Review: Astral Projection by Alex Akana

Review: Astral Projection

by Alex Akana

Today I'm reviewing Astral Projection: Your Personal Guide To The Astral World by Alex Akana. This book is copyright 2017.

The first thing I need to say about this book is that it's short. It's only 82 pages long, and while the format is a decent size, there's also a lot of white space and the font is big, which means there's not a lot of content. In the author's own words:

"This brief book was only meant to be an introduction to the topic, so by all means, please keep studying to expand your understanding of this amazing opportunity to experience the incredible and transcendental." (pg. 81)

The second thing to note is that the author, Alex Akana, doesn't give any credentials: he doesn't say anything about how he gained his knowledge of astral projection, and he doesn't give any personal experiences: I always trust firsthand experience more than book-learning.

Most of the information in the book is pretty decent, although there were several things I disagreed with. For example, Akana seems to think that astral projection will drain your energy:

"Leaving your body will take a higher toll on it than you might expect. If flying on an airplane can leave your body with jet lag what do you think leaving it energetically will do." (pg. 21)

"Any psychic activity can leave you feeling drained and exhausted because you are training yourself to interact with energies that vibrate at a higher frequency than what you're used to." (pg. 22)

This is counter to my experience: when I return from an out-of-body experience, I come away feeling energized and exhilarated. I literally never feel drained. Oddly, Akana suggests the solution is to eat and drink:

"Before you settle in to begin your meditation, you'll want to make sure that your body is properly nourished and hydrated. The amount of energy you will expand could cause your blood sugar to drop suddenly, and if you're running on empty, this could compromise your ability to maintain full control over the astral projection process. Expending so much energy without helping your body to get the nourishment it needs could lead to fatigue and even illness. It is far better to take the time to eat and hydrate before you begin than to spend several days recovering from your astral travel." (pg. 22)

Again, that's completely opposite of my experience. Conventional wisdom--most authors--agree that fasting or eating very light meals is best for inducing OBEs. As for proper hydration, veteran projector Sylvan Muldoon suggested the exact opposite: using thirst to produce OBEs. And again, I've never needed recovery time after my OBEs. I'm usually bouncing off the walls with energy after an OBE.

The book contains a handful of astral projection techniques, but they're all parroted from other authors:

1. The "Rope" technique made famous by Robert Bruce, although he makes the same mistake as many authors in assuming the technique is more about visualizing a rope rather than using tactile imagination: the imagined sense of touch.
2. The "Monroe" technique. Actually, Akana doesn't really give any of Robert Monroe's techniques, but he talks briefly about the need to focus your mind, and he even suggests using the "rope" again after attaining the proper focus. This is confusing at best.
3. The "Stretch Out" technique, which is an old technique, the basis of which became the Christos Technique, where you visualize your astral body is stretching past your head in one direction, and past your feet in the other.
4. Lucid Dreaming, but he doesn't give this the attention it deserves: it's only described for 2 pages, whereas many long books have been written about it.
5. Shamanic Journeying, which really isn't the same thing as astral projection at all. (It's more like focus level experiences).

Akana doesn't say much about prayers or pre-OBE psychic protection, but he does talk about setting proper intentions and setting up a "sacred space." When negative entities are encountered, he suggests using white light to fend them off:

"Before you travel for the first time, practice with white light energy to prepare yourself for any possible encounters. You can shape the white light into a spear or sword if that works best, or you can simply practice shooting it out of your hands. A quick burst of white light to the face will stun and disable any lower vibrational being trying to hurt you, giving you the chance to get away." (pg. 67-68)

Lastly, he warns against staying in the OBE too long. I find this very odd.

"To prevent staying longer than you want or is safe for your body, set a timer with a loud alarm to alert you when your journey must come to an end. When first starting out, you'll want to set the timer for a shorter amount of time and work your way up to a longer time, never exceeding 2 hours before you come back for a break." (pg. 71)

This tells me how inexperienced the author really is. The problem is never staying out too long because your body will always pull you back before you're ready to leave. The problem, in fact, is prolonging the experience as much as possible. Conventional wisdom--most authors--insist you should never use an alarm or set a time limit because thinking (or worrying) about when your time is up will keep you rooted firmly in your physical body and unable to leave it.

In short, this isn't a bad astral projection book. It just isn't a good one. It's way too short and too basic. It doesn't go into enough depth on any subject. It's introduction to OBEs 101, and there's enough misinformation to turn me away.

You'd be much better off reading one of the classics, like Muldoon, Monroe, Buhlman, Bruce, or Nicholls. Or one of mine. Why buy a "fast-food" OBE book when you can buy a "gourmet" book for the same price?

The writing is decent. I only found a few small typos; nothing to complain about in the grammar department. I'll give it 2 out of 5 stars.

Bob Peterson
09 June 2020

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