Any correlation between age and obe success

[Kirkland]

I find it quite fascinating I did some quick research today looking through a few forums some seem to believe that it does get harder to successful project as you get older. I believe Sylvan Muldoon started projecting less when he got older (atleast according to some sites) but then you have people like Robert Monroe who I believe had his first OBE in his 40's and continued to project till very near his death. Emanuel Swedenborg many believe also experienced obe's and seems to of started getting them when he was in his 50's when turned quite spiritual (though I may be wrong).

My question is there any link between age and the number of times you can successfully project? Those who are older amongst us have you found it more difficult to project as time has gone by?

[catmeow]

It is my belief that when we are quite young (under 10 years of age) it is actually quite easy to project.  By early teenage, we lose this natural ability to a certain extent. This is where practice practice practice comes in.

When I was about 10 or possibly younger, I had all sorts of nocturnal experiences, which at the time were "fun" but I now recognise the significance of. For instances, I would go to bed, curl up on my side, and imagine I was kind of riding a surf board. I could whizz hundreds of feet into the air and then swoop down. The sensation of movement was very vivid and I enjoyed playing this game.

Also I would have dreams of floating around in my bedroom. We had bunk beds and I would float around at the height of the upper bunk and out of the bedroom window. The number of dreams I had of floating out of the bedroom window and flying around the back garden - too many to count!

Then there was the dream of the fog - I would dream that I was walking around the house but everything was murky and foggy. Light switches would never work. It was hard to walk, like I was in a soupy fog. There was an eerie feeling to it all. It always started in my bedroom.

I was also more psychic. My brother wouldn't play board games with me. He complained that I was always influencing the dice (I was - absolutely -  I would concentrate on the number I wanted and it would come up). I was surprised when my brother complained because I certainly never told him I was doing this. But he just figured it out.

These abilities disappeared as I grew up. I think this is generally true. But I think the decline stops after adolescence. At least that's how it was with me. My "projection" skills are much the same now as they were when I was 18. It's just that as a pre-teen, or a very early teen, these things are much easier. Just my experience.

[Contenteo]

Yeah, I like what you are thinking.

I would take it one step further. I think one has to have an active and creative mind to be able to project with continued success.

As one ages, ways may become set because the person must rely on repeated patterns to survive, etc. I have found, just from talking to people, in my personal life, that the more conservative, closed minded people tend to struggle with projection. Interestingly enough, these people are usually not the most innovative and are stressed out easily. They reject new ways of thinking. In my eyes, those are symptoms of people who don't practice using their brain to critically tear things apart and would rather accept group norms, furthering their focus on the physical world (as opposed to the non-physcial). I mean this is easier.

Cheers,
Contenteo

[Paul-garr]

I'm hoping to follow the same example as Bob Monroe. I think he had his first OBE at 43 years of age. I've been lucid dreaming for a few years, but I had what I would call my first proper OBE a few days ago - I'm 42. I suspect that younger people might find it easier to do this stuff. I certainly don't think age is a barrier though - there are certain advantages to getting older.

[Szaxx]

Hi,
With maturity comes better learnings. Thats how it should be so it gets better with age.
You learn new things and eventually have two personalities, one for physical life the other for astral.
This is true for myself over 45 years of 'outings'.

[rezaf]

I am 27. I had my first OBE when I was 3. The second one (a dark being attack) when I was about 9 and then nothing until I was about 13 or 14. At that time I started having OBEs (usually full of wild beings) once every few days and then I stopped practicing for a few years. Now at 27 I think I'm getting better and better as long as I reserve enough jing(something like sexual energy). This part is taking me longer and longer as I age   . When I was a teenager I just needed to save it for a week or two to have a very stable OBE but now it takes me 3 or 4 weeks. However the good thing about aging is that I can control my feelings and fears better than before and as a result can have more stable experiences.

[Kirkland]

Some interesting thoughts here I do think there is some kind of perception that only young people get astral projections. Perhaps that perception has been skewed by the internet and the fact that demographically the internet is still skewed towards young and middle aged people.

These abilities disappeared as I grew up. I think this is generally true. But I think the decline stops after adolescence. At least that's how it was with me. My "projection" skills are much the same now as they were when I was 18. It's just that as a pre-teen, or a very early teen, these things are much easier. Just my experience.

Did you life start to get busier around that time meaning less time to practise these projection skills? I think with many people after their teenage years they start getting busier with jobs etc meaning not having time and being more stressed which could be a contributing factor to why so many start to lose their abilities slightly.

furthering their focus on the physical world (as opposed to the non-physcial)

I think you hit the nail on the head when we're younger we don't have such an attachment to the physical world. I also think the fact that in general anything attached to the non-physical world is kind of discouraged by society, society in general is all about the physical. As we get older I'm guessing that attachment to the physical world increases as it's constantly ingrained into us through what we learn. That does tie in with what you've found about people who accept group norms readily.

Insert Quote
I'm hoping to follow the same example as Bob Monroe. I think he had his first OBE at 43 years of age. I've been lucid dreaming for a few years, but I had what I would call my first proper OBE a few days ago - I'm 42. I suspect that younger people might find it easier to do this stuff. I certainly don't think age is a barrier though - there are certain advantages to getting older.

Quite a few of the most well known practitioners started in their 40-50's people like Bob Monroe and Emanuel Swedenborg it's just a very interesting subject. So I'm sure you'll get far and congratulations for having your first obe I'm 22 and I haven't got that far yet 

[LPC]

I have found, just from talking to people, in my personal life, that the more conservative, closed minded people tend to struggle with projection. Interestingly enough, these people are usually not the most innovative and are stressed out easily. They reject new ways of thinking.

I agree with the above. Astral projection is nothing to do with age, rather with being open-minded. I was 61 when I had my first projection, and since then I have projected very frequently. When I was younger, I would not even have been interested in AP, even if someone had told me about it. Too busy with work and such like...

So in that sense, AP gets easier with age!

[catmeow]

Did you life start to get busier around that time meaning less time to practise these projection skills? I think with many people after their teenage years they start getting busier with jobs etc meaning not having time and being more stressed which could be a contributing factor to why so many start to lose their abilities slightly.

Basically, yes. My interest in AP started when I was about 15. So I had 3 years of activity before I went to university, where life was way too distracting and I didn't bother with AP  that much. When I finished university there was work, and relationships and life in general getting in the way.  But these things didn't affect my AP abilities. Whenever I concentrated on AP I was always able to pick up again where I left of. I haven't noticed any drop off in ability over the years at all.

[David Warner]

That is a good observation and a excellent on at that. I think it all depends on the person and how committed they are to projecting. I for myself, in the last couple of years my OBEs have lessened due to all work, running marathons, music, spending all my waking also designing and putting together courses for the astral academy. Then add to the mix of booze getting in the way... What does it spell? Not as many experiences as I would like, but I still project once a week to maintain that groove.

Lets step back and look at my stats and please note that I am 44yrs old.


Yearly Statistics   Total
   
2005   61
2006   113
2007   102
2008   88
2009   73
2010   40
2011   28
2012   6

So far in 2012, I have been swamped with the astral academy, side projects, and literally writing my book Invisible Light. Has it take my time away from OBE "YES" but sometimes we need to focus on physical matters. I know thats not the initial question to this posting, but if you look at the years 2006 - 2009 I was on fire in projecting and that is all I thought about!

Getting back, it all depends on how you balence your life and focus on what is important at that time. Projecting, look at it is just like training for a marathon. You stop training, you won't be able to run that race..

Hope this helps

Dave