Astral Projections and the Power of the Mind

Had you ever felt an out-of-body experience?

According to livescience.com, surveys suggest that between 8 and 20 percent of people claimed to have experienced possible out-of-body experiences at some point in their lives. This out-of-body experience can also be called an “astral projection”, wherein an existence of an “astral body” that separates from the physical body and is capable of travelling outside of it. This idea that humans can leave their bodies has been prominent even in the ancient times. Humans believe that it is through astral projection that people may be able to communicate with cosmic intelligence and reach the astral plane. These out-of-body experiences are also linked with near death experiences, and are frequently associated with people who experience illnesses, sleep paralysis, surgical operations, and drug experiences.

When do out-of-body experiences happen?

A research was made wherein people who experienced this phenomena were asked to described when their experiences happened. Around 85% of the respondents said they had experiences this while resting, sleeping, or dreaming. Other surveys show that the majority of people who experience this are people who are in bed rest from an illness while a smaller percentage comes from while a person is on drugs or medicated.

So how does the brain create these astral projections?

Survey evidence suggests the theory that these projections could arise with the same condition as sleep paralysis. Researchers link a strong connection between out-of-body experiences and lucid dreaming. But, there are arguments that refute this statement, as these types of experiences are not so frequent, and can happen with people who have not experienced lucid dreaming.

A research demonstrates that triggering these kinds of experiences is as simple of getting a person to watch a video of them with a heartbeat projected onto it. The study suggests that it’s easy to trick the mind of a person into thinking that it belongs to an external body and the person’s self-consciousness can be easily manipulated by externalising the body’s internal rhythms. Studies have shown that the brain incorporates information from a person’s multiple senses together with the first-person visual perspective, creating a sense of body ownership. Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden had participants lie inside an MRI scanner while wearing a head-mounted display. This display shows a first-person view of another person’s body lying in a corner of the scanner room, their heads either parallel to a wall or perpendicular to it. The researchers then repeatedly touched each of the participants with an object while simultaneously touching the body that the participants were shown in the camera view. When the researchers used a knife to threaten the body they saw in the camera, the measure of the participants’ skin conductance heightened, as it’s natural for humans to sweat more when they’re scared. While the participants were experiencing these body illusions, the areas in their brain that dealt with integrating sensory information and the planning of the body movements were involved. In addition to this, the level of the brain activity corresponded with how strong the illusion was. This suggests that these specific regions of the brain are important in experiencing astral projection.

There are also some instances wherein astral projection can be experienced on purpose. An article in wikihow gives some tips on how a person can experience an astral projection without having a near death experience.

• Step 1: Ready your mind and body by choosing a quiet place to relax. Make sure that you won’t be interrupted. It is better to try this during 4:00am-6:00am as these are more common at these times.
• Step 2: Find a comfortable position.
• Step 3: Affirm yourself that you will have an out-of-body experience.
• Step 4: Close your eyes and relax. Meditation techniques can also be helpful in maintaining an empty mind.
• Step 5: Allow yourself to almost fall asleep. Let yourself drift closely to sleep while still staying conscious of your sensations and mental state.

(The rest of the article gives tips on how to control yourself when you’re already in the astral plane.)

Astral projection has been practiced for millennia. These days, astral travel can also be big business. Online courses and books are offered, giving people tips on how to reach the astral plane. Though people are convinced that they really do leave their physical bodies while experiencing this, science suggests that there are still not enough evidences to explain how astral projection happens outside of the body. In the end, out-of-body experiences is still indeed the work of the brain.

References:

http://www.lucidity.com/NL32.OBEandLD.html
http://www.livescience.com/41128-out-of-body-experiences-explained.html
http://www.livescience.com/27978-astral-projection.html
http://www.gizmag.com/visualized-heartbeat-out-of-body-experience/28728/
http://www.wikihow.com/Have-an-Out-of-Body-Experience