NOVEMBER 2009, Volume 37 Number 2, Article 2
An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Out-Of-Body Experiences in Two Cases of Novice Meditators
David J. Wilde, University of Manchester
Craig D. Murray, Lancaster University
The out-of-body experience (OBE) is an anomalous experience that has been found to occur under a variety of circumstances. This article takes its focus the in-depth examination of the lived experience of having an OBE as described by two novice mediators. A qualitative approach was adopted using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Two female participants who had OBEs while meditating took part in face-to-face, semi-structured interviews. Three interrelated themes emerged from the findings. Analysis highlighted the potential for the OBE to function as an adaptive psychological response in relation to how participants endeavoured to discharge existing need-related conflicts. Also emergent was the transactive nature of the out-of-body environments themselves, which were seen as meaningful places that facilitated participants’ embodied, goal-oriented behaviours. Accordingly, participants took pragmatic views
about their OBEs, seeing them more as tools or skills that can be utilised as an extension of their selves. Also emphasized was the role of absorption in the production of both the participants’ meditative and out-of-body states.
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