Am I On The Right Track?, Or am I frying my brains? Options

I recently started a topic in the Eastern Tradition section that eventually came around to OOBEs.

The discussion got me interested in the opinions of the forum, but I wanted to move the discussion here so as to remain on topic.

To briefly summarize: One night I was relaxing before sleep. I worked into my trance state, and when my body was all good and completely numb I started going through a little routine of mine where I focus on (what I think are) my chakras and moving energy. After opening/clearing/charging my chakra I feel exceptionally great about everything and decide to try to go OOB.

Now, I've been trying to go OOB for about three months now, and I've had extremely limited success. I believe I'm at least vaguely able to do what you might call 'astral projection', in that I can get my body completely relaxed, visualize and feel a separate body for myself, completely forget about my actual body, and then move it about and interact with people/place/things in a semi-realistic way. (Of course, what happens is usually determined by my brain, but sometimes things seem to slip in when I'm not looking.) But what I'm going for is what I've seen termed 'ethereal projection', as in my soul disconnects from my body and I'm able to move it about the actual, physical world. I don't know if this is actually possible, but that hasn't stopped me from trying like hell.

(So much for brief): Well, on this particular night, I feel pretty powerful and very confident in myself, and I feel my whole body like it's some form of 'energy' and I try to move that out of my physical body. I am, as always, met with resistance in that I just can't seem to really do it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/doh.gif)

I keep at it, though, and eventually I get deep into a state of trance I've never known before. I lost control of my breathing and I started taking extremely deep, rapid breaths without meaning to. My heart started hammering away in my chest. I think I heard a faint buzzing noise in my ears, but alas this could just be because what I've read about OOBEs tells me to expect that.

I go on in this state for the better part of two minutes before giving up focus, opening my eyes, and moving around.

Now, if it were a story, here's where I'd be like, "And I was in my etheric body without even realizing it, lolz!" Unfortunately, that was not the case. I was very much in my physical body, and I very much felt the effects of my new trance state. My body was trembling and my vision was blurry for half a minute or so. This didn't concern me at the time, as I'd read that such reactions were also normal when OOBing, however now I'm worried that might not be the case after all.

Here's a couple quotes from the other thread that sparked my interest and will help explain my question:

Also, although it is appropriate to meditate on the chakras and become sensitive to the sensation of energy in the body, be very carefull about playing around with this to get " interesting" effects. The so-called chakras are related to a neurochemical loop in the brain. You are priming that loop when you do chakra meditation. You can also cause an epileptic or psychiatric problems to occur if you mess up with what you are doing. I'm not sure whether what you are describing is an effect of untoward nervous reactions or if you are describing the beginnings of kriya or shaktipat. What can happen is that you experience spontaneous movement while in a trance or ecstatic mind state or else you may suddenly feel an intense heat welling up through the body that may be accompanied by the rapid heartbeat and breatthing you described, but you do not have blurred vision or disorientation when it is over (although you would have blurred vision and disorientation after a seizure).

OBEs are caused by wonky things going on in the parietal lobes of the brain. People can train themselves to have OBEs and are normal etc. but OBEs also commonly occur in people who have schizophrenia and epilepsy. You don't pop out of your body. Your brain disassociates from self and place. It involves strongly visualizing a mirror double and then transfering the experience of physical sensation and orientation from yourself to the visualized double. This has been studied in clinical laboratories. OBEs are useful for exploring the "Inner Plane"in occultism. You have an opportunity to meet archetypes and guides and getting teaching, which comes from the storehouse of consciousness to which your are linked.

So, basically, am I on the right track to going OOB, or am I doing the complete wrong thing and accidentally pushing random neuro-chemical buttons? Or, alternatively, is ethereal projection just impossible in your experience?

Tl;dr: Am I nearly OOBing or am I giving myself mini-seizures?

This post has been edited by Dooley: Jan 25 2010, 10:31 PM

I do sometimes feel things that very well might be the 'vestibular effects' you described. I'm starting to think I'm simply going about this the wrong way.

I appreciate all the advice, both of you! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)