As of late I have been straying from tonglen and have shifted my practice to something completely different. For those not in the know, astral projection is a specific way at looking at the concept of out of body experiences. The idea is that one can purposefully achieve an out of body experience (OBE) through meditation and lucid dreaming. I have always toyed with the idea of trying to have an OBE, but previously didn’t put much effort into the matter. Well the other day I came across this book Astral projection plain & simple and simply was unable to put it down once I started reading it. So I thought I would talk a bit about the book. As the title hints, it is a fairly straight-forward book on how to do astral projection and what to expect through astral projection. It has specific exercises for the individual to do, to not only eventually have a projection, but to hone ones skills in the astral plane. Despite its overly captivating nature and it’s simple form, I have had minimal success with the studies outlined in the book. The author has a very clear and certain idea of what the astral plane is like and what skills one would need prior to traveling in said realm. The first exercise presented to the reader is simple, yet so daunting I could see it turn most people away it involves developing the skill of seeing astral matter in an awake state of consciousness, that’s eyes open (I’ve yet to succeed in such). I do believe that the author is describing in astral projection is truly what he has and does experience. I even can believe that it is possible for one to see “astral mater” in a waking state of consciousness, but I feel like that might be an awfully big leap for the first step. I have since had more successful experiences with other material than this book, but it does seem to be a good catalyst if it eventually amounts to nothing else.

Happy Meditations,

Jake