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 amygdala 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...

For those interested, here is his link: http://www.neilslade.com/

Here are some drawings of the amygdala:
Amygdala (1)
Amygdala (2)
Amygdala (3)

To share this page: