Many spiritual practices in one way or another affect such a thing as “astral”. Ideas about him can vary greatly. Numerous books, articles, people who wrote them, can mean completely different things by this state. Therefore, explaining to an uninitiated person what the astral is actually is not easy. If you adhere to the most common version, then this is an altered state of consciousness in which the spirit can travel freely. The human body remains in place.
What is the astral: the difference from lucid dream
There are many misconceptions regarding this term. The reason for this is its long-standing origin and several times distorted meaning. Many confuse the astral with the so-called lucid dreams, not seeing the difference between them. Nevertheless, the border between them is significant. Mainly because the astral allows you to go beyond the physical body and end up in the non-material world. While actions in dreams, regardless of the degree of awareness of what is happening, occur only in our head.
In fact, the brain recreates certain situations, people, and creatures that may seem very real. But all of them are a kind of projection of the subconscious. You can compare them with sets of pixels in a computer game, which are perceived by full-fledged characters, but they are not. Nevertheless, lucid dreams can be used as a starting point for immersion in deeper levels of the subconscious and subsequently for entry into the astral plane.
You must understand that the terminology in this case is a very fragile thing. The boundaries between what the astral is and what it is not at all are often too blurred. It is sometimes difficult to separate one from the other. The complexity of the phenomenon and the insufficient development of science in this direction do not allow us to study it thoroughly. After reading several books on relevant topics, each person usually makes his own, individual opinion on what the astral is.
Probably everyone has heard of Buddhist monks who go into seclusion to engage in self-knowledge away from worldly fuss. A necessary element of this religion is meditation. And she is one of the keys to achieving an altered state of consciousness. But this is far from the only way to get into the astral plane.
Methods of entering the astral plane:
When falling asleep
You can try to achieve the desired state in a roundabout way, through sleep. An important condition here is the complete relaxation of the body. Lying and preparing for bed, imagine any familiar room. Let it turn out to be a room whose furnishings are well known to you. Then the brain does not have to think up anything, and the details will be completed by themselves. Next, you need to imagine how you walk around this room, constantly looking to change the focus point. It is important not to stop and not to linger anywhere.
Over time, if you keep the picture in your imagination, it begins to live its own life. Colors become brighter, details are sharper and more detailed, and depth appears. Twitching may occur. This distracts from the process and nullifies it. To prevent this from happening, you need to remain passive in thoughts. And when the right moment arrives - the room rises before the eyes absolutely real - you need to act immediately. The thought process should remain at a minimum. Something like that, instinctively, people act in extreme situations.
The imagination of the sound that accompanies your movement around the room helps to focus on what is happening. For example, you can imagine that a tin can is attached to the leg, which rattles at every step. Or listen to the sound of your footsteps, breathing, etc. If you wake up at the last moment, start again - try again until you find yourself in a conscious dream. You can get into the astral from here through the door, causing undefined excitement and a sense of suspense. You can also find an empty hole in the floor and jump into it.
Extreme way
You should be aware that not all methods of access to the astral are safe. There are those that are better not to practice without proper preparation, or even completely abandon them. For example, an emergency method with pressure on the solar / plexus. In this case, the person lies down and quickly, breathes deeply until his eyes are blurred. When this happens, you need to stop breathing, making the last exhale. You can perform further actions yourself, but for some reason it will be better if another person helps.
He should put a lot of pressure on the solar or cardiac plexus of the recumbent. It is important not to miss a dangerous moment, since there is a serious risk of cardiac arrest. If this happens, and the heartbeat does not recover within three minutes, you must immediately proceed to first aid: do a heart massage and artificial respiration. Because of its danger, this method is one of the most undesirable.