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.

In their fascination of the astral body these ancient people used various methods of controlling their ability of out of body travels to other planes of space and time, all the while their physical body stayed put. It is possible that practising astral projection, they learned the secret skills needed to build the ancient pyramids using the materials they already had. Even today scientists are baffled as to the construction of the pyramids of the ancient Egyptians.

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.

They accomplished this in different ways yet the most common was that of walking out of the physical body by using the astral body. Beginning with the minds eye, followed by the shoulders, chest, hips, legs, knees and then the feet. This continued until there were two separate entities, that of the physical body and that of the astral body.

Once separated, the astral body was then not only free to pass through the solid objects that restrained the physical body, but to hover and fly as well without being affected by the changes in atmosphere or the lack of oxygen.

The ancient Greeks also recorded instances of out of body travel, and expanded on the strictly meditatively-induced state of the ancient Egyptians to include out of body travel by way of physical or mental trauma. The ancient historian Plutarch of Queroneia, for example, cited the case of Arisdeu who, after suffering blunt trauma to his head after a fall slipped into a coma for three days.

During this time the experience of Arisdeu included seeing his immobile physical body on the ground, although he was able to freely move about. He was able to travel out of body to previously unimagined places. After adapting to this new environment, the spirit guide of Arideu met him and assisted him and then advised him of 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.

The ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks aren’t the only ones with recorded history of out of body travel. Native American history is also full of several accounts of similar experiences, often featuring spirit animals and/or guides meeting and advising an individual’s astral body. For centuries, Native Americans have burned certain plants and inhaled their smoke in order to ease the mind into the state necessary to begin out of body travel.

The human body has the ability to explore different horizons of time and space. This has been recorded since the beginning of time. We are able to channel our consciousness into a spiritual body. However, many modern individuals have forgotten this wonderfully natural gift. Many have forgotten how to alter our consciousness to the point that we can release it from the confines of our physical limitations. However, with practice we can join with our spiritual guides and self on the higher planes of existence.

The door is there, and it is within us. We simply need to reconnect with our spiritual selves in order to once again journey out of body and into the infinite. The process is inherent to who we are as human beings, and there are no limitations once we rediscover our potential for higher understanding.