Out-of-Body Experiences are a fascinating phenomenon which has captivated the scientific and spiritual world. This comprehensive guide takes a fresh look at these enigmatic occurrences, weaving together anthropology, science, spirituality and fascinating accounts.
"Samantha Treasure's groundbreaking book stands as probably the most comprehensive review of the out-of-body experience yet published." - Graham Nicholls, author of Navigating the Out-of-Body Experience
The Out-of-Body Experience (OBE) is a fascinating phenomenon that has captivated the scientific and spiritual world. This comprehensive guide takes a fresh look at these enigmatic occurrences, including why they happen, how to make sense of them, as well as how to pursue or avoid these experiences.
An experiencer of OBEs herself, Samantha Lee Treasure has dedicated over a decade to better understanding these extraordinary events. This illuminating guide is the culmination of this research, taking a holistic approach which draws together neurology, psychology, anthropology, parapsychology and religion. Her research has taken her from interviewing Korean and Siberian shamans, to participation in neuroscience experiments, fieldwork with the religious movement Eckankar, a year interviewing alien contactees and attendance at various workshops and retreats marketed within the growing spiritual marketplace.
Based on experiencer interviews the author has conducted since 2015, the book will also explore how astral projection changes over the course of an episode or lifetime, taking into consideration generational, cultural, and biological differences. For example, utilising her background in medical anthropology, Samantha Treasure explores the links between OBEs and sleep paralysis and dreams, interviewing both experiencers and specialists.
This book will also aim to reclaim OBEs from their growing commodification within social media and the wellness industry and will challenge definitions that privilege certain types of experience or narratives. While including evidence for their potential as a healing or spiritual tool, the author will also include the voices of experiencers and researchers who think otherwise, exploring their rationale while avoiding either sugar-coating or fear-mongering.
With a forward by bestselling author Anthony Peake, this is the definitive guide to OBEs for anyone wanting deeper insight into this incredible phenomenon.
"Samantha Treasure's groundbreaking book stands as probably the most comprehensive review of the out-of-body experience yet published. The book is precise, refreshing and explores the intersections between personal experience, science and wider culture." -- Graham Nicholls, author of Navigating the Out-of-Body Experience
"Both wildly fun and informative. This book expertly walks the razor edge between scientist and experiencer. I loved it!" -- Robert Peterson, author of Hacking the Out of Body Experience
"A rare example of the successful integration of original scholarly research and the kind of insight gained only through personal experience. This is a sensitive, nuanced exploration of the phenomenon, written in an engaging style. Out-of-Body Experiences is sure to be a landmark in the narrative anthropology of extraordinary experience, as well as deserving a place at the forefront of the new culturally-informed psychical research." -- Gregory Shushan, PhD, author of Near-Death Experience in Ancient Civilizations
"A very lively exploration of the width, breadth and cultural depth of OBEs! If you're looking to broaden your mind, I highly recommend this book!" -- Robert Waggoner, author of Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self
"Samantha Treasure's book on OBEs compels a dual reflection of her own namesake; the work should be both treasured as a trove of information, as well as a gleaming milestone in our mental maps as we strive to rediscover the jewel that is our own soul. The sheer synchrony of scholarliness and yet never shying from high weirdness is enough to spark in any reader that vivifying vertigo of double consciousness." -- Pascal Michael, PhD, Lecturer in Psychology, University of Greenwich
"Samantha's debut book is a refreshing, detailed and comprehensive exploration of Out of Body Experiences. Far from being a sober academic tome, it is full of personal anecdotes, observations and experiences as well as fascinating interviews and insights from academics, shaman and experiencers alike [...]Samantha's book is original, engrossing and totally without woo! A fascinating read and highly recommended to anyone interested in this astral phenomenon, either from a spiritual, scientific or anthropological standpoint." -- Claire Gillman, author of Learning to Love the Spaces In Between: Discover the Power of Liminal Spaces and former editor of Kindred Spirit magazine
"Finally, a book that offers a captivating exploration of Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs), blending scientific insights, historical and cultural perspectives along with personal stories to make this phenomenon both relatable and fascinating. It's an essential read for anyone curious about the mysteries of consciousness and its implications for understanding the true nature of reality." -- Tree Carr, death doula and author of Conscious Dreamer
"Samantha Lee Treasure's aim in writing is to demystify the phenomena of Out of Body Experiences. I hope awareness of material in this book, around benevolent and negative experiences, might beneficially influence mainstream psychology and psychiatry: it should be on educational reading lists." -- Dr. Natalie Tobert, Medical Anthropologist
"This book is Samantha Lee Treasure's personal journeys, geographic, intellectual and psychic, to understand the out-of-body experience [...] This is far more than just a series of "it happened to me" anecdotes. It is the story of one woman's search for understanding of what she was experiencing. [...] I can honestly state that this is probably the most important book I have ever read, and certainly one of the most enjoyable." -- Anthony Peake, author of The Out-of-Body Experience: The History and Science of Astral Travel
"An interdisciplinary exercise that draws together insights from ethnography, psychology, neuroscience and transpersonal research to reveal the complexity and diversity of the OBE experience [...] This book makes an important and engaging contribution to paranthropological and parapsychological research." -- Jack Hunter, PhD, author of Manifesting Spirits
Samantha Lee Treasure grew up on a farm in Ontario, Canada which had multiple reports of ghost sightings, where she became especially interested in OBEs after her brother's experiences. This led her to learn how to have them herself, which in turn inspired her to pursue a BSc in Social Sciences and an MA in Medical Anthropology in order to research them cross-culturally. During her studies in London, she conducted fieldwork with experiencers in the UK, focusing on entity encounters and how they compare with dream characters. She also conducted a cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary study on sleep paralysis with a psychiatry professor in Russia during this time. In addition, she has also conducted fieldwork with the new religious movement Eckankar, with "Contactees", and has worked as a participant and research assistant in two neuroscience studies in Europe. During her MA, she conducted fieldwork in South Korea, exploring the nuances between spontaneous and deliberate OBEs and their implications for health. Due to the futuristic nature of some of her personal experiences (and those of some interviewees), Samantha is particularly interested in the futurism of this phenomenon, and her chapter Out-of-body Experiences in the Screen Age for the edited volume Deep Weird discusses modern day content such as cartoon entities to floating screens. Her second book Phantom Media expands on this theme to include media- and technology-related content in Charles Bonnet syndrome, sleep paralysis, psychedelics, fictionkin, and other anomalous perceptual phenomena. Samantha has given talks on OBEs in person in the UK and Japan, and online in the US, Russia, and Australia. She divides her time between London and Geoje Island, South Korea, where she is currently researching out-of-body experiences among South Korean mudang.
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