Astral projection is also known as an out-of-body experience and it is an event that can occur to a great many people at various times. These events will commonly occur during a major trauma although many people report having experienced such events through their own sheer willpower.
This is the more commonly known astral projection. Many people have claimed to have out of body experiences and many more people have claimed to be able to perform astral projection. While the basic techniques for these abilities are the same, they can differ slightly depending on the person. However, some question the validity of the claims of these abilities.
For hundreds of years, a great many people have experienced this phenomenon known as the out-of-body experience. Many people have experienced these sensation while they sleep but managed to ignored it. It was their belief that what they saw and experienced was nothing but a common dream. Yet, most out of body experiences are commonly felt while undergoing a major trauma such as a surgery.
There have also been scores of accounts of out-of-body experiences occurring during frightful near-death situations. In all of these cases of out-of-body experiences, the person experiencing them notes that he/she is able to see and hear everything occurring in the real world even though they were not conscious at the time.
Out-of-body experiences have also been known to occur due to the prolonged use of psychedelic or common dissociative drugs. Yet, there are a number of techniques known to induce the common out-of-body experience most have read about. A traditional example of this is the employment of visualization during a relaxed and meditative state of mind. Various studies have occurred recently designed to show that similar experiences to out-of-body experiences might be induced directly through stimulating the brain.
Among the most common forms of all out-of-body experiences is the process of astral projection. During astral projection, a human being develops the ability to leave the body and visit other physical places as well as the world of astral planes or even higher planes of existence.
In the renaissance Neoplatonist and Rosicrucian philosophy, there is the belief that an astral body in body is created by light that links the “rational soul” and the physical body together. Such philosophy also professes the notion that the astral plane is a world created of the exact light and exists between Heaven and Earth. This metaphysical light is comprised of the spheres of stars and planets that are commonly believed to be the home of angels, demons, and spirits.
According to many ancient Egyptian beliefs, the soul presents the common ability to hover, or float, outside the body in the “Ka” which is also referred to the subtle body. This has also been known as the astral body. In most common beliefs in astral projection, the astral body is associated with a “silver cord” of psychic energy that is linked to the physical body.
The Chinese Taoists had devised a unique alchemical practice which centered on creating a body of energy by way of breathing meditations, pulling energy into something known as a “pearl” and it then is circulating the pearl through the body to cradt the body of energy.
During out-of-body experiences, many people have accounted that they willed themselves to leave their bodies. Others have reported that they had found themselves coming out of their bodies as if being pulled, while others state that they didn’t realize that they had left their bodies until after they were already out. Several people have even stated that they wanted to get out of bed and when they tried to reach for the door, they could not touch it. Upon this sensation, they looked in the direction of their bed and realized that they were still lying down, apparently asleep.
Neurologists have tried to explain these events by saying that they are triggered by a mismatch of the visual and tactile signals. Most out-of-body experiences occur during the time between REM sleep and the time before waking. During most occasions of out-of-body experiences, the subject goes into a state called sleep paralysis. During the rime between sleep and awake, sleep paralysis can continue and dream imagery becomes mingled with input from the senses.
Many scientific studies however have been undertaken in the field of astral projection and out-of-body experiences to show that this is a very real phenomena. Research facilities in a number of different countries such as the Monroe Institute in Virginia and the prestigious Projectarium at the International Academy of Consciousness in Portugal and the Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience in Switzerland have explored the subject with a number of interesting results.
