How To Have A Mini Out-Of-Body Experience

Using simple and effective mindfulness meditation techniques, we will realise and experience that our awareness is an empty space within which our body resides. This practice can subtley change our experience of the body such that the body is experienced as being within you rather than experiencing yourself as being within your body.

Transcript

So what I'm going to do is just share as best I can my own process to get myself into that awareness of the present moment and then express as best I can the experience that I'm having.

So rather than a commentary that's instructional then really it's just take it as a guide but allow your your own meditation to develop organically.

Okay so to begin with I'm going to become present in and with my body as fully as I can.

So taking in those breaths helps to bring my awareness and focus of my attention into the body and beginning to become aware of all the different sensations I can feel throughout my body.

Feeling the contact and that slight pressure between my feet and the floor and that contact and pressure with the chair.

Feeling my hands on my lap.

Feeling the breath in the body.

Feeling all the muscles of the face especially around the eyes.

Noticing how the sensations in the face the head around the eyes feel more prominent closer to what seems to be the center of my awareness.

Feeling a slight tightness in the shoulders.

So after this initial scan through the body just noticing whatever comes to mind and then like to try and get more of a sense of the whole body rather than focusing on any particular part or sensation.

So an easy way I find to do this is to get a sense of the weight of the body.

So feeling the weight of my whole body and noticing how the chair and the floor are supporting that weight and this helps me to begin to have that feeling of letting go of the body.

Of allowing the body to be supported,

To be held.

And after I begin to allow the body to settle into the present moment and to allow myself my awareness to settle into being present with the body.

I can begin to feel the body soften and relax.

And I allow my mind my awareness to also soften and relax to just be present.

So there's going to be three kind of stages to this meditation and this is the first one to be aware of the body,

To be present with the body and to begin to relax into that awareness of presence and connection with the body.

Very nice and simple and easy,

Being grounded and connected.

No expectations,

No effort,

No striving for any experience,

Just being with the body as it is in this moment.

So already I'm beginning to feel quite at ease and relaxed.

That feeling,

That experience of just being,

Just starting to dominate my experience,

My awareness.

Feelings of busyness,

Activity,

Beginning to drift away.

Sense of contentment,

Of being at home,

Of resting.

Content with where I am and how I am in this moment.

So the second step of the meditation is to just build on this simple sense of being,

Of being present,

Of connecting to the body and to begin to be open to a sense of spaciousness,

Of openness.

So to encourage this or to invite this into my awareness,

First of all I like to simply get a sense of the space just around the body.

So I'm settled with the body,

Aware of the body as it is and then just opening the awareness out,

So it's a little wider,

A little broader,

More open.

Getting a sense of the space immediately around the body.

Sensing the space just in front of me.

Getting a sense of the space behind me.

And to the left and to the right.

The space just below me,

Between the chair and the floor.

And the space above me up to the ceiling of the room.

And then getting a sense of the location of my body within the space of the room.

And a sense of the presence of the body,

The physical living presence of the body within the room,

Within this awareness of the space around the body.

And as we allow the awareness to in a sense fill the space of the room or allow the space of the room to be within our awareness,

We may begin to get a sense of expansion and that can be associated with the awareness of the body.

So sometimes we can get a sense of expansion and that can be associated with the awareness of the body.

So sometimes you can feel like you're really big,

Like the body is really big.

And really that's just your awareness growing and expanding.

And because the body is at the centre of that awareness and because we started off by grounding ourselves in the body,

The sensations of the body,

The awareness of the body can be felt.

You can get that associated impression or feeling.

So to go further,

More open,

Wider,

Broader,

I find it really useful to connect next to the body.

Noticing the more obvious,

Obvious louder,

Closer sounds.

And I'm really particularly listening out for quiet and distant sounds.

Really allowing my awareness to really widen and open up.

So I can catch any distant sound,

However quiet or far away or occasional it might be.

Being open and alert,

Ready to catch any quiet or distant sound.

So I can hear occasional gusts of wind coming from outside.

That really helps me to get a sense of the space outside.

The open space of the sky and the movement of the air,

The wind in that space.

And as with the awareness of the space around the body in the room,

Being aware of the space all around me,

Below me and above me.

You don't need to visualize,

Although if that's helpful that's fine.

It's just a simple knowing,

Appreciation,

Awareness of the simple fact that all around me right now,

Right to the horizon,

All around and the sky above,

I am in this wide open space.

With the sounds just coming and going within that space.

There's two ways to experience yourself as awareness.

One is of being a center of awareness and the world and experiences happening outside of you and around you.

There's also another way where you can experience yourself as the awareness that is the unlimited open space within which the world and all your experience happens.

So be open to that possibility of experiencing yourself as the space within which all your experiences of this moment are occurring.

So just as all the sounds are happening within the silent space around you,

All my experiences,

What I can hear,

My thoughts,

My feelings,

Even those distant sounds are all occurring inside within my awareness,

My open,

Empty,

Silent awareness.

And allowing everything to be just as it is within my awareness.

Not just the things outside of my control like the sounds,

The environment around me,

Also my thoughts,

My feelings,

My breath,

My body,

Allowing all of these things which I do have some control over,

I could choose to affect,

Also allowing all of those things to also be just as they are within my open,

Empty awareness.

So this second stage of the meditation is really developing and enjoying this feeling of spaciousness.

There's no boundary,

There's no limit to awareness.

Limits and boundaries are properties of the contents of my awareness but not of my awareness itself.

And again allowing that sense of ease and being,

No striving,

No expectation,

No effort to change anything.

Settling into,

Relaxing into this natural sense of spaciousness.

It's simply the environment that I find myself in in this moment surrounded by spaces.

The space that's already there,

It's not something that I'm creating or having to maintain,

It just exists.

So allowing everything to happen moment by moment just as it is within my awareness.

So moving on to the third and final part of the meditation is to see if we can remain in this experience of being,

Within this experience of spaciousness,

This experience of being the space within which everything is happening.

And then seeing how we can experience the body from this place.

And see if that's a different experience to perhaps what we would normally have.

Normally we tend to identify with the body or at least feel like we are inside the body,

Inside the head.

If we maintain this open awareness and the experience of everything happening within our awareness,

That includes the body.

So gently bringing my attention back to the body.

See if I can just keep hold of that sense of natural,

Effortless openness and emptiness.

And experience the whole body as being within that open space.

Almost getting a sense of the body floating within the empty space of my awareness.

So I'm very,

Very close to the body,

Very aware of the body,

Very sensitive to all the sensations of the body.

But I am not the body,

I am experiencing the body,

I am the experiencer.

So I'm holding the whole body within my awareness.

Allowing the whole body to be just as it is.

One useful little trick I like to use is to get a sense that the centre of my awareness,

The centre of this space,

Is just behind the body,

Just behind the head.

Or even behind the chest,

Behind the back.

So the body is very close,

Directly in front of me,

But not of me.

So I'm holding the body very close to the centre of my awareness,

Just in front,

The whole body just in front of the centre of my awareness.

So I've let go of the body completely,

And yet I'm very close to the body.

The feeling of being both inside and outside of the body.

Being in the same space as the body,

But not being of the body.

So I'm going to leave a few minutes of silence without commentary before we finish.

And just to give myself time to really just relax into this experience of being and of spaciousness,

And feeling the relationship of the body to that open,

Empty awareness,

Spaciousness.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So just another couple of moments before we bring the meditation to a close.

Just relaxing into the present,

Relaxing into that sense of an open awareness,

Allowing the body just to be as it is,

Just as you find it now within your awareness.

Thank you.

Okay,

So let's bring the meditation to a close.

Take a few deeper breaths,

Really feel the breath in the body,

Bring a bit of movement back into your hands and feet.

Maybe have a bit of a stretch,

Feeling the weight of the body,

The contact with the chair,

The floor.

And when you're ready,

You can open your eyes.

Reviews

Wonderful thank you 🙏🏻

So good! Thank you

That was very pleasant. I will be coming back to this. Thank you 🙏🏾

Terrific practice. Simple and gentle guidance. At one point, I felt as though a rope was connected to the middle of my spine pulling me backwards away from the earth. It was rather enjoyable.

I am so grateful for this. Every once in a while, I get so overstimulated a nd busy and stressed at work, that I become dissociated from my body and center. Thank you for walking me back. It takes discipline to stay in the present and the body.

I really enjoyed this guidance and will happily try it again . Thank you

I did not realise that the medication finished. It was divine as my self-awareness felt so good and connected with my body and mind. I zenned into the present moment listening to Stephen and my body felt completely relaxed - the space created felt unbelievably sensational and grounded. I shall practise this again and again - a truly extraordinary conscious state to start another new day 💫👌🏻. Stephen, you are amazing 👍🏻✨❤️🙏🏻

Many thanks. Very nice instructions. ☮️💖🙏