Out Of Body Experience. How is it like and who have experienced it?

[hawaii]

Good afternoon guys,
this topic really fashinates/interests me.

Is an OOBE similar to the astral projection?
Or are they the same thing?

I never experienced one but I'm def interested.

Who of you have experienced it? And how does it feel like?
Is it "traumatic" / scary to leave the body? And where can one float when leaving the body?
How did you achieve that?
Are psychedelics involved?

Thanks!

 

[MyExcuse]

Is an OOBE similar to the astral projection?
I believe that both of the terms represent the same psychological phenomena.

And how does it feel like?
A rising up out of the body. Or it can be a restructuring of the perception of "the body". Propioception, or your perception of your place in space, is the last to go I've found. Due to the nature of the drugs, or doses necessary to produce this state, it's hard to really discern distinct stages. But your sensation of where you are physically in space (lying prone, sitting down, etc.) will lose to be a tangible concept.

I find the OOBE is a unique state but a poorly defined one, which I think gets muddled in literature (especially anecdotal accounts), on account that it is often confused with ego death or NDE which I feel is distinct. To me an OOBE requires retention of the ego, the sense of "I am"-ness. If you lose complete recognition of your identity, that is not strictly an OOBE.

Is it "traumatic" / scary to leave the body?
Perhaps if the nature of the experience was inherently traumatic, then yes. However, on drugs that produce the state you'll only be traumatized or scared if you didn't prepare yourself (as should be done, the same, for every trip).

And where can one float when leaving the body?
Depends. On Ketamine I've been able to change locations, swim or fly, have complete control over the content. On mushrooms, I've looked down upon my body as I rose to the ceiling before entering a fugue state from which I came to an hour or so later, lying in bed. Granted, that was on 7g of cyans.

How did you achieve that?
The Ketamine OOBE was induced by combining ROA's. I honestly feel that is the key to getting the most out of Ketamine while reducing the need to redose, as each ROA comes up at separate speeds and enhances the high. I used roughly 75mg rectal, 75mg oral and 150mg insufflated. This led to a very short traditional hole which subsided into a type of lucid hole which I was able to navigate with intact ego.

Mushrooms was 7g.

Are psychedelics involved?
Always. Unless you want to go practice decades of meditation. Quite frankly, view your psychedelic use as a precursor to learning natural ways to achieve the same state.

If you enjoy reading on-topic material, I recommend the book The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James. It will elucidate your experiences, and give you a better foundation to integrate them with reality rather than to assume they are special in nature.

Edit: Clocktower below reminded me, I've also had this on smoked DMT before.

DMT and Ketamine have given the most "experience". There is real "knowledge" in those two drugs.

 

[Clocktower]

I've only had OOBE on what I'd consider a "minor" scale, from taking a couple doses of LSD. It was pretty much what it sounds like: I saw myself, in the place where I was, but from a third-person perspective instead of first-person. Nothing scary or traumatic about it, and it only lasted a few moments.

 

[ParappaTheRapper]

I have experienced this many times, being on sub-breakthru DMT, or nitrous (lots of it..like after 40 wippits), or a few others and combos.

Its pretty horrifying. Its pretty much experiencing death.

I usually have a thought like, "how do I know I'm dead." Maybe this is the afterlife". "Maybe I've already been dead" "how long till someone finds me" "who do I feel instincively like calling or missing as I die" "how is death different than life". I've also had many ineffable leaving the body sensations. Usually they feel and look very overwhelming.

I don't think astral projection and obe are the same. astral is a concept of manifesting the soul. This feels enlightening. Obe is a death experience. Very different, tho they could be argued at death they overlap.

 

[Ismene]

I've had the experience of feeling like I was floating in the air - I just thought "This is an effect of taking LSD, cool". I didn't associate it with being "out of body" or "death". It's only happened on a handful of occasions. I felt I was floating just above my body, I didn't travel to any astral plane.

I believe Paul Mcartney bought his ex-wife an astral plane, and a ladyshave for the other leg.

 

[bees_knees]

I used to have them every night, no psychedelics involved, but either because I started some medication or because of sleep apnea, I only have them a couple of times a month now. Trying to remedy that.

There are many 'types' of OBE, sometimes you are just dreaming, as just like everything else that happens to your mind, your mind dreams about it. Quite easy to spot when you've had hundreds.

Sometimes it's what Robert Bruce called the real-time zone which is what physical reality is like outside the brain. This is sometimes painful as you collide with matter, or as you go through certain matter it feels quite strange. I have been able to float up out of my body, and float back down facing the other way and could smell my 'slept-in' unwashed hair just like I imagine some other human could/does.

Sometimes it's a magical, folk-type reality of unbelievable mystery and homeliness. These are my favourite, and usually begin with some kind of what I have been told to call 'fear tests' by other astral travelers on other forums. A dark knight or sea horse or shade will harmlessly come at you and if you acknowledge them as a 'fear test' they disappear and you are permitted to leave the body. Upon leaving it is your bedroom but with some interesting takes on it, it seems so magical and lively and meaningful. I got as far as my street once, and these kind of automaton type 'generalisations' of my town's population came out of the homes and kicked a football with me. It was surreal. I don't even like football. Another time I only made it to the kitchen and the pantry had some strangely missing part of it, a bit dream-like, and I was utterly fascinated. Other times, like maybe 20 of these types, I hardly get out of my room. It's difficult. Your body sometimes calls you back when you think of it, with this, 'coo coo' sound. Slowly you are pulled back by a kind of force field and wake up.

Sometimes it's a horror, dark beings do fucked up things to you while you're paralysed, seems like fear tests but gone wrong, the whole thing is just out to punish you. Robert Bruce said there are 'lower astral domains to be actively avoided'. These must be it.

I recommend Astral Dynamics by Robert Bruce. Good read, though it's not scientific, it's all his opinion/theory. However you might be able to gather a repeatable method for inducing OBE from reading it and following the instructions, you will also get an idea of the whole experience beforehand.

This whole situation of 'reality' we're in here is something totally other than what we currently expect, even as far as our conceptions have gone. In fact our conceptions may have led us astray. You will reevaluate what you think reality is after OBEs...