How to Do Astral Projection

By Matthew Joyce

Have you ever wished you could send your awareness beyond the limits of your physical body? You can. And, in fact, you may already be doing so without realizing it.

The practice is called astral projection and the idea is that you send your awareness out of your body and into another time or place. I currently do this many times per week, but it took me a long time to figure out how. You can skip a lot of the trial and error if you learn a few important things up front.

Spontaneous vs. Deliberate Projection

My first out of body experience (OBE) happened 25 years ago. I woke up one night and found myself out of my body floating against the ceiling. The event lasted only a few minutes, but it fundamentally changed my perceptions of who and what I am.

Soon after that spontaneous projection I read Journey’s Out of the Body by Robert Monroe. Using the methods he described in his book, I tried for a long time to replicate my experience but I couldn’t make it happen no matter what I tried. It wasn’t until some years later when I attended the Monroe Institute’s Gateway Program that things came together for me and I began to astral project at will.

The Monroe Institute introduced me to a sound technology called Hemi-Sync, which helped to facilitate the experience again. But for me what was even more important was changing my personal paradigm of what happens during astral projection. Once I changed the way I looked at things I didn’t need any technology or complicated method.

The Problem with Many Popular Methods

For years I sought to have an out of body experience, but it was only while attending the Monroe Institute that I discovered that the problem holding me back was my own thinking.

The  problem with my thinking, and the thinking behind many popular astral projection techniques, was that it began from a self-limiting perspective. If you begin by assuming that you are located in your physical body, such as sitting at your computer reading this article,  then you logically conclude that in order to have an out of body experience you need to project your awareness someplace else.

That’s the trouble.

Although you may not think of yourself this way, in reality you are a field of awareness that exists everywhere all at once like an infinite ocean. You have been conditioned by your past experiences to think that you are a single wave on that ocean. For the sake of example let’s say that you think you are a wave off the coast of California. From that perspective it would seem like you’d need to travel somewhere else in order to experience being a wave off the coast of Hawaii. But from the perspective of the infinite ocean you already are the wave off the coast of Hawaii.

So the problem isn’t one of an ability to travel. It’s a problem with perception.

Understanding Astral Projection

What I eventually realized is that astral projection is not about leaving your awareness of your physical body behind while you travel someplace else so much as it is about shifting your awareness from one focal point to another.

With my method you come to realize that you are already in both points at once, so there is no where that you need to go and nothing that you need to do other than to shift your awareness to the new point that you desire to experience.

Here’s a Quick Example

To move this out of the realm of theory and into something that you can directly experience for yourself, try this little exercise.

1. Start by placing both hands on a flat surface such as a table or desk. Spread your fingers wide apart.
2. Lift up your hands in an arch so that only the tips your fingers and thumb are touching the table.
3. Leaving your left hand as it is, use your right index finger to trace a circle on the table. Trace the circle 10 times. (It’s OK to pick up the other fingers with your right hand.)
4. When you get to circle number 6 start paying attention to your left pinky finger.

The experience of feeling your right index finger rubbing on the table is akin to the experience of being in your body. It is providing you with a steady stream of sensations and it tends to draw a great deal of awareness to it.

The act of shifting your awareness to your left pinky finger is what you need to do when you project your awareness beyond your body. As with your left pinky, your awareness is already there, but you have not been paying attention to it.

You’re Already Doing It

Astral projection, bilocation, and remote viewing are names used to describe the process of shifting awareness beyond that which you can perceive with your physical senses. But we have other names for that process too, and even if you have never had an out of body experience I’ll bet that you have used the same process before.

So what is this method of shifting awareness that you already know how to do?

It’s called day dreaming. The simple act of sending your awareness beyond that boring meeting to your upcoming weekend plans or the act of remembering an event from the past uses the same mental skills as astral projection.

Day dreaming is the process of sending a portion of your awareness beyond what exists in the present moment. You use that skill to recall experiences from the past or you can use it to envision events from your future.

Your day dreams can take up varying degrees of your awareness. Sometimes they can be no more than a few passing thoughts. Other times you may be focused more on your day dream than you are on whatever else you’re doing, such as driving your car and missing your exit because you were not paying attention. And if you are sitting or lying down, your day dreams can even be full-blown visions, during which you may virtually stop paying attention to the world around you.

Same Skill, New Application

Learning to astral project into an out of body experience uses this same skill, but with a new application. In this case, rather than sending your awareness through time into the past or into a probable future, you send it through space to a different location, such as that beach in Hawaii.

If this sounds improbable to you, remember that Einstein tells us that space and time are really two aspects of the same thing. You think of them as being distinct because you have been conditioned to use your body to move through space and your mind to move through time. Once you realize it is possible, you can begin to move your mind through space as well.

How This Applies to Astral Projection

When you day dream you envision a scene that unfolds before your inner eyes. If you want, you can envision the scene as it would appear before your eyes, such as looking down a long stretch of sandy beach toward some distant palm trees. But in your mind, you can also decide to envision your body as it is walking along the beach.

My method of astral projection uses the same technique. It starts with what is already natural—the point of view of looking through your eyes at a scene that isn’t present in the physical room you are in. Then if you want to see your body, you look for it in the same way you would during a day dream.

But That’s Fantasy Not Reality

Some people might object that day dreams are not real and they want to experience the real world. Fair enough. But have you ever tried to use the technique to explore reality?

Most people haven’t.

I’m here to tell you that it works for me and that it could work you if you’re willing to give it a try.

How to Get Started

Step 1. The easiest way to get started is to begin by revisiting a place you’ve already been such as your favorite beach.

Start by envisioning the scene with as many details as you can. Try to recall at least one thing for every sense. (Sometimes you may need to skip taste.) For instance, envision that long stretch of sand. Notice the color of the water and the sky. Listen to the sound of seagulls or the waves breaking against the shore. Feel the warm sand on your bare feet or the salty breeze upon your cheek.

When you feel like you can vividly recall and experience these kinds of details in your mind then you’re ready for step 2.

Step 2 involves practice and verification with real world objects.

You do this by visiting a place where something exists that you don’t know about. A simple way to set this up is to ask a friend to place an unusual object in a room and close the door. Then you send your awareness into the room to see what is there.

To do this:

1. Find a quiet place free from distractions.
2. Take a few breaths to relax and get comfortable.
3. Close your eyes and allow your mind to quiet down.
4. State to yourself your intention of seeing the unusual object.
5. Start envisioning what is in the other room. If you’ve been in the room before, begin by filling in the scene with what you know.
6. When the scene starts to feel complete, look for the unusual object. Don’t try to think of what it might be. Instead, try to notice what else is there as you would by looking around the room. When in doubt, go with your first impression.
7. Check with your friend to see if you are correct.

It takes some trial and error but the method does work. When you get a hit, you’re ready for Step 3.

Step 3 moves beyond this basic remote viewing. It adds in an awareness of your astral body, which you use to experience your other senses as you did in Step  1. You can make this interesting by playing music, burning incense, or putting food in the room so you can try to experience them with your astral body.

Applying It in Your Life

Granted it takes some practice to get comfortable with this, but it is indeed possible to practice astral projection and have out of body experiences.

We’ve had many requests for information on this topic so we’ll be covering it in more detail in future articles.

If you are interested you may also like to learn more about a Monroe Institute workshop which I facilitate using Hemi-Sync that may help you to have out of body experiences. To learn more click here or visit our workshops page and look for TMI Excursion.

Next Step

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