How To Have An Out Of Body Experience composed by Summerlander

[Summerlander]

HOW TO ACHIEVE AN OUT-OF-THE-BODY EXPERIENCE


GETTING PRIMED FOR INDUCTION:

Wake up earlier than usual and keep active during the day. Have a nap or sleep in the evening when you are tired. Preferably, the nap or sleep should be dreamless. For example, you can nap for two hours in the evening and then stay awake for an hour and a half before induction, OR, you can go to bed late and sleep to wake up between 4am and 6am to induce. This doesn't have to be followed strictly but it may serve as an initial guide.


INDUCTION:


Relax:

Lie down comfortably and close your eyes. Your eyes are to remain closed throughout the induction. Relax as deeply as you can and take your time. Be patient and don't rush it. Make sure that you are not disturbed. There are many books about the various effective techniques you can use to acquire a deeply relaxed state, but, because you have biologically primed yourself for the experience, it should be fairly easy for you to do so without having to read up on it.


Focus on something:

It could be a mantra or a familiar object (the latter does not have to be visualised to perfection). Do this as you sense that you are drifting off to sleep or when your mind starts to wander. Keep bringing your mind back to focus whenever it gets 'lost'. Keep still and relaxed and do not fall asleep! Whatever you focus on may start to take a life of its own as you relax deeper and deeper. Focus on your 'something' until you reach the hypnogogic state.


The Hypnagogic State:

This is the state between waking and sleeping. You will know that you have reached this state once its imagery or potential dreams begin to invade your point of focus. Being aware in this state is already an achievement. Prolong this state by passively watching its imagery, and then, slowly begin to clear your mind until you see nothing but blackness. When this happens you have gone beyond the hypnagogic state and are still conscious.


Sleep Paralysis / Vibrational State:

Remain still and relaxed. Let go of any worries relating to the physical body. The trick is to let your body 'switch off' as your mind is still very much aware of itself. This may involve resisting any urges to move or scratch itches. Your body will start to feel extremely heavy  and there may come a point where you will be aware of not being able to move it. Remain relaxed nonetheless and don't panic. The perceptions of vibrations may or may not ensue. If they don't develop, then the sensation of slipping and falling is experienced which may lead to an apparent separation from the physical body or a hypnic jerk. The vibrational state can be mild or strong. It can vary from mild tingling, warmth, and the sensation of low voltage electricity flowing through the body. Strange sounds are reported during this stage. We know that the ear converts sound waves into signals that the brain can interpret through the firing of neurons. The Tensor Timpani muscle in the ear can serve to dampen external sound and may cause rumbling as it spasmodically vibrates during the state of sleep paralysis. The perception of vibrations could be the feedback one may get from neurons rapidly polarising and depolarising but this is only speculation. The 'radio effect' during sleep paralysis, where I have experienced many auditory hallucinations with shifting or sudden musicals intervals, could be due to the possibility that the pineal gland may act as a receptor of electromagnetic signals at this point. We can only speculate this to be the function of calcite crystals found in the gland which appear to be piezoelectric in nature. The sensation of paralysis alone may occur when cells at the pons send inhibitory signals to the motor neurons in the spinal cord eventuating muscle atonia which is necessary to prevent individuals from acting out their dreams. So what are these sounds in sleep paralysis? It can be characterised by hissing that seems to pulse in your head, sparks, thunder-like sounds, rumbling, wind, electronic sounds, a person moaning (I have likened it to a woman giving birth), ocean waves, something like a train running, a helicopter etc. - people tend to describe the same thing in different ways but the state itself can vary too. It tends to peak before it gradually fades. Vibrations are strange but remain calm and don't overanalyse what is happening to you. Just act as a beholder or go with the flow. The level of sleep paralysis seems to determine the mode or type of experience you'll get or at least they appear to fit in with the classifications I've come up with according to certain distinctions I've made. Still, I couldn't be 100% sure.


Separation:

You can try partial separation first as practice before attempting full separation. Partial separation is optional. There are many ways of achieving a successful disassociation from the body. Here's a couple of examples:

- Imagine that the ceiling above you is a huge magnet that counteracts gravity and pulls you upwards. Alternatively, imagine yourself being catapulted or cannon-balled out of body.
- You can slowly roll over and out of the body. Do this subtly and as though you are moving physically but without using muscles. It is best to start by rolling over from the head and the rest of the body will follow. If there is a perceived resistance, be forceful. This movement is not imagined, it is done with intent. Once you have succeeded, you will realise that you have moved incorporeally.


What happens next?

Once you are out, explore! Do not get overexcited and have no fear or doubt. Stay out for as long as you can and don't worry about getting back because you always do in the end. A variety of experiences are open to interpretation. From inter-dimensional travel, space exploration, alien encounters, meeting strange spiritual entities, visiting the living and the dead, time travel etc. etc. Remember: whatever the nature of your experience and however profound it may be for you, try to look at it from a viewpoint free of preconceived ideas. For instance, seeing a luminous being who starts singing the most beautiful melody you have ever heard does not mean that you have just met an angel. Consider all perspectives. Record your experiences in a journal. Feel free to carry out experiments of your own to try and determine the nature of your experiences for yourself.


Mode 1 OOBE: belief-centric name: Ethereal Projection

Your awareness seemingly remains in the physical realm, or what could be interpreted as an accurate simulation of the waking world upon separation, and, therefore, is able to see the physical body (autoscopy experienced). There is, of course, the possibility that one never really leaves the body as the experience could be an illusion created by the brain, and that, while dreams and imagination could be a product of abundant activity in the right hemisphere of the brain, Mode 1 OOBEs would be a product of the left hemisphere and hence the reason why they are 'more true to life' so to speak. Experiences conducted with split-brain individuals where dreaming is concerned seemingly strengthen the feasibility of such explanation as their dreaming was found to be unimaginative and often tied to reality. On the other hand, perhaps consciousness is capable of  acquiring a viewpoint outside the physical body as the mind may extend beyond it. In Mode 1 OOBEs, sometimes the colours of the physical world will appear duller, as if the world is being observed through a faint mist, and other times the colours will be clear. Vision can be hard to describe here, almost mixed with a feel of the environment and appears somewhat different to vision in the waking state. You can obtain information in the physical realm which was previously unknown to you, or information of events which at the time you couldn't possibly have known about through your physical body. This statement, of course, has to be taken as conjecture if one considers the nature of coincidences and cryptomnesia. Nevertheless, in this type of experience you are usually a floating point of consciousness and movement seems constant and gradual as though one moves through 'frames of space' or "mouse-trails". At times, the experiencer may consciously or unconsciously manifest a transparent or shadowy body. One can phase into a more metaphysical type of experience from here. In other words, from Mode 1 you can shift into the realm of thoughts.


Mode 2 OOBE: belief-centric name: Astral Projection

You may find yourself in what appears to be an inaccurate emulation of the real world. Familiar objects may be out of place or absent, sometimes unfamiliar objects are seen, and other structural anomalies may be observed. This can be referred to as the metaphysical realm where dreamland and anything that the imagination can conceive can manifest. I often imagine that the Phase can provide access to a limbo where concepts are not yet physical or actual but manifest nonetheless. This limbo could be where we as a consciousness can 'sketch' ideas for actuality so to speak. Considering that the Phase state may allows us to travel extra-dimensionally, and we may do our sketching of possible worlds and events, we may also access the personal and the collective. You can visualise an environment of your choosing as everything appears to be representations of thought, or even visit what appears to be the worlds of others, the latter being that which you believe you have not imagined. The environment can seem extremely real, sometimes displaying a crisp and bright hyper-real quality that outshines our waking reality. Some experiences here seem to indicate that one is also capable of perceiving what's on the minds of people who are awake, thus this type of experience would enable telepathy if the experiencer peruses the minds of the visited. Hypothetically, this sort of telepathy could be an aspect of quantum entanglement (where particles such as electrons develop the same quantum mechanical properties no matter how far apart they are), and, in this case, the original physical interaction of all things in our local universe would have taken place at the start of the Big Bang. One may also perceive a slightly inaccurate replica of what the person is doing in actuality because, even as we think during the day, we are constantly projecting thought forms in that frequency as the theory goes. Mode 2 is easier to achieve than Mode 1. My experiences suggest so as well as indicating that there is a whole other reality or more appropriately, perhaps, more to reality than meets the eye.


Why "Mode"?

Mode 1 and Mode 2 are distinctions made from having experienced the Phase over a period of time. Mode 1 isn't necessarily a projection into the physical realm as such experience could still be simulated regardless of whether it's connected to, or a direct 'translation' of, physical reality. Likewise, Mode 2 isn't necessarily always a projection to the metaphysical realm, but, perhaps more appropriately, the experience of that which is apparently not here. The application of the word "Mode" here is appropriate because of its implication that something is experienced in a certain way and  subject to change. The word is also used to describe a pattern of vibration of an oscillating system and goes hand in hand with the theory that the Phase is brought about by quantum fluctuations influenced by whatever it is that we really are. This is not to be taken as gospel as much as the statement that nobody knows what the Phase state is apart from the fact that it's a label and a property of consciousness.

[Lightning]

Good job, man!

This will help beginners a lot, it's the best guide I've seen in the forum so far, nice illustration too 

Mode 1 OOBEs would be a product of the left hemisphere and hence the reason why they are 'more true to life' so to speak.

I always start my projections from Mode 1 and this sounds interesting to me. Where did you get this theory from?

[personalreality]

I didn't read it all yet, but I will try it out soon.

Good work either way.

[c0sm0nautt]

Hey Summerlander - Do you mind if I repost this on the Shroomery forum? I'll be sure to link it here and give you credit.

[Under_the_Midnight_Sun]

Awesome guide, very informative! 
Amazing art too- really captures the mysteriousness of an OBE

[Neccrid]

Very clear and well-written guide. Much appreciated.

[Xanth]

I agree.  I think we can sticky this for the time being. 

[Summerlander]

Good job, man!

This will help beginners a lot, it's the best guide I've seen in the forum so far, nice illustration too 

I always start my projections from Mode 1 and this sounds interesting to me. Where did you get this theory from?

Sure:

www.macalester.edu/psychology/whathap/ub..._brain/Behavior.html

"Split-brain patients have also taught us about dreaming. Scientists had hypothesized that dreaming is a right hemisphere activity, but they found that split brain patients do report dreaming. They found, therefore, that the left hemisphere must have some access to dream material. What was most interesting was the actual content of the dreams of the split-brain patients. Klaus Hoppe, a psychoanalyst, analyzed the dreams of twelve patients. He found that the dreams were not like the dreams of most normal people. " The content of the dreams reflected reality, affect, and drives. even in the more elaborate dream, there was a remarkable lack of distortion of latent dream thoughts. The findings show that the left hemisphere alone is able to produce dreams...Patients after commisurotomy reveal a paucity of dreams, fantasies, and symbols. Their dreams lack the characteristics of dream work; their fantasies are unimaginative, utilitarian, and tied to reality; their symbolization is concretistic, discursive, and rigid." (Segalowitz)"

Interesting, isn't it? Anyway, in relation to OOBEs, it is still a theory and the whole subject is still very much misunderstood. It could be that a split-brain allows consciousness a greater access to the "ethereal" while a normal brain has easier access to the "astral". Who knows!

I didn't read it all yet, but I will try it out soon.

Good work either way.

Thanks. It is one of many perspectives out there. As Xanth usually says, there are many ways of looking at the same thing.

Hey Summerlander - Do you mind if I repost this on the Shroomery forum? I'll be sure to link it here and give you credit.

No problem. Spread the word. The more people we help, the better. The more people enter the Phase state, the greater the chances of us improving our understanding of it.

Awesome guide, very informative! 
Amazing art too- really captures the mysteriousness of an OBE

That's exactly why I drew the picture. It is a composition of some of my experiences and I really wanted to capture the essence of what the Phase can be like in all its glory. I'm glad you think it captures the phenomenon and I hope it gives others who have never had OOBEs an idea of what it can be like.

Thanks.

Very clear and well-written guide. Much appreciated.

No problem. Thank you all!

I agree.  I think we can sticky this for the time being. 

Thanks, Xanth. When you unsticky it I'll still be around to spread the word and I'll try not to be repetitive.

Btw, everyone, you will find an array of further techniques to choose from in this site:
www.obe4u.com

Mr. Raduga is brilliant.

[Lightning]

Sure:

www.macalester.edu/psychology/whathap/ub..._brain/Behavior.html

"Split-brain patients have also taught us about dreaming. Scientists had hypothesized that dreaming is a right hemisphere activity, but they found that split brain patients do report dreaming. They found, therefore, that the left hemisphere must have some access to dream material. What was most interesting was the actual content of the dreams of the split-brain patients. Klaus Hoppe, a psychoanalyst, analyzed the dreams of twelve patients. He found that the dreams were not like the dreams of most normal people. " The content of the dreams reflected reality, affect, and drives. even in the more elaborate dream, there was a remarkable lack of distortion of latent dream thoughts. The findings show that the left hemisphere alone is able to produce dreams...Patients after commisurotomy reveal a paucity of dreams, fantasies, and symbols. Their dreams lack the characteristics of dream work; their fantasies are unimaginative, utilitarian, and tied to reality; their symbolization is concretistic, discursive, and rigid." (Segalowitz)"

Interesting, isn't it? Anyway, in relation to OOBEs, it is still a theory and the whole subject is still very much misunderstood. It could be that a split-brain allows consciousness a greater access to the "ethereal" while a normal brain has easier access to the "astral". Who knows!

That link was missing some characters 

But I searched the website and found the article:

http://www.macalester.edu/psychology/whathap/ubnrp/split_brain/Behavior.html

I like the theory because it sounds plausible. It's easy to forget about the complexity of the brain. There are many things about our organism (like the exact cause and cure of many diseases) that we have yet to understand.

[Summerlander]

Yes...the brain is like a supercomputer with 100 billion nerve cells and more connections than there are stars in the known universe...and what's more, we've been growing it naturally and don't fully understand how...amazing!



The more we use it, the more connections it develops, and the bigger and heavier it gets...
http://lifehacker.com/5746353/top-10-tips-tricks-and-tools-to-train-exercise-and-better-your-brain?skyline=true&s

@ c0sm0nautt:

I see you posted my picture in the shroomery Forum as you said you would but I don't see any link or credit where credit is due there...
http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/12068072/fpart/14

[Pauli2]

Sleep Paralysis / Vibrational State:

... there may come a point where you will be aware of not being able to move ...

I just have a feeling that this method breaks down on this point. Most people who get SP
can't get it on purpose.

[Summerlander]

You have a feeling...LOL.

By the way, it is about whether or not you perceive being in sleep paralysis and there are various degrees. What one might consider mild sleep paralysis another might think of it as not being sleep paralysis but perhaps just a mild change in awareness.

By the way, I composed the whole thing but this is essentially the Robert Monroe method (from Journeys Out of the Body) without the step for kickstarting vibrations (as I discovered it was unnecessary because they just come naturally and you don't really need them); and without the north-south position business (again, this is irrelevant and I'm pretty sure Monroe discovered that many of his assumptions were irrelevant). I filtered out the useless stuff.

I also discarded the focus model. Other than that...this guide is rooted in Monroe's. He is the reason why I project today.

[Pauli2]

...this is essentially the Robert Monroe method (from Journeys Out of the Body) ... Monroe discovered that many of his assumptions were irrelevant...

I also discarded the focus model.

I don't recognize your writings as anything from Journeys Out of the Body.

[Xanth]

I just have a feeling that this method breaks down on this point. Most people who get SP
can't get it on purpose.

You should tell Bedeekin that assumption of yours, Pauli.
His 20+ experience with projections would state otherwise... and it's how he teaches how to project, to "PURPOSEFULLY" put your consciousness/body into a situation where Sleep Paralysis can manifest.  His method has been successful for *MANY* people.

So I kinda have to agree with Summerlander when he says:

You have a feeling...LOL.

[Summerlander]

I don't recognize your writings as anything from Journeys Out of the Body.

That's cuz I composed it and changed quite a few things to express how I do it now.

[Xanth]

That's cuz I composed it and changed quite a few things to express how I do it now.

Which is exactly what I suggest everyone does with "methods" they find.

A particular method that a person shares is what they have found to work "for them".
This method will require you to adjust it so you give it your own personal touch... a method will work better for you this way.

[Summerlander]

Yes. I also hope people find what works best for them if they try this. Just because I tend to project around 4am, for example, doesn't mean that it is the best time for everyone else. I just feel that that's a good time for me (whether it relates to melatonin peaking around that time or not). Sometimes I even project after having slept all night. I have also woken up, taken the kids to school and after a good few hours, when down before lunch and still succeeded in entering the Phase.

For Bedeekin, for example, the 1-2 hour nap may work best for priming in the evening and then after 2-3 hours of sleep inertia, he has a guaranteed Phase experience.

For others, like my friend Taylor (tpelling on AVers), the hemisync binaural beats may be their cup of tea and delivers results (I personally tried it and couldn't get round to it - but that's me).

And some have grasped the noticing and phasing method pretty well. I have done this a few times by accident but to fully grasp this I need to practice. I was gonna ask you, by the way, can you link me to a concise guide on phasing. I also want to try this more. I spoke to Ssergiu recently about an experience I had, like the onset of phasing, where I appeared to have perceived an alternate reality (and I was still laying in bed). It was like a reality existing in the same space as ours and looking beyond the windows in my bedroom, I could see a building which was not supposed to be there and a woman in one of the flats was pacing up and down and holding what looked like a kettle. She was oblivious to the fact that I was watching her. Figment of my imagination or alternate reality? Where is this woman and where exactly is this building?

I should have moved into this scenario and flown to the woman or something. I was watching it in HD but when I tried to study its details, it vanished. The whole time I could hear Stacey snoring next to me. It was very surreal.

I think it is worth remembering this from the Frank Kepple Resource:

"Monroe was an electronics engineer by profession, and it so happens that I too graduated in electronics, so I understand where he was coming from when he talks about phase relationships. You can have two voltages present on the very same wire (you can have many numbers but for this example we'll have just two). To all intents and purposes, those two voltages are mixed, but at the same time they are separated. What separates these two voltages is the phase-angle relationship between them.

Monroe used this phase-angle relationship idea as an analogy to describe the relationship between the physical or objective layer of consciousness, and the non-physical or subjective layer of consciousness. Each respective area of consciousness occupies the same area in "space" and to all intents, they are mixed but at the same time they are separated. So Monroe figured there was a 180-degree Phase Relationship between the two areas of reality. To him, projection became a case of "switching phase" between the physical and the non-physical."

[c0sm0nautt]

The distinctions you make between mode 1 and 2 are interesting. I was under the impression they were both termed the real time zone and rich with reality fluctuations. I personally always find myself in mode 2 - an imperfect copy of physical reality.

[Xanth]

The distinctions you make between mode 1 and 2 are interesting. I was under the impression they were both termed the real time zone and rich with reality fluctuations. I personally always find myself in mode 2 - an imperfect copy of physical reality.

Personally, I believe they're one in the same.

There's a projection "here" and a projection "there".

[Summerlander]

Yes, they could all be the same thing. Perhaps the environments are reality simulations in the Phase where some are more accurate than others, or are brighter or duller etc. etc. - the brain hemispheres could play a role in this. I wouldn't worry where you project so much. Mode 2 OOBEs occur more often for me too. Sometimes 'returning' from a lucid dream and then making a Phase re-entry can lead to a Mode 1 OOBE.

[c0sm0nautt]

We should organize a "Non-physical experience" Conference and invite all of the authors and frequent flyers on the forums to try and get some agreed upon terminology. 

[Summerlander]

LOL! That's true. I'm using my own terminology here. On Astral Viewers you get 1st Phase and 2nd Phase. Kepple had his focus model and so did Monroe (who initially had his Locale I, Locale II and Locale III). And then, to make matters worse, we all have different ways of looking at the Phase phenomenon.

Recently, I've been thinking about the physical realm like a PowerPoint presentation. This kind of presentation needs to look professional or acceptable. It needs to make sense too. It should, in purpose, be impressive to the individuals who view it. To compose the presentation, you need to create a template (bearing in mind that a whole array of templates is possible/available) using a standard layout and consistent formatting. That's where the Slide Master option comes in.

If the "Normal View" of slides is the physical realm experience, then the Slide Master option is the Phase state. The Slide Master on PowerPoint (the program!) transcends Normal View. Slide Master is not an actual mode of experience like Normal View, though. It is the limbo where ideas and creativity are expressed. Its existence, although experienced as though it's actual while you play in that mode, is still theoretical and not yet applied to Normal View until you select the "Apply To All" option and play the presentation in order to decide whether it is suitable or not.

So, in the Slide Master limbo, anything goes as fas as reality is concerned - the impossible is possible there. There may even be many different levels of that limbo, where some are closer to this physical universe idea than others. The template for this universe has long been created in the levels that transcend it and the template has been evolving in Normal View ever since - albeit slowly (just like in PowerPoint where you can change the template in Normal View but what you can do there is limited compared to what you can do in Slide Master).

When we enter the Phase, we can play with the various Slide Master options, so to speak, but we don't have the "Apply To All" option there. at least not that I know of. I haven't discovered it. If we did, in theory, we'd be able to affect the physical realm directly from the Phase state and create tulpas all over the place.

In the Phase, our minds can create things spontaneously. Perhaps these ideas manifest in various physical realities once they 'decay' from the non-physical limbo. As far as I'm aware, the creation and evolution of objects and beings in this world are eventuated by an unconscious function within the program...at least from our current perspective. It's like PowerPoint creations being updated as we try things out.

You can insert images or backgrounds on the Slide Master, position place holders, format text styles and add standard text. This configuration is then automatically applied to all the slides in the presentation.

[feligallo2002]

Hey I loved this article...
I've been trying and certainly have had some OBE experiences for around years...
When you talked about how some of the binaural beats worked for some but no for you, it made me remember of myself, different things used to work for me, such as binaural beats, but suddenly they stopped working. So I tried different techniques that i thought they would help me at a time and they worked...for a time...
So I found out it's not the method or technique or help (ex: binaural) what will make you succeed in the attempt of having OBEs but your belief in the technique!
If your faith is strong enough, anything you believe to help you WILL help you!...
Since then I've found it easier to AP...
Hope this helps...

[Bran]

I think I almost had one the last few nights... Saturday night, I felt like I almost got out but got stuck? Felt like my legs were in the air but the rest of me wasn't. I lost the sensation though. Then last night, I got as far as hearing a whooshing/squeaking sound and feeling a sort of... head rush type deal where I felt like I left for a moment before it passed. Not sure if that was the start of an OBE or not. Idk, I don't think my induction/imagery is right or something. I'm not focused enough to drown out other things. Imagery doesn't seem to work very well for me, seems I am almost better off trying to think of nothing at all and letting my mind go somewhere on its own, cause those were the times I had something happen.

[Summerlander]

@ Bran

That was definitely the start of a potential OOBE.  I have got stuck at the head before while my limbs floated.  This tends to lead to a Mode 1 OOBE but intent must be strong in order for the barrier to be broken.  I think the stuck at the head part is a subconscious barrier.

the whooshing and squeaking can be interpreted as SP hallucinations, and the strange feeling one gets could possibly be due to unusual (but natural) activity in the thalamus.  The head rush is usually experienced when one makes an attempt at separation, where vision may appear to pop out of the eye sockets (or out of the head) to be yanked back immediately.  

You are on the right track.  If trying to empty your mind and then letting it go where it may works best for you then go for it.  It is all about finding out what works and what you think has yielded results for you the most.  

@ feligallo2002

I'm glad you like it.  Thanks for your post btw!  We certainly need all the help we can get! And belief is paramount!  We need to have confidence that whatever we are trying will yield results.