ok i have a couple of questions.
whats the difference between these two?
how easy are the to achive?
has anyone got some personal experiances with these which theyd like to share?
To my understanding, Astral Projection is the paranormal interpretation of an Out-of-Body Experience.
You can say that an OBE is a kind of lucid dream, or a hiccup in the parietal-temporal lobe, or one’s life force departing from the body… whatever the explanation, the experience is real.
AP, on the other hand, is an explanation in itself-- astral projection is the astral body projecting to astral planes, all tied in with each other.
It depends on who you ask. Some people say that if you’ve dreamed at all or imagined something happening, say in a guided meditation, then you’ve astral projected. So, astral projection is a very natural state, and if you imagine yourself leaving your body then that’s astral projection into the lower astral planes… makes OBE’s sound really easy too.
Personally, it took me three years of nightly meditations to initiate what I believe was a real OBE/AP, because it was nothing that I needed to-- or possibly could, ever-- simply imagine. Here’s a bit of that from my journal:
[spoiler]I’ve been trying too hard, that was it-- pushing to get out, concentrating, but the mindstate that got me out this first time was the total opposite: vague awareness of what was outside, and I pretty much forgot about myself. It really just felt like LETTING IT happen, and putting no effort whatsoever into everything was actually the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do. Giving up, making myself so calm that I feel like I didn’t care what happened, is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done!
I thought I felt an earthquake at first, but from my apartment earthquakes feel more like swaying. This was more like earthquakes you see on movies. Not quite what I would call “vibrations”… more like someone grabbed the bars of my bed’s headboard or footboard and shook the frame violently. Thudthudthud, went the world around me, leftleftleft I went. The air carried me, it felt denser, like… some electromagnetic force.
I could see… with a viewpoint too similar to the one I have with physical eyes (I thought that projections let you see all 8 corners of the room?) I saw my feet, my legs, floating above the footboard of the bed-- and presumed that the rest of my body floated level with them; the effect was that of an alien abduction but without any special effects. No blinding lights, just the view of my room at night like it looks at night. No little green men, just levitation and that pulse of the air. This dense air had a sort of sound, too, like the MRI of Doom on House, M.D.
Then I saw legs lying below my legs that were floating, and wondered why my floating legs were covered in cuffed blue jeans while the legs on the bed wore the lavender pajamas that I fell asleep in.[/spoiler]
When you say OBE’s, you mean an Etheric projection. One in which you project your body to the Energetic plane, Locale I in Monroe’s terms, the here-now, the real time zone.
This is basically leaving your physical body into your energetic/etheric body, the one which is closest to the physical one, the one with the chakras, and traveling with this body in what appears to you as the physical reality. This is actually the etheric plane, it is not the physical plane itself but a very close copy of it. You can travel in the physical reality to wherever you want to go, Europe, America, Africa or just blow into outer space… or maybe the dark side of the moon ^^ You are in an etheric projection what people call a ghost.
It is wrong to call this experience an OBE although it is broadly done. An Out of Body Experience should be any experience (and is) that takes place out of body… So that includes dreams, AP s, etheric projections, NDE s and more…
An Astral Projection is a projection of consciousness to the Astral planes.
That is traveling in your astral body in the astral planes. Locale II in Monroe’s terms.
This is the plane for visiting “dead” people. The belief systems and more…
The easiness depends on the person.
You need to eliminate whatever fears you may have.
Then, you need to have a pretty clear mind, free of useless chatter with the ability to hold a concentrated thought. Be a point of consciousness in the void. Once you establish this, the vibrations should come and then you should use your intent to do something.
Hope this helps
I think this is good advice. For me, intention is the most important thing…but getting rid of the fear is what makes these experiences possible.
I suppose intention could be likened to prayer…I think that’s why prayer works because you develop a strong, concentraged intention. If you intend to have an OBE than you will…eventually. Some people need more intention than others. Once that door is opened for you, the fear can snap you right back into your everyday reality…and it will.
For me these are the most important aspects of metaphysical experiences.