An out of body experience (OBE) is defined as the perception that you have left your body and are now observing the world from a viewpoint nearby. OBE’s can be triggered involuntarily by illness (especially with fever) and injury, or you can learn how to have an out of body experience. Many people have taught themselves to induce OBE’s through self-hypnosis. Certain perceptual illusions can also fool your brain into thinking your viewpoint is outside your body. Scientific experiments have shown that our brains rely on several different senses working together to give us a sense of being in our bodies. When one or more of these senses is disrupted an out of body experience can result.
To deliberately trigger an OBE, you must learn how to induce sleep paralysis and/or hypnagogia (near-sleep) from a rested state. Hypnagogia refers to hallucinatory sensations preceding sleep, while sleep paralysis (REM atonia) relaxes our large muscle groups so we don’t act out our dreams. Both kick in as our brains gradually cut off sensory input from our bodies. If you go to sleep after a normal day of activity, you will be too fatigued to really notice these sensations because your brainwaves shift to a sleeping state at the same time. However, if you put yourself into a hypnagogic state after seven to eight hours of sleep, your rested brain will remain awake even as it shuts down sensory input and muscle control. With your brain awake and your body asleep, you are in the perfect position to achieve an OBE.
Here’s one method to induce sleep paralysis: wake up an hour or two earlier than you normally would. Go to work or school, or just be active if you have the day off. After you’ve been awake for seven to eight hours, take a nap. Set an alarm to wake you after one to two hours of sleep. When it goes off, get up and stay up for another one to two hours. After your one to two hours of wakefulness, lie back down and focus on relaxing your body. To keep your mind softly alert, choose a mantra to repeat in your mind. This should be a word you’re familiar with hearing, such as your own name. Some OBE practitioners recommend listening for the word as though you expect to hear it: as you fall deeper into a pre-sleep state, this method can encourage the auditory hypnagogia which often precedes an OBE. If you’ve succeeded in lulling yourself into a pre-sleep state, at this point you may begin to hear more pronounced auditory hallucinations: people have reported hearing crashes, bangs, buzzing, roaring, and whispering. You may also feel a sense of pressure like a lead blanket being draped over your body, and a feeling of intense vibration throughout your whole body. Throughout all these sensations it is important to keep breathing regularly (it may be easier to do so through your nose) to maintain your presence of mind and make it easier to separate from your body.
A gentler way to an out of body experience might be Robert Monroe’s method, which teaches you to induce hypnagogic sensations to generate a state of deep relaxation. As with inducing sleep paralysis, it may be easiest to induce hypnagogia during an afternoon nap. Practice in a room with a little ambient light coming in. Lie down with eyes closed and focus on your breathing. You can try keeping one arm raised at your side; every time you start to fall asleep it will fall back down, rousing your brain to alertness. Another technique is to hold an image in your mind: when other images intrude on it, you’ll know you’ve reached a state of hypnagogia. Monroe calls this Condition A.
From Condition A, you’ll want to move into deeper states of relaxation to bring on an OBE. Clear your field of vision of any images you see, focusing on just the blackness behind your eyelids. You may see faint patterns of light, what Monroe claims are neural discharges: once these dissipate, you’ll have reached Condition B. From here, your goal is to reach Condition C, a deeper state of relaxation in which you lose awareness of your body. You might feel like you’re floating in a void where the only stimulus is your own thoughts. When you can enter this state after a full night’s rest, Monroe labels it Condition D.
In Condition D, you are primed for an out of body experience. Most people experience vibrations throughout their bodies just before they achieve separation, so your next step is to induce these vibrations. With eyes closed, concentrate on a spot about a foot from your forehead; move it to three, then six feet away and rotate it ninety degrees so it sits above the crown of your head. Monroe then recommends you visualize reaching for the vibrations at this spot and pulling them down into your head. You may also feel your body become paralyzed as these vibrations sweep over it. To practice controlling the vibrations, visualize sending them from your head to toes and back. You can also try reaching out to a wall or object that’s physically too far away to reach. Once you can feel it, let your hand pass through and return. Stop the vibrations and check the object or wall’s actual location. This is practice for a full separation.
The “lift-out” is the most popular method for separating from the body: when you’re ready to separate, imagine yourself floating upward from your body, concentrating on how nice it would be to become lighter and leave your body. Alternatively, you can try the “roll-out” method: imagine rolling over in bed, starting with your head and shoulders, while remaining physically still. As you turn over you will seem to roll out of your body and float upwards.
I hope this brief article has given you a good idea of how to have an OBE if you’ve never deliberately tried to induce one before. Like any practice that involves focusing the mind, with practice and dedication you should be able to teach yourself how to have an OBE reliably.
Oh this is what I needed I float so much but only up to the roof.. I put up my hands to avoid crashing into it and fear feeling it because it means that its really happening. I also jerk so much as I am falling asleep my husband was worried cause I do it so much.. He says I cry in my sleep and have hit him before when he tried to wake me up.. I don’t recall anything but floating.. I have something in my home that is messing with me and sometimes my kids but most of the time it’s me. I have actual pic’s I took in the am which shoes matching bite marks one on my husband one on my child who was 3 at the time.. I have had a black eye and many scratches I can’t tell you how I got them I go to bed without but then in the am there they are.. My older son saw a man in his room with a uniform on but was very white with dark eyes holding his finger to his mouth telling him ” shhh” I don’t know if it’s just the mind if an 11 year old or did he really see something.. Hw woke up screaming for me. Now I see what looks like a man only seen twice but seems too tall for human and its for sure male.. Can this all be related? Please help
I almost had an OBE but my heart started beating really fast and I felt scared so I woke myself up. Any tips to calm myself down so I can experience OBE?
Tilly,
Great question! Just remember that your body knows how to take care of itself. Whether you’re asleep or in deep meditation, as my paramedic brother always told me: Your body sometimes tries to make you pass out so it can take care of itself!” 99% of the time, it’s us who are panicking, when our heart rate raises just a bit. We need to train ourselves to NOT be afraid at raises in our heartbeats, especially when we’re dreaming or working on lucid dreaming or astral projection or whatever it might be.
Dream On,
Keith
Hi, im 14 and a couple of years ago (like 3-4) I had multiple lucid dreams where I was somewhere with a group of friends and there was a new person with red eyes, with pupils, who was a vampire but no one else would belive me (never used his fangs or whatever) And i wasnt able to sprint, like i was running in slow motion, and that feeling of fear that makes it so you can’t speak words (which also happened in a lot of my other dreams) same person appeared in multiple dreams, and when I was awake I would randomly think of either the dreams or just the person and it wasnt like a normal thought it had a strange feeling with it. The dreams and that had stopped then like a year or so later I saw someone in public which looked a like the guy and gave me that exact strange feeling of the person in the dream
thoughts?
Name,
Running in slow motion is a very common dream theme, and is often a sign of stress. You’re 14, I can imagine that you might have a lot of stress in your world right now, so it’s not surprising that some of your stress is trying to work itself out in your dreams.
As far as the new person you saw, with billions of people in the world, our minds are amazing at stitching together our reality. Countless clinical studies (and non-clinical studies) have revealed that the human brain is always trying to make connections. It’s part of our genetic coding. When we see something in our waking reality that looks like something in our dreams (I’m not saying that premonitions don’t happen; I think they happen all the time), our mind works very hard to make sense of it all, to categorize, it, to explain it to us.
So, did the figure exactly match your dream, or perhaps it reminded you of a figure in a dream you once had? Regardless, consider yourself lucky that you may have had an experience where you saw into a future event. Perhaps you would be a great candidate for lucid dreaming work to see what else you might come up with!
Dream On,
Keith
Hi, thanks for the article. I hv had a few of these OBE. I always know when it is starting and it is not a dream because I know when it is happening. I am completely conscious. However, I cannot control my direction. I will float in my bedroom trying very hard to avoid the fan but there seems to be no way out of the room. I guess I was too scared to go out but the ending is always the same. I got shredded by the fan and I died but all the while I know it is not real. Sometimes, I managed to wake myself before I ‘die’ but how can I control it?
my experience is that I was asleep but like awake and I saw what was happening, I saw a car accident with the people and everything, I felt my head like sleep, you know that feeling when you sit on you leg and it feels like little ants.. well like that, I woke up and about 10min after, I saw the same thing.
hey,
I literally just finished an OBE and want to know if anyone here believed in the bible. while getting in the mindset for it, idk what happened but all of a sudden not the air in the room but the air i was exhaling was getting really cold,In my OBE i was flying around my neighborhood, when suddenly i felt this strange feeling on my left and as i was cruising i turned around and saw this dark figure chasing me. I tried out maneuvering it but i couldnt shake it, but then i couldnt feel its presence anymore and i suddenly felt a jolt in my physical body. I rushed back to my body and i couldnt reenter my body for a few minutes of trying to force myself back in and then finally my projection slipped right back in out of nowhere. Although i couldnt move at all, i could look around but i couldnt move my head, arms, legs, fingers, toes .. nothing and i could feel this other presence in my room by my door and when i started saying jesus’s name in my head i was able to start moving my eyebrows and continued to force my body to move. once i could speak again i called for jesus and almost INSTANTLY there was this tingly sensation moving all through my body and i was able to move around as if nothing happened. then i looked at my body and it was like a purplish color you get when youre really cold. I have seen something in my room by the door before but i didnt pay it anymind before. i was never a believer to the bible until i saw what the devil did to my friends. i was always about connecting to earth and everyone on it, i still wanna believe to connect everyone but i wanna know others experiences with entities.
i had a similar thing happen to me i remember i was busy talking to a friend (in a dream) when next thing you know someone bursts through the door then i see a my younger self but im him running away then i trip over and start sliding into a wall at a really fast speed im now aware im dreaming then just as i put my hands up to protect my self from hitting the wall i go through it then i get a feeling im getting took into the air and wont stop going higher im scared at this point and i could feel my self trying to open my eyes but i couldn’t i had to focus on breathing i felt like there was no air then i tried moving my body and shouting for help i could just hear myself moan but no words it was really weird felt like hours i had only been asleep for 20 mins.
Hi, I had a dream where I was floating out of control and bouncing around my room and I couldn’t get back to my bed, could that have been a OBE?
Lugz,
That certainly sounds like an OBE. Do you recall if you were conscious during the experience? That is often the line between dreaming and OBE. If you only recall later that you were floating out of control and bouncing around your room, that was just an awesome dream. On the other hand, if you were fully conscious during that dream (while you were still asleep), then that sounds like an OBE.
If I were you, I would try to re-create the conditions that allowed that to happen, and see how far you can go with it. Whenever I have trouble getting back into my body, I always be sure to play some meditation music before I start my OBE session. That grounds me, and no matter how far I venture from my body, the music helps me find my way back to it. In the excitement of an OBE, though, we sometimes have to just wait until we sink back into unconsciousness before we actually get back into our bodies.
Dream On,
Keith
Ii think I had a OBE I never even knew what a OBE Was until now, I started off by seeing a mirror or atleast I think it was
A mirror and seeing myself floating then I started to feel the floating a little then it was scary real scary and I tried
Moving and couldnt really I moved my arm a little and tried screaming my brothers name but couldn’t and then woke up. And idk if this is relevant but I remember thinking about a dream I had before of a girl from a tv show before the OBE or idk. Thoughts?
Dear Grab,
Sounds like the beginnings of an OBE to me! Perhaps next time try relaxing into the experience and see where it takes you.
Happy Dreaming!
i KNOW I HAVE HAD AB OBE BUT dont remember what happened? is this common?
I have had OBEs and not remembered most of the details. Has anyone else had this experience?
HI, I feel like I enter this state very often. I do seem to sleep for a while wake up and sleep again. I feel a lot of the things you said. I hear bangs or trashes which will normally wake me up. Things look like their original image with just a little difference, like the door will be on the other wall, or it will be very dark or the room will be misshaped. I even go across the world to visit my family and see them. Like this morning I watched them talk from above their living room. Sometimes I fly up to my favorite mountain. Sometime I even go into space, but every time that happens it is because I am running from something scary or keeping someone else safe, like my little brother who is flying behind me, for example. When I go into space everything is black and I jump from star to star, but I realize there is nothing, and it becomes very boring.
This morning I had an OBE and I think my dad looked up and realized I was there, and suddenly I realized he felt me or saw me and he looked confuse so I returned. I felt extremely heavy and I had vibrations running through my chest. I was not able to move my body, which happens quit often, and I don’t like it. Then it happened again, I was with them and the second time I was sucked out of my families home, by a universal pull, that pulled me away from them, This truly upset me because the only thing that mattered was being with them and some natural force pulled me away, and there was whispers of, I do not want to say this ‘demons’ is my interpretation, but there was whispers of 100’s of ghost toying with me and not letting me closer. This happens quit often where a demon will be controlling my movements, scaring me, or even hurting me. It is disturbing. I cry out to Jesus, I have tried everything, now it seems my escape when I remember is to jump and jump, higher and higher until I am out of the chaos of the demons. This is normally when I end up in outer space.
I guess I have 3 questions…
Can you be between an OBE and a dream?
Is there are way to wake up from an OBE faster or right when you want to?
Can something else control you OBE? Like other spirits?
Thanks!
Dear Darshaya,
Yes, you can phase between OBEs and dreams – OBEs are similar to dreams, but with much more awareness. Perhaps start practicing waking up from your OBEs when you realize they are having them. Place a sacred object under your pillow, and when you feel the need to return to your body, image yourself in bed holding onto that object.
You are in control of your OBE – always remember that. You can only be controlled if you believe that you can be controlled.
Happy Dreaming!
Hi, I’m 14 right now…but when I was 6 years old I was visiting family, and me and my brother were laying in a bed together. In the middle of the night I rememner my brother ‘shaking me awake’ yet it felt a bit like a dream. he told me to look under the covers so I did, but I saw an evil furry monster looking thing and it started talking to me. It called itself a ‘stinkweed’ and momentslater it vanished. Few years later I had another dream with the same monster, But it dragged me under my bed, I couldn’t talk or breathe, I fwlt like I was dying. I got hot and sweaty, then I woke up. I had a breakdown at about ten years old. Would this be one of those?
Dear Leann,
That sounds like a very disturbing nightmare. Perhaps related to a fever dream or something similar? Have you had nightmares like this recently?
Happy Dreaming!
Hi can anyone die from practicing the OBE ??
I am asking because it feels scary when I start feeling to float.
Thanks 🙂
To our knowledge, no one has ever died because of an OBE. The feeling is initially scary, as your consciousness is leaving your corporeal body. As you become more experienced in the practice the fear will subside. You remember the first time you rode a bike without someone holding it or with the training wheels removed? Scary, right? Same idea, just a lot more intense of an experience. Hope that helps and keep us posted on your travels 🙂
OI am glad this site exists since everyone I know thinks I am crazy which I am not. I would just to say I am having difficultly leaving my body I have only managed to get to the state of vibrational energy.
However since in the past these hypnagogic experiences have been malevolent i have tried to ignore them. So I think my fear prevents me from leaving….
Fear is the most common reason that one cannot leave the body. Remember, all malevolent experiences are manifestations of the mind. Therefore, you are in complete control of them. As in dream work, once you realize that you control the experience, it will cease to be malevolent. All the best in reaching a higher plane! 🙂