In many different cultures through-out history the concept that people’s souls are awake during the night, while their vessel sleeps has been written and passed down in stories and legends for centuries. Many first nation tribes often refer to it as Dream Walking, the Hindu scripture calls it a Taoist practice, modern society labels it an Out-Of-Body Experience. Regardless of the label it is clear nobody is denying that this phenomenon exists and occurs regularly enough to be recorded, measured, and studied by scientists around the world since long before 1983. Modern spirituality seems to have fully adopted the concept of Astral Travel “Astral Projection”, more commonly shortened to Astral, and taken it many steps further forming meditations and guides on how to achieve this state, along with going as far as comparing places people have claimed to visit while in the astral realm. With all of this being said, what actually is Astral?
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary Astral Projection is defined as:
“Astral Projection: Noun. The ability of a person’s spirit to travel to distant places.”
Cambridge Dictionary calls it:
“Astral Projection: Noun. An experience in which a person’s consciousness is believed to leave their physical body for a period of time and travel in the astral plane.”
Cambridge goes on to define the astral plane as such:
“Astral Plane- a place believed by some people to be where a person’s spirit goes between dying and entering the spirit world.”
Now let’s take it out of the textbook and into the real world. Speaking from personal experience, Astral projecting can be a lot of fun, it can also be a learning experience, and it can get a little terrifying (in the beginning) if you wake up before you are fully back in your body.
Signs of astral projection:
Seeing yourself sleeping from an above perspective (i.e. the ceiling)
The memory of flying or the entire body sensation of flight or (Peterpan’ing)
Having trouble moving our body within the first 5 -10 minutes of waking up (not to be confused with the “negative” notion of sleep paralysis)
Waking up with full head to toe tingling sensations
Having fallen asleep in one position and waking up positioned on your back (chest up to ceiling arms by your side).
Feeling of slow-mo or delayed body or senses when waking up (some-what comparable to being buzzed or hungover)
Feeling sudden and short-term vertigo and dizziness
The feeling of your body being dropped and you shooting up in bed (can be an effect of a quick come back from astral as your light-body re-enters the physical vessel)
The feeling of loss of time or slight confusion usually not lasting more than 10 minutes (remember time is a relative construct that only exists in the physical. It’s not uncommon to wake up and forget think it’s a day or two earlier or later)
Remembrance of larger-than-life landscapes, buildings, people, and places.
Remembrance of colors, sounds, and vibrations of a cosmic nature with no “on world” comparability
Waking up feeling soreness or body aches and pains as if you’ve been working hard or fighting a war
Waking up extremely exhausted and feeling unrested or mentally like you never slept
Having vivid dreams (not to be confused with lucid dreaming) accompanied with new knowledge or learned practices (sometimes a deep and complete understanding of a topic or principle)
Meeting up with people close to you or reoccurring or continuation dreams where plans are made and tasks are completed
Communing or conversating with past loved ones or dead relatives (some people consider these meeting as always occurring in astral. **From my experience I have had some dreams where I know for sure we were in the astral plane and others I wonder if it was just influenced dreams- based on comparison and details/setting or lack thereof)
After reading the above list, have you had any of these signs or experiences? Do you have any awesome or unbelievable Astral stories?
There are two main trains of thought here. The first being that our souls astral in some form every night. That when the body sleeps, regardless of if our brains reach a certain state that we can have memory recall, our soul or “light-body” dips for the night. The other train of thought is that our “light-body” only leaves at certain times, when our body reaches a particular state of relaxation or brain wave, enough to detach from the physical vessel for a short-term duration. I’ll let you form your own opinions and beliefs here based on personal experiences or research you’ve done.