WHAT IS OBE?

An out-of-body experience (OBE) is a form of autoscopy (a.k.a “OMG I’m literally seeing myself from a different perspective”). During a typical OBE, people seem to feel themselves as being located outside their physical body. At the same time, they no longer have control over their physical bodies and would not feel any other kind of bodily sensations in an OBE. However, many claim to still have mental feelings and can then become confused or frightened by this experience.

Moreover, many people who experienced OBE would clearly distinguish this from a dream-state. This is so because, first, they find OBE to be much more realistic then a dream. For example, they can see themselves and the environment very clearly during an OBE. Second, they find OBEs much more vivid as many can recall details of what occurred during this experience.

“My spirit and consciousness just flew out of my body”

COMMON OBE SENSATIONS

People often report to have an awake mind but an asleep body during OBE along with a sensation of floating and seeing the environment and their physical body from an elevated perspective.

Another commonly reported sensation from people with OBE is falling, which is sometimes associated with returning to the corporeal body or falling and leaving behind the body

People who have encountered stronger OBEs claim to even be able to fly far away from their physical bodies and to travel to near-by areas in air. As this form of OBE allow people to travel without restraints, many recognize this as astro-projection.

Other recorded OBE sensations include spinning, rising vertically like in an elevator, being launched out through a cannon, and being forcefully pulled out of physical bodies.

REAL-LIFE CASES OF OBE

Case #1

“I was in bed and about to fall asleep when I had the distinct impression that “I” was at the ceiling level looking down at my body in the bed. I was very startled and frightened; immediately [afterward] I felt that, I was consciously back in the bed again.”

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Case #2

“Suddenly it was as if he saw himself in the bed in front of him. He felt as if he were at the other end of the room, as if he were floating in space below the ceiling in the corner facing the bed from where he could observe his own body in the bed. . . he saw his own completely immobile body in the bed; the eyes were closed. ”

Although some suggest that OBE is a spiritual, religious, and paranormal phenomena that one’s soul literally leaves the body due to supernatural forces, And one doesn’t need to subscribe to any supernatural explanation to experience have an OBE. An OBE can be categorized into spontaneous and induced.

a Spontaneous OBE can happen:

During/near sleep: having an OBE on the verge of sleep or right after falling asleep. Many also report a feeling of sleep paralysis during their OBE.

Near-death experiences: having an OBE at times of severe physical trauma (i.e. drowning) or even during a rescue (i.e. patient reports seeing doctors operating on him from an elevated perspective).

An induced obe can happen:

Extreme physical effort: having an OBE during activities that require extreme physical effort such as high-altitude climbing or marathon running.

Chemical: hallucinogens (dissociative and psychedelic drugs)

Electrical stimulation of the brain

Mental induction

Sensory Deprivation