My first OBE/projection! and some questions

[sahgwa]

HI all
I just joined today so I can help others and get some help myself in astral projection.
After one year of intense practice and about a total time in my life of 2 years practicing i finally had my first astral projection on Monday the 11th of May! At around 10 or 11 pm I finally felt my body go numb and then my energy body tingled and my breathing deepened and I felt a new body take form and I was outside my body! The only downside was I couldn't see. It was all black with maybe some spots. This lasted about 3 or 4 minutes, and I felt like I was standing although I was physically lying on the floor.  It was great. I'm glad I finally got it!
My first question is although I have been trying to recreate the experience, the past 3 and a half days in my tries I don't get as close and I haven't been able to leave since then. So do you think pain or sports injuries could inhibit projection? When I projected I was in good shape and totally relaxed.  Then on Wednesday I went on a killer hike and now my legs and some parts of my arms are super tense and almost pulled- very sore.  Could this stop me from projecting?  Maybe I have to wait until I heal so the tension goes away? The other question is although I have been doing what I did on Monday I haven't been able to get as relaxed, so after your first success did anyone else have a hard time getting to their second projection due to a more heightened sense of expectation or excitement? Also how long was it between your first and second? And last but not least how did YOU open your astral eyes?
I almost forget to mention a very important point.  When I successfully projected I was using Robert Monroe's astral journey or astral voyage CD with the last disc.  This had no vocal commands just some white noise with binaural beats or hemi sync interlaid.  When the CD ran out I stopped projecting.  So I hope I am not always going to be reliant on the CDs?
Thanks so much for your time reading this long post. And since I have no idea the difference between AP and OBE I will post this in both....hopefully that's not a problem
thanks in advance!

[Anaghia]

Hi  

First off, congrats on your first astral projection ^_^

Secondly, I don't think tenseness stops you from projecting. I'm on my school's track team, and I'm sore, but I'm still able to AP while I'm asleep. But this may vary among people...

And yeah, expatation/excitement can make it difficult. It kind of reminded me of when I was little, and how I was so excited about the field trip to the zoo the next day that I couldn't sleep.

As for your last two questions, I can't really say. I mostly AP in my sleep. But I do know that the first time my astral eyes opened, I wasn't expecting anything-- I was just going with the wind.

Hope this helps ,
Anaghia

[Steel Hawk]

And last but not least how did YOU open your astral eyes?
I almost forget to mention a very important point.  When I successfully projected I was using Robert Monroe's astral journey or astral voyage CD with the last disc.  This had no vocal commands just some white noise with binaural beats or hemi sync interlaid.  When the CD ran out I stopped projecting.  So I hope I am not always going to be reliant on the CDs?
Thanks so much for your time reading this long post. And since I have no idea the difference between AP and OBE I will post this in both....hopefully that's not a problem
thanks in advance!

Congrats! Welcome to the club 

Don't read into this too much, but honestly I think astral sight depends on how good your visualization skills are. When you develop this (visualization skills) astral sight will automatically happen over time. The other answer is that saying "Clarity Now!" or other such things have worked for others, also GETTING AWAY FROM YOUR BODY AS SOON AS YOU PROJECT EVEN IF YOU ARE BLIND will do amazing things for progress and is seriously important but often overlooked.

I tried a bunch of things too, think of it as training wheels, you'll eventually find your own method and way that works best for you with practice.

AP and OBE are sorta used interchangeably. To me Astral Projection is when you leave the physical plane / Real Time Zone (RTZ) and enter into the many different astral realms not of this world. Out of Body Experience is (again to me) when you leave your body and hang out in the RTZ. But that's probably wrong, but it works for me 

[catmeow]

Hi saghwa

First of all congrats for keeping up your practice attempts for 2 years!  Outstanding. 

As regards sports injury, traditionally, it used to be believed that the more physically drained you are, the looser the connection to the physical and the easier it is to project.  The fitter and healthier you are, the harder it is to project.  Now I know I'm gonna get it in the ear for saying that, but all I can say is this was the opinion of early projectors such as Oliver Fox who had chronic ill health and Sylvan Muldoon who also had poor health and claimed that the weaker and poorer your health, the easier it is to project.

Now if this is true (?) then I conjecture that all of the exercise you have been doing has actually increased your fitness and made it  harder to project?  Whaaatttt???!!!!  Well Ill wait to see what others have to say about this!

Regarding astral vision Steel Hawk is bang on. I frequently project but find my vision to be poor when I'm close to my body.  Leaving the bedroom usually causes my sight to start working.  In my bedroom all is dim and grey. Outside it is clear and in colour.

Now the final thing... how to make yourself "see".  Well firstly as I have said it's essential to move out of your bedroom, otherwise your attempts will likely result in you opening your physical eyes.  Walk over to the door, perhaps feeling your way in the dark and actually open the door by the handle.  I know it defies common sense, to do this, but it's not actually the physical door you are opening, it's an astral copy. So you will probably be able to feel the handle and open it just as if you are opening the physical door. 

Once through your bedroom door, your vision might just suddenly kick in.  In a sense, the door is symbolic of moving away from the physical.  In fact that's what I think it actually is. Passing through the door actually converts the OBE from an OBE to an AP (ie RTZ to astral).  It locks you into the AP.  Prior to that you are very prone just to waking up again in the physical.  Therefore, once through the door you will find it much easier to see.  You also may not be in your house any more, but you will be probably be able to see clearly.

The only problem with this technique is if you actually want to sta in the RTZ.  Practicing "going through the door" as a technique to induce vision will condition you into having APs rather than RTZ OBEs.  RTZ OBEs are much harder.  You will need to stay in your bedroom, and try to "remember" where all the furniture is and visualize it as you stand there. If you do this your vision will probably begin to come in, but as I said, in my case at least it's rather dim and misty.  So once you have got some sort of dim vision going and you are clear about the arrangement of furniture etc in the bedroom, this will tend to lock you into the RTZ.  Then you can go out of the bedroom door, but this time you will still be in your house in the RTZ.

Good luck!

[sahgwa]

thanks to everyone for your tips! i havent been able to practice much since then cuz of tiredness (falling asleep by accident) or work. but im going to try again today. appreciate your help!