Side effect with breath work?

[Brave]

I finally decided to start working on Robert Bruce's "Mastering Astral Projection" book which is the 90-day program. Difficult stuff to keep up with but I'm having more experiences than ever before. Anyway, sometime between Week 2 - 3 of the exercises I've begun feeling a strong chest pressure during breath work while my body is relaxed. I don't believe that I'm in sleep paralysis because I feel like I can move and break out of this stage at any time. But it occurs shortly after relaxation while lying on my back. The energy bouncing technique isn't getting rid of it - which makes me think this is part of APing process - but it's not clearly listed as a side effect by the author...

So I wanted to ask anyone with better AP experience: is this common? And should I be doing something different to avoid this? Or just keep working through it?? Thanks all.

[Vyapini]

The heart chakra can become quite active during astral projection and cause symptoms of "chest pressure". That is normal.. I would suggest that if you are worried up about the chest pressure to stand up out of bed... if the chest pressure immediately goes away you do not have anything to worry about... looks like you are heading in the right direction

[Xanth]

I've begun feeling a strong chest pressure during breath work while my body is relaxed.

Are you lying down when you're doing this?
If you're "relaxing", then I'd suggest that's just the sensation of your physical body starting the "falling asleep" process.  Your muscles are relaxing, especially your chest and you're feeling the pull of gravity as you "let go".

[EscapeVelocity]

Since you are doing breath work and energy bouncing, I lean to the heart chakra activity, as well. You might have a friend check the activity level of your seven chakras with a pendulum and/or do a meditation that recognizes and balances each one once a week or so. The chest pressure might indicate some blockage or imbalance but like has been said, if the rest of your practice is going smoothly, then just recognize it as a sign that your energy is definitely moving, which is what you want. Sounds to me like you are making progress!

[Lumaza]

 I see this as being one of your first "fear tests". They show up in strange ways to test "how far you are willing to go". I start all my practice sessions by mentally saying, "by my act of will I release my focus over my physical body". My body will then become an afterthought, and then I can give my complete focus on what lies ahead. When I was new to this, I had a number of different hurdles to jump before I became a welcomed visitor. I made a thread here called "Exit Symptoms/Signposts". It can be found here:
https://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome-to-out-of-body-experiences!/exit-symptomssignposts/

 The fact that it aligns with a chakra shows you that, as EV said, there is some kind of work to do there.

 I use Robert's NEW often. He actually created a NEW 2 version, before he passed on. I find it a great way to defer pain. It is also a great tool to use to test, strengthen and learn to hold your focus on "only" what you are doing, unabated, for a good period of time. Everything else disappears. Many times, while doing this, the "shift" in consciousness has already occurred. 

[Brave]

Are you lying down when you're doing this?
If you're "relaxing", then I'd suggest that's just the sensation of your physical body starting the "falling asleep" process.  Your muscles are relaxing, especially your chest and you're feeling the pull of gravity as you "let go".

I'm lying on my back. The pressure causes a sort of numbing effect in my chest. Perhaps I'm more aware of it because I'm conscious of it?

I see this as being one of your first "fear tests". They show up in strange ways to test "how far you are willing to go". I start all my practice sessions by mentally saying, "by my act of will I release my focus over my physical body". My body will then become an afterthought, and then I can give my complete focus on what lies ahead. When I was new to this, I had a number of different hurdles to jump before I became a welcomed visitor. I made a thread here called "Exit Symptoms/Signposts". It can be found here:
https://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome-to-out-of-body-experiences!/exit-symptomssignposts/

 The fact that it aligns with a chakra shows you that, as EV said, there is some kind of work to do there.

 I use Robert's NEW often. He actually created a NEW 2 version, before he passed on. I find it a great way to defer pain. It is also a great tool to use to test, strengthen and learn to hold your focus on "only" what you are doing, unabated, for a good period of time. Everything else disappears. Many times, while doing this, the "shift" in consciousness has already occurred. 

Could there be subconscious fear in my case? Absolutely. But I'm not convinced yet that this is a "fear test" quite yet. My focus has been the rising and falling of my chest between breaths. AKA me being more aware of my physical movements during the relaxation stage could be pooling the energy into the heart center. Or so that's my current theory

The heart chakra can become quite active during astral projection and cause symptoms of "chest pressure". That is normal.. I would suggest that if you are worried up about the chest pressure to stand up out of bed... if the chest pressure immediately goes away you do not have anything to worry about... looks like you are heading in the right direction

It doesn't hurt so I'm not worried about it right now? I wasn't sure if this was a common exit symptom for OBEs or not. Thanks for the ideas!