Problem 3: The Vibrations Just Fade

by Bob Peterson

This is part 3 in a series of articles I wrote to help you solve problems inducing the out-of-body state. Here are links to the previous two articles in the series:

1. Problem 1: Nothing Happens
2. Problem 2: I Just Fall Asleep 
   

In this article I'd like to focus on another common problem: You're able to induce a common precursor to out-of-body experience, "the vibrations," but they just fade away and don't produce an OBE.

In my 43+ years of experience, here is what I've learned:

The vibrations can be induced by turning your focus inward, narrowing down your focus into a tiny stream of watchful awareness, while letting go of all sensory input. In many cases it involves temporarily abandoning your thoughts, emotions, and expectations and just allowing it to happen: surrendering to whatever happens.

Once you accomplish all that, the vibrations often sweep into your body like a crescendo of electric energy, like touching a live electrical cable where some unknown force turns up the power more and more.

Needless to say, that can be quite jarring. I've written elsewhere that it's like getting slapped in the face: hard to ignore, especially when you've gone to such great lengths to make your mind quiet and still. And therein lies the problem: That slap-in-the-face jars you out of the proper state and brings back all those thoughts and emotions you worked so hard to eliminate. "Oh my God, it's happening! What do I do? Am I in danger?" On and on chatters the monkey-mind, once again out of control.

Although some so-called experts say you should try to encourage the vibrations, but in my experience it's best to ignore them altogether, remain calm and re-center. Or as they say in England, "Keep Calm and Carry On."

Return your mind back to that quiet, unfazed state with no thoughts and no emotions. In fact, I've experimented quite a bit with this state and found that when the vibrations sweep in:

• If I try to encourage the vibrations, they fade away quickly.
• If I try to think about the vibrations, they fade away slowly.
• If I get scared or emotional about the vibrations, they fade away quickly.
• If I do absolutely nothing, the vibrations reach their peak intensity then fade away slowly.
• If I remain calm, bring my mind back to a quiet no-thought/no-emotion state, the vibrations come back, full force.

So my advice has always been:

• Remain as passive and calm and possible, and try to just "observe." Tell yourself you've just going to wait and see what happens next.
  
• When the vibrations reach their peak intensity, try to move physically: try to stand up, sit up, roll over, or similar.
• If you're in the correct "vibrational state" your body will be in sleep paralysis, which means your physical body won't move, but your non-physical (or "astral") body will.
• If you don't try to move, but instead imagine you're floating up in the air, or imagine you move away from the body, chances are nothing will happen. In my experience, just using your imagination is not enough to actually leave the body. For some people, it may work, but for me it doesn't.
  
• Most people don't realize they're out-of-body at that point, so they forget to move their astral body as they would the physical body.
  

An interesting corollary is that the inverse can also be true; cause and effect may be reversed: In techniques like my "Almost Move Technique" and Michael Raduga's "Phantom Wiggling" technique, moving the non-physical body, even just a little, can induce the vibrations, whereas normally the vibrations can enable movement of the non-physical body.

In other words, moving the non-physical body (if you have good enough focus) can allow the vibrations to come, just as well as the vibrations can allow you to move your non-physical body.

Another interesting observation is what happens next: After the vibrations reach their peak, and after you've moved your non-physical body, everything changes: Your conscious awareness will then be completely associated with the non-physical body and the vibrations will suddenly and mysteriously disappear, as if you've left them behind along with your physical body. Then you can go about exploring the out-of-body state.

Bob Peterson,
13 December 2022