New documentary explores latest self-growth craze hitting our screens

International choreographer, Jade Shaw, quit her career as a dancer and her own company, after a powerful Out of Body Experience (OBE) transformed her life in 2014. She’s now an OBE teacher, speaker and researcher of the phenomena, and has recently produced a film, Insight Out, which premieres on Sunday 28th July at 1–3pm at The Rio Cinema, Dalston.

The documentary, which will also be shown at a range of other locations, explores expanded states of consciousness beyond the body, how to harness sleep states for self-growth and examines whether altered states of awareness is the new path to well-being.

The film documentary features an impressive line-up of leading global experts in consciousness, neuroscience, philosophy and neuropsychiatry such as New York best-selling author, Dr Eben Alexander, Dr Steve Taylor, senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University, and ex-NASA Physicist Dr Tom Campbell.

Black Mirror, Stranger Things, Sense8, Altered Carbon and the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina were 5 of the 20 most popular series on Netflix in 2018 that all involved OBEs – also sometimes referred to as astral projections. In fact, Jade is the ‘astral projection consultant’ for Behind her Eyes, a new six part psychological thriller directed by Akaash Meeda and commissioned by Netflix.

OBE teacher, Jade Shaw said: ‘OBEs can be learned, it’s and empowering technique that can help an individual improve their bejewelling on many levels. With increased mental health awareness, developments in neuroscience, the rise of spirituality and the future of artificial intelligence (AI), we are on the cusp of a consciousness era. It’s the last real mystery for the modern world and this topic will soon catapult into the mainstream.’

It’s estimated that around 10% of people in the world have had OBEs of some kind. During an OBE, an individual’s self-awareness temporarily leaves the body and it is possible to see everything that is going on from outside the body, but from a different perspective – the individual will be fully aware yet their body will be asleep or ‘unconscious’.

An OBE tends to happen in an altered state of awareness such as during deep relaxation, meditation or on the cusp of sleep in the hypnogogic (falling asleep) and hypnopompic (waking up) states. Triggers can take place during dreams, lucid dreams, sleep paralysis, when undergoing an operation and near death experiences.

This remarkable experience usually shapes the individual’s life in profound ways. Through this practice there are many benefits including: finding answers to pressing problems, insights to recurring illnesses, guidance with decision making, healing grief, better sleep hygiene, a greater connection to others and self-empowerment.

Jade concluded: ‘In the last five years alone there’s been a deep fascination from people from all walks of life in this field. We’re seeing news of OBEs pop up across social media channels, in books and in blockbusters and many of my workshops and events are often oversubscribed. It’s a very exciting time and feels as though OBEs are very much on the cusp of becoming the next biggest self-growth trend.’

After the film screening, there will be a Q&A panel with some of the world’s leading experts in the field and a TED-style-talk by Oliver Robinson the senior lecturer and programme leader in psychology at the University of Greenwich University.

A full line-up of listings will be available over the coming weeks. In the meantime, ticket bookings for the Insight Out premier can be made here.