The Ten Commandments of OBE

The Ten Commandments of OBE

by Bob Peterson

Over the years, I've developed habits to help me induce OBEs. Lately I've been thinking I should try to figure out what these are and share them. I thought it might be fun to present these as a Ten Commandments of OBE. There are no rules, of course. In fact, these are not commandments at all; they are simply guidelines or "best practices."

When I thought about it, there are two different categories of "best practices": Those done during normal waking life, and those done during the actual OBE attempts. So I broke up my "commandments" accordingly.

Ten OBE Commandments of everyday life:

1. Thou shalt write down your dreams as often as you can.
   
   Hopefully you should do this every morning when you wake. If you don't have time, just jot a keyword or two down to jog your memory. Once in a while, go back through and re-read your past month's dreams. Doing this reinforces the connection between this world and the other side of sleep. It trains you to maintain a tiny thread of awareness and to bring back memories from the other side.
   
   
2. Thou shalt do positive OBE affirmations every morning when you wake up and every night before bed.
   
   Just a simple sentence or two will do. "Out of body experiences are easy and effortless for me." "I allow myself to have OBEs and I'll remember them in the morning." These are just simple positive messages to your subconscious.
   
3. Thou shalt do energy-moving / chi bouncing exercises every day.
   
   Again, nothing long, drawn-out or complex. Just imagine energy bouncing around your body for ten to thirty seconds. I recommend the "microcosmic" and "grand circulation" orbits from T'ai Chi. Robert Bruce has a lot of these in his book Astral Dynamics. Also, the "Velo" technique of the IAC is good.
   
4. Thou shalt use your active imagination as often as you can.
   
   No matter what you're doing, occasionally pause to imagine you're flying out-of-body, putting your hands through the walls, floating weightless, or whatever. Just literally two or three seconds. Daydreaming is good for OBEs; it strengthens your brain's default mode network, which is key to focusing on inner events rather than outer events.
   
5. Thou shalt practice your OBE techniques as often as you can.
   
   Take the time to practice OBE techniques. Don't short-change it. Even if you can't afford to take a half-hour off to do this, just take a few minutes before bed to close your eyes and try to imagine you're floating, swinging, bouncing, or vibrating.
   
6. Thou shalt meditate every day if you can.
   
   There's an old saying I love: You should meditate for 20 minutes everyday, unless you don't have the time, in which case you should meditate for an hour. I'm not talking about making OBE attempts; I'm talking about trying to relax and hold your mind completely still and blank. Silence the monkey-chatter.
   
7. Thou shalt not give in to fear or let fear stop you from trying.
   
   Scary things may happen when you approach the edge of sleep. Don't let it stop you. Spiritual progress is on the other side of fear.
   
8. Thou shalt obsess about OBEs.
   
   Apply pressure to your subconscious by reading about it, watching movies about it, fantasizing about it, etc. Strong-arm, coerce and cajole the subconscious.
   
9. Thou shalt never give up, get discouraged, or think negatively.
   
   For example, don't think things like "I can't do this" or "Nothing works." If you find yourself getting discouraged or negative about OBEs, counter it by doing more positive affirmations.
   
10. Thou shalt do reality checks.
    
    Periodically ask yourself, "Am I dreaming right now?" Train yourself to do this automatically throughout the day. Because if you can become lucid in a dream, you can turn that dream into an OBE.

There are lots of other things you can do to improve your odds. For example, listening to binaural beats or hemi-sync tracks can improve your overall odds.

Ten Commandments of OBE attempts:

1. Thou shalt focus only on the OBE attempt.
   
   During your OBE attempts, don't think about what you're planning to do once you're out. Focus only on inner events, not outer events. Don't let your mind drift, worry about the time, or your phone, or appointments, commitments, or future plans.
   
2. Thou shalt mute (or block out) all input from physical senses.
   
   Ignore all sounds, sights, touches, etc. Forget about all bodily sensations. That means relaxing thy body completely (to the point where you can't even feel it), practice in complete silence, and near-total darkness.
   
3. Thou shalt mute (or block out) all external distractions.
   
   Keep animals like cats and dogs from jumping up on you and disrupting your practice. Prevent televisions from playing, radios playing, lawnmowers in the background, clocks ticking, cell phones beeping, etc. If silence isn't possible, use earplugs or noise-canceling headphones. If total darkness isn't possible, use a sleep mask to block the light.
   
4. Thou shalt not practice when you're tired, stressed, rushed or under a deadline.
   
   If you practice when you're tired, you're just going to fall asleep and sabotage your own attempt. Go into it fresh, unless there's absolutely no other time to practice.
   
5. Thou shalt stop all wandering thoughts and emotions and keep them stopped.
   
   Just become single-minded and focused, while minimizing your thoughts at the same time.
   
6. Thou shalt get as close as you can to sleep without actually going over the edge.
   
   Try to see how close you can get to sleep. Wait and watch for hypnagogic images to appear, then try to take control of them and manipulate them. The biggest mistake most people make is not getting close enough to sleep.
   
7. Thou shalt remain calm, relaxed and passive, no matter what happens.
   
   Block out the real world and stop paying attention to it completely. Become "entranced." Become so single-minded in your focus that someone could slap you on the face and you would barely even notice it. Or at least strive for that level of focus.
   
8. Thou shalt ignore alarming feelings.
   
   If it seems like your body stops breaking, just ignore it and continue. If it seems like your heartbeat goes crazy, ignore it and continue. If you hear voices, see monsters, or whatever, just ignore them and continue. Don't let these distract you from your single-minded focus. If you feel vibrations, that's another matter: follow these instructions.
   
9. Thou shalt not eat big heavy meals before OBE attempts.
   
   Eat light, not heavy, meals, and eat early.
   
10. Thou shalt not play "What If" with hypnagogic images.
    
    If you try to play "what if" with a hypnagogic image, you'll quickly get sucked down into a dream state. That's what we do when we fall asleep. Just think, "That is mine" and try to take conscious control of the image. If the image dissolves, wait for the next one to appear, then do the same thing.

There are probably a lot of other general guidelines I could add. For example, you should visualize or imagine sights, sounds, touches, and movements as realistically as possible, but I wanted to keep it simple. These are a good start for your OBE practice.

Bob Peterson
28 May 2019