Astral Projection: About and How-To Guide
Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 5:09 pm
I noticed that there is really not a lot at all in this topic, so I decided to create a small how-to guide on astral projection. As you can see, I just finished the semester of school and have time now lol. Ok so here it is...
First of all, the key to astral projection is a kind of alert relaxation. It's not the same as meditation though. When one astral projects, it is commonly believed that the spirit or astral self leaves the body. However, my personal understanding of this is not as a seperation of body and spirit, but rather a shift of consciousness to another aspect of the Self...the astral self. You are simply bringing your awareness to another part of yourself that resonates on a different frequency and is composed of nonphysical components.
Also, I think it is important to point out the difference between astral projection and remote viewing. These two things are often confused. Remote viewing is extending your awareness outside of yourself to "be present" or aware of other things on the physical plane. This is where you can "go outside yourself" and see what someone else is doing at that moment in a different location and then when you call them up later it turns out that you were accurate and such. Astral projection is different then this. When you astral project, you are not generally going to be residing on the physical plane. So in actuality, when you "project" and see your physical self appearing as sleeping, that's actually remote viewing. Astrally, you would not be able to see yoru physical self in this way UNLESS your astral self is resonating on a denser frequency, and in that case it would either be fuzzy, you could be quickly worn out and snap out of it, or you would simply need a great deal of practice to do this. You would still not actually be on the physical plane, but rather close enough to it in order to see (though most likely not interact) with it.
Hopefully this isn't confusing.
So, generally when one astral projects they go to a less dense astral plane. There are countless of these to go to. Everything that is physical has an astral duplicate, but not everything astral has a physical duplicate. So, there is actually a room on the astral plane that is identical to your room, though probably with differing features. There are also various planes that have no physical counterpart. These can be incredibly interesting to go to. Also this is generally where nonphysical beings reside, and magick there is easier and more direct. For example, if you want to float a spoon, you can simply do it. Which I have just to see it lol. This is because these planes are more fluid and changeable and do not operate with the same laws of physics that govern the physical plane.
As far as knowledge go, your physical self and astral self both have the same knowledge....they are both you after all, just different aspects. But oftetimes, on the physical plane we don't have access to our astral memories and experiences readily. However, when you astral project, these memories and experiences do become available, and if you are consciously astral projecting (that is, not through a dream...though sometimes it is possible through a dream) then you have access to your physical memories and experiences as well, which is helpful if you astral projected for a specific purpose that you need to carry out.
It is also important to realize that our astral selves are not stagnant beings that freeze and do nothing while we are going about our usual physical lives. They are doing their own things while we are unaware, so when our consciousness shifts, you may find yourself in the middle of an activity if you did not specifically concentrate on going somewhere or doing something else. Also, time and space astrally are perceived differently on the astral plane. You can quickly go somewhere far, and time is strange in that if you leave the projection and go back five minutes later, hours could have passed astrally and things like that. Like I said, it's more fluid.
Ok, so enough about the generals, eh? Let's get to the how-to.
One way to astral project is through dreams. Not all dreams are projections, but some are. You can tell the difference based on the quality of the experience. If a dream feels incredily real and seems to have a "storyline" as opposed to various images smooshed together, it is likely that you have had a projection (but not definate...after having projected on purpose a few times, you will be able to tell the difference easier).
To astral project manually obviously requires more concentration and control. Here are some steps that you may want to try...they have been effective for me on many occassions.
1. Lay down in a comfortable position. It doesn't matter what position you choose, as long as you are comfortable.
2. Calm yourself to a certain extent, but don't let sleep take hold. For a few moments, focus on your breathing or your heartbeat. I personally find that either deep rhythmic breaths or any kind of quick breath works best, even if the breaths are somewhat shallow. I think perhaps I find this effective because it keeps me from sleeping.
3. Begin very soon after you start to relax yourself to repeat continuously in your mind your goal. If you just want to astral project in general say over and over to yourself "astral project". If you have a specific place you want to go to or a specifc thing you want to do, add that after "astral project." So an example could be, "go to (insert place here), astral project."
4. Keep this as your only thought. If your mind strays, bring it back right away. Make sure to keep absolutely still. After a while, you will begin to feel tingly, especially in your extremities like arms and legs. This will grow. Let it. After a while you will loose feeling physically, but that is the point so do not be afraid of it. You are shifting your consciousness away from your physical body, so of course it is not going to be focussed on.
5. Soon you may begin feeling sensations like you are moving when your physical self is not. That's ok too, and even attempting to move energetically rather than physically can help you make the transition. Sometimes you will just suddenly become astrally aware. I have even had the strange experience of thinking I failed and was just getting out of bed to go do something else when I realized I was in my astral room, not physical, because of some slight differences.
It is different for everyone. These are just the ways that work for me. You can feel free to share your own techniques that work for you.
Staying astral can sometimes be difficult. Sometimes something on the physical plane, like a loud sound or someone coming in the room, can make you unintentionally snap back to your physical self. This can result in alot of disorientation, so if this happens I suggest grouding yourself and eating something to balance out. In fact, I recommend this after astral projecting at all because slight disorientaion and feeling drained and spacey is pretty common after "waking up" from astral projecting.
If you are hungry or have to go to the bathroom, it is also unlikely that you will stay projecting for long for obvious reasons.
Sometimes, senses on the astral plane can be "off" at first. You have to get used to them...for example, sometimes when I astral project, things are very blurry and I need to focus a bit in order to clear my vision.
You must also be aware of subconscious interference. I hadn't had this problem until not too long ago, and had no idea what was going on for a while. Eventually I figured out that the distortions...things that just made no sense....that I was having while projecting were important messages that my subconscious was trying to inform me of....basically taking advantage of the fact that astrally I would be more able to access these subconscious messages.
Timing can also be a factor of whether or not you can project or stay projecting. If you do it when you are exhausted, you will most likely fall asleep. If you are too hyper, you won't be able to get anywhere. Oddly, caffeine actually seems to help me project while it hinders most people. Maybe I'm just that addicted lol. Also it is no impossible to project if there are sounds going on around you, as long as you either block out the sounds or utilize them as ways of relaxing or keeping focus. Another thing that I have realized over time is that I astral project more readily when I have just woken up from ALOT of sleep....even too much sleep...and have that "oversleeping" tiredness that isn't really tiredness...if you know what I mean...that seems effective for being able to astral project to me because you are groggy enough to relax but not mentally tired.
If anyone has any questions or comments or if you want to contribute to this, do feel free.
First of all, the key to astral projection is a kind of alert relaxation. It's not the same as meditation though. When one astral projects, it is commonly believed that the spirit or astral self leaves the body. However, my personal understanding of this is not as a seperation of body and spirit, but rather a shift of consciousness to another aspect of the Self...the astral self. You are simply bringing your awareness to another part of yourself that resonates on a different frequency and is composed of nonphysical components.
Also, I think it is important to point out the difference between astral projection and remote viewing. These two things are often confused. Remote viewing is extending your awareness outside of yourself to "be present" or aware of other things on the physical plane. This is where you can "go outside yourself" and see what someone else is doing at that moment in a different location and then when you call them up later it turns out that you were accurate and such. Astral projection is different then this. When you astral project, you are not generally going to be residing on the physical plane. So in actuality, when you "project" and see your physical self appearing as sleeping, that's actually remote viewing. Astrally, you would not be able to see yoru physical self in this way UNLESS your astral self is resonating on a denser frequency, and in that case it would either be fuzzy, you could be quickly worn out and snap out of it, or you would simply need a great deal of practice to do this. You would still not actually be on the physical plane, but rather close enough to it in order to see (though most likely not interact) with it.
Hopefully this isn't confusing.
So, generally when one astral projects they go to a less dense astral plane. There are countless of these to go to. Everything that is physical has an astral duplicate, but not everything astral has a physical duplicate. So, there is actually a room on the astral plane that is identical to your room, though probably with differing features. There are also various planes that have no physical counterpart. These can be incredibly interesting to go to. Also this is generally where nonphysical beings reside, and magick there is easier and more direct. For example, if you want to float a spoon, you can simply do it. Which I have just to see it lol. This is because these planes are more fluid and changeable and do not operate with the same laws of physics that govern the physical plane.
As far as knowledge go, your physical self and astral self both have the same knowledge....they are both you after all, just different aspects. But oftetimes, on the physical plane we don't have access to our astral memories and experiences readily. However, when you astral project, these memories and experiences do become available, and if you are consciously astral projecting (that is, not through a dream...though sometimes it is possible through a dream) then you have access to your physical memories and experiences as well, which is helpful if you astral projected for a specific purpose that you need to carry out.
It is also important to realize that our astral selves are not stagnant beings that freeze and do nothing while we are going about our usual physical lives. They are doing their own things while we are unaware, so when our consciousness shifts, you may find yourself in the middle of an activity if you did not specifically concentrate on going somewhere or doing something else. Also, time and space astrally are perceived differently on the astral plane. You can quickly go somewhere far, and time is strange in that if you leave the projection and go back five minutes later, hours could have passed astrally and things like that. Like I said, it's more fluid.
Ok, so enough about the generals, eh? Let's get to the how-to.
One way to astral project is through dreams. Not all dreams are projections, but some are. You can tell the difference based on the quality of the experience. If a dream feels incredily real and seems to have a "storyline" as opposed to various images smooshed together, it is likely that you have had a projection (but not definate...after having projected on purpose a few times, you will be able to tell the difference easier).
To astral project manually obviously requires more concentration and control. Here are some steps that you may want to try...they have been effective for me on many occassions.
1. Lay down in a comfortable position. It doesn't matter what position you choose, as long as you are comfortable.
2. Calm yourself to a certain extent, but don't let sleep take hold. For a few moments, focus on your breathing or your heartbeat. I personally find that either deep rhythmic breaths or any kind of quick breath works best, even if the breaths are somewhat shallow. I think perhaps I find this effective because it keeps me from sleeping.
3. Begin very soon after you start to relax yourself to repeat continuously in your mind your goal. If you just want to astral project in general say over and over to yourself "astral project". If you have a specific place you want to go to or a specifc thing you want to do, add that after "astral project." So an example could be, "go to (insert place here), astral project."
4. Keep this as your only thought. If your mind strays, bring it back right away. Make sure to keep absolutely still. After a while, you will begin to feel tingly, especially in your extremities like arms and legs. This will grow. Let it. After a while you will loose feeling physically, but that is the point so do not be afraid of it. You are shifting your consciousness away from your physical body, so of course it is not going to be focussed on.
5. Soon you may begin feeling sensations like you are moving when your physical self is not. That's ok too, and even attempting to move energetically rather than physically can help you make the transition. Sometimes you will just suddenly become astrally aware. I have even had the strange experience of thinking I failed and was just getting out of bed to go do something else when I realized I was in my astral room, not physical, because of some slight differences.
It is different for everyone. These are just the ways that work for me. You can feel free to share your own techniques that work for you.
Staying astral can sometimes be difficult. Sometimes something on the physical plane, like a loud sound or someone coming in the room, can make you unintentionally snap back to your physical self. This can result in alot of disorientation, so if this happens I suggest grouding yourself and eating something to balance out. In fact, I recommend this after astral projecting at all because slight disorientaion and feeling drained and spacey is pretty common after "waking up" from astral projecting.
If you are hungry or have to go to the bathroom, it is also unlikely that you will stay projecting for long for obvious reasons.
Sometimes, senses on the astral plane can be "off" at first. You have to get used to them...for example, sometimes when I astral project, things are very blurry and I need to focus a bit in order to clear my vision.
You must also be aware of subconscious interference. I hadn't had this problem until not too long ago, and had no idea what was going on for a while. Eventually I figured out that the distortions...things that just made no sense....that I was having while projecting were important messages that my subconscious was trying to inform me of....basically taking advantage of the fact that astrally I would be more able to access these subconscious messages.
Timing can also be a factor of whether or not you can project or stay projecting. If you do it when you are exhausted, you will most likely fall asleep. If you are too hyper, you won't be able to get anywhere. Oddly, caffeine actually seems to help me project while it hinders most people. Maybe I'm just that addicted lol. Also it is no impossible to project if there are sounds going on around you, as long as you either block out the sounds or utilize them as ways of relaxing or keeping focus. Another thing that I have realized over time is that I astral project more readily when I have just woken up from ALOT of sleep....even too much sleep...and have that "oversleeping" tiredness that isn't really tiredness...if you know what I mean...that seems effective for being able to astral project to me because you are groggy enough to relax but not mentally tired.
If anyone has any questions or comments or if you want to contribute to this, do feel free.
