Energy Work and Astral Projection

Personally speaking, I see no relation between these two activities.  I think people are fully developed enough energetically to begin to successfully astrally project and no further \”development\” is required in that area.

There are many examples out there of individuals being highly successful in the field of Astral Projection without doing any major, supportive energy work.  Probably the biggest name was Robert Monroe… I don\’t believe he did anything of the sort, at least nothing as a major supportive activity for him to project.  Frank Kepple… the Astral Pulses own Phaser, he never felt it was required either.  He would speak from time to time about firing off his chakras while already in a phased state, but that\’s pretty much the extent of it.  Then there\’s William Buhlman, now granted, I haven\’t read all of his work yet, but from what I have, I haven\’t seen much indication of energy work either.  Then there\’s Bedeekin, over on the Astral Viewers, I\’m fairly certain he also doesn\’t do any kind of energy work in order to project (feel free to correct me if I\’m wrong ;)).  Then there\’s probably the most important person I think can think of… myself.

I say I\’m the most important person to myself not because I\’m some narcissistic individual, but because I can really only trust my own experiences.   My own personal experiences are the most important thing in relation to astral projection that I have, just as yours are to you.  My personal experiences (along with all the corroborating evidence above) dictate that energy work simply isn\’t required for Astral Projection practices.

So, if I don\’t do energy work… and I can still project just fine, then I can only conclude that what other people are doing is a waste of time UNLESS they\’re doing it for other purposes aside from Astral Projection.  Let me make that 100% clear, I\’m saying this IN REGARDS to Astral Projection ONLY. My stance is that if your only goal is to do Astral Projection, as mine is, then you do not need to waste time doing any energy work what-so-ever.  You are more than developed enough energetically to get the job done.  I feel it\’s best to put that time to use actually practicing the art.

Why is it that people seem to have this belief that energy work is required?  I think the only phenomenon going on here is a self-reinforcing belief.  A person thinks, for one reason or another, that they need to do energy work in order to succeed in Astral Projection, so they do it… and they find it DOES work which reinforces that belief in them.  While for me, I don\’t think it\’s needed, so I don\’t do it… and I find THAT works, which then further reinforces that belief in me.

My current goal for Astral Projection is to continue what Robert Monroe and Frank Kepple started… and that\’s to bring Astral Projection further into the mainstream and make it easy for people to learn.  This means stripping away all the mystical/occult layers and getting down to the very core of what\’s required.  The very core requirement to be successful in Astral Projection is… *YOU*.

Our Other Bodies

Deus made a post on the Astral Viewers today asking an amazing question about what happens to our \”metaphyiscal\” bodies when we\’re no longer using them. I\’ll copy his post here:

So i had this idea swirling around my head for a while now. And i hope i won\’t sound totally insane for telling it. I will try to explain it the best i can.

So, what i was thinking is actually what happens to our \”metaphysical\” body when we stop dreaming, LD, AP and the sort. We can have the impression of being sucked in our physical bodies, or that we just simply wake up. I find it a bit hard to believe since our realities (RTZ and the other phases of perception) are somehow interlaced and don\’t have a pyramidal structure. And i don\’t believe anymore that we are \”getting out of the body\” but we simply switch our perception.

In my opinion we simply experience a form of death. Our metaphysical bodies dissolve and we come back to our primary reality i.e. the physical. Our physical bodies will dissolve/die one day too and our conciousness will permanently be transfered into a metaphysical body. So, the thing we percieve as awakening could be just the result of death. Only when we wake up from a dream we actually realise that we were dreaming all along (except from lucid dreams). I believe we temporarily \”project\” into another body which is destined to perish once we switch focus. And that will happen to us once we die.
We simply chage focus and this life will become a long and strange projection. What seems real now, will become the dream later.

I don\’t know, i just wanted to put it out in the open. I\’d love to know what you guys think about it.

It got me thinking about a post I made on the Astral Pulse regarding a question very similar.

Think of it this way… *You* can\’t die.
Each time you project Etherically, Astrally or whatever… you create a body to interact with the environment for that specific journey. You then focus your conscious awareness into that body and control it. <— SOUND FAMILIAR?

It\’s exactly how you operate here on the physical.
A body was created for you to interact with this physical environment.
Since this is your primary focus, you still need this body even if you switch your focus of awareness.

When you create a body for the etheric or astral… after you\’re done with that body, it\’s destroyed.
The same happens here. Once you\’re done with this physical body, it ceases to operate.

*IT* dies…
*YOU* do not.

Now that I\’ve actually put a bit more thought into it, I don\’t actually believe we have other \”bodies\” per se, what we experience when in the non-physical is just an expectation of a body.

What we \”see\” when we\’re focused into other realities is just a projection of our self-image. This \”image\” is completely a \”human\” need, it makes sense to our conscious mind that if we\’re \”somewhere\” we must have a \”body\” to be \”in\” (wow that was a lot of quotes LOL).  To expand on this, many people actually report that, as you spend more and more time \’out\’, you begin to slowly lose this \”human-self-image\” and begin to take on a more \”consciousness\” form… whatever that may be.

So, what happens to this \”human-self-image\” or \”consciousness\” form when you come back to your primary focus? Well… nothing.  Cause it never truly existed to begin with… yet, it also always exists too, because we exist across the entire consciousness continuum simultaneously.

I guess the question then becomes, does consciousness REQUIRE a vessel for which to work in a non-physical environment?
We know that we require a physical body to interact with this physical, Focus 1 oC reality… but I feel that\’s because of the particular \’physics\’ programmed into this reality.  In the non-physical, these physics do not exist…

I guess one could say that shifting/phasing your focus between realities is a \”form of death\”.  One could also say that \”dreaming\”, too, is a form of death we experience each and every time we fall asleep. The only difference between that and what we humans call \”death\” is that your primary focus will have shifted to another reality permanently.

Phasing Method – Don’t Open Your Eyes When You Wake

SpiritualShawn on the Astral Viewers posted an interesting question about keeping your eyes shut when you wake up to help you to project.

Ok so I want to practice waking up in the morning without opening my eyes or moving? How can I do this? It seems like in the mornings I usually find myself rolling around while waking up or my eyes are already open by the time I realize im awake.

I know If I wake myself up super early and induce a lucid dream I should be able to gently bring myself back to physical conscious (waking up) without moving much because I am already aware in the dream. Other than that I really don’t know how to go about doing this as after waking up in the morning would seem like a practical time for a conscious exit, (for me atleast).

Any tips?

I don’t have any direct tips, but it did remind me of the ONE time I managed to do this… and I’ll recount it here in hopes it has something that might help someone do the same.

So, the one time I managed to do this I was already in a lucid dream (the LD was me in this room full of toilets and urinals… I know, strange LOL) and I began to feel that usual feeling of ‘waking up’. My vision went to black and I felt the shift… I knew I was back in the physical, lying in my bed, and it happened so smoothly that I didn’t bother to open my eyes. I figured I’d go back to sleep, and within what felt like one minute I slipped back into my lucid dream at the exact point I had left, in the toilet-filled room. A couple minutes into this lucid dream, I, again, felt myself waking up… I kept my eyes closed for that waking as well.

I kept doing this over and over… four times, each time I woke up faster and faster. The fifth time, I got into the lucid dream and I immediately began waking up. I initiated my spinning thing to ground and keep myself within the lucid dream… but it didn’t work and had a secondary effect of causing me to have a classic OBE experience where I felt my arms float up and the rest of me follow.  I opened my eyes and I was floating down towards the foot of my bed.  This lasted about 10 seconds, when I came back to the physical.

So that’s the only experience I can remember where I managed to not open my eyes upon waking up.

Many times I’ve read stories of people doing this exact thing to project… well, all I can say is that it does work IF you can remember to not open your eyes when you wake.  For me, it was a matter of already being lucid in the dream and sensing when I was waking so I could prepare myself to do it.

Hopefully this helps someone.  🙂

Bedeekin\’s Method

On the Astral Viewers, they have a really good administrator there by the name of Bedeekin.  This gentleman has, I believe, 25+ years of astral projection experience under his belt and has been assisting members of their community for a few years.

With his permission, I\’m posting the method that he uses and has used with great success for many years now.

I believe you\’ll have to register to read the method on the site, but I\’m going to quote it here as well. I do suggest visiting the Astral Viewer forums too, as they have a wonderful array of forums and a great cast of members. 🙂

Bedeekin\’s Method:

Failure to actually have an Out-Of-Body Experience seems to be the most common ‘experience’ among the massive group of people who wish to have one. This frustrates me as much as those who fail because of the wall I run into when trying to teach them. There are many reasons why people are unsuccessful at achieving the state.

One main reason is down to the ‘wealth’ of information one can pick up online and the paragraphs of most OOBE related books in general. I see many posts on sites that say something along the lines of ‘I’ve been researching Astral Projection for ages and now I’m ready to learn how to have one’. This is like saying ‘I have been researching UFOs for ages and now I’m ready to see one’. While they had their best interest at heart because to be fair it is a great idea to research a subject before heading into it head first, this isn’t sky diving. Also, if you wish to research sky diving because you have an interest in doing it, their aren’t many sources available that would profess to know about it and print blatant fabricated facts. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for OOBEs.

A common mistake that people make is a preconceived idea of what OOBES are because of the evident rubbish that is widely available. For instance they may have read that when they enter the Vibrational State (VS) they must call upon their spirit guide to help pull them out. This may fit in with their spiritual beliefs and so if they reach the VS and call upon this mythical guide he/she/it may not appear… which will then have a negative effect on their sense of success. I myself have never seen a spirit guide although I’m sure I could create one if I wished… emphasis on ‘create’.

What I am saying is that to enter the subject with a quasi-religious belief system will only get in the way of success because it just isn’t so.

The majority of the ‘wealth’ of knowledge that one may have acquired by trawling through the pile of information at hand, is as useful as a chocolate fireguard and should be cast off so that one can start afresh and learn from a first hand perspective. I had the advantage of self learning without any outside influences such as the internet and only a few books at hand that I mainly used as a checklist of affirmation that I wasn’t weird.  

Unlearn what you think you have learned.

So let’s get rid of a few misconceptions about OOBEs that often arise through New-age belief-centricity and blatant un-truths that get thrown about due to the writings of popular so-called AP gurus.

*you need to learn how to achieve transcendental meditation and control the energy flow of your chakras.

Not true. You just need to keep your mind passively active while your body relaxes into the sleep slate or be able to slip from a lucid dream into the trance state. Chakras are an eastern philosophy that were origionally intended for use during wake induced meditation and have nothing to do with OOBEs until they were pounced upon by the New-age movement during the early part of the 1900s by the Theosophical Society and integrated into ‘astral projection’. Involving chakra opening, long meditation practice is basically a waste of precious time. If you feel better practicing these semi-religious activities in order to success then go for it… the same can be said for taking your lucky teddy-bear into exams; if it makes you feel that it will make you perform better there’s no harm… but in the grand scheme of things there’s also no point.

*you need to learn protection so that you’re not attacked by lower astral negative entities and demons.

Rubbish. There are no lower entities or monsters waiting to attack you while you ‘leave your body’. I can attest to this because I’ve had over three thousand OOBEs over a 25 year period and I have never been attacked or harmed or indeed possessed by anyone or anything. When you enter the State you are merely consciously aware of an otherwise unconscious process you have gone through every night you’ve entered sleep since you were born.

*Your bed or body has to be facing a certain way/position.

No harm can be done by lying a certain way… if you think it will work then do it. Sleep on the floor… in the kitchen… on the sofa… with a pillow or without… on your back, front, side or head… if it’s the way you normally sleep… do it.

*You need to breath a certain way… in through the nose out through the mouth etc.

Not so… just breath as you normally do. Your breathing self regulates once you enter the state. Don’t pay any attention to your breathing.
I’m sure I’ll come across other misconceptions as I’m writing… I’ll bullet-point important things like that along the way.

There are three main ways to enter the ‘State’; before sleep, during REM dream sleep and upon waking from a nights sleep.

*Before sleep state induction. this requires a set up ‘pre-sleep’ that primes you biochemically and physiologically to enter the state.

*REM dream sleep induction requires a grasp of Lucid Dreaming and is a bit hit and miss for the newbie.

*Waking state induction requires the ability to recognize that you have woken up and at that very moment remembering not to move, roll over, scratch an itch or open the eyes… or even to start listening to the noises around you. It takes a bit of practice but it is a very successful way of entering the State.

There are two very different types of OOBE.

* Astral Projection. This is a whole body projection into an environment that is commonly referred to in new-age writings as the Astral Realm. A strange word to use because it conjures up pre-conceived images of a starry mythical realm filled with beings of astral energy etc. However upon entering it, it’s soon realized that it is more familiar as the landscape or world you encounter when dreaming. But you have entered through the back door, and can objectively investigate and explore it without suffering from the sub-conscious imagery you are normally blinded by or the story-line you are normally wrapped up in when dreaming. Within the ‘Astral’… not even the sky is the limit. This environment, however real it seems may be considered a virtual world that is created by the projector or an actual authentic realm. Upon experiencing it, believing that it is real or fabricated matters not because it is indistinguishable from reality… even surpassing normal reality in quality and ‘reality’.

* 1st Phase OOBE. This is seemingly a projection into this reality, often referred to in new-age philosophy as an ‘ethereal projection’. It is much more difficult to achieve because of the way it is entered; during Sleep Paralysis. Apart from the fact that it takes place in this time and reality, the main difference from AP is that instead of experiencing it in body, you are seemingly a free floating point of conscious awareness. This phase can lead on to 2nd Phase which is again experienced as a free floating consciousness but is not in this reality.

Both of these different OOBEs are experienced by entering the state in varied degrees of deepness.

PRE-SLEEP INDUCTION

This method is the main one I personally use. I have used the other methods but this one when done correctly does make for a strong experience. It’s also the one I predominantly teach or rather explain. The main key to achieving it is the pre-sleep or nap. I previously posted this method but soon realized that it was too specific about hours spent in the nap and between the nap and going to to bed to enter the state. And it needed more explanation and a detailed phenomenological breakdown.

The basic goal is to prime yourself by having an hour or an hour and a half of non-dream sleep in the evening. This nap can be taken at any time after 6pm providing that you are actually tired and that you attempt to induce the state within four hours at the most after waking.

For example:

if you decide to take an hour nap at 8pm and wake at 9pm make sure you attempt induction after 10 and before 1am.
however, if you wait till after midnight then it is possible to have an hour nap, wake up for about half an hour then attempt induction. I have used this many times when it’s been impossible to get a good nap during the evening.

All you have to remember is that you nap solidly and do not under any circumstances drift back off to sleep upon waking from it, otherwise you will dream and ruin your chance for state inducement.

There is a certain way of feeling between the nap and state inducement that indicates that you are primed… the physical symptoms that indicate that you are primed for the state are among other things; itchy eyed, borderline tired and alert, slightly hypertensive or having the mild sensation that you may be coming down with a cold and a slow steady heart rate.

Two things to note:

* the nap or a non-dream pre-sleep is very important and could be considered the ‘key’ to the whole experience.

* Do not force the nap. You need to be sleepy for it to work.

The only real way to make sure you are correctly primed is to induce the state and there are many effective ways to do this.

First of all you have to lay down on a comfortable surface; a bed, a couch, a hammock, the back seat of a car, whatever you find comfortable. Any position will work. I personally lie on my back or side. It doesn’t matter whether you use a pillow or not. You can have bed covers on or not. Just make sure you are comfortable.
Close your eyes… this sounds obvious, but some people actually ask ‘do I close my eyes?’
Let your mind do its own thing for a couple of minutes… then try to quieten your mind. Don’t worry too much about this. The main thing is to lie as still as possible.

A couple of things you should not pay any attention to because they are simply a waste of thought;

*any limb or body twitches

*the phosphorescent light show your eyes give off such as blobs of light etc

*subtle localized buzzing in your muscles or fingertips

*breathing

*the position of your head

All you need to think about at this point is to become calm and stay passively conscious. To let your body relax. This should take no more than 5 to 10 minutes.

It’s at this point that you can use different methods to bring on the state.

This is the one method I have used for 25 years and really can’t comment on others. I’m sure you may have one that you usually try inducing with… but for the sake of this guide try this one.

When you feel relaxed start to think of a sound, word, song or name… think of it as though you are expecting to here it. Roll it around in your head. Imagine it in your head clearly. Alternatively you can simply imagine a voice rambling, or talking, as though talking to you. This imagined sound will start to take on a life of it’s own and may amplify.

If you are trying to do this for more than ten minutes and nothing interesting happens, you probably aren’t primed for the occasion. I only say this because the state shift is quite rapid if the pre-sleep was done correctly. I will mention that ten minutes of just simply lying still can feel like a long time.

If you are primed, when the sound increases you may feel a rush of alert relaxation washing over your body coupled with a distinct shift in conscious awareness. It’s a very difficult feeling to describe other than it is a ‘switch over’. You should feel like your awareness has took on a new spatiality. It almost feels like your head clears, like a bunged up nostril does when it clears after being blocked during a cold. You should also instinctively feel that you are in the state either because you have felt this before or that it is something new. At this point you must try to stay passive, calm and try to not get excited. A sound like you have your ears to a conch-shell should be heard. you may experience little intermittent bursts of rumbling – like the rumbling you hear when you strain your inner ear muscles when you yawn. Your limbs will feel like they have been anesthetized by Nitrous Oxide…

Here’s a quick checklist of symptoms indicating successful entrance into the state:

* a sudden rush of relaxation

* a very distinct flip/shift/switch to a spatially different state of conscious awareness.

* instinctive knowing that you are in the state.

* auditory sensations like hissing, the sound of listening to a conch-shell and intermittent bursts of rumbling.

* a tingling numbed anesthetized sensation, most noticeably in the limbs.

At the point you realize you are in the state it is time to act quickly to enter an Astral Projection. Waiting for, or encouraging full vibrational sleep paralysis will make it possible to enter a 1st phase. For now we will walk before we can run and learn how to Astrally Project.

Astral Projection

Upon instant identification of entry into the state it is necessary to employ a swift separation technique to avoid becoming embroiled in full sleep paralysis. There are a multitude of separation methods such as, rolling out, dropping through the body, imagining a magnet pulling you out, imagining you are a balloon, picking a point in space to reach, imagining being propelled out like a rocket… and many many more. The one that is most effective for the purposes of this guide and because it is my most used method so far, is the ‘climbing the rope’ technique.

You may want to place a pillow or cushion across your lower abdomen or lay with your hands on top of the bed covers before you start to relax. This ensures a soft surface so as to ease the transition of losing sensation in them. It’s up to you.

Once you feel that you have shifted into the state you will have lost the tactile sensation of your hands but still retained the sensation of their relative position.. i.e. you will still know and feel that you have hands.

What you need to do at this point is to actually reach up and grab a rope. Don’t visualize the rope… expect it to be there. Don’t worry about how it should feel just do it. I can’t stress this enough.

* Do not ‘imagine’ yourself doing it.

* Just do it.

* Don’t think about it.

* just do it.

* The movement of your phantom limbs is instinctual.

There will be a rope there… not necessarily an actual rope, made of fibers or hemp… it is simply a leverage point for you to grasp. Give no time to thinking about the rope, what it is, why it is there, how it is there or how you should move to grab it.

JUST GRAB THE ROPE BECAUSE IT IS THERE ABOVE YOU READY TO BE GRABBED.

The instant you have it pull yourself up… hand over hand… like you would if you were pulling yourself up a rope. Do it with deliberation… do it aggressively, steadily and fast. Pull yourself up the rope. Don’t even consider that you may be pulling yourself out of your physical or because of how real it seems that you must be doing it physically. Don’t pay attention to any of the sensations. If there is resistance, put some struggle into it… pull hard. Eventually and quickly you should suddenly be ‘Free’.

Failure usually takes place because of thinking too much or over analyzing what is happening. Also paying too much heed to sensations leads to considerable failure to stay in the state and out of body. These analytical thoughts should be reserved for after the experience and marked down in your journal. When you are in the state everything should be done on impulse and with deliberate action.

failure to stay within the state will transpire if:

* Too much thought is given trying to visualize the rope or analyzing what is happening.

* Thinking about how the sensations feel.

* pausing or remaining still too long – this can be as less as 5 seconds.

* Believing that this can’t be happening or the disbelief that the rope is there.

* Merely imagining movement.

Success at staying within the state will transpire if:

* you instantly acknowledge that the rope is there.

* you get on with it.

* You keep moving.

* You take it for granted that you are doing it.

Staying still and waiting for something to happen after the state shift, is the most common mistake beginners make; to no fault of their own. It is after all an amazing experience that feels more real than reality yet something they may never have experienced before. The secret is to be actively engaged yet flippant and passive throughout the experience. You may say that’s two opposites, but keep in mind that you do this when playing a video game or when engaged in sport…. you don’t think about what you are doing but you are totally absorbed in the activity. This is part of the mindset of the state.
I chose the ‘climbing the rope’ technique because it consists of one very important thing… that of ‘action’ and vigorous ‘movement’, probably the most important aspect of staying within the state and Out of Body. Constant movement and observation is the key to ‘anchoring’ yourself in the ‘Astral’… any extended lapse in movement or doubt – which normally takes the form of thoughts of your actual physical body – will cause re-physicality and an end to the experience. You can however ‘rescue’ the experience by instantly realizing you are returning to the physical by anchoring yourself in the out of body state.

Anchoring yourself in the ‘Astral’ body and Environment.

Once you are out what now? If you think this for too long while staying still you will phase back into your physical. So, You literally have to anchor yourself in the experience. The main objective of anchoring is to keep you immersed in the experience by disassociating your conscious perception from your physical perception.
The first thing you will most probably experience is blindness. So you can kill two birds with one stone by rubbing your hands together in front of your face and blowing on them… the tactile sensation of doing this will absolutely astound you and by concentrating on feeling and seeing, your hands will start to develop in your field of vision – very much like a polaroid picture appears. Look at your hands… the creases the folds of skin, your fingernails. The more you engross yourself in the OOBE the more you will see and feel. Reach out and feel for a floor, a wall… furniture. Keep on the move, constantly looking, moving, taking in the richness and amazing detail of the World around you. Try to keep your eyes on nearby objects… if you look too far into the distance you may end up there in an instant. You must keep active and engaged to root yourself. The more you anchor yourself the more vivid the world will be around you
You can use the hand rubbing technique as a safety net at any point you feel yourself return to your physical.

Do’s

Be blatant and have intent

touch your surroundings

touch yourself, like your hands, your face etc

investigate everything

explore

Don’ts

Stay still

worry

doubt

think of your physical body

panic if you think you are losing clarity

Remember – thought and intent controls environment and actions.

I\’ll be honest in that I haven\’t actually found the time to try this method out personally, however, it has helped LOTS of people. I believe that the constant stream of success stories posted on their forum is proof enough.
I fully intend to give this method the attention that it deserves.