So I think I may have had an out-of-body experience last night (OBE), although I’m not totally sure. I remember being sure of it at the time, but later on in the night and when I woke up, it seemed like it could have just as easily been a dream. The way I’d be able to check though is if I can do it again. And I think I can. I remember pretty well the mental steps and the visualization that I used to achieve this state. It hinged around two basic things.

I’d read recently someplace that certain cultures using counter-clockwise spinning to get into a chance. The author, Julian Jaynes, was claiming that a counter-clockwise spin somehow activated the right side of the brain more, and that this activity is more conducive to trance. So I started to imagine that my body was spinning clockwise. To aid in that, I imagined three simultaneously spinning wheels fixed to my body: one under my feet, one through my waist and one over my head. I focused on just maintaining this visualization for a really long time, not letting it slip.

At some point, I saw a hypnogogic image of myself, the type of thing you’ll see right before you fall asleep. But the way this image of myself looked was like a reflection in a very dark glass. In the reflection I was sitting on a bench. I suddenly realized that if I moved myself, the reflection was not mimicking me. This was a startling thing to notice at first, but then I got used to it, and I realized what it potentially meant: that I had figured out how to separate from my physical body. I remember then waving my arms, moving my hands, and getting up and trying to walk around in this state. Again, I was actually still laying down physically motionless, but experienced these other sensations nonetheless. Then I came to the awareness that if I had figured out how to leave my body, I didn’t know really what you were supposed to do next. So I didn’t really do anything. I sort of just stayed in the room, and tried to move around and visualize other places and things with mixed results.

Then I was trying to make the experience end cause I was sort of freaked out by it, and had a hard time getting back to normal. It was sort of like I was getting bounced in and out of that state. Like I would be back in my body, in normal sleep, but then suddenly be tossed outside of it again. Over and over until it finally subsided.

Even if it wasn’t an OBE, it was still pretty weird, because it means that I managed to cross the threshold into sleep, but somehow remain mostly awake and conscious mentally, and that’s pretty crazy. I remember reading about some kind of yoga visualization exercise years ago that’s supposed to let you do that. Anyway, I’m gonna do some more elaborate research on the topic today and see if I can’t recreate the whole thing later on tonight.

PS. Unfortunately most of the writing in this area seems to be fruity new age crap. Anybody who knows of a resource that I personally would like, pass it my way.