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Cool! Thanks for the tips guys! I think it makes a lot of sense that things seem fuzzy when I'm so close to my body, because I get this kind of dual-consciousness thing going on which explains how I accidentally open my real eyes all the time. I'll give these techniques a go!

In response to Urshebear's comment in particular, I have thought about doing it but I have this nagging feeling that I'm going to actually ended up physically yelling! Its kind of an irrational 'fear' that I can't shake made all the more difficult by the fact that I do actually open my eyes. I have flat mates and I'd rather not have them hear me yelling

Thanks for your response Lionheart. To be fair that does seem like the simple solution but I think I may not have explained myself very well. You see, in these experiences I had I could 'feel' where I was but had no visual sensation of any kind, everything was a very deep black.

I wasn't trying to open my actual eyes, rather I was trying to gain vision and ended up opening my eyes. I guess you could say I'm trying to open my thrid eye to receive visual information while OOB.

Or maybe I'm over-explaining something you understood in the first place? If so, sorry! I just always figured people were able to 'see' while APing because others recount such visual experiences. It's really about validation for me. I would like to cross into another room in my house and 'see' something and later perform a check to see if I actually projected.

Arithmetic

Hey guys, I'm happy to report I've had some moderate success recently (read: this morning). I experienced and episode of SP when I awoke this morning and, due to my daily reinforcement exercises, I actually had the mental where-with-all to use the opportunity to attempt to get OOB. So I felt the vibrations and shortly afterwards, I began to have the sensation of sitting upright, though knowing I wasn't moving physically and everything was still black. I got excited and tried to open my eyes only to find myself back laying down in bed, I had opened my physical eyes!

So I was a bit disappointed but it was early enough so I tried to go back to sleep in hopes of lucid dreaming. Then I awoke and again had SP. I closed my eyes and did the same thing but took my time. Everything was still black and I began to 'move', but strangely enough I knew exactly where I was in the physical space of my room as I began to rise. I got to the point where I put my feet on the floor and actually felt the hard wood, so I thought 'this is it, I've done it' though I was having difficulty standing. So I tried to open my eyes again and boom! Back in my body. Damn.

Also, this may sound bizarre but the second time I awoke I had the sensation that I had been 'slapped'! I actually thought my little brother had come into my room and was messing with me but nope. It took me a few seconds to realize the slapping sensation didn't hurt and was non-physical in a way, very very hard to describe. Any idea what that could have been?

Any advice or experiences shared are very welcome!

Arithmetic

Wow! Amazing story, thanks so much for sharing! I love reading things like this because it fills me with hope that, when the time is right, it WILL happen

I'm glad that you had such a beautiful experience and I wish you many more.

I understand just fine, thanks  I still think the thoughts of fear and subsequent feelings can be overcome by changing your mindset to be more positive.

I think this experience is simply a manifestation of the fear you were feeling at the time. Try to focus more on positive emotions while you are LD/AP and things will go smoother and be more pleasant for you in future.

It would seem to me that what you experienced was the NPR, where thought = action and thus this series of events and characters (including the mermaid) were in fact manifestations as opposed to the events of a past life.

Thanks for the responses guys. It's a relief that this is common. I kind of had this misconception that others find it easy once they learn how to do it. So it seems I really just have to be positive about it and keep trying! Easy to do once I'm in the right mindset about it all!

Arithmetic

I'm not very experienced in AP myself but I hope I can provide some helpful feedback. Firstly, everything you are experiencing is normal when it comes to AP.

A lot of people are initially hindered by fear. I think the key to overcoming it is to simply focus on something else. That is, instead of thinking how to not be afraid, try to simply not give it any attention. Focus on warm, happy thoughts and the fear will subside and you will be able to project. Once you have projected you will learn that fear is limiting and ultimately unnecessary.

I recently posted here for the first time announcing that I had had a couple of involuntary experiences and I would be actually begin attempting AP.

The two nights following my original post were great, I had amazing lucid dreams and on the second night I somehow achieved an incredible feeling of comfort and contentment. Then, the night before last I tried to do it again using my same method as before. I kept on having semi-lucid dreams but then kept snapping out of them and waking up. This happened all night and I didn't sleep very well at all!

Last night was decidedly uneventful. Though my dream recall seems to be improving I didn't have any lucid experiences. It just seems strange that it was so easy for me at first. I honestly thought I could do this at will almost and it would be no time until I was APing with the best of 'em.

Does everyone experience these ups and downs? Any tips on how to remain consistent? I think my routine is fairly solid as it worked the first two nights, but I wonder what has changed.

Arithmetic

Hello and Welcome to the Astral Pulse! 

In my opinion, this is where most people go wrong. They become Lucid in a Dream, then they think they have to return and detach from the body, when they have actually already successfully shifted to the NPR (Non Physical Realms/Reality).

At that point you don't need to detach from the body, all you need to do is change your intent. Thought = action there, so you will end up where you wish.

By thinking of detaching from your body, you are now focusing directly on your body, which in turn "returns" you to this physical focus. Now you have to start the whole process over again. You already have the vibrations, but now you need to lose your physical focus all over again. I'm sure you could see why this is a waste of time and counterproductive.

If people realized that becoming conscious in a "Dream" is all they really need. They would see that AP really is that simple. 

This makes a lot of sense! Thank you Lionheart for the insight. This explains why I almost always wake up as soon as I realize I'm dreaming, I'm just focusing too strongly on the physical world. Thanks for the help!

Arithmetic

[Szaxx:]

Szaxx: Thanks, I will be looking through the stickies more in the coming days. I guess I was just looking for some personal validation here as I'm still very new to all this in terms of consciously trying to project oneself.

Xanth: I think I'm a bit guilty of over-applying 'labels' to my experiences! I've begun reading your ebook; only 12 pages in but it's great stuff! It's very good to read something explaining all this in simple terms. Before I thought it was going to take a while to get my head around it, but you have a great way with words!

Astralzombie: No in-laws just yet, but I'll keep an eye out!  I definitely will take this advice, as from what I've read so far (or at least what I've understood from what I've read) is that this could be a projection of my own negativity in some form. So I feel that is worth understanding more about as I continue to train myself to experience this level of consciousness!

Thanks guys for the help and I hope to have more experiences and discussions in the near future!

Arithmetic

Hi everyone, first time poster here.  I've recently had experiences of a certain nature that I don't feel I can discuss with family and friends.  They are all staunchly Atheist and would almost certainly be dismissive and likely lose respect for me should I mention it.

I have had experiences in life, though I'm not sure I've ever had a full-blown OBE. I have experienced Sleep Paralysis many times, sometimes with the presence of a (negative) entity, though I've never actually seen anything, just felt a presence that seemed malign.

Also, I have always had what I thought was just a recurring dream where I'm lying in bed and I try to get up, put I'm 'pulled' back down, several times. I was always amazed that during these 'episodes' I was able to 'see' my room how it actually was at the time (over many years this happened in many different rooms). Basically it just didn't feel like a dream, more like I was trying to move out of my own body but could never quite make it before 'snapping back.' During these episodes I am fully aware of what's going on, to the point that I often become frustrated that I can't 'get out.' It feels very different from a dream as I feel much more 'present' than I do while dreaming, even lucid dreaming. The transition from this to waking is often seamless, with me actually being in the position I 'dreamt' I was in.

Recently though, I've had a few experiences lately which brought about a resurgence in my research of AP and lucid dreaming.The first was about a week ago:

I awoke with the sensation of 'coming back' into my body. The best way I can describe it is that it was like the feeling of bouncing back up as if I had jumped into bed, the only thing is that I wasn't physically moving (and certainly not jumping!). As always, these experiences are difficult to describe, but I feel almost certain that this was something out of the ordinary. It just felt very different.

Then, two nights ago, I had another experience in which I realized I was dreaming and became lucid. At that point I attempted to detach from my body. Everything went black and I felt the vibrations commonly associated with AP. That's as far as it got, but I think I may have been close!

What do you guys think? Does it sound like the things I'm experiencing involuntarily are AP related? Or perhaps they could just be combinations of vivid dreams and SP?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I look forward to any and all responses.

Best wishes,

Arithmetic