How to Astral Project: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

So, what is astral projection? According to "The Llewellyn Practical Guide to Astral Projection" by Denning and Phillips, Astral projection is when your conscious mind stays aware of what happens around you, but from a different perspective than your physical body. During this experience, your physical body remains still and passive while your consciousness observes from somewhere else.

They describe this as a natural experience that happens to people more often than they realize. Astral projection often occurs spontaneously, but you can learn how to do it on purpose and with control. This allows people to benefit from the special abilities of the astral body.

According to the book, astral projection allows people to function in two main ways. The first way relates to the material world. This includes traveling to any place to experience events, doing special work from a distance, such as healing others, and meeting or communicating with other people who are also out of their bodies.

The second way relates to the astral world. This involves seeing and investigating what happens "behind the scenes" of normal reality. People can make changes first in the astral level, which then creates changes in the physical world through magick.

Learning how to astral project takes practice and patience. Most teachers of this practice suggest starting with basic preparation steps before trying the main techniques.

Step 1: Prepare Your Space

Choose a quiet room where no one will disturb you. Make sure the temperature feels comfortable. Lie down on a bed or comfortable surface. Wear loose clothes or no clothes at all. Do not eat food for at least one hour before you start.

Step 2: Relax Your Body

Close your eyes and take slow, deep breaths. Count your heartbeats and try to breathe in a steady rhythm. Let each part of your body become heavy and relaxed. Start with your feet and work up to your head.

Step 3: Clear Your Mind

Focus on positive thoughts. Let go of worries about your day. Some people imagine bright white light filling their body. Others picture peaceful scenes like calm water or quiet forests.

Step 4: Enter a Half-Sleep State

Stay awake but let your body feel like it wants to sleep. This state usually happens just before you fall asleep or just before you wake up. Your mind should stay alert while your body feels very relaxed.

Step 5: Focus on Separation

Imagine that you have a second body made of light or energy. Picture this astral body slowly lifting up from your physical body. Some people imagine floating upward. Others picture rolling out of their body to the side.

Step 6: Practice the Rope Technique

Many teachers suggest imagining a rope hanging above your body. In your mind, reach up with your astral hands and pull yourself up the rope. Keep your physical body completely still and relaxed while you do this mental exercise.

Step 7: Stay Calm

If you feel strange sensations like spinning, floating, or vibrating, try to stay calm. These feelings are normal according to people who practice astral projection. Fear or excitement can bring you back to your physical body quickly.

Step 8: Return Safely

When you want to come back, simply think about your physical body. Most people find they return automatically without any effort. Take a few minutes to feel your physical body again before getting up.

Many people wonder if astral projection and lucid dreaming are the same thing. These two experiences can seem similar, but people who practice both say they are different in important ways.

Lucid dreaming happens when you become aware that you are dreaming while still asleep. In a lucid dream, you can often control what happens around you, change the dream setting, or make objects appear. However, you usually cannot read text clearly in lucid dreams, and your senses may not work normally.

Astral projection practitioners claim their experience starts by consciously leaving their body and seeing their physical body below them. Unlike lucid dreams, they report that they cannot control the environment around them very much. People who practice astral projection say they can read text clearly and that all their senses work normally or even better than usual. The main difference is that astral projection is usually intentional and requires careful preparation, while lucid dreams often happen by accident during normal sleep.

Both experiences happen when the brain is in special states between sleeping and waking. Scientists study both phenomena, but they have not found proof that consciousness actually leaves the body during astral projection. Many researchers think both experiences happen entirely in the brain, similar to dreams or altered states of consciousness.