Hi, newbie here

[Snydaleid]

Hello!  I sought out this forum to help me get some answers on astral projection. 

I've had 3 nights in my life where I woke up with sleep paralysis.  They were when I was a teen.  I'm 36 now.  The first time scared me pretty badly.  I remember trying to yell and move to get out of it.  Eventually I was sitting up and able to move again.  Once I laid back down a tingling sensation went over my entire body and I was paralyzed again.  Still not knowing what was happening I fought to gain control again.  This time it was easier.  I was sitting up again.  When I laid back down the tingling sensation returned and I couldn't move again.  This time I thought "this is really weird" and I just let go and fell quickly asleep.

The next two nights I had this experience I thought "oh this again" and just relaxed and fell quickly back to sleep.

I never really thought of it again until I had a class in college where we had to do a paper in biology class and present it.  One of the other students did his on sleep disorders.  When it was time for questions I explained my experience of waking up paralyzed.  He had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. 

For the past 6 months or so I've been looking into metaphysical subjects.  I can't explain the sudden interest.  I guess it might be because I started listening to old interviews Art Bell did on various subjects.

About a month ago I started to try to astral project.  I lay down in bed with headphones on listening to a guided meditation.  I'm not going to go into all that I've experienced to get to where I'm at now.  I'm just going to explain where I'm at now as I feel like I'm stuck.

I can get into a relaxed state pretty quickly.  I start to have this odd feeling.  It feels like I'm falling and I can feel my body vibrate at times.  The vibrations aren't constant.  It comes and goes.  There's a part on the guided meditation where it says to lift up and go.  At this time I can feel my body rise and my arms lift up.  I know now that it is my physical body lifting up.  The more I focus on the falling sensation the more my body moves.    My back will arch, my head will come up and my arms will lift up and move.  If I keep focusing on the falling sensation it will move my hands up to brush against my face and then they lay down next to my head.  It happens like this every time.  If I don't focus on the falling sensation I'll feel my muscles all tightened up and I end the session.  I don't know what this is but I'm hoping to figure it out by reading the threads on here or hopefully have someone chime to provide some advice/info.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading.  I really hope I can figure this out.

[EscapeVelocity]

Hello Snydaleid,

Welcome to the Forum!

IMO,

You are encountering what is probably the most basic problem many beginners currently deal with or have dealt with: that of achieving a conscious projection directly from an awake state. We just don't have any experience at doing it; we haven't been to the "destination" enough times to know what we are looking for. And it's just plain too difficult right now to get relaxed enough so that your awareness disconnects from the Physical, allowing the body to go to sleep and you to retain your lucidity. Instead, we spend our time visualizing, trying for deeper trance and trying to interpret various physical body symptoms, energy body symptoms, pre-exit sensations, etcetera...and the whole thing becomes totally confusing and frustrating.
So, what has been most helpful to me has been to re-orient my thinking and come at the problem from a different angle. The "destination" you are currently looking for is not just an OBE; you are looking for the "mindset" that comes with it. That mindset or, more properly, that level of awareness or condition is called MABA or Mind Awake Body Asleep. Once you start experiencing MABA several times, you will start to recognize the Physical/Non-Physical energy signature of this state on a fundamental experiential level. Eventually, your energy-self will recognize what it is aiming for when you approach it from your meditations. You will also get some OBEs along the way; maybe not exactly the way you planned but we're looking for quantity right now, not so much quality.

So, I would recommend that you continue your guided meditations, but then pull off the headphones, mentally state that you "intend" to project to a person, place or thing that you feel an energy-signature identification with, and let it go at that. Continue relaxing and if you fall asleep, then so be it. You may get nothing at first, but some sleep. Or you might find yourself lucid within a dream. Or you might experience a "click-out", where you lose awareness for a few seconds or several minutes, and then find yourself aware in the MABA state. Or you may sleep for a few hours, wake up in the middle of the night-so then try your meditation and see if your body slides off into sleep while you watch the progressive visual display known as hypnagogics; at some point you can actually "phase" into the visuals and go from there. You can also do this early in the morning a couple hours before you normally get up. Or pay attention for an exit opportunity during a daytime nap.

The key is to look for opportunities wherever you may come upon them; you might find one time period works much better than others, for you. When you find yourself in the MABA state you will absolutely have no doubt; it is the launching ramp to go many places.

You also need to do a good amount of reading on the subject to begin getting familiar with what you might encounter; this Forum has some great material. You can start with Szaxx's Astral Blueprint, Ashes' Focus 10: Mind Awake Body Asleep, Xanth's E-Book and finally Frank Kepple's Phasing Resource. That's for starters...

Remember, don't beat yourself up over how you get these initial experiences, just look for the opportunities to get them; give yourself permission to have them. You'll sort out the details later and refine your techniques.

And always remember you are safe and protected.

I hope that has helped a little.

[Snydaleid]

Thank you EscapeVelocity.  I appreciate you taking the time to write a reply.  I will definitely do some reading.  I just need a clarification on your suggestion.  Should I focus more on relaxing than on the falling senstaion?  Once I get the falling sensation I usually try to focus on that.

[EscapeVelocity]

Go ahead and explore those sensations and see where they may lead you; but from the rest of your description it sounds like you are still way too physically-focused, so  while the falling sensation is often indicative of an exit sensation, in this case I think it may just be an energy-body sensation. So I just want to stress not getting too frustrated if it doesn't immediately lead to an exit.

It's a lot of trial and error, but stick with it, the reward is worth the effort.

I went through almost the exact same process as you've described with years of frustration. When I finally did experience MABA, I realized that I had probably never even been close in my efforts before.

At least try this a couple times: when you get to the falling sensation, mentally set your intent, pull off the headphones and let your trance deepen on its own until you fall asleep. Don't push it, don't try; just let whatever happens, happen.

[Snydaleid]

Thanks again for the advice.  I'll give it a try.

[EscapeVelocity]

My final thought is , yes, explore these sensations, but don't become fixated on any one of them to the exclusion of any others. Each and every one is adding to your repertoire of sensations to be aware of. You will find many of them in the beginning. Eventually you will find the one that works singularly best for you. You have to be as open as you can, it's coming at you from many different directions. It's both baffling and exciting. It's the multiverse!

Have fun, enjoy!