Our Amygdala: The Astral Projection Switch?
I'm always curious about how the physical body, especially the brain, behaves during projection, conscious or otherwise. As I've mentioned on my site, it appears the following occurs during a projection:
- Pulse and heart rate drop (this is also present in spontaneous projections when laughing gas is used)
- Body temperature is lowest (thus reducing heat which causes energy resulting in magnetism which keeps us in)
- Brain signals become slow and long which reduce electricity in the brain
- Breathing is slower which sends less oxygen to the brain. You might think the brain, compared to the body, doesn't account for much blood circulation, but because of the high energy demand of the brain, oxygen delivery and blood flow to this organ is quite large. Although the brain's weight is only 2% of the body's, its oxygen consumption rate is 20% of the body's, and blood flow 15%.

We could probably deduce that the brain is the last to separate from the physical because most of our energy is generated there through electricity in the form of nerve impulses called "action potentials". This also means if we want a conscious projection, we must quell activity in the head through control of breathing and body/brain interaction. I don't say "thought processes" because I think as long as we're not sending signals to our body such as "I'm hungry, I'm cold, I'm afraid" we can still "think" and induce the hypnagogic state. I used to believe that "thinking" itself was a hindrance, but most of us fall asleep with thoughts on our mind. As long as it's not accompanied with worry or our thoughts are not excessive, we should be okay. We also think continually in the astral and this doesn't noticeably bring us back to our physical shells, unless the body itself is calling for us.

So where's the trigger? When does consciousness shift from the physical plane to the subtle? Is it more easily reproducible?

This led me to further investigations into the brain, and primarily, the frontal lobes. This is where 90% of our brain is untapped to conscious use. What activities do the frontal lobes perform that we know of? Laughter, listening to music and our emotions to name a few. These fall into the higher cognitive functions of the mind. The back part of the brain, sometimes called the "reptilian" portion is responsible for our survival instincts.

This led me to a fascinating article by Neil Slade from Dormant Brain Lab. They claim, through years of medical research, that the "amygdala" (pronounced ah-MIG-doll-uh) is located in the frontal lobes and can be voluntarily "clicked forward" to automatically trigger emotional highs, nirvana, bliss, and yes..... astral projection!

Neil Slade does what he calls "Brain Travel" by clicking his amygdala forward. He states, "it is an elementary thing to switch on the remote/astral travel components of your brain, which reside primarily in the frontal lobes. Both Eric and I have been doing this for decades, myself having learned this skill at the age of 18 from a master of meditation."

Neil states that during sleep, our reptilian brain ego function is at its lowest point of control which allows our frontal lobes to take over. This happens during REM sleep (and this is also what I said under my sleep article; that we shouldn't mimic sleep, but REM sleep!) He also states that "during sleep, our brain's electrochemical currents are allowed free access to the frontal lobes- precisely because our amygdalae are clicked forward out of reptilian self-preservation circuits".

Now you might think, "who is this Neil guy?" Although his writing is very humorous and flashy (he states that humor is a sign of frontal lobe activity, hence of a "higher" nature) he's got the credentials.

Here's a bit of background on Neil:

"Neil Slade attended Metropolitan State College, the University of Colorado, and the University of Denver, and graduated Magna cum laude in 1978. He was assistant to Brain and Behavior Researcher T.D.A. Lingo, Ph.B, B.Sci. M.A., for 11 years at Colorado's Dormant Brain Research and Development Laboratory, established by director Lingo in 1957. Since December 1997, Neil has been a regular guest on the internationally broadcast Art Bell Coast to Coast radio program. This included a record 4 appearances in one month with an estimated audience of 15-20 million listeners for each interview and live audience question and answer session. Neil has recorded and released 8 albums of original music, and has written and published three books on learning, creativity, and the brain."

And his credential go on!

The amygdala is not something he made up or was coined by Dormant Brain Lab. The amygdala can be easily referenced in any medical brain material. It was first established in the scientific community by brain researchers Jose Delgado of Yale University, James Olds and Peter Milner of the Montreal Neurological Institute, and Dr. Robert Heath of Tulane University Medical School.

So here we are. We know the brain creates energy, that during REM sleep that energy is reduced, and that electrochemical currents switch from the reptilian "survival" mode to the "highly cognitive" frontal lobes. So the switch, it seems, is pointing the amygdala from back to front. Neil offers insight on his webpage for clicking your amygdala forward at will, but I also invested the $20 dollars and bought one of his books. I'll let you know how it goes...

I don't usually promote particular products, as I don't want to be perceived as spamming. In this case I'll make a qualified exception. Here are a few thoughts:

Neil Slade was the assistant to T. D. A. Lingo who was the man who ran a kind of brain study retreat. Lingo did some college lectures, but never really promoted his work by writing books.

Lingo died and Neil Slade has written several books to pass on the knowlege.

If you go to Neil's website, be prepared for some self promotion. The guy is definately trying to sell some books (most $15 us). He also sells music cds. I know many people here at ATS are turned off by the slightest scent of the profit motive. That is why I want to let you know that there is something of value here.

He sells several books. If you have any interest, check out the first one:

The Frontal Lobes Supercharge (8.5 X 11, paperback, 121 pages).

The book is written in a very simple style, is very repetitive, and is very enthusiastic. At first glance it seems simplistic.

The truth (IMO) is that the core teaching is very simple, but also very powerful. I say this not because I believe it will deliver all the outrageous benefits he claims (psychic experiences, etc.). I say this because it teaches a practical system of reinforcing positive, healthy thinking and escaping negative unproductive thoughts. My first respose after I tried it was, "How come nobody taught me this as a kid?"

To sum up, I recommend the book as a psychological self-help book. If you are looking for para-normal experiences, you might do well to look elsewhere for something more tailored to that end.

Give ya an example of a somewhat psychic and higher conciousness experience can do that some of you might laugh at or try to put it in a box and explain it scientifically.

A few days ago I got back from a trip to visit my dad. We have always had this sort of surface relationship since the time I was age 6-to-present day(38). He was what you called a Disney land dad as some of you that come from divorce families might be familiar with. In his last cycle of life 73 to when he passes, he has become more honest with who he is and showing me this openly. He apologized several times for all the promises he had broken to me and I could tell it hurt him deeply and wanted to make amends. It did not effect me until 2 days when I returned home when I was sharing this with someone else. I began crying at one of the most deepest levels I have ever cried before because I could see the pain in me was the pain in him. After I had been shaking and crying for 20 minutes I felt a sense of peace come over me and it began to rain outside very lightly. It was as if heaven cried with me and rejoiced at my breakthrough. I believe we are much more than what we have been told and I believe this may be a form of this frontal lobe stimulation and spiritual connectivity to higher states of conciousness.

All I know is it was a awesome feeling almost as if God had touched me and called me son.

I wonder how many of us on the planet are carrying that kind of pain and even greater as we dress it up in intellectualism, cover it with our careers, always running and trying to collect as much as we can(materialism) almost as if we are running from something. I believe there will come a day when we all fall on our knees before a Holy Presence and confront this and realize how silly we had all been in our pettiness. I still have a long ways to go.

So far my experience with it has been very positive. Unfortunately I don't have as much time as I would like to dedicate to it. As for what I noticed by trying it briefly for a couple of days was that my dreams were very weird and I was in a good mood. It definately helps with creativity and makes you look at things with a very different perspective on things.

Let me know if any of your experiences with this or if you know of some other cool tricks!

There is no doubt in my mind that such things work -- how could they not? -- but I would be interested in more specific, personal experiences with this particular method myself.

I am glad that a thread already exists, and a very fine thread it is (with the exception of calling such procedures "tricks", which I find very annoying), so I'll just resuscitate this one.
It could serve a double purpose, showing people the level of writing and interaction that once ruled here.

Could someone sum up these 5 techniques. I don't feel like wading through pages of fluff for something that can be summed up in 1 line.

When "tickling" the amygdala, should one feel as if the blood in the brain is being pushed to the front lobes?

Or am I doing something wrong?

Originally posted by PatriciusCaesar
When "tickling" the amygdala, should one feel as if the blood in the brain is being pushed to the front lobes?

Or am I doing something wrong?

Since you're laughing, my guess is.... probably not. :-)

Seriously, it does feel somewhat like what you describe, only I would describe it more as pressure (but of a good kind). More specificallyy, pressure DOWNWARDS.
It's awesome. I mean this literally. It is awe-some, the power over reality that it has.

However, I use a totally different technique -- probably to the same effect as Slade's, though - but it is almost impossible to explain, because it is a mental thing (a "command"), and it woud take a very similar mental make-up for anyone to understand what I mean. I don't even like to call it a "technique".

I hope others who have used Slade's technique come forward.