Need help with astral projection

[tboswell1216]

Hi, I have been trying to astral project but I cannot get completely out of my body while I am awake. I have read many books on the subject, and practice daily. I keep a dream journal, and have lucid dreams frequently. I have also read many websites and forums on astral projection, but have not had any luck. I think I may have gotten out of my body once, but when I realized what had happened, I was immediately pulled back in. I had been asleep when this happened, but would like to learn how to project while awake. I know that others who are projecting can come and "help pull you out of your body," so that you can learn how to project out. Is there anyone who is experienced in projection that has any pointers, or would be willing to help me learn how to consiously project?

Thanks

[David21]

Astral projection, for me, is also very difficult. I had an experience one time that I believed to be astral in nature, but I am still unsure as to whether it really was what I hoped and believed or whether it was just a lucid dream.

Speaking of lucid dreams, a diary I do not keep - can't be bothered.

This idea of having another astral person pull you out is interesting. A bit dangerous is it not? If you're allowing yourself to be open and vulnerable in such a way, whose to say that something other than the trusted person is going to pull you out of your body. If you are going to explore these avenues/methods, stay safe and keep us informed of your progress.

[tboswell1216]

I believe that anything can pull you out at anytime if they want to. I have heard stories of people having an out of body experience and seeing their body being "attacked" by another spirit, and waking up to find bruises where they seen the spirit hitting them.

I am not afraid of having someone help me get out of my body because I know that the silver cord, or life line, cannot be cut or severed unless it is my time to die. Since anything or anyone can help you get out of your body, I would appreciate help from someone so that I can learn what it feels like to get out of my body. When I was out of my body before, I woke up out of my body, so I did not get to experience what it feels like to get out of my body while concious. I have read many books on the subject and practice daily, but if there is someone willing to help me get out, I would greatly appreciate it.

Since I know that regaurdless of who or what helps you get out of your body, you cannot die until it is your time, I am not afraid of being helped. However, so far, I cannot find anyone who is willing to help me, so I continue to practice daily on my own. I will keep you posted if I do find someone to help me, or when I finally do it myself.

[David21]

Yes, please do keep me informed.

I guess you make a good point. If it isn't your time to die, you will not, but try and stay safe, nonetheless.

[tboswell1216]

I will try to stay safe. Please also keep me informed on your progress. Maybe we could help each other, or at least encourage each other. Everyone I am around thinks I am crazy and it is not possible, so talking to someone else who is also trying to learn to go astral is encouraging. Thanks for your posts and concern.

[nightdiamond]

Hi, tboswell1216,

I have some advice that may help you. There are a few techniques, but I don't want to load you down with so many of them which makes it hard to make any real progress.

One is pretty simple, as you drift off to sleep at night, repeat to yourself, "now, I'm out of body" while imagining yourself near a famillar place, (like another room). You should repeat it with some intensity, especially the last minutes as you feel yourself falling asleep.

This is a technique that was published by an experienced astral projector, and when I followed the instructions, I had one too. It may not happen immediately, and that's the thing. It's ok to feel a little frustrated that it isn't happening immediately, it's a normal feeling. I did it for about two weeks, feeling nothing was happening, but one night after doing it, I had almost the same experience the author wrote about.

Just keep trying it, and also as a boost to it, during the day you can question if what you see is a dream. ("Is this red car a dream?") Do it randomly or every hour, and it will help your subsconcious to automatically realize when you are dreaming and that can help launch you into O.B.E...

Let us know if you're gettting anywhere...

[tboswell1216]

Thank you NightDiamond. I will definately try this. I have been practicing projection for quite some time now, and I feel that I am very close, but I am always open to suggestions from people who can project. I do practice projection as much as possible, but usually night is the only quiet time in my house. I also have a few morning a week that the kids sleep in, so it gives me some time to practice. I know that night is not the best time, so I also try during the day, but most of my practices are at night. (The kids just don't care that I am trying to learn to project, they want me up and breakfast ready anyway! LOL)

I will post if I have any breakthroughs. If you have any other tips, I would be glad to hear them. I am willing to try anything to project.

Thanks again.

[tboswell1216]

I think I was starting to project last night, but I am not sure. I started getting very hot and felt like I was having trouble breathing. I felt like the lower half of my body was raising, but from my throat up, I seemed stuck.

Has anyone else had this experience? Was I really beginning to conciously project, or was I just trying to hard? It seems like everytime that I feel like I am getting close to projecting I have the same feelings. I always get extremely hot, can't breath and feel like my head is stuck. Is this a normal feeling? How do I get my head unstuck? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[xhironakamurax]

I'm not sure if it was projection, but I had the exact same thing happen to me.

[David21]

It's funny you should mention this business about your head being stuck as I believe I have had similar experiences.

Sometimes I'd be lying in bed and trying to project. Suddenly I'd feel that my legs were rising, then my trunk and then this sensation would stop at my head - it felt like my lower body was pointing towards the ceiling and my head was just, well, stuck.

I believe this may be common, however. The source of our astral self is the mind and it is known that the body does not really want to release the astral self so this business of a 'heavy head' may be resistance.

Keep trying but without trying quite as hard, if that makes sense? Sometimes when we try too hard we achieve less.

[nightdiamond]

Originally Posted by tboswell1216

I think I was starting to project last night, but I am not sure. I started getting very hot and felt like I was having trouble breathing. I felt like the lower half of my body was raising, but from my throat up, I seemed stuck.

Has anyone else had this experience? Was I really beginning to conciously project, or was I just trying to hard? It seems like everytime that I feel like I am getting close to projecting I have the same feelings. I always get extremely hot, can't breath and feel like my head is stuck. Is this a normal feeling? How do I get my head unstuck? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Hi tboswell....

I had the same experiences too...


If this was the "real thing" it could be what is called a partial projection, where some part of the body seems to project, but not the others. The explanations offered are

- the body wasnt fully asleep, so projection wasn't completely possible,
- "chakras" or "energy centers", some chakras active, others like the ones in the head are not, so the separation eneded there
- a cased of sleep paralysis


One thing I used to do is when practicing astral projection was stretch all my body parts (feet, legs, trunk, shoulders, brows) repeatedly before I went of to sleep. Then I would do the projection exercises and drop off to sleep and later have the experiences.

The stretching relaxed and tired the body out so it will most likely be fully asleep when paralysis or projection sets in.

By the way, most of my projections almost always came right after dropping off to sleep, usually after practicing projection. The key for me was to remain awake as I stated the affirmations and do it with emotion and intensity as if I believed it.

Take care, let us know what happens....

[xhironakamurax]

Originally Posted by nightdiamond

Hi, tboswell1216,

I have some advice that may help you. There are a few techniques, but I don't want to load you down with so many of them which makes it hard to make any real progress.

One is pretty simple, as you drift off to sleep at night, repeat to yourself, "now, I'm out of body" while imagining yourself near a famillar place, (like another room). You should repeat it with some intensity, especially the last minutes as you feel yourself falling asleep.

This is a technique that was published by an experienced astral projector, and when I followed the instructions, I had one too. It may not happen immediately, and that's the thing. It's ok to feel a little frustrated that it isn't happening immediately, it's a normal feeling. I did it for about two weeks, feeling nothing was happening, but one night after doing it, I had almost the same experience the author wrote about.

Just keep trying it, and also as a boost to it, during the day you can question if what you see is a dream. ("Is this red car a dream?") Do it randomly or every hour, and it will help your subsconcious to automatically realize when you are dreaming and that can help launch you into O.B.E...

Let us know if you're gettting anywhere...

That seems more like lucid dreaming than an obe.
If I try to do that last thing, I end up getting panic attacks minor ones, if the world is real.....it's fairly scary.

[nightdiamond]

Originally Posted by xhironakamurax

That seems more like lucid dreaming than an obe.
If I try to do that last thing, I end up getting panic attacks minor ones, if the world is real.....it's fairly scary.

When I started practicing asking myself during the day if the things I saw were a dream, my lucid dreams suddenly increased. I also had near O.B.E'S too.

I think it helps because it teaches your subconcious to question or recognize a dream when you're dreaming automaticaly. I think the key is to do it enough times during the day and with a little intensity to it.

Once you recognize you're dreaming, you become mentally awake and aware and can easily stop the dream and go for astral projection since you're already in the state to do it. You can then simply will yourself out of body, or give a command to yourself to leave the body.

I think of it more as an extra to add to the practice, something you can do during the day while you're awake.

I remember once when I practiced the affirmation technique and then dropped off, then awoke in a lucid dreaming state. Then I quickly became aware and took control and decided to experiment.

I was skeptical about chakras, so I said, 'cleanse my chakras'.. immediately I saw round swirling colors align themselves along my body in the positions where the books say they should be.

I also even felt them change vibrations and then slow down as if a machine were fixing them... it was if a machine were following my command and carrying them out...

I had read that in an "astral state" the mind carries out whatever command you give it - And I didn't really believe it until I had that experience, which was the first time for me...Though I still tend to consider it just a lucid dream more than an astral projection...

Take care everyone..

[Basilica]

Originally Posted by tboswell1216

I think I was starting to project last night, but I am not sure. I started getting very hot and felt like I was having trouble breathing. I felt like the lower half of my body was raising, but from my throat up, I seemed stuck.

Has anyone else had this experience?

As other posters said, it's a chakra thing. There's a chakra located somewhere in your throat. I don't have more info because I don't know much about chakras myself. I had one astral projection experience, but it wasn't me who started it. when I try to do it consciously, I feel my arms or my legs raising, but that's all.

[tboswell1216]

I was wondering if an over-active chakra could stop projection? I took a chakra test, and it said that my throat chakra was over-active. I know projection will usually not occur if you chakras are under-active, but I am not sure if over-active stops the process or helps it. Do all chakras have to be equally balanced in order to project?

[nightdiamond]

Originally Posted by tboswell1216

I was wondering if an over-active chakra could stop projection? I took a chakra test, and it said that my throat chakra was over-active. I know projection will usually not occur if you chakras are under-active, but I am not sure if over-active stops the process or helps it. Do all chakras have to be equally balanced in order to project?

For me, tboswell, and this is just for me, I don't usually pay any attention to the concept of chakras when practicing astral projection, and still have had experiences.

I tend to pay more attention to learning to stay awake as my body falls asleep, and condition my subconcious to project ( 'Now, I'm out of body' affirmation).

And being persistant about it, until I got results. Giving up after a while or suddenly changing to a new technique would spiral out of control, and I would still end up asking the same questions about astral projection....

I felt paying too much attention to 'chakras' became a distraction and only delayed me from ever achieving astral projection.

If you still want to address chakras, you can try breathing techniques before bed or practicing projection, to energize the energy body which other people have said have helped. I also used to do deep breathing exercises before practicing and I think they helped too....

Take care everyone..

[tboswell1216]

Hi, I had a weird experience last night and want some feedback.

I was asleep, and then felt like I woke up and got out of the bed. I was standing in the room, but felt different than normal. I tried to look and se if I could see my body, but I could not. I seen the bed, but it was to dark for me to see if my body was laying in it. I thought I was astrally projecting, but wanted to test it, so I tired to do a flip. (I cannot do flips in my body.) I did flips with ease, but thy were not normal flips, they were kinda like flying in small circles. I aslo did not hit anything when did these flips, which would be impossible in my body (the room is small).

I then tried to concentrate on a deseaced loved one that I have been wanting and needing to see. I tried to "will" myself to him. I felt like I was watching a movie in fast forward, only I was part of the movie. I felt like I was flying past many, many scenes, but I was going so fast I could not make any of them out. I did this for a while, and thought that if I concentrated harder, I would be sure to get there, so I concentrated harder.

When I started concentrating as hard as I could, I seemed to come to the end of the tunnel or movie, and all I remember is the room was white or off white, but I did not see anyone there. I then felt like I was pulled back away from the room, (I had not got to enter it yet, just glance at it) and I started to become aware of my body and woke up.

Do you think this is just a lucid dream or an actual projection? I was in total control, but did not see anyone else. I also wondered if you concentrate too hard during projection if you are pulled back to your body?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

[nightdiamond]

Hi tboswell1216,

Glad to see you're starting to have experiences now.

For this it's hard to say, because it's such a subjective thing, lucid dreams and astral projections can seem so much alike or even merge into the other.

One way I can suggest is to simply try again and repeat the experience, and if the same thing happens again, it could be more than just an aware dream.

This part is very theoretical - keep attempting the contact, it could be that on first attempts it's not as easy to do this, but it gets easier with practice. There is also a concept called "phasing" where a person has to be able to phase themselve into the right frequency in order to properly see or interact with certain beings.

And then you could practice reality testing where you try to verify if what is happening is happening in the real world. I think this would be the fun part.

As for the concentration, I think sudden strong thoughts can break the lucid dreaming states, I know I have had lucid dreams end when I tried to concentrate too much.

I think practice and persistence can help with this, just continue practicing until you see the results, just being able to do this at all is fascinating, I think...

[Philemon]

dear tboswell1216 and others

You spurred quite a discussion. I'm joining late, but I have some information that might interest you. I've had a lot of out of bodies and I've read almost every book I can find on the subject. All three of Robert Monroe's books are a must read. You can also research a nineteenth century occult group called "Theosophy". They were interested in out of body experiences, among other interesting things. They were lead by, Helena Blavatsky, a very important figure in bringing the exploration of consciousness to Western culture. She was a fascinating woman.

Someone said something about distinguishing between OBEs and dreams. My general rule in this department: if I thought it might have been a dream, it probably was. OBEs are very distinct experiences.

Concerning your difficulties: It is likely that you still have some fears about the out of body experience. That's okay. When you are ready, it will happen. In order to conquer that fear, I don't think you need to know that you will "die when you're supposed to" like someone said. Don't even entertain the idea that death would be involved in this action. Don't worry about getting lost in the astral realm. Don't worry about being harmed by other spirits. If your intentions are good, your experience should reflect that.

It's not that simple though. Consciousness within the OBE state is incredibly powerful. Any memory, fear, even simple thought that crosses your mind can induce negative experiences (much like lucid dreams only more powerfully because you are more aware of what is happening than in dreams). I have had a number of negative OBE experiences, but I recognized them as manifestations of my own anxiety and did my best to work through them. To cure this latent fear we all seem to have for the unknown, try to free yourself of anxieties in your daily life. Lay down to go to sleep before you are tired and try meditations that help you to focus your attention (some call it "pinpointing consciousness"). There are infinite techniques you can use to develop focus. I can share some if you're interested, but you should always try to invent some that work well for you personally.

The best advice I can give is to be completely fearless. Tell yourself you cannot be harmed by anything non-physical and you should be prepared to ward off any potential negativity. Decide why you want to have OBEs and focus on those ideas. Do you want to encounter other entities that know more than you and can teach you? Do you want to travel the cosmos?

Remember, OBE's, especially long-lasting ones, are difficult for most people to obtain. Keep at it and you will be rewarded.

[snaggletooth]

There's an awesome site called Dream Views you should check out. They were really helpful when I was really into this.

[esoterika]

I've also been practicing projection for some time. I truly believe I have been very close to achieving this, but I cannot seem to fully leave my body. Also, I have an abnormal sleeping schedule and frequently go to bed after I've been properly sedated (alcohol and/or pot) around 5-7AM. Sometimes the feeling of falling asleep will onset very quickly, which almost feels like a strange sinking feeling internally at a very rapid pace, followed by a quick but sharp zap like feeling in my body. Other times I'll feel a light tingling sensation all over, but it feels like I don't have enough power to pull myself out. My vision will also be blurry.

When I am in the beginning stages of projection, does my spirit use my physical body's eyes? Because I have bad eyesight and normally wear contacts, which I take out before bed, but if I'm having an OBE, wil my vision be normal?