Using the OBE Excuse?

Now I have come up with some pretty lame excuses in my day but this may take the cake:
"An Ottawa police constable on trial for shoplifting claimed in court yesterday he was having an 'out-of-body' experience at the time of the theft.
Const. Alec Moraru, 38, told court that when he hid five chocolate bars, four blocks of cheese and three bottles of shaving lotion in his briefcase at a Barrhaven Loblaws store Dec. 9, 2004, he was in a 'dream state' and seemed to be watching helplessly from above as he committed the theft and later fled from two store security officers. 'It was like being a marionette and having the strings taken by someone else,' he said. 'It was like watching a movie or being in a dream.'..."
You can read the complete story at:
Officer links shoplifting to 'out-of-body' experience

How to Induce an OBE

Probably the hardest part of trying to have an out of body experience is the preparation to achieve the very first projection. From all of the authors I have read it is almost exclusively one thing that is most important when preparing - mental relaxation. Most people seem to focus so much on technique that the mental aspect is overshadowed. In fact, some report that the spontaneous OBE occurs unexpectedly in a different session after an earlier concentrated session of meditation and self-hypnotic periods.

Here is a list of mental/physical states from Robert Peterson - from his book Lessons Out of the Body - on OBE induction:

"Full - Full (waking) consciousness
Relaxing - Relaxing the body until you can't feel it
F10 - Body asleep / mind awake
Hypnagogic - Beginning of hypnagogic imagery (see earlier blog posting)
Paralysis - Sleep paralysis
Vibs - Vibrations are felt
Vibs Suf - Vibrations are sufficient to start the separation
Separation - The point of separation
OBE

... At each of the milestones, you may have a different state of mind. State of mind is a complex matter. There are many variables involved, such as how much emotion you feel and how much thought you are processing...If you are serious about learning to induce OBEs, but nothing seems to work, this chapter is meant to help you identify what you are doing wrong. For example, maybe your mind is too noisy when you practice...strive of that perfect, quiet, contemplative state of mind, and let it happen."

Twisting vs Rising

The other night I was determined to leave my body. Unfortunately it was late and I was very tired. Now, I've followed two forms of the initial steps to start the process. One advocate says that you must relax, and then start imagining that you are twisting your astral body back and forth until it separates. Many times it starts as if you are twisting at the waist and feeling like your body is going to split in half. Then there is a shimmering and a flinging sensation.

The other method that I've encounted is trying to direct your energy straight up from your 'third eye' and then trying to move your spirit parallel to your head as if you are shooting from the top of your head. This is similar to just trying to push your astral body right out the top of your head. For example, you can feel the energy in your solar plexus move up your spine to the top of your head and then concentrate on the vibrational feeling. Sometimes this feeling is noted to be like the bed is starting to float.

Proving Life After Death

A leading cardiologist , Dr Pim van Lommel — who has become convinced of the existence of life after death after hearing his patients’ experiences — is talking about his research and beliefs at a major conference in London in March. He has become the first medical practitioner to risk his reputation with a full, systematic trial into the phenomenon. He interviewed 344 heart patients at his hospital in the Netherlands who had all clinically died, some for five minutes or longer, before being resuscitated. Of these, 62 — or 18 per cent — reported some ongoing experience after the medical monitors had pronounced them to be dead. Half were aware they were ‘dead’, and 15 had out-of-body experiences where they were aware of the actions of the hospital staff around the body. One patient was able to tell staff who were looking for his dentures that a blond nurse had removed them, and had been put them on a tray on the other side of the room. Since that initial study, which was published in the prestigious Lancet medical journal in 2001, Lommel has resigned his post as a practicing cardiologist to devote his time to further research and lecturing on Near Death Experiences. From Clickpress.

Are All Ghosts Really Ghosts??

Kevin Dooley - Creative Commons

I came across a passage in a book recently that totally floored me! I had never even considered this thought before and was naturally wondering why it had never crossed my mind. Are ghosts only spirits of those who have passed away or are they also living astral bodies that have traveled to another location? Here is a couple of examples:

"'I [a professor] resolved to try whether I could project my astral body to the presence of A [his fiancee]. I did not at all know what the process was, but I opened my window, which looked toward A's house, and sat down in a chair and tried as hard as I could to wish myself into the presence of A. There was no light in my room. I sat in that state of wishing for about 10 minutes. Nothing abnormal in the way of feelings happened to me.' The professor visited his fiancee the next day. She immediately told him that she had seen his apparition at 10 the previous evening while eating dinner. She had looked up from her meal to see the gentleman staring at her through the dining room door."

If we can project our astral bodies to other locations what then is the difference of that and ghosts? When spirits of the dead appear and attach to earthly locations there is some kind of equivalent tie to astral travel. In some ways I find this close to remote viewing but with a twist. Now, it would be interesting to see if any travelers have been able to sense ghosts astrally as well as physically. I have not found a reference to this yet.

Astral Technique - Willing Yourself Out of Your Body

GPS - Creative Commons

Can you really will yourself out of your body? The concept of dynamic willing was one of the first written techniques of astral travel by a French occult researcher, Charles Lancelin. The book, Methodes de Dedoublement Personnel, written in 1908 describes the techniques of concentrated willing may be one of the best ways to induce an OBE. This technique has been somewhat overshadowed in various popular books on the topic mainly due to newer means of spirit travel via meditation, proper body position and time of day. Focused will, according to Lancelin, seems to drive the person to spontaneous OBEs.

Sylvan Muldoon found that conscious will really seemed to be a form of suggestion to unconscious desire if focused long enough. With enough suggestion being part of your conscious focus you can find yourself spontaneously leaving your body. Now, will may not be enough. However, it may lead to greater ability in the future.

From many of the sources that I have read, having a strong affinity or emotion for the destination of your OBE is critical for the novice traveler. Perhaps the home you grew up in or someone you have strong emotions for can be the target to finally lift you out. I sense that many times the first OBE is a startling experience without a travel from source to destination – just suddenly being somewhere and knowing that you’re in the astral or hyper special world!