Boba Rhett Posted January 7, 2002 Share Posted January 7, 2002 I found this article a little while ago. It talks about the phenominon known as Atral travel. A very great thing if you've ever done it. Quite a rush. I know it's kind of a long read but it's a very interesting one and worth it too! The bold text is the really really interesting parts. Astral travel The sleep cycle of higher vertebrates, people included, is a complex physiological process that requires coordination between a number of bodily systems, with fairly well-defined "stages" in the cycle. One essential part of this process is the serotonin-mediated control of a part of the brainstem sometimes called the Reticular Activating System (RAS). This little region acts primarily to paralyze our voluntary muscle movements when we sleep. Sleepwalking is what happens when this setup doesn't work right. Instead of being paralyzed, the commands given by the brain get acted out by the body. They've done experiments with cats that show this: destroy the RAS, and the cat will run around, hiss, snarl, and pounce on imaginary things while in REM sleep--the same sort of stuff a human sleepwalker might do (if they acted like a cat, of course). They've also done experiments on cats where they alter the serotonin levels so that the reverse takes place: the cat is awake, but the RAS is functioning, so the animal is paralyzed. This is pretty obviously the counterpart to the common human phenomenon of "sleep paralysis." What isn't commonly appreciated is that sleep paralysis often is accompanied by visual/auditory sensations known as hypnagogic hallucinations. Added to that are related sensations from the body due to the body's attempts to supply feedback from paralyzed systems. So, your wide-awake brain tells your body "Okay, I'm getting up now," and sometimes you will actually feel the sensation of getting up and see appropriate images even though you haven't budged an inch or opened your eyes. Most of the time these hallucinations are brief and mundane--the feeling of sitting up in bed and answering a ringing phone, for instance, and about 10 seconds later waking up completely and realizing, "Oh, wow, that was weird!" Well, that sort of brief, mundane sensation can be prolonged and elaborated upon, and if it gets longer and more complex, it's called an "out of body experience" (OBE). Ever read Edgar Rice Burrough's "John Carter of Mars" books? This includes one of the earliest and best descriptions of a classic OBE in Western literature. In essence, it's just a trick of the brainstem, and can lead to absolutely amazing, intense, and realistic sensations of about anything you can imagine--by far the most incredible things you can experience without recourse to drugs. It's not all that hard to induce the state, though most of the time, like I said, it's very transitory, on the order of a few seconds to one or two minutes once the paralysis has set in. It's more common when you are in the process of falling asleep rather than waking. Personally I get the best results if I get up when I wake up normally, eat a leisurely breakfast, and go back to bed. The body doesn't need more sleep, but you trick it--the RAS kicks in but the sleep cycle does not. BINGO! I feel myself rise out of my body, pass through the walls, and start soaring through space (or whatever I choose to do). I've experimented quite a bit trying to succeed in "remote viewing," and like every other scientific test of the phenomenon, failed to produce any statistically significant correlation between things I viewed and reality. As much as I would love to be the person to win the Amazing Randi's million-dollar prize for demonstrating a real OBE, as much as I would love to believe in an astral plane and possible life beyond the confines of the body, I haven't been able to find any proof that this is anything but a quirk of human physiology. An entertaining quirk for sure, but nothing as mystical as most people who experience it claim.. It's too bad, in a way, that people should attach religious or quasi-religious significance to it, because that makes it hard to educate people about it, or do any legitimate scientific research about the phenomenon. Too dang bad those cats can't talk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idiot00001 Posted January 7, 2002 Share Posted January 7, 2002 Wow, very interesting. Where did you find this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TieDefender75 Posted January 7, 2002 Share Posted January 7, 2002 sometimes i do that! but its not like the example in the paragraph. i wake up in my dream and talk to my family. then i wake up and i am like"ok.....WHAT HAPPENED THERE!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogue15 Posted January 7, 2002 Share Posted January 7, 2002 it works best when you're sick... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tie Guy Posted January 7, 2002 Share Posted January 7, 2002 Interesting, but i've never had any of these wierd things your talking about happen to me. I guess i'm just normal... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artoo Posted January 7, 2002 Share Posted January 7, 2002 I have those every once-in-a-while, but never for moe than about a few seconds, and I never realized it either. But once it did trick me into thinking I had put socks on when I hadn't. I'll have to devlop this a little more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogue15 Posted January 8, 2002 Share Posted January 8, 2002 i had a dream once when the phone was ringing for real, i was standing near 2 phones, and had to decide which one was the phone that was ringing! i found out when i woke up, my principal called and that i didn't have to go to school that day!!! i guess i picked up the right phone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheJackal Posted January 8, 2002 Share Posted January 8, 2002 I've had a few sleep walking incidents when i was younger. It envolves going to the washroom... but not IN the washroom. i also have a few wierd dreams like me going to the bus stop, or a normal day at school or just a WIERD day at school were it is WW2 and Hitler has been replaced by Krusty the Clown from The Simpsons and everybody else (friends, g/f, teachers) have been replaced by movie stars. Yes I do get wierd dreams and I'm not the only one. My friend had one in which he, a couple of other friends and teacher (the funny kind one) and I were in a Soviet submarine attacking an Italien merchant ship. .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GB_StormTrooper Posted February 6, 2002 Share Posted February 6, 2002 I know this topic is very old, but I just read it... VERY intresting. thanks for the info Rhett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogue15 Posted February 7, 2002 Share Posted February 7, 2002 glad u brought this back up. Yesterday when i woke up, i felt completely DISORIENTED!!!!! it was weird, like the right side of my brain and the left side of my brain switched places!!! i was really dizzy too now THAT is weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artoo Posted February 7, 2002 Share Posted February 7, 2002 I've heard of that happening before. Sometimes you will dream and it will look like an abstract painting in motion and everything will be where it is not. This is supposed to mean that oyur brain is having trouble figuring out where things go. Can you get some more info on this Rhett? I think it's called mental disorientation, but I'm not sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sithcloak Posted February 8, 2002 Share Posted February 8, 2002 Very interesting. I know that I have both talked and walked in my sleep before. But, i never remember much. Sithcloak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tie Guy Posted February 8, 2002 Share Posted February 8, 2002 Well the only thing i know of thats remotely wierd about my sleep is that some times when my mom wakes me up she yells and so i say "OK, I'M UP!" and get a little angry. She tells me that she yelled because she had already called to me several times and i had told her that i was getting up each time. Yet, i don't remember saying anything at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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