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Spontaneous OBE's

solid~liquid onwards

07:39 / 17.05.02

about 20 mins ago i just had my first completely sponataneous OBE (i didnt plan it, it just kinda natrually happended.

i was lying in my bed, recently woken up by my mum and i just felt a bit funny so i closed my eyes and just floated out, no vibrations or effort, it took a moment for me to regain sight and i started bobbing around my room.

making my self move seemed to take a bit more effort though, and when i forced my self to move, my spine tingled and vibrated...i floated over to my desk and just took in the detail and i looked at various other parts of my room, fairly in depth, i heard my mum talking and walking up the stairs so i just popped back, no big whooshing pull or feeling like i had a bungee cord attached to me, just *pop* then i was awake again, but with the usual short term paralysis thing.

hadn't really practiced OBEing for several months.

10:04 / 18.05.02

I did my first astral projection a couple of weeks ago, using sleep paralysis as the springboard. It was kinda textbook; feeling joined to my physical body at the waist and having to "wrench" myself free; feeling a vibration and odd light effects, etc.

As a matter of interest, has anyone here ever performed a reality check while projecting (in much the same way as one would do in order to check whether one was dreaming in order to become lucid)? I've been reading La Berge, and while he doesn't specifically comment on astral projection, he simply challenges those who are projecting to apply the same tests as they would to a dream state. Not that it would prove anything, I'm just interested... In my case, I used the projection from sleep paralysis to deliberately re-enter my dream, so any test performed would have been kinda inadmissable.

10:05 / 18.05.02

Or thinking about it, maybe it wouldn't....

11:09 / 18.05.02

The person that trained me in astral projection (when I was agout 16) made us do those reality checks commonly, to help us to get the astral fixed in this reality. Most of us did OK from the first time. The reality cheks consisted on "going" into a place only he knew, and describing it, or getting information we didn't know beforehand.

solid~liquid onwards

14:57 / 18.05.02

expressionless,
when you say sleep paralysis, do you mean when your body is asleep, but your mind awake? As for a reality check, i stared at my desk for a while, and im sure it was just about exactly the same (piles of paper, unopened batteries)

ciarconn,
howd you get training in AP? do people profesionally train AP?

Nietzsch E. Coyote

21:17 / 18.05.02

I've got a book, The Astral Projection Workbook by J. H. Brennan.

do people profesionally train AP?
or more importantly
WHERE do people profesionally train AP?

08:04 / 19.05.02

Sleep paralysis.

The reality checks that most people advise to perform involve looking at text or numbers more than once (if it's at all possible). A lot of people rely on using their wristwatch, as it's something they'll have with them most of the time. Dream images can look quite real even if we concentrate on them for a long period (in fact, they may well become more real depending on the dreamer and their preconceptions/expectations).

solid~liquid onwards

08:38 / 19.05.02

i APed on my first time using a techinique from the internet... it was kind of a fluke though (or mabye a taster), cos after that i'd reach the vibrations easily, but it took quite a while before i could leave again... i refined my techinique, creating a hybrid of several different ones that worked well, and also looked at the factors when i first OBE'ed, those were exterme relaxations and possibly heat, and my psychotic brother, perhaps the sole creater of of the stress in my life, being in france for a fortnight. I sat in front of a fire reading for 4 hours prior to my attempt...there was no-one about the house, and it was night time.
I found a fan heater in my room would make me feel nice and sluggish and would help.

If anyones had any experience in the matter (i havent practiced for months though) is that i could reach a stage where i could leave the body, regain sense but not get much further than me own room and sourounding corridor, before i'd get yanked back... how can i escape this pull back to the body?

any descent books that people have used succesfully?

13:11 / 19.05.02

It was not really "profesional". The literature teacher in the highschool I studied was in the lookout for people with potential, and invited them to different courses. He did not belong to any organization, but he did charge for the classes

19:49 / 19.05.02

I can't say that I have had an outer body experience, not consciously. I know I left during a drum ritual, but crashed back, due to an illorganised ending to the drumming. Can anyone suggest a good text to get a technique from for solo flights?

solid~liquid onwards

20:57 / 19.05.02

"Can anyone suggest a good text to get a technique from for solo flights?"

astralvoyage.com's a good place to start... spiritonline.com has a section of submited techiniques, tips and articles on the subject too...dunno bookwise though :P

05:32 / 20.05.02

I'm going to go out on a limb and recommend a book that I haven't got round to starting yet. "Astral Dynamics" by Robert Bruce appears to be extremely thorough and seems to dispense with a lot of airy fairy stuff, just giving a lot of theory and technique. But someone here may have actualy read it and could think it's a bunch of arse.

06:49 / 21.05.02

expressionless: Thank you so much for that link to Sleep paralysis info. I've experienced this phenomena at different intervals throughout my life, never knowing quite what to make of it, how to describe it or that it even had a name. I've often felt as well that it could be used as a gateway for astral projection or OBE but usually the experience has been too terrifying to take any lucid control of it to utilize in that fashion. Anyhow, thanks again for opening the door for further research, the information has been very helpful.

20:57 / 22.05.02

expressionless: ASTRAL DYNAMICS is excellent! Whenever one of these Astral Projection threads comes up, I refer people to Robert Bruce and his book. (*couch*althoughIhaven'tyetprojected*cough*)

From what I've read, the best way to stop yourself form being pulled back into your body straight away is to get as far away from your body as you can. For some reason, (Silver bungee-cord?!) there's a "pull" when you're close to your body. You need to get a few feet away asap or you'll be pulled back in.

solid~liquid onwards

08:12 / 23.05.02

next week i have almost all my exams, then sweet sweet freedom, so i think i'll be visiting amazon to get a pile of new reading, and should have more than enough time to get my teeth into projecting again. Thanks for the tip, Warewullf.

One thing ive been quite curious, has anyone ever met another *real* person on the astral or etheric, as i remember reading a forum ages ago where several people were trying to organise some kind of astral get together, they were all gonna meet on the statue of liberty, on the torch, i think(?). :P

19:59 / 23.05.02

I have not read this one yet but it looks worthwhile as well...

The Techniques of Astral Combat
An Analysis of the Astral Planes
By G. Travels
"Providing a unique look into the culture and tradition of the Astral Warrior, this book reveals this tradition's metaphysical understanding of the universe, one's role within it, and a powerful means of self-discovery. Important to our times, as it reveals the hidden influences of the astral planes upon our lives and our society, it provides the reader with new tools, skills, and an understanding that empowers one to confront evil with new-found strength."

16:27 / 30.05.02

Hmm. Had my first OBE in a long time last night. Insomnia leading to semi-sleep like trance leading to sleep paralysis. From there, I could hear things. Voices. Not all of which I could make out. I realized where I was, and tried rising above my body. I did, and looked down at me a bit before coming down again. As I didn't do a banishing first and there was company about (probably just Legba in the other room, but I'm the cautions type), I didn't want to leave the meat too unattended. Then someone called and broke my trance, and that was about that. Still, a neat experience. I had a lot more control over it than when I was a kid plagued by it. Promising.

00:20 / 20.08.02

I have had an an experience where it felt like a forced OBE. I was riding a bike on the sidewalk and a silly motorist didn't stop at the sign. I hit the frontside of his car and stopped just short of going over the hood. Time slowed for me, but the driver was out of the car in a flash. I was then viewing the scene of the accident from about thirty to fourty feet above ground. I never looked up for however long that lasted, maybe one and three quarter seconds, and then I regained focus. Realizing my front tire was the shape of a mobius strip, taco'ed if you will, the guy said he had no money to pay for it and he was late for work...anyway, I really didn't get to enjoy or examine the experience at all.

It did remind me of what a friend said once about fractals. Like staring at a flower long enough that you see the flower seeing you. I have "viewed" the moon this way several times, on different hallucinogens and also very sober and focused. I don't have this perfected, but I do feel comfortable when I attempt.

The accident above must have been a spirit shock or something to that effect. Has anyone ever experienced the "fractals" I mentioned?

01:11 / 20.08.02

The accident above must have been a spirit shock or something to that effect. Has anyone ever experienced the "fractals" I mentioned?

The random that isn't random? I've seen fractal geometry in everything. Conceptually this makes sense, everything is infinitely complex and patterned/mathematical therefore everything is a fractal.

I once stared into complete darkeness and saw a perfect triagular fractal. It was so simple but I have never been able to replicate it.

This is as close as I have got...

01:38 / 20.08.02

Had an odd experience years ago, still haven't figured out quite what happened....

I'd taken a semester of yoga at the university I was attending, and as an end-of-the-semester treat the instructor had us all sit and chant with her. Aboout two thirds of the way through the class, I noticed that my viewpoint had shifted - it felt like I was looking at everything from about two feet above where I was sitting. I still had sensation and control of my body, though, was able to get up and move around at the end of the class while floating. The experience scared the shit out of me - I had no idea how I was going to get back "down" and I don't remember how or when exactly my viewpoint returned to "normal."

It may have "just" been an altered state of consciousness brought on by the chanting, but I do think it was more than that.

01:51 / 20.08.02

WOW, that is quite the fractal, oh Foolish one. I also once stared into complete darkness and saw the circuitry of my brain, the firings and maze work of the complex grey matter in my head. Neurons and shit.

04:02 / 20.08.02

I sometimes sort of drift off, and am completely lost in my thoughts. Like full on daydreaming. I'll actually not know where I am.

The other day on the way to KungFu I was about to get up to get off at my station, starting thinking about religious fanaticism, and then realised I gone passed the station and was at the next one. I literally wasn't there, not seeing through my eyes. It was like waking suddenly for a dream.

Happens when I walk down the street, people have to actually shake me before I notice them.

Not really OBE though, I guess...

05:44 / 20.08.02

I get the funny neuron firing wierd energy patterns when I'm trying to get to sleep, whether my eyes are open or not. I always assumed that it was hypnogogic. One time the Barbelith mandala formed before my eyes (the hydrogen atom-style dot at the centre of the circle).

Tryphena Absent

22:52 / 20.08.02

I get quite amazed that people have OBE's, although I have had precognitive dreams and known what they were they're very buried in my unconscious, I never have lucid dreams and only generally remember dreams when I feel anxious and stressed. Having said that I don't have nightmares only strange and off kilter dreams. Regarding the way my dreaming works I was wondering how on earth I could begin to go about this, particularly since I'm not sure it's possible, I'd like to see if I could actually push myself to the point where I can walk the astral.