Hacking the Out of Body Experience

by Bob Peterson

Today I'm reviewing Hacking the Out of Body Experience: Leveraging Science to Induce OBEs by Robert Peterson. Actually, no. I'm not reviewing it because I wrote it, and I'm obviously biased.

Many people buy astral projection and out-of-body experience books without knowing much about the contents. To help people make an informed decision, I've been doing detailed book reviews for many of these books for the past 8 years. And I recommend that before you buy any book about it, check to see if I've done a book review. But it recently occurred to me: my own books--the books I wrote--are not represented in my list, so it is unfair to me to keep them out and say nothing.

This book is a detailed guide on how to leverage science to induce out-of-body experiences. It goes into great depth and detail on techniques and how to do it. Therefore, it avoids most conjecture about what OBEs are and focuses strictly on techniques. It's divided into 5 parts and 77 chapters, as follows:

Table of Contents

Introduction 11

Part 1 - Out-of-body Basics 17

1. So Many Questions 19

2. Becoming an Ideal Candidate for OBEs 31

3. The Science of OBEs, the PFC, and the TPJ 41

4. Robert Monroe’s Lines of Force Technique 53

5. The Vibrations 59

6. OBEs, Sleep Cycles, and Brain Waves 101 63

7. Sleep Paralysis and OBEs 69

8. Overcoming Fear 79

9. The Guardian of the Threshold 87

10. The Four OBE States 93

11. The Three Strategies to OBE Induction 101

Part 2 - The Direct OBE Induction Strategy 103

12. Harnessing the Hypnagogic (Pre-Sleep) State 105

13. Harnessing the Hypnopompic (Post-Sleep) State 111

14. The Five Approaches to the Direct OBE Induction 115

15. Preparing For Liftoff: Mental Preparation 123

16. Preparing For Liftoff: Physical Preparation 131

17. How to Focus Your Mind for an OBE 149

18. The Cloud or I Am Elsewhere Technique 153

19. The Target Technique 155

20. Simulacrum, Cube and Black Box Techniques 159

21. The Spinning Disc Technique 161

22. The Floating Beach Ball / Sphere Technique 163

23. The Pineal Doorway Technique 165

24. Rocking and Swaying Techniques 167

25. The Yoyo Technique 169

26. The Falling In A Well and Cone Techniques 171

27. The Feet Zoom Technique 173

28. The Swinging Arms Technique 175

29. Ab Crunch, Tai Chi and Exercise Techniques 177

30. The Almost Move Technique 179

31. The Flash or Running Technique 181

32. Rolling, Spinning, and Tornado Technique 183

33. The Rope Technique 185

34. The Washing Hands Technique 187

35. The Feel for Buzzing Technique 189

36. Heavy / Light Technique 191

37. Brain Crush and Straining the Brain Techniques 193

38. The High Pitch Whine Technique 195

39. The Song Replay Technique 197

40. Imaginary Shouting for OBE 199

41. Mantras for OBE 201

42. The Heartbeat Technique 203

43. The Candle Flame Technique 205

44. The Orange Peel Technique 207

45. The Swinging Hypnagogic Image Technique 209

46. Problem Solving for the Direct Strategy 213

Part 3 - The Indirect OBE Induction Strategy 221

47. Introduction to the Indirect OBE Strategy 223

48. Chi Circulation, Energy Bouncing, and Chakras 227

49. Hypnosis and the Christos Technique for OBEs 237

50. The Desire Factor and the Thirst Technique 239

51. OBE Affirmations and Prayers 243

52. Self-Labeling and Self-Talk 247

53. OBEs and Music 251

54. OBE Narratives and Walk-Throughs 255

55. Sneaking Past the Gatekeeper 257

56. The Sleep Directive Technique 261

57. The Wake Back To Bed (WBTB) Technique 263

58. WBTB and Technique Cycling 267

Part 4 - Turning Lucid Dreams into OBEs 271

59. Lucid Dreaming 273

60. Keeping Dream and OBE Journals 275

61. Appointments, Trigger Mechanisms and Anchors 283

62. Turning Lucid Dreams into OBEs 289

Part 5 - Brain hacks and Assisting Technologies 291

63. Introduction to Brain Hacking 293

64. Breath Work and Proper Breathing 297

65. Sound Technologies and Binaural Beats 301

66. Sound and Light Machines 303

67. Vitamins, Supplements and Probiotics 305

68. Aromatherapy and Scented Oils for OBEs 315

69. The Pineal Gland, Contaminants, and Boron 317

70. OBEs, Celibacy, Masturbation and the Sex Drive 321

71. Dietary Considerations 325

72. OBEs and the Default Mode Network 331

73. Odds and Ends and Superstitions 335

74. Putting It All Together 339

75. When All Else Fails: A Formula for OBE Success 345

76. The Future of OBE research 349

77. Conclusions 351

The book is 351 pages, which means there's lots of content. It's massive. On the plus side, it's relatively up-to-date, published in 2019 and has everything you should ever need to induce OBEs. On the minus side, there are no OBE narratives and it gets a bit heavy on science; mostly neuroscience (brain science).

I'm giving it 5 stars out of 5, but like I said, I'm biased.

Bob Peterson

09 January 2021

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If you want me to review a book about out-of-body experiences or astral projection, send me an email: bob@robertpeterson.org, but please check the index first to see if I've already reviewed it. Also, I've got a huge pile of books I'm planning to review, so don't expect a quick turnaround.

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