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The idea of a deliberate out-of-body experience is met with some scientific skepticism.

LifestyleYes, Astral Projection Is Real, But Behind Her Eyes Doesn't Paint the Full PictureYes, Astral Projection Is Real, But Behind Her Eyes Doesn't Paint the Full PictureThe idea of a deliberate out-of-body experience is met with some scientific skepticism.By Grant RindnerPublished: Feb 19, 2021 4:26 PM ESTNick Wall/NETFLIX © 2020//NetflixOur editors handpick the products that we feature. We may earn commission from the links on this page.The final twist of the new Netflix series Behind Her Eyes falls squarely into the you have to see it to believe it category, and has raised plenty of questions among viewers. The show's closing moments hinge on a revelation of "astral projection," which is essentially when someone can intentionally trigger an out-of-body experience.There are hundreds of podcasts, books, and guides that purport to teach people how to leave their bodies on command. It is often linked to lucid dreaming, or the ability to control your dreams.When you have an out-of-body experience, your brain's body schema–its perception of your physical form–is altered. Nothing is "leaving" your body, but your brain is not perceiving your body in the way that you are used to, which can sometimes give the impression that your consciousness is detached for a period of time. In astral projection, this is often thought of (and depicted) as the soul leaving the body and traveling to some sort of new plane of consciousness, but the scientific explanation does not support the existence of a soul that is separate from the physical body. "The out of-body-experience is not a scientific validation for whether or not the soul exists. It’s just a different way that the brain functions," Dr. Claude Messier, a professor from the University of Ottowa's Brain and Mind Research Institute explains to OprahMag.com. "It’s consistent with many bizarre or out of the ordinary ways the brain can function."To better understand the science behind astral projection, we spoke to Dr. Messier and Dr. Susan Blackmore, a psychologist who published Seeing Myself: The New Science of Out-of-Body Experiences in 2019.The phenomenon is real, but the term "out-of-body experience" is often used instead of "astral projection."Dr. Messier and Dr. Blackmore, who had an out-of-body experience of her own in 1970, have spent decades studying these occurrences, and bristle at the oftentimes mystical explanations of astral projection."The bottom line is that I think we now have the outlines of a complete neuroscientific explanation of what out-of-body experiences are," Dr. Blackmore says. "That doesn’t mean we know every detail, but we have the outline. It is quite unnecessary, and indeed totally unhelpful, to talk in terms of astral projection, because that is an ancient theory that simply doesn’t fit the facts now." In a 2017 article for BBC Focus, Dr. Blackmore explains that when "the body schema is disrupted by electrical stimulation," the brain can essentially lose track of the body, thus creating a feeling of disconnect between the mind and physical form. This creates the sensation of separation, and the perception of your body "outside" of yourself.There is no scientific consensus on how to induce an out-of-body experience, as the vast majority of people who experience them do so involuntarily, and accounts of them are based on anecdotal evidence.Related StoriesSo You Had Another Dream About Your Ex...Having Vivid Dreams Since COVID-19? Here's Why.How to Control Your DreamsThe many books that cover astral projection have varying information on how you can reportedly spark the experience. Mastering Astral Projection by Robert Bruce and Brian Mercer claims that remembering your dreams, breathing a particular way, being in a state of "deep physical relaxation," and "energy body stimulation" are all things you can do to make an out-of-body experience more likely. In some cases, including Dr. Messier's and fellow University of Ottawa professor Dr. Andra Smith's collaborative study, "Voluntary out-of-body experiences," the phrase "extra-corporeal experience" (ECE) is also used.They observed brain activity in a myriad of locations, including the temporal parietal junction, which was previously thought to be connected with out-of-body experiences due to its involvement with bodily perception, as well as the cerebellum, which "showed activation that is consistent with the participant’s report of the impression of movement during the ECE."In Behind Her Eyes, Adele uses "astral projection" to leave her body, travel, and essentially spy on people. The ability to travel to any kind of astral plane isn't supported by science. Blackmore explains that tests were done in the 1900s to see if people who had out-of-body experiences had any kind of psychic abilities, but nothing was proven. In fictional depictions, out-of-body experiences often hinge on the soul separating from the body, implying a distinction between the two that researchers do not support. Scientist...

What "Behind Her Eyes" Gets Wrong (And Right) About Astral Projection