Real Or Imaginary? The Out Of Body Experience We've all seen the television programs on paranormal phenomena, haunted houses and people with psychic abilities. These programs draw your interest whether you're a skeptic or a believer. Why? Because these ideas are entertaining. However, there are people who study these phenomena in a serious attempt to document reports of such cases. As case histories mount up, with enough similarities, the skeptic may be persuaded to at least question the validity of these supernatural experiences. One such phenomena is the out of body experience. There are many people who swear up and down that they have been out of their body for short periods of time. The out of body experience has been reported by people from all walks of life in a variety of scenarios. This has occured during meditation, prayer, hypnosis, self-hyposis and in surgery, when a patient has been declared clinically dead. Interestingly, there are so many similarities in the reports of the out of body experience that it becomes difficult to simply dismiss the idea out of hand. For example, in one study conducted in a hypnosis workshop, one of the twenty attendees reported a separation between mind and body. The purpose of the workshop was to help the participants quit smoking under hypnotic suggestion. The workshop was conducted in an auditorium setting. The auditorium had high ceilings. The attendees were not told that the psychologists had a second purpose: that of gathering data on the out of body experience. At the end of the session, each participant was given a questionnaire. One of the questions was deliberately open-ended. "Do you recall anything unusual when you were in the hypnotic state?" Most people would not have remembered anything at all. A single participant, thus prompted, related that she had found herself looking down from the ceiling, viewing her own body lying on the floor. She could also see all of the other participants. She further stated that she felt that her spirit had separated from her body, that she was not fearful but simply surprised. This report is very typical of the person who has an out of body experience. Similar reports have been gathered on people trained in self-hypnosis. In this scenario, the out of body experience is more pronounced and may continue for a longer period. People have reported a sensation of being surrounded by stars, often described as being in space or the heavens. Many report a sudden urgency to return to the body. When they will themselves to do so, their bodies seem quite cold and stiff. These persons have been in both controlled and anecdotal situations, but the reports are always eerily similar. The out of body experience cannot be scientifically quantified or proven, nor can it be disproven. It does make you think that perhaps further investigation is needed before discounting this phenomena out of hand. Summary Related Articles Black Magic Astrology Symbols Related Sites