My Take on OOBEs and Astral Projection

[Frank]

quote:
Self Imposed Limitations
You start trying to have OOBEs, and your first attempt doesn't work. You keep trying for weeks and still aren't getting anywhere. You were a skeptic who was trying to prove yourself wrong. After too many "failed" attempts, you give up and say "See I knew this was crap!". Well my friends, that is all self limitations. Every "limitation" you think you have is all mental, all in your mind. It's about your will to do something, if you say you can't or you won't you will never be able to. You can try, but only to your dismay. You must truly believe in the "unbelievable"

Yes, I'll second that.

Because everything about this topic takes place in the mind, it is extremely important to think along the right lines. If someone is thinking, "Well, I'll give it a go, but I don't really believe it is possible" chances are, they will give it a go and get no results. Then they emerge from the experience believing it isn't possible. After which they will look back thinking, "See, I was right all along!" Not knowing, of course, they just lived out their own self-fulfilling prophecy.

Another question that comes up fairly often (or at least along these lines) is where a person asks, basically, was this experience real or just all in my mind? Well, where else would it be!

Having the will (or intent) to project your focus of conscious awareness elsewhere from the physical is not just important, it is an essential prerequisite. A person's Will or Intent is the very driving force behind it! Which I realise will sound too obvious for some. But I do feel a significant percentage of beginners tend to miss this point.

The other big downfall I feel a lot of beginners make is they aim too high using too many fangled techniques. They read a number of books then decide on a strategy that they believe will get them "out of body". When I feel what beginners should be realising is the true nature of the connection between mind and body; realising they go "out of body" every time they are asleep; and working on a strategy to simply raise their awareness of what they already do naturally.

Yours,
Frank

[AntiGravity]

Hey Frank, thanks for the reply! I tried to gear this more towards beginers as best I could. You could still call me a "beginer", only projected once, and I thought I could relate to those starting out a lot better. And yes, I definitly agree that it is more than important to be able to direct awareness away from the body, tricky, but essential.
Take care!
[|)]

[AntiGravity]

This is an article which took me a few days to write. It can also be found at www.cezyl.com/index.htm under AntiGravity's Home. This article is copyright me and bla bla bla. Here it is: []
My Take on Astral Projection and Out of Body Experiences
Written By Eddy M. aka AntiGravity
Information gathered from various authors and changed (sometimes) by me. All other things are my own thoughts and creations.

What is Astral Projection and Out of Body Experiences?
   I've read a whole lot of things containing explanations on what Astral Projection and Out of Body Experiences (OOBEs) are, but I've tried as best I could to come up with my own explanation. Astral Projection and OOBEs are two interchangeable terms that are both of the same nature. The typical OOBE involves feelings of intense to mild vibration, (or any other projection symptoms such as spinning, falling, floating, etc.) a feeling of separation into a new body (the Astral Body), some kind of nonphysical exploration, and a return to the physical body with the memory of the whole experience. OOBEs is the broad term given to any type of experience where a person is somewhere outside of their physical body. Astral Projection is a type of OOBE that may include meeting higher beings or entities, traveling to places that aren't in physical life (such as the Akashic Records or The Astral Pulse Island), and anything else of the "extraordinary" nature while OOB. It is not yet in my place to actually give detail of the nonphysical worlds, as I haven't projected to anywhere of much explanation yet and am writing this as a person with extensive knowledge of this from other people or personal experience. So far I've only projected once from Sleep Paralysis and that lasted about 3 seconds. OOBEs and Astral Projections are not as uncommon as they may sound; millions of people everyday are learning how to have them and are experiencing them for themselves. It just takes practice, attitude, and patience. Believe in yourself and you can accomplish absolutely anything you can dream of.

Understanding Out of Body Experiences and Astral Projection
   To try and understand why or how OOBEs work, you must have an understanding of the stages of sleep. Probably the more important things to know are these terms I will familiarize you with in a moment: Beta, Alpha, Theta, and Delta brainwaves, Hypnogogic state, Hypnopomic state, REM (Rapid Eye Movement), and trance. The brainwave frequencies Beta, Alpha, Theta, and Delta play a big role in sleep and inducing OOBEs and Astral Projections. Beta is waking life, this is the brainwave we are in when we are awake and aware. Alpha is when you may start to daydream and lose touch with reality for a bit; this is also (when consciously aware) known as a light trance. Theta is going even further into sleep; a trance while in Theta is the most you will need to consciously OOBE. Finally, Delta is deep sleep, this is where dreams usually take place (Theta and Delta are the most likely states to have dreams in). You do not need to reach such a deep level trance to Astral Project, but if you can attain one (which is very hard I might add), it is almost certain that you can have an OOBE from there. Moving on to something a little less complicated; Hypnogogic and Hypnopomic states. The Hypnagogic state is the mind state just before sleep, also known as the Mind awake Body asleep state. This is where OOBEs and Astral Projections can take place. The Hypnopomic state is the mind state when just waking up from sleep, it is also Mind awake Body asleep, but its attained coming out of sleep instead of going into sleep (Hypnagogic state). You really dont need to know what REM sleep is, but it is the state of sleep in which dreams occur (brainwaves will normally be in Theta or Delta). Your eyes will move quickly while in this state, hence the name Rapid Eye Movement. Some people experience REM before leaving their bodies, some don't. No one is alike, therefore it is very difficult to make up a technique or anything that will work for everyone. Okay, now that that is done, now its time to understand the basics of a projection.

The Basics of an Out of Body Experience or Astral Projection
   You know a few interesting and important things by now, but its time to talk about the fun stuff, I'm talking about leaving the physical body. I will describe to you, from others experiences and my analysis of them, an OOBE from start to finish. Firstly and most importantly, the projector will lay down on a bed or couch or whatever (or sit in a chair, its all up to the projector), and thoroughly relax his/her body. This is THE MOST important part of traveling Out of Body, if you cant relax at least 90% if your body, you best work on that until you can before moving on. Next, the projector will reach a certain level of trance, usually a light to medium trance, with enough experience the projector can reach a very deep trance and ensure his/her projection. There are a ton of ways that a projector can learn to reach a trance, and I will explain a few in the next section, so don't worry about it for now. Here is where the projector will begin his/her, as I like to call it, initiation method. This "method" is usually a visualization to take the focus off the physical body so the projection reflex, as Mr. Robert Bruce calls it, to take over. However, there are those who are not good with visualizations, therefore there have been countless other things used for focusing upon that require no visualization whatsoever. Okay, the projector has a steady initiation method going for lets say 3 minutes, now is when he/she may begin to feel the separation part of the OOBE. Some separation sensations include the infamous vibrations, spinning, floating, etc. but Ill get to those in the next section. So, if all goes well, the projector will now find him/herself outside of their body hovering somewhere over it or near it. Now is where the fun comes in, at this point the projector can go anywhere and do anything he/she pleases for as long as he/she wants. Well, by now you're thinking "That's awesome, but what about getting back in?", well all that's necessary for reentry to the physical body is the mere thought of it. A lot of first timers have super short OOBEs because they keep checking back/thinking of their body, thusly ending the experience. The key is to loose all awareness of ones body, and not think about it until you wish to come back. You want to focus now on your nonphysical, or Astral, body. With that all cleared and summed up, you are now probably thinking "Fantastic! Now how do I go about doing this for myself?!?!". Well, your in luck because that's what the next section is all about. Get ready to embark on your own spiritual journey...

Experiencing Out of Body Experiences and Astral Projections for Yourself
   Well, its about time now aint it? Let me explain a little something for you first ("Not again!!!"): Not everyone gets the same separation sensations. Not every technique/method works for everyone. I can not teach you how to OOBE, I am merely a guide trying to help you. Remember this: I can lead you to the door, but you have to chose to walk through it (or something like that). Everyone is different which is why there are so many different techniques, and not all of them works for everybody. You must find the one that works for YOU. ("Alright already, just gimme the methods please!") Okay then, with that said, I will now type and/or copy and paste different methods for you to use. This is going to take a lot of reading...
NOTE: The following few are to be used going from the wake state to attempt an OOBE.

Black Box Visual-Adapted from Bob Petersons method (http://www.robertpeterson.org/chap24.html)
1. Relax (This step will be the first in every method you ever see. It is the essential key to having an Out of Body Experience,      without a very deep level of relaxation, you can forget about traveling for that attempt.)
2. Trancing (This is also another rudimentary thing you will need in order to OOBE.)
   To reach a trance: Imagine yourself falling down a well, or just falling really. Not too fast, not too slow, calmly fall inside    your mind. This brings your brainwaves down into Alpha and then Theta. Keep doing this until you feel very heavy or    disconnected from the world around you. Then my friends, you are ready to move on.
3. The "Initiation"- This will, again, appear in every method you see. This take your mind off your body so you can activate the    projection reflex (your astral body will come out of you physical body automatically if you can do the "initiation" long and    well enough). For this method you will: Visualize VERY CLEARLY (but dont strain yourself, you want to be passively    concentrating) a block box a few feet above your head. Now, start moving this box up and down, slowly at first, then    increasing its speed and distance from up to down. When the box moves up, feel your astral body moving up with it,    when it comes down, your astral body comes down. This will cause the projection reflex after a few minutes of doing    this.
4. The Exit- "Well, I've got separation sensations, now how do I get out?" This is a very common question and there are    numerous answers. For one, you can just keep doing your initiation method and you'll eventually pop out. Another exit    method is the Roll-out, for this you just imagine yourself (try to feel it too) rolling out of your body and onto your floor.    And another very common one is the Float-out, just like the Roll-out, but this time feel yourself floating upward out of    your body. Its all up to you, do whatever you feel is right.

~Okay, since steps one, two, and four remain the same for EVERY method, I will only be going over step three for each.~

ROPE- Robert Bruce's method as described in his book Astral Dynamics, and on http://www.astralpulse.com/guides/oobe/oobe_5.htm#7
3. Using ROPE- What you want to do, is not imagine but feel a rope above you with your imaginary hands. You have to pull and    climb up this rope only by feeling, do NOT visualize. Feel yourself climbing upwards, feel the struggle of your physical    body holding onto your astral body. Keep climbing and ignore all sensations! Just keep climbing until you eventually    pop out.

The Ring- (Oooh creepy huh?) Technique taken from The Astral Experience- http://www.timekillers.co.uk/
(Because these methods are prewritten, Ill just use my great copy and paste skills)
Make sure you are lying down and completely relaxed; your eyes should be closed and your mouth slightly open. As soon as you think you are deeply relaxed imagine a large glowing ring of pure energy six feet above your body. It must be large enough to pass easily over your body from head to toe. Once the vision is firmly fixed in your mind, imagine it slowly descending towards you; try and feel the energy entering your body and causing it to vibrate as the ring passes over you. As soon as you begin to feel the vibrations, strengthen them by repeating the step over and over until countless rings have passed over you. If done correctly your entire body will eventually be gripped by a powerful surge of vibrations and you may even sense a mild separation. When this happens strongly, will your astral self to rise upwards and away from your body.
Heavy/Light- Also from The Astral Experience
Lie down and allow yourself to become completely relaxed. Imagine as you lie there relaxing that you are slowly becoming enormously heavy. Concentrate every fibre of your being to this one thought. You are heavier than you've ever been feel every muscle, every limb, every part of your body weighed down with heaviness. Just when you can tolerate no more heaviness suddenly reverse the process and imagine that you are suddenly and dramatically lighter than air. Imagine you weigh nothing at all. You may well find that your consciousness simply rises up and out. You can liken this technique to being in a lift – you know how heavy you feel as the lift ascends rapidly and then you feel very light, as if you could float, when the lift suddenly stops.
Okay, the following are some "methods" that's you can use that are not from the wake state to OOBE. These are used to go into a lucid dream which you can turn into an OOBE. (Don't know how to do that, haven't had an LD either, but I know it's possible)
Reality Check
All day, do one of the following every 5-10 minutes for best results:
Take a jump- Question yourself, "Is this a dream?" Then jump up to test if you can float, then affirm to yourself that this       isn't a dream. Then double-check by re-questioning  yourself.
Look at your hands- In a dream, if you look at your hands, they will melt. Look at your hands and repeat the question       and "action" as stated for the above one.
Look at a clock- In a dream, clocks will have the wrong time or they won't change time. (Or they will jump to random       times) Repeat the question and action used for the above two.
   
   Doing these periodically during the day will bring about lucid dreams (dreams in which the dreamer is aware that he/she is dreaming). But don't be frustrated if it doesn't work the first time, keep trying and you WILL get it. While your doing these, really question if you're dreaming or not. Really think to yourself that this could be a dream.

Watch Your Sleep
   This method is to be used before you fall asleep. It should keep you aware while your body goes to sleep. Start counting up from zero. When you reach a point where you start to lose focus, start again but try this time to go further. Keep your awareness longer. This has produced the vibrations for me and I'm sure it can be used to project with. It can also be used to induce lucid dreams. By holding your awareness while you fall asleep you may be able to hold onto it during a dream, thus resulting in a lucid dream.

The World of Energy
   "Okay, now what is he talking about?" Now it's time for a little bit of science mixed with metaphysics. We all know that the world is made up of atoms, everything you see and sometimes can't see is made of atoms. But what are atoms, energy that's what. So now, everything is made of energy, absolutely everything. If you can control your own energies, you can control outside energies and make the world around you a better place to live. ("Aww, so touching Eddy.") You have enrgies flowing through you as you read this, they always flow through you and are stored in energy centers known as chakras. There are 7 main chakras that all have different purposes for the enrgy which they hold. These chakras and their respected colors are, from bottom to top: Root-red, Sacral-orange, Solar Plexus-yellow, Heart-green, Throat-blue, Third Eye-purple, and Crown-white. Their locations are as follows ("Man I wish he'd hurry the heck up with this"): Root-genitals, Sacral-right below naval, Solar Plexus-Solar Plexus (duh!), Heart-center of chest, Throat-Adams apple, Third Eye-center of forehead, and Crown-top of head. I suppose you are wondering their purposes now aren't you? Well, here we go again: Root-grounding, a sense of being "here", Sacral-sexual energies, Solar Plexus-will power, detirmination, self-confidence, Heart-compassion, love for everything, Throat-creativity, communication, logic, and reason, Third Eye-intuition, awareness, source of phychic powers, and Crown-spirituallity, cosmic knowledge. You need not know how or why to stimulate these chkras as they will just end up confusing you, but if you know a chakra cleansing meditation or something, go for it. Now, Astral energy. When you are Out of Body, your astral body is made up of energy known as Astral Matter or Etheric Energy. When you are Astrally Projecting, all thought forms and things you see were created with Astral Matter. Every night when you sleep, your subconscious mind take hold of your Astral body and projects images around it for you to interact with; these are called dreams. Well, while your Astral body is out having a fun time, your Etheric body has expanded to collect energy for you to use the next day. The energy is stored in chakras for use later on, which is why you (hopefully) feel refreshed after a nights sleep. There are many exercises and meditations you can use to accumulate energy whilst awake, and I will list maybe one or two for you to use.
Energy Breathing- This was created by Robert Bruce
   -Get in a meditative position. Get comfortable and relaxed. Start taking deep slow breaths, as you breathe in visualize      the energy entering your nose and into your body as any bright color. Hold the breath for a second or two, now exhale.      As you exhale visualize murky gray colored energy leaving your body through your mouth. These are the impure      energies that we are sending into the universe to be cleansed. Eyes dont have to be closed by the way, whatever you      feel like, go with it.
Energetic Start-up- This is my own thing that I have made up that boosts my energy way up. I believe that there are chakras    on our palms and soles, these (along with the Crown chakra) correspond to elements (fire, water, wind, earth, fire,    spirit). But you dont need to know about the element part of the chakras for this, just know that there are chakras there.   -(This can be done while doing anything) Visualize the chakras in your feet pulsating white energy. Feel it surging up      your legs, cleansing and activating your energy. Feel it flowing thoughout your body. Pulse the energy for as long as      you like, I find this helps heal some injuries too. When I do it I feel like Im in a state of utter bliss. Almost like Im going      to explode with energy, but it feels great. Afterwards you may be able to feel your energy moving on it's own, if not                         keep practicing.

Self Imposed Limitations
   You start trying to have OOBEs, and your first attempt doesn't work. You keep trying for weeks and still aren't getting anywhere. You were a skeptic who was trying to prove yourself wrong. After too many "failed" attempts, you give up and say "See I knew this was crap!". Well my friends, that is all self limitations. Every "limitation" you think you have is all mental, all in your mind. It's about your will to do something, if you say you can't or you won't you will never be able to. You can try, but only to your dismay. You must truely believe in the "unbelievable", open up your closed mind to the world around you. Things are more than they seem to be, you are in control of your world, you make your life interesting, fun, hard, bad, etc. It's all in your atitude. To suceed in OOBEs, you must believe in them. Put aside your doubt and try for yourself truely believing it can happen. You have the power to do what you want, you want to OOBE, you can make it happen. But if you say it isn't possible or not logical, you are limiting yourself and the things you can do in your life. You think it's hard for you to concentrate, and it is because you say it is, but if you believe that you can concentrate well then you shall. I used to be bad at visualizing until I learned that it was all about my will and belife. Now I can visualize perfectly and very easily, it's all in you atitude remember that.

   Well, I feel that this article has come to its end. I probably will edit it with more things later on, but this is it for now. I would like to give thanks to all those wonderful people who have invented these methods to help people such as me. I sincerly hope that this article has helped at least one person, I am here as a guide to help all those who wish to embark on their own spiritual journey. It is what I love to do, guide people, so as I end this article I wish you all the best of luck on your travels!
   Fly Far My Friends!
                     Eddy M.