Are Vibrations and Other Physical Sensations Necessary for Astral Projection?

[Edward_Chang]

Hey, how's it going!

I'm a recent newcomer to the world of Astral Projection and I actually have quite an interesting background story that eventually lead me to delving into AP and Spirituality in general. I'll write about it in another post, but for now, I want to stick to the original intended topic.

I've been experimenting with various techniques such as Rope, Target, Movement, Roll-Over, etc. I'm happy to report that all the techniques I've tried so far have produced varying degrees of success -- having come close to actually "existing my body"! However, I've noticed that I haven't experienced any vibrations, body paralysis, or any of the most commonly reported symptoms associated with "separating from the body". When I perform the techniques, I lie down, relax, and within several seconds to a minute of starting my intention for AP, I begin to experience this weird jarring feeling (similar to how you feel when you're dizzy after spinning around). I tend to snap back due to my fear and unfamiliarity of these weird sensations, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I think if I muster enough courage and push farther without holding back, I'll probably go through the vibrations and bodily paralysis. What do you think?

Also, this begs a big question:
Are vibrations, paralysis, and other sensations even necessary to initiate an Astral Projection?

Recently, I've read Xanth's free Astral Projection E-book. One of the techniques he mentions is "Noticing" where you basically close your eyes and just stare at the darkness trying to spot patches of light, images, or other anomalies. You fix your attention upon these things until you end up Astral Projecting. The thing I noticed (no pun intended) is that he NEVER mentions any of the vibrations, paralysis, or other sensations associated with AP. He just says in regards to "Noticing" that you'll either gradually or instantly pop up in a new non-physical environment if you do it successfully.

Based on this, I get the impression that vibrations, body paralysis, etc. are just another set of self-imposed belief systems and that they're NOT actually required to have an OBE. This makes sense to me since a lot of the techniques that are practiced in the AP community consist of visualizing yourself going out of your body which produces the beliefs and sensations of existing from your physical body.

Anyone care to chime in?

[Xanth]

Also, this begs a big question:
Are vibrations, paralysis, and other sensations even necessary to initiate an Astral Projection?

Nope!  They're not required.

Recently, I've read Xanth's free Astral Projection E-book. One of the techniques he mentions is "Noticing" where you basically close your eyes and just stare at the darkness trying to spot patches of light, images, or other anomalies. You fix your attention upon these things until you end up Astral Projecting. The thing I noticed (no pun intended) is that he NEVER mentions any of the vibrations, paralysis, or other sensations associated with AP. He just says in regards to "Noticing" that you'll either gradually or instantly pop up in a new non-physical environment if you do it successfully.

That's because you don't generally get vibrations or paralysis with phasing.  You're just directly shifting from here (physical) to there (non-physical), relatively smoothly.

Based on this, I get the impression that vibrations, body paralysis, etc. are just another set of self-imposed belief systems and that they're NOT actually required to have an OBE. This makes sense to me since a lot of the techniques that are practiced in the AP community consist of visualizing yourself going out of your body which produces the beliefs and sensations of existing from your physical body.

Bam!  I wouldn't call them a self imposed belief system... mostly because people read this stuff BEFORE experiencing them and they're told that they're required to experience.
Well, as you've learned already, they're not. 

I feel that understanding is a huge advancement for anyone practicing this stuff.

[Lumaza]

 When you can "disassociate" yourself from your physical focus, which is what Phasing is all about, "exit symptoms" don't "usually" occur. I say usually because I have experienced full blown exit symptoms while Phasing. It is rare when it does happen, but it sometime does. Phasing is something you normally learn "after" you have already experienced a "traditional" OBE exit. Phasing seems to be a progression of sorts.

The problem there is when a spontaneously event occurs, like Sleep Paralysis, the person doesn't normally go into "noticing". They are in too much terror at the time. Fear has totally consumed them. Why? Because they don't understand what or why the SP is occurring in the first place. All they know is that they became aware that their body is going through rather intense vibrations and the sound(s) they hear, the Astral Winds/screaming, whatever it was, can get deafening. Thought = action then kicks in and now they are manifesting their fears.

The "jarring"/dizzying, kind of vertigo sensation you have experienced is one of the first things you become aware of. If you "allowed" it to commence, it would get much much stronger. It sounds like you are experiencing the initial onset of a shift. If I just close my eyes for a few minutes and become aware, the first thing I will feel is a slight buzzing around my physical form. I am aware of it while watching TV, reading a book, even sitting in my car waiting for a light to turn green. Once you learn to heighten your awareness, your mindset will change on a lot of things that you used to know, that in the past you overlooked. It's that "eye opening".

While doing a "candle staring" technique, when I was new to all of this, I experienced vibrations so violent I swear I was in a Earthquake. The sounds were so loud I thought a Helicopter was landing on my roof. It was thrilling and terrifying at the same time. But I knew what was happening and because of that I allowed my curiosity to drive me further. I was hooked then and there!  

[Nameless]

The straight answer to this is quite simply NO.

But there are two sides to this question, maybe three. One is natural, one is forced and the third arguably is coerced.
For the sake of this question though I would like to stick to the first 2.

Every dream. lucid dream or whatever you may call your experience when you find yourself in a non-physical state is astral. Most of us go to bed, fall asleep and wake or not remembering a 'dream'. I think that is a natural astral projection, we just might not think of it that way.

Then there are the forced attempts. That's us making an effort to project outside the natural order. So we learn techniques and they work but it comes with side effects, that is we notice the vibrations and what have you simply because we are striving to bypass the natural order of sleep. Our bodies are not supposed to go with us but somehow our minds tend to mess with us. Our body has nothing to do with this unless of course we insist on bringing it along.

[Edward_Chang]

Thanks everyone for the enlightening replies!
I think I'm going to make Phasing my main method of "Astral Projection" from now on. I've been only practicing it briefly and already I've experienced MUCH BETTER results compared to the more traditional techniques. Meditation also helped a lot as I'm now able to focus and channel my energies easier making Phasing a piece of cake at this point. I'll report back as soon as possible after I finally visit these other "realms of consciousness"

[GrumpyRabbit]

Concur with what everyone has said. The vertigo sounds like the beginning of the shift. You may also experience a "spinning" sensation ... like as tho you were on the teacups ride at Disney! LEAN IN to those sensations. You can even make the sensations increase thru your intention, so they build and get you closer to exiting