Out-of-the-body experience

What are the prerequisites for inducing an OBE?

What are the prerequisites for inducing an OBE?

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Many of the inducing methods use as a starting point techniques designed to improve the novice's powers of relaxation, imagery, and concentration. The ideal state appears to be one of physical relaxation, or even catalepsy, combined with mental alertness.
One of the easiest ways to relax is to use progressive muscular relaxation. In outline this technique consists of starting with the muscles of the feet and ankles and alternately tensing and relaxing them, then going on up the muscles of the calves and thighs, the torso, arms, neck and face, until all the muscles have been contracted and relaxed. Done carefully this procedure leads to fairly deep relaxation within a few minutes, and with practice it becomes easier.

Relaxation usually leads to state of paralysis or catalepsy. When you go to sleep, your brain deactivates the mechanism by which you are able to use your limbs, so that you become incapable of physical activity corresponding to your dream images when you dream. Quite a few people have found themselves in this paralysis state as soon as they have gotten up after sleeping.

The first type of paralysis, known as 'type A,' is a condition encountered when approaching a deeper layer of consciousness from a light trance state. The second, type B paralysis, is the reverse of type A, in that it happens during the return home to physical reality.

The first type A 'paralysis' goes something like this:

• "Mmmmmm.... I know I am awake; I can think ..... Mmmmmmm but my body is asleep ..." (Robert Monroe labelled it Focus 10 consciousness)
• "Wait a minute here, there is something going on here, I just can't seem to...."
• "Yes, I can't seem to move my limbs; they seemed to be laden with lead, why can't I move at all? Hey, what's happening here! (Panic!)"
• A typical type B 'paralysis' goes something like this:
• "Mmmmm... I am feeling groggy, absolutely. What was that just now, oh, it must be some dream..."
• "Mmmm...... hang on a minute, was that a noise I heard? It must have come from the door... I need to check it out, could be a burglar..... but I am so tired... and sleepy..."
• "I need to wake up, it could be important.... Hey, I can't seem to wake up, why are my legs not waking up, why can't my hands respond?" "PANIC!!! I need to wake up!!! I don't want to die... I need to exert more will on this... Hey, body, wake up, eyes open, ... WAKE UP!"
• "Gosh, NOW, I can move my limbs, I am awake now, body covered with perspiration, sitting at the edge of the bed, wondering why just now I simply couldn't wake up..."
• "Phew -- Thank goodness, it is finally over. Am I glad to be back to the familiar physical environment."

However, type A paralysis is the type that should not be resisted; if the person can allow himself to 'go with the flow,' then some kind of altered state of consciousness is bound to happen, which is what the person is hoping to achieve anyway.

Many astral travelers have stressed the importance of clear imagery or visualization for inducing OBEs and of course imagery training forms an important part of magical development. Progressive methods of imagery training are often described in magical and occult books, and helpful guidance can be found in Conway's occult primer [Con72], and in Brennan's 'Astral doorways' [Bre71]. Most involve starting with regular practice at visualizing simple geometrical shapes and then progressing to harder tasks such as imagining complex three-dimensional forms, whole rooms and open scenery.

Practice 1: Read the description slowly and then try to imagine each stage as you go along:

Imagine an orange. It is resting on a blue plate and you want to eat it. You dig your nail into the peel and tear some of it away. You keep pulling on the peel until all of it, and most of the pith, is lying in a heap on the plate. Now separate the orange into segments, lay them on the plate as well, and then eat one. If this task doesn't make your mouth water, and if you cannot feel the juice which squirts from the orange, and smell its tang then you do not have vivid or trained imagery. Try it again, the colors should be bright and vivid and the shapes and forms clear and stable. With practice at this and similar tasks your imagery will improve until you may wonder how it could ever have been so poor.

Practice 2: This is a rather harder one:

Visualize a disc, half white and half black. Next imagine it spinning about its center, speeding up and then slowing down, and stopping. Next imagine the same disc in red, but as it spins it changes through orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. Finally you may care to try two discs side by side spinning in opposite directions and changing color in opposition too. Other useful skills are concentration and control. Not only do you need to be able to produce vivid imagery, but also to abolish all imagery from your mind, to hold images as long as you want and to change them as you want, both quickly and slowly.

Practice 3: Brennan suggests trying to count, and only to count. The instant another thought comes to mind you must stop and go back to the beginning. If you get to about four or five you are doing well, but you are almost certain to be stopped by such thoughts as 'this is easy, I've got to three already,' or 'I wonder how long I have to go on.' All these skills, relaxation, imagery and concentration, are suggested again and again as necessary for inducing an OBE at will. Other aids include posture. If you lie down you might fall asleep, although Muldoon [MC29] advocates this position. On the other hand discomfort will undoubtedly interfere with the attempt. Therefore an alert, but comfortable posture is best. Some have suggested that it is best not to eat for some hours before and to avoid any stress, irritation or negative emotions.