Out of Body Experience: Methods Based On Movement Imagination for Out of Body Experiences

By Alfred Ballabene

MY FIRST EXPERIENCES WITH THIS METHOD

Performing my yoga meditations in the early morning, I observed more and more often that my legs began to float in the air, like they were being carried by sea water. Of course, these could not be my physical legs; that was evident. Having sufficient theoretic background to know about the subtle body, I got interested in this phenomenon. Soon after the first experiences of "floating feet," I was eager to increase this kind of loosening of the subtle body. Thus, when again I felt floating in my legs, I tried to move my upper body as well. I was successful at once in loosening my upper body for some inches. Of course, I was eager to separate my soul body, but I had no success. I had the impression that I was fixed to my physical body by something that felt like many threads of rubber. It took several months to increase the distance of the subtle to the physical body by means of rocking, so I could tear these threads and leave my physical body.

This was mainly an exercise in curiosity. It was the verification for me of having a soul, of the existence of a non-physical dimension. It was the confirmation that what I have learned in yoga was right. I now had my awareness in another body, a subtle one, or so it felt.

After a while, the process of separation became easier, and at last I could step out of the physical body without any hindrance. I then went out of the room mostly in blackness, unable to see anything, but with an excellent kind of "space feeling." I had exact impressions of the form, location and color of the objects around me. After a certain distance (it commonly was exactly at the front door of the house) I at once had clear vision. The environment now mostly was different from the physical world, though the street and the side streets seemed to be identical in alignment. To my great regret, these expeditions were very short in duration.

Practicing this method for many years, I have gotten the impression that "stepping out of the body by will" can be performed in three related states of consciousness:

¥  in trance

¥  in the "half sleep state" (the hypnagogic state before falling asleep)

¥  in lucidity or the state of false awakening

HOW IT WORKS

The rocking method is identical for inducing all three kinds of states of consciousness:

Direct your awareness into your body. Imagine and feel warmth streaming through your body. Concentrate on your inner energies, feel how they are circling through your body, how they are strengthening the body. Distract your attention away from outward impressions like noise, etc. ("All that is far away")

Imagine rocking with your subtle body. In this part of the method, it is a mere imagination, but if everything runs well, your imagination of the subtle body changes to an awareness of the subtle body. Now you do not imagine rocking with your subtle body, you actually do rock with the subtle body.

In your imaginations, you may promote the imagination of an active rocking or you may use a "passive" variation, in which you sit in a rocking chair, like in the drawing above.

If you want to have success, your imaginations of rocking must have so much interest, concentration and awareness that an auto-hypnotic suggestion is fixed into your subconscious. Later, let's say after half an hour, when you are less awake and less aware of the process, your subconscious will continue the process automatically.

THE TRANCE METHOD I USE

Position:

I preferred practicing the trance method after midday. I used to sit in a comfortable armchair and lean back at approximately 60 degrees inclination. My head rested comfortably on a pillow, otherwise it would hurt after some while, because I could not move all the time (even if I was unbearably tickled, a sensation which often is registered at the border of the intended OBE state).

In addition to offering better concentration, sitting up in an armchair (as compared to lying in bed) has a further advantage: if you fall asleep, instead of going into trance, the unusual sleep position somehow alarms your subconscious. Being in a sleeping position out of your normal habit very often leads to a state of false awakening, a semi-conscious state that can be used to start OBE's as well, as I shall explain some lines below.

Method:

Pay attention to your body, feel warmth or vibrations. Try to keep your attention as long as possible. If you become aware of something unusual, like partial body separation, try to step out of your physical body as if your physical was a coat. If this is not possible to you, then try to loosen your subtle body by the rocking method.

Sensations:

I usually felt alert all the time, though sometimes I lost concentration and was drifting away for a short while. After a while (perhaps 1/2 hour), when awareness was shifting into the etheric body, I sometimes could feel the limbs of my subtle body separating from the physical counterparts. I could feel the limbs of my double floating in the air, as if I was sitting in very salty sea water. This feeling signaled me to start OBE deliberately. Later on, after having gathered more experience, I started my OBE's when perceiving the slightly different consciousness indicative of the etheric body.

When trying to separate from my physical body, for several months I was hindered by something that felt as if I was tied by many rubber-like strings to my physical. These strings were elastic but not easy to tear. Therefore, I tried to separate by rocking my subtle body back and forth. When I got rid of the strings, there was still a kind of fixation to the physical body, the so-called silver cord.

Figure above: Fighting against the backward pull of many elastic cords I rocked forward, until I had the impression that I could swing far enough to have a chance for separating by a final effort. To maintain the detachment, additionally I grabbed the armchair and pushed myself out of the physical body.

When I became free from my physical body, in most experiences I could not see and was veiled in darkness. This handicap did not prevent me from searching a path through the room and outside to the entrance of the house. I always had a kind of inner "mind-sensing" that helped me to find the right way. At a certain distance from my physical body, I suddenly and instantaneously was able to see. Outside of the house I lived in, I found myself in an altered surrounding, compared with the "normal" one. I did retain my common state of mind and logical reasoning.

STEPPING OUT IN THE STATE OF FALSE AWAKENING

The best time for this method is when you're sleeping at any hour of the night, for you will be interrupting your sleep. If you want to be successful, you have to keep your concentration on movement imagination or your awareness on any auto-suggestive intention for at least 20 minutes before falling asleep again. If you have success, you will continue your "meditation" without being aware that a time of sleep has passed in the meantime. You feel wake, but after going on with your meditation for a while, you register strange happenings and you realize that what you observe can not happen in the real world, but is in fact an imitation and typical for a state called "false awakening."

False awakening is a special category of dream. For astral projectors, false awakenings can be the starting point of a special form of OBE. In this case, you feel yourself awake, sitting in your easy chair or whatever you prefer, continuing the exercises automatically that you began before you fell asleep. You don't recognize that you are in an altered state of consciousness. Perhaps you are somewhat disturbed, because you are not in trance, as you had intended before, but instead you think you have awakened fully. I have experienced this many times. Being awake and not in an OBE state as intended, as I thought by error, I tried to make the best of the situation and continued exercising with reinforced concentration. Just in these tricky moments, I usually then heard (my eyes are closed for the exercise) some people entering the room, speaking loudly in an obviously very reckless way, switching on the radio and lamp (my visual field was brightened by the light passing the eyelids). I often got angry and protested.

I discovered two possible ways of further development from here:

1) If I ignore all the noise and continue exercising, I slowly become aware of the situation and there is a great chance for me to have a successful OBE.

2) Otherwise, if I open the eyes and leave the easy chair to complain about the noise and follow the imaginary people, my level of consciousness totally drops and I fall into a common dream state.

If I succeed in getting the state of false awakening under conscious control, I can choose one of two possibilities:

¥  stepping out of the body or

¥  projecting by a kind of zooming my inner sight (as looking by means of the forehead or third eye)

In this way, I can step out with my etheric body or start an astral projection.

"Stepping out of the body in the state of false awakening" in some ways differs in experience from leaving the physical body by "stepping out in trance." With the first, I am not likely to feel a silver cord, my distance of travel is not limited, and I have no sensory inputs from the physical body simultaneously (aka, "double consciousness"). Controlled false awakening turns into a sort of astral travel in a near-physical astral plane. Projecting with the third eye leads to astral travel at far distances. Uncontrolled false awakening turns to a dreamlike state.

I theorize that an OBE through false awakening is generally not an etheric OBE.

SOME EXAMPLES

Bal.: I was exercising "swinging" to get out of the body. After some time, I felt disturbed in my intentions by An., who turned on the radio, playing music very loudly and disturbing me (this was in a dream state, not really). Leaving my eyes closed to remain in deep relaxation, I protested verbally. She argued, "Why not, last time I was playing the radio as well and now you should go to bed and have a sleep." I ignored her. The music stopped and it became silent.

I tried to leave my body, but was drawn back by these rubber-like threads. In my second attempt, I grabbed the armchair to push myself out of my physical body. At last I was free. When I was out, I looked around the room, which seemed to be somewhat different from the physical one. Then I passed the bathroom, touching the towels and feeling with full awareness the texture of the carpet on the soles of my feet, in order to get a good body feeling, which really increased. Concomitantly, my awareness also increased as intended. I went down the stairs and out the door. There was no garden as it is in reality, but instead just a ploughed field. I crossed this field heading to a distant street, which I almost could not see because it was a cloudy night. I arrived at the street and had a look around. It was dark all over, the sky without stars or moon, but there was an intimidating flashing light on the horizon. I tried sensing for danger in all directions and perceived none, but for security reasons I returned home, back into my physical body.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE

Bal.: Sitting in my armchair, I had the impression of a very crowded room (though I felt awake, this was a dream state). For a short time, I opened my eyes and saw several persons feeling at home, lying in the bed, coming and going and being very noisy. I continued exercising with high concentration to shield off the disturbance. At last I was successful, stepped out of my physical body, and had a wonderful walk through an unknown, lovely countryside with meadows, rocks and waterfalls.

THIRD EXAMPLE

Bal.: I was in a state of false awakening, but as I thought I was awake, I tried to continue my exercises. My wife it seemed was walking up and down the room, doing this and that. I felt disturbed, but did not stop my attempts. Now she turned on the light and the brightness was filtering through my eyelids (this all was not real, but in dream). Nevertheless, I continued my exercises. My wife came close to my armchair, bent down over my feet to turn on the heating. I became fully awake with no hope of falling again into deep relaxation, or so I thought, and dropped the hope of getting out of the body. I gave up and decided to have a rest and went to bed. I then had a common dream and when I awakened, I found myself in the armchair (thus, going to bed was clearly done in false awakening). The quoted sensations seemed to be so realistic that in the morning I actually was somewhat hesitant about what to think of the experience. For that reason later on I asked my wife about this event, but she told me that she was sleeping all the time.

More from Alfred Ballabene athttp://www.paranormal.de/para/ballabene/