Have you ever “woken up” to find yourself floating above your body? Have you ever had a loved one who has passed away come to visit you? Have you ever healed or been healed via energies transmitted through the hands? Have you ever had a dream that seemed real? Have you ever felt like you were falling while you were asleep and jerked awake? Have you found yourself unable to move while you were falling asleep or trying to wake up? Have you ever felt a presence in the room, or perhaps smelt a scent that apparently had no source? Have you ever sensed yourself to be bigger than your usual size, while relaxed and aware; or felt a very strong pleasant vibration in your body?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, rest assured, you are quite normal. All these experiences are natural to the consciousness (soul, spirit) and many of the sensations described above form part of the process of an expansion of awareness.

Scientific research into the field of all things non-physical has grown significantly in the last few decades. The science of projectiology in particular deals specifically with the study and research of the out-of-body experience (OBE), paranormal phenomena and bioenergy.

The out-of-body experience, also known as astral travel or astral projection, is a natural phenomenon that everybody experiences nightly during sleep even though very few are aware of it. However, statistics drawn from international sources suggest that approximately 10% of the population has semiconscious OBEs (OBEs that are usually mixed with dreams), while approximately 1% of the population (60 million people) has lucid, fully conscious OBE’s.

Numerous reports confirm that people all over the world are having lucid experiences outside their physical bodies. One type of OBE that is the subject of ongoing research is the near-death experience (survival of clinical death). The near-death experience (NDE) is a forced OBE resulting from a trauma to the physical body.

Most of those who experience this phenomenon and remember it, however, exhibit positive behavioral changes. They lose their fear of death, value their life and the lives of others more, become more serene and confident, have an increase in the subtlety of their perceptions, and take advantage of the greater understanding of life that the experience affords to evolve faster. The same positive consequence happens when people have a totally lucid and recalled OBE. Sometimes they may even meet their helpers (non-physical guides often referred to as spirit guides or angels) and have an opportunity to discuss their purpose in life with them. This can happen regardless of whether the OBE was spontaneous or generated at will.

The OBE is a completely different experience from a dream (lucid or not) and also from any other altered state of consciousness. It is not an imaginary event but a real situation experienced in a dimension or plane that is more subtle than the physical one. The OBE allows an expansion of our understanding of the universe and life.

According to the type of OBE experienced, the individual is often able to confirm the experience as real. For instance, a person can be out of the body feeling completely lucid, able to make decisions, exert his will, analyze situations etc. and happen to witness an event occurring in the physical dimension. The next day on the news, the event is reported as having occurred during the night, in exactly the same way that was observed by the individual who had the OBE.

Our bioenergies (or chi) have a crucial role to play in the conscious out-of-body experience. Control of our bioenergetic processes is the key to being able to leave the body.

Most people do not understand how bioenergies work and may sometimes become drained by those who have a lack of energetic balance. In such situations, the drained person may suddenly feel fatigue, apathy or irritability, for example. It is worth seeking accurate technical information in order to understand this process through clarification instead of superstition (see Paradigm Shift issue 15, August 2003).

Our bioenergetic system is sustained through basic mechanisms of replenishment. But there are techniques that allow human beings to work with their own bioenergetic field at will and to improve the quality and even the quantity of energy absorbed. A natural unblocking, and improved energetic self-defense and balance may result. With practice, anyone can take advantage of the positive uses of bioenergies on a daily basis.

Knowledge of projectiology combined with the correct use of bioenergies and OBE techniques can enable people to have sound, controlled experiences, from which they can gain extensive benefits. There is no reason to fear or avoid these experiences.

A lack of information and regular lucid experiences may lead people to have concerns about the certainty of returning to the physical body, being lost outside the body or the possibility of someone else taking over their bodies while they are out. These questions usually result from the severe conditioning most people have in this material dimension. The International Academy of Consciousness (IAC), a worldwide research and educational organization, has taught this subject to over 100,000 people. No evidence has been found in the IAC’s research or emerged from its teaching experience to support these fears.

Individuals who develop their capacity to be lucid outside of the body can access other planes or dimensions of reality and thus meet loved ones who have already passed away, visit places they have always longed to see, experience the euphoria of being able to fly and see their energetic aura and the auras of others. In addition, the experience will give them the opportunity to answer by themselves, questions such as: Do I die when the physical body dies? Where do I go to after death? Can I meet someone who has already died? Where do I come from? What is my purpose in this life? Do I have a spiritual guide or helper? Have I had other, previous lives?

These queries and the subject of the out-of-body experience are not new. Throughout history, we find clear references to the OBE in the records of ancient Egypt and ancient Greece. References to this experience were made by Buddha, Herodotus and Plato and can also be found in the Bible. In more recent times, laboratorial experiments have being conducted by American researchers such as Dr. Charles Tart, Dr. Karlis Osis, Dr. Scott Rogo and Dr. Janet Lee Mitchell. Today, the science of projectiology is shedding more light on the universal phenomenon of the out-of-body experience and the process of human evolution.

An example of the OBE phenomenon

Nanci Trivellato, one of the authors of this article, had a confirmed OBE at the age of eight. She was born in a very small town in Brazil which had only the most rudimentary of medical facilities. Coming from a healthy family, she had never even visited a hospital or seen any medical equipment. In addition, television was not easily accessible so it was not a habit of her family to watch TV.

One day, an uncle and aunt, favorites of Nanci’s, announced they were going on a trip to visit relatives in Sao Paulo. A few nights later during sleep, Nanci had the experience of floating and being awake (even though her body was asleep) and after a moment she found herself in a strange room that she didn’t recognize. There, she saw her uncle in bed in what she later learned was a hospital. She saw tubes inserted in his arm and nostrils and was also a little shocked to see red liquid draining from his abdomen through a transparent tube and dripping into a container on the floor.

The next morning, she remembered what had happened during the night but didn’t have any negative associations related to the experience. She went about her usual daily routine, playing and going to school. A few days later, when her uncle and aunt returned from Sao Paulo she asked her aunt what her uncle had been doing in the white room she had seen and why he had a tube connected to his abdomen through which red liquid was flowing. Her aunt was dumbfounded, and not knowing how to respond she changed the subject. Later Nanci overheard her aunt telling her mother that she was shocked that Nanci could have described the scene at the hospital so accurately and had even seen the tube draining his bladder. Nanci found out later that her uncle had gone to Sao Paulo for a scheduled bladder surgery. She had had no idea that her uncle was even ill.

This experience, among others, is one of the reasons Nanci decided to become involved in the research and teaching of this subject.

Uses and Practical Consequences

Gradually, we can begin to make use of that one-third of life that is lost during sleep (the body needs sleep, but the consciousness doesn't) and accelerate our personal maturation. The OBE is not a cure-all but it does provide us with a number of benefits or usages, some of which are listed below.

Personal Uses:

 substitution of belief with knowledge  elimination of the fear of death  acquisition of knowledge about the non-physical aspect of human nature  answers to questions about human origin, life after death, and the purpose of physical life  achievement of emotional balance  absorption of bioenergies  improvement of one's general state of health  leisure excursions or mini-vacations to non-physical dimensions  recall of past lives  acceleration of personal evolution  understanding and practice of universalism (acceptance of everyone as a ‘brother’ regardless of his race or religion, and regardless of whether he is existing in a physical or non-physical dimension)  understanding and practice of cosmoethics (a standard of ethics that applies across and is appropriate to all races, cultures and dimensions)

Other Uses:

 assistance to physical and non-physical persons  diagnosis of physical disorders at a distance exteriorization of energy to yourself and others while you are projected for the purpose of assistance  location of missing persons  participation in scientific research in various conventional fields such as psychology, astronomy, medicine and physics  access to information which is unobtainable while in the body

Conclusion

Everyone leaves their body nightly during sleep. However, only about 1% of humanity is able to spontaneously or voluntarily achieve lucid out-of-body experiences and recall their experiences in the non-physical dimension. Anyone can project if he or she can overcome the fears and insecurities that most people have, knows how to work with his or her bioenergies, and behaves in a cosmoethical manner.

The long-term benefits of being able to move between the dimensions are many and make the effort and discipline required to achieve lucid projections well worthwhile.

The challenge is before us. Some individuals can no longer tolerate living a continuous series of lives that lack greater meaning. No special aptitude is required to study the OBE and the benefits of this unique experience can be enjoyed by everyone.