Virtual Out of Body Experience

August 27th, 2007

Science claim to have found a way to induce an Out of Body experience, using virtual reality headsets. An article being published in journal Science, an experiments carried out on healthy subjects appear to indicate the feeling of a second body. The world-wide media have spread this news and it looks like most people will have already made up their mind on the subject. It’s not conclusive in any form, but interesting none the less.

From what I’ve understood on the experiments, it clearly shows that OBE like feelings can be induced. But is this new? Certainly not. Many scientists have used various techniques to induce second body feelings. In my opinion it’s great that work is still being done and studies being published to the mainstream. I can’t wait to read the full article and see what other make of it.

At the end of the day, it looks like many, if not all, OBE’s are happing only in the mind. I’m not convinced the human spirit can actually leave the body. But I’m fascinated that the human brain can produce such imagination.

I’m still waiting for some real evidence of any actual verifiable out of body experience– can anyone provide details of one? I’ll not hold my breath.

Using Hemi-Sync

May 1st, 2007

It has been a few months since my last post, but I’m still hear and listening. Thank you to everyone for your comments, I do read them all.

I have recently purchased the Hemi-Sync Gateway CD set (Monroe Institute), and I aim to work my way through them. My mind is open (I know from some of my past posts I sound skeptical, but I have always remained open minded… no honestly, I have).

Once I spend some real dedicated time using these CD’s, I’ll write up a sort of diary of what has happened. I cannot continue to post skeptical comments, I’m going to give this my best shot and see if I can have a new known :)

If anyone reading this has ever used Hemi-Sync, I’d love to hear how you got on.

… I hear the waves riding the shore!

Self Astral Projection: method 1

November 29th, 2006

Over the years I’ve read countless books on the subject of Astral Projection, some with adventures and some with methods and theories. From what I understand there are many methods people use to trigger an Out of Body experience. I’m going to explain one of the most easiest and successful methods. There are many variation of this method, but I’ll stick with the simplest one.
1. First choose a time in advance (for example, when you wake one morning - say to yourself - tonight I will have an OBE)

2. For several hours before your chosen time, keep reminding yourself of your goal.

3. Go to bed a little earlier than usual if possible.

4. Set your alarm for 4 hours after your expect to fall asleep.

5. When you are relaxing and drifting off to sleep, give yourself another reminder of your intentions.

6. Once you are awakened by your alarm, get up for about 20 minutes and do not do anything which requires much thought (even relax on the couch, but don’t fall asleep!)

7. Go back to bed and lie on your back in a comfortable position.

8. Close your eyes and think about standing somewhere else in your bedroom.

9. Imagine standing looking across your room.

10. Keep this vision in mind as you fall asleep - do not think about anything else.

11. While having this vision, say to yourself you will now go Out of Body.
…… and with some luck you will find yourself Out of Body and standing in your room.

 

If this does not work the first time, do not worry - just repeat the same again another night.
In my next posts, I’ll explain some other popular methods.

Please share your experience if you have attempted the above, I’d love to hear how you got on.

ITTME - In To The Mind Experience?

November 21st, 2006

Some may say this is radical thinking, and they may well be right. But I’ll continue with this though regardless.

The common theories behind ‘Astral Projection’ all tend to agree that the soul/mind/higher self (call it what you will, I’ll call it soul here) leaves the body and moves around a non-physical world/universe. Most also agree that the soul enters other dimensions. Now let’s have a quick look at the proof for this…

The closest thing to proof (proof to the subject) is that it feels 100% real. Not much else is available. Some may have life changing experiences, others just strange sensations. Now let’s look at what these people claim to experience… Some meet with people who are known to have died, some communicate with other travelers, ghosts or entities from other worlds. Some may gain insight into personal goals (sometimes subconscious goals). All in all, these can have positive effects on the individual (although it may be the other way around for some).

Now let’s look at this from a skeptical point of view for a minute. We know that the brain works in strange ways at times, this could be due to chemicals (to much, to little, strange mix etc). The cause could be due to psychological problems, brain disorders, bad diet or many other things, including brain disorders (diseases, injury etc). Anyone who has experienced extreme emotions (sadness, anger, joy to name a few) know that the normal brains thought processes can be severely altered for a period of time, and during this time all thoughts that pass through the mind have a bias leaning towards the current state (the thoughts are filtered to an extent). This related to hypnosis, if a person is a good hypnotic subject then the thoughts in the mind can be altered easier - and the outcome can be very powerful. Anyway, I digress. With all of this in mind we can see that Astral Travel can usually be explained away as a figment of the imagination to some degree. A skeptic can always have an answer, and sometimes they may well be correct, other times not.

Before I continue with the topic of this post, let’s bring to mind the subject of ‘Remote Viewing’ or RV for short. Remote Viewing is the ability to describe a remote location (object/feelings etc) from a relaxed state of mind. There are many people who have devoted decades of their life to professional Remote Viewing, and some say to exceptional success. The theory behind RV is that the subject allows their mind to calm and keeps the cue (could be remote coordinates for example) as there last though. They allow there mind to receive data, and either write this down as it comes or speak it to a tape. One of the most important factors is to NOT analyze the incoming data in any way (as the persons own connections/experiences/judgments could change the original data). This is a very basic explanation (search it for more details if you like!). So what does this tell us? It tells us that the mind receives incoming data. The medium which brings the data is unknown.

Okay, back to the subject at hand. ITTME or ‘In To The Mind Experience’ in my opinion could be a better name for the excepted ‘Astral Projection’. But the theory is different to an extent. Let’s assume that when a person experiences a sensation of being out of their body and/or exploring a different dimension, that this is all happening in the mind. Let’s also consider RV. 99% of claimed OBE’s tend to occur during sleep or at the onset of sleep. This is when the mind is relaxed, right? When someone consciously attempts an OBE, they use one of various techniques - but they all tend to have the one base….. The thought of having an OBE! (They imagine being out of body) Do you see the connection yet?

In RV, the subject is relaxed with a clear mind. Same with OBE!. In RV the subject uses a cue to start the experience. Same with OBE!

So what make these 2 different? Could it be perception? Sure. Could it be beliefs? Sure could. Could it be that on the onset of sleep the body and mind are one step deeper and the onset of dissasociation is there, which presents a more ‘not connected to the body’ experience? I think so.

What am I getting at then? In a nutshell I’m saying that ‘Astral Travel’ could be information traveling into the mind, and not the mind (or body double) going out to get it. I’m saying there is a hidden, not yet understood, media which duplexes the information. And that RV and OBE’s are more connected that most people like tend believe. This of course brings even more questions to the subject.

I know I have not explained my thoughts as clearly as I would have liked to, but hopefully there is enough to gain some insight. I’m sure I’ll come back to this soon.

Any thoughts on this?

Joe’s OBE experiences

October 8th, 2006

Thank you to Joe who sent this in….

‘Just thought I’d provide my own experience with OBE’s to aid you in your quest for the truth.

I had my first “projection” when I was younger (about 11 or 12 years old). It happened quite spontaneously after becoming lucid within a dream. I got the idea to see how high I could fly, and as I flew higher, I felt intense vibrations which only increased with altitude. I suddenly found myself lifting up off my bed. I looked around in awe and saw that I was still sleep under the covers. The experience only lasted about 20 seconds. At the time, and for years after, I believed it to be real (I can vouch that it definately felt very real, more so than a lucid dream), but was I too quick to believe it?

About 2 or 3 more similar experiences happened to me over the years. Recently, however, I had an experience that was not only much more intense than all the others, but really made me question what I was truly experiencing:

I was 21 living in my apt. and was studying lucid dreams and testing ways to induce them and prolong/maintain them. One trick which seemed to work well for me when the lucid dream was fading away, was to focus on my hands until the dream stabilized itself again. A sense of overexcitement is usually what would wake me up and that particular technique seemed to help me refocus and relax and be able to prolong my dreams quite well.

During one of these lucid dreams I managed to have another OBE. It had been a long time since I’ve experienced one and the realism was “too good not to be true”. I hovered through my livingroom and tried to remain calm knowing that getting too excited or scared would snap me back into my body. Note that this was the first time I was actually able to explore while “out of body” I had a hard time handling the intensity during my previous experiences. I went outside and started to float above the trees. I looked around trying to validate my experience. The neighbouring homes were (to the detail) as they should be but there were a few vehicles parked in front of the apartment building that I knew weren’t there normally. I started to feel myself getting pulled back to my body and instinctively began to focus on my “astral” hands. It worked! I immediately wondered why a technique designed to prolong lucid dreams was working to prolong my OBE. Or were these experiences one in the same only on different levels? Regardless I continued on with my experience, even went into a neighbour’s home, focused on my hands a few more times and eventually snapped back to my body or “woke up”.

Let me say that the experience of an OBE is without doubt real just maybe not in the sense that we think. It’s logical to think that our “soul” or “astal body” has left the physical body when this happens because it’s the only explanation that makes sense to us and the feeling is much more vivid than any dream, lucid or not. But does it make sense to think that it may only feel more real because we actually “believe” it’s really happening, forcing a heightened awareness and overall experience to take place? I really don’t know. I believe we may have jumped the gun on what’s really happening here, many (mostly those who have experienced them) are quick to belive it’s real and others (mostly those who haven’t) are just as quick to deny the possibility.

Whether it’s really is the soul leaving the body, or just some reaction occuring in the brain, there’s no denying that OBE’s are real, we’re just not quite sure in what sense, and until some hard evidence comes into play we should just sit back, relax and take them for what they are… a grand mystery!’

So where is that proof then?

September 28th, 2006

Is it real, or just another way to fool the public into parting with their money?

 

I guess I’m not the only person who feels like this from time to time, but right now I find myself wondering if astral travel is real or just some other way for people to make money??

I really do want to believe in this, and the funny thing is - the more I read about OBE accounts, the more I become skeptical. Sure at times, I think ’sure that sounds plausible’ but I still keep coming back to the same old question:

‘If they are real, how come nobody can give any proof?’

In many books I’ve read on the subject, ‘travelers’ explain that they can control their ‘adventures’ - and even meet up with other ‘travelers’ - who testify to it at a later date. Well, if people can do this I wouldn’t have though proving it would be that hard!

So how can proof be sought?

1. Attempt to meet up with someone on the other side and ask some questions…. like where is the Holy Grail hidden? Or where is Mr Bin Laden hidding.
2. Go and visit a remote location and give a detailed account (Visit my house if you like!!)

It just seems a little funny that all the information brought back is nothing which can be verified… and even sometimes contradicts what other so called ‘travelers’ have found.

So what could explain these so called OBEers?

1. The most obvious - Dreams.
2. Just plain lies.
3. A method of story telling, with the objective of obtaining attention.
4. A method of story telling, with the objective of making money (by selling books, CD’s etc)
5. A spectacular human power that not everyone is aware off. But can be learned if believed (with the help of books, CD’s, workshops etc).

Maybe I’m just getting old and skeptical, but as many ‘travelers’ say - you need to keep an open mind. That is exactly what I am doing now. I’m ready and waiting with an open mind to see some proof.

Someone convince me. Please!!

Welcome to our new site

September 18th, 2006

Hello people - we made it back after a short spell offline.

If you have visited us before I’m sure you have noticed the site has changed, 100%.

The goals of this website is to present information on what exactly an Out of body experience is, provide real evidence which may exists on the subject and to present the various methods available to achieve an OBE. We also aim to give detailed accounts of actual Out of body experiences (OBEs) and what may have been learned so far.

I’d love to hear from people who can provide details on OBE’s (proof, stories of adventures and methods to achieve them)