Demystifying the Out-of-body Experience

In this article I hope to clarify and demystify the out-of-body experience (OBE). Out-of-body experiences are phenomena which have been given many names and attributed many beliefs throughout the centuries, spanning many cultures – think Muhammad’s night journey, shamanic soul flight and contemporary alien abduction phenomena. Although I am not writing this article in a vacuum, I will try hard to put my belief and cultural conditioning on the back burner, in order to view this subject as objective as possible.

Every night when we fall asleep we leave the body. You may have even found yourself jolting awake to this falling sensation. There are numerous other “bodies” our consciousness can occupy – they seem to be separated by vibration, or level of density – the physical body being the densest. These different bodies operate in different locals of the non-physical universe. One local is where most people recall dream experiences. This specific area seems to be almost entirely subjective in nature, meaning what is encountered is projected from your own experience. However, I consider dreams a type of out-of-body experience.

Now I used the word local in the previous paragraph to describe areas of non-physical reality. This is a misnomer. Location is a product of space-time physical reality conditioning. It is more accurate to think of consciousness as a spectrum, which can be freely traversed regardless of space and time. Think of how a light wave can be broken up into different colors displaying a rainbow. Physical reality and a standard dream, for example, would be two colors originating from the same source – your individuated consciousness. More objective areas experienced while out-of-body would be analogous to another color on the spectrum. There is no space, as we think of it in physical reality terms, separating these experiences – just the channel you, as individuated consciousness, are tuned into. Explorer Robert Monroe coined the term “focus” to delineate the different experiences that can be had when ones consciousness is phased, or tuned, to different channels of the consciousness spectrum.

Belief and conditioning are a tricky subject. No one likes to hear that their experiences may be shaped by forces unknown to their conscious mind. We like to think we are seeing the world objectively. Albet Einstein said, “we can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Similarly, it is our conditioned beliefs which have, for the most part, shut us off from nonphysical reality. It is hard to even imagine the out-of-body experience from the contemporary Western perspective. We are born into a culture that treats these experiences with dismissal or ridicule. It is actually quite common for children to have OBEs. Do you remember a childhood experience of flying around your house and neighborhood? “It’s only a dream” your parents told you. For us adults, other than remembering a few jumbled fragments from nightly dreams, most people are completely tuned into channel central – waking reality. Conditioning and belief systems bombard you from the day you are born. They come from religion, culture, the scientific paradigm and everywhere else. There was a time we thought a flat Earth was the center of the Universe. Similarly, we now falsely believe the brain is the sole producer of consciousness in a solely material Universe. Modern science is having trouble reconciling this paradigm with quantum phenomena such as non-locality and wave-particle duality. But I digress, for the physics and metaphysics surrounding out-of-body experiences have little bearing on the actual experience. If you are interested in that subject, I suggest you to check out Thomas Campbell’s My Big TOE (Theory of Everything). For those interested in the experience itself, all one needs to do is open oneself up to the possibility and try it for them self.

There are numerous techniques to achieve an OBE. They all involve a degree of physical relaxation and mental concentration. Both come from practice. The goal of physical relaxation is to get your body to fall asleep, while your mind stays awake.

A simple technique for achieving physical relaxation involves tensing and subsequently relaxing muscle groups of the body. Tense the toes, count five seconds, relax the muscles – feel the relaxation. Work your way up the entire body – toes, feet, calves, thighs, abdomen, arms, chest, neck, face…You get the point. Some people can relax the body by simply bringing awareness to specific parts and making mental commands such as “relax now.” Keeping the mind awake is relatively simple if these exercises are practiced during the day, away from normal sleep cycles.

Now, I can’t stress enough that this sort of thing takes some practice. Could you ride a bike the first shot? I recall some training wheels and a few scraped knees. If you’re in the majority, you’re not familiar with recognizing these in-between states of consciousness. You are familiar with waking up and going to sleep, but not controlling or witnessing the process. After successful physical relaxation you will find your body warm, heavy and stiff. This state of consciousness, mind-awake and body-asleep (also known as the trance state), is your launch pad for an OBE.

Speaking of training wheels, the Monroe Institute offers a series of CDs which utilize a technology call Hemi-Sync (i.e, The Gateway Experience). The CDs, when listened to with headphones, utilize a series of sound frequencies and tones, along with the guiding voice of Robert Monroe, to synchronize the hemispheres of the brain and enter the different focuses of consciousness (such as the trance state).

I will quickly note that some people report entering the “vibrational stage” after attaining the previously described trance state (mind-awake, body-sleep). I’ve had this experience on a few occasions. It can be quite frightening to the uninitiated. The vibrational stage is the feeling of intense energy rushing through your body which may be accompanied by a loud crackling-static sound. Author William Buhlman aptly describes it as your “mind and body in a jet engine.” The vibrations, as part of the natural process, subside quickly. I speculate this phenomenon is caused by the movement of consciousness along the spectrum from the dense physical body to the less dense subtle body. You will recognize this experience if you have it. Try and remain calm and ‘go with it.’ Seasoned explorers welcome this sensation and even find it enjoyable.

After finding yourself in the trance state you are ready to project (OBEs are often referred to as Astral Projection in some literature). Visualization techniques such as imagining yourself floating out of your body, climbing a latter or rolling out of your body work for many people. Experiment with techniques and find what works for you. For those who are not visually inclined, author Robert Bruce in his book Astral Dynamics devised a projection technique involving “tactile imaging”, which essentially uses the sense of touch to aid in initiating the OBE.

The other way to project is to utilize the already sleep-prone body. This is perhaps the ideal method for beginners and those who have trouble relaxing the body during waking hours. I have been most successful with this method. When you wake up in the middle of the night the body is already sleepy and easily moved into the state of deep physical relaxation. Set your alarm clock to wake yourself up approximately four to five hours into your night sleep, after a few REM/dream cycles. Walk around for a few minutes, wash your face – so you don’t fall asleep too quickly. Get back in bed and repeat an affirmation as you fall back asleep to the effect of “Now I am out-of-body” or “I wish to experience an OBE.” Visualize yourself walking around a room in your house – pick a few items in that room and rotate through them to keep your concentration. With a little luck, as you fall back asleep this will initiate the OBE. You may “wake up” quickly after falling asleep and find yourself in the vibrational state, or even slip off into a dream which converts into an OBE (more on this another time). You may simply find yourself already out-of-body in the real time zone (RTZ), the next less dense level after physical reality. Beginning projectors usually find themselves in this focus, the RTZ, which looks nearly identical to their physical house or bedroom, except with notable reality fluctuations.

People who have been plagued with sleep paralysis may have blessing in disguise. Explorer Albert Taylor, in Soul Traveler, describes how he utilized the still sleeping, or sleep paralyzed body, to initiate OBEs. Getting your body into the trance state is essentially getting your body into the sleep paralyzed state – however in the latter the work is done for you!

The experiences reported when out-of-body are remarkable. I cannot even try to cover them all, but here is a little taste. Explorers report communication with deceased loved ones, other intelligent species, spirits etc. What is perceived seems to reflect the beliefs and expectations of the perceiver. Explorers report experiencing and reliving “past” and “future” (another misnomer) lives, and even past and future events from their current physical experience. Explorers report visiting other worlds including what is described as belief territories – heavens and hells which are co-created and sustained by the individuated consciousnesses which inhabit it. You can fly to the moon and any other planet in our solar system. You can even visit friends and family in the physical (reality is not as private as you think!). This is just a taste of what can be experienced. Many experiences go beyond what our human language can convey.

In the previous paragraph I mentioned “belief territories.” This brings up an important idea. While out-of-body thought equals action. This is where the second component comes into play – mental discipline. If your thoughts are out of control while having an OBE, you are not going to have good control over the experience. Meditation in one practice to tame our restless minds. Start with just fifteen to twenty minutes a day, perhaps twice a day if you’re feeling ambitious. Here is a simple meditation technique – repeat a mantra. You can find many online. It doesn’t have to mean anything. Repeat it over and over again, follow your breath. With enough practice you will be able to access a quiet point. Another simple technique is to follow ones breath – count onnnnnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeee during the in-breath and twwwwwwwwwooooo during the out-breath. Count up to ten and repeat. Take deep breaths from your belly. See if you can get to ten without getting distracted.

Lastly, I will touch on one last important point – dream recall. You cannot experience something you do not remember experiencing. If you don’t recall your nightly dreams, you’re not likely to remember a spontaneous OBE during the night. Start a dream journal! This will increase your recall in a short period of time. Go to bed with the intent to remember your night journeys. I use a voice recorder to record my dreams as soon as I wake up, throughout the night. It’s very convenient and you don’t even have to open your eyes. It’s a great feeling to go to bed each night knowing I will have an array of wild experiences. Dreams seem to be the most consistent connection we have to the nonphysical, out of time parts of our self. When we become receptive to our dreams they take on an entirely different nature. It’s such a shame the majority of people are cut off from this source!

So what is all this OBE jazz really about? Well, I see it as the experience of a lifetime. Does this concept not excite you? Does it not bring some magic back into your life? I spent nearly my entire life thinking there was no more frontier left for exploration. How wrong was I! Consciousness itself is the next frontier of exploration. I believe we are moving into a new paradigm here in elementary school-Earth, and exploring the nonphysical aspects of ourselves and the larger reality will be a common part of the future. This type of exploration will lead you to reevaluate all of the core beliefs you have about the human experience and life itself. It will cause you to grow in ways currently unimaginable. It will change how you define and perceive yourself. The experiences are about learning to diffuse fear with experience, with knowledge. Learning how to love yourself and those around you. It’s all about growth, which I believe the human experience is ultimately about. Picture Earth as a school for individuated consciousness. It’s a tough school, don’t get me wrong.

I don’t want people to think I am portraying out-of-body experience as the only way or the true way to experience what I have been terming non-physical reality. There are other systems which work. Author Robert Moss utilizes a method which he calls “conscious dreaming”, which is essentially relaxing the body and using shamanic drumming to quiet the mind and re-enter dreams. It’s all slightly different methods which produce the same effect. I do, however, find the contemporary OBE paradigm as the most easily assimilated and understood by a contemporary Western audience. It is free of many of the belief complexes which have shaped the experiences of past systems – such as tantric meditation and shamanic systems. Whatever method suits your needs, try and keep an open mind.

This article can only scratch the surface of what the out-of-body experience is all about. I hope to have incited some curiosity causing you to pursue this subject further. It is important to understand that the map is not the territory. You can read about these experiences all day and night, but ultimately you need to experience them yourself and form your own opinions – explore the territory. Maps can be helpful, and the following authors have been invaluable in my own journey: Robert Monroe (Journey series of books), William Buhlman (Adventures Beyond the Body), Robert Moss (Dreamgates), Jane Roberts (Seth Speaks), Robert Bruce (Astral Dynamics), Albert Taylor (Soul Traveler) and Thomas Campbell (My Big TOE).

Godspeed – Hope to see you on the other side.