Dear Soul Arcanum:
When you first started to astral travel, what techniques did you find most successful? Did you find it helpful to open your chakras first? I look everywhere for experiences and stories people have had but they’re hard to find. Thanks!
Sam
Dear Sam:
There are all sorts of astral projection techniques available on the internet and in books that are essentially the same in terms of their effects, so I won’t bother to mention the specific processes I used. Before going into the details of my experience, I must at least mention that patience and perseverance are perhaps the most essential ingredients in achieving an out of body experience. I tried to project every day for more than a month before I succeeded, and I didn’t allow all those failed attempts to get me down or affect my beliefs and expectations. I figured if other people could do it, then it must be possible and I must be able to do it too.
As for whether I found it helpful to “open my chakras” first, I didn’t give the matter a single thought. I’ve never been one to worry about whether my chakras are open or closed, spinning in this direction or that, etc. To me, this is like worrying about whether our hearts are beating at the proper rate or our cells are doing the innumerable things they must do for our bodies to function. We don’t need to concern ourselves with what our chakras are doing; all we have to do is energetically align with what we desire and all aspects of our being will follow suit. I can already hear some people saying, Oh no, you have to close your chakras or you’ll be wide open to psychic attack and demons will steal your soul and take over your body and you’ll be stuck in the darkest regions of hell for all eternity or some other fear-based stuff. Of course, they are right: if you are afraid of something like this happening, then it doesn’t matter what you believe your chakras to be doing, you are going to align with just the sort of experience you most dread. Fortunately, if you assume you are safe and everything will be wonderful, then that will tend to happen instead.
When first trying to project, I recommend you work with whatever techniques you have chosen without worrying too much about how fast they will enable you to succeed. In order to remain patient, it may help to keep in mind that there are wonderful benefits to simply trying to get out of your body. All astral travel techniques involve achieving altered states of consciousness; when we spend a lot of time in deep meditation like this, we naturally begin to develop psychically and have all sorts of interesting experiences.
For example, when I was trying to project every day, strange and fascinating things began to happen even though I wasn’t succeeding in getting out of my body. Other people who practice astral travel have reported similar findings. For one thing, I started to see what I call “astral structures” everywhere. These are sort of like energetic walls and astral furniture; they are just barely visible lines and forms that don’t exist in the physical. I also began to see energetic beings like spirits and astral travelers, and my spirit communication abilities took off like a rocket. I also began to experience all sorts of amazing synchronicities. I would think about someone and then run into them; I would become interested in some subject and begin to encounter information about it right and left; I would need something and it would come to me in an amazing way. I mention all of this because even if it takes you months to get out of your body, by just trying to in a regular and disciplined way, you will receive all sorts of wonderful benefits.
As you may have already figured out from what I wrote above, I should also mention that I had no fear of leaving my body by the time I decided to purposefully attempt it. I have heard from many people over the years who both want to astral travel and are afraid of what might happen if they actually succeed. They worry about getting stuck outside their bodies, getting lost in the astral, or some evil being trying to take over their bodies while they’re gallavanting around in other dimensions. As I am more faithful than fearful by nature, it never occurred to me to worry about such things. I believe this not only helped me to succeed, it naturally aligned me with only positive experiences. If you are trying to get out and having trouble, it may help to honestly evaluate any fears you may have about what may happen. Since most people seem to fear the unknown, if you find some fears lurking in the back of your mind, it’s time for more education. (Personally, I find the unknown exciting and intriguing, but apparently not everyone feels the same!) I can tell you that I have never had a negative experience while astral projecting and certainly never heard of anyone dying or being physically harmed because of any experience related to astral travel.
There are all sorts of techniques for getting astral but they all have one basic aim: to coax your body into falling asleep while you keep your mind awake. With this in mind, perhaps the most helpful thing I did was to try to project when I wasn’t tired. I believe I got this idea from my friend Bob Peterson, author of Out of Body Experiences: How to Have Them and What to Expect, which I highly recommend. He told me that he would get up in the morning feeling fully rested, drink a lot of Mountain Dew for the caffeine, and then lie down and try to project. If you are at all tired when you try to project, it will be very hard to keep your mind awake; of course, if you are wide awake, it takes a lot of discipline and control to allow your body to fall asleep. Mastering this discipline and control is the key to learning how to purposefully leave your body.
I also find it much easier to project when lying on my back, and I have read about many other people who also tend to either spontaneously project more when lying on their backs or have found it easier to purposefully get out from this position. I have no idea why this is true, but it seems to be true for many astral travelers.
Lately I seem to be spontaneously projecting more and more. (I no longer attempt to get out of body very often because it takes a lot of time and effort.) Nevertheless, I often find myself leaving my body these days, and I think I’ve figured out why: for the first time since I was a little kid, I don’t have to get up at a certain time in the morning. This means I am better rested than I have been in decades and I am able to linger in bed in the morning. While I’ve always had a rich dream life, what I’ve been experiencing lately is off the charts. I’m having all sorts of amazing dreams and spontaneous out of body experiences. If this isn’t an option for you and you are strongly motivated to learn how to astral travel, you might try going to bed several hours earlier at night so you can linger in bed in the morning.
I hope my experiences help you to have some amazing out of body adventures of your own!
Soul Arcanum
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