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.

When this state passed, the astral body was said to then enter into an emergence phase, which in turn caused the physical body to hum or tingle and then feel very heavy. The ancients believed this feeling of tingling and heaviness was actually the feeling of the astral body pulling away from the physical body, and initiating the out of body journey into the unknown.

The techniques for accomplishing this varied, but the most common practice seemed to be to simply “walk” out of oneself, beginning through the mind’s eye, followed then by the shoulders and chest, hips, legs, knees, and finally the feet until there were two entities – a physical body and 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.

While in the coma, Arisdeu had the experience of seeing his physical body lying there immobile on the ground, yet he could move about freely, hover, and travel out of body to previously unimagined places. Once acclimated to his new environment, Arideu was met and was assisted by his spiritual guide, who then advised him regarding 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.

Other ancient cultures recorded their findings of out of body travel similar to that of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. For instance, the history of the Native Americans includes various full accounts of such happenings to their people as well. Their accounts include the meeting of their spirit guides and totem spirit animals. These entities also advised them concerning the astral plane and the astral body. For centuries, the Native Americans have used specific plants for burning and inhaling in order to relax the mind to the point of being more receptive to out of body travel on the astral planes.

The ability or the human body to explore various spheres of space and time is possible. The ability to do so has been recorded since the time of the ancients. Channeling our consciousness into a spiritual body is possible. However, along the way many have forgotten how to do such a natural thing. Knowing how to alter our consciousness to the point that we can release it from the confines of our physical limitations, seems lost to so many modern individuals. However, with patience and practice we can relearn how to astral travel to meet our spiritual guides on the higher astral planes.

In order to reopen this door to higher planes within us all, we have to remember how we can reconnect with our higher, spiritual selves. Once we are able to do this, we are able to use our out of body experiences to reach the higher planes of existence. This natural process is unlimited in its possibilities. When we are able to rediscover this natural part of us that so many have forgotten, we open ourselves up to the potentials of traveling the astral plane and understanding our higher, spiritual self.