They confuse it with other things like lucid dreaming, normal dreaming, or other states of consciousness.
Definition: Astral travel or projection is the ability to separate your spiritual body or form from your PHYSICAL body and explore the ‘astral realm’. It’s a very unique experience that very few people have.
This opens up many questions, and this post is going to be a quick introduction to astral projection, and what exactly it is and how it works. So to get started:
What is the astral realm?
The astral realm is supposed to be a spiritual place that people who are experiencing OBEs can travel to, to explore or learn from. It’s a place that can take a LIFETIME to fully explore, and it can be discussed with other astral travelers.
What that means is that you can meet up with OTHER people who are astral traveling, and talk about the SAME things that you’ve both experienced. This means it’s not a place that is INTERNAL (like lucid dreaming, inside your own head) but rather a place that is EXTERNAL to your mind.
The astral realm is the space between heaven and earth, a sort of light space in between these two places (in between life and death) which is supposedly filled with angels, demons and many other entities and energies. It can be dangerous to explore but as long as you know what you’re doing, it’s fine! (You’re also linked to your body with a strong cord)
What is astral travel or astral projection?
Astral travel is actually bringing your consciousness or awareness OUTSIDE your physical body, and into your spiritual body so you can explore the astral realm. It’s a very unique experience that can be difficult to learn.
For most people, this will be a completely new, scary and interesting experience, but for those of you who have done this before, it will simply be part of your life and you’ll just accept it, just as you accept going to sleep or eating as part of life.
The idea and ability has been around for thousands of years but was mainly rooted and sort of ‘proposed’ in the 19th Century. It’s been strongly linked to dreams, meditation and mindfulness over the years and sort of bunched together with the same cliche.
Different meanings in different countries
Just like lucid dreaming having different meanings in various parts of the world (tibetan dream yoga, western lucid dreaming etc) astral travel means something different wherever you go.
There are parts of the world where it’s linked to their religion, and they believe it’s contact with the divine, and there are tribes that believe it’s a way of attracting good luck when hunting in the forest.
No matter where you go though, the description of the EXPERIENCE remains the same:
Traveling OUTSIDE your body and to other planets, stars, places and worlds. It’s like seeing your body from ABOVE as if you’re floating outside of your body and bed, and then being able to move with great speed to anywhere you can possibly imagine.
TYPES of astral projection
Of course, it would be too easy to just have one type of astral projection.
So there are actually several different types of astral projection you can experience, and each one is slightly different. Sometimes, you’ll find you can only achieve ONE of these types, while other times you can decide which type to experience. Here are the main types of astral projection you can experience:
1: Random or spontaneous astral travel
This sort of projection happens when the life force (or chi energy) of a certain person is more loose. This can occur if the person is slightly less grounded and more open to new ideas, but it can also happen in those who are very grounded.
This sounds ideal but it’s much better to be able to control when you astral project, otherwise you could end up having some out of control scary experiences when you just intended to have a nap on a plane, for example!
This is the experience most commonly reported by people with insomnia or people who experience a lot of sleep paralysis. It sounds great because you think you can just have astral travel experiences whenever, but because you’re not in control, it can happen at bad times.
It’s very important to be in the right mindset to astral travel safely, and if you have them randomly, you might have an OBE JUST after a nightmare, for example. Or you might have a lucid dream that gets out of control and turns into a lucid nightmare, and THEN astral project. This isn’t safe or ideal.
2: Unconscious projections
This is more a novel experience than anything.
If you’ve ever tried to sleep on a plane but found it’s too uncomfortable to FULLY go to sleep, you’ll know what I mean by this. Remember the feeling of closing your eyes for just a second and then being JOLTED and pushed awake by something?
That’s an unconscious projection and it happens to quite a lot of people. Most people don’t actually even realise they’re projecting, because it’s so common. But it’s a very low form of projection and because you’re not conscious, you don’t really gain any memories or benefits from doing this.
3: Fully lucid or semi lucid projections
This is the goal for us. If you’re trying to learn how to astral project, this is what you’re aiming for. An intentional, mindful and conscious exit from the body in order to raise your consciousness and vibrations.
Now it’s worth noting that just like in lucid dreams, you can have different levels of awareness WITHIN this experience. You could be semi lucid while astral projecting. The word ‘lucid’ means ‘aware’ or clear. So you can actually describe astral projection using the word lucid. It’s confusing I know, but stick with me here.
So you can have a semi lucid OBE or a fully lucid OBE. A lucid OBE is the goal for astral travelers and when you experience this, it’s unmistakable.
4: FORCED projections or OBEs
These are essentially any time your body experiences TRAUMA or shock.
You might have heard stories of people in car crashes who report seeing time slow down, and can watch the car crash happening from far above the road? This is a forced projection. The astral body separates from the physical body in anticipation of pain and death.
If the person is lucky enough to survive, they’ll find their astral body being pulled back to the physical by the silver cord when the person gets revived. There are countless near death experience stories and OBEs reported in this way.
What does astral projection feel like?
Astral projection feels very intense and unusual, because you’re not using any of your ‘normal’ senses to perceive the reality around you. It can be difficult to know what you’re really seeing or experiencing. That being said, once you’ve done it a few times, you’ll be used to it and it won’t feel so strange any more.
There are MANY symptoms, side effects and experiences that people have. There are so many in fact, that it’s almost impossible to list them all here but here are the most common feelings or experiences people have when they first have an OBE:
- Hearing weird noises (Also known as astral humming noises)
- Feeling a sense of euphoria and love for all things
- Feeling a profound sense of wisdom, knowing and BEING
- Instantly KNOWING that they’re immortal and that this life is a tiny part of a much bigger picture
- A feeling of excitement and powerlessness
- Intense emotions both negative and positive at the same time (This can be overwhelming for some people)
- Hyper acuity to external noises and sensations
- Numbness to feelings or thoughts
- And many more
As you can see, it varies wildly, so it’s very hard to say what it will feel like for you.
It entirely depends on what sort of OBE you have, what your history is with this sort of thing and so on. But what seems to be very common are these intense feelings of love, acceptance, immortality and PEACE.
Common questions about astral projection
There are a number of really commonly asked questions about this sort of thing, which is completely understandable. After all, astral travel, OBES and that sort of topic are not very well taught in the Western world. They don’t teach this in schools and universities, and if you learn yourself you’re trapped too.
Trapped because it’s hard to know which site or source to trust, and which are just talking nonsense. There are several sources you can learn from, but the best approach is to learn from at least 3-4 different places and combine what they say into your understanding.
Is astral projection rare?
Astral travel is rare but not because it’s difficult. It’s just rare because no one really tries to learn it. It’s just the same reason that success is rare (in comparison to what MOST people do). It’s because most people don’t learn or want to learn how to astral project.
So for that reason, a relatively SMALL number of people in the world actually do it. If everyone in the world TRIED to learn it, then it would be much less rare.
Can ANYONE astral travel?
Yes, anyone can learn to astral project.
It doesn’t even matter how old you are, or if you can sleep properly. Astral projection can happen in and out of REM sleep, so literally anyone can learn to do it.
It can be really difficult to learn, but in 90% of cases, it’s because you’re doing one of the main 8 mistakes. Here’s a video I made to explain the MAIN 8 mistakes people make when trying to astral project, and how to fix them:
What is astral projection for?
There isn’t really a scientific reason or theory for WHY humans are able to astral project. It’s largely up for debate, but there are a few theories. Some people think it’s because human consciousness needs to maintain a connection to the astral realm but the physical body is too weak to experience it. For this reason, the astral body is the only portal we have that can push through and experience it.
Is it safe to astral project?
It’s perfectly safe to astral project but you need to be aware of some dangers. Dangers is probably the wrong word but there are some things to be aware of. Like anything, you need to approach it with a calm collected mind and use your common sense.
You wouldn’t walk down a dark alleyway of a big city late at night, so don’t venture into dark or dangerous seeming places in the astral realm. Things can harm you to some degree, and they can certainly scare you so be careful. For 99.9% of people it’s perfectly safe to project and have OBEs.
Can you get stuck outside your body?
This is largely perpetuated by horror films and things like that.
You can’t get stuck outside your physical body by astral projecting, and that idea is ridiculous. There is always a connection and you can always get back to your physical body just by WILLING it to happen.
This happens through a few processes but the main way is by following your silver cord back to your physical body. This can take anywhere from a few milliseconds to about 30 seconds.
How to get started
To get started with astral projection, try reading our full OBE guide and then getting a set of binaural beats like these. Listen to them as you practice the steps outlined in the article, and you’ll be having OBEs and astral traveling in no time at all!