A Practical Guide to Conscious Out of Body Experiences Daniel S Osburn

A Practical Guide to Conscious Out of Body Experiences v1.0.3 – Daniel S. Osburn

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Synopsis There are two primary methods for inducing conscious out of body experiences: direct induction and lucid dream conversions. This text advocates the use of both techniques concurrently in an effort to guide the reader towards a conscious out of body experience as quickly as possible. How long it takes to accomplish this is dependant upon desire, motivation, expectation, and how closely these instructions are followed. It should not be unexpected to have success within the first week. Briefly, a consciously induced out of body experience is when a person is able to voluntarily project his or her consciousness outside of the physical body. Once initiated, this may include such things as the ability to travel instantaneously via thought, real-time observation of people and objects in both physical and non-physical realities, access to external knowledge as well as self-insight, and experiences on other energetic planes. Perhaps above all though, out of body experiences provide direct confirmation of the true nature of reality and prepare one for the ultimate out of body experience, death. History, breadth of uses, dangers, links to shamanism and psychedelic drugs, benefits, scientific validation, and non-consciously induced out of body experiences are out of the scope of this document. It is highly recommended to have at least a basic understanding in each of these fields before making any serious attempts. The ‘Bibliography and Suggested Reading’ section provides a compilation of resources which can assist the unfamiliar.

Awareness First of all, and very importantly, let’s discuss the concept of awareness. In dreams, there generally tends to be a lack of awareness. This is why we don’t become lucid every night, we are simply not aware enough to realize when abnormal things occur in our dreams. In order to increase awareness in dreams, you must increase your awareness in waking life. This requires constant effort and should not be taken lightly. The first step to increasing awareness is breath focus. Make a conscious effort to breathe deeply and slowly through the diaphragm. This does not happen automatically and the fact that it takes constant effort to maintain doing is a good thing. Breath focus is a great start to increasing daily awareness, but it’s just a start. In general, I would suggest breathing deeply, slowing down, relaxing, and just taking in things around you. Notice the sounds off in the distance, the smell in the air, the way the sky looks, the feel of the wind or sun on your skin, the way your tongue is sitting in your mouth or the way your socks feel on your feet. The goal is to stay in the moment and to have the mind clear of both thought words and music. There is no need to be constantly thinking about what you will eat for dinner, what you did at work today, what the look meant that the person you just saw gave you, or any number of other random thoughts. Just relax, clear the mind, focus on breathing and being aware of things around you and of your senses.

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This should be done consistently and constantly. Drugs and alcohol interfere with your ability to focus and hinder the pursuit of increased awareness, even after they are out of your system. Ultimately these techniques will lead to being more centered throughout the day and being more in control of thoughts and emotions… living in the now, if you will.

Reality testing This brings us to our next point, reality testing. Usually, the way to achieve lucidity in a dream is to realize that something is out of the ordinary. For this reason, you want to make a habit of periodically testing reality to see if you are dreaming. If you do this continually, and for an extended period, you will find yourself doing reality checks in your dreams. It is important that you not just casually check and then take for granted “of course I’m awake” when doing reality checks. Just take 20-30 seconds and genuinely question if you are dreaming. Some good questions are “Is anything out of the ordinary right now?” “How did I get here?” “What was I doing ten minutes ago?” and “If I jump, do I float?” Also things like trying to push your hand through solid matter or holding your nostrils closed and trying to breathe through them are good tests. Glancing at your hands works well too. In dreams your hands will typically looks unusual, sometimes I have only four fingers or my hands morph as I look at them. These tests should be done not only periodically, but also every time that you encounter anything unusual. For example, perhaps you encounter a person dressed in a gorilla costume, just do a quick reality test to make sure that you aren’t dreaming. One thing I find helpful is running a computer program which pops up messages to remind me to do reality checks. I’ve got a message set to display a “C” (for conscious) on my screen every twelve minutes. When this happens I take a deep breathe, look around, and do a few quick reality checks.

False Awakenings When you begin to attempt to have lucid dreams, you will undoubtedly encounter the phenomenon of false awakenings. This is where you dream that you wake up, but you are actually still dreaming. For this reason it’s always best to carefully assess whether you are dreaming upon waking up. Look around briefly and try to notice anything that looks or feels unusual.

Affirmations Affirmations are focused, repeated thoughts, which ingrain an objective or belief into the subconscious. Affirmations play a significant role in influencing what we experience while out of body and actually can influence the physical environment as well. Due to the much slower rate of thought manifestation in the physical, it is necessary to couple affirmations with action in order for them to be effective. This means taking tangible

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physical action to achieve your goal, not just thinking about it. Taking action also reinforces expectation and increases subconscious will. For example, if I had a goal of wanting to get a better job, I could use affirmations and focused intent to help manifest this desire. However, I can’t just expect something to happen if I am not working to create an environment conducive to its manifestation. This means submitting resumes, researching job openings, and making a concerted effort to create an environment where my affirmations can manifest. Action + Affirmations = Success. In terms of out of body experiences, some examples of physical action are getting plenty of sleep, being sober, reading relevant subject matter, concentrating on increased daily awareness, OBE discussions, and being consistent with attempts and OBE related activities. Anything which reminds you throughout the day of your OBE goal is also beneficial. Affirmations should be utilized throughout the day as well as during meditation. These should be firm and direct commands which take place in the present. Some of the ones I use are “I easily separate from my body with full waking consciousness”, “I maintain full awareness as I separate from my body” and “I remain completely aware as my body drifts to sleep”. Affirmations should not be empty words or meaninglessly regurgitated thoughts, but rather should be mentally shouted with full expectation and intention.

Mindset It is very important that you get plenty of sleep, at least eight hours of sleep per night. You should keep in mind that during the evening of an attempt you may well be awake for an hour and half while you attempt separation, so plan accordingly. You should be in a good mental and physical state, not too tired (mentally or physically), not stressed, not excited, just normal and calm. You should expect to achieve separation. Know that you will. On days where you are making an attempt, give complete focus all day to the fact that you will achieve success that night. You may only want to attempt a wake-induced out of body experience (WIOBE) every few nights. Personally, I find a few days between attempts works well. Of course, lucid dreams happen somewhat randomly, and if lucidity is achieved an OBE will hopefully ensue. Strong will is crucial. Will is a combination of expectation and motivation. Set a goal, and have a strong desire to accomplish that goal. Affirmations and action both serve to reinforce will. You must have a strong desire to accomplish your goal and know that you will achieve it. Commit all aspects of your life to achieving this goal. There will never be a better time than now.

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Journal I suggest documenting all dreams, lucid dreams, and OBEs. The best way to do this is waking up throughout the night and typing them on a computer which is kept bed-side. If you wait until morning to record your dreams you will remember significantly less. Combining meditation, daily awareness and breath focus, and recording dreams directly after you have them, you should be able to record between two and ten dreams per night. Record everything in as much detail as you can, even if you only remember a small fragment. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar, just type it quickly and go back to sleep. The most obvious advantage of keeping a journal is that it helps you to remember dreams and experiences. Additionally though, it enables you to identify recurring abnormalities which will help you gain lucidity and it allows you to go back at a later time and interpret dreams with a more detached perspective. This is often very helpful. Your journal also works to ingrain in your subconscious that you care about your dreams and that they contain meaningful messages. This is more significant than it may initially appear.

Dream Signs As you record your nightly dreams, periodically review your dream journal and look for any recurring items which are out of the ordinary, these are your dream signs. Some examples of mine include being at school or encountering people from my home town. Tell yourself that when you encounter one of these dream signs you will do a reality test. It’s helpful to include some things you encounter in everyday life as some of your dream signs. Examples might include seeing a stoplight, walking through a doorway, washing your hands, or taking a drink. Whenever you encounter one of these things in your waking life, do a reality check. This will help condition your mind to look for dream signs and that will transfer over into the dream world. Looking for dream signs should be incorporated into efforts to increase daily awareness.

Dream Interpretation Dreams are generally steeped in metaphors and symbolism and interpreting their meanings can be difficult. One of the reasons for this is that dreams have a large number of influences. Mostly, dreams are the mind’s translation of non-physical events which are happening at much deeper (higher) levels into physical terms. A good amount of the time the meaning of my dreams largely eludes me. However, occasionally I will come upon a dream and the meaning or message is crystal clear. Other times it’s not so clear, but I think I get it. Typically, I try to interpret dreams in a spiritual context unless I have a reason to believe otherwise. It’s best to view every single thing, even the most minute detail, as being packed full of metaphorical symbolism in your dreams. Don’t just

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focus on events or objects but also place great importance upon how you feel and your perception of the atmosphere around you. When interpreting objects, one thing I find helpful is to try to think what the object represents to you at a base level. What kind of personality would it have if you were to have a conversation with it? Ultimately, you are the person best suited to interpret your dreams. Just interpret dreams as feels right. You might not be exactly correct, and that’s fine. But do make an attempt to find meaning in your dreams. Ideally, you will be able to learn from your dreams and incorporate their messages and lessons into your daily life.

Lucid Dreams Lucid dreams are dreams in which you become aware that you are dreaming and are able to consciously control the dream environment in any way you like; whether that means manifesting a new car and driving it through the wall, performing a sexual act with a person of your choice, flying through New York City, or visiting an extinct civilization. Lucid dreams are different from OBEs. It is difficult to describe how they are different, especially when considering an OBE in the astral plane, which will be discussed a bit later. They do feel different. Lucid dreams are less real seem but more realistic. That is, you know that you are in a dream and in a dream environment, but the way you think, feel, and perceive is much like physical reality. Conversely, during an OBE, you have the understanding that you are out of your body and may be able to view verifiable information from physical reality. Usually though, these are actually less realistic in terms of vividness and correspondence to physical sensations, but this is not always the case. The techniques for inducing WIOBEs and dream conversions (OBEs from lucid dreams) are different. However, they do support and influence each other. The more you attempt WIOBEs, the more lucid dreams you will have. Lucid dreams can be converted into OBEs. The life changes necessary to have regular lucid dreams also promote WIOBEs. With that in mind, I find the best approach is to pursue both OBEs and lucid dreams concurrently.

Turning a Lucid Dream into an OBE There are two methods which work best for me in terms of turning a lucid dream into an OBE. Many times, when converting a lucid dream to an OBE, you will find that dream elements are still present to some degree and that reality fluctuations are significant. The first method, and one which I used for my first couple OBEs, is to will yourself back to your body with the intention of not waking up. This can be a bit tenuous but is not as hard as it may seem. Once you gain lucidity in your dream, you simply focus on returning to your body with the intention of your body remaining asleep. Use mental affirmations if you like. After you return to your body, your awareness will be much different than it was in the lucid dream. You may not have vision, and will likely feel sensations that will at first seem very unusual. From this point you simply employ a separation

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technique to get out of your body. Separation techniques are discussed in a subsequent section. It may be necessary to quickly cycle through a few different techniques if you aren’t having immediate success. The other method, which is perhaps a little more difficult, is to use will and affirmations to do away with the dream content, thus leaving you floating out of your body in a new environment. When using this method, false awakenings are common. In that case, you will away the dream content and find that you have inadvertently woken yourself up, except things don’t seem quite right. You realize have awoken into a new dream! In most cases, a focused effort to eliminate the dream content will work directly, and the dream will simply fade away. However, I have had one experience using this method which was different. I focused on doing away with the dream content and the world around me started destroying itself. Planes in the sky started to explode, smoke poured from the ground, the earth quaked all around me. Then, a train pulled up and the intercom announced my name and requested that I enter inside. I had the distinct impression that this train would take me back to my body and I got on board.

Breathing Sure, breathing does not seem that complex; we do it constantly and usually are not even aware of it. But, a brief dissertation should assist in making things discussed later more clear. At base level, consider that there are three types of breathing: diaphragm (belly) breathing, chest breathing, and shoulder breathing. Diaphragm breathing involves breathing from the stomach. When doing this, the belly should move up and down, the chest should not move at all. Chest breathing is how we typically breathe when not consciously altering our breathing. As you would expect, it involves the chest moving up and down. Shoulder breathing is utilized when the chest is full of air. It is the raising up slightly of the shoulders to increase lung capacity.

Meditation You are likely familiar with some form of meditation, but as there are a lot of different variations, I’ll go ahead and outline what has worked best for me. First of all, position and comfort are very important. I recommend lying in bed with some blankets but not too hot or too cold. Many people recommend having your head pointed north during sleep and meditation, which I do, but whether you want to so that is entirely up to you. Also, keeping the spine straight is recommended. For this reason, I use no pillow and tilt my head forward slightly. Have your arms at your sides, palms down and don’t’ cross your legs. When you first lie down, give yourself a few minutes to just wind down and relax. Focus on deep, rhythmic belly breathing and for the first few minutes just let your thoughts wander, you may even want to keep the light on for this. Next, close your eyes and focus on your breathing. For the next

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few minutes take deep breathes. Start with belly breathing, when you can’t push out your stomach anymore, fill up your lungs; when your lungs are full, use shoulder breathing to get even more air. Hold it for a second or so and then slowly release, expelling air in the reverse order (shoulders then chest then stomach). Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. Do this slowly, it should be at least a ten count for each inhale and then again for each exhale, but don’t count it out mentally. After breathing like this for a few minutes you can switch to belly breathing and inhale and exhale both out of the nose or both out of the mouth. Note that this should be silent; there should be no sound as you inhale or exhale. Do affirmations and set some specific goals you would like to achieve after separation during this time. Allow about ten minutes for this initial process.

Relaxation Next you want to work on relaxation while you continue your slow and deep belly breathing. There are a few techniques which I like. My favorite involves visualizing a bright white, warm, vibrating light coming into the top of my head. This light slowly moves through my body, from the brain to the face to the neck to the shoulders etc, completely relaxing as it slowly moves. Another technique is to go through each body part and flex the muscles intensely for ten seconds and then release. Another is to visualize yourself in an environment which is completely relaxing. I like to envision myself lying beside a bubbling stream in a clearing of a large forest. I hear the stream and feel the warm sun, cool wind, and soft grass. There is no hurry in this place and I am completely content and relaxed. Dogs are playing off in the distance and I hear birds singing and gentle relaxing music. Another relaxation technique which is helpful is just feeling yourself sink deeper and deeper into your soft, warm bed. In terms of relaxation there are likely a few places where you tend to hold tenseness without even being aware of it. Commonly, these places are the face (especially the brow), the shoulders, and the anus. Go through each of these places with special attention and completely relax them. This should be done with the entire body, but give extra focus to individual areas as you personally feel needed. Take ten minutes or so and make sure that you are completely relaxed. There should be no movement of the body during this time, even very subtle movements and refocusings of the eyes should be eliminated. I generally find that the very minute movements of the eyes are the very last element of complete relaxation.

Body Loosening It is now time to start conditioning your mind for separation. There are a huge number of techniques which people use to separate, basically anything that involves you moving away from your body or expanding your energy body outside of your physical body. My favorites are floating straight

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up, rolling to the side, or just getting up normally like I would out of bed. You should visualize yourself doing this and moving away from your body for ten minutes or so as you are relaxed and have your mind cleared. Envision your astral body moving up and down with each inhale and exhale. For instance, you might picture your self floating up towards the ceiling with every inhale and floating down through the bed and to the floor with every exhale. Envision what the room looks like from your new perspective. You could use the same technique to envision your legs or arms bending up out of your body and towards the ceiling with each inhale and then down through the bed with each exhale. Keep your breathing deep and rhythmic.

Quieting the Mind You have taken about 20-30 minutes; you have focused on your breathing, done your affirmations, and are completely relaxed. Now, you want to work on clearing your mind. As you do this, if thoughts come into your mind, just gently let them go and focus back on clearing your mind. I sometimes begin by perceiving my mind as a tiny spec of dust on a calm ocean, serenely floating back and forth with the gentle waves. There should be no words or music in your mind, just emptiness. Try to hold this state of mental emptiness for five straight minutes. This is the state you want to be in when you are preparing for the vibrational state. The entire routine should take 30-50 minutes from the time you start relaxing and meditating to the time you are ready to work on obtaining the vibrations. You may notice your body starts to tingle or that you start to lose awareness of its position. These are good things. There are alternate meditations which can be used to heat and energize the body; these should be avoided as we are ultimately going to want the body to be falling asleep while the mind does not.

External Stimuli There are a number of external stimulation devices which can be helpful in your out of body attempts. You may find some of these things beneficial or you may not. My recommendation, however, is that if you choose to experiment with any of these things that you do so intermittently. Not only does the mind begin to get used to and ignore these external stimuli sources if they are used constantly, but also I think it’s best to not become reliant on any external stimuli to accomplish what can be done naturally. With that said, the most prominent types of external stimuli are included below. Mind Machines These are devices which employ a combination of flashing lights and sounds to induce altered states of consciousness. They claim to be able to induce anything from increased relaxation and concentration to extremely deep levels of meditation which would take decades of practice to achieve naturally. I have not yet had the opportunity to experiment with any such device.

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Dream Masks Dream masks are specialized masks worn during sleep which aim to induce lucid dreams by alerting you that you are dreaming. This is done with flashing lights and sometimes sounds. Generally, these masks will start to send signals once they detect REM sleep. The features and customization options vary greatly by model, some even offer two-way communication so that you can signal the device that you are lucid and that it should stop sending cues. If you are using a dream mask, you should include flashing lights as one of your dream signs. These lights manifest in your dreams in a number of different and often surprising ways. Dream masks range anywhere from $60 to $1,000 depending on features offered. My recommendation is the REM Dreamer; it offers all the features of the high end dream masks for around $200. Brainwave Entrainment Brainwave entrainment technologies employ specific tones which, over time, cause the brain to emulate the frequencies of various altered states. These are generally geared toward a initiating a specific experience, whether it be lucid dreams, increased focus, deep relaxation, out of body experiences or emulating the effects of various mind altering substances. Binaural beats, monaural tones, and isochronic tones are the main types of brainwave entrainment technology, with isochronic tones being the newest and purportedly most effective. Supplements Using chemical supplements to assist in lucid dreams and OBEs is a fairly new and largely unknown practice. I expect that if it were more wellknown that it would be at least somewhat controversial. Thomas Yuschak’s “Advanced Lucid Dreaming: The Power of Supplements” was and continues to be the defining work in this field. Condensing this entire book into a few paragraphs will undoubtedly mean some information will be omitted, mainly the science behind how and why these things work. When using supplements, if you do not succeed in having a WIOBE the chances of having a lucid dream are extremely high. I have had lucid dreams, OBEs and WIOBEs both with and without supplements. I certainly don’t want to portray that supplements are necessary, but I do feel that the benefits are significant. However, there are downsides, such as cost. I spent about $150 on my initial supplement supply. Also, supplements absolutely should not be used every night and the same combination should never be taken twice in a row. Using supplements more often increases both tolerance and desensitization. Tolerance is your mind getting used to the supplements and causing them to be less affective. De-sensitization is a physiological process and means the supplements are actually having less chemical affect. Taking supplements only once every three days, taking Piracetum immediately after waking from a supplement assisted OBE attempt, and taking prescribed supplement dosages should serve to counteract both tolerance and desensitization.

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Supplement Profiles Galantamine & Choline (Bitartrate or Citrate): When combined, these supplements are the main trigger combination upon which all others are based. This is an extremely powerful combination for both WIOBEs and lucid dreams. Choline (GPC): Most effective when combined with Galantamine. Takes much longer to reach peak levels which means it’s less useful for WIOBE induction. Also can extend experiences and increases awareness. Can cause a soundtrack during lucid dreams. Piracetam: This supplement decreases ability to have lucid dreams and OBEs. It is used immediately after waking up and counteracts the affects of de-sensitization. Mucuna Pruriens: Not a direct trigger. Too large of a dosage will decrease success rate. Leads to an increase in confidence and a boost in awareness and ability to control experiences. Yohimbine: Too large of a dosage will decrease success rate. Improves attention, focus, and ability to reason. 5-HTP: The only supplement taken before bed. By increasing time spent in deep sleep during the first half of the night, 5-HTP causes a greater amount of REM sleep during the second half (known as the REM Rebound Effect). This assists in lucid dreams and WIOBEs. Melatonin: A small dosage can be used to assist in falling asleep if needed but may hurt odds of success. Trigger Combinations -Taken after 4-5 hours of sleep

Primary Trigger Combination: Galantamine [4-8mg], Choline (Bitartrate or Citrate) [250-750mg] Extended Play Trigger: Galantamine [4-8mg], Choline (Bitartrate or Citrate) [250-750mg], Choline (GPC) [300-900mg] Power of Reason Trigger: Galantamine [4-8mg], Choline (Bitartrate or Citrate) [250-750mg], Yohimbine [0.25-0.75mg] Trifecta Trigger: Galantamine [4-8mg], Choline (Bitartrate or Citrate) [250-750mg], Choline (GPC) [300-900mg], Yohimbine [0.25-0.75mg] Supporting Supplements - Remember to switch up supplement combinations and never take the same set twice in a row.

Mucuna Pruriens [