I am in the last weeks of the Practical Astral Projection Intensive offered by famed astral projectionist and author of Astral Dynamics: The Complete Book of Out-of-Body Experiences Robert Bruce. 

We had been asked to observe our hypnagogic imagery (visions that come to us when we're in between sleep and wakefulness) at night before we went to sleep. So on this particular night I was observing the darkness behind my closed lids when I begin to feel a lot of vibration / pins and needles over my whole body but especially in my hands which were clasped over my stomach. 

Vibrations are a known precursor to astral projection or out of body experience and a sign the course has taught us to look for. In the beginning of the course (and at periods throughout my life) I found the vibrations a little overwhelming but at the time of this event we were several weeks into the class and I had learned how to relax into them. And so I just let myself experience the sensation. 

As relaxed I began to feel my vibrating hands lifting slowly but steadily up into the air. I knew my flesh and bone hands weren't lifting because I was motionless and relaxed (and not making any effort to move) but I really couldn't feel them - I was aware of my vibrating floating hands, instead. Or, to be more precise - as I remember it, they were still vibrating, but I am quite sure that these vibrating (or energetic hands) were floating. 

 I didn't try to force anything else into happening and then the hypnagogic imagery came back and I saw a desk - possibly my own but with different items on it (I think) - from the perspective of the person sitting at it. I have a vague memory that it had interesting things on it - possibly a crystal ball which I do have but not on my desk. I also had a sense of a room beyond that but it seemed dark.

Unlike my usual clear and bright hypnagogic imagery this visual was muted and dim but there was detail and it seemed fairly real. Also, I noticed that it was 'to scale' whereas most of my hypnagogic images seem quite small - for reasons I don't really understand. 

Seeing the desk seemed to signal the end of the experience - possibly because, as I recall, my hands were no longer vibrating - so I turned over and jotted down what happened in my dream journal.  And was too excited to go back to sleep for some time!

I'm very excited to announce that I will be starting Robert Bruce's five week online astral projection course (The Practical Astral Projection Intensive) this week!  

So I'll posting more on the Astral Dynamics course, Bruce's method, the practice of astral projection (or out of body experience / OBE), and my own experience with the material.

My own (possible) out-of-body experience to date has originated in the dream state.  I believe that I've experienced other realities and met with family and friends who have passed in my dreams.  According Bruce, this is not unusual. 

Robert Bruce maintains that we all access the out-of-body state during dreams but that recalling these inter-dimensional experience is difficult due to what he terms the "mind-split effect."

The mind-split theory, as described in Bruce's book Astral Dynamics: The Complete Book of Out-of-Body Experiences, describes a process of splitting or replicated our consciousness, creating a sort of energetic double which is free to travel the astral dimension.  The other part of our consciousness, or master copy, remains with our physical body. 

While the mind-split effect may sound fantastic, I find it an interesting explanation for our tendency to forget our dreams.  I often have a sense of reintegration when waking up from a dream.  For a few magical moments, my dream experience hovers on the edge of my awareness.  If I don't get to my dream journal fast enough, I can actually feel the memory of my dream dissolving into thin air. 

For me, these dream memories are fundamentally different than ordinarymemory.  Ordinary memories may get lost (or misfiled) but once retrieved they are quite stable.  They don't hover, in my experience, and I have never had one dissolve just beyond the edge of waking consciousness. 

Bruce calls such memories shadow memory, remarking that they are subtle and easily overridden by waking consciousness.  If not "downloaded" to physical memory, usually within a few moments of waking, they are, often irretrievably, lost.

My spiritual (or nonphysical experiences) so feels fundamentally different from ordinary experience.  Dreams and other nonphysical / spiritual experience are subtle, fragile, mutable.  So it isn't surprising to me, that the mental processes that occur in this state would take on these same characteristics.

According to Bruce, where most of us "fail" in our deliberate out of body exploration is at the point of re-entry when we may drift into sleep without downloading our memories into the long-term (or relatively stable) storage of our of physical mind.

To me this is encouraging.  Astral exploration is not, per Robert Bruce, a pinnacle attainable to a select few but a place we all frequent, albeit unknowingly, and one which we are all capable of bringing into our conscious awareness.  This week I'll be working on improving my dream recall using the affirmations and shadow-memory trigger phrases mentioned in Astral Dynamics, as well as working on increasing my awareness (and recall) of the hypnogogic imagery I routinely see as I drift off to sleep.

The information I've shared in this post is only part of Bruce's approach and the Practical Astral Projection Intensive which I am beginning.  The major focus of Astral Dynamics is the energy work which helps to strengthen the energy body (or double) and promote the awareness of this other self which makes conscious OBE possible.  And the course explores all of this and more.

I'll be sharing more on my experience with the material as I progress through the course.  And do please keep in mind that this course start tomorrow and that enrollment is still open at:  Practical Astral Projection Intensive!  Would love to see you there <3

I'm currently taking a fascinating course on Astral Projection (Astral Projection Practical Intensive) and wanted to share a bit on my progress.  We are currently in Session 3 and, while I have not projected as of yet, I do feel I'm progressing. 

The course is given by OBE expert Robert Bruce.  It utilizes Robert ebook (free on his site at AstralDynamics.com) as well as the Hemi-Sync astral projection meditation CDs/MP3s produced by Robert Monroe.  Each session begins with several videos, as well as some text and recommended reading on the new material, and assigns a new and very specific level of astral practice.

All practices include daily energy work followed by the Hemi-Sync Meditation.  I am now using the second (or condition A) MP3 meditation and have been having some interesting experiences.  These include lots of tingling sensations, occasional feelings of expansion, and a few visions.  The visions have been interesting because they have been consistent.  I have seen archways, tunnels, roads, paths and a kind of moving tunnel where it appeared that I was rocketing through space with energy streaming by on either side.

My current challenge is that I'm going very deep in trance with the meditations and losing my awareness at times - though I don't really feel like I'm falling asleep. Yesterday I lost awareness and then became aware of being around people - which made me feel that I was dreaming.  In the dream, I was yelling "I want to fly" over and over. :) I did used to fly in dreams but haven't done so for some time.  Seems I might have missed it.

I feel very alert when I come back from these episodes of lost awareness (or checking / clicking out), not sleepy at all.  What worried me was the memory loss. I was concerned that I might be missing actual OBE activity or rather failing to remember it.  Robert believes we all astral project in dreams (for more on Robert's teachings please check out his interview on this topic here Astral Projection with Robert Bruce - affiliate link) and that the real challenge is to remember it.  

One of the great things about this course (and all the Glide Wing courses) is the forum component.  In it the instructor responds to questions on the material.  In a course like this is incredibly helpful.  Because of my concerns, I posted my problem with awareness  in the forum.

Robert got back to me immediately.  He said that these were good signs and that success should not be too far away.  He also recommended several things which I'm going to put into effect today.  They include:

Robert also has been encouraging me to utilize daily affirmations which he believes in whole-heatedly (more on that in the interview).  This isn't hard because I really do believe that I will successfully project provided I stick with it.  

I am getting so much out of this course!  I am also thrilled that when it ends I can be part of Robert's free community (Astral Dynamics Forum) and receive the support of others.  There is even a new special area for graduates of the course which I am really looking forward to joining!

I'm planning to begin Robert Bruce's 90 day program Mastering Astral Projection next week.  In order to do this, I've decided to create the space Robert talks about in the book.

I have a small space in my office  which I use for meditation and journaling. My plan is to that spot, equipping it with a recliner as suggested in Robert's book. 

This space will be perfect both for my astral exploration, and my soul writing, which I've decided to begin again in earnest.

Last weekend I picked up a $10 recliner at an estate sale.  My project for next weekend is to fit it into my office!

I will be working with Robert's book Mastering Astral Projection (affiliate link) as well as the Mastering Astral Projection CD Companion  and reporting on my progress.

While I have not had a fully lucid dream so far, I have improved my dream recall and had one pre- or semi-lucid dream already. I take as a very good indicator that a fully lucid dream is within my reach.

I've also learned some important things about dreaming and dream awareness - including  the subtle differences between lucidity and OBE (out of body experience).  This was of particular interest to me because I believe that several of my dream experiences involved travel to and from other dimensions, as well visitations from the beings of those dimensions in the form of guides, avatars, angels and friends and relatives who have passed. I wasn't aware however that others believed it was possible to move from a dream or apparent sleep state to an out of body experience until I took Robert's course.

One of the great things about this course is the personal help available through the forum (in which Robert is very active).  I was curious about what someone with Robert's knowledge base would have to say about some of my experiences.  I decided to ask him about a particularly vivid, unusually complex and very coherent dream I had in 2008.

Robert told me that this dream could be a Jungian 'big dream' or possibly an OBE (unrecognized because it didn't begin with the buzzing or humming that often launch OBEs).  He went on to say that when people tell him about a vivid, complex and very coherent dream, he suspects an OBE "8 times out of 10."  I found this information very validating.

I've had several very notable dreams since 2008.  While none were as involved as that first dream of spirit, at least one was just as vivid and several others were also quite coherent (and / or unusually bright) - all supplied me with information I could not have otherwise known.  I'm very interested in exploring both dreams and OBE and find the intersection of the two absolutely fascinating!

In “Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming,” (affiliate link) Dr. Stephen LaBerge uses a phenomena he calls dreamsigns as a trigger event for conscious (lucid) dreaming.  With a practice, a dreamsign alerts the dreamer to the fact that he is dreaming.  Once aware of the dream state, the dreamer can consciously participate and even direct the events of the dream.

LaBerge recommends the keeping of dream journal and suggests setting a clock for the early morning hours to help facilitate dream recall.  I was doing this for sometime with good results but found it necessary to put the practice on hold temporarily.  I am resuming tonight and going forward with the program.

I have reviewed my dream journal  this morning and identified my dream sign style.

LaBerge identifies three basic types of dreamsigns.  Each is a clue that what is occurring is not our ordinary waking reality and can become, in the words of the author, a neon light flashing the message in the dark that the situation in which we find ourselves is one that we have dreamt.

Inner Awareness:  A peculiar thought, strong emotion, unusual sensation or altered perception which would not occur in our usual waking state,  This can include inappropriate or oddly overwhelming emotions, feeling of paralysis or out of body states or magical thinking.  Examples follow.

Action: The dreamer, a dream character or an object in the dream do something unusual or impossible in waking life.  This is an actual dream event as opposed to a dream thought.

Form:  The shape of the dreamer, dream character or that of a dream object is oddly formed, deformed or transforms.  This may also be applied to setting.  Includes anomalies of hair and dress.

Context: The place or situation in the dream is strange.  The dreamer may find himself somewhere that he is unlikely to be in waking life, involved in a strange situation or playing an unaccustomed role.  Objects or people may be out of place or the dream may occur in the past or future.

Dr. LaBerge recommends that the dream journal is examined after 30 consecutive dreams and that a dreamsign inventory be taken.  I have done that and found most of my dreamsigns to be contextual (ego role, character role, setting place) or oddities of setting in regard to form.

As I reacquaint myself with my dream journal I plan to set the alarms for 5:30 AM everyday and immediately ask myself about my dream and write an entry at that time.  Later after I have made some tea, I plan to record the dreamsign, perhaps at the back of the book.

Will share any interesting dreams (most aren’t especially here!

*Most the example given as well as all of the definitions come from Dr. Stephen LaBerge’s wonderful book, “Exploring the World of Lucid Dreams" (affiliate link).

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Is there a difference between an OBE (out-of-body Experience) and a dream?

Yes and no.  

Not all dream experience occurs in an out of body state and not all OBEs happen when we're asleep. But they can overlap.  In my opinion.

Dream State OBEs

I believe that dreams can take us out of body. While some of my own suspected dream OBEs have been profound, others have been dark and unpleasant. 

Dreams of flying may be out of body experience. When I was a child I dreamt of flying so often that I developed my own technique (a little like the way a dolphin swims) for controlling my speed, altitude and direction.

OBEs in Meditation

Possible OBEs can also occur during meditation (or in the hypnogogic state immediately before sleep). When this happens to me I feel as my consciousness is traveling, or flying, over great expanses of shining water. 

To me, these journeys are something between spiritual experience and a true out of body state. By this I mean that, while I feel part of my consciousness may have projected, I don't think that a full energetic body-spirit separation is achieved.

Full Split OBEs

In 2015 I was given the opportunity to study with (and interview) astral projectionist and teacher Robert Bruce.  It was then (using the Hemi-Sync recording developed by OBE adept Robert Monroe) that I achieved my first partial body-spirit split (as described here).  

This experience was a revelation because it convinced me that the complete separation of our physical and energetic bodies really CAN be achieved. 

Unfortunately, I lacked the discipline necessary to go further - at that time. Now, thanks to the encouragement of a good friend (who shares my interest), I've decided that I'm going to begin to work with out of body states and lucid dreams again!