How To Induce Sleep Paralysis Tonight
It is often easier to induce astral projection having first induced sleep paralysis.
By the time you have finished reading this to the end, you will know everything you need to know to do this yourself.
Sleep paralysis is quite easy to induce, because you already experience it around four times each night, although you probably are not aware of it.
I would expect you to have some level of success on your first attempt unless you are very tired.
Extreme tiredness will make it entirely futile to try, because you will keep falling asleep. In this case, I would recommend that you put your efforts into restoring your natural energy levels, aiming to get a minimum of six to eight hours of sleep per night for at least a week.
So, what is Sleep Paralysis?
When we talk about sleep paralysis, we are generally talking about when a person’s mind wakes up, while their body is still asleep, before rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is finished.
This can be involuntary, and involuntary waking sleep paralysis affects around 8 percent of the general population on a regular basis. It affects people of all ages but is most common in teenagers and young adults.
Additionally, around 25 percent of people have sleep paralysis once or twice in their life.
This is not considered to be a dangerous or harmful medical condition and should pass in a few seconds or minutes, but can be very frightening.
What causes Sleep Paralysis?
During rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the brain has vivid dreams, while the chemicals (inhibitory neurotransmitters) glycine and gaba are released to “turn-off” the muscles of the body. This is a normal part of the sleeping process, and is nature’s way to prevent you from acting out your dreams.
So, in one sense, sleep paralysis is so ordinary that everyone experiences it during their normal night’s sleep, every time they reach the REM stage. And since you typically enter REM sleep four times per night, this how often you ordinarily experience sleep paralysis.
However, when we talk about sleep paralysis as a phenomenon, we refer to waking sleep paralysis.
This is a feeling of being conscious but unable to move. When involuntary, it occurs when a person passes between stages of wakefulness and sleep. During these transitions, you can find yourself unable to move or speak for a few seconds up to a few minutes. You may also feel pressure or a sense of choking.
Sometimes, there is a “sense of dread”. Hence…
Sleep Paralysis and Demonic Encounters
Because you are in a dream-state during SP, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that your imagination can run riot during this time.
People sometimes see “shadow people” or other frightening hallucinations during sleep paralysis.
The night hag or old hag is one such creature people have “seen”. Here, you might feel a presence of a supernatural being restraining you as if it were sitting on your chest or the foot of your bed.
Obviously, if you aren’t expecting this, it can be a bit of a worry!
If you see or sense something like this, be reassured that you are having “hypnagogic hallucinations” – you are not being attacked.
Closing your eyes will help if you are getting disturbing visions. You will still likely find yourself hallucinating with your other senses. Auditory hallucinations may be experienced, with voices commonly heard, along with other sounds less easy to describe.
Henry Fuseli’s gothic-horror masterpiece The Nightmare (1781) is a wonderful evocation of sleep paralysis as a demonic visitation.
It depicts two demons, one, an incubus sitting on a sleeping woman’s chest, and another, horse-like presence, at the foot of her bed.
Nonetheless, there is nothing demonic about the experience, and be assured you are not opening yourself up to any attacks from the spirit world. Any visions like these described are just your mind’s way of trying to make sense of the experience.
SP and the Stages of Falling Asleep
So, unless you are extremely tired, you don’t fall asleep immediately.
In fact, your body falls asleep in a series of stages, as you receive “cues” from your mind.
You are unlikely to be aware of these, during a normal night’s sleep.
Sleep paralysis is your body’s normal way of immobilizing your muscles, so you don’t hurt yourself during your sleep.
However, it’s possible to be aware of sleep paralysis, when your mind is awake.
Think of this as the opposite side of the coin from sleepwalking – where your mind is asleep, but your body is not immobilized!
Ordinarily, your body can’t fall asleep, unless your mind is asleep first.
If you want to induce sleep paralysis, lie as you normally would while waiting to fall asleep, but ignore the urges to move, scratch your nose, or roll over and change position. These urges are a normal part of the falling-asleep process, and are cues that your mind is now asleep.
So when you ignore these urges, it tricks your body into believing your mind is asleep.
Once sleep paralysis kicks in, you will start to notice some unusual sensations.
If you are covered with a blanket or duvet, you may experience them as very heavy, weighing you down.
It may be uncomfortable, or unnerving.
Ignore the feeling, and don’t panic, nor allow yourself to move.
Conversely, you may start to experience a feeling of weightlessness.
“Vibrations”, as I explained in Out-of-Body Experience Symptoms, are likely, the deeper into sleep paralysis you fall. These can vary from a light buzzing, to a violent shaking, and every stage in between.
These may feel so intense that you might assume an observer would be able to tell – but actually you could have someone else in the same room as you, and they would never know!
A full list of possible sensations is here…
This, clearly, can also be quite frightening, if you don’t know what to expect. Don’t let it distract you, or panic you from your state-of-mind.
How to ensure your SP success…
In spite of a number of “experts” suggesting that you simply lie down and wait for sleep paralysis to happen, unfortunately, it often doesn’t work that way.
Often, you may find yourself waiting, and waiting, and waiting…
…for nothing much at all to happen.
And guess what? You feel discouraged, and you give up, right?
The key is to wake yourself up while you are already in the REM state, and then start the process of fooling your body into sleeping, while your mind is already as close to being in the REM state as possible.
What you need to know:
Your first sleep cycle is around 90 minutes long, and your first REM sleep should occur at around 70 to 90 minutes, and last around 10 minutes.
The following sleep cycles are typically longer, at between 100 to 120 minutes long, with a progressively longer period of REM sleep. From the graph below, you’ll see that if you sleep for eight hours, your final REM sleep could last as long as an hour.
Why I recommend setting your alarm for your Third or Fourth Sleep Cycle…
- You need your rest – and there is a greater proportion of deep sleep in your earlier sleep cycles. You will be doing yourself a favor by allowing yourself a proper sleep before inducing waking sleep paralysis, so you don’t want to set an alarm to disturb you during your first sleep cycle.
- Secondly, in your second two sleep cycles, your REM sleep periods are longer. This means it is more likely that you’ll hit this “sweet spot” with your alarm.
- Thirdly, it will also increase your chances of remembering the experience.
So, I’d suggest that your third or fourth sleep cycle is the optimal time at which to set your alarm.
Start with setting your alarm for either 270 or 360 minutes into your sleep. The reason I’ve chosen these times is that on average your REM sleep should start at around 260 minutes for your third sleep cycle, and 350 minutes for your fourth. So I’ve added an extra ten minutes so that REM will already be in progress.
360 minutes also gives you six hours of uninterrupted sleep, which for most people is the minimum they should sleep for optimum health and well-being.
Makes sense?
Excellent. Now onto the next step.
The most effective position to encourage Sleep Paralysis
According to studies, sufferers of sleep paralysis are far more likely to be sleeping on their back, also known as the supine position.
In fact, around 58% of people who experience SP say they tend to sleep on their back.
So, if you wish to encourage this phenomenon, then it stands to reason that sleeping on your back will increase your chances of success.
Using hypnotic suggestion to trick your body into falling asleep
You might not be aware of this, because when it happens you are usually falling asleep…
…But when you are drifting off to sleep, there are some subtle physiological sensations.
The most pronounced ones are:
- Cooling of your body temperature
- A heaviness to your limbs
Keep telling yourself that you are starting to feel cooler, starting with your extremities, and working your way towards the center of your body.
Meanwhile, allow yourself to observe how your arms and legs are feeling heavier and heavier.
Keep going, now, you’re nearly there…
Next, you’ll maintain your focus on remaining awake, while making sure that you don’t allow yourself to move, or respond to any of your body’s “tests” to see if you are still awake.
Keep calm during the “vibrational” stage, and allow SP to happen. Because at this point, you are so close to the REM state, it should be quite easy.
What next?
So, you’ve now learned what sleep paralysis is, how and when it happens, and also how to induce sleep paralysis simply and quickly.
The more you practice inducing sleep paralysis, the easier it becomes, though if you use this method, you ought to have some success on your first attempt.
It’s just one stage of the process of having an out-of-body experience, but in my view the most ignored.
Focus on a dream you would like to have, and experience a lucid dream, or use one of the out-of-body experience techniques to “launch” yourself from your body, using one of the OBE techniques I have described!
Progressive Muscle Relaxation Techniques
It’s easy to overlook the importance of deep physical relaxation and focus only on stilling your mind.
This is a mistake, because if your body isn’t relaxed first, you are making it unnecessarily difficult to reach a trance state.
I strongly recommend focusing some of your time on this – your body and mind will both thank you.
What is Progressive Muscle Relaxation?
Modern life has a habit of making us neglect some muscles and overuse others – so you may have all sorts of niggling aches and pains that distract you from reaching the deepest states of meditation. These exercises help with these – but that’s not the only reason I do this regularly!
PMR is a scientifically-validated technique for physical relaxation. (You can read here about its effectiveness in treating anxiety and depression).
It’s not a new idea – Dr Edmund Jacobson came up with the idea in the 1920’s.
Because it seems like a purely physical relaxation, it’s particularly helpful people suffering from anxiety and depression who don’t want to feel as though they’re getting involved with anything too mystical!
How Does It Work?
In essence, it’s simply a way of teaching you to monitor and control your muscular tension. It shows you how to achieve this by tensing different muscle groups, and then relaxing them.
Although the effects on your body become quite profound with time, the interesting thing for me is the way that relaxing your muscles also relaxes your mind
As Dr Edmund Jacobson once said:
“An anxious mind cannot exist in a relaxed body.”
Truer words were never said!
The Many Benefits of Deep Physical Relaxation
- Reducing cortisol levels (Read why this important for your health), lowering blood pressure, slowing down the pulse…
- It helps improve concentration and focus, uplifts the mood, and strengthens the immune system…
- It helps you deal with stress, and is incredibly helpful if you suffer from insomnia…
- It’s simple, free, requires no equipment and can be done any time.
…And, it just so happens that you can use it to help you to reach the right state to induce an Out-of-Body Experience.
Before starting…
- Make sure that you’re wearing loose, comfortable clothing
- Take off your shoes
- Remove jewelry, watches etc
- Set aside enough time where you won’t be disturbed
- Switch off your phone, and any other distractions
- Lie down, or sit down in a comfortable chair with good support
Step One
Breathing exercises – a few minutes of deep breathing.
This doesn’t need to be anything complicated, though I do give some examples of the best breathing exercises in this site.
Step Two – Tense, Hold, Relax
Simply tense-up each muscle group for a period of around 10 seconds, and then relax those muscles.
What could be simpler?
I’ve always started at my toes, and worked upwards to my head, but you can work down from the head if you prefer – it really makes no difference.
A Script
Here’s my version of Progressive Muscle Relaxation. While you’re getting used to doing this, you may find it useful to record yourself reading out the instructions, or something similar.
In each exercise, breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth.
- Starting with the right foot, while breathing in, curl the toes downwards. You’ll feel this in your toes, the top of your foot, and the back of your ankle. Hold for 10 seconds, while holding your breath. Next, while breathing out, relax the muscles completely. Focus the mind on how relaxed your right foot now feels.
- Repeat the process with your left foot.
- With your right foot, curl your toes upwards. This will tense-up your calf muscles. Again, tense the muscles while breathing in, hold the muscle tension for 10 seconds, while holding your breath. Exhale, as you relax the muscles, and enjoy the relaxed feeling in that muscle group.
- Repeat using the left foot
- Right thigh – tense the muscles between your right knee and your hip. It’ll feel as though you’re locking your knee. Release while exhaling. Concentrate on how exactly this feels.
- Next, your left thigh…
- Tense-up the buttocks and hips. Squeeze your buttocks together, hold, and release. Notice which muscles are being used.
- Pull-in your stomach muscles as hard as you can, hold for 10 seconds and release.
- To tighten your chest, take a massive breath, and expand your chest as far as it will go. Hold, and release.
- Tighten the shoulders. Imagine that you’re trying to get your shoulder blades to meet-up. Hold, and release.
- Next, the arms. With your arms straight out to the side, tense the triceps on your right arm as much as you can. (This is the muscle at the back of your upper arm). Hold,and release as normal. Then repeat for the left arm.
- Tense the right biceps. The easiest way to do this is to imagine you are showing-off your muscles! Hold for 10, and release. Repeat for the left arm.
- Tense the forearm, either by flexing the wrist backwards or forwards, or both.
- Tense-up the fists, screwing them into as tight a fist a you can manage. When your fist is the tightest possible, hold for 10, and relax.
- Neck (optional). Lift shoulders high, as if you were trying to make them touch your ears. You can also increase the tension by tilting your head backwards slightly. Some people have managed to over-strain their neck, so I leave this stage as optional. Certainly, don’t overdo it, as your neck is quite complex, and probably doesn’t have the strength of your other body parts.
- Finally, the head and face. You can approach the face as a whole, and screw-up your entire face in one go, or break the process down into stages, eg mouth and jaw, followed by eyes, followed by forehead.
Feel the deep physical relaxation that has now spread right through your body. If you wanted, you could finish here, and begin your day – this truly is an incredibly powerful way to relax and get rid of stress.
But, for Astral Projection purposes, this is just the beginning – your next stage will be to relax your mind, and trigger the correct brain wave frequencies to reach a deep trace state…
Master the Art of Astral Projection Faster!
A Complete Learning System Based on Over 25 Years of Experience
- Discover how to relax and properly prepare your mind and body for astral projection
- Master separating your astral body from your physical body
- Go from astral projection novice to expert in just six short weeks
- Explore the limitless possibilities of astral travel
- Journey to real or made up places in the astral plane
- Discover unimaginable far off places
Preparation for Astral Projection Part One – Conditioning Your Mind
I recently spoke to a young man, who’d tried, in vain, to astral project for five long years.
He was feeling disillusioned, demoralized – and was in despair, wondering if his struggle would ever pay-off.
I have written before about the reasons why astral projection isn’t working for you.
The problem is, most guidance on how to project is really vague. It doesn’t give you concrete steps to follow, and no suggestions on monitoring your progress.
No wonder so many people struggle!
Often, the problems you may be having are simply due to your Mental Conditioning.
You may not have conditioned your subconscious mind to be ready for the experience, to want it, or to really strive for it. In fact, you probably haven’t…
(Conversely, you may be obsessing about out-of-body experiences too much – and believe me, this can be just as much a problem. But that’s another post…)
Here are some daily practices you can use to get your subconscious mind in alignment:
Affirmations
Affirmations are incredibly powerful tools to reshape your mind, and in my view are essential.
You don’t have to use the same ones each time – feel free to mix them up.
It really doesn’t matter how to phrase them – just keep them positive and goal-based:
eg
“Tonight, I project.”
“My Astral Self will separate from my body.”
“I will have an out-of-body experience.”
The purpose of these is to reinforce your desires in your subconscious.
(It’s important to realize that negative phrases don’t work, as the subconscious doesn’t make the distinction – kind of in the same way as if you’re told not to think of a pink elephant, it’s almost impossible to keep pink elephants out of your mind.)
Use these affirmations each day, even when you’re not planning to try to project – make it a habit.
You can use them before sleep, or after sleep – but they should be used close to the times you sleep, since that’s when you’re closest to your subconscious state. Personally, I’d recommend before AND after sleep, for extra impact.
Finally, don’t forget to remind yourself why you want to astral project!
Using Your Imagination
This is very helpful, yet most guides only skim over this important part of preparation – yet you can do this many times a day, in many different ways – and the more you do this, the more you’re prepping yourself for success.
Trust me on this – any time you find yourself at a loose end try any one of the following exercises:
Imaginary Flying/Floating/Swimming
In as much detail are you want, or are able to manage, imagine that you are flying.
Choose how you are flying – are you flying like Superman? Or are you flying like a bird or a plane? How fast are you moving? What scenery is passing around and below you? Is it day, or is it night-time? What sounds can you hear? Is it warm, or cool? Imagine the feel of the air against your skin, in your hair.
I used to live in the Snowdonia National Park, in Wales, and a lot of Royal Air Force training took place in the mountains – I like to imagine myself on the exhilarating flight down through the valleys and then skimming the mountains as I remember the Air Force jets doing.
You may prefer to imagine yourself riding the thermals – perhaps like a bird of prey waiting patiently for dinner to show its face.
Whichever way you choose, the idea is to immerse yourself as fully as you can.
If you struggle with these visualization exercises, you might find it helpful to start with this trance exercise that uses imagining colors.
Imagining Astral Touch/Sensations
With your eyes closed, imagine you are touching yourself.
Nothing sexual – that may be pleasant, but won’t help your projection techniques so well!
Imagine your own hand, using gentle, circular motions, rubbing your knee, or shoulder or arm. (Somewhere not too erogenous – we don’t want it to be distracting.)
If you need to, touch yourself for real, to remind yourself of how it feels. For instance, notice how the touch of your hand feels to your knee. And at the same time, notice how your knee feels to your hand.
Try and recreate those sensations in your mind. At first, it won’t be very easy, but the more you do it, the more easy, and effective, it becomes.
Imaginary (or Real) Places
If you’ve got a picture on your wall, of a landscape or town scene, go and take a really good look at it.
Doesn’t matter if it’s a photo, an illustration or a painting.
Try and take in every detail. Every texture, every shadow.
Study it. Memorize it.
Now, walk away, and try to remember it exactly. Follow this process each day – and later on, you can actually use and expand upon this method to induce a projection. But in the meanwhile, it’s a really good way to condition your mind ready to project.
Alternative method:
Have you got a favorite place that you like to take a holiday? Or a place you go, or used to go often?
Try to really take yourself back there – imagine what you can see, but also the sounds, the smells, how it feels. Are you at the beach? How does the sand feel? How hot is it? How fine is the sand? Can you feel the sun beating down on you? Is there any breeze?
Reading About Astral Projection
Reading about what you are trying to learn is always an effective method to reinforce your goal.
If you’re often reading books, blogs and forums about astral projection, this is often more effective than affirmations alone.
I often find that when I’m reading most (or writing most) about astral projection, it happens much more often – and I’m sure I’m not alone in this.
Anything that gets you thinking actively, and actively is the key, helps to condition the brain for success.
However, avoid any online reading for at least an hour before your normal bedtime. The glare from electronic devices definitely doesn’t help with sleep, and lack of quality sleep has a very negative effect on astral projection.
Hypnosis & Subliminal Suggestion
Since conditioning your subconscious mind is such a vital stage of learning to astral project, you won’t be surprised to discover that hypnosis and subliminal suggestion are incredibly powerful.
In fact, using hypnosis and suggestion is often more effective than all the other previous techniques, combined.
Why is this?
Well, all of the other techniques are ways to get into your subconscious – to stop your subconscious mind from sabotaging your efforts, to get you ready for the sensations you’ll feel.
Much of what we want to do is this – to prevent doubt and fear from stopping a projection in its tracks.
Hypnosis and suggestion are so much more powerful, because they go DEEP, right into the subconscious mind! Plus, they can be developed to include some of the imagination exercises I described earlier.
In my one-on-one training, I use some hypnotic techniques, and they work great – however, since I’m not a certified hypnotherapist, I hesitate to use these methods in an online capacity.
Acting more “Spiritual”
By this, I mean feeling compassion for the world.
I can’t overstate this – the love and compassion you feel DO work as a preparation.
Focus on meditation not for the sake of astral projection, but for your own personal growth and peace of mind, and know that this will bring you closer.
Learning to “still the mind” is a skill that will serve you for life, and will benefit the people you love and, ultimately, everyone you encounter.
I realize this might sound “hippy”.
Still, this is a key to how successful your astral travels are, to which planes you travel to, and also serves to protect you if you do encounter anything frightening.
To a great extent, your motivation, and your compassion dictate the mood-colors of your experiences.
Documentation & Measuring Results
I’ve mentioned this in another post, but I can’t overstate the benefit of keeping a diary or journal of some kind. You may prefer a dicta-phone, or to keep a video diary, but for my part I like a good old fashioned journal.
There is plenty of evidence showing that keeping a journal is very helpful for achieving any goal you’ve set your mind to. Among many others, Tim Ferriss, life-hacker, author, and investor swears by the process.
I prefer to write in one that is reasonably high quality – I want to enjoy writing in it.
But at the same time, anything too high-priced will make me self-conscious, and cautious to write anything I later become embarrassed about.
If you are trying the exercises above, or any of the ones I teach on other posts, it’s a good idea to record when. Once you combine that with recording your dreams, and any other factors that seem important, eg food, alcohol consumption, stress, physical exertion, it’s incredible how quickly you’ll start to discover the route that will work best for you.
Either way, recording your progress makes the desire to succeed clearer in in your subconscious – which in turn will create more successes, followed by more to write about, and so on, reinforcing your efforts in a virtuous cycle.
Master the Art of Astral Projection Faster!
A Complete Learning System Based on Over 25 Years of Experience
- Discover how to relax and properly prepare your mind and body for astral projection
- Master separating your astral body from your physical body
- Go from astral projection novice to expert in just six short weeks
- Explore the limitless possibilities of astral travel
- Journey to real or made up places in the astral plane
- Discover unimaginable far off places
Astral Projection Diet: It’s NOT as Difficult as You Think
Have you been looking to find the perfect Astral Projection diet?
Maybe you’ve read somewhere about what you should be eating, and what you should be avoiding.
Maybe you’ve been looking at AP forums, and found lots of conflicting advice.
If so, you’re definitely NOT alone – this is one the most common questions I get asked.
Like a lot of what is said about Astral Projection, it does get difficult to sort the fact from the fiction.
I’m going to be busting a few myths here – so please try not to get offended.
The thing is, most of what I consider a good diet for Astral Projection is more-or-less the same as what is a good diet for “normal life”.
The problem is, in the modern age, almost no-one eats a good diet for normal life.
If your health is suffering, because of the food you’re supposedly consuming to fuel your mind and body, it doesn’t just affect your athleticism and mental prowess.
A Wake-up Call!
Older civilizations than ours have found it much easier to induce an Out-of-Body Experience – and a lot of this is due to the chemicals and toxins we eat, drink, breathe, absorb through our skin.
Astral Projection…deep, peaceful meditation…these are aspects of life that we’ve always been able to enjoy – until relatively recently.
But they are our birthright!
Discover What Really Works…
Reach a Deep Trance-State in Minutes NOT years…
Become an Astral Projection Expert In Just 6 Short Weeks…
A Complete Course Based On Over 25 Years Of Experience
Explore the Limitless Possibilities of Astral Travel
Journey to Real or Made-up places in the Astral Plane
And Discover Unimaginable Far-off Lands…
We’ve got more control over our health than we give ourselves credit for – and I certainly don’t see any reason to get too caught-up in complaining about the food industry, Big Pharma, etc etc etc. As far as I’m concerned, that’s just an unnecessary distraction.
Myth Number One – You Must Be Vegetarian
Time-and-time-again, I’ve read that a vegetarian, or vegan, diet is necessary.
Sorry, but this is simply not true.
I do believe that excessive intake of protein is not going to help you – I wrote about that here.
Meat takes quite a while for your body to digest, and if you have a meat-heavy diet, then it stands to reason that your body is going to have to work quite hard to process your intake. That’s energy that you’re diverting from projection.
But you don’t need to be vegetarian.
If you look at the different older cultures that have documented Astral Projection, you’ll see that their typical diets were all very different. Different to ours, obviously, but also very different to each others.
Consider the Inuit people – some among them have traditionally practiced Astral Projection, along with other “shamanistic” practices, yet there would be no way that they could have been living as vegetarians, or even having a diet that would have featured much fruit and veg at all!
Myth Number 2 – That There Even IS an Astral Projection Diet
Following on from above, if ancient Egyptians, Inuits, Jewish mystics, Indian yogis, Aztec shamans, Celtic druids, Chinese Taoist alchemists, and the medicine men or yaskomo from the Amazonian Wai Wai people – if these people have all had a fascination with astral travel – how could there be an “Astral Projection Diet”, as such? From completely different climates, and with parts of the world with completely different flora and fauna.
This is because human beings are omnivores. We’ve evolved to be incredibly adaptable, which is why we’ve been able to colonize even the most challenging environments, from the Arctic, tropical rain forests, and through to deserts.
Wherever we’ve colonized, there’s always been a spiritual aspect to our existence – yet our diet has varied massively – at least up until recently.
However, what is the case is that, wherever they were from, our ancestors would have all eaten what I would term real food.
Hopefully you know what I mean by real food, but to be on the safe side, I’m going to clarify.
- If it’s got more that five ingredients, there’s a good chance it isn’t real food.
- If it’s even got an ingredient list, there’s a high chance it’s not real food.
- If you look at it, and compare the finished product with the ingredients, and see absolutely no resemblance at all, it’s often not real food.
- If you went back in time, and showed it to your great grandmother when she was young, and she didn’t know what it was, and was disturbed by it – probably not real food.
- If you leave it out in your garden, and the local wildlife won’t touch it – it’s definitely not real food. (By the way, try this with Quorn. Even pigeons won’t eat it, and as far as I can tell, they’re happy to eat cigarette butts and dog poop.)
Diets I’ve Tried to See What Works and What Doesn’t
Strict Macrobiotic Diet
This was the first diet I tried, and I definitely did find this helped. I first learned of it from a very old text I bought from a second-hand bookshop.
The diet was introduced in 1797 by German doctor Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland, but in its modern form, is heavily influenced by Oriental philosophy.
It’s based on the belief that illness can largely be prevented by pursuing a proper diet and lifestyle. The idea is that the food you eat, and its quality, have a powerful effect on your health, well-being and happiness.
I believe that that for me, the main success of this diet was that it got me to think about the food I was putting inside myself, and how it would effect my body.
Certainly, no processed food appears in this diet.
Also, this is a low protein diet, in common with what many writers about Astral Projection have recommended. Grains and vegetables feature heavily, white carbs are avoided, and fermented soybeans the main source of protein, although fish is permitted in moderation.
Though I did get my first successes at the same time as following this dietary regime, I started to get disappointed with the way it exclusively focused on Japanese foods.
The author of my book was Japanese (George Ohsawa), but nonetheless, I did feel that to completely write-off all food that originate in the Americas – eg potatoes, tomatoes, and capsicum; many foods characteristic of Caribbean or African cuisine; avoidance of milk and dairy products – was this fair, or just cultural preference from a fairly insular nation? (It also bugged me that it focused a lot on sea vegetables, that in my little corner of England were all-but-impossible to get hold of.)
Still, I can’t deny that this diet helped me to take my first, unsteady steps towards Astral Projection. If you want to find out more about it let me know, and I’ll provide a link.
High Protein, High Fat
I also tried this diet, although combining with lots of vegetables.
Why?
a) because I wanted to lose a bit of weight…
and b) out of curiosity.
You see, you can often find mention on forums, as well as many older writings on AP, that both fat and protein should be minimized or completely eliminated. I was curious whether this was true.
Honestly, I didn’t find that it sabotaged my Astral Projection in the slightest. (The only time it would pose a problem would be if I attempted to project after eating a high protein meal.)
Which isn’t surprising since this is the kind of diet-balance that Inuit people would traditionally have had.
Vegan Diet
The earlier macrobiotic diet stood me in good stead for this.
I tried it simply because I’d read so many accounts of it helping. In fact, if you believe everything you read, you may even start to think it’s essential.
In my case, it neither helped nor hindered Astral Projection. Although I didn’t have any unwanted health problems, I didn’t continue this for very long, since a) it didn’t benefit me, and b) I was concerned that it wasn’t a healthy diet for me in the long-term.
Raw Food Diet
Like the vegan diet, a raw food diet is often touted as the “correct” diet for Astral Projection.
I can understand why – a raw food diet is going to be low in protein, and as I’ve mentioned, too much protein before an attempt at projection isn’t helpful. It’s also likely to be high in healthy fats, while being low in unhealthy fats.
Plus, it eliminates processed foods (unless there are processed raw foods out there that I’m not aware of…)
So it’s easy to see why it’s often suggested as the “correct” diet.
My Present Day “Astral Projection Diet”
To be clear, what I eat nowadays reflects more than just the fact that I like to enjoy out-of-body experiences. It reflects the facts that:
- I like food, and want to enjoy eating
- I want to be healthy
- I want high energy levels
- I want to be operating at a half-decent mental capacity
- I don’t enjoy indigestion
- I don’t want to get overweight
- I’d like a long life
- I don’t want to be messed up by all those toxins that seem to be everywhere once you start looking for them…
Fact of the matter is, if you’re eating for health and vitality, you’re also on the right kind of diet for Astral Projection. It’s impossible for any food or diet to be good for your body, but harmful for the mind. Just as it’s it’s impossible for any food to be beneficial to your spiritual development without also being good for the body.
Instead, focus on your body, and what it is telling you.
Once you start to really focus on the value of good food to your mind, body and spirit, you will start to crave foods that are good, and right for you.
Consume Lots of These!
Vegetables. 5 portions of vegetables a day is a minimum to be functioning at full capacity, and that includes Astral Projection.
Focus particularly on leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables, like chard, savoy cabbage, kale, spinach, bok choy, broccoli, turnip and beetroot greens…particularly if you’ve chosen to follow a vegan diet – you’ll need the iron.
Sea vegetables if you’ve got access, are incredibly nutritious…
…and legumes like chick peas, lentils (of any type), fava beans (broad beans), soybeans, peanuts. Legumes are a good, easily digestible source of protein, provide dietary fiber, carbs, and also decent amounts of micronutrients such as magnesium, that, honestly, most people are deficient in.
Sprouts from beans and seeds are wonderful and nutritious, and are cheap. Better still you can grow them at home for virtually no cost and very little effort, guaranteeing that you can have a permanent, year-round supply of fresh goodness.
Water. Proper hydration is so important in so many ways, and yet so few people actually make the effort to fulfill this basic need. A pint of cold water first thing upon waking is something I swear by. I have a glass ready by my bed, with the juice of one lemon (the only fruit I consume daily, as it doesn’t cause sugar spikes, and is so high in natural vitamin C) and some kosher salt (to replace electrolytes) mixed in. This is also the last thing I drink before I go to bed. I’m serious about this – proper hydration helps prevent weight-gain, eliminates headaches, flushes out toxins, and helps your brain to function as it should.
If, where you live, the tap water has added fluoride, you should consider getting a high-quality water filter, or only use mineral water. I explain why here. If there is only one thing that you try out of everything I’m running through on this post – make it hydration.
These, in Moderation
Fish, Eggs and Dairy, White Meats, and Red Meats – in that order. I don’t believe there is any reason to avoid meat, unless you want to, and in that case you do need to take extra-special care with how you’ll be replacing the nutrients contained in meat.
Certainly, anything that is tougher for your body to digest will take your energies away from the Astral Projection you’re trying to focus on.
Considering when you’ll be attempting projection -minimizing protein intake for a few hours before that will help.
Fats – Try to stick mostly to healthy fats, and you won’t have to spend too much time thinking about fats. Olives and olive oil, coconut and coconut oil (much more versatile for cooking than olive oil, as it is flavorless, and can be heated to a higher temperature without burning), avocado, nuts and seeds.
There’s a lot of controversy within medicine about animal-based fats, butter – but personally I prefer them to using vegetable oils, rapeseed oil, margarine. Just exercise moderation.
Fruit – Fruit may be healthy and delicious, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t high in sugars that will cause spikes in sugar levels. Have it as a treat.
Carbohydrates – You probably need less than you think, and if you’re starting to put on weight then this is very likely the case. If you’re eating the recommended greens and legumes, then your carbohydrate needs are probably covered.
If you also try to stick to brown carbohydrates, your body will thank you.
Foods to Avoid or Minimize if You Want to Successfully Astral Project
If you’re having problems inducing an out-of-body experience, it’s a good idea to try completely eliminating these, and then gradually reintroducing them to see what is causing problems and what isn’t. (In much the same way as you might test yourself for food intolerance.)
Alcohol – personally, I love a pint of Guinness, and I’m quitting that for no-one. But, unfortunately alcohol reduces your chances of projecting, increases your chance of falling asleep, affects your will-power, and damages the chances of a strong recall of your projection. If you want to quit altogether, by all means do, but if you want an enjoyable, balanced life, don’t drink on the same day as you want to project, and preferably, not the day before.
Some writers have said that alcohol is dangerous when combined with Astral Projection – I don’t believe this for a second, but it is almost certain to lead to failure.
Coffee – Again, I love coffee, but because the way it affects your sleep, along with many other detrimental effects, it needs to be minimized. As withdrawal can be quite unpleasant, if you’re a heavy caffeine user, cut down slowly.
If you are agitated and tense, you’re extremely unlikely to project – I don’t think I need to explain more. Bear in mind the half-life of coffee.
Sugar – In my view, one of the biggest enemies of Astral Projection. This is one thing virtually all projectors agree on. Even so, you don’t have to give up sugar altogether. Life’s for living, and enjoying.
But do remember how children behave when they are on a sugar rush. This should give you some idea of how well sugar is likely to help your focus (or not).
Processed foods – If you can limit your intake of processed foods as much as possible, this can only help your efforts.
Processed food are full of sugar, preservatives, chemicals and stuff that really isn’t helpful – plus much of the nutritional value of your food has been more-or-less destroyed.
I know processed foods are convenient, and they can be tasty, but they also rob you of the experience of preparing and cooking your own food – which in itself can be a form of meditation, instead of a chore, if you approach it with the right attitude.
Even here, you don’t need to 100% avoid processed foods. Although after one month of careful eating of food with high nutritional qualities, you’ll probably find that you get get very little pleasure from “bad” foods, anyway!
Smoking – Besides all of the ways you already know that smoking is bad for you, it obviously affects the quality of air you breathe, and breathing is one of the central pillars of health you need to focus on for all-round health, and spiritual health in particular. In fact, once you sign-up for updates and OBE training, I’ll be explaining this (often-forgotten) piece of the puzzle.
There are practitioners of the Out-of-Body Experience who do smoke – but they are a minority.
Focusing on breathing is part-and-parcel of meditation, and itchy, annoying smoker’s coughs don’t help with this at all.
Likewise, holding your breath doesn’t need to become more difficult than it is.
Minimizing Other Toxins – Toxins and nasty chemicals aren’t just in the food and water we consume.
We cook our food on harmful cookware, and then wash our dishes with more unnecessary chemicals.
We clean our homes with more chemicals, and use yet more to “freshen” the smell of our home.
Yet more chemicals are used to wash the clothes we wear all day, and then we wash our hair and skin with even more, before smearing different chemicals onto our skin, to moisturize, block the sun, and block our sweat glands.
Chances are there are many, many, more ways that you unthinkingly add toxins to your body.
Next, you fill your home with devices that pollute with light (damaging your sleep patterns in the process) and electro-magnetic fields.
Realistically, there’s no way you can live in a bubble, and protect yourself from all of these. But being mindful of all of this badness lurking around in your home can help you with:
a) Cutting-back on some (and not all!) unnecessary and harmful products and saving yourself a lot of money in the bargain.
b) This is the Biggie – It’ll stop you getting too obsessive about what you eat and drink. Once you start thinking about how many less-than-ideal toxins are around you all the time, you can’t help but realize that you need to keep things in perspective – and not let worry dominate your life.
If you’re interested in finding out more about how to minimize the toxins in your home, let me know, and I can recommend some good, safer, alternatives to products you might be using.
And I’ll also be helping with healthy food that complements your spiritual growth.
But please, next time you read that any diet is essential for Astral Projection, please, ignore it – it’s simply not true!
Binaural Beats on YouTube (They’re Free, But Do They Work?)
Have you heard about the remarkable progress Binaural Beats can bring to your meditation? Perhaps you read how they can help with astral projection and lucid dreaming.
Have you been searching around, and wondered if anything good is available for free on YouTube?
I commend your frugality. But unfortunately, you’re taking the wrong approach.
If you are intent on learning to reach a profound state of trance for free, you can. Indeed people have been doing this for centuries – it’s called meditation.
Binaural Beats are simply a short-cut to reach this state – but in order for them to work, they do really need to be a high quality, which tends to cost money.
Short-cuts that actually work tend not to be free.
I was on Amazon, looking at Binaural Beats, and there was one review I read that made me quite angry.
This reviewer had bought a (good) binaural beat recording, and said in his review that it wasn’t worth the money, and he could have got the same free from YouTube.
Now, everyone’s entitled to their view, but because of this review, I’m quite certain that people will be reading it, trying a couple of binaural beats from YouTube, and therefore deciding that binaural beats don’t work.
What a shame. Here’s why:
I can categorically tell you that binaural beats DO work, but unfortunately the majority of the ones on YouTube are not very effective – and I’ll explain why that is in a minute.
But first, what really bugged me was as a music lover. When I was young, around a billion years ago, music wasn’t free. Somebody bought it, and they may record it on an audio cassette for you, which was naughty but very small scale – but there wasn’t the idea that because music isn’t a “physical thing” it should be free for everyone.
How have we got to the point that we resent paying for somebody else’s work/time/effort/creativity?
That’s my small rant over with, and now I can get to my main point.
See, the thing is these free binaural beats on YouTube are generally simply not very good.
Why the Hell’s it Free? (You Gotta Ask…)
Imagine, you’ve created a binaural beat that will help the listener attract their soulmate/accumulate untold riches/get high/learn a foreign language/grow muscles/lose weight…
(Besides the fact that binaural beats can’t actually achieve these results…)
Don’t you think you’d want some kind of remuneration for your efforts? Seriously, I mean my little site is free, when it could easily be a membership site – but when you’re talking get-rich and weight-loss…the money that could be made if only a fraction of what they say is true would be mind-boggling.
Lousy Sound Quality
When you check out the file-size of any good binaural beats, you’ll see that there’s literally no way that a YouTube video is going to do justice to this.
Have you ever downloaded YouTube videos as mp3s?
Then you’ll know what I mean – okay as a ring-tone, I guess, but definitely not an audiophiles dream.
To get the full benefit from a binaural beat, it needs to be high-quality, with minimal, hopefully lossless, compression. And by the way, .wav files definitely trump mp3s.
Your YouTube beats just won’t deliver on this front. (Feel free to have a browse, if you must, but be aware that you are unlikely to get the profound effects that would from a premium quality beat.)
It’s Just Binaural…
Binaural beats on YouTube tend to follow a fairly crude formula. It goes something like this:
- Find or make a track of some esoteric/atmospheric sounds
- Mixed with simple binaural beat that may or increase or decrease in frequency.
Problem is, this kind of track has a few problems:
- If you have any hearing difficulties in one of your ears it simply won’t work at all. Brain Entrainment has come a long way since this…
- Even when it does work, it won’t work for long. By the very nature of basic binaural beats, very quickly they stop working. Next thing you know, you’re having to look for a new one that gets you to the same point. Seriously.
If You Really Want Free, Why Not Do It Yourself!
It’s actually not that complicated to make binaural beats of the type that you’ll find all over YouTube.
Audacity software is free, and you can easily find a tutorial to explain how to combine a track of your liking with a beat the frequency of your choice.
You can make your own custom, high quality beats.
For me though, although it is relatively easy, I find my time can be better spent. (That being said, if you’d like to know more about making your own, let me know, and I’ll prepare you a tutorial…)
What Makes a Good Brain Entrainment Track?
Brain Entrainment tracks nowadays are Light-Years Ahead of of the kind of basic, free binaural beats you’re likely to find on YouTube.
The very best beats utilize different types of technologies – while what you find on YouTube is a simple binaural beat, with music or nature sound crudely tacked on over the top.
The best ones, like the ones I describe here, actually infuse the entire recording with binaural beats and other brain entrainment technologies.
The end result is a track that is simply much more effective.
They don’t stop working, and will help you meditate even if you’re hearing impaired.
Psst…I’m offering a FREE 50 minute Binaural Beats Track, when you buy my Astral Projection Guide
Reach a Deep Trance-State in Minutes NOT years…
Become an Astral Projection Expert In Just 6 Short Weeks…
A Complete Course Based On Over 25 Years Of Experience
Explore the Limitless Possibilities of Astral Travel
Journey to Real or Made-up places in the Astral Plane
And Discover Unimaginable Far-off Lands…
What’s the Best Position for Astral Projection?
Sitting? Lying Down? What is Best for Inducing an Out-of-Body Experience?
Have you been struggling to Astral Project for a long time, but still found that it’s not working for you?
Have you been reading forums, and heard different opinions on what is the best position for having an out-of-body experience?
If so, you might like to know you’re not alone on this.
Here’s the thing:
Meditating into a deep trance can be achieved from a lying-down position, or from a sitting position, and both have their own benefits and disadvantages.
Sometimes, one will work where the other will not.
Which position is more successful for you at any given time will depend on various factors, including:
- Comfort
- Warmth
- Distractions & Noise
- Your Energy Levels at the Time
Projecting from a Reclining Position
Pros
- Most people find it much easier to relax while lying down
- It feels more natural. Sitting-up meditating makes a lot of people feel a bit self-conscious.
- However little space you have at home, you probably have a bed!
- When you’re very still, you can become quite cold – and your bed probably comes with covers.
- It’s often easier to get away from noise in your household in your bedroom
- Projecting from a lucid dream…
Cons
- It is far more likely you’ll fall asleep. You’ve most likely conditioned your body to fall asleep once your head hits the pillow.Particularly if you haven’t been getting enough rest.
- If your mattress is not a good one, or is in poor condition, once your muscles relax, you can find your body sinking into its contours. This can start to create aches and discomfort, sure to distract you from projecting. (If this is the case, I’d urge you to splash-out on the best mattress you can afford – let’s face it, you’ll spend one third of your time on it.)
- If you’re avoiding your bed because you keep falling asleep, I’d hazard a guess that your sofa won’t be an appropriate alternative – chances are it will become uncomfortable.
Projecting From a Seated Position
Pros
- From a seated position, it is much less likely that you’ll fall asleep
- Because of 1. it’s much more suitable for when you do feel a little tired…
- Once you master projecting from sitting, you can project pretty much anywhere – at the beach, the top of a mountain, beside a waterfall…does that sound like quite a huge advantage?
Cons
- Learning to project from sitting doesn’t come as naturally – and sitting bolt-upright with eyes closed makes some feel too self-conscious
- If you have poor posture, you’ll struggle – until you improve your posture, pains in the lower back and neck, and even reduced circulation may distract you too much.
- In the same way as I recommend investing in a decent mattress, if you’re going to be meditating from seated, you need a good chair that provides your back with support – at least until you’ve mastered controlling your posture.
- Particularly, you need to focus on keeping your head and neck balanced and straight.
To conclude – I personally use both positions for out-of-body experiences.
But, since so many people find themselves falling asleep, time-after-time, when trying to project from their bedroom, using a chair with good back support is the best option. A wooden dining chair is suitable with some carefully placed cushions, so you don’t need to think that you’ve got to buy any specific meditation chair.
Plus, who wouldn’t want to be able to project from anywhere?
But keep trying both, it’s a personal thing, and there are a lot less rules than some people would have you believe.
Grab Your Headphones – This Audio Turns You into an Instant Meditation Master
If you’ve been struggling to Astral Project, there are only a handful of reasons why.
And I bet I know what your problem is.
You see, most people never reach a deep-enough trance-state to exit the body.
That’s why I’d love to show you my secret weapon, that I recommend all students to try:
It’s a powerful set of recordings that will transform your meditation – and I personally guarantee that you will notice the results within just 10 minutes.
So, get your headphones or earbuds, and have a listen to the FREE 20 Minute Sample here…
When you start listening to it, my guess is that you’ll probably be surprised by how simple it sounds – just a “simple” track of peaceful rainfall.
But I also think you’ll be quite shocked at how easy it makes meditation – in fact a number of self-proclaimed “gurus” have gone on record to say that using this sort of technology is “cheating”. (I guess they probably also say driving your car is cheating, when you could be walking…)
How does it work?
It is a Binaural Beats track of sorts, but it also so much more, combining isochronic tones, and iNET, a technology that means that every sound you hear is enriched with brain entrainment sounds…
…unlike most binaural beats you’ll find, where a soundtrack is simply plonked on top of the beat itself.
However, by binaurally-encoding even the rain sounds, and then combining these with isochronic tones, you get a much more powerful track. Perfect, even if you’ve tried binaural beats in the past, and not been impressed by the results.
Why I recommend this to everyone who’s starting on their journey into the Astral Realms
Mastering meditation is essential to successfully inducing an Out-of-Body Experience. Yet meditation is by far the most challenging part of Astral Projection…
…and, if learnt the old-fashioned way, it can take years to learn.
In fact, according to studies, two-to-three years of dedicated, disciplined practice are normally how long it takes to learn to meditate to these depths.
And it was difficult enough when I was young – but now, with all the distractions of modern life…
Happily, though, it’s now finally possible to Fast-Track your way to the correct mental-state.
The secret behind this is using recordings designed to activate different brain-waves, and trigger not just a trance state, but the right trance-state.
Using these recordings, you can gain access to States of Consciousness previously reserved for only the most disciplined of Zen Masters.
Even if you’ve never meditated before.
If you’re serious about learning to Astral Project, and would like to see results sooner rather than later, click the link below to access extremely powerful Binaural Beats perfected by John Dupuy from iAwake. (Don’t recognize the name? John Dupuy is one of the World’s Leading Authorities on Brain Entrainment, and in my view has done more than anyone to build upon and develop the pioneering work of Robert Monroe.
=> iAwake (try out a superb 20-minute sample for free…)
This will help you to get “Astral”, much more quickly. And that’s not all!
There are so many more benefits to meditation.
For instance:
People who meditate live happier, healthier, longer lives.
Meditation can make you more productive, more focused, more imaginative, and more creative.
Meditation even makes you more intelligent – quantum leaps in brain-power and awareness are not uncommon.
Unsurprising, then, that meditation is often linked to greater success in life.
And meditation also makes you more present in the moment. It actually trains you to cherish the moment, instead of dwelling on the past or focusing all your thoughts on the future.
Because of this, it can even help you to have better, deeper relationships.
(And there is such a wealth of scientific evidence proving the benefits of meditation … even companies like Google and Apple are driving it into their work culture!)
I strongly believe that it should be taught in schools.
And yet, one of the most common questions I get every single day is:
“I try to meditate regularly… so why am I getting no closer to Astral Projection? And why am I still so stressed/tired/sick/overwhelmed?”
If you’re one of the millions of people who’re struggling to reap the full rewards of your inward practice…
I want you to know the real problem isn’t YOU.
Meditation is like working out at the gym –
It works, and it can change your life… but only when you’re given the correct technique and guidance.
Do it the wrong way… and you may spend months or years slogging away, with nothing but frustration to show for your good intentions.
And that’s why my friends at iAwake have designed this remarkable audio technology that makes meditation as easy as pushing a button…
And all you do is slide on your headphones and LISTEN.
I really wish that I’d known just how effective and efficient this system is for inducing a trance, when I was first learning, and when I started out teaching my students. If you want to get results faster, and without spending years of effort and frustration, this is how to do it.
These recordings harness specially-engineered sounds to automatically lower your brainwaves to a meditative state – even if you’ve never meditated in your life.
There is simply no method more effective method for inducing the Theta Brain State (which is where Astral Projection happens…)
By the way, Binaural Beats are used by some of the world’s top teachers in personal and spiritual growth, for example Deepak Chopra, Jack Canfield (best-selling author of Chicken Soup for the Soul), and Gay and Katie Hendricks.
(And these particular recordings are scientifically and clinically proven – in fact they are used by many therapists, physicians and educators all around the world.)
And I love it so much, I’ve now infused all of my own Project Yourself OBE Training Events with this exact technology.
You’ll find that the sounds are a bit strange, and maybe even a bit unpleasant.
It has to be like this to work – relaxing music, either on its own, or with guided hypnosis, is simply nowhere near as effective.
Frankly, this is not some shallow, “trippy” chill-out music – it’s nothing less than the science of creating an Altered State of Consciousness.
Please do understand – this is an incredibly powerful short-cut to reaching the perfect trance-state for Astral Projection…
…But it’s not the final piece of the puzzle.
You do still need to practice the exercises to actually exit your body, and you still need to learn the symptoms of the out-of-body experience so that they don’t panic you out of projecting.
But reaching a state of trance is, for almost everyone, the biggest challenge. After you’ve got this stage “in-the-bag”, the rest is generally plain sailing.
Click here and “Fast-Track” your Meditation…
Can Binaural Beats Help You With Astral Projection & Lucid Dreaming?
A lot of readers have contacted me to ask about Binaural Beats, and whether they help with Astral Projection.
Everyone likes short-cuts – I guess we all sometimes want to find that shiny, magic button that will instantly achieve our goal for us.
The truth of the matter is that Binaural Beats can be extremely beneficial to the student of Astral Projection and Lucid Dreaming, just not as much as some people would have you believe.
Certainly, Binaural Beats (along with the alternative Monaural Beats and Isochronic Tones) can help you to reach a depth of meditation that is simply impossible for many people.
Traditionally, years of practice, discipline and dedication have been necessary to reach the deepest trace states.
But it’s now possible to meditate like a Zen Master even if you don’t have hours of time to spare each day for your spiritual growth.
As it happens…
…I’m offering a FREE 50 minute Binaural Beats Track, when you buy my Astral Projection Guide
Reach a Deep Trance-State in Minutes NOT years…
Become an Astral Projection Expert In Just 6 Short Weeks…
A Complete Course Based On Over 25 Years Of Experience
Explore the Limitless Possibilities of Astral Travel
Journey to Real or Made-up places in the Astral Plane
And Discover Unimaginable Far-off Lands…
However, although these audio technologies will help you to reach the correct trance state, they won’t get you projecting all by themselves…
Here’s why:
There are several stages to mastering OBE’s:
- Physical Relaxation – without this, you’re unlikely to reach a suitable trance-state.
- Attaining a Deep Trance state – it is this stage where Binaural Beats can help
- Achieving Exit from the Body – this is where you a) learn the actual techniques that will allow you to Project, and b) learn to recognize the signs that you’re about to have an OBE
- Remembering, and learning from your experiences, successes and failures.
So, you see, Binaural Beats can only ever play one part in your success. You’ll still have to do some of the heavy lifting!
That being said, learning to induce a deep trance is for many people one of the most difficult and unnatural parts of mastering Astral Projection.
And anything that can give you such a huge head-start has got to be worth a go, right?
What Are Binaural Beats?
One definition of binaural beats or binaural tones, is that they are auditory processing artifacts, or apparent sounds, caused by specific physical stimuli.
Physicist Heinrich Wilhelm Dove discovered, back in 1839, that when one tone of one frequency was played into one ear, while a tone with a different frequency was played into the other ear, a strange effect occurred.
To reconcile the two, conflicting, sounds, the mind of the subject “creates” a third tone, that is the exact difference between the the other two tones.
An example given at the Immrama Institute is this:
For example, if a frequency of 100 Hz is presented to your left ear, and a frequency of 105 Hz is presented to your right ear, your brain “hears” a third frequency pulsing at 5 Hz, the exact difference between the two frequencies.
FAQs
How Do Binaural Beats Work?
If binaural tones were just a trick our minds play on us when presented with two conflicting sounds, that would be mildly interesting , but not much use to us.
However, what happens as a result of the newly-created tone is quite fascinating.
When the brain starts to “hear” the binaural beat, it also begins to resonate in tune with that beat.
This means that it is possible to create a beat that will cause the brain to resonate at a frequency of your choosing, and guide your mind into activity in any any state you like.
What Are the Benefits of Binaural Beats?
By the process of guiding the mind into a desired state, we are able to improve powers of concentration, improve relaxation…
…and, yes, help us to reach a state of deep trance perfect for Astral Projection!
Are Binaural Beats Safe?
They are very well-tested, and have been found to be very safe.
But there are some instances where you’d be advised to steer clear of them.
Obviously, since they will put you into a deeply-relaxed state, they aren’t suitable for use if you are driving, or operating any kind of dangerous machinery. (But I hope you guessed this already…)
If you suffer from epilepsy, then there is also a chance that binaural beats could trigger a seizure.
Also some of the brain entrainment programs using binaural beats can leave you feeling quite “strung-out” and emotionally-drained. Holosync by Centerpointe is an example of this – it’s an excellent, and highly effective program (although by no means cheap), but is perhaps too intense for anyone with severe emotional problems. At least that’s what I thought.
I’d also add that I am by no means an expert on the safety of binaural beats, and have conducted no studies of my own. So, as with anything, you would be well-advised to do your own research first, if you have any concerns or misgivings.
What Types of Binaural Beats Are There, and What Do They Do?
Alpha – Alpha brain waves are when we are in a state of physical and mental relaxation, but still aware of what is happening. They are helpful for creativity, and also for physical performance.
Beta – Beta brain waves are associated with when we are consciously alert – active concentration, active thinking, and also anxiety and paranoia.
Delta – the slowest brain waves that we produce, associated with deep, dreamless sleep and lack of consciousness.
Gamma – the fastest brain wave, associated with peak concentration and consciousness. There are studies that suggest that applying frequencies in the gamma wave band to sleeping people can trigger lucidity.
Mu – These are related to learned motor-actions. There’s some interesting research happening here…
Theta – This is the area we’re primarily interested in. Theta waves can aid deep meditation, dreaming, the subconscious mind, and creativity.
How to Listen to Binaural Beats
To listen to binaural beats, you’ll need to use head-phones, to properly separate the two frequencies. If both ears hear both sounds, the brain does not feel the need to create the missing tone. Some people find that it’s impossible to relax fully wearing headphones. In which case Isochronic Tones and Monaural Beats will probably be a much better idea for you, as they work with or without headphones.
A lot of people find the sound of a pure binaural tone quite unpleasant, so commercially available mp3s will usually have some natural sounds added to the track, like rain, river sounds, bird-song or other relaxing, ambient sounds.
The volume of the beats doesn’t really make much difference, so they can be mixed quite low, so all you’re really conscious of is the ambient sounds that are in the foreground.
YouTube has lots of free binaural beats – unfortunately the sound quality is not always very good, and so far I haven’t found many that actually work; but it’s not a bad place to start. (I write a bit more about why I don’t really recommend YouTube for Binaural Beats, here…)
Conclusion
Binaural beats can definitely play a role in helping you to learn to induce an out-of-body experience.
It’s certainly not the only way – I didn’t have access to this kind of technology when I started learning, and nor did most other practitioners.
But it can clearly speed the process up, and help you to reach the correct trance-state much, much faster. And I believe that with the ever-increasing distractions that modern life brings, most people will find some short-cuts might be helpful.
Don’t let this become the only way of meditating, however. Meditation is supposed to be a life-skill, and not reliant on technology.
What Are the Symptoms of an Out-of-Body Experience? (What to Expect…)
So, You’ve Dedicated Time & Energy into Learning How to Astral Project…
A lot of people get to the point of exiting their body, and then, when the unfamiliar sensations kick-in, they panic, lose their trance-state, and fail to project.
That’s why knowing what symptoms to expect is really important.
I’ll not beat around the bush – your first OBE can be quite a frightening experience – especially if you’re not prepared, and don’t know what to expect.
A feeling that you are going to die is not uncommon for first-time projectors! Obviously, this can be quite distracting, and prevent your first successful projection, or even put you off the idea forever.
Different people have different symptoms, but everyone will have at least a couple of the signs in common.
Here are the seven most common signs that you are about to have an out-of-body experience:
1. Sleep Paralysis
A lot of people actually suffer from sleep paralysis, without any intentions of Astral Projection. It is extremely disturbing if you let it affect you in a negative way, but in terms of Astral Projection it’s actually a really positive sign.
I’ll be explaining how to induce sleep paralysis later, but for the meanwhile, just understand that it’s a state where your mind is conscious, but your body is asleep.
Since you’re actively trying to have an OBE, this shouldn’t worry you too much, but imagine what it’s like to experience this without all the preparation!
2. An Increased Heart Rate
At least, this is what it feels like.
It is difficult to ignore! But ignore it you must. This sign appears very close to the exit stage, and can distract you from your goal by shocking you out of your trance.
Some people feel as though they are about to have a heart-attack, their heart seems to be beating so fast.
Actually, though, the sensation is not from your heart, but your Heart Center. You can test this using a heart monitor – and you may find that, if anything, your actual heart-beat has slowed-down!
The increased activity is in fact from your heart center working hard to generate the energy needed for an OBE.
3. Heat Sensations
Typically in the chest, and around the Navel Center. The navel center sensations are usually a warm comfortable feeling, but the heat sensations around the chest can be more extreme.
Sometimes, the heat can feel so intense that it’s as though you are burning-up, in a fever.
4. Vibrations/Tingling
These are probably the most documented of all of the out-of-body experience symptoms.
Not everyone gets these, but they are common, and I certainly experience them.
To me, tingling doesn’t seem a strong-enough word to describe the sensation, but a lot of people use this word when describing the point before exit.
From my personal experience, the vibrations are vigorous, and sometimes almost violent. It may feel as if your whole body is shaking like crazy. It feels like a genuine, physical sensation.
However, if you stand-over someone who is projecting, you won’t see any sign of the vibrations they are experiencing.
5. A Loud Humming/Buzzing Sound
This almost always accompanies the vibrations. It can be very loud indeed! Sometimes you may hear voices as well – I suspect that these voices are “invented” by your mind in the midst of all the other noise that’s going on.
6. Feeling of Pressure to the Head
This can vary from throbbing, to a mild discomfort, to actual pain.
It’s associated with the increased activity in the Brow Center and Crown Center. It can feel like a band being tightened around your head.
It’s nothing serious, and the pain should go away quickly.
7. Sinking or Floating or Suddenly Dropping
A feeling of sinking into your bed is not uncommon, and you won’t be surprised to hear that floating sensations are also a common symptom.
Sometimes the feeling can be more intense – almost as if you’re on a roller-coaster with those moments where your body is dropping down so fast that it feels as though your stomach has been left behind.
What Next?
Memorize these signs that you’re about to have an OBE!
Especially the ones that are more scary or disturbing.
Know that the more unfamiliar sensations are not something to panic about, but instead are a sign that you’re really close to success!
You, an Out-of-Body Experience Master?
Become an Astral Projection Expert In Just 6 Short Weeks…
A Complete Course Based On Over 25 Years Of Experience
Explore the Limitless Possibilities of Astral Travel
Journey to Real or Made-up places in the Astral Plane
And Discover Unimaginable Far-off Lands…