Looking for an astral projection app?
Here is what an app can honestly do.
No app can make you leave your body, and no study has shown that anyone really does. What a guided session can do is help you reach the state most methods describe: your body deeply at rest, your attention still awake. Shimmr’s Journeys teach that, step by step, on iPhone and iPad.
What an app can’t do
Take you out of your body
No app, recording or frequency can do this. No study has shown a person leaving the body or bringing back information they could not have known.
Promise an experience
Out-of-body feelings come and go on their own. No method makes them happen on demand, and an app that promises one is promising too much.
Do it with a frequency
No study shows binaural beats cause out-of-body experiences. Research on binaural beats in general is modest and mixed.
Replace a doctor
If sleep paralysis frightens you, or you have a mental health condition such as dissociation or psychosis, talk to a doctor before you practise.
What people report, and where it comes from
The edge of sleep
Out-of-body feelings often come as you drift off or wake up, in the hypnagogic state, when images and sensations arrive while you are still partly aware.
Sleep paralysis
Online surveys of people with sleep paralysis tied out-of-body feelings to sensations of floating, spinning and moving. Sleep paralysis is brief and harmless, though it can be frightening.
The brain’s body map
In a 2002 case reported in Nature, stimulating one spot in a patient’s brain, the right angular gyrus, produced out-of-body experiences again and again.
Vivid imagery
A 2014 brain scan of one woman who could bring on the feeling at will pointed to an unusual, very vivid kind of movement imagery.
What it can help with
Deep rest, mind awake
Stillness, a 15 minute journey, asks you to let your body rest while you stay quietly attentive: the starting point most astral projection methods describe.
A wider attention
Expanse, a 20 minute journey, moves your attention between one simple point and the wider space around you.
Steady practice
The journeys build on each other and each one fits into an evening. Every journey ends with a guided return, so you come back clear.
Inspired by the Gateway tapes
Robert Monroe’s Gateway tapes taught deep rest with a wakeful mind, one step at a time. That approach inspired Shimmr’s Journeys, which are made from scratch.
The Foundation journeys
The first series teaches one simple method: notice your weight, then your breath, then the sounds around you. Binaural beats play underneath, so use headphones.
- 1 Arrival Free Learn the method and hear how the tones in each ear work, with time to practise settling.
- 2 Stillness Let your body rest while you stay quietly attentive.
- 3 Expanse Move your attention between one simple point and the wider space around you.
- 4 Anchor Turn the method into a single breath you can use anywhere.
- 5 Far Shore Fewer reminders and a long quiet space to practise on your own.
Hear the sound
Two samples from the app: a slow beat under rain and crickets for headphones, and an isochronic theta pulse that also works on speakers.
To be clear
Shimmr does not promise out-of-body experiences. Journeys are guided sessions for deep rest with your attention awake. Shimmr is not linked to the Monroe Institute and doesn’t contain the Gateway tapes, Focus levels or Hemi-Sync. Whether you notice something unusual or simply rest deeply, both are normal.
Questions
Is there an app that can make you astral project?
No. No app, recording or frequency can make you leave your body, and no study has shown that anyone really does. An app can guide you into deep rest with your attention awake, the state most methods describe.
What is the best astral projection app?
Be wary of any app that promises an out-of-body experience. Look for one that is honest about the science and helps you practise deep rest with a wakeful mind. Shimmr’s Journeys do that, without promising more.
Can binaural beats help you astral project?
No study shows that binaural beats cause out-of-body experiences, and research on binaural beats in general is modest and mixed. A slow beat can give your attention something to rest on as you drift toward sleep.
Is there an astral projection app for Android?
Shimmr is made for iPhone and iPad only, so there is no Android version. The method it teaches, a body at rest with your attention awake, needs no app at all.
Is trying astral projection dangerous?
Lying still and trying it is not dangerous in itself, but the edge of sleep can bring frightening moments such as sleep paralysis. If that frightens you, or you have a mental health condition, talk to a doctor first. Never listen while driving.
Gateway Experience and Hemi-Sync are trademarks of their owners. Shimmr is not a medical device. If you have epilepsy, ask a doctor first. Never listen while driving.
