A working theory on AP/OBE/NDE and the afterlife

[Godspark]

Hey all,

I've been a lucid dreamer since an early age, about 4 years old I was having a recurring nightmare, which led me to discover the ability all by myself. I didn't learn it was called lucid dreaming until much later in life. After learning it was called lucid dreaming, I soon discovered astral projection and spent many years practicing that.

I've always felt that reality is an illusion, like something is not quite right, like something is missing or out of place, it has just never felt solid or real to me. The only thing that ever felt real was my self, not my physical body but my self inside, which made me always question everything. When you are constantly questioning reality like this, it's like performing a reality check all the time. It increased my level of awareness at all times and as a result I have lucid dreams regularly and naturally.

Anyway, to get to the theory...

In my opinion, there are many words used to describe the term astral. They basically all reference same thing, and the astral IS the afterlife, it IS heaven and hell, but you are the one who navigates through it.

Astral = aether, aetheric, aethereal, energy, energetic, psi, psionic, psychic, prana, pranic, quantum, qi, chi, ki, spirit, spiritual.... The list goes on and on. Each of these words describe same thing... An invisible force which we can tap into consciously, a place we transition to, pass on to when we die, or when we project into it.

It's written in books like the Tibetan book of the dead. Often the deceased will start on the 'bardo' where all their worst fears come to life (like hell right?) but if they can get past it, will move on to higher planes (more like heaven). The bardo in christian literature is called Limbo. NDE literature and accounts of OBE all point to it. The experience is both subjective and objective, often in NDE's the person will float out of their body and transition on, pass on to another place, where their beliefs shape what they experience. We also release DMT (the spirit molecule) from our pineal gland (third eye) when we are born, when we die, and each night we sleep which is further evidence of this. And my own personal experiences and research suggests this to be true and correct.

My theory as well, is that we keep ending up back here in a new body, reincarnating over and over again, not so much because of karma, but because we can't handle it well enough on the other side. If you die on the other side you end up here, die here and you end up there. Back and forth we go, across the veil of two worlds or states of being, until one day we can learn to stay on one side, or maybe even both at same time. On the other side, it can be more vibrant, vivid and more real than this side. Time over there is more fluid and malleable, hours can pass in just a few seconds compared to here, we move through time differently over there like in a dream you are just suddenly in a new scenario and skipping unnecessary parts of the experience.

I've heard enlightened masters say that when our body dies, we simply move into a new body. However, Being incarnated in a new body within the physical world means going through the process of death and rebirth, which on this side of the veil means growing up again from a baby to an adult. Science also tells us that energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed. So it all makes sense if you agree to the notion that we exist eternally as a living conscious being.

Try to think of it more in terms of subtle energy, it's everywhere and everything, very hard to detect or even become aware of. Our subtle energy body is self-automated, running in the background on optimal or minimum power so we don't usually notice or become aware of it. There are methods to increase the power level of your subtle energy body such as practicing meditation, conscious breathing (e.g. pranayama), taking substances, etc. But one has to become aware of it consciously, which is easier to do when the power level is increased.

I joined an astral projection meetup group one time, and they all spoke about it like they do it every single night. When I asked how they all do it so often, the one thing they said which helps the most, is doing pranayama breathing every night. I started practicing it, and even that same night when I tried pranayama breathing the first time, I had multiple vivid astral projection experiences.

[iamthat]

Thanks for sharing. There are many types of pranayama breathing techniques - what pranayama breathing do you recommend for astral projection?

Peace

I'm not a natural lucid dreamer but if I practice the various techniques diligently I can MILD with some success. My go-to reality check is fingers. Too many, not enough, too thick, too thin, too long, too short, etc... A good resource for lucid dreaming is the dreamviews forum.

Are you familiar with the WILD technique? Many lucid dream "gurus" consider AP to be a perfect WILD. https://lucidacademy.com/astral-proj...mate-showdown/

WILD stands for Wake Induced Lucid Dream, and this is where the already overlapping line gets more blurry.

A WILD is when someone lays down and attempts to fall asleep consciously, being aware of the whole process along the way.

So technically this is actually astral projection when done perfectly. However, for most people, they lose consciousness even for small periods when transitioning. It can be very hard to spot because the realms are very subtle, and memory of these times can slip away easily if not locked in immediately afterward.

Originally Posted by Godspark

I've always felt that reality is an illusion, like something is not quite right, like something is missing or out of place, it has just never felt solid or real to me. The only thing that ever felt real was my self, not my physical body but my self inside, which made me always question everything. When you are constantly questioning reality like this, it's like performing a reality check all the time. It increased my level of awareness at all times and as a result I have lucid dreams regularly and naturally.

Lets see, how to put this...

Having lucid dreamed I had an experience in waking reality similar to that of attaining lucidity in a dream. Just like in a lucid dream where one suddenly knows one is not the dream body but the dreamer and entire dream I "knew" I was not the physical body but something more and in fact all of physical reality and it persisted for several weeks. The interesting thing is it didn't make physical reality feel less real but more real.

Everything was more vivid, more vibrant, more full of life, more full of love. Perhaps a better way to explain it is a quote: "Earth, moon, stars and sun revolve inside me" ~ Baba Muktananda

Now that I have both mind states to compare, physical reality as perceived by my normal waking mind state is a cheap and cheesy imitation, even though my physical eyes perceive the exact same things in both states.

[Godspark]

Originally Posted by iamthat

Thanks for sharing. There are many types of pranayama breathing techniques - what pranayama breathing do you recommend for astral projection?

Peace

The one the astral projection meetup group recommended was the one where you meditate and visualize brilliant white light prana entering each nostril, start by breathing in through left nostril whilst holding the right one with thumb, then release thumb, close left nostril using pinky or last 2 fingers and breath out through right nostril. Then you breathe back in through right nostril, and out the left one switching back to thumb. Try to use right hand only, and keep left hand on lap palm facing up. Rinse and repeat however long you feel comfortable with.

The important thing I would say is visualizing the pranic energy and feeling it entering you as well, doing it intentionally and consciously. When you breathe out, you can either visualize white energy again filling your aura, or visualize all your used up old and tense or negative energy being exhaled out - just don't visualize filling your aura if doing that 2nd one obviously... LOL!

Sometimes when practicing this, afterwards you might get a metallic taste in your mouth in your saliva. This is referred to as Amrit or Jade Nectar, and should be swallowed as it's considered sacred and very beneficial for you.

[Godspark]

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

I'm not a natural lucid dreamer but if I practice the various techniques diligently I can MILD with some success. My go-to reality check is fingers. Too many, not enough, too thick, too thin, too long, too short, etc... A good resource for lucid dreaming is the dreamviews forum.

Are you familiar with the WILD technique? Many lucid dream "gurus" consider AP to be a perfect WILD.

WILD stands for Wake Induced Lucid Dream, and this is where the already overlapping line gets more blurry.

A WILD is when someone lays down and attempts to fall asleep consciously, being aware of the whole process along the way.

So technically this is actually astral projection when done perfectly. However, for most people, they lose consciousness even for small periods when transitioning. It can be very hard to spot because the realms are very subtle, and memory of these times can slip away easily if not locked in immediately afterward.




Lets see, how to put this...

Having lucid dreamed I had an experience in waking reality similar to that of attaining lucidity in a dream. Just like in a lucid dream where one suddenly knows one is not the dream body but the dreamer and entire dream I "knew" I was not the physical body but something more and in fact all of physical reality and it persisted for several weeks. The interesting thing is it didn't make physical reality feel less real but more real.

Everything was more vivid, more vibrant, more full of life, more full of love. Perhaps a better way to explain it is a quote: "Earth, moon, stars and sun revolve inside me" ~ Baba Muktananda

Now that I have both mind states to compare, physical reality as perceived by my normal waking mind state is a cheap and cheesy imitation, even though my physical eyes perceive the exact same things in both states.

Yes, I tried every technique I could get my hands on once I learnt it was called lucid dreaming. Although, when I tried WILD for the first time, I tried it without using WBTB method, just went to bed and spent hours trying to WILD. It was extremely difficult but managed to have first WILD this way, and because I didn't use WBTB or anything like that, the experience was extremely conscious and vivid.

Most of my lucids would be considered DILD technique, because I just become aware whilst in the dream noticing something odd or particular. Reason being, because I always felt reality is an illusion and always question it, like a constant reality check. Nothing feels real to me, like there is a disconnect between myself and reality I perceive around me, even in dreams. Only in astral projection do I perceive a sense of connection, and only then does the experience seem real and valid. I tried implementing the watch RC for a while as well, which further increased the frequency of my lucids.

Intention is a really good one, dream incubation. Intention can be used in waking life as well, and in dreams or astral intention is a super-power ability, you can just intend whatever you want, if the intention is strong enough then you change things with sheer thought alone.

Originally Posted by Godspark

Yes, I tried every technique I could get my hands on once I learnt it was called lucid dreaming. Although, when I tried WILD for the first time, I tried it without using WBTB method, just went to bed and spent hours trying to WILD. It was extremely difficult but managed to have first WILD this way, and because I didn't use WBTB or anything like that, the experience was extremely conscious and vivid.

Most of my lucids would be considered DILD technique, because I just become aware whilst in the dream noticing something odd or particular. Reason being, because I always felt reality is an illusion and always question it, like a constant reality check. Nothing feels real to me, like there is a disconnect between myself and reality I perceive around me, even in dreams. Only in astral projection do I perceive a sense of connection, and only then does the experience seem real and valid. I tried implementing the watch RC for a while as well, which further increased the frequency of my lucids.

Intention is a really good one, dream incubation. Intention can be used in waking life as well, and in dreams or astral intention is a super-power ability, you can just intend whatever you want, if the intention is strong enough then you change things with sheer thought alone.

I never played around with WBTB intentionally because when I was trying in 2015 I was intensely dream journaling and losing enough sleep. LOL! That was an interesting experiment in and of itself because I hardly had any dream recall but after 5 or 6 months I was averaging 5 recalled dreams a night and I'd usually have several epics a week.

DILDs never seemed to do it for me either as every lucid dream I had at that point was because of finger reality checks. Dream sign never produced one and I did try WILD a few times but just ended up laying in bed for 15 or 20 minutes very relaxed and then falling to sleep.

After all those years since I was practicing I recently had two spontaneous LDs in as many weeks. I'm thinking it's time to give it another concerted effort.

About intention... When I was strictly working on building up dream recall one of my intentions going to sleep is "I will awake after each dream and recall it in every detail". It's funny how well that works.

[Godspark]

Yes, I love intention. If you examine the process inside yourself, what is happening when you make an intention? it's similar process to creating a memory. For example: I want to remember I placed my keys on the counter, what happens there? you sort of etch it into your own mind, you create this sort of mental hook. Same thing with intention really...

Sometimes I just intend to have a pleasant deep sleep, intend to wake up feeling refreshed and at a particular time. More often than not, it works.

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by Godspark

The one the astral projection meetup group recommended was the one where you meditate and visualize brilliant white light prana entering each nostril, start by breathing in through left nostril whilst holding the right one with thumb, then release thumb, close left nostril using pinky or last 2 fingers and breath out through right nostril. Then you breathe back in through right nostril, and out the left one switching back to thumb. Try to use right hand only, and keep left hand on lap palm facing up. Rinse and repeat however long you feel comfortable with.

The important thing I would say is visualizing the pranic energy and feeling it entering you as well, doing it intentionally and consciously. When you breathe out, you can either visualize white energy again filling your aura, or visualize all your used up old and tense or negative energy being exhaled out - just don't visualize filling your aura if doing that 2nd one obviously... LOL!

Sometimes when practicing this, afterwards you might get a metallic taste in your mouth in your saliva. This is referred to as Amrit or Jade Nectar, and should be swallowed as it's considered sacred and very beneficial for you.

Thanks for the information, Godspark. I am familiar with this technique so I will try it tonight before going to bed.

I was curious because about a year ago I did a Sudarshan Kriya workshop which included lots of pranayama. That evening I did another round of Sudarshan Kriya before sleeping, and I awoke two hours later after the longest period of prolonged lucid dreaming I have ever experienced. All good fun, but alas, I have not been able to repeat it.

Peace

Originally Posted by Godspark

Yes, I love intention. If you examine the process inside yourself, what is happening when you make an intention? it's similar process to creating a memory. For example: I want to remember I placed my keys on the counter, what happens there? you sort of etch it into your own mind, you create this sort of mental hook. Same thing with intention really...

Sometimes I just intend to have a pleasant deep sleep, intend to wake up feeling refreshed and at a particular time. More often than not, it works.

It's the subconscious. It's always, always paying attention, even to what we are not consciously aware of. All that sensory input that is "discarded" as not of import to what we are currently focused on is being stored away to some degree, so when we use intention that impression is even stronger.