Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

I'd like to point out the differences between a trance and a meditative state. Maybe this will help you understand how to reach these other states you've described.

A trance is a mode of detaching yourself from your physical being through a semi-hypnotic, or daydream-like, state. You can bring the mind to a level that is closer to the realm of dreams by actively lowering your brainwaves. This is done through the "meditation" you've described. It's kind of like having a nap while constantly waking up and falling asleep again and seeing those images or believing a thought is real when instead you've just pulled it out of your mind. That is what a trance is like.

Meditation, on the other hand, is a bit different. When experienced properly (at least in the Buddhist tradition), you become aware in a universal sense. This means you become detached from your self. The idea of self falls away and you reach the realization that there is no such thing as self because everything is oneness. Meditation is a way of seeing through illusions and thereby eliminating dukkha, or "suffering," by realizing that our day-to-day experiences are merely a collection of concepts, as opposed to what we can learn as Truth. This means that the body, in its impermanence, is also a concept and is not an object of meditation--it is an obstacle. You cannot see your self during an enlightened meditation because your body is illusory as it is always in flux. The presense of the truly enlightened mind exists in the now (and is the only "thing" that truly can) and is untouched by both birth and death.

An out-of-body experience is a result of being in a trance and is related to lucid dreaming. I hope this helps in your quest to re-experience what you've discovered.