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Voyager - April
2008 A complete approach to understanding the out-of-body experience (OBE) phenomenon
Sandie Gustus, International
Academy of Consciousness One of the common paradoxes of the fascinating world of the paranormal is that among the naturally gifted practitioners … the psychics, clairvoyants and mediums, few have a comprehensive understanding of the technical aspects and mechanisms of the phenomena they experience and control; whereas among the parapsychologists who are working towards understanding the scientific theory of the paranormal, few have had actual, personal experience of the phenomena they are studying. Yet surely our best chance of unravelling the mysteries of the paranormal lies in combining the theory of a rational scientific approach with the invaluable knowledge gained through practical, first-hand experience. This common-sense realization is the driving force behind the work of the International Academy of Consciousness (IAC), a global, non-profit organization dedicated to the investigation the consciousness. The word ‘consciousness’ is used here as a synonym for the soul or spirit, or simply, your awareness. The IAC is both a research and educational organization. The work of the IAC is quite unique in that it combines knowledge gained through the extensive psychic experiences of its founders, members, volunteers, instructors, students and others, with scientific research. While the IAC is interested in all aspects of the consciousness including its attributes, properties, characteristics, the phenomena it can produce and its lives, it is particularly interested in its capacity to manifest outside of the physical body, as it does during an out-of-body experience (OBE, astral travel, conscious projection) and when it is between two physical lives. During an out-of-body experience (OBE), the astral body separates from the physical body and has experiences in non-physical dimensions.
The IAC adopts an ethical approach to its teaching methods. In all of its offices around the world, students are encouraged not to believe what they hear in the classes. Rather, they are shown how to develop their own parapsychic abilities and have their own direct, personal experiences of the non-physical elements of existence that lie beyond what they can perceive with their physical senses. Training to induce Out of Body Experiences This aspect of students’ training is achieved through a variety of practical exercises and classes which make up a key component of the IAC’s core course, the Consciousness Development Programme (CDP), a 40-hour course which is divided into 4 modules. Students are taught and regularly practice several techniques for mastering their bioenergy (chi, prana), for example. The reason emphasis is given to understanding and controlling bioenergy is because you need to know what your own energies are like in order to know what’s happening around you energetically. For example, what thoughts, emotions or ailments are all yours and what thoughts, sentiments, or ailments have you picked up from someone else through the process of energetic exchange? This is the key to parapsychism – being able to discern if someone is influencing you with their energy or if you have been affected by the energy of a certain place or even by the thoughts and sentiments of non-physical individuals.
Students are taught 15 other efficient techniques for producing OBEs during the CDP and six practical classes are entirely dedicated to practicing these under the guidance of experienced, qualified instructors. These classes are preceded by theory classes in which students are taught about the sensations they can expect to experience when trying to leave the body, how to achieve a good level of awareness outside of the body, how to distinguish an OBE from a dream and other altered states of consciousness, and how to recall the experience when they return to the normal, waking state. Common fears are also addressed, enabling participants to relax, approach their attempts to leave the body with confidence, and optimize their chances of success. Most importantly, students are informed of the numerous benefits and positive consequences of being able to experience their awareness independently of the physical body so as they can understand why they would want to learn how to produce lucid OBEs at will. The benefits of this unique phenomenon include:
Students are also encouraged to confirm their experiences out of the body. There are several ways in which this can be done. If you think you are having an OBE, for example, but are not sure, hold up your hands in front of your body and try to pass one hand through the other. If you are able to do this, you can assume that you are projected as permeability (the ability to pass through material objects) is a property of your astral (non-physical) body. (Such an action is unlikely to happen in a dream, as when a person is dreaming he is passive, not active, meaning, he cannot control his experiences, exercise his will or decide what he wants to do). A more definitive way to confirm your experiences out of the body is to try to capture information from the physical dimension while you are projected that you can later corroborate when you have returned to the normal, physical waking state. Instructors at the IAC often give students an opportunity to practice confirming their experiences by writing a word or drawing a symbol on the whiteboard in the classroom between classes. Students are instructed to try to project to the classroom overnight, before returning to class the next day, to see what has been written on the board. I did this one evening with a group of students and the following morning, one of them, Victoria Southam of Warwick, met a friend with whom she was taking the course and showed her the word she had written down when she woke up that morning, having clearly recalled successfully projecting to the classroom during the night. When they later entered the classroom together they saw the word on the board ... ‘WILL’. It was the same word Victoria had written on her piece of paper. This is technically known as a confirmed projection – one of the best kinds to have! You can easily recreate such an experiment by asking someone you know to leave an object on their desk at work or dining room table in their house overnight for you to try to come and see. Another easy method is to take a pack of playing cards, shuffle it well and choose one card without looking at it. Stick it facing outwards (using blu-tack or double-sided tape) to your bedroom window. Your target then is to project to the other side of the window and to read the card. If you think you may have had a projection and seen the card, when you wake up you can take it down and confirm whether or not you perceptions were correct. In recognition of the value of the cathartic, sometimes life-changing effects that often result from experiencing lucid OBEs and some other paranormal phenomena, the IAC is in the process of constructing a research campus on a greenfield site of approximately 25 acres near the town of Évoramonte in the Alentejo region of Portugal. A key feature of the campus is a series of laboratories whose architectural, psychological, energetic, physical and non-physical elements are harmonized in order to reduce interference from the environment and to enhance opportunities for interaction between the physical and non-physical dimensions. This specialized arrangement of the physical, non-physical and energetic elements creates a multi-dimensional chamber that provides interested individuals with opportunities to have their own experiences of non-physical realities both in and outside the body. Everyone is welcome. New Laboratories The construction of the laboratories is well underway. Among those already in use is the world’s first Projectarium, a spherical laboratory purpose-built to facilitate lucid OBEs. Inside the Projectarium, the experimenter lies with his head positioned on a platform in the centre of the sphere. This optimizes his sense of freedom as he experiences the sensation of being suspended in a void. Another laboratory, completed in 2007, is designed to facilitate the experience of cosmoconsciousness, a phenomenon that has been studied by many of the world’s traditional and non-traditional religions and that is the benchmark of enlightenment against which all other spiritual experiences are measured. [Other terms used to describe cosmoconsciousness include cosmic consciousness, the projection of the mental body, nirvana (Buddhism), satori (Zen), and samadhi (yoga)]. Cosmoconsciousness is experienced through the mental body which is a vehicle or body of the consciousness that is more evolved and subtle than the astral body, and occurs in a dimension in which is totally liberated from form, space, time, vibratory frequencies and all other limitations. The experience is commonly reported as promoting a profound sense of peace, harmony and understanding of everyone and everything in the universe. Other laboratories planned for the Campus include:
The President of the IAC, Wagner Alegretti, explained what the organization is aiming to achieve with the construction of the campus in Europe. “The importance of building the campus is to provide interested and open-minded people with infrastructure that can help them with their own self-research. The facilities are being constructed with the purpose of creating an environment in which the buildings don't interfere with the experiment but rather, optimize the researcher's experiences. Aside from the more obvious considerations such as the acoustics, shock-proofing, heating, cooling, lighting and energetic conditions, attention is also being given to aspects such as the shape of the laboratories. The spherical shape, a more natural or organic form, means, besides other things, there are no corners or other points upon which to fix one’s gaze – helping people to disconnect from the physical environment and to open themselves to perceiving the more subtle non-physical dimension. In other words, no stone has been left unturned when considering how to create the most favourable environment for participants to experience multidimensional realities. The IAC Campus as a whole will be a think tank for multidimensionality.” © Sandie Gustus, International Academy of Consciousness 2008
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The aim behind
all IAC activities is to help all who are interested to deepen their knowledge
of the OBE and a wide range of related subjects such as interaction with
non-physical beings, non-physical dimensions, psychic awareness and protection,
energetic control, the period between lives, recall of past lives, premonition,
clairvoyance, telepathy, intuition, synchronicity, karma, the evolution of the
consciousness … the list goes on. This is achieved through a range of courses
that focus on demystifying paranormal phenomena and clarifying the
misconceptions often related to them. The result is that participants end up
with a complete understanding of how the physical and non-physical elements of
existence interact, and how they can control and benefit from various psychic
and paranormal phenomena themselves. 
Ideally, the
aim is to achieve a level of mastery of our energies that allows us to be so
sensitive that we can always know what is going on around us energetically but
not be affected by any of it, unless we choose, consciously and willingly, to
connect with a particular type or quality of energy. Mastery of energies also
greatly facilitates a person’s ability to produce lucid OBEs. 
Sandie
Gustus is an instructor and responsible for the Marketing & Communications at
the London office of the International Academy of Consciousness (IAC). She has
just completed the first book for the general reader interested in
parapsychology, personal development and contemporary spirituality based on the
exceptional work of Dr. Waldo Vieira, one of the world’s foremost consciousness
researchers (as cited by Who’s Who in the 21st Century). For details of IAC
courses, including free introductory seminars and the Consciousness Development
Program, information on IAC books, videos and the Campus Friends Programme, and
the contact details of your nearest office, visit:
