Am I close to AP? Some help is needed. And here is my Lucid dreaming back story.

[TheBlade123]

Hi, I mainly have some questions about my Astral projection journey that hopefully you can help me with. I wanted to share my back story as it may help with context on how I've got to where I am now. Plus I've not actually shared them with many people. But the main guts of what I want to ask is in the 'Questions. Oh so many questions!' section below 

Back story

I've been a lucid dreamer, or a lucid dream avoider, on and off since a very young age. It all started from the ages between five and seven years old. I watched the horror film 'It'. If you've never watched this movie its about a possessed demon clown. Not sure how I came about to watching this movie. I asked my parents about this film not too long ago, they said say they wouldn't have ever let me watch something like that when I was so young. I may have been around a friends house and a sadistic older brother made us watch it. Regardless, this movie scared me, so much to the point I started having major, chronic nightmares about this clown. I was well and truly terrified to the point I started to figure out if I was in a dream and wake myself up. Even if I was having a normal dream I would wake myself up in case that clown came by. In my dreams I would notice something not right and pinch myself. If that didn't work I would roll eyes up into my head (kind of like your trying to look at your forehead), run into walls. I was so terrified I started to do this stuff in the waking world as well. I even ran into a wall once in real life and my father exclaimed 'what you doing you stupid boy!'. But I'm sure it was more of a gentle caring tone than the actual contents of the sentence. Good thing this wasn't caught on film or I would have looked oddly autistic. Anyway, as I got older I tended to attack the clown or any nightmare for that matter, and life became normal again.

I went through a lull without 'intentional' lucid dreaming all the way though my teens. I suppose it didn't really interest me or get how much fun you can have with them, and perhaps wanted to avoid them. Not really sure. But I've always been aware of them. In my early twenties I took an interest in lucid dreaming and started writing down my dreams. Again stopped caring for several years.

I took more interest recently. I'm now in my late twenties and wanted to really 'master' lucid dreaming. I've started writing my dreams down again. Over the past year or two I can lucid dream any where between four times a night to once every couple of months. In my dreams I can fly really well, but sometimes I can't get higher than a lamp post. Teleporting is unpredictable and can wake me up sometimes. So my learning started.

I started reading articles on other peoples dreaming experiences, and I accidentally came across astral projection. I didn't know anything about it. In fact I initially thought it was an induced lucid dreaming state to be honest. So I initially read about Astral projection as 'my guide' to lucid dreaming. Well that has opened a new chapter for me!

I've read on various techniques to start astral projection, how to protect yourself etc etc. I also read that some people can get a really really fast heart beat and heavy shaking. Before I looked into Astral projection I've experienced a rapid heart rate on three separate occasions that I can remember in my life. The one that comes to mind most was me at university taking a nap during the day and imagining what it would be like to go back in time and take my current life experience back with me, my mind would wonder and wonder. Well my heart started to go through the roof, I forced myself to sit up as I thought I was having a heart attack or something. A very strange experience!

Questions. Oh so many questions!

So I tried Astral projecting the other day. Imagining I'm walking around my room touching all the surfaces, my computer, my leather chair, if the surface had a ridge I'd go right into the details of lightly touching it and feeling it passing over my finger print. Imagining lowering my head smelling the leather on the arm chair, feeling the carpet under my feet. Then slowly moving around the house from a first person prospective doing similar stuff. So my heart started racing, really really hard, body was vibrating maybe even the bed was vibrating. This probably went on for about a minute maybe more then slowly subsided. And nothing happened.

Was I close to projecting? If I was on the right 'track', how long does the rapid heart beating and shaking go on for? Could I have just been excited which accelerated my heart? Do I need to keep focusing on walking around my house? Or do I need to add another technique to the mix?

And I've got questions about you. Are you a lucid dreamer and an Astral projector? Do you find them similar? Or do you find them totally different?

[theswearjar]

Hello blade sounds like your making great progress, u are getting very close to aping , as for the rapid heart beat and shaking they arnt physicly happening thier non physical sensations  there fear tests you give urself ,the duration is different with everyone, some ppl dont even get them. After you get farmiliar with them they tend to smooth out also try n keep calm excitement tends to bring u back. But u need to think of them as just post signs that let u kno ur getting close but just like driving u dont stop and focus on the sign and think ur at ur destination. So ya just keep doing what u were doing and dnt add any other techniques  cuz they will get in the way   And dnt wry about having to protect urself u are the only thing that can harm you .

If u havnt read xnaths ebook yet u shld its a good read  and chek out franks posts its a long read but filled with little nuggets of gold

Best of luck ur on the right track ull b phasing in no time