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This has happened to me, and I've even heard things getting blown around the room. No fear, surrender completely to the moment, and it's all good.

[and]

I


Had several OBE's last night all going to the same place. It was like i kept getting brought another planet. I've always struggled opening my eyes, and found it difficult to see. I was in another world, thought based, and everyone seemed really chill. Except there was a group of several beings that brought me there. They say they brought me there to teach me. But I could barely see without opening my real eyes and my neck muscles wouldn't hold my head up straight. Over a couple hours I got my eyes to open, sometimes only one at a time. They were explaining to me that there were other me's in other worlds, and that the other me's health could directly impact my health, and vice versa. I asked them what the hell they were talking about. Something about a certain gene expresion that's been found in their world. Then they started listing changes in habits I should make like not eating sweets, but I don't eat sweets. I eat completely healthy. I actually ended all of my bad habits some time ago, aside from negative thought patterns from trauma that I still have some to clear.

They actually didn't seem very helpful at all, and I found it difficult to concentrate with the issues I was having that they didn't care about. They said that there was or had been another me in their world, and one of them had a particular problem with me/him. They all had distinct personalities with a lot of detail, but since I was getting frustrated i flew off. I ended up causing some havoc in that world. Not really intentionally but I think my naturally curiosity combined with irritation and a desire to be mischievous brought that about. Then I came to.

I was originally listening to a recording of sound healing via tuning forks, working through incoherent parts of my biofield. But at some point in a particular recording it would bring me into this theta/delta state of deep relaxation. And from there I would OBE, sometimes multiple times in 1 hour. I was struggling to maintain everything so it took many attempts to get to where I could see and stay in that plane for awhile. Not really sure what this was, but this recording is awesome.

I wrote "belief systems", and gave "religious beliefs" as an example. I think Yoga, any school of Yoga, is a belief system. Somebody believes that AP is a distraction. Somebody believe self-realization is the goal of this life.

My point is that one should try to find out the goal of their life by himself, with no (as much as possible) bias from any external belief system.

To me, "a science for understanding self" is a collection of beliefs, and because it tells you what to believe (e.g. AP is a distraction), impedes one's quest for knowledge (what is life, why am I here, why are we here,  why is it happening to me, what should I do, etc.).

So, when a dilemma like "should or shouldn't I AP" arises, I don't go to a book, or guru, for an answer, but I turn toward inside to find out the answer. To get that, I have to leave behind all beliefs, be emotionless, and have an expectation I'll get the right answer. My question needs to be clear and concise, and I have to be careful not to distort the answer with my interpretation and rationalization.

AP isn't a necessary tool in one's quest for knowledge (as exemplified above), but can be one of the possible altered states of consciousness one can use.

I don't expect to win a popularity vote on which is the best tool, and path, but I use, and recommend self-hypnosis, even over meditation.

In my view the supreme question isn't "who am I", but "what should I do".

I understand what you mean now. I'm not sure I agree, but I respect your different point of view.

The path of self-realization seems to be the the antithesis of a belief system the same way it is for religious beliefs, after all you are simply shedding what isn't you to have a clearer perception. I get what you mean by 'believing' AP is a distraction from self-realization, but this is really where I see the gray area starting, for me anyway. I hadn't read the Yogic Sutras until recently, and yet through self-inquiry I recognized many of the same insights through my experience. So then to stumble upon some instructions for the path I'm already walking, that match my own experience as far as I've gotten naturally through their instructions, I don't think you could call that a belief system. Certainly not a belief system of my own.

It's not a belief that taking those actions would bring me to a certain state, it's merely an observation of reality, my reality. Where the gray area comes in, is that recognizing their instructions have matched my own personal experience, is it ok to then extrapolate that the passage about AP also being true. I think to realize that it is likely true given everything being true that I've experienced that the Sutras also mention is a fairly safe assumption to make until I recognize otherwise. This wouldn't be a belief that it's absolutely true, but something to be aware of while doing further self inquiry. After all, it doesn't seem unreasonable to have opened 100 boxes to find a toy to then assume to chances of the 101st box to also have a toy are considerable. To think it's absolutely going to happen is a fallacy, but that's not the case here.

To simply deny all advice of others who have already walked the path you have seems a little extreme though. Sure see the truth of your own experience, but to go that far would be like deciding you're going to travel to another planet, but you're not even going to read a book on physics to start getting a grasp of the rudimentary knowledge you would need to eventually reach a point where you could build a rocket. If you keep following that way of denying help of others, you might of not even learned how to read.

It would certainly be doable to have a goal of self-realization while not using any help of others, but how many lifetimes would it unnecessarily take?

I don't know if there is a supreme question, or one and only way to live your life, one's life is to do what they want with it. My current goal is to know myself truly, to then have a solid foundation for acting out my heart's desire using the laser focus of my entire being. That's why I find it relevant to consider setting actively seeking OBE aside given what I've found.

What is it you use self-hypnosis for?

I'd say apply the same reasoning to this area that fits most: be moderate about it. Maybe take some time to explore it, but also don't be consumed by it. Take it as part of your life to be experienced in balance with other things.

This is what I am leaning towards. As I sometimes naturally have OBE, I feel like to deny/repress something that naturally happens is akin to trying to stop breathing. Actively seeking it out is what I think I will stop doing, as I don't need or want to fill my life with distractions from self-realization at this time. That's the direction life seems to be leading me towards.

[no reason]

As far as I can tell the Yoga Sutras aren't religious in nature at all. They're an instruction manual for seeing reality more clearly by removing what you are not, which seems to be the antithesis of a belief system. Just like Sadhguru isn't religious, the Yoga Sutras shouldn't be confused with a religious Hindu text such as the Bhagavad Gita. It's simply a collection of ancient Yogic theory and practice that was compiled by Patañjali. A science for understanding self.

I see no reason not to AP, and only reasons to AP.

See this is really the crux of the issue I bring up. No reason would imply that pursuing OBE, doesn't hinder self-realization in any way. And the very Sutras that make up the foundation of the science of Yoga says that it does. I don't know about anyone else with experience with OBE's, but my drive for pursuing those states of consciousness is to understand just what the heck is actually going on with this life. What am I, what is my place in this world? Those questions are answered by self-realization.

So it seems a simple process from there to deduce that if you want to know yourself to the very core of your being, and the clearest most thoroughly practiced path to experience your true nature also clearly states that OBE is a hindrance to self-realization, then there is in fact a clear reason to not pursue OBE.

I've personally experienced degrees of awareness I would consider deeper than OBE, by keeping myself from entering OBE through posture techniques, which tells me it's more of a milestone than destination to experiencing self-realization.

There's nothing morally wrong with seeking entertainment/distractions, or seeking understanding, but if you are trying to shed distractions or intellectual understanding for direct experience of what is, then you just have to recognize what isn't you and let it go. At least, this has been my experience.

Hope this clarification helps convey my question more clearly.

Link to the specific text and an explanation of the translation:
http://www.swamij.com/yoga-sutras-35052.htm#3.52

Interpretation of the Sanskrit:
3.52 When invited by the celestial beings, no cause should be allowed to arise in the mind that would allow either acceptance of the offer, or the smile of pride from receiving the invitation, because to allow such thoughts to arise again might create the possibility of repeating undesirable thoughts and actions.

Explanation of the translation:
Declining celestial invitations: As discrimination becomes increasingly finer, the levels of the subtle realm are experienced, including encounters with the disembodied or celestial beings. They might invite the sadhaka (practitioner) with the experiences of the subtle realm. These invitations, experiences, or powers are distractions, which block (1.4) the realization of the true Self (1.3), which is beyond all experiences. Therefore, the invitations are declined in a spirit of non-attachment (1.15), as are the other subtle experiences (3.38).


I was listening to talks by Sadhguru, and after some time based on my own experiences, I came to the conclusion he is almost certainly enlightened, or a self-realized human being. Because pretty much everything he was saying was resonating with me, I decided to research  his methods of enlightenment. This led me to the Yoga Sutras. Previously I had merely been using my own adaptation of Vipassana for self-inquiry. I reached different states of awareness that I simply didn't have the vocabulary for, but when I started reading explanations of the Yoga Sutras it was like they laid out precisely what it was I have experienced in a way I've never seen.

I believe that at one point some months ago, after a few days of intensive meditation, I came to what they refer to in Yoga as Bindu. The Absolute, end of experience, the point which the present moment springs from. I came to a state of awareness where it felt like everything that was left of my individuality was about to disappear into the abyss, like I was falling into a void with no sensation left to observe, leaving only pure awareness. But I had a knee jerk reaction of fear, almost like a fear of death, which snapped me out of it before I was able to experience it.

I say this because this experience seemed to be well passed the state one achieves with AP. This combined with all of my other experiences echoing what I've read in the Sutras, it seems it would be absurd to dismiss the passage above. I'm wondering what you all think, is AP merely a distraction from deeper states of awareness, keeping us from knowing our true selves? It seems some of the members here have already come to the conclusion that AP should take a backseat or not be actively pursued, I wonder if there is any correlation.

Yesterday I had what felt like a breakthrough with my meditation, a successful step forward. Once I went to sleep I had a series of dreams, my last being me as a pregnant woman, at the hospital getting ready to have a c-section (which as a man was quite interesting). I'm not sure if any of this is relevant but I will say it just in case.

After I woke up from this dream, I laid looking at my ceiling, processing what I had experienced. As I did I felt energy within my abdomen, about as wide around as a small hand. This energy felt very unique compared to energies I've experienced before, such as the energy I feel surging through me throughout the day, or the rush of energy before an OBE. It felt very light, soothing, and I could feel what I would imagine the CO2 bubbles that come to the surface of soda that pop would feel like if they pop inside your body, something like 5 to 10 bubbles popping every second within the space of a small hand. It was very enjoyable.

Then this feeling began to move across my body slowly, making it's way to the center of my chest and stopping there for a few seconds. Thinking maybe it had something to do with the position I was laying I rolled over to my side. It stopped for a few seconds, but then I felt this pressing of energy in the middle of my forehead. It stayed there for some time, then move to my left eye, and then to my right. After it paused there for sometime, I decided to get up to make some food. As soon as I got up to move around it stopped.

It felt very gentle, loving, even healing. My question is, could this have been an AP'er or some other entity in the Astral? I'm sensitive to my energetic body even when awake, and I think this might be the only reason I even felt it, but I was without a doubt awake, with my eyes open this entire time.

Would love to hear any insight one may have.

Last night I was laying down to go to sleep, and as I started to relax more I heard a very loud high pitch sound for a few seconds. Much louder than the whistling sound one might hear from meditation or tinnitus. The closest thing I can compare it to would be what I'd imagine you hear after a flashbang, it was so loud I couldn't focus on anything but the sound. It stopped once I became less relaxed, but as soon as I  tried to get asleep again it happened again, and this went on a few times.

Finally I gave in and sat through it figuring it could be OBE related, but as I did I felt an almost jerky shift into a certain state of awareness, almost like something was intentionally pulling me into a certain vibration. Things became fuzzy at this point, but the first thing I can remember was walking through a lobby on a middle floor of a skyscraper. I had a mask on of a young woman, and some of the people around me also had different masks on, like it was commonplace. As I was walking through someone started insulting people wearing masks, and it seems like they were trying to shame us. It seemed choreographed, like they were trying to make me uncomfortable enough to continue through the area, and I did.

I went up an elevator to a new floor, and came to a screen. When I stared at the screen my consciousness moved into the screen, in a way that all I could experience was the screen, and no body. It was pretty negative, but it seemed like it was trying to convey something that was just beyond my understanding. Occasionally though, an ad would show up, with a list of names and website addresses. I thought maybe if I could read one of these website names I could use that to search up something of use afterwards, but it was all out of focus. I put everything I could into sharpening my view but at best it started looking granular, where I could make out some letters, but not enough to go off of.

I stayed here trying to find some use out of what was happening, but after awhile I heard a voice speak to me within my mind, scolding me to continue on, and not to get stuck here again. Something ended up forcing me back to my body, but I was being very resistant. I was staying in the room pretty confused, but determined to figure out what was going on. I was being told to leave the room, but I refused. Then the temperature of the room was raised into the 100's. I was miserably hot and started to fill sick with a headache. Even that wasn't enough to break me, so then I started hearing an assortment of stressful sounds. Car horns, police sirens, metal being grinded, etc, all at the same time. It made it pretty much impossible to focus, and it felt like it was all being used to make the experience so unbearable that I would essentially surrender my free will by continuing on.

At this point I had had enough, so I decided to return to my body. But when I tried to open my eyes, nothing happened. I tried to lift my arm up which is my last trick to come out but nothing. There has only been a couple times in my life where I couldn't force myself out of sleep paralysis, dreams, etc, and I can count it on one hand. And the better I've gotten at coming out of it the less it's happened. So I was trapped, and it definitely felt like something was holding my consciousness there. Since I had no out I decided to see it through and went over to the next room.

When I got into the next room, the sounds stopped, but the uncomfortable and confused state I was in stayed, and it seems like this was used as a pressure to keep me not at my top state of alertness, but that's just a guess. It was a kitchen, and there were 2 older women standing behind an island. I came up to the opposite side of it and tried to ask them what was happening to me, but when I did it was like I could barely get the words out, something I've experienced before in other situations. It was like I just couldn't find the air to activate my vocal chords.

They told me we've already been through this before, and I had this intuitive sense that I had experienced this same process at least once before. This whole experience felt like it had been going on for hours, and I couldn't even remember the beginning of it, almost like I was coming out of anesthetics. So one of them asked me to try some cereal she had made for me, and pushed it over to me. It was heavily processed and so I said I was ok, but they both became very angry. So angry, the malevolent intent was oozing from them. They had this good cop bad cop routine going, and one of them said I should definitely eat it because the other one had made it just for me. I insisted I was ok because I was lactose intolerant, even though for some reason I didn't make the connection that it was irrelevant here. Then the lady who made it lunged at me while the other held her back.

Knowing I was trapped here I decided I would neutralize the situation by eating one bite. As soon as I swallowed it, I came back to my bed. I was abnormally calm coming to given what had happened, and even during the ordeal never became afraid. I did however develop an aversion to the suffering I was experiencing. But other than that, I'm not totally sure what to make of the experience. I don't know if I should've held my ground in defiance to risk being "hurt" over a bowl of cereal, or if taking the diplomatic approach like I did was the "correct" move.

I can't remember ever dealing with an experience remotely like this before, but it all seemed staged. The entire experience felt like I was being led down a path and any time I broke away from the script, I was essentially tortured until I conceded. When all of the obnoxious sounds were going off, I thought about sitting down to meditate to completely refuse to engage in any of the theatrics, but ended up not doing so.

Any clue into what the heck happened here?  

I definitely procrastinated much less than I would have with my phone. I meditated, almost had an OBE a couple times, cooked, unpacked, played with dogs, etc. Pretty much the same thing I would've done anyway, but I just did more of it than I would have with my phone.

I think I'll try to go a full 2 days this weekend, but I might lose my mind. 

Maybe that's a good thing though.

Lumaza should be a spokesperson for landlines 

I'm going to try leaving my phone off while I don't need it today. That'll be for 8 hours, if I make it out alive I'll let you know. 

I've personally got pretty significant anxiety I've been working through for awhile myself. Oddly enough once i started getting much more serious about spiritual and emotional growth is when my SP and AP started to "randomly" flare up. It certainly seems like it was brought to me as a supplement to the other work I'm doing.

I think it is certainly doable to progress down this path with emotional trauma if you indeed have it, but it probably takes a certain kind of individual. I've always learned better in more extreme circumstances for some reason, and what could be more extreme than to test your progress with fear or anxiety by facing your worst nightmares come to life?

I wonder what it's like not to have a phone 

My career field requires me to have one so getting rid of it isn't really an option 

I tried to get another hour of sleep before getting up for work, but I started hearing random sounds. I could tell it was going to happen again so I went right in. I felt the vibrations, but maybe half as intense as my first OBE. I floated out of my body feet first, and started getting dragged around fairly quickly by something pulling my feet. It stood me upside down, and I was occasionally opening my eyes to see what was going on. After opening up my eyes one of the times, I was back at my bed. I checked my phone, but the time it said was way passed my alarm time, so I realized this couldn't be the physical. This game of checking my phone and the time being different happened a couple times. After the last time I checked it I laid back down and then got pulled to and placed into a corner of my bedroom, with my head almost to the ceiling. Sort of like the Blair Witch Project except I was facing towards the rest of the room and not the corner.

Realizing that regardless of the time not lining up with the physical, it was without a doubt close to or passed the time I needed to wake up, I brought myself back. Ended up being 10 minutes until my alarm was set to go off.

I know I was open to it all, but not the best timing.  

So I woke up from a dream a bit ago and could feel something trying to pull me into the astral. Every time I get this feeling it's always some kind of test. So I allowed it as I wanted to confront whatever it was. So this being took on the appearance of an overweight older man. It tried to weave a false story of me being a member of it's family with the proposed family also just a lie. I was lying down and not facing it, it told me to turn around. I turned slightly towards it but not completely, because I felt the need to be defiant.

It then went on this tirade about me needing to do something and how my actions were affecting this false family. It wasn't making much sense. It became extremely angry. Up until this point I had remained calm, but then it started moving closer and getting louder. I started to feel a slight fear for about 1 second, then resolved to revert back to calm. It then got so close that it was literally pressing against me, and with all the yelling I could feel it's breath on my neck.

I didn't mean to, but I actually started to get irritated. I reached up and put my hand over it's mouth. I started getting a rush of energy onto the palm of my hand. It became extremely hot, and felt almost like the vibrations on my hand, except maybe 10x stronger. It started reaching the point of being painful, and the best way I could describe it is what it would feel like to leave your hand on a running jackhammer for a few minutes.

So I understood what was happening, and knew that this thing was trying to get under my skin. So I brought myself back to focus, and after about 10 seconds, although this being was still ramping up, I started to feel the vibrations all over. They got almost to the intensity of my first OBE, but then it all stopped and I came back to the physical.

My hand was still having this intense feeling of energy on my palm side, and was borderline painful. Even now as I'm typing this my hand is still cooling down. My temperature as a whole was quite elevated, as I was sweating upon coming to. This seems to happen when anything AP related goes on for me.

So I'm not really sure if me getting the vibrations but not breaking through was me failing or means something else? Nonetheless it was a pretty intense experience and completely unexpected.

You state you started worrying which you absolutely shouldnt do. It seems as if your focus kept switching between physical and non physical and i suspect your worrying was re-focusing you into the physical. Your next experience focus on fearlessly and completely relaxing regardless how spooky any sounds or visions may be, simply ignore them. You seem to have been close to a full blown thought responsive obe but your worrying interfered. Set your intent with total fearlessness and relaxation.

Well I would like to clarify on the worrying part. I've already accepted that I might run into my worst nightmare, and am willing to face it head on, I think that's part of why I've made it to this point. The worry I had wasn't one of fear, but of wanting to successfully be able to open my non physical eyes as to not disrupt the experience. My first OBE I remained completely calm, as I did here, but as soon as opened my eyes the first time I accidentally opened my physical eyes. So I'm not sure if worry is light enough of a descriptor, but regardless I think the attachment to a certain outcome instead of accepting what was currently happening is what brought me back.

Hopefully that wasn't too confusing. 

Its very impressive that you were able to achieve what you did from a conscious meditation state. No joke but were you smoking weed? I had similar experiences in my youthful weed smoking days.

My first experience was definitely had consciously while meditating, but like I said there were about 30 to 40 minutes that were unaccounted for here. So during that time I could've either been unconscious while sleeping, or time simply passed differently once my awareness shifted. I'm  not totally sure. I was however meditating for about 80 minutes before before I lost that time though.

I don't use any mind altering substances anymore, even to the point of rarely drinking tea, no coffee, and no refined sugars. Once upon a time I used hallucinogens such as mushrooms or LSD, but the beings that would communicate lessons to me while using these substances made it very clear that there was nothing left they would allow me to learn with this method. They also reminded me that what you are essentially doing when you take these substances is surrendering your free will to the beings that are capable of navigating that space. And although they often have your best intentions in mind, it doesn't mean that you will enjoy it or even learn anything, and in fact might even be harmed. Not to mention what one person needs to learn will be completely different than what someone else needs to, so you'll never know that you've overstepped until you've already done so. The question presented to me was, is taking a shortcut to accelerated spiritual growth worth giving the outcome of my life over to an unknown being(s) with the hope that they do what I feel is best for me.

I truly believe that when taking hallucinogens that you are essentially opening yourself up to the influence of more intelligent, sentient beings, that use the experiences as a way to manipulate humanity towards the future they see is best. And that's not to say it's a negative thing, but I would caution others to think carefully about playing with fireworks (their consciouness) around a raging fire (psychedelics). Not to mention hallucinogens ability to bring up the subconscious and past trauma, which could be incredibly healing in the right setting, but how many people are honestly doing that in the proper setting with trained professionals of the spiritual nature and trained professionals of the medical nature. I did personally experience a lot of growth from hallucinogens, but I was definitely playing with fire and almost got burned for it.

I know you were asking about weed, but it was never something that interested me, and my experience with other mind altering substances seemed a little more appropriate for the conversation.

A group chat is a lot more efficient than a party line, since someone can check the notifications/new messages whenever they feel like it or have the time.

My only concern is that with these experiences I like to take some time to think things through so I can convey everything as coherently as possible, and I'm not sure if Line would be the best place for that. If you're needing a way to write down your experiences before you forget them and don't want to use a traditional dream journal I suggest trying out the Awoken app. It's essentially a well put together digital dream journal

I feel like most people, who even just floated out of their body, would be extremely distressed and might even completely deny the experience. But to see 2 points of view at the same time, it's something I think would shatter many people's world view in an instant if they accepted it  as truth. It's a very strange universe indeed.

I honestly can't really fathom it getting more interesting, it was very disorienting. I would've stayed to observe it, but I thought one of the visions I was seeing was my physical eyes and so I worried I would bring myself out of the experience. Ironically it seems the worrying is what brought me back. This is all blowing my mind, I'm not really sure what to make of being in 2 different locations at the same time.

I was meditating earlier as the sun was rising, laying down listening to the HemiSync MetaMusic. I didn't notice a break in the music, but I had opened my eyes and looked into a bag that was sitting next to where I slept. There was a cockroach in it and so I killed it, but the thing is that this bag was about 5 feet away from where it actually was in the physical, although I didn't realize it at the time.

So I laid back down and began meditating again, with the music still playing. I started become fairly focused and stillminded, then I started floating out of my body. But here's another peculiar thing, although I did notice a slight shift, I didn't feel that strong vibratory experience as I had when I was without a doubt awake the first OBE I had.

After floating around the room for a short time, I attempted to open my eyes (this is where my first OBE ended), but something even more peculiar had happened. I saw what appeared to be both my OBE vision, and either my physical vision or dream vision overlayed over one another. It was like watching a movie with a projection getting played over the top of it. After a couple seconds I shut my eyes to try again, but I think I somehow broke the connection. When I opened my eyes again I was back in the physical, with the music still playing.

This was honestly pretty confusing, so I looked at the music track (which is set to repeat after finishing it's 50 minute set, and it appears I did lose some time. Maybe about 30 to 40 minutes.

Any ideas on what happened here?  

I have a fairly good memory of my dreams, sometimes remembering multiple dreams a night. And one thing that seems to be happening pretty frequently is dreams that seem like what my life would be like if their was a different choice or choices made by either me or someone in my life that would affect me. I have dreams of vastly different experiences from my own, but these stick out because they seem so similar.

For example, I had one dream where it appeared I didn't move like I did in this life when I was a child. The dream started with me waking up in my childhood house, except I was much older, maybe around the same age I was when I had the dream. Except it seems like I had severely damaged my brain with the use of psychedelics. So much so it was extremely hard to hold a cohesive train of thought for longer than a few seconds. My vision was completely distorted with everything moving like a living Picasso painting, and there were patterns overlaying everything. I was woken up by a family member, and I couldn't even remember what day it was or the fact that I had damaged my brain. I was like a person that forgets what happened a few seconds after the fact. They looked at me with this heartbreaking degree of disappointment, saying that my mom had been waiting for me for a long time in the other room. I couldn't even really function enough to get to her. I became overwhelmed with shame and guilt, and then I woke up.

It appears that by staying in my considerably bad neighborhood and combining the suffering and neglect I had experienced as a child with the bad influences around me, I just wasn't able to cope with my life and resorted to abusing drugs to an extreme level.

And I've several dreams like this, that were similar enough to make it seem entirely plausible that these were views into parallel realities. I feel like there is truth to it right down to my core. And if that's the case, these experiences are overwhelmingly negative. I once had a being (and the method of communication will remain undescribed at this time), that explained to me the nature of parallel universes, and that they exist right outside of our own universal all being connected to each other. And as this being explained this to me, I had several circles start opening up in my vision, as they got larger I saw that they were what looked like mirror images of the room I was currently in. And what it seemed like to me is that the closest realities to our own are extremely similar, with just slight variations which leads to a different outcome. I don't know if there was truth to this experience with objective certainty, but it felt like an extremely intelligent being was conveying this to me in a rudimentary way so that I could slightly comprehend it. Call that being a higher dimensional being, higher self, God, or whatever works for you, but it seemed to speak from the heart.

If this at least a somewhat correct interpretation of these experiences, then I have suffered immensely over many lifetimes, and I would also find it likely that given the life I've had that it was very likely for anything remotely similar to have gone as bad or much worse than my current life has. I'm wondering if this is true, what is the point of showing me this dreams? To let me know that I should be grateful for the way my life has turned out? Or maybe something deeper?

Has anyone had experiences like this?

It is more commonly known as that but I would search for 'Vipassana'. And if afterwards you like what you find as descriptions of it then I would check out vipassanaforum.net

There are some very knowledgeable people there and a lot of material you could go through, from rudimentary to highly advanced and technical. I would recommend to be mindful that there are people there that follow the path as a devout Christian might follow the Bible. So stick with what resonates with you and not necessarily any dogma that might be presented as truth. Although I will say I've found Buddhism to be much more rooted in truth than the other common religions, I don't know if I'd even call it a religion. I'm not sure if any of them would even humor talk about things such as AP, and might even just call it a distraction that needs to be left behind (which maybe on some part of our path it does, but I don't know that yet if it's true).

This sounds like a version of what I do except I try and mentally bring on different sensations or movements.

The approaches might seem similar, but they're actually quite different. I don't intentionally meditate to experience OBE, in fact I drop whatever intentions I possibly can. The simplest way I can explain my view on mindfulness meditation (which is what the Buddha actually used to attain enlightenment), is to be a human being, not a human doing, as Scatman John so eloquently put it. Mindfulness is about existing in the present moment unconditionally, so you can observe reality for what it is.

The foundation of Buddhist teachings, and what I see as the foundation for meditation itself is The Three Poisons, which are said to be the root of suffering. They roughly translate as attachment/desire, aversion, and ignorance. If you're attached to or desiring a certain outcome, you are not content with what is, and will suffer for it, because desire is an insatiable master. When you respond to a situation with aversion, you're again not content with what is, and will suffer for it, for things will never be the exact way the ego wants them to be. And finally ignorance, or not knowing the truth of who we are and what is, causes delusion that leads to much suffering.

Meditation is really about tackling all 3 of these. If you try to go from point A to point B because you aren't ok with the way things are you will suffer, and are also moving away from your self which is a double Whammy. Both aversion and attachment are doing this. So what happens if we let go of trying to do so we can just be? Then we sit with ourselves, and with time and attention we come to realize that what we thought was "us" actually wasn't us at all.

When I said I usually start with my attention on my body, it's because if I'm going to peel away the layers of what isn't me, I've got to start somewhere. By sitting with myself, I for example realize my physical sensations aren't me, because who is it that's aware of these physical sensations? Then I see my thoughts, and I realize I also am not these thoughts, because who is it that is aware of these thoughts? And this rabbit hole continues, and after you stop associating with these false aspects of self, you also stop feeding them your attention, and with time they fade into the background.

For me, this is where I start becoming more aware of what is happening in the moment without attaching to specific background noise. And once I am not associating with and in turn giving attention to the sensations that normally make up my experience, I  give room for more subtle aspects of self to come into my awareness. This is where I've gotten to in my meditations. And the more you meditate the more readily these delusions fall away.

So these more subtle aspects of self that you become aware of through dedicated practice, that's where I think I stumbled upon OBE's through meditation. It seems to be that with my body being tired from just waking up, then me starting to meditate while these Theta/Delta (And maybe even Gamma) waves were still affecting my state of awareness, I was then able to rapidly shed false aspects of self (in maybe 15 minutes or so). That's where I became aware of my energetic body? and at least some of my consciouness separated from the physical. This is my guess at what I experience, but I'm only human after all so take it with a grain of salt. =)

I fleshed this out with the hope that you'll more clearly understand what it is I did or "didnt" do, and what I meant by Vipassana. I do want to stress that it's surrendering to the moment, and casting aside your aspirations or resentments for everything just to be with yourself that would lead you down the path I described. When you start trying to do something, like AP, you've started going down the path of the ego. And maybe that is the path you need to experience AP. But in my experience, the truth of who you are comes not from running away from yourself, but from turning around and staring into the abyss.

Hope this helps.

I have tried meditation but honestly I cannot seem to use it to get anything close to a projection.

Now... I have not researched proper meditation techniques and have not practiced to really warrant a educated comment on this subject so I don't want to say to much.
For me I feel like I subconsciously separate meditation from laying down and wanting to project. I think it is the subconscious intent I put behind the two.

Not sure if it will help, but when I used meditation to AP I started meditating after waking up in the middle of the night. My body was still sleepy, but I kept myself focused consciously.

Personally I use my own blend of Vipassana (mindfulness) meditation. I tend to start with awareness of my body, but transition into a nonreactive state of just existing. Not really focused on anything in particular, but still aware of everything that is happening. That's the state that brings out the more subtle aspects of self for me, when I stop actively seeking sensations of the mind or body, and let them rise and fall like waves in the ocean.

Hope this helps.

Purely out of curiosity, why do people like to use these exit techniques instead of just letting it happen through deep relaxation/meditation? When I had my OBE by just surrendering to the moment, I just floated right out of my body with no effort. Afterwards when I tried to force new OBE experiences through my will, it felt like I was taking steps backwards. That method felt like I was hindering myself more than anything, by bringing me into a state of attachment/aversion that seemed counterproductive on multiple levels. I've decided to just continue expanding my awareness through meditation, which also happens to melt fears away by melting away aversion.

Maybe this is a slower path, but it feels like going with the flow of the river instead of fighting my way upstream.

I haven't tried to use Hemi-Sync for OBE, but in the past couple days I have used the MetaMusic for relaxing and meditation. All of the binaural beats on Youtube never did anything at all for me, but these still my mind much quicker than when I meditate without. I'd say in about 10 to 15 minutes I get to around the same state I tend to get to by sitting for a hour. The music I have are 50+ minute long sets each, and after finishing one the effect is clear.

I haven't used them long enough to say if the effect is permanent, but it feels like the longer I stay in these higher vibrational states, the more of an effect they have after I get off the mat (like you do when meditating for longer in general). For instance, if it takes me 1 hour to get to the state of calm and focus by meditating without music that 15 minutes with Hemi-Sync music does, then unless I continue to meditate after that first hour I didn't really spend much time at that vibration. But if I reach that state in 15 minutes with MetaMusic, then continue meditating for 45 minutes longer; not only would I have been at that heightened awareness for 45 minutes, but my focus and shedding of ego becomes even more intense over those 45 minutes.

I've meditated for several years now (although not as consistently as I'd like to admit), and over this time I've learned to notice the subtle shifts in awareness that tend to happen the longer I meditate during a session. It definitely feels like MetaMusic as a tool helps me relax into these heightened states much more quickly. Something I'm wondering is if I could use it for say an hour, then switch to meditating without the music and go from there. In effect, moving quickly through the more familiar vibrational states into less explored territory.

One example of where 1 hour of the MetaMusic got me to yesterday was to a point of almost complete stillness. My desire and aversions melted away, thoughts had quieted down, but any phenomena rose and passed without any "effort" on my part. I reached that point of just existing, where my sense of self was starting to fade into the background. I've reached that state a couple times before, but haven't followed it through. The last time I reached that point, it felt like what I viewed as me was about to fall into an abyss, and that all of sense of self would disappear, I had an almost unconscious knee jerk reaction of intense fear that pulled me out of it.

I hope I get back there soon, I think I'm ready for it.

Like I said I don't know about their material that is focused on OBE and the like, and considering I had my first OBE without it and reached it through meditation, I'm not sure if I will use their technology or not. But for meditators, I would personally suggest trying out their music. It's not much for a 1 hour long track, that you could use many many sittings.

Note: lately I've been meditating in a fairly congested area (as far as sound is concerned), so at least part of the reason why I could be relaxing more easily is the removal of random noise through using the music and headphones.