Have you ever had an out of body experience (OBE)? Do you wish you could have an OBE? Do you want to know how to have an OBE?
Well, listen up. OBE’s are not as rare as you might think.
Science has provided some insights to answer these questions.
Very generally speaking there are three categories of OBE’s. The first two you’ll probably not want to experience. The third you will most probably be able to.
1. Near Death Experience.
Research shows that when people suffer near death experiences they report being out of their bodies often looking down at their bodies. Evidence is mounting showing brain function interference that can cause a temporary sensation of being separated from your body.
2. Physical and psychological impairments
People experiencing certain kinds of physical and psychological impairments report having OBE’s. Most common (and normal) would be “sleep paralysis.”
3. Feats of concentration
People dedicated to deep meditation and extreme efforts in professional activities, e.g. sports, report having OBE experiences.
Personally, I would fit into this category. I’ve had two OBE’s. Once in sports, and, two, at different times in my career. Both conditions resulted from out of the ordinary concentration on the task at hand.
For example, I am capable of very intense concentration. When I have an assignment to give a lecture with a follow up q/a to a very demanding audience, I often surprise myself how focused I become in my preparation.
I concentrate so intently that I find myself memorizing every fact I’m going to present. Not only that, I memorize two additional facts for every fact I give. In such cases, I give the lecture without the use of notes.
Before I give the lecture, I imagine myself at the location giving the lecture. I see the people asking questions. I see everything I write on the board. I go through different scenarios that might occur.
I concentrate so heavily on this, that by the time I give the lecture, I have two sensations: one, time compresses. It seems like the time between beginning and finishing the lecture is about five minutes. Next, I have the sensation of observing myself giving the lecture, i.e., an OBE!!
I echo what athletes in extreme sports describe as moments of ecstasy (from the Greek word meaning out of body).
I would assume that anyone who puts forward that kind of focus, concentration, and practice can have a similar experience.
When such occurs, science has observed a chemical reaction taking place in the brain.
Does this happen regularly to me? No, in close to forty years of giving public lectures, I’ve experienced an OBE maybe half a dozen times. I’ve probably given over a thousand lectures.
What’s the lesson to be learned from all this? Not too much. As usual, what might seem to be a mystical experience at first, ends up being an unusual experience attached to a reasonable explanation.