Researchers from the United States (Marina Weiler and David Acunzo) and Brazil (Raphael Casseb) took on an ambitious task: to confirm the phenomenon of leaving the body in laboratory conditions. To do this, the authors built on research developments on another phase state – lucid dreams. Since the 1970s, eye signals have remained the gold standard for confirming lucidity in a dream.
The scientists recruited three volunteers who claimed to have long out-of-body experiences. However, none of them had previously intentionally tried to have such experiences in the laboratory. They noted that they were distracted by noise, light, and even the abundance of objects in the room. As a result, only one of the participants succeeded, demonstrating eye movements recorded by instruments to indicate she had left her body.
The techniques used by the participants generally included:
– muscle relaxation
– induced body vibrations
– manipulated breathing (some breathed slowly and deeply, and some held their breath)
The woman who succeeded added visualization, imagining her exit from her body and a specific destination point.
The authors note that this was a pilot study. Of course, the sample size should be larger in later studies. But the question arises: How does this differ from the usual testing of lucid dreamers (apart from the fact that the dream plot was an out-of-body experience)?
For you, are lucid dreaming and out-of-body experiences the same state or different states?
The preprint of the article was published in June 2024 on ResearchGate.
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