Requesting advice.

[Goldrim]

Greetings and welcome to my thread,

Recently for the past couple of days I have seriously attempted to OBE or Astral Project, I vaguely have an idea what the difference is and have been busy delving into the arts (?) of leaving the physical body with your conciousness. I started reading up on Rober Monroe's expiriences and techniques and have applied them to myself, so far they have been interesting and effective to an extent. I have been listening to an audio which lasts about an hour from this website I will include below, and I will list some of the symptoms I have in order for you to judge whether I am heading down the right path!

Audio : http://mp3skull.com/mp3/hemi_sync_journeys_out_body.html
Exercise: Hemi-Sync - Journeys Out Of The Body - Reinforcement Exercise Of Relaxation mp3

My first step is to dim the lights in my room to where I barely see any light through my closed eyelids, then I lay down on my bed with my headphones on cover myself in thick blankets in order to keep myself warm, from there I play the audio and follow the instructions. There are two questions I have that are tied in with this, is it perhaps a better idea for me to shut off the computer so that I don't hear the buzzing in the background resulting in complete silence? Which will result in the audio not being able to be played, and I'm unsure whether I should cover myself in blankets because it somewhat gives me a warm and safe feeling, but at the same time restraining to an extent.

Now onto the symptoms, the past few nights I have had "rocking" symptoms, it feels as if I'm rocking back and forth heavily, this feeling usually runs through my legs and arms. The first time I attempted this I got an intense feeling of fear and my body was borderline beginning to sweat from it, I kept myself calm and let happy thoughts get into my mind which somewhat neutralized the situation. Another symptom I had is my body slowly shifting to the right, I knew that my physical body was unmoving but it felt as if it was trying to leave my physical body in a way.

A couple of times I let myself get overrun by thoughts and dozed off into sleep for a short period of time, but then I "snapped" out of it and awoke so to speak, awoke in the sense that I was still laying there with eyes closed and the same goal in mind. A question is tied in with this one too, what do I need to focus on, or what do I have to think of? Do I just "go with the flow" so to speak and let myself get taken by thoughts popping into my mind? Should I come up with thoughts in order for them to carry me away?

I look forward to your replies, thank you in advance!

[Astralzombie]

Welcome Goldrim. Be sure and take advantage of older posts as well as the many great stickies. All your concerns have surely been addressed but don't worry. I'm here to give you some vague advice tailored for you specifically.

The short answer is yes. You are very close to projecting and are definitely on the right track. But that's the case even if you weren't trying to project intentionally. That's how easy this is.

You listed a few things that are distracting you. The most important thing here is that you are able to get comfortable and relax. So if something is bothering you to the point that you can't tune it out then go ahead and do what you think is best.

I almost always cover up when I try to project. That's because I get cold easily and not because it helps me to feel safe and secure. Is there any specific fear you have about astral projection? Whatever they are, I can guarantee you that they are silly fears. I know this because there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO FEAR.

If you start to feel some of the common sensations, then "go with the flow". They are all natural and nothing is wrong. Be sure and read one of the stickies that Beedeekin wrote concerning sleep paralysis. They are excellent and he covered all the bases in detail.

Don't give up and be that guy or girl who stopped one try short of success. If it takes you ten years, it will be worth it. Hopefully you will stick around and teach us something as well.

Good luck and keep exploring.

[Goldrim]

Thank you for the heartwarming welcome its_all_bad!

I thank you once again for the advice, it is really helpful to know that I am on the right track! A couple of things I forgot to add though, one of them is that when I attempt to "go with the flow" the symptoms seem to slowly fade away, the second is if I should attempt this more than once a day, since I don't wish to exhaust myself from practicing it.

I shall take a look at your recommendations, thanks, any further advice from anybody is completely welcome!

[AstralJames]

Perhaps, I can help with those two questions. Those symptoms may go away when you "go with the flow" because you focus too much on them. What I hear a lot of from experienced Astral projectors are that, you should "passively observe" everything that is happening. Notice them, but don't try to figure out what it is, if you hear sound, just listen. See something? Just observe it. And in my opinion, you should practice as much as possible. Although many people's schedule does not allow this, it really does help. ALOT. You are getting close to projecting. Keep trying!

[Astralzombie]

Sure, Go ahead and try as many times you want to in a day. Just don't give to frustrated and give up for good.

Here's the deal concerning the sensations. You may not feel any of them at all. They may seem to be very intense at times as well. No matter the case, you can still project. The sensations are actually caused by your body falling asleep and SP is kicking in. They are closely associated with projecting because the goal is for your body to fall asleep while your mind stays awake. We all go through the process every night. It's just that our minds are usually asleep as well so we aren't aware of the feelings.

So don't worry if they aren't intense or you think you're having a heart attack. Nothing is wrong.

I get a little jealous of the uninitiated sometimes, believe it or not. That's because your first intended OOBE  is usually a positive life changing event and that feeling and realization doesn't happen every day. It probably feels like winning the lottery only the odds of winning this game are in your favor. Knowing this, could you imagine yourself ever giving up?

[Lionheart]

A question is tied in with this one too, what do I need to focus on, or what do I have to think of? Do I just "go with the flow" so to speak and let myself get taken by thoughts popping into my mind? Should I come up with thoughts in order for them to carry me away?

Hello and Welcome to the Astral Pulse! 

You can basically focus on anything you want to, but not your physical body.

Do you have a fun hobby or sport you like? Focus on acting this out.

Do you have an destination that you wish to visit. Create that image and focus on that.

There are countless things you can focus on. Another good one is just focus on the darkness in front of your eyes.

Did you see a flash of light? Is there a tunnel or vortex? Whatever does occur, passively observe it with an air of curiosity.

Don't try to enhance the scenario, SURRENDER TO it and ALLOW it to become vivid.

You will find that if you just kind of passively observe it, that it will get stronger and stronger until all of a sudden, you are right in the middle of it.

This is when you want to do some kind of grounding to stay there. Grounding is when you interact with the scenario using one of more of your 5 senses.

This will get easier with practice! 

Good Luck and Safe Travels! 

[Szaxx]

As an example physically based.
You travel to a beach say 100 miles away. You're not going to walk do you use transport. He it a bus,car or train. We've all used these methods si are USED to it. One day a rich friend appears and says " lets go to the beach again".
You say " yeah, why not".
Now this is the difference. You're not doing a familiar thing as he has a helicopter. Immediately FEAR takes your mind.
There's no point, honestly. He will have a licence and the machine will be in perfect working order with all necessary permissions.
You still have fear. It's the unknown. It's safer than using roads statistically but you have FEAR.

Understand its unnecessary and you'll be fine.
Its going to be a new experience and well worth it. Explore the unknown, we all do here and find it fascinating.

[Goldrim]

Thank you all for the advice, first I'd like to apologize for the delay of my reply due to me not being able to access the website at times.

Now, I made another attempt and I must say that it went quite well, the rocking symptom arose and I had a feeling that I was nearly "there" so to speak, but then I suddenly snapped out of my thoughts and all the feelings slowly faded away, as to where I became so unfocused and unrelaxed due to the blankets smothering me and getting me extremely warm, oh well, I thank you all once again, you all have been of great help.

Quote) I get a little jealous of the uninitiated sometimes, believe it or not. That's because your first intended OOBE is usually a positive life changing event and that feeling and realization doesn't happen every day. It probably feels like winning the lottery only the odds of winning this game are in your favor. Knowing this, could you imagine yourself ever giving up? (Unquote

You make a good point, but I guess that's up to the person what he wishes to achieve in his life, I just see this as a great opportunity to explore ourselves, hopefully a revelation of sorts, not many people get the chance or method offered to them. I for one have been raised of Christian belief for the majority of my life but have converted myself to be of Agnostic belief, nowadays I just choose to explore and expirience things myself, such as this!