Bearing in mind that discussion on virtues/criticism of OOBE has been
written about in, "MONROE INSTITUTE & GATEWAY EXPERIENCE AUDIOS" (thread started by shiningbrow)
I will risk redundancy to transcribe part Section 10 from the 1983 "Analysis and Assessment of Gateway Process" paper.
Reason being, it seems to be a scientific explanation of a metaphysical
phenomena - - which might be of interest to neurotypical left-brain oriented individuals
such as myself.
--
(from the paper)
"The objective (Ed: of Gateway) is to relax the left hemisphere of the brain, place the physical body in a virtual sleep state, and bring the left and right hemispheres into coherence under conditions designed to promote the production of ever higher amplitude and frequency of brainwave output.
Consequently, the Gateway process is designed to rather rapidly induce a state of profound calm within the nervous system and to significantly lower blood pressure to cause the circulatory system, skeleton and all other physical organ systems to begin vibrating coherently at approximately 7-7.5 cycles per second.
The resulting resonance sets up a regular, repetitive sound wave which propagates in consonance with the electrostatic field of the Earth."
...
10. Energy Entrainment.
"As the body is turned into a coherent oscillator vibrating in harmony with the surrounding electrostatic medium, the specific exercises included in the Gateway tapes enjoin the participant to build up the energy field surrounding his body, presumably by using energy from the Earth's field which the body is now entraining because of its ability to resonate with it.
This
puts the body's energy field into homogeneity with its surrounding environment and
promotes movement of the seat of consciousness into the surrounding environment
(partly in response to the fact that the two electromagnetic medians
are now a single energy continuum).
Thus, the same process which moves the brain into focused coherence at steadily higher levels of frequency and amplitude so as to entrain analogous frequencies in the universe for data collection also promotes enhancement of bodily energy levels to a point adequate to permit the subject to experience an out-of-body movement when he is ready to do so.
(end analysis and assessment)
So, if your body resonates with the Earth vibration, the "friction" is reduced;
and this facilitates an easier process by which you may slip on out to explore.