Astral travel help?

[AstralBird]

Hello my friends, im new here and was curious as to see if you could help me?
You see i have been trying to project for almost 2 years and only within the last week have i been to the edge of seperation!

my problems are as follow...

when i try to exit, my physical body keeps moving.

Im unsure how to leave.

and i was wondering whether you had to be under sleep paralysis to exit?

thanks

love x

[CFTraveler]

Sounds like you're not deep enough in trance.
Do you have a routine you do to get in trance?

[AstralBird]

not really, ive just been trying loads of things, what would you recommend?

[Stookie]

You say you've tried loads of things, but what methods and exercises? It may be easier to help by knowing what hasn't worked for you, as there are a lot of methods out there that work differently for different people.

[AstralBird]

I see..

Could you possibly suggest any methods of entering the trance?

[Psan]

You can try the method of progressively relaxing each of your muscles, then silencing your mind and observing the moving patterns behind the eyelids or listening to the ringing noise in your ears.

In essence, forget your body.

[AstralBird]

I just tried again and....OMG
I started by relaxing my muscles and then cleared my mind like you said.
Then i focused on my breathing and sensations started to involentarily take over my body, changing as i focus harder.
First i got this floating feeling and my body just went numb, then it went really intense and i felt quite wierd...like i had huge pressure in certain parts of my body.

Didnt get out though!

any advice for what to do next?

[IceCold_K82]

You can try the method of progressively relaxing each of your muscles, then silencing your mind and observing the moving patterns behind the eyelids or listening to the ringing noise in your ears.

In essence, forget your body.

I can focus on my hearing and hear this ringing noise in my ears any time I want to.  Its not painful its just there when I focus on it.  I notice when i relax I can hear hear it clearer.  But how does this put you in a trance or help with OBE?

[Psan]

any advice for what to do next?

You are almost there. Keep practicing ...
Next, you should try to hover between sleep and wakefulness (mind awake and body asleep) state. In this state there should not be any sensation of the body. (To simply know that you are in the bed and have a body is ok, but if you are getting sensations out it, then your mind is not fully disconnected from physical yet, so go deeper)

Once you have a floating or falling sensation, you are probably already out or you can use one of the exit techniques, like rolling over etc. Noises in the head, like banging or whooshing sounds are an indicator of separation.

[Psan]

I can focus on my hearing and hear this ringing noise in my ears any time I want to.  Its not painful its just there when I focus on it.  I notice when i relax I can hear hear it clearer.  But how does this put you in a trance or help with OBE?

Listening to the ringing in ears is merely a method of taking your mind off the physical and keeping it focused enough so that you don't fall totally asleep or you don't start talking to self endlessly (internal chatter).

Another way is to focus on breathing, but I personally do not prefer it, as it make me remember my physical body and transition from awareness of breathing to non-physical is too tricky to perform.

Simply hearing it ring when you are doing normal stuff is not enough and won't put you OOB instantly, you need to relax and be on the border of sleep/wakefulness.

Finally you must let go of the ringing or any other noises. The Astral is a very very silent place (unless you encounter something which makes 'sounds') and if you can still hear the ringing or anything related to physical, you are not totally out. Mostly this will happen on its own.

[AstralBird]

Im about to try to enter the astral agian, im confident that ill go far:)

Ill get back to you guys later with my experience!

and thanks for the help!

[IceCold_K82]

Listening to the ringing in ears is merely a method of taking your mind off the physical and keeping it focused enough so that you don't fall totally asleep or you don't start talking to self endlessly (internal chatter).

Another way is to focus on breathing, but I personally do not prefer it, as it make me remember my physical body and transition from awareness of breathing to non-physical is too tricky to perform.

Simply hearing it ring when you are doing normal stuff is not enough and won't put you OOB instantly, you need to relax and be on the border of sleep/wakefulness.

Finally you must let go of the ringing or any other noises. The Astral is a very very silent place (unless you encounter something which makes 'sounds') and if you can still hear the ringing or anything related to physical, you are not totally out. Mostly this will happen on its own.

Yes thank you.  I too dont like focusing on my breathing.  Because when I finally start getting relaxed and in a good place, I think I am not breathing, but I am merely not focusing on it anymore.  I have left this. 

Last night I tried focusing on my ringing a bit more.  It did help me keep focused.  But I still need more practice with it.  Thank you, I think I have finally found something I fits me.

keep ya posted

[CFTraveler]

There's a technique thread in which everyone tells theirs.  I think mine is on the first page.  I'm pretty sure I posted a checklist of steps in order of what I do.
I'm not sure how detailed it is, but it goes something like this:
relaxation (progressive muscle relaxation, as described previously in this thread)
light energy work (tactile visualization)
breathwork (focusing on your breath, doing any pranayama you like)
trance work (using imagination to visualize going up, like in a hot air balloon, etc. or down, like going down steps)  Lots of different techniques to use, pick more than one and do them in succession, something going down, then something going up preferably.
At this point you should be fairly relaxed.
Then go to energy body loosening (a few methods are mentioned somewhere around here)
and after that settle into noticing, and if too alert, use the ear-hiss listening methods described here.
At some point you want to try an exit tech, after your trance is deep enough.

The point is not to try just one thing, but to do a routine that includes physical relaxation, meditation and trance techniques, to get you to the optimal state for projection.  Having a routine also trains your mind into recognizing a mindset to produce the trance automatically.

Good luck.
CF.

[AstralBird]

Still havent projected but you guys have really helped to get me to the edge of separation, and so i am truly greatful! thanks ever so much

another thing...

I hear binaural beats are quite useful at achieving astral projection, has anyone here ever had any personal experience? as i was thinking of purchasing one for when im feeling tired and cant project on my own.

[nickspry]

Hi,
If you could provide a little more information I may be able to help you.
You say that you can reach a point where you are on the verge of separation. How do you know you are on the verge? Do you experience any vibrations or hear any sounds at this point? The reason I ask is because it's often possible that you will separate and not realise that you have separated - ie: you will feel as if you are still awake, but have actually moved into the astral. For this reason it's always a good idea to do a reality check, even if you think you have failed. If you make it habit to pinch your nose shut and see if you can breathe through it, you're quite likely to find that you have separated even when you feel fully awake. The astral can completely fool you, but if you do this check you will always be sure one one way or the other. Reality checks are really important at the point of separation because we expect to feel different once we have separated - but very often we don't.
Hope this helps...