DocM
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Hi Rebecca,
I have had the same problem. One suggestion is to relax in a quiet setting, and picture yourself in a very familiar place. In another part of your house or, if at work, in your favorite chair or couch at home. Relax and realize where everything is. In a non-hurried way, see the details of the rug, the paintings on the walls, etc. At some point, you may phase out while doing this and find yourself there, or someplace else. I used this technique in a train while meditating, and though I initially pcitured myself in my den couch, I then proceeded to have an OOBE where I walked around my bedroom and felt the wooden floor, and saw a towel that was left on the floor near the bathroom. While I was walking around, I then became aware that I was in a train, and briefly wondered what would happen if I couldn't rouse myself before my stop. Instantly, I was back in the train.
Was this a true OOBE? It felt more real than reality at the time. However, it could have been a lucid dream. But this imagination method may work. I think it sometimes is counterproductive to concentrate on "getting out" of your body. The greater reality is - there is no body. Your consciousness exists in a plane which penetrates the physical world, but is, at the same time in a mental plane on its own. So the idea that the "you" must overcome a physical boundary, is perhaps not the right way to think about it.
Where are you when you dream? Clearly you are somewhere else in the mental/spiritual planes. Your body does not have to be overcome while dreaming. Nor does it have to while awake.
I believe many OOB experiences are lucid dreams. This, in my opinion, in no way takes away from their importance or reality. It just may mean that some of us don't truly travel around in the physical world like a whisp of smoke.
Some people, when relaxed, ask for assistance to pray for an experience that will be for the greatest good. They set intent, while completely relaxed, then, see what happens. I believe this general deep setting of intent works better than trying to struggle out of your body - but that is my experience.
Anyway, if you keep going through relaxed meditation, you will have many different experiences. For myself, if i get very relaxed, and don't feel anything is happening, I will often take advantage of that state to set intent. I will give myself some suggestion in that state of mind to make something happen the next day. This is the most conducive state to change probabilities in the future. It is the state I believe magicians and shamans in days of old used to access.
So if you find that you are not traveling, try stating intent instead, and watch what happens over the next week or so.
Best of luck,
Matthew
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