Any scientific proof of Astral Projection?

I would love for there to be objective, scientific proof of astral projection, but I have yet to come upon any. As a result, I shuffle AP into the "very vivid dream" box, particularly when the accounts of AP involve something exceptional such as fighting critters.

[Astral Explorer]

Speaking from experience Astral Projection and vivid dreams are totally different for the most part. I have had conscious projections, Lucid dreams, OOBE's in my dreams, dreams that I was dreaming (my consciousness was inside of my astral body). There is definitely a connection between Astral Projection and dreaming, but not always.

My conscious projections are just like you woke up rolled out of bed and went on an adventure. My brain is 150% wide awake but my physical body is sleeping on my bed. I say 150% because when you are consciously APing your brain is more alert, focused, and awake than it is during the day when you are not sleeping.

Your consciousness enters a different body during Astral Projection and you are free to go anywhere you wish while your physical body stays in one place. It's hard to explain it because it is something so individual to each person. But I know for a fact Astral Projection is not just a vivid dream. I have done it in the middle of the day while wide awake, and I don't typically nap.

You have to experience it for yourself to understand though. There are some things you cannot explain even after experiencing and this is one of them, but it is 100% real - seeing is believing.

Originally Posted by Astral Explorer

Speaking from experience Astral Projection and vivid dreams are totally different for the most part. I have had conscious projections, Lucid dreams, OOBE's in my dreams, dreams that I was dreaming (my consciousness was inside of my astral body). There is definitely a connection between Astral Projection and dreaming, but not always.

My conscious projections are just like you woke up rolled out of bed and went on an adventure. My brain is 150% wide awake but my physical body is sleeping on my bed. I say 150% because when you are consciously APing your brain is more alert, focused, and awake than it is during the day when you are not sleeping.

Your consciousness enters a different body during Astral Projection and you are free to go anywhere you wish while your physical body stays in one place. It's hard to explain it because it is something so individual to each person. But I know for a fact Astral Projection is not just a vivid dream. I have done it in the middle of the day while wide awake, and I don't typically nap.

You have to experience it for yourself to understand though. There are some things you cannot explain even after experiencing and this is one of them, but it is 100% real - seeing is believing.

That still sounds quite a bit like a dream. I've had dreams so vivid that I could swear they were real and they even had lasting real world effects, but they were just dreams. If it's done while the body is awake, then it sounds like a vivid daydream to me -- which I have also had.

I'm a bit more on the scientific side, however, and like proof before I believe something (even if it is my own personal proof).

Originally Posted by Arawn

That still sounds quite a bit like a dream. I've had dreams so vivid that I could swear they were real and they even had lasting real world effects, but they were just dreams. If it's done while the body is awake, then it sounds like a vivid daydream to me -- which I have also had.

I'm a bit more on the scientific side, however, and like proof before I believe something (even if it is my own personal proof).

Would you say there is no difference between a lucid dream and real life because they both feel true and vivid? I'm also able to tell the difference between lucid dreaming and the astral. They are as separate as a dream is from physical reality. By saying there is no difference implies that you simply don't have much experience with it.

[Astral Explorer]

Well thankfully I know for a fact it was not a dream. In dreams your entire body doesn't vibrate and then you lift out of your body and fly up into a black abyss for about 30 seconds. Then stars appear, and then you enter the Astral planes. That does not happen in dreams and I have been a intense dreamer my entire life. Once you experience Astral Projection you know for a fact it exists, it is totally different from falling asleep and dreaming.

To have a conscious OOBE you have to be in Trance state, which feels completely different from being in a dream state. You can look at it scientific if you want but there is really no way to prove spiritual matters with science. It is obvious by your responses that you have not spent much time meditating, if you want to find out the truth for yourself I advise you to do so. Unfortunately with your beliefs about Astral Projection not being real it is likely you will never be lucky enough to experience it. Astral Projection is like faith in God, unless you believe you will never experience the truth.

You can believe in or not, I did not believe in it before I experienced it and found that Astral Projection certainly is not just "vivid dreams." I have had many dreams where I fly around, both Lucid and non Lucid but Astral Projection is really separate from those. There is a process that happens during a conscious OOBE which really makes it obvious to me and to many others that it is not just a dream. It is obvious no matter what it said you will be a doubter and that is unfortunate because you are really missing out on something so great that words cannot begin to describe it. But perhaps it is better because I do not think everyone could mentally handle Astral Projection and in some people it will do more harm than good.

Originally Posted by earthatic

Would you say there is no difference between a lucid dream and real life because they both feel true and vivid? I'm also able to tell the difference between lucid dreaming and the astral. They are as separate as a dream is from physical reality. By saying there is no difference implies that you simply don't have much experience with it.

No, I do not. A lucid dream is just a dream to me and nothing more. Real life is something that actually happens and something that has limits to it, unlike lucid (or non-lucid) dreaming where just about anything can happen.

I have said that I have not had any astral projections happenings and, even if I did, I probably would still believe it was a dream UNLESS I was able to find out that what happened in the experience actually happened. Such as if I witnessed something happening during the experience and the very next day I was able to find out that it actually did happen.

Until someone specifically tells me something that they witnessed during an AP trip and I was able to find out that what they witnessed happened at the same exact time that they were involved in the trip, then I'm not inclined to believe in AP.

I have yet, in my many years of frequenting various spiritual based boards, had someone tell a story of AP that was credible.

@ Astral Explorer: What about the people who's AP experiences do not match yours? I have heard about 10 different ways of how AP feels when it first happens.

AP could be possibly happening, but until it happens to me, I don't believe it. I don't get equating a belief in AP with a belief in God. I guess it just irritates me to see things like you need to believe in God for you to know any "truth", but I'm also Pagan and don't follow God and never will.

AP is entirely different and something that may or may not happen, regardless of whether or not someone strongly experiences it or claims to experience. It's possible AP is real, but it's also just as likely that it is a creation of the mind. There's no proof to one way or the other and personal experience can't be counted as proof outside of being proof to the individual.

Originally Posted by Arawn

No, I do not. A lucid dream is just a dream to me and nothing more. Real life is something that actually happens and something that has limits to it, unlike lucid (or non-lucid) dreaming where just about anything can happen. I have said that I have not had any astral projections happenings and, even if I did, I probably would still believe it was a dream UNLESS I was able to find out that what happened in the experience actually happened. Such as if I witnessed something happening during the experience and the very next day I was able to find out that it actually did happen.

There are MANY mental states a person can experience during meditation. Explain to me why you constitute it as a dream.

One difference would be the onset of vibrations and tingling through the body. There seems to be differences in frequency of these sensations ranging from light tingling/buzzing, to thick/raging waves of oscillating energy.
This is also accompanied by hearing noises that suits the feeling within the body, such as ringing in the ears for lighter sensations, or loud whooshing for the heavier sensations - kind of like the sound of blood rushing in the ears. You may also feel chills or warmth, and pressure on the body during this state. People even experience this when taking certain psychoactive substances - which many believe induce spiritual awareness.
These sensations haven't been adequately explained by scientists yet...
Other differences would be the feeling of leaving/separating from your physical body, feeling sharp mental clarity/awareness, sensing separate entities that usually give off a unique feeling that may seem familiar or alien. Many people even experience the same entities.
One aspect that can be likened to a dream is the profound feelings of emotion a person can experience, hence why many dub it 'the emotional plane'.

I can't objectively state this phenomenon is real since very little is scientifically known about the subject. Although, if you were to experience it for yourself and read more about it, you'd probably be more inclined to believe it's real.
If you do decide to read more about it...take every scientific/metaphysical theory you hear with a grain of salt because they tend to fall short. These things are VERY difficult to conceptualize.

AP is entirely different and something that may or may not happen, regardless of whether or not someone strongly experiences it or claims to experience. It's possible AP is real, but it's also just as likely that it is a creation of the mind. There's no proof to one way or the other and personal experience can't be counted as proof outside of being proof to the individual.

You cannot truly know anything except your own perceptions of things. You can ask others to confirm your own notions using 'science', but science can't currently explain these things with it's methods. I think it can be compared to restrictively using a camera and calculator to detect and explain the human senses, such as touch and hearing. Of course methods are much more advanced, but you see what I am talking about when you realize that scientists don't even definitively know what causes simple things like memory and consciousness. They can only theorize. There are many mysteries of the brain that have yet to be explained. There are many things even passed off as facts in textbooks that end up being proved wrong.

If you do believe it's a trick of the mind, you have to reasonably ask yourself "Why did the human brain develop this way to be capable of such an illusion?"

[Astral Explorer]

My reference to God was purely a comparison. Until you believe in God you will never find out whether he exists or not, Astral Projection is the same way. One of the first steps in learning to Astral Project is believing that it is possible and that you are capable of doing it. I was a skeptic at one point myself but after leaving my body and seeing my body laying there I knew this was not a vivid dream. Your mind is wide awake during a conscious OOBE.

There are thousands of accounts of people seeing somebody doing something in the physical world during an Astral Projection. They were OOB and went to another room in their house and saw something they could of only seen if they were either there in the room, or having an OOBE. There are countless accounts of this in countless Astral Projection books. Not only that but there are countless accounts of this happening all over the world since the dawn of civilization. How did the Buddha become enlightened? He meditated under a tree until he learned about his past lives. How does one learn about past lives? Through the Akashic records which you reach through Astral Projection. But being a skeptic you can simply say oh well they are lying.

Just like nearly everything else in the world Astral Projection occurs and affects every person differently. I am sure when you were a wee little kid they explained to you how no two people are exactly the same, that applies here as well. Like I said before unfortunately with your attitude to wards Astral Projection it will never happen to you. Not unless you start meditating several hours a day and it spontaneously happens through meditation, that is possible but not likely with your beliefs. You would just reach the vibrational stage at most and that would quickly fade away and you would have missed out on the most wonderful experience you can have in life, fault to closed minded thinking.

Originally Posted by Ambermay

If science is trying to prove something non-physical - it can not do so by physical means.

Yes, they measure this and that, but it is little to nothing of a proof really.

Unless one tired to AP and succeeded, or it just happened to one even spontaneously - one will not be convinced that AP is real, even if believing in its possibility.
How can materials of three dimensional level of existence prove something that belongs to higher levels?

I agree! For me, the proof is in my own personal experiences. People don't have to believe in it, but I know with 100% certainty that it is real for me. Your own personal experiences provides more proof than just going by what others have done. Science will most likely never understand a lot of things like this because of how they look at life and our existence. If we are just born, live a physical life, then die and that's the end of everything, then nothing like AP would be possible. Until people are open to there being more to life than how most people look at it now, they will never understand.

@ Earthatic:

A lot of the sensations you listed could be due to neurological issues or an over stimulation. This is from personal experience because I do have a neurological issue that, when I experience any of the sensations you stated, I must go into the doctor to help prevent the sensations getting worse and/or me becoming paralyzed.

The sensations have been noted before and a lot of them are neurological based, and some can be caused from just becoming aware of the body. There is almost always a slight ringing in the ears, particularly when there is silence around you.

The mind is a complex thing and the biology of the brain isn't fully understood so I wouldn't go into anything saying that it is 100% spiritual. I acknowledge that AP could be entirely spiritual based, but it could also be neurological based or medical based. Or it could be a mixture of all of the above.

My main issue is when people refuse to even acknowledge that it could have nothing to do with the spiritual. Even if it doesn't have anything to do with the spiritual doesn't mean it doesn't have some sort of value.

The human brain could have evolved for there to be such feelings for any number of reasons. One of which could be to come up with an understanding of things that have yet to be proven, or because people don't seem to like the concept of their life just snuffing out and there being nothing afterwards so creating falsehoods while the person alive would give the person comfort because they could believe that life continues on after death. Or none of those reasons is it and we won't know a reason for years to come.

@ Astral Explorer:

I don't have time to devote hours to meditation. I have a life that requires bills to be paid for and I have people to care for. I do meditate on occasion, but it never lasts very long and I don't meditate by sitting down. I do it while engaging in behaviors that are repetitive in nature (swimming laps, bouncing a basketball, cleaning, etc.)

For me, the most wonderful feeling in my life, was when I met the love my life and AP will probably never come close to that. If I do experience AP then I will probably come back and say that it was possible that AP is real, but I would still acknowledge that it could have all been just a scheme that my mind made up.