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sight at the bottom of one's proverbial freezer. ROBERT BRUCE It can be easy when going about mundane, everyday tasks like working, eating lunch, and driving to the store to be lulled into thinking that the world we can see and touch is the only thing there is. On this planet of exponentially evolving science and technology, the notion of having a soulof life after deathseems Preface xix almost anachronistic. Healthy skepticism is a good thing; it is essential. Yet occasionally something very personal happens to make us ask questions. Is there more to my existence than I can readily observe? What happens to people when their bodies are used up? Is there a greater purpose for my being here? We can have complete faith in our belief system, whether that is science or atheism or some form of religion or spirituality, yet in the end they are only beliefs. What do we really know? In the absence of the known, we are left with its poor cousins assumption and conjecture. We can say what we don't know, perhaps, but for want of tangible answers we are only left to ponder. Even when we read about competent, respected people having out-of-body or neardeath experiences, it can still seem a little implausible. If we accept these accounts, in the final analysis, it is still just a belief. With something like this, you can't really know until you've experienced it yourself, and that's what this book is all about. This is the moment to lay beliefs aside and to doto find out for yourself who you truly are and what this reality is all about. This is the time to not just read about it, not just hear people talk about it, but know it and do it. I am talking about the survival of the soul. Are we more than these fragile, fleshy shells? The exercises and techniques in this book work. I've always been interested in astral travel, and since high school have tried dozens of methods for fueling an out-of-body experience. At first I experimented with hypnosis recordings, but received little more than pleasant What you hold before you is a hands-on, stepby-step manual for learning how to have an out-of-body experience (OBE). It provides a systematic approach for astral projecting out of your body in a fully awake state. The exercises in this program are largely based on the New Energy Ways (NEW) system of raising and stimulating personal energy. This method uses body awareness movements for conscious and direct manipulation of one's energy body. The NEW system is easy to understand and learn; anyone can do it. The CD that accompanies this book is a supplementary aid for this training manual. It contains a PC program called the BrainWave Generator. The BrainWave Generator is an advanced artificial aid for inducing deep physical relaxation, stimulating altered states of consciousness, and creating the perfect state for inducing an OBE. Using it is not essential for this program's success, but is an added extra. The version of the BrainWave Generator included on
this CD includes twenty-five custom presets designed especially for this ninetyday program. You will be introduced to at least one new preset per week, including seven presets specially developed for astral projection. We designed this ninety-day program so that it was: specific and easy to understand; comprehensive and goal-oriented; flexible and easy to apply; fear-eliminating through small, gradual steps; progressive with measurable results. Introduction In short, our program makes the OBE more accessible to those uninitiated in the process. This book represents our continued efforts to hone an ideal astral projection program, one that will help newcomers understand the keyelements of the process while avoiding common pitfalls. The idea is that for ninety days you will commit to spending a set amount of spare time applying this program. We supply the tools and you supply the enthusiasm and stick-to-itiveness. Achieving a conscious-exit out-of-body experience is not as complicated as it may seem at the outset. It is primarily about focusing your thoughts, harnessing your will, and overcoming your fears. It is also about learning to relax your body to new levels, honing your ability to remain awake and lucid as your physical body falls asleep, and balancing all this to achieve the desired result. Perhaps most importandy, it is about cultivating your ability to remember altered-state experiences. OBE memories are just as elusive as dream memories. Because of this, it does not matter how quickly you learn to have an OBE or how often you have one. If you do not remember it, it is as if you never had it. Learning to project out of body is also about courage and mastering one's natural fear of the unknown. It is one thing when OBE is just theory, something you read and talk about and would like to try. But it can be altogether different when you start experiencing what can be rather intense OBE exit symptoms and find yourself suddenly slipping out of your body. All at once OBE is not just theory. Early experiences can be quite intimidating if you are not completely prepared and know what to expect. It takes courage to go that final distance, but the rewards of facing and overcoming your fears can scarcely be put into words. Learning conscious-exit astral projection takes persistence. Like learning a sport or playing a new instrument, it takes time to master the fundamentals before you are good enough to perform well. Some people manage to project during their very first effort. For others it takes more perseverance. Sometimes ultimate success requires dogged, long-term determination. In this course we will be primarily focusing on the skills necessary for having an out-ofbody experience, with less emphasis on theory (unless it is necessary for understanding and applying the daily exercises). There are a number of fine books on the market that attempt to explain the complexities of OBE theory. Because there is so much ground to cover, this program focuses on training students to achieve the actual OBE exit. We have included a recommended reading list for astral projection in appendix A.
We suggest you read at least one of these books while you are following this ninety-day program, especially one containing case histories. In addition to helping you better understand OBEs, it is important to saturate your brain with the subject matter. This helps program all levels of your mind and body toward achieving an out-of-body experience. What you read prior to falling asleep affects the theme and content of your dreams. For example, read a horror novel and you may have bad dreams; read about romance and you may have romantic dreams; read about OBEs and you may have OBE flying dreams. All dreams aside, presleep reading can generate out-of-body experiences because you have OBE on your mind, consciously or subconsciously, while you are falling asleep. Everyone has some type of out-of-body experience whenever they sleep, even if the projected double just slips out and hovers, mimicking the sleeping physical body. If the dream mind is infused with thoughts and tales of OBEs, waking consciousness will sometimes return to the projected double. You may find yourself waking up already outside your physical body or having a false awakening. (A false awakening is where you believe you are awake in the real world but are actually having an OBE.) For these reasons, it is advisable to read about OBEs during this program, especially before sleeping. A word about skipping ahead and prematurely trying some of the later exercises in this program: don't! If you have read other books on OBE, particularly Robert Bruce's Astral Dynamics, you will already have been exposed to some of the exercises and techniques contained herein. But there is definitely an effective order in which this program should be followed. Early attempts at advanced exercises before mastering the basics may create mental blocks that can grossly interfere with the ultimate purpose of this program. Brian discovered this firsthand in the following experience. I had for some time been trying to have an OBE, using a mishmash of techniques, Preliminary Instructions for the Ninety-Day Programwhen I first stumbled across Robert's book, Astral Dynamics. I skipped ahead and read some of the more advanced exercises on my lunch hour and couldn't wait to experiment. As soon as I returned home, I lay down and tried an OBE exit technique without even relaxing properly. I immediately felt my body turn to liquid as huge waves of my energy ran up and down from my head to my feet and past the borders of my physical body. I suddenly found myself instinctively holding on, trying with all my power not to project. I had tried the exercises too soon; I simply wasn't ready. In all the collective years that I'd been experimenting with different processes, I'd never experienced anything so powerful so fast. The effect of this failed experiment and its resulting trauma was that I developed a gut-level response to abort the projection process once it started. It took me years to undo that simple, five-minute experiment. There is a lot to this program. It has been designed to be consumed in
OBE challenged. The idea is that you will be spending the next ninety days eating, sleeping, and breathing this training program. You might have noticed that the title of this course refers to a "90-Day Guide," whereas there are ninety-one days (thirteen weeks) listed in this book's daily pages. You should consider this course flexible. Do not feel constrained by its weekly schedule. If you need to take longer for a given day's exercises, you can always take more time. The weekly format and the task schedule are guidelines only. It can be reworked to accommodate your needs. You can extend the 91 days into 100 days or 110 days or 120 days. The important thing is not to feel rushed so you learn everything well. However, the reverse does not apply. You should not take less time than the prescribed ninety days unless you already have the prerequisite basic skills. What to Expect in Part 1 Part 1 of this book focuses on basic training teaching the core skills necessary to achieve conscious-exit projection. Each day there will be an exercise or a series of exercises that will take you through one or more of the core skills. The steps for an entire technique are not always given all at once. For example, on Day 1 you will learn the first few steps of a deep physical relaxation routine. On Tuesday you'll learn the next few steps, and so on, until by the end of the week you are well-versed in the entire routine. This lets you get comfortable with each part of an exercise before moving on to the next part. It also allows you to memorize a few small steps each day, rather than trying to digest the whole thing in one sitting. Preliminary Instructions for the Ninety-Day ProgramThe first six weeks of the program will cover the following core skills: Breathing: An ancient way to increase the flow of subtle energy and vitality through the body is by using breathing techniques. The breathing exercises employed herein have been designed to start simply and continue in small, incremental steps. If the core OBE skills were a tree, the breath would be the trunk from which the branches of all other skills grew. Deep physical relaxation, clearing the mind, energy body stimulation, and the trance state are all intimately associated with the proper flow of breath and energy. Deep physical relaxation: Deep physical relaxation involves more than just sitting back and willing your body to relax. The method given herein involves contracting and relaxing specific muscle groups to progressively relax your whole physical body. Without deep physical relaxation, all the core skills that follow are useless. In order to project you must be deeply relaxed, physically and mentally. Shadow memory recall: This is key to having a successful OBE. You will need to be able to "download" your OBE memories in order to recall and realize them. The ability to remember your dreams is the first step toward remembering your out-of-body experiences. We give techniques to help you remember dreams
and to capture the shadow memories from your projectable double Introduction so they are successfully transferred to recallable levels of your physical brain/mind after an OBE. Energy body stimulation: Some of the most profound exercises for discovering that you are more than just physical matter are the revolutionary methods for stimulating your energy body that are given herein. Throughout one's life, due to a variety of factors, one accumulates energy blockages. The energy techniques provided here allow you to heal these and increase your flow of personal energy. Quieting the mind: Where your attention goes, so, too, does your energy. The ability to clear your mind of internal dialogue and maintain a calm perspective is critical to astral projection in order to remain composed and in control during and after an OBE exit. For the average person, stilling the mind can be quite a challenge, but the techniques provided here are introduced in easy, progressive steps. Anyone can learn how to do this with a little regular practice. Primary energy center stimulation: Primary energy centers (also called chakras) can be thought of as gateways between the physical body, the energy body, and the projected double in the OBE state. The main purpose of energy body stimulation exercises is to prepare you for the higher flow of energy that both allows and accompanies the OBE exit. The purpose of stimulating the primary centers is to open the floodgates through which that higher level of energy can flow. The trance state: Trance states are altered states of consciousness. The basic trance state occurs when your physical body goes to sleep while your mind remains awake and lucid. There are varying degrees of sleep, with corresponding levels of trance. Deep physical relaxation and the ability to hold your mind awake and clear are prerequisites for entering trance states. Energy body loosening: There are ways to stimulate your energy body that prepares it for projection. Energy body loosening is one of the final steps in preparation for employing OBE exit techniques. By the end of the first six weeks of this program you will be reasonably comfortable with these fundamental skills. Along the way you will no doubt come to understand a great deal more about your nature as a spirit inhabiting a physical body. Do not think of Part 1 as being just a set of tasks required for having an OBE. Learning these core skills is a journey in itself that opens doors to just about everything metaphysical and spiritual. What follows are the results of my first night of energy work. I've had sporadic instances of involuntary projection throughout my life. I've tried gaining control of it for many years hut nothing has ever worked. I've always thought that energy work for astral projection was a waste of time. It was annoying to he hogged down with silly "New Age" energy rituals, when all I wanted to do was project. Then I read Robert Bruce's tutorial. Maybe there is something to this! This was the first time I'd ever read anything that spelled
out the mechanics behind this type of energy work, why it's needed, and what it does at a core level. Posts on Robert's online forum further reinforced the validity of doing the energy work. Over and over I was running across postings from people who were getting very measurable results. I went to bed thinking that this would never happen to me and started doing energy work. For a few minutes I felt an ache in my heart center. I kept "circling" there between passes up the legs and down the arms and in a few minutes it stopped. Then I felt a lot of activity and itching in my brow center, then something like electricity going through that area, as if the blood vessels had been shut off, then suddenly opened. After that I must have woken up thirty times during the course of four hours of sleep. Every time I woke up it was like another memory was being restored, and each time I was still on autopilot, doing the energy exercise. By now I can't remember what I was remembering specifically, but I do remember that every memory that surfaced served to connect me to something else I had long forgotten. One by one I kept remembering connections to things, people, places, experiences. Life became a lot bigger than I ever thought it was. What to Expect Setting up your meditation space Learning to relax Breathwork Body awareness exercisesThis book emphasizes goal-oriented action rather than just sitting and reading about OBEs. Just enough information is given at the start of each week to guide you through the coming week's activities, building on what has come before. This week we'll show you how to organize a place for your daily energy work and teach you a deep physical relaxation and breathing technique. We'll also give instructions for this week's energy work, setting up a dream journal, and using affirmations. Finally, for those using the optional BrainWave Generator to Energy body stimulation Your dream journal Affirmations Optional: BrainWave Generator instructions supplement your OBE program, we'll offer instructions for the current week's preset. Now that you have read all the instructions in the introduction, let's waste no time getting started. Setting up Your Meditation Space First on the list is to select a suitable place to practice energy work, meditation, and other OBE-related training exercises. There are several desirable qualities for an ideal meditation space. It should be quiet and 10 Week 1 allow you to practice undisturbed. Lighting is also important. There will be exercises requiring full lighting and those requiring low lighting or darkness. A room with a curtained window or a variable illumination lamp will suffice. Headphones or earplugs are ways to eliminate sound, but you also don't want to be unexpectedly disturbed by others. People in busy households may need to innovate to create suitably private spaces. One aspiring projector partitioned a large walk-in closet and turned half into a small private area. Another rigged a makeshift tent in her bedroom. Others have found useful areas in attics,
basements, and garages. Think creatively. Depending on its size, your private space should have a bed, cot, or easy chair or some place where you can lie down comfortably. A hard-backed kitchen or desk chair will also be required for some exercises. Your space should be big enough to accommodate this chair, with the option of placing it against a wall for exercises that require head support. Ideally, your space should be somewhere you feel comfortable and safe. Try to avoid using the room in which you normally sleep. If you must use your bedroom, it is best not to use your bed for the daily exercises. We are all conditioned to start falling asleep when we get into our own beds. The purpose of the exercises in this program is to learn how to achieve a deep level of relaxation without falling asleep. If you must use your bedroom, find a comfortable place on the floor where you can do your exercises using a folding bed, small mattress, or a combination of pillows and blankets. An easy chair, deck chair, or beanbag chair are other good options. Another handy item is an illuminated clock, preferably analog with a second hand. Many of the coming exercises need to be timed, so a clock that's easily visible from your practice position will help. A countdown timer, such as those used for baking, can be used to supplement the clock. You can set and forget this, so you won't have to keep looking at the time to see when an exercise is over. The atmosphere of your meditation space is also important. It should feel comfortable, safe, and friendly. Atmospheres are affected by decor, as well as by how a place smells and feels. Burning incense and essential oils is one of the most efficient ways of changing an atmosphere and giving it a spiritual quality. For the purposes of this program, it will help if you select a particular incense or essential oil that you do not normally use elsewhere. Use this during every training session. This will set the mood and help program your body/mind to respond to your daily exercises more quickly than you otherwise would. In time, tension will begin oozing out of you the moment you smell your special OBE training scent. Your daily exercises don't all have to be done in the same location. Some techniques will be practiced numerous times during the day wherever you happen to be. These mainly consist of reciting affirmations, doing short concentration and mind-clearing exercises, energy work, and so on. Put daily travel and waiting time to good use for these. Learning to Relax One of the first tasks is to learn how to make yourself so comfortable that your mind and body will almost disassociate. We say almost because a slight body/mind connection is crucial for straddling that fuzzy edge between sleeping and waking. Deep physical relaxation is the foundation upon which everything else in this program will rest. If you do not thoroughly learn this essential skill, you could waste
a lot of time and effort making projection attempts with little chance of success. This program contains an excellent routine that, once learned, will progressively take you to the deeper levels of relaxation that are required to induce trance and an OBE. Deep physical relaxation is the one OBE preparation skill that is most commonly overlooked or poorly done. Being relaxed enough to fall asleep does not mean that you have a sufficient level of relaxation to induce an OBE. Even though you may feel deeply relaxed, your body can still possess significant levels of physical tension. For example, you can still fall asleep while you are tense or in pain. Physical tension can prevent you from projecting, even if all the other skills required for having an OBE have been mastered. The purpose of this first week's relaxation practice is to learn the steps of the routine. Staying awake and lucid in a state of deep physical relaxation takes practice. With this in mind, try to avoid doing the relaxation exercises when you are overly tired. Falling asleep during this routine will condition you to fall asleep every time you perform it, in much the Flexing Your Astral Muscles 11 same way as you habitually start falling asleep when you go to bed.