Hey,
Welcome.
Some advice, don't use other peoples experiences as a benchmark for your own, some people leave their body the first time they try, and others can take longer. It depends on the person, and how they go about it I guess.
As for meditation, read up about it, try it out. My definition of meditation is, stilling the mind, and entering a tranced state, or altered state of consciousness.
Oliver
From what I've been able to gather it takes anything from no time to several years. Don't force it (I'm trying not to) it'll happen eventually (I hope).
Meditation? That's extremely individual, in my opinion. It ranges from just being with your own thoughts to a number of detailed methods.
A good way to start is just to find a restful moment to be silent and feel your thoughts.
One way is to examine whatever comes to your mind with no particular goal and follow the thoughts. Then try to resolve the thoughts and gently make them go away. Eventually you'll end up with a still mind that is at peace.
Another is to just relax and feel your breath until the breathing rhythm is all that you're aware of.
It all boils down to being relaxed and in tune with whatever wtate of mind you're in at the moment.
my 2 cents
jouni
I was 15 when I began practicing to do OBE's; I'm only 16 now though. I don't think this forum will teach you as much as the books will. I can give you some personal recommendations of the many that I've read. A thorough understanding of the process and the things to note is quite important when attempting to achieve an OBE.
I read a book called "The Best Guide to Meditation", and they gave 10 definitions for meditation, but the one they seemed to focus on was "calm awareness". The best way to go, IMO, is to read.
My idea of meditation is to be without thought. It's really hard to stop the mind from grabbing every little insignificant thing and carrying it along. If you can stop all the surface thoughts then you allow 'things' to come to you that exist on a deeper level. It's like listening for the important stuff that's deep inside you, but first you have to clear the mind and all that thinking, so you can hear it.
Some of the meditations could be described as "pure concentration". Being able to relax everypart of you into one focus. Eventually it becomes natural reflex to concentrate without thinking about it... and then your mind truely becomes relaxed thought, or quieted. Anyway, that's my take.
Relax relax relax.
Keith
I am 15 years old and just started practising for astral projection a couple of days ago. I was wondering how long it took some of you people to astral travel once you first started. Also how long before a good trance. And i'm not quite sure what meditation is.
Please help
Thank you