This first Step Out of Body exercise is, as you might expect, the easiest of the three we will discuss in this series. Once mastered it will enable you to deliberately step outside of your physical body and to experience the world around you as a point of pure consciousness which is not subject to the physical laws of nature.
Exercise #1 – Step Outside and Explore
Go to a place where you will not be disturbed for at least half an hour. Darken the room and sit comfortably in a chair or on the floor with your back straight.
Now close your eyes and still your mind by simply watching your breathing for a minute or two. (Many of you will have practiced this when you used the exercise presented in Developing Willpower II).
When you are completely relaxed and your mind is still, remind yourself that the real you is not your physical body. Rather, your physical body is a mere shell which you can step out of at will.
With that fact in mind, mentally ‘step out’ of your body by imagining yourself standing up and taking one step in front of your physical body.
Spend a few moments in this position and try to perceive your environment from this new vantage-point. Where is your physical body in relation to you? What is in front of you? To your left? To your right? How do you feel? Do you imagine yourself to have a ‘consciousness body’ or are you simply a floating spark of consciousness?
Bear in mind that you don’t have to ‘see’ from your new vantage-point in order to perceive (although you may well be able to do this). All you have to do to perceive your environment is pay close attention to your intuition and to how things ‘feel’ around you.
When you feel comfortable with your consciousness just a step or two outside your body, explore a little further afield. Walk around the room. Float outside the house, or drop in on your neighbours. Whatever you do, try to perceive things as fully as possible.
To bring your consciousness back into your body, simply think of your physical fingers and move them. This will instantly bring you back to that ‘familiar seat of consciousness’ behind your physical eyes.
It is important that you understand several things at this stage:
You will not lose total consciousness of your body when you ‘step out’ of it. This is perfectly normal and nothing to concern yourself about. The fact is that because your energy and the energy of the universe is one and the same, your consciousness is in fact all-pervasive. All you are doing here in this exercise is perceiving your consciousness from a different perspective.
Perception comes with practice. ‘Stepping out’ may take a few attempts before it feels real to you. Be patient and practise regularly, however, and you will soon feel confident in exploring the universe in the form of pure consciousness.
Because you are functioning as pure consciousness in this exercise, do not feel obliged to act like a physical being. You don’t have to walk around as consciousness for it is not governed by the physical laws of nature. You should therefore feel free to float, fly or even swim through the air if that is what you want to do.
Just because projecting your consciousness has serious applications doesn’t mean that you can’t do it for fun. Go ahead and explore this new reality. Fly high above your house or your home-town. Travel to distant places or people just by thinking about them. Practice your out-of-body perception in any way you wish. In fact the more fun you make this exercise, the more often you will want to practice, so consider the fun aspect to be vital.
When you have mastered this technique you can use it in a number of ways.
- You can explore the universe non-physically.
- You can ‘lift yourself’ above stressful situations and look at how small problems really are when compared to the magnitude of who you really are.
- You can detach yourself from your body whenever necessary to get a bigger perspective on your life. This particular use is very good at helping you gain peace of mind and a sense of tranquillity in your daily life.
