For people who don't want to read my whole explanation, the essential problem I am having is that I lie down in the dark, it is quiet and I am comfortable and the temperature is fine, I clear my mind and relax my whole body, then I start to feel my body less and less, which seems like progress to me? But then I start feeling like I have to make more of an effort to breathe in and out, and I start panicking that I can't breathe, very strange and unexpected. Now, I don't have any breathing problem that I am aware of, I am young and in good health overall, and I did not have any fears or concerns about breathing going into this.
I have tried a few more times since this first happened but every time I get to where I am totally relaxed and start to feel my body less, I have the same problem - seems like it requires more and more effort to breathe, and once I notice it I get scared, I have tried trying to calm down and just go with it but eventually I just kind of freak out and lose my cool. At that point I do a kind of full body twitch (picture if you threw water on someone sleeping what would happen) and then I am back totally connected, there, awake, etc. I can't really explain why I do this twitchy thing, it just SEEMS like the right way to re-establish a firm connection with my entire body when I get panicky.
Can anyone help me understand what is going on and how I can get past this sticking point?
MORE BACKGROUND:
I have been studying astral projection on and off for over a year now. I don't try to do it every single day. However, over time, I have gotten better and better at the initial phases of clearing the mind and relaxing, etc. Usually what happens is I get totally relaxed and calm and start to feel my body less, then I fall asleep before I really get to trying to actually astral project. One time I was trying the lift-out technique and I did feel like my perspective was changing and lifting away from my body, starting from my feet and working up, almost like peeling a sticker off of something, but I got "stuck" when I reached my head.
Then I read online that the lift-out technique is really hard and not great for beginners, and I read somewhere about envisioning an astral vehicle, charging it mentally with energy, etc. and I decided to try that method. I tried this several times (or I intended to, but I fell asleep every time before I got to the part where I should start envisioning the astral vehicle.)
About a week and a half ago, I was at the point where I was totally relaxed, still awake for once, and ready to start envisioning an astral vehicle. But before I could start, the breathing issue I described above occurred.
Please help! Thank you!!
I have tried a few more times since this first happened but every time I get to where I am totally relaxed and start to feel my body less, I have the same problem - seems like it requires more and more effort to breathe, and once I notice it I get scared, I have tried trying to calm down and just go with it but eventually I just kind of freak out and lose my cool. At that point I do a kind of full body twitch (picture if you threw water on someone sleeping what would happen) and then I am back totally connected, there, awake, etc. I can't really explain why I do this twitchy thing, it just SEEMS like the right way to re-establish a firm connection with my entire body when I get panicky.
Can anyone help me understand what is going on and how I can get past this sticking point?
MORE BACKGROUND:
I have been studying astral projection on and off for over a year now. I don't try to do it every single day. However, over time, I have gotten better and better at the initial phases of clearing the mind and relaxing, etc. Usually what happens is I get totally relaxed and calm and start to feel my body less, then I fall asleep before I really get to trying to actually astral project. One time I was trying the lift-out technique and I did feel like my perspective was changing and lifting away from my body, starting from my feet and working up, almost like peeling a sticker off of something, but I got "stuck" when I reached my head.
Then I read online that the lift-out technique is really hard and not great for beginners, and I read somewhere about envisioning an astral vehicle, charging it mentally with energy, etc. and I decided to try that method. I tried this several times (or I intended to, but I fell asleep every time before I got to the part where I should start envisioning the astral vehicle.)
About a week and a half ago, I was at the point where I was totally relaxed, still awake for once, and ready to start envisioning an astral vehicle. But before I could start, the breathing issue I described above occurred.
Please help! Thank you!!