Posts Tagged ‘astral’
No matter which of the two astral projection techniques you decide to use, there are often some ’signs’ of imminent projection which you should be aware of. When any of these signs take place, be encouraged that your practice is bearing fruit. Continue your regular practice and projecting your consciousness successfully out of your body is just a matter of time.
The first sign are so-called ‘vibrations’. These are very difficult to describe, but generally make your body feel as though it is tingling with energy. Often these vibrations increase to the point where you may feel that your consciousness is being ‘flip-flopped’ inside your body – as though your consciousness is at the centre of a powerful whirlpool. These signs are not dangerous, and can actually be used to help you increase your projection efforts. In short, if and when they occur, will yourself to float out of your body. This may not lead to a full projection, but in many cases it does.
Another common sign is when you hear a sudden, loud noise during the exercise. At first you will want to open your eyes to see what is happening, but in almost all cases nothing physically is happening at all. It is simply a sound which is perceived astrally as the consciousness gets close to leaving the physical body. If you hear these noises you should therefore take heart that you are making good progress.
A third sign that you are making progress is if you suddenly regain full waking consciousness after feeling yourself ‘fall’ back onto the bed from a height. This occurs when you succeed in projecting your astral body a few feet outside the physical, but then something (usually an unconscious fear) causes you to ’snap back’ into your familiar physical shell. Again, be encouraged if this happens for it means that you are projecting. All you have to do now is try and remain conscious as you do so.
Exploring Non-Physicality
Eventually, if you follow the techniques and advice given, you will succeed in projecting your consciousness into the non-physical planes. When this happens, you are free to explore this new territory as you wish. I do, however, have some recommendations for your early projection exercises:
First of all, spend a few sessions getting used to and enjoying the realm of non-physicality. Enjoy floating around your environment. Maybe do a somersault or two. In short, enjoy your new-found freedom from the restraining laws of the physical universe.
Next, spend a few sessions experimenting with the way your thoughts affect the plane you find yourself in. Can you deliberately change your environment or even yourself? If so, how? How might your methods be applied to your normal physical reality, if at all?
A third suggestion is to look for any other signs of intelligence on the non-physical plane. Are there other entities here? Can you communicate with them? What do these intelligent beings have to say?
From here, you are on your own. Explore the realms you have entered with a real sense of adventure, and when you return to full waking consciousness, try and record what you experienced. By doing this you will be helping to chart what is largely unexplored territory as far as the majority of people are concerned. At the same time, you will be recording your first steps of an adventure which in all probability will change your life and the way you see it for the rest of your days.
Happy travels!
The second astral projection technique is known as the visualization technique. This technique is provided for those of you who can visualize to any extent, and is often a preferred method of projecting for anyone who thinks primarily in terms of pictures rather than sensations.
The Visualization Technique
As with the previous technique, begin by making yourself comfortable in bed. Make sure that you are warm and that your clothing is loose, then close your eyes. Spend a good two or three minutes just concentrating on your breathing and allowing your body to relax. Before very long you will find your mind becoming quiet and at the same time you will be receiving fewer impressions from your physical body. In other words, your arms and legs and torso will begin to fall asleep.
When you have achieved this state of total relaxation, imagine that you can see through your closed eyes. Imagine the ceiling above your physical body as clearly as possible. Spend several minutes doing this if necessary.
Once you can visualise the ceiling, imagine that your astral body (consciousness) begins to float out of your physical body towards the ceiling. See the ceiling coming closer as you rise up out of your body. Feel the sensation of weightlessness this brings about.
Float by the ceiling for a couple of minutes, then imagine yourself rolling over in the air and looking down at your physical body. Really visualise you seeing yourself and your environment from outside your body. Explore the room that your body is sleeping in, making sure that your visualisation is as clear and vivid as possible.
When you do this regularly, your consciousness will eventually “click” out of the physical and you will not need to visualise. Instead, you will be able to perceive your environment quite naturally as a floating point of consciousness. At this point you can consider yourself to has projected successfully and can begin to explore as you wish.
Having discussed the necessary preparations for astral projection, let us turn our attention to the actual techniques of projection. There are many different systems and techniques which are available, but in this series I will present the two which we feel are easiest to follow.
Note that ‘easiest to follow’ does not mean that astral projection is something that can be mastered in a few hours. It simply means that the techniques herein are easy to understand and implement. Actually projecting will take practice – sometimes a lot of practice. But ask anyone who has persevered and succeeded and you will be told that the patience and effort required for success were very good investments which they would happily pay all over again if they had to.
So now let’s take a look at the first of two projection methods which I feel are the easiest to understand and follow:
The Black Screen Technique
This technique is to be used when you go to bed at night. The idea is to retain an element of consciousness even as your body falls asleep. Once this is achieved, through much patience and practise, your consciousness will actually have passed through the main doorway to the non-physical planes, and you can then begin exploring in earnest.
Begin by making yourself comfortable in bed. Make sure that you are warm and that your clothing is loose, then close your eyes. Spend a good two or three minutes just concentrating on your breathing and allowing your body to relax. Before very long you will find your mind becoming quiet and at the same time you will be receiving fewer impressions from your physical body. In other words, your arms and legs and torso will begin to fall asleep.
When you have achieved this state of total relaxation, turn your attention to the blackness of your mind. Imagine that there is a large black screen about six feet in front of your mind’s eye and just watch this screen. Don’t think about your daily life, or even about how you think this astral projection exercise is going – just observe the black screen and wait. Pretend for a few minutes that something is about to happen, and then patiently wait for it to take place.
In the early days, it is likely that you may fall asleep during this stage of the exercise. This is because your conscious mind is not yet used to being focused without actually thinking of anything in particular. As you continue this exercise on a regular basis, however, you will find that you can watch the screen which a quiet mind for longer and longer.
Eventually, the rest will take care of itself. You will be watching the ’screen’ and all of a sudden you will realise that you (that is, your consciousness) is no longer confined to your physical body. This realisation can take many forms. For example, you may perceive yourself to be ‘floating’ in a black void, or you may instead find yourself looking down at your physical sleeping body. Some may find themselves instantly in a dream-like world complete with its own scenery and population.
From here you may explore the non-physical plane as you wish, and I will provide some suggestions on exploration at the end of this series. In the meantime, use the astral projection technique detailed here and look out for the second technique in my next post…
In this third post on astral projection I will look at the topic of preparing to project, and that’s because before you can begin to use any astral projection technique you first need to prepare yourself. The only physical preparation you need to make is that you are warm and comfortable and that you will not be disturbed for the duration of the astral projection exercise, but psychological preparations are a little more involved.
To start with, you need to push past what experienced projector Robert Monroe called, “The Fear Barrier”. Most people are, at least to some extent, afraid of the unknown. Since the non-physical planes are unknown to most people, it follows that most people are initially a little afraid of projecting their consciousness into these planes. Such fears can in fact stop you from successfully projecting, hence the need to assess your fears and get rid of them.
The most common fear is that of “getting stuck” on the non-physical planes and being unable to return to the physical body. The best way to overcome this particular fear is to remember two things:
Firstly, if most experienced practitioners are correct, everyone projects every night during sleep. This takes place without your conscious knowledge, but it still occurs and you wake up fine every morning. It can be concluded, therefore, that you have already projected thousands of times without having any problem “getting back in” to your physical body.
Secondly, we will all have to leave the physical plane at some point, so why fear the inevitable? Wouldn’t it be better to face this fear head-on, explore non-physicality deliberately and so know what we can expect when the inevitable happens?
Another common fear is that during projection the body may be “taken over” by another consciousness. In other words, many people fear that projecting could leave them open to some kind of psychic attack or possession.
Again, the best way to get over this fear is to remind yourself that your consciousness in projected into the non-physical planes every night and so far you haven’t been attacked or possessed, so what chance is there of this happening when you are projecting with full conscious awareness? My own opinion is that the chances of such things happening are almost nil.
What you must remember at all times is that when you are projecting your consciousness into the non-physical planes, you are entering a world in which thoughts are manifested very quickly. This means that if you project with thoughts of fear or danger, your thoughts could create nightmare-like scenarios which you will encounter on the non-physical plane. You will not be harmed by such encounters, for just as a nightmare disappears on awakening, so negative astral encounters vanish as soon as the exercise ends. However, being aware that your thoughts will have a strong influence on what you experience should encourage you to let go of fear and think positive thoughts of peace, love and spiritual advancement. This will help ensure that your astral trips are as beneficial as possible.
I will present the first of two actual projection techniques in my next post. In the meantime, serious students of astral projection would do well to visit this astral projection website for details of a tool that I highly recommend.
Astral projection (also known as astral travelling and the out of body experience or OBE) is a subject that has fascinated millions of people throughout the ages. In this new six part series I will present all the information you need about astral projection to not only understand the subject but experience astral projection for yourself.
Scientists and metaphysicians alike have studied the subject of astral projection at length, and whilst one single, absolute conclusion has not yet been reached about the nature of the phenomenon, one thing has become clear – the best way to study astral projection seriously is to experience it yourself. From that vantage point you can then explore the non-physical world and draw your own conclusions based on your first-hand discoveries.
Astral projection is the art (some might say the science) of projecting your consciousness out of your physical body and exploring the universe in a purely non-physical state. In this state, you are not bound by any of the laws which govern the physical plane, such as gravity or density, and this makes it possible to experience flight or walking through “solid” matter. Even better, astral projection allows one to explore other “planes” of existence which are beyond our physical perception. It is on these planes that an individual can learn a great many things about himself and the universe.
One questions which many people ask when discussing astral projection is the possibility of danger. Most people wonder if projecting the astral body can be harmful, either physically or emotionally.
The vast majority of experienced projectors would say that any danger you face is created purely by your own fears. The door to the astral plane is the human imagination, and what you will find on the astral planes will be determined by how you perceive things in your normal waking life.
For example, if you are of a very nervous disposition and your whole waking life is filled with fear, then you may well find astral projection to be frightening just as nightmares are frightening. By facing up to your fears, however, you can liberate yourself from them forever, and so it could be said that projecting your consciousness into the astral plane is a good thing even if you are normally fearful.
As for the question of whether or not astral projection can be physically damaging, the accepted consensus would seem to be that it is not. The vast majority of seasoned projectors agree that astral projecting is something we all do at night when we sleep, so if this is true then the act itself is perfectly natural.
My belief is that astral projection is safe for the average person, but if you are fearful even of the idea of projecting your consciousness out of your body, spend a few weeks analysing and conquering your fears before you begin thinking about actually experiencing non-physical reality for yourself.
