What exactly am I doing?

[Astralnewb]

So to start this off, I'm an atheist. Not sure if that at all prohibits my ability to project or not, but so far I'm mostly trying to get an out of body experience, not an astral projection. (From my understanding, the astral projection is the crazier spirtual counterpart of out of body experience.)

So I lay down in my bed, and I begin counting the time I breath. I remember a while back when I was trying to project I managed to reach a point where my body was tingling, but I had to get up to let a cat out. After that I sort of lost interest. Now I'm back.

But anyway, is there a sort of step through step guide that goes in detail about this?

I sort of reached the point where a little bit of my body was tingling, but I was not sure what to do at that point or what it meant. Also, occasionally when doing this a limb of my body twitches.

[ChopstickFox]

Haha, don't worry, spirituality is by no means required! xD

And actually, all the different words more describe the amount of mental clarity in the experience. So technically, dreams/OOBs/Astral Projection are the same at the core, being experiencing the non physical.

There are a bunch of guides on here, especially the stickies are helpful. I'll look up a link in a few minutes to help start you off...

The vibrations you are describing are one of the signs that you are getting there. To put it very simply and without any spiritual connotation to it, you are keeping your mind awake and aware while your body falls asleep. It's common for your body to twitch a bit or something itch. You're body is trying to make sure you are asleep. Just ride through and see what happens.

Now where are those links...

Man, I'm no good at finding the keys ones, but others will share, haha!

http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_astral_consciousness/the_astral_blueprint-t38729.0.html

[Bedeekin]

Don't pay attention to body twitches and the odd sensation. These all detract and distract.

ChopstickFox gave an excellent link so there's nothing more I can add without bombarding you with too much info.

and welcome. 

[Fairywindblues]

ChopstickFox nailed it on the head better than I could have. 

[Astralzombie]

Welcome.

Don't worry about the different terms. I can see how being an Atheist is a really good thing. So long as you keep an open mind and don't discredit what you are experiencing for the sake of staying in your own comfort zone, this is one of the best ways to go about this.

I hope you really are ready.