Messages

Have you ever meditated before?

Yes, I think it's been about 8 times in total.

"Knowing" you're in a deep enough state is kind of an art form in itself. 

What I think is deep enough, is when I have already experienced rapid white flashes multiple times, the feeling that my eyes blinked while actually having my eyes closed, improved clarity in visualisation, and my body feeling numb. Isn't that deep enough?

I'm not saying I'm a meter stick or anything, but it took me over 10 years of meditation before I figured out what "deep enough" meant.
This seems to be your fundamental problem.

What, then, is deep enough?

I haven't tried Astral Projection through sleep or lucid dreams yet (as in, lying in my bed at the usual time when I would sleep and instead trying to astral project), but I would much prefer doing Astral Projection through meditation.

Hmm.. since i've begun with consciously Astral Projecting and have read about Sleep Paralysis, i've been having trouble falling asleep because I am too conscious of the shifts in consciousness that happen while falling asleep. They tend to shock me and then I open my eyes. I do, eventually, fall asleep.. But it takes much longer than normal because I keep waking myself up.
Great.. now I need to get over this fear. I've been reading about Sleep Paralysis and most scientific studies state that in SP, you STILL breathe and the experience of not being able to breathe is simply an illusion. It might seem harder, but the muscles required for breathing are NOT blocked during SP. I hope this is true. This is why i'm afraid of SP in the first place. Without the fear of not being able to breathe in SP, SP does not scare me.
Next, is there a way to continue with Astral Projection WITHOUT becoming aware of the different states of consciousness you slip into when you're simply trying to sleep? Or at least a way to "watch the show" and let myself slip into these states of consciousness?
If there is not, i'd rather choose healthy sleep over Astral Projection. And then I'd need a way to reverse this "becoming aware" of the different states of consciousness when falling asleep.

Hi folks, this is a follow-up to this thread.

I attempted Astral Projection again today. I, again, started off by meditating for about 20 minutes, until I felt that I was in a deep enough state of consciousness to do Astral Projection.
Then I tried becoming aware of my astral body again, and after that, "looking through it's eyes". I could see the environment around me, but it was dark and blurred. Then, I moved to above my physical body and could see it sitting. Went back in a few times and out again. Then I flew around a bit, first in the room I was in and then further around the house - then outside the house and to places I like in the physical world. My vision was getting better and the experience slightly more real. I still felt my physical body, like I described in the thread before this. However, the more I stayed focused on my astral body, the less I felt my physical body - it basically felt numb. I could still move it, and for example, if I got an itch then I had to scratch it. But it was quite numb.
All the while, I was wondering whether this was truly projection or just simply visualising the places I know from my memory. So here is a question of confirmation again.

Next, I wanted to try to fully get out of my body and experience Astral Projection like i'm really there - where I can see, feel, hear, and smell everything like in the real world. So first I tried swaying my astral body around left and right. It caused a slight change. Then I remembered a technique I read about in a book that was linked somewhere on this site: the Rope technique. I started doing that technique, and I felt myself being "pulled out" - slightly at first, but more intense as I climbed up. I also began seeing quite a lot of white. So, the more I climbed up, the more intense it got and eventually it got so intense that I got scared and dropped myself down..
So I think I was close to that kind of projection, but I was scared once I got close so I didn't continue. I think it has to do with my fear of Sleep Paralysis. Beedekin explained to me that his method of Astral Projection used Sleep Paralysis as the gateway to the Non-Physical Reality, so I thought that basically every method of Astral Projection had a stage of Sleep Paralysis you would go through before projecting. That was an assumption, and I wonder - was I right or wrong about that?
I had a Sleep Paralysis experience back when I was a child and it was absolutely terrifying. Especially the not being able to control your breathing. Can one stop breathing in Sleep Paralysis? Do you stop breathing when you try to consciously breathe in Sleep Paralysis, and fight for it to happen?

Well, that was my story again and my questions. Thanks for taking the time to answer these, folks

Here is an easier way to understand what he was saying. You had a successful visit Consciously Aware to the Non Physical Reality, Congratulations!  

Thanks! So should I continue projecting in this way? Or should I aim for a state where I am only aware of the Non-Physical Reality/Astral Plane and not of my physical body?

And in the case of the latter: I am currently reading a book by Xanth (whom I notice just posted something on this thread . Hi Xanth!) on Phasing and the Noticing technique seems good. Will it cause Sleep Paralysis though? I don't really want to go into Sleep Paralysis, or at least I don't want to be aware of it.

So you were projecting but not at a deep level. This is an artefact of projecting from SP... Phasing is another method that requires you to practice becoming unaware of your physical body.

I don't quite understand this sentence. Do you mean that I was phasing, and that contrary to projecting from SP, it takes effort to become unaware of your physical body - or, do you mean that I was projecting from SP but that I was doing it wrong? Or what did you mean?
I doubt you mean I was projecting from SP, because this partial numbness of my body felt very different from Sleep Paralysis.

About Sleep Paralysis, by the way.. I had Sleep Paralysis once, as a child.. I don't want to go through that again. I would prefer other methods.

So you were projecting.

Woo! Then this is my first success with Astrally Projecting on purpose!

Sorry Myyst.. I've been dealing with a doom on another post... 

No problem

"Is it only truly Astral Projection once you are completely unaware of your physical body?"
That's not so black and white to answer... some can turn their attention as a dime.. I have to become completely unaware by entering a state called Sleep Paralysis..

It did feel quite real to me, and my astral body (or rather, I myself) felt detached from my physical body. I could "look through my astral eyes" and it was very vivid - yet I was still aware of my physical body and my physical presence. I still felt like I was in place in the physical world, yet I felt detached. And when I moved my physical body, as I said, it seemed to disrupt things. Also, at the very end of the session, I still felt detached a bit even after having opened my (physical) eyes, but that was gone in about a minute.
Was I truly projecting?

Hey... sorry for not saying Hi!

Hi and welcome myyst (great game) or was that Myst?

Haha, that was Myst.

If you are worrying... this will inhibit your success.

Do you think you had more than what you would consider a normal 'dream' or experience?

The worries are gone now, it was before I had learnt a few things. I was mostly worried about possession (which won't happen because the astral body is tied to the physical body and you are the only one that "holds the key" - there's also this theory about the Silver Cord). I do still worry a bit about the Silver Cord getting severed, though. Or, rather, the connection that the Silver Cord stands for. Can the Self sever the silver cord, and can another astral being do so? Or does it only break when your physical body dies?

And yes. A lot, as a child. I have visited specific places multiple times in multiple dreams. Most of those dreams were very vivid and I still remember them quite clearly. I have also had a lot of dreams where I was flying. Again, mostly when I was a child.

I also had a lucid dream a while back. Not sure how far back it was, but I did have one. I realised, in the midst of my dream, that I was dreaming - and got complete control over my dream world. I think I had more lucid dreams in the past, but I don't remember them well.

But please let's not get sidetracked too much - I also asked a lot of other questions in the original post.

Hello =). I'm myyst.

I'm very interested in Astral Projection and want to learn more about it. I signed up here because I had a few questions about an attempt at Astral Projection that I did, which I posted in a seperate thread: (this one)

I had gotten close to Astral Projection (or at least I think I did.. did I?) a while back, while meditating.. During the meditation, eventually, I saw myself flying into the sky at a very high speed and felt myself becoming floaty - but I stopped myself.
And in some meditations before it, usually at some point my astral body had the tendency to start leaving my physical body and I had to stop it.
The reason I stopped myself during this period is because I still had a few worries about Astral Projection.

But the worries are gone now.

So, today, I tried Astral Projection consciously.
I was in the shower, sitting down - I started with a meditation to shift into a state better suited for projection. Eventually I focused my attention on the astral body and tried to become aware of it. I tried seeing my environment with my eyes closed, which worked pretty well and I could look around. I moved around the house a bit and tried to view things. While this happened, though, I was still very much aware of my physical body - yet I felt like I was out of my body, at least partly. I felt my body less than usual, it felt somewhat numb. Was I projecting or not? Is it only truly Astral Projection once you are completely unaware of your physical body?

So, not satisfied and thinking that I was not truly projecting, I started trying to push my astral body out, by force. Which was extremely unpleasant, got me a pretty bad headache, got to the point of me feeling like I was tumbling over backwards, and felt basically like I was damaging myself. But I did feel my astral body shifting a bit. So what happened there?

Now, somewhere inbetween these steps - I don't know exactly where - I started seeing white flashes (which happens to me often while in meditation or a trance, I think they're an indication of going into a deeper brain wave state - can anyone confirm this?). But at a certain point, whenever I would move my PHYSICAL body, I would see such a white flash. It felt like I was interrupting the projection, but it was very easy to shift back into the projection state. Simply by focussing on my astral body and not moving my physical body.