Inner Ear Muscle Technique
by Bob Peterson
I know it's been a long time since I posted an article to my blog. What can I say? I've been busy doing things like an unbelievable list of home repairs, planning retirement, setting up health insurance, and actually retiring! Then packing up and driving back to Florida and other things. I'm still trying to get my feet underneath me. I've always said that once I retire I'll have more time for things like my blog, but so far it's been complete chaos. But enough excuses. Without further ado:
In the past I've talked about how the right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ) of the brain formulates a "Story of Experience" based on the data it gets from the physical senses. To induce an out-of-body experience (OBE) you need to "derail" the rTPJ, force it to jump its tracks, and introduce an alternate "story of experience".
The brain's rTPJ is located close to the auditory area of the brain, and one component of its "story of experience" is based on our sense of balance, which comes from the inner ear. If your inner ear becomes infected, plugged, damaged, or altered by drugs (such as caffeine) it can affect your sense of balance, and that affects your story of experience. These are known as vestibular problems.
But people with vestibular problems tend to have more out-of-body experiences than people who don't, and you can take advantage of that.
One technique to induce mystical states of consciousness that dates back at least to the twelfth century is the spinning dances of the "Whirling Dervishes" (Mevlevi or "Sufi" order of Islam, centered mainly in Turkey) which force a temporarily altered story of experience.
It turns out that some people have the ability to move the muscles in the inner ear, and that can be leveraged to alter their vestibular system to induce an OBE.
This technique comes from someone in the "Astral Projection" group by the name of Ælfweald
Ó Brolcháin who writes:
Since I was a child I could make a humming like noise in my ears. I never thought much of it but I would do it sometimes for fun, maybe to the beat of a song. I forget exactly how I figured this out but I did. I have seen many others online who can do the same thing with the ear humming...
There is a muscle in the inner ear called the tensor tympani. Some people can contract it voluntarily and make a humming or roaring like noise. Very similar to what many people hear right before or doing AP.
One night I was sleeping and awoke enough to become aware I could possibly [astral] project. For some reason and I’m not even sure why I had the idea, I tried it. I made the humming noise and held it which I can do for some time. I was surprised with what happened next. I successfully left [my body] but it was much more intense and I was way more aware than any time I’d done it before. I could even come back at will and shoot back out by just tightening the muscle.
I'd be interested to hear other people's experiences with this technique.
Bob Peterson,
28 November 2023
If you have ideas for blog articles related to astral projection and out-of-body experiences, send me an email: bob@robertpeterson.org.
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Fascinating! I also could do ear rumbling from a young age. Stumbled onto that muscle when trying to figure out how to wiggle my ears. I'll definitely attempt to leverage this.
ReplyDeleteI have vestibular issues (I get rocking or "boat-like" vertigo) and I am able to lucid dream and astral project frequently. I have heard of the inner ear thing where people can make a "whoosh" sound - I recall seeing it discussed on Reddit, with many people being surprised that they're not the only one who can do this. I can't make the whooshing sound, but I can flex the muscles of my right ear.
ReplyDeleteI experience tinnitus at night, and there is an obvious link to me between tinnitus and how conducive my state is to astral projection. When I wake in the middle of the night and my tinnitus is strong, I know that I can transition to an OBE more easily.
After reading this text, it occurred to me that my vibrations that I hear in my ears are exactly the same when I cause the sound myself, but will it help to separate from the body ?
ReplyDeleteAwesome, I’ve had tinnitus and a balance problem from the age of 24. I always had very vivid dreams but haven’t quite mastered AP?
ReplyDeleteOh My gosh Thank you so much for this article! I have always being able to wiggle my ears as long as I can remember. Only my dad and I had this wonderful talent in my family. I thought it was only useful to pull up my glasses 🤓
ReplyDeleteI have wondered for years if this talent had something more to it! I’m so excited to further develope this talent more. The roar I hear when I pull back my ears, should I hold this as long as I can with the intention to exit? Thx again so much!! 🥰
So interesting. I think I can make that sound at will albeit for just a second. It is done by closing my eyes really hard which somehow strains something in my head (hard to explain) and also by wiggling my ears. When I was a child and had a fever (my hands felt just like two balloons.. No, just kidding!), I would feel this sound continuously in my head with corresponding mental imagery of locomotive wheels and metalwork. As if the locomotive was in my head. This would happen when I was very drowsy and with consciousness reduced. This reminds me of what Buhlman says about AP being easier if you are ill for ex. He explains it as the consciousness having less of a stronghold over physicality and detaching more easily. Makes sense I guess. I have had my very first (and only) OBE not a long time ago and the premise to it was this continuous whirring sound at 3ish am in my head that I felt I could chose to increase or decrease. It felt very easy, as if "at will", which of course it isn't outside of given conditions (body relaxation, sleep cycle, witching hour!). So your post is very serendipitous and helps me piece things together.
ReplyDeleteSuper interesting. I have always been able to do this. I would sometimes do it to avoid loud or annoying noises as it seems to somewhat "mute" the outside world a bit. As I'm writing this I am practicing it while wearing noise-cancelling headphones with no audio other than the faint hum of the barely perceivable white noise and there is definitely a prominent rumbling. I find it similar to flexing your arm or leg muscle so hard they begin to "shake". Similar to my arm or leg I can only maintain the shaking/rumble for no more than 10 or 15 seconds before having to reset for a bit to bring it on again. I also notice that my left ear is a bit "stronger" than my right in the sense that I can hold the rumble more consistently throughout where as the right ear takes more continued effort rather than "locking" a muscle into place as with an arm or a leg. I'm curious as to if anyone feels similar to this analysis? I'm new to this blog and OBE/AP in general but I find it super intriguing based on a few OBEs I had while on psychedelics years ago and a recent profound vibrational and euphoric experience I had after an extensive breath work meditation session while sober. Eager to read more! Thanks so much for the article.
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