When I first started on the spiritual path, I tried to learn how to meditate. But the instructions were to “not think of anything”. Yeah, right! Ironically, the first time I astral traveled occurred when I was trying to meditate.
It was about 1991 and my husband and I lived in Brisbane, Australia. We had a housemate from Wisconsin: Sam. Dave, the owner of the home, had swapped jobs/houses/cars with Sam. Dave worked at the bus transport department in Brisbane and Sam had a similar job in Wisconsin. So, quiet, gone-nearly-every-weekend, bike-riding, nature-boy Dave, was replaced by Sam.
From an Australian’s perspective, Sam was the epitome of the Type-A, loud, Hawaiian-shirted “Yank” – that’s Australian slang for someone from the U.S.A. Sam was a sweetheart though and we often think of him now.
It happened that I had some time while I was waiting for Sam to come home early from work so I could take him to the airport. I sat in the living room, reading Chris Griscom’s book, Time is an Illusion and thought, innocently enough, that I would take a break from reading and meditate, or more accurately: I would try to meditate.
I closed my eyes and relaxed a little bit and tried. Nothing. Actually “nothing” would have been the point, so I think it was more like, “lots of something”, i.e. lots of mental chatter. So, since Chris talks a bit about astral traveling spontaneously when she was a child, I thought, “Well, if I can’t mediate, then I’ll try to astral travel.”
No sooner had I thought that, than I found myself shooting straight up out of my body. My consciousness was aware of the high velocity and I could vaguely see I was shooting up into space. I had read astral travel books and thought, “I should be able to control this” and thought to slow down. I was hearing the celestial music – the music of the spheres – which was incredible. But nothing slowed.
All of a sudden I started shooting back down. And again, I thought to try to slow it down, but the speed continued and I popped into my body. I opened my eyes and there was Sam. Standing near me, dressed in his jogging clothes, sweating and holding a can of Coke and rocking side to side a bit on the balls of his running shoes. His usual thing to do after a run.
I became aware that my body was paralyzed. My head worked though and I said to Sam, “I can’t move my body.” True to Sam’s lighthearted nature, he said, “Well, that’s what you get for reading those books!”
With that, a moment later, I was aware of being in this place and time, in my body and it worked fine. Sam wasn’t home from work yet.
What had happened? I think I became aware in an alternate reality. But why? Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had ‘accepted’ that reality. Would I have moved to a different time-line? A different reality? A better one, or a worse one?
Now, 20 years later, I am still learning how to meditate! How is a beginner on a spiritual path supposed to figure out how to meditate?
I was reminded of my struggles in learning how to meditate by a post an 18-year-old made on David Wilcock’s site, Divine Cosmos, saying she knows she needs to “get in tune with my higher self” and was asking what to do. I thought a bit about how I might reply to her and the first thing that came to mind was Jasmuheen’s free 200-page Embassy of Peace Training Manual. (It’s a PDF File, Click Here to Download it.)
Her manual is a fantastic introduction to the spiritual journey. She emphasizes an 8-point daily practice she calls the “Luscious Lifestyles Program” which can be applied by anyone, regardless of their belief system. Jasmuheen teaches meditation via her manual and the supporting videos. She has an extensive video collection on YouTube. Beyond just learning how to meditate, her manual guides you to live so that you get more in touch with, what she calls, your DOW or Divine Oneness Within.
The best part is that Jasmuheen is a being who walks her talk. She has been asking for guidance since she was 7-years-old, meditating since she was 16 and has now been living on light for over 10 years (meaning that food is not needed, and rather a conscious choice for her). Her manual teaches how to live a lifestyle that brings greater harmony to our own field by becoming physically fit, emotionally fit, mentally fit and spiritually fit, thus better interacting with and supporting the Universal field.
Aside from her Free Manual, she has a book, available as a printed book or an e-book, called Meditation Magic. It features 30 of her meditations to help beginners and advanced meditators.
Here is Jasmuheen’s video, Meditation Magic: