An out of the body experience is a phenomenon that usually happens to a person who feels that he or she is suddenly floating outside his or her physical body. Such an experience typically involves that one may have a subjective perception of being outside one's physical body. An out of the body experience or OBE is usually associated with near death experiences, mystical trances, drugs as well as dreams.

OBE And Astral Projection

An out of body experience may have some similarities with astral projection. Their main difference is that astral projection does not necessarily require that a person's perception of being outside one's physical body. Astral projection also does not necessarily follow the idea that the consciousness or soul of a person actually travels through physical reality. An out of body experience may also be sometime differentiated from dreams in that the person usually have an intense perception of being awake and aware of reality while going through such an experience.

Types Of OBE

There are generally two types of out of body experience- the spontaneous and the induced. A spontaneous out of body experience usually is initiated with one being under a lucid dream state although there are also experiences reported that happen spontaneously. But in many cases, OBE's are usually reported with the claimant being asleep, on the verge of sleep or shortly after experiencing sleep. Other cases of OBE's not related to sleep may be initiated by severe illness, too much emotional stress, or over exhaustion.

Induced OBE's are consciously controlled experiences using a variety of pre-meditated methods. One form of such an experience may be attributed to mental induction where people try to induce physical sleep without having to lose wakefulness. Some methods involve using deep trance, meditation and visualization in order to experience trying to get out of one's physical body. Chemical induced OBE's are generally initiated with the use of certain drugs to create disassociation or hallucinations.

Out of body experiences do not last generally long, with experiences usually lasting a minute or so. Some may experience it as if it took much longer than its actual duration. Such experiences usually end with the person suddenly feeling the fear of getting too far away from the body. After such an experience, many people usually undergo spiritual epiphanies or general feelings of peace. Others may even feel prolonged fear and anxiety after an OBE while others do not attribute any spiritual experience to the OBE at all.