A research-backed, step-by-step guide to astral projection — what it actually is, what modern neuroscience makes of it, and exactly how practitioners across a thousand years have learned to do it. Take your time. The body waits.
Astral projection (also called astral travel, soul journey, or out-of-body experience / OBE) is the practice of deliberately inducing a state in which your conscious awareness feels as though it has separated from your physical body and is traveling outside it. Practitioners across cultures describe the same core experience: a sense of floating, leaving the body behind, and moving through places — sometimes the real-world room around you, sometimes vast symbolic landscapes collectively called the astral plane.
Neuroscientists and psychologists classify OBEs as dissociative experiences — the same family as lucid dreams and depersonalization. They are caused by a temporary disruption of the brain region that normally stitches together three things:
Where your body is, that it's your body, and how it feels from the inside (proprioception).
Where your eyes are and what they're looking at.
Where you are, right now, in the world.
When the brain area that integrates those three signals glitches, the brain loses its anchor. You can see your body from a viewpoint that isn't your eyes, and that mismatch is the out-of-body experience. In 2007, Swiss researchers published the first case of a full OBE triggered on demand by electrical stimulation of the TPJ in an epileptic patient — when the stimulation stopped, the experience ended (Blanke et al., Brain).
OBEs can be reliably triggered by dissociatives & psychedelics (ketamine, PCP, DMT, psilocybin, LSD, MDMA) — drugs that act on the same temporal-parietal and precuneus regions. Cross-confirmation: change the chemistry, change the integration, get the experience.
Controlled parapsychology experiments (trying to remote-view hidden targets during OBE) have not produced statistically above-chance results once selection effects are accounted for. The experience is real; the perceptual claims remain unproven.
The conviction that consciousness can travel outside the body is genuinely ancient, and shows up independently in every major civilization we've found records from. The English phrase "astral projection" was coined in the 19th century by the Theosophical Society; the practice itself is much older.
The ba (soul) was said to hover over the mummified body via the ka (subtle body), as depicted in the Book of the Dead.
The angakkuq of Inuit culture and the yaskomo of the Waiwai both deliberately soul-travel for healing, divination, and naming children.
Described as the Liṅga Śarīra (subtle body) in the Yogavashishta and the Mahabharata. One of the siddhis attainable through disciplined yoga.
The ikiryō of Japanese folklore — a person's spirit leaving their sleeping body — and the separation-of-spirit-body meditations in The Secret of the Golden Flower.
Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society coined the English term astral projection and formalised the "astral plane" as the first layer beyond the physical.
American radio executive whose book Journeys Out of the Body sold a million copies and replaced the spiritual label with the neutral scientific-sounding phrase "out-of-body experience." He founded the Monroe Institute, which still teaches OBE induction today.
Before we get to the actual practice, it helps to know what the experience tends to feel like — the specific sensations you'll be looking for, in roughly the order they appear, so you recognize what's happening and don't panic out of it.
The body feels weightless, lighter than the bed. Many practitioners report a sudden sense of being lifted or tipped — gently, not violently. Sometimes accompanied by a faint humming or pressure. This is the threshold. If you stay calm and don't try to "analyze" it, the next stage usually follows within seconds.
Many first-time exits don't involve leaving the room — they involve looking down at the body from a few feet above, sometimes the foot of the bed, sometimes the ceiling. The room looks correct. Details — books on a shelf, your phone's screen — are often reported as accurate, though accounts vary.
Reported entities vary wildly: spiritual guides, deceased relatives, unknown figures, "presences" that have no form. Most of these encounters are emotionally neutral or peaceful. Some practitioners report hostile or frightening entities — almost always during entry, never after stabilization.
The "astral plane" of the older literature — vast cities, libraries, schools, healing temples, sometimes described as higher-vibration landscapes. Reports are rarer than the floating/waking-up variety, but striking enough that practitioners often keep notes for years. Whether these are objective places, shared archetypal imagery, or purely subjective is unresolved.
Many practitioners describe a luminous thread, usually silver or gold, running from the chest or navel back to the physical body. It's reported as automatic — not something you create — and is associated with the feeling of always being able to return.
Surprisingly consistent across cultures and practitioners: the first few minutes of a clear OBE are often marked by an intense sense of recognition, relief, or familiarity — as though the state is more normal than everyday waking life. Many people find this disorienting for days afterward.
The table below is a composite of practitioner surveys (Monroe Institute, Astral Codex, r/AstralProjection). Frequency ratings are subjective across thousands of self-reports.
| Sensation | Description | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Floating / lightness | Body feels weightless; sense of being lifted or rising from the mattress. | Common |
| Vibrations & humming | High-pitched tone, whole-body buzzing, or a rushing white-noise roar right before the exit. | Common |
| View from above | Seeing your sleeping body from a few feet above, often the foot of the bed. | Common |
| Silver cord | A luminous thread perceived connecting the astral body to the physical body. | Common |
| Meeting a guide or being | An entity — spiritual, deceased relative, or unnamed presence — encountered during exit or travel. | Occasional |
| Recognition / familiarity | A sudden feeling of the state being more "normal" than ordinary waking life. | Occasional |
| Visiting other realms | Large symbolic landscapes (cities, libraries, schools, temples) distinct from the physical room. | Rare |
| Distant remote viewing | Accurate perception of far-away people or places that the practitioner is not currently near. | Rare |
Astral travel allows us to explore the universe beyond the limits of our physical form. — A common description from practitioner surveys
This is the consolidated method taught by Robert Monroe, refined by practitioners like William Buhlman, Robert Bruce, and hundreds of modern guides who have worked it night after night. It is the simplest reliable entry point and the one I'd start with tonight.
The window of choice is the early morning — roughly an hour before you'd normally wake up, or in the first few minutes back to sleep after a night waking. Your body is rested, your mind is just surfacing from sleep, and the dissociation threshold is at its lowest. Set an alarm if you have to, but the opposite — staying up deliberately — works too once you know the technique.
Dark, quiet, warm. No electronics glowing where you can see them; silence your phone (or face-down, dark). A partner in the bed is fine if they sleep still, but solo is easier for the first few months. Never drive, walk near cliffs, or do anything physical during this practice — you're lying down.
This is the position you saw in the video, and it's the right one. Palms-up is important — it's an open, receptive posture, and the slight change in shoulder position helps the body relax more deeply than arms crossed on the chest. Head on a thin pillow (or none). Allow your feet to fall slightly apart; let your jaw drop a fraction of an inch.
Close your eyes. Silently say something like: "I will consciously leave my body." Say it once, with quiet conviction, and then let it go. Do not repeat it — the moment of declaration is the seed. From this point on, your only job is to relax, not to "do" anything else.
Starting at the crown of your head and moving slowly down to your toes, mentally soften every body part in turn. Many practitioners find it helpful to tense a body part for 3–5 seconds, then release — the contrast makes the relaxation feel deeper. Move: scalp, face, jaw, throat, shoulders, arms, hands, chest, belly, hips, thighs, calves, feet. Spend longer on the jaw and the shoulders — that's where most people hold unconscious tension. Do not skip this. The body has to be asleep first; only then can the mind stay awake.
Long, slow exhales. Inhale through the nose for about 4 counts, exhale through the mouth (or nose) for 6–8. Within a minute or two the body will start to feel heavy and warm — that's the parasympathetic shift. Don't change the rhythm once it feels right; just keep going.
This is the state Monroe called Focus 10, and it is the actual gateway. You'll know you're there when:
The first time you hit this it can feel strange. Just stay. Don't try to "do" anything yet.
Many practitioners — not everyone — report a characteristic band of sensations just before the exit:
This is widely reported, has been written about for at least a century, and is the strongest single signal that an exit is imminent. Do not try to make it stop. Just stay calm and wait.
The vibrational state is your runway. You do not need to wait for it to "finish" — most practitioners exit during it, not after. Choose one of these exits and do not second-guess:
Imagine (do not "try hard"; just gently visualize) that your awareness slowly rises straight up out of your chest, like a helium balloon. Don't yank — just imagine the upward motion and let it continue. Most exits with this method are floaty and slow.
Imagine (or mentally intend) that your body rolls to one side, off the bed, just as you might roll over in sleep. The first few seconds will feel as though the physical body really is rolling — then you'll find yourself in a non-physical duplicate of the room. Many beginners get their first OBE with this method.
Visualize a glowing rope hanging above your chest. Reach up with one astral hand and pull it down a hand's width. Reach with the other. Repeat, until your astral body is sitting upright above the physical. Best for people who wake up inside sleep paralysis and need a clear kinetic task.
Most direct, also most jarring. Once you're in the vibrational state, simply intend: "I'm now standing up." Don't visualize it; just assume the position. Some practitioners stand up on the first try; others need this method several nights in a row before it works.
The first 5–10 seconds after exit are the most fragile — you'll lose lucidity if you panic, get excited, or start moving too fast. Three stabilizers, in order of how often they're taught:
When you feel stable, you have a real choice: stay in the immediate room (a local exploration, useful for practice and for confirming the experience is reproducible), or travel farther. Always set an intention to return before doing anything else — to yourself, to your physical body, in a known number of minutes. Most beginners return naturally within 10–20 minutes; some get pulled back instantly by a sudden noise.
The return is usually automatic. You'll feel a gentle tug — the "silver cord" idea, or simply the body reabsorbing attention. You can also deliberately reverse your exit: if you lifted out, simply float back down; if you rolled out, reverse the roll; either way, intend "I am now back in my body" and feel the shift.
The Monroe-derived practice above is the best general-purpose method, but it isn't the only one. Pick the one that fits how you fall asleep, and switch if the current method stalls for more than a few weeks.
Sleep on your back for a few nights. When you wake up unable to move, don't panic. Say silently: "I am in sleep paralysis; my consciousness is awake; I will now separate." Most people who frequently get sleep paralysis have their first OBE within a week of adopting this protocol.
Works for: chronic SP sufferersBecome reliably lucid in a dream (reality checks, dream journal, MILD/WILD techniques). Once inside the dream, walk toward a doorway, mirror, or wall and intend to pass through it. Many practitioners report the dream collapses and you "snap" into an OBE on the other side. Easier than direct induction for people who already lucid-dream.
Works for: lucid dreamersYoga Nidra ("non-sleep deep rest") is a guided practice specifically designed to put the body into deep relaxation while keeping the mind consciously engaged — exactly Monroe's Focus 10. Anywhere from a 20-minute YouTube session to a full 45-minute body scan often ends in either an OBE or a deep conscious nap that's equally restorative.
Works for: beginners, anxious mindsMonroe's patented audio technique — a different frequency in each ear, the brain perceives the difference (typically a 4 Hz theta beat) and tends to synchronize with it. Free binaural-beat tracks on YouTube work for many people; the official Monroe Institute Gateway program is the gold standard. Headphones required.
Works for: people who can't "just relax"The single most reliable timing trick in the entire practice. Set an alarm for 90 minutes before you'd normally wake up. When it goes off, get out of bed for 15 minutes (no screens, just move around, drink water, stay awake), then lie back down with the intent to return to sleep while staying conscious. Your first sleep cycle was deep; the second one is shallow — exactly the threshold you want for an exit. Practitioners who fail every other method usually succeed with this one.
Works for: schedule controlFloat tanks (10 inches of warm water saturated with Epsom salt, total silence and darkness, ~60 minutes) can produce the same dissociation on demand. Among the most reliable single-session inductions ever tested, but it requires equipment and money.
Works for: one-off guaranteeMost people who give up the practice don't give up because it doesn't work — they give up because someone they respect tells them it can't. Here are the specific objections you're likely to hear, and the honest answer to each.
There is no documented case of a person being physically harmed by astral projection, or failing to return. The body continues to breathe, regulate temperature, and respond to stimuli regardless of where the practitioner's attention is. Some people experience brief sleep paralysis or a sense of "floating" after returning — neither is dangerous. The only real risks (sleep fragmentation, anxiety in predisposed people) are covered in the Safety section above.
Anyone with a working vestibular system and the ability to fall asleep can learn to do it. Spontaneous OBEs happen to roughly 1 in 10 people. With consistent practice, the majority of motivated beginners have their first conscious exit within 4–8 weeks. "Gifts" don't enter into it; relaxation and intention do.
There is genuine overlap — both involve heightened awareness within an internally-generated experience. The distinguishing feature experienced practitioners report: in an OBE, the world around you looks like the physical room you actually left, often including accurate details you haven't seen (a book spine you couldn't normally read from the bed). Lucid dreams feel like dreams; OBEs tend to feel like being awake somewhere else. The two are related, but not identical.
The neuroscience of the underlying brain state (TPJ dissociation, drugs producing the experience) is well- documented. The metaphysical claim — that a non-physical soul literally travels — has not been proven, and several controlled parapsychology experiments failed to detect above-chance accuracy in remote viewing. That doesn't mean the experience isn't real; it means the experience is reproducible without the soul leaving. Treating it as pure delusion also doesn't fit the evidence.
Skepticism is the first step towards truth. — Denis Diderot
Astral projection is genuinely low-risk compared to most practices people spend years on — but it's not zero. Knowing what can go wrong is part of doing it well.
Most practitioners hit it within their first month. Awareness without movement, sometimes with intense visual and auditory hallucinations. Normal, harmless, ends within seconds. The protocol is described in the Techniques section above.
OBEs blend with dream memory easily. Keep a paper journal beside the bed and write everything down the moment you're awake — within 10 minutes, the dream/O distinction blurs fast.
A few people report a "not-quite-here" feeling for hours after practice. Grounding fixes it: cold water on the face, holding ice cubes in both hands, eating something, going outside barefoot for 60 seconds.
The technique requires long periods at the sleep edge; if practiced at the wrong hour it can fragment sleep. Choose one window (early morning is easiest) and stick to it.
Anxiety during entry can briefly elevate heart rate. People with cardiac conditions should check with a doctor first, especially if combining with sleep deprivation.
If you have a dissociative disorder (DPDR, DID), a psychosis-spectrum diagnosis, or untreated PTSD, talk to your clinician before regular practice. Deliberate dissociation is therapeutic for some people, destabilizing for others.
The boundary is debated even by practitioners. The clearest distinction made by experienced projectors: in an OBE, you perceive the world from your physical body's actual location (you can describe your room accurately without looking) and the experience has an unusually lucid, non-narrative quality — it doesn't progress like a dream. Most first attempts are partly one and partly the other. Whether they're "the same" or "different" matters less than whether they produce useful experiences.
Highly variable. Some get one on the first or second attempt; most take 4–8 weeks of nightly 20-minute sessions; a few take much longer. What reliably speeds it up: keep a journal (so you notice progress), stay consistent (don't skip nights "because you feel it coming"), and avoid the substances listed in the checklist.
No. Real-world cases of people failing to return to their bodies do not exist. Even very long OBEs (Monroe reported some lasting hours of subjective time) always end with the practitioner back in bed; the body is undamaged. The "silver cord" is a metaphor for a real fact: the body is doing all the work and will wake you up as soon as it has to.
Up to you, but most people who do keep it private the first few months. The cultural reaction is often dismissive, and arguing about whether it's "real" is a distraction from actually doing it. Find one or two like-minded people (a subreddit, a Discord server, a local meetup) and share experiences there.
Spontaneous OBEs in children are reported in the literature, but deliberately taught practice is generally not recommended before adolescence — partly because the relaxation / dissociation practice overlaps with techniques a child should be talking to adults about (meditation, hypnosis), and partly because it interferes with normal sleep architecture at a critical age.
Some researchers classify NDEs as a category of spontaneous OBE — they share the same brain mechanism (TPJ disruption). The big differences are the typical content (NDEs often include tunnel, beings of light, life review, reluctance to return) and the cause (cardiac arrest, trauma, drowning). This guide is about the standing-in-bed kind, not the kind brought on by an emergency.
Astral projection is one of the few genuinely life-changing skills that costs nothing, requires no equipment, and improves with patience rather than degrading. The "trick" is the same as the "trick" for any deep practice: consistent small sessions, a written log, and the willingness to do it again even when nothing happened last time.
The body knows what to do. Your only job is to keep showing up long enough for it to do it.
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