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Or... even more accurate, the feeling one would likely get while going over the downward drop on a roller coaster. 

Sounds like an activated energy center near the naval.
These sensations are so new to our brains that it interprets them wrongly most of the time.

Assuming that your bed is not really shaking and you only feel that way, it could mean two things - you are getting pre-exit symptoms (vibes, they do feel like that and racing heart could be the energy center in heart area), or that there is a real medical trouble with your heart (racing heart while resting is not a good sign).
So once you get yourself checked by a good doc, please come back for more help.

For voices during hypnagogic stage (just before falling asleep), these are normal and happens to everyone almost everynight. Nothing to worry at all.

I don't see any point in being afraid of something which is natural and is going to happen anyway and happens to each and everyone.

Your cause of fear isn't death, it seems, its a fear of losing the status quo, which includes your loved one's/ relatives/friends/material stuff etc etc. This fear comes from the terrible attachment you have for these things. Ultimately attachment to  things is the cause of suffering. Everyone of us learns this the hard way. So will you.

My humble advice is not to take life too seriously. Take opinions as opinions not as facts. No one knows for sure, nothing has been proved or disproved.

Oh yes, you won't be able to obe in this condition at all. You need to develop yourself first. Being happy would be a good start

What are your thoughts guys?

Honestly , my thoughts are that one should not form any beliefs when one is researching the vast unknown called the spiritual world. Lets not limit ourselves and keep our mind open to all possibilities, including that of accurately perceiving the physical while APing.

Or you can trust our masters and believe that its possible, many have said so. But finding that out first hand would be awesome, provided, you devote a lot of time and practice.

It's been occurring more and more frequently and I'm almost to the point where I'm afraid to try and sleep because it might happen again. 

Its called sleep paralysis (google it and you'll know that its a natural condition while one is asleep)  and you should feel happy and consider yourself lucky that you can remain conscious while this is happening, instead of being afraid, because you can use it for projecting yourself out of your body easily.
Just follow any suitable exit technique while you are in SP.
Best of luck !

So how come your kitchen wall was still there???
Any explanation?
BJB

Strange ... isn't it?
When you are in astral, not all things are rational. I haven't experienced the so called "Real time zone" or RTZ yet. IMO its not so real and one should not trust things in astral, just maintain a mild curiosity and experience the ... umm experience...

The scarcity of successful experiments of recording a random number or color of cards for example, are a clue that what you are experiencing may not be real, or that its too difficult to perceive physical things in normal way while in astral.
Yes, there are claims, but the bottom line is, no one knows. Thats the fun part, its a challenge actually.

So whether consciousness can travel independently out of the body and perceive physical things as they are is an open question , for me at least

Date : 03/06/2008 Evening

I did a little experiment today. Recorded a 1 min long sound clip on my cell phone which only says "awake" and the rest is silence. I kept the cell on bed and played it in repeat mode, so that it said "awake" every 1 min in my own voice. With this playing, I started my practice to remain on the edge as usual.

This worked . Not only it focused my attention back, whenever I drifted into meaningless thoughts and monologues, it kept me on the edge for a full 30 min. I reached this condition within 3 mins because of repeated reminders for silencing the thoughts. Some interesting things that happened -

- The sleep stages were over very quickly, and the dream (pictures and movies) stage was brief and clear. Those were crisp and in full color but without sound.
- I was aware of the "blank" period after that and could hear sounds from outside, but could not hear the recording anymore.
- Non physical hands/legs moved spontaneously. They would snap back as soon as I became more aware of this happening.
- Could hear voices, some were my own thoughts perhaps and some were foreign. Once heard a laugh, very distinct and real, but coming from 'my own head'.
- Body was very stiff when I came out of it, which means I was very still and I was sure I was still. There was a dry feeling in my mouth as if I slept for hours.
- Time appears to go slowly when my mind is completely silent. The recording takes forever to repeat. When I m busy with jumbles of thoughts, it goes fast. Don't know why it seems so.

Eventually, it felt as if everything was happening at once, and it forced me to stop, right at the peak as if I was right about to exit my body. I've gotten to that stage many times, and I cannot get passed it.

I'm guessing that anxiety is the cause here and you have difficulty in relaxing and letting go.
You don't have to DO anything to exit, its a natural process, you have to setup the right conditions that cause it to occur and you need to remain conscious while the whole thing is taking place. So switch to not-doing.

Other stuff and symptoms you stated are normal and these are actually windows of opportunity for AP.
Best of luck !

Date : 28/5/08 Late night

Trying to remain awake through the sleep stages...
This is what happens -
1- Once I'm fully relaxed, the focus shifts to inside of my head mostly and I become more aware of bodily sensations.
2- The tiny and imperceptible pains and tickles become obvious.
3- A few itches and stings develop, which I don't resist because they become painful if ignored. A very slight touch is enough to kill them. Another way is to completely withdraw attention from them and wait a few seconds, but its difficult. Anyway its natural so I let them happen.
4- The internal chatter (worded) continues and is rational. After some time, eyes turn upwards and external sounds cease. A humming and ringing sound replaces them.
5- The thoughts (chatter) becomes incoherent and spontaneous. I caught myself thinking about senseless things, which were a jumble of words totally meaningless.
6- A rushing sound overtakes suddenly, and this is when normally people fall asleep and become unconscious. I resisted it and after a few tries, I managed to stay barely awake. Basically dipping in and out slightly.
7- Thoughts cease completely and are replaced by imagery. At first there are intermittent fuzzy images, which become clear after a while.
8- Sometimes, body twitches, and breathing sounds can be heard.
9- The images become continuous (movie), I did not perceive any sounds clearly but the characters were talking and I somehow 'knew' what they were saying. The images were flat (as if projected on a transparent screen) and were very clear.
10- I could hear a pop or a bang, which breaks the movie and wakes me up. I drift back to sleep again this time without the images or sounds.
11- There are 'gaps' after this and I don't remember much, except that whenever I rose back slightly I could feel my body and as if I never slept.
12- After about 30-45 min, there is an irresistible urge to move and change position. I resisted it and relaxed. It comes back again, mainly in legs, it a strange feeling. It keeps coming and getting stronger and after a while I gave up and turned to right. ( I guess its an autonomous thing which keeps our bodies turning and tossing whole night so that the blood flows uniformly, normally we dont notice this)
13- Woke up as if never slept and went back to bed after 10 min and slept normally.

Sounds like a form of slow vibrations.
Its a good sign

Thats a nice obe you had.
I do remember not being able to see my body, once during an obe, although there were depressions on the bed, as if someone invisible was laying there.

Date : 24/5/08 Morning

Woke up with buzzing sensations. I knew instantly that I'm on the edge.
I didn't try anything (for a change) and just bathe in the feeling, on the boundary and was expecting that it will end within a few seconds and I will return to normal physically awake state.

To my amazement, I spontaneously and naturally floated upwards a feet or so and the room came into view (dark and blurred though), as if I was seeing through the closed eyes. A loud rushing noise, like a waterfall was waxing and waning. It lasted for about 10-15 secs. I intensionally didn't try exit.

I was satisfied with whatever little was achieved. Its not going to happen instantly, I'm not going to become a master in one night....
I should take the baby steps. Patience is the key. I'll go step by step -
1- Conditioning the body to stay still for long periods.
2- Silencing the mind (stop useless chatter, not the critical thinking) for as long as possible.
3- Hover on the edge, for as long as possible and not to hurry the exit.

The separation implies that you have stopped using your body or physical senses and switched to a totally mental experience with full consciousness.
So IMO all such activities can be called AP.

Obviously, there are a garden variety of ways to get separated with their own peculiar symptoms and stuff.
In essence, AP is an activity where you observe the reality through the 'higher' senses. For most of us, it all results in confusion initially (just like an infant watching his environment) and our earthly mind provides most of the scenery.

Perhaps with years of practice (or of many lifetimes, I guess), one becomes evolved enough to see it all.
Patience ....

Yes, you managed to separate
You were on sleep-awake border, with full consciousness... this is the key...

IMO, attempting just before going to sleep at night mostly does not work for beginners especially. So I recommend changing your time to early morning. In this way even if you are not able to sleep its not a big problem.

See this thread for more....

http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_astral_consciousness/get_up_way_too_early_technique-t27524.0.html;msg229322#msg229322

A lot of people say your hearing is Enhanced while out of your physical body

I can say from my experience so far that all physical senses are non-existent while you AP.
There is no sound, in fact its a bit too silent, a peace you never experienced before.
This does not mean that you can't communicate...the modes are different.

Date : 21/5/08 Morning

Another "dream-obe" occurred. This time even more experimentation done. Strangely, my 'dream-obe-body' was invisible to others in the dream and to a dog, but was visible to a cat, who was afraid when I approached him.
The dreamscape was a house and its compound where I used to live years ago.

Yes, its normal. Its mostly not your heart, just a sensation in the heart region (just above it actually, if you pay attention)
If it bothers you, just abort the attempt and try later. Or you can relax even more, go deeper till you stop feeling any sensations from the body and then try to project.

Keep it up

Date : 17/5/08 Afternoon

Had another "dreamed up obe"
It was dark and I experienced all common symptoms of obe, all in a dream....
The dream was very lucid though, and I tried some experiments, like writing down something on a paper and touching my (invisible) sleeping (dream) physical self. Generated some interesting special effects...

Woke up with mild vibes in real.
I don't like these "fake" obes

May be you should try phasing.
It directly puts you into a dreamlike scenario without traditional exit process. The scene then takes a life of its own and you can go forward from there.

Or you can try energy raising exercises, and try to loosen the grip on your double.

These links should help:
http://www.saltcube.com/out-of-body/chat-forum/viewTopic.jsp?t=exit-paths
http://www.saltcube.com/out-of-body/chat-forum/viewTopic.jsp?t=how-close

Date : 14/5/08 Early morning

Went to sleep while practicing. Found myself conscious after a while in a dream. I was not knowing that its a dream. The bed, the house everything was different but somehow I had no doubts and thought everything was ok and I was out. There were many dream elements and some people. Everything was darkish and dull.

Went out anyway, the doors etc were solid. Outside it was dark, as if just before sunset. Recited my full name and phone number, everything was ok, except I was under the impression that its a real obe.
Whenever I tried to look too far, awareness diminished.
Thought of going to someone and willed myself there, but was just dragged around a while and fell. There I knew something was not right and decided to end it. Woke up in the dream body. Got out again with ease (?) and was wondering why I could keep out for so long...

Woke up in real body, was ticked a bit...

Date : 13/5/08 Night

Noticed something very interesting today while practicing.
While in trance, my entire right arm became very very light and lifted itself up, as if levitating.
I'm sure, it was not merely an illusion, because it startled me and the hand fell back.

It has happened many times that my right index finger lifts itself up involuntarily, as if its weightless..

Saw a dream later, in which some people appeared. When I called on a number, the caller tune had changed.

Root:   under-active   (-13%)
Sacral:   open             (44%)
Navel:   open             (25%)
Heart:   under-active    (6%)
Throat:   open             (63%)
Third Eye: open            (31%)
Crown:   open            (56%)

Well, I thought I had a blockage in Throat...but it says reverse

[HAS]

Psan
The lack of energy while out of body is a problem that I also suffer with.
There just HAS to be some way to renew energy during an OBE.

I do charge myself with NEW and stuff, its not enough I guess...
For now I'm totally dependent on my own natural energy, which depletes with each obe and takes a week or so to re-charge itself.

Its a side effect of spiritual practices (meditation etc), your sense become hypersensitive.
Some call it "divine-ear", with a hum going on 24x7 inside them.

If the condition is not physiological, its a good sign actually...
Please get it confirmed by a doc.