Although it can happen while you are asleep, astral travel and dreaming are two distinct things. Dreaming is something which plays out entirely in our brain; it is one of the ways that your mind replays the day’s events and works thorough things. You may or may not remember your dreams, which is one marked difference between dreaming and astral travel.

Those times when you awake and can remember in perfect detail everything from your dream, this probably wasn’t a dream at all, but your memory of astral travel! It’s a good idea to start keeping a journal to document these experiences. Not all of them are going to make sense at first, but like a sculptor chipping away at a block of marble, they will take shape and tell you something eventually.

Just as dreams allow your mind to process your day, astral travel refreshes the spirit. The experiences you have and the benefits you’ll see as a result of astral travel are unique to you. This makes keeping an astral travel journal a good idea, since comparing your results to those of someone else is of little value.

While many of the beneficial effects of astral travel vary, one which is universal is an improved self awareness and a sense of where you fit into the larger universe. Having this knowledge brings inner peace and well being. In most people, memory and general alertness are also heightened since astral projection uses parts of the brain which often go undeveloped there are very real benefits of astral travel for your intellect as well as your spirit, it seems.

In many people, astral travel leads to the surfacing of other latent psychic abilities. After gaining some experience with astral travel, a lot of people claim to have developed telepathy and the ability to sense spirits near them.

Astral travel can not only take you to places you’d never otherwise see, but also takes you into yourself and can cause a blooming of your intellect as well as your psychic talents.

People who start off as skeptics about astral travel are often convinced of its merits once they begin to gain experience with astral projection and start enjoying its beneficial effects.

Other than these benefits, it should be remembered that there is also fun to be had! Astral travel allows you to do things and go places which are outside of your ordinary life; it’s something like a vacation for your astral body.

With all of the positives of astral travel, its surprising that everyone doesn’t do it. However, a lot of people are under the impression that these abilities are within the reach of only a few especially gifted people. However, every one of us can develop this ability if we choose to do so.

We have all experienced astral travel before, whether or not we are aware of having done so.

You should begin by simply allowing yourself to naturally have astral travel and writing down your experiences. After doing this for a while, you’ll be able to begin trying to make astral travel happen consciously. It takes practice, but the benefits of learning to do so, as well as the experience itself are a great reward for your efforts.

Each of us has the ability to astral travel. With practice and determination, you can train yourself to astral project. There are resources available which can help you to ready yourself to use this natural ability. With time and patience, you’ll achieve your goal and gain the inner peace which comes with learning astral travel.

The author Joe M Burns writes for the popular http://www.astralprojectiontravel.com site. Discover the amazing experience of astral projection for yourself and get 29 Free astral travel Binaural and hypnosis mp3 audios when you visit here.