Astral Travel/ Projection

Does anyone have a tried and true method of astral traveling? I have been trying a basic 'travel through mediation' technique which only works in putting me to sleep. I know it takes practice and I am doing that, I am just wondering if someone has any ideas.

Thanks

Sovereign Poet

O.B.E. (astral projection)
Recent events have affected all of us but the death of a friend has drawn out the feelings of helplessness. As we observed his passing, the desire to comfort and to be comforted by family and friends fills us with longing to fulfill those needs but leave little to draw substance from . . . Even the preacher seems to falter, what can he say to bring comfort? Strange that as I listen to his words, I hear the truth within them for the first time. Faith in those things unknown and unseen, attested to by those whom we have never known. Does life end with the passage into death . . . Or does it passing inaugurate the release of the spirit . . . rebirth of the living soul? Childhood is full of fantasy so when we come to accept their reality, they say 'child, ya'll grown-up, you're an adult now!' Seeking to discover the essence of the being called human in relationship to existence is the greatest challenge of our youth. To answer that challenge often leads to a sense of skepticism about concepts and wisdom that are accepted as truth. Man's development of number systems & arithmetic is based upon the desire to form weights & measures of material substance. While geometry produced an abstraction 'mathematics' with its forms (formulas) & theorems (rules) as such are related to perceptions of logic. Extensions of these logical perceptions were the bases for theories on nature & existence of matter. The application of critical observation & measurements of natural phenomenon resulted in the application of the abstraction to matter. Which implies dimension to the mathematical form of the application as the criteria of society's perception of reality. Unless you can accurately define and measure, your knowledge is a meager and baseless (meaningless) perception, not a science. Such is the crux of scientific thinking about social sciences as well as spiritual concepts and practice. How can one measure emotions or imply a standard to reaction to emotional stimulus? The repetitive experimentation of physics and chemistry do not apply equally when subjective experiences are involved. Not the concise laws of action-reaction of science. Just as the elements defined by scientific conceptions relating to the nature of existence has lead mankind to an impasse, the inability to accurately access a measurable (physical) quantity. Quantitative measure of qualitative experience is an abstraction at best.
Quest into the Unknown
In dazes of Olde when I wore young man clothes an adventurous spirit filled my being. During those days the race for space was an infant and our thoughts were subject to it. How we would act when we came to face an alien being?
The reality of war had taught that there is truly more to life than what I perceived with the other five sense organs. During childhood I developed a sixth sense about things so to speak, in war that sixth sense had save my skin a number of times. Upon my return to the World, I start seriously questioning 'the fantasies of youth'. I tried Eastern meditation like zen and yoga, but found that hypnotism for me was a better tool. I began to read Native Traditions about a character call Don Juan too. Then came the stories of OBE, now this I had to try! Initially, I made a few trail runs but didn't really wasn't to enthusiastic with the results. Although I went on to other things, occasionally OBE statement would come up again. Specifically the warning about breaking the umbilical cord. As the fetus is tied to the mother, so the spirit (astral body) tied to the physical. In the true arrogance of youth, I felt the challenge to disprove this perception, setting this goal I enter into ever deeper hypnotic sessions. Finally I felt that I was well prepared, it came late one night as I normally worked the grave yard shift. I had finished with my duties and lay down upon a couch folded my hands over my stomach (hara chakra) and started my descent. I used a double (stairs and elevator) form as I count down to 0, at each level I would move to the alternate form to resume the journey down. Now here is the catch:
At intervals, as you reach various hypnotic levels on the way down, you must give yourself suggestions to override your bodies autonomic functions; breathing, heart rate must be reduced to a minimal levels as you drop into the lower trance states. Even at that I ran into trouble. As I was dropping though the next set of levels, I was overcome with the feeling of asphyxiation, kind of like going to deep underwater. My body nearly convulsed as if suffocating, I found myself gasping for air. I lay still as I went through the check list to see what I might have missed while reinforcing the suggestions lowering myself back down into the lower depths of trance state. My body had acted upon the need for oxygen, while I had slow metabolic rates, I had not reduced the need so I started to restricting the flow of blood as well as slowing the respiratory rate in preparation for the next levels.
The natural function of the physical body is to constrict the blood vessels in the extremities producing in effect a greater flow of blood (oxygen) to the vital organs. Finally I was as deep as I felt I could go. I loosen the bonds and push myself upward and it came as a little surprise to me. In mediation one may sit upright but in hypnotic trance normally you lie or recline. Normally when I come out of a hypnotic trance I find myself in basically the same posture so the mental image of self had maintained that aspect. Although I had consciously rolled my head back and placed my tongue to one side to not restrict breathing. I was looking at myself coming up out of my body while looking at myself were I lay upon the couch. Mentally I was seeing from the perspective of with my face pointed toward the ceiling and the I which rose faced down as if I were doing a push-up with a mirror beneath my face. Now for the strange part as I move toward the ceiling I was still looking down at my body & was startled to see a very different view of self. I looked more like a rag doll that someone had casually dropped into a chair. One leg was still bent and upright against the back of the couch, where I had order my body to move itself forward. That my head extend beyond the edge of the couch lowering the head producing unobstructed air passage strait through the mouth & into the lungs. In trying to find a position to place the tongue would not obstruct the air passage. I had turn my head to the side & the tip of the tongue protruded from the corner of my mouth, a very different posture than I had normally used! I thought 'if someone was to enter now, they would have certainly think I was dead.'
View from the Edge
Reassuring myself that everything was in order, I projected myself upward through the ceiling & outward into space. Out into space pass the sun and the moon straighter than an arrow I flew. (As man-made objects are physical in nature, they are limited to taking an arc (orbital path) to proceed out ward from the earth, the astral body is not encompassed by these laws) Traveling at the speed of thought, not subject to the limits of accelerated motion. I continued this for a while then for no apparent reason I stopped. Although nothing prevented further exploration looking about I was perplexed by that nothing. There was nothing to explore the void existed all round me or perhaps I existed in the void. I had long since left existing star field (the vault of heaven) behind so there was little more than nothing to gain to continue forward. As far as I could see nothing else existed. This was rather perplexing, prior experiences had not been focused upon a definite goal. One of the reason I had not become excited by them but in doing such explorations at least held some sense of their doing. In retrospect I think I better understand "Why creation exists!" The absolute solitude of the void held no purpose of being! Now you might wonder 'How did I return from the Edge of the World?' But then that is another tale in itself. The Void engulfed my being and nothing else exist in it? I survey the surrounding blanket of darkness but only the deep abounds, then movement draws attention to itself? Where once there had been nothing, did something moved? My attention is riveted to the lone object which seemed to suddenly appear! As I watch something does appear to come into view, in fact it seems to be coming toward me?
Reaction to the Unknown
We all believe that we can dictate how we will act but in truth we don't know how we will react until we face the situation. In fascination I watched as the inktomi drew closer when I had a several startling realizations. 1) A large sphere rose like the sun upon the horizon 2) my chord seemed to extended through the void toward that sphere 3) therefore inktomi was definitely coming for me because 4) the entity seemed to be using the chord as a spider would use a strand of web. At about this point I did an about face & made a rapid departure the way I came. Well, so much for my first contact scenario. Returning to my physical body I entered but I don't exactly remember how? I had a similar problem coming out of the trance, I came up so fast that I had to stop & return to a lower state to awaken normal body functions before I could leave the trance state! The building was as deserted as usual and I felt a strong desire for human contact but it was 4 AM. The mess hall was the only thing open so I headed there. Walking into desert night I felt eyes upon me, looking up I to see if it was still seeking me? As you can imagine afterward I spent some time on these events. One end of the chord is attached to my physical body in the earth plane & my astral body is in the astral plane then the other end is attached to my soul? Which resides with the Creator (GOD), then is this being a cherubim? (Genesis 3:23-24) Or perhaps a cherub? (Ezekiel 28:14-19) Or was it an alien (being) spacecraft?
Life is more than the sum of physical & chemical actions and reactions that constitute the World as it exist. Many beliefs contain the conception of something beyond relative change as a function of coincidence. Some believe that there is no coincidence but of consequence of a guiding forces which shapes life according to its need.

So called Sleep is the vehicle...You are acheiving it...You must harness...More? Let me know...

you've got to be freaking kidding me. Did you see the size of that last guy's reply.

hahahaha lmao ryunskei you're great!

sovereign try lucid dreaming

When you meditate try sitting upright in a chair. This may be enough to keep your mind on the verge of consciousness so that you are not sleeping but at the same time are in a deep state of meditation. Usually works for me... This is basically lucid dreaming but your coming from the opposite direction. When you lucid dream your mind goes unconcious prior to becoming conscious in the dreaming state. When you meditate you control the mind down to low level states of consciousness until you find a medium where your conscious can explore the 'dream state' or unconscious activity. Let me know if this works for you...

Hmm well astral plain but whats beyond that?

and thus you must know the laws of astral travel and the dangers of it.

I would like to add here a cautionary tale on this subject. Be careful! I have been coming out of my body since about the age of 5years and it had been second nature to me to fly around the house at night or over the old Croydon airport and council estate where I lived as a child and later on up and down my back garden and in adulthood the beach where I moved to in East Sussex. However one night when laying in my starting position as I had done a thousand times before, started concentrating on my breathing, as usual, relaxed all my muscles starting in my face , moving down right to my feet. Just as I was at that relaxed state and my chest started to feel heavy and the buzzing started in my ears as it always did just before I 'came out', I had the most frightening experience of my life. The lightbulb in my bedroom flashed extremely bright and then popped and the most terrifying face was there before my eyes, or I suppose it was in my mind's eye, I can only describe it as demonic, a real devil's face like some evil clown or something, horrible. I have never before in my life been that terrified. I shot back into my body but couldn't move quick enough off my bed as I was still paralysed, as soon as I could move I shot out of my room and turned on all the lights in my flat, checked the kids and just couldn't go back to bed for hours. Even though I feel my years of exploring have given me a true gift of poetry (I am a published poet) and some fantastic ideas for books, which I have yet to have published , I have never been able to get myself back into the state of mind necessary to actually leave the physical body again. Who knows what else is out there waiting to reel you in perhaps even sever you from the physical plane altogether. I only hope when I die that I have a good kind soul ready and waiting to guide me in the right direction. Once again BE CAREFUL!

yes thus, if you ask... lets say can i go back 50 billion years ago to my home, you will be brung there, but... what if you think of such material things like your arm to feel something, it'll fling you back to your body and your soul might not survive that fling