What is astral projection (or out-of-body experience)?

 Despite the fact that most of us have had one or more ‘spiritual-type’ experiences that suggest that there is more to our world that we can perceive with our five physical senses, most people have no direct awareness or understanding that our existence is truly multidimensional in nature.

It is entirely possible however to personally verify the limitless nature of your existence by experiencing the astral projection phenomenon, also known as the out-of-body experience (OBE).

During an OBE, our consciousness (soul or spirit) detaches from the physical body and manifests in a more energetically subtle body popularly known as the astral body. Assuming you have a good level of lucidity outside the body, you can visit other dimensions while projected; meet up with family and other loved ones who have passed away; and gain access information pertaining to your past lives, among many other things. Such irrefutable personal evidence of life after death can be very impactful. Some people completely reprioritize their lives after experiencing a conscious OBE (particularly a near-death experience which is a type of forced OBE), understanding that the consequences of their actions can play out after this physical life time. Almost inevitably, a lucid OBE of any variety leads to an expansion of self-knowledge and awareness.

Although the conventional sciences are yet to objectively prove the phenomenon in a laboratory setting, history shows us that man has been recording his experiences outside the body as far back as Ancient Egyptian times, between 5,000 and 3,000 years ago. Researching a vast range of literature on the subject also reveals that the OBE is common to all people, regardless of their religion, belief system, age, culture, nationality or gender. This is understandable in light of the fact that the OBE is a natural human capacity that the vast majority of people experience during the course of nightly sleep. The reason so few people are aware of this fact is because they experience very low levels of lucidity or clarity outside the body, don’t remember what happened, or confuse the experience with a dream. In truth most people are just sleeping outside the body.

International survey research nonetheless shows that 1.2% of the world’s population (roughly 79.5 million people) experience conscious OBEs in which they are certain that they are projected and not dreaming.

What is the difference between a dream and an OBE?
A dream is an imaginary event and also one in which we are passive and unable to control what is happening. An OBE by contrast, is a real event in which we play an active role and can exercise our will. We can decide where we want to go and what we want to do, or even choose to terminate the experience and return to the body.

Another factor that differentiates dreams from OBEs is that often the content of our dreams is meaningless and nonsensical. In OBEs on the other hand, sometimes we even experience better levels of clarity than we have in the physical waking state. We find that our memory is more complete and that we process information and analyze the events taking place around us with a kind of hyper-acuity.

Of course the level of lucidity we enjoy outside the body varies in much the same way as it does in our normal waking state. Some days in our physical lives we are super alert and firing on all four cylinders. Other days we can’t even remember if we locked the door when we left the house! Such fluctuations in lucidity also occur in our dreams. Usually when we are dreaming we have low lucidity and the experience is a bit of a fuddled mess. Other times we start to gain more clarity, and can even become aware that we are dreaming. This is what’s known as a lucid dream. If you are having a lucid dream, you can tell yourself that you want to increase your lucidity more still, and the dream will turn into an OBE and you can then control the experience. So a lucid dream can be a kind of stepping stone to a lucid OBE and is a technique that can be used to great effect.

What are the benefits of OBEs?
It is probably clear by now that a conscious OBE represents a uniquely powerful opportunity to increase your self-knowledge and expand your awareness. Other benefits include:

• Loss of the fear of physical death; 

• Opportunities to interact with deceased loved ones;

• Loss of the fear of seeing non-physical individuals;

• Opportunity to recall the specific purpose for this life that was planned prior to being born;

• Opportunity to gain insights into future events that are yet to occur;

• Acceleration of the development of parapsychic abilities;

• Substitution of belief about the after-life with knowledge acquired through first-hand experience;

• Less significance attached to temporary material possessions.

Understanding the benefits of leaving the body can act as a powerful motivation to do so which in turn will increase your chances of success.

Is it dangerous?
Unfounded misconceptions about the OBE and other psychic phenomena still persist today. In reality, it is far more dangerous to leave your house than to leave your body. In physical life you can be run over by a bus, swept away in a flash flood, knifed to death whilst sitting in your car or even die from engaging in unprotected sex. But no such thing can happen outside the body. There is no possibility of dying, getting lost, or being unable to return to the body while projected due to the indestructible connection of the silver cord which keeps the consciousness connected to the physical body.

If you fear being attacked whilst in another dimension or have a general fear of the unknown, it’s worth remembering that you face such uncertainties every day in physical life. The difference when you’re projected is that you can instantly escape any situation in which you feel threatened or uncomfortable by simply thinking of your physical body. That thought alone is all that’s required to bring you back to your body.

How do I do it?  
Although there are numerous documented techniques for leaving the body there is no known single technique that guarantees results for everyone. Certainly it is not simple to produce this phenomenon at will and it would be misleading to suggest that it is. Nonetheless anyone with enough determination and perseverance can learn how to do it – no particular aptitude is required.

One of the techniques devised by renowned Brazilian consciousness researcher and author Waldo Vieira is the psychophysiological self-relaxation technique. This is a technique for producing such a deep level of relaxation that the astral body begins to detach and float above the physical body.

Here is how it works. Inhale – fill your lungs – then contract or tense a muscle group in your face for five seconds while you hold your breath - then exhale and relax the muscles as you do so. Continue with this method moving through all the muscles in your face (e.g. your brow, your eyes, nose, mouth, jaw etc), and then passing through all the muscles in your body, your shoulders, chest, abdominals, lower back, gluteus, upper legs, calves and feet. You may find that certain parts of the body are tense. As you relax you will release the tension.

Indications that an OBE is imminent
Unusual, sometimes exotic sensations are commonly experienced leading up to a projection. These include: vivid dreams; dreams of flying; sensing the presence of non-physical individuals; the elongation of the arms or legs of the astral body; a pressure on the third eye; a sense of alienation from the physical body; the perception of a light breeze in the room; hearing a whistling noise; and the sensation that the light in the room has become brighter. 

Other sensations are also commonly experienced at the moment of the take-off or return of the consciousness from the body. These include: numbness; lethargy; weightlessness; the undulation of the astral body; a feeling that a part of or the whole body is blowing up like a balloon; a heightened ability to hear and smell things in the physical environment; strange noises that seem to come from inside the head such as ringing, jingling, buzzing or tinkling sounds; a vibrational state; the sensation of being unable to move the physical body; and a falling sensation followed by jerking awake, among others.

Learn how to have an out-of-body experience
If you want to learn more about the OBE, the International Academy of Consciousness (IAC), a global, non-profit organization dedicated to researching the consciousness, offers theoretical and practical training on the subject. Formerly known as the (Brazilian-based) IIPC which has been in existence since 1988, the IAC is quite unique in that it combines knowledge gained through the extensive psychic experiences of its founders, members, volunteers, instructors and students, with scientific research.

The aim behind all IAC activities is to help all who are interested to deepen their knowledge of the OBE and a wide range of related subjects such as interaction with non-physical beings, non-physical dimensions, psychic awareness and protection, energetic control, the period between lives, recall of past lives, clairvoyance, telepathy, intuition, synchronicity, karma and the evolution of the consciousness etc. This is achieved through courses that focus on demystifying paranormal phenomena and clarifying the misconceptions often related to them. The result is that participants end up with a comprehensive understanding of how the physical and non-physical elements of existence interact, and how they can personally control and benefit from various psychic phenomena.

In recognition of the value of the life-changing effects that often result from experiencing lucid OBEs and other paranormal phenomena the IAC is currently constructing a research campus near the town of Évoramonte in the Alentejo region of Portugal. A key feature of the campus is the world’s first Projectarium, a spherical laboratory purpose-built to facilitate lucid OBEs. Inside the Projectarium, the experimenter lies with his head positioned on a platform in the centre of the sphere. This optimizes his sense of freedom as he experiences the sensation of being suspended in a void. 

A confirmed out-of-body experience
An OBE in which information is captured outside the body that can later be confirmed in the physical dimension is one of the best types of OBE you can have as it allows personal verification that you are much more than your physical body. Recently an IAC student had just such an experience. He was visiting London for the weekend to do a course and was staying at a hotel near to the IAC offices. When he lay down in class to apply a projective technique he had just learned he was focused instead on the fact that he had lost his mobile phone which he was worried about. After the session he said that he had left his body and gone to his hotel room where he had seen his phone on the table beside the bed. The next day when he returned to class he said that indeed the phone was there - hidden under some magazines.