# That thing **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 6, 2003, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing/199991 "2003-09-06T21:48:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Not\_In\_Anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@Not\_In\_Anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_In_Anger)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing/199991/1 "2003-09-06T21:48:47Z")
I have a question, can’t be googled since I dunno what to call it and it doesn’t seem to have a name. If I was lying in bed on my back meditating, for say two or three hours, then something happens between the base of my brain and the top of my back which causes me to spasm around, quite pleasantly by the way. It seems to be a tantric buddhist thing of some sort, occurs if I allow it to occur by voiding my conscious mind, feels like a bran orgasm though it’s nothing sexual. Does that have a name? The other thing, if you are meditating, and you dissociate from your thoughts/identity, such that you are here and your thoughts are at a distinctly different place, such that you are completely aware of them but there are “two” of you, what is that called? Serious answers on this one only, please. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing/199991/2 "2003-09-06T22:00:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Not In Anger \* > \*\*a bran orgasm \*\* I’d lay off the really, really hot cereal for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_In\_Anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@Not\_In\_Anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_In_Anger)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing/199991/3 "2003-09-06T22:01:26Z")
i can’t edit. i meant brain. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing/199991/4 "2003-09-06T22:10:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Not In Anger \* > \*\*The other thing, if you are meditating, and you dissociate from your thoughts/identity, such that you are here and your thoughts are at a distinctly different place, such that you are completely aware of them but there are “two” of you, what is that called? Serious answers on this one only, please. \*\* Sounds like Astral Projection to me. As for the first bit it does smack of some tantric thing. ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing/199991/5 "2003-09-06T22:10:47Z")
The second thing sounds like an OBE (Out of Body Experience). The first thing…I dunno. Maybe it’s Jerking Awake After Almost Falling Asleep. Can’t say it’s ever been orgasmic for me though. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_In\_Anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@Not\_In\_Anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_In_Anger)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing/199991/6 "2003-09-06T22:16:24Z")
Nope. The “thing” happens when totally awake. The other thing isn’t an OBE cause I’m still there where I always am. Just “two” of me. An OBE occurs when your consciousness actually departs the body and “looks” down on it. You see why I’m so curious. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_In\_Anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@Not\_In\_Anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_In_Anger)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing/199991/7 "2003-09-06T22:17:36Z")
What’s astral projection? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing/199991/8 "2003-09-06T22:30:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Not In Anger \* > \*\*What’s astral projection? \*\* It’s a New Age mysticism thing that is considered a form of out-of-body experience. The idea is that our ‘self’ exists on several planes simultaneously (mystical type planes such as physical, mental, spiritual and so on…not planes in a scientific sense and don’t ask me what plane the astral belongs to as I don’t know). With practice and a little effort (usually involving meditation) you can ‘tune-in’ as it were to the part of you that exists on the astral plane. Essentially your body stays put while the mind travels. Of course there is zero scientific evidence for any of this except some brain wave scans showing people in this state with distinctive barin wave patterns (alpha waves?) but that says nothing about your consciousness actually going elsewhere without your body. You can search for tons of stuff on Astral Projection if you’re interested. Some people swear by it. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_In\_Anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@Not\_In\_Anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_In_Anger)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing/199991/9 "2003-09-06T22:36:25Z")
Thanx dude. I will research AP as my gf is kinda new age. Though she doesn’t have a clue towards Q 1 or 2 which is why I asked here. Still looking for old-style buddhists who can help with those questions. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing/199991/10 "2003-09-06T23:06:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Not In Anger \* > \*\*Thanx dude. I will research AP as my gf is kinda new age. Though she doesn’t have a clue towards Q 1 or 2 which is why I asked here. Still looking for old-style buddhists who can help with those questions. \*\* No problem. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to find overlap between New Age mysticism and Buddhist mysticism. Sort of different ways of approaching the same things and different ways of describing and explaiing those same things. In the end a rose is a rose whatever you call it. In short, you may not want to limit your search for explanations to strictly Buddhist explanations as maybe some other types of mysticism may have explored a particular avenue more fully. Once understood in the other terms you can search Buddhism for correlations. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_In\_Anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@Not\_In\_Anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_In_Anger)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing/199991/11 "2003-09-06T23:17:57Z")
I am not dogmatic. In fact I was brought up Christian. In that religion I am determinately atheist. For Buddhism or associated belief systems I’m agnostic. That stuff is possible not impossible (as I mentioned, while meditating stuff happens to me to me that I can’t explain or even describe properly). ---
**Author:** ![Not\_In\_Anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@Not\_In\_Anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_In_Anger)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing/199991/12 "2003-09-07T00:54:07Z")
Bump? This was the only question I needed answered.