I forgot to add about your question concerning "what gets you there".
It is primarily the following
-Having a high enough vibration, having enough prana
-Dropping the emotional, social and psychological baggage of the past that is dead weight and keeping you fixed in your current perspective (you have to get outside the box)
-Having adequate 6th sense development to bridge you over into higher states of awareness (this requires adequate levels of prana to fuel these abilties)
-Mastering your mind, thoughts and emotions so you can peer past everything you "think" is you and find the real you
-Having enough conceptual understanding to know how to gather prana, utilize the prana you have gathered, and interpet the information you receive from your higher sensories
If you are serious and looking at 2012 as a deadline of sorts then I would suggest the quickest way to get there is through the Higher Balance Star Reach Program. This will give you all the tools, guidance and understanding necessary to get there in the most direct way. Anyone of the Star Reach Participants in this forum can vouch for it being light years ahead of anything else available.
www.higherbalance.comhttp://www.higherbalance.com/expansion/star_reach.php