Although these kinds of events can be quite interesting and arouse public curiosity, the intensiveness of training at one-time lectures is minimal since they are of more of an introduction to the phenomenon. They are to be considered a success if at least half the audience decides to simply attempt what they had been told about.

Unless you’re giving a free lecture to popularize the phenomenon or advertise a paid seminar, quite impressive sums are to be had giving talks to large groups, even if the cost of admission is relatively low and even after large expenses such as advertising, auditorium rental, and paying helpers (who are indispensable in case of audiences of 50 or more) are factored in. Let’s do the math: if you’re able to bring in 500 people at an admission price of 5% the average local monthly income, you’ll gross 25 times the latter figure. If even half that amount is spent on expenses and taxes, the net profit for one day’s work as an instructor will still amount to the yearly earnings for the man-in-the-street in that town. Meanwhile, 500 people will become potential practitioners, and many thousands more will learn about the phenomenon second-hand. As you can see, it’s worth a gamble – the risk of investing in the venture is justifiable.

It’s recommended that one accommodate those who are for one reason or another unable to pay full price for out-of-body travel and lucid-dreaming products and services. These aren’t simply techniques – they’re a path to self-actualization, which is something that cannot go hand-in-hand with "heartless capitalism".

This especially applies when it comes to certain groups of people: high school and university students, people unable to work due to disability, retirees, and repeat customers attending your training sessions over and over again. It’s sensible to offer or agree to give them substantial discounts or take them on free-of-charge. Youth and the otherwise able-bodied who would like discounts or free training might be offered the chance to work off their tuition. They might be tasked with putting up fliers or promoting the event online. People will usually happily agree to such an arrangement if they have no other way of paying.

You might also waive the admission fee for anyone who brings two or more "payers" along with him. That way he’ll get what he wants and you’ll come out ahead.

The most important thing that the instructor will have to battle when teaching analysis is people’s total lack of willingness to step up to the plate and search for mistakes. This is understandable: for many, this ability borders on fantastic – they are simply unable to believe that they are able to explain from day two why some attempts to enter out-of-body experience are successful and some aren’t. From their point of view, it’s as if you’ve asked them to try to explain the apparition of a religious figure. However, everything with out-of-body experience is usually self-evident and intuitive. That is to say, it is the task of the instructor to convince his students that they too can easily analyze their own attempts like professional practitioners. If the students leave the room without this conviction, their subsequent personal practices will be in jeopardy. After all, the success of a training session is measured in phase experiences that occur not only over the course of the seminar, but after it as well. Leaving people who have undergone training with you dependent on you for answers is borderline criminal. Although it might be unprofitable from a commercial point of view, the goal of these techniques & technologies is to create advanced practitioners, and not eternal novices who are always running to various “gurus” to ask their opinion on something or obtain an answer to a primitive question.

Instructors themselves are also often not always morally ready to give answers to every question or step up to the plate and look for mistakes. This is normal for a new instructor who still does not know that problems are always one and the same. It’s sufficient to analyze actual attempts to enter out-of-body experience a few dozen times to learn how to do it on the fly and not have to go into deep thought in order to see mistakes and shortcomings. Non-standard situations are quite rare. The fact that the great majority of mistakes are due to deviations from the instructions should give one added confidence when analyzing attempts to enter out-of-body experience. If the instructor himself gave those instructions, then it will be easy for him to see how well they have been complied with.

Terminology and Theory

The author maintains that experiences of all types in which a) consciousness is present and b) sensory information from the physical body is completely lacking but is replaced by realistic sensations from the phantom body are forms of one and the same phenomenon. That is to say, both consciousness while dreaming and experiencing an exit from the body are in this case one and the same, i.e. "out-of-body experience" or "phase state". This view is based on the author’s personal practice, having trained thousands of people, and a number of academic publications on the probable commonality of such phenomena.

Outside of the School of Out-of-Body Travel, a freely-practicing instructor is entitled to use whichever term he wishes to refer to the phenomenon of out-of-body experiences and lucid dreaming in his work. However, it should be kept in mind that propensity to use one term over another can betray the instructor’s point of view on the phenomenon, which might not coincide with the beliefs of his students, which would inevitably have an effect on both the size and composition of the group. It is therefore worth discussing the connotations of each term.

Lucid Dreaming In most cases, this is a pragmatic term that describes the phenomenon as a certain state that the brain enters. This is the term used for the phenomenon in science and academia. However, in certain mystical circles it can also be code for entering parallel worlds and dimensions. In some practices it is also believed that the "dream body" can travel throughout the physical world. This term does little to arouse the average person’s interest due to its unfortunate associations with ordinary dreaming.

Out-of-Body Experience This term usually means the exit of some essence or another (the soul, for example) from the confines of the body into either the physical world or a parallel one. Due to the fact that one’s sensory perception of the phenomenon often seems identical to the sensation of leaving the body, this term is also appropriate from a pragmatic perspective, whatever the real nature of the phenomenon may be.

Astral Projection This term most often implies the ability of some essence (e.g. the soul or astral body) to not only separate from the body and enter the astral plane, but also to enter the physical world or the world of dreams. This term, being the most mystical one, easily attracts people of corresponding views while repelling pragmatists.

out-of-body experience or Phase State This is the term that unites all other names for the phenomenon. This term does not imply a priori support for any theory regarding the phenomenon besides the fact that all of the terms it encompasses refer to one and the same phenomenon, which many people might not agree with, i.e. out-of-body experience = lucid dreaming = out-of-body travel = astral projection. Although out-of-body experience is the ideal term to use when giving lessons, it is ill-suited for advertising since only seasoned practitioners are familiar with it. It also lacks intuitiveness.

Besides being free to come up with his own name for the phenomenon, a freely-practicing instructor is also entitled to create his own terminology regarding all other facets of it. However, he should be aware that using idiosyncratic terminology could cause serious difficulties for his students in their individual practices. Meanwhile, the instructions in this book only use terms that are intuitively clear and non-idiosyncratic.

An instructor is entitled to subscribe to any point-of-view regarding theories on the nature of out-of-body experience phenomenon. Experience shows that such views are best kept to oneself when teaching. The right thing to do is to give people practical experience while leaving it up to them to decide what the true nature of the phenomenon is: a state the brain enters, an exit to a parallel dimension, or something else. Although the final decision is up to you, keep in mind that theorizing during training sessions distracts from real practical experience and constitutes imposition of your own worldview – a worldview which may turn out to be erroneous.

Being neutral when it comes to theories on the nature of out-of-body experience is not only the right approach to take when teaching, but it also allows you to have more students, as you can bring in both mystics and pragmatists. It also allows you to sidestep numerous misunderstandings, disputes, and bad feelings. Following this rule is especially important for those wishing to make it onto the School of Out-of-Body Travel’s list of instructors.

Neutrality regarding theory is especially important when your work is focused solely on this phenomenon. If you are only teaching this practice to supplement your group’s pursuit of other practices, then you might adhere to theories appropriate for those practices.

Upon awakening without movement, I decided to separate. However, as soon as I felt that I was still tucked into my covers, I figured that it would not work (unwarranted inference). I then remembered that it was possible that the covers were just phantom ones. It eventually took me only a second to roll out of bed. Still wrapped in the blankets, I stood up and looked at the bed (unwarranted inference, lack of deepening, and lack of a plan of action)…

I couldn’t believe that I had been able to get into out-of-body experience so easily on the first try (unwarranted inference). I turned around on the spot and immediately woke up. You can imagine my delight once I found myself back in my bed (lack of secondary separation from the body).