Many years ago, I was involved in co-ordinating a group for people interested in Parapsychology.One of the areas we were investigating was Out of Body Experiences. We would usually meet once a week and sometimes on weekends, we would get-together to explore different techniques of meditation and altered states of consciousness that might be useful for exploring Out of Body Experiences.
One weekend while having one of our "Workshops" at Galston ,just outside of Sydney, we decided to try a combination of different techniques. We used meditation, Bio-Feedback Sensory isolation and generally psyched ourselves up with the idea that we would all have some kind of O.B.E. experience that night. On going to bed late that night, I played an audio tape of Astral Sounds which we had just received from an American research group.
I went to sleep with the tape playing and awoke sometime in the night standing by the bed. After a couple of seconds, I realised that while I was standing by the bed ,my body was still lying on the bed asleep. I stood there for a few minutes takingin the situation and then tried to awaken the lady I was with, who was fast asleep on the bed beside my body. Unable to awaken her I decided to go into the next room where two of the other members of the group were sleeping. As I approached the door between our room and theirs I remember thinking "This is where I find out if one can really move through solid objects while out of the body." I moved, although I think it felt more like floating, right up to the door. The door was solid wood and as my nose pressed against it I felt the cold wood and it felt hard. Suddenly it felt like I turned into smoke and I just oozed through the door. Onesecond I was pressing up against the cold hard wood and the next moment I was on the other side.
I approached Pauliene who was sharing the room with Sam and as I got close she awakened and panicked. She was really aware that something was wrong. She was aware of a presence in the room and she was frightened ,even though she could not see me. I extended my hand out to her and touched her hand ,as I mentally projected the message to her that all was well and that it was only me.
Next thing I remember it was morning and I was waking. When I woke up fully I turned to my companion and described all that had happened. She informed me that I had already told her the story twice. I had awakened described my experience and then fallen asleep ,only to repeat it again when I awakened a second time. Finally I woke up for real and went over my adventure again. I had no recollection of the other awakenings. We decided to go into our companions room and simply ask them if anything had happened during the night, before I told my story.
Pauliene immediately said yes. She had been awakened during the night by a strange sensation that something was in the room. At first she felt really afraid, but soon she calmed down and she felt that there was no danger. She described seeing a small light moving around the room, as if someone were smoking a cigarette. She thought that Sam had lit up a cigarette, something she had asked him not to do, as she did not like smoking, but when she checked she found that Sam was fast asleep. While I was having the experience it felt very real. As I stood by the side of the bed looking at my body, the real me was the one standing by the bed. I recall feeling very alive and aware.My movement was one of floating just above the ground. I definitely was surprised to feel the cold hard wood as my nose touched the door. I did not do anything consciously but after I registered that the door felt solid I just seemedto vaporise and go through it .In the morning when I awoke I might easily have explained the experience away as a very lucid,vivid dream but the fact that Pauline did confirm at least some part of what I felt had happened leads me to accept that the experiencewas more than just a dream episode.
We had been using some very intensive techniques prior to and on the weekend of the workshop. So the experience did not just come out of the blue. The Astral sound tape may have been a trigger, but none of the other members of the group reported any results from listening to it. Some of the other training programs involved Bio-Feedback G.S.R. enhanced relaxation and meditation sessions and a fair helping of sensory isolation with white noise stimulation.
I had also received an article reporting that the Robert Monroe (Journeys Out of the Body.) Institute in the States were using a technique called Hemi-Synch ( An audio stimulation technique that synchronises both hemispheres of the brain.)This it was reported could be helpful in helping people to explore O.B.Es. So we were using Hemi-Synch as part of the training as well.
In the end I expect it was a combination of everything that resulted in the experience.The feelings and the memory of that night have always remained clear in my mind even though it happened about seventeen years ago.
Sean Scorr. (1995)
If anyone has esperienced an OBE and is interested in States of consciousness, Astral travelling.etc,.
I would really like to hear from them . I can be contacted at : 261 Mowbray Rd, Chatswood.
