Astral Travel, Lucid Dreaming, Out-of-Body experiences.
Exploration of non-physical dimensions of reality.
Astral Travel, Lucid Dreaming, Out-of-Body experiences.
How to free yourself of doubt and prepare your body.
Have you ever wondered about such concepts as Astral projection, lucid dreaming, or out-of-body experiences? I remember hearing someone share their experience of separating their consciousness from their physical body and exploring alternate dimensions of experiential reality. I remember how excited I was to learn that there’s a frontier of exploration into deeper realities of existence available to all of us.
I set out on a quest, a mission, an outright obsession, to discover how to experience this.
I intimately understand the excitement and borderline desperation this type of experience invoked. In this post, I’m outlaying specific prerequisites that I have found essential to help you avoid becoming frantic, deluded, misinformed or ill-equipped. I will also detail beyond the prerequisites, but I will tread carefully to prevent imprinting any expectations of what the experience may or may not look like. (Above all else, you will receive confirmation through feeling because mental imagery alone can be confused with dream states)
Authenticity is what I’m most passionate about in my writing and my workshops. But truth be told, this is secondary to my deep desire for non-physical exploration of reality (naturally, no chemical or plant-aided experience).
Before I get into the meat, I must touch on a deeply rooted existential fear that I once projected onto this subject.
Long was I concerned for humanity, for the massive number of people I saw deluded and frantic in their spiritual dogma with no proof. For longer still, I was afraid that all religions and spiritual beliefs were a collective hysteria, unconsciously designed to soothe our fear that we are alone-a legitimate concern. Fortunately, I have relieved myself of this concern because I’ve had experiences to prove to myself that it’s real. Still, I say this to sympathize with the doubt many people may have underneath their excitement and to let you know that I understand this and will not talk about anything I haven’t directly experienced. This way, I can offer guidance and tips on having the experience for yourself without making a speculation.
A disclaimer here, such exploration of non-physical dimensions is somewhat arbitrary without the proper intention. For me, this exploration is to source creative solutions to problems in physical reality. My goal and intention are to use higher knowledge to benefit my life here and to be in service to humanity.
I believe this intention is rooted in the mode of goodness; thus, I have been granted passage into deeper layers of reality. I think we can only access that which our own higher intelligence permits us. I believe drug or plant-induced experiences should come with caution, and I strongly advise against such activity unless facilitated by true professionals. Going into altered states by using substances to push you beyond your typical threshold could be traumatizing or worse — especially for sensitive individuals.
OK, now for the juice!
Altered states of consciousness.
Multidimensionality.
Exploration of non-ordinary dimensions of reality.
These words have aroused my deepest lust for life over the past decade!
During this time, I’ve come across many people offering advice on how to have these experiences, but only some have been able to deliver.
The reason? Simple: Preparation.
Sure, they’ve talked about preparing the space, what position to lay in etc. But they’ve been unable to address the arduous task of preparing the mind. Why? Because no one knows or can pinpoint exactly why someone can have these experiences and why they cannot.
I have a theory for why I have been able to have the experiences, even though I couldn’t for many years.
My theory is related to the brain’s frontal cortex and how meditation, self-reflection and cultivating presence increase the grey matter in that area. The result is more self-awareness, which then ‘spills over’ into other states of consciousness. For example, lucid dreaming became common for me after years of meditation. I theorize that my increased awareness ‘leaked’ into my dream state, giving me more awareness there, and thus, I would ‘wake up’ in the dream and become lucid.
One of the things I used to struggle with was holding my attention to a single point. I was mildly hyperactive and hypervigilant, which manifested as subtle anxiety — this is important because the cause, in my case, was overstimulation.
Most of us are in a stressful, overstimulated state and may not know it, and this isn’t fertile soil for tuning into subtle frequencies and dimensions of reality-quite the opposite.
So, the first prerequisite: Stillness.
Stillness is the platform from where everything else will happen.
The practice is simple: lay down, get comfortable, remove distractions, and not move for one hour.
There are two reasons I’ve recommended this practice first.
Firstly, to get you out of your head and into practice. Many people distract themselves by accumulating knowledge, and few learn how to apply it.
Secondly, as simple as staying still for one-hour sounds, it’s tough. Our mind has been conditioned to stimulation and will fight against having it taken away, which is precisely why this practice is absolutely fundamental — to regain control.
In the first 11 minutes, you’ll experience agitation. Your body will itch, and you’ll come up with all kinds of justifications to scratch yourself, adjust your position or even stop the practice to complete your chores.
If you break past these urges, after 11 minutes, the practice begins to go deep into the parasympathetic nervous system. Here you will start to relax and calm down. You’ll begin to notice the more subtle queues of your body, such as temperature, breath, aches, pains, pressure, etc.
The 20–50 minute mark is the bulk of the practice and will be where your mind resorts to mental stimulation and fantasy. You’ll be confronted with your subconscious mind, mental programming, beliefs, and traumas here. Fear not, you will only experience what you’re comfortable with, and if it gets too much, you can stop the practice. If you persist, this is where you’ll discover what motivates your actions, shapes your personality and more. The subconscious mind is a playground of symbolism, and it will begin communicating with you — this is a fundamental stage because you’re starting to consciously explore your subconscious mind, strengthening your mental ability for what comes later in exploring non-physical dimensions.
The 50–60 minute mark is a kin to summit climb. Here, you can ‘snap out of it’ and be intensely present. You’ll likely be laid there staring at the back of your eyelids and hyper-aware of your body and its subtle expressions of energy. Here, you intentionally start to let go and sink deeper, almost like you’re surrendering to gravity. You can focus on the points of contact with the floor or the bed, and your exhales bring about a sinking or falling feeling. If you can extend this feeling and experience the same thing mentally, you begin to withdraw from the physical dimension.
Here, I and a few others who undertook a meditation teacher training course experienced a very intense vibrating sensation throughout our body, which precluded entry into a different plane of existence.
But here, I will leave this to give you time to play with stillness. I’ll make a continuation post depending on interaction and feedback to cater for the next post to target any pitfalls, concerns or confusion.
Happy traveling 🙂
Originally published at http://becomeyoudotblog.wordpress.com on May 6, 2023.