An out-of-body experience (OOBE) is a state in which a person’s consciousness experiences complete separation from the physical body – while maintaining clear, awakened perception. It is one of the most transformative experiences a person can encounter. One problem: the vast majority of people who try to achieve it consciously fail. There is, however, an alternative – a method that almost anyone can successfully use – and that is what this article is about.

What Is OOBE and Why Can’t So Many People Achieve It?

OOBE (exteriorization) is an experience in which consciousness perceives the world from a perspective unbound by the physical body. People who have experienced it report sensations of levitation, seeing their own body from the outside, and moving through space without the constraints of matter.

My first experience of this kind happened in 1997 – spontaneously, without any preparation. The stunning realization that one can exist outside the material shell permanently changed the way I perceive reality.

But achieving OOBE on demand is an entirely different story. Through years of intensive practice – daily attempts, specific positions, and relaxation techniques – my success rate averaged roughly one genuine experience every two weeks of regular effort. And I was in a relatively good position. Most people never reach that level.

Why is OOBE so difficult to induce consciously? It requires a precise state on the threshold between sleep and waking – exceptionally hard to maintain. It consumes enormous amounts of energy and time. It is vulnerable to disruption by the mind and emotions. There is no single method that works for everyone. Even experienced practitioners can rarely induce it at will.

Can You Explore Non-Physical Reality Without Classical OOBE?

Yes – and this answer changed the direction of my years-long practice. After working with OOBE for years, I began searching for a method that would let me access non-material reality more frequently and effectively – without having to go through the energy-intensive and capricious process of separating consciousness from the body.

That’s when I discovered Bruce Moen – a researcher who faced exactly the same problem.

What Are Mental Journeys According to Bruce Moen?

Bruce Moen had participated in Robert Monroe’s workshops – the pioneer of OOBE research and author of the famous trilogy Journeys Out of the Body. Monroe’s classical technique simply didn’t work for him.

He discovered something intriguing, however: he was able to perceive the same reality described by people in an OOBE state – by focusing his mind on it, without leaving the physical body. Moen’s method – described in his books and taught in workshops – involves mentally focusing on the target being explored while maintaining contact with physical reality. It is significantly less energy-intensive than classical OOBE and theoretically accessible to a much broader range of people.

I attended his workshops. I practiced on my own. And I discovered something Moen hadn’t resolved in a satisfying way.

Why Mental Journey Methods Have a Critical Flaw

Mental journeys carry one fundamental problem that is practically disqualifying for many people: there is no way to distinguish genuine perception from the activity of your own imagination.

When you know something about a topic – when you have knowledge, expectations, preconceptions – your mind rapidly begins to fill the space. And it does so with such fluidity, so convincingly, that it becomes virtually impossible to determine: am I actually seeing this, or am I only imagining what I expect to find?

And yet this is the fundamental question behind all exploration of non-physical reality. The whole point is to discover – not to confabulate.

This obstacle led me further – to a method that solves this problem structurally.

What Is Remote Viewing and Why Is It the Most Effective Alternative to OOBE?

Remote Viewing is a method of extrasensory perception originally developed for U.S. intelligence programs during the Cold War. Its uniqueness lies in being designed to exclude the operation of imagination and guesswork – at the protocol level itself.

Two pillars underpin Remote Viewing’s effectiveness:

1. The Blind Target Principle
The perceiver doesn’t know what the session will concern. They receive only a multi-digit reference number that someone else has assigned to the target. There is no way to guess, speculate, or engage imagination – because there is no clue from which to begin. Either extrasensory perception reaches the target – or it doesn’t. Results can be verified. This radically changes the rules of the game.

2. Working in Tandem and in Groups
In a Remote Viewing session, the perceiver works with a Monitor – a person who asks neutral, non-suggestive questions and does not reveal the target. Only after the session concludes is the target revealed and the description verified. When several people from a group independently work on the same target, and their accounts match in key points – we have strong, objective evidence that the perception concerned something real. Not the product of one person’s imagination.

How Do the Three Methods Compare?

What Really Sets Remote Viewing Apart from All Other Methods of Exploration?

After many years of working with various forms of extrasensory perception, I’ve reached a conclusion that rarely appears in popular literature on the subject.

The problem with most methods doesn’t lie in the technique – it lies in the epistemology. That is, in the question: how do I know that what I’m perceiving is real?

OOBE provides a subjective sense of certainty – that is a great strength of the method. But that certainty is internal and inaccessible to others. Mental journeys offer no such certainty at all. Remote Viewing is the only method that builds intersubjective certainty – allowing many independent observers to confirm the same target.

This means Remote Viewing is not simply “an easier version of OOBE.” It is a fundamentally different epistemology for investigating non-physical reality – a method that moves exploration from the realm of personal experience into the realm of shared, verifiable discovery.

This is precisely why I work with groups rather than only individually. In a group Remote Viewing session, something happens that no solitary practice can offer: the collective building of knowledge about a reality that exists independently of each of us individually.

Sources and Scientific Research Worth Exploring

• The Monroe Institute – institute researching altered states of consciousness and out-of-body experiences: monroeinstitute.org
• Dean Radin, Real Magic (2018) – meta-analysis of research on paranormal phenomena by a scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS): noetic.org
• Stargate Project – declassified CIA documents on the Remote Viewing program: cia.gov/readingroom
• Journal of Scientific Exploration – peer-reviewed journal publishing research on consciousness and extrasensory perception: journalofscientificexploration.org
• Robert Monroe, Journeys Out of the Body – classic OOBE literature, the reference point for the entire field

FAQ

Are OOBE and astral travel the same thing? In practice, these terms are often used interchangeably. OOBE (Out of Body Experience) is the more widely used, scientific, and neutral term describing the experience of perception outside the physical body. Astral travel comes from occultist and theosophical traditions and assumes the existence of an “astral body.” Both describe a similar subjective experience but differ in their interpretive framework.

Why is OOBE so difficult to induce consciously? Classical OOBE requires maintaining consciousness in an extremely narrow window on the threshold between sleep and waking – energy-intensive and vulnerable to disruption. Most attempts end in either falling asleep or waking up, rarely in something in between. This isn’t a matter of lacking predisposition; it’s the exceptional difficulty of the process itself.

Does Remote Viewing completely replace OOBE? No – these are two separate categories of experience. OOBE provides a unique sense of existing outside the body, which Remote Viewing doesn’t replicate. Remote Viewing is, however, a more effective method for exploring and studying non-physical reality, accessible to a much broader range of people and offering built-in result verification mechanisms.

Does Remote Viewing require special predispositions or talent? No. Remote Viewing was developed precisely because classical extrasensory perception methods were too dependent on individual predispositions. The Remote Viewing protocol is designed to work independently of prior “talent” – and this is one of its greatest advantages.

How does group Remote Viewing differ from solo practice? In group work, several people investigate the same target independently. Overlapping elements in their accounts provide strong confirmation of objective perception – something impossible to achieve in solo practice. This is especially important when studying non-material targets that can’t be verified by simple means.

Jakub Qba Niegowski – Extrasensory Awareness Development Specialist

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