One of the many having trouble getting out. PLEASE HELP!

[ridin0nthewind]

Hey there guys. Basically i started reading up about projection 3 or 4 weeks ago now, and have been trying to project quite a bit since. I started yoga a few months back, doing it once and sometimes twice a week. So i think thats been helpful in me trying to project, and im hoping it wont take me long. I mean, cos i hear of people trying for months or even a year or more with no success.

My progress has been good i think. The first couple of times i tried with no results. but the third or so time, has probably been my most closest projection i think so far. Basically i felt that that sudden surge of energy sensation wash over my body quite suddenly when practising, it went numb and fairly light, then i was having serious rapid fluttering of my eyelids. I may have imagined it, but im fairly sure the blackness behind my eyes seemed to expand a bit and became starry. Since then i have tried most nights with similar results of feeling through my body, but no starry sky. I even saw a very vivid little white dot appear once about the size of a pea or smaller.

I've been using little foam earplugs to get a real deep sense of quietness, it seems to help alot. But i'm not hearing any sounds such as the supposed roaring, or voices or such things. i guess everyones different, but i feel im getting really close to projection, but just cant seem to project or finalise it.

I do get the deep sensations of almost just focusing on the mind and blackness behind the eyes, and pretty much not feeling the physical body.

Any help would be amazingly helpful, and im sure these forums get these questions all the time, so i do apologise lol

thanks guys

[Fresco]

I'm in the same boat as you, I still havent exited yet even after doing trance sessions of 1 hour daily.
I read you have to keep doing trance every day until there comes a time when your body is ready to exit. 

I'm gonna keep doing trance work every day (even if I never exit) because I like the good feeling and energy I get from it

[ridin0nthewind]

oh yeah really, i read that when you just sort of stop focusing on it and being anxious even, if you just go with the flow and not try to experience the sensations but just wait for them, sort of thing. thats meant to work i think. i think its kind of like that franks phasing method thats here on astral pulse. Hard to explain lol. what i mean is, sort of forget the methods, just relax maybe focus a little on breathing then go with it. its frustrating being so close though ey

[missym]

It takes a long time to exit your body for the first time. There are the few lucky people who do it within 3 weeks, but they are few in number. Even after practicing on average 2 hours a day for 3 months I can finally successfully and easily move my Astral limbs, but I've only had one OBE.
Don't rush things, that's one of the biggest mistakes you can make, because then you will feel discouraged when it doesn't happen within the first two months, even after trying and trying.
It will happen.
Just take things slowly, practice energy work, read about your chakras, but don't forget to live your life. And don't expect to have an OBE everytime you lay down to practice, lower your standards and eventually, when you are ready, you will exit.

Good luck !

[Xanth]

Try to not have any preconceived notions of how long something is "supposed" to take.
It takes however long it takes.
Just keep practicing as much as possible and you'll eventually see results. 

[ridin0nthewind]

Thanks alot guys!, yeah ive just started the Mastering astral projection 90 day book course. I'm gonna take a step back and be patient, i like to see any progress when lying down as learning anyway, and feel im gettin a little closer everytime, and like to feel that its making it easier and easier for me over time. I think i might even stop any attempts for a while, and just focus on this course, i'll have it when im ready i suppose, and i'm gonna try and forget about the time frame, and just do the exercises to build my skills. but yeah im not going to restrict myself to the fact that its gonna take eactly 90 days. It just sounds so amazing that its easy to get impatient i suppose. i know it will all pay off in the end anyway!

thanks guys!

[ahzab33]

Hi,

You sound to be right around where I am right now. The best thing to do is focus on getting better and learning more everyday. Read a few different books because some authors don't go into deep enough detail on certain things. At first, I didn't know how deep into trance I should be in to achieve projection because I had never done trancework. I would sit in trance for hours not knowing why I couldn't achieve full separation. I would get partially out and get pulled back in. I knew I wasn't doing something right because I constantly read that one should avoid falling asleep while in trance. I always wondered why it was that I never even came close to falling asleep during trance. Another author said that in using direct techniques (basically projecting while wide awake using trance) one should have a lapse in consciousness before attempting exit techniques. I never had these lapses in consciousness while doing trance.

Most people (like myself) often start off using direct techniques which is the hardest way possible to project because it takes time to master trance. Indirect techniques are much better in that it relies on the natural sleep process to get you in the trance state. Now, what I do is one Direct attempt per day lasting about 30 minutes, mainly to hone my trance skills. But my real attempt happens at night before going to sleep, or waking in the middle of the night or early morning. If you are not winking out for 1 - 2 seconds when you go into trance, you may not be deep enough into it.

Good Luck

[ridin0nthewind]

thanks ahzab33, that was a huge help! ive been reading lots of material, and im currently doin the 90 day Mastering astral projection book by robert bruce. the coolest method ive read just recently, is goin to sleep for an hour or an hour and a half, then staying awake for an hour, then apparently because ur body has just been denied the REM sleep somehow this helps when you go to project and lay down again after the hour awake. wat do u mean winking out in trance? sorry lol

[Tiny]

Dear ridin0nthewind,

the creative mind always overcomplicates everything.

The most simple and easiest and direct method of exiting is by imaging a tiny cube out in front or above you depending on your posture.

Just keep focusing on it, but focus real hard. Don't think about focusing, just do it. Let in your mind only exist the cube a few feet outside your body. Don't wait for the exit sensations for you must ignore them or you lose your focus. They will probably come in very quick.

When I do this, usually within seconds something happens to me - often a beeping in my left ear or a sensation that the room is huge or actually smaller than me! Exit sensations are not something you want. If you let them distract you, you lose. You want to focus on the cube real hard. If you strictly do that, it'll happen every single time.
Just make sure you are relatively relaxed and it's very helpful to do a little energy work, so you have atleast a little energy stimulation in your feet, legs, arms, spine and facial area.



peace

[ahzab33]

thanks ahzab33, that was a huge help! ive been reading lots of material, and im currently doin the 90 day Mastering astral projection book by robert bruce. the coolest method ive read just recently, is goin to sleep for an hour or an hour and a half, then staying awake for an hour, then apparently because ur body has just been denied the REM sleep somehow this helps when you go to project and lay down again after the hour awake. wat do u mean winking out in trance? sorry lol

No problem. Mastering AP is a very good book in my opinion. it is the main book I use as well. By winking out I mean a momentary lapse in consciousness, kinda like when are driving while tired and your eyes close and for one to two seconds you were dipping into sleep. The sweet spot is the threshold between wakefulness and sleep, right at the border. I realized this the other night when I was laying my bed and for some reason i decided to resist sleep as long as possible while laying in my normal sleep position. I winked out for a second but caught myself. Next thing I new there was a swirling pattern in front of that became very colorful and vivid. I created a ball of light and sent it into the vortex and locked my sights on the ball and followed it. After a while it started doing its own thing and I didnt have to tell it how to move, i just had to keep up with it. When I came out on the other side I saw before me stars and a huge, gigantic  vortex that looked so vivid and detailed that it made Avatar look like a black and white movie. I played around a little while longer before finally went to sleep and said now I know what I was doing wrong.

[ridin0nthewind]

Yes 'Tiny', this is what i have been thinking. that projection may be made sound harder and more complicated than it is. so say i am laying down and trying to project, i imagine the cube above me? what about breathing and that? the other method i have just read recently is saying a name, or word constantly and just forget about breathing, and soon the sound amplify's and you get the the jus before separation state. also to sleep for an hour or so, wake up for an hour or so then try it then. thanks alot tiny

Ahzab, much appreciated, thanks for the helpful info, i intend to try and project tonight, i'll update how i go

[Tiny]

so say i am laying down and trying to project, i imagine the cube above me

Dear ridin0onthewind,

as I said that's all it takes, isn't that sweet? But again, focus real tight! 100% awareness must be transferred to a reference outside the body. Don't worry about distractions like breathing for if you focus on the cube you will soon forget about your breath, your limbs, your face, your tongue, saliva etc. and your autonomous nervous system will take that on for you.



peace

[personalreality]

I'm one of the ones who took a long time to get it right. 

I started trying to project when I was about 17 or 18 and I'm now 24 and just successfully projected for the first time last month. 

You should read my post "How I Got Out For The First Time".  It's posted in this section.  In it I explain what I was doing "wrong" and how I remedied my problems.  It may be helpful if you haven't read it yet.

Don't let the time it took me get you down though, I didn't start practicing with any real discipline until last summer.  So I would say that in truth it took me like 6-7 months.  I used Robert Bruce's methods from Astral Dynamics last summer and got to the point of feeling really strong sensations like energy surge, rapid heart center (it feels like your heart but it's not, which I can prove in a second), fluttering eyelids and mild vibrations.  I recorded myself once during this and on tape I was perfectly still like I was meditating, but my experience was that I was practically having a seizure.  I found that my error was that I was trying to hard.  I used to hate when people told me that, but it was true.  Though I don't feel like anyone ever said how I was trying to hard, so it never really helped. 

I have since discovered that what I was trying to hard at was all the methods and what not.  I was keeping my mind too active to let my body 'fall asleep' (i personally don't feel that a fully asleep body is necessary) by focusing on all of the mental activity.  What finally got me over the edge was just to let go and "pretend to fall asleep".  I learned to focus my mind to a single point and drift away until my consciousness what flickering between being awake and asleep.  Now the whole process takes about an hour and I usually fall into a light sleep a couple of times.  At some point I wake up and feel myself buzzing which means I've already started to separate.  Then I roll out or somersault out and go.

keep it simple, it will make things much easier.  Just narrow your focus to a point and 'fall asleep'.

[ridin0nthewind]

ok tiny, thankyou so much. i'm gonna try that method soon. hey 'personaleality,' yeah its funny like that. the first time i properly tried to project seriously and patiently i got the furthest i think. and now i've read all this stuff and complicated it and confused my mind i havnt got to that same stage lol. by narrowing your focus to a point, you mean stare at one point directly or remain thinking about one certain thing? i heard of the method of saying a name/word or sound in your head till it amplifies, and not to even do the breathing cos it will take care of itself.

i know it mind sound stupid. but i find it hard now to try at night cos i think some black figure is gonna be standing at the end of my bed or some excrement haha. i know fear perpetuates things like this so i gotta stop that. but i read so many things here on the forums. it almost seems like the less you know of astral projection. besides the simple basics, and maybe an easy method. the better, cos your mind ends up getting these pre conceived ideas and complicates itself and that. now im just rambling lol

thanks though

[Tiny]

Dear ridin0nthewind,

in addition to my posts I'd like to mention as I have mentioned before in another thread that one should NOT focus on entrancing oneself.
Trance is something that comes automatically by the side. Focus on a reference point entrances the body automatically. However, if one focuses on entrancing oneself instead of focusing on what one really wants to do it will not work I guarantee you from my own experience. You can save yourself a lot of frustration if you avoid this trap in first place.
By focusing on one's brainwaves, one will cause the opposite of trance by exercising physical bodily awareness which will cause mental activity to rise and this actually inhibits trance.
The overcomplication that minds and books have created is truely aweful.



kind regards,

Paul

[ridin0nthewind]

thankyou tiny, youve been awesomly helpful 
thats wat i was thinking, the more thinking the worse lol
the only thing im wondering is, by reference point u mean, stare at a particular part behind the eyes and jus go with the flow ey? something like that? ok maybe this will be easier, wat is your reference point if you dont mind me asking?

thanks for all your help. im about to try and project right now!

[Tiny]

thankyou tiny, youve been awesomly helpful  
thats wat i was thinking, the more thinking the worse lol
the only thing im wondering is, by reference point u mean, stare at a particular part behind the eyes and jus go with the flow ey? something like that? ok maybe this will be easier, wat is your reference point if you dont mind me asking?

thanks for all your help. im about to try and project right now!

Aww my pleasure, and best of luck to you.

Point of reference is another wording for what I talked about with the visualizing the cube and focusing on it real hard. Actually I seem to tend to visualize not cubes but cooking pots or buckets for some weird reason! They are also very easily visualized.

stare at a particular part behind the eyes and jus go with the flow ey?

I think you're beginning to overcomplicate it. You'll learn it by experience very quickly i'm sure.


kind regards,

Paul

[ridin0nthewind]

yeah i just remembered the cube thing after i wrote the post lol. when you visualize it, do you try and visualize all different parts of it, and turn it over in your mind. or in a stationary position. thanks paul

[ridin0nthewind]

this may sound stupid, but i find my mouth getting dry, and i have to swallow while trying to project. its really annoying. cos it brings my body awareness back i think. i breathe in through nose and out through the nose. should i try out through the mouth? this has been with me from day 1 this question. im not trynna overcomplicate n e thing else lol, just this burning question i keep forgetting to ask i needa straighten out. the breathing.

[Tiny]

  well,

I do know that when you breath through open mouth, your saliva can evaporate very fast so breathing through the nose is always more beneficial (this is an essential for survival situations). I can't tell you if i breath through mouth or nose because i never focus on it.
I do know that usually i don't fully close my mouth, so the tips of my upper and lower lips are not touching each other. As I've found this is the most relaxed posture of the jaw unlike fully open mouth and fully closed mouth where there is always a bit of muscular tension.


kind regards,

Paul