Trying to Make Sense of Where I am

[Ector]

    Over past week, I recently picked back up trying to astral project and am kinda confused where I am on the progression of things. I know that I can reach that state of near perfect relaxation fairly quickly (within 5-10 minutes of beginning). From there, I can feel a "surge" of energy that pools and flows through me. With my will, I gather as much of as it possible and make sure Im more or less saturated with it (I've read that its supposed to be energy from the Astral Plane, but I could be wrong; I HIGHLY doubt its built-up nervous energy). At this point, I can feel my arms and legs go numb. I also notice that I become acutely sensitive to sound and also start to auditorily hallucinate.
   Now heres where I start running into issues:
I will notice a secondary surge of what I can only describe as "peace" follow when most of my body is numbed. From this point onward, I can only feel very faintly my physical body breathing; the numbness will have spread up from my toes to my neck. The first problem occurs at this point: No matter how much I try to further my relaxation and no matter how much time I give myself to seperate. I can never see any progression; my head just wont reach a state of sleep paralysis. In my longest practice session, I clocked myself as having been attempting this for over 6 hours (it just seems a little too long to be working like it should). I've tried several techniques (astral rope trick, imaginating that you're levitating, focusing on a point and trying to transfer your consciousness into it.) and all have failed miserably many times.
     My second issue is more of a concern than a problem, but nontheless, it's something thats been bothering me. I can never tell if my body is actually asleep or just highly relaxed. When I've reached that state where I believe Im physically asleep, after each attempt I feel really rejuvenated, much like one would feel after taking a short nap. I haven't taken it to the extreme yet, (seeing how long I can consciously go for), but for all that I can see, this reveals that I was sleeping. I will note that, as far as sleep paralysis goes, I've only had it in very mild cases (less than half a second to regain full control). Is this actually sleeping or, if not, what is this?
   My final issue is with the after effects from my last few attempts. I know it may seem really odd, but when I reached the "second surge" of whatever it was, I did notice that the tingling from the first surge remained well after the practice attempt; it has yet to go away. It actually does feel quite nice, but sometimes throws me off as build up tension. Should I be concerned or is this just my body becoming acutely aware (kinda like my hearing). Im curious.
   I know I've got alot on my plate and dont expect it all to be solved easily or in one piece. I appreciate everyone's time for listening to my issues and for commenting. I'm optimistic that I will learn exactly what I need to do someday, but until then I'll just have to keep using trial and error.
   P.S. If anyone has any "guides" as Ive heard them called that can aid in the process of seperation, please send them my way . I may be patient and can more or less control my anxiousness, but I REALLY want to astral project and atleast get a feeling for what its like. Thanks again!

[Ector]

I should also note that my frequency is around 3+ attempts daily at astral projecting, each one given a wholehearted and full effort. I'm not sure if something is happening because of that or if thats beneficial or whatever it might me. I generally give the attempts 1-2 hours each. I've known about astral projection before and actually used to practice (unsuccessfully) when I was a child. I just hope that this dedication wont die out before I see some success.