Are you talking about a classic OOBE like Monroe experienced and wrote about in his earlier days?  

 For myself, and my limited experience with that kind of classic OOBE, it was a matter of not caring so much about having one.  Actually, i had to slow down my vibes and narrow my consciousness bandwidth before i experienced a classic OOBE, and what exactly i mean will be explained more fully in the below.  

 What's exciting is that perhaps some or many people who want to go classic OOBE so bad...aren't doing so because of any kind of lack, but rather because their average vibratory state is too beyond the classic OOBE level!  

 I recommend reading "Cosmic Journeys" by Rosiland A. McKnight.  She was one of Monroe's long term explorers in the early days.  Her book is all about her experiences and her guidance channeling that she had while working with Bob in his lab.  Her guidance talks about a similar thing as the above, that in many ways, it's preferable to not travel in the classic OOBE sense via the "etheric" body or inner level of being.  

 They outline that all humans have 5 major "bodies" within the Earth Life system.   The physical, the etheric, the emotional, the mental, and the spiritual.   Each "body" or level of being is faster vibrating and more subtle than the last.   One could possibly say that the spiritual level is the most real, objectively speaking, and the physical the least real or rather most distorted level of being.

 Classic OOB experiences are related to concentrating ones consciousness within the etheric body or level of being, and exploring via that.   Because it is still so close, vibrationally wise, to physical energies, to most humans the experiences had in that feel more "real" than say Bruce's imagination/PUL methods.

 Really this is a reverse illusion...    It seems that perhaps Bruce's method of imagination, and concentrating more in the emotional and mental levels of being, while at first less "real" seeming, is actually an avenue to greater perception and awareness than what can be obtained from focusing in the etheric and in the classic OOBE state.  Rosiland's guidance seems to say that we tend to bring less human baggage (two of which is distorted perception and fear) when we focus and explore via say the mental body or "higher".  

 I was a bit surprised to find out that Bruce himself didn't quite get this concept, and sort of spoke against it despite what "Ah so" and Rosilands guidance seem to suggest, and which my own experiences also suggest to me.   But anywho, different strokes for different folks.  There is nothing wrong with wanting to have classic OOB experiences, but perhaps it is a limiting belief and desire?

just in general, the best method for obe or phasing is to do a retrieval. the gates open if the purpose is unselfish, to assist another.

obes can be accomplished while in the waking or sleeping state if you're concentrating hard enough, to mean focusing on that without a doubt. phasing is to just be there suddenly. obe is to observe you have a body form with you.
the mind never sleeps although the body does sleep. you should ask yourself to remember where you have been, as we are always active while the body sleeps.

what is helpful is to ask yourself where would you like to go? what do you want to do once you realize you are there? otherwise you will go to the place imagined and then be returned quickly to the body, because it's what you think about all day long that produces the obe in the first place.

Also remote viewing is so much easier than obe. you could develop yourself there to gain confidence in your abilities, first.

hemi sync is a great aide. go for it.
great post R.

I have no experience with weed as I tried it 40 yrs ago and couldn't figure out why my pals liked it, it just didn't do much for me. the only thing I can say it has been a proven pain reducer and you can legally get it for certain diseases now.
it did cause some hallucination for me once when it was laced with lsd. I have always been frightened of using chemicals in my body, and prefer expanding my horizons in a natural way.

I can't say one way or the other, yet if you practice the exercises in Bruce's books here, I can certainly vouch for the effectiveness of those exercises along with your intention setting.
sort of a mind over matter type of philosophy I have.
good luck and be persistent.

In my personal experience, and well, in my earlier days I smoked a lot of that stuff, it made no difference. But I noticed it has different effects on different people. I don't recommend it and echo what Bruce says.

As well the theory about the different levels makes sense to me. There just is a point which could be of some importance, at least for the beginner in consciously extending one's awareness: It's the experience of "This is as real, if not more, as the physical". This experience of "realness" of nonphysical places/states you have especially when your awareness is almost totally focused away from the physical. I'm not very good at this, and my few classic OBEs happened when I mentally awoke from dreams and were not planned, but it certainly gives you a good amount of trust in the reality of the nonphysical. Some are naturals and it just happens to them, some can achieve it through hard training (which is similar to classic meditation techniques), and some won't have success with classic OBEing, but still can have success with phasing and gaining convincing verifications through this. I only guess normally it takes some time, as, in my experience, it's not only to acquire a new ability, but goes together with personality changes, and this usually doesn't come overnight (it can though).

Spooky