Kurt here. 31 yr old from Indiana

[kuurt]

Hi, Kurt here.  31 yr old from Indiana.  I have wanted to be able to consciously astral project since I was 18.  Around that time in my life I was avidly trying to project every single day.  Some days I would lie on my back for 3-4 hours at a time trying to make it happen.  Most of the time nothing would happen.  Some times my head would feel weird or like it was filling up with energy or something.  Occasionally I would feel the "vibrations" and feel like I'm on the verge of something happening.  My heart would speed up (or feel like it anyway) and it was always followed up by anticipatory fear.  It's like I knew something was about to happen, but I didn't know what exactly.  It's a scary feeling, and if it wasn't for the fear I probably would have achieved conscious astral projection a long time ago. 

When I say "conscious" astral projection, I mean my attempts to project during the day while I'm fully conscious.  I have experienced astral projection several times, but for me it has always been through the dream state or while I'm sleeping.  It's like I am dreaming or sleeping and I suddenly realize that I'm out of my body.  It's like I completely skip the vibrating and buzzing and the scary part where my hearts racing, and I'm hearing strong wind and feel like I'm caught up in it.  And I just find myself already out and somewhere else. 

I have tried many ways to astral project.  I have tried the astral projection audios created by the Monroe Institute.  I have tried hypnosis, binary beats, theta brainwave stuff.  I've tried them combined.  I've tried the drug salvia divinorum which is suppose to help.  It didn't do anything for me though. 

I use to find myself in that sleep paralysis state a lot while sleeping, where you can't move at all.  That use to happen to me all the time.  I heard somewhere that you can very easily project from that state just by thinking about being out of your body.  One time I had the chance to test that theory and it worked, although I didn't stay out for long.  But, it got me thinking that if I could get to this paralysis state while awake it would be easy to astral project.  Unfortunately, I have never been able to induce it while conscious.  I can lie there for 4 hours and I will not go into the paralysis state.  What is up with that?  Your body releases chemicals while you're sleeping to paralyze you so that you don't act out your dreams.  But, there's no way to fool the body into doing this while you're awake? 

On one hand, I hate how difficult it is to astral project and how scary it is, but on the other hand I am attracted by the many benefits of being able to do it.   

[Lionheart]

 Hello Kurt and Welcome to the Astral Pulse! 

You will find many tried and true techniques in the many Stickies that can be found here. They are the threads in BOLD BLUE LETTERS.

But in the meantime here is a great place to start. 
http://www.unlimitedboundaries.ca/xanths-phasing-primer/

[Szaxx]

Welcome Kuurt,
Here's another you'll love.

http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_out_of_body_experiences/everything_you_could_ever_want_to_know_about_sleep_paralysis-t38734.0.html

[lillymoon]

Hi, Kurt here.  31 yr old from Indiana.  I have wanted to be able to consciously astral project since I was 18.  Around that time in my life I was avidly trying to project every single day.  Some days I would lie on my back for 3-4 hours at a time trying to make it happen.  Most of the time nothing would happen.  Some times my head would feel weird or like it was filling up with energy or something.  Occasionally I would feel the "vibrations" and feel like I'm on the verge of something happening.  My heart would speed up (or feel like it anyway) and it was always followed up by anticipatory fear.  It's like I knew something was about to happen, but I didn't know what exactly.  It's a scary feeling, and if it wasn't for the fear I probably would have achieved conscious astral projection a long time ago. 

When I say "conscious" astral projection, I mean my attempts to project during the day while I'm fully conscious.  I have experienced astral projection several times, but for me it has always been through the dream state or while I'm sleeping.  It's like I am dreaming or sleeping and I suddenly realize that I'm out of my body.  It's like I completely skip the vibrating and buzzing and the scary part where my hearts racing, and I'm hearing strong wind and feel like I'm caught up in it.  And I just find myself already out and somewhere else. 

I have tried many ways to astral project.  I have tried the astral projection audios created by the Monroe Institute.  I have tried hypnosis, binary beats, theta brainwave stuff.  I've tried them combined.  I've tried the drug salvia divinorum which is suppose to help.  It didn't do anything for me though. 

I use to find myself in that sleep paralysis state a lot while sleeping, where you can't move at all.  That use to happen to me all the time.  I heard somewhere that you can very easily project from that state just by thinking about being out of your body.  One time I had the chance to test that theory and it worked, although I didn't stay out for long.  But, it got me thinking that if I could get to this paralysis state while awake it would be easy to astral project.  Unfortunately, I have never been able to induce it while conscious.  I can lie there for 4 hours and I will not go into the paralysis state.  What is up with that?  Your body releases chemicals while you're sleeping to paralyze you so that you don't act out your dreams.  But, there's no way to fool the body into doing this while you're awake? 

On one hand, I hate how difficult it is to astral project and how scary it is, but on the other hand I am attracted by the many benefits of being able to do it.   

Hello, and welcome to Astral-Pulse. We are glad to have you here. I Would of said, if you would of stuck to it at the age of 18 you would of had a lot of experience by now. But, as I have learned. These things take time and practice. I recently started learning to project consciously, So far it is going good. I would like to say, Try not to force it to happen because that is not going to get you anywhere. Go with the flow, Be one with your consciousness. I have recently got over the fear. But always remember my friend. Fear is a choice.

[kuurt]

Thanks for the links.  That phasing primer was a good read.  I wondered what exactly the difference was between dreams, lucid dreams, and astral projection.  Now I see that that they are all experiences in the non-physical, but with varying levels of conscious awareness.  That makes sense. 

There is one method in there that is similar to one that I have used before which I got from another book.  And that is to ask yourself something several times during the day so that you'll ask yourself it again during a dream and become lucid.  I'm not really sure if I got this technique from one book or if I combined things from more than one book.  But, here's how this version goes:

You write the letter D (D for Dreaming) on the palm of your hand.  And then you ask yourself "Am I dreaming?" several times a day.  You always ask the question every time you do a specific thing like walk through the door.  And of course it helps to pick something that you frequently dream about.  So if you frequently dream about walking through the door then that would be a good time to ask yourself if you're dreaming.  Then you follow up the question by looking down at your hand to see if the letter D is still there and if it reads clearly because if you're dreaming it probably won't.  And then you engage your senses by asking yourself if everything looks normal or is there something out of the ordinary.  And does everything sound normal and feel normal.  I did this technique once and realized that there was snow on the ground and there shouldn't be because it was summer time.  So the snow in the dream helped me become lucid. 

I have read books on astral project and reading about other people's astral experiences can definitely be confusing.  I can see how that might not be so helpful since each experience gets interpreted though their perception.  I can also see how I need to let go of my own perceptions, and that goes right along with my spiritual beliefs as well. 

In regard to the sleep paralysis, I know that subject pretty well.  I've had enough of them unfortunately.  It's like you're between the dream state and the waking state and so you might see your bedroom, but at the same time you see a dream image overlapping (hallucination).  I had one where I perceived a huge snake wrap itself around me.  One where I felt pressure pushing down on me which is apparently pretty common.  One where I heard demon voices coming at me.  One where something walked up around my head and eventually pounced on me.  They're all scary because you can't move.  I just try to tell myself it's not real and to relax.  But, you know, I didn't realize that sleep paralysis was also the hypnogogic state because for me, I don't notice the vibrations or sounds at this time.  I just notice the fact that I can't move and the hallucinations.

[EscapeVelocity]

Welcome Kurt,

IMO, I wouldn't mix Hypnagogia and SP both ways. It may be reducing the argument to semantics but I just want to stress that if a person experiences Hypnagogia, he/she is not necessarily also experiencing the effects of SP (often negative). In this case, the Hypnagogia can be followed and used effectively for a 'phase exit' or it may just run its course and eventually dissipate. In SP, the myriad hallucinations that occur may technically be called Hypnagogia but they occur along with a potentially disagreeable 'energetic' component that can make things very difficult for the experiencer.