Trying for six months, no luck yet

[ayearhasgone]

Hi all.  I've been trying to project for ~6 months.  I realize that it could take longer than this and I'm not particularly impatient (well... a little), but I was wondering if there is anything I can do to help my progress.

I've made it to the vibrational stage only once, about two hours after waking up for the day.  I was putting my infant son down for a nap, laying in bed with him, and I decided to meditate.  I did breath awareness, then the rope technique, and then felt my body doing situps.  I just needed a repetitive motion to feel and count and I was tired of the rope.  Anyway, my physical abs started to burn after a while, but I kept going.  Around my 400th situp, I stopped, feeling myself in the hypnagogic state.  My neural discharges formed into an angry face with bunny ears (?), and when I noticed that, it felt like my arms and legs were being buzzed with one of those hand-buzzer things.  Like a mild electric shock.  I got excited, my heart rate went up, and my trance went away.   

I've been working with a man that is very experienced with AP'ing and lucid dreaming, he's been trying to help me find a method that works for me.  I've read up on Bruce and Monroe as well as others, and I'm a little overwhelmed with the diversity of opinions on how to get to the astral.  I guess it's about finding a way that works for you.

I cannot set an alarm for the early morning because my wife and son would wake up and murder me.  I usually wake up at that time anyway to get him a bottle, but I always fall asleep when trying to project.  My best effort was in the morning after waking up for the day, but I have this thing called a job that interferes with that time.   

I read the stickied thread in this sub-forum and will be doing the visualization techniques tonight.  It sounds like that's basically what I did with my astral situps.

[bluremi]

Sounds like you're dedicated and patient enough for long-term effort.

I think you're missing the passive focus you get from meditation. Practicing some simple meditation, such as mindfulness, for about 20 minutes every day will help you relax and it will prevent you from falling asleep while you practice having an OBE. It sounds like you're too focused on technique right now and are not getting the prerequisite amount of relaxation (both physical and mental) that you need for success.

[Xanth]

Sounds like you're dedicated and patient enough for long-term effort.

I think you're missing the passive focus you get from meditation. Practicing some simple meditation, such as mindfulness, for about 20 minutes every day will help you relax and it will prevent you from falling asleep while you practice having an OBE. It sounds like you're too focused on technique right now and are not getting the prerequisite amount of relaxation (both physical and mental) that you need for success.

^ Solid advice. 

[mcdwg]

What worked for me was not trying to project but to feed my mind with as much knowledge of this subject as possible, in fact I was fearful at first so I had no desire to project.  I was facinated with astral projection as if i was reading a really good book, my mind kept being fed and I constantly thought about it, so one day i actually had an OBE without even trying and I think it was all because I wasn't expecting an outcome and it naturally happened, this happened after about four months by the way so in my own uneducated opinion besides trying to prject also just read and ask to get knowledge and it might just happen naturally.  I understand about the baby since i have a 4 month old myslef and it is very difficult to focus.

take care

[bluremi]

For an early morning alarm, this sounds kind of nutty but it works:

If you sleep in the same position without moving around much, you can set your cell phone to vibrate and tape it to your chest or belly or leg (with masking tape so no sticky residue remains). The vibrations should wake you up silently.

I do this when I need to take a short nap, except I don't bother with the tape since I can just leave it resting on my chest or hip bone without it sliding off.

[Lionheart]

 Try visualizing every chance you get during the daytime. Visualize colors, shapes etc. I have noticed by doing this for just a couple of minutes a day that my focus has improved enormously. At first you can only hold an image for a few seconds, but with practice it will grow. This a something that you can do at anytime of the day. 50 times a day if you wanted to because it is so easy to do and does so much to prepare you for your Astral Sight.

[ayearhasgone]

I've recently read up on the work of Monroe and Frank Kepple and I must say, their view on the astral makes a lot of sense to me.  I feel more comfortable knowing that you don't really leave your body when projecting.  Of course this is controversial, so that's all I'm going to say about that.

I had an realization today.  When I was in high school, I woke up at around 4 AM every morning, without fail.  This is because I usually drank a copious amount of water before bed and I would need to urinate.  I can't believe I forgot about that, I guess I just never made the connection with projecting...  Anyway.  I will be drinking a lot of water tonight.  If my infant son sleeps well and doesn't wake me up every half hour like last night I should be good to go.

I will practice visualizing throughout the day, thanks for the tip!  I already do a little bit during meditation.

[David Warner]

Please review my Sticky Thread I created on "Why I can't Project"...

http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_astral_projection_experiences/why_cant_i_project_invisiblelight_book_reference_for_beginner_to_advance-t28924.0.html

Good Luck,

DW

[Contenteo]

I like Lion's advice. I work with visualizing and drawing mental models of business systems and other systems all day as a job, and projecting has been pretty easy for me after getting the roadmap down by doing it a couple times. I wholeheartedly believe that a creative lifestyle and visualizing a lot(practicing I guess) has a noticeable effect on the ease of projection. I mean in a theoretically sense the astral is just creative thought coupled with your personal intent, so it makes a pretty logical pattern why this would help.

Cheers,
Contenteo