This past year I have lived, breathed, and slept astral projection. I feel that astral projection is a profound way in which we can access the nonphysical dimensions for the purpose of growth, understanding, and expansion.
In today's post, I'll share my introduction to astral projection, what it is and how it benefits your spiritual journey. I'll also share 7 tips that I feel really helped me to begin having out of body experiences.
My introduction to astral projection
In the fall of 2020, I was studying a mix of Seth's work on dreams, as well as life between lives hypnotherapy. I was wanting to go deeper and be more in touch with the larger aspects of myself and reality in general.
Seth had mentioned how we heal in our dreams and how we can use our dream states to receive answers and understanding for our daily waking lives. I began to ask questions before falling asleep and began to have some really interesting experiences.
The first experience I had was a message coming through to me over and over one morning. Every time I'd wake up, I'd hear "You have to find your vision!" I'd fall back asleep and when I woke up again, I heard "You've got to have a vision. Like the chicken has an egg, you have to have a vision!"
The next dream I was instructed on performing "psychic surgery." In another I was told to write my fears out so I can release them. Jumping on a trampoline with older people in yet another dream I was told "Your body only hurts in old age if you think it does."
After an unusual dream where I spent what felt like a day with a gentle, blue being, I went back to my Seth books and began reading everything they'd written about dreams. It finally started clicking that they were discussing not only dreams, but out of body experiences as well.
Fascinated, I then purchased a book solely on astral projection and began learning everything I could. I learned that out of body experiences could give me the access I was looking for without needing a hypnotherapist or any other "middleman" to connect with higher parts of myself.
What astral projection is
Astral projection, in a nutshell, is the phenomenon of consciousness traveling outside of the physical body. It's an intentional out of body experience (OOBE). A near death experience would be an example of an unintentional OOBE.
Whereas lucid dreaming is an experience where you are aware within a dream, an out of body experience is "an experience where you perceive and feel yourself separate and detach from your physical body, entering into an objective non-physical dimension." - Gene Hart, Beyond Dreaming
Each time I have astral projected consciously, I get up out of my body and leave the room while my body stays sleeping on the bed. I feel just like my waking self, except I'm aware of so much more. During my second OOBE, I returned to my room and instinctively dove back into my sleeping body and felt myself lock into place.
Something interesting I learned was that we all astral project every night, but we just don't remember it. Many times those highly vivid dreams that leave an impression on you are actually unconscious OOBE's remembered as fragmented dreams.
I was told over and over again that getting out of body isn't the hard part...it's having the awareness of it and remembering. When you have both of those present, you get the incredible experience of a conscious astral projection.
Benefits of astral projection
The benefits of astral projection are numerous, but a few of them are:
- spiritual growth & expansion
- learning more about yourself and others
- connecting with loved ones who are no longer in the physical (or who are arriving, such as connecting with an unborn child)
- overcoming inner blocks
- healing your energy body
- connecting with your higher self, guides, masters and other helpers
- visiting anywhere you want
It's not that you need astral projection to do any of these things, but since it's something natural that we do, I can't help but conclude it's a spiritual tool we can access if we so desire.
Out of body experiences give you direct access and insight into soul areas you are working on, questions you want answered, and help bring even more meaning into your waking life.
It is an amazing spiritual tool, like meditation, that will take you into deeper parts of yourself and the universe. It's a spiritual experience that you get to have directly. Most religions are based on the out of body experiences of a few people, but this is available to all of us to experience for ourselves.
How long does it take to astral project
Some people can have their first conscious OOBE within a few days or weeks, others take a few years, but the majority take a few months.
It's not that astral projection takes great skill to achieve, but it depends on a number of factors including your beliefs, fear levels, and how surrendered you are. It's very much like driving a stick shift–there's a certain finesse between pressing down on the gas while releasing the clutch at the same time.
You will lurch forward and stall many times, and this even goes for experienced projectors. Other times you will hit the gas too hard and wake your physical body up, ending the experience.
It took me 4 months to have my first two conscious OOBE's, and several more months until I experienced it again. What I found was that there were no wasted attempts, because each one either taught me something or helped me adjust to new sensations.
7 tips for having an out of body experience
There are many ways of getting out of body consciously. Refer to this page on William Buhlman's site for all the techniques there are for astral projection.
For me, the simplest method is the target technique, where I just visualize my living room in full detail. It astounds me that this basic mind exercise can induce an out of body experience.
While I used the target technique as my main exercise, I learned and realized a few important things along the way. Below are 7 tips I picked up that I feel really helped me in having my first out of body experiences.
1. Get present
One thing practicing astral projection really showed me was that my mind is LOUD. I day dream a lot, or I'm thinking about something all the time. Essentially, I found I'm not "awake" during most of my waking hours.
Once I started practicing being present during the day, I was able to be super focused out of body. The Power of Now is an excellent guide on coming into the present moment in your everyday waking life.
A daily meditation practice also really assisted in helping me stretch my awareness, as well as completely relax my body. I meditated daily for months. From that, I learned that so many cool things can happen during meditation!
I used the Gateway meditations often. These were created and patented by Robert Monroe to help create a whole brain state for expanded awareness. His books on astral projection are for sure a must read as well.
You can often find these meditations (Focus 10 and Focus 12 being the main ones) on Youtube, or you can purchase them and keep them in your Google Drive, for example.
No matter what meditations you use, the goal is to let yourself drift away from thoughts and completely relax the body. This will greatly aid and improve the quality of your astral projections.
2. Start a dream journal
Keeping a dream journal has so many benefits. For astral projection, it lets your subconscious know that remembering your sleep experiences are important to you.
When I first started, I didn't even think I dreamed that often. It didn't take long before I was writing down long, elaborate dreams. When you wake in the morning, try to remain still and recall as much of your dreams as you can. Replay them in your mind and then record them in your dream journal.
Dreams, lucid dreams, and OOBE's are all equally helpful and important in your spiritual awakening. One is not more important than another. You only gain to record everything you remember upon awakening.
When you are used to remembering your dreams, it's going to make it much easier to remember your OOBE's. You'd think it'd be impossible to forget a conscious astral projection, but these experiences tend to be quickly swallowed by the subconscious if not recalled right away.
3. Intentions are everything
Intentions are everything! If you aren't setting intentions before astral projection attempts, you aren't making things easy for yourself. Intentions program the subconscious to work for you.
Here are a few that I use:
- I now remember all dreams & experiences (credit goes to Johnny! The admin of a very helpful AP group I joined and learned so much from)
- Now I am out of body
- I naturally move into my astral state
- I remain calm and remember everything
- I am surrounded by love and light
4. Visualize it
Something I didn't do for months was any manifesting exercises for astral projection! I use it in every other area of my life, but it didn't dawn on me to use it for astral projecting.
The night before my most epic out of body experience, I visualized waking up in the morning and excitedly telling everyone I knew that I had the most amazing out of body experience.
I literally felt the happy energy welling up inside of me and I started giggling! I felt it as if it had already happened.
The next day, I got to do just that. Start telling yourself that you astral project easily and naturally, and visualize how you'd feel and who'd you tell once you are back in body.
This is a powerful and underrated tip!
5. Release your fears
I didn't think I had any fears but realized soon enough I definitely had more than I thought.
The sensations that happen before projection can be alarming! The first time I felt vibrations, I felt like I was shot up into the air. I also thought I heard a loud popping sound in my room one morning, but it was just due to hypnogogia.
Hypnogogia, as Healthline defines, "is the transitional state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleep." It's known as the vibrational stage in astral projection literature, and it's very common to experience vibrations, buzzing, ear popping, loud sounds, voices, and imagery behind the eye lids.
Each time I experienced these sensations, I got more and more used to it. I'm the kind of person who man screams when a wasp flies nearby, so this was definitely something I had to work through.
I practiced being a calm observer in my waking life and less reactionary. Nothing can hurt us before, during, or after an astral projection, so when we can remain calm and in a loving state, it helps tremendously.
I also realized that once you are out of body, your astral self isn't afraid. So just hang tight while you make the transition into your astral body, because the fear will dissipate.
6. Wake back to bed
I tried for many months to astral project using the direct method, but this is not recommended for beginners. The direct method is when you astral project through meditation or when you first lay down to sleep.
The best and easiest way to astral project when you are first starting out is after sleeping for 4-6 hours. Play around with the number and see which one fits you best. You may be too groggy after only 4 hours of sleep or you may not be able to get back to sleep after 6 hours, for example.
All of my conscious out of body experiences have happened early in the morning after I had been asleep for several hours.
When I wake up, I like to listen to this meditation for about 15 minutes. I find it to be perfect for priming my subconscious for leaving the body and it helps me wake up enough to focus but not enough to stay awake. This is the perfect place to be.
Do whatever technique is easiest for you, and then go back to sleep. If you have a conscious OOBE, you will be woken back up right before the exit or you'll find yourself in the astral awake and fully aware.
7. Let it happen
Another thing that kept tripping me up was that when I would get vibrations or some other sensation, I'd start pulling a rope or trying to run, etc. I'd ruin the vibrational stage by trying to get out of body!
I finally learned this: if you remain calm, you will at some point just "know" that you can get up out of your body. This happens once your consciousness has shifted to your astral body. It's an instinctive knowing and you'll do it without thinking.
I was confused about this for so long when I was reading others' experiences. Advanced astral projectors are another story, but when you hear beginners using words like "I just stepped out of my body" they are referring to their astral selves, even if they don't know it.
Your astral self is you, but with more awareness and knowledge of things the physical you isn't aware of. If the physical you tries to get out of body, it's a lot harder and usually futile for a beginner.
If you remain calm and allow your consciousness to fully shift over to your astral self, you will then just find yourself stepping, floating or flipping out of body.
So if I'm awoken to buzzing sensations, I remain calm, do nothing except possibly picture myself in my living room (part of the target technique I use), and wait until everything fully shifts over.
Astral projection resources
Here are some of my favorite resources for learning more about astral projection:
- Adventures Beyond the Body (favorite AP book)
- The Treatise on AP (2nd favorite AP book)
- Astral Doorway (favorite AP podcast)
These are some of my favorite meditations:
- Leaving Your Body (perfect for WBTB)
- 74 Minute AP Course (track 5, set timer to turn off after 26 minutes & go to sleep)
- Guided Meditation for AP
- The Crystal Lake
- Pharaoh Mantra (I listen and chant for a few minutes, or even chant while in the shower–very powerful for inducing the vibrational stage later in the night or next morning)
Some of my favorite music and binaural beats for astral projection:
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this article and found something to take away with you. I will definitely be writing more articles in the future on this topic. Please leave any questions you have below or share your experiences and tips with us as well!
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With love,
Jessica
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