Sleep Paralysis   “The only way out is to go back in.”                 Most travelers will agree that the most disconcerting part of astral traveling is sleep paralysis. More than disconcerting really, it can be down right torture, or at least that’s how it feels when one is wide awake  inside of a body that refuses every command: eyes won’t open, arms and legs won’t move, and a voice that won’t scream. Sleep paralysis is often more than just waking up to discover you can’t move. Many people have reported feeling sensations and hearing voices, and feeling someone else in the room when they should be alone. My first experience…

The Dry Spell Continues Several months ago my parents invited my brother, husband, and I to dinner and announced over dessert that they were combining years of holiday and birthday presents into one spectacular gift: they were taking all of us on a cruise to the Caribbean! There was a collective thud as three jaws hit the dining room table. And so, during the middle of December, my mom, dad, brother, husband, and I set sail from snowy Colorado to warm tropical islands. Even though I’m an Aries I’ve always had a great fondness for water. Spending 7 days on the ocean made my heart flutter in delight and during…

The Attic Laboratory The walls are wood and old; the varnish is wearing off in many places. There is no electricity but the room is never too dark to see. A rectangle shape that is perhaps four foot by ten foot, and most recently, a window opposite the always closed door. This is my attic laboratory, rustic, aged, perfect. Many teachers guide their students to build an astral lab. These are generally created for problem solving, searching for solutions, and manifesting. Often, the teacher will help their student create their lab by using guided imagery, and students are often encouraged to add personal touches whenever and however they can, so…

The Ethics of Astral Travel As moderator of an online Out of Body group, many of the new members have the same questions, but every once in awhile we get a new question. A few years back, a man introduced himself, explained that his first experience had been unintentional; he woke up walking around his bedroom while seeing his sleeping body on the bed. He then explained that his current goal was to astral travel around someone else’s house to prove that he could and did leave his body. His question was, what was the best way of going about doing this? I absolutely understand. Astral traveling is amazing, awe-inspiring,…

Dry Spell Stupid dry spells. They happen to the best of us, but that is little comfort when one is sitting with a pout on their face, and deep longing in their heart, waiting for their next trip. I can go for weeks, dare I say months, of astral traveling every single day. Inevitably, I start feeling good about myself and darn near brag about how easy it is for me. “I’ve got a system,” I’ll say. “A system that works for me, without fail,” I’ll say. There is a gleam in my eye, a stroke of confidence in my tone, and a skip in my astral step. And then…

Through the Fog Over the past week or so, every astral travel experience has been odd. I don’t use the word “odd” lightly because in my experience every trip into the astral is strange, weird, off, and unusual, but these past few trips have been odd in a whole new way. From the moment I leave my body and begin walking around this other world, my movements become sluggish and my sight gets cloudy. Reaction time is slow and comprehension is even slower. “I’m stoned,” I hear myself say. “How did I get this way?” It’s a fair question. In the physical world I’m clean and sober, so why does…

Last month’s experiences had left me frightened. After recording an mp3 of my preferred astral traveling mediation, I discovered that listening to my own voice proved to be very effective and I was able to leave my body every time. The downside was that this created a split; while my astral body was wondering about, my physical body fought to wake up. I struggled with finding a way to keep the good and get rid of the bad with this new method—finding a way to astral travel whenever I used the mp3 but not have to deal with the paralysis and nightmarish struggle. Originally, I woke up from a 6…

Astral Travel: Greatest Method with the Worst Consequences Guided meditation and hypnosis. Same thing, in my opinion. I’ve wanted to become a certified hypnotist for a very long time but don’t have the thousands of dollars to spend on the classes so I’ve had to make do with library books and the internet for my hypnosis/guided meditation education, which is fine. I just don’t get the nifty certificate certifying my completion of lessons. 😉 Up until recently I’ve used guided meditations from other people but found a great deal don’t really have an effect. Imaging myself walking through a forest and coming to a stream is neat, don’t get me…

What’s the Difference? Dreaming, lucid dreaming, sleep paralysis, and astral traveling. All, in my opinion, are in the same family. The same subconscious cluster that is hard to define, difficult to explain, and even harder to prove. So what is the difference between these four? As a OBE group moderator for the past 9 years and astral travel course teacher I’ve been asked this question many times, and the truth is that I still can’t fully explain how one can tell when they are out of body rather than lucid dreaming other than saying “you’ll know when you’re experiencing it.” This is, of course, the worst possible answer for the…

Space Ship There are several different variations of this same traveling method. Most involve creating your own room/work space/ laboratory. I created this variation because it was easier for me to travel to and work with. With your eye mask on, get into a meditative state using your preferred method. I think that this one will be easier if you lay down, but of course be in the position that works best for you. Once you are in your meditative state, and you are calm, quiet, and still, a bright light beams down upon you from above. This light is white with blue, red, orange hues. It is warm. You…