Astral projection and out of body experiences are subjective. While common similarities appear across accounts, many differences exist too. This post shares how the shift in consciousness often feels, draws from real experiences of people I have guided, and offers practical tips based on what works to protect yourself.
How it feels
Expectation is often a major hurdle. People read or hear that you must feel intense vibrations, hear specific sounds, or consciously roll or float out of the body. These things can happen, but you do not always need to be aware of them for a successful journey.
Personally, I have only noticed inner vibrations before shifting consciousness in a small number of my journeys, and that is in the minority. The most common way I shift consciousness is through a gentle shift or a “click” in what feels like my brain. Suddenly I am out, instantly in a place that aligns with my intention. From there the journey unfolds gradually.
The silver cord is another topic that frequently comes up. You are always connected to your physical body, and as long as it is functioning you will return automatically. You do not need a visible silver cord for this. The moment you think of your body you are likely back instantly. Physical signals, like a full bladder, will pull you back quickly too. Whether a silver cord exists visibly or not is irrelevant. I have never seen one and never think about it.
My suggestion is simple: do not try to mimic or follow other people’s stories to the letter. Your astral projection experience will most likely be unique to you. Once you have had your first genuine journey, whether guided, spontaneous, or self-induced, you will often find it easier to return to that state. Robert Monroe called this the rubber band technique: consciously project to a familiar place from a previous journey, then fully let go of the physical realm and fully be there. To use this, though, you need a reference point to which you want to project.
Why would you like astral projection
There are many reasons to engage in astral projection and OBE. Looking at the hundreds of journeys I guided, the following is a list of most frequent intentions and questions:
Self-discovery and spiritual growth
Connecting with higher self, life mission (why am I here?), meeting guides and masters for support and direction, who am I?, past lives.
Healing
Trauma, inner child (link), fears and physical ailments
Curiosity
Past lives, is there more than just physical reality?
Life questions
Relationships, money, choices, understanding patterns
My reason for doing the Gateway Voyage of the Monroe Institute, was that I wanted to understand my deepest or biggest fear and wanted to transform it. Which succeeded fully.
Experiences from guided journeys
In the sessions I guide, people frequently describe a deep sense of safety and homecoming. One person shared that after meeting a powerful guide she felt peaceful, blissful and aligned. Another spoke of receiving an abundance of understanding and love toward situations that previously caused discomfort or fear. She saw how everything was connected and had reasons to happen. After the journey she felt more at ease within her relationship, with less expectation and more appreciation.
Others report returning to a place of familiarity and comfort that is difficult to put into words. They uncover hidden truths, discover forgotten aspects of themselves, or open doors they were not able to open yet. Some experience profound healing for body, mind and soul. A few travel to different places or planets, meet beings, or receive clear answers to burning questions about life mission, relationships or patterns.
What stands out across these journeys is the surprise effect and the uniqueness. Information and visuals arrive that people could not have imagined themselves. The experience feels close to a dream state yet carries a different resonance. Journeys, my own and that of others, is aways beyond imagination.
Practical tips
Feel free to be inspired by others’ stories, but always stay open to your own unique experience. Experiences are most valuable to the one who lives them.
Information is often shared symbolically. The reason for this, is that when new information is shared with you, it has to fit your frame of reference. For that reason, we cannot take everything literally, but need to understand its deeper meaning beyond the visuals. In a guided journey it is often easier to get to a deeper level of understanding, than when we travel on our own. After hundreds of journeys, it can happen to me too that I “forget” to ask what the deeper meaning of something is.
If you can do simple visualizations, like picturing a flower with your eyes closed, you are capable of visually perceiving an expanded state of awareness. With gentle guidance the process can unfold organically, respecting your energy and readiness.
A guided journey starts without rigid formulas. A conversation to clarify your intention and questions, followed by a guided shift starting from the heart, directly to your higher self (total self) and your guide(s) and/or master(s). Listening back to a recording of the session helps re immerse you in that expanded awareness and supports integration into daily life.
Many people find that after even one guided journey they can connect to their higher self or spirit guides at will.
For those who cannot visualize
The majority of people can visualize, which is useful for astral travel because it’s often used as a stepping stone. But there are also people who have a hard time seeing with their mind’s eye. But that is not a limitation for guided astral projection. We just adapt to the situation and in those cases we generally focus more on the information that comes in through the feeling sense. And as the journey progresses, visuals come often spontaneous. In the moment it feels very normal to perceive visuals, but afterwards people feel surprised that they actually were seeing as well.
For your protection
If you want to feel protected from unwanted energies or disturbances, you can do the following: Connect with your heart after the first relaxation phase. In the center of your heart, you perceive a bright, tiny golden light. Connect with that light and increase its size until you perceive that your whole physical body is inside of it. Enforce it with the intention that this golden globe of light will protect you for the whole duration of your astral projection, or so much longer as desired. Before moving on, you notice how it feels to be inside this golden globe of light. The moment you have felt it, you continue the process of expanding your consciousness.
The next step
When you feel ready to start expanding your awareness in a controlled manner and you have a hard time achieving it by yourself, feel free to reach out. I’m happy to share about a guided journey, and I am also happy to share suggestions that may be beneficial for your self induced journey. The more people engage in astral projection and OBE, the more we collectively benefit from its potential.