7. THE PROCESS

“One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular” – Tony Robbins

Now, every astral projection process is and will keep on being different for each person and this is why we need to go deep into different ways of doing it. For many, the entry point will always start with deep relaxation and concentration.

A safe voluntary projection will either start with a:

• Catalepsy period

• Deep physical relaxation

• Vivid mental alertness

Characteristics of A Safe Astral Projection

Catalepsy period

During a catalepsy episode, your body seems to be in temporal paralysis as the astral body begins to exit the physical body. This happens even during normal sleeping and dreaming. It is quite practical for this to happen since you cannot expect the dream experience or the astral experience to take over your normal day. Just imagine how insane it would be if everyone acted out their dreams every time we went to bed. Some people would be leaving their houses and finding themselves in completely strange environments. Some won’t even know how to get back to their homes in time to prepare for work. It would be so disrupting and I bet many boundaries would have to be put in place so people can retain the security of their home environments.

A good example for such experiences would be people who sleep walk. We take this as abnormal and sometimes one has to be locked into a room so they do not get to a dangerous zone as they sleep walk. Catalepsy is therefore a useful experience as it keeps the physical body safe when your astral body is up and about in other realms.

The biggest mistake many people make when experiencing this temporal paralysis is to become afraid and try to fight it. It is easier when you are going to sleep since you are not consciously expecting to project all through the night. However, when you are voluntarily inducing a projection, you have to understand that this is normal and it is only a sign that the process is working. Therefore, do not fight it off. Relax and go with it so your astral body can easily exit and you can find yourself in the lands you have been longing to explore all this time. This can happen even when doing an entry using meditations and relaxation techniques to enter into the astral planes.

Deep Physical Relaxation

For those who do not feel a type of physical paralysis, you can comfortably induce a projection through deep physical relaxation. What happens after the relaxation will depend on other entry methods as we will see in this chapter, but your body will have to be in deep relaxation before the physical body can finally let go of the astral body. Using the sleep and dreaming relaxation for instance, you will agree with me that there are people who do not get a dime of sleep no matter how hard they tightly close their eyes. Unless they can get their bodies to relax and softly get into a dream state, they will barely get any sleep.

This is the same point you should take with astral projection. Unless you can get your body to relax, then it will be very hard for you to project outside your physical body. In fact, almost all entry methods will need you to be in a relaxed state before trying to practice them. We already know why this is so, and we will always look at ways to relax as we practice astral projection exercises.

Some of the physical relaxation techniques include:

• Meditation

• Breathwork

• Hypnosis

• Mindawake-body asleep method

Vivid Mental Alertness

Another way to be in the best place for astral projection is having vivid mental alertness. I will leave you with a note here: If you observe keenly, every other method that has been or will be discussed in this book will require that you master your body and your mind. This is because voluntary and coincidental projections are not the same. While the latter is somehow easier, you do not always have the memory for what happens after. The former, which is what you are looking to have will require that you learn how to let your consciousness completely take charge of your physical body and your mind.

With vivid mental alertness you will need to learn a few mind control techniques. Some might include affirmations and mantras. You can go back to the previous chapter to see how that works. Hypnosis and sound vibrations are other ways to take control of the mind or to stop it from getting in the way of what you may want to accomplish. The more you practice and go with what works for you, the easier it will be to have the vivid mental alertness and take charge of what is flowing in and out of the mind at the time.

A simple way to achieving mental alertness:

1. Sit in a meditative position. The lotus posture or sitting with your back straight and your feet inclined on the floor can work.

2. Set your clock to a five minute timer.

3. Breathe in and out for a few seconds to relax your body.

4. Now start filtering your thoughts by trying not to engage them. Let them come and pass but don’t agree or disagree with them by engaging your emotions.

This is one way of doing it and hypnosis can also help. Practicing concentration as discussed later in the book will also work to improve your mental alertness.

Ultimately, the methods above will precede the other entry methods or go hand in hand with them. I’d recommend that you do not assume you prefer any until you have tried them all. Sometimes your consciousness will be sought of, choose the best for you since it knows that which will work best. Now, let us go deeper into different entry methods.

Different Entry Methods

Every projection practice begins with you making an entrance. This is either consciously or unconsciously. As you begin to get into the practice willfully, you will start noticing that there’s a specific way that your astral body uses to get to its realms. It could be through special brainwaves, audios, breathing exercises, hypnosis, relaxation, yoga and meditation. Each of these methods serve to put your physical body into the best state to help you astral project. Since all these realms are interdependent, they have what I could call doorways. It's almost like having a door that directly gets you from the bedroom to the dining room without having to go through the corridor. Here are such doorways and hopefully you will find something to work with.

The Hypnosis Entry Method

If there is one method that people, especially people in the scientific world have been comfortable with, then this would be it. It is widely used for both guided and self-induced hypnosis. Many psychic researches with a hypnosis where a guide takes the patient through it. Traveling clairvoyance, for example, is known to have actively used this method to get patients into the unbiased state. William Braud’s team once reported that hypnosis was one of the best methods used to create altered brain states. They did their experiments by relaxing the brain using hypnosis and then increased the participant’s imaginative abilities. They also used suggestibility and dissociation to support the patients’ ability to have the desired experience.

C.S. Alvarado is another familiar name in ESP and researches around altered states of consciousness. His reports confirmed that many scientists have used and been successful in creating extrasensory perception (ESP) of different experiences including out of body experiences and projections.

If you choose to try out the hypnosis entry method, you can either self-induce or look for a hypnotherapist to help you with the process. There are times when people have such trial experiences with a hypnotherapist during meditation or energy clearing conferences. If you have ever been to one, then you can try and emulate the instructor’s direction and self-hypnotize.

You can also look for audio recordings that help drive people into a hypnosis. Such resources are readily available on the internet as well as on our website. We are so lucky to be alive at such times when more people are free to have these experiments at home without any pressure.

Whichever method you use, a hypnosis process will often follow the following steps:

1. A guide will start by guiding you or you will guide yourself into a highly relaxed state.

2. Once you can achieve this state, then your therapist will suggest that you are now safe to exit the body.

3. The therapist will then start asking you questions about your experience as you journey on.

4. After this, he/she will ask you to safely return to the body.

Whichever method you use, some people will be left for a while once led into the hypnosis state and then the therapist will come back and ask them to return to their body and then answer experiential questions for recording. This has been successful in many cases.

Mind Awake-Body Asleep Entry

This is another common entry method, especially for self- induced experiments. It is a hypnagogic state where one has a jumping point in between sleep. It could happen both voluntarily and involuntarily. Ever heard of teachers who ask you to look for a time during the day when you are not tired, while still having the ability to relax into sleep? These are usually the best times to create the mind awake- body asleep method. At the time, your body is somewhat a bit easy to relax so it can easily fall into a sleep state while your mind is still active. This means your conscious will remain alert. Another best time to do this is when you wake up a bit early, go to the loo and then come back and try to sleep. Your body is not fully regenerated for the day, yet the mind is already awake. Early mornings therefore become another good time to try and astral project.

Thomas Edison, the famous inventor was a great mind awake-body asleep state inducer. He often sat on a chair during his critical thinking processes and then placed a silver coin at the top of his forehead with a bucket in front of him. He would then sit contemplating and anytime that the body started to lose full concentration thus drifting his mind, his head would tilt and drop the coin into the bucket which woke him up. Sylvan Muldoon, a great OBE pioneer, was another user of this state. He would rest in his bed with his forearm outstretched perpendicularly to wake him up whenever he started falling into actual sleep. Albert Einstein would sit with his hands outstretched sideways, having silver stones on both hands. This would keep him awake, and the moment he started to drift off, the stones would fall thus waking him up. Salvador Dali, the artist was another great user.

All these men looked for ways to relax their bodies yet keep their minds running to explore different realities and the results were always amazing. We already know some of them as being among the greatest inventors of their time. They used to foster deep thinking and OBE to bring unthought of realities into the physical world, thus thinking like geniuses. Although we cannot be sure if their creativity was as a result of the mind awake-body asleep states of experiencing reality or it was their way to OBE so they could come back with all the information they had, the fact that Sylvan Muldoon used it, as a great OBE pioneer means the experiment is worth a shot. There are people today who use this technique together with sound waves and OBE meditations.

In simple steps:

1. Find a time when you are not fully asleep but also not entirely awake. It could be right after your alarm goes off or during the afternoon when you are trying to rest your physical body, but your mind is still alert.

2. Sit upright with your backbone aligned or lay down though be careful not to fall asleep.

3. Have something that will instantaneously alert you to wake up in case you start falling asleep such as dropping a coin or lifting your hands.

4. Now try to enter the mind alert-body asleep state.

If you listen to astral projection stories like that of Aaron Abke on YouTube, you will realize that he used this and an audio combination to activate his experience which was successful and has continued to be ever since.

The Meditation Entry Method

I have mentioned meditation a few times in the past two techniques, since this is an overall method that has been used either on its own or together with other methods. It is quite useful when it comes to both relaxation and concentration. Merging with yoga, one can easily relax the body and even achieve different brain-altered states. Meditation can be divided into two aspects: insight meditation or mindfulness and concentration meditation or mental focus.

The insight meditation method is quite broad. Here you will be seeking to be quite mindful of a certain environment. This makes it quite adventurous and can allow you to broaden your knowledge on different matters. The best way of doing this is by trying all your best not to include your mind. I know it sounds confusing: how can you be mindful without really using your mind? Well, it's simple. The mind I’m talking about in this instance is not your noisy mind that is always opinionated. Remember the stories we have been talking about? The one that hinders your ability to relax? Those are the stories of your regular mind and they are no way to get to a mindful state. On the other hand, having this kind of meditation allows you to look into different concepts without the filter of thinking you already know about something.

I usually imagine that this was the kind of comprehension that the likes of Einstein had that allowed him to see matters for more than what we see on the outside. Ramm Das was a great spiritual teacher that often talked about appreciating presence. Most of his concepts revolved about mindfulness and the art of being here now; yes, he is the author of the book, Be Here Now. Such teachings make people see more in an instance than what they would have otherwise seen as they continue with their unconscious routines.

There is a series on Remember I Am by Aaron Abke that takes people through the art of being mindful of who they really are. The series starts with meditations where you are led into a meditative state that allows you to get in touch with your inner person. You know, the person who notices everything within. Once you are able to start grasping this idea of yourself, you are then asked to start seeing the same mindful being in others. Such experiments are now being used by today’s spiritual teachers who seek to help people come into mindful states even when walking around doing their day to day activities.

Although mindful meditation is not really a sure way of getting you to astral project, it will help you relax and pay attention to who you are and where you are at the moment. Say, have descriptive experiences of the inner environment and taking charge of the mind while at it. This is the relaxing state that will easily drive you into astral projection once you start being good at it.

You can summarize it in two points:

1. Sit down and relax (you can use breathing techniques as well).

2. Start paying attention to the part in you where peace dwells. The part that only sits there observing the world. The one who notices when you are sad or angry or happy.

Concentration meditation goes hand in hand with visualization. While mindful meditation focuses on an environment, concentration meditation pays more attention to objects in the environment. Mindfulness might be more inclined to one experiencing peace within and peace with everything, while concentration meditation includes being aware of a single object and paying more attention to it. It can also be used as a self-hypnosis technique since it is easy to take yourself into a hypnagogic state from here. You can easily fall between the awake and asleep state with this kind of meditation since your body is steady and positioned while your mind is concentrating on different mental objects.

You can either use a mental tool to achieve this or practice with physically present items. The former is easier, since you might not need to leave your home for it, although the latter is sought of more fulfilling, since you will often work with nature, and there’s always something amazing about meditating in nature.

You can use the following experiments while at it:

• Use a single object like a pen or a flame to create something physical to concentrate on.

• Concentrate on physical sensations when doing daily activities such as walking barefoot on grass. This is also an energy healing and balancing technique.

• Analyze an emotion. This will help you understand where the emotion came from, why it's here and if you need to do anything about it. It is a great technique when learning to be emotionally conscious.

• Repeat silent or spoken-out-loud mantras.

• Chakra and other types of energy work.

All this concentration work will teach you to pay more attention to details that you would have otherwise ignored. Again, they do not necessarily drive you into an astral projection state immediately, at least not always, but they will help you to be quite precise with details especially when you are already in different astral planes.

Meditations can either be self-induced or you can work with a guide before you get good enough to self-induce. Simple acts such as sitting in silence for at least 20 minutes a day can help you a great deal with working on different mind techniques. Silence is where it all begins and it will always end. Therefore, when you are in control of your own silence, you can easily drive unwelcome thoughts or random ones into silence whenever you want to. Remember, you do not want to fight these rather unwanted thoughts as doing so will only tense you up once again. Instead, you learn how to observe and simply direct them to the silence where they naturally dissolve. It will not be as easy as it sounds from the beginning. In fact, the first time you try, you will find all the reasons why doing so is not possible. You will even try convincing yourself that people who do it are either too advanced or some kind of special beings. The more you stick to it, the better you get.

In fact, either mindful or concentration meditation are quite easy compared to sitting in silence. You can therefore start with the two and then remove the objects and the environment to perfect your skills as you go on.

Ritualistic and Shamanic Methods

There are people who simply can’t find it in them to keep still. They always need something to work with to tap into different OBE entry methods. Ritualistic, especially shamanic methods, can help you a great deal if you are one of these people. These rituals give your mind and your body something to work with. They help the body concentrate on the practices and somehow activate different energy levels while at it. Some of these practices are quite active while others are a bit still and meditative. Others will include visualization and imagery techniques which are great OBE triggers. For beginners, you will need a bit of an introductory class to help you understand different shamanic traditions and practices. You will learn a few audio techniques using drums and utensils plus a couple of energy work guides too. The likes of Charles Tart considered these techniques as state specific technology which are significant in-depth methods for achieving, using and controlling different altered states.

The traditional shamanic practices follow this procedure:

• Cleansing rituals followed by purification techniques using traditional herbs.

• One will then be driven into a hypnagogic state followed by an OBE or in this case, projection.

• Once you reach this state, you are left to operate in a different reality.

• There are returning rituals, aswell, followed by closing a door to return back to your normal physical state.

The traditional shamanic practices start with cleansing rituals followed by purification techniques. One will then be driven into a hypnagogic state followed by an OBE or in this case, projection. Once you reach this state, you are left to operate in a different reality. There are returning rituals as well followed by closing a door to return back to your normal physical state. Many of these rituals might include traditional medicine, music and dancing. You are required to self- liberate your soul to go through this process without resistance. Therefore, you need to be comfortable with the rituals.

One disclaimer here: many people are afraid of shamanic or any kinds of rituals, since we have been taught the perception that they are parts of witchcraft. I do respect different Western upbringings; if, however, you are already practicing meditation, then you need to know that you are already comfortable with an Eastern tradition that would have been considered bad for you a few centuries ago in different parts of the world. I do not say this to scare you. In fact, I’d like to help you realize that it is okay to try these rituals out and, once again, you will not be possessed by a demon. Many of these practices are actually healing to your body and there are so many people now returning to their ancestral practices to find healing for things that Western medicine cannot heal.

If you are still scared of such rituals, you do not need to start here. Also, you can try doing activation meditation with the likes of Christina Lopes who incorporates a lot of traditional rituals with modern meditation techniques to heal different chakras and help you come into full connection with your inner being. These rituals can offer some of the quickest ways to OBE especially when you are relaxed and have the courage to just go with different instructions.

The Pharmacological Entry Method

Apart from being in control of your entire system, you can use different types of medicines to achieve these altered states. There are two ways to look at this. First, we have the traditional medicine that many cultures have been using over the years. We already know of shamanic rituals and there is a part of the process that involves traditional medicine. This becomes a complementary way of inducing OBEs. Secondly, we have the use of modern hallucinogens, sedatives, tranquilizers and stimulants. However, using some of the modern drugs may inhibit a pure OBE. Many of them are considered hallucinations, thus making it harder to determine if one really got the success they were looking for. The likes of Robert Monroe speak against drugs and alcohol, claiming that these items inhibit OBE and other types of projection.

Some of the drugs that have been used in OBE tests include ketamine dextromethorphan (DXM or DM) and phencyclidine (PCP). There have been reports of the use of Salvia divinorum where users have reported to leave the body and travel to different places in an instant. It almost feels like their soul fell out of their body.

Between modern and traditional medicines, the latter seems to be a bit easier on the body and somehow correspond with other natural ways of projecting. You can choose either if you wish to try the drugs way; as agreed by many other OBE and projection researches, drugs are not the best way to do so although they could at times be faster. This is because you are not actually learning the skills and in one can even term it as giving your control abilities to these drugs, especially during entry. It would therefore be much better and more recommended for you to try other natural ways of doing so. It might take longer but once you find your method and stick to it, it will be much easier to make an entry naturally.

Finding Your Method

With a foundation of the methods available that will help you hack the entry stage, you now need to find methods that work best for you. As you begin the process, it will feel like a trial and error experience. No need to worry. I understand that this is where many frustrations come in. It would be absurd, however, to imagine that you will get it right from the word go. Due to many beliefs we have had for long and other physical world limitations, you will need to be patient with yourself and learn to take your time. There are five routes that might come to your rescue or somehow make you feel comfortable as you move from one reality to the next. Learn and try and see which one is most familiar. Remember that this is your personal adventure.

Taking the Familiar Route

This is the best way to start projecting even if it is not exactly through an astral plane you have never been around before. Here you use pathways that are quite familiar to you, as a physical entity. It's like teaching yourself to get from where you are to a familiar place. To do this:

1. Start by identifying a place that will be familiar or easy to remember. It could be the door to your house or the door into your bedroom.

2. Now, you need to pick all the details you can about this door, both from where you will be in the room while sleeping and the other side of the door.

3. Keep waking through this door and back to the bed until you are positive you completely see every detail with your eyes closed. You might need to do this for days or several times in a day until your mind has fully memorized the details you pick.

4. Once you are certain you have all the details you need, now go back to your bed and relax. Try to fall asleep.

5. You can use the mind awake-body asleep method or any other concentration technique. You can even sleep and try to lucid dream. This is often a great place to start with different kinds of projections.

6. See if you can wake up or project yourself through this door with your body on the bed or a seat in the room.

If you are successful, congratulations, you have finally made your first voluntary projection. If not yet, then keep picking details of this familiar path before you sleep and see if you will project during your sleep.

The best way to consciously do this is to aim for a time when your body is not really tired and just wants to sleep. For this reason, night time after a heavy meal or during your normal bedtime is often the worst time to project. At such a time, your body is too tired or is already busy digesting, so that is where all your energy will go. Try to look for a time when you are full of energy and your mind is alert. It will also be much easier since you will pick the details on your pathway easily.

Another popular question asked in such times, is how comfortable your lying surface should be? As comfortable as you can make it. If you are not comfortable, your body will be too tense to rest so the astral body can cross to its realms. So, the more comfortable the resting position the better. And no, this is not a mind game. Many people say that since you have already mastered where you will walk through, it is a mental technique to remember things around you when you sleep. The same way that you can wake up and see the number five, then see it everywhere for the rest of the day. While this does happen and there is scientific evidence that illustrates how, when projecting you will know the difference, since you will be able to do much more than crossing through that familiar door. It will be the pick point to start but not the only thing you will do. The only way is to remain conscious while doing this and try as much as possible not to get scared when it happens. Many people finally do it and then they get so excited that they get back into their physical bodies right after. To avoid this, get excited, but try to retain the mental and energy balance so you stay out for a while. With time, you will get used to it.

Special Motivation

Have you ever had an urge to eat something off your official meal hours, but the urge is too strong to bypass it? No matter how often you try to distract yourself, you keep going back to the idea that you need to satisfy that desire. What happens next? You will suddenly start looking for ways to satisfy that desire, even if it means spending more than you would have otherwise. This is the same way that the special motivation technique works. You force projection by giving yourself a physiological desire to accomplish a need or an urge. Muldoon and Carrington suggested that one can use a strong unconscious desire to trigger an OBE. The best example here is something like a thirst for water. Avoid using emotional desires like sex as this can somehow inhibit the experience instead of creating the trigger you want.

1. You can try to keep yourself from taking water yet build up the desire that you have to. If it is okay with your health, take half a teaspoon of salt to build the urge. Once you do that, put a glass of water before you and concentrate on it.

2. Pick as many details you can as possible about this glass of water. Now imagine how you would wake from your bed or sit and go for that water.

3. If you are asleep, picture the process from when you lift the blankets off your body to when you get to the table. Once you get there, what will you do? Will you pull the chair and sit or will you just take the water and drink it? Answer such questions and make sure you repeat the process in your head a few times. Do this continuously.

4. Now get to bed or on the couch, and try to induce the hypnosis state where the body is at rest but the mind is at work.

Just like the previous method, if you are successful, you will be able to project your astral body from your physical body and go for the water. The people who have ignited their projection using this method suggest that a deep desire might be the motivation you need to project yourself to do something and spark the phenomenon. If you are one who can use such desires to get a job done or to avoid procrastination, then this might be something that could naturally work for you. However, be careful not to be so physically motivated that your physical body wakes us to quench your thirst. Also, there might be a concern that because of the unmet thirst, you will not be able to concentrate or relax your body to sleep. While there is some truth, it is all about mind control. When you become more progressive with different body and mind control techniques, you will make it much easier to induce a projection of such motivations.

A Three-Person Technique

Teamwork can be just as productive for astral projection and G.M. Glasking was so convinced about this method that he published how to do it in several books including, Windows of the Mind. This method works with three people: the projector and two friends to support him/her.

1. You and the team are supposed to find a dark room with a bed where you (the projector) can rest. It might be your own room or someone else’s.

2. Once you comfortably lay down on your back and are good to go, one of your supporters will station themself around your head area while the other around your feet area.

3. You will then relax as they massage your head and feet. They should do this for a while until you start hearing some buzzing sound in your ears. It could be a bit uncomfortable at first but go with it and resist the urge to get up or open your eyes.

4. Once they do this, they will then take you through an imagery process. Here, you will have several pictures to elaborate until your guides are comfortable.

5. Next, you will be asked to imagine where your feet are and then imagine your feet being a bit longer than usual.

6. You will then return your feet back to their original size.

7. You are required to do the same process with your head. Lengthen it and then bring it back to its original size.

8. You will then repeat this alternatively, then simultaneously until it feels like your body has entirely filled the room you are in.

9. Next, you will move into the exploration stage.

10. Here, your guides will ask you to now move out of the room in your astral body and elaborate what you see. They should help you capture as many details as you can.

11. You can try some extraordinary abilities such as jumping to the roof, trying to fly, and so on.

12. If you can do this then they will test your freedom such as asking to switch from day to night or the other way round depending on the time you entered this state. This will prove that you are now in total control of your planes and so you can be left to astral project as far as you wish.

You will not always need the guides to bring you back. At least not for many people.

This process has taken ten minutes to about an hour on average for those who have tried it. The time duration should not scare you as long as you are able to do it at the end of the day. This is one of the exercises that does not need much practice. Many people have ‘accidentally’ projected using the concept while trying to test if it works. For this reason, it is among the easiest techniques you can use especially if you are afraid of trying to project alone. Your guides do not need to be hypnotherapists as such. A long as they know the steps to take, and you can follow their lead then it will be an easy task. You can then repeat the process as many times as you want.

The three people technique does not have to necessarily involve three people. You can tweak some areas to make it a one-person process. You only need to be able to self-induce your hypnosis. Instead of people rubbing your feet and head, you can imagine the energy around these two areas until you feel that the concentration is still present as you go onto the next step. You therefore need to learn a bit of energy work to do this alone. But that should not scare you: energy work is quite easy and you work hand-in-hand with concentration. The better you get at this, the easier it will be to use this method alone. But again, you can use your guides in the meantime. Whatever works for you.

Robert Monroe’s Method

Robert Monroe outlined a rather technical way of astral projecting in his book, Journeys out of the Body. Although his method is a bit detailed, it is worth a trial just in case you relate to it.

1. To prepare, find a rather darkened room. It does not have to be totally dark but dark enough for you to relax and maybe even sleep. You can shut your windows and close the curtains to attain this if you are trying it during the day.

2. You then have to find magnetic north. It might help if you have a compass, or watch where the sun rises and sets to get the east and west, then find the north from there.

3. Once you find it, sit or lay down facing north.

4. Ensure you do not have any jewelry or metallic objects on your body. These items might interfere with the process.

5. Loosen your clothes as well but make sure you stay warm. If your body gets chilled it might trigger an immature return or even keep you too concentrated on the physical to find yourself out of the body.

6. With all the above in check, start relaxing and repeating the mantras, “I will consciously perceive and remember all that I encounter during this relaxation procedure. I will recall in detail when I am completely awake only those matters which will be beneficial to my well-being.”

7. Now induce the hypnagogic state by breathing with your mouth half open.

He does not suggest any preferred methods of entering into the half sleep half awake state but you can incorporate other practices already covered in this book. According to Monroe, when you start seeing images in your brain, then this is a sign that you have entered a hypnagogic state and so pay attention to the inner eye behind your head to retain the images. This is called condition A and you are required to hold it as long as you can, even though it's only a dark image. Try to ignore the light patterns created by inner charges.

The passing of the neural charges will be the evidence of you entering into condition B. This leads you to the next condition C which is one of deeper relaxation and you lose the sense of your physical body and outside sensory stimulations. At this point, only your awareness or inner thoughts can create any forms of sensations or suggest them. Next, you need to go deeper to condition D that is even more concentrated and have a deeper relaxation. Now you can envision looking through a blackness just a foot before you and mark your concentration there. Move this concentration to three foot then six and finally turn it 90 degrees upward reaching above your head.

You will then reach out for the vibrations above your head and pull them towards your head. You will know these vibrations by their buzzing or hissing sounds. Sometimes it could be some fiery sparks which come roaring into your head. The vibrations will then sweep over your body, creating a rigid and immobile feeling like the paralysis we talked about earlier. This will be a sign that you have now taken control of the vibration and pulsing them.

There you have it, the full Robert Monroe method. It is quite technical with so many details, you can easily lose a few if you are not keen. I would therefore recommend it for people who are fully confident and those who are good with details. After the vibration, you will soon be out of your body.

The Rope Pull Method

This is another pretty simple and common way to project yourself out of the body. It takes you being aware of another body within your physical body to make it happen. You can either do this laying down or seated on a comfortable couch, whichever of the two are comfortable with.

1. For starters, imagine how it would be to have a body within your physical body. This is like drawing your consciousness to your astral body.

2. Now, try rubbing the hands of this inner body together and feel the grip and energy as you would if you were

3. You can try drawing your senses to other parts of your body such as the legs, head and heart. This should be easy since you are using your senses just like you would have for your physical body, but now with your inner body.

4. Once you are positive that you have done enough sensory activities, imagine a strong rope falling on top of your head. There are people who suggest you see the rope in your front even if you are sleeping. Either of the two scenarios can work.

5. If the rope is at the top of your head, start imagining yourself holding it tight and having the confidence that it cannot break.

6. Let this rope pull your inner body out of your physical body. If it is in front of you, it should feel like someone pulling you from the other side. If it is at the top of your head, then it’s pulling you upward. Some people recommend that you climb out of the body using this rope. You can try either of these three techniques to see which one best resonates with you.

7. You might hang on to the rope for a while until you feel secure enough to let it go. By this time, you will be well out of your physical body and into the astral planes. You will be at liberty to explore these environments as much as you want and also come back to the body when you wish. No, you do not have to use the rope to get back to your body performing this action using your physical body.

While practicing this technique, you still need to first start by being relaxed. Meditation and breathwork can help with this while still allowing you not to lose your posture. Once you are well relaxed, you can then start the imagining rope step and then project your astral body. You can also do it periodically as it causes some people to panic at first. Today try getting a part of yourself out then back and relax, then the next time you can ensure that your entire body finds its way to the other realms. Once you master technique, you will start finding it easy to exit without the rope. The rope can be what Florence Scovell likes to call your horseshoe. The horseshoe idea comes from a story she loved to tell about a lady who was looking for some kind of help from God and found a horseshoe along the way. This shoe became, to her, a sign that presence was with her. It’s the concept that Catholics have for their rosary or when you had a lucky blanket as a child. I think the lucky blanket is more practical here since you eventually outgrow it, the same way you might outgrow your rope after you get better with astral projection and gain more control and awareness around your astral reality.

The good thing about the rope technique is that you do not have to be too visual to pull it off. If you are not good with visualization, this is a great technique to use, since you will work with your senses more than an actual picture. Visualizing the rope is a small part of the experiment although it is the entire focal point but it is quite simple to do.

Of all these mentioned techniques, I personally do not have a favorite but there are some, such as the rope technique, that give you a pretty easy place to start. You can save the likes of the Robert Monroe technique for a more advanced stage. You are at liberty to choose which one best suits your process. You never know, you might like the one that not many would go for. Again, try as much as possible not to be too judgmental about any of them so you do not limit yourself. The more you practice, the better you’ll get.

Preparing to Lift Off

Astral projection and many other forms of OBE will not only give you something extraordinary to work with, they will also help you expand your mind and work on your health. There is so much that goes into the work to help your body relax and also give you the opportunity to take charge of your physical body and mind. The lift off process focuses on many of these techniques since there is no other way that you can voluntarily induce a projection. Rest and relaxation can also be described as another doorway to projection. Even in involuntary experiences, your physical body has to be in such a state that the astral body can project. This is why you sometimes do not remember dreams, since your physical body was relaxed enough to go into deep rest before anything happened.

To prepare for lift off, you will need to get familiar with a few relaxation techniques, some of which we have already mentioned. The most profound one and that which is widely used is hypnosis. You can carefully use any of the already discussed methods to practice hypnosis or work with a hypnotherapist. If there is one around your area, I’d suggest you make time to visit their offices to gain better understanding on how hypnosis works. Another great place to collect all hypnosis knowledge materials is in the metaphysics section of the library. You will also understand how the brain works in the process and learn several scientific facts that will help you get comfortable around the topic. You will need to practice several before you can finally hack how to do it on your own. Look for online seminars that involve the same techniques to experience diverse ways of carrying them out. While you’re at it, ensure that you are focusing your sessions on relaxation mostly since this is the training you really need at this point. As the body continues to get used to slipping into these states much faster, you will realize that you might not need as many instructions as you did before.

The next method that helps a lot of people work on the lifting processes is the audio brainwave entrainment method. This is an extremely powerful method and a lot of people have reported numerous success stories from the same. Just like hypnosis, the method is quickly becoming a favorite for the majority. You do not need much, just a good pair of noise cancelling headphones or earphones and a quality brainwave entrainment audio. These audios are specially engineered to create easy-to-follow-along techniques with repetitive music, nature sounds or drumming. Some might include a guide’s voice taking you through the process just like in meditation while others are purely sound waves music. It is the easiest method available and both Robert Monroe and Robert Bruce agree that if you are looking for a fast and easy way to induce relaxation, then this is it.

Progressing muscle techniques come in close on the same list. Athletes love it since it helps relax and somehow rejuvenate your physical body. You can easily pull it off on your own by bringing your consciousness to different parts of your body and simply draw them into relaxed states. You can start with feet muscles, from your toes to your ankles, then move to your calves, thighs, torso, all the way to the arms, neck and finally the face. You can repeat this process until your entire body feels totally free and relaxed. If you are able to pull this off, you will easily induce a hypnagogic state. You can combine it with the brainwaves method for a wholesome experience where both your body and your mind are relaxed.

Breathwork, too, helps with both the body and mind relaxation. It involves taking deep breaths for 15 minutes to release all the tension in your nerves. You can have a guided breathing session or improvise one for yourself. You could even make a personal audio tape for only fifteen minutes to use every time you want to do the breathing exercise.

The tape might include a procedure or set of instructions like the one outlined below:

1. Sit in a comfortable position with your head up and your back straight or lie down with your back well outlined.

2. Close your eyes (wait for say, 30 seconds).

3. Gently draw your awareness to your breathing and observe yourself taking in scoops of air and letting it out. (Wait for 30 seconds.)

4. Do not try to alter the breathing; allow it to flow naturally. (Wait for a minute.)

5. Now draw your awareness to another part of your body and feel some sensation around it. (Wait for a minute.)

6. Finally let go of any thought or expectation and sit, enjoying the breeze or the stillness (wait for about 10 minutes).

7. Draw your consciousness back to your body and gently open your eyes.

Generally, many meditation practices that involve breath work use such instructions. The same applies to energy work. You can practice this about twice daily or even thrice if you can steal an uninterrupted 15 minutes.

We have mentioned visualization before and it’s another way to get you started on your lift off. Although not many people consider themselves to be visual oriented, quite a number can work with mental or even physical images to enter into a relaxed state. According to Dr. Caroline Leaf, human beings have seven dominant types of intelligence. These are intrapersonal, interpersonal, linguistic, mathematical, kinesthetic, musical and visual intelligence. By understanding your most dominant one, you make it much easier to know how to work with your power to complement your weaknesses instead of working too hard on your weaknesses and neglecting your power. There is a test you take to determine this on her website.

If you have a powerful visual ability or intelligence, this means you can easily work with both physical and mental images. A technique such as the special motivation technique will require a strong use of this. Many guided meditations and hypnosis might also include this; for instance, the three- person technique. You can practice visualization even when you are not really in the process of inducing a projection to get better at it. We will focus on a number of such practices later in this chapter when looking at astral projection exercises.

You can easily work on your lift off by building vibration awareness. According to quantum physics, everything is made of energy. Your body, your emotions, your thoughts and your consciousness, too. This means that you can easily manipulate one form of energy by using and understanding the one you are in control of. Vibration work is energy awareness work. Different forms of energy vibrate differently thus creating different types of matter. You can be more aware of different vibrations by imagining a tingling feeling passing through your body. You can practice this by moving this vibration from head to toe and back, maybe even down one side and up the other. The idea is to make it as familiar as possible so you do not panic when it comes about during a projection.

Another similar technique is energy body awareness. Here, you are not just working on the vibration sensation but also working with the body that is said to cause it. There are so many energy work exercises you can utilize today. From the pushing energy method to the radiating energy and also the waving energy exercises, you have plenty to work with. We will go deeper into these energy practices in the astral projection exercises.

All in all, these methods are used to help your lift off and should be practiced as many times as possible. You do not always have to be locked indoors to do them. Sometimes you just need to find even five minutes to yourself to try them out. It will almost be like projection will have taken over your life but in a good way. Remember it helps improve your body functioning as well, so you can look at it as a life enhancement technique.

Going into a Trance

A trance state can be referred to as a form of an altered state. We all fall into a trance state when we go to bed, whether we feel it or not. As one of the main goals of astral projection, we need to learn how to go to sleep or put the body into sleep while the mind is awake. This is what induces a voluntary trance state. It is quite blissful and very relaxing, plus there are three levels you will need to cross according to Robert Bruce.

The first one is the light trance state. It is almost like the day dreaming experience. When you are trying to relax, your body starts to feel heavy and your eyelids start to droop. It is like you are in a slight sleep and there is a mild wave of heaviness. You will even find it hard to focus on specific thoughts. Such an experience might be accompanied by light flashes and the mind’s eye might be a bit awake. You might see some flickering visions that appear cobweb-like. You will then feel a kind of warmth that overwhelms your body with some fuzziness and brief dissociations from the physical body. If one can get to this state and maintain physical relaxation, then you might be able to induce an OBE. Although this is the easiest form of trance to enter, it is just as fragile. One can easily break it when interrupted and it only lasts for about twenty minutes.

The second stage is the medium trance state. Here, your body easily falls into sleep as the heaviness is much more profound compared to the mild trance. You will need to utilize your willpower to stop the mind from following the body. Vibrations begin to increase and you can start seeing some changes in how you feel your environment. When maintained, you will get to a place where the environment feels almost empty and the background senses will continue to disappear. You can try some physical movements at this point which will feel quite uncomfortable with a bit of tingling and stomach discomfort. You will need to keep your focus and hold your imagery skill close. Concentration is key. Also, try to keep the head up so you do not lose your consciousness. A beginner often spends a lot of time between the light or mild trance state and the medium state.

Thirdly, we have the deeper trance states. In simpler terms, this is where the medium trance states go even deeper. The state is accompanied by a lot of strange sensations including the sense of heat leaving the body and slowing down of your heart rate. Paralysis is another common symptom and it is quite unlikely to get into such a trance accidentally. Very few people have done it while a majority needed a bit of practice and learning how to let go of their physical grip to get here. One can easily induce a trance and there are a few techniques as noted by Robert Bruce.

Such techniques include:

• Deep physical relaxation. You need to be completely relaxed to induce a trance or you won’t be able to do so. Even if you somehow make it happen, you will not enjoy it for too long.

• Clear surface mind. This is where you need to take charge of your mind. Whenever random thoughts appear, you should learn how to let them drift away until your mind gives up on making noise. If it persists, wake up and write on a piece of paper or notebook, then go back to your relaxing state. Focusing on your breathing will help significantly.

• Trance induction technique. These are the methods you use to physically induce a trance. Such techniques give you something to work with that helps clear your mind, bring some focus and maintain a relaxed state.

Once you can induce a trance, you will need to learn how to maintain it and keep your thoughts from interfering with the experience. Some techniques that will come in handy include the elevator technique, where you envision yourself in an elevator as it goes down. You will need to work with both your feelings and your imagination for this to work. If you cannot picture an elevator, try remembering the last time you used one and how it felt to go down in it. It is okay if you will need to find an elevator close by and use it before resuming the exercise. Once you are finally able to imagine it, try and hold that image for as long as you can. Memorize every detail of how it felt and duplicate it until it comes to you naturally every time you will need to go into a trance state.

You can also use the ladder method for the same outcome. In this case, focus all your awareness on your physical body and imagine being on top of a building or a cliff with a descending ladder in front of you. Now, pay attention to your hands and feet and bring them to hold the ladder as if you are getting set to climb down. You can then begin to go down the ladder a step at time. Make sure this feels as natural as possible. You can even try climbing down a ladder while holding its sides instead of following your feet with your hands. Whichever of the two can work. If you have recently used a ladder, then this will be much easier, since you will only need to remember the experience and then extend the ladder to make sure it is as long as you need to keep descending before you can enter into a trance.

Next, we have the steps scenario. Here, you will need to see yourself at the top of a building that has hundreds of stairs that you need to use to get to the last floor. While standing at the top, see yourself taking the first step down. Lift your other foot and step on the next step down. You can try feeling the wall texture while at it to build your concentration. Continue going down and down until you completely fall into a trance. You can also climb down a rope, though you have to have the confidence that this rope will not break. If you are afraid of heights, this technique might not be as accurate for you. You can try the steps scenario instead. Try imagining yourself as a light weather feather or leaf floating in air. Imagine how it would really be to have that light feeling as you slowly drop in the ground. You can hold this image, too, for a while as you observe the total existence of this weather. You will soon fall into a trance as well.

Just like hypnosis, you can also induce a trance through listening to some types of music. There are people who cannot fall asleep unless they listen to music right before or during sleep. If you are one of these kinds of people, then using audio instrumentals or the brainwave technique can help induce you into a trance. Affirmations can work just as well. You can say something like, down, down, down, down... Or mind awake-body asleep. This will give your brain something to work with especially if you are trying to get to the mind awake-body asleep state.

While entering into a trance is a great way to induce an altered state that later translates to an OBE or a projection, many people face several problems while at it. The most common one is deeply falling asleep instead of falling into a trance state. This happens when you have not yet mastered the mind awake-body asleep technique. You therefore need to work on mindfulness or your awareness while at it. Also, if you are trying to enter into a trance state when you are tired, say you are just from the gym or out with friends, or a long day at work, you will be unfit for the experience. It is like planning to fail before you even start. To stop this from happening, ensure that you have had enough rest before trying to go into the trance state. Also, check that you are sleeping at night as this can affect how well you practice getting into a trance even during the day.

The other major problem with trying to induce the trance state is starting to have them often without even recognizing it. Some people imagine that this is a sign that their bodies are finally learning how to do it automatically, or they are becoming gurus. It might seem so but this is only a myth. In fact, if you are now experiencing trances without knowing, it is a sign that you are losing control of your body. You therefore need to be more aware of what is happening. To stop this from happening, try to always catch yourself as you start before going too far. Also, practice being conscious during the day and intentional about how your day runs. If you are overworking your physical body, it can also respond by easily drifting into a trance, so ensure that you are taking care of your physical body. Watch what you eat as well. For example, do not go for a very heavy meal for lunch if you know you will be in the office for the rest of the day. Simple mindful exercises will help solve this.

The Travelling and the Returning Process

Travelling in the astral planes is the most exciting bit of this entire process. Just imagine, we have been discussing all the ways to relax, stay calm and take control of your body just to get here. And congratulations if you have been able to induce even the slightest form of projection. Now, getting started on different astral planes is not often the easiest task. For some people it is, but others will have to learn how to take control of their environment before they can really explore. At first you might experience the mind flickering problem. This often happens when the astral body is still too close to the physical body. This causes the two minds to attract and detach from each other continuously thus causing the altered kind of vision. When this happens, project your astral body further. According to Robert Bruce, six feet from the physical body should be a safe place to start. Here you will have completely liberated your astral body to have a mind of its own.

Because the astral body is now out does not mean that you will begin to do all the tremendous things you have read and heard about. At times even moving your body gets hard. This is when you are more of an observer than a participant. The state is still okay but you might need to start drawing your awareness to your physical body so you can start walking at least, before you think of running, flying and so on. If you are able to walk, try walking in and out of the room you are in and see how far you can go. This can then be followed by going out and trying to run. You will notice that a lot of what you do on these astral planes is more inclined to your intention and not really your physical feeling, physical here meaning your astral body awareness. Some people will not even see parts of their astral body at first. It will be like watching a movie or something and you are switching from scene to scene with your mind. This is why intention exercises are recommended for people who astral project.

When walking, you will realize that walking inside a building seems to be more natural than outside, according to a few testimonies. Once you are outside, how you get from one point to another can either be through directly changing your location in an instant or moving at supersonic speed from one place to another. Whichever works for you should be fine. You can send out the intention, to run or jump or fly. Flying seems to be the most unnatural movement method, since it is also not common in the physical 3D world. You can try imagining yourself floating in the sky for starters. Once you can confidently do this, then try moving from one place to another in the sky without appearing and disappearing. Like running in space. This will help you work on your flying skills a great deal. The more you get one technique done, the easier it gets to unlock other skills.

Exploring the astral planes is like learning to live on earth.

1. You first become aware that you are outside your body and take in all the sensations that accompany that.

2. Soon you start learning how to find your way around the room you are in, just to explore the familiarity of it.

3. You then feel safe and confident enough to go outside and explore the outside of an astral plane.

4. You can then try to interact with nature while you are on the other side and see how it feels.

Do not be afraid to fall. Often, even if you do and hit the ground instead of your astral body falling back into the physical body, you will not feel the pain. Not like in the physical world. Maybe a bit of pressure as you land or some bouncing effect. It will be that simple.

Exploring astral planes

There are so many ways to focus your astral exploration. According to Robert Monroe, such levels are composed of different frequencies. According to Eastern traditions, astral planes are divided into seven dimensions, each containing internal layers called sub plans, internal kingdoms and realms. Quantum physics speaks of multidimensional planes and there many other concepts that try to explain different astral realities such as links to the major chakras. Finding the ‘truest’ elaborations has not been easy and in some sense, we cannot say that one is less true than the other. According to my understanding, people have explored these dimensions from diverse angles such that they cannot really see what another does. At least not until you try to look for the synchronicities. This does not mean that anybody is wrong, it just means these experiences are different. It is almost like the story of the five blind dwarfs that were placed before an elephant at different positions and asked to elaborate what an elephant is like. Each one had a different answer based on

where they were standing. This means that we will all have some bias in our experiences, based on what might seem to be familiar.

There is no doubt that people do meet other humans as they project and there are those who walk into environments that even look like out of space. Some never make it out of planes that look like the physical realms, while there are others who have even interacted with akashic records. Robert Bruce likens the astral realms to a gigantic book. This is because these realities have miles and miles of creations, kingdoms and realities yet all of them have some type of relation just like each chapter leads to another and the other seeks to explain what happened before or give a projection to the future. You can therefore not judge another’s experience but seek to have your own. This is the only way to hold your reality as your truth.

Astral planes have sub planes too, although they are not planes you can see with your 3D reality mindset. You can experience them emotionally, spiritually and using your psychic abilities. It is possible to shift in between realities and projectors don’t even realize when they do it. Some cross kingdoms while others seem to be moving from city to city. According to Robert Bruce, there are astral planes that are closer to reality than others. Others can be seen as void areas and others appear to be in between two flickering realities. You enter astral planes first through the plane-type structure method which is often a two-dimensional kind of plane. This grid extends to infinity and has geometric patterns repeated endlessly. A tube-type structure will also lead you into these planes. The tube still has geometric patterns that are often brightly colored. You can see an exit point in these planes since they are marked by a change in patterns. These different patterns mark different energy levels and activities in the planes. A common entrance point is the light tunnel and this one does not need much explanation. Many OBE experiences begin with a beam of light that is quite bright but not necessarily blinding.

Since some people need to learn through these planes as they progress, you will not always see them as elaborated above. You will need to learn how to induce a real time experience or visit real time zones. It could even take years to get here and some of the astral projection gurus did not achieve them in a day. Some of the dimensional shift experiences will feel like a fall or a sudden immersion as you see yourself going through a tube-type structure.

Astral rest areas are also a phenomenon one experiences, especially as part of a near death experience. This is where your ether body goes to rest, sleep or dream to process a particular life and somehow recover or plan the way forward. Such planes are quite familiar with Dr. Brian Weiss' patients who remember their past lives. Very few people can remember these planes- as few as those who have the chance of remembering their past lives. Soul groups meet in such areas and it is possible to contact some loved ones who have died but are on these planes before they reincarnate. You can read through Robert Bruce’s experience of these realms and you can appear in them yourself during astral projection as a visitor.

The coming back process is the easiest of them all. Not much effort is needed here. For some people, a small interruption can cause their astral body to come back to their physical body. It happens almost in an instance. This is why sometimes when you wake up, it feels like you have only been sleeping for a minute. It’s like your physical mind was switched off for a moment. Something like falling on a staircase, missing a step or a sudden push can easily induce a comeback. Among the myths we have discussed earlier, one confirms that there is no way you can miss to come back. You will not lose your body or get so lost that you cannot find your way back. There is a disclaimer here: according to one of Robert Bruce’s experiences and one of his friend’s there are cases where you see your body but for some reason you cannot find the way to come back.

When this happens, it is only natural to panic; try as much as you can to remain calm. You are unable to return to your body because your body is too restful or too tired to wake up at the moment. This does not mean you are now dead and you will go on to the next world. In fact, if anything as small as an alarm or a phone call occurs at the instance when you were trying so hard to return, then this will be a trigger that you were waiting for a comeback. It is that simple. Therefore, if you ever find yourself stuck outside, do not panic. Go on experiencing your environment. You can even see it as an extended time to visit other realms. Be free to do whatever you want. When the body finally rises, it will rise with your astral body in it.

Another common myth is that stopping an OBE instantly can be dangerous or even cause death. Unless it is a complete alteration of the brain, this cannot happen. If the person is completely healthy, that is with no heart issues that can trigger a heart attack, the person will just wake up the same way you would have if someone suddenly woke you up. Of course, they will feel a bit confused, take some time to understand where they are, who you are or what they were doing before they projected. Other than that, everything will be back to normal within a few seconds.

As soon as one wakes up from a projection, especially self- induced, they should find a way to remember everything that happened. This is just an exercise to make sure that you still hold this memory for future use or to have something to testify.

As you can see, once you are past the induction state, you will be as good as done with all the hard work. The only work you will need to do while projecting is expanding your realities. This will need a bit of confidence work so you do not stay limited in one area. Learning to walk, run, fly, using different entrance methods is not as hard. At this point, you are using your intention which is stronger on the astral planes compared to the physical realm. Astral realms are more open and possibilities do not come with many limitations such as gravity, lack of knowledge or other energy resistance. You will be able to do so much as long as you are open to it.

Astral Projection Exercises

Just because you had your first projection does not mean that that is it. Well, you can stop here and move on to something else, but why do that if you can do something to make your experiences even better? This is why you need astral projection exercises. Some of the exercises here will help you master control, practice relaxation, energy work and even memory techniques. My aim is not only to get you started but also to help you become quite good at it. It will take time, yes, sorry to all the instant gratification fans, but the time spent will be worth it. Many of these exercises are quite easy to undertake and I can promise some sense of awe and enjoyment while at it. Others will mean going beyond your comfort zone since it is not something that your physical body is used to.

Breath Work for Relaxation

This is the most natural exercise you commit to doing. It’s easy and you do not always need to be in maximum concentration to pull it off. The basics involve drawing your awareness to your breathing and you can do this any time. Whether you are on your way to work, on the bus or relaxing at home. Any time you remember your breathing, you bring your awareness to notice as the breath goes in and out without really looking for a way to manipulate it. Once this becomes natural, you can then work on intentional breath work following the steps we outlined earlier on. Always try to schedule at least fifteen minutes for this then you can start increasing the time to twenty and then half an hour.

Breath work helps with relaxation. Some energy cleansing meditations incorporate breath work where every breath in means taking in clean and pure energy and breathing out means letting go of toxic energy. Here, you work with different energy sockets symbolized by your fingers. You connect the tips of your thumb and first finger to create the first socket, then your middle finger with the thumb, the ring finger and finally your pinky. You can thus incorporate this technique with your breath work for a wholesome experience.

Breath work also helps with letting go of stress and body strain. Many times, a lot of your muscles are so tight due to the accumulation of stress and unpleasant circumstances that humans go through daily. This eventually leads to stress, both physically and mentally. Breath work allows you to be more aware of these tensed up areas, thus helping you let go of all that tension. A typical human being is barely aware of such small things yet they are some of the main problems that lead to health deterioration and bad moods. The more you practice relaxation using breath work, the more you allow your body to declutter, the same way that you take time to clean your house or your closet.

Energy Exercises

I’ve mentioned breath work as part of the things you can do to clear your energy. Another way to exercise working with energy is practicing being aware. Every time you feel a type of vibration, say on your leg, on your head, hand and so on, do not ignore it. Instead draw your awareness to the area and see if you can tell what the vibration means. It could be a simple thing as exerting too much pressure on your side that you start feeling some tingling sensation. That means that the energy there is a sign of too much pressure or discomfort. Some people suddenly feel a surge of energy on their brow and ignore it. People who study Kundalini awakenings consider this one of the symptoms that it could be happening to you. When working with your masculine side, you might feel some form of tingling or heat on your right side and on the left side when working with feminine energy.

We looked at chakras briefly and they are energy centers that you might be interested in learning more about. Some people are merely aware of where they are while there are others who literally feel them. There are guided meditations on working with chakras you can use to draw your attention more into those energy centers. Robert Bruce, in his book, Energy Work, talks about primary, secondary and tertiary energy centers and how to work with them. These entrances either serve as entrance, departure or storage centers for your energy. The primary storage centers are the brow, the heart and your belly.

Many times, when tensed up, you will feel some disturbance around these areas showing you where the issue might be. Unfortunately, not many people pay attention and so go for years with problems that are never solved, which eventually become toxic to the body.

You can easily play with energy by:

• Bringing your palms together without letting them interlock

• Wave them to create a ball of energy

• You can then push in and out of this ball to feel the bouncing effect.

Of course, there are people who will feel this more than others depending on their level of awareness and perceptions. If you pay attention and continue to do such practices, however, you will become more familiar with your energy.

Grounding is another way to work with your energy. A great practice is removing your shoes and walking barefoot in nature. This practice is said to help regulate energy since the electrons in your body find proper exit and entry points to balance themselves. Some eastern medicine practitioners recommend the experience even for stress relief. Generally being out in nature is a great grounding activity. One of the biggest mistakes that human beings made with modernization is trying as much as they can to get away from nature. We do not understand that the more separated we are from it, the more imbalanced we will feel. At times it will only take a slow walk in the park to clear your mind and think properly. These are the small things that nature uses to remind us that we cannot live without it and it would do us a lot of good if we only embraced that reality.

Visualization Exercises

Visualization exercises are not just useful for people who are projecting, they are also good for your brain and memory work. The more you practice being aware of an object near you, the more you start understanding it from a whole new level. A great example is how some smart scientists work. Take the example of Isaac Newton who realized or finally gave a name to gravity. He was seated one day and saw an apple falling from a tree. Before him, there were many people who used to knock apples off trees without really giving the thought as to why the apples were coming down and not flying away. Before Isaac, people were jumping all the time. But it took one man to be captivated by the technique of how nature works on the earth just by sitting somewhere and noticing nature.

This is what happens when you work with awareness and more particularly with visualization. As you sit there observing a glass of water or a pen without prior judgement, you realize that such simple things can make you notice some awe about life and in fact open your mind to a lot of greatness in the world that people often ignore. As the wise man Solomon said in the Bible, there is really nothing new under the sun. Every invention is just a realization of something that has always been in nature. Quantum physics has been operating in the universe since it came alive, but it took the likes of Albert Einstein and Heinrich Hertz to observe matter for a while in order to detect how it really operates.

You can practice on your visualization by trying to collect as many details as possible about a matter. When you see a tree, just look at it. You can take a chair and sit for minutes, even hours observing it. Watch how its leaves follow the wind and then come back. Watch how its trunk has different patterns, and be amazed by how tall it is or how wide its open roots are. Try to do this as often as you can. If you are not close to nature, it is okay to practice with small objects in the house. As you do it, let go of any prior judgements you might have had in the past about your item. Just allow it to be what it is at the moment. You will start realizing small details in things that help you relate to them with more appreciation.

Practicing Stillness and Silence

This is somehow the most challenging thing to do for us humans whereas it should have been the easiest. We came from the stillness of source, and yet we are so wound up with the noise and stories we pick on the earth that we forget that the very essence of who we are is in stillness and silence. Sadly, we love the drama too much to let it go and this is why we are always going in spirals trying to look for peace. Mystic teachers say that the cause of suffering is the judgement seat. The place where we sit and work so hard trying to figure out what is right and what is wrong. This is why Adam and Eve were not supposed to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Sadly, if you want the pleasure, you need to have the space to work with pain. With every positive, there has to be a negative and as long as these are the cards that you are playing, you will not always know a life without pain.

The stories in our heads are what make us lack sleep at night and prejudge people before we even give them the chance to reveal who they really are. What would really happen if we finally got tired of the drama in our heads? What if all we wanted was the quietness and the stillness? And in some sense, this is what most of us want but we are too afraid to let it go since being empty is too uncomfortable for the ego. According to Michael Singer, you have to be willing to let go of the noise in your head. Want the silence so much until it is the only thing that makes sense. This is how you surrender to the universe, by giving up your stories about it. Eckhart Tolle says that it does us better to be comfortable in the unknowing since this is where you start opening yourself up to divine knowledge instead.

To start practicing quietness, you need to notice these stories as soon as they show up. Every time your mind tells you something about someone else, a circumstance or even an object, take note of that thought as a story in your head. The deal is not to notice it to fight it but to shine light on it so it does not take control of your life as it has before. Eckhart calls this the ego centered self. You do not fight the ego. Doing that will only increase its existence. You get rid of it by shining your awareness to it and let it sweep away. Quietness is the first step to mastering inner stillness. Something on the outside will not affect you as long as it does not get into your soul. Things get into your soul by the stories you tell about them. If you stop telling these stories, you stop letting things affect you since you chose not to respond to them.

Meditation is a great technique to practice quietness and stillness. The method teaches you to be in yourself so your outer environment does not change your inner environment. This way you stop being a walking reactive agent to life and instead start creating the world you actually want to live in, and this is the wisdom that many Buddhism and Zen teachers try to pass on to their students and followers.

Confidence Exercises

Confidence is a key factor when trying out new things. Inasmuch as it does not come naturally, at least not for everyone, it is quite important. You will not be able to do a lot of things when you lack the confidence to start. The best way to practice confidence is by first of all doing things even if they scare you. Do it afraid. It is that simple. However, some people claim this to be easier said than done, which I agree with to some level. If you cannot do it, then look for the part in you that is not afraid. Beyoncé has a confident side known as Sasha fierce. Some of us need a Sasha fierce to build our confidence. If you believe that the shy you cannot do something, then invent a you who can and bring it to life every time you need to do something that would have otherwise been too scary for you.

Another way to work on your confidence is using the inquiry method. When you find yourself panicking about something, ask yourself why you are panicking. What is the story that has caused you to believe that you can’t or you shouldn’t do something? I find this to be the best way to work on your confidence since it involves getting to the root of the matter and not trying to heal mere symptoms, it will not be easy confronting some of your hidden demons but the sooner you get to them, the better you will be.

Memory Exercises

You need your memory working right especially for astral plane explorers. Unfortunately, you do not start by having the best. The good thing about this is that as soon as you start practicing how to improve it, the better you get. The first exercise you should try is the visualization exercise discussed earlier. This helps your memory a great deal. The more you know about something, the more you remember it. This is why the familiar path projection technique needs a person who is great at visualization. The more details you can pick about your route, the easier it will be to project through the path.

Another way to keep your memory active during and after a projection is by promptly writing down every detail that you remember once you wake from one. Have a pen and notebook at the side when projecting and once you come back, get writing. You will notice that the more you do this, the more your astral memory gets in tune with your conscious memory. This technique also works for lucid dreaming memories and normal dreams.

Finally, practice your memory techniques by attaching them to some emotions. If you haven’t noticed, a lot of the memories that you hold dear are always attached to how they make you feel. Maya Angelou said, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Emotions are therefore quite usable when working with your memories. If you are in an astral plane, how does the plane feel? Yes, you can have emotions with you as you project and you might as well make use of them to improve your experiences.

Practicing Mindfulness

Mindfulness might not be talked about in astral work but the fact that you are working with different spiritual or energy bodies means that you should consider going deeper in your spiritual practices in your physical world. In fact, projection might trigger a desire to be more mindful. Mindfulness is the art of being more present in the moment and sort of not letting life drift past you.

Practicing mindfulness is almost similar to practicing awareness. You do this by being in the moment and not letting your mind drift to what ifs and other worries. To do this easily, practice it shortly but periodically. For example, every time you are aware of a moment, bring your mind to the moment and just appreciate it. You can take deep breaths while at it. Another way is by practicing how to observe others without judgement. You could be in a queue at a restaurant, and instead of standing there lamenting about how long it is, just observe the people who are seated enjoying their meals. You can also stand outside on your balcony and just watch people as they walk past your house.

To be great at mindfulness, you have to first accept yourself. Accept yourself for who you are. What makes you different makes you great, whether other people say so or not. Accept the fact that you will not always get it right, at least not when you are still learning. The gentler you are with yourself, the easier it will be to extend the same grace to others especially when you are doing so in a healthy manner. I know there is a lot of toxic positivity going on now and this is not what I am trying to encourage. You will know that you are practicing a positive kind of self-love when you can extend the same love to others.

Mindfulness will open you to seeing more than what other people see. You will start noticing small things to be grateful for thus making your life much happier. This is the kind of acceptance that leads you to being open to even try other dimensions. You will start understanding that everything is one and that is all it can be. Therefore, projecting is just another way of expressing and coming into contact with all that is. It will even encourage you to try new adventures, and who knows what you will find? The more open you are to greater possibilities, the more open the universe will be to offering these possibilities to you.

Chapter Summary

• You need to get the preparation step right for a smooth astral projection experience.

• A safe voluntary astral projection experience begins with: a catalepsy period, deep physical relaxation, vivid mental awareness, and having the ability to relax during the astral process.

• Astral entry methods put the physical body in the best projection state.

• In the next chapter, you will learn about the astral projection obstacles and how to overcome them.