I had an experience where I wasn’t “all together” in my head. Yes I agree. A sound mind is much more reliable.
Goddidit…
…
At first I was going to disagree, but then I decided the statement is correct. For me to be in a state where I experience an OBE, I am not in wakeful consciousness. It is a semi-sleep state of sleep paralysis. Even when I open my eyes the rest of my body will not move. I don’t call this a state of ‘sound body.’ And in this state, the mind is subject to all sorts of fantasy. The OBE experience itself is a mental construct, a fantasy occurring due to a specific brain state. So, it too, is not ‘sound.’
Again, I have said, anyone can learn to do this. It is easy. It takes about a month of consistent practice.
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Just so.
In my searching years I came across self hypnosis. Got pretty good at it. Was able to use it to prevent severe tension headaches. (if I felt one coming on)
Of course ‘hypnosis’ is a pretty meaningless term. For me it first meant being deeply relaxed. There’s an exercise one can do, starting with the top of the head and ending with the toes. A useful state in handling some kinds of pain. Nothing occult about it. I found I am also a bit more suggestable in that state of relaxation. Have no idea how it is for others.
I also saw a hypnotherapist during the first six months of my sobriety. I found it of some use, but nothing spectacular. I used whatever help I could find to help me maintain my resolve. Hypnotherapy was one, AA was another and 12 months group counselling was another.
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I know and have practiced that technique. One must be patient in that process, but when I get to my toes, I am 30 seconds away from dozing off.
Yeah. It’s also used in Hatha Yoga, as best I can remember.
It’s an interesting exercise to get your body relaxed whilst keeping the mind active. This seems to be used in some of more esoteric forms of Yoga, such as Kriya and Kundalini
The very secret of the OBE experience. Put the body to sleep and keep the mind awake. What naturally happens in sleep? All bodily sensation is cut off. You dream of running but your feet do not move in your sleep. You dream of screaming but you do not scream in your sleep. You hear things that are only created within the walls of your own brain.
Part of facilitating the OBE experience is to encourage this separation. It is done by eliminating as much communication from the body to the brain as possible as well as discontinuing all self talk. Stilling the attention of the brain instead of allowing it to wander.
In the end, there is just the brain. And that is when the fun starts.
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Have never had any success with OBE’s whilst awake. Lots whilst asleep though. Have dreamed of flying many times, also of falling. Once I dreamed that I had died. THAT was terrifying; just falling into blackness. Of course, because the mind cannot imagine nothingness. It’s not a thought, but the antithesis of thought. The dreamless sleep.
Over the last few years, my dreams have become much more prosaic (at least the ones I remember) They all seem to be very trivial, simply a confused mess of the day’s activities.
The sensation of flying and or falling are generally precursors to the OBE. “Especially Falling” in my experience.
There is also a sensation of vibrating and a roar, like standing next to a train track as a train rushes by or riding a motorcycle at 100km per hour down the highway.
Then it falls away and the "Astral Body’ (By necessity I have to use that silly term for the brain state of projecting a body into my consciousness. ) appears.
After that, nothing in your frigging life changes. You are not special in any way. You do not glean any miraculous insights into the world around you. And you still have to wipe shit from your ass after taking a poop.
Anything you hear beyond this is complete and utter bullshit! OBE’s are just brain states. Nothing more.
LOL - So many idiots out there.
Wrong. If you buy into the woooooo, your social connections change and you find others who support your inane ideas, and down the rabbit hole you go. It’s a lot like filling your brain with JW religious indoctrination. And the better you get at it the more power and prestige you have through convincing others.
I have been doing OBE since I was a teen. It’s a simple brain state. All it requires is that you stay conscious while your body goes to sleep. Your body naturally goes to sleep every night. By “go to sleep” I mean separates from the brain. (Obviously autonomic functions continue working throughout our sleep; however, I have experienced apnea.) Entire cultures once knew how to do this. It’s a human thing.
It takes you nonplace. There is no astral body outside of my own brain. There is no magic involved. There is nothing “spiritual” about the experience. It is something any human being can do, hence, the ease with which people are duped into the magical thinking cycle of belief. It is actually something that happens to the human body and brain. If it were not, you would not have believers in all the woo.
Anyone can teach themselves to do this in a couple of months.
I believe I have something of substance to contribute here . . . including acway to create an out of body experience on demand without drugs and/or surgery.
When I was a paramedic, we often had to do routine, non-emergency transports from hospital to nursing home, and so forth.
So, we were transporting an unfortunate man with an aggressive form of late-stage pancreatic cancer from a hospital to a hospice facility.
We were wheeling him through the hallway while carrying on a conversation with him, and he stopped talking when we entered the elevator.
He laughed nervously when we got off on the ground floor, and I asked him to share the joke.
He told me that he thought he had died on my stretcher, and said “I was floating above my body and looking down at myself . . . and I felt so peaceful.”
He was a retired attorney, so he was very articulate . . . and he described the situation in such graphic detail that he had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.
Here’s where I get to my point: We returned to the hospital later that night for another call, and that was when I found out that the elevator had a mirrored ceiling.
The combination of the euphoria from the morphine, the downward motion of the elevator (which makes you feel lighter) and him contemplating his own reflection created a vivid, out of body experience.
I started looking out for mirrored ceilings in healthcare facilities after this, and they are not rare.
This incident led me to a way to create an out of body experience on demand.
You need an elevator with a mirrored ceiling, and an assistant for the timing.
You spin around lime a dervish (or an obnoxious kid) until you’re very dizzy . . . at which point you lay down on the elevator floor, and your assistant pushes the button for the bottom floor.
The dizziness, the downward motion of the elevator, and your own reflection combine to create a credible out of body experience.
I wrote a few letters and essays about this that were published in different issues of Skeptical Inquirer magazine.
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Actually, the way you do it is simple. You want to trick the brain into thinking you are falling asleep. But you want to stay awake when the mind separates from the body. This is a very natural thing and it happens every time you dream. If it did not happen you would dream about running and wake up miles from your bed. The brain disengages from the body, all but autonomic functions.
If you are an experienced meditator you can sit or lie in your most comfortable position.
What you want to do is eliminate all external stimuli to the body. Loose or no clothing and earplugs help.
If you are in a lying position, lay on a hard floor. Put a towel on the floor and roll another towel up to place under your neck.
Lie on the floor, arms at your sides at about a 45-degree angle. As comfortable as possible. I like my palm up but I don’t imagine it matters.
Now you want to focus all of your attention on the spot just between and a little above your eyebrows. Keep your attention there. You will itch, twitch, get uncomfortable, and even honey, but keep your attention in that one spot. Do not let your mind wander or wonder.
Now, to keep you focused, the easiest thing to do is to count from 5 to 1. You do not need to do any special breathing. If you know how to breathe in a meditative way, go ahead and do that. (In through the nose and out through the mouth, tongue tip touching the roof of the mouth. ) Cout as you inhale.
Exhale and in your mind repeat, “5…5…5…5…”
Finish the exhale and inhale naturally as you continue the count " 5…5…5…5"
Complete the inhale and exhale …“4…4…4…4…”
How many times you say the number does not matter.
Go to 3, 2, 1, and start over. (This is a whole lot harder than you imagine.)
Keep your mind focused and do not allow it to wonder. If you Wanter off, just bring it back to the center and continue the count from wherever you think you left off. Don’t stress about it.
Last thing: As you exhale, try to sense your body relaxing on the floor. Sinking. You are not altering your concentration point. You are not dividing your attention. You exhale, remain focused, and sink into the floor.
This works best if it is done at the same time every day. A time when you are NOT tired is best so that you do not fall asleep. An empty stomach also seems to help.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN:
You will hear a roaring train. The kind of sound you would experience if you were standing next to a train that was rushing by. You will feel the clothing on your body flutter as if you were on a motorbike driving into a windstorm. (IMPORTANT: You must maintain the count. Keep breathing. )
Next comes a dropping sensation. In my case, I flip, my feet over my head. (The count must be maintained.)
This is the point of separation and the appearance of the “so-called, astral body.” Minus all stimulation, the brain creates its own stimulation. It creates the astral body.
This is nothing but a brain state.
Counting will cease at this point as you are no longer aware of your own body lying on the floor. You will believe you are in the astral body."
What you are actually doing is putting your body to sleep while your mind stays active. This is what happens in sleep paralysis. It is a completely natural phenomenon. And instead of creating a phantom limb, as in phantom limb syndrome, your brain merely creates an entire body. Again, nothing unnatural, spiritual, or magical about any of this.
With consistent practice, I think anyone can experience this in about 30 days.
One caveat: If you are trying to have an out-of-body experience you will defeat yourself. You are feeding your brain as you practice this. Don’t think, I want this or that to happen. Just breathe and count. Every time you think or pull your attention from the count for any reason, you are disrupting the exercise. Only breath, count, and sink. Nothing more.
Good Luck.
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But… but… but… but what if my astral body wanders too far away and can’t find it’s way back to my real body? Or maybe my astral body decides to go on vacation for a few days. My real body is gonna be laying there all naked, and probably pooping and peeing on itself. My wife would NOT be happy about that.
Your “BRAIN STATE” will not wander too far. You can rely on that.
I would feel better about trying this if there was a description of how it ends 
.
Hey, man, my brain state has been known to wander to some really strange places at times.
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Nothing eventful. Have you ever been in your bed sleeping and then suddenly felt like you were dropped about three feet? You have that “BUMP” feeling. Well, that would be like the worst ending I have ever had and there is really nothing bad about it. On one occasion I forced my eyes open while the whole business was going on and was in a state of sleep paralysis with my eyes open. Again no big deal. I’m very familiar with the feeling and no longer panic as I once did, 50 years ago. The ending sensation is generally as if moving from a dream. Your focus changes from the projection to some sort of body movement or sensation. Very innocuous. The part that is scary is when the roaring starts along with the sensation of falling. Panic is a natural reaction to the noise and to the falling sensation,
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Bad OP …. Unless it was done to see everyone’s reaction.
Even with that, still bad op.
Of course it was done to get reactions. This is the debate room. Of course it was a bad OP. This is an atheist site. “Hevean Is For Real” is a really stupid movie and the idea of reincarnation has as much evidence for it as the Christian god. So… thanks for sharing.
For what it’s worth, pretty much EVERY thread here is started to get reactions. Some for serious discussions, others for fun/entertainment. How else are we suppose to learn things around here? This particular thread is obviously for entertainment value. 
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