While scientists study the “mystical” out-of-body experiences and come up with theories, let’s try to explain what they are and where they come from, as well as how one can experience astral travel.
An out-of-body experience may be provoked by many different reasons, quite unpleasant ones: brain injury, sensory deprivation (lack of external stimuli), a near-death experience, the use of dissociative and some other drugs, artificial electrical stimulation of the brain, dangerous lack of sleep or dehydration, etc.
However, Canadian neuroscientists led by Claude Messier found a 24-year-old student capable of experiencing it by a simple act of will. After studying the function of her brain, they found a lot of interesting things.
As the researchers themselves describe the girl’s unique abilities,
“she can see herself spinning, lying or rolling on a horizontal plane in the air over her own body. It is reported that from time to time she can watch her body moving on, feeling that her “real” body remains motionless. According to the student, having such experiences is not connected to any particular emotional state.”
To find out, the scientists tracked the brain activity of the girl using fMRI. As a result, the brain scan detected a marked reduction of excitation in the visual cortex and increased activity in the areas associated with the perception of the kinesthetic image of one’s own body, its position, and movement in space.
Are out-of-body experiences real? At least, this study shows that such unbelievable things are quite possible and are real for the person experiencing them. However, it doesn’t provide any evidence that someone is indeed able to leave their physical body. All we know for now is that it’s possible to have such a subjective experience in your mind.
The 24-yar-old student was able to evoke this state with the help of her willpower. But does this mean that her “soul” has a unique gift to leave her own body? According to scientists, the explanation of this phenomenon has nothing to do with paranormal and mystical stuff.
Today, experts believe that all these astral travels are nothing more than a hallucination. They are caused by a small glitch in the coordination of neurons responsible for the primary processing and synthesis of incoming information, which most likely leads to confusion between the visual and tactile stimuli that get in the higher centers of the brain.
Roughly the same happens in cases of synesthesia when a stimulus “jumps” from one sensory system to another and leads to creating color sensations for sounds.
By the way, the Canadian neuroscientists believe that if one person has learned to evoke these “astral hallucinations” at will, why can’t the rest of us learn to do the same? If this skill does not have any practical use, we could at least get a new amazing experience. Among the methods to prepare the mind for an out-of-body experience, a simple self-hypnosis technique can be used.
First of all, find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed. Sit or lie down, relax, close your eyes, and imagine that your hands are touching an endless thick rope. Do not move, but imagine the process in detail, try to feel like moving your hands and fingers and touching the rope.
Once you have a clear image of that in your mind, start to climb up the rope. Feel the tension in your muscles. Do not try to see it visually, but only to feel it, just like if you were climbing up in the complete darkness.
If you try hard, then pretty soon, you will ‘get out’ of your own body. Have your eyes mentally “open” (or at least open your “third” eye) and see yourself from a height.
So are out-of-body experiences real, according to science? They are, but only to the person having them. It’s still unclear whether they are just hallucinations or something more tangible. In any case, they are strictly internal experiences, which makes it difficult to establish if it’s indeed possible for the consciousness to escape the physical body. Science tends to regard them as hallucinations or brain ‘glitches’.
Are out-of-body experiences real, according to you? If you managed to have one with the above exercise or practice astral travel using any other method, please describe your experience in the comments below!
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The authors of this study should be testing their subject for veridical (i,e., verified) perception during her OBEs by setting up target images for her to read while out of her body.
I'm 23 a haven't done it for awhile but I was really into Doing astro projection and studying about be calm. I was about 17 or 18 the first time I did it.it took me about 6 month to learn how to do it. For me I hade to be completely clean off all drugs even caffeine and would through me off even nicotine would through me off in the beginning and I wouldn't be able to do it . I would lay in the dark in bed for about an hour or two I would lay there with my hands at my side and my eyes closed. The first thing I would do to know that I was doing it is cross my arms or bring my hands together and I could feel my arm still at my side yet my hands where touching I would left/ get myself out of bed u have to be comfortable with your surroundings I walked out of my room note that my room is on the second floor. I walk through my upstairs hall way and headed towards the steps. I went down the steps but when I got to the last step I fell into an obis of darkness which I couldn't tell where I was and I was lost. Because you all was have a connection to your body I started to shack my bad that was still in bed I until I felt my arm/body com into its on and I open my eyes and lay up it was intense every once in awhile I try bit it seems like I can never get in the right state of mind and there are things that you see when your astro projecting dark shadows that's when you get back to your body my one good friend god rest his soul a couple of months before he passed away. Desided to do a out of body experience. His girlfrind was in the other room she randomly starts feel a cold gust of air and her hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she's gets a real bad vibe a of u want to call it demonic/ evil vibe she run in the room my friend ways laying in and shacks him and he's not responding he finally jumps up and say there was something In the house and he say a dark figger when he was astral projecting. And the crazy part is he dident tell her what he was about to do and after he told her what happens and she told him what she felt all the lights in there apartment turned off they ran out there apartment and went to a friends place they dident go back I till later the next day. What I'm saying is be carefull of where ur doing it and what kind of Reston u are
I did this accidentally when I was about 6 years old. Scared the heck out of me.
even my mother saw this kind of things
I was a regular practitioner of astral projection when I was about 25 years old some 40 years ago. What began as a very scary paralyzing feeling and a hissing sound in my ears was soon to be verified in a book I read written Robert Munroe called: Journeys Out of the Body. I could get out easily by lying down and drifting off and waiting until the hissing noise started and then rolling out. I was fully conscious and could get back in immediately by just thinking about it. In this state it is as though thought and action occur simultaneously. You feel as though you are wide awake and fully conscious and when you fall back in and sit up you are aware that it was not like a dream at all. I think anybody could probably learn to do it.
That you are able to move simply by process of thought makes perfect sense, as there is really no other way you could accomplish action (as a spirit being). There's a very interesting book, which I believe is called "Return From Tomorrow." It's about a G.I. who was so severely injured that he was toe-tagged (as dead) in triage. The book describes how he gets up from the gurney, walks outside, and suddenly finds himself flying over cities, farms, etc. he was thinking about home, and his spirit literally began to travel there--at great speed. At one point, he stopped at a city and described an area of it in detail. Some years later, after he recovered, he was still able to describe places he saw that night--in great detail--which he had never traveled to, in the flesh, so to speak. The places he described were later confirmed as completely accurate in minute detail. It's an excellent book.