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Something similar to Astral316, reading about AP on various forums a few years back and remembering two particular instances of when I was a child, one of them which really stopped making me feeling guilty only after reading about it. The 'nasty' episode was when as a small child, I was quite ill and I remember waking up and going to the bathroom. I went back to the bed to sleep, only to wake up realising that I actually wetted the bed. My mom was understanding, told me that I was sick and changed the bed and made me feel comfortable, but still, I was feeling sort of guilty and not understanding what happened until years ago I came into contact with AP, which explained some things for me.

The second case was when as a teen, I woke up extremely thirsty. I extended my hand to take that glass of water, and started drinking, only to wake up in bed, with no glass of water next to me, and of course, my real hand was nowhere extended.
Once I remembered these episodes, I somehow instantly believed that AP is real, and ever since I'm trying to recreate that feeling of being out of my body (of course, without the nasty after-effects of a wet bed )

Btw, I don't want to count the times I had to make a reality check over my early years when I was in the bathroom that I'm actually awake and am not just 'out of my body' 

Marika

Here is mine: http://pathofthesoul.blogspot.com/
It has also other things on it re. spirituality and my musings, but the latest entries are more or less about this subject.

Thanks Vessen for shedding some more light into my problem of being too wide awake when I awaken. I'll give it a shot tonight, as tomorrow we have a public holiday around here, so 'i can play' during the night without being afraid that I'll fall asleep tomorrow at work 
Will post back if I had any success tomorrow.
marika

Usually I didn't use to, but now, since I've read Vessen's book, I just do. When I go to sleep I say to myself that I will wake up in an few hours, and I try to recreate in my mind that anxious feeling which I used to have years ago when I had to wake up in the middle of the night, so I don't miss the plane. Then I fall asleep, and I do wake up after a few hours, and actually it seems more than once per night. I was totally surprised that it works, but I'm a living proof it does  Now if I can also get to work the rest of Vessen's program 

Marika

Lol, similar to me as well. Woke up again, and became wide awake almost instantly. At least no breathing problems and anxiety this night, so it's some kind of progress, I guess. I'll keep trying...

I would like to point out that focus on breathe is not required, you can focus on anything. I have had several successful OBEs now and each time I focus on whatever. The key is to key mind in the present by focusing on something.

Best regards

David

Now this is something I'll give it a shot this weekend. Since focusing on my breathing gives me 'breathing problems' and I'll stay awake for a long itme with nothing but sleep deprivation, I'll be focusing on something else instead.

I just want to point out that I had a vivid OBE the first night I tried the VEH technique. It seems that everyone has overlooked the part the says to feel your body getting heavy.

Perhaps this is the missing link . I may be wrong.

I did try to feel my body go heavy on me, but having those troubles with breathing, I couldn't really concentrate on anything else at that time.

Yesterday I was so exhausted the whole day, that I decided last night to not attempt anything (afterall it's still a week day, and I can't be all groggy at work  ). I just said to myself I will sleep like stone. Well, I woke up about 2 times, but thankfully I slept right away and even had some dreams of skating 

Now come the weekend, I'll give it a few more tries before I give up. I want it to work, because the very first step of programming my mind to wake up in the night worked so beautifully, so maybe with practice I will get the rest right as well. Will post back.

Thanks both for the replies.

Interesting post by Frank, thanks for the read.

I've checked out past threads and found one that sort of rings a bell. Basically it talked about breathing anxiety and hyperventilating. My symptoms are quite similar, so I'm wondering if that's what I also experience. No idea why though, but I'll give it a few more tries before changing to another technique, see what comes up. If it still doesn't work, I'll send Vessen an email and post here his reply.

Marika

Hi everyone, I'm a long time lurker here, but writing for the first time.

One of the steps in the Vehram system is to program your mind to wake up at various times during the night (doing it easily, no problem there), and then by focusing on your breathing, try to achieve the hypnagogic state - remain awake while your body goes back to sleep.
I'm having some major troubles with this step and was wondering if anyone could give me a hand here?

Basically once I wake up during the night, and I'm ready to fall back asleep, as soon as I start watching my breathing, the following happens: i wake up completely, and I start to ..not sure how to put it..in lack of better words, almost like choke on my breathing, get shortness of breath. It's like because I am watching my breathing, I have to consciously breath, and that distracts me tremendously.
Funny thing is, I am familiar with meditation, and focusing on your breathing to achieve that relaxed state, so why doesn't it work when I lie awake in the night, why it wakes me up completely with those side symptoms like that? Last night, for example, it took me over 2 hours to really fall back asleep...
Any ideas what is going on here or what I'm doing wrong?

Marika