 3cups,
      Movement based methodologies can do this if you can enter a state of flow as described by some.
      Functionally, this involves some meditations on the lower energy center in the guts and a boat load of fasciae/tendon changing work.
      When this happens you will feel a very rapid vibration coming out of the lower abdomen coupled with the tendons/ligaments in the body. The sensation is one of warmth, power and physical dominance. In short, you feel like a demi-god.
      For more of a state of consciousness shift you can do movement based methodologies while inside a circle of body length mirrors, but this gets trippy pretty fast and can scare the hell out of you.
      Cheers,
      Rordan

        1. 3cups,
          The long form in tai chi is very useful for training specific meditative states/phenomena. It is pretty useless as a martial art as it is commonly taught.
          Specifically, this is due to these meditative phenomena in the body being transmitted via the fasciae tissue frequently in a kind of vibration.
          The twisting and slow motion movement of a long form allows for extended practice with a given state/phenomena.
          I practiced tai chi when I was younger, but no longer do as I have other methods for doing this now.
          Cheers,
          Rordan

  11. Be afraid, be very afraid. Do something that scares you. So far I have gone scuba diving with sharks and a 200′ bungee jump with a water entry. I also worked with explosives in the army.

  12. i’ve had one or two experiences where i felt close to death – once with ayahuasca and once when i got lost in the mountains and actually almost died. i wouldn’t say that it changed my state of consciousness permanently as in persistently, but whenever i contemplate these, i feel a hot sensation behind the front of my chest and possibly a form of perspective on everything. occasionally i wake up with terrible nightmares and i think i became more sensitive to horror movies. as if i realized that the way they make me feel has some deeper implications i can no longer rationalize away.

    1. Tom,
      It sounds as if you tripped the switch on some heart centric awakening issues.
      Check out my blog at: yogicengineering.com and send me an email if you like.
      Cheers,
      Rordan

  13. I don’t get it. What is the exact purpose of changing or altering mind?

    1. It is primarily used to obtain guidance or direction on a specific issue.
      In meditative/yogic practice it is a part of greater efforts involving theurgy (I.e. Unification with God) or thaumaturgy (I.e. Practical efforts to accomplish something).
      Rordan

  14. to #2: try the sapo frog venom ritual. it comes without psychedelic substances and is quite a harsh experience despite the shortness.

  15. really working on getting meditation in my daily routine. Right now I’m just buggard as fuck about a few things and it’s holding me back some

    1. Kai,
      Most people find it easiest to establish the habit by practicing either first thing in the morning (after your shower but before the coffee at the latest) or right before bed (try not to fall asleep).
      If you treat this as practicing a skill, like playing an instrument/drills for a sport/learning to drive a car, it seems to stick much more often.
      Cheers,
      Rordan

  16. great tips, but for some reason i don’t see the more angrier, bitter dudes trying this out.

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