Out of body travel has been recorded in the annals of history, dating back several centuries to the times of the ancient Egyptians. They called the soul, or the astral body, “Kha,” and often reproduced images of it hovering over or beyond the flesh-and-blood body. It was shown to be airy and translucent, and often haloed by light.
The ancient Egyptians were fascinated by the astral body, and experimented with many methods of controlling it in order to visit other planes of time and space while the physical body stayed behind. It is suspected that it is through astral projection experiences such as these that they were able to learn the skills necessary to build the pyramids using only the materials they had at the time, which is something that still baffles scientists to this day.
The first component of out of body travel for the ancient Egyptians involved meditation, it is recorded. Followed by focusing on nothing except the visions seen with the eyes closed, while nearly at the point of being asleep. The ancient Egyptians associated the flashing patterns and lights as a sign of the beginning of the journey to other planes of space and time by the astral body.
After passing this state, the astral body entered into an emergence phase. This caused the humming and tingling of the physical body and then the feeling of heaviness followed. The feelings of tingling and then heaviness the ancients believed was the feeling of the astral body pulling away from the physical body, while initiating the unknown out of body journey to other planes.
The techniques for accomplishing this varied, but the most common practice seemed to be to simply “walk” out of oneself, beginning through the mind’s eye, followed then by the shoulders and chest, hips, legs, knees, and finally the feet until there were two entities - a physical body and the astral body.
This separating of bodies, then allowed the astral body to pass freely through solid objects, it could also hover and fly about without being effected by the lack of oxygen or changes in the atmosphere.
Examples of out of body travel is also recorded by the ancient Greeks. They simply expanded on the state induced by meditation according to the ancient Egyptians. They also recorded out of body experiences that were caused by various types of mental or physical trauma. Plutarch of Queroneia an ancient historian mentions a person named Arisdeu after suffering from a blunt head trauma, which occurred by falling and who then slipped into a three day coma.
While in the coma, Arisdeu had the experience of seeing his physical body lying there immobile on the ground, yet he could move about freely, hover, and travel out of body to previously unimagined places. Once acclimated to his new environment, Arideu was met and was assisted by his spiritual guide, who then advised him regarding the projection of his astral body into other dimensions.
After some time exploring and learning what he could about this altered state of existence, he felt himself forcibly pulled back into his physical body, where he then spent the rest of his life trying to apply the information he learned while on his out of body journey.
Other ancient cultures recorded their findings of out of body travel similar to that of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. For instance, the history of the Native Americans includes various full accounts of such happenings to their people as well. Their accounts include the meeting of their spirit guides and totem spirit animals. These entities also advised them concerning the astral plane and the astral body. For centuries, the Native Americans have used specific plants for burning and inhaling in order to relax the mind to the point of being more receptive to out of body travel on the astral planes.
Since the beginning of recorded time, human beings have been able to channel their consciousness into a spiritual body, which is then capable of exploring the limitless horizons of space and time. But in today’s technological age with it fast-paced culture, many of us have lost touch with this ability to alter our consciousness to the point that we can release it from the confines of our physical limitations, and with practice, join our spiritual guides and counterparts on a higher plane of existence.
In order to reopen this door to higher planes within us all, we have to remember how we can reconnect with our higher, spiritual selves. Once we are able to do this, we are able to use our out of body experiences to reach the higher planes of existence. This natural process is unlimited in its possibilities. When we are able to rediscover this natural part of us that so many have forgotten, we open ourselves up to the potentials of traveling the astral plane and understanding our higher, spiritual self.