Actions That Help You Normalise Shifting On Command
𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥, 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡. 𝐈𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐚𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐮𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞. 𝐈𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐃𝐑 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧.
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐈 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐈 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐃𝐑 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐮𝐧 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐝𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬.
𝐀𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬, 𝐈 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐧𝐚𝐩 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐃𝐑. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬, 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐚𝐦. 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐚𝐦, 𝐈 𝐝𝐨. 𝐈 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐲. 𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐃𝐑? 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧:
1. Get comfy and close your eyes. Relax, the same way you would before you sleep. Maybe even put on some ambiance that reminds you of that reality, just for full immersion.
2. Begin to feel the placement of everything around you in your DR bedroom using proprioception. Not visualising, just feeling and knowing that, "yes my bed is here and my closet is there, I am laying next to the open window, I can feel the breeze on my face..."
𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭.
3. Accept that you are here right now, in your DR. Relaxing and taking a nap. Maybe you're laying beside your s/o, maybe you feel the bed move as they change their sleeping position. Just enjoy the relaxation and the feeling of peace that comes with it. Do you have a chore to complete later in your DR? You'll do it after this nap... you feel oh so comfortable. It would be a shame to get up... Now you're thinking like your DR self, role playing a nap. Which is good! Its what we are going for.
4. From here you have two options:
a) Actually fall asleep, and it doesn't matter where you wake up. What matters is that you were in your DR while you were sleeping even if you open your eyes to your CR, you know what you experienced.
b) Open your eyes when you feel ready and no matter what reality you are seeing now, accept the fact that just now you were in your DR and you were taking a nap there.
𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐩, 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥. 𝐈𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐩 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐈𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐤. 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞. 𝐏𝐥𝐮𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨, 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐫, 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐃𝐑 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐲
Personal Success with this
𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒅, 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒌. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒔/𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒘 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒅. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒔/𝒐 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒕. 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝑪𝑹 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝑾𝑹. 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒕.
On the days when shifting felt too overwhelming and methods were just more unwanted baggage, I would use music.
I would put on a floaty song, think Stray.wav, Let it happen, sdp Interlude, etc (all slowed and reverbed lol). Then I would close my eyes and pretend that the music was guiding me into my DR.
Either that or thinking that the music was levelling me up somehow and making shifting easier for me. I know it sounds silly but it genuinely worked. I would sit there thinking, "its working. I can feel myself shifting 🤩" Just using the music as kind of a power up.
It was fun too. I would get super into it and not even realise that I had shifted already. The only problem was that I would get startled and panic and then purposely shift back. Still working on that though.