How To Astral Project For Beginners

Astral projection happens when your consciousness, your mind leaves your body and travels into the astral plane. Basically your body is sleeping but your mind is somewhere else, in a completely different (and sometimes distorted) location.

The saying goes that we all have two bodies: a physical body that we use during our waking time, and an astral body that projects out of the physical practically every night (except we are not conscious of the fact so we never remember this in the morning).

While there is no concrete proof of astral projection, there have been many recounts of people who have left their bodies and remembered this experience. There are too many people for the phenomenon to be a fake or a scam. People all over the world report having an astral projection experience and they are in awe as to what they saw, felt, heart and went through.

These days there are many people who are learning to consciously astral project. This means that the entire exit from the body and the journey in the astral is fully remembered, with a waking consciousness. Basically here you are not asleep when yo do it, but are fully awake.

Photo credits: Wikipedia

There are two main camps when it comes to astral projection and OBE. Some say that the two are practically identical, while others are adamant that the two are similar but not quite so. I belong in the second group. Let me explain our point of view.

It's true, both in astral projection and out of body experiences, we leave our physical body. So far both camps agree. However what is different is WHERE the astral body gets when propelled out of the physical, sleeping body.

Basically when you consciously leave your body in an OBE, you feel yourself physically detaching from the sleeping body and you remain in the physical realm. Many times you are hoovering over the body, or are walking around in your room, or in the house, or in your backyard. Sometimes you are flying over places that you know in the PHYSICAL.

And this is the difference.

In a regular OBE, you are not leaving the physical realm. In an astral projection you can't even see your sleeping physical body anymore as you are somewhere else completely. You don't even see your house or city. You are in another place, astral traveling.

There are also different techniques to induce an OBE as opposed to inducing astral travel. Many people say that it's boring to leave your body only to see the very same thing (albeit sometimes distorted) that you see in the waking life. This is why they prefer to go to the astral plane.

There is also another pull towards the astral. In the astral you can meet your spirit guides, you can meet some deceased relatives, friends. Once you have made such encounters, you truly realize that your body is only a shell and your life is much more than that, much longer than that. You realize that death is no the end.

And this is big. This goes a long way towards minimizing or even entirely eliminating the fear of death in people.

This is something that a regular OBE can't give because you are still in the physical, it's just like you're out of your body.

Photo credits: Wikipedia

Again some people argue that lucid dreaming is the same with astral projection, which is the same with OBEs. But I disagree.

The main difference between a lucid dream and an astral projection is that when you are in a lucid dream, you are less aware of your surroundings than with a real astral projection. Also in an astral projection (especially OBE) you are conscious of two things: that you are someplace else and that your body is sleeping.

With lucid dreaming you are usually aware of one of the two things. Especially when dreaming in a lucid state, in order to maintain lucidity you are taught to try to not focus on your physical body because you will wake up. Not so with an OBE where you can practically hover over your body, be just inches away from it and still be out of it with no need to wake up.

Because lucid dreaming is easier to attain, and because one of the ways to astral project is from a lucid dream, many people first learn proper lucid dreaming techniques and once they mastered those, then they go on to learn how to astral project from a lucid dream (it's not difficult - in fact it's easier than trying to astral project from a waking state).

This is why I find that it can only help to learn both how to lucid dream and also how to astral project. You will only benefit from learning both, since each of them have their own set of advantages added as well.

Photo credits: Wikipedia

When you've decided that you truly want to spend the time in learning how to astral project, for beginners there are many online resources that will teach you step by step a variety of techniques that you can choose from.

As this article is an introduction in the world of astral projection, I will point you to some of the best free websites (mostly forums) that will help you along the way.

There is nothing better than the input of your peers who will cheer for you when you succeed, help you when you are stuck (not in the astral, but in learning to project, lol), and become friends with you because you have the same interests.

There are several techniques that you use to can learn astral projection and some are easier than others. But you might also find that some speak to you more than others even though others say that they are difficult. So don't be afraid to try them and see which one you want to stick with in the long run. Don't be afraid to experiment.

The Rope Technique - The rope technique is an OBE technique. You leave consciously your body and you remain in the real time zone. Here you wait until you are in a state of "mind awake, body asleep" and then imagine a rope right above you (around your midsection area). You imagine grabbing that rope and starting to climb it. The visualization of pulling up yourself on the rope eventually brings you to really leave your body. This is a technique taught by Robert Bruce.

The Roll-Over Technique - With this technique, once your body is in a very relaxed state, you visualize yourself rolling to one side out of the bed. When your body is in a state of sleep paralysis, you will be able to leave your body - again in the real time zone, just like with the rope technique.

The Phasing Technique - This is maybe the best technique if you want to learn to astral travel (as opposed to have an OBE as in the previous two techniques). Here you wait again for the mind awake, body asleep state, and instead of then trying to get out of your body, you start visualizing various images that you want to jump into (like into a dream).

There is a sequence of events that you need to pay attention to (such as the 3D imagery), however when you succeed with this technique, you are out in the astral directly. You can learn this method from Robert Monroe who first taught it in his Gateway Experience set of CDs. I am using this course and I have to say it's awesome.

Astral Project From A Lucid Dream - If you are not successful with the previous techniques but you have had already some lucid dreams before, it's worth investigating this avenue as usually this will give you great results. Learn more about how to become a lucid dreamer.

Maybe the first thing you need to know when you want to learn how to astral project is relaxing your body and mind. Without proper relaxation you won't be able to astral travel.

The reason why we need to relax is because we live in a stressful and busy society and we not only strain our body with too much "stuff', but also our mind. We need to let go of the daily chit-chat so we have an empty mind that we can then focus fully on astral projection.

Using a guided meditation is a great way to learn to relax. You can of course use other meditation techniques as well, but I personally find that I can easier relax if I have a voice gently guiding me to relaxing my body bit by bit. Then I don't have to consciously try to do it, I simply let myself be guided and relaxed at the same time. I find it very effective.

Robert Bruce's Astral Dynamics course has a set of wonderful guided relaxation exercises that teach you how to bring yourself to a "mind awake, body asleep state". Perfect for inducing an OBE.

Using binaural beats is another great way to relax your body and mind. It brings your mind to the alpha state which is just right for the task. As a side note, binaural beats are great if you want to learn meditation as well.

Credits: image purchased at Istockphoto

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