Motion-Based OBE Techniques

Motion-Based OBE Techniques

by Bob Peterson

Recently I got an email from a guy who asked: Which of Michael Raduga's "cycling" techniques do I find most effective?

In his book The Phase, Raduga recommends the WBTB technique, then upon awakening, "cycling" for 3 - 5 seconds from these exit techniques:

• Rotation - Imagine you are spinning around inside your body.
• Observing images - Watch hypnagogic images that appear before you.
• Hand visualization - Visualize your hands.
• Swimmer technique - Pretend you're in the water, swimming.
• Phantom wiggling - Try to imagine a part of your astral body is moving; a little at first, but then it increases. He recommends your little finger.
• He offers some alternates, but these are the main ones.

He also recommends starting every cycle by trying to instantly relocate to your mirror, which is a variation of the "Target Technique."

Well, I never really use the Target Technique. It's never worked for me. I also don't visualize my hands. The problem with these two techniques is that there's no motion. Even the "observing (hypnagogic) images" technique alone isn't enough to take me out-of-body: I've got to use them for motion (more on that later).

The bottom line is: I've always found it most effective to use motion-based OBE techniques, since long before I read Raduga's book. I always need a feeling of motion to dislodge me from my body:

Prerequisites

Before I begin any technique, I do three basic things:

First, I relax my body completely. I relax it to the point where I can't even feel it anymore.

Second, I approach the edge of sleep and try to hold my mind as blank/still and single-minded as I can. I "quiesce" my mind. (Do not let your thoughts wander or you'll be drawn down into sleep).

Third, I pretend I'm swaying. I imagine I'm in my astral body, gently floating and swaying inside my physical body, like a liquid sloshing back and forth inside a half-full bottle.

If done well enough, this can be enough to induce the vibrations and subsequent OBE state. More often, though, I tell myself that the swaying sensation will continue without any conscious effort, then I begin my exit technique.

My Motion Techniques

Long before Raduga, I was taking techniques like "phantom wiggling" to a greater extreme. So instead of "phantom wiggling," which I usually find too subtle, I do one of these techniques:

Rocking Motion Forward-Backward

I imagine I'm rocking more and more, like in a rocking chair or I'm taking a bow. This is an extension to the swaying/sloshing sensation I mentioned earlier.

Rocking Motion Side-to-Side

This technique is very similar, but I imagine I'm rocking from side-to-side. For example, I imagine I'm standing, but leaning to the right, then to the left, repeatedly.

Swinging Arms

I imagine swinging both my astral arms in large swooping motions (my physical arms remain immobile at my sides.) This motion is similar to what a cross-country skier does with his or her poles.

Elbow Push

I imagine someone is forcefully pushing my right elbow down into the bed, then the left elbow down, then right, then left, repeatedly. In other words, I alternate my arms so I get a sense of being rocked from side-to-side. It's almost like being rocked in a baby cradle.

Yoyo Technique

I try to imagine not so much a yoyo, but non-physical energy (chi, prana, etc.), extending from my third eye area, then retracting again, in a repeating motion.

I have another technique that involves my feet, but I'll save that for a later article.

Like Raduga, I often cycle through these techniques. If the first one gets no results, I switch to another. Raduga recommends switching every 3 to 5 seconds, but I tend to focus on a technique much longer, like 15 or even 30 seconds each.

I often cycle through many of these techniques at random, unlike Raduga, who recommends you focus on just two or three. I tend to not plan which of these motion techniques I use; I just flip randomly between them.

Often, my brain wants a reason for my (imagined) rocking or swaying. So I provide it with a "plausible enough" explanation, not with words, but with an idea, like "I'm swaying because I'm swinging my arms" or "I'm rocking because someone's pushing on my elbows."

More than Observing Images


More often than not, I fall back on the technique described in chapter 24 of my first book, which involves controlling a hypnagogic (or visualized) object and swinging it back and forth. Again, this is like Raduga's "observing images" but I'm controlling the images, not just observing them.

I imagine a strong gravity between my non-physical swaying and the object's swaying. Then I swing it closer and closer until it's close enough to pull me out-of-body with its gravity. With that method, the explanation idea is "There's an object and its gravity is pulling me out."

Technical Notes

There's no magic here. Your brain determines your spacial location and "story of experience" from the data it receives. Total relaxation cuts off almost all input from the senses, so they can't be used to determine spacial location. Your imagination provides the brain an alternate set of data to interpret.

All OBE induction techniques are just a way to trick your brain into changing its "story of experience" to trigger the separation.

Once separated, you can return your mind to its normal state of thinking and feeling, and you're free to consciously roam and explore the out-of-body state.

No, I'm not saying it's all inside your brain. I'm saying you need to fool your brain's spacial location mechanism in order to get to the proper state of mind. All these visualizations are just a way to trick your stubborn and over-conditioned brain into trading stories of experience from a physical to a non-physical one. They're just a means to an OBE-end.

Bob Peterson
29 August 2017