by Mark Pitstick MA, DC

If you’ve not already, please read . . .

  1. ‘The Great News‘ (article #19 at SoulProof.com/Articles)
  2. ‘Eight Developments for Widespread Conscious Living Now’ (#125)
  3. Greater Reality LIVING Program: Integrating ‘The 8 Developments’ Into Your Daily Life (#72)
  4. Greater Reality HEALING Program: Journeying FROM Deeply Grieving TO Brightly Shining (#82)

The evidence-based information and holistic resources outlined in these articles will help you to:

  • realize your true nature as an eternal being of consciousness / life-force / energy 
  • receive guidance and assistance from highly evolved energies and Source / The Light
  • heal old wounds, release lower energies, and update erroneous teachings
  • create the greatest life YOU have envisioned (YOU = your higher self / soul)
  • help others by sharing your greatest gifts
  • make our world a better place

As enough people do this, widespread personal and planetary change will naturally unfold. 

 

Out of Body Experiences

Out of body experience (OBE) is a term referring to a person’s awareness leaving the body without being nearly dead.  This can occur spontaneously, in meditative states, and during intense situations such as childbirth or imminent danger.  OBEs can also be facilitated during techniques designed for that purpose.

OBEs provide personally meaningful experiences that consciousness exists independently of the brain.  There are also some documented aspects.  Experiencers have reported visiting distant places and sensing verifiable details.  Remote viewing, an accurate awareness of events and details in far-away places, has been investigated by the Stanford Research Institute.

My first out of body experience occurred at age 21 soon after I started meditating.  I laid on the grass on the first warm day of spring.  As I meditated, my sense of self – who I am – seemed to be a mile up in the sky.  I noticed that I couldn’t feel my arms or legs . . . so much so that I wasn’t at all sure they would be there if I opened my eyes.  After about 20 minutes of this wonderful experience, I felt my sense of who I am drift back into my body.  I was again aware of my limbs as I usually am.

OBEs can be subtle and brief.  They are a reminder that different states of consciousness are available, especially to those who stay alert for them.  Take a moment and consider whether you have had an experience in which ‘who you are’ didn’t seem so tied to your body.

Demonstrable physical effects during out of body experiences have been reported.  Robert Monroe, founder of the Monroe Institute and author of Journeys Outside of the Body, shared the following example.  To explore the effects of actions from afar, he gently pinched a friend who was visiting another country.  Later, he asked if she had experienced any unexplainable events.  She showed him a bruise where she had felt a rather forceful pinch.  Monroe realized his gentle effort had been too much.  To learn more, visit MonroeInstitute.org, and the Out of Body Experience Research Foundation (OBERF.org) of Jeffrey Long, MD and Jody Long, JD.

Several profound OBEs have occurred during Holistic Breathwork sessions I’ve led for many people in groups over the last 25 years.  This technique involves forty minutes of open-mouthed, noisy, uninterrupted, diaphragmatic breathing.  Different types of music and my coaching in the background serve to confound the brain and diminish the over-analyzing perceptual limitations.

For example, while doing the breathwork, a sixty-five-year-old female cried very hard for fifteen minutes while rolled up in a fetal position.  She then became so still and quiet that I checked to see if she was still breathing.  Afterward, I asked what she experienced.  While crying, she felt much sadness and loneliness that had been her companions since her husband, parents, and several pets changed worlds.  During the quiet time, however, she experienced visiting them.  She told our group: ‘I’m totally convinced that I really visited with them.  It wasn’t just a visualization.’  Based on my observations of her during the session, and her deep peace afterwards, I considered that to be quite likely.

As mentioned, intense emotions can trigger these experiences.  A ten-year-old girl who attended one of my workshops with her mother described an experience she had at age two.  Her mom left her with a babysitter for the first time and gave clear instructions to attend to the child if she cried.  The babysitter, however, ignored the crying child who eventually had a strange event.

Even though she couldn’t see out the window from her crib, the little one could see another version of herself on the sidewalk below.  This self-described other part of herself reassured the crying infant and said everything would be OK.  The child’s experience continued as her awareness floated into the living room and saw the babysitter there.  She remembered the babysitter’s appearance and the clothing she had on.  Her mother verified the facts later reported when the daughter could verbalize.  This ten-year-old seemed quite poised, calm, and wise beyond her years.

Shamanic and other indigenous spiritual practices can allow a person to experience life differently.  Of this work, Michael Harner, PhD – anthropologist and author of The Way of the Shaman – stated: “After having personally practiced shamanism, shamanic healing, and shamanic journeying for more than half a century, I can say that there is nothing I have encountered in reports of the spiritual experiences of saints, prophets, psychedelic drug experimenters, near death survivors, avatars and other mystics that is not commonly experienced when following classic journey methods using a drum.” (5)

Don, a longtime subscriber of my Soul Proof newsletter, shared the following.  In this case, the therapist used a shamanic-mediated state to obtain significant information.  “My father died when I was eleven months old, so I never really knew him.  I do have several of his possessions including a tennis racquet that he used.  I recently thought about where to store it and, during that time, I thought more and more about him.  I scheduled a session with a Catholic nun who is a psychotherapist and uses shamanic techniques.  My wife was with me.  The therapist asked if a loved one who had died might assist her in spirit during the session.  I gave her my dad’s name.  At the end of the session, she said my father’s spirit was present and he had a gift for me.  She described him holding out his hand with a tennis racquet in it!  It was an older version, she said, not one you would find in a sporting goods store today.  There was  absolutely no way that the nun knew about the tennis racquet – none!  I can only conclude that, somehow, my father was present and wanted to contact me with a sign that only my wife and I would understand.” (6)

Skeptics could say the psychotherapist read Don’s mind and picked up a meaningful experience about his dad.  They are correct; that is a possibility that has to be considered.  That’s why Don’s report is considered a firsthand experience – it couldn’t be clinically or scientifically evaluated.  However, hundreds of people have told me similar stories over the last 25 years.  The sheer number of these experiential events, and their lasting impact on the people involved is impressive.

I hope this introduction to OBEs helps you consider your own experiences in past.  This topic can also further open your mind to the exciting array of states of consciousness available during an earthly experience. 

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Thank you for telling others about this article!  Your life, and that of others around you, will be more enriched when you:  

  1. read the article again so you really know it.
     
  2. discuss with close family and friends to more deeply internalize it.
     
  3. take action steps that seem right for you.
     
  4. share it with others via social media, discussion groups, and other ways.

Hugs, love, blessings, and let it shine!
Mark

Mark Pitstick, MA, DC
author, lecturer, counselor, and holistic chiropractic physician; spokesperson, research assistant, and strategic planner for the SoulPhone Project; founder of Greater Reality Living, Healing, Helping, and Sharing Programs

SoulProof.com    SoulPhone.org   GreaterRealityPrograms.com

Mark Pitstick, MA, DC is a master’s clinical psychologist, holistic chiropractic physician, and clinical nutritionist.  He has also helped others in pastoral counseling and suicide prevention / education settings.  His goal is to help you know and show that this earthly experience is a totally safe, meaningful, and magnificent adventure amidst eternity. 

To learn more about the Greater Reality LIVING, HEALING, HELPING, and SHARING Programs, visit ‘Greater Reality Programs’ top tab at SoulProof.com and SoulPhone.org.  Also see  articles #19, 72, 82, 119, 122, and 125 at SoulProof.com/Articles.

SoulProof.com provides many FREE resources:

  • 8 e-books Radiant Wellness, Soul Proof, The Eleven Questions, Greater Reality Living, The Big Picture of Life, The Afterlife Evidence, Ask the Soul Doctor, and Shining Light Parents Speak
  • 10 audio programs Holistic Breathing; Afterlife Contact; Ask Your Soul, Angels, and The Light; Pre-Birth Planning; Identify and Fulfill Your Purposes AND Enjoy Your Greatest Life; Your Life Review; Appreciate, Realize, and Transform; Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness; Past Life Regression; Heal and Transform Your Suffering
  • 4 audio books (Greater Reality Living, Soul Proof, Radiant Wellness, and Shining Light Parents Speak; we don’t have control over the others)
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  • 25 Radio Shows: interviews with experts on consciousness, afterlife, and creating an optimal earthly experience. These include Wayne Dyer, Brian Weiss, Anita Moorjani, Raymond Moody, Michael Newton, Caroline Myss, and others. 
  • 27 Videos on different pages
  • Monthly newsletters (subscriber sign-up at bottom of each website page)

Instead of payment, he asks that you: (1) fully use and appreciate the products, (2) share them with others, and (3) help others in ways you feel called, that is, pay it forward.

The following are also available for a fee:

  • 8 printed books Radiant Wellness, Soul Proof, The Eleven Questions, Greater Reality Living, The Big Picture of Life, The Afterlife Evidence, Ask the Soul Doctor, and Shining Light Parents Speak
  • Coaching / Counseling Sessions with Dr. Pitstick by Zoom to gain answers to your biggest questions and holistic solutions to your toughest challenges.

Note: This article is intended as a reference source, not to replace professional treatment for physical, emotional, or mental problems.  The author disclaims any liability arising directly or indirectly from the voluntary use of action steps discussed in article. 

I created this article while ‘wearing the hat’ of a clinician, counselor, and educator.  My statements are based upon some scientific research; much clinical and experiential evidence; my personal experiences; and my best current understandings.  This program does not reflect my roles with the SoulPhone Project since those require solid scientific data for all statements.