- Joined
- Jan 27, 2026
- Messages
- 16
- Reaction score
- 35
Hey all! I've put together what I think are some helpful tips for achieving an OBE and navigating early experiences here, where they can all be gathered in one place instead of spread across a bunch of threads where people were asking for personal advice. These pointers are meant mainly for people who have never had an intentional OBE before, but might still be helpful to those who have but are struggling with consistency.
This post will not be a tutorial on how to astral project. There are plenty of threads here talking about different methods already, I just wanted to share some suggestions that can be used to supplement those methods and clear up some of the common things I see beginners do or believe that tend to hold them back.
For a bit of background on myself:
I had my first OBE unintentionally about eleven years ago. That became a pattern that continued to happen during sleep paralysis episodes every couple of months, and over the years it gradually became more frequent. I've been practicing astral projection intentionally for about two years, and in that time have been active in groups focused on the practice, both working on my own consistency and helping others pull off their first OBEs. My success rate still fluctuates over time, but on average, I'm managing to project around twice a week.
Common Mistakes:
Common Misconceptions:
Below are things that I often see passed around as advice or mentioned in tutorials, that I've found to either be misleading or wholly untrue.
Since they'll also be a learning process you'll want to be ready for, these are common things that you can expect during your early OBEs that tend to not be as widely talked about.
The Golden Rule:
Astral projection is still a subject that's not fully understood with absolute certainty, and anyone who claims to know exactly what's going on is suffering from a severe case of assumptionitis. You'll find just as many practitioners claiming it's 100% completely safe and harmless as there are ones claiming there are a thousand inoccuous things that can kill you instantly. I think both sides are drunk. So when you're delving into the practice, my advice is to live by the rule of "Never be afraid, but always be careful." Keeping a positive outlook and expecting to be safe will guide you to places that align with that mindset, and a strong spiritual self defense starts with believing you have one. But that doesn't mean poke the bear. Approach spirits with the same caution you'd have talking to any human stranger, and if you get the impression that something is off, calmly leave.
If there's anything else that's helped others here, definitely chime in with your own advice and experiences that can help steer new people in the right direction. I can't personally comment much on things like psychedelics use since I can't safely try any drugs out for myself, and I also don't know much about the effectiveness of binaural beats since I've never been able to get comfortable while wearing headphones.
If you have questions about whether or not you're doing something "wrong" with your technique, feel free to ask too! I'm still young and taking this learning process at a comfortable pace, so I'm not the best person to answer questions about all the fine details of how things work on the astral plane, but I can at least share quite a lot about what I've found to be effective in getting me out of my body, and what I've seen be effective for others.
This post will not be a tutorial on how to astral project. There are plenty of threads here talking about different methods already, I just wanted to share some suggestions that can be used to supplement those methods and clear up some of the common things I see beginners do or believe that tend to hold them back.
For a bit of background on myself:
I had my first OBE unintentionally about eleven years ago. That became a pattern that continued to happen during sleep paralysis episodes every couple of months, and over the years it gradually became more frequent. I've been practicing astral projection intentionally for about two years, and in that time have been active in groups focused on the practice, both working on my own consistency and helping others pull off their first OBEs. My success rate still fluctuates over time, but on average, I'm managing to project around twice a week.
Common Mistakes:
- Overthinking: This is by far the one I've seen hold people back the most. If you're focusing too much on every thought and movement, and obsessing constantly over your technique, you are never going to actually let your body and mind relax enough for you to exit. The most common success story I've heard from beginners is "I just had my first OBE, but it happened when I wasn't trying to do it!" Regularly meditating on your intent to project is a good thing to do. But when you are actually making an attempt, just relax and let yourself trust that it will happen, and be okay with it if it doesn't. A failed attempt is still practice under your belt.
- Changing methods too quickly: Your first OBE is probably not going to come super quickly, no matter what method you're using. It takes time to condition your mind to do something instinctively. I recommend spending at least three months sticking to one method, and using it every other night. Having off nights where you expect nothing to happen and just try to get a regular night's sleep helps to leave opportunities for an unintentional success. If you go the whole three months without having a partial OBE (feeling just part of your body separate for a moment), then move on to a new method.
- Attempting raw meditation methods: There are plenty of different AP methods out there, and focused meditation after being awake and active for a while is a strong contender for the hardest one. Once you've had an OBE before, it gets easier to replicate the thoughts and sensations that came before it, and meditation as a method starts to become more accessible. Otherwise, I would not recommend starting with this technique unless you've already been practicing deep meditation frequently for several years.
- Believing that you have a block, or that it's impossible for you: This belief is the block. Learning to AP requires training your subconscious by expecting that it will happen. If you keep telling yourself you can't do it, you aren't going to condition your mind to make it happen.
- Using stimulants: If you're confident that you're doing everything right but still keep getting constantly interrupted by stress reactions like muscle spasms, overheating, and heart pounding, then dietary changes might be the solution. Specifically you'll want to look into slowly cutting back on any stimulants like caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine. Caffeine can be a hard one to catch. It gets crammed into some unexpected places, like chocolate and most sodas. If you're used to having a lot of any of these things, suddenly quitting cold turkey will make things worse for a while before they start to improve.
Common Misconceptions:
Below are things that I often see passed around as advice or mentioned in tutorials, that I've found to either be misleading or wholly untrue.
- Staying completely still: I fully believe this advice does more harm than good, and it's mentioned in way too many guides. You don't need to stay completely still when trying to astral project, and it's okay if a muscle naturally tenses up. Every OBE I've had has occurred when I was ignoring the "don't move" tip. People tend to move around a little even when completely asleep, so it won't ruin your attempt if you reflexively roll over or scratch a bad itch. You just want to avoid paying too much attention to what your body is doing and overthinking those movements when they happen. You'll even likely find that being okay with moving a little makes that overwhelming need to do it come up way less often.
- Vibrations: Feeling vibrations throughout your body is something that can happen when you are deeply relaxed. This does not mean you are close to exiting your body, nor is feeling vibrations required to happen before an OBE. If you want a sign that you are close, one good bet will be feeling parts of your body move and then suddenly be back in their original position moments later, or feeling a limb move in a way that is physically impossible for you. This is a big part of why I don't recommend conditioning yourself to stay completely still.
- Astral parasites: Many people get stopped at the exit stage by some kind of aggressive, scary, handsy, or distracting entity, and end up quitting the practice and becoming convinced they have an astral parasite attached to them. The exact cause behind why this happens to so many people is still conjecture, but it's largely agreed upon that it's either hypnagogic hallucincations or a safety mechanism to keep you from leaving your body before you're mentally ready, and not an actual entity. If you stay calm, you can easily push past it, and it will not follow you once you leave your body's immediate surroundings.
- The void: There are a ton of rumors surrounding "the void", a completely empty space of all one color, usually black or white. Some people think going there unlocks god mode and lets you change the physical world however you want. Some people think it's instant death, or a version of hell, or you'll be unable to return to your body from it and get trapped there forever. For myself and anyone else I know who's been there, it's one of the easiest places to reach to the point that you'll probably frequently end up there by accident, and it's exactly as exciting as the visual description makes it sound. An empty space with nothing to do. If you end up there and can't get out, just enjoy the peace and quiet for the few minutes it takes to get pulled back to your body. The lack of anything there also makes it an easy place to create a lucid dream, if you want something to do.
- Supplements: Taking a vitamin or electrolyte supplement is not going to make you astral project, the placebo effect is just very potent for this. Taking over the counter supplements when you don't have a deficiency in them can make you sick, so please be careful with them.
Things to Prepare For:
Since they'll also be a learning process you'll want to be ready for, these are common things that you can expect during your early OBEs that tend to not be as widely talked about.
- Difficulty moving: Movement can be hard when you exit into the etheric, and can take a lot of practice. In my experience and from what I've heard from others, it can be like trying to walk through water, and you'll often find yourself suddenly snapping back to where you were a few seconds ago, or back to your body. I've found that this always stops being an issue once I leave the building. I've managed to work out a means to get away from the near-physical quickly by letting myself fall through my bed instead of sitting up, but I wouldn't recommend that method if you associate falling or downward movement with going to bad places.
- Fear tests: This is what I mentioned before with the "astral parasites" misconception. Fear tests don't happen to everyone and might not happen every time you try to project, but it's still good to form a specific outlook on them so you don't get traumatized by something harmless. Understanding that the scary stuff in your room is there for your safety and won't harm you, staying calm, and pushing through is the key. Once you're past that, the astral plane is a pretty uneventful place unless you're looking for problems.
- A lot of passive sightseeing: I see a lot of grand stories of astral combat and adventures get thrown around online, usually of frankly questionable repute and often by someone who's trying to sell a book or a bridge. But speaking from my own experience, the astral plane has been a very uninvolved place. Most of my outings are just me stranded in the wilderness or an otherworldly space somewhere, looking around at various landscapes and landmarks. When I do end up in a more populated area, I get ignored as you'd expect to be while walking down the street minding your own business in the physical world. There's never any big plot to follow the way there would be in dreams, and random nearby spirits that I interact with have no interest in getting to know me or convincing me to join a club. It's still a lot of fun if you enjoy things like hiking or urban exploration, but if you're someone who's hoping for constant action and questing, I'd just advise mentally preparing yourself for things to not pan out that way. Or sticking to lucid dreaming.
- A lot of passive sightseeing: I see a lot of grand stories of astral combat and adventures get thrown around online, usually of frankly questionable repute and often by someone who's trying to sell a book or a bridge. But speaking from my own experience, the astral plane has been a very uninvolved place. Most of my outings are just me stranded in the wilderness or an otherworldly space somewhere, looking around at various landscapes and landmarks. When I do end up in a more populated area, I get ignored as you'd expect to be while walking down the street minding your own business in the physical world. There's never any big plot to follow the way there would be in dreams, and random nearby spirits that I interact with have no interest in getting to know me or convincing me to join a club. It's still a lot of fun if you enjoy things like hiking or urban exploration, but if you're someone who's hoping for constant action and questing, I'd just advise mentally preparing yourself for things to not pan out that way. Or sticking to lucid dreaming.
- Lucid dream crossover: Many people try to exit lucid dreams to enter the astral proper, but something that a lot of people don't like to talk about is that you can also unknowingly exit the wider astral to enter a lucid dream, and it's not always easy to tell when this has happened. Lucid dreaming practice can help with this, since one good test to get your bearings is trying to change the environment or control the other people present. If it works, you're in a space being created by your own thoughts. If you don't have that level of practice with lucid dreaming, then it's best to not take things you encounter on the astral plane as gospel unless they have revealed accurate information to you that you did not already know.
The Golden Rule:
Astral projection is still a subject that's not fully understood with absolute certainty, and anyone who claims to know exactly what's going on is suffering from a severe case of assumptionitis. You'll find just as many practitioners claiming it's 100% completely safe and harmless as there are ones claiming there are a thousand inoccuous things that can kill you instantly. I think both sides are drunk. So when you're delving into the practice, my advice is to live by the rule of "Never be afraid, but always be careful." Keeping a positive outlook and expecting to be safe will guide you to places that align with that mindset, and a strong spiritual self defense starts with believing you have one. But that doesn't mean poke the bear. Approach spirits with the same caution you'd have talking to any human stranger, and if you get the impression that something is off, calmly leave.
If there's anything else that's helped others here, definitely chime in with your own advice and experiences that can help steer new people in the right direction. I can't personally comment much on things like psychedelics use since I can't safely try any drugs out for myself, and I also don't know much about the effectiveness of binaural beats since I've never been able to get comfortable while wearing headphones.
If you have questions about whether or not you're doing something "wrong" with your technique, feel free to ask too! I'm still young and taking this learning process at a comfortable pace, so I'm not the best person to answer questions about all the fine details of how things work on the astral plane, but I can at least share quite a lot about what I've found to be effective in getting me out of my body, and what I've seen be effective for others.