No. 4. Ivan Yakovlev. Student. Antwerp, Belgium

I don't know what woke me up, but I knew right away that something was out of order. I could not open my eyes, and my body was almost just asking to rise up. I understood what was going on - all of this indicated that I was having an out-of-body experience. The first thing I tried was to lift my left hand up, and it worked. I understood that this was an astral hand, because I could see through it. I moved hastily and carefully to the other side of the bed (There was a strange sensation in my head at that time). I calmed down and tried to do something again. I levitated about half a meter above the bed. Vision came back to me right then and I saw what appeared to be my room, but not exactly it, as the rug on the floor was of a different color pattern and the door was closed for some reason. I could not comprehend why everything was lit from behind my back. Then, I looked over my left shoulder and saw a small bright white ball behind my shoulder blade at a distance of 8 inches. It was lighting up the room up. Then I tried to go through the door, but was unable to. Out of the fear that I would never return to my real body, I woke up in the everyday world.

Questions: During the beginning of his experience, what phenomenon typical to the phase and awakening did Ivan encounter? What kind of technique, direct or indirect, led to the phase? What specific techniques were employed? How could the sensation of "the body just asking to rise up" have been used? What should have been done immediately when he realized that it was possible to raise his hand? What should have been the first actions taken after levitation? Why was it unnecessary to immediately try to go through the door? What should have been done when Ivan returned to his body? Does this practitioner have a down-to-earth view or an esoteric view of the nature of this phenomenon?

Answers and Comments: Upon awakening in a state of sleep paralysis, Ivan understood that he could use this opportunity for the phase and immediately started attempts to separate without employing techniques for creating the state, as they would have been superfluous. This was an indirect technique by nature. He could have followed his impulse to levitate from the very beginning instead of moving his hands. After his hand started to move, he could have stood up or separated. Instead, Ivan simply rolled over and calmed down for an instant, although doing so is strongly discouraged and is a waste of the progress made up to this point. Then, after starting to levitate, he should have, first of all, assumed a position distinct from that of his real body, stood up on the floor, and immediately started deepening. Instead, he diverted his attention to the light source and an attempt to go through the door.

Even if everything had been done correctly from the beginning, there would have been no reason to attempt to go through the door. Ivan could have simply opened it. The skill of going through objects should be learned after first fine-tuning the ability to deepen and maintain the phase. There was no reason to return out of fear, but even a return to the body, another immediate attempt at separating would most likely have been successful.

The use of the term of "astral hand" indicates that the practitioner harbors esoteric views on the subject.

No. 5. Natalya Kozhenova. Engineer. Shchelkovo, Russia

When I was about 17 or 18 years old, I read some esoteric articles on astral projection. They seemed quite interesting to me, but no more than a curiosity - I did not particularly believe in such things.

One evening, I went to bed as usual. I woke up in the middle of the night, but was unable to move my body and there was a loud noise in my head. Having been reminded of those articles, I simply tried to levitate and I managed to do so, as if through my forehead somehow. The sensation of flying was very realistic, to my great surprise. The first thought that occurred to me was, "Wow, these astral guys weren't lying!" I hovered above my body for some time in the dark. I thought of vision, and it started to appear. I then flew towards the window, and upon turning around in to face my body, I saw it in its proper place. I decided to fly back to it and touch it. When I finally poked it, it sucked my back into it, causing a quite strange sensation.

Questions: What type of technique did Natalya use? What would she have needed to do if her attempt at levitating had been unsuccessful? Why was the phase short-lived? What should she have done upon returning to her body? Why did she use the term "astral"? Were the articles about astral projection of any significant help?

Answers and Comments: Upon awakening in a state of a sleep paralysis, Natalya stumbled upon the idea of employing indirect techniques. She managed to separate immediately, but if she'd encountered problems in doing so, she could have started the technique of listening in to the "noise" in her head. The phase was short-lived due to a lack of activity and failure to perform deepening and "maintaining" techniques. After returning to her body, she should have tried to immediately separate.

Natalya holds esoteric views on the nature of the phase phenomenon, which is why she uses such terminology for it. However, the articles helped her to perform the right actions at the right moment.